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The Hauser Report: A Club Fight Promoter Faces a Choice
On October 13, 2022, Larry Goldberg made his debut as a professional boxing promoter [https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/74244-the-hauser-report-a-promoters-pro-debut]. Since then, he has promoted two more fight cards, the most recent being on Thursday, February 23. All three of Goldberg’s cards have been at Sony Hall in New York.
Each of Goldberg’s fights this past Thursday night was an A-side vs. B-side match-up with the A-side fighter winning as expected.
The opening bout – light-heavyweight Frederic Julan (12-2, 10 KOs) vs. Decarlo Perez (19-7, 6 KOs, 3 KOs by) – was dreadful. Julan (a southpaw) fought like he was in a sparring session. That was enough to earn a unanimous eight-round decision but not enough to give Goldberg a reason to put him on one of his shows again.
Next, former Mongolian Olympian Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (4-0, 2 KOs) demolished a game but over-matched Giovanni Gutierrez (11-3-1, 6 KOs, 2 KOs by) in a scheduled six-round lightweight bout that lasted until the 1:46 mark of round three when Gutierrez’s corner wisely stopped the carnage.
After that, Michael Hughes (3-1, 1 KO, 1 KO by) earned a unanimous decision over Nelson Morales (3-2) in a spirited encounter between two light-punching super-lightweights.
That was followed by a unanimous-decision triumph for Terrell Bostic (7-1, 1 KO) over Clay Burns (10-16-2, 4 KOs, 1 KO by) in a six-round lightweight bout. Burns has now lost ten of his last eleven fights (and the guy he beat has 38 losses). Here, it should be noted that multiple sources say one of Burns’s cornermen arrived at Sony Hall “under the influence” and that the New York State Athletic Commission barred him from Burns’s corner.
In the main event, 41-year-old Heather Hardy (23-2, 4 KOs) won an eight-round majority decision over Taynna Cardoso (5-1, 1 KO). The fight was originally scheduled as a super-featherweight bout. But Hardy (whose skills have diminished with age) was overweight early in the week and had to pay Cardoso $1,500 out of her purse to raise the contract weight to 135 pounds.
Now let’s cut to the chase.
It’s difficult for a promoter to make money on club fights in New York. So far, Goldberg hasn’t. Each of his shows to date has lost money. One reason for this is the high fixed costs of promoting in New York (venue, medical insurance, etc). He has also overpaid some fighters and incurred unnecessary expenses (for example, more airfare and hotels than should have been required) to bring boxers to New York as opponents for favored fighters. This is necessary (he’s told by mentors) because the favored fighters are ticket-sellers. Except most of the favored fighters haven’t sold many tickets.
That leads to Goldberg’s biggest problem. Revenue from ticket sales has fallen short of the mark.
Boxing at its best promises that, at any moment in a fight, the narrative can change. But this tension is absent from most A-side vs. B-side bouts.
In truth, too many of Goldberg’s fights haven’t been much fun to watch. So far, he has followed the common formula of A-side vs. B-side promotions. In his three fight cards to date, the A-side fighter has won fourteen of fifteen bouts. The exception was an inconsequential women’s fight on his second card.
Here’s a suggestion. It’s not rocket science. Goldberg should make good competitive fights. He needs an identity, a brand. And that brand should be entertaining club fights. His mantra should be, “It’s about the fights” – not “this guy is supposed to be a ticket seller” or “I’m doing a favor for this manager.”
It makes sense to accommodate exciting young prospects like Andy Dominguez (who fought on Goldberg’s first two fight cards). But as a fight fan, I’d rather see 7-9 vs. 8-10 in a competitive action fight than five one-sided bouts. People shouldn’t have to ask, “Who’s fighting tonight?” They should feel confident that, when they come to one of Goldberg’s shows, they’ll see competitive action fights.
To repeat: I’d rather see two guys with ordinary records square off in a heated brawl where each fighter has a chance to win than watch a procession of prospects steamroll a procession of no-hope opponents. And presumably, Goldberg’s B-side fighters would relish the opportunity to participate in fights where they have a realistic chance to win. They might even take less money to fight, giving Larry a chance to turn a profit.
Goldberg is passionate about boxing. Sony Hall has great ambiance. And there’s a need for good club fights in New York. Larry is now at a point where he has to establish an identity for his shows. He shouldn’t be in the business of trying to build champions. He’s in the business of promoting club fights. He should promote the most entertaining fights possible on a show-by-show basis.
