Paul vs. Silva: A Circus on Steroids or a Bonafide Athletic Competition?

Published

1 year ago

October 27, 2022

Paul vs. Silva: A Circus on Steroids or a Bonafide Athletic Competition?

In 1958, RCA Records came out with a record album depicting then-23-year-old Elvis Presley, in a preposterous gold lame suit, entitled 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t be Wrong. OK, so the kid from Tupelo, Miss., could sing, but his rocket-to-the-moon rise in popularity as the king of rock ’n’ roll was particularly amazing considering that just a few years earlier he was a low-paid truck driver who counted himself fortunate to land an occasional gig shaking his hips at a Deep South county fair.

No one would yet dare to describe 25-year-old Jake “The Problem Child” Paul as a pugilistic equivalent of Presley, but there are certain numbers that suggest the YouTube icon from Cleveland already is encroaching on the fringes of late 1950s Elvis territory and pressing for more. By the spring of 2014, the younger of the two boxing Paul brothers – Logan is 27 — had amassed 5.3 million internet followers and two billion views on the discontinued Vine app. When he signed a multi-fight contract with Showtime in May 2021, Paul could boast of a whopping 20.4 million YouTube followers. There are future mortal-lock inductees into the International Boxing Hall of Fame who would just about sell their souls for that humongous a fan base, or even its smaller but continually expanding boxing subset, which is why everyone interested in the sport will be watching to see how Paul (officially 5-0 with four knockouts) fares in his Showtime pay-per-view bout ($59.95) with aging martial arts legend Anderson “Spider” Silva (3-1, 2 KOs) Saturday night at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The eight-round cruiserweight main event will be staged under boxing rules.

As always, Paul, whose unapologetic and unrestrained demeanor outside the ring constitutes a significant part of his notoriety, pulled no punches with his remarks at a press conference to announce what figures to be his most difficult challenge in his bid to eventually be recognized as a legitimately skilled fighter and not just a sideshow curiosity.

“My previous opponents were all dickheads,” Paul said with the lack of subtlety that has marked his incursion into an arena in which flung expletives are commonplace. “Anderson Silva is the nicest guy in the world and we love him. If my opponent is a dickhead, I’m gonna treat him as a dickhead and beat his f—— ass. I think people have seen that side of me, but I respect this man. I’m still gonna knock him out, but respectfully knock him out.”

Paul’s low estimation of the boxing capabilities of his previous victims is entirely justified. Ali Eson Gib, former NBA player Nate Robinson, Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley all were making their pro debuts when they lost to the Problem Child, with Woodley coming back for a rematch in which he was knocked out in the sixth round. A murderers’ row it wasn’t. Silva, however, has sterling credentials; the Brazilian-born southpaw at one time was widely regarded as the best MMA fighter in the world, and his most obvious attribute during his heyday was his striking ability. If he nailed the other guy with a punch that landed flush, he likely was going down and out. But Silva is 47 now, and Paul is not the only foe he will be confronting when the opening bell rings. Age is the silent thief that comes in the night, siphoning bits and pieces from even a great champion’s compendium of positive attributes. Former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins can attest to that; he was just weeks shy of his 52^nd birthday when he suffered the only loss inside the distance of his 28-year pro career, against 27-year-old Joe Smith Jr. on Dec. 17, 2016. B-Hop is absolutely certain that even a moderately younger and less-depleted version of himself would have defeated Smith, but no matter the outcome Saturday night he can’t compare his final ring appearance to a matchup he considers fraudulent.

“This is a total attempt to hoodwink the public,” sneered Hopkins who, like Paul, is temperamentally disinclined to tone down the chatter when his ire is up. “I do believe the boxing community is too smart to legitimize something like this. This fight is a circus on steroids.

“Showtime should be ashamed to promote this as a real event based on Jake Paul’s opponent. It’s the lowest of the low. Me and Joe Smith was a legitimate fight. Paul’s is not. This nonsense, this buffoonery, has got to stop.”

All right, that is one opinion. It is not the only one. Taking his turn at the figurative podium is Stephen Espinoza, president of Showtime Sports, whose company has long been involved in high-level boxing and, as of 2021 when it signed him to a multi-fight contract, the perhaps grand experiment that is Jake Paul. Maybe Paul throwing hands with the Anderson Silva of the here and now is not quite the acid test it might have been years ago, but it nonetheless stands as a major hurdle that must be cleared on Paul’s way to bigger and better things.

