Checking In With Christian Giudice, Author of Four Biographies of Latin Ring Greats

Published

3 years ago

September 6, 2021

Rick Assad

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Taking on the task of documenting the lives of Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, Wilfredo Gomez and Hector Camacho in book form was daunting, but Christian Giudice, like those four world champions, rose to the challenge.

The books in question are “Hands Of Stone: The Life And Legend Of Roberto Duran,” “Beloved Warrior: The Rise And Fall Of Alexis Arguello,” “A Fire Burns Within: The Miraculous Journey Of Wilfredo ‘Bazooka’ Gomez,” and his most recent work, “Macho Time: The Meteoric Rise And Tragic Fall Of Hector Camacho,” released last year by Hamilcar.

Camacho

All had storied ring careers and all are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

“I loved the way I felt and how I was treated in each of those countries. I gained lifelong friendships in Panama, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico,” Giudice said of his time doing research on those four legends. “Although it has been a while since I have traveled, I really enjoyed my time meeting new people each day in and outside the boxing spectrum. There is something different about Hispanic boxers that has attracted me to write about them over the years.”

Giudice tried to pinpoint why he is drawn to Latino boxers. “I don’t know if I can explain it. To me, each fighter I wrote about had to overcome a fierce struggle and then immediately face the pressure of placing a country on his back,” he said. “Thus, each fighter has encountered magnificent highs and excruciating lows and must find ways to handle the positives and negatives publicly. I see that conflict emerge and when I write about that fighter, I have to be able to convey how the fighter is able to handle fame and what comes with it.”

Giudice added: “Ever since I traveled to Panama to write a book on Roberto Duran, I knew I wanted to always write about Latin fighters,” he explained. “It was my way of giving back to the people of Panama who treated me like family. It also gave me an opportunity to travel. I wanted to cover Latin fighters who were not only fabulous boxers and heroes in their countries, but also lived lives that transcend the ring.”

Each boxer was unique and their stories needed to be chronicled. “I don’t think too many fighters experienced the same rise and fall of a Duran or the turbulent lifestyle of a Hector Camacho or the political upheaval of Alexis Arguello,” said Giudice, who grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey and teaches English at Harper Middle College High in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Voted the greatest Puerto Rican fighter ever, Wilfredo Gomez lived an amazing life as an icon in Puerto Rico. Ironically, the pressure on Gomez as a Puerto Rican icon intensified once his career ended. Each one of those fighters had a story that needed to be told. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do so.”

Duran, who rose from slum to arguably the finest lightweight ever, was sometimes painted by some in the media as being something of a bully.

Giudice’s encounters with Duran, who from 1968 until 2001 posted a ring record of 103-16 with 70 knockouts, often proved enlightening.

“I learned a lot about his family life, since I traveled back to his family’s hometown in Guarare, Panama. I learned a lot about the in-depth details of family stories that helped shape who Duran really was,” he said. “Stories like how he was caught stealing fruit out of the trees off the estate of landowner [later manager] Carlos Eleta and how he used to tell jokes to his grandmother as a young boy. I listened to these stories, which were told through the lens of family members. He wasn’t the brash, intimidating guy that everyone made him out to be. He certainly didn’t embrace those labels, and, as I was writing the book, those childhood stories humanized him.”

Where does Giudice, who has an English degree from Villanova and a master’s degree in journalism from Temple, place Duran among lightweights?

“I rank Duran as the best lightweight of all time. I don’t consider it close. At his finest, he was unbeatable,” he said. “And his best weight was 135 pounds. People often come up with other great lightweights from different eras, but Duran was so skilled and, well, perfect at that weight class, it is difficult to imagine another fighter at the same level.”

In his prime, Duran was a force of nature. “With the exception of his victories over Esteban De Jesus, I still consider his first fight with Sugar Ray Leonard [at 147 pounds] his best performance. He brutalized Ken Buchanan for his first title, but the way he prepared for Leonard was unlike any other fight,” Giudice said. “He wanted it so bad. Truth is, Duran shocked Leonard before the bout and then went in the fight and fought with the same intensity. Everything he promised, he backed up. Because there was no pretense, Duran became the fan favorite as soon as he arrived in Montreal for the fight. What a performance. I believe he looked at it more than a fight, and then backed up everything he said he would do.”

