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New Books by Thomas Hauser and Bernard Fernandez are Pearls for Boxing Buffs

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Among the regular contributors to this web site are two individuals who have achieved the highest honor accorded a boxing writer; election to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Thomas Hauser and Bernard Fernandez, both of whom entered the Canastota shrine with the class of 2020, aren’t the sort to rest on their laurels. Both have new books in the vault, compilations of previously published stories.

Hauser crashed the pantheon of historically important boxing writers with two acclaimed books, “The Black Lights: “Inside the World of Professional Boxing” (McGraw-Hill, 1986), a penetrating look at the business of boxing at a time when Don King was at his zenith, and “Muhammad Ali: His life and Times” (Simon & Schuster, 1991), an exhaustively researched oral history that is widely considered the definitive Ali biography.

Hauser’s cachet, coupled with a little chutzpah, gave him access to places where few journalists had gone before him, namely into the dressing rooms where certain rituals are performed and boxers and their attendants take care of the final details that gird a boxer for battle as they await the moment of truth when the boxer is summoned to the ring.

A dressing room where Hauser was the proverbial fly on the wall is the common thread in the 35 modules that comprise this anthology. Titled “In The Inner Sanctum” and sub-titled “Behind the Scenes at Big Fights,” the book was released by the University of Arkansas Press where Thomas Hauser has found a home, evolving into a modern-day Pierce Egan.

There’s more to each story than a simple dressing room scene. For example, in the first entry where the mercurial Shannon Briggs is the central character, Hauser delves into the psyche of Briggs, quoting those in his inner circle, and walks us through the fight itself, a controversial win for Briggs over George Foreman.

Consistent with his reputation as boxing’s foremost investigative reporter, Hauser leaves the reader with the distinct impression that something nefarious, not simply myopia, was behind the rotten decision that stripped Foreman of his world heavyweight title in what would prove to be Foreman’s final fight.

Bernard Fernandez completed the trifecta with volume three of “Championship Rounds,” the final installment of his anthology. This one has a foreword by the esteemed John Schulian, a former colleague of Fernandez during Fernandez’s tenure with the Philadelphia Daily News where he spent the last 28 years of his newspaper career.

This reporter feels a special connection to Volume Three. Among the 70 entrants are 27 stories that appeared in these pages, virtually all of which were edited by yours truly, meaning that I got to read them before anyone else and may have laundered some of them by expunging a wayward comma, not that I recall any.

Volume Three begins with a hauntingly beautiful story about a Mississippi Golden Gloves champion who became a war casualty, dying at age 20 in the rice fields of Viet Nam. It is the oldest entry in the book, dating to 1981 when Fernandez hung his hat at the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger, and a sign to the reader that the human-interest stories that follow will profile a wide range of personalities, from the most celebrated boxers of his era to those that toiled in the shadows or on the periphery such as the Runyonesque boxing writer Bert Sugar and Celebrity Boxing huckster Damon Feldman.

Fernandez was the boxing guy for the Philadelphia Daily News but on occasion he would be deployed to a different realm within the sporting cosmos. Volume Three differs from its predecessors in that one of the sections – the last of seven – is devoted to non-boxing personalities, including Pete Rose, Pistol Pete Maravich, Wayne Gretzky, and Nancy Harding.

The first salvo in this section happens to be a story about one of my all-time favorite baseball players, Richie Ashburn, the perfect leadoff hitter who transitioned into the broadcasting booth and became a Philadelphia sports icon.

Written shortly after Ashburn passed away, the story bears the dateline of Tilden, Nebraska, the flyspeck town surrounded by cornfields that was Ashburn’s boyhood home. Metaphorically speaking, Tilden is a million miles away from the glitch of Las Vegas, but Bernard Fernandez — whose assignments frequently took him to Sin City – was comfortable in both environments.

In common with many of the entries in this book, the Ashburn story is caboosed with an epilogue. An epilogue, born of hindsight, puts things in historical perspective and Fernandez is both a good writer and a good historian. “Championship Rounds: Volume Three” can be ordered via Amazon.

