Avila Perspective, Chap. 153: Pacquiao at the Olympic and More

Published

4 years ago

September 30, 2021

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Close the book. And it’s a thick one on Filipino superstar Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.

When Pacquiao first arrived in the late 90s it wasn’t with great fanfare, but more like a whispered secret passing on the streets of Los Angeles. “Check out that little Filipino kid with speed and power at Freddie Roach’s gym.”

Back in those days Roach had several really good pros working in his second story gym on the corner of Vine and Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. James “Lights Out” Toney was the main star and Roach’s main fighter. I frequented that gym mainly to check on Toney and a few others.

I’ll never forget that day Roach eagerly approached me with Eddie Cantor eyes eager to tell me about this new kid Pacquiao. His knowledge of the boxing world and its ups and downs is extensive. He wasn’t one to hype a fighter unless he was positively convinced 100 percent that it was a sure thing. In Pacquiao he saw greatness. But even Roach could not have foreseen just how far and how many champions he would vanquish.

Back in those days the Mexican trio of Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik “El Terrible” Morales were terrorizing the smaller weight divisions. To think Pacquiao could take on any of them was lunacy.

Roach kept telling all of us negative Nellies in the boxing media to just wait.

Watching Pacquiao during those first days at the Wild Card it was easy to see that while others worked at 40 miles an hour, Pacman worked at 90 miles an hour. Everything he did was different. Everything. One thing that aided him early was he didn’t speak English. Others talked for him, but it was clear that his self-confidence was real.

After watching him work for weeks it was obvious that the speedy southpaw with a frenetic style was going to ambush somebody. When the opponent for IBF super bantamweight titlist Lehlo Ledwaba fell out, somebody convinced the promoter to accept the former flyweight world champion Pacquiao as a fill in. Bad mistake.

Oscar De La Hoya was the main event and his foe was WBC super welterweight titlist Javier Castillejo of Spain. I attended that press conference in Los Angeles where the Spanish fighter claimed to be more handsome than De La Hoya. That was a bizarre moment I never thought I would hear before a boxing match.

Ledwaba had claimed the IBF title in 1999 and had performed in the USA that same year on the undercard of Shane Mosley vs Wilfredo Rivera at Pechanga Casino in Temecula, Calif. It was an outdoor event and Ledwaba wowed the crowd with his fighting ability. HBO, in particular, was very impressed.

After watching Pacquiao work out at the Wild Card only those boxing reporters from Los Angeles were ready for the ambush about to take place. It was Little Bighorn at the MGM Grand and I was eager to watch.

But here’s the thing. I was about to get married and my original wedding date had to be postponed because my parents could not make it. So, instead of June 9, my wedding ceremony was moved to June 23, 2001. The same date as Pacquiao’s debut.

I had to cancel my Las Vegas reservation and arrange for a tuxedo fitting and catering instead. One good thing: the wedding was taking place in my own backyard.

Pacman’s American debut

While Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach were engaged in hand wraps and glove fittings, 300 miles west I was buttoning up my tuxedo and lacing up my brand new shoes.

Almost everyone at our wedding was aware that I was a boxing writer. But no one was bold enough to ask about the fights taking place in Las Vegas. After the small intimate ceremony held outside in 99-degree temperatures, I sneaked inside the air-conditioned house to check on the fights. I didn’t want to miss Pacquiao.

Someone must have squealed because soon others began knocking on the door. I let one person in and then even more came knocking. They saw I had the television set on and sat alongside me to watch. My brand-new wife came walking in with this look of disappointment. But she was understanding and quickly adjusted to the realization that I am what I am; a boxing writer.

I have the best wife.

As we listened to the HBO team talk about the upcoming fights I told the small crowd inside my house to ignore that voice talking about Lehlo Ledwaba. I prepared them to watch the emergence of a new champion, Manny Pacquiao. One of the guys in my house asked why I was so sure.

“Just watch,” I replied.

It didn’t take long for the HBO team and those watching around the world to see what I first saw inside the Wild Card gym. Pacquiao was a cherry bomb with gloves on and exploded on poor Ledwaba. Before the end of the sixth round the fight was over and Pacquiao was the new IBF world titlist.

