Big News :) For Me, Anyway...

[Silencers]

The concept of the book is very interesting. I read a few excerpts that you posted on your official forums and I have been interested ever since. Hope everything works out without any problems.

[NachoMan]

UNEDITED EXCERPT from Volume 1:

"April 2, 2005: Went with Rita to see the Jose Rivera-Luis Collazo title fight in Worcester. I filled in on short notice as a cornerman for Dan Sheehan who put up a pretty tough fight with former WBA champion Lou DelValle. I had gotten into the fight tonight as a representative for a website, www.ringsidereport.com, that I will take photos of the Rivera fight for. (How else do you think Rita got to sit up close in press row for the entire show?) My man Virgil Hill was there. Haven't seen him since Munich in 1996 before he fought Maske. Virgil's a good guy. He was here to scout the winner of Mormeck and Braithwaite. Meldrick Taylor was here, too. I don't really know Meldrick but I always looked up to him, and told him so, since he was a 125 pound amateur back in 1984. Former stand out amateurs now turned pro Curtis Stevens and Jaidon Codrington were at the fight to support gym mate Collazo. Curtis and Jaidon are young six round kids known in New York as "The Chin Checkers" who are making a lot of noise on that local scene. Both have some real potential. Remember the names.

I sparred with Jose for this fight and wanted him to win but Collazo boxed his behind off, back pedaling in that slick southpaw stance, circling the perimeter of the ring and flurrying often on the inside. Jose made him work very hard every single round and won some of them, too, but Luis deserved the win in the end I would say due to his cleaner punching and slicker style. Another prospect from New York, a good 122 pounder named Gary "Kid" Stark, was there pulling hard for his man Luis. A lot of New York guys were there for Luis and that made the fight that much more exciting. Winning always brings joy and it's hard to debate with someone caught up in the joy of impending victory.

I wanted to tell Gary, though, for his own knowledge in regard to his own career, as well as to point out what was happening on this night, that you can laugh and be ****y and show joy at winning but don't forget -if you even know in the first place- what kind of respect Rivera deserves for his drive to keep working hard, chugging forward and accepting blows on an already swollen eye and a bruised ego if not spirit. At times like this I always wonder if the new champion, if put in the very same situation, would be able to show the same courage as the man he just defeated did tonight? I suppose sooner or later his worth as a champion will be decided if and when he ever finds himself in Rivera's shoes. He lost the fight but, in many ways, Rivera showed as many championship qualities as Collazo did over all of those twelve. Not many young pros really know what that even means yet."

Okay, I'm sure I'm going to get called an ******* (actually, I think the preferred forum term is "hater"), but is this just a random excerpt from the current draft, or is this text to be considered some of the more gripping stuff? I consider myself to be a pretty big boxing fan, but this stuff doesn't honestly get me excited about the rest of the book. As I said, many will interpret my comments as me being a jealous *******, but I'm just being honest. All writers want to preserve their work 100%, but it's generally a good idea to have a couple of experienced writers review the draft before publishing it. Another poster indicated that there are more excerpts posted on your sight, so I'll go check them out before I say anymore.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Everything here and on my site is unedited. I don't expect EVERYONE to like what I write, though. You are not ahater, dont worry abou tinsulting me or anything. If I thought EVERYONE would like everything I wrote then I wouldnt be realistic, would I?

[NachoMan]

Everything here and on my site is unedited. I don't expect EVERYONE to like what I write, though. You are not ahater, dont worry abou tinsulting me or anything. If I thought EVERYONE would like everything I wrote then I wouldnt be realistic, would I?

Hey, I'll probably still buy the book. I'm in the New Orleans area now, but I grew up in Vernon, CT, so I imagine that there will be some local stuff in there that will be of interest to me. Good luck with the book.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Hey, I'll probably still buy the book. I'm in the New Orleans area now, but I grew up in Vernon, CT, so I imagine that there will be some local stuff in there that will be of interest to me. Good luck with the book.

Vernon, CT...home of GOLF LAND!

[NachoMan]

Vernon, CT...home of GOLF LAND!

Damn straight. New England's Disney World.

I wasn't sure that it was still there.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Damn straight. New England's Disney World.

I wasn't sure that it was still there.

Yea, man. I destroyed some kid at air hockey something like 23 games to 6not that long ago over there. LOL They still have the go carts, mini golf, 9 hole, bumper boats and batting cages.

[dino]

Well... as some of you know, I have been working on my book (THE ICEMAN DIARIES) for exactly FIVE years this Friday and have so much material that I have decided to break it all into three volumes. The first volume will be a literal DIARY that I have kept since the first week of 2003 (Beginning with me and my impressions of being at the Scottie Pemberton-Omar Sheika rematch). I go day to day (not EVERY day, of course) through training camps (In real time format), big fights in the boxing world, world events other than boxing (Saddam Hussain capture and death, etc).