“The commitment that he made to us when we started into business with him is that he would progressively increase the risk with each fight. There’s no question he’s done that,” Espinoza said. “But to be completely candid, there were more than a few members of Jake’s team that were opposed to the Silva fight. This man is a legendary combat sports athlete with great striking ability who has already demonstrated a good amount of boxing skill.

“Look, I can be as much of a purist as anyone else in the sport, and I’ll confess I was initially a skeptic of the concept. But what converted me was, (a), watching his fights. It was apparent even in his early fights that Jake has a level of skill and enthusiasm that made me think that he could pull this off. Secondly, he has respect for the sport and the ambitions he has for the protection of fighters and expansion of the sport, even tutoring other fighters on how to use social media to their benefit.

“Clearly, he’s been interacting with his audience, learning from what they like. You don’t generate a fan base like his by accident. It’s calculated and part of a very intelligent plan. His fans are not people who picked up on a website six months ago and suddenly discovered him. He’s been gathering his supporters for more than a decade.”

Perhaps Espinoza is a visionary, part of a rare breed of soothsayers who recognize what the public wants before the masses want it, and caters to that need in its incubation stages. He recognizes past failures of similar ploys, such as when promoter Gary Shaw hitched his wagon to a menacing YouTube brawler named Kimbo Slice in an impossible quest to turn him into a heavyweight champion. But, hey, if something doesn’t work once or even twice, try, try again. The main requirement for a breakthrough is identifying just the right banner-carrier.

“I think Jake is a bit of a unicorn,” Espinoza continued. “He has the physical skill and talent, and the mental determination, to seriously undertake boxing and not as a fad or an attention-grabbing stunt. The usual procedure is to take a really talented, skilled boxer and make him popular, to make people care about him. This experiment is a little bit of the reverse. You take someone who already has a huge fan base, and also has certain physical abilities and athleticism, and make him into a serious boxer right in front of your eyes. I think it’s fascinating to watch.”

To his credit, Paul has been outspoken in his support of better pay and more recognition for boxers, especially previously underserved women boxers, and he has undeniably raised the profile of Amanda Serrano by having her appear on his cards. In doing so, there is mounting evidence he is drawing a younger demographic into the well of traditional boxing fans, a group that has been skewing older for some time.

“One of the questions at the start of this endeavor with Jake was, `Are these people just Jake Paul boxing fans, or can they become truly committed boxing fans? We’ve seen that question answered. These people coming in are becoming fans of the sport. I’ve seen it in Cleveland, a bunch of young kids clamoring for an autograph of a Puerto Rican female boxer (Serrano) who, as skilled as she is, largely toiled in obscurity for most of her career until Jake got more people interested in boxing.”

Espinoza also stresses that the investment in Jake Paul does not detract from the resources Showtime is putting and always has into the sport.

“Jake is not taking opportunities from anyone else,” Espinoza said. “Pay per view is all about eating what you kill. It’s not like we’re depleting our boxing budget and can’t put on three other championship fights. We’re able to do both, side by side, without compromising the long history of supporting championship-level fights that Showtime has been known for. That is not an either/or situation.”

So, what does the long view of Jake Paul look like? Maybe a quickie flameout, but maybe something far more intriguing. Maybe even as intriguing as it would have been had Elvis Presley, who played a boxer in 1962’s Kid Galahad, ditched his music career, took up the sweet science full-time and against all odds became a world champion. Elvis, who for years had dabbled in martial arts, did throw reasonably convincing overhand rights in that one, as Paul does now.

“Jake has the attributes to fight not just credible professional boxers, but contender-level and maybe even championship-level ones,” Espinoza said of the possible winning lottery ticket he hopes he has purchased. “Nothing would make him happier than in three years, five years, to look back and say, `No one thought I could do this. I’ve removed all questions about my boxing credibility.’ I think that’s the goal.”

Bernard Fernandez, named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the Observer category with the Class of 2020, was the recipient of numerous awards for writing excellence during his 28-year career as a sports writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. Fernandez’s first book, “Championship Rounds,” a compendium of previously published material, was released in May of last year. The sequel, “Championship Rounds, Round 2,” with a foreword by Jim Lampley, is currently out. The anthology can be ordered through Amazon.com and other book-selling websites and outlets.

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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

8 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to liver the from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round time. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

4 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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