That bout took place on June 20, 1980 at the Olympic Stadium and ended up a unanimous decision victory in favor of Duran.

Five months later at the New Orleans Superdome, Leonard earned redemption when late in the eighth round, Duran shockingly walked away and turned his back on Leonard and said something to Octavio Meyran, the referee.

Giudice addressed what happened. “When I traveled to Panama to write the book on Duran, I had the opportunity to meet his longtime manager and friend, Carlos Eleta. I was hesitant to speak about ‘No Mas’ fearing that it would be difficult for Duran and his family and friends to talk about it, but Eleta was very clear about one thing: In his mind, he needed to make the rematch immediately, rather than wait,” he said. “Financially it made sense, but physically many people felt that Duran needed time to rededicate himself back to the ring. Duran did not want to make that rematch so quickly, but Eleta said that at the rate Duran was going with his partying that he would never fight Leonard again.”

Of course, the fight was made and Duran became annoyed with Leonard, who moved, jabbed and landed numerous punches, and in the seventh round began taunting him, which frustrated him.

“He [Eleta] was also clear that Duran never said, ‘No Mas,’ but instead said, ‘I will not fight with this clown anymore.’ As the years went by, people concocted so many different stories, but most of them had little merit,” Giudice said.

In Nicaragua, Arguello, who capped his 27-year career with a mark of 77-8 and 62 kayos, was a near-mythic figure.

“The Nicaraguan people had never witnessed anything like Alexis. As he once said, he lived a life that no one else could have lived. He was kind, affectionate, devoted, and, most importantly, loyal,” Giudice said. “During a career that was plagued by politics, corruption, and the reality of having everything taken from him and being exiled from Managua, Arguello’s career was never just about wins and losses.”

Giudice continued: “His people recognized the injustices that he faced and loved him for the fact that he was fiercely devoted to Nicaragua until the end,” he said. “It was easy to see how beloved Alexis was, not only in Nicaragua, but here in the United States. He was genuine, and always treated others with respect and kindness. He was an original.”

Arguello committed suicide on July 1, 2009 at age 57, and is still regarded as a hero.

Camacho had a commanding aura in and out of the squared circle and his life also ended tragically. On November 24, 2012 at age 50, he was murdered.

“Hector had a presence that everyone felt. What was unique about Hector was that even when the spotlight was not on him, he felt an urgency to ensure that by the end of the event, everyone would be looking at him,” said Giudice of Camacho, who boxed from 1980 through 2010 and crafted a record of 79-6-3 with 38 knockouts. “Hector was a natural entertainer and understood that, in his mind, he had to test boundaries and create controversy even when it didn’t exist. Away from the spotlight, those who loved him, describe a much different, more humble person, but not when it came to boxing.”

With a mark of 44-3-1 and 42 kayos over 15 years, Gomez was simply sublime.

“Gomez was so good at 122 pounds, but I just think he started to fade too soon and his body of work doesn’t compare with Duran and Arguello because of longevity and other factors,” Giudice said.

There is something all four men have in common that made them worthy of having their stories told.

“When you look at these four fighters, all of them had to struggle to survive growing up and then use their boxing skills to get their families out of poverty,” Giudice noted. “That forced them to make sacrifices, grow up a lot quicker, take financial responsibility for their families, and then live with an added discipline.”

And they each had to perform at the highest level in the ring. “The pressure to live up to the expectations of being a champion must have been so difficult,” Giudice reasoned. “Thus, in their lives, for so many years, there was little room for error. Then once they reached that level of superstardom, they were not able to truly embrace it because they had to prepare for their next bout. Also, every mistake is magnified publicly, so the emotional ups and downs made it even harder. Nothing was ever ‘normal’ for them.”

Even for the best, being a boxer is a tough way to make a living and it’s often lonely once the ring lights dim.

“All fighters struggle with finding an outlet to replace the high that the sport provided them,” Giudice said. “Hector and Alexis were no different. The only difference was that Hector had succumbed to drugs and other vices his whole life; whereas, Alexis struggled with his mental health throughout his life and then was cornered in an untenable position by powerful people in Managua who manipulated him at the end of it.”

