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

Published

3 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)

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David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

2 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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