“Jack Demsey’s”…………….A TSS Classic from the pen of Springs Toledo

Published

2 years ago

August 8, 2021

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New York. Late Friday afternoon, I was walking along West 33^rdStreet thinking about how Bryant Jennings should fight Wlad Klitschko when I did a double-take. One of those dime-a-dozen joints in Midtown Manhattan has a name that still packs the proverbial wallop. The sign said “Jack Demsey’s.”

It takes a blink or two before you realize the “p” is missing.

Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant, the real thing, used to be at 1619 Broadway. For thirty-six years (1938-1974), “The Manassa Mauler” greeted patrons, posed for Polaroids, and startled newcomers with a voice that was nothing like the growl they’d expected. “Hiya pal” he’d chirp, but when his oversized hand clasped yours, you knew. Those oversized hands earned him another moniker in his day—“Jack the Giant Killer.” Despite standing a little over six feet and weighing less than a cruiserweight, it took him not one round to land a punch to the solar plexus that left six feet, four inches of Carl Morris writhing on the canvas. It took not one round before Fred Fulton’s seconds had to drag all six feet six dead-to-the-world inches of him back to the corner. And then came Jess Willard, boxing’s first super-heavyweight champion. Dempsey greeted him with violence so visceral it remains disturbing to watch even today.

Violence saturates New York City’s history like a blood-soaked towel. From the 1960s into the 1990s, when Mayor Rudy Giuliani looked behind crime’s curtain to see all those broken windows that needed repairing, the city was seething and unsafe. In 1969, Dempsey himself was the target of an attempted mugging in Manhattan, but he flattened both of his attackers. He was 74. “I just let ’em lie there and walked away,” he said.

Things have calmed down since, gotten good even, though visitors find out the hard way that the city’s aggression is innate. It’s on the avenues where countless yellow cabs dart like fireflies night and day; in the pitched-forward posture of drivers leaning on horns and glowering through windshields; on the sardine sidewalks where stopping to tie your shoe can earn you a piledriver with no apology. In NYC, everyone is Dempsey.

Early Saturday evening, I was walking along East 33rd Street toward Madison Square Garden and thinking again about how Bryant Jennings should fight Wlad Klitschko when a loud type standing on the corner at Seventh Avenue almost impaled my shoe with a sirloin steak sign he was thumping on the pavement. “Kleetschko! Kleetschko! Kleetschko!” he said as he cut the air with bargain-bin jabs.

He was spreading the news. Klitschko’s defense of his world heavyweight crown that night was billed as “The Champion Re-turns.” That sounded even better after a couple of blinks. See, whenever the Ukrainian giant defends against a Great American Hope, I tend to wonder if Dempsey will show up.

Ukrainians and Ukrainian Americans sure showed up. They filled the Garden’s nosebleed sections and decorated them with a sea of blue and yellow flags. During the preliminaries two zealous fans tried to drape a big one over the partition of the corridor where the fighters walk to the ring. They flung up the far corners of their flag like a couple would a picnic blanket in Central Park, but it floated down over a stern-faced cop whose hands flew up as he spun around. The couple retreated under his New York glower.

Former champions and celebrities promenaded by the cop as the main event got near. Rudy Giuliani showed up too. I turned around and saw Prince Charles Martin, an American heavyweight prospect who broke an Englishman’s nose in a preliminary bout. “How would you fight Klitschko?” I asked him. He thought for a moment and said “I’d box him.” Martin, who throws tricky shots from an upright stance, was shy about details. I suggested he watch the film of Dempsey-Willard and consider it a crash course in giant toppling.

Jennings’s eyes were wide as he made his way to the ring. I didn’t see fear in them so much as confident awareness. He seemed to be in something of a meditative state. Minutes later the champion appeared with his entourage. His face was a mask of tension. Drenched with sweat, jaw clenched, pupils dilated; it was the face of Kiev or Peski between shellings. To his right a blue and yellow swarm rushed forward to let him know they were there. To his left was press row.

