Tuesday, July 31, 2007

A NOSE FOR BOXING


From left: Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez are ready for their rematch

When he had to give up the fight against Rafael Marquez while sitting on his stool at the end of the seventh round, Israel “Izzy” Vazquez was a beaten fighter. He had just engaged in twenty-one minutes of fury against one of the top pound-for-pound boxers on the planet and he gave as good as he got.

But in the end it was his nose that stunk up his night.

It was a battle that Rafael Marquez ended up winning, well, by a nose. And just when the plug was pulled on a rose of a fight that was really beginning to smell like a winner, poor Izzy Vazquez’ nose looked like it had been taken off in some sort of plastic surgery gone wrong and then re-attached upside down.

The damage obviously came from an accumulation of shots, but in the fifth round Izzy Vazquez took two jabs to the nose and then he turned away in pain. Despite the obvious problems that were as plain to see, as well, the nose on your face, he bravely fought on for another two and a half rounds.

Showtime blow-by-blow man, and recent Boxing Writers Association of America Sam Taub Brodcaster of the Year award winner, Steve Albert, called the first fight and he’ll be calling the rematch. Albert says he saw no problem with the way the fight ended and he backs up the notion that obviously Vazquez was in tremendous pain.

“Given the kind of warrior that Israel Vazquez is, you can’t get on him,” said Albert. “You gotta’ believe him, he just could not continue. He couldn’t breathe through the nose.”

And about the fight? Well, Albert said this; “It was about as good as it can get up until the point of the stoppage.”

And everybody agrees, so on Saturday night they’ll do it again.

As Vazquez prepares to go back into the lion’s den with Marquez at the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas it should come as no surprise that the only question anybody is asking him is; “How’s the nose?”

“I'm not concerned at all, there’s no need to be concerned,” says Izzy about his schnozz. “The results and diagnosis of the doctor have been very encouraging. Thank God it wasn't a dangerous condition. I've been able to continue with sparring and things are going very well. In fact, if it weren't that people keep stopping and asking me how my nose is feeling, I would have forgotten that I had a problem.”

Vazquez ended up having an operation to remove the cartilage from his nose and the doctor that performed the surgery has given him a clean bill of health to fight only five months after the injury and the loss.

For Vazquez the loss to Rafael Marquez was a tough one for him to, pardon the expression, snuff out of his mind. He felt that if he would have been able to continue that he would have won the fight, but in the end there was just no way that he could have continued.

“It was tough,” says Izzy. “I was unable to breathe. It was a tough night and a difficult loss but I feel good now and my nose feels good. I'm ready to come back and take back the title. I feel really good right now. The condition was some kind of a metabolic blockage. The doctor's diagnosis was that the left nostril was completely closed and the right nostril was only 10 percent available for breathing.”

At the time of the stoppage it was a close fight. Two of the official judges scorecards had Marquez slightly ahead by two points while the third judge had the fight dead even. So it’s perplexing that the odds makers have Rafael Marquez such a strong betting favorite heading into Saturday night. It’s as though they forgot that Marquez was the one that was decked the first time around.

Whatever the case, Vazquez, who was born in Mexico City, is a proud warrior in the ring who turned pro at only 17 years old back in 1995. He scraped his way through the dusty rings of Mexico, came to America and won two world titles. He brings a record of 41-4 (30)KO into the rematch on Saturday.

When asked if he feels that he still needs to put on a crowd-pleasing performance after twelve years as a pro, he says he does. “Actually, I do feel a tremendous sense of obligation. The public pays money to see - whether they sit there or watch on TV and it's extremely important that I give it my all each and every round. It's very important, I want to give a good performance because I want to look good and I want to make sure that I come through for the public.”

Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein called the first fight on Showtime and he’ll call the rematch this weekend as well. As always, Bernstein is excited and enthused and he offered his thoughts on Izzy.

“You can put a check mark next to Israel Vazquez’ name in several categories,” said Bernstein. “Courage, power, skill. Well, add resiliency. Very difficult to keep him on the canvas. He’s been there before but he gets up and when he gets up he gets up with renewed vigor.”

Bernstein is speaking of Vazquez’ ability, like a good Timex, to take a licking and keep on ticking. All looked lost for him last year against Jhonny Gonzalez when he was being beaten from pillar to post before he rallied back gallantly to knock Gonzalez out in the tenth round and successfully defend his title in one of the fights of the year. And don’t forget that Vazquez was able to deck Marquez in the first fight with a left hook in the third round and it was the first and only time that Marquez has ever been down as a professional.

