Tweet
By Ben Cohen: On the Golden Boy Promotions website, the mission statement reads:
“Golden Boy Promotions strives to become the leading Boxing Promotional Company through integrity, honesty, hard work and determination. We want to offer promising young fighters a platform from which they can showcase their talents to a global audience”
“Golden Boy Promotions is committed to recruiting, developing and retaining the best and brightest young fighters to help achieve our mission.”
Last weekend, two of their fighters fought a boring, messy contest for the WBC lightweight title. Jose Armando Santa Cruz comfortably beat champion Joel Casamayor over the distance, taking at least 9 of the 12 rounds. He was however, not given the decision. It was an appalling spectacle given it was a title fight, and the judges involved should be banned from scoring championship bouts.
Ron McNair and Frank Lombardi both scored the bout for Casamayor by 114-113, and Tony Paolillo scored it for Santa Cruz by 114-113. Paulillo at least got the right man, but giving Casamayor more than 3 rounds is grounds for an investigation in itself and the New York Athletic Commission should take action to find out exactly what went on behind the scenes.
Amazingly, there has been no major outcry about the decision, and Golden Boy have so far been muted in their official reaction.
Although the fight was largely unwatchable, Santa Cruz virtually shut the champion down and won almost every round. Casamayor simply did not throw enough punches, and spent most of the night back peddling around the ring. Santa Cruz is not a pleasing fighter to watch, but he is very effective at what he does. A gangly 5ft10, Santa Cruz is a deceptively strong fighter at lightweight, and his toughness makes up for his stylistic deficiencies. Santa Cruz worked steadily throughout the bout and threw right hands over the top that landed frequently on Casamayor’s head. Refusing to allow the Cuban to find a rhythm, Santa Cruz dominated the majority of the fight with alarming ease.
Casamayor seemed to find his range towards the end of the fight, but it was far too little far too late.
In defence of Casamayor’s lethargic performance, he had not boxed for 13 months and is 36 years old (ancient for a lightweight). However, he did not win the fight, and did not deserve to retain his title.
Casamayor’s trainer Joe Goossen told Secondsout he thought otherwise.
“I thought two judges got it right” the esteemed trainer said curtly. “I’m already past that. That’s it.”
“The last three rounds we backed him up”, he continued. “The last three rounds won us the fight. Of the first ten rounds, Joel won four or five of them. I watched the fight, I was ten feet away.”
“The only time he (Santa Cruz) could do anything was when he could tap him on the inside a few times, land a few leads, a few punches here a few punches there. The knock down was not a knock down in the first. I talked to his trainer Rudy Hernandez after, and he admitted as much.”
“If he was doing so well, why did he switch to left hander?” Goossen asked. “Because the right handed **** wasn’t working. If his plan was to back Joel up, why did he back up himself rounds 11 and 12?”
Not willing to debate the subject, Goossen is putting the debacle behind him.
“I’m looking forward right now, because I’ve got a fight December third, I’ve got another fight January 20th and I’ve got another fight February 15th. I’ve been on the end of bad decisions, and I’ve been on the end of fair decisions, and not so fair decisions.”
“The bottom line is this: I didn’t score the fight, but I thought two of the judges were right. I thought one of them was not right.”
However, the overwhelming majority of the people watching the fight saw otherwise, including the HBO broadcast team. Although the fight started with virtually no background information on Santa Cruz, and the commentary was based on the premise that Casamayor was going to win, Jim Lampley, Emmanuel Steward, Max Kellerman and Harold Lederman get top marks for accurately reporting on the fight.
“Just when you think you’ve seen everything, just when you think you’ve seen decisions so bizarre that you think you’ll never see anything worse than that, along comes something like this,” said Lampley.
“That’s not just a bad decision, that’s an outright robbery,” added Kellerman.
For Rudy Hernandez, Santa Cruz’s trainer, the decision against his fighter has far greater consequences than simply embarrassing the sport. When asked about an investigation, Hernandez was resigned to the fate of being a no name in boxing.
“What are the going to investigate?” he told Secondsout. “The damage they have done to Santa Cruz is done, and we’re not going to get anything. Not only does it damage the sport but the fact of the matter is Santa Cruz will not be making championship money in his next fight.”
“I think that maybe 95% of the population that watched the fight thought that Santa Cruz won the fight”, he continued. “And that’s being generous.”
“It just hurts, hurts us all financially, it hurts us morally, and we go to the gym every day and we put in the work day in and day out,” said Hernandez glumly. “And you know what really sucks? The majority of people don’t understand, that from the amateurs to the pros, these kids sacrifice so much. Even the judge that scored the fight for Santa Cruz scored it 114-113, I mean what the hell was he watching? And they screwed this kid over.”
