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Audley Harrison Gets Back In Win Column With 5th Round TKO Over Jason Barnett
by James Slater: "A-Force" Audley Harrison made a successful return to the ring last night. Boxing on the under-card of the Hopkins-Calzaghe clash, the 36 year old fought for the first time since February of last year - when he was stopped in three rounds by Michael Sprott. Stopping the limited Jason Barnett at 1 minute and 48 seconds of round number 5, Harrison had his first win under new trainer James "Buddy" McGirt..
Looking in good physical condition at 254 pounds, Harrison got his southpaw right jab going well in the opener. The 6'5" big man also crashed in a couple of left hands on his 33 year old opponent. Harrison easily took the round. But a statement of the "I'm back!" variety was what he really needed tonight.
Unfortunately, Audley was his old ultra-cautious self and he seemingly had no qualms about the rounds going by without much action taking place. To be fair, Harrison did have a fair amount of ring-rust to shift, but after about 3 rounds against an opponent who was offering practically nothing and was therefore not much of a threat, the Brit should have really made a concerted effort to score a stoppage. Audley looked quite static on his feet, but his jab was fast and accurate.
Truth be told, it was a dull fight, with the 224 pound Barnett mostly taking shots and Harrison content to box in his comfort zone. One decent right hand did score for Barnett in round number 5, and maybe this fleeting show of aggression made the 36 year old step it up a touch. Audley caught his man with a left/right combo downstairs and Barnett hit the mat. Up at the count of 6 Barnett was deemed too badly hurt by referee Russell Mora, and the fight was waved off.
Harrison is fighting and winning once again, but from this first fight back it appeared not much has changed with the way he boxes. There just doesn't seem to be enough devil in the man known as "A-Force." Time will tell, but it looks as though Harrison faces a long and tough road if he is going to get anywhere this late in his career.
With the win, in a fight that brought its share of boos from the Vegas crowd, Harrison improved to 22-3(17). Barnett fell to 10-7(4).
by James Slater: "A-Force" Audley Harrison made a successful return to the ring last night. Boxing on the under-card of the Hopkins-Calzaghe clash, the 36 year old fought for the first time since February of last year - when he was stopped in three rounds by Michael Sprott. Stopping the limited Jason Barnett at 1 minute and 48 seconds of round number 5, Harrison had his first win under new trainer James "Buddy" McGirt..
Looking in good physical condition at 254 pounds, Harrison got his southpaw right jab going well in the opener. The 6'5" big man also crashed in a couple of left hands on his 33 year old opponent. Harrison easily took the round. But a statement of the "I'm back!" variety was what he really needed tonight.
Unfortunately, Audley was his old ultra-cautious self and he seemingly had no qualms about the rounds going by without much action taking place. To be fair, Harrison did have a fair amount of ring-rust to shift, but after about 3 rounds against an opponent who was offering practically nothing and was therefore not much of a threat, the Brit should have really made a concerted effort to score a stoppage. Audley looked quite static on his feet, but his jab was fast and accurate.
Truth be told, it was a dull fight, with the 224 pound Barnett mostly taking shots and Harrison content to box in his comfort zone. One decent right hand did score for Barnett in round number 5, and maybe this fleeting show of aggression made the 36 year old step it up a touch. Audley caught his man with a left/right combo downstairs and Barnett hit the mat. Up at the count of 6 Barnett was deemed too badly hurt by referee Russell Mora, and the fight was waved off.
Harrison is fighting and winning once again, but from this first fight back it appeared not much has changed with the way he boxes. There just doesn't seem to be enough devil in the man known as "A-Force." Time will tell, but it looks as though Harrison faces a long and tough road if he is going to get anywhere this late in his career.
With the win, in a fight that brought its share of boos from the Vegas crowd, Harrison improved to 22-3(17). Barnett fell to 10-7(4).
hopkins should retire. Tito should stay retired.
As for calzaghe, legend killer my ass. If he takes Roy that's two 40+ year olds in a row. Maybe he should take on Pavlik
And that P4P list, Calzaghes performance was not good enough to jump to #2 spot. Pacquiao should still be #2. After that I don't care.
As for calzaghe, legend killer my ass. If he takes Roy that's two 40+ year olds in a row. Maybe he should take on Pavlik
And that P4P list, Calzaghes performance was not good enough to jump to #2 spot. Pacquiao should still be #2. After that I don't care.
Tarver: "Calzaghe, I'm The Real Champion"
By Mark Vester
In a recent report by Sportinglife, IBF/IBO light heavyweight chammpion Antonio Tarver said that he was willing to fight Joe Calzaghe where he wants. Tarver is upset that Calzaghe is considering a career ending bout with Roy Jones Jr for November 15 in Wales, a fighter that Tarver bested in two out of three meetings in the ring.
Calzaghe won a split-decision over Bernard Hopkins last weekend in Las Vegas. Hopkins was considered by many as the recognized light heavyweight champion. Tarver disagrees and proclaimed himself as the real champion of the division, stating that Calzaghe must go through him to become the "real champion" at 175-pounds. He also took offense at Calzaghe calling himself the "legend killer," a nickname Tarver used after knocking out Jones in their second fight back in 2004.
"Everyone was mentioned as Calzaghe's potential next opponent but me, the true light-heavyweight world champion," Tarver said. "I am the real 'legend killer'. I beat Roy Jones not once but twice. I have also beaten Glen Johnson, Clinton Woods and many more top fighters in the light-heavyweight division. I am the only light-heavyweight champion who currently holds two belts and on my way to unifying the belts this year. I will fight Calzaghe in the US, in the UK or wherever he wants to fight
By Mark Vester
In a recent report by Sportinglife, IBF/IBO light heavyweight chammpion Antonio Tarver said that he was willing to fight Joe Calzaghe where he wants. Tarver is upset that Calzaghe is considering a career ending bout with Roy Jones Jr for November 15 in Wales, a fighter that Tarver bested in two out of three meetings in the ring.
Calzaghe won a split-decision over Bernard Hopkins last weekend in Las Vegas. Hopkins was considered by many as the recognized light heavyweight champion. Tarver disagrees and proclaimed himself as the real champion of the division, stating that Calzaghe must go through him to become the "real champion" at 175-pounds. He also took offense at Calzaghe calling himself the "legend killer," a nickname Tarver used after knocking out Jones in their second fight back in 2004.
"Everyone was mentioned as Calzaghe's potential next opponent but me, the true light-heavyweight world champion," Tarver said. "I am the real 'legend killer'. I beat Roy Jones not once but twice. I have also beaten Glen Johnson, Clinton Woods and many more top fighters in the light-heavyweight division. I am the only light-heavyweight champion who currently holds two belts and on my way to unifying the belts this year. I will fight Calzaghe in the US, in the UK or wherever he wants to fight
Camacho Jr. Added To Chavez Jr-Loriga Card
Italian champion Giuseppe Loriga says he's "hungry like a shark" to face unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on Top Rank's 'Latin Fury' PPV this Saturday, April 26, in Queretaro, Mexico.
Loriga, at a press gathering outdoors in Los Angeles on Sunday, wore a ballcap with a picture of a giant opened-jaw shark.
"I've beaten undefeated fighters before," said Loriga. "I'm 31, I've been in pressure fights so going to Mexico and fighting a hometown hero like Chavez Jr. is no big deal."
Loriga, noting "I'm not big on watching video," said he did watch the Chavez Jr vs Jose Celaya fight.
"Chavez Jr. is an unproven commodity. Let's leave it at that," Loriga said.
Loriga has a record of 24-0-1. He has wins over two unbeaten fighters, Luca Pasqua (11-0) in his last fight in February, 2008 and Sven Paris (18-0) in February, 2006.
"This is going to be challenging for me," Chavez Jr., said from Mexico City, where he has been training for weeks.
HECTOR 'MACHO' CAMACHO JR. ON 'LATIN FURY' TELECAST SATURDAY
Hector Camacho Jr. will take on Kenny Kost on the Chavez Jr. vs. Giuseppe Loriga 'Latin Fury' PPV card this Saturday.
Camacho Jr., 29, is an 11-year-pro with a record of 45-3-1. He will take on Kenny Kost, 14-3, in a 10-round bout.
"I've been training with Robert Lee at the Hitsville Gym in Atlanta," Camacho Jr. said. "Robert Lee was one of the trainers who worked with my father when he started. Robert an old-school trainer. I asked my Dad '...Pop, what trainer really showed you the most and he said Robert Lee.
Italian champion Giuseppe Loriga says he's "hungry like a shark" to face unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on Top Rank's 'Latin Fury' PPV this Saturday, April 26, in Queretaro, Mexico.
Loriga, at a press gathering outdoors in Los Angeles on Sunday, wore a ballcap with a picture of a giant opened-jaw shark.
"I've beaten undefeated fighters before," said Loriga. "I'm 31, I've been in pressure fights so going to Mexico and fighting a hometown hero like Chavez Jr. is no big deal."
Loriga, noting "I'm not big on watching video," said he did watch the Chavez Jr vs Jose Celaya fight.
"Chavez Jr. is an unproven commodity. Let's leave it at that," Loriga said.
Loriga has a record of 24-0-1. He has wins over two unbeaten fighters, Luca Pasqua (11-0) in his last fight in February, 2008 and Sven Paris (18-0) in February, 2006.
"This is going to be challenging for me," Chavez Jr., said from Mexico City, where he has been training for weeks.
HECTOR 'MACHO' CAMACHO JR. ON 'LATIN FURY' TELECAST SATURDAY
Hector Camacho Jr. will take on Kenny Kost on the Chavez Jr. vs. Giuseppe Loriga 'Latin Fury' PPV card this Saturday.
Camacho Jr., 29, is an 11-year-pro with a record of 45-3-1. He will take on Kenny Kost, 14-3, in a 10-round bout.
"I've been training with Robert Lee at the Hitsville Gym in Atlanta," Camacho Jr. said. "Robert Lee was one of the trainers who worked with my father when he started. Robert an old-school trainer. I asked my Dad '...Pop, what trainer really showed you the most and he said Robert Lee.
Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones Jr. in Las Vegas?
By Mark Vester
Promoter Frank Warren told The Telegraph that if Roy Jones Jr. wants a crack at Joe Calzaghe, he has agree to all of their terms to make the fight happen. Warren says that Calzaghe chased fights with Jones and Bernard Hopkins for years and neither boxer seemed to care.
Last Saturday, Calzaghe won a split-decision over Hopkins in Las Vegas and Jones has emerged as the front-runner to face Calzaghe on November 15, which is also slated to be the final bout of the Welsh fighter's career.
Early reports have said Calzaghe-Jones would take place at the Millenium Stadium in Wales, but the paper says the proposed November date is unavailable because of a conflict with an already scheduled rugby game between Wales and Canada. Warren hinted to the paper that he may decide to move the fight to Las Vegas, under the right conditions and terms.
"Joe is 'the man' now, he is the first fighter to hold the Ring Magazine super-middle and light-heavyweight titles concurrently, and if Jones wants to fight Joe, he will have to agree to our terms. Who's the legend now? All those years that we chased a fight for Joe with Hopkins and Jones, and it's a great feeling now that the fighters over here are chasing us," Warren said.
"We've had the last laugh on everybody who ridiculed Joe. I said years ago that Joe would be the fighter for this decade. And here he is - a 15-year overnight sensation. There are quite a few options. We need to let the dust settle. At the moment, he needs to rest and relax. But at least Joe has broken America
By Mark Vester
Promoter Frank Warren told The Telegraph that if Roy Jones Jr. wants a crack at Joe Calzaghe, he has agree to all of their terms to make the fight happen. Warren says that Calzaghe chased fights with Jones and Bernard Hopkins for years and neither boxer seemed to care.