When asked what he thought of the first fight, Bernstein had this to say. “I had the fight 67-65. I think Rafael Marquez was a little more precise. And both fighters fought very, very well. But Rafael Marquez threw more combinations and was a little bit more precise. And of course the knockdown made it closer than it otherwise would have been. It was – make no mistake – an extraordinarily well-boxed match. It was as exciting and as interesting as any match you would want.”

That only leaves one question: Izzy, what about the nose?

“No, the nose, it won't be a factor,” he says hopefully. And you can see the sparkle in his brown eyes when he thinks of the future possibilities should he prevail in the rematch.

“I'm just going to do my best. I'll do in the ring whatever I'm trained to do in the ring for that fight for that night. And I'm just going to prepare for victory.”

You see, Izzy Vazquez can smell a win.

July 2007

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE MARVIN HAGLER?


From left: Bernard Hopkins, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Oscar De La Hoya

It was nice to see Marvelous Marvin Hagler in Las Vegas for last weekend’s match between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright. (And his Christian name was legally changed to “Marvelous” in a Massachusetts court). But at the same time it was a grim reminder of how far boxing has fallen from notice by the mainstream sports fan in this country since the days when Hagler ruled the roost.

Hagler was a special guest on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights and at one point he was joined by Oscar De La Hoya (aka The Golden Boy) and there could have been no more of a stark contrast of the past and the present than there is between Hagler and De La Hoya. It was like night and day on the stage together.

Think of it this way if you want and then the absurdity hits home. Oscar De La Hoya made more money in his one fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. than Marvin Hagler did in his entire hall of fame career - which consisted of 67 fights and 12 successful title defenses.

During his heyday, Hagler said, “I’m a monster. I don’t like my opponent. I only have one thing on my mind, and that’s destruction – to get him the hell out of there. And when the fight is over we shake hands.”

Before moving to the hometown of Rocky Marciano to escape the hell of the Newark, New Jersey riots, Hagler grew up as a loner in the ghetto and once said, “If I had a dollar in my pocket…I kept my mouth shut.”

During Marvin’s time there was a plethora of great fights and great fighters with megafight after megafight. But sadly, boxing has become a sport where a superfight like Mayweather versus De La Hoya or Holyfield versus Tyson only comes along once or twice a decade.

Corporations such as AOL-Time Warner, which owns HBO, and Viacom, which runs Showtime, are the new shot callers. The corporate suits have scrubbed away the grime of the fight game and they are antiseptic and clinical in their approach to promotion and presentation.

So as Hagler relived old times the other night on the television I’m sure a lot of boxing fans felt a certain tingle. Back when Hagler ruled the middleweights with an iron fist he came into the ring to the song “War” and wore trucker hats emblazoned with terms like “Destruct and Destroy”.

The “Marvelous One” routinely locked himself away in the jail-like solitude of his training camp in Provincetown, Massachusetts and sharpened his body and mind to such a fine point that he was like a surgeon’s scalpel on fight night. Hagler slashed Mustafa Hamsho’s face so viciously that he left it a bloody mess with three cuts that required 55 stitches. With Marvin there was never any question of his intentions when he stepped through the ropes, into the squared circle and onto the world stage.

In comparison, Oscar De La Hoya trained for his recent fight with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at his home in Puerto Rico and nestled in each night with his wife and son at their palatial, oceanfront estate.

De La Hoya should have remembered that it was Hagler who once said, “It’s hard to get up and do roadwork when you’re wearing silk pajamas.”

There were title defenses against “Hands of Stone” Roberto Duran, Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns and “Sugar” Ray Leonard. But there was also great fights against guys like John “The Beast” Mugabi, Vito Antuofermo and Mustafa Hamsho. For Hagler, every fight was a grudge fight and the blood and savagery always made you remember how serious he and this game they call boxing can be.

So it was quite an event to watch him sitting beside the serene and cordial Oscar De La Hoya on the eve of the skirmish called “Coming to Fight” between Hopkins and Wright.

Oscar was once a helluva fighter in his own right but as he has aged he has only fought a few times in the past several years and he is now, at best, a part-time fighter. His “fights” have become glorified events more than anything else. His fencing duel against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. this past May was devoid of drama and urgency. Floyd and Oscar danced around trying not to lose rather than trying to win. In the end, the fight that was going to save boxing, deflated slowly over twelve rounds like a balloon with all the air being slowly drained from it.

Hagler would never have let things do down in such a fashion.

Personalities and stories are what make fights and fighters – and while De La Hoya has a decent life story his personality can best be described as vapid and vacuous. Hagler had a rawness about him and a side to him that was waiting to explode like a powder keg. With Marvelous Marvin Hagler you never knew exactly what you were going to get – you just knew it was going to be interesting and possibly scary.

