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Should Russian Boxers Be Barred from Competing? Results of a New TSS Survey

The question this time was a somewhat complex one, to wit: “Do you believe that Russian (and Belarusian) boxers should be barred from competing until the conflict in Ukraine is over? If yes, why so? If not, why not?”
Twenty-seven notables in the boxing community weighed-in. The respondents are listed alphabetically.
Russ Anber — elite trainer, cornerman, and owner of Rival Boxing Equipment: In my opinion, yes! If you are a Russian or Belarussian boxer who’s home and legal status is still in Russia, then yes I think they should be barred from fighting. If you are Russian born, but you are now a legal, landed Immigrant or Permanent Resident in another country, then you are free to box. If you are Russian and travelling on a “Work Visa” and your place of residence and citizenship is still in Russia, then that would render you ineligible. As a side note I think this should be applied to all professional athletes including the NHL. If you are a Russian player playing on a Work Visa, then you lose that right.
Joe Bruno — member of Florida Boxing Hall of Fame, prolific writer, and former BWAA official: No Russian athlete should be allowed to compete anywhere while his country is killing innocent civilians in Ukraine.
Jeff Bumpus — former boxer, writer: I can understand both sides of the argument. I know that the 1980 (U.S. Olympic) team did not compete and the only ones who suffered were the athletes from both countries who were denied the stage (the Russians boycotted the ‘84 LA games). Holding the athletes out doesn’t solve the international crisis, but neither does ignoring a tyrant. The 1938 Olympics went forward despite Hitler’s aggressions. Were we wrong for sending Jesse Owens and the (others) to Germany? Or did any of it make any difference? I say no, it did not. And an athlete’s window of opportunity is very small. It’s a hard question to answer. If pressed, I say put the world affairs aside and let them compete.
Michael Culbert — former pro boxer: These boxers are just trying to make a living and have nothing to do with politics. It would be very unfair to be banned because of what their government has done.
Jill Diamond — WBC International Secretary: Sports should transcend politics; however, peace should transcend sports. We use the tools we have to accomplish this. It’s all terribly sad.
********** It’s Putin not them! **********
John DiSanto — keeper of Philly Boxing History, author: I believe they should NOT be barred from competing. The war in Ukraine was started by a corrupt leader and “government”, not the people of Russia. Although Russian athletes represent their country, they are not responsible for the problems. Although this might be reaching, a Russian boxer might even speak out against the aggression of his president, and thus help the overall cause of ending the war. So, no.
Rick Farris — president & founder at West Coast Boxing Hall of Fame: Who cares? Boxing is not important compared to what is going on in the world. I have never considered the best of Russia’s boxers to be competitive as professionals. And who cares about amateur boxing beyond those involved?
Jeffrey Freeman — aka KO Digest, TSS writer: I stand with conservative pundit Candace Owens on this one: “Absolutely appalling the way Russians are being treated in America and abroad. That our leaders and government institutions are allowing for and at times calling for this discrimination…..is quite telling. Russian lives matter.”
Clarence George — writer and historian: Of course Russian and Belarusian fighters shouldn’t be banned. We don’t punish people for their nationality. As Paul Sorvino said in Goodfellas (1990), “We’re not animali.”
Lee Groves — writer, author and the wizard of CompuBox: I understand the desire for administrators to demonstrate their outrage against Putin’s savagery, but I do not think penalizing Russians and Belarusians just for being born Russian or Belarusian is the proper way to do so. These athletes can’t control where they are born and they shouldn’t be prevented from making a living. If a specific athlete has been found to have supported or contributed to Putin’s carnage, that’s a different matter, but without that caveat, a ban is wholly unfair.
Henry Hascup — historian and President of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame: No, Schmeling wasn’t banned back in the 30’s so why should they. It’s Putin, not them!
Chuck Hasson — author and historian: I really don’t think I am qualified to decide such a complex question. We have all tried to provide for our immediate families and these guys aren’t into political policy. They just want to take care of loved ones.
Arne Lang — TSS editor-in-chief, author, historian: I would prefer that this was handled on a case-by-case basis. For example, David Avanesyan is slated to fight this coming weekend in his adopted homeland of England and I am perfectly fine with it so long as Avanesyan doesn’t bring any Russian insignia into the ring with him.
Ron Lipton — member of NJ and NY Boxing Halls of Fame, referee, historian, writer: No. There are many people in Russia who are protesting the war. It should not be held against one fighter nor should the lone fact of their heritage be a reason to ban them from making a living. There was a guy in boxing once, let me think of his name, give me a moment please, he stood up against many for his beliefs, oh yeah, I remember, Muhammad Ali.
