The WBC Wasn’t the First Entity to Overturn the Result of the Fenech-Nelson Fight

Published

2 years ago

November 14, 2022

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The June 28, 1991 fight card in the outdoor arena at the Mirage in Las Vegas was a star-studded event. There were dozens of celebrities in attendance including such notables as filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee, actors Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis, comedian Robin Williams, rapper M.C. Hammer, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, Michael Jordan, and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

There were also a good smattering of Australians. They came not to see the main event, the rematch between Mike Tyson and Razor Ruddock, but in hopes of seeing their countryman Jeff Fenech become the youngest fighter to win a world title in four weight classes. Fenech, 27, had won world titles at 118, 122, and 127 pounds. His opponent Azumah Nelson, 32, the pride of Ghana, was the reigning WBC super featherweight (130-pound) champion.

This reporter was there too.

Fenech vs. Nelson was an entertaining scrap. Fenech started slowly and things looked dismal for him when he suffered a cut over his left eye in round three. But he was the aggressor throughout, repeatedly cornering Nelson and then leaning into him, flailing away with body punches that landed with a conspicuous thud. Azumah rallied in the 11^th, but the Aussie dominated the final round wherein he landed the best punch of the fight, staggering Nelson with a hard right to the jaw.

This thin summary was pieced together from old newspaper reports. Looking back 31 years, I have no memory of what transpired inside the ropes. There’s just too much clutter between my ears. But I distinctly remember my reaction when the decision was announced as a draw. “Bull****,” I exclaimed to no one in particular, a bleat drowned out by a concordant chorus of boos.

Las Vegas judge Jerry Roth scored the fight 115-113 for Fenech. His Las Vegas counterpart Dave Moretti had it 114-114, but Puerto Rican judge Miguel Donate saw a different fight. He had it 116-112 for Azumah Nelson, thereby enabling Nelson, co-managed by Carl King, stepson of promoter Don King, to retain his title. (For what it’s worth, Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, working for Showtime, had it 117-111 for Fenech, awarding him nine rounds.)

In Australia, the decision was greeted with a spasm of outrage. People screaming for justice lit up the switchboard at the headquarters of Sky Channel which had beamed the fight to more than two thousand outlets across the country. RIPPED OFF AGAIN, LES DARCY, PHAR LAP AND NOW JEFF FENECH blared the headline over Roy Masters’ story in the Sydney Morning Herald. (The legendary Darcy was blackballed by American boxing promoters after leaving Australia to avoid conscription in World War I. He died in 1917 at age 21 in Memphis, Tennessee, from blood poisoning attributed to a botched tooth extraction. Phar Lap, although bred in New Zealand, competed extensively in Australia and came to be recognized as that country’s greatest thoroughbred race horse. Shipped to America, he died in 1932 in his stall in Atherton, California, under mysterious circumstances three weeks after setting a track record in the rich Agua Caliente Handicap at Tijuana.)

The Fenech-Nelson fight of 1991 was in the news again last week. At its annual convention held this year in Acapulco, Mexico, with Jeff Fenech in attendance, the World Boxing Council retroactively overturned the result and awarded Fenech his fourth title. According to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, a special panel was convened to review the tape of the fight and the panelists were universally in accord that Fenech had been wronged.

This news transported me back to the day that I learned to my mortification that my first boxing book was smudged by more than a few errors. The revelation came in an otherwise generous review of my book by a good friend, Hall of Fame boxing writer Graham Houston.

The book — “Prizefighting: An American History” (released in hardback by McFarland in 2008 and re-released in paperback in 2020) – included two chapters on Mike Tyson, one of which included a passing reference to the Fenech-Nelson fight, an encounter, I wrote, that “produced catcalls when the decision was awarded to Nelson.”

But, of course, the decision was not awarded to Nelson; it was a draw. I was right there when it happened and I still got it wrong.

There are no small errors in a book of non-fiction. Every error degrades the credibility of the author. I wish that I could go back and change it. And there’s little consolation in the fact that the WBC vindicated me last week, in a fashion, by ordaining Jeff Fenech the winner. It was a dumb ruling that potentially opens a Pandora’s Box. (Will the Mexico City-based WBC now overturn the bad decision that enabled Jaime Munguia to keep his title when he fought Dennis Hogan in 2019? Fat chance.)

History would show that Jeff Fenech and Azumah Nelson would fight twice more. Eight months after their Las Vegas episode they locked horns again, this time before 30,000-plus at a stadium in Melbourne and to the great dismay of the Aussies, their hero left his fight in the gym. Fenech was knocked down in each of the first two frames and there wasn’t a whimper of protest when U.S. referee Arthur Mercante stepped in and waived the fight off in the eighth round.

Fighting on his home turf, Fenech was considered such a shoo-in that Fenech-Nelson II was named The Ring magazine Upset of the Year, a distinction that was quite an anomaly; a very rare instance of a monster upset forged by the title-holder rather than the challenger.

