Earnie Shavers’ Baseball Connection

Published

2 years ago

September 5, 2022

On January 6, 1971, Earnie Shavers, a well-touted heavyweight prospect from Warren, Ohio, fought Lee Estes at the Silver Slipper in Las Vegas. Shavers’ team on this particular night – his three cornermen – consisted of Willie Ketchum, Dean Chance, and Bo Belinsky.

Indulge me now. Let me digress.

In his tribute to Shavers, who passed away on Sept. 1, Hall of Fame boxing writer Bernard Fernandez found a common thread between the prizefighter and Babe Ruth. The Bambino’s home run blasts were talked about in hushed reverence – his final blast purportedly traveled 600 feet – and, likewise, the punching power of Shavers, who scored 68 of his 74 wins by knockout, became the stuff of legend. “He had a punch that could knock down a brick wall,” said one commentator upon hearing the news that Shavers had died.

A keen-eyed reader passed along the note that Babe Ruth was a big fan of boxing and once actually considered a career in the prize ring. He thought that if Fernandez were going to rope the Bambino into a story about Earnie Shavers, he could have embellished his article by pointing this out.

Babe Ruth once threatened to quit baseball for boxing, but this happened while he was embroiled in a salary dispute. It’s a stretch to think that he actually gave it any serious thought. However, he was indeed a big fan of boxing and he trained like a boxer in the off-season after he hooked up with fitness guru Artie McGovern, a former flyweight boxer who ran a gym at 42^nd Street and Madison Avenue in New York City that was patronized by the rich and famous.

The Bambino

Ruth started visiting McGovern’s after missing one-third of the 1925 season with a stomach ulcer. Lore has it that he was a bloated wreck when McGovern first latched hold of him which may not be too far from the truth. Regardless, he was an off-season regular at McGovern’s prior to the 1927 season, the year he broke his own single season record for home runs with 60. (A Ruthian feat indeed. Ten years earlier, in 1917, the American League home run leader hit nine.)

Earnie Shavers’ baseball connection, as it were, had a more contemporary tone. Willie Ketchum, a Runyonesque character from New York City’s Lower East Side, wasn’t a baseball guy. A man who was then in his late 60’s, Ketchum was a boxing lifer, a jack-of-all trades who had managed fighters, notably pre-World War II lightweight champion Lew Jenkins, and worked primarily as a second on the West Coast after his license was revoked by the New York State Athletic Commission for consorting with the wrong kind of people. But Dean Chance and Bo Belinsky were household names in households that followed the sport of baseball and in many households that didn’t.

When folks thought of one, they thought of the other, for although Chance was a former Cy Young Award winner and Belinsky had tossed a no-hitter for the expansion California Angels, they were best known as bosom buddies whose nocturnal adventures harked to Pierce Egan’s fictional rakehells Tom and Jerry.

Belinsky, a street kid from Trenton, New Jersey, was a great ladies man who had dated, in his words, many of the best broads in Hollywood. Dean Chance, a farm boy from Wooster, Ohio, was considered something of Belinsky’s caddy, a person who went along for the ride when Belinsky prowled the Sunset Strip in his candy-apple-red Cadillac. But of the two, Chance was much more of a slickster. He got involved in the management of prizefighters while still an active baseball player and in retirement ran “games of skill” at carnivals and country fairs.

Dean Chance’s first fighter was Ray Anderson, a boxer from Akron that Chance signed while pitching for the Minnesota Twins, the second of his five major league teams. Anderson, who fought Bob Foster for the light heavyweight title, confounding the experts by lasting the 15-round distance, left Chance for Joe Frazier’s manager Yank Durham, but by then Chance was heavily invested in Earnie Shavers.