He was a solitary beast that was content spending long hours in dark gyms searching for the respect and admiration that he always felt never came his way. One Boston columnist who covered Hagler during the glory years said, “I always feel Marvin is on automatic pilot. He gives you ‘Destruct and Destroy’ and ‘I put myself in jail’. But he never tells you anything about himself, something funny or sad in his life.”

Asked to describe Hagler all of those years ago, Hagler’s former attorney said, “There are external people and internal people. Marvin is an internal person. He is able to live within himself. Everything important to him happens right inside his head.”

When ESPN’s Brian Kenny asked De La Hoya the other night if he was going to continue fighting, Oscar’s answer was nothing like any fighter has ever uttered before. “Most importantly, I just have to talk to my wife,” claimed De La Hoya. “Because my wife is the one who knows what I should do. My wife is the one who can tell me; ‘You know what, you still have your legs, your reflexes are O.K. You know, this fighter is good for you.’ “So we’ll have to wait and see.”

It’s hard to imagine Marvin Hagler, who quit school to go to work at age 16 and was an unwed father at about the same time, allowing his wife to select his opponents.

No, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was so ornery that somebody once quipped, “the reason his head is bald is because hair is afraid to grow there.” One of his sparring partners once said Hagler was so mean that, “You hit Marvin and he just gets happier.”

After the draw decision was announced in his fight against Vito Antuofermo (a fight which most thought Hagler deserved the decision) he said he made up his mind then and there about the fight racket and how things were going to go for him in the future. “That fight taught me a lesson,” said Marvin. “You know what they want, man? They only want blood and knockouts. That’s all they want. Either you’re going to be the bad guy or the good guy. And I ain’t never been the good guy.”

No, the good guys of the world are smiling and soft and have names like “The Golden Boy”.

Guys that Marvelous Marvin Hagler used to chew up and spit out.


July 2007

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

EVERYBODY ASKS ME


Everybody asks me and I tell them to think of how impressive IBF heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko looked against Lamon Brewster a couple weeks ago when he made Lamon quit after six rounds. Then I tell them to think of how thrilling IBF welterweight belt holder Kermit Cintron was last weekend in Atlantic City when he completely obliterated Walter Matthysse in less than two rounds. Both of those fighters are of course trained by the incomparable Emanuel Steward.

Taking that into consideration you would have to conclude then that WBC and WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor is simply not listening to Steward. Or perhaps it’s just that Jermain Taylor is as good now as he is ever going to be and that he has gone as far as he can with his ability. Maybe he is what he is.

Taylor, in many respects, has been a tremendous success with two wins in the books over Bernard Hopkins and the draw with Winky Wright. Taylor has also made four successful title defenses. But on the other hand he has been tremendously disappointing with many close, disputed decisions in those title fights.

Taylor has been raked over the coals in the boxing media, especially since he came up flat against Cory Spinks in their fight back in May. However, Jermain Taylor can make a lot of people forget about the disputed decisions if he can beat #1 contender Kelly Pavlik on September 29th in Atlantic City. It’s the best fight that can be made at 160 and kudos to both Lou DiBella and Bob Arum for making the fight happen.

On a final note as it pertains to Jermain Taylor. Everybody asks me and I tell them that the fact that Taylor says he cannot make the middleweight division limit of 160 pounds anymore and that his fight with Kelly Pavlik will be his last as a middleweight, is very disappointing news. It’s troubling that a young guy like Taylor, at only 28 years old, is having difficulty making weight. Think of Marvin Hagler who fought at 160 pounds for his entire career and Bernard Hopkins who made 160 pounds for over 15 years and those two were never far from their fighting weight. I’ll bet Taylor weighs in the vicinity of 190 pounds or more right now. Hagler and Hopkins would never have let themselves get that far out of shape.

Everybody asks me and I think that new WBO titlist Paul “The Punisher” Williams is going to be punished for being too good and that he is going to scare away a lot of the other welterweights. I think Williams is going to find out that just because you beat the man – that doesn’t make you “the man”. As a result, he’s going to be getting shut out of all the big fights at 147.

Everybody asks me and I tell them that if Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito fought 100 times you would see the same fight that we saw Saturday night 100 times with a close decision that could go either way every time. I had Williams winning the fight 115-113. Like everyone else, I saw Williams winning most of the early rounds with Margarito coming on in the middle to later rounds. The problem for Margarito is that he couldn’t stay consistent on the inside and really let his hands go. I think it was a case of him not being active enough recently. Margarito is the type of guy that should stay busy and my feeling is that the busier he is the better he is. Fighting so infrequently over the past few years really hurt Margarito in the fight against Williams, plus he was outfought all night, especially in the last round.

