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this 1, very SCALED DOWN, THIS WAS FROM JONES-RUIZ FIGHT IF YOU WANT THE COMPLETE VERSION THEN EMAIL ME AT ICEJOHNSCULLY AT AOL
Jones-Ruiz trip
We began the trip in a 2 room spot with a living room and a kitchen and ENDED with us in a room at the Motel 6. The 1st thing we did was go to Laila Ali's Gym where I reunited once again with my Amateur teammate Kevin Kelley. Kev was obviously very excited, as usual about anything that you care to discuss. Kevin, to this day, remains full of energy. Gladly took pictures with my guys. The thing I always liked about him is that when he meets someone for the first time, if they want to talk to him about Boxing, he will talk and if you didn't know better you would think they were great friends.
The second exciting event happened when we left the Gym and went by Tyson's house. Mike lives in more than a HOUSE it is a COMPLEX. I had a couple pieces of Boxing literature from when Mike was amateur back in the early 80's that I have been waiting to give him for 6 years now. In 96 I gave a him a bunch of other articles and Stacy McKinley told me he REALLY loved them. I gave them to his guy at the front gate. Wayne Newton lives right next door to him. MT has a big piece of land. Newtons is DOUBLE the size.
The 3RD exciting event happened when Merk punched Stoney in the mouth on Thursday. If you know Stoney, you know that he can be..confrontational. Merk wasn't there to only talk though, either, so the Jones camp went up by a 1-0 score before the fight even started. They had Roy and Ruiz weigh-in on Thursday and everybody else weighed in on Friday. Other than Merks right hand, the weigh-in was pretty slow. The real excitement came when my boys and I rented those Golf Cart like rides they rent on the strip. A race from the Bellagio down to the end of the strip by "Johnny Toccos Gym" on Charleston saw the Iceman overcome OG Cuyler for a 1ST place finish. Sammy had to ride ******* with Felix Cuz he is still 20, and ILLEGAL. Dave was the only one to cop put of the joy-ride but he did however get attention heaped on him as we rolled up 4 deep in these little Golf Carts to the Main Entrance to Ceasars Palace Valet. Some roll up in Stretch Limos and BMW's but the boys and I have style. We brought up Dave in that HYPED UP GOLF CART. These Carts are pretty smooth riding, actually, and as long as you pay attention to the brakes and don't tip the whole thing when hitting corners then you should be OK. I learned it is very easy to cut people off on the strip and zip around them. You are not allowed off the strip but HEY this was the famous "Johnny Toccos Gym" so we risked it. Nobody was there except for some maintenance guys but they let us in to check it out. I had trained at Toccos 2X in the past and had sparred with Mike McCallum there but since Mr. Tocco passed away they have new owners and the place is MUCH different from when he had it. It was cool though to be there when it was closed so that I could look around and soak up the atmosphere of the place that Sonny Liston often trained. Tyson always trained there too when he was in his prime. Out in the parking lot they have huge painted murals on the building of Ali,Duran, Chavez and a few others. If you go to Vegas you really should check it out. The weigh-in for the undercard fights on Friday was real cool. EVERYBODY was there. I ran across my old Amateur buddy, Heavyweight Champion Chris Byrd. Chris deserves respect for THREE reasons. 1- He moved up from a 139 pound Amateur in 88 to become the slickest Heavyweight in the game since Cassius Clay 2- He remains a real cool guy despite all his success and 3- He said that I look as young now as I did when we were Amateurs. Chris is the man
One thing I love about going to these trips is the fact that I get the chance to reunite with guys I came up with as an Amateur back in the 80's. It is cool to see these guys after all these years. Al Cole was there Al and I almost fought each other a few times when we both fought at 165. Since becoming pros we have run across each other often, usually at Roys fights). Chris, Al and I took a nice "Class of 88" pic. Iran Barkley Mo Harris, Mike 'The Bounty' Hunter, Zab Judah, Herbie Hide and Emmanuel Steward were there
VEGAS SECURITY IS LACKING. I have to say, my trips to Vegas usually unveil lax security. Last year I spent a couple days with OG and my boy Psilo from Montreal eating at the "Flamingo employee dining room" with no trouble and, a few months later, I spent a WEEK at the "Caesars dining room" untouched and undetected. 3 squares a day. Now this one trip alone not only did my boy Suave and I both come away with 2 millimeter thick cardboard Jones-Ruiz posters straight out of the frame on display at Caesars but my whole six man crew turned our nose bleed 200 dollar seats into 1000 dollar seats up not far from the ring, ten rows behind SHAQ. Add that to later in the night when we were leaving the Thomas and Mack Center and several of Las Vegas Youths were seen running across the Parking lot , passing by our car with several bags of Jones-Ruiz T-shirts that the vendor up by the arena front door left unattended. The vendor gave it a good try but he ran out of breath about half way across the parking lot as cries of "They could go ALL..THE..WAY" could be heard from within passing cars.
