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Can Donald Trump ‘Make Boxing Great Again’ and Become its New Howard Cosell?
Donald Trump, the once and perhaps future President of the United States, has thrown his family name back into the wild world of professional boxing, a competitive space he once dominated in Atlantic City, New Jersey as a promoter and site host during the 80’s and 90’s.
“I don’t think people fully understand or appreciate just how involved my father was in that world,” said son Donald Jr. “Boxing is very much his world, where it all started. Now we get to integrate some of that history.”
The always outspoken Trump will provide his special guest commentary on Saturday, September 11th at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida when the legendary Evander Holyfield takes on Vitor Belfort in an 8-round heavyweight attraction. Picture this if you can: On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Donald Trump will be doing his best impression of Howard Cosell live from ringside during a “Real Deal” Holyfield PPV. If Trump is truly uncensored and as “No Holds Barred” as advertised, things could get very interesting.
Or downright inflammatory.
“It may get more vicious than the fights,” said Donald Jr. during Thursday afternoon’s promotional press conference. “I’m sure there’ll be some politics mixed in.” “You don’t want to miss this special event,” pitched President Trump. “I love great fighters and great fights. I look forward to seeing both Saturday night and sharing my thoughts at ringside.”
Trump has been well loved by the great majority of attendees at recent UFC events. In July he attended UFC 264 in Vegas where he was loudly cheered as he was escorted to his seat.
In addition to his membership in the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame, Trump is also a member of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame and a prime candidate for the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY. As President, it was Trump who finally pardoned Jack Johnson.
According to his Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame biography: “Donald Trump brought his knack for dealmaking to the Boardwalk and in less than one year’s time, he was the dominant player in boxing. In 1985, the Trump Era officially began with the Trump Castle, Trump World Fair, Trump Plaza and the Taj Mahal properties hosting nationally broadcast events on Pay-Per-View, HBO, Showtime, ABC, NBC, CBS, and ESPN. Thanks to Donald Trump’s vision and his bankroll, Atlantic City became the country’s new fight capital, the new Mecca of professional boxing.”
“Atlantic City became really big in boxing with Trump,” echoed Holyfield, an unabashed supporter of the man who gambled big on boxing. “He did a great job of promoting my fights. I truly appreciate the opportunities I had with Donald Trump. I was pretty much undefeated in Atlantic City. That’s where I beat George Foreman.” Actually, Holy was 10-1 in Atlantic City. His one loss on the Boardwalk came in 2002 against Chris Byrd, a unanimous decision defeat.
Today Holyfield is 44-10-2 with 29 knockouts.
Holyfield recently stepped in on short notice to fight Belfort when Vitor’s original opponent Oscar De La Hoya pulled out of the bout on Triller Fite.TV PPV after being hospitalized with coronavirus. Some have suggested Oscar is “fakin it” to avoid getting beat up by Belfort.
The “Real Deal” Holyfield, now 58, has not been in a boxing ring in over ten years while the Brazilian born Belfort, 44, brings his experience as an elite UFC cage fighter. Both are former world champions in their respective sports. And both are well past their primes.
At his best, Holyfield defeated some of the biggest names in heavyweight boxing including Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Michael Moorer and Buster Douglas.
“Anybody who fought Evander was in for a rough evening,” said Trump. “He had the famous 10th round [against Riddick Bowe] and it was one of the greatest rounds in boxing history.”
“We thought Evander was knocked out but he came back.” “Evander was just brutal,” said the 45th U.S. President.
Belfort has boxed professionally only once, way back in 2006. His biggest combat sports wins have come in the cage against the likes of Tank Abbott, Dan Henderson, Wandelei Silva and Randy Couture. Thus, Belfort is a slight odds-on favorite to win. Holyfield claims to be in fighting shape. “I think I look alright,” he says. “But this is after two years of solid training.”
“Boxing is a game I know how to prepare for against Belfort,” promises Evander. “I’m sure if I was getting into his game I’d be in trouble but he’s getting into my game so he’s in trouble.”
For Belfort, it’s no trouble that Trump is once again getting involved in boxing. “I love having President Trump commentating on my fight. He’s a real fight fan and he always has been.”
All one has to do is look back at some old fights on YouTube to see that the Trump brand was everywhere you looked in boxing. Trump promoted the famous Tyson vs. Spinks fight (where Don Jr. claims to have sat on Herschel Walker’s lap as a 6-year-old with a bowl cut).
Trump events attracted the top celebrities. Boxing manager Jackie Kallen recalls: “The room was packed with A-listers including Jesse Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Billy Crystal, Herschel Walker, and so many others you didn’t know where to look.”
Will all this lead to Holyfield-Tyson III with some help from Trump and Triller? “I’ve been training for over two years because there were fights mentioned against other fighters,” says Holyfield. “It’s not that I miss boxing but people always ask me about Mike Tyson. They have offered me so much money that I would definitely take that chance against somebody I’ve already beaten.”