There is no way that the WBC welterweight champion, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will ever get into the ring with Paul Williams. There is also no way that promoter Bob Arum is ever going to let WBA belt wearer Miguel Cotto get anywhere near Williams.

Everybody asks me and I tell them that Kermit Cintron, the IBF alphabet title holder and Williams would be a great fight. I think the best fight for Williams is Cintron. However, I just don’t think that Emanuel Steward, who is also Cintron’s manager, will ever let Kermit get anywhere near Williams. Steward has always shied away from ever having his guys fight left-handers. In this case Steward has a great influence on opponent selection for Cintron. Many people forget that Steward is very accomplished as a manger and his work with Thomas Hearns and others was exquisite. I don’t see Steward letting Cintron in with Luis Collazo or Joshua Clottey either. A Clottey fight maybe - but no for Williams or Collazo.

Everybody asks me and I tell them I will need to see more of Kermit Cintron before I make a decision on him. The IBF title he holds is a sham/paper championship that he picked up after Mayweather was rid of it. Cintron has improved since Antonio Margarito blew him out, no question about it, but Cintron now needs to show consistency with world class opposition. I think the fight you’ll see for Cintron next is Joel Julio. Julio has renewed his career since losing to Carlos Quintana and he looked decent last week in knocking out Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage on ESPN2. Both Cintron and Julio are promoted by Main Events and I think Manny Steward would agree to the match-up.

With Oscar De La Hoya rumored to coming back to the welterweight division that’s going to put a lot of guys and a lot of fights on hold. Mayweather will likely not return if Ricky Hatton is going to face De La Hoya. I view De La Hoya’s comeback as a bad thing for boxing because if he is only planning on fighting once a year what’s the point? For De La Hoya and the guy he fights it’s great because they’ll all make a ton of money, but it puts a hold on the division for some other guys and it prevents otherwise great fights from being made. My feeling is that Hatton beats Oscar anyway. Hatton is a real fighter who is active. Like Bob Arum says, “Oscar is businessman now.”

I’d like to see Oscar in with Hatton because I think Oscar gets knocked out again. Oscar can’t take it to the body (see Bernard Hopkins) and Hatton will test him severely there (see Jose Luis Castillo).

Everybody asks me and I tell them that should Antonio Margarito still get his fight with Miguel Cotto it would be similar to the situation when the Mayweather versus Zab Judah fight was still made after Judah lost to Baldomir. I still like the Cotto versus Margarito fight, but I would rather see Cotto vs. Shane Mosley. I think that fight would sell very well whether it was in Las Vegas or New York and it’s a great mesh of styles. Mosley takes a great punch and he’s very strong so he’d offer a little more than Judah did last month. However, at his age, I’m not sure that Shane can sustain that type of fight over a long number of rounds.

Everybody asks me and I tell them that 38 year old Roy Jones, Jr. looks like Jersey Joe Walcott to me now. Watching Jones against Anthony Hanshaw on Saturday night I thought Jones had a strong facial resemblance to the furrowed brow that Walcott sported. Walcott was considered ancient when he fought his last fight at the tender age of 39 – just like Jones is considered to be ancient now.

Everybody asks me and I agree with Arturo Gatti – he is too small for 147 pounds. The other part of the problem is that Gatti is just used up. Former welterweight champ Curtis Cokes put it best when he once said that, “Every fighter’s body has a certain number of fights in it.” And Gatti exceeded his number by a couple. Arturo should have called it a day after the destruction at the hands of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and he should have never gone back up to 147 pounds.

Everybody asks me and I tell them that Max Kellerman should be ashamed of himself for kicking Arturo Gatti when he was down. Kellerman, who has a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease, offered his thoughts on Gatti’s career Saturday night by saying that Gatti could never beat top fighters and that he was the product of careful matchmaking. Whatever, Max. Larry Merchant was much more appreciative of Gatti’s sacrifice and much more diplomatic in his view of Arturo’s career. I don’t think Kellerman will ever get it – he just doesn’t listen and he is what he is, too.

Everybody asks me and I tell them that an Alfonso Gomez versus Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. fight would be a great scrap. The little Chavez is developing into quite a fighter and although he looks about 15 years old – he has a left hook that makes grown men weep. I was lucky enough to see the young Chavez in person when he fought on the undercard of Cotto versus Judah at Madison Square Garden last month. His left hook took Grover Wiley apart. I was laughing out loud a few times and when I was asked what I was laughing at I said, “Poor Grover, he knows that hook to the body is coming and he can’t do a damn thing to stop it!” I think Chavez, Jr. wins a Gomez fight with his height, reach and hook but Gomez will test him. But then what do I know? I picked Gatti to beat Gomez !

