For Whom the Bell Tolled: 2023 Boxing Obituaries PART TWO (July-Dec.)

Published

7 months ago

December 31, 2023

Here is the concluding segment of our annual two-part, end-of-year necrology where we pay homage to boxing notables who left us this year.

July

July 1 – ANTWUN ECHOLS – An alternate on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, he was a three-time world title challenger, losing to Bernard Hopkins twice and to Anthony Mundine. His career went south after he was shot in the leg during an altercation outside a Davenport, Iowa grocery store in the summer of 2007 and he lost 15 of his last 16 fights. In Davenport at age 62 of an apparent heart attack.

July 8 – PATRICK AOUISSI – A 1992 Olympian, he went on to win the European cruiserweight title. His record as a pro, 24-6, included a loss to Argentine cruiserweight Marcelo Dominguez in his lone crack at a world title. At age 57 from a stroke suffered at a hospital in Vienne, France, where he was a cancer patient.

July 13 – KARL ZURHEIDE – A light heavyweight, active from 1964 to 1979, the Wisconsin journeyman finished 39-29-5, but was better than his record. Eight of his defeats came at the hands of future world title-holders. In retirement, he worked as a parole officer and promoted a handful of club fights. At age 78 at a hospital in Milwaukee after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

July 20 – JUAN ‘KID’ MEZA – The first fighter from Mexicali to win a world title, Meza, born Jesus Fernandez, captured the WBC 122-pound title in 1984 with a sensational first-round knockout of Jaime Garza. He lost the belt to Lupe Pintor in his second defense and retired after three more fights with a record of 44-8. At age 67 in Mexicali where he lived alone.

July 20 – AL ROMANO – A fixture on the New England club fight scene in the 1960s and 1970s, Romano won 66 of 99 fights and was recognized at various times as the New England and North American welterweight champion. In retirement he had a long career as a North Adams, MA, police officer. At age 71 in a nursing home in Williamtown, MA, where he was suffering dementia.

July 28 – DAVEY HILTON SR. – The patriarch of Canada’s most successful and most dysfunctional boxing family – two of his sons, Matthew and Davey Jr, won world titles – Davey Sr was a pretty fair fighter in his own right, finishing his career in 1976 with a record of 67-16 per boxrec. At age 83 at his home in Montreal.

July 30 – JOSE LUIS PIMENTEL – The twin brother of bantamweight knockout artist and LA fan favorite Jesus “Little Poison” Pimentel, Jose, a U.S. Army veteran, had three fights with Sho Saijo, losing the rubber match (L TKO 2) when Saijo was the defending WBA world featherweight champion. At age 83 in Chino Hilla, CA, after a long battle with dementia.

August

Aug. 8 – ROY HARRIS – Abetted by a fanciful back story, Harris wangled a match with defending heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson. He had no business in the same ring with Patterson, or with Sonny Liston, or destroyed him in one round, but the “Backwoods Battler” from Cut and Shoot, Texas, was outstanding at the regional level. In retirement, he practiced law and was elected County Clerk, a post he held for 28 years. At age 90 in Conroe, Texas.

Aug. 22 – RENE WELLER – A 1976 Olympian for West Germany, Weller carved out a magnificent record (55-1-2) as a pro without defeating a world class opponent. A major celebrity in Germany during his run as the European lightweight champion, his 1999 conviction for selling cocaine was an international news story. In retirement, he cultivated a new fan base as a contestant on reality TV shows. At age 69 in Pforzheim, his birthplace, after a nine-year battle with dementia.

September

Sept. 6 – MIKE STAFFORD – A fixture on the Cincinnati amateur boxing scene for three decades, Stafford, a greatly admired trainer, developed future title-holders Rau’shee Warren and Adrien Broner from scratch, helped coach the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Olympic squads, and was twice named the National Coach of the Year. In Cincinnati, his birthplace, after a brief and unspecified illness.