Last Saturday, Calzaghe won a split-decision over Hopkins in Las Vegas and Jones has emerged as the front-runner to face Calzaghe on November 15, which is also slated to be the final bout of the Welsh fighter's career.
Early reports have said Calzaghe-Jones would take place at the Millenium Stadium in Wales, but the paper says the proposed November date is unavailable because of a conflict with an already scheduled rugby game between Wales and Canada. Warren hinted to the paper that he may decide to move the fight to Las Vegas, under the right conditions and terms.
"Joe is 'the man' now, he is the first fighter to hold the Ring Magazine super-middle and light-heavyweight titles concurrently, and if Jones wants to fight Joe, he will have to agree to our terms. Who's the legend now? All those years that we chased a fight for Joe with Hopkins and Jones, and it's a great feeling now that the fighters over here are chasing us," Warren said.
"We've had the last laugh on everybody who ridiculed Joe. I said years ago that Joe would be the fighter for this decade. And here he is - a 15-year overnight sensation. There are quite a few options. We need to let the dust settle. At the moment, he needs to rest and relax. But at least Joe has broken America
Hopkins is Out, Trinidad-Taylor is Back On
By Mark Vester
Big developments in the last 24-hours. Felix Trinidad Sr. has told El Nuevo Dia that Bernard Hopkins is not interested in a rematch with Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Hopkins knocked Trinidad out in September 2001 to unify the middleweight division, and Trinidad has been aiming for revenge for the last few years. Hopkins' decision did not surprise Trinidad Sr.
"Hopkins has always said that he does not want to fight Tito again. We were always interested in that fight because it was Hopkins who gave Tito his first loss," said Trinidad Sr, the father/manager/trainer of Tito.
According to Trinidad Sr, they plan to re-target a proposed bout with former champion Jermain Taylor, who is now campaigning as a super middleweight. The Trinidad camp was interested in fighting both Taylor and Hopkins, but Hopkins was the opponent of choice by Tito.
Following Hopkins' split-decision loss to Joe Calzaghe last Saturday, the Trinidad camp made their play to make the rematch. Trinidad's promoter, Don King, contacted Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, to discuss the possibility of Hopkins-Trinidad II. But Hopkins, at age 43, appears more interested in retirement. Taylor is coming off two consecutive losses to Kelly Pavlik, but he also holds two consecutive wins over Hopkins.
In the next few days, the Trinidads, through their lawyer Nicolas Medina, will give promoter Don King an answer to the proposal that was given to them a few weeks ago for a bout with Taylor.
Kerry Davis, senior vice president of HBO Sports, told the paper that he was more interested in a rematch between Roy Jones Jr. and Hopkins. At the same time he says a Hopkins-Trinidad rematch would do well on pay-per-view.
"It's a fight that could sell very well, but I would be more interested in a rematch between Bernard and Roy Jones," Davis said
By Mark Vester
Big developments in the last 24-hours. Felix Trinidad Sr. has told El Nuevo Dia that Bernard Hopkins is not interested in a rematch with Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Hopkins knocked Trinidad out in September 2001 to unify the middleweight division, and Trinidad has been aiming for revenge for the last few years. Hopkins' decision did not surprise Trinidad Sr.
"Hopkins has always said that he does not want to fight Tito again. We were always interested in that fight because it was Hopkins who gave Tito his first loss," said Trinidad Sr, the father/manager/trainer of Tito.
According to Trinidad Sr, they plan to re-target a proposed bout with former champion Jermain Taylor, who is now campaigning as a super middleweight. The Trinidad camp was interested in fighting both Taylor and Hopkins, but Hopkins was the opponent of choice by Tito.
Following Hopkins' split-decision loss to Joe Calzaghe last Saturday, the Trinidad camp made their play to make the rematch. Trinidad's promoter, Don King, contacted Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, to discuss the possibility of Hopkins-Trinidad II. But Hopkins, at age 43, appears more interested in retirement. Taylor is coming off two consecutive losses to Kelly Pavlik, but he also holds two consecutive wins over Hopkins.
In the next few days, the Trinidads, through their lawyer Nicolas Medina, will give promoter Don King an answer to the proposal that was given to them a few weeks ago for a bout with Taylor.
Kerry Davis, senior vice president of HBO Sports, told the paper that he was more interested in a rematch between Roy Jones Jr. and Hopkins. At the same time he says a Hopkins-Trinidad rematch would do well on pay-per-view.
"It's a fight that could sell very well, but I would be more interested in a rematch between Bernard and Roy Jones," Davis said
BJ Flores: "I'm Shocked O'Neil Bell Quit
PHOENIX, AZ - After an exciting weekend in Las Vegas taking in the Bernard Hopkins/Joe Calzaghe Light Heavyweight Title bout, undefeated and world ranked cruiserweight BJ Flores spoke about this past weekend’s IBF Title Elimination bout between Tomasz Adamek and O’Neil Bell which took place in Katowice, Poland.
“The ending was very surprising to me, I was shocked that Bell seemingly quit after the seventh round in such an important fight. He’s shown such terrific fortitude in previous world title bouts against Sebastiaan Rothmann and Jean Marc Mormeck that it’s strange he would stop fighting.
On the part of Adamek this was a terrific win. It’s very impressive that he could come up almost 25 pounds from light heavy to cruiserweight and be successful on a world class scale. He looked fast at the higher weight and fought very intelligently against Bell."
About the upcoming fight between Adamek and IBF title holder Steve Cunningham, Flores stated, “It should be an outstanding fight. Both have fast hands and are very smart fighters, particularly their use of combinations. They’re both always in great shape. Hopefully even if the fight is in Poland, it will be broadcast in the US as fight fans will see a terrific bout."
In regards to his immediate plans, Flores said, “I’m excited to get back in the ring and we should have an announcement in the very near future.”
BJ Flores, 21-0-1 with thirteen knockouts, is currently world ranked #2 by the IBF, #7 by the WBO and #9 by the WBA.
PHOENIX, AZ - After an exciting weekend in Las Vegas taking in the Bernard Hopkins/Joe Calzaghe Light Heavyweight Title bout, undefeated and world ranked cruiserweight BJ Flores spoke about this past weekend’s IBF Title Elimination bout between Tomasz Adamek and O’Neil Bell which took place in Katowice, Poland.
“The ending was very surprising to me, I was shocked that Bell seemingly quit after the seventh round in such an important fight. He’s shown such terrific fortitude in previous world title bouts against Sebastiaan Rothmann and Jean Marc Mormeck that it’s strange he would stop fighting.
On the part of Adamek this was a terrific win. It’s very impressive that he could come up almost 25 pounds from light heavy to cruiserweight and be successful on a world class scale. He looked fast at the higher weight and fought very intelligently against Bell."
About the upcoming fight between Adamek and IBF title holder Steve Cunningham, Flores stated, “It should be an outstanding fight. Both have fast hands and are very smart fighters, particularly their use of combinations. They’re both always in great shape. Hopefully even if the fight is in Poland, it will be broadcast in the US as fight fans will see a terrific bout."
In regards to his immediate plans, Flores said, “I’m excited to get back in the ring and we should have an announcement in the very near future.”
BJ Flores, 21-0-1 with thirteen knockouts, is currently world ranked #2 by the IBF, #7 by the WBO and #9 by the WBA.
Israel Vasquez Living The American Dream
As a fighter early in his career, Israel Vazquez had a goal: to live the American dream.
Ten years ago, at the age of 20, he began that journey when he moved from Mexico City to Los Angeles.
Today, thanks to a combination of incredible courage and talent, Vazquez is realizing his dream in style. And he doesn't want anyone to awaken him.
"My American dream, I'm living it now," said Vazquez (43-4, 31 KOs), who on March 1 won the rubber match of one of boxing's greatest trilogies with a split decision over Rafael Marquez at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. "I have my lovely wife, my kids, my home. I am living where I want to live. Right now, I have everything. I consider this my home and I'm living the dream now."
Most fighters from Mexico come to fight in the U.S. because it's where most of the world-class action is contested. It's also where the bulk of the money is. Vazquez is no different in that regard.
"I knew that I couldn't do it in Mexico because of the economy," Vazquez said. "I knew that I would have to come [to America]. I came here and [manager Frank Espinoza] gave me the opportunity to prove myself and to show that I'm able to do it here."
However, not all Mexican fighters come to the U.S. and plant roots, like Vazquez has in the Los Angeles suburb of Huntington Park. His mother, father, brothers and sisters are back in his hometown of Mexico City.
Not only has Vazquez been living in the L.A. area for a decade, he bought a beauty salon for himself and his wife, Laura.
"That's why Israel's hair always looks so good," Espinoza joked.
Laura used to work in somebody else's salon, but Israel Vazquez wanted something better for his wife. He met Laura in Los Angeles and he wanted her to feel every bit a part of his American dream.
"Once I got married to Laura, I didn't want her to work for anybody," he said. "I wanted us to work for ourselves, have our own business."
Interestingly, Vazquez was nearly stopped short of realizing his dream. In March 1999, he was upset by journeyman Marcos Licona, losing a split decision to him in Las Vegas. Undaunted, Vazquez won his next 12 fights, but was temporarily derailed again when he was stopped in the 12th round by Oscar Larios in May 2002.
Perhaps, some experts surmised, Vazquez just wasn't quite world-championship material.
That certainly was not his thinking.
"It didn't bother me," Vazquez said. "I still thought that I would be able to live that American dream. I had a good record. I didn't let those fights get me down. That didn't discourage me."
The fight with Larios was for an interim super bantamweight championship.
"I never lost faith in him," Espinoza said. "But to get him in position for another world title shot was another story. It's difficult to get back in the rankings and get the title shot. [Title shots] don't come along every day."
His shot came just four fights after the loss to Larios. In March 2004, Vazquez stopped Jose Luis Valbuena in the 12th round to win a vacant super bantamweight title. He defended the belt twice, then stopped Larios in the third round in December 2005 to take Larios' title.
It should be noted that Vazquez went 2-1 in his trilogy with Larios; they tangled early in their respective careers, with Vazquez knocking out Larios in the first round in April 1997.
Vazquez made two successful defenses of the belt he won from Larios before losing it to Marquez -- also a native of Mexico City -- via seventh-round technical knockout in March 2007. Vazquez was criticized for not answering the bell for the eighth round after he sustained severe cartilage damage in his nose.
Vazquez again demonstrated tremendous mettle and got his title and his respect back when he stopped Marquez in the sixth round in Hidalgo, Texas, in August 2007. Then back at the Home Depot Center, Vazquez rallied to beat Marquez in an absolutely brutal thriller just seven weeks ago.
Espinoza may not have lost faith in Vazquez, but he came clean when asked if he was surprised by everything Vazquez has accomplished, considering the setbacks.
"I never questioned whether he could be a world champion, but to be here, to be where he is and him being part of one of the great trilogies, I don't know if I thought he would get this far," said Espinoza, a native of East Los Angeles. "These are things that can never be taken away. Nobody could ever take that away from me or him."
Sycuan Ringside Promotions, who, along with Golden Boy Promotions, co-promote Vazquez, recently held a lunch to honor the fighter for his incredible trilogy against Marquez.
"Israel Vazquez is truly a once-in-a-generation fighter," said Sycuan executive Scott Woodworth, who perhaps had the most fitting comment of the day.
It goes without saying that Vazquez's dream got even better when he emerged as the victor in the Marquez trilogy. He is a top-5 pound-for-pound guy. He wants to move up to featherweight and ultimately to super featherweight before his career is over. Considering what he has accomplished as one of the true warriors of his generation, Vazquez is bound to earn larger purses.
"I want to continue fighting the best out there, make my name and keep on making history," Vazquez said. "I want my name to stay out there."