Everybody asks me and I tell them that Fernando Vargas versus Ricardo Mayora is a good match. Both guys are looking to redeem themselves after knockout losses and both are perceived as being at or near the end. My feeling is that Vargas is seriously damaged goods and him gaining 100 pounds after being stopped by Shane Mosley is not going to do his body and skills any favors. Some will say that Roberto Duran did the same thing and look at how he performed. Just one thing, Vargas is no Duran. I like the fight because I like Mayorga and watching him at press conferences has been my greatest source of boxing entertainment for a number of years now. Eating a chicken leg while being weighed in against Vernon Forrest, drawing a funny face on a Felix Trinidad poster, slapping Oscar in the back of the head and now the big press conference fistfight with Vargas. It’s all great theater and even better comedy. We need a whole barrel-full of Ricardo Mayorgas in boxing and then people would stop talking about boxing being “boring”. I wonder if he has any brothers?

Everybody asks me and I tell them that Wladimir Klitschko versus Evander Holyfield is not a fight I’d ever be interested in seeing. I don’t want to see Hasim Rahman against Klitschko either. Holyfield, I suppose, deserves the fight more than Rahman does but neither guy belongs in the ring with Wladimir. The fight I’d like to see is Klitschko vs. “The Russian Giant” - former belt-holder Nikolay Valuev. Since WBA titlist Ruslan Chagaev and Sultan Ibragimov, the IBF belt wearer are facing off against each other in October it leaves Klitschko who has beaten several of the top contenders with few names left to fight. A Klitschko versus Valuev fight is interesting and it would have some entertainment value. It would also sell very well in Germany where Valuev is based and where Klitschko is very popular. If not Valuev then how about Oliver McCall? “The Atomic Bull” at age 42 is two years younger than Holyfield, he deserves the fight with his recent win over the highly ranked Sinan Samil Sam and he has one of the best chins ever seen in the heavyweight division. Plus, in the right frame of mind, McCall can punch like a mule kicks.

Everybody asks me and I tell them that watching the countdown to “Hopkins versus Wright, Coming to Fight” the other night on HBO was laugh out loud funny. One of the early scenes was Bernard Hopkins jogging/shuffling through a Philadelphia graveyard. Hopkins looked like a guy who had lost his walker he was moving so slowly. Hopkins looked like he was one step from the grave as he huffed and puffed along.

Dan Birmingham, the trainer of Winky Wright, said that “Wink walks around at 190” and Wright looked awfully round and overweight in the training scenes. Wright at 35-40 pounds overweight has the look of Humpty Dumpty or Mr. Potato Head. The scene in which he was eating Krispy Kreme donuts was less than inspiring. It’s really just a no-no for Wright to be that far above weight at his age (nearing 36). Can you imagine Alexis Arguello or Carmen Basilio eating Krispy Kreme donuts in their training camps when they were in their primes? Eddie Futch must be spinning in his grave.

Everybody asks me and I tell them I wouldn’t spend $50 on the Hopkins versus Wright pay-per view if you gave it to me. For an HBO subscriber, the person who buys an HBO PPV event is buying the undercard and this undercard is low grade and shallow. Save your bucks and watch the main event for free the next week and spend your money for the Erik Morales versus David Diaz fight on August 4th. It will likely be Erik’s farewell as he’ll look about as good as Arturo Gatti just did on Saturday night.

Everybody asks me and I tell them that based on the smile I saw on Jameel McCline’s face last week that he must be getting a career high payday to face Vitali Klitschko.


July 2007

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

BROTHERS IN ARMS


From left: Now best friends "Irish" Micky Ward and Arturo "Thunder" Gatti

They fought three unbelievable wars against one another.

They exposed their hearts, bared their souls and shed their blood as they battled for thirty rounds in two different states over a thirteen-month period. Between May 2002 and June 2003 Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward became boxing legends. Their fights were like the fictional battles of Rocky Balboa versus Apollo Creed, filled to the brim with knockdowns, blood and drama - except they were real.

Like Ali and Frazier, Zale and Graziano, Saddler and Pep the names Gatti and Ward will be forever linked in boxing lore.

They became close friends after the punches stopped flying and now the retired Ward is training Gatti for Saturday’s fight against ‘The Contender’ reality show alumnus Alfonso Gomez in Atlantic City.