Klitschko’s physical dimensions almost match Jess Willard’s. The only notable difference between them is Willard’s wrist, which was two and a half inches bigger than Klitschko’s.

Before the end of the first round I thought Dempsey may have shown up after all. Jennings was showing agility and moving his head. He threw an overhand right from a low crouch, which the grand old champion identified as his favorite stance and one that is, he said, “invaluable in fighting bigger men.” In the second round, Jennings was jabbing to the body and twisting his torso when Klitschko started throwing those telephone poles at him. Jennings responded by going low and springing into punches that sent the giant skittering away. In the fourth, he threw a whistling left hook followed by an overhand right that missed by an inch.

By then, Prince Charles Martin was no longer shy about details. He was hollering Dempsey-like directions behind me: “Make him fight! Step right into his space! Don’t wait for him! Fire that right hand!”

Klitschko paused and took a deep breath in the fifth round. His objective is always the same—it’s the same as Ukraine’s. He seeks to control his territory. He jabs, he holds. He fires left hooks and right hands when it’s safe to do so. Unlike Ukraine, if his opponent fires back, he’ll clinch. And if he can’t clinch, he’ll make a fast exit, stage right, and try to reset the momentum.

“Controlled panic,” Jennings called it.

Jennings understands the problems presented by the giant. He was more effective than anyone expected in blocking, getting under and moving around the jab, and making Klitschko pay for clinches by banging his flanks. However, he wasn’t banging nearly enough to win more than a few rounds, never mind the heavyweight championship of the world. Martin saw it. “Load that hook up!” he said during the ninth round. “Right hand over the top! Over the top!”

But Dempsey wasn’t at the Garden Saturday night. According to CompuBox, Klitschko’s head absorbed only twenty-six total punches over twelve rounds. Willard’s head absorbed thirty-six power punches in the first round.

Bryant Jennings proved aggressive-ready, but not willing enough. His low crouch was a pose—like an old photograph in one of those dime-a-dozen joints around Midtown Manhattan—like Jack Demsey’s.

Springs Toledo’s writing has been featured on NPR’s Here & Now, recognized over 40 times by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), and honored in The Best American Essays 2019 and 2020. He is a member of Ring 4 Boston, the BWAA, the International Boxing Hall of Fame Committee, and a co-founder/volunteer on the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Toledo has also authored several books about boxing. www.SpringsToledo.com.

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on this site on April 27, 2015. A new, updated paperback version of Toledo’s “In the Cheap Seats” has just been released. It’s available at AMAZON.COM

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Undercard Results from the Canelo-Charlo Card in Las Vegas

Published

3 hours ago

September 30, 2023

Arne K. Lang

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Undercard Results from the Canelo-Charlo Card in Las Vegas

In a heavyweight battle slated for 10, Frank Sanchez (23-0, 16 KOs) stopped LA trial horse Scott Alexander (17-6-2) after four frames. Alexander’s corner attempted to stop it in the waning seconds of the fourth, but the referee did not see it and the bell rang before the fight was waived off.

Alexander had one big moment. In the opening round, he rocked Sanchez with a short right hand. But from there, it was all Sanchez in a rather messy fight.

A Miami-based Cuban defector, Frank Sanchez came in ranked #3 by the WBO, #4 by the WBC, and #5 by the IBF. His best win came in this building, a comfortable decision over Efe Ajagba in October of 2021. Alexander also fought here. In his previous visit to the T-Mobile, he was knocked out in the opening round by Zhilei Zhang.

Former WBO light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, in his third fight back since ending his retirement, improved to 20-0 (16) with a second-round stoppage of 38-year-old Brazilian Isaac Rodrigues (28-5). Gvozdyk, 36, left the sport after getting beat up by Artur Beterbiev, but got the itch and is pursuing a fight with Dmitry Bivol.

In an 8-round middleweight fight, 2012 U.S. Olympian Terrell Gausha (24-3-1) won a majority decision over Keandre Leatherwood (23-9-1). The judges had it 76-76 and 78-74 twice. Once a highly regarded prospect, Gausha is spinning his wheels. Leatherwood, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, had been stopped four times.