Or he can keep promoting A-side vs. B-side fights and keep losing money. But if he goes down that road, boxing won’t be a business for him. It will be an expensive hobby.
* * *
The choice of Dmitry Bivol by the Boxing Writers Association of America as the 2022 “Fighter of the Year” is one more piece of evidence in support of the proposition that boxing is in decline in the United States.
From 1938 through 2004, only seven of sixty-seven “Fighter of the Year” honorees were foreign-born (Kid Gavilan, Ingemar Johansson, Dick Tiger, Ken Buchanan, Carlos Monzon, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Lennox Lewis). Three more (Emile Griffith, Carlos Ortiz, and Felix Trinidad) were born in U.S. territories.
These numbers evened even out from 2005 through 2015 when six of eleven honorees were foreign-born.
Now the pendulum has swung completely in the opposite direction Over the past seven years. Teofimo Lopez (2020) is the only American to be honored by the BWAA as its “Fighter of the Year.” Other winners during this time period include Bivol, Canelo Alvarez (twice), Carl Frampton, Vasiliy Lomachenko, and Oleksandr Usyk.
* * *
Boxing fans are used to hyperbole. But every now and then, someone makes a statement that’s so absurd that it cries out for rebuttal. Enter DAZN CEO Shay Segev.
DAZN’s boxing program has been a disappointment to fans and to DAZN itself. The network has lost more than five BILLION dollars over a three-year period. A large chunk of that is attributable to boxing.
DAZN is now planning to stream Anthony Joshua’s April 1 fight against Jermaine Franklin. In a February 6 press release, Segev was quoted as saying that Joshua-Franklin would be “the most eagerly anticipated fight of Anthony Joshua’s career.”
This begs the question: “More anticipated that Joshua-Klitschko? Joshua-Usyk I and II? Joshua-Ruiz II? Joshua-Whyte?”
I assume that Segev isn’t stupid. Becoming CEO of a major corporation requires a certain level of intelligence. But saying that Joshua-Franklin will be “the most eagerly anticipated fight of Anthony Joshua’s career” evinces either a total lack of understanding on Segev’s part of the business that he’s charged with overseeing or an embarrassing lack of candor.
* * *
It was a given that the pay-per-view numbers for Don King’s January 21 fight card headlined by Bermane Stiverne vs. Jonathan Guidry would be dismal. King styled the event at Casino Miami Jai Alai with the slogan “Let Freedom Ring.” But there was next-to-no pre-fight promotion and, in truth, little to promote.
The card was distributed by donking.com and FiteTV at a cost to buyers of $19.95. A reliable source says that there were “about four hundred buys.” That’s an embarrassingly low number.
So why does King, age 91, keep promoting?
Because of their breathing and circulation mechanisms, if some species of sharks stop swimming, they’ll die. Promoting is more than what Don King does. It’s who and what he is. It would be nice if he could end his promotional career on a high note. But as time goes by, that seems less and less likely to happen.
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – In the Inner Sanctum: Behind the Scenes at Big Fights – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Boxing Trainer Bob Santos Paid his Dues and is Reaping the Rewards
Bob Santos, the 2022 Sports Illustrated and The Ring magazine Trainer of the Year, is a busy fellow. On Feb. 1, fighters under his tutelage will open and close the show on the four-bout main portion of the Prime Video PPV event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Jeison Rosario continues his comeback in the lid-lifter, opposing Jesus Ramos. In the finale, former Cuban amateur standout David Morrell will attempt to saddle David Benavidez with his first defeat. Both combatants in the main event have been chasing 168-pound kingpin Canelo Alvarez, but this bout will be contested for a piece of the light heavyweight title.
When the show is over, Santos will barely have time to exhale. Before the month is over, one will likely find him working the corner of Dainier Pero, Brian Mendoza, Elijah Garcia, and perhaps others.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) turned 28 last month. He is in the prime of his career. However, a lot of folk rate Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) a very live dog. At last look, Benavidez was a consensus 7/4 (minus-175) favorite, a price that betokens a very competitive fight.
Bob Santos, needless to say, is confident that his guy can upset the odds. “I have worked with both,” he says. “It’s a tough fight for David Morrell, but he has more ways to victory because he’s less one-dimensional. He can go forward or fight going back and his foot speed is superior.”