After the way he looked in his last fight against Argentina’s Carlos Baldomir, many in the boxing community began calling for Arturo Gatti’s retirement. Gatti, otherwise known as “the blood and guts warrior” or the “human highlight film” was knocked out in nine rounds against Baldomir. There would be no miraculous comeback on this night and it definitely wasn’t the same Arturo Gatti that boxing fans were used to seeing.

Gatti blames the knockout loss to Baldomir on a family situation gone bad and on a woman that he never should have gotten involved with.

“The last fight was very poor, but I was having major problems at home,” he explains. “I got involved with Satan’s daughter. She came into my life and she tried to destroy me as a person. If things aren’t working mentally for me the rest don’t follow up. I was sad because that was the only fight in my life that I wanted to pull out. But, I couldn’t do it for HBO, for Main Events and for my trainer or for myself. I’m not a guy that pulls out of fights. I’ve fought with broken hands, you know, and that’s the worse thing to do.”

Gatti is now 35 years old and this will be his 49th pro fight in a career that began 16 years ago. Every fight seems like it has been a war. He has made millions of dollars in prize money. He has thousands of Grateful Dead-like followers that pack Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall to see if he can defy odds and perform like a daredevil in the ring.

In his French-Canadian accent the Montreal born Gatti defends his decision to keep fighting. “I feel great,” he says. “I’ve been in a lot of wars but most of the time it was my opponents who were hurt worse than I was. I got this ability, I got this gift that I’m not one of those fighters that gets damaged as much as others do.”

Despite his hard-partying reputation which include arrests, bar brawls and allegations of cocaine use, Gatti says “I got good legs,” and then he grins. “Probably the best legs in boxing and I’m always in great shape. I work hard like an animal and that’s what people forget. Every time I step into the ring I’m in great, great, great shape.”

He’s all blood and guts in the ring but he has boyish-like qualities outside of it. He’s small in stature and in a crowd of people you would hardly notice him because he stands a diminutive 5’7” and weighs only about 145 pounds. He’s quick to smile and likes to laugh. Outside the ring he dresses like a rockstar would, wears dark sunglasses, has both ears pierced, drapes crucifixes around his neck and his arms are covered with tattoos.

On the days that he fights, just he and his mother have lunch together. She worries herself sick about her son when he goes into battle. For you must remember, Arturo Gatti, who is as close to a real-life gladiator that there is, bleeds real blood, takes real punches and he really gets knocked down.

But so far, the little boy in him has always gotten back up.

When asked about Saturday night’s opponent who has made his name because of ‘The Contender” reality show, Gatti is skeptical. “Gomez? I don’t have much to say about him,” quipped Gatti, who is as real life as it gets. “He’s coming from ‘The Contender’. There’s a reason why those guys fought on ‘The Contender’ because they didn’t want to fight real fighters because there wouldn’t be no show, there wouldn’t be no season because those guys would be knocked out. He knows he’s fighting a great fighter now.”

After the Baldomir fight, Gatti claimed he had a look at his life and some of the people in it and decided to clean house. He and trainer Buddy McGirt, who was with him for over four years and through all of the fights against Ward, parted company. And Gatti said he rid himself of a cluster leeches that cling to prizefighters like drug dealers to street corners.

When he decided to fight again he didn’t know who was going to train him, but then, like the rest of his life, things came into focus. “When I was looking for a trainer I was debating with a few guys,” said Gatti. “I said ‘You know what? Micky Ward is definitely going to be the guy.’ “We fought 30 rounds together. He’s not here to teach me how to fight but to just remind me to do the things that I do best.”

For the 41 year-old Ward, who had settled into retired life in his hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts with his wife Charlene, and hasn’t fought since his last fight against Gatti in June 2003, he jumped at the chance to train his friend. “It’s good. I know his style,” says the amicable Ward who has an accent like a New England fisherman. “We know what he has to do to win this fight and we wanna’ get a good gameplan together and I think it’s going good so far.”

The two have been locked away in training camp in Florida for the past several weeks and watching the two in a ring together again is a surreal experience. As Ward holds the pads and Gatti pounds away, one almost expects a brawl to break out at any moment. But the two get along wonderfully and Gatti does seem to have the old spring in his step again. Having Ward around seems to have reinvigorated him.

When asked what he wants to see from Gatti in training camp, the disciplined Ward, who fought his entire 18-year professional career at 140-pounds is to the point. “To get him in great shape, get his legs in great shape and get him mentally prepared,” says the no nonsense New Englander. “Because you know he’s been a three-time world champion. You’re not going to teach him nothin’ he don’t know.”