Vazquez, 30, also wants his wife and kids to stay in Los Angeles. In his mind, it's a no-brainer. Moreover, he predicts he will never again live in Mexico City.
"I already live here, I have my wife here and my kids," Vazquez said. "I just feel that by bringing my kids up here in America, they'll have better schooling as they get older. This is the place for me and my family, so I doubt very seriously I would ever go back."
Hearing Vazquez recall a moment from his third fight with Marquez, when he was knocked down in the fourth round, allows one to understand how he feels about his new hometown.
"This is my home in California," Vazquez said, "and the first fight I lost with Marquez was at the Home Depot Center. And when I fought him again here at Home Depot and I got dropped, I was angry and I wasn't about to let that happen again in front of my hometown fans."
Indeed, it is rare for a Mexican-born fighter to refer to fans in another country as his "hometown fans." But Vazquez is doing his "American dream" thing to the hilt.
His English is getting better all the time, and he's encouraging his two sons -- Israel Jr. and Anthony -- to also become bilingual.
That said, Vazquez has two goals he wants to attain after he retires from the ring. He wants to train fighters and become a television boxing analyst. Even though he is learning English and plans to one day speak fluently, he prefers to do any such work in Spanish. "That's my tongue, my language," he said.
Vazquez does have the voice for it: smooth and deep. He could become the Mexican Jim Lampley.
Make that the Mexican-American Jim Lampley, with an emphasis on "American." After all, it's Vazquez's dream.
Robert Morales covers boxing for the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
As a fighter early in his career, Israel Vazquez had a goal: to live the American dream.
Ten years ago, at the age of 20, he began that journey when he moved from Mexico City to Los Angeles.
Today, thanks to a combination of incredible courage and talent, Vazquez is realizing his dream in style. And he doesn't want anyone to awaken him.
"My American dream, I'm living it now," said Vazquez (43-4, 31 KOs), who on March 1 won the rubber match of one of boxing's greatest trilogies with a split decision over Rafael Marquez at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. "I have my lovely wife, my kids, my home. I am living where I want to live. Right now, I have everything. I consider this my home and I'm living the dream now."
Most fighters from Mexico come to fight in the U.S. because it's where most of the world-class action is contested. It's also where the bulk of the money is. Vazquez is no different in that regard.
"I knew that I couldn't do it in Mexico because of the economy," Vazquez said. "I knew that I would have to come [to America]. I came here and [manager Frank Espinoza] gave me the opportunity to prove myself and to show that I'm able to do it here."
However, not all Mexican fighters come to the U.S. and plant roots, like Vazquez has in the Los Angeles suburb of Huntington Park. His mother, father, brothers and sisters are back in his hometown of Mexico City.
Not only has Vazquez been living in the L.A. area for a decade, he bought a beauty salon for himself and his wife, Laura.
"That's why Israel's hair always looks so good," Espinoza joked.
Laura used to work in somebody else's salon, but Israel Vazquez wanted something better for his wife. He met Laura in Los Angeles and he wanted her to feel every bit a part of his American dream.
"Once I got married to Laura, I didn't want her to work for anybody," he said. "I wanted us to work for ourselves, have our own business."
Interestingly, Vazquez was nearly stopped short of realizing his dream. In March 1999, he was upset by journeyman Marcos Licona, losing a split decision to him in Las Vegas. Undaunted, Vazquez won his next 12 fights, but was temporarily derailed again when he was stopped in the 12th round by Oscar Larios in May 2002.
Perhaps, some experts surmised, Vazquez just wasn't quite world-championship material.
That certainly was not his thinking.
"It didn't bother me," Vazquez said. "I still thought that I would be able to live that American dream. I had a good record. I didn't let those fights get me down. That didn't discourage me."
The fight with Larios was for an interim super bantamweight championship.
"I never lost faith in him," Espinoza said. "But to get him in position for another world title shot was another story. It's difficult to get back in the rankings and get the title shot. [Title shots] don't come along every day."
His shot came just four fights after the loss to Larios. In March 2004, Vazquez stopped Jose Luis Valbuena in the 12th round to win a vacant super bantamweight title. He defended the belt twice, then stopped Larios in the third round in December 2005 to take Larios' title.
It should be noted that Vazquez went 2-1 in his trilogy with Larios; they tangled early in their respective careers, with Vazquez knocking out Larios in the first round in April 1997.
Vazquez made two successful defenses of the belt he won from Larios before losing it to Marquez -- also a native of Mexico City -- via seventh-round technical knockout in March 2007. Vazquez was criticized for not answering the bell for the eighth round after he sustained severe cartilage damage in his nose.
Vazquez again demonstrated tremendous mettle and got his title and his respect back when he stopped Marquez in the sixth round in Hidalgo, Texas, in August 2007. Then back at the Home Depot Center, Vazquez rallied to beat Marquez in an absolutely brutal thriller just seven weeks ago.
Espinoza may not have lost faith in Vazquez, but he came clean when asked if he was surprised by everything Vazquez has accomplished, considering the setbacks.
"I never questioned whether he could be a world champion, but to be here, to be where he is and him being part of one of the great trilogies, I don't know if I thought he would get this far," said Espinoza, a native of East Los Angeles. "These are things that can never be taken away. Nobody could ever take that away from me or him."
Sycuan Ringside Promotions, who, along with Golden Boy Promotions, co-promote Vazquez, recently held a lunch to honor the fighter for his incredible trilogy against Marquez.
"Israel Vazquez is truly a once-in-a-generation fighter," said Sycuan executive Scott Woodworth, who perhaps had the most fitting comment of the day.
It goes without saying that Vazquez's dream got even better when he emerged as the victor in the Marquez trilogy. He is a top-5 pound-for-pound guy. He wants to move up to featherweight and ultimately to super featherweight before his career is over. Considering what he has accomplished as one of the true warriors of his generation, Vazquez is bound to earn larger purses.
"I want to continue fighting the best out there, make my name and keep on making history," Vazquez said. "I want my name to stay out there."
Vazquez, 30, also wants his wife and kids to stay in Los Angeles. In his mind, it's a no-brainer. Moreover, he predicts he will never again live in Mexico City.
"I already live here, I have my wife here and my kids," Vazquez said. "I just feel that by bringing my kids up here in America, they'll have better schooling as they get older. This is the place for me and my family, so I doubt very seriously I would ever go back."
Hearing Vazquez recall a moment from his third fight with Marquez, when he was knocked down in the fourth round, allows one to understand how he feels about his new hometown.
"This is my home in California," Vazquez said, "and the first fight I lost with Marquez was at the Home Depot Center. And when I fought him again here at Home Depot and I got dropped, I was angry and I wasn't about to let that happen again in front of my hometown fans."
Indeed, it is rare for a Mexican-born fighter to refer to fans in another country as his "hometown fans." But Vazquez is doing his "American dream" thing to the hilt.
His English is getting better all the time, and he's encouraging his two sons -- Israel Jr. and Anthony -- to also become bilingual.
That said, Vazquez has two goals he wants to attain after he retires from the ring. He wants to train fighters and become a television boxing analyst. Even though he is learning English and plans to one day speak fluently, he prefers to do any such work in Spanish. "That's my tongue, my language," he said.
Vazquez does have the voice for it: smooth and deep. He could become the Mexican Jim Lampley.
Make that the Mexican-American Jim Lampley, with an emphasis on "American." After all, it's Vazquez's dream.
Robert Morales covers boxing for the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Amir Khan Pushing For American Debut
By Mark Vester
According to The Mirror, lightweight superstar Amir Khan, and his promoter Frank Warren, are pushing hard for the young superstar to make his American debut on June 28 undercard to David Diaz-Manny Pacquiao at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Warren is attempting to secure permission from UK network ITV because they hold the broadcast rights to Khan's next fight.
Khan doesn't want to wait until the end of his career to come to America.
"I want to come to the States to fight earlier than Joe (Calzaghe) did. USA is where it's at and I plan loads of fights there. I want to make my debut in America sooner rather than later because I know the experience will help me," Khan said
By Mark Vester
According to The Mirror, lightweight superstar Amir Khan, and his promoter Frank Warren, are pushing hard for the young superstar to make his American debut on June 28 undercard to David Diaz-Manny Pacquiao at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Warren is attempting to secure permission from UK network ITV because they hold the broadcast rights to Khan's next fight.
Khan doesn't want to wait until the end of his career to come to America.
"I want to come to the States to fight earlier than Joe (Calzaghe) did. USA is where it's at and I plan loads of fights there. I want to make my debut in America sooner rather than later because I know the experience will help me," Khan said
Kevin Kelley To Fight On Mosley/Judah Bill
by James Slater: Kevin Kelley, the former featherweight champion of the world, was at the big Calzaghe-Hopkins fight in Vegas at the weekend, and the word is "The Flushing Flash" is going to fight again. Speaking to 15 Rounds.com, Kelley, now aged 40, told of his plans to appear on the under-card of the upcoming Shane Mosley Vs. Zab Judah match in May. Apparently, Kelley will box 36 year old Julio Gamboa of Nicaragua..
"I don't call it a comeback, " Kelley told 15 rounds.com "I never leave. I only take fights that make sense. I mean, there are certain fights I'd take in a heartbeat - a rematch with "The Prince" [Naseem Hamed]. I'd take that fight in a second! I'm supposed to be fighting Julio Gamboa, I asked Shane Mosely to do me a favour and get me a fight on his card [against Zab Judah]," Kelley explained.
Now a successful and very capable commentator, Kelley's return to the ring after an eighteen month absence will likely come as a surprise to some fans. But, as Kelley explained, he has never really been away - at least with regards to being in the gym and keeping his eye out for a suitable fight. Kelley has reportedly been sparring with, and holding his own against, the unbeaten WBO super-featherweight champion Joan Guzman. Now, against the 28-12-2(17) Gamboa, Kelley is going to be fighting again for real.
It's difficult to tell with Kelley what he has left. In his last ring appearance, in November of 2006, the flashy southpaw held his own in his bout with tough Mexican Manuel Medina - losing only by a majority verdict in their IBF 130 pound title final eliminator. That performance proved Kelley is no shot fighter. But, in his fight with Bobby Pacquiao, five months earlier, it looked as though Kelley's punch resistance had severely diminished, as he was stopped inside 4 rounds. Kevin SHOULD beat Gamboa. But what will such a win mean?
Gamboa is a decent fighter, but he has not won a fight since back in 2002. Losing in fairly big fights against the likes of Daniel Ponce De Leon and Adam Carrera recently, in bouts that contested minor titles, Gamboa was at least competitive. Not a big puncher, the Nicaraguan will not likely be able to hurt the still quick Kelley. Unless he has gone back farther than expected, "The flushing Flash" should win a comfortable decision in May. After that, however, and what the win will lead to, who knows?
by James Slater: Kevin Kelley, the former featherweight champion of the world, was at the big Calzaghe-Hopkins fight in Vegas at the weekend, and the word is "The Flushing Flash" is going to fight again. Speaking to 15 Rounds.com, Kelley, now aged 40, told of his plans to appear on the under-card of the upcoming Shane Mosley Vs. Zab Judah match in May. Apparently, Kelley will box 36 year old Julio Gamboa of Nicaragua..
"I don't call it a comeback, " Kelley told 15 rounds.com "I never leave. I only take fights that make sense. I mean, there are certain fights I'd take in a heartbeat - a rematch with "The Prince" [Naseem Hamed]. I'd take that fight in a second! I'm supposed to be fighting Julio Gamboa, I asked Shane Mosely to do me a favour and get me a fight on his card [against Zab Judah]," Kelley explained.
Now a successful and very capable commentator, Kelley's return to the ring after an eighteen month absence will likely come as a surprise to some fans. But, as Kelley explained, he has never really been away - at least with regards to being in the gym and keeping his eye out for a suitable fight. Kelley has reportedly been sparring with, and holding his own against, the unbeaten WBO super-featherweight champion Joan Guzman. Now, against the 28-12-2(17) Gamboa, Kelley is going to be fighting again for real.