Guadalajara super lightweight Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela advanced to 28-3-1 (17 KOs) with a sixth-round stoppage of overmatched Colombia import Yves Gabriel Solano (15-3). This was redemption of sorts for Valenzuela who lost an unpopular 12-round decision to Montana Love in his last outing inside these walls.

Kazakh super middleweight Bek Nuramaganbat (11-0) continued his fast ascent of the 168-pound ladder with a third-round stoppage of Bola Osundairo. A 30-year-old Chicago-based Nigerian, Osundairo was a 2021 USA National Champion at 178 pounds.

A four-round middleweight contest between Abilikhan Amankul (4-0-1, 4 KOs) and Joeshon James (7-0-2, 4 KOs) ended in a draw. Although he didn’t win, Sacramento’s James continued to exceed expectations. In previous contests he KOed previously undefeated Richard Brewart and fought to a draw with Top Rank signee Javier Martinez. Amankul, a 26-year-old Kazakh, lost a split decision to eventual gold medal winner Hebert Conceicao in the Tokyo Olympics.

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—

David Avila is ringside. Check back later for his report of the Canelo-Charlo fight and the main supporting bouts.

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Opetaia Demolishes Thompson in London; Wallin Upsets Gassiev in Turkey

Published

5 hours ago

September 30, 2023

Arne K. Lang

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In his first defense of his IBF cruiserweight title, Australian southpaw Jai Opetaia demolished overmatched Jordan Thompson in the featured bout of a Matchroom card at London’s Wembley Arena. Opetaia (23-0, 18 KOs) overwhelmed Thompson (15-1) from the opening gun and had the six-foot-six Mancunian on the canvas twice before the match was waived off at the 20-second mark of round four.

An Olympian at the age of 16, Opetaia won the title 15 months ago with a unanimous decision over longtime title-holder Mairis Briedis. Noting that Opetaia broke his jaw in two places early in that contest, prominent Australian sporting journalist Simon Smale called it “one of the bravest, gutsiest, victories in Australian boxing history.”

Following that fight, Opetaia had to eat through a straw for several months. Hence, there were questions about whether his jaw would hold up and whether he would show ring rust in his first title defense. But the towering Thompson, whose nickname is Troublesome, although game, proved to be no trouble whatsoever for Opetaia who would be favored to beat any cruiserweight in the world, no matter the locale.

Opetaia may return to England for his next fight which would be a unification match with Bournemouth’s 18-1 Chris Billam-Smith who captured the WBO version of the 200-pound title in May with a surprisingly one-sided decision over favored Lawrence Okolie. The other cruiserweight title-holders are the well-traveled Badou Jack (WBC) and the French-Armenian boxer Arsen Goulamirian (WBA).

Four female fights were on the undercard including two 10-rounders, both of which were won by the “A side” Englishwomen.

In her first title defense, Ellie Scotney, a 25-year-old Londoner, retained her IBF world super bantamweight title and improved to 8-0 at the expense of 37-year-old Argentine veteran Laura Soledad Griffa (20-9). In a rather monotonous fight, Scotney won every round on two of the scorecards and nine rounds on the other.

Rhiannon Dixon, a 29-year-old southpaw, had a surprisingly easy time with Norwegian veteran Katharina Thanderz, a former world title challenger. Dixon (9-0) won every round on all three cards. Thanderz, who trains in Spain, declined to 16-2.

Wallin-Gassiev

In a 12-round heavyweight fight in Antalya, Turkey, Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin (26-1, 14 KOs) won a split decision over Murat Gassiev (30-2). This was a dull fight. Owing to various issues, Gassiev had answered the bell for only eight rounds in the previous seven years and his vaunted power had deserted him. True, he landed the harder punches, but Wallin, who kept pecking away with his jab, was far busier and won the fight on volume alone. Two of the judges had it 115-113 for the Swede who is 6-0 since going 12 rounds with Tyson Fury. The other judge scored it for Gassiev by a bizarre 117-111.