Ward is realistic about what the future holds for Gatti and he is even more realistic about what may happen on Saturday night. It’s clear that he has thought a lot about the fight and about his friend.

“I think Arturo’s got a lot left,” says Ward. “But like anything else at this stage you’ve gotta’ take one at a time. You can’t look ahead, not at this age you can’t. You’ve gotta’ look at it realistically, meaning win this fight and see what happens after this. You don’t look down the road; you can’t look down the road at this point. You win and win good.”

Many figure that because Ward was a come ahead banger with an awesome left hook to the body that he’ll enforce that mantra and have Gatti go back to his old slugging ways. But according to Ward nothing could be further from the truth. So, will we see Gatti the boxer or Gatti the slugger on Saturday night?

“Well, obviously he can do both, but we want speed,” claims Ward. “Speed’s the name of the game. Speed generates power so you know we’re looking at speed, leg movement, usin’ his legs all night long to outbox this guy.”

While that may not please the crowd, Ward knows that at this stage it may be the best thing for Gatti’s long-term health and well being. In Gomez, Ward sees what everybody else sees, a kid that is only 26 years old with just 21 pro fights. “Gomez is a tough kid and he comes to fight,” says Ward. “But I feel he has slow feet and that he’s going to be a step behind. But take nothin’ away from him, you can’t take nothin’ away from a guy, he’s willing and he has a lot of heart and he has heavy hands.”

The big question that surrounds Arturo Gatti at this point in his career is whether he should be fighting at all. He is the one fighter that has given boxing fans more thrills and chills than any fighter in recent memory but over the years he has absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment. Many openly criticize HBO for continuing to televise his fights and the fact of the matter is that Baldomir and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. have knocked him out in two of his last three fights.

But aside from Gatti and Ward, hall of fame trainer and HBO boxing analyst Emanuel Steward also believes that Gatti still has something left. “Unlike a lot of other people, I don’t think Arturo Gatti is shot,” says the wise teacher. “He’s been in a lot of tough fights. I thought Mayweather was the computer print out of the guy to avoid but he fought him anyway. And when he fought Baldomir, I thought Baldomir that night, was so strong physically, emotionally, spiritually he was just too powerful, but Arturo still fought a tremendous fight. And strangely all of those wars he’s been in he still has the same excitement that gives me a thrill.”

And for Arturo Gatti, he has no illusions about what a poor performance or a loss will mean for his career as a prizefighter. The young, careless warrior who dove in headfirst against all comers has been replaced by an old dog determined to learn new tricks. “Every fight I’m fighting now is my last fight,” says Gatti, “So I’m gonna’ fight the best I can fight the next fight. I’m gonna’ use my head.”

At age 35, it would seem the sun has set on the old gunfighter’s career but Gatti is determined to duel on his own terms. “I’m gonna’ show you guys,” he says. “I don’t have to prove to you guys I can fight, but I’m gonna’ show myself that I’ve got all of the abilities to stick around.”

And Micky Ward, his brother in arms, has his back.


July 2007

Monday, July 2, 2007

LAMON, IT'S UP TO YOU!



It was Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries who collided in Reno, Nevada on July 4, 1910 for the heavyweight championship of the world. But the fight was about much more than a battle over heavyweight bragging rights. This was an epic struggle that pitted a black man versus a white man for the greatest prize in all of sports – on the nation’s birthday.

It was a racially charged fight, stoked in part by writer Jack London. On the very day that the black Johnson won the heavyweight championship from the white Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia in 1908, London sent out the call for Jeffries to come out of retirement and win the title back from Johnson. In his column, which appeared in the New York Herald, London wrote: “One thing remains, Jeffries must emerge from his alfalfa farm and remove that smile from Johnson’s face. Jeff, it’s up to you!”

For the next two years the public clamored for Jeffries to make his return to the ring and take the title back for the white man. Jeffries returned, but he failed miserably in his quest as Johnson humiliated him and knocked him out in the fifteenth round.

And here we are 97 years later.

Depending on with whom you speak, race relations in the United States seem to have improved, but the heavyweight division is still in a flummoxed state for the people of America. The problem, from Uncle Sam’s point-of-view, is fighters that are distinctly un-American hold all four of the alphabet heavyweight titles currently in circulation. Our Cold War antagonist, the former Soviet Empire, has a lock on all of the belts. The WBA titlist is Ruslan Chagaev from Uzbekistan, WBC belt-holder Oleg Maskaev is from Kazakhstan, WBO claimant Sultan Ibragimov hails from Russia and IBF entrant Wladimir Klitschko is also from Kazakhstan.