The end for many is more often than not extremely sad. “Only a handful of fighters have a backup plan once their careers end,” Giudice said. “Even those fighters cannot fill that empty space. It is not an empty space, but a huge gaping hole. For adoring fans, Hector and Alexis had given them so many thrills and wonderful moments that even the prospect of meeting them or a photo gave them a level of fulfillment or happiness.”

Giudice went on: “But for the fighters like Alexis and Hector, the high of being in the ring is something that stays with them forever. No standing ovation in retirement can bring those memories back, so they need to find other pursuits,” he said. “Alexis was aware of this; Hector was well aware of this, too, but, back then, there was not the support available to combat those pressures.”

Note: Christian Giudice’s books can be ordered from Amazon or direct from the publisher and are found at better booksellers everywhere.

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Rick Assad

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Philly’s Jesse Hart Continues His Quest plus Thoughts on Tyson-Paul and ‘Boots’ Ennis

Published

6 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Luis A. Cortes III

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Jesse Hart (31-3, 25 KOs) returns to the ring tomorrow night (Friday, Nov. 22) on a Teflon Promotions card at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University. During a recent media workout for the show, which will feature five other local fighters in separate bouts, Hart was adamant that fighting for the second time this year at home will only help in his continuing quest to push towards a second chance at a world championship. “Fighting at home is always great and it just makes sense from a business standpoint since I already have a name in the sport and in the city,” said Hart (pictured with his friend and training partner Joey Dawejko).

Hart’s view of where his career currently resides in relation to the landscape in the light heavyweight division leads you to believe that, at the age of 35, Hart is realistic about how far he can go before his career is over.

“Make good fights, win those fights, fight as much as I can and stay busy, that’s the way the light heavyweight division won’t be able to ignore me,” he says. Aside from two losses back in 2017 and 2018 to current unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez at super middleweight, Hart’s only other defeat was to Joe Smith during Smith’s most successful portion of his career.

When attempts to make fights with (at the time) up-and-coming prospects like Edgar Berlanga and David Benavidez were denied with Hart being viewed as the typical high risk-low reward opponent, it was time to find another way. So, Hart decided to stay local after splitting with Top Rank Promotions post-surgery to repair his longtime right-hand issues and hooked up with Teflon Promotions, an upstart company that is the latest to take on the noble endeavor of trying to return North Broad Street and Atlantic City to boxing prominence.

In essence, it is a calculated move that is potentially a win-win situation for all parties. Continued success for Hart along with some of the titles at light heavyweight eventually being released from Artur Beterbiev’s grasp due to outside politics, and Jesse Hart just may lift up Teflon Promotions into a major player on the regional scene.

Tickets for Friday’s show are available on Ticketmaster platforms.

As we entered November, a glance at the boxing schedule made me wonder if it was possible for the sport to have a memorable month — one that could shine a light forward in boxing’s ongoing quest to regain relevance in today’s sports landscape. Having consecutive weekends with events that could spark interest in the pugilistic artform and its wonderful characters was what I was hoping for, but what we got instead was more evidence that boxing isn’t immune to modern business practices landing a one-two punch on the action both inside and outside of the ring.

Jaron “Boots” Ennis was expected to make a statement in his rematch with Karen Chukhadzian on Nov. 9, a statement to put the elite level champions around his weight class on notice. What we witnessed, however, was more evidence of how current champions in their prime can be hampered by having to navigate a business that functions through the cooperation of independent contractors. Ennis got the job done – he won – but it was a lackluster performance.

It’s time for Ennis to fight the fighters we already thought we would have seen him fight by now and I do believe there is some truth to Ennis rising to the occasion if there was a more noteworthy name across the ring.

—

Some positives emerged from the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul event the following week. Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, and women’s boxing are finally getting the public recognition they deserve. Mario Barrios’s draw against the tough Abel Ramos, also on the Netflix broadcast, was an action-packed firefight. So, mainstream America and beyond got to witness actual fights before being subjected to Paul’s latest circus.

Unfortunately for fans, but fortunately for Paul, the lone true boxing star in the main event dimmed out from an athletic standpoint decades ago. In this instance modern business practices allowed for a social media influencer to stage his largest money grab from a completely unnuanced public.