It's difficult to tell with Kelley what he has left. In his last ring appearance, in November of 2006, the flashy southpaw held his own in his bout with tough Mexican Manuel Medina - losing only by a majority verdict in their IBF 130 pound title final eliminator. That performance proved Kelley is no shot fighter. But, in his fight with Bobby Pacquiao, five months earlier, it looked as though Kelley's punch resistance had severely diminished, as he was stopped inside 4 rounds. Kevin SHOULD beat Gamboa. But what will such a win mean?
Gamboa is a decent fighter, but he has not won a fight since back in 2002. Losing in fairly big fights against the likes of Daniel Ponce De Leon and Adam Carrera recently, in bouts that contested minor titles, Gamboa was at least competitive. Not a big puncher, the Nicaraguan will not likely be able to hurt the still quick Kelley. Unless he has gone back farther than expected, "The flushing Flash" should win a comfortable decision in May. After that, however, and what the win will lead to, who knows?
Manny Pacquiao is Not Taking Diaz Lightly
By Mark Vester
Manny Pacquiao is certainly not looking past his June 28 opponent, WBC lightweight champion David Diaz. Pacquiao moves up in weight to challenge Diaz for the title at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Diaz has already signed for the fight. Pacquiao has not signed as of yet, but he agreed to the terms of the fight in principle and most expect him to sign the deal in the next few days.
Diaz has been listed as a heavy underdog by most experts, citing his lack of speed as the major obstacle in the fight. What Diaz lacks in speed, he makes up for with power. Pacquiao told The Manila Bulletin that while Diaz can't match his quickness, he is still a very tough opponent.
Pacquiao says Diaz is “not too fast but remains a very dangerous opponent.”
The main factor won't overlook in the fight is Diaz's punching power.
"Diaz has power in his hands and you just don’t take somebody like him lightly because you might end up crying in the end," said Pacquiao.
By Mark Vester
Manny Pacquiao is certainly not looking past his June 28 opponent, WBC lightweight champion David Diaz. Pacquiao moves up in weight to challenge Diaz for the title at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Diaz has already signed for the fight. Pacquiao has not signed as of yet, but he agreed to the terms of the fight in principle and most expect him to sign the deal in the next few days.
Diaz has been listed as a heavy underdog by most experts, citing his lack of speed as the major obstacle in the fight. What Diaz lacks in speed, he makes up for with power. Pacquiao told The Manila Bulletin that while Diaz can't match his quickness, he is still a very tough opponent.
Pacquiao says Diaz is “not too fast but remains a very dangerous opponent.”
The main factor won't overlook in the fight is Diaz's punching power.
"Diaz has power in his hands and you just don’t take somebody like him lightly because you might end up crying in the end," said Pacquiao.
DiBella Confident Trinidad-Taylor Can Be Made
By Mark Vester
Primera Hora reports that Felix "Tito" Trinidad may come to a decision regarding a possible fight with Jermain Taylor by the end of the week. Trinidad's father, Felix Sr, told the paper that Nicolas Medina [their attorney] would send over their terms to promoter Don King, and hopefully the two sides can come to an agreement for the fight. King met with Felix Sr. several weeks ago in Puerto Rico to discuss a possible fight with Taylor at a catch-weight between 168 and 175.
Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter, told the paper that he's confident that two sides can come to a deal.
"When you have an opportunity to fight a legend like Trinidad, we would be fools not to accept such a fight," DiBella said. "Taylor has never been the kind of fighter to turn away from a challenge. In spite of the fact that I don't have a formal proposal in my hands, I don't have any doubt that we can come to an agreement
By Mark Vester
Primera Hora reports that Felix "Tito" Trinidad may come to a decision regarding a possible fight with Jermain Taylor by the end of the week. Trinidad's father, Felix Sr, told the paper that Nicolas Medina [their attorney] would send over their terms to promoter Don King, and hopefully the two sides can come to an agreement for the fight. King met with Felix Sr. several weeks ago in Puerto Rico to discuss a possible fight with Taylor at a catch-weight between 168 and 175.
Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter, told the paper that he's confident that two sides can come to a deal.
"When you have an opportunity to fight a legend like Trinidad, we would be fools not to accept such a fight," DiBella said. "Taylor has never been the kind of fighter to turn away from a challenge. In spite of the fact that I don't have a formal proposal in my hands, I don't have any doubt that we can come to an agreement
Civil War? An Inside Look at the CSAC: Part 1
By Steve Kim
On February 5th, inside the Dept. of Consumer Affairs Conference Room in Sacramento, California, the California State Athletic Commission held one of its scheduled meetings to discuss various issues that concerned their jurisdiction, and to listen as an MMA fighter stated his case in front of the panel to have his punishment for testing positive for a banned substance pared down. It was a rather routine and mundane affair for the most part.
But as the 'public comment' portion of the meeting was held, the fireworks would begin and evidence of a divided and fractured commission would become very evident. This part of the gathering is open to anyone who wants to have his or her voice heard on anything that was not included on the agenda. What this particular session became was a referendum on the merits of executive officer Armando Garcia. And the lines of where you stood were made very clear.
With Garcia presiding over the meeting, various judges, referees and inspectors would state their case for and against the executive officer (whose performance is being evaluated on a month-to-month basis), right in front of him.
First up was David Mendoza, a judge and referee, who extolled Garcia’s virtues as someone who has brought unprecedented economic success to the state of California. He would be followed up by noted referee and judge Pat Russell, who asked why certain allegations that have been levied against Garcia were seemingly being swept under the rug and forgotten about by the higher-ups. Referee Jon Schorle would stutter and stammer through a prepared statement in Garcia's defense. Max De Luca would also state his support for the embattled executive officer. And then Jack Reiss would echo many of the same statements as Russell, while asking why there was an email that was circulated only to certain members of the CSAC that attempted to elicit support for Garcia on this day.
Then a long procession of CSAC inspectors (all wearing black-on-black ensembles with their traditional red ties) would come in waves, speaking of the leadership and vision of Garcia. Reading off scripted statements, he was compared to everyone from George Washington to Vince Lombardi.
And it's no accident that the 'men in black' came as if they were dressed for work on behalf of the commission. In an email that was obtained by Maxboxing, Dwayne Woodward, an inspector for the state and a Garcia supporter, would send out a group email that had a copy and pasted version of a story penned by Michael Swann of 15rounds.com that talked of the alleged transgressions of Garcia, that, among other things, accuses him of engaging in acts that constituted conflicts of interest (by working seminars for sanctioning bodies and receiving compensation). It was just one allegation that was brought up in an illuminating series that was produced by Swann a few months ago.
Woodward would write: "Ladies and gentlemen, you need to read what is below. This is how organized the few and the loud are and what obscene lengths they will go to in order to regain their power over boxing in California." He would urge everyone to show up on February 5th to support Garcia.
One response, from Nate Arnold, would conclude by saying, "It would be nice to have everyone there, especially if they were dressed in black with red ties. An example needs to be made that we support Armando for everything he has done for the sport."
To which Woodward would respond, "I agree with Nate. I will be in uniform of the A-team."
Among those who are on the list of recipients is Garcia himself.
It's been no real secret to those inside the sport that there is a deep division within the CSAC. There is a group of veterans who supported Russell to take over the reigns of the commission from Rob Lynch a few years ago. Most of them are made up of the old-guard referees and judges that most boxing fans are familiar with. Then there are those who stand behind Garcia (who was eventually appointed by the state), the large majority of whom are recent hires from his regime. It may not be the Nortenos versus the Surenos, but there seems to be a great divide within the CSAC.
Those who are known to have supported Russell's bid, his long-time friends and those who don't uniformly agree with Garcia, believe they are punished by not getting the bigger, high profile assignments.
"The officials, well, the officials want what the officials want," Garcia would say to Maxboxing last week, when questioned about the seeming divide that exists. "They're the highest paid officers in the country per show, basically, except the big, big shows we don't have. They can not have any input or authority on assignments; that could be a conflict of interest. I've always tried to do the assignments as best as I could, with the assistance of (chief inspector) Dean Lohuis, and some people aren't happy about that. But it's a very, very small group. If you look at so, so many officials that live here in California, and other people that come, from that whole group of people there's really a handful of people that may not be happy.
"But what you have to find out is why aren't they happy? They might believe they're not making enough money, they may not believe they're doing certain shows. The whole assignment thing has been a very difficult task for all previous executive officers. And it's almost an impossibility to make everybody happy all the time."
But accusations of favoritism are heard loud and clear.
"There will always be accusations of favoritism for any executive officer," Garcia would state. "'Who's the best person for a particular fight? Who is at the championship level? Who is at the regional level?' I suggest to you very humbly, I was a referee for almost 19 years before I took this job. I started with eight and nine year old Junior Olympians and I worked my way up to the USA team. Then I started doing professional title fights and then I started doing seminars. I have a very good knowledge of who is best for which fight and if you ask the fighters, they want the best person to work the fight. They don't want the guy that's up or the lady that's up. And when you make these decisions like that, there's rivalry. I mean, there's so much rivalry between them. It's really sad because I would almost venture to say that most of them hate each other."
There is no doubt that for the credibility and the integrity of the sport and the CSAC it is incumbent that the best, most deserving officials be given the most important assignments. Russell and Reiss are generally regarded by those in the know as the top officials in the state. In fact, the management of Israel Vazquez, before his third bout against Rafael Marquez, insisted on having either one of them as the referee, instead of Schorle, who was to have gotten the assignment. Russell, despite a controversial point deduction he docked on Marquez for low blows, was lauded for his work that night on March 1st at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
Schorle, however, has a shaky reputation for handling big fights. The consensus is that he let the bout last year between Vic Darchinyan and Victor Burgos go on too long, with nearly grave consequences, as Burgos nearly lost his life. Then there was his botched handling of the Bobby Pacquiao-Carlos Navarro bout. He also let a fight continue in which a fighter spit-up after getting hit (which is usually the first sign of a concussion). Just recently, in the bout between Joel Casamayor and Michael Katsidis on March 22nd, he allowed Casamayor to hit Katsidis while he was down on the canvas after a knockdown with nary a penalty or warning. Many also questioned if he should've allowed Katsidis to continue after being floored hard by Casamayor in the tenth round of that contest. It's interesting to note that in his statements in front of the commission in February, he would give Garcia credit for being an AIBA official, while pointing out that he himself was, "Never good enough to be an AIBA referee."
Which begs the question, how does a referee who's not good enough to do world class amateur fights get so many big assignments in California?
Mendoza, has a rather dubious track record of late himself. Back in October he would score the bout between Sergio Mora and Elvin Ayala 99-91 in favor of Mora, in a fight that many had Ayala winning. His colleagues that night, had it 95-95 (De Luca) and 96-94 in favor of Ayala (Raul Caiz Jr.) The bout ended in a draw. He was then rewarded for that by getting the assignment to judge the Fernando Vargas-Ricardo Mayorga fight in late November at the Staples Center. In a fight won by Mayorga (with two knockdowns), Mendoza would have the bout scored 113-113, raising a few more eyebrows.
De Luca, meanwhile, is universally regarded as one of the state’s best judges.
A veteran member of the CSAC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, tells Maxboxing, "There are quite a few officials that are unhappy with the situation. It's gotten to a point where so many people have complained, that on the agenda is an action, an agenda item, where the commission is now going to look at world championship and television fights and how they're assigned. And I believe they might be changing, taking the power away from him or setting a rule on how he has to do it. That's how bad it's gotten."
That particular commission meeting takes place this Tuesday.
