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Avila Perspective, Chap 152: Oscar and Oscar and More

Avila Perspective, Chap 152: Oscar and Oscar and More
There’s a saying in the entertainment business “the show must go on.” That seems to apply in boxing too.
Oscar is out. Evander is in.
A return by the Golden Boy to the boxing ring was canceled when Oscar De La Hoya announced he had contracted the coronavirus. Instead of canceling the Triller Fight Club program, it was moved from the Staples Center in Los Angeles to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at Hollywood, Florida.
Evander Holyfield replaces De La Hoya in facing former MMA star Vitor Belfort in the main event. Other fights on the card pit MMA stars against each other in boxing gear. Former champions like Anderson Silva against Tito Ortiz will slug it out.
Florida will now be the host for this pay-per-view card on FITE.TV.
De La Hoya seemed fit and ready after spending months of training. He even hosted a small group of reporters at his Golden Boy Promotions headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. But within days he was felled by the virus and a subsequent test revealed he had the Covid-19 Delta variant though he had been vaccinated.
Ten days ago, I sat next to him as he explained his reasons for returning to the boxing ring after a 13-year absence. There were five of us reporters who shook his hand and spoke to the six-time division world champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee.
“I’m a fighter,” said the East Los Angeles boss. “I miss getting hit.”
All of his reasons seemed to point to a return to boxing. Not a last-minute cancellation. Yesterday he reported he was released from the hospital. That was good news.
Maybe a return to the fight game was not meant to be for the Golden Boy. He paid his dues.
Most of my friends are unaware that for five years I did not always cover boxing. Instead, I was a metro reporter covering crime, politics and other hard news for the Los Angeles Times. In 1993 I was asked if I knew anything about boxing and East Los Angeles. Of course, I explained my former involvement in the sport and that I was raised in East L.A.
The first time I interviewed Oscar De La Hoya one-on-one he was training in a dojo in Big Bear for one of his early Las Vegas fights in the early 1990s. I forget the year. He was a huge star and skyrocketing to fame. Think Ryan Garcia times 10 and you get a semblance of his popularity and fame. In his fifth pro fight he defeated Jeff Mayweather, the uncle of Floyd Mayweather who had 22 wins and only two losses at the time. By the time he was 21 years old he was a world title-holder.
Everywhere De La Hoya appeared, a large crowd would immediately gather. I was living in Whittier when he bought a condo there. He would show up at a restaurant and throngs of people would surround the place. It was amazing how quickly the word would spread. Cell phones were still new to the general public.
I’ve covered all of his big fights except the Ike Quartey clash in February 1999. At the time I was in Miami, Florida so I watched it from a dog racetrack. The place was packed with Puerto Ricans who backed Felix Trinidad. They booed his victory but cheered when it was announced that De La Hoya would fight Tito. I attended that September 1999 fight in Las Vegas and sat next to actor Jack Nicholson.
Those were good times.
So, when he announced his retirement following the Manny Pacquiao fight in 2008, it seemed to be a perfect time. De La Hoya had accrued nearly a billion dollars. His Golden Boy Company was doing well and he was a mere 35 years old.
This past year some of the old warriors have ventured back to the prize ring to get paid or to simply feel and smell the fragrances of new boxing gloves. De La Hoya was one of them and looked eager and excited to return.
Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.
Top Rank in Tucson
When Oscar Valdez tested positive for a banned substance by VADA it was universally assumed he was out of the picture for the main event on Friday. Sept. 10, against Robson Conceicao (16-0, 8 KOs) at Casino del Sol in Tucson, Arizona. But, “the show must go on” at the desert casino. ESPN+ will stream the Top Rank card.
Though Valdez did indeed intake a banned substance that is used as a diuretic, not an enhancement tool or drug, he was given a pass by the boxing powers. Because of that simple fact the WBC organization and the opponent Conceicao deemed that it was OK to proceed with the title fight.
Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs) returns to the ring after his most shocking knockout win over former king Miguel Berchelt last February. It was sensational and unexpected by many who thought the opposite was going to happen. One single left hook ended that fight.
Brazil’s Conceicao, a 2016 Rio Olympic gold medalist, will be challenging Valdez on his home turf. Though undefeated, he had a rough time against Luis Coria and was nearly defeated by the Southern California fighter. He wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip away and neither was Top Rank which invested time and money in the Olympian.
It’s a pretty good fight card too.
Co-headlining the fight will be WBO flyweight world titlist Junto Nakatani (21-0, 16 KOs) of Japan defending against Puerto Rico’s Angel Acosta (22-2, 21 KOs) a former light flyweight world titlist.