For Hernandez, decisions like these make him question the sport he clearly loves.
“I have a friend of mine whose son is 13 years old, and he asked ‘hey Armando, why did they do this to you?’ This kid is an amateur, and he couldn’t believe it. How could this happen?”
“If you have kids asking these questions, and then you wonder why so many people are watching the UFC, that they are packing in arenas, and boxing doesn’t.”
And what of Santa Cruz’s promoter, the ever-expanding Golden Boy? Does Hernandez think they will speak out and stick up for one of their lesser-known fighters?
“It’s Golden Boy Promotions call,” he answered. ‘What are they going to do about it?”
“I’m not the one going up on the podium saying ‘I want to be one of the best promoters out there, and I want to be one of the honest ones, I want to do positive things for boxing’.”
“I’m not saying this, I’m talking about things he (De La Hoya) has said in the past about wanting to do right in boxing. Now he has something in front of his face. So what do you do?”
Behind the scenes, those working at Golden Boy have admitted to Hernandez that the fight was a farce.
“Eric Gomez (the vice president and match maker) called me and told me, ‘hey man, Santa Cruz won that fight’”, said Hernandez.
And does he think Golden Boy will push for an investigation?
“I don’t expect them to,” he answered quickly. “I’ve already realized that most fighters are not important to them. It’s the mighty dollar”.
Ever the realist, Hernandez understands all to well what happens to fighters with little to no media coverage. With Golden Boy doing virtually nothing to promote his fight or build his name, Hernandez had pinned his hopes on performing in the ring.
“Armando is really a no one in boxing he’s not a household name,” he said frankly. “He’s not pretty to watch, but he did what he had to do. He controlled the bout from the beginning and he made the fight.”
And in the opinion of anyone with functioning vision, Santa Cruz won a world title as well.
To voice you concerns about the fight you can write to Ron Scott Steven, Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission at:
New York State Department of State
New York State Athletic Commission
123 William Street, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10038
Or email them at: athletic@dos.state.ny.us
To contact Golden Boy Promotions, write to:
Golden Boy Promotions
626 Wilshire Blvd.
Ste 350
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Or email them at info@goldenboyllc.com
November 15th 2007
Ben Cohen can be reached at benfu1@yahoo.com
“Golden Boy Promotions strives to become the leading Boxing Promotional Company through integrity, honesty, hard work and determination. We want to offer promising young fighters a platform from which they can showcase their talents to a global audience”
“Golden Boy Promotions is committed to recruiting, developing and retaining the best and brightest young fighters to help achieve our mission.”
Last weekend, two of their fighters fought a boring, messy contest for the WBC lightweight title. Jose Armando Santa Cruz comfortably beat champion Joel Casamayor over the distance, taking at least 9 of the 12 rounds. He was however, not given the decision. It was an appalling spectacle given it was a title fight, and the judges involved should be banned from scoring championship bouts.
Ron McNair and Frank Lombardi both scored the bout for Casamayor by 114-113, and Tony Paolillo scored it for Santa Cruz by 114-113. Paulillo at least got the right man, but giving Casamayor more than 3 rounds is grounds for an investigation in itself and the New York Athletic Commission should take action to find out exactly what went on behind the scenes.
Amazingly, there has been no major outcry about the decision, and Golden Boy have so far been muted in their official reaction.
Although the fight was largely unwatchable, Santa Cruz virtually shut the champion down and won almost every round. Casamayor simply did not throw enough punches, and spent most of the night back peddling around the ring. Santa Cruz is not a pleasing fighter to watch, but he is very effective at what he does. A gangly 5ft10, Santa Cruz is a deceptively strong fighter at lightweight, and his toughness makes up for his stylistic deficiencies. Santa Cruz worked steadily throughout the bout and threw right hands over the top that landed frequently on Casamayor’s head. Refusing to allow the Cuban to find a rhythm, Santa Cruz dominated the majority of the fight with alarming ease.
Casamayor seemed to find his range towards the end of the fight, but it was far too little far too late.
In defence of Casamayor’s lethargic performance, he had not boxed for 13 months and is 36 years old (ancient for a lightweight). However, he did not win the fight, and did not deserve to retain his title.
Casamayor’s trainer Joe Goossen told Secondsout he thought otherwise.
“I thought two judges got it right” the esteemed trainer said curtly. “I’m already past that. That’s it.”
“The last three rounds we backed him up”, he continued. “The last three rounds won us the fight. Of the first ten rounds, Joel won four or five of them. I watched the fight, I was ten feet away.”