Paul Magno — writer, author, and boxing official in Mexico: Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see the direct correlation between an individual Russian athlete competing as a private citizen and the war in Ukraine as a whole. How would banning him/her impact Russia or strike any sort of blow to the Russian invasion? I guess there’s the propagandists’ use of a victorious Russian athlete to support their war efforts. There’s also the possibility that money earned from the event could be funneled into the war effort. So, maybe I’m wrong. But I just can’t get past the idea of shutting down a fighter’s livelihood for something that is 100% not their fault and something they actually may be against.
Adeyinka Makinde — UK barrister, author, contributor to the Cambridge Companion to Boxing: Politics should be kept strictly out of sports. Sporting links can maintain a vital link between nations which may be ruptured at diplomatic and trade level. All boycotts and barring edicts do is replicate national political rivalries and reveal the hypocrisy of those who have done the same or similar deeds of which they accuse the wrongdoing nation that is the target of the boycott.
Layla McCarter — world title holder, multiple weight divisions; member of Female Boxer Hall of Fame: It’s complicated. On the one hand stopping Russians from competing is meant to put pressure on Putin from his own people. On the other, the Russian people are paying the price for Putin’s actions. If they speak out against him, they are punished. By not allowing them to compete the world is punishing them. Fair? I don’t think so, so I lean toward letting them compete.
Robert Mladinich — former boxer, author, writer, actor: No fights should be sanctioned in Russia or for boxers based in Russia or Belarus but I don’t think it is fair to penalize boxers from those nations who are in other countries on work visas. It’s an emotional, hot button issue and I could entertain arguments for or against them being banned but it is important to strike a balance while still holding Russia accountable.
Joseph Pasquale — elite boxing judge and member of AC Boxing Hall of Fame: I imagine there will great difficulty just in obtaining visas to compete out of Russia under these war conditions. Compared to most sports, boxers have a very narrow window of peak career opportunity. This conflict will probably handicap many.
Russell Peltz — legendary Philadelphia boxing promoter, 2004 IBHOF inductee, author: I’m undecided. I hate to penalize any Russian athlete whose political leaning I have no clue about. On the other hand, it MAY be necessary to go all in 100% against everything Russian, whether it’s oil, vodka, McDonalds, athletes, etc
Dennis Rappaport — famous manager, promoter, and historian: Fights in Russia should not be sanctioned; however, you really should not prevent Russian fighters from boxing elsewhere. Even Schmeling wasn’t prevented from fighting in the U.S.
Fred Romano — boxing historian, author and former HBO Boxing consultant: This is not the type of question I would answer without careful consideration. I would like to know the precedents in such situations before drawing a conclusion. Punitive action against an individual for the actions of others must pass strict scrutiny.
Dana Rosenblatt — former middleweight champion of the world, inspirational speaker: The only way to make sanctions stick is if all Russians feel it. Then they will take action against their own government. All Russian boxers should be banned until the conflict is over.
Ted Sares — TSS writer: For sanctions to be 100% effective, they must be symbolic as well as actual. In my view, Russian boxers should be barred from competing in the U.S. until the conflict is over.
“Iceman” John Scully — former boxer, manager, trainer, writer: Of course not. They are not politicians. Many other countries do ungodly things to human beings including China and no one has ever called for them to be removed from any rankings. The fighter should not suffer. And the fact of the matter is millions of Russians do not agree with the invasion of the Ukraine. Ultimately people are trying to make the boxers victims as well.
Alan Swyer — filmmaker, writer, and producer of the acclaimed El Boxeo: Despite the Kremlin’s contention “that sport is beyond politics,” Russia has long used athletics as a tool for propaganda. That explains why systematic doping has resulted in 46 Olympic medals stripped from Russian athletes. Russian boxers should definitely be barred from competing not just until the conflict is over, but until Russian aggression ceases.
Peter Wood — former boxer, writer. author, and artist: In 1980, I strongly disagreed with Jimmy Carter’s decision to boycott the Moscow Olympics–the boycott was in response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. However, today, in 2022, the situation is much different. I strongly support barring Russian & Belarusian boxers from competition. McDonald’s, Netflix, Shell, Visa, Mastercard, Adidas, AT&T, and hundreds of other major companies agree with me–they have halted business with Putin. So should the boxing community.
Summary
Most respondents felt that the boxers should not be punished for the situation in Ukraine, but there were some strong feelings on the other side of the argument.
How do you see it?
Ted Sares is a member of Rings 4, 8 and 10. He is a retired competitive power lifter. He can be reached at tedsares@roadrunner.com
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“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.
It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.
In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.
Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.
It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.
“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”
Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.
Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.
Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.
Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.
We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.
Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”
But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.
“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”
Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.
Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”
If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.
Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”
Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.
Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.
On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.
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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More
It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.
In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.
Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.
CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.
****
Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.
Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”
And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.
Joey Archer
Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer
Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.
Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)
Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.
Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.
In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.
When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.
Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.
May he rest in peace.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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