Nakatani has a four-fight knockout streak and Acosta a two-fight KO streak. It’s the Japanese fighter’s first match on American soil, but he has trained in Los Angeles. Don’t expect the judges to be needed for this one. Each has a rocket in his fists.
Others on the fight card include Lindolfo Delgado, Raymond Muratalla and Gabriel Flores Jr. from the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Riverside, Calif. Also, Puerto Rican knockout specialist Xander Zayas (9-0, 7 KOs) in a tough welterweight test against New Mexico’s Jose Luis Sanchez (11-1-1, 4 KOS) who settled for a draw after eight rounds in his last fight versus veteran Adrian Granados.
Miami Honors Yordenis Ugas
WBA welterweight world titlist Yordanis Ugas was given the key to the city by Miami’s Mayor Francis Suarez on Tuesday Sept. 7, in the office of the honorable mayor for not only successfully defending the title against eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, but for his words bringing attention to the people of Cuba.
Ugas was a late replacement for Errol Spence Jr. who suffered a torn retina and was forced to surrender his challenge against Filipino boxing legend “Pacman” Pacquiao.
The former Cuban refugee holds one of the versions of the title; Spence has the other. It’s confusing.
Covid KOs TGB Las Vegas Fight Card
A super bantamweight clash between WBO titlist Stephen Fulton and WBA and WBC titlist Brandon Figueroa will have to wait because Figueroa tested positive for the coronavirus.
They were headlining a TGB Promotions card at the Park Theater at Park MGM in Las Vegas in a unification clash on Sept. 18. The pandemic continues and it has struck not only the boxing world, but many other sports as well.
Fulton had a prior match canceled a year ago when he tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
TrillerVerz
WBC and WBO super middleweight titlist Franchon Crews-Dezurn (7-1) meets IBF and WBA titlist Elin Cederroos (8-0) for the undisputed world championship on Tuesday Sept. 14, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
The co-main event pits Mexico’s Pablo Cano (33-7-1, 23 KOs) against Puerto Rico’s Danielito Zorrilla (15-0, 11 KOs) in a welterweight battle set for 10 rounds.
Fights to Watch
(All Times Pacific Coast Time)
Fri. ESPN+ 11:45 a.m. Tony Yoka (10-0) vs Petar Milas (15-0).
Fri. ESPN+ 2:30 p.m. Oscar Valdez (29-0) vs Robson Conceicao (16-0); Junto Nakatani (21-0) vs Angel Acosta (22-2).
Sat. FITE.TV pay-per-view 4 p.m. Evander Holyfield vs Vitor Belfort; Anderson Silva vs Tito Ortiz.
Tues. FITE.TV 3 p.m. Franchon Crews-Dezurn (7-1) vs Elin Cederroos (8-0); Pablo Cano (33-7-1) vs Danielito Zorrilla (15-0).
Check out more boxing news on video at the Boxing Channel
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Late Bloomer Anthony Cacace TKOs Hometown Favorite Leigh Wood in Nottingham

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions was at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, tonight with a card featuring hometown favorite Leigh Wood against Ireland’s Anthony “Apache” Cacace.
Wood, a former two-time WBA featherweight champion, known for dramatic comebacks in bouts he was losing, may have reached the end of the road at age 36. He had his moments tonight, rocking Cacace on several occasions and winning the eighth round, but he paid the price, returning to his corner after round eight with swelling around both of his eyes.
In the ninth, Cacace, an 11/5 favorite, hurt Wood twice with left hands, the second of which knocked Wood into the ropes, dictating a standing 8-count by referee John Latham. When the bout resumed, Cacace went for the kill and battered Wood around the ring, forcing Wood’s trainer Ben Davison to throw in the towel. The official time was 2:15 of round nine.
Akin to Wood, Northern Ireland’s Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) is also 36 years old and known as a late bloomer. This was his ninth straight win going back to 2017 (he missed all of 2018 and 2020). He formerly held the IBF 130-pound world title, a diadem he won with a stoppage of then-undefeated and heavily favored Joe Cordina, but that belt wasn’t at stake tonight as Cacace abandoned it rather than fulfill his less-lucrative mandatory. Wood falls to 28-4.
Semi-Wind-Up
Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor, fighting in his hometown for the first time since pro debut, delighted his fan base with a comprehensive 10-round decision over previously undefeated Troy Jones. Taylor, who improved to 12-0 (9) won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92.
This was Taylor’s first fight with new trainer Malik Scott, best known for his work with Deontay Wilder. The victory may have earned him a match with Commonwealth title-holder Lewis Edmondson. Jones was 12-0 heading in.
