That's indeed a rather scary notion.

What are even more perilous than these events; what offers very little in the way of standards at all, are "barroom brawls" - also referred to as "bar patron fights" - that are usually held as an "all comers" promotion at a nightclub.

How do I know they're more dangerous?

Because for a while, I was a part of it.

Way back - in the early '90s, as I was between full-time gigs in boxing, I got involved in one of these weekly promotions at a club in Miami, mostly as a ring announcer, also writing some press releases and helping out with some of the matchmaking - though there were so few matches there was not that much to do.

We had a doctor at ringside, and an ambulance right outside the backdoor. So what, right?

During this particular period of time I ran into Don Hazelton, who was then the executive director of the Florida commission, at a commission weigh-in. Don pulled me aside and said, in the friendliest way possible, "That kind of thing is going to wind up getting you into trouble. You don't need those kinds of problems," or words to that effect.

Of course, I was a smartass who thought I knew everything there was to know, and I'm telling him stuff like, "Don't worry about it. You guys do what you gotta do," or something like that.

Of course, he was right about it and I was wrong about it.

No, I didn't get into trouble. We didn't last long enough at the nightclub. But it's conceivable the club could have had some major-league difficulties if I wasn't around.

There was more than one occasion when someone tried to con his way onto the nightclub card. In one instance, I'm looking over at one of the kids who's taking applications from the contestants, and he's talking to a guy I knew to be an active, licensed pro fighter in Florida. Later, when I was glancing at these applications, I noticed that this pro fighter was trying to get into our event.

I immediately went over to him and told him that if he came around again, I was going to turn him in to the athletic commission. I didn't need to do that, but I do recall mentioning to some commission people that pros were attempting to infiltrate these contests.

At the time, there was another nightclub - one in Fort Lauderdale - that did things a little differently. These guys ran a highly successful weekly "barroom brawl" that drew a couple thousand people into the venue. After a while, I started seeing a kid on the shows named Steve Wolin, who not only had about 20 pro fights, but at least 80 or 90 amateur bouts and several state amateur titles under his belt.

Wolin, naturally, never lost any fights in this competition. Most of the people he went in against were unskilled, out-of-shape, drunk, or most likely, all three. Sometimes he fought twice or three times in one night, as did other contestants. At the end of the rainbow you had trophies, bar tabs, small amounts of cash, etc. to be won.

It was clear to me that Wolin was fighting just well enough to beat the neophytes, but not necessarily enough to seriously hurt them - at least that's what he must have been figuring. That was his choice. But what if that WASN'T his choice?

What if this frustrated fighter, who had by this time turned into an opponent, thought he had to look devastating in there? What if he were trying extra hard to impress his buddies, or some girl he wanted to pick up at the bar? What if he had utilized everything he had at his disposal, culled from years of experience, against this unsuspecting foe, who may have never had gloves on before? What if he were of the disposition that he just wanted to lay a little hurt on somebody else for fun?

You see, the amount of punishment doled out, and the severity of potential injuries, was more or less completely at the discretion of this pro. That absolutely shouldn't be the case.

The point is, there was no mechanism in place to prevent anything like that from happening.

Now, what if the opponent had gotten seriously hurt, even by accident, in a barroom fight against a professional boxer? What if he had gone into the ring intoxicated, something that was entirely possible, since no one had given him a breathalyzer test?

And do you think any of these contestants were told they were going into the ring with a pro? You bet your ass they weren't.

One night I was walking out into the lobby of this club, at the end of the evening, when I saw one of the fighters just lying there, having collapsed all of a sudden. There was no doctor around, no ambulance, and basically no one to attend to this guy for at least fifteen minutes.

This fighter's injury did not occur at the hands of Wolin, but it just as easily could have.

You know, I could've gone to the athletic commission and told them Wolin was competing in these events. But I really didn't have to, since some of the commission's inspectors were attending these fights on a semi-regular basis, just to check out what was happening.

I did approach some of the people organizing the fights - they didn't seem to be all that concerned with the presence of a professional in their midst.

Which brings me to another point. For the most part the people who organize these things - and that's regardless of wherever you go in this country - are so disconnected with the world of real boxing that either there is no way they'd ever know who was actually competing in their ring, or they just couldn't give a damn about the kind of problems they could create, even if they were armed with the knowledge.

Whichever way you slice it, you're talking about a lot of potential danger.