So do certain individuals get assignments based more on their personal relationship with Garcia rather than actual merit?
"Absolutely!! Are you kidding!?!?" answered our source, incredulously.
In other sports, leagues grade their officials, and from there, playoff and All-Star game assignments are doled out. But it's not clear if the state of California does this based on merit or merely a rotation.
"You might say it's a combination of both and here it is," explained Garcia. "Generally speaking, okay, no commission in the country has an evaluation system for judges or referees. I've already committed both of those processes to writing, and it's going to go in front of the commission in June. They will argue about that also. But basically those things will be identifying your theoretical knowledge in refereeing or judging and monitor your performance. Some people would say we used to do it, but I challenge anybody to produce any documents that show you that it was done fairly and equitably. So if you ask me, it's never been done here properly. So now, I've committed it to writing because it's part of my job and then we'll see if the commission approves it and then we have to figure out who is going to evaluate the officials because that's another thing.
"Should I evaluate 'Steve' when 'Steve' is competing for the same work as I am? That wouldn't be fair. Can you just put any old guy to do that? No, that wouldn't be fair either. And with the number of shows that we have, it's almost impossible to evaluate every single fight. But we have to start somewhere."
Another complaint from many veteran officials (most of whom are located in Southern California) is that they were promised opportunities to work MMA fights if they completed some clinics and became certified. Thus far, many of them, who paid around $500 for this process, have yet to do MMA shows on a consistent basis. Meanwhile, their counterparts up north, and individuals such as Richard Bertrand, are selected to work all the big MMA events in California.
It turns out Bertrand has a long-standing relationship with Garcia. Multiple sources have confirmed to Maxboxing that while Garcia was a referee in Florida, he got into hot water for uttering a racial epithet in regards to a Puerto Rican boxer.
"He did make a racial remark and he was shelved for awhile; he wasn't officially suspended, but he was shelved for a long time," confirmed this source, who is a member of the Florida commission. "All his assignments were way down, he didn't get any major assignments for a long period of time."
But at an official inquiry, it was Bertrand, then an inspector for Florida, who testified on Garcia's behalf. "That's why Armando has taken care of him out there," says the source. And what irks many of the California officials is that Bertrand was not that much more experienced than they were in MMA at the time. According to this source, he had worked only once in Florida before doing a big pay-per-view show in California in the summer of 2006.
"He never trailed as an official. He never had any training to be an official. He got licensed because the administration in Florida was changing and he got in through the cracks and somebody did him a favor by licensing him, and the rest is history," said the source.
Maxboxing has obtained a letter that Garcia sent on CSAC letterhead to Tom Molley, the executive director of the Florida State Boxing Commission, that is dated October 5th, 2006, and which lauds both Bertrand and Ric Bays (a judge in Florida) for their participation in a commission program that had around 140 officials in attendance.
"They were outstanding in every way!" wrote Garcia, who later added, "It is refreshing to find officials with a great attitude and knowledge. These officials need to be motivated and helped to continue their skills for the betterment of the sport that we regulate.
"I am very proud of them, as I know you are. Please recommend them on my behalf. The doors are always open to them in California."
What is strange is that despite having a multitude of qualified officials in California, Bertrand, who on his myspace page lists his hometown as Miami, Florida, continues to get the big events in California. According to our Florida source, he is not licensed in their state. It's highly unusual for a judge - in either MMA or boxing - to get work while not even being licensed in his own jurisdiction.
The source within the California commission believes that there is a vast fission within the organization.
"Because people don't recognize what he is," says the source. "He's slick, but there's no substance behind what he says. If they would just look into the issues and investigate the issues people have brought forth, they would recognize how transparent he was. There's no substance behind him."
And the biggest group of Garcia's loyalists come from the new guard of inspectors (who work in the corners and the dressing rooms to enforce the rules of the commission), the 'men in black' that went in mass to support Garcia in February. They seem to fit a particular profile.
"I believe most of them are correctional officers, but they're not made up of all his people in the Northern California area; they’re made up of a combination of anyone he can exploit," the source explains. "In other words, they came in, most of them, 90-percent of them, since he started his reign. So they owe him their loyalty. He bought their loyalty, so of course they're going to be loyal to what he says. But if you look closer, there's a lot of people he dismissed that have been on the commission for years and there are people that aren't in good graces because they stand up for what they believe is right and they call it for what it is when they see it."
To this source, their loyalty is a matter of simple economics.
"You're a corrections office making whatever you make in the corrections department, or you’re a private guy making this money. A friend tells you that you can come and get a job with the commission. You don't know anything about boxing, you never done anything with boxing before, but you have experience as a corrections officer and you go down and you kiss up to this guy and you get this job and he gives you the training. You really don't have the understanding about professional boxing and what it's all about. You didn't come in the front door; this guy gave you the job.
“Now, you're getting gigs, making $200, $300 a night between MMA and boxing and weigh-ins and things that have to be done. That's easily eight-to-ten opportunities for you to make that kind of money a month. Now you're making $1,600 to $2,000 a month that you weren't making before. What do you think you're going to do? And I would like to see the salaries of the guys who are his real close cronies, the guys who flew up to speak for him, the guys making all this extra money. I'd like to see what they're making a month and what they were doing before."
(Part II of the series will deal, in part, with just how many inspectors are actually needed for a show. California goes against the grain of most states by employing up to a dozen or more for certain cards.)
Many believe that if you don't kiss Garcia's ring, you get beheaded - or benched. Those on the 'A-team' are the privileged few.
"It's absolutely a hostile work environment; he rules with an iron thumb," says the member of the CSAC. "In fact, his inspectors are like the Gestapo; if you look at any organization throughout history that protects a president, like the Secret Service, or people who protect stars and people who are in other commissions, they are anonymous, they're incognito, you never know they're there, except for maybe a pin on their lapel. They're behind the stars, in the shadows. His guys are upfront, wearing this goofy looking uniform, like the Gestapo.
“Why is that? The show isn't about them, it's about the fighters. Maybe he read a little of Fidel Castro's books or maybe he read a little of Adolph Hitler’s, and that's where he follows. I don't know."
More than one person has referred to his leadership style as a 'dictatorship' and believe he is incredibly vindictive and will try to thwart anyone who disagrees with him.
But Garcia responds by saying, "Here's what I like; I like adults to act like adults, and when adults don't act like adults, then 'the boss' - and I hate to refer to myself as that - has to take some kind of action. I think, and this is my style, if you talk to the people that work in my office, we have a completely open process. I'm the ultimate decision maker, but I see input in almost every day-to-day operation, because they're the ones who are in the trenches. As far as my style, I'm not a micro-manager; I like to give the people the tools to succeed, and if I tell you, 'OK, here's what you need to do, here's the tools to do it,' I expect you to do it. And if you don't tell me that you have an issue, what do I think? I think you went ahead and did it and everything is OK.
"And things pop up, then I’ve got an issue. But I don't consider myself a dictator; I'm a very responsible state employee and I really need my job. So I try to do the very best that I can with the tools that I have."
As one member of the boxing community told me, "Everyone has an issue with all these guys. Everyone complains about somebody." Which is true, as it's impossible to please everyone. It can be a thankless task, but according to Garcia, a former cop in Miami, not the most thankless.
"No, I don't think so. I think being a police officer on midnight in a crime infested area, where nobody wants to see you and sometimes even your own department doesn't want to support you because it's a big department, that might be a little bit more thankless. To me, an honest cop, I have them up on a pedestal
By Steve Kim
On February 5th, inside the Dept. of Consumer Affairs Conference Room in Sacramento, California, the California State Athletic Commission held one of its scheduled meetings to discuss various issues that concerned their jurisdiction, and to listen as an MMA fighter stated his case in front of the panel to have his punishment for testing positive for a banned substance pared down. It was a rather routine and mundane affair for the most part.
But as the 'public comment' portion of the meeting was held, the fireworks would begin and evidence of a divided and fractured commission would become very evident. This part of the gathering is open to anyone who wants to have his or her voice heard on anything that was not included on the agenda. What this particular session became was a referendum on the merits of executive officer Armando Garcia. And the lines of where you stood were made very clear.
With Garcia presiding over the meeting, various judges, referees and inspectors would state their case for and against the executive officer (whose performance is being evaluated on a month-to-month basis), right in front of him.
First up was David Mendoza, a judge and referee, who extolled Garcia’s virtues as someone who has brought unprecedented economic success to the state of California. He would be followed up by noted referee and judge Pat Russell, who asked why certain allegations that have been levied against Garcia were seemingly being swept under the rug and forgotten about by the higher-ups. Referee Jon Schorle would stutter and stammer through a prepared statement in Garcia's defense. Max De Luca would also state his support for the embattled executive officer. And then Jack Reiss would echo many of the same statements as Russell, while asking why there was an email that was circulated only to certain members of the CSAC that attempted to elicit support for Garcia on this day.
Then a long procession of CSAC inspectors (all wearing black-on-black ensembles with their traditional red ties) would come in waves, speaking of the leadership and vision of Garcia. Reading off scripted statements, he was compared to everyone from George Washington to Vince Lombardi.
And it's no accident that the 'men in black' came as if they were dressed for work on behalf of the commission. In an email that was obtained by Maxboxing, Dwayne Woodward, an inspector for the state and a Garcia supporter, would send out a group email that had a copy and pasted version of a story penned by Michael Swann of 15rounds.com that talked of the alleged transgressions of Garcia, that, among other things, accuses him of engaging in acts that constituted conflicts of interest (by working seminars for sanctioning bodies and receiving compensation). It was just one allegation that was brought up in an illuminating series that was produced by Swann a few months ago.
Woodward would write: "Ladies and gentlemen, you need to read what is below. This is how organized the few and the loud are and what obscene lengths they will go to in order to regain their power over boxing in California." He would urge everyone to show up on February 5th to support Garcia.
One response, from Nate Arnold, would conclude by saying, "It would be nice to have everyone there, especially if they were dressed in black with red ties. An example needs to be made that we support Armando for everything he has done for the sport."
To which Woodward would respond, "I agree with Nate. I will be in uniform of the A-team."
Among those who are on the list of recipients is Garcia himself.
It's been no real secret to those inside the sport that there is a deep division within the CSAC. There is a group of veterans who supported Russell to take over the reigns of the commission from Rob Lynch a few years ago. Most of them are made up of the old-guard referees and judges that most boxing fans are familiar with. Then there are those who stand behind Garcia (who was eventually appointed by the state), the large majority of whom are recent hires from his regime. It may not be the Nortenos versus the Surenos, but there seems to be a great divide within the CSAC.
Those who are known to have supported Russell's bid, his long-time friends and those who don't uniformly agree with Garcia, believe they are punished by not getting the bigger, high profile assignments.
"The officials, well, the officials want what the officials want," Garcia would say to Maxboxing last week, when questioned about the seeming divide that exists. "They're the highest paid officers in the country per show, basically, except the big, big shows we don't have. They can not have any input or authority on assignments; that could be a conflict of interest. I've always tried to do the assignments as best as I could, with the assistance of (chief inspector) Dean Lohuis, and some people aren't happy about that. But it's a very, very small group. If you look at so, so many officials that live here in California, and other people that come, from that whole group of people there's really a handful of people that may not be happy.
"But what you have to find out is why aren't they happy? They might believe they're not making enough money, they may not believe they're doing certain shows. The whole assignment thing has been a very difficult task for all previous executive officers. And it's almost an impossibility to make everybody happy all the time."
But accusations of favoritism are heard loud and clear.