Benavidez’s big edge, in the eyes of many, is his greater experience. He captured the vacant WBC 168-pound title at age 20, becoming the youngest super middleweight champion in history. As a pro, Benavidez has answered the bell for 148 rounds compared with only 54 for Morrell, but Bob Santos thinks this angle is largely irrelevant.
“Sure, I’d rather have pro experience than amateur experience,” he says, “but if you look at Benavidez’s record, he fought a lot of soft opponents when he was climbing the ladder.”
True. Benavidez, who turned pro at age 16, had his first seven fights in Mexico against a motley assortment of opponents. His first bout on U.S. soil occurred in his native Pheonix against an opponent with a 1-6-2 record.
While it’s certainly true that Morrell, 26, has yet to fight an opponent the caliber of Caleb Plant, he took up boxing at roughly the same tender age as Benavidez and earned his spurs in the vaunted Cuban amateur system, eventually defeating elite amateurs in international tournaments.
“If you look at his [pro] record, you will notice that [Morrell] has hardly lost a round,” says Santos of the fighter who captured an interim title in only his third professional bout with a 12-round decision over Guyanese veteran Lennox Allen.
Bob Santos is something of a late bloomer. He was around boxing for a long time, assisting such notables as Joe Goossen, Emanuel Steward, and Ronnie Shields before becoming recognized as one of the sport’s top trainers.
A native of San Jose, he grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood but not in a household where Spanish was spoken. “I know enough now to get by,” he says modestly. He attended James Lick High School whose most famous alumnus is Heisman winning and Super Bowl winning quarterback Jim Plunkett. “We worked in the same apricot orchard when we were kids,” says Santos. “Not at the same time, but in the same field.”
After graduation, he followed his father’s footsteps into construction work, but boxing was always beckoning. A cousin, the late Luis Molina, represented the U.S. as a lightweight in the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, and was good enough as a pro to appear in a main event at Madison Square Garden where he lost a narrow decision to the notorious Puerto Rican hothead Frankie Narvaez, a future world title challenger.
Santos’ cousin was a big draw in San Jose in an era when the San Jose / Sacramento territory was the bailiwick of Don Chargin. “Don was a beautiful man and his wife Lorraine was even nicer,” says Santos of the husband/wife promotion team who are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Don Chargin was inducted in 2001 and Lorraine posthumously in 2018.
Chargin promoted Fresno-based featherweight Hector Lizarraga who captured the IBF title in 1997. Lizarraga turned his career around after a 5-7-3 start when he hooked up with San Jose gym operator Miguel Jara. It was one of the most successful reclamation projects in boxing history and Bob Santos played a part in it.
Bob hopes to accomplish the same turnaround with Jeison Rosario whose career was on the skids when Santos got involved. In his most recent start, Rosario held heavily favored Jarrett Hurd to a draw in a battle between former IBF 154-pound champions on a ProBox card in Florida.
“I consider that one of my greatest achievements,” says Santos, noting that Rosario was stopped four times and effectively out of action for two years before resuming his career and is now on the cusp of earning another title shot.
The boxer with whom Santos is most closely identified is former four-division world title-holder Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. The slick southpaw, the pride of Gilroy, California, the self-proclaimed “Garlic Capital of the World,” retired following a bad loss to Omar Figueroa Jr, but had second thoughts and is currently riding a six-fight winning streak. “I’ve known him since he was 15 years old,” notes Santos.
Years from now, Santos may be more closely identified with the Pero brothers, Dainier and Lenier, who aspire to be the Cuban-American version of the Klitschko brothers.
Santos describes Dainier, one of the youngest members of Cuba’s Olympic Team in Tokyo, as a bigger version of Oleksandr Usyk. That may be stretching it, but Dainier (10-0, 8 KOs as a pro), certainly hits harder.
This reporter was a fly on the wall as Santos put Dainier Pero through his paces on Tuesday (Jan. 14) at Bones Adams gym in Las Vegas. Santos held tight to a punch shield, in the boxing vernacular a donut, as the Cuban practiced his punches. On several occasions the trainer was knocked off-balance and the expression on his face as his body absorbed some of the after-shocks, plainly said, “My goodness, what the hell am I doing here? There has to be an easier way to make a living.” It was an assignment that Santos would have undoubtedly preferred handing off to his young assistant, his son Joe Santos, but Joe was preoccupied coordinating David Morrell’s camp.
