Musings From an HBO Weekend…

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Bob Papa seems like a decent enough guy.

And after years of hearing him call New York Giants football games on WFAN radio and seeing him adeptly handle football and boxing duties on television for NFL Network, ESPN and the self-proclaimed “Network of Champions,” I’d surely consider him among the best in the business at his chosen crafts.

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But that doesn’t change last Saturday night’s reality.

His on-air performance as part of the “Boxing After Dark” show featuring Andre Berto’s gritty WBC welterweight title defense against Luis Collazo was, well… downright B.A.D.

Ominously, the trouble started before the fighters hit the ring, with Papa continually referring to the Brooklyn-based Collazo as “Lou-eese,” while the proper pronunciation (“Lou-ee”) was correctly being used by analyst cohort Max Kellerman.

But far more maddening to these ears were the repeated in-fight references to a first-round knockdown scored by Collazo and the impact it was sure to have on a razor-thin scorecard verdict.

Only one problem… it never happened.

Oh sure, it’s true Berto was driven awkwardly backward by a well-timed straight left hand, but his gloves never touched the canvas, the referee never intervened and there was never any trace of the standing 8-count that would have immediately followed such a sequence.

Still, in spite of myriad replays and precise analysis from Kellerman and Lennox Lewis, Papa referred back to the phantom knockdown several more times – even stating at one point that it was Berto’s late-round rally in the first that kept the judges’ cards from reading 10-8 instead of 10-9.

By the end of the show I’m not sure what irritated me more, Papa’s stubborn inaccuracy or the seeming inability of anyone else on the HBO crew to subtly correct him before he uttered it yet again.

As it turned out, Berto won in spite of the initial adversity, sweeping the scorecards with matching counts of 114-113 and 114-113 to go with a 116-111 nod from Bill Clancy that Kellerman and Co. were dead-on in labeling “absurd.”

Incidentally, even though I saw it 114-113 for Collazo, the decision in Berto’s favor was hardly criminal and I’d be more than happy to see the rematch that the now two-defense champion classily suggested during a subsequent in-ring interview.

And as for Papa… if a do-over does occur, he gets a mulligan.

* * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, in keeping with the B.A.D. theme, I can’t wait for Feb. 14.

Though my significant other might take issue with the itinerary (when she hears about it), all systems are go for a Valentine’s Day trip down the Florida Turnpike for a high-end HBO tripleheader.

In a pair of co-features to a compelling Alfredo Angulo-Ricardo Mayorga main event, two of my favorite fighters – Nate Campbell and Kermit Cintron – will have jewelry on the line when they arrive at the BankAtlantic Center in the aptly named Fort Lauderdale suburb of Sunrise, Fla.

Campbell, who’s as accommodating an interview and as interesting a character as I’ve encountered in my 20 years in the field, will risk his IBF and WBO lightweight titles for the first time when he faces once-beaten South African import Ali Funeka.

Funeka is unbeaten since 2002 and is leaving his homeland for the first time, while Campbell, a Jacksonville native now based in Tampa, has been inactive since dethroning Juan Diaz last March.

He was scheduled to meet Joan Guzman a few months back in Biloxi, Miss., but had the rug pulled out when Guzman initially failed to make weight and later reneged on a promise to go through with the event as a non-title affair… just hours before the opening bell.

For my money, and in spite of the lineal claims or superstar status of others in the division, Campbell is the man to beat at 135 by virtue of the downing of Diaz – who at the time was a consensus three-belt champion and being pushed by HBO as one of the sport’s next big things.

Campbell announced recently that he’s relinquishing the WBA belt.

“If I got Diaz again I’d make him go back to his corner at the end of every round and cuss (trainer) Willie Savannah out for putting him back in there with me,” Campbell said. “You saw the first time I can hit him with any punch I want to. He’s got no punch and he’s too easy to hit. He’s defensively challenged.”

Curiously, Kellerman mentioned Diaz – and not Campbell – during Saturday’s broadcast as a fighter to whom the network was promising more air in 2009, while also insistently referring to one-fight interloper Juan Manuel Marquez as “the” lightweight champion.

It’s a two-handed slap in the face to the capable Campbell, who’s too long been pigeonholed as high-risk/low-reward for the bigger names and their promoters, in spite of an entertaining style in the ring and a no-holds barred manner at the microphone.

