In what passes for serious criticism these days, lots of Americans accuse journalists and their work of lacking two things: objectivity and follow-up reporting. This week, then, I’ll fix one of these shortcomings while probably indulging the other. What comes next is a report of Richard Gutierrez’s welterweight match with Joshua Clottey, which follows-up on last week’s profile of Richard Gutierrez.
THE BOISE OF SUMMER
July 27, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Watch Exclusive Footage of Roy Jones, Jr. in camp preparing for his return to the ring against Prince Badi Ajamu. (Courtesy of EMCEVENTS.com)
From Las Vegas to Boise, Idaho in two years
July 26, 2006 By 1 Comment
That is the path that has been traveled by Roy Jones Jr., who took a 49-1 record into his second fight with Antonio Tarver on May 15, 2004, and was viciously knocked out in the second round in a battle for the light heavyweight championship at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
A Different Ethic
July 24, 2006 By Leave a Comment
American boxing has many tales of tragic upbringings. Some inspire, but most are overdone. Because it is never enough to concede that few American adolescents from happy homes make careers of pugilism, in our recitals of despair, we tend to miss the following: Scores of today’s best prizefighters come from intact and loving families in Latin America.
The Awful Tooth
July 20, 2006 By Leave a Comment
By the time that “Sugar” Shane Mosley crashed that picture perfect left hook squarely on the noggin of “Freefall” Fernando Vargas in the sixth round of their jr. middleweight fight last Saturday night, it was finally apparent to all but the most die hard Vargas supporters that he was no longer a $49.95 pay per view fighter. It appears that at age 28 the combination of knockout beatings, injuries, and possible self inflicted damage to his body from the use of steroids has reduced him to the status of a second tier fighter, with little left to trade upon but the remnants of his once marquee name.
The Golden Boy Way
July 19, 2006 By Leave a Comment
It was brought to the attention of Oscar De La Hoya on Tuesday that Gary Shaw wasn’t thrilled with Winky Wright and his Winky Promotions having signed a “strategic alliance” contract with De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions over the weekend.
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane
July 18, 2006 By 1 Comment
If I had only known then what I know now.
It was 1965, my senior year at De La Salle High in New Orleans, and I considered myself something of a travel virgin. Oh, my parents had taken me on several vacations with an uncle and his wife, but those were when I was a small child and we made the trips in clunky automobiles towing one of those even clunkier silver trailers that looks like an overturned can of Coors Light.
Sell Ferocity, Buy Sugar
July 17, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Some two minutes into the sixth round of last Saturday’s pay-per-view main event, a number of things became clear. Perhaps none was clearer than this: “Sugar” Shane Mosley is an outstanding product; “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas is a good marketing ploy.
By the moment in Round 6 of their rematch when he dropped Fernando Vargas with a left hook, Shane Mosley, who once made eight title defenses as a lightweight, had somehow managed to survive forty-five minutes in the ring with “El Feroz” – a starved-down middleweight. And Mosley had managed to survive those fifteen rounds without so much as a blemish on his face or any signs of wear whatever.
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CLEAR-CUT CONTROVERSY
July 13, 2006 By Leave a Comment
The record books will show that Juan Urango, 17-0-1 (13), defeated Naoufel Ben Rabah, 24-2 (13), for the vacant IBF junior welterweight title on June 30 by unanimous decision at the Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida. The judge’s scoring was as follows: Judge Michael Pernick, 116-112, Peter Trematerra, 115-113, and John Wright, 117-111.
