Boxing Judge John Stewart’s Career Scorecard Worthy of Commendation

Published

3 years ago

October 29, 2021

Boxing Judge John Stewart’s Career Scorecard Worthy of Commendation

The announcement came without fanfare. There was no laudatory tribute in his local newspaper, no testimonial dinner, no gold watch presented for 43 years of dedicated service to his sport, 42 if you consider that his most recent appearance at ringside was on March 7, 2020, because of, perhaps not entirely, the global pandemic that has changed so many lives.

“I’m retired now,” boxing judge John Stewart, 79, informed an acquaintance of long standing (me) in a recent telephone conversation. “I’m making it official. Really, it was time for me to step away. I’d done headliner shows for a long time, but for the last three in New York I was assigned walkout bouts. I found myself still in the arena at 11:30, a quarter to 12, with nobody there but the judges and the families of the fighters. Sometimes that’s the handwriting on the wall. Anyway, 40 years of doing anything is a long time. It’s like that Kenny Rogers song. You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them.”

If Stewart sticks to his vow to remain away from boxing, which does have a way of luring back longtime riders who periodically choose to exit the carousel, let the record show that the last fight he worked was a third-round technical knockout scored by Big Apple welterweight Arnold Gonzalez over Traye Labby of Pittsfield, Ill., at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, in support of the concluded heavyweight main event in which Robert Helenius stopped Adam Kownacki in six rounds. Not that anyone knew then it was Stewart’s last fight. The man himself wasn’t sure at that point.

“The joy of it began to go out about five years ago,” the Philadelphia native and longtime South Jersey resident told me. “I had been made president of the Chinese boxing commission, and I enjoyed that because for 30-plus years of having bosses telling me where to go and what to do, I finally had become the boss. It was my job to assign and train the officials, to bring in the fighters and the announcers. I had a very good matchmaker (Jack Crowder), which helped. Melvina {Lathan} was my consultant and my wife {Jasmien} even got involved in timekeeping over there.

“I brought people in like {referees} Tony Weeks from Vegas, Benjy Esteves from New York. We even brought Mike Tyson over there and he did some things with the kids that they enjoyed, and Mike did, too. See, the Chinese love boxing people with familiar names. The organization was called the IPBU, for International People’s Boxing Union. A gentleman named Zhang Tao was its founder. I remained president for five years, which were the last five years of my career.”

But, ironically, the deadly virus that originated in China not only nudged Stewart toward the exit, it all but shoved him in that direction. And even if it hadn’t, the seemingly endless flights to and from the other side of the planet had begun to wear on a veteran traveler who was edging ever closer to 80.

“The pandemic stopped a lot of things we were doing over in China,” Stewart noted. “The organization basically folded. We haven’t called them and they haven’t called us. It just sort of faded out, for now. Well, for good in my case.

“And beside that, I can’t take those 13- to 15-hour trips overseas. I’ve filled up three different passport books. That’s a lot of traveling, and that part of it isn’t fun anymore.”

To be sure, John Stewart, a highly respected boxing judge and an even better person, enjoyed his lengthy association with boxing so much that any disappointments he endured in the latter stages of his career did not come close to negatively tipping the scales. Even though Stewart had a day job – he was self-employed, operating a limousine service for 35 years – he said that “boxing can take a hold of you and not let go. Before I became a judge I was going to the PAL {Police Athletic League} gym every day after school, 23^rd and Columbia, in North Philadelphia.”

Rudy Battle, the longtime referee who is now the chairman of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, was instrumental in bringing Stewart – who had judged amateur bouts since the early 1960s until moving up to the pros in 1978 — into a more prominent role. He considers it to be one of the best things he’s ever done in the sport where brickbats are as common, and probably more so, than kudos.

