by David P. Greisman
Part one (Click Here) of this year’s Fighting Awards spotlighted the silly and the superb. Kendall Holt’s first-round knockout of Ricardo Torres garnered the “Round of the Year” award. Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez 3 was crowned as “Fight of the Year.” And the incident in which Zab Judah apparently slipped and had his right arm go through a glass shower door (keeping him from headlining a pay-per-view against Shane Mosley) received “Knockout of the Year” honors.
This week we get sillier while spotlighting even more of the superb – the year’s best prospect, the year’s best fighter and the year’s best story involving a heavyweight champion and urine.
Without further delay, part two of this year’s Fighting Awards:
The “Hornswoggle Award,” for dwarves in a squared circle: To Nazih “Hammerhead” Kheir and Jamie “The Giant” Fallon, two boxers making their professional debuts on an Australian card in November. Kheir, a 23-year-old who stands about 4-foot-2 and weighs about 123.5 pounds, bested Jamie Fallon, who is listed as a 3-foot-6 minimumweight, to become the “International Little Men Federation” titlist.
The “Jose Luis Castillo Award,” for boxers who failed to make weight: to Jose Luis Castillo himself, as well as to Julio Diaz, Frankie Gavin, Molla Getachew, Joan Guzman, Demetrius Hopkins, Bongani Mwelase, Octavio Narvaez, Luciano Perez and Gary Russell Jr.
The “Corrales-Castillo Award,” for in-fight comeback of the year: to Rogers Mtagwa, who had suffered a knockdown in the ninth-round of his fight against fellow featherweight Tomas Villa and was taking a beating. In the one-minute rest period, his corner warned him that he couldn’t take any more punishment and told him that he had to start punching.
Eighty seconds later, Mtagwa had put Villa to the canvas three times. Mtagwa was the knockout winner. Fittingly, as with Corrales-Castillo, the comeback came in the 10th round.
The “But Generalissimo Francisco Franco is Still Dead Award,” for a boxer erroneously reported as having passed away: to Ralph West, a heavyweight journeyman who, in August, another major boxing Web site said had died after breaking up a bar-fight while working as a security guard.
Not true, learned our very own Ryan Songalia, who did some reporting:
“I don't know how that happened,” Skip Stewart, who manages West, told Songalia. “The only thing I know is that he's alive and well.”
“He doesn't even work at a bar," close friend Greg Maynard told Songalia. “He works for a local company part-time building houses.”
Said Stewart: “I went three days thinking he was dead. How would you feel if you thought someone close to you was dead?”
Like punching whomever screwed up at said major boxing Web site.
The “Ernest Hemingway Award,” for Old Men and a Sigh: to Saoul Mamby, Iran Barkley, Jeff Fenech and Azumah Nelson, all of whom got into the ring this year – at a combined age of 200.
Mamby, who was 60 at the time, and Barkley, who was 47, boxed in separate unsanctioned bouts on an Idaho card in February. Mamby, whose bout was more of an exhibition, apparently fought for real the following month in the Cayman Islands, losing a 10-round decision to some dude with a 6-25-1 record named Anthony Osbourne.
Fenech, 44, and Nelson, who was 49 at the time, faced each other for a third time, this bout coming in June, some 16 years since they had last traded punches.
The “Moises Alou Award,” for resourceful use of a certain bodily fluid: to Vitali Klitschko, who told German media he treats his swollen hands after fights with wet diapers. “Baby wee is good because it’s pure, doesn’t contain toxins and doesn’t smell,” Klitschko was quoted as saying. “I wrap nappies filled with my 3-year-old son Max’s wee around my fists. The nappies hold the liquid and the swelling stays down.”
The “Teddy Atlas Shrugged Award”: ESPN2’s famed boxing analyst chose to be indifferent instead of indecent on the June 25 broadcast of “Wednesday Night Fights.” The main event, which took place at the Playboy Mansion in California, had former lightweight titlist Julio Diaz facing the undefeated but outclassed David Torres. Teddy’s fight plan involved one of Hugh Hefner’s then-girlfriends, Kendra Wilkinson. And yet, for some reason, Teddy’s fight plan didn’t including the time-tested strategy of putting one’s head in his opponent’s chest and going to work.
The Boxer Behaving Most Badly: Scott Harrison.
What, you expected otherwise?
He neither murdered nor maimed, but with all of his arrests and court hearings the troubled former featherweight titlist appeared in this column more than a dozen times.
Don’t be surprised if next year this category is named after him.
