I'll open with a
quote from the late
and great Jack
Newfield in his
compelling article
entitled the "The
Shame of Boxing...."
"Boxing has become
like a gruesome car
wreck. I can keep
watching only if I
am pulling a victim
out to safety. I
feel that I must do
everything possible
to make this velvet
sewer better before
I abandon it. That's
why this muckraking
meditation will end
with a proposed Bill
of Rights for
Boxers. The best way
I can display my
respect for the
workers is to try to
clean up their
polluted and toxic
environment."
By way of
introduction, I am
just another
struggling Internet
boxing writer, but I
believe we may share
something in common
and that is a deep
and passionate
affection for boxing
and boxers. Now
then, your trademark
is your brutally
honest style....and
that's mine as well.
Dave Tiberi
So let me be brutally honest. Boxing
needs a rotor rooter. I greatly
appreciate how you and people like
Senator John McCain, Max Kellerman,
Alex Ramos, Gerry Cooney, Dave
Tiberi, Ron Lipton, Eddie Mustapha,
and many others have been advocates
for boxing reform, but the state of
boxing has become more complex and
more difficult to cleanse than
ever....and therein may lie the
problem. In the words of Newfield,
"Boxing is like no other sport. It
has no national commissioner to set
standards for health and safety. In
boxing there are no leagues or
schedules. Every match is a separate
deal. There is no rational
structure. The chaos itself becomes
an impediment to reform. The casual
fan does not understand how the
sport is run."
Clearly,
there is a need establish and
enforce standards and uniformity.
But this is all old hat; you already
know that. Let's look at it from
another, more passionate
perspective. But let's get rid of a
"Red Herring" at the outset. I have
often heard the statement, "I am not
one for Government control, but
boxing needs something." What boxing
needs is Government control! And the
more we deny it based on
philosophical arguments, the longer
the problem will persist. I don't
like government control any better
than anyone else, but can someone
tell me another way to rotor rooter
this sewer.
Now to my point. I don't want to
hear you or commentator Max
Kellerman calling for a referee to
halt a fight in which a boxer needs
to be saved by the referee or his
corner. Six days after the fight
between Bee Scottland and George
Khalid Jones, your former colleague
told Newfield, "I saw it coming. The
kid was absorbing too much
punishment to the head.
I saw Bobby Tomasello die after an
ESPN2 fight that I was broadcasting.
The kid got a draw and then went
into a coma. I have always preferred
referees and doctors to err on the
side of humanity and caution."
During the fifth round Scottland
absorbed many consecutive punches to
his head while trapped in a corner.
"That's it!" Kellerman shouted.
"This is how guys get seriously
hurt." Then, during the seventh
round, Kellerman told the television
audience, "I don't like the way he
is getting hit.... Those are the
cumulative punches that lead to
things that you don't want to hear
about after the fight." After
Scottland finally collapsed with
forty-five seconds remaining in the
fight, Max told the television
audience, "I feel nauseated. I feel
sick. Why does this ever have to
happen?" Still another terrible
boxing experience for my memory
bank.....right alongside Benny "Kid"
Paret, Laverne Roach, Enrico Bertola,
Doo Ku Kim, Johnny Owens, Jimmy
Garcia, Leavander Johnson, Willie
Classen, Stephan Johnson, and Bobby
Tomasello......too many.
This one, however, was particularly
tragic since it occurred in plain
sight and seemed, at least to me,
very preventable.......yet as a
spectator all I could do was look at
the television set and scream, "stop
it, for Christ Sakes, stop it!' I
don't recall if you were announcing
on that night, but if you were, the
you know precisely and viscerally
what I am talking about.
Now admittedly and perhaps
shamefully, Teddy, I am not at the
point where my guilt outweighs my
enjoyment, because if and when that
happens, I know I will walk away
from boxing which is my sanctuary.
But something must be done sooner
rather than later to clean up the
sewer that boxing seems to have
become. Otherwise, the many
preventable deaths, horrific
injuries, and alarming cases of
Pugilistic Dementia will continue.
Something must be done to clean out
the despicable political hacks and
"appointees" who often make up state
boxing commissions, at least in
those states that even have a
commission. Fortunately I live in a
state (NH) with a good one.