Photo: Thomas Hauser and Bernard Fernandez flank BWAA president Joe Santoliquito

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Argentina’s Fernando Martinez Wins His Rematch with Kazuto Ioka

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In an excellent fight climaxed by a furious 12th round, Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez came off the deck to win his rematch with Kazuto Ioka and retain his piece of the world 115-pound title. The match was staged at Ioka’s familiar stomping grounds, the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

In their first meeting on July 7 of last year in Tokyo, Martinez was returned the winner on scores of 117-111, 116-112, and a bizarre 120-108. The rematch was slated for late December, but Martinez took ill a few hours before the weigh-in and the bout was postponed.

The 33-year-old Martinez, who came in sporting a 17-0 (9) record, was a 7-2 favorite to win the sequel, but there were plenty of reasons to favor Ioka, 36, aside from his home field advantage. The first Japanese male fighter to win world titles in four weight classes, Ioka was 3-0 in rematches and his long-time trainer Ismael Salas was on a nice roll. Salas was 2-0 last weekend in Times Square, having handled upset-maker Rolly Romero and Reito Tsutsumi who was making his pro debut.

But the fourth time was not a charm for Ioka (31-4-1) who seemingly pulled the fight out of the fire in round 10 when he pitched the Argentine to the canvas with a pair of left hooks, but then wasn’t able to capitalize on the momentum swing.

Martinez set a fast pace and had Ioka fighting off his back foot for much of the fight. Beginning in round seven, Martinez looked fatigued, but the Argentine was conserving his energy for the championship rounds. In the end, he won the bout on all three cards: 114-113, 116-112, 117-110.

Up next for Fernando Martinez may be a date with fellow unbeaten Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the lineal champion at 115. San Antonio’s Rodriguez is a huge favorite to keep his title when he defends against South Africa’s obscure Phumelela Cafu on July 19 in Frisco, Texas.

As for Ioka, had he won today’s rematch, that may have gotten him over the hump in so far as making it into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. True, winning titles in four weight classes is no great shakes when the bookends are only 10 pounds apart, but Ioka is still a worthy candidate.

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Emanuel Navarrete Survives a Bloody Battle with Charly Suarez in San Diego

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In a torrid battle Mexico’s Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete and his staccato attack staved off the herky-jerky non-stop assaults of Philippine’s Charly Suarez to win by technical decision and retain the WBO super feather world title on Saturday.

What do they feed these guys?

Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) and his elongated arms managed to connect enough to compensate against the surprising Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs) who wowed the crowd at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

An accidental clash of heads opened a cut on the side of Navarrete’s left eye and forced a stoppage midway through the fight.

From the opening round Navarrete used his windmill style of attack with punches from different angles that caught Suarez multiple times early. It did not matter. Suarez fired back with impunity and was just as hungry to punch it out with the Mexican fighter.

It was savage.

Every time Navarrete connected solidly, he seemed to pause and check out the damage. Bad idea. Suarez would immediately counter with bombs of his own and surprise the champion with his resilience and tenacity.

Wherever they found Suarez they should look for more, because the Filipino fighter from Manila was ferocious and never out of his depth.

Around the sixth round the Mexican fighter seemed a little drained and puzzled at the tireless attacks coming from Suarez. During an exchange of blows a cut opened up on Navarrete and it was ruled an accidental clash of heads by the referee. Blood streamed down the side of Navarrete’s face and it was cleared by the ringside physician.

But at the opening of the eighth round, the fight was stopped and the ringside physician ruled the cut was too bad to continue. The California State Athletic Commission looked at tape of the round when the cut opened to decipher if it was an accidental butt or a punch that caused the cut. It was unclear so the referee’s call of accidental clash of heads stood as the final ruling.

Score cards from the judges saw Navarrete the winner by scores of 78-75, 77-76 twice. He retains the WBO title.

Interim IBF Lightweight Title

The sharp-shooting Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) maneuvered past Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the interim IBF lightweight title after 12 rounds.