At the fight, I ran across my old amateur buddy Michael Moorer. I first saw Michael when he was only 156 pounds. We almost fought twice in 87 at 165 pounds. Once at a show in Rhode Island and once later on at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus. Michael ended up coming in over the 165 pound limit. I fought three other guys and won the Open division title and Michael decided to turn pro soon after on the way to becoming a DEADLY 175lb in the late 80's and early 90's. I hadn't seen Michael in about 10 years and when I yelled to him from about forty feet away he didn't seem to recognize me right away. But when I got closer he smiled, mouthed my name and came right over. Nice reunion after all these years. He mellowed a lot for the better. He had a period when he was getting into a little trouble a few years ago but he seemed real when he said he was cooling out and growing up. One thing I regret is that I was not able to hook up with my man Cornelius Boza-Edwards while I was out there. He was away for a couple days and when he was there I was heading out. I really wanted my boys to meet the WARRIOR that is Boza-Edwards. Next time. I did stop by the TOP RANK Gym though and introduced everybody to Richie Sandoval. Remember when he KO'd Chandler for the title so many years ago??
Floyd Mayweather was at the fight and at the after-party. He is cool, a fun kid who lives a fast life and is brash and all that but I have to say that every time I have seen him and asked him to take pictures with OG or with the kids etc. he is always real anxious to cooperate. It seems almost like he likes taking pics with fans as much as they do. At the Alladin after the fight, like three in the morning, a bunch of us were out in front of the valet parking and Floyd put on a show. Taking pictures with everybody, revving the engine of his Ferrari, dancing, laughing. Cole and Vince Phillips were there.
Denzel was there and got the loudest ovation of the whole night. Tommy Hearns got the biggest ovation of all the fighters that were introduced. Sugar Shane probably got the second loudest. What was kind of odd was that Vernon Forrest got a much smaller reaction from the crowd even though he beat Shane not long ago to become the recognized world champ. Cuba Gooding came in second to Denzel. I got a pic with Mike Spinks
In regards to Roys fight..this man treated Ruiz almost like he treated every other opponent in his whole career. You could see that Roy was a little bit more careful and aware.. he didn't let Ruiz corner him like he did with Clinton Woods and Telesco and a few others. The things that stood out to me was that Roy looked much bigger than ever. His body looked slightly puffy. He wasnt as cut up as usual , but he was thicker and fuller. He looked less cut but stronger than at any time in his career. It is amazing to imagine how dominant this guy could be at Cruiserweight. His mental strength, from the time we were amateurs, has always been ROCK SOLID. He was as calm and cool against 225 pound John Ruiz as he was all those years ago against 152 pound Stephon Johnson. Ruiz came out pretty good but once Roy started letting go with the 'check hook' it was all but OVER. (The check-hook is what they call the Left Hook that Big Roy taught all the fighters that he worked with over the years. Watch Smoke Gainer and you will see it. Watch old tapes of Lamar Parks and you will see it. The opponent throws his right hand and a Roy Jones Sr. trained Boxer will lean back away from the right hand and as he is leaning away he will let a strong, short and sharp left go as the guy leans in. He caught Ruiz with some blistering check hooks early on and that , to me, is what set the to me of the fight. Also, in the 4th Roy landed a BIG right hand that really wobbled Ruiz. It looked good on TV because I saw the replay but in person it was even more graphic. Ruiz was clearly staggered. There is one thing in this fight that tells a big part of this story. Roy took a very hard shot that had visible effects from Ruiz in the first round and he reacted in the manner that he did. Ruiz took those shots and reacted in the manner that HE did. Roy knew Ruiz could shake him but only if he could land. He was confident he wouldn't have to take many shots. Ruiz also realized that Roy could shake him but I think it occurred to him very quickly that RJ was countering so fast that there was just no way to deal with it. He reportedly sparred with numerous fast light heavies and all but it just shows you that there are NO Roy Jones' clones out there to duplicate him in the Gym.....TBC
Jones-Ruiz trip
We began the trip in a 2 room spot with a living room and a kitchen and ENDED with us in a room at the Motel 6. The 1st thing we did was go to Laila Ali's Gym where I reunited once again with my Amateur teammate Kevin Kelley. Kev was obviously very excited, as usual about anything that you care to discuss. Kevin, to this day, remains full of energy. Gladly took pictures with my guys. The thing I always liked about him is that when he meets someone for the first time, if they want to talk to him about Boxing, he will talk and if you didn't know better you would think they were great friends.