Chance would eventually sell a 50 percent stake in Shavers to a fellow Buckeye State hustler, Don King. In time, King would come to own all of Shavers. It was he, King, who brought Shavers to New York in 1973 for his first TV fight, a bout with former world title challenger Jimmy Ellis at Madison Square Garden. Shavers dismissed Ellis in the opening round with an uppercut, leaving poor Ellis splattered on the canvas “twitching like a paralyzed spider” in the words of New York Daily News writer Bill Verigan. (Shavers’ second Madison Square Garden appearance, six months later, didn’t go as well. Jerry Quarry knocked him out in the opening round.)

Shavers would go on to fight Muhammad Ali, losing a 15-round decision, and would answer the bell for 23 rounds in two fights with Larry Holmes. But his showing in those fights was out of character. When you went to see Earnie Shavers fight, you could pretty much count on getting home early. Of his 68 knockouts, 41 came in the first two rounds.

Lee Estes, a Minnesota journeyman, survived the first round in his Silver Slipper bout with Shavers, but not the second. It was short night for Earnie and Willie Ketchum and Dean Chance, but a long night for Bo Belinsky who picked up some extra coin making a cameo appearance in the “Wonderful World of Burlesque,” the Silver Slipper’s bill of fare in its scrubby showroom. There were three shows nightly, the last of which started at 2:45 am. Belinsky was done with baseball, his final season was 1970, but as the husband of former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jo Collins, he could still cash in on his name.

Aside from his no-hit gem, Belinsky’s baseball career was undistinguished. The same could not be said of Dean Chance whose 1964 season was among the greatest of any pitcher in baseball history. But Chance, who was only three years older than Shavers, had too many distractions in his life and his career was on the skids when he brought Shavers to Las Vegas in 1971, seizing the gig as an opportunity to hook up with his former teammate Belinsky.

For the record, Bo Belinsky died in 2001 at age 64. A born-again Christian, he spent his end days in Las Vegas doing PR work for an auto dealership. Dean Chance passed away in 2015 at age 74. The organization that he founded, the fringe International Boxing Association which he ran from the basement of his home, died with him.

Historically, many of boxing’s most fertile knockout producers – and virtually all who toiled in the boondocks — were manufactured from straw. Utah chicken farmer LaMar Clark, who attracted a lot of attention while running up a string of 41 knockouts, was bogus, as were South Carolina’s Don Steele – 40 knockouts in his first 41 fights – and LA’s Christopher Lovejoy – 20 straight knockouts to start his career, all in Mexico and all but two in the opening round — to name just three. To be certain, Earnie Shavers fought a bunch of professional losers as he was climbing the ladder, but Shavers was legit. Those other guys couldn’t hold his jockstrap. May he rest in peace.

Arne K. Lang’s latest book, titled “George Dixon, Terry McGovern and the Culture of Boxing in America, 1890-1910,” rolls off the press this month. The book, published by McFarland, can be pre-ordered directly from the publisher (https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/clash-of-the-little-giants) or via Amazon.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 303: Spotlights on Lightweights and More

Published

20 hours ago

November 1, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-303-Spotlights-on-Lightweights-and-More

Those lightweights.

Whether junior lights, super lights or lightweights, it’s the 130-140 divisions where most of boxing’s young stars are found now or in the past.

Think Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather.

Floyd Schofield (17-0, 12 KOs) a Texas product, hungers to be a star and takes on Mexico’s Rene Tellez Giron (20-3, 13 KOs) in a 12-round lightweight bout on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.

DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotion card that includes a female undisputed flyweight championship match pitting Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz and Gabriela Fundora.

Like a young lion looking to flex, Schofield (pictured on the left) is eager to meet all the other young lions and prove they’re not equal.

“I’ve been in the room with Shakur, Tank. I want to give everyone a good fight. I feel like my preparation is getting better, I work hard, I’ve dedicated my whole life to this sport,” said Schofield naming fellow lightweights Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta “Tank” Davis.

Now he meets Mexico’s Tellez who has never been stopped.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” said Tellez.

Even in Las Vegas.

