HOOK TO THE LIVER
By José Sulaimán
The world of boxing is struggling among an internal war that is putting afloat the interest for money and power. Today it is not the traditional confrontation among promoters or which of the TV corporations is the most powerful. Today it is incoming people who for ego, money, power and the thirst for front pages have jumped into boxing.
Today a man from Taiwan, Mr. Wu, of recent invasion into boxing, is leading a movement of big economical dimensions for our sport of boxing. His is to me an indication that he does not really know what professional boxing is, or that behind the move is something of a great mystery,
About five or six years ago, the presidents of the Italian and French boxing federations, Furgoni and Falccinelli, both very dear friends of mine, both called me to ask for our WBC support in favor of a Mr. Wu to defeat Anwar Chowdry at the elections of AIBA in Santo Domingo. Mr. Wu himself decided to visit me in Mexico city, where he stayed a couple of days. He looked to me a decent
gentleman with sincere objectives to stop Mr. Chowdry's 25 years of presidency and lead boxing to better paths.
Mr. Wu and I reached a verbal agreement for AIBA and the WBC to work together for the good of boxing. We got 33 votes for him from Africa, Oriental Europe and Latin America. He won by four votes !!!!! He took two months to thank the WBC. And I was happy for Mr. Wu and amateur boxing. Could any body imagine what would have happened without the 33 votes obtained by the WBC ?
I was fooled. Totally fooled. In fact, I was betrayed. Mr. Wu was not the nice gentleman that I thought that I had met. I was also fooled by my dear friend of many years Franco Falccinelli. Not so much by Humbert Furgoni, as he somehow kept communicating. Humbert tried to say after the Olympic Games why France got no medals. He was expelled from AIBA and even lost the elections as president of the French Federation, which is now in the hands of a good boxing man who was in charge of the amateur section. I am sorry for Humbert. He was betrayed, just like me.
Wu soon became what he was: an egocentric, obsessive, ambitious person who got a secretary from Korea, who is a dictator and arrogant ruler, who continually hurts affiliated nationals.
· They ruled that professional boxers fighting for AIBA would be the only ones allowed at the Olympics. A simple monopoly and restraint of trade action.
· They have ruled that all nations affiliated to AIBA shall take off the word A for amateur, and so did AIBA.
· They ruled that any person in the past or present with any relations within the national federations shall be expelled from the federation.
· They invaded the sovereignity of the national boxing federations by imposing the amendment of their rules and laws to have the AIBA rules the maximum and only to reign amateur boxing in every nation.
· And among many other dictatorial actions, now they have ruled that any and all national boxing federations not implementing all of the above measures will be expelled from AIBA.
The problem here is that a mere sports organization of amateur boxing is telling the USA, Great Britain, France, Russia, the African countries, China, Japan, Mexico, and all nations of the world to forget about their laws and sovereignity and do as AIBA wants. And what is even worse, all federations that are not in AIBA cannot go to the Olympic Games, and their governments will not give them a penny. So everybody seems to be afraid and quiet.
All of the unbelievable dictatorial actions mentioned above must have behind them someone who is very powerful or if not, those AIBA people are really irresponsibly venturous. We are expecting the IOC to state if it is behind those actions and approve all rulings or not. But to me, Mr. Wu is really a strange person. It was not only my absolute trust in Furgoni and Falccinelli that made me believe in Mr. Wu. I also thought that he was a decent gentleman. But that is life. Gentleman and imperialistic egos in the same person.
There is one more Pandora box to explode during these days and we are waiting for it. I just hope that boxing people understand what is happening and act strongly in defence of the sport of our love.
Thank you for reading my thoughts.
Brooklyn, New York - The Serrano sisters from Bushwick, Amanda and Cindy, have been classified in three of the most important major sanctioning bodies in professional boxing.
At super featherweight division ( 130lbs ), Amanda ( 17-1, 12 KO's ), a Puerto Rico native is ranked # 1 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), # 2 by the World Boxing Association (WBA), but in the World Boxing Council (WBC) is ranked # 5 at the featherweight division ( 126lbs ). Her older sister, Cindy ( 18-5-2, 8 KO's ) is now ranked in the super featherweight # 4 by the IBF, and # 5 in both WBA and WBC.