“It’s wisdom and professionalism that comes with experience,” Battle said of the reputation for integrity he believes his friend has earned. “I remember picking him up (at Stewart’s home in Lawnside, N.J.) during a snowstorm in New Jersey and taking him to his first assignment in Atlantic City. After all this time, I can’t remember him being called into question as a central figure in any controversial decisions. He has always conducted himself as a gentleman and I rate him among the top judges in the world. I don’t know if he is recognized as much as he should be, but then John doesn’t go around telling anyone how good a judge he is, and has been. If it’s true John has judged his last fight, he’ll be missed.”

Among the elite fighters whose bouts Stewart has been up close and personal for are Floyd Mayweather Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Manny Pacquiao, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jr., James Toney, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Andre Ward, brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, Pernell Whitaker, Riddick Bowe, Thomas Hearns, Juan Manuel Marquez, Naseem Hamed, Michael Spinks, Azumah Nelson, Meldrick Taylor, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Nonito Donaire, Deontay Wilder and Mikey Garcia. And that’s just a partial list.

Oh, and those three passport books that were fully stamped? Although most of the fight sites where Stewart and his pencil were ringside regulars were in Atlantic City, New York and Philadelphia, international assignments took him to, in addition to China, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Israel, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Mexico, Thailand and Canada.

Perhaps the most prestigious gig on Stewart’s resume was Tyson’s 91-second crushing of Michael Spinks on June 27, 1988. “The atmosphere was electrifying,” Stewart said of a night when he didn’t even have to use his pencil. “I don’t know if any other fight I did really compares to it. What a lot of people don’t remember is that it took longer for the fighters to come out of their dressing rooms than for the fight to take place. There was some kind of dispute over who would be introduced last. They had to go in there to nearly drag out Mike, as I recall.”

The kind of recognition that sometimes is accorded top referees, and mediocre-to-bad ones as well, comes easier because they are in the ring and moving around with the fighters, in full view of spectators and television audiences. Marc Ratner, former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, said Nevada-based ref Mills Lane gained fame almost on a par with the champions whose fights he worked, and not only for his familiar “Let’s get it on!” catch phrase. “It almost seemed like he worked all the Super Bowls of crazy fights,” Ratner said of Lane, who was the third man in the ring for the Holyfield-Bowe II “Fan Man” fight in 1993, Oliver McCall’s bizarre crying jag against Lennox Lewis and, most notably, the Holyfield-Tyson II “Bite Fight.”

Judges tend to be far less conspicuous, unless they submit a scorecard that is egregiously wrong and, worse, contributes to a decision that smells worse than dead fish left in the sun. There are no obvious red herrings on Stewart’s resume, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t question himself at times.

“I’ve been very fortunate in that there haven’t been many instances where somebody said, `That Stewart guy is dead wrong.’ But whenever the ring announcer reads the decision, you heart palpitates a little bit. You always hope you made the right call, the correct call. That anxiety is probably a bit higher when you’re doing big fights, and I’ve done my share of those.

“I hate to sound like a goody-goody two shoes, but I remember when I started out Russell Peltz {the longtime Philadelphia fight promoter} told me, `John, call it like you see it.’ And that’s what I did. I always called it as I saw it.”

Stewart has been inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, which to my mind is wholly appropriate. Despite the many fights he has judged in New York, he is ineligible for the New York Boxing Hall of Fame because the rules for induction stipulate that possible candidates either have to have been born in the state or lived a significant part of their career there. But his credentials would seem to be worthy of a close look from the Pennsylvania and Atlantic City BHOFs, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame would not seem to be beyond the realm of possibility.

Enjoy your retirement from boxing, John. Not only have you merited a respite, you merit so much more than that.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welter Week in SoCal

Published

3 hours ago

April 18, 2025

David A. Avila

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Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.

One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.

Take your pick.

The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.

Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.

Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.

If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.

He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.

During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.

Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.

Fundora

Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.

Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.

Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.

Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.

Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?

When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.

This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.

Commerce Casino

Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.

Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.

It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.

Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?

That’s a question for another day.

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).

Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).

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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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