Verona, New York

Meanwhile, in upstate New York, a WBC junior lightweight title rematch finds Robson Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) looking to prove superior to former titlist O’Shaquie Foster (22-3, 12 KOs) on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y. ESPN+ will stream the Top Rank fight card.

Last July, Conceicao and Foster clashed and after 12 rounds the title changed hands from Foster to the Brazilian by split decision.

“I feel that a champion is a fighter who goes out there and doesn’t run around, who looks for the fight, who tries to win, and doesn’t just throw one or two punches and then moves away,” said Conceicao.

Foster disagrees.

“I hope he knows the name of the game is to hit and not get hit. That’s the name of the game,” said Foster.

Also on the same card is lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla (21-0, 16 KOs) who fights Mexico’s Jesus Perez Campos (25-5, 18 KOs).

Perez recently defeated former world champion Jojo Diaz last February in California.

“We’re made for challenges. I like challenges,” said Perez.

Muratalla likes challenges too.

“I think these fights are the types of fights I need to show my skills and to prove I deserve those title fights,” said Fontana’s Muratalla.

Female Undisputed Flyweight Championship

WBA, WBC and WBO flyweight titlist Gabriela “La Chucky” Alaniz (15-1, 6 KOs meets IBF titlist Gabriela Fundora (14-0, 6 KOs) on Saturday Nov. 2, at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. DAZN will stream the clash for the undisputed flyweight championship.

Argentina’s Alaniz clashed twice against former WBA, WBC champ Marlen Esparza with their first encounter ending in a dubious win for the Texas fighter. In fact, three of Esparza’s last title fights were scored controversially.

But against Alaniz, though they fought on equal terms, Esparza was given a 99-91 score by one of the judges though the world saw a much closer contest. So, they fought again, but the rematch took place in California. Two judges deemed Alaniz the winner and one Esparza for a split-decision win.

“I’m really happy to be here representing Argentina. We are ready to fight. Nothing about this fight has to do with Marlen. So, I hope she (Fundora) is ready. I am ready to prepare myself for the great fight of my life,” said Alaniz.

In the case of Fundora, the extremely tall American fighter at 5’9” in height defeated decent competition including Maria Santizo. She was awarded a match with IBF flyweight titlist Arely Mucino who opted for the tall youngster over the dangerous Kenia Enriquez of Mexico.

Bad choice for Mucino.

Fundora pummeled the champion incessantly for five rounds at the Inglewood Forum a year ago. Twice she battered her down and the fight was mercifully stopped. Fundora’s arm was raised as the new champion.

Since that win Fundora has defeated Christina Cruz and Chile’s Daniela Asenjo in defense of the IBF title. In an interesting side bit: Asenjo was ranked as a flyweight contender though she had not fought in that weight class for seven years.

Still, Fundora used her reach and power to easily handle the rugged fighter from Chile.

Immediately after the fight she clamored for a chance to become undisputed.

“It doesn’t get better than this, especially being in Las Vegas. This is the greatest opportunity that we can have,” said Fundora.

It should be exciting.

Fights to Watch

Sat. ESPN+ 2:50 p.m. Robson Conceicao (19-2-1) vs O’Shaquie Foster (22-3).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Floyd Schofield (17-0) vs Rene Tellez Giron (20-3); Gabriela Alaniz (15-1) vs Gabriela Fundora (14-0).

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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Bakhram Murtalaziev was the Fighter of the Month in October

Published

2 days ago

October 31, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Bakhram-Murtalaziev-was-the-Fighter-of-the-Month-in-October

As we close the book on October, let’s look back at the month’s stellar performances. Kenshiro Teraji added another exclamation point to his brilliant career with an 11^th-round stoppage of Cristofer Rosales. England’s Jack Catterall, considered no more than a decent domestic-level talent for most of his career, showed that he had been underrated with a comprehensive 12-round decision over declining Regis Prograis. But the top performance, by a landslide, was delivered by Bakhram Murtalaziev who annihilated Tim Tszyu on Oct. 19 in Orlando, Florida.