The second exciting event happened when we left the Gym and went by Tyson's house. Mike lives in more than a HOUSE it is a COMPLEX. I had a couple pieces of Boxing literature from when Mike was amateur back in the early 80's that I have been waiting to give him for 6 years now. In 96 I gave a him a bunch of other articles and Stacy McKinley told me he REALLY loved them. I gave them to his guy at the front gate. Wayne Newton lives right next door to him. MT has a big piece of land. Newtons is DOUBLE the size.
The 3RD exciting event happened when Merk punched Stoney in the mouth on Thursday. If you know Stoney, you know that he can be..confrontational. Merk wasn't there to only talk though, either, so the Jones camp went up by a 1-0 score before the fight even started. They had Roy and Ruiz weigh-in on Thursday and everybody else weighed in on Friday. Other than Merks right hand, the weigh-in was pretty slow. The real excitement came when my boys and I rented those Golf Cart like rides they rent on the strip. A race from the Bellagio down to the end of the strip by "Johnny Toccos Gym" on Charleston saw the Iceman overcome OG Cuyler for a 1ST place finish. Sammy had to ride ******* with Felix Cuz he is still 20, and ILLEGAL. Dave was the only one to cop put of the joy-ride but he did however get attention heaped on him as we rolled up 4 deep in these little Golf Carts to the Main Entrance to Ceasars Palace Valet. Some roll up in Stretch Limos and BMW's but the boys and I have style. We brought up Dave in that HYPED UP GOLF CART. These Carts are pretty smooth riding, actually, and as long as you pay attention to the brakes and don't tip the whole thing when hitting corners then you should be OK. I learned it is very easy to cut people off on the strip and zip around them. You are not allowed off the strip but HEY this was the famous "Johnny Toccos Gym" so we risked it. Nobody was there except for some maintenance guys but they let us in to check it out. I had trained at Toccos 2X in the past and had sparred with Mike McCallum there but since Mr. Tocco passed away they have new owners and the place is MUCH different from when he had it. It was cool though to be there when it was closed so that I could look around and soak up the atmosphere of the place that Sonny Liston often trained. Tyson always trained there too when he was in his prime. Out in the parking lot they have huge painted murals on the building of Ali,Duran, Chavez and a few others. If you go to Vegas you really should check it out. The weigh-in for the undercard fights on Friday was real cool. EVERYBODY was there. I ran across my old Amateur buddy, Heavyweight Champion Chris Byrd. Chris deserves respect for THREE reasons. 1- He moved up from a 139 pound Amateur in 88 to become the slickest Heavyweight in the game since Cassius Clay 2- He remains a real cool guy despite all his success and 3- He said that I look as young now as I did when we were Amateurs. Chris is the man
One thing I love about going to these trips is the fact that I get the chance to reunite with guys I came up with as an Amateur back in the 80's. It is cool to see these guys after all these years. Al Cole was there Al and I almost fought each other a few times when we both fought at 165. Since becoming pros we have run across each other often, usually at Roys fights). Chris, Al and I took a nice "Class of 88" pic. Iran Barkley Mo Harris, Mike 'The Bounty' Hunter, Zab Judah, Herbie Hide and Emmanuel Steward were there
VEGAS SECURITY IS LACKING. I have to say, my trips to Vegas usually unveil lax security. Last year I spent a couple days with OG and my boy Psilo from Montreal eating at the "Flamingo employee dining room" with no trouble and, a few months later, I spent a WEEK at the "Caesars dining room" untouched and undetected. 3 squares a day. Now this one trip alone not only did my boy Suave and I both come away with 2 millimeter thick cardboard Jones-Ruiz posters straight out of the frame on display at Caesars but my whole six man crew turned our nose bleed 200 dollar seats into 1000 dollar seats up not far from the ring, ten rows behind SHAQ. Add that to later in the night when we were leaving the Thomas and Mack Center and several of Las Vegas Youths were seen running across the Parking lot , passing by our car with several bags of Jones-Ruiz T-shirts that the vendor up by the arena front door left unattended. The vendor gave it a good try but he ran out of breath about half way across the parking lot as cries of "They could go ALL..THE..WAY" could be heard from within passing cars.