Later that same night De La Hoya would win his fight over Castillejo, Pacquiao would help change the course of boxing and I would resume the celebration of my marriage. All on one day.

Pacquiao would bring so many riveting moments to the boxing world, but my favorite remains when he fought at the historic Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. It was fitting that the great Pacquiao had at least one fight at that gladiators’ venue that shut down for good in 2005.

That night, on July 26, 2003, as a few of us boxing journalists walked together through the parking lot we encountered Freddie Roach. He was in the corner for Manny Pacquiao’s L.A. debut. Pacman was fighting New York-based Mexican fighter Emmanuel Lucero in the main event. Also on the same card were Fernando Vargas, Sergio Mora, BJ Flores and Malik Scott.

Roach eagerly chatted with me and photographers Paul Hernandez and Joe Miranda about his first visit to the Philippines to train Pacquiao.

The veteran trainer described his adventure as an incredible surprise especially the adulation heaped on both he and Pacman everywhere they went in the Philippines. We spoke for a good 12 minutes or more on what he did and saw. I never forget the excitement in his voice over the experience.

That night Pacquiao delivered a sizzling knockout of Lucero with an uppercut from hell. After the fight he insisted he wanted to fight the best including all three Mexican world champions. I thought it was a suicidal goal, but it led him to more success than anybody could imagine.

This rather small Filipino was able to win titles in eight weight divisions. It boggles the mind.

It also made me remember 15 years earlier when I worked for a small chain of local newspapers in Southern California. One of the guys in charge of printing was a Filipino whose name I forget. We often talked about boxing and his knowledge was extensive. He told me there were plenty of very good fighters in the Philippines but all they lacked was a very good trainer.

Man, was he ever correct. I never forgot those words.

Now Pacquiao has retired and his epic career speaks volumes. What a joy he brought to the prizefighting world. And what a fighter.

Remembering Dan Goossen

It was seven years ago that the boxing world lost Dan Goossen, one of its best promoters. He was also one of the best human beings I ever met in the sport. Nobody is perfect but Dan was one of those guys that made the sport even better.

From Michael Nunn to Rafael Ruelas to Andre Ward, it was Dan Goossen who had a hand in promoting their careers. His passing still leaves a big void in the sport. He was just a classy guy.

If you ever meet one of the Goossens, you know what I mean. The entire family are all first-class human beings. I wish them the best always.

Thrilla in Manilla

Friday, October 1, marks the 46^th anniversary of the third and last encounter between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring, otherwise known as the “Thrilla in Manila.” Perhaps the greatest heavyweight world title fight of all time.

Over the years I crossed paths with both Ali and Frazier. I worked in the same Wilshire building on the Miracle Mile District in which Ali had his office. Every time he arrived hundreds of people would gather and he would sign autographs or pose for a photo with everyone.

Frazier was different. Not everyone recognized “Smokin Joe” but those who did he would accommodate. I spoke to him on a personal basis a couple of times. I feel grateful that I was able to meet and talk to both Ali and Frazier on a casual basis. They were heroes to me. That last fight they had on October 1,1975 was one of the most brutal but beautiful examples of prizefighting. Anyone who saw that fight when it happened remembers.

Red Boxing in Simi Valley

A boxing card heads to Simi Valley in Southern California with Red Boxing Promotions having their first event in almost two years on Saturday, Oct. 2, at Simi Valley Town Center. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Seven bouts are scheduled for the boxing card with one six-round fight planned. For more information go to Redboxinginternational@gmail.com

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Chris Eubank (30-2) vs Anatoli Muratov (24-2-1)

Check out more boxing news on video at the Boxing Channel

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David A. Avila

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TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2025

TSS Press

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The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.

Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.

Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11^th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)

Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.

The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).

Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”

A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.

Other winners:

Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon

Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney

Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire

Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix

The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.

The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.

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Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday

Published

3 days ago

April 15, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.

He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.

Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.

“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.

“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)

Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.

During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”

He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.

He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.

On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.

Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.

If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.

