Former LA Times Scribe Steve Springer Reflects on His Days on the Boxing Beat

Published

2 years ago

May 7, 2023

Rick Assad

Former-LA-Times-Scribe-Steve-Springer-Reflects-on-his-Days-on-the-Boxing-Beat

Nestled in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, Steve Springer, a former sportswriter who for nearly 35 years covered several sports including the world of boxing, is at peace.

Springer, who spent 25 years at the Los Angeles Times, is definitely thankful for the opportunity to be ringside, which he was for 23 years, but doesn’t miss those days when he covered boxing.

“I really don’t keep up with it like I used to. I don’t find many of today’s fighters interesting or exciting and I don’t have any interest in MMA or WrestleMania,” he said. “Yes, I know, I’m just an old guy living in the past, but it was a glorious past.”

In what way is boxing different for Springer, who wrote 14 books including three bestsellers?

“It’s changed, but not for the better. A century ago, the top sports columnists basically covered only four sports: boxing, baseball, horse racing and college football. Boxing’s popularity had faded by the time I covered the sport (1985 to 2008), but was still relevant,” he offered. “Today, however, it ranks third in popularity among combat sports behind MMA and WrestleMania. Back when I covered boxing, Butterbean, an overweight four-round fighter, was a novelty act, comic relief before the big matches. Today, Jake Paul, another gimmick, wannabe boxer, is a main attraction. Sad, but true.”

Springer didn’t intend to become a sportswriter. Instead he hoped to be the second coming of Vin Scully, the legendary Dodgers announcer who for 67 years was the voice of the team.

Springer did play-by-play for basketball, football and baseball at California State University Northridge, where he graduated in 1968 with a broadcasting degree and later did play-by-play for high school football in El Centro from 1969 through 1972.

Springer kicked off his writing career in 1974 at the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle where he later became sports editor and won various awards, then left in 1979 when he joined the Orange County Register where he worked until 1983, covering the Lakers before being hired by the Times that same year.

Once assigned to boxing, what was the attraction for Springer?

“The opportunity to cover dramatic life-and-death events and write about colorful, fascinating people who have often had to battle all their lives just to survive,” he said of what made boxing exciting. “Every fighter has a story and no one in boxing ever refuses to tell it to you unless it’s because they have just been knocked out.”

Interviewing some of the legends was for Springer the whipped cream on the ice cream sundae.

“Given an opportunity to talk to Muhammad Ali, Don King, Mike Tyson, Bob Arum, Floyd Mayweather Jr., George Foreman and Joe Frazier, to name just a few, there’s no chance you’ll walk away without a dozen or more new stories floating around in your head,” he said.

And if you’re lucky, you might speak with someone not entirely famous but still worthy of your time.

“Actually, everybody in the sport has a tale worth telling, from the trainers and corner men to the promoters and managers,” Springer said. “There was a little-known member of King’s organization who once gave me a line that kind of summed up the richness of the material generated by those in the fight game. “I was in boxing for 40 years,” he said. “The first three years were about boxing. The last 37 were about revenge.”

Sometimes what happens inside the ring during the course of a career has debilitating results.

This wasn’t pleasant for Springer, who was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the Nat Fleischer Award given by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

“I didn’t like the results of the brutality in the ring. I covered two fights that ended with one of the boxers dying,” he pointed out. “I wrote a story about a fighter named Bobby Chacon who had to carry a map of his neighborhood in his shirt pocket because he couldn’t remember how to find his way home. He was 44 years old at the time. And, of course, there was the sadness of watching Ali in his final years. Very few boxing stories end happily.”

A featherweight and super featherweight champion, Chacon passed away in 2016 at the age of 64.

Springer covered the entirety of Oscar De La Hoya’s epic career and co-wrote a biography with the 1992 Olympic gold medalist titled “American Son: My Story.”

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De La Hoya is a complex person and one Springer knows fairly well.

“Oscar has two passions outside of boxing: golf and singing. He often insisted that he was going to try to join the Senior PGA golf tour when he qualified by reaching the age of 50. He hit that milestone several months ago, but there are no signs yet that he’s seriously considering trying to take that big leap,” he said.

“Oscar has a great sense of humor on the golf course. Playing with him one time, I hit my tee shot into a ravine so far down that I couldn’t see the flag on the green. With Oscar waiting for me on that green, I hit a blind shot that somehow landed in the cup. From then on, Oscar always called me Mr. Hole-In-Two.”

Springer spoke about De La Hoya’s fondness for music.

“His love of music came from his mother, Cecilia, who died of cancer at 39. He still remembers the day he got into his mother’s car to join her in a loud duet in the driveway of their family home,” he said. “Oscar went on to sing a song that was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance.”

Springer quoted De La Hoya. “If I boxed because of my father,” he said, “why not sing because of my mother?”