At the fight, I ran across my old amateur buddy Michael Moorer. I first saw Michael when he was only 156 pounds. We almost fought twice in 87 at 165 pounds. Once at a show in Rhode Island and once later on at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus. Michael ended up coming in over the 165 pound limit. I fought three other guys and won the Open division title and Michael decided to turn pro soon after on the way to becoming a DEADLY 175lb in the late 80's and early 90's. I hadn't seen Michael in about 10 years and when I yelled to him from about forty feet away he didn't seem to recognize me right away. But when I got closer he smiled, mouthed my name and came right over. Nice reunion after all these years. He mellowed a lot for the better. He had a period when he was getting into a little trouble a few years ago but he seemed real when he said he was cooling out and growing up. One thing I regret is that I was not able to hook up with my man Cornelius Boza-Edwards while I was out there. He was away for a couple days and when he was there I was heading out. I really wanted my boys to meet the WARRIOR that is Boza-Edwards. Next time. I did stop by the TOP RANK Gym though and introduced everybody to Richie Sandoval. Remember when he KO'd Chandler for the title so many years ago??
Floyd Mayweather was at the fight and at the after-party. He is cool, a fun kid who lives a fast life and is brash and all that but I have to say that every time I have seen him and asked him to take pictures with OG or with the kids etc. he is always real anxious to cooperate. It seems almost like he likes taking pics with fans as much as they do. At the Alladin after the fight, like three in the morning, a bunch of us were out in front of the valet parking and Floyd put on a show. Taking pictures with everybody, revving the engine of his Ferrari, dancing, laughing. Cole and Vince Phillips were there.
Denzel was there and got the loudest ovation of the whole night. Tommy Hearns got the biggest ovation of all the fighters that were introduced. Sugar Shane probably got the second loudest. What was kind of odd was that Vernon Forrest got a much smaller reaction from the crowd even though he beat Shane not long ago to become the recognized world champ. Cuba Gooding came in second to Denzel. I got a pic with Mike Spinks
In regards to Roys fight..this man treated Ruiz almost like he treated every other opponent in his whole career. You could see that Roy was a little bit more careful and aware.. he didn't let Ruiz corner him like he did with Clinton Woods and Telesco and a few others. The things that stood out to me was that Roy looked much bigger than ever. His body looked slightly puffy. He wasnt as cut up as usual , but he was thicker and fuller. He looked less cut but stronger than at any time in his career. It is amazing to imagine how dominant this guy could be at Cruiserweight. His mental strength, from the time we were amateurs, has always been ROCK SOLID. He was as calm and cool against 225 pound John Ruiz as he was all those years ago against 152 pound Stephon Johnson. Ruiz came out pretty good but once Roy started letting go with the 'check hook' it was all but OVER. (The check-hook is what they call the Left Hook that Big Roy taught all the fighters that he worked with over the years. Watch Smoke Gainer and you will see it. Watch old tapes of Lamar Parks and you will see it. The opponent throws his right hand and a Roy Jones Sr. trained Boxer will lean back away from the right hand and as he is leaning away he will let a strong, short and sharp left go as the guy leans in. He caught Ruiz with some blistering check hooks early on and that , to me, is what set the to me of the fight. Also, in the 4th Roy landed a BIG right hand that really wobbled Ruiz. It looked good on TV because I saw the replay but in person it was even more graphic. Ruiz was clearly staggered. There is one thing in this fight that tells a big part of this story. Roy took a very hard shot that had visible effects from Ruiz in the first round and he reacted in the manner that he did. Ruiz took those shots and reacted in the manner that HE did. Roy knew Ruiz could shake him but only if he could land. He was confident he wouldn't have to take many shots. Ruiz also realized that Roy could shake him but I think it occurred to him very quickly that RJ was countering so fast that there was just no way to deal with it. He reportedly sparred with numerous fast light heavies and all but it just shows you that there are NO Roy Jones' clones out there to duplicate him in the Gym.....TBC
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