Holyfield was asked about a potential match-up with David Haye but the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world didn’t seem terribly interested. “I don’t wanna think about it.”
Evander’s focus is on Belfort. And on Tyson.
Just how successful was Trump in the world of boxing asks the anonymous writer of Trump’s ACBHOF bio. “It might be difficult to track in terms of exact millions of dollars he profited but as far as the priceless power of branding, each time a boxing match aired on National TV, Atlantic City and ‘The Trump Brand’ was right there for the entire world to see for generations to come.”
In addition to Holyfield vs. Belfort in the Legends II main event, the undercard features British heavyweight David Haye in a comeback bout against Joe Fournier while Andy Vences faces Jono Carroll. Trump supporter Tito Ortiz is also in boxing action vs. MMA great Anderson Silva.
“I’m very happy to see that our President, excuse me, former President, Donald Trump is going to be hosting,” Tito told the world. “People are very separated right now. This is an amazing opportunity for this country to focus on what America is all about. Unity. September 11th is a date that we need to remember what happened 20 years ago. That is what I’m fighting for.”
Boxing Writer Jeffrey Freeman grew up in the City of Champions, Brockton, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1987, during the Marvelous career of Marvin Hagler. JFree then lived in Lowell, Mass during the best years of Irish Micky Ward’s illustrious career. A former member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a Bernie Award Winner in the Category of Feature Story Under 1500 Words. Freeman covers boxing for The Sweet Science in New England
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Oleksandr Usyk is the TSS 2024 Fighter of the Year
Six years ago, Oleksandr Usyk was named the Sugar Ray Robinson 2018 Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Usyk, who went 3-0 in 2018, boosting his record to 16-0, was accorded this honor for becoming the first fully unified cruiserweight champion in the four-belt era.
This year, Usyk, a former Olympic gold medalist, unified the heavyweight division, becoming a unified champion twice over. On the men’s side, only two other boxers, Terence Crawford (light welterweight and welterweight) and Naoya Inoue (bantamweight and super bantamweight) have accomplished this feat.
Usyk overcame the six-foot-nine goliath Tyson Fury in May to unify the title. He then repeated his triumph seven months later with three of the four alphabet straps at stake. Both matches were staged at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fury was undefeated before Usyk caught up with him.
In the first meeting, Usyk was behind on the cards after seven frames. Fury won rounds 5-7 on all three scorecards. It appeared that the Gypsy King was wearing him down and that Usyk might not make it to the finish. But in round nine, the tide turned dramatically in his favor. In the waning moments of the round, Usyk battered Fury with 14 unanswered punches. Out on his feet, the Gypsy King was saved by the bell.
In the end the verdict was split, but there was a strong sentiment that the right guy won.
The same could be said of the rematch, a fight with fewer pregnant moments. All three judges had Usyk winning eight rounds. Yes, there were some who thought that Fury should have been given the nod but they were in a distinct minority.
Usyk’s record now stands at 23-0 (14). Per boxrec, the Ukrainian southpaw ended his amateur career on a 47-fight winning streak. He hasn’t lost in 15 years, not since losing a narrow decision to Russian veteran Egor Mekhontsev at an international tournament in Milan in September of 2009.
Oleksandr Usyk, notes Paulie Malignaggi, is that rare fighter who is effective moving backwards or forwards. He is, says Malignaggi, “not only the best heavyweight of the modern era, but perhaps the best of many…..At the very least, he could compete with any heavyweight in history.”
Some would disagree, but that’s a discussion for another day. In 2024, Oleksandr Usyk was the obvious pick for the Fighter of the Year.
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A No-Brainer: Turki Alalshikh is the TSS 2024 Promoter of the Year
Years from now, it’s hard to say how Turki Alalshikh will be remembered.
Alalshikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some see him as a poacher, a man who snatched away big fights that would have otherwise landed in places like Las Vegas, New York, and London, and planted them in a place with no prizefighting tradition whatsoever merely for the purpose of “sportswashing.” If that be the case, Alalshikh’s superiors, the royal family, will turn off the spigot once it is determined that this public relations campaign is no longer needed, at which time the sport will presumably recede into the doldrums from whence it came.
Be that as it may, there is no doubt that boxing is in much better shape today than it was just a few years ago and that Alalshikh, operating under the rubric of Riyadh Season, is the reason why.
One of the most persistent cavils lobbied against professional boxing is that the best match-ups never get made or else languish on the backburner beyond their “sell-by” date, cheating the fans who don’t get to see the match when both competitors are at their peak. This is a consequence of the balkanization of the sport with each promoter running his fiefdom in his own self-interest without regard to the long-term health of the sport.