“I think they’ll do everything in their power to keep (Marquez) as far away from me as possible because I’m the epitome of what a boxer should be,” he said. “I can bang. I can box. I can brawl. I can counter. I can lead. However you need it, I can give it to you.

“I’m so good, I scare myself. There are nights I can’t sleep, because I’m afraid I’ll sneak up on me.”

As for Cintron, our history goes back a little farther.

I first met the now 29-year-old more than a decade ago, when he and younger brother Jason were two of the bright spots in an otherwise nondescript athletic program at William Tennent High School in Warminster, Pa. – a suburb of Philadelphia.

I was a sports reporter for The Intelligencer newspaper back then, and, as part of my beat covering Tennent’s various sports teams, I got to watch the Cintrons quickly rise to all-area status in wrestling.

Not surprisingly for a kid who was new to the country and had lost both his parents, Kermit was quiet and reserved toward reporters in those days, but, to my delight, he immediately recalled our past Pennsylvania dealings when I approached him again late last year.

I’ve openly rooted for him as he’s beaten all comers not named Antonio Margarito in eight-plus years as a pro and I’ll be doing so again in Sunrise when he faces incumbent Sergio Martinez for the WBC’s interim 154-pound championship.

Cintron took the fight and its reported $200,000 payday on short notice, signing on after Martinez’s initial opponent (Joe Greene) withdrew due to illness and his second choice (Daniel Santos) balked at taking the fight with too little preparation time.

Cintron’s last action came Nov. 15 in Nashville, where he outpointed Lovemore N’Dou at 147 pounds to become the mandatory challenger for IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey.

He’d been in negotiations to meet Clottey on Feb. 21 as part of the Miguel Cotto-Michael Jennings card at Madison Square Garden, but, according to manager Josh Dubin, jumped at the more lucrative match with Martinez when it became available.

Instead, Isaac Hlatswayo will fight Clottey in New York.

“The money wasn't there for the Clottey fight,” said Dubin, in a piece on readingeagle.com. “My job is to maximize Kermit's purses. The Clottey fight, they wanted him to take less than his minimum. At the end of the day, this fight offered him the better deal.

“If Kermit didn't think he could win, if I didn't think he could win, we wouldn't have taken the fight. We're going to see what opportunities open up. Right now, it's about him making the most money possible and remaining successful. If there are bigger money opportunities available at 154, we'll look at them.”

Lyle Fitzsimmons is a 20-year sports journalist and a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him via e-mail at fitzbitz@msn.com.

Comments

jpmesq0332Wed Jan 21, 2009, 1:27 AM UTC

The reason why he isn't seen as a philly fighter is because he is puerto rican. To people who write these articles he will always be seen as a puerto rican fighter and not a philly fighter. Although i agree with you that he should be known as a philly fighter because thats where he was raised. I honestly think either him or his promoters like it this way. Its not really bad management. There is more money in advertising him as a puerto rican fighter than there is a philly fighter. Its a broader fan base. My question to the puerto rican people is whether they see him as a philly fighter or as a true puerto rican fighter? Who would they support in a cotto cintron battle. I see where you are coming from Mich. Much of the passions felt by boxing fans is marketing -driven. (It was wild to watch the Cotto/Margarito crowd as a third party bystander (full disclosure-- I was rooting for Cotto). Just to be clear-- maybe I've internalized my EEO/diversity work a little too much, but I don't necessarily think I was saying that the Philly/Puerto Rico dichotomy was an "either/or" mutually exclusive proposition, nor creating an expectation that he makes any choice as to whom he "represents". I'm going to be pulling for him whether he considers himself to be "primarily' a native son of Puerto Rico or a resident of Warminster/Reading (and I respect that he's both--- as Tennyson wrote "I am a part of all that I have met" and so are we all). I think his story to date is admirable/inspiring/interesting, and he's a great role model /athlete in these days where flawed heros abound-- and yet he and his story wasn't on my radar screen despite having a connection literally to my own backyard-- and I have been a pretty fair boxing fan for many years (though paying a bit less attention in recent years and lack of awareness is probably my fault more than anything). My larger point was that there just seems to be less and less media attention being given to the sport of late. I'll give you a non-Cintron example which doesn't involve any PR/Philly dichotomy: Steve Cunningham--another Philly champion off my radar screen until I saw him lose his belt on Versus last month. Along those same lines (although not involving a Philly fighter)-- I checked the Inquirer over the weekend-- not even a blurb on the Collazo/Berto fight (will they mention the Magarito/Mosley results next weekend? They did cover DLH/Pacman). I can recall when I was a kid-- the local papers ALWAYS covered fights involving Mike Rossman, Matt Franklin/Saad Muhammed or Joltin Jeff Chandler and the other "champs" and even other non-champs (Bennie Brisco, Willie the Worm Monroe). Those days of the "boxing beat" seem gone-- do they ever come back?