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Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City

Published

6 days ago

April 12, 2025

David A. Avila

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In the showdown between undefeated welterweight champions Jaron “Boots Ennis walked away with the victory by technical knockout over Eamantis Stanionis and the WBA and IBF titles on Saturday.

No doubt. Ennis was the superior fighter.

“He’s a great fighter. He’s a good guy,” said Ennis.

Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) faced Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 10 KOs) at demonstrated an overpowering southpaw and orthodox attack in front of a sold-out crowd at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It might have been confusing but whether he was in a southpaw stance or not Ennis busted the body with power shots and jabbed away in a withering pace in the first two rounds.

Stanionis looked surprised when his counter shots seemed impotent.

In the third round the Lithuanian fighter who trains at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, began using a rocket jab to gain some semblance of control. Then he launched lead rights to the jaw of Ennis. Though Stanionis connected solidly, the Philly fighter was still standing and seemingly unfazed by the blows.

That was a bad sign for Stanionis.

Ennis returned to his lightning jabs and blows to the body and Stanionis continued his marauding style like a Sherman Tank looking to eventually run over his foe. He just couldn’t muster enough firepower.

In the fifth round Stanionis opened up with a powerful body attack and seemed to have Ennis in retreat. But the Philadelphia fighter opened up with a speedy combination that ended with blood dripping from the nose of Stanionis.

It was not looking optimistic for the Lithuanian fighter who had never lost.

Stanionis opened up the sixth round with a three-punch combination and Ennis met him with a combination of his own. Stanionis was suddenly in retreat and Ennis chased him like a leopard pouncing on prey. A lightning five-punch combination that included four consecutive uppercuts delivered Stanionis to the floor for the count. He got up and survived the rest of the round.

After returning shakily to his corner, the trainer whispered to him and then told the referee that they had surrendered.

Ennis jumped in happiness and now holds the WBA and IBF welterweight titles.

“I felt like I was getting in my groove. I had a dream I got a stoppage just like this,” said Ennis.

Stanionis looked like he could continue, but perhaps it was a wise move by his trainer. The Lithuanian fighter’s wife is expecting their first child at any moment.

Meanwhile, Ennis finally proved the expectations of greatness by experts. It was a thorough display of superiority over a very good champion.

“The biggest part was being myself and having a live body in front of me,” said Ennis. “I’m just getting started.”

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was jubilant over the performance of the Philadelphia fighter.

“What a wonderful humble man. This is one of the finest fighters today. By far the best fighter in the division,” said Hearn. “You are witnessing true greatness.”

Other Bouts

Former featherweight world champion Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) showed that moving up in weight would not be a problem even against the rugged and taller Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs) in winning by a convincing unanimous decision.

The quicksilver southpaw Ford ravaged Mattice in the first round then basically cruised the remaining nine rounds like a jackhammer set on automatic. Four-punch combinations pummeled Mattice but never put him down.

“He was a smart veteran. He could take a hit,” said Ford.

Still, there was no doubt on who won the super featherweight contest. After 10 rounds all three judges gave Ford every round and scored it 100-90 for the New Jersey fighter who formerly held the WBA featherweight title which was wrested from him by Nick Ball.

Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) made good on a promise to his departed daughter by knocking out Argentina’s Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs) in their welterweight battle.

Giyasov floored Ocampo in the first round with an overhand right but the Argentine fighter was able to recover and fight on for several more rounds.

In the fourth frame, Giyasov launched a lead right to the liver and collapsed Ocampo with the body shot for the count of 10 at 1:57 of the fourth round.

“I had a very hard camp because I lost my daughter,” Giyasov explained. “I promised I would be world champion.”

In his second pro fight Omari Jones (2-0) needed only seconds to disable William Jackson (13-6-2) with a counter right to the body for a knockout win. The former Olympic medalist was looking for rounds but reacted to his opponent’s actions.

“He was a veteran he came out strong,” said Jones who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “But I just stayed tight and I looked for the shot and I landed it.”

After a feint, Jackson attacked and was countered by a right to the rib cage and down he went for the count at 1:40 of the first round in the welterweight contest.

Photo credit: Matchroom

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