Murtalaziev was undefeated (22-0, 16 KOs) and the reigning IBF junior middleweight champion, but he was the underdog and the “B” side. As champions go, and there are roughly five dozen across the 17 weight divisions, the California-based Russian ranked among the least well-known. He had won his title in Berlin with an 11^th-round stoppage of an unexceptional 38-year-old German-Ecuadorian campaigner, Jack Culcay, and he would be making his first defense.

Managed by Egis Klimas who also handles Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko, among others, Bakhram Murtalaziev came from a good barn in the vernacular of a horseplayer, but on paper that alone was insufficient to get him over the hump against Tim Tszyu who a few short months earlier was widely considered the best 154-pound boxer in the world.

That was before he met up with Sebastian Fundora who blemished his record, but that setback could have been written off as a fluke.

As we recall, Tszyu was scheduled to fight Keith Thurman in the initial PBC offering on Amazon Prime Video, but Thurman suffered a biceps injury in training and Fundora was bumped up from the undercard to fill the breach. With only 12 days’ notice, Tim Tszyu went from fighting a five-foot-seven fighter who fights out of an orthodox stance to fighting a southpaw who stood almost a full foot taller. The “Towering Inferno” has his limitations, but poses a special problem to anyone, let alone an opponent with little time to formulate a good game plan.

Tszyu was hampered in the Fundora fight by a gash on his hairline that hampered his vision. The injury happened in the second round when he ducked under Fundora and walked into an elbow. The gash bled copiously throughout the fight and yet the best that Fundora could do was win a split (albeit fair) decision.

To say that Tszyu failed to rebound from the Fundora misadventure would be putting it mildly. Murtalaziev steamrolled him, knocking him to the canvas four times in all before Tszyu’s corner tossed in the towel at the 1:55 mark of the third stanza. It was painful to watch. Referee Chris Young was faulted for allowing the match to continue as long as it did. Compounding Tszyu’s misery, his celebrated father, a first ballot Hall of Famer, was ringside. Kostya Tszyu hadn’t seen his oldest son fight in the flesh since Tim’s pro debut in 2016.

Although the dichotomy is imperfect, Tim Tszyu, who turns 30 on Saturday, is more of a puncher than a boxer. That may work against him so far as clawing his way back to a position of prominence. The noted boxing coach Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, a keen student of the history of boxing in the modern era, expressed this sentiment in a Q and A story for Boxing Scene. “Destructive fighters usually don’t come back to full capacity after bad KO losses,” he said, citing John Mugabi, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, and Naseem Hamed to illustrate his point. Moreover, added Edwards, “No one will ever be afraid of him again.”

But there were two stories that emerged from the Murtalaziev-Tszyu fight. Tim Tszyu crashed, but Bakhram Murtalaziev emerged from obscurity, announcing his presence (pardon the cliché) as a force to be reckoned with. As for his next assignment, the best guess is that it will come against Sebastian Fundora or Errol Spence Jr. who are expected to meet early next year. And based on Murtalaziev’s stunning performance in Orlando, it will be impossible to bet against him.

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Foreman-Moorer: 30 Years Later

Published

3 days ago

October 30, 2024

The Sweet Science

Foreman-Moorer: 30 Years Later

By TSS SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT JAMIE REBNER — In sports, middle-aged athletes are not supposed to beat opponents who are half their age and in their athletic primes. Only the greatest ones can use guile, technique, and experience to compensate for the dulling of speed, reflexes, and athleticism that have unavoidably eroded with time.

That is why George Foreman’s feat of reclaiming the heavyweight title at 45 is so impressive. It was thirty years ago this coming Tuesday, Nov 5, 1994, that Foreman scored a monumental upset in knocking out Michael Moorer to win back the title he had lost twenty years prior against Muhammad Ali in The Rumble in the Jungle. In doing so, Big George became the oldest heavyweight champion, breaking the record previously held by Jersey Joe Walcott, who had won the title at 38.