There are interesting (in my opinion, at least) day to day observations of the training camps Lawrence of Clay-Bey, Mike Oliver, Matt Godfrey, Jose Rivera, Chad Dawson, Scott Pemberton, Ray Olivera, etc etc)

It's literally like a history book focused on boxing and the ins and outs of the day day training and fighting etc that goes on for the years 2003 - 2007. I have TONS of gym stories as well as interaction with likes of Toney, Jones, Trinidad, Moorer, Rahman, etc etc etc

I will be done on Friday and then all I have to do is edit it some more and then go to print after I decided what photos to include.

FINALLY!!

Ice

PS- I will include some excerpts later today when I get back from the gym.

Saddam Hussein has been dead sence 1999 buddy, according to his personal bodyguards

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Saddam Hussein has been dead sence 1999 buddy, according to his personal bodyguards

So who was that they hung last year?? Did they happen to say?

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

UNEDITED ENTRY: February 11, 2005: Had nice reunion with former champ and sparring partner (he retired unbeaten last year at 36-0) Sven Ottke at the weigh-in. He greeted me with a hug when he saw me. He thought I might be fighting on the show, didn't realize I was a trainer now.

Clay weighed in with clothes on at 256. Not bad considering we have been cooling down for several days with no running, etc. Went to rules meeting for the WBC. Did interview for a German boxing site with Sebastian.

Oh, here we go. Misguided kids are at it again. Today 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward is on *********.com among other places talking about his second pro fight tonight with Kenny Kost, a six rounder. Ward, who is 20 years old and was seemingly a very humble type of kid (religious) all through and after the Olympics, already feels the need to step up with trash talk, using the same tired and played out trash talking lines, even repeating old Ali quotes like "I never wanted to whip a man so bad." (Even 20 year old kids are stealing Ali lines and passing them off as their own now, huh?) I wish someone would explain to this kid, as they should have for a million other kids before him, that just because you are a "pro boxer" now it doesn't mean you have to let your "trash talking, street tough, fake hard core image" come out. Nobody wants to hear the ******ity anymore. Nobody wants to hear the trash talk come from the mouth of an Olympic kid that hasn't fought anybody yet and won't fight anybody or quite a while, either. I mean, you are fighting opposition of your choice at this point on shows geared for you that are promoted by your backers. So save the trash talking, like you are in deep tonight with Mike Tyson or somebody. Ward-Kost isn't exactly Ali-Frazier, OK ?? I mean at least wait until you fight someone who is ranked before you start with the tough talk. You may think you are fooling somebody but those of us that are "in the know" know exactly how they are moving you in this game the way they are and we know why, too.

February 12, 2005: Whoops! Ward gets tagged hard and wobbled badly at the end of the first round last night then recovers to win a six round decision. The Olympian better pay more attention in the future to the actual fights than he does to the perceived "show" of it all.

Fights tonight at MaxScmelingHalle in Berlin. Clay-Bey loses the 12 round decision to Sanin Sanil Sam for the WBC Intercontinental title. GOOD fight! Especially the last three rounds. Especially the last round! That was a round of the year, Gatti-Ward type round. One judge gave it to Sam by only one point. German ringside press (for **********.com) gave it to Clay-Bey by two points. Close fight! Clay had such a high connect percentage with his jab and lead right hands. He just didn't have that zip he needed to really let them fly in the middle rounds with what Tyson called "Bad Intentions."

If anything, there are two very good things that came out of this fight. One is that Clay-Bey showed that tremendous ability to go for it late in a fight when you feel like you are losing and you know you need to do something dramatic. (think of Sugar Ray late in the first Hearns fight when he let loose with that brilliant flurry of hard (and wild even) punches that set Tommy on the road to defeat.)

Even though you don't feel 100 percent strong and sharp. Your tired. Your legs are weak from all the rounds of moving and from the wear and tear of heavyweight punches. But you dig down and fight to win by a KO. I myself didn't always have that ability when it came time to summon it. Sometimes I did but in big fights like the ones with Tim Littles and Henry Maske when I really tried to summon that type of strength I just didn't have it on those nights. Clay had it tonight, though, and really came close to finishing his man off there in the 12th!

The other thing is that Clay should now see that what I have been telling him for the last three years is true and that is that you need to fight in the gym most of the time like you plan to do in the real fight. Clay is the type of guy that eases up on a lot of guys in the gym (sometimes out of necessity when we are boxing guys not as big as him or guys that just aren't on his level) and it comes back to haunt him sometimes. You need to get your mind and your punching muscles used to letting fly with "real fight punches" as opposed to "sparring punches," For the first time since we began working together in early 2002 I think he sees exactly what I mean.

After the fight I was with Clay in the drug testing room and this little guy comes up to me smiling, talking in German. I recognize the name "Michael Nunn" coming out of his mouth and I assume he recognizes me from my fight with him. I say, "Yeah, that's me. You saw me fight Nunn all the way from over here?" He kind of nods his head in agreement and is obviously excited. Then he and his translator start talking to each other and there seems to be some confusion. Meanwhile I yell over to Clay, "This guy saw my fight with Nunn." That's when his interpreter jumps in and says, "No, sorry for the confusion. He didn't see you fight Nunn. He thought you were Michael Nunn"

If that isn't funny enough, Clay yells over again and asks "Do you know who that guy is? That's the guy I told you I was in the amateurs with in 95' at the world amateur championships. Oktay Urkel."