A Boxing Trainer Behaving Badly: Craig Christian, who has worked with featherweight titlist Chris John and former 130-pound beltholder Gairy St. Clair, was arrested in August on weapons and drug charges. Airport security staff in Perth, Australia, allegedly found in Christian’s luggage “a semi-automatic pistol and a magazine loaded with seven rounds of ammunition, a shoulder holster, methamphetamine in a toiletries bag and a big quantity of cash,” according to The Sunday Times.
A Boxing Manager Behaving Badly: Henry Cortes, who manages Kendall Holt, was behind bars while his junior-welterweight-titlist client fought in December.
Cortes was arrested Dec. 5 and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to perform official misconduct, according to northern New Jersey’s Herald News.
The day before Cortes’ arrest, another defendant in the case, a 20-year veteran of the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department named Alan Souto, had pleaded guilty to “stealing more than 5 pounds of cocaine from an evidence room he supervise,” the newspaper said. Souto admitted in his plea agreement to earning at least $250,000 from the cocaine sales.
Two Boxing Promoters Behaving Badly: Michael Dalton and Chris A. Webb.
Dalton, a British promoter, was sentenced to prison time in September for a scheme in which he and his wife laundered money illegally received from benefit fraud. They took in more than £200,000, converting the money into bonds, bank accounts and investments in overseas properties.
Chris A. Webb, whose Straight Out Promotions put on the 2004 bout between Mike Tyson and Danny Williams, pleaded guilty in late August to federal tax charges not connected with boxing, according to Louisville, Ky.
Webb had been charged last year with one count of filing a false income tax return and two counts of failing to file a tax return. In court, he admitted to not filing in a timely manner in 2000 and 2001, when he owed $188,537 and $159,799 in taxes, respectively, on more than $1 million income from buying and selling various properties.
A Boxer’s Livestock Behaving Badly: Ike Quartey appeared in a Ghanaian court in March to account for damage one of his cows had allegedly done to a driver’s windshield and mirror. Quartey and herdsman Samuel Cofie pleaded not guilty to charges of allowing cattle to go astray and cause harm to property. Quartey is also facing additional charges relating to his alleged abusive and aggressive interaction with police officers. The best part of the story was this sentence: “According to the police, the cows were still at large.”
The “Antonio Tarver Award,” for best trash-talk immediately following referee instructions: to Nate Campbell, who prior to beating up the previously undefeated Juan Diaz in March and taking his three lightweight world titles, asked his foe a simple question: “You ready for hell?”
The “Luis Resto Award,” for casting aside fair play: to Edward Mpofu, a South African boxer who was banned from the sport after plaster of Paris was allegedly found in gloves he wore in his September bout against featherweight, Thanduxolo Dyani. Mpofu would lose a six-round decision to Dyani, and Dyani reportedly escaped with little injury beyond a swollen left eye.
The “Cheech and Chong Award,” for a career gone up in smoke: to Sechew Powell, who tested positive for marijuana after losing via knockout in June to Deandre Latimore.
The “Roberto Duran Award,” for post-career weight gain: to Mike Tyson, who, now that he is no longer going rounds, has gone round.
The “Brett Favre Award,” for short-lived retirement: to Jeff Lacy, who announced he was leaving the sport in late July, telling a newspaper reporter that the $550,000 he was set to receive for an upcoming bout with Jermain Taylor was “an insult,” and decrying the sport that made him rich and famous as “a very dirty business.” Lacy returned less than a week later, having signed to fight Taylor in November.
The “Shockmaster Award,” for most inopportune trip: to Monte Barrett, who attempted to vault the ring ropes prior to his November bout with David Haye, only to get his legs caught up on the top rope and crash to the canvas. Barrett would lose via technical knockout, having hit the mat five more times over five rounds.
The “Wilt Chamberlain Award,” for best revelation involving action outside of the arena: to Jeff Fenech, who blamed his loss to Azumah Nelson in their 1992 rematch on a tendency at the time to sleep with up to five women a day.
The “Pro Bono Pro Bonehead Award”: to Louis Turner, a 12-1 middleweight who made this stupid comment in a press release prior to his August fight with 11-1 opponent Anthony Greenridge: “If I cannot beat this clown, I do not want to get paid.” Turner lost the eight-round bout via majority decision.
Upset of the Year: Brian Vera TKO7 Andy Lee.
Lee was a blue-chip prospect, undefeated and learning from a Hall of Fame trainer in Emanuel Steward. Vera had only lost once before, but in that bout he had been blown out in two rounds by fellow “Contender” contestant Jaidon Codrington. Vera was clearly there as an opponent.
Vera didn’t act that way.
