By Rusty Rubin, managing editor, of Ringsports.com, and author of “Off the Canvas”, a historically accurate view of American history and the social problems of the times, as witnessed by an 80-year old ex-champion. “Off the Canvas” takes you from the time of the Great Depression till the World Trade Center disaster and is a book that has been getting rave reviews. Copies are $15.00 each available at Ringsports.com and on-line major book retailers. For a list of the reviews please contact me.
Also we’ll be taking orders soon on autographed copies of “Billy Soose, The Champion Time Forgot” co-authored by Tom Donelson. Since we live in different parts of the country, it would be hard to co-ordinate a joint signing, both myself or Tom will available. ***
Black Cloud, a great boxing movie is now out on DVD, if you’re a true fight fan, it’s a movie you don’t want to miss.***
Had a great time at the July 2nd fight in Reno, when Reno Ring LLD. and Duva boxing put on a decent show to open the brand new events center to the sport of boxing.
In fact it was an enjoyable weekend spending time with old and new friends alike. Had the pleasure of meeting Tom Donelson and his lovely wife Jan, from Iowa. Tom, a prolific writer, writes for many websites and does an outstanding job.
Also good to see on hand “Mr. C.” A gentleman who channels the energy and looks of Howard Cosell as good as anyone around. Plus he’s a genuine nice guy. Don’t ask me how it’s possible that anyone channeling Coselll could be a nice guy, but this one is!***
It wasn’t a full house, but it was a noisy crowd on hand to enjoy the action, although there wasn’t much of it in the main event, televised by Showtime. There didn’t figure to be, as Samuel Peter knocked out Taurus Sykes, 23-1-21- (6), at the 2:02 mark in round two, when the Brooklyn native decided to go toe to toe with the powerful Nigerian, and in doing ended the fight earlier than most expected.
Peter, 24-0 (21), although not fleet a foot, can bang with the best of them in the heavyweight division and did just that, on Sykes skull, which was the easiest target available for the big Nigerian and soon to be major heavyweight contender.
Showtime telecast the event and fortunately, because it was free TV, no one was short-changed by the quick outcome.
In other action: Oscar Diaz had a rough fight against game banger Arturo Urena, 22-11-1 (18),in what may have been the real main event of the night. After 8-rounds of non-stop power punching, Diaz, 21-1 )11, eeked out a close but correct unanimous decision.
Mike Marrone, 210, big up and coming heavyweight from Florida, upped his record to 10-0 (9), by scoring a third round TKO over Forrest Neal, 225, 16-7-2.
Elena ‘Baby Doll’ Reid 17-2-5, continued her winning ways taking a unanimous decision from Stephanie Dobbs, a gal who always comes to fight.
Super middle Christian Cruz of Sacramento brought both the crowd and opponent Edmund O’Neal to the floor, as a big overhand right seemed to almost put an end to O’Neal’s career. It was a bit disturbing to watch O’Neal motionless on the canvas, particularly in lieu of a ring death in Vegas the previous evening.
Ray Biggs Jr. upped his welterweight mark to 3-0 with a 3rd round TKO over Simon Ruvalcaba and in a bantamweight contest Nonito Donaire looked impressive in winning a unanimous decision over Larry Olvera.***
The A few people wrote in question my calling Arturo Gatti a ‘club fighter’. First of all, if you look at who he’s beaten, what else could you call him, perhaps an ‘outstanding club fighter’, but little else.
Yes, this guy has more heart than just about anyone I’ve ever seen in the ring, and yes, if I was in a corner, badly out-numbered, he’d be the one person I’d want by my side. Maybe Erik Morales on my other side, but the fact remains he is a club fighter, albeit one of the best.
There is nothing wrong with being a club fighter. Most fighters are. They are the heart and soul of our sport.
I wasn’t implying in my article that Gatti ‘quit’. His corner retired him, or he would have gone 12 rounds with no regard to his present and future health. That’s the way Gatti is; A proud warrior, who, if his talent matched his heart, would probably never lose a fight.***
Rod Flynn of Canada, a fan, wrote and told he he’d probably like to go with 40 as a retirement age. Others had different suggestions.
One fan wrote in a thought about age limits, suggesting that retirement should be based on the amount of power punches one receives, going down in increments as the weight division goes up. Actually it makes sense, although there is an argument that the bigger the guy is the more power punches he can take. An argument that I’m not sure I subscribe to.***
And amid my somewhat impassioned plea to stop the old timer’s tour, now Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns announces his intention of making a comeback at age 46. Tommy please, don’t do it! You will only embarrass yourself and tarnish your reputation as one of the all-time greats, not to mention endangering your induction into the Hall of Fame.***
Finally, please have a safe and sane July 4th. Enjoy the holiday but say a prayer for the brave lads risking life and limb in a far-off war. May God bless them and may God bless America.