As Paul rose to the ring apron from the steps and looked around “Jerry’s World,” taking in the moment, it reminded me of an actual fighter when they’re about to enter the ring taking in the atmosphere before they risk their lives after a lifetime of dedication to try and realize a childhood dream. In this case though, this was a natural-born hustler realizing as he made it to the ring apron that his hustle was likely having its moment of glory.

In boxing circles, Jake Paul is viewed as a “necessary evil.” What occurs in his fights are merely an afterthought to the spectacle that is at the core of the social media realm that birthed him. Hopefully the public learned from the atrocity that occurred once the exhibition started that smoke and mirrors last for only so long. Hopefully Paul’s moment of being a boxing performer and acting like a true fighter comes to its conclusion. But he isn’t going away anytime soon, especially since his promotional company is now in bed with Netflix.

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Boxing Odds and Ends: Oscar Collazo, Reimagining ‘The Ring’ Magazine and More

Published

2 days ago

November 19, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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With little boxing activity over the next two weekends, there’s no reason to hold off anointing Oscar Collazo the Fighter of the Month for November. In his eleventh pro fight, Collazo turned heads with a masterful performance against previously undefeated Thammanoon Niyamtrong, grabbing a second piece of the title in boxing’s smallest weight class while ending the reign of the sport’s longest-reigning world title-holder. The match was on the undercard of the Nov. 16 “Latino Night” show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia headlined by the cruiserweight tiff between Mexico’s Zurdo Ramirez and England’s Chris Billam-Smith.

Collazo was a solid favorite, but no one expected the fight would be as one-sided. Collazo put on a clinic, as the saying goes. He took the starch out of Niyamtrong with wicked body punches before ending matters in the seventh. A left uppercut sent the Thai to the canvas for the third time and the referee immediately stepped in and stopped it.

Collazo, wrote Tris Dixon, “dissected and destroyed a very good fighter.” Indeed. A former Muay Thai champion, Niyamtrong (aka Knockout CP Freshmart) brought a 25-0 record and was making the thirteenth defense of his WBA strap.

A Puerto Rican born in Newark, Jersey, Oscar Collazo turned pro after winning a gold medal in the 2019 Pan American games in Lima, Peru. He was reportedly named after Oscar De La Hoya (we will take that info with a grain of salt), names Hall of Famer Ivan Calderon as a mentor and is co-promoted by Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto.

Collazo, 27, won the WBO version of the 105-pound title in his seventh pro fight with a seven-round beatdown of Melvin Jerusalem. He won a world title faster than any Puerto Rican boxer before him.

His goal now, he says, is to become a unified champion. He would be the first from the island in the modern era. Although Puerto Rico has a distinguished boxing history – twelve Boricua boxers are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame — there hasn’t been a fully unified champion from Puerto Rico since the WBO came along in 1988.

The other belt-holders at 105 are the aforementioned Jerusalem (WBC) and his Filipino countryman Melvin Taduran (IBF). Both won their belts in Japan with upsets of the Shigeoka brothers, respectively Yudai (Jerusalem) and Ginjiro (Taduran). Collazo would be a massive favorite over either.

A far more attractive fight would pit Collazo against two-time Olympic gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov. In theory, this would be an easy fight to make as the undefeated Uzbek trains in Indio, California, a frequent stomping ground of Collazo’s co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya who had a piece of the action when Dusmatov made his pro debut in Mexico. However, it’s doubtful that Dusmatov’s influential advisor Vadim Kornilov would let him take such a treacherous fight until the match-up had been properly “marinated,” by which time they both may be competing in a higher weight class. The Puerto Rican, who began his pro career at 110, is big for the 105-pound division notes the noted boxing historian Matt McGrain who is partial to the little guys.

—

Outside the ropes, the big news in boxing in November was the news that The Ring magazine had been sold to Turki Alalshikh. The self-acclaimed Bible of Boxing, which celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2022, was previously owned by a subsidiary of Oscar De La Hoya’s company, Golden Boy Enterprises, which acquired the venerable publication in 2007. Alalshikh purportedly paid $10 million dollars.

Alalshikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, confirmed the sale on social media on Monday, Nov. 11.