Soda_Popinski3739Tue Jan 20, 2009, 11:19 PM UTC

exactly. I dont hear white people calling their mexican gardners Jesus with a J because they are in america. They pronounce it Hesus. Why not prounounce other spanish names correctly as well. Just because its in america doesnt mean we have to kill peoples names especially one as simple as Luis. Watch who you're calling Hesus!! http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n442/dogearedpete/the_big_lebowski_jesus1.jpg

daju_99Tue Jan 20, 2009, 10:45 PM UTC

It doesn't matter where you're from, "lou-ee" is spelled Louie. "Lou-eese" is spelled Luis. Just like Luis Collazo. "Lou-ee"? He's hispanic, therefore the "S" at the end is not silent. "Lou-eese Coh-yahz-o".

revs1227Tue Jan 20, 2009, 9:11 PM UTC

Note stupid: Luis Collazo is Puerto Rican. his name is louis (louie) he is american ! only half pr

michvlamarTue Jan 20, 2009, 8:46 PM UTC

Nice article. I'm almost in the same boat-- living outside Philly (North Penn area) and a Kermit Cintron fan and his story going back to his hs prep wrestling days (good thing the NPer I knew from my golf course wrestled at a division higher (145) than Kerm back then). And, even putting aside the all the obstacles which life has thrown in his path, just the thought of a local kid from nearby burbs (not exactly a "hotbed" for gyms) who just started boxing in college becoming world champion and then continuing to face all challenges head on is great stuff -- its always nice to see good things happen to good people-- and Kerm is a great guy. But, its always puzzled me as to why Kerm's rise in the boxing world was "under the radar" locally. Philly ALWAYS loves its fighters--- but for some reason (maybe the relocation to Reading?--which is still Philly area in my book) Kerm never seems to get the kind of positive local press media coverage I think he should. (The Intelligencer and Reading Eagle did stories-- but I don't recall any in the Inquirer, much less the Reporter/Times Herald). His "local boy makes good becomes world champion" story is the type that ordinarily gets lapped up in these outlets, isn't it? Why do you think this is the case? Bad management/promotion on Kerm's people's part? Kerm's own reluctance/preference to keep a low profile? General media disinterest in the sport? I got to be honest (and it shows my own cluelessness), for many years I didn't grasp the connection between Kermit Cintron, the prep wrestling champ I saw from Tenant at 140 in the late 90's, and Kermit Cintron the rising boxing star from Puerto Rico-- for many years (frankly-- until I saw the profile on Kerm and his uncle on HBO before Margo II, making that night's disappointment all the more tough to take), and I'm kicking myself for missing his rise and not supporting him more along the way. In any event, hopefully Lou DiBella is the man that can give him a higher and more lucrative profile (sounds like he already has taken some steps that way), and he can be a name player (and have more leverage) at both 147 and 154 if he takes care of Martinez like I'm hoping he will. In any event, I won't be missing any more of Kerm's fights from here on out, hopefully, he'll have some locally or in AC in the near term, and we'll be pulling for him every step of the way as he goes for another belt. The reason why he isn't seen as a philly fighter is because he is puerto rican. To people who write these articles he will always be seen as a puerto rican fighter and not a philly fighter. Although i agree with you that he should be known as a philly fighter because thats where he was raised. I honestly think either him or his promoters like it this way. Its not really bad management. There is more money in advertising him as a puerto rican fighter than there is a philly fighter. Its a broader fan base. My question to the puerto rican people is whether they see him as a philly fighter or as a true puerto rican fighter? Who would they support in a cotto cintron battle.

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