When Mike Tyson was the heavyweight kingpin, noted Springer, anything could happen inside or outside the ring.

“The obvious choice [for the most bizarre fight that I covered] had nothing to do with the skills of the fighters. It was because of the jarring end of the fight after Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s right ear and spit it out on the canvas in the third round, then bit Holyfield’s left ear before the round was over,” he said of that eventful evening at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 1997.

Springer was also there at Tyson’s hearing on the matter.

“At a hearing later held by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to decide if Tyson should be stripped of his license, he was asked if he wished to say anything before a vote was taken,” Springer said. “All I have to say,” Tyson said, “is, I’m not Mother Teresa, but I’m not Charles Manson either.”

Springer added: “I was also present five years later at a New York press conference for a Tyson-Lennox Lewis match that turned into a brawl which ended with Tyson sinking his teeth into one of Lewis’ legs,” he recalled. “Tyson was definitely the Hannibal Lecter of the ring.”

Springer’s coverage and storylines included numerous all-time greats, whom he admired for different reasons.

“Manny Pacquiao for his ability to stretch his talent all the way from flyweight to junior middleweight, while winning the lineal championship in five weight divisions (flyweight, featherweight, super featherweight, light welterweight and welterweight) in a career that spanned four decades,” he said, “George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins for their longevity, each fighting for 28 years with Foreman becoming the oldest heavyweight champion at 45, then retiring at 48, Hopkins at 51, and Floyd Mayweather for going 50-0, beating the record of the legendary Rocky Marciano.”

Boxers have a vested interest in speaking with the press according to Springer.

“I’ve never had a boxer say, “No comment.” In other sports, athletes are exposed to the media for months at a time through a long season,” he said. “They get tired of talking to reporters, especially when they are in a slump. There is no pressure on them to talk because, if they duck reporters, they are still assured of their playing time as long as they produce.”

This isn’t true for boxers. “Fighters, on the other hand, have no guarantees about future bouts. If they are ambitious young fighters, they need to make a name for themselves. If they are serious contenders, they need a title-holder to agree to fight them. Even if they themselves hold a title, they need publicity to beef up interest in their next fight, thus beefing up the size of their purse,” he said. “The more time they can get their face on TV or their name in the papers or on the Internet, the more opportunities they will have for fame and fortune. ‘No comment’ doesn’t cut it.”

There were some negatives covering the manly sport according to Springer.

“I never felt conflicted. I certainly didn’t like seeing fighters sadly losing their lives or, even if they survived, losing their minds, suffering from pugilistic dementia, a condition often referred to as punch drunk,” he said. “It’s the risk they all knowingly take because, in so many cases, it’s the best path open to them to escape the poverty and despair that plagues so many of them and their families.”

What does Springer believe will make boxing more palatable for the viewer?

“The biggest problem facing boxing is the sanctioning bodies, the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO and several smaller organizations,” he said. “This alphabet soup spells disaster for the sport. While the WBC is the biggest and most authentic of the group, even though it too has flaws, the others often have their own designated champions. Every titleholder is forced to pay exorbitant sanctioning fees in order to keep their championship belts.”

Springer does reference the good old days when he was on the boxing beat.

“Long gone and never to return are the days when there was only one recognized champ in each weight division and many qualified contenders,” he said. “Back then, every sports fan, a follower of boxing or not, knew the name of the one and only heavyweight champion.”

The offshoot is that there are additional hurdles for everyone involved.

“As a result of this mishmash system, the best fights often never happen because of disputes over money, rankings of the fighters and other issues,” Springer said. “If there was a national boxing commissioner and he or she had the power to establish national rankings and order fights between champions of various sanctioning bodies, boxing itself would be the winner. Imagine if the Dodgers refused to play the Giants or the Lakers wouldn’t schedule the Celtics for whatever reason. It wouldn’t take long for fans of MLB or the NBA to start looking elsewhere to spend their dollars.”

Springer concluded his thought: “I can’t foresee this radical change to ever happen in boxing,” he said. “Too much money and too much power would be lost by the powers that be. The biggest losers with the status quo are the boxing fans.”

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Skylar Lacy Blocked for Lamar Jackson before Making his Mark in Boxing

Published

2 days ago

January 19, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Skylar-Lacy-Blocked-for-Lamar-Jackson-Before-Making-his-Mark-in-Boxing

Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.

As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.

This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.

A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”

Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.

Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.

Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)

Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.

When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.

Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).

For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.

“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.

As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.

As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”

Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.

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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce

Published

4 days ago

January 18, 2025

David A. Avila

Mizuki-Hiruta-Dominates-in-her-U.S.-Debut-and-Trinidad-Wins-Too-at-Commerce

Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.

Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.

In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.

It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.

For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.

Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.

It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.

“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”

Trinidad Wins Too

Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.

Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.

“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”

After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.

Other Bouts

Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.

Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.

Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.

More Winners

Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Published

5 days ago

January 16, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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