Now I may not have the expertise to
know how to deal with this, but I do
know one thing; I no longer listen
to the people who are supposedly the
modern-day voices of boxing. It
seems to me their concerns are more
insidiously self-focused than
anything else. How many of them have
ever tasted leather or have trained
boxers? What do they know of the
needs of boxers? Do promoters really
care if boxers get a pension? Do
states really want central
regulation even though local
oversight has been a disgrace? How
genuine is their professed
"advocacy" and "passion?" Indeed,
the needs of boxers ironically may
run counter to the needs of those
who allegedly are the "voices."
Many great fighters have thrilled us
over the years, whether fighting for
a championship belt or at a local
venue, but too many face retirement
without any kind of financial
assistance or access to medical
care. Too many suffer from
depression, alcohol and substance
abuse, rage disorders, homelessness
or being indigent, and the horrific
effects of pugilistic dementia.
Bobby Chacon, Willie Pep, Jimmy
Ellis and the late Jimmy Young and
Mike Quarry come to mind. Some, like
Greg Page, Michael Watson and Gerald
McClellan, have been injured in the
ring. As you know better than most,
it can occur in a split second. A
combination of these factors adds up
to a dismal outlook for many
ex-fighters. Again, a quote from
Newfield says it better than I ever
could: ".....If this is the fate of
the greatest boxers [when referring
to Ali], what happens to all the
local club fighters around the
country? What happens to the tough
kid from Mexico or Philly who has
thirty hard fights over six years,
and never becomes famous or a
champion? How does he take a
vacation? What chance do his
children have of going to college?
Who pays his medical bills? Who pays
for his funeral?"
Boxers need passionate advocates
like yourself; not hacks. Boxing
needs a national commission (state
commissions dominated by political
appointees cannot cut it), a
commission that rate judges and make
them accountable and bans poorly
rated judges from championship bouts
boxing needs a Bill of Rights; it
needs a labor union or guild; boxers
needs a pension plan; boxing needs
to be regulated at the same level as
every other professional sport; it
needs adequate safety precautions;
and God knows, boxing needs
standardized tests and licensing for
ringside doctors, judges and
referees. Boxing also needs to
eliminate the sanctioning bodies. As
you yourself have said, "....The
Most important thing is that there
would be somebody in charge finally;
there would be a policing of all the
rules and policies. All the rules
would be enforced; I'd make sure
that there was blanket medical
testing all over the country....".
Look, I don't want to see any more
fights like Paret-Griffith or
Scotland-Jones. And I don't want to
see decisions that are biased,
unfair and
spirit-breaking.....decisions like
Foreman-Briggs, Toney-Tiberi
(arguably the worse decision in
boxing history), the first
Augustus-Burton (a politically
correct verdict if ever there was
one), and the disgraceful draw
between Lewis- Holyfield. More
importantly, I never want to see a
repeat of Jerry Quarry's tragic and
inexplicable fight with club fighter
Ron Cranmer in Colorado at age 47.
Why has that fight not been
investigated.....why was it allowed
in the first place.......why? And
God knows, I never want to see the
crushed look on the face of a boxer
as the one I saw on Dave Tiberi's
when that disgraceful decision for
James Toney was announced.
I thought Bee Scotland's final fight
in NY might have been the last one,
but then I saw Valuev-Barrett
recently. Thank God Monte Barrett's
trainer's, James Bashir, did the
right thing by stepping in and
stopping the fight. Bashir saved his
charge from further brutal and
unnecessary punishment at the hands
of the giant. He did the right
thing. Too many others don't.
I wait in apparent vain for some
sign of reform.......it has to come,
though, or my guilt may someday
override my pleasure and at that
point, I will have no alternative
but to walk away.....hey.... this
stuff is happening in plain sight
and some of it is making me sick! As
my friend Alex Ramos says, "I'm
tired of waiting for our saviour for
the sport...."
You, and people like Senator John
McCain (to whom I have already
written), may be the last hope. I
know you are busy with other matters
and this may not be high up on your
priority list, but I ask you to
revisit it and do what you can.
"Someday they're going to write a
blues song just for fighters. It
will be for a slow guitar, soft
trumpet and a bell." --Sonny Liston