"There will always be accusations of favoritism for any executive officer," Garcia would state. "'Who's the best person for a particular fight? Who is at the championship level? Who is at the regional level?' I suggest to you very humbly, I was a referee for almost 19 years before I took this job. I started with eight and nine year old Junior Olympians and I worked my way up to the USA team. Then I started doing professional title fights and then I started doing seminars. I have a very good knowledge of who is best for which fight and if you ask the fighters, they want the best person to work the fight. They don't want the guy that's up or the lady that's up. And when you make these decisions like that, there's rivalry. I mean, there's so much rivalry between them. It's really sad because I would almost venture to say that most of them hate each other."
There is no doubt that for the credibility and the integrity of the sport and the CSAC it is incumbent that the best, most deserving officials be given the most important assignments. Russell and Reiss are generally regarded by those in the know as the top officials in the state. In fact, the management of Israel Vazquez, before his third bout against Rafael Marquez, insisted on having either one of them as the referee, instead of Schorle, who was to have gotten the assignment. Russell, despite a controversial point deduction he docked on Marquez for low blows, was lauded for his work that night on March 1st at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
Schorle, however, has a shaky reputation for handling big fights. The consensus is that he let the bout last year between Vic Darchinyan and Victor Burgos go on too long, with nearly grave consequences, as Burgos nearly lost his life. Then there was his botched handling of the Bobby Pacquiao-Carlos Navarro bout. He also let a fight continue in which a fighter spit-up after getting hit (which is usually the first sign of a concussion). Just recently, in the bout between Joel Casamayor and Michael Katsidis on March 22nd, he allowed Casamayor to hit Katsidis while he was down on the canvas after a knockdown with nary a penalty or warning. Many also questioned if he should've allowed Katsidis to continue after being floored hard by Casamayor in the tenth round of that contest. It's interesting to note that in his statements in front of the commission in February, he would give Garcia credit for being an AIBA official, while pointing out that he himself was, "Never good enough to be an AIBA referee."
Which begs the question, how does a referee who's not good enough to do world class amateur fights get so many big assignments in California?
Mendoza, has a rather dubious track record of late himself. Back in October he would score the bout between Sergio Mora and Elvin Ayala 99-91 in favor of Mora, in a fight that many had Ayala winning. His colleagues that night, had it 95-95 (De Luca) and 96-94 in favor of Ayala (Raul Caiz Jr.) The bout ended in a draw. He was then rewarded for that by getting the assignment to judge the Fernando Vargas-Ricardo Mayorga fight in late November at the Staples Center. In a fight won by Mayorga (with two knockdowns), Mendoza would have the bout scored 113-113, raising a few more eyebrows.
De Luca, meanwhile, is universally regarded as one of the state’s best judges.
A veteran member of the CSAC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, tells Maxboxing, "There are quite a few officials that are unhappy with the situation. It's gotten to a point where so many people have complained, that on the agenda is an action, an agenda item, where the commission is now going to look at world championship and television fights and how they're assigned. And I believe they might be changing, taking the power away from him or setting a rule on how he has to do it. That's how bad it's gotten."
That particular commission meeting takes place this Tuesday.
So do certain individuals get assignments based more on their personal relationship with Garcia rather than actual merit?
"Absolutely!! Are you kidding!?!?" answered our source, incredulously.
In other sports, leagues grade their officials, and from there, playoff and All-Star game assignments are doled out. But it's not clear if the state of California does this based on merit or merely a rotation.
"You might say it's a combination of both and here it is," explained Garcia. "Generally speaking, okay, no commission in the country has an evaluation system for judges or referees. I've already committed both of those processes to writing, and it's going to go in front of the commission in June. They will argue about that also. But basically those things will be identifying your theoretical knowledge in refereeing or judging and monitor your performance. Some people would say we used to do it, but I challenge anybody to produce any documents that show you that it was done fairly and equitably. So if you ask me, it's never been done here properly. So now, I've committed it to writing because it's part of my job and then we'll see if the commission approves it and then we have to figure out who is going to evaluate the officials because that's another thing.
"Should I evaluate 'Steve' when 'Steve' is competing for the same work as I am? That wouldn't be fair. Can you just put any old guy to do that? No, that wouldn't be fair either. And with the number of shows that we have, it's almost impossible to evaluate every single fight. But we have to start somewhere."
Another complaint from many veteran officials (most of whom are located in Southern California) is that they were promised opportunities to work MMA fights if they completed some clinics and became certified. Thus far, many of them, who paid around $500 for this process, have yet to do MMA shows on a consistent basis. Meanwhile, their counterparts up north, and individuals such as Richard Bertrand, are selected to work all the big MMA events in California.
It turns out Bertrand has a long-standing relationship with Garcia. Multiple sources have confirmed to Maxboxing that while Garcia was a referee in Florida, he got into hot water for uttering a racial epithet in regards to a Puerto Rican boxer.
"He did make a racial remark and he was shelved for awhile; he wasn't officially suspended, but he was shelved for a long time," confirmed this source, who is a member of the Florida commission. "All his assignments were way down, he didn't get any major assignments for a long period of time."
But at an official inquiry, it was Bertrand, then an inspector for Florida, who testified on Garcia's behalf. "That's why Armando has taken care of him out there," says the source. And what irks many of the California officials is that Bertrand was not that much more experienced than they were in MMA at the time. According to this source, he had worked only once in Florida before doing a big pay-per-view show in California in the summer of 2006.
"He never trailed as an official. He never had any training to be an official. He got licensed because the administration in Florida was changing and he got in through the cracks and somebody did him a favor by licensing him, and the rest is history," said the source.
Maxboxing has obtained a letter that Garcia sent on CSAC letterhead to Tom Molley, the executive director of the Florida State Boxing Commission, that is dated October 5th, 2006, and which lauds both Bertrand and Ric Bays (a judge in Florida) for their participation in a commission program that had around 140 officials in attendance.
"They were outstanding in every way!" wrote Garcia, who later added, "It is refreshing to find officials with a great attitude and knowledge. These officials need to be motivated and helped to continue their skills for the betterment of the sport that we regulate.
"I am very proud of them, as I know you are. Please recommend them on my behalf. The doors are always open to them in California."
What is strange is that despite having a multitude of qualified officials in California, Bertrand, who on his myspace page lists his hometown as Miami, Florida, continues to get the big events in California. According to our Florida source, he is not licensed in their state. It's highly unusual for a judge - in either MMA or boxing - to get work while not even being licensed in his own jurisdiction.
The source within the California commission believes that there is a vast fission within the organization.
"Because people don't recognize what he is," says the source. "He's slick, but there's no substance behind what he says. If they would just look into the issues and investigate the issues people have brought forth, they would recognize how transparent he was. There's no substance behind him."
And the biggest group of Garcia's loyalists come from the new guard of inspectors (who work in the corners and the dressing rooms to enforce the rules of the commission), the 'men in black' that went in mass to support Garcia in February. They seem to fit a particular profile.
"I believe most of them are correctional officers, but they're not made up of all his people in the Northern California area; they’re made up of a combination of anyone he can exploit," the source explains. "In other words, they came in, most of them, 90-percent of them, since he started his reign. So they owe him their loyalty. He bought their loyalty, so of course they're going to be loyal to what he says. But if you look closer, there's a lot of people he dismissed that have been on the commission for years and there are people that aren't in good graces because they stand up for what they believe is right and they call it for what it is when they see it."
To this source, their loyalty is a matter of simple economics.
"You're a corrections office making whatever you make in the corrections department, or you’re a private guy making this money. A friend tells you that you can come and get a job with the commission. You don't know anything about boxing, you never done anything with boxing before, but you have experience as a corrections officer and you go down and you kiss up to this guy and you get this job and he gives you the training. You really don't have the understanding about professional boxing and what it's all about. You didn't come in the front door; this guy gave you the job.
“Now, you're getting gigs, making $200, $300 a night between MMA and boxing and weigh-ins and things that have to be done. That's easily eight-to-ten opportunities for you to make that kind of money a month. Now you're making $1,600 to $2,000 a month that you weren't making before. What do you think you're going to do? And I would like to see the salaries of the guys who are his real close cronies, the guys who flew up to speak for him, the guys making all this extra money. I'd like to see what they're making a month and what they were doing before."
(Part II of the series will deal, in part, with just how many inspectors are actually needed for a show. California goes against the grain of most states by employing up to a dozen or more for certain cards.)
Many believe that if you don't kiss Garcia's ring, you get beheaded - or benched. Those on the 'A-team' are the privileged few.
"It's absolutely a hostile work environment; he rules with an iron thumb," says the member of the CSAC. "In fact, his inspectors are like the Gestapo; if you look at any organization throughout history that protects a president, like the Secret Service, or people who protect stars and people who are in other commissions, they are anonymous, they're incognito, you never know they're there, except for maybe a pin on their lapel. They're behind the stars, in the shadows. His guys are upfront, wearing this goofy looking uniform, like the Gestapo.
“Why is that? The show isn't about them, it's about the fighters. Maybe he read a little of Fidel Castro's books or maybe he read a little of Adolph Hitler’s, and that's where he follows. I don't know."
More than one person has referred to his leadership style as a 'dictatorship' and believe he is incredibly vindictive and will try to thwart anyone who disagrees with him.
But Garcia responds by saying, "Here's what I like; I like adults to act like adults, and when adults don't act like adults, then 'the boss' - and I hate to refer to myself as that - has to take some kind of action. I think, and this is my style, if you talk to the people that work in my office, we have a completely open process. I'm the ultimate decision maker, but I see input in almost every day-to-day operation, because they're the ones who are in the trenches. As far as my style, I'm not a micro-manager; I like to give the people the tools to succeed, and if I tell you, 'OK, here's what you need to do, here's the tools to do it,' I expect you to do it. And if you don't tell me that you have an issue, what do I think? I think you went ahead and did it and everything is OK.
"And things pop up, then I’ve got an issue. But I don't consider myself a dictator; I'm a very responsible state employee and I really need my job. So I try to do the very best that I can with the tools that I have."
As one member of the boxing community told me, "Everyone has an issue with all these guys. Everyone complains about somebody." Which is true, as it's impossible to please everyone. It can be a thankless task, but according to Garcia, a former cop in Miami, not the most thankless.
"No, I don't think so. I think being a police officer on midnight in a crime infested area, where nobody wants to see you and sometimes even your own department doesn't want to support you because it's a big department, that might be a little bit more thankless. To me, an honest cop, I have them up on a pedestal
Overkill and Inefficiency? An Inside Look at the CSAC - Part II
Last Tuesday in Los Angeles, a Promoters and Stakeholders Informational Meeting was held where promoters, managers, cornermen, and really anybody, could come and discuss issues that pertain to the business of boxing in the state of California.
At this meeting, which was run by the executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission, Armando Garcia, the agenda dealt with such issues as the non-resident withholding tax for out-of-state fighters and the lingering problem of unlicensed MMA shows that are sprouting up all across the state.
The majority of those in attendance seemed to be local MMA promoters and owners of MMA gyms. Only two boxing promoters were in attendance, Ed Holmes and Roy Englebrecht. As the floor was opened up by Garcia, Englebrecht, who is perhaps the states most prolific and respected club promoter, inquired about the, "staffing of the office," in Sacramento. Englebrecht, like many other promoters, had grown increasingly frustrated at the process in which paperwork - which green lights the fighters to appear on a show – is handled by the CSAC.
He spoke of dialing up fax machines that had no transmissions and he wondered why each fighter's medical paperwork needed to be 20 pages long. Garcia would respond by telling the small audience that they had just, "hired another body in the office," and would be hiring an additional person soon. He also explained that in the process of moving, their fax machines were out of service. But Garcia would point out that, while they did admittedly, "kill a lot of trees," by law, every single one of those papers needed to be there for the weigh-ins and at the fights for the ringside physician and paramedic in case of an emergency.
As a show is planned, each promoter must send in what is called a 'Who's, who,' which means on a six-fight card, 12 Fight Fax records of the boxers involved for approval, in addition to the battery of medical examinations that a fighter must be cleared on. Englebrecht wondered if there was a more streamlined process in which to do this in the computer age.