“Earlier this week, I finalized a deal to acquire 100% of The Ring Magazine, and I want to make a few things clear,” he said. “The print version of the magazine will return immediately after a two year hiatus and it will be available in the US and UK markets. The magazine will be fully independent, with brilliant writers and focusing on every aspect in the sport of boxing. We will continue to raise the prestige of The Ring Titles, and plans are already underway to have a yearly extravagant awards ceremony to celebrate the very best in the boxing industry.”

Alalshikh, blessed with an apparently unlimited budget, is already the most powerful man in the sport and more than a few concerns have been raised about his latest venture, especially in light of an incident involving prominent British scribe Oliver Brown.

Brown, the chief sports writer for the Telegraph who had previously covered three of Tyson Fury’s fights in Saudi Arabia, had his credential pulled for the Joshua-Dubois show at Wembley Stadium after calling the event “a grisly conduit for glorifying the Saudi regime.”

“I frankly do not trust Alalshikh to keep his personal aims from influencing the publication’s content,” says boxing writer Patrick Stumberg. One thing is certain: So long as the publication remains in the hands of the Saudis, the word “sportswashing” will never appear in the pages of The Ring magazine.

The Ring is the second major online boxing magazine to change hands this year. In February, Boxing Scene, one of the most heavily-trafficked sites in the ecosystem, was sold to Canadian-American entrepreneur Garry Jonas, best known as the founder of ProBox, a promotional entity headquartered in Plant City, Florida.

—

Mike Tyson’s showing against Jake Paul was mindful of something that Jimmy Cannon once wrote: “…the flesh was corrupted by time. The mind operated as if it was in another man’s head…the talent has been contaminated by age.”

Cannon was describing Joe Louis in Louis’s farewell fight against Rocky Marciano.

True, Jake Paul is no Rocky Marciano. To include their names in the same sentence borders on sacrilege. But the fabled Brown Bomber was 37 years old when he was rucked into retirement by Marciano on that October night at Madison Square Garden. At age 58, Mike Tyson was old enough to be Joe Louis’s father and yet human lemmings by the thousands couldn’t resist betting on him.

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The Hauser Report: Some Thoughts on Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul

Published

4 days ago

November 17, 2024

Thomas Hauser

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Jake Paul boxed his way to a unanimous decision over Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Friday night. The bout, streamed live on Netflix, was one of the most-watched fights of all time and, in terms of the level of competition, boxing’s least-consequential mega-fight ever.

We’re living in a golden age for spectator sports. Sports generate massive amounts of money from engaged fan bases and are more popular now than ever before. Today’s athletes are more physically gifted, better conditioned, and more skilled than their predecessors. Their prowess is appreciated and understood by tens of millions of fans.

Not so for boxing. For the sweet science, this is an era of “fools’ gold.” Yes, fighters like Oleksandr Usyk, Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, and Naoya Inoue bring honor to the sport. But boxing’s fan base has dwindled to the point where most people have no idea who the heavyweight champion of the world is. The sport’s dominant promoter has a business model that runs hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the red. And most fights of note are contested behind a paywall that shrinks the fan base even more. Few sports fans understand what good boxing is.

Mike Tyson is 58 years old. Once upon a time, he was the most destructive boxer in the world and “the baddest man on the planet.” Prior to last Friday night, he hadn’t fought in nineteen years and hadn’t won a fight since 2003.

Jake Paul is a 27-year-old social media personality who wasn’t born when Tyson lost his aura of invincibility at the hands of Buster Douglas. Paul began boxing professionally three years ago and, before fighting Tyson, had compiled a 10-1 (7 KOs) record against carefully chosen opponents.

Netflix has roughly 283 million subscribers globally, 84 million of them in North America. Recently, it made the decision to move into live sports. On December 25, it will stream the National Football League’s two Christmas games on an exclusive basis.

Netflix took note of the fact that Tyson’s 2020 exhibition against Roy Jones drew 1.6 million pay-per-view buys and concluded that Tyson-Paul had the potential to be the most-viewed fight of all time. It purchased rights to the fight as an attention grabber and subscription seller for (a best-estimate) $40 million.

Tyson-Paul was originally scheduled for July 20. A compliant Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations sanctioned the bout as an official fight, not an exhibition. In deference to Tyson’s age, the fighters agreed that the match would be contested over eight two-minute rounds (women’s rules) with 14-ounce gloves (heavyweight gloves normally weigh ten ounces).