Mixing boxing with alcohol is one thing if you're a spectator. It's quite another thing if you're a participant. And as we've mentioned, it's not at all uncommon for people to be stepping out of a crowd, entering a boxing ring, and taking blows to the head without having been given a breathalyzer test.

The same problems you may run across from time to time, or more often than not, in the "Toughman" world - no doctor or an unqualified doctor, a very limited physical exam, no ambulance, irresponsible organizers, incompetent officials, no matchmaking, loose rules, huge weight differences, and unskilled, inexperienced, out-of-shape participants - can be exacerbated in this kind of wildly uncontrolled atmosphere, including the "alcohol factor".

Needless to say, safety is not the major consideration.

And some clubs have had to pay.

Club Boca, in Boca Raton, Fla., lost a $10.5 million judgment to the family of a competitor who became a quadriplegic as a result of one of these bouts.

The man, Carlos Silva, had hit his head on a wooden stage in the first round of a fight he had at Club Boca in November of 1997; he was then allowed to continue fighting until he was knocked unconscious in the third round. he developed a blood clot in his brain that led to his condition and left him unable to speak or move. The club kept having fights for another year before they finally closed the doors. During the trial, the owners of this club used the "Art Dore Defense" - arguing that Silva had signed a waiver, thereby absolving the promoter (the club) of liability. But the jury didn't really buy it.

This wasn't the first problem for Club Boca. Two months before Silva's tragic injuries, a woman was knocked unconscious during a tag-team match, then was elbowed in the neck while she was laying against the ropes, all the time without any intervention at all by the ring "officials". She later sued and got a settlement.

But Silva wasn't settling. And sensing the possible result, the owners of the club - Simon and Barbara Mandell - filed for bankruptcy a week before the Silva trial began.

Perhaps that is the position Art Dore and the Original Toughman Contest have to be put in. Perhaps that's what will finally bring an end to all this silliness - the kind of silliness that can end - and indeed has ended - in tragedy.

Of course, I have another solution.

That's upcoming.

fightpage@totalaction.com

Copyright 2003 Total Action Inc.

You can’t really say Campas doesn’t have a chance against De La Hoya on May 3 in Las Vegas because Buster Douglas never had a chance and Hasim Rahman never had a chance. Guys who don’t have a chance, occasionally do.

Still, the secret to this fight might be the special native potion Yory Boy has been guzzling. Given to him by a tribal shaman, it’s supposed to make him into some kind of zombie superman. Unfortunately, what Yory Boy really needs against De La Hoya is a Sammy Sosa autographed Louisville Slugger bat.

Even promoter Bob Arum knows this fight needs a boost, something to help it through the night. He heard about Yory Boy‘s special potion and saw an opportunity to give the fight a jump start. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Arum came up with the whole potion story himself.

"Hello Yory Boy? This is Bob Arum…Arum…A-r-u-m….Bob…Say listen. We‘re in a little trouble here. Ticket sales are lagging, no one’s buying pay-per-view and even the sports books aren’t giving odds on your fight. We need to do something, give fans a reason to buy this fight because….Hey, wait a minute. I’ve got an idea. We need to make you a viable opponent for Oscar, right? And how do we do that? With a magical potion given to you by a medicine man or a drummer or….I know, I know. We‘ll make the guy a shaman. Yeah, that‘s it. We‘ll make him a tribal shaman, one of those crazy witch doctors. We’ll tell the press he slipped you some special potion that makes you, ah, let’s see….It makes you…I know. It gives you unbelievable strength and energy for the fight. Yeah, that will work. This will be great. Watch pay-per-view sales now. They’re gonna soar. That’s what’s great about fight fans. They’ll believe anything."

If Arum didn’t make the whole story up, he should give a bonus to whoever did.

"What worries me," Arum said in a conference call this week, "is the undisputable fact that in 1862, 300 Indians with wooden spears and machetes took on the crack army of 2000 French troops. They killed over 1,000 troops and routed the rest of them. They were given a potion - apparently the same potion that the shaman gave Yory Boy. That’s a fact. What that all means, I don’t know."

What that all means, Bob, is that this fight couldn’t stand on its own two skinny legs, so you tossed in a pair of crutches.

To add to the color, Arum claimed to have taken a sip of the special native brew on Wednesday at a public workout for Campas in San Diego.

Arum said it had a "really sweet taste."

Even Oscar had to learn a few lines for the spoof.