And unless Lamon Brewster, who was born in the heartland of America, Indianapolis, Indiana, can replicate his 2004 win over Klitschko this weekend when the two meet in Cologne, Germany for the IBF title, the outlook for American boxing fans hoping for a homegrown heavyweight champion will continue to be dim. Chagaev and Ibragimov are slated to engage in a rare heavyweight unification fight in Moscow in October while Maskaev is penciled in against Nigeria’s Samuel Peter also in October.

That leaves Brewster, who knocked out Klitschko in five rounds back in 2004 to win the vacant WBO title, as the only American heavyweight with a bead on a title shot for the near future. Brewster held the title for two years before losing it to Serguei Lyakhovich from Belarus, another former Soviet republic.

Lamon Brewster is a curious sort of fellow for America to tag its hopes to. At 34, he’s quiet, unassuming, usually has a smile on his face and he’s mysterious in a pleasant sort of way.

At the press conference to announce this fight, which was held at the Smith & Wollensky Steak House in Las Vegas on the afternoon of the Mayweather vs. De La Hoya fight, a bearded Brewster was dressed in a black pork pie hat, large dark sunglasses and a black sports jacket. It was almost as though he were trying not to be seen, but he did seem happy to be there. He’s deeply spiritual and thanks the higher power whenever a microphone is put in front of him.

In his soft-spoken voice he told the assembled media that, “You can't call yourself a true world champion if you're not willing to fight around the world. I feel that if its God's will for me to win. It isn't going to matter where I am or who I am in the ring with. No matter, God will be with me. I’m very excited about this opportunity, this is opportunity knocks. I can say this much. I gave the first victory (against Klitschko) to God. He gave me strength to win and pulled me through that. That was a really tough fight for anyone that night, fighting for the world title.”

The rematch with Brewster was put together to give Klitschko and his trainer Emanuel Steward revenge for when Klitschko went down to defeat at Brewster’s hands. The two, who were working together for the first time, still view that fight as a bizarre, unexplained, aberration. Klitschko’s meltdown was blamed on conspiracies that ranged from poisoned water to having an excessive amount of Vaseline rubbed on his legs before the fight.

Well ahead on points, and seemingly on the verge of a knockout victory, the big Klitschko engine suddenly and inexplicably ran out of steam and he collapsed to the canvas in a heap of utter exhaustion. The fight was a disaster for Klitschko and many called then for his retirement. Most said he didn’t have the heart for the game and that he should be ashamed of the way in which he self destructed when Brewster eventually began to fight back.

Whatever the case, Brewster and Klitschko both get their chance for redemption on Saturday night. Brewster wants to rebound from his loss 14 months ago against Serguei Lyakhovich in which he lost the WBO title via decision and very nearly his eyesight when he suffered a detached retina in his left eye. Klitschko, of course, wants to put the first Brewster fight behind him and move along with his career without having to answer the questions about what happened in the first fight.

When asked how he felt about having to fight in Germany where Klitschko was once based, Brewster was realistic. “Well, you know what man? Unless I got horseshoes in my shoe and they got a magnet under the ring, ain’t no need to be worried. It’s a fight, you know? That’s what it is.”

Brewster is also not expecting to see the same Wladimir Klitschko that he faced three years ago. Since that fight, Klitschko has been on a tear through the heavyweight division having won six straight fights. He defeated the dangerous top rated contender Samuel Peter, won the IBF title against Chris Byrd and knocked out then undefeated American Calvin Brock in seven rounds.

Brewster commented on what he might see in the ring this weekend. “Well, I definitely expect improvements, man. I mean, you know, he knows what he had then couldn’t beat me. He did great in rounds one through four, but it just makes for a better fight the next time around. I believe God is going to judge me as far as what I need to do in the fight. I feel I will be victorious but there are certain things I need to do to win this fight. I'm the type of fighter that doesn't go in with premeditations. If those don't work then you will be lost in the ring. I can't tell you what's going to work. Wladimir has matured and is not the same fighter he was in our first fight and I am not the same fighter that I was.”

Pressed further for his real thoughts about the challenges of fighting overseas, Lamon opened up a little more. “Well, I say this man. You don’t think I can possibly go over and win, you know, with everything in his favor, a decision. So I know what I have to do. You're going to see the best Lamon Brewster. I am the best American born heavyweight out there today. Instead of allowing it to put pressure on me, I use it as inspiration.”

One thing is for sure, if the United States is going to have an American heavyweight champion in the foreseeable future the call now goes out to Lamon Brewster much like Jack London called out to Jim Jeffries way back in 1908.

Lamon, it’s up to you!


July 2007