But on May 26, Tyson became nauseous and dizzy while on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles and needed medical assistance for what was later described as a bleeding ulcer. The fight was rescheduled for November 15. Later, Tyson described the incident on the plane as follows: “I was in the bathroom throwing up blood. I had, like, eight blood transfusions. The doctor said I lost half my blood. I almost died. I lost 25 pounds in eleven days. Couldn’t eat. Only liquids. Every time I went to the bathroom, it smelled like tar. Didn’t even smell like shit anymore. It was disgusting.”

Does that sound like a 58-year-old man who should be fighting?

As Eliot Worsell noted, Tyson-Paul contained all the elements of a successful reality show. “There are for a start,” he wrote, “celebrities involved, two of them. One is ‘old famous’ and the other ‘new famous’ and both bring large audiences with them. They need only tap something on their phone to guarantee the entire world pays attention. And that, in this day and age, is all you really need to green light a project like this.”

But Worsell added a word of caution, observing, “This has been the story of Jake Paul’s pro boxing career to date; one of smoke and mirrors, one of sycophants telling him only what he wants to hear. He has been fed a lie just as Mike Tyson is now being fed a lie, and on November 15 they will both play dress-up and be watched by millions. They will wear gloves like boxers and they will move like boxers – one hampered in this quest by old age and the other by sheer incompetence – and they will together make ungodly sums of money.”

There was early talk that 90,000 fans would jam AT&T Stadium on fight night. Initially, ticket prices ranged from $381 to $7,956. And those prices were dwarfed by four tiers of VIP packages topped by a two-million-dollar “MVP Owner’s Experience” that included special ringside seating at the fight for six people, luxury hotel accommodations, weigh-in and locker room photo ops, boxing gloves signed by Tyson and Paul, and other amenities.

But by Monday of fight week, ticket prices had dropped to as little as $36. Ringside seats were available for $900. And the press release announcing the eventual MVP Owner’s Experience sale backtracked a bit, saying the package was “valued at $2 million” – not that the actual sale price was $2 million. It also appeared that the purchase price included advertising for the law firm that purchased the package since the release proclaimed, “Just as every fighter in the ring stands to represent resilience, grit, and the pursuit of victory, TorkLaw stands in the corner of the people, fighting for justice and empowering those who need it most.”

That said, the fight drew 72,300 fans (inclusive of giveaway tickets) to AT&T Stadium. And the live gate surpassed $18 million making it the largest onsite gate ever in the United States for a fight card outside of Las Vegas. More than 60 million households watched the event live around the world.

The undercard featured a spirited fight between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos that ended in a draw. Then came the second dramatic showdown between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.

Taylor-Serrano II was for all four major sanctioning body 140-pound belts. Two years ago, Katie and Amanda did battle at Madison Square Garden on a historic night that saw Taylor emerge with a controversial split-decision win. Katie is now 38 years old and her age is showing. Amanda is 36. Taylor was an early 6-to-5 betting favorite in the rematch but the odds flipped late in Serrano’s favor.

Amanda began Taylor-Serrano II in dominating fashion and wobbled Katie just before the bell ending round one. That set the pattern for the early rounds. Serrano looked like she could hurt Taylor, and Taylor didn’t look like she could hurt Serrano.

Then in round four, Serrano got hurt. A headbutt opened a gruesome gash on her right eyelid. As the bout progressed, the cut became more dangerous. From an armchair perspective, it looked as though the fight should have been stopped and the result determined by the judges’ abbreviated scorecards. But the ring doctor who examined Serrano allowed it to continue even though the flow of blood seemed to handicap Amanda more and more with each passing round.

In round eight, referee Jon Schorle took a point away from Taylor after the fourth clash of heads that he thought Katie had initiated. By then, Serrano’s face resembled a gory Halloween mask and the bout had turned into a non-stop firefight. Each woman pushed herself as far as it seemed possible to go.

In the eyes of most observers, Serrano clearly won the fight. This writer scored the bout 96-93 in Amanda’s favor. Then the judges had their say. Each one favored Taylor by a 95-94 margin.

