By William Doherty
Boxing writer Keith Terceira has spent the last four years working on the inside of boxing collecting data and details on the sport that he loves with a passion. Currently under negotiations with amajor publishing house“The Stench Within” is already near completion and details nearly half a decade of in depth maneuverings in the sport of boxing.
With over 4 years of recorded conversations, emails, and inside scoop on title fights, promoters, matchmakers, trainers and fighters themselves this book will rock the world of boxing and inform the public about what Terceira deems “Boxing Entertainment.”
“99 percent of Boxing is not sport, it is no better than pro wrestling including scripted bouts, payoffs and commissions that need to be investigated” Terceira commented via phone. “ It’s amazing how easy it was to get inside the business and how trusting people are even when they know what they are doing is unethical, illegal or immoral”
“For years I wrote articles hoping to get people involved enough to change boxing perhaps to bring it back to the stasis of a major sport to no avail. Then a writer gave me the idea to get inside and change it from within so I took a private detective course, got the knowledge on the legality in my state on tape recording conversations, then just started working at getting inside with the plan to change things the goal in mind to get at the truth behind the sport. What I found was amazingly interesting and sickening”
“ The hardest part of doing this book was not to get to caught up in the business and do something that sucked me in forever. When you are offered money constantly to do things that are not right it becomes tempting to forget your morals.”
Keith refused to give complete details on the specific’s of the book but did elaborate on some of the contents.
“ I used my writing skills to first get in good with some people then slowly started matchmaking fights, became a manager, then it all culminated with running a few shows. There are so many fakes in this sport that it was hard at first to differentiate between the real business people and the snakes . It was so sickening at times to watch fighters going down from punches that never even connected that it was became hilarious. There are managers out there paying for bouts, commissioners that are allowing fights to happen for one promoter and not for others one-sided , mismatched fights that never should be sanctioned that get allowed for promoter A but turned down for promoter B. Here’s an example that’s in the book, one northeast commissioner who loves to think of himself as the overlord of boxing turning himself into the promoter, the matchmaker, and the czar in his state , tells people don't even propose a fighter that is over 36 years old in his state, that is unless he likes you or something because a month after I propose a fighter and get an ass chewing for it (the fighter is 37,) the guy is on another card in the state in a tougher match.”
“ It’s amazing how little people know about the real world of boxing. How the majority of fighters get started, get screwed, and how they get over as well. I'll give you another glimpse at some details, one manager to be named later has dozens of fighters under contract except his contracts are in the name of a corporation that doesn't exist, doesn't pay taxes in his state, half the time he doesn't even hold a managers license in his own state or any other, when the commission gets informed they don't care. There are supposed “Hall of Fame” Promoters out there that can't even pay their bills, others who can't pay their fighters without bouncing a check, you got guys out there issuing press releases about signing fighters that never even talked to the guy they supposedly signed. It’s funny that in four years I got screwed on several thousands of dollars by guys that are supposed to be the best in the business, then a month later it’s like they think you have a memory block and they are calling you to work for them again.
One such Hall of Shame promoter even had his wife call me asking me to wait indefinitely for a few hundred bucks yet he is supposedly offering millions for bouts.”
“The hardest part I think was resisting the temptation to bet on the sport when I knew who was going to win a title fight. I did a training camp for one title fight, set up the best sparring in the country for the champ and as time went by the manager’s people keep ignoring the guys we set up and I'm getting calls everyday because these fighters are waiting for flights and turning down other bouts, and the champ is getting real lousy or average sparring, interruptions in camp, even goes home to his wife for several weeks, and here I’m thinking damn this guy is going to get killed, he is not training etc. So a week after he gets creamed I call the manager and he is like happy as hell. I’ll get to the details in the book but I can guarantee that this champion was either set-up for a loss or people just don't care. It was so bad that the staff running the training camp didn't have a clue about boxing and even when I detailed to them what they were doing wrong they didn't care. The fix was in as far as I'm concerned.”
Sometimes there is a reason why they don’t care Terceira details.
“ Why they don’t care if a Champ wins or loses is easy. I helped match-make show for television and the main event was a IBF title fight. So while I’m dining with one promoter ask him why isn’t he nervous about his guy losing that night. He tells me because for him it’s a win-win situation. If his guy loses he gets 25% of the other guy if his guy wins he gives the other promoter 25% of his guy. Then he tells me its better if his guy loses because then he has no layout for training , he doesn't have to do shows to keep his guy busy etc. and he still gets the 25%. He is talking to me like it’s something to be proud of. So the night of the fight his guy goes the distance and loses but the whole fight the guy is throwing nothing but body shots and opponent has this sculpted body that you could hit with a truck and not affect him. We are all yelling for him to throw combinations and go up stairs and the promoter is next to me smiling as the guy just doesn’t listen to his trainers or the crowd. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that once again the fix was in.”
“Fixes are a staple in the sport, and I’ll detail how it happens even when a fighter is serious about winning. There are fighters out there that fight with 14 ounce gloves at home then their managers get them fights in states that only use regulation weight gloves. So already the guy is at a disadvantage because his timing is all screwed up before he even gets in the ring with his opponent who is used to fighting with 8-10 ounce gloves”
“ There are fights this weekend that I already know who is going to win and in what round at the latest its going to happen but I tell you all they have to do is change the script and make me look the fool. I did a fight once where the manager wanted me to pay his guy's purse in cash before the fight and I refuse to do it so his guy is in the ring getting beat pretty good but is game, I'm pleased, its already the fifth or sixth round, so when the manager comes over and asks me for the pay envelope I go ahead and pay him. The guy leaves me walks over to the ring gives a node to the corner man who throws in the towel. To sum it up that’s the real business of boxing.”
The book will shock the boxing world and have several state governors looking for replacement commissioners in my opinion but you will just have to read the names, dates and details to judge for yourself.
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