With his hefty budget, Alalshikh had the carrot to compel rival promoters to put down their swords and put their most valuable properties in risky fights and he seized the opportunity. All of the sport’s top promoters – Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn (pictured below), Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya, Tom Brown, Ben Shalom, and others – have done business with His Excellency.
The two most significant fights of 2024 were the first and second meetings between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. The first encounter was historic, begetting the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era. Both fights were staged in Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season, the months-long sports and entertainment festival instrumental in westernizing the region.
The Oct. 12 fight in Riyadh between undefeated light heavyweights Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol produced another unified champion. This wasn’t a great fight, but a fight good enough to command a sequel. (Beterviev, going the distance for the first time in his pro career, won a majority decision.) The do-over, buttressed by an outstanding undercard, will come to fruition on Feb. 22 in Riyadh.
Turki Alalshikh didn’t do away with pay-per-view fights, but he made them more affordable. The price tag for Usyk-Fury II in the U.S. market was $39.99. By contrast, the last PBC promotion, the Canelo vs. Berlanga fight on Amazon Prime Video, carried a tag of $89.95 for non-Prime subscribers.
Almost half the U.S. population resides in the Eastern Time Zone. For them, the main event of a Riyadh show goes in the mid- to late-afternoon. This is a great blessing to fight fans disrespected by promoters whose cards don’t end until after midnight, and that goes double for fight fans in the U.K. who can now watch more fights at a more reasonable hour instead of being forced to rouse themselves before dawn to catch an alluring match anchored in the United States.
In November, it was announced that Alalshikh had purchased The Ring magazine. The self-styled “Bible of Boxing” was previously owned by a company controlled by Oscar De La Hoya who acquired the venerable magazine in 2007.
With the news came Alalshikh’s assertion that the print edition of the magazine would be restored and that the publication “would be fully independent.”
That remains to be seen. One is reminded that Alalshikh revoked the press credential of Oliver Brown for the Joshua-Dubois fight on Sept. 21 at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium because of comments Brown made in the Daily Telegraph that cast a harsh light on the Saudi regime.
There were two national anthems that night, “God Save the King” sharing the bill, as it were, with the Saudi national anthem. Considering the venue and the all-British pairing, that rubbed many Brits the wrong way.
The Ring magazine will always be identified with Nat Fleischer who ran the magazine from its inception in 1922 until his death in 1972 at age 84. It was written of Fleischer that he was the closest thing to a czar that the sport of boxing ever had. Turki Alalshikh now inherits that mantle.
It’s never a good thing when one man wields too much power. We don’t know how history will judge Turki Alalshikh, but naming him the TSS Promoter of the Year was a no-brainer.
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The Ortiz-Bohachuk Thriller has been named the TSS 2024 Fight of The Year
The Aug. 10 match in Las Vegas between Knockout artists Vergil Ortiz Jr and Serhii Bohachuk seemingly had scant chance of lasting the 12-round distance. Ortiz, the pride of Grand Prairie, Texas, was undefeated in 21 fights with 20 KOs. Bohachuk, the LA-based Ukrainian, brought a 24-1 record with 23 knockouts.
In a surprise, the fight went the full 12. And it was a doozy.
The first round, conventionally a feeling-out round, was anything but. “From the opening bell, [they] clobbered each other like those circus piledriver hammer displays,” wrote TSS ringside reporter David A. Avila.
In this opening frame, Bohachuk, the underdog in the betting, put Ortiz on the canvas with a counter left hook. Of the nature of a flash knockdown, it was initially ruled a slip by referee Harvey Dock. With the benefit of instant replay, the Nevada State Athletic Commission overruled Dock and after four rounds had elapsed, the round was retroactively scored 10-8.
Bohachuk had Ortiz on the canvas again in round eight, put there by another left hook. Ortiz was up in a jiff, but there was no arguing it was a legitimate knockdown and it was plain that Ortiz now trailed on the scorecards.
Aware of the situation, the Texan, a protégé of the noted trainer Robert Garcia, dug deep to sweep the last four rounds. But these rounds were fused with drama. “Every time it seemed the Ukrainian was about to fall,” wrote Avila, “Bohachuk would connect with one of those long right crosses.”
In the end, Ortiz eked out a majority decision. The scores were 114-112 x2 and 113-113.
Citing the constant adjustments and incredible recuperative powers of both contestants, CBS sports combat journalist Brian Campbell called the fight an instant classic. He might have also mentioned the unflagging vigor exhibited by both. According to CompuBox, Ortiz and Bohachuk threw 1579 punches combined, landing 490, numbers that were significantly higher than the early favorite for Fight of the Year, the March 2 rip-snorter at Verona, New York between featherweights Raymond Ford and Otabek Kholmatov (a win for Ford who pulled the fight out of the fire in the final minute).
Photo credit: Al Applerose
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