Dainer’s brother Lenier is also an ex-Olympian, and like Dainier was a super heavyweight by trade as an amateur. With an 11-0 (8 KOs) record, Lenier Pero’s pro career was on a parallel path until stalled by a managerial dispute. Lenier last fought in March of last year and Santos says he will soon join his brother in Las Vegas.
There’s little to choose between the Pero brothers, but Dainier is considered to have the bigger upside because at age 25 he is the younger sibling by seven years.
Bob Santos was in the running again this year for The Ring magazine’s Trainer of the Year, one of six nominees for the honor that was bestowed upon his good friend Robert Garcia. Considering the way that Santos’ career is going, it’s a safe bet that he will be showered with many more accolades in the years to come.
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Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
There’s not much happening on the boxing front this month. That’s consistent with the historical pattern.
Fight promoters of yesteryear tended to pull back after the Christmas and New Year holidays on the assumption that fight fans had less discretionary income at their disposal. Weather was a contributing factor. In olden days, more boxing cards were staged outdoors and the most attractive match-ups tended to be summertime events.
There were exceptions, of course. On Jan. 17, 1941, an SRO crowd of 23,180 filled Madison Square Garden to the rafters to witness the welterweight title fight between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. (This was the third Madison Square Garden, situated at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, roughly 17 blocks north of the current Garden which sits atop Pennsylvania Station. The first two arenas to take this name were situated farther south adjacent to Madison Square Park).
This was a rematch. They had fought here in October of the previous year. In a shocker, Zivic won a 15-round decision. The fight was close on the scorecards. Referee Arthur Donovan and one of the judges had it even after 14 rounds, but Zivic had won his rounds more decisively and he punctuated his well-earned triumph by knocking Armstrong face-first to the canvas as the final bell sounded.
This was a huge upset.
Armstrong had a rocky beginning to his pro career, but he came on like gangbusters after trainer/manager Eddie Mead acquired his contract with backing from Broadway and Hollywood star Al Jolson. Heading into his first match with Zivic – the nineteenth defense of the title he won from Barney Ross – Hammerin’ Henry had suffered only one defeat in his previous 60 fights, that coming in his second meeting with Lou Ambers, a controversial decision.
Shirley Povich, the nationally-known sports columnist for the Washington Post, conducted an informal survey of boxing insiders and found only person who gave Zivic a chance. The dissident was Chris Dundee (then far more well-known than his younger brother Angelo). “Zivic knows all the tricks,” said Dundee. “He’ll butt Armstrong with his head, gouge him with his thumbs and hit him just as low as Armstrong [who had five points deducted for low blows in his bout with Ambers].”
Indeed, Pittsburgh’s Ferdinand “Fritzie” Zivic, the youngest and best of five fighting sons of a Croatian immigrant steelworker (Fritzie’s two oldest brothers represented the U.S. at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics) would attract a cult following because of his facility for bending the rules. It would be said that no one was more adept at using his thumbs to blind an opponent or using the laces of his gloves as an anti-coagulant, undoing the work of a fighter’s cut man.
Although it was generally understood that at age 28 his best days were behind him, Henry Armstrong was chalked the favorite in the rematch (albeit a very short favorite) a tribute to his body of work. Although he had mastered Armstrong in their first encounter, most boxing insiders considered Fritzie little more than a high-class journeyman and he hadn’t looked sharp in his most recent fight, a 10-round non-title affair with lightweight champion Lew Jenkins who had the best of it in the eyes of most observers although the match was declared a draw.
The Jan. 17 rematch was a one-sided affair. Veteran New York Times scribe James P. Dawson gave Armstrong only two rounds before referee Donovan pulled the plug at the 52-second mark of the twelfth round. Armstrong, boxing’s great perpetual motion machine, a world title-holder in three weight classes, repaired to his dressing room bleeding from his nose and his mouth and with both eyes swollen nearly shut. But his effort could not have been more courageous.
At the conclusion of the 10th frame, Donovan went to Armstrong’s corner and said something to the effect, “you will have to show me something, Henry, or I will have to stop it.” What followed was Armstrong’s best round.
“[Armstrong] pulled the crowd to its feet in as glorious a rally as this observer has seen in twenty-five years of attendance at these ring battles,” wrote Dawson. But Armstrong, who had been stopped only once previously, that coming in his pro debut, had punched himself out and had nothing left.