“My God!” blow-by-blow commentator Mauro Ranallo exclaimed after the verdict was announced. “How does one rob Amanda Serrano after a performance like that?”

In keeping with the hyperbole of the promotion, one might say that it was the most-watched ring robbery (although not the worst) in boxing history.

CompuBox is an inexact tabulation. But there’s a point at which the numbers can’t be ignored. According to CompuBox, Serrano outlanded Taylor in nine of ten rounds with an overall 324-to-217 advantage in punches landed.

From a boxing standpoint, Taylor-Serrano II made the evening special. Casual fans who don’t know much about the sweet science saw a very good fight. But they also saw how bad judging undermines boxing.

Meanwhile, as good as Taylor-Serrano II was, that’s not what Netflix was selling to the public. Jake Paul’s most recent events had engendered disappointing viewer numbers. This one was a cultural touchstone because of Tyson.

Paul has worked hard to become a boxer. In terms of skills, he’s now a club fighter (which is more than 99.9 percent of the population could realistically dream of being). So, what happens when a club fighter fights a 58-year-old man who used to be great?

Jack Johnson fought until the age of 53, losing four of his last six bouts. And the two he won were against opponents named Rough House Wilson (who was disqualified in what would be his only recorded professional fight) and Brad Simmons (who was barred from fighting again in Kansas because he was believed to have thrown the fight against Johnson).

Larry Holmes fought until age 52, knocking out 49-year-old Mike Weaver at age 51 and winning a unanimous decision over Eric Esch (aka Butterbean) in his final bout.

Paul was a 2-to-1 betting favorite. Serious PED testing for the fight was a murky issue but seems to have been minimal. Taylor and Serrano underwent VADA testing in advance of their bout. Tyson and Paul didn’t.

Tyson weighed in for the contest at 228.4 pounds; Paul at 227.2 (well over his previous high of 200). Following the weigh-in, Mike and Jake came face to face for the ritual staredown and Mike slapped Jake. But the incident was self-contained with no ripple effect and had the feel of a WWE confrontation.

That raised a question that was fogging the promotion: “Would Tyson vs. Paul be a ‘real’ fight or a pre-arranged sparring session (which was what Tyson vs. Roy Jones appeared to be)?”

That question was of particular note because sports betting is legal in 38 states and 31 of them were allowing wagers on the fight.

Nakisa Bidarian (co-founder of Paul’s promotional company) sought to lay that issue to rest, telling ESPN, “There’s no reason for us to create a federal fraud, a federal crime. These are pro fights that consumers are making legal bets on. We have never and we’ll never do anything that’s other than above board and one hundred percent a pro fight unless we come out clearly and say, ‘Hey, this is an exhibition fight that is a show.'”

Tyson looked old and worried during his ring walk and wore a sleeve on his right knee. The crowd was overwhelmingly in his favor. But it’s an often-repeated truism that the crowd can’t fight. And neither could Mike.

Once upon a time, Tyson scored nine first-minute knockouts in professional fights. Not first-round. First-minute.

Against Paul, “Iron Mike” came out for round one as hard as he could (which wasn’t very hard) while Jake kept a safe distance between them. Then Tyson tired and took all the air out of the fight. By round three, he was in survival mode with his head tucked safely behind his 14-ounce gloves. And Jake didn’t have the skills to hurt him.

The CompuBox numbers favored Paul by a 78-to-18 margin in punches landed. In other words, Tyson landed an average of two punches per round. The judges’ scores were 80-72, 79-73, 79-73 in Jake’s favor. It was a “real” fight but a bad one.

“I love Mike Tyson,” Terence Crawford posted on X afterward. “But they giving him too much credit. He looked like trash.”

Prior to the bout, Tris Dixon wrote, “Tyson-Paul is a weird event, and I can’t think of anything even remotely like it in terms of the level of fighters, celebrity, and their ages. The event is unique, and morally and ethically it is questionable. It is a cynical cash grab. I can’t see it being particularly entertaining as a high-level sporting event. But I’m sure once it starts you won’t be able to take your eyes off it.”

All true. But let’s remember that there was a time when Mike Tyson was universally recognized as the best fighter in the world. Not many people in history have been able to say that.

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Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and me – is a personal memoir available at www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1

In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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