Sept. 19 – EDDIE GAZO – The second fighter from Nicaragua to win a world title following the great Alexis Arguello, Gazo won the WBA 154-pound belt at Managua in 1977 with a 15-round decision over Argentine veteran Angel Castellini and made three successful defenses in the Orient before losing the belt to Masashi Kudo in Japan. Late in his career, he was KOed in brief encounters with Thomas Hearns, John Mugabi, and Julian Jackson. At age 73 in Leon, Nicaragua.

Sept. 25 – LUIGI MINCHILLO – A member of Italy’s 1976 Olympic team, he went on to become a European 154-pound champion and two-time world title challenger. He lost only five of 60 pro fights, but three of those losses were to future Hall of Famers Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, and Mike McCallum and he went the distance with Hearns and Duran. At age 68 at a hospital in Pesaro, Italy, where he had a heart attack.

Sept. 27 – BOB SHERIDAN – Enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016, “Colonel Bob” (an honorary title) called more fights in more places around the world than any sportscaster in history. As the anchor of the international feed for Don King Promotions, he was ironically more well-known overseas than in his native U.S. At age 79 in Henderson, Nevada, where he had been battling assorted health issues for more than a decade.

October

Oct. 7 – ERIC GRIFFIN – No great shakes as a pro, Griffin left the sport with a 16-4 record after a failed bid to win the WBO 105-pound title, but the Broussard, Louisiana native – robbed of a medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics – was flat-out one of the best U.S. amateurs of all time, a four-time national amateur champion and twice a finalist for the prestigious Sullivan Award. At age 55 at a hospital in Lafayette, LA, from complications of diabetes.

Oct. 13 – HUGH RUSSELL – A bronze medalist for Ireland at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, “Little Red” had only 19 pro fights, winning 17, but won British titles at 118 and 112 pounds and acquired a coveted Lonsdale Belt. After boxing, he spent four decades as a photographer with the Irish News. At age 63 in Belfast, NI, after a short illness.

November

Nov. 5 – MIKE PICCIOTTI – A welterweight, Picciotti cultivated a strong following in the rings of Philadelphia and Atlantic City where he fashioned a 31-4-3 record during an 11-year career that began in 1976. In retirement, he battled numerous health problems while working as a union carpenter to support his growing family. At age 66 in Glenolden, PA.

Nov. 8 – TYRONE TRICE – A three-time world title challenger, Trice was involved in some of the best fights of his era. His 14-round war with welterweight kingpin Simon Brown in 1988, televised live on CBS from France, was a humdinger and his 1990 match with Kevin Pompey set a CompuBox record (since broken) for punches thrown. He finished 43-10 (34 KOs). In Milwaukee, his hometown, at age 60 from an undisclosed illness.

Nov. 24 – SAMUEL TEAH – Born in Liberia, Teah juggled his boxing career with assorted jobs, most recently as a bus driver for the city of Philadelphia. He was 36 years old when he was fatally shot under mysterious circumstances during a mid-afternoon altercation on a sidewalk in Wilmington, Delaware. His 19-5-1 record included a win over O’Shaquie Foster who currently holds the WBC super featherweight title.

December

Dec. 20 – OVE OVESEN – The author of the definitive book on the history of boxing in Denmark, Ovesen was also a prominent judge. He worked 72 world title fights including such biggies as McGuigan-Pedroza, Hagler-Duran, and Pryor-Arguello I. At age 86 in Holstebro, Denmark, from complications of Alzheimer’s.

Dec. 28 (approx.) – CEM KILIC – Born in Germany of Turkish descent, Kilic moved to Los Angeles at age 19 to further his boxing career. A super middleweight, he compiled a 17-1 record and was active as recently as this past August. In Sherman Oaks, CA, at age 29 after a lengthy battle with mental health and substance abuse issues.

To read Part One of this feature CLICK HERE

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For Whom the Bell Tolled: 2023 Boxing Obituaries PART ONE (Jan.-June)

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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