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Super Bowl Sunday Special Edition: Remembering Lyle Alzado and Shane Dronett
Lyle Alzado played in the 1978 Super Bowl as a member of the Denver Broncos and in the 1984 Super Bowl as a member of the Los Angeles Raiders. Shane Dronett, like Alzado a defensive end who tragically died young, was a key component of the 1998 Atlanta Falcons squad that advanced to Super Bowl XXXIII.
If football hadn’t come calling, Alzado and Dronett would have likely made their mark in the sweet science. Both were outstanding amateur boxers.
Lyle Alzado was born in Brooklyn, the son of a Spanish-Italian father and a Jewish mother of Polish descent. At Lawrence High School in the Long Island village of Cedarhurst, he excelled on the gridiron, but his grades were so poor that no major football school was willing to take a chance on him. After a stint at a junior college in Texas, he surfaced at Yankton College in South Dakota, a small private college that no longer exists; it went bankrupt in 1984 and is now the site of a federal prison.
One guesses that Alzado missed a lot of classes at Yankton because he popped up repeatedly in Omaha,160 miles away. He went there to resume his amateur boxing career. A story in an Omaha paper reported that he was 27-1 in New York area rings before heading west. As Alzado’s legend grew, so also did his ring record which was inflated in news reports to 44-1.
In Omaha, Alzado frequently sparred with Ron Stander. On Feb. 4, 1969, they fought in a semi-final match-up in the Omaha City Golden Gloves tournament. Stander got the nod, a decision that was roundly booed according to a story in the Lincoln Star.
Ron Stander lived across the river from Omaha in Council Bluffs, Iowa – hence his nickname, the Bluffs Butcher. As a pro, his signature win was a fifth-round KO of Earnie Shavers. He went on to fight Joe Frazier in the first and only heavyweight title fight ever staged in Omaha.
The Bluffs Butcher talked a good fight. “If we were fighting in an alley,” he said, “Frazier wouldn’t stand a chance.” But they didn’t fight in an alley and Joe butchered him. Stander was a bloody mess when his corner pulled him out after four rounds.
Alzado was selected in the fourth round of the 1971 NFL Draft and went on to become a cornerstone of Denver’s “Orange Crush” defense. In 1977, Denver’s Super Bowl season, Alzado was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in a poll by the United Press.
The Broncos lost the Jan. 19, 1978 Super Bowl to the Cowboys by a 27-10 score despite a strong game by Alzado who constantly pressured quarterback Roger Staubach while registering two sacks.
Alzado had another fine season in 1978, earning first-team All-Pro honors. By then, his exploits in the ring as an amateur boxer had become well-publicized and an enterprising promoter arranged a match with Muhammad Ali who had regained the world heavyweight title the previous year in his second meeting with Leon Spinks.
An 8-round exhibition, the match played out on July 14, 1979 at Denver’s Mile High Stadium, home of the Broncos, on a sweltering Saturday afternoon when the temperature reached 100 degrees. Contested before 20,000 (far below expectations), the match was tame, but Alzado made a credible showing and Ali would pay him the ultimate compliment, saying he had the makings of a champion if he chose to pursue a boxing career full-time. (Who would have guessed that when he and Ron Stander were sparring at a little boxing gym in Omaha that one would go on to share the ring with the most famous man on the planet and the other with his famous arch-rival?!)
Alzado was mired in a contract dispute with the Broncos when he fought Ali and the club shipped him off to the Cleveland Browns where he had three solid seasons. In 1982, he was traded to the former and future Oakland Raiders who were in their first season of their Los Angeles phase.
The Raiders with their bad-ass reputation and Lyle Alzado were a perfect fit. In Alzado’s first season in LA, with future Hall of Famer Howie Long manning the opposite flank, the Raiders led the league in sacks. The following year, Alzado was one of the linchpins of the Raiders team that won the NFL’s ultimate prize, knocking off the favored Washington Redskins 38-9 in the Super Bowl.
Shane Dronett
Shane Dronett, who grew up in Bridge City, Texas, took up boxing at the age of 11. As a senior in high school, he was a Texas Golden Gloves champion. He also excelled on the gridiron, earning All-State honors as a tight end and linebacker.
Dronett enrolled at the University of Texas where he grew into a six-foot-six, 265-pound defensive end. He cracked the starting lineup midway through his freshman season, was All-Conference as a sophomore and again as a junior when he made several All-America teams and then left school for the NFL with a year of eligibility remaining.
Selected in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos, Dronett had 19 ½ sacks in his first three seasons and set a franchise record in 1994 with four blocked field goals. When his production tailed off, the Broncos let him go and, similar to Alzado, he would enjoy a late career surge with a new team, in his case the Falcons.
Dronett couldn’t get Atlanta over the hump in the Jan. 31, 1999 Super Bowl. The Falcons fell to the Broncos, 31-19. But he played so well that year and again the following year that he was tendered a five-year, $20 million contract. It proved to be a bad deal for the Falcons as, bedeviled by knee and shoulder injuries, he played only one more full season.
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Lyle Alzado and Shane Dronett had a lot in common besides the fact they were outstanding amateur boxers who played defensive end for the Denver Broncos. On the practice field they were known for their fiery personalities. And both were not far removed from their playing days when they left this mortal earth, their lives cut short by brain disease.
Alzado, who parlayed his notoriety on the football field into an acting career, spent the last year of his life on a mission to educate others about the dangers of steroid use. In a July 8, 1991 Sports Illustrated cover story, he confessed that his denials about using anabolic steroids and human growth hormones were a big lie. He blamed the steroids on the inoperable brain tumor that was slowly eating away at him, convinced that the drugs had compromised his immune system. He died on May 14, 1992, at age 43 at the home of his fourth wife in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and was buried in Portland.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Shane Dronett are more distressing.
In 2006, Dronett began acting erratically; at various times confused, delusional, and paranoid. Doctors discovered a small benign tumor on his brain. They removed it, but Dronett’s problems continued. On Jan. 21, 2009, at his home in Georgia, he brandished a handgun at his wife and then turned it against himself, committing suicide. He was 38 years old. He left behind two young daughters, the oldest of whom, Hayley, chose to remember her father from her younger days: “He was the best dad in the world.”
Dronett’s personality change was mindful of some retired boxers whose autopsies showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (“CTE”), a progressive degenerative disease of the brain associated multiple concussions. “This was not the man I married,” said his wife, Christine, who consented to have his brain tissue examined by Boston University neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee whose pioneering work and that of several of her colleagues is detailed in “Damage,” boxing writer Tris Dixon’s widely acclaimed new book. Dr. McKee confirmed that Shane Dronett had CTE.
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Regarding Lyle Alzado, no link has been found between steroid use and brain cancer. However, by warning athletes away from performing-enhancing drugs, Alzado performed a needed service. And likewise, the widow of Shane Dronett did her part to make the sport of football safer for future participants by willingly assisting Dr. McKee in her groundbreaking research which forced the NFL to acknowledge the seriousness of concussions and do something about it.
Perhaps Alzado and Dronett would have lived longer and left this world on a less sorrowful note if they had chosen a career in boxing instead of football, but then again, they became pillars of teams that made it all the way to the Super Bowl, America’s biggest annual sporting spectacle, and that must have been quite a rush.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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