Jack and ShaneMosley, Together Again By Robert Morales Jack Mosley has always been very cordial to those of us boxing writers who have been on the beat for a while. Ask him a difficult question, and he’ll answer respectfully, even if he disagrees with what a reporter might be suggesting. OK, so he is a nice guy. Still, it is difficult to listen to him sometimes without thinking, “Man, is this guy kidding himself?” Jack Mosley – after a four-fight separation – once again is the trainer for his son, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, who Saturday in Las Vegas will square off with Fernando Vargas in a rematch of their fight last February won by Mosley via 10th-round technical knockout. Flash back to January 2002. Shane Mosley – undefeated at 38-0 – is defending his World Boxing Council welterweight belt against Vernon Forrest at the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York City. Mosley goes down twice in the second round, shocking just about everybody in boxing, especially Jack Mosley. He had never seen his son hurt like that, and though Shane finished the 12-round fight, the cat must have gotten Jack’s tongue because he doled out little in the way of sound advice the rest of the fight. Shane lost big on the scorecards, and Jack was suddenly under heavy scrutiny. When his son needed him most – at least in this realm – Jack failed miserably. Shane fought a bit better in a rematch with Forrest six months later, but he still lost a unanimous decision, just not by as large a margin of points. Shane then fought to a 3-round no contest with Raul Marquez before defeating Oscar De La Hoya via narrow decision in a September 2003 rematch of their June 2000 fight also won by Mosley. For a minute, those doubting Jack Mosley’s ability as a trainer quieted down. After all, Shane had just beaten De La Hoya for the second time, right? Well, Shane took on Winky Wright for the first time in March 2004 and he was soundly defeated in a 12-round fight for Shane’s two junior middleweight belts. Bam, Shane Mosley fired Jack Mosley, who, once again, did a horrible job in his son’s corner. Constructive words of wisdom were few and far between. Frankly, Shane did the right thing at the time. The question is, did Shane do the right thing in recently bringing Jack back? After Shane fired Jack, Shane, with Joe Goossen in his corner, lost a rematch to Wright. Mosley changed trainers again, coming up with John David Jackson, who guided Mosley to a 3-0 record. The victories came over David Estrada, Jose Luis Cruz and Vargas. Against Vargas, Mosley looked better than he had in several fights. But Jackson was helping Bernard Hopkins get ready for his fight with Antonio Tarver last month, so Shane Mosley needed a trainer. Here’s the rub. Shane and Jack disagreed on why Shane fired Jack in the first place. Shane said it was because his father lacked focus, especially during training, because he was paying too much attention to his moonlighting job as a record producer. Jack had said that jealous people were putting ideas into Shane’s head. Some believe Jack was talking about Shane’s wife, Jin, but Jack has never gone on the record with that. The bottom line is, Jack was not doing his job. But you’ll never get him to admit that. Moreover, he has a much different story than does Shane regarding this reconciliation. “He wanted me to train him, so I said, ‘OK,’ ” Jack Mosley said during a recent conference call. “So here I am, doing what I do best. He knows what I can do and trusts what I can do. That’s why I’m here.” Shane Mosley, in a separate conference call, remembered things differently. “He had already asked me about coming back, about things he can improve on,” Shane Mosley said. “Just to get me back to square one, where I was at in the old days. I see the fire in his eyes, that he really wanted to make an impact. Dad says son asked him back. Son says it was the other way around. Gee, what a great way to start anew. But wait, there’s more. Jack was asked if and he and Shane spoke at all about the reasons Shane fired him more than two years ago. “That stuff, we didn’t even talk about,” Jack said. Say what? “We talked about (things) a little bit. … We did talk a little bit together,” said Shane, who said he also discussed the situation with Jin, who is her husband’s unofficial manager. “She thought it would be a great idea,” Shane said. Of course, Shane and Jack aren’t about to stir things up at this point. But there is no denying that Jack Mosley is probably not the best Shane could have done in picking a trainer. Besides his son, who has Jack trained? A couple of guys not worth noting. The reason for that is simple: Jack has not spent his life training fighters. He said the other day that, “I already know what I did for Shane. I don’t care what they say. I started him from scratch, so I don’t care what they say. I already know I what I did and I don’t need nobody to tell me.” We have no doubt that Jack was the