Opetaia-Thompson photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 254: Canelo vs Jermell Charlo in a Battle of Undisputed Champions

Published

1 day ago

September 29, 2023

David A. Avila

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LAS VEGAS-Less than the usual massive crowd gathered for boxing kingpin Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Jermell Charlo in the desert heat outside of the T-Mobile Arena on Friday afternoon. Usually the weigh-ins are slightly bigger for Mexico’s idol.

Is the declining crowd an indicator of Alvarez fans ebbing belief in his abilities?

Still, on Saturday night, two undisputed world champions from differing divisions will collide as Guadalajara, Mexico’s Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) meets Houston’s Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) at T-Mobile Arena for the super middleweight world championship. PPV.Com will stream the clash of champions.

This year has seen a hyper-speed uptick in champions fighting other champions, perhaps the result of watching their female counterparts Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor produce the biggest fight of 2022. This year several marquee collisions were spawned from lightweights to heavyweights.

Or maybe the pandemic lull created a twitch panic among the elite.

Charlo was one of those who had been sidelined while others like Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Naoya “Monster” Inoue and Canelo Alvarez filled their pockets with cash. And others like Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez gained undisputed glory.

Instead of watching on the sidelines, Charlo decided to make his move for greater glory by attempting to dethrone one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, if not the kingpin of boxing when it comes to money.

“If I accomplish this massive goal, it will be hard to top,” Charlo said a few weeks ago during his media workout. “I’ll be in the record book with the greats of boxing for a long time.”

Risks brings rewards.

Canelo, long a member of the boxing elite, has held his position as the box office king for many years now by taking the daunting risks throughout his boxing life.

“Jermell is right, I have nothing to prove. But this time I have something to prove to him,” said Alvarez while in Las Vegas on Wednesday. “He never believed in my skills. He’s been calling me out. Now I have an opportunity to show him my skills.”

Undisputed super welterweight will challenge undisputed super middleweight in a two-division jump not often seen, except for Henry Armstrong, Roberto Duran and Sugar Shane Mosley. It’s the road taken by those who seek to be great.

Both are 33 but the redhead Alvarez has been fighting professionally since he was 15. That’s a lot of bullets in the chamber he has already used. Charlo has height, speed and the ability to adapt to different styles. Stylistically, it’s a battle that makes even the skeptics take pause.

It all depends on Alvarez’s resiliency. Charlo has ring rust, while Alvarez seemingly has lost the hunger. Whose weakness will prove the greater?

“Now is the time for this fight. We’re in our primes and at our best,” said Charlo. “I wanna shake the doubters off and prove to the world why I”m in this position. There’s a reason I made it this far.”

Alvarez remembers being as hungry as Charlo.

“I never overlook any fighter,” Alvarez said. “I know what he’s going to bring and I’m ready.”

Undercard

Several other notable bouts are included on the pay-per-view card.

Former world titlists and current welterweight contenders Yordenis Ugas (27-5) and Mario Barrios (27-2) battle for an interim title set for 12 rounds.

Super welterweights Jesus Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) and Erickson Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs) match skills in a match that pits a southpaw veteran against an undefeated southpaw from Arizona. For the past three years Ramos has been moving up the ladder and was last seen pounding out highly-touted Joey Spencer. Can he survive Lubin who nearly toppled Sebastian Fundora?

Doors open at T-Mobile Arena at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.

Lampley is back

Legendary HBO announcer Jim Lampley was hired along with ace reporter Lance Pugmire who will co-host the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez versus Jermell Charlo showdown via viewer chat live on PPV.com.

It’s the same concept used by Monday Night Football that features former quarterback greats Peyton Manning and Eli Manning in alternative programming.

Lampley returns to boxing after a five-year absence following HBO’s yanking of the popular program that vaulted elite boxing to the top behind the likes of George Foreman, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.

The veteran announcer will be live streaming all the action on media platforms before and during the fight action. He was sorely missed by all who follow the sweet science.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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