"Thanks IBF, WBC and WBA for having us in the top ten. That means a lot to us" said 24 year old Amanda "We are super motivated, looking on adding more titles in our collection. We're gonna make Puerto Rico and Brooklyn proud. This is women's boxing!!!".
On September 10, 2011, Amanda became the first female boxer to win a super featherweight IBF world title by defeating Kimberly Connor ( 10-2-2, 4 KO's ) by way of knockout in the first round. Later, on February16, 2013, Amanda captured the featherweight Universal Boxing Federation ( UBF ) and Women's International Boxing Association ( WIBA ) world titles by defeating Dominican localist, Wanda Pena Ozuna ( 8-5, 2 KO ) by TKO in the first round.
Cindy, a Brooklyn native said: "It's good to train hard in the gym, keep winning fights, and suddenly I could go for a world title at any time. The Important thing now is to be 100 percent focused in training".
In 2012, Cindy captured two titles, the vacant WIBA world title at lightweight division ( 135lbs ) after defeating Kerry Hill, and in November, the Universal Boxing Federation International title over Angel Gladney. Both wins were by unanimous decision.
"We will continue representing Puerto Rico and Brooklyn in and outside the ring. We never stop training, Amanda and Cindy are ready to succeed in major challenges, and hopefully the fans can watch the girls fight soon on TV" said Jordan Maldonado, trainer and manager of the Serrano sisters.
Amanda and Cindy's upcoming bouts will be announced shortly.
Photo Team Serrano by Ash Kalmar. Cindy and Amanda individual possing photos by Zohn Yancy, IMI PRODUCTIONS.
GCP Signs Bantamweight Jundy Maraon
Promoter Greg Cohen of Greg Cohen Promotions proudly announces the signing of Filipino bantamweight Jundy "Pretty Boy" Maraon (15-0-1, 12 KOs) to a promotional agreement.
28-year-old southpaw Maraon, from Blancia St. Molave, Zamboanga del Sur, is the current WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight Champion. He made his US debut last September at the Chumash Casino with a TKO 3 over Ernie Marquez.
Maraon, who turned pro in 2003, is considered as one of his boxing-rich country's brightest prospects in the bantamweight division, and is known for scoring highlight-reel knockouts. He is currently training in San Leandro, California, with head trainer Nonito Donaire Sr., father of boxing superstar Nonito Jr.
"I am very excited to be signed with Greg Cohen," said Maraon. "I'm ready to fight for a world-championship and Greg Cohen is the man who can put it together for me."
"We're very happy to be signed with GCP. Jundy is a top talent and he's ready to go," said Maraon's manager, Vinny Scolpino of VMS Management. "Nonito Donaire Sr. is his head trainer and GCP is now his promoter, so the whole team is in place to help him become a world champion in the near future."
"Jundy is a fantastic knockout artist and he'll be a force at 118 lbs.," said his new promoter, Greg Cohen. "He's ready to get his career going on US soil and I'm happy to be able to help guide him. He's a strong Filipino southpaw with excellent power and tremendous skill."
DAMIEN HOOPER TIPPED TO BE AUSTRALIA'S NEXT BOXING STAR
AUSTRALIAN Olympian Damien Hooper will make a huge statement when he has his first professional fight, says his trainer Gareth Williams.
The light-heavyweight, who was ranked number three in the world as an amateur, makes his pro berth against the experienced Garth Murray at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane next Saturday night (April 20).
And Williams believes his charge will soon have the world sitting up and taking notice of his talent.
"Damien, is going to show why he'll be a successful pro," Williams said. "He has a great boxing brain and a dogged determination to win.
"He has been training really hard and is so excited to show the world what he can do.
"He has been sparring heavyweights and light-heavyweights and has been controlling every round to date."
Manager Matt Clark is also feels the 21-year-old light-heavyweight Toowoomba-native is destined for the top.
He said: "We believe in Damien's ability and the choice of his opponent shows it. He's in with a former state champion who's had 11 professional fights and on a three fight win streak.
"Gareth Williams has him training the house down and he's been very sharp in sparring.
"This kid, along with his friend Cameron Hammond, has the potential to be Australia's next big boxing star."
Hooper had a glittering career in the amateur ranks, winning a gold medal at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore and a silver at the Youth World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan that same year.
He signed for Hatton Promotions in early 2012 after spurning the advances of a number of other top-level promoters.