first man to take Shane to training, that he used vacation time to travel with Shane to amateur tournaments. But Jack’s commentslead one to believe that Jack was Shane’s first trainer and that it was he who molded him into a three-division world champion. Wrong. When Shane trained as a young man for several years out of the Pasadena Youth Athletic Club – now known as the Villa Parke Boxing Club – Jack would bring Shane in his beat-up Volkswagen, but Eddie Johnson and Buddy Bereal would teach Shane. Johnson died in the early 1990s, but Fausto De La Torre remembers those times well. De La Torre is currently the head trainer at Villa Parke. During young Shane Mosley’s time there, De La Torre also was an amateur in training. “Jack was just a parent,” De La Torre said Tuesday. “Jack would stay, but he never did any mitt work. Jack never did any coaching. After a while, after Shane had developed his skills, Jack started taking over.” Bereal, who now trains fighters out of the Outlaw gym in the San Fernando Valley, said that De La Torre, who was just a young man himself at the time, was only partially correct. “Jack orchestrated everything; I do give him credit for that,” said Bereal, who said Jack Mosley brought young Shane to him because Jack didn’t really know how to train him. “Jack brought Shane to me, and Eddie Johnson; he was my uncle. Jack said, ‘Buddy, would you help me out?’ “He’d say, ‘Buddy, show me how to do this. Eddie (Johnson) played a big role in this because he influenced everybody – Jack, me, everybody.” The point is this: Once Shane Mosley got into real trouble for the first time in a fight, Jack Mosley probably didn’t know what to tell him because training fighters isn’t his true area of expertise. Emanuel Steward, Dan Birmingham, Floyd Mayweather. Now, those are darn good trainers who have trained many a fine fighter. Although Bereal and Jack Mosley attended high school together in Los Angeles, Bereal had to admit that Jack Mosley’s lack of knowledge really showed in that first Mosley-Forrest fight. (Jack never boxed competitively.) “Jack exposed himself that he was limited when Shane came back to the corner after that second round with Vernon and said, ‘What should I do, dad?’ And Jack said, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing.’ ” A real good start to this second go-round with Shane and Jack would be for Jack to admit to his mistakes, for him to admit that he lacked focus, for him to admit that he himself needs to learn more about what he’s doing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that is coming any time soon. Shane Mosley, 34, is 42-4 with 36 knockouts. Vargas, 28, is 26-3 with 22 knockouts. Their 12-round main event will be available on HBO pay-per-view.
July 12, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Jack Mosley has always been very cordial to those of us boxing writers who have been on the beat for a while.
Vargas’ Spirit Still Willing, But Body is Failing Him
July 10, 2006 By 1 Comment
It is an intriguing irony that Fernando Vargas was born on Dec. 7, 1977. Pearl Harbor Day seems especially appropriate for a fighter who has initiated so many wars, both verbal and in the ring, to come into the world, no doubt kicking and screaming all the way.
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Roberto Duran’s Magical Realism
July 10, 2006 By 1 Comment
“The girl keeps calling me ‘Champion’ and kissing me and caressing my face. My uncle keeps provoking me. So, I knocked the horse out! And I broke this finger,” he says and raises his right hand. Then he turns and climbs on the dais and takes his seat, and the press conference starts.
ANOTHER ILL-ADVISED COMEBACK
July 6, 2006 By Leave a Comment
It was announced last week that 43 year old Evander Holyfield is coming back. After a 21 month absence from the ring, Holyfield is scheduled to face journeyman Jeremy Bates, 21-11-1 with 18 KO’s, in Dallas on August 18. Holyfield’s stated goal is to become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Spinks looks for redemption in St. Louis
July 5, 2006 By 40 Comments
Cory Spinks was embarrassed in his hometown of St. Louis the last time he fought, so it was no surprise that the excuses
Fans Have Come to Love Gatti’s Lumps and Lacerations
July 4, 2006 By 2 Comments
“They Have Kept Him in Stitches,” read the Sports Illustrated headline that accompanied a tight closeup of the sweaty, oft-sutured face of Chuck Wepner, which graced the cover the week of the journeyman heavyweight’s March 24, 1975, challenge of champion Muhammad Ali.
Baby-Faced Ribs
July 3, 2006 By Leave a Comment
It was the last round of a Mexico sparring session, late summer of 2005. A trainer shouted, “Ten seconds!” Both fighters flurried. Julio “Baby Face” Garcia dropped his chin and left hand. His sparring partner’s right glove swished by. Julio put the weight of his body behind a left hook. His fist collided with the partner’s ribs. There was an audible groan. And the session ended.