When Foreman beat Moorer, he was in the twilight of his second career, a comeback that began in 1987. George had retired in 1977 after losing to Jimmy Young and experiencing a spiritual awakening in his locker room. That led him to become a minister and devote himself to his family and congregation. During his retirement, he opened a youth center in Houston, which required much financial support, prompting him to return to the ring.

After winning 24 straight fights from 1987-1990, Foreman lost his first title shot by decision to Evander Holyfield in 1991. He rebounded from that loss with three more wins before getting a crack at the WBO title against Tommy Morrison in 1993. But his performance against Morrison was disappointing and he lost another decision. After that, Foreman was out of the ring for 17 months before he was gifted another title shot against Moorer.

Foreman got that gift because Moorer, due to his sullen demeanor and curtness with the media, was not a draw with the fans. He was also an unproven champion, having beaten Holyfield for two belts only seven months prior. So. Moorer needed a name opponent who could bring in the crowds for his first title defense. And the other top heavyweights like Oliver McCall (WBC champ), Lennox Lewis, and Riddick Bowe didn’t have close to Foreman’s drawing power. So. deserving or not, Foreman was chosen as the challenger to make a fight that would be worth the public’s attention and pockets.

Even Foreman was surprised by getting selected to fight Moorer. “I never in my wildest imagination thought I’d get a title shot again,” he told Associated Press sports columnist Tim Dahlberg. Still, George was determined to make his third time a charm.

But as motivated as George was, there was an irrefutable gap in speed between himself and the much younger champion. From the opening bell, Moorer used his superior quickness and reflexes to make Foreman look stiff and slow. And although George landed punches early on, he fired them one at a time while Moorer countered with multiple shots. But despite Moorer’s advantage in connects, his trainer Teddy Atlas advised him from the get-go not to stand in front of Foreman and make himself a stationary target for a right-hand bomb.

But Moorer failed to heed that advice as he continued to outwork Foreman in the middle rounds. Although he was winning, Moorer’s overconfidence kept him at close quarters, and he continued to circle unwisely to his left and into Foreman’s dangerous right hand. And despite absorbing many quality shots, Foreman never appeared hurt or discouraged thanks to his granite chin and unyielding resolve. He was determined to win and he was willing to walk through as many flush shots as he needed to do so.

With Moorer content to stay in range, Foreman gladly returned his firepower and he landed some telling right crosses, uppercuts, and plenty of thudding body blows during the battle. And while Moorer continued to pile up points and rounds, as long as George was marching forward and throwing shots, he had a puncher’s chance.

And with a minute to go in round ten, that punch came. After missing a three-punch combination, Foreman scored with a one-two, with the right hand landing on the forehead. He immediately repeated that combination but this time aimed the right hand lower on Moorer’s jaw. That slight adjustment caused his bulldozer right to collide perfectly with Moorer’s chin, sending the champion crashing to the canvas and sprawled onto his back. The champion couldn’t beat the count, and just like that, the fight was over, Moorer’s short-lived title run ending before it ever truly began.

With a single, shattering blow, Foreman etched his name into boxing history. Wearing the same trunks from Zaire 20 years before, he was now heavyweight champion of the world once again. It was a shocking result that defied conventional wisdom since seldom do 45-year-old boxers score knockouts over champions in their athletic primes. But Foreman reminded us that he was anything but your typical quadragenarian. He was special, and he had two distinct heavyweight championship reigns to prove it.

—

About the author:

Jamie Rebner lives in Toronto, Canada. He has been a freelance boxing writer since 2016 and his writing has appeared in The Fight City, Boxing News Online, The Ring, and Ringside Seat magazine. His Substack blog is Fight Fundamental, and he is currently writing a book about George Foreman’s comeback. He is also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @J_NReb.

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