“The only time he (Santa Cruz) could do anything was when he could tap him on the inside a few times, land a few leads, a few punches here a few punches there. The knock down was not a knock down in the first. I talked to his trainer Rudy Hernandez after, and he admitted as much.”
“If he was doing so well, why did he switch to left hander?” Goossen asked. “Because the right handed **** wasn’t working. If his plan was to back Joel up, why did he back up himself rounds 11 and 12?”
Not willing to debate the subject, Goossen is putting the debacle behind him.
“I’m looking forward right now, because I’ve got a fight December third, I’ve got another fight January 20th and I’ve got another fight February 15th. I’ve been on the end of bad decisions, and I’ve been on the end of fair decisions, and not so fair decisions.”
“The bottom line is this: I didn’t score the fight, but I thought two of the judges were right. I thought one of them was not right.”
However, the overwhelming majority of the people watching the fight saw otherwise, including the HBO broadcast team. Although the fight started with virtually no background information on Santa Cruz, and the commentary was based on the premise that Casamayor was going to win, Jim Lampley, Emmanuel Steward, Max Kellerman and Harold Lederman get top marks for accurately reporting on the fight.
“Just when you think you’ve seen everything, just when you think you’ve seen decisions so bizarre that you think you’ll never see anything worse than that, along comes something like this,” said Lampley.
“That’s not just a bad decision, that’s an outright robbery,” added Kellerman.
For Rudy Hernandez, Santa Cruz’s trainer, the decision against his fighter has far greater consequences than simply embarrassing the sport. When asked about an investigation, Hernandez was resigned to the fate of being a no name in boxing.
“What are the going to investigate?” he told Secondsout. “The damage they have done to Santa Cruz is done, and we’re not going to get anything. Not only does it damage the sport but the fact of the matter is Santa Cruz will not be making championship money in his next fight.”
“I think that maybe 95% of the population that watched the fight thought that Santa Cruz won the fight”, he continued. “And that’s being generous.”
“It just hurts, hurts us all financially, it hurts us morally, and we go to the gym every day and we put in the work day in and day out,” said Hernandez glumly. “And you know what really sucks? The majority of people don’t understand, that from the amateurs to the pros, these kids sacrifice so much. Even the judge that scored the fight for Santa Cruz scored it 114-113, I mean what the hell was he watching? And they screwed this kid over.”
For Hernandez, decisions like these make him question the sport he clearly loves.
“I have a friend of mine whose son is 13 years old, and he asked ‘hey Armando, why did they do this to you?’ This kid is an amateur, and he couldn’t believe it. How could this happen?”
“If you have kids asking these questions, and then you wonder why so many people are watching the UFC, that they are packing in arenas, and boxing doesn’t.”
And what of Santa Cruz’s promoter, the ever-expanding Golden Boy? Does Hernandez think they will speak out and stick up for one of their lesser-known fighters?
“It’s Golden Boy Promotions call,” he answered. ‘What are they going to do about it?”
“I’m not the one going up on the podium saying ‘I want to be one of the best promoters out there, and I want to be one of the honest ones, I want to do positive things for boxing’.”
“I’m not saying this, I’m talking about things he (De La Hoya) has said in the past about wanting to do right in boxing. Now he has something in front of his face. So what do you do?”
Behind the scenes, those working at Golden Boy have admitted to Hernandez that the fight was a farce.
“Eric Gomez (the vice president and match maker) called me and told me, ‘hey man, Santa Cruz won that fight’”, said Hernandez.
And does he think Golden Boy will push for an investigation?
“I don’t expect them to,” he answered quickly. “I’ve already realized that most fighters are not important to them. It’s the mighty dollar”.
Ever the realist, Hernandez understands all to well what happens to fighters with little to no media coverage. With Golden Boy doing virtually nothing to promote his fight or build his name, Hernandez had pinned his hopes on performing in the ring.
“Armando is really a no one in boxing he’s not a household name,” he said frankly. “He’s not pretty to watch, but he did what he had to do. He controlled the bout from the beginning and he made the fight.”
And in the opinion of anyone with functioning vision, Santa Cruz won a world title as well.
To voice you concerns about the fight you can write to Ron Scott Steven, Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission at:
New York State Department of State
New York State Athletic Commission
123 William Street, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10038
Or email them at: athletic@dos.state.ny.us
To contact Golden Boy Promotions, write to:
Golden Boy Promotions
626 Wilshire Blvd.
Ste 350
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Or email them at info@goldenboyllc.com
November 15th 2007
Ben Cohen can be reached at benfu1@yahoo.com
lil popkins will get destroyed by juan diaz...
Comment