Though Lee scored a first-round knockdown, Vera recovered and came back. Vera’s right hand couldn’t miss. Lee, who was both cut and hurt as the bout went on, didn’t know how to recover. The two situations led to a seventh-round stoppage, when referee Tony Chiarantano stepped in following another Vera right. Lee was throwing back, but the third man in the ring had apparently seen enough.
Near-Upset of the Year: Vivian Harris TKO6 Octavio Narvaez. Harris is a former 140-pound titlist who came into this October bout with a record of 28-3-1. Narvaez, meanwhile, was comparatively inexperienced and far less accomplished at 7-4-1. But Narvaez sent Harris onto his back in the first round with a big right hand. He didn’t go to the farthest neutral corner, however, jogging instead toward the one nearest Harris.
Harris began to rise while referee Lindsey Page brought Narvaez where he belonged, and he was on his feet some eight to nine seconds after his rear end hit the canvas. Harris backed up into a neutral corner and Page wiped the fighter’s gloves on his shirt, but the referee continued to stand in front of Harris. By the time Page finally let the action begin again, 21 seconds had passed since the knockdown. Narvaez scored another knockdown and then pegged Harris with two more punches while he was down, but Harris got back up and the bell rang to end the round.
Harris would come back to get a sixth-round stoppage victory, though the manner in which it happened paralleled Joe Calzaghe’s win against Peter Manfredo Jr. last year. Harris unleashed a furious flurry that pummeled a lot of air. Narvaez apparently wasn’t doing enough of a job defending himself intelligently against missed punches, so Page stopped the bout.
Prospects of the Year: Andre Dirrell and Yuriorkis Gamboa.
Remember when nobody ever wanted to see the unbeaten super middleweight from Michigan ever again? Remember the bout everyone tried to forget? Dirrell on his bicycle, or, to mix metaphors, running circles around Curtis Stevens and doing little else despite appearing on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” in what was the biggest spotlight he’d yet performed under.
Forget that.
Dirrell still needs to learn to use his footwork to circle in close proximity instead of pot-shotting and then retreating around the ring. But he was nevertheless action-oriented in 2008, fighting four times and scoring four knockouts, including wins over fellow 168-pound prospects Anthony Hanshaw and Victor Oganov.
Gamboa, meanwhile, started the year as a 7-0 prospect who had won Olympic gold in 2004, had defected from Cuba in late 2006 and had turned pro shortly thereafter. Now he is 12-0, polished offensively but still a work in progress with his lax defensive habits, and he is on the verge of fighting for a title in either the 126- or 130-pound division.
Fighter of the Year: Manny Pacquiao.
For the second time in three years, the Filipino Firebomber put together a better résumé than anyone else. In 2008, Pacquiao, fighting at junior lightweight, took a close decision over beltholder Juan Manuel Marquez (who is now the “Ring Magazine” 135-pound champ), then stepped up to lightweight and out-boxed and knocked out titlist David Diaz, and then wrapped up his year at welterweight by humiliating, stopping (and possibly retiring) Oscar De La Hoya.
Pacquiao is no longer the one-dimensional fighter who nevertheless overpowered foes with two jabs followed by a left cross. He is now well rounded, a boxer-puncher, pound-for-pound the best in the sport. And at just 30 years old, he’s far from done.
R.I.P.: Daniel Aguillon, Art Aragon, Alex Aroy, Jake Betz, Scott Brooks, Zwelake Chisane, Yo-Sam Choi, Carl Cunningham, Jeffery Dynevor, Jody Edwards, Kevin Finnegan, Ted “Mustang” Garcia, Joey Giardello, Toby Gibson, Clinton Grybas, Nwachi Hartley, Cho He, W.C. Heinz, Jonas Hernandez, Antonie Michael “Mike Holt” Holtzhausen, Jackie Horseman, Simphiwe Joni, Paul Jorgensen, Kenny Lane, Nicolae Linca, Duilio Loi.
Joe McCausland, Jack McGill, Joe Miceli, Rocky Montoya, Samoi Msophi, Godfrey Nkate, Raphael Ortiz, Mate Parlov, Mike Post, Mando Ramos, Jean Marc Renard, Mike Schutte, Mitsunori Seki, Edip Sekowitsch, Harry “Snuffy” Smith, Hope Sole, Oscar Suarez, Vic Toweel, Dommy Ursua, Eddie VanKirk, Ronny Vargas, Baby Vazquez, Rhoshii Wells, Charles “Babe” Woods and any other boxers, trainers, officials and boxing journalists who died in 2008.
The 10 Count will return next year.
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com