Other Bouts of Note
In his first fight as a featherweight, Liam Davies rebounded from his first defeat with a 12-round unanimous decision over Northern Ireland’s previously undefeated Kurt Walker. Davies, who improved to 17-1 (8), staved off a late rally to prevail on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. It was the first pro loss for the 30-year-old Walker (12-1), a Tokyo Olympian.
In a mild upset, Owen Cooper, a saucy Worcestershire man, won a 10-round decision over former Josh Taylor stablemate Chris Kongo. The referee’s scorecard read 96-94.
Cooper improved to 11-1 (4). It was the third loss in 20 starts for Kongo.
A non-televised 8-rounder featured junior welterweight Sam Noakes in a stay-busy fight. A roofer by trade and the brother of British welterweight title-holder Sean Noakes, Sam improved to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a third-round stoppage of overmatched Czech import Patrik Balez (13-5-1).
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke

Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke
Years ago, I worked at a newsstand in the Beverly Hills area. It was a 24-hour a day version and the people that dropped by were very colorful and unique.
One elderly woman Eva, who bordered on homeless but pridefully wore lipstick, would stop by the newsstand weekly to purchase a pack of menthol cigarettes. On one occasion, she asked if I had ever been to San Diego?
I answered “yes, many times.”
She countered “you need to watch out for San Diego Smoke.”
This Saturday, Top Rank brings its brand of prizefighting to San Diego or what could be called San Diego Smoke. Leading the fight card is Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) defending the WBO super feather title against undefeated Filipino Charly Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs) at Pechanga Arena. ESPN will televise.
This is Navarrete’s fourth defense of the super feather title.
The last time Navarrete stepped in the boxing ring he needed six rounds to dismantle the very capable Oscar Valdez in their rematch. One thing about Mexico City’s Navarrete is he always brings “the smoke.”
Also, on the same card is Fontana, California’s Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) vying for the interim IBF lightweight title against Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) on the co-main event.
Abdullaev has only fought once before in the USA and was handily defeated by Devin Haney back in 2019. But that was six years ago and since then he has knocked off various contenders.
Muratalla is a slick fighting lightweight who trains at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy now in Moreno Valley, Calif. It’s a virtual boot camp with many of the top fighters on the West Coast available to spar on a daily basis. If you need someone bigger or smaller, stronger or faster someone can match those needs.
When you have that kind of preparation available, it’s tough to beat. Still, you have to fight the fight. You never know what can happen inside the prize ring.
Another fighter to watch is Perla Bazaldua, 19, a young and very talented female fighter out of the Los Angeles area. She is trained by Manny Robles who is building a small army of top female fighters.
Bazaldua (1-0, 1 KO) meets Mona Ward (0-1) in a super flyweight match on the preliminary portion of the Top Rank card. Top Rank does not sign many female fighters so you know that they believe in her talent.
Others on the Top Rank card in San Diego include Giovani Santillan, Andres Cortes, Albert Gonzalez, Sebastian Gonzalez and others.
They all will bring a lot of smoke to San Diego.
Probox TV
A strong card led by Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs) facing Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0, 6 KOs) in a super welterweight clash between southpaws takes place on Saturday at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida. PROBOX TV will stream the fight card.
Ardreal has rocketed up the standings and now faces veteran Lubin whose only losses came against world titlists Sebastian Fundora and Jermell Charlo. It’s a great match to decide who deserves a world title fight next.
Another juicy match pits Argentina’s Nazarena Romero (14-0-2) against Mexico’s Mayelli Flores (12-1-1) in a female super bantamweight contest.
Nottingham, England
Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KOs) defends the IBO super featherweight title against Leigh Wood (28-3, 17 KOs) in Wood’s hometown on Saturday at Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England. DAZN will stream the Queensberry Promotions card.
Ireland’s Cacace seems to have the odds against him. But he is no stranger to dancing in the enemy’s lair or on foreign territory. He formerly defeated Josh Warrington in London and Joe Cordina in Riyadh in IBO title defenses.
Lampley at Wild Card
Boxing telecaster Jim Lampley will be signing his new book It Happened! at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood, Calif. on Saturday, May 10, beginning at 2 p.m. Lampley has been a large part of many of the greatest boxing events in the past 40 years. He and Freddie Roach will be at the signing.
Fights to Watch (All times Pacific Time)
Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Anthony Cacace (23-1) vs Leigh Wood (28-3).
Sat. PROBOX.tv 3 p.m. Erickson Lubin (26-2) vs Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0).
Sat. ESPN 7 p.m. Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1) vs Charly Suarez (18-0); Raymond Muratalla (22-0) vs Zaur Abdullaev (20-1).
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.
It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.
In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.
Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.
It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.
“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”
Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.
Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.
Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.
Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.
We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.
Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”
But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.
“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”
Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.
Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”
If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.
Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”
Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.
Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.
On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.
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