Sixteen years later, long after both fighters had retired and after both had been ushered into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, they shed the cobwebs and went at it again. Fenech prevailed, winning a 10-round decision.

The revisionists at the WBC may disagree, but by winning the quasi-rubber match, Fenech knotted the series at 1-1-1.

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

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TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2025

TSS Press

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The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.

Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.

Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11^th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)

Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.

The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).

Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”

A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.

Other winners:

Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon

Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney

Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire

Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix

The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.

The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.

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Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday

Published

3 days ago

April 15, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.

He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.

Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.

“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.

“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)

Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.

During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”

He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.

He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.

On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.

Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.

If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.

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Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City

Published

6 days ago

April 12, 2025

David A. Avila

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In the showdown between undefeated welterweight champions Jaron “Boots Ennis walked away with the victory by technical knockout over Eamantis Stanionis and the WBA and IBF titles on Saturday.

No doubt. Ennis was the superior fighter.

“He’s a great fighter. He’s a good guy,” said Ennis.

Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) faced Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 10 KOs) at demonstrated an overpowering southpaw and orthodox attack in front of a sold-out crowd at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It might have been confusing but whether he was in a southpaw stance or not Ennis busted the body with power shots and jabbed away in a withering pace in the first two rounds.

Stanionis looked surprised when his counter shots seemed impotent.

In the third round the Lithuanian fighter who trains at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, began using a rocket jab to gain some semblance of control. Then he launched lead rights to the jaw of Ennis. Though Stanionis connected solidly, the Philly fighter was still standing and seemingly unfazed by the blows.

That was a bad sign for Stanionis.

Ennis returned to his lightning jabs and blows to the body and Stanionis continued his marauding style like a Sherman Tank looking to eventually run over his foe. He just couldn’t muster enough firepower.

In the fifth round Stanionis opened up with a powerful body attack and seemed to have Ennis in retreat. But the Philadelphia fighter opened up with a speedy combination that ended with blood dripping from the nose of Stanionis.

It was not looking optimistic for the Lithuanian fighter who had never lost.

Stanionis opened up the sixth round with a three-punch combination and Ennis met him with a combination of his own. Stanionis was suddenly in retreat and Ennis chased him like a leopard pouncing on prey. A lightning five-punch combination that included four consecutive uppercuts delivered Stanionis to the floor for the count. He got up and survived the rest of the round.

After returning shakily to his corner, the trainer whispered to him and then told the referee that they had surrendered.

Ennis jumped in happiness and now holds the WBA and IBF welterweight titles.

“I felt like I was getting in my groove. I had a dream I got a stoppage just like this,” said Ennis.

Stanionis looked like he could continue, but perhaps it was a wise move by his trainer. The Lithuanian fighter’s wife is expecting their first child at any moment.

Meanwhile, Ennis finally proved the expectations of greatness by experts. It was a thorough display of superiority over a very good champion.

“The biggest part was being myself and having a live body in front of me,” said Ennis. “I’m just getting started.”

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was jubilant over the performance of the Philadelphia fighter.

“What a wonderful humble man. This is one of the finest fighters today. By far the best fighter in the division,” said Hearn. “You are witnessing true greatness.”

Other Bouts

Former featherweight world champion Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) showed that moving up in weight would not be a problem even against the rugged and taller Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs) in winning by a convincing unanimous decision.

The quicksilver southpaw Ford ravaged Mattice in the first round then basically cruised the remaining nine rounds like a jackhammer set on automatic. Four-punch combinations pummeled Mattice but never put him down.

“He was a smart veteran. He could take a hit,” said Ford.

Still, there was no doubt on who won the super featherweight contest. After 10 rounds all three judges gave Ford every round and scored it 100-90 for the New Jersey fighter who formerly held the WBA featherweight title which was wrested from him by Nick Ball.

Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) made good on a promise to his departed daughter by knocking out Argentina’s Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs) in their welterweight battle.

Giyasov floored Ocampo in the first round with an overhand right but the Argentine fighter was able to recover and fight on for several more rounds.

In the fourth frame, Giyasov launched a lead right to the liver and collapsed Ocampo with the body shot for the count of 10 at 1:57 of the fourth round.

“I had a very hard camp because I lost my daughter,” Giyasov explained. “I promised I would be world champion.”

In his second pro fight Omari Jones (2-0) needed only seconds to disable William Jackson (13-6-2) with a counter right to the body for a knockout win. The former Olympic medalist was looking for rounds but reacted to his opponent’s actions.

“He was a veteran he came out strong,” said Jones who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “But I just stayed tight and I looked for the shot and I landed it.”

After a feint, Jackson attacked and was countered by a right to the rib cage and down he went for the count at 1:40 of the first round in the welterweight contest.

Photo credit: Matchroom

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