Both fighters were strategic in their approach with Muratalla switching from orthodox to southpaw at various times of the fight. Neither fighter was ever able to dominant any round.

Defense proved the difference between the two lightweights. Muratalla was able to slip more blows than Abdullaev and that proved the difference. The fighter from Fontana, California was able to pierce Abdullaev’s guard more often than not, especially with counter punches.

Abdullaev was never out of the fight. The Russian fighter was able to change tactics and counter the counters midway through the fight. It proved effective especially to the body. But it was not enough to offset Muratalla’s accuracy.

There were no knockdowns and after 12 rounds the judges scored it 118-110, 119-109 twice for Muratalla who now becomes the mandatory for the IBF lightweight title should Vasyl Lomachenko return to defend it.

Muratalla was brief.

“He was a tough fighter,” said Muratalla. “My defense is something I work on a lot.”

Perla Wins

Super flyweight Perla Bazaldua (2-0) eased past Mona Ward (0-2) with a polished display of fighting at length and inside.

Combination punching and defense allowed Bazaldua to punch in-between Ward’s attacks and force the St. Louis fighter to clinch repeatedly. But Ward hung in there despite taking a lot of blows. After four rounds the Los Angeles-based Bazaldua was scored the winner 40-36 on all three cards. Bazaldua signed a long term contract with Top Rank in March.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Late Bloomer Anthony Cacace TKOs Hometown Favorite Leigh Wood in Nottingham

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Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions was at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, tonight with a card featuring hometown favorite Leigh Wood against Ireland’s Anthony “Apache” Cacace.

Wood, a former two-time WBA featherweight champion, known for dramatic comebacks in bouts he was losing, may have reached the end of the road at age 36. He had his moments tonight, rocking Cacace on several occasions and winning the eighth round, but he paid the price, returning to his corner after round eight with swelling around both of his eyes.

In the ninth, Cacace, an 11/5 favorite, hurt Wood twice with left hands, the second of which knocked Wood into the ropes, dictating a standing 8-count by referee John Latham. When the bout resumed, Cacace went for the kill and battered Wood around the ring, forcing Wood’s trainer Ben Davison to throw in the towel. The official time was 2:15 of round nine.

Akin to Wood, Northern Ireland’s Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) is also 36 years old and known as a late bloomer. This was his ninth straight win going back to 2017 (he missed all of 2018 and 2020). He formerly held the IBF 130-pound world title, a diadem he won with a stoppage of then-undefeated and heavily favored Joe Cordina, but that belt wasn’t at stake tonight as Cacace abandoned it rather than fulfill his less-lucrative mandatory. Wood falls to 28-4.

Semi-Wind-Up

Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor, fighting in his hometown for the first time since pro debut, delighted his fan base with a comprehensive 10-round decision over previously undefeated Troy Jones. Taylor, who improved to 12-0 (9) won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92.

This was Taylor’s first fight with new trainer Malik Scott, best known for his work with Deontay Wilder. The victory may have earned him a match with Commonwealth title-holder Lewis Edmondson. Jones was 12-0 heading in.

Other Bouts of Note

In his first fight as a featherweight, Liam Davies rebounded from his first defeat with a 12-round unanimous decision over Northern Ireland’s previously undefeated Kurt Walker. Davies, who improved to 17-1 (8), staved off a late rally to prevail on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. It was the first pro loss for the 30-year-old Walker (12-1), a Tokyo Olympian.

In a mild upset, Owen Cooper, a saucy Worcestershire man, won a 10-round decision over former Josh Taylor stablemate Chris Kongo. The referee’s scorecard read 96-94.

Cooper improved to 11-1 (4). It was the third loss in 20 starts for Kongo.

A non-televised 8-rounder featured junior welterweight Sam Noakes in a stay-busy fight. A roofer by trade and the brother of British welterweight title-holder Sean Noakes, Sam improved to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a third-round stoppage of overmatched Czech import Patrik Balez (13-5-1).

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry

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