Armstrong retired after this fight, siting his worsening eyesight, but he returned in the summer of the following year, soldiering on for 46 more fights, winning 37 to finish 149-21-10. During this run, he was reacquainted with Fritzie Zivic. Their third encounter was fought in San Francisco before a near-capacity crowd of 8,000 at the Civic Auditorium and Armstrong got his revenge, setting the pace and working the body effectively to win a 10-round decision. By then the welterweight title had passed into the hands of Freddie Cochran.
Hammerin’ Henry (aka Homicide Hank) Armstrong was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990. Fritzie Zivic followed him into the Hall three years later.
Active from 1931 to 1949, Zivic lost 65 of his 231 fights – the most of anyone in the Hall of Fame, a dubious distinction – but there was yet little controversy when he was named to the Canastota shrine because one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who had fought a tougher schedule. Aside from Armstrong and Jenkins, he had four fights with Jake LaMotta, four with Kid Azteca, three with Charley Burley, two with Sugar Ray Robinson, two with Beau Jack, and singles with the likes of Billy Conn, Lou Ambers, and Bob Montgomery. Of the aforementioned, only Azteca, in their final meeting in Mexico City, and Sugar Ray, in their second encounter, were able to win inside the distance.
By the way, it has been written that no event of any kind at any of the four Madison Square Gardens ever drew a larger crowd than the crowd that turned out on Jan. 17, 1941, to see the rematch between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. Needless to say, prizefighting was big in those days.
A recognized authority on the history of prizefighting and the history of American sports gambling, TSS editor-in-chief Arne K. Lang is the author of five books including “Prizefighting: An American History,” released by McFarland in 2008 and re-released in a paperback edition in 2020.
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Jai Opetaia Brutally KOs David Nyika, Cementing his Status as the World’s Top Cruiserweight
In his fifth title defense, lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) successfully defended his belt with a brutal fourth-round stoppage of former sparring partner David Nyika. The bout was contested in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia where Opetaia won the IBF title in 2022 with a hard-earned decision over Maris Briedis with Nyika on the undercard. Both fighters reside in the general area although Nyika, a former Olympic bronze medalist, hails from New Zealand.
The six-foot-six Nyika, who was undefeated in 10 pro fights with nine KOs, wasn’t afraid to mix it up with Opetaia although had never fought beyond five rounds and took the fight on three weeks’ notice when obscure German campaigner Huseyin Cinkara suffered an ankle injury in training and had to pull out. He wobbled Opetaia in the second round in a fight that was an entertaining slugfest for as long as it lasted.
In round four, the champion but Nyika on the canvas with his patented right uppercut and then finished matters moments later with a combination climaxed with an explosive left hand. Nyika was unconscious before he hit the mat.
Opetaia’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants Opetaia to unify the title and then pursue a match with Oleksandr Usyk. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter, holds the WBA and WBO versions of the title and is expected to be Opetaia’s next opponent. The WBC diadem is in the hands of grizzled Badou Jack.
Other Fights of Note
Brisbane heavyweight Justis Huni (12-0, 7 KOs) wacked out overmatched South African import Shaun Potgieter (10-2), ending the contest at the 33-second mark of the second round. The 25-year-old, six-foot-four Huni turned pro in 2020 after losing a 3-round decision to two-time Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov. There’s talk of matching him with England’s 20-year-old sensation Moses Itauma which would be a delicious pairing.
Eddie Hearn’s newest signee Teremoana Junior won his match even quicker, needing less than a minute to dismiss Osasu Otobo, a German heavyweight of Nigerian descent.
The six-foot-six Teremoana, who akin to Huni hails from Brisbane and turned pro after losing to the formidable Jalolov, has won all six of his pro fights by knockout while answering the bell for only eight rounds. He has an interesting lineage; his father is from the Cook Islands.
Rising 20-year-old Max “Money” McIntyre, a six-foot-three super middleweight, scored three knockdowns en route to a sixth-round stoppage of Abdulselam Saman, advancing his record to 7-0 (6 KOs). As one can surmise, McIntyre is a big fan of Floyd Mayweather.
The Opetaia-Nyika fight card aired on DAZN pay-per-view (39.99) in the Antipodes and just plain DAZN elsewhere.
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