As these papers are sent to Sacramento - and they must receive all the pages - if something is missing, 'Need' is put down. But what irks many of the promoters is that when this occurs, or when a red-flag is raised about a particular fighter, that original paperwork, which is usually turned in weeks ahead of time by most responsible promoters, is then returned in many instances so late that a suitable replacement for that fighter or bout cannot be found.
The CSAC does not have an easy task. Under Garcia's reign, which began in the middle of 2006, the state of California has averaged around 180 shows (if you combine boxing and MMA), and if you do the math on what we just talked about above, that's a lot of paperwork to sift through. But a cadre of small promoters, managers and matchmakers involved in the sport has their horror stories of how they send Fed Ex'd documents that are signed off on, only to be told weeks later they never arrived. Or what a difficult process it is to transfer medical forms of one state to another. Then there are interminably long delays, overall, in getting out-of-state fighters licensed. It's clear that the office of the CSAC is understaffed and underfunded.
But on the flip side, you go to any small club show in California and you'll see up to seven or eight inspectors working that event, which is highly unusual. It's almost universally accepted within the boxing community that for a club show, you need no more than half of that to patrol the locker rooms and enforce the rules of the commission. Our source within the Florida State Boxing Commission says that for a club show, "You can get away with four." And for a televised show, "Maybe five, six tops."
Garcia makes no bones about the amount of inspectors California regularly employs. "Sometimes we have more than seven or eight," he admits, pointing out that the budget comes out of the support fund." So I staff events based on the number of fighters and so on and how much money I have to work with because I can't go over budget. It's not like they gave me extra money for inspectors. With that said, if you have, let's say, 10 fighters and you have five fights, it’s a very small show. So knowing you have 10 fighters, you have potentially up to four people in each corner. So let's say you have two people in each corner, not four; now you have 20, no, you have 30 people and this is a very small show. So now you have 30 people to oversee, that you are literally responsible for, in maybe three, four dressing rooms or more.
"How do you properly supervise those people without people working that? When you also include the anti-doping process, you need people for that. I'm very conscious about our money and we're doing really, really well going into fiscal month ten. I staff the shows to protect health and safety and consumer integrity."
California, unlike most jurisdictions, administers a drug test to every fighter on a show, which means inspectors are needed to track fighters before and after they perform. Most others merely drug test the main event, any championship bout and a random fighter on the undercard. Certainly, you want to protect the integrity of the sport and the health of its participants, but let's be honest, only at the highest and most lucrative levels have fighters tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in boxing. The reality is that most four and six round fighters simply can't afford HGH or steroids. And it's not as if steroid use at the lower level was ever rampant in boxing.
A source tells Maxboxing that in the last 12 months that there have been 65 positive drug tests in California. 53 have come in MMA, ten in boxing and one in kickboxing. The majority of the positive drug tests for boxing have been for marijuana use.
On each show, the promoter must give up 5-percent of their gate (for instance, at $50,000 they cough up $2,500) which goes to the 'State Fee', which funds the commission. This money is used for the staff, drug tests, travel costs, inspectors, office rent and health benefits of the commission. So in essence, it's the promoters who pay for all this.
So with that being said, would Englebrecht rather have a few less inspectors at each show, and put that money towards having a bigger support staff?
"There is no doubt that if I had my choice, more Sacramento office staff or more inspectors, I would vote unanimously to take money from inspectors and put more staff in Sacramento, so that promoters can get their concerns and their questions answered quicker," Englebrecht would tell Maxboxing.
Jerry Hoffman, of 12 Sport Productions, who has promoted such events as the 'Shakedown in Quaketown' and the 'Riot at the Hyatt' for the past 15 years, says of the paperwork process, "It's such an overkill and I gotta go backwards here for a second, because the system wasn't broken until Armando arrived. Armando was hired on the basis of, 'There's something wrong with boxing in California and dammit, I'm going to fix it,' and in the process the Department of Consumer Affairs, who knows nothing about boxing says, 'I'm going to protect you.' So he is a supreme politician. His decisions are motivated to impress his employer, rather to do what's best for boxing, boxers, matchmakers, promoters, trainers and the people that are involved that bear the brunt of the expense and the hassles that we have to go through based on his arbitrary decisions."
On the issue of inspectors, he says, "It's total overkill; we never had that many inspectors to begin with, plus we never know who these inspectors are that are coming. Of course it's overkill. When you have for five or six on a club show without television, why do you need more than one or maybe two inspectors for each dressing room?"
And he also believes that not every single preliminary boxer should be obligated to give a urine test after each fight.
"Boxing is by far and away the most regulated sport and there are fewer transgressions in our sport than any sport. Name one sport that's cleaner than boxing, with the possible exception of golf?"
Hoffman is the one of the few promoters willing to go on the record and air his grievances against the CSAC. But he does speak on the behalf of many others who echo his thoughts, but only in private for fear of retribution.
But Dan Goossen says that Garcia has brought a level of stability to the commission.
"He put the system together from the standpoint of the rules and regulations of California, and part of the problem that fighters, promoters, managers, and commissions have is that our rule books has been outdated, and based upon that, some of the rules that have now been designed to follow have created this discontent with certain people," said the veteran promoter, who runs Goossen-Tutor. "From my end, Armando's been a fair executive director, certainly not one that I see has anything but the best interest of boxing at the forefront of any decision he makes.
"Now, that doesn't make things easy for what Tom Brown (Goossen's matchmaker) has to go through to make matches and medicals and all the different licensing procedures. But on the other hand, again, those are items that have been ignored throughout the years and what we've got to do is get new rules into the system."
But what bothers many of the smaller promoters is that while they get hassled on so many of their fights, they firmly believe that the name brand promotional outfits - the ones who bring big television money on a consistent basis - get rubber stamped on their shows.
"There have been issues with every show that I've done on decisions that Armando has made that impact my shows since he got here," says a frustrated Hoffman. "For 13 years before he got here, I never had any incidents, never had any issues. Dean Lohuis knew everything that was going on with the state and always said, 'Man, you make matches,' and I only did two shows a year. I take great care of the matches I make. I have to prep them. There's a reason for every match that I make.
"But for some reason or another, arbitrary decisions by Armando have taken away fights from me pretty consistently in the last couple of years."
Lohuis is the chief inspector for the state, and he is regarded by the boxing community in California to be as knowledgeable as they come in regards to the local fighters and the fight scene. But in recent years he has had his power and responsibilities stripped away by Garcia, which has frustrated many matchmakers and promoters in the state.
But it's no surprise that there are two divergent opinions on Garcia from the major and small promoters. It's not unusual for any commission to give a bit of leeway to shows that are put on by the big promoters. After all, most of the time they bring in huge amounts of revenue to the state. Hate to say it, but that's life in the big city.
But Garcia insists that everyone plays by the same rulebook.
"I want to make it a level playing field," he would tell Maxboxing, "but I gotta tell you with all due respect to the people before me, people that are still involved here in the commission, it was not a level playing field. People here, this particular name used to be able to do this and this one did it and there was selective enforcement. When I came in, I tried to treat everyone equally. The little guy and the big guy. And sometimes people don't like that."
But Hoffman isn't buying it. He believes he's a small fish who has been made very expendable in a big pond.
"I can't speak for other promoters; for me, much of the fun has gone out of it. The state of California requires so much from promoters and matchmakers, to get all of their particulars in, meaning all the Fight Faxes that we're required to get in and submit, so we can get bout approval. The problem is you get everything in - and I'm anal about that, I get stuff in three, four weeks before my show, so in theory I have time to make adjustments in case there are any – but sure as s**t, whenever I submit my stuff, I never get a return response in a timely fashion.
"It's always the week of the show and it's too late for me to do anything about it."
CONUNDRUM
Another thing Hoffman and many others have complained about is that in recent years, MRI's, eye exams and EKG's are now mandatory for all licensed fighters in California. The MRI is good for five years, the EKG for three. They are all for the safety of the fighters, but they also believe that many young aspiring boxers are priced out of getting their licenses because with the new mandatory policies - which now puts California in line with states like Nevada - the price of obtaining a license has gone from around $300-$400 to around $700-$800.
There are two ways to look at this argument. First, shouldn't every fighter come in with a clean bill of health? And even if it's a fighter making his pro debut, they still have taken jarring shots to the head during their days as an amateur and in sparring sessions in the gym.
But others will point out that the state of California has been a relatively safe state for the most part when it comes to ring fatalities. Last September, Jackson Bussell would lose his life after a six-round draw against Javier Garcia, and there were recent close calls involving Victor Burgos and Ruben Contreras in recent years.
But it had been awhile since California had had to deal with a ring death. There were two-high profile casualties in the early 80's. Johnny Owen would lose his life after twelve hard rounds against Lupe Pintor in September of 1980. And then Kiko Bejines would pass away after his bout versus Albert Davila in September of 1983. Then in 1988, David Gonzalez would die as a result of his eighth-round knockout at the hands of Rico Velasquez.
Last Tuesday in Los Angeles, a Promoters and Stakeholders Informational Meeting was held where promoters, managers, cornermen, and really anybody, could come and discuss issues that pertain to the business of boxing in the state of California.
At this meeting, which was run by the executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission, Armando Garcia, the agenda dealt with such issues as the non-resident withholding tax for out-of-state fighters and the lingering problem of unlicensed MMA shows that are sprouting up all across the state.
The majority of those in attendance seemed to be local MMA promoters and owners of MMA gyms. Only two boxing promoters were in attendance, Ed Holmes and Roy Englebrecht. As the floor was opened up by Garcia, Englebrecht, who is perhaps the states most prolific and respected club promoter, inquired about the, "staffing of the office," in Sacramento. Englebrecht, like many other promoters, had grown increasingly frustrated at the process in which paperwork - which green lights the fighters to appear on a show – is handled by the CSAC.
He spoke of dialing up fax machines that had no transmissions and he wondered why each fighter's medical paperwork needed to be 20 pages long. Garcia would respond by telling the small audience that they had just, "hired another body in the office," and would be hiring an additional person soon. He also explained that in the process of moving, their fax machines were out of service. But Garcia would point out that, while they did admittedly, "kill a lot of trees," by law, every single one of those papers needed to be there for the weigh-ins and at the fights for the ringside physician and paramedic in case of an emergency.
As a show is planned, each promoter must send in what is called a 'Who's, who,' which means on a six-fight card, 12 Fight Fax records of the boxers involved for approval, in addition to the battery of medical examinations that a fighter must be cleared on. Englebrecht wondered if there was a more streamlined process in which to do this in the computer age.
As these papers are sent to Sacramento - and they must receive all the pages - if something is missing, 'Need' is put down. But what irks many of the promoters is that when this occurs, or when a red-flag is raised about a particular fighter, that original paperwork, which is usually turned in weeks ahead of time by most responsible promoters, is then returned in many instances so late that a suitable replacement for that fighter or bout cannot be found.
The CSAC does not have an easy task. Under Garcia's reign, which began in the middle of 2006, the state of California has averaged around 180 shows (if you combine boxing and MMA), and if you do the math on what we just talked about above, that's a lot of paperwork to sift through. But a cadre of small promoters, managers and matchmakers involved in the sport has their horror stories of how they send Fed Ex'd documents that are signed off on, only to be told weeks later they never arrived. Or what a difficult process it is to transfer medical forms of one state to another. Then there are interminably long delays, overall, in getting out-of-state fighters licensed. It's clear that the office of the CSAC is understaffed and underfunded.
But on the flip side, you go to any small club show in California and you'll see up to seven or eight inspectors working that event, which is highly unusual. It's almost universally accepted within the boxing community that for a club show, you need no more than half of that to patrol the locker rooms and enforce the rules of the commission. Our source within the Florida State Boxing Commission says that for a club show, "You can get away with four." And for a televised show, "Maybe five, six tops."