Agree or disagree, I always welcome comments. Rusty@ringsports.com***
My good friend Stephen B. Acunto, who founded the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing, along with Rocky Marciano, now has his book “Champions Boxing Guide” available in Spanish. For details visit Steve’s website: AAIB.org
Please help me with my upcoming new book. Send all boxing jokes, stories, quips and boxing oddities to (Rusty@ringsports.com), thanks, and members of the boxing media are free to send this most welcome information as well. All submissions used will be given full credit, if used in the book, and it will be given on who submits the story first, basis. Here’s your chance to have your name in print, instead of ‘America’s Most Wanted’ posters.***
Glove2Glove:
Prayers for boxing promoter and all around good guy Clem Crowley who could use a push in the get well ranks just about now. Also prayers for the return to health of Audrey Talmo, wife of Ed, a long-time boxing fan who cares about our sport.
Dub Harris, WWII hero and founder and past President of the World Boxing Hall of Fame has suffered a stroke in Southern California. Please pray for his quick return to health.***
Prayers also requested for the Sheila Sepulveda, a long-time friend of this writer. Sheila is having some very serious health problems.
Prayers needed for the return to health of Alfonso Luna, father of our outstanding photographer Ray Luna, who has taken ill in Southern California.
Please say prayers for the return to health of Helen Wambolt, wife of our East Coast World Boxing Hall of Fame writer Danny Wambolt. Cards will also be most welcome.***
Please say prayers for the return to health of Orazio Esposito, father of our photographer Richard Esposito.***
Sandy Johnson a great gal as well as a staff member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission is fighting breast cancer. A call, e-mail or card, along with your prayers would really do a lot to raise the spirits of an old friend.***
Special prayers go out to Mills Lane for his complete recovery. Mills suffered a stroke a few years back. He may be down, but knowing him personally, he’s far from out.***
Prayers for the return to health of Don Donelson, father of writer Tom, and Gene Sebastian, brother of former middleweight champ Billy Soose. Both are suffering from congestive heart disease.
Please say prayers for Phill Grazide of Santa Rosa, CA. a big supporter of amateur boxing, who is suffering the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis.***
Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.***
Glove2Glove is a non-denominational group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.***
Touching on politics briefly: First, after reading (not watching) the President’s speech, my only statements would be that I wish he’d stop acting like Iraq had something to do with 9/11, we all know by now they did not; and, to stop his ridiculous statement that if we don’t fight them there we’d be fighting them in America.
Mr. President, we are fighting them in America, to a far lesser extent, granted, but you are giving Americans a false sense of security with those statements. There is nothing to prevent the terrorists from attacking America, anytime or anyplace they wish. It’s sad but true. Especially true with the wide open borders we provide that thousands of illegal aliens are crossing on a regular basis. I think we all can and should agree that we want our troops to return home safely, and we don’t want to see a Civil War in Iraq.
Although those of us living in America understand and appreciate the blessings of democracy, I’m not sure we’re doing the right thing by forcing it down the throats of people who have never experienced it. America was born in revolution and turmoil, but that doesn’t make it right for a country in another part of the world. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not, but that should be their determination, not ours. In truth, isn’t that what radical Islam is trying to do throughout the world, force their will on everyone.
I do agree, setting a timetable would be wrong! The terrorists (and others) respect strength. Any show of weakness hurts the cause.
And remember while people are fighting and dying in Iraq, the real battle to be fought, is against the hard-line Islamists who won’t settle for anything else but the conquest of the World and having it adhere to their radical beliefs. This is a fight that everyone should be joining and one that we cannot afford to lose.***
Now for the Supreme Court decision on ‘eminent domain’, the dissenting opinion written by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, and home with a shopping mall or any farm with a factory”.
Ms. O’Conner is absolutely correct. This Supreme Court of late has been coming down with some, what I would consider ‘goofy’ rulings, and this is that latest. It makes one wonder if they have been smoking some marijuana. Wait, they just took that jurisdiction away from the States and made that illegal also.
Sadly, Mrs. O’Conner has announced her retirement from the highest Court and will return to private life. She will be missed.
Let’s hope the nomination as to whoever replaces her is not going to divide this country any further, and is as intelligent and compassionate in their rulings as Mrs. O’Conner was.
My concern about the other ruling is not however use of medical marijuana. I’ll leave the use (or not) to the experts.
What’s really crazy is the so-called liberals on the Supreme Court voted for eminent domain, and the Conservatives for the use of medical marijuana. What am I missing here?
But I do live in a house, as many Americans do. Now the great American dream, to have a house in the suburbs has lost it’s meaning for either corporate or private greed. My home and yours can now be made into a parking lot or a 7-11 with this ridiculous decision.
What happens when the government decides to take over a low income housing unit? Where do the poor people go? Does anyone really care about the poor? We seem to care about what’s happening to the poor in other parts of the World, but in America, the court says that if the government wants the property they live in, let them fend for themselves.
What bothers me even more is the extra urban sprawl this ruling can create. Isn’t the growth in this country spread out enough? People save their hard-earned money to move to the suburbs to get away from the noise, traffic and crime that high growth brings.
Now the court, in their infinite wisdom has decided that the American homeowner doesn’t have any rights, because it’s more important for a business or corporation to get bigger and richer than for Americans to live in the comfort of their homes.
When will this craziness stop? Growth is good and necessary, but the cost of this has now gotten way too high! The American dream is about to vanish!
Agree or disagree, I’d like to hear from you. I respect everyone’s opinion. (Rusty@ringsports.com), and feel free to pass this along to your representatives, most of whom aren’t really your representatives anyhow.