Garcia makes no bones about the amount of inspectors California regularly employs. "Sometimes we have more than seven or eight," he admits, pointing out that the budget comes out of the support fund." So I staff events based on the number of fighters and so on and how much money I have to work with because I can't go over budget. It's not like they gave me extra money for inspectors. With that said, if you have, let's say, 10 fighters and you have five fights, it’s a very small show. So knowing you have 10 fighters, you have potentially up to four people in each corner. So let's say you have two people in each corner, not four; now you have 20, no, you have 30 people and this is a very small show. So now you have 30 people to oversee, that you are literally responsible for, in maybe three, four dressing rooms or more.
"How do you properly supervise those people without people working that? When you also include the anti-doping process, you need people for that. I'm very conscious about our money and we're doing really, really well going into fiscal month ten. I staff the shows to protect health and safety and consumer integrity."
California, unlike most jurisdictions, administers a drug test to every fighter on a show, which means inspectors are needed to track fighters before and after they perform. Most others merely drug test the main event, any championship bout and a random fighter on the undercard. Certainly, you want to protect the integrity of the sport and the health of its participants, but let's be honest, only at the highest and most lucrative levels have fighters tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in boxing. The reality is that most four and six round fighters simply can't afford HGH or steroids. And it's not as if steroid use at the lower level was ever rampant in boxing.
A source tells Maxboxing that in the last 12 months that there have been 65 positive drug tests in California. 53 have come in MMA, ten in boxing and one in kickboxing. The majority of the positive drug tests for boxing have been for marijuana use.
On each show, the promoter must give up 5-percent of their gate (for instance, at $50,000 they cough up $2,500) which goes to the 'State Fee', which funds the commission. This money is used for the staff, drug tests, travel costs, inspectors, office rent and health benefits of the commission. So in essence, it's the promoters who pay for all this.
So with that being said, would Englebrecht rather have a few less inspectors at each show, and put that money towards having a bigger support staff?
"There is no doubt that if I had my choice, more Sacramento office staff or more inspectors, I would vote unanimously to take money from inspectors and put more staff in Sacramento, so that promoters can get their concerns and their questions answered quicker," Englebrecht would tell Maxboxing.
Jerry Hoffman, of 12 Sport Productions, who has promoted such events as the 'Shakedown in Quaketown' and the 'Riot at the Hyatt' for the past 15 years, says of the paperwork process, "It's such an overkill and I gotta go backwards here for a second, because the system wasn't broken until Armando arrived. Armando was hired on the basis of, 'There's something wrong with boxing in California and dammit, I'm going to fix it,' and in the process the Department of Consumer Affairs, who knows nothing about boxing says, 'I'm going to protect you.' So he is a supreme politician. His decisions are motivated to impress his employer, rather to do what's best for boxing, boxers, matchmakers, promoters, trainers and the people that are involved that bear the brunt of the expense and the hassles that we have to go through based on his arbitrary decisions."
On the issue of inspectors, he says, "It's total overkill; we never had that many inspectors to begin with, plus we never know who these inspectors are that are coming. Of course it's overkill. When you have for five or six on a club show without television, why do you need more than one or maybe two inspectors for each dressing room?"
And he also believes that not every single preliminary boxer should be obligated to give a urine test after each fight.
"Boxing is by far and away the most regulated sport and there are fewer transgressions in our sport than any sport. Name one sport that's cleaner than boxing, with the possible exception of golf?"
Hoffman is the one of the few promoters willing to go on the record and air his grievances against the CSAC. But he does speak on the behalf of many others who echo his thoughts, but only in private for fear of retribution.
But Dan Goossen says that Garcia has brought a level of stability to the commission.
"He put the system together from the standpoint of the rules and regulations of California, and part of the problem that fighters, promoters, managers, and commissions have is that our rule books has been outdated, and based upon that, some of the rules that have now been designed to follow have created this discontent with certain people," said the veteran promoter, who runs Goossen-Tutor. "From my end, Armando's been a fair executive director, certainly not one that I see has anything but the best interest of boxing at the forefront of any decision he makes.
"Now, that doesn't make things easy for what Tom Brown (Goossen's matchmaker) has to go through to make matches and medicals and all the different licensing procedures. But on the other hand, again, those are items that have been ignored throughout the years and what we've got to do is get new rules into the system."
But what bothers many of the smaller promoters is that while they get hassled on so many of their fights, they firmly believe that the name brand promotional outfits - the ones who bring big television money on a consistent basis - get rubber stamped on their shows.
"There have been issues with every show that I've done on decisions that Armando has made that impact my shows since he got here," says a frustrated Hoffman. "For 13 years before he got here, I never had any incidents, never had any issues. Dean Lohuis knew everything that was going on with the state and always said, 'Man, you make matches,' and I only did two shows a year. I take great care of the matches I make. I have to prep them. There's a reason for every match that I make.
"But for some reason or another, arbitrary decisions by Armando have taken away fights from me pretty consistently in the last couple of years."
Lohuis is the chief inspector for the state, and he is regarded by the boxing community in California to be as knowledgeable as they come in regards to the local fighters and the fight scene. But in recent years he has had his power and responsibilities stripped away by Garcia, which has frustrated many matchmakers and promoters in the state.
But it's no surprise that there are two divergent opinions on Garcia from the major and small promoters. It's not unusual for any commission to give a bit of leeway to shows that are put on by the big promoters. After all, most of the time they bring in huge amounts of revenue to the state. Hate to say it, but that's life in the big city.
But Garcia insists that everyone plays by the same rulebook.
"I want to make it a level playing field," he would tell Maxboxing, "but I gotta tell you with all due respect to the people before me, people that are still involved here in the commission, it was not a level playing field. People here, this particular name used to be able to do this and this one did it and there was selective enforcement. When I came in, I tried to treat everyone equally. The little guy and the big guy. And sometimes people don't like that."
But Hoffman isn't buying it. He believes he's a small fish who has been made very expendable in a big pond.
"I can't speak for other promoters; for me, much of the fun has gone out of it. The state of California requires so much from promoters and matchmakers, to get all of their particulars in, meaning all the Fight Faxes that we're required to get in and submit, so we can get bout approval. The problem is you get everything in - and I'm anal about that, I get stuff in three, four weeks before my show, so in theory I have time to make adjustments in case there are any – but sure as s**t, whenever I submit my stuff, I never get a return response in a timely fashion.
"It's always the week of the show and it's too late for me to do anything about it."
CONUNDRUM
Another thing Hoffman and many others have complained about is that in recent years, MRI's, eye exams and EKG's are now mandatory for all licensed fighters in California. The MRI is good for five years, the EKG for three. They are all for the safety of the fighters, but they also believe that many young aspiring boxers are priced out of getting their licenses because with the new mandatory policies - which now puts California in line with states like Nevada - the price of obtaining a license has gone from around $300-$400 to around $700-$800.
There are two ways to look at this argument. First, shouldn't every fighter come in with a clean bill of health? And even if it's a fighter making his pro debut, they still have taken jarring shots to the head during their days as an amateur and in sparring sessions in the gym.
But others will point out that the state of California has been a relatively safe state for the most part when it comes to ring fatalities. Last September, Jackson Bussell would lose his life after a six-round draw against Javier Garcia, and there were recent close calls involving Victor Burgos and Ruben Contreras in recent years.
But it had been awhile since California had had to deal with a ring death. There were two-high profile casualties in the early 80's. Johnny Owen would lose his life after twelve hard rounds against Lupe Pintor in September of 1980. And then Kiko Bejines would pass away after his bout versus Albert Davila in September of 1983. Then in 1988, David Gonzalez would die as a result of his eighth-round knockout at the hands of Rico Velasquez.
Boxing in 2008: So far, so good
Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
We’ve essentially hit the end of the first quarter of 2008 and it has already been a memorable year. The momentum that was built in 2007 has, thankfully, carried through to 2008.
I’m headed out for a week’s vacation, so I thought this would be a good time to hand out some hardware for performances in the first four months of the year. I’ll repeat this exercise at the end of the second quarter and then present my annual awards in December.
Fighter of the quarter: 1, Miguel Cotto. Even though his opposition wasn’t great, it was clear Cotto has continued to work on his game in the gym and has become a more complete fighter. 2, Israel Vazquez. 3, Manny Pacquiao. 4, Antonio Margarito. 5, Nate Campbell.
Fight of the quarter: 1, Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez III. The bout was as intense as any ever held and featured incredible drama as well as phenomenal skill. 2, Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez. 3, Nate Campbell-Juan Diaz.
Prospect of the quarter: 1, Yuriorkis Gamboa. 2, Olander Solis. 3, Amir Khan. 4, Alfredo Angulo.
Disappointment of the quarter: 1, Sultan Ibragimov, in a unanimous decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko. 2, Enzo Maccarinelli, in a second-round TKO loss to David Haye. 3, Oleg Maskaev, in a sixth-round TKO loss to Samuel Peter. 4, John Duddy, in a win over Walid Smichet.
Unanswered questions of the quarter: 1, Will Winky Wright ever fight a significant bout again? 2, Has Emanuel Steward lost his touch, now that so many of his fighters are losing badly? 3, Is the heavyweight division really this bad?
Shocker of the quarter: 1, Andy Lee, the fast-rising prospect whom some believed would be ready to fight Kelly Pavlik for the middleweight title by the end of the year, was stopped by unheralded Brian Vera. 2, Bernard Hopkins, after all his boasts about his work with conditioning coach Mackie Shilstone, faded badly down the stretch in his loss to Joe Calzaghe. 3, Kermit Cintron looked as clueless against Antonio Margarito in their rematch on April 12 as he did in their first bout in 2005.
Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
We’ve essentially hit the end of the first quarter of 2008 and it has already been a memorable year. The momentum that was built in 2007 has, thankfully, carried through to 2008.
I’m headed out for a week’s vacation, so I thought this would be a good time to hand out some hardware for performances in the first four months of the year. I’ll repeat this exercise at the end of the second quarter and then present my annual awards in December.
Fighter of the quarter: 1, Miguel Cotto. Even though his opposition wasn’t great, it was clear Cotto has continued to work on his game in the gym and has become a more complete fighter. 2, Israel Vazquez. 3, Manny Pacquiao. 4, Antonio Margarito. 5, Nate Campbell.
Fight of the quarter: 1, Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez III. The bout was as intense as any ever held and featured incredible drama as well as phenomenal skill. 2, Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez. 3, Nate Campbell-Juan Diaz.
Prospect of the quarter: 1, Yuriorkis Gamboa. 2, Olander Solis. 3, Amir Khan. 4, Alfredo Angulo.
Disappointment of the quarter: 1, Sultan Ibragimov, in a unanimous decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko. 2, Enzo Maccarinelli, in a second-round TKO loss to David Haye. 3, Oleg Maskaev, in a sixth-round TKO loss to Samuel Peter. 4, John Duddy, in a win over Walid Smichet.
Unanswered questions of the quarter: 1, Will Winky Wright ever fight a significant bout again? 2, Has Emanuel Steward lost his touch, now that so many of his fighters are losing badly? 3, Is the heavyweight division really this bad?
Shocker of the quarter: 1, Andy Lee, the fast-rising prospect whom some believed would be ready to fight Kelly Pavlik for the middleweight title by the end of the year, was stopped by unheralded Brian Vera. 2, Bernard Hopkins, after all his boasts about his work with conditioning coach Mackie Shilstone, faded badly down the stretch in his loss to Joe Calzaghe. 3, Kermit Cintron looked as clueless against Antonio Margarito in their rematch on April 12 as he did in their first bout in 2005.