Asked if the potion concerned him, De La Hoya said you bet your mama’s fresh apple pie it concerns him "Because fighters are trying to do anything to beat me," De La Hoya said. "We all know about Fernando Vargas (see "steroids, Vargas") and now when I heard that Yory Boy Campas took something, of course it worried me."

Arum must love this guy.

"And it takes me out of my game plan," De La Hoya went on, "because it’s my life in the ring and I don’t want any fighter going up against me to have an advantage."

Don’t worry, Oscar. They won’t let him use the Louisville Slugger.

Was there ever any question that when Ray Mercer and Oleg Maskaev were named as the potential opponents for MTMT to fight as part of a double main event with Lennox Lewis, that it would be Maskaev? Of course not. Why fight Mercer, one of the toughest heavyweights around who's only been stopped by Wladimir Klitschko, when you can fight a guy who has been stopped five times, and three of them have been in his last six bouts. This once again proves how MTMT has always taken the path of least resistance. This is the perfect fight to follow Etienne with. Maybe Maskaev will give him two rounds. This gives MTMT a ready-made excuse, so when Lewis knocks him out in the rematch, he can cry about not being ready. How in the hell is MTMT going to be more ready for Lewis in the rematch when he fights the likes of Etienne and Maskaev? What do these type fights do for him other then provide another payday? Is there the slightest doubt that Maskaev will not make it past the third round? Wouldn't it make more sense to fight someone who's going to fight back or at least give him some good hard rounds? We know that when MTMT gets in with Lewis, Lewis is not going to be afraid one bit, and he'll even punch back, something MTMT doesn't handle well psychologically. Was there ever a doubt it would be Maskaev?

There is only one reason for this. MTMT is afraid of facing a real opponent, because he fears he may get beat, blowing the monumental payday. This is nothing new. MTMT has always followed the same game plan: fight fighters he can intimidate who have no shot to compete, let alone win, in preparation for a title fight against a formidable fighter. He did this before facing Lewis the first time and he's doing it again before facing him in their rematch. It never changes and it never will. MTMT always finds an angle to put himself into a no lose situation before facing the fighters who come to win, and not just get paid. If MTMT really thought he had a shot to defeat Lewis in the rematch, he would fight one or two fights against fighters who are more than just walking heavy-bags with eyes! He refuses to do this because if he really puts forth his best effort and loses, his psyche can't handle it. Why should MTMT change from a proven strategy? He knows after he gets stopped for the fifth time that there will be plenty of fans who still believe that he could a been an all-time great and will make excuses for him. See, if he didn't go about it this way, his fans would have to accept that they were fooled by his tough talk and brilliantly orchestrated career. Was there ever a doubt it would be Maskaev?

The MTMT-Oleg Maskaev fight will provide nothing in regard to whether MTMT is ready for Lennox Lewis or not. He will knock out Maskaev quickly because he can punch (power has never been his problem) and Maskaev has no chin at this point in his career. MTMT will get no rounds from Maskaev. He will most likely not even be hit or tested as long as the fight last. This is no way to prepare for a fighter who administered the worse beating of your career. If MTMT really thought he could beat Lewis and become the champion again, he would fight the fighters who could provide a real fight in hopes that it better prepares him for the resistance he will meet from Lewis. I can honestly say that when I heard Maskaev or Mercer would be MTMT's next opponent, I had not a morsel of doubt that it would be Maskaev. MTMT must hope that when he fights Lewis again maybe he can catch him with the big shot to which Lewis has sometimes been vulnerable, or maybe Lewis will be so sure of himself against MTMT that he doesn't train like he did for the first fight. Was there ever a doubt it would be Maskaev?

That's indeed a rather scary notion.

What are even more perilous than these events; what offers very little in the way of standards at all, are "barroom brawls" - also referred to as "bar patron fights" - that are usually held as an "all comers" promotion at a nightclub.

How do I know they're more dangerous?

Because for a while, I was a part of it.

Way back - in the early '90s, as I was between full-time gigs in boxing, I got involved in one of these weekly promotions at a club in Miami, mostly as a ring announcer, also writing some press releases and helping out with some of the matchmaking - though there were so few matches there was not that much to do.

We had a doctor at ringside, and an ambulance right outside the backdoor. So what, right?

During this particular period of time I ran into Don Hazelton, who was then the executive director of the Florida commission, at a commission weigh-in. Don pulled me aside and said, in the friendliest way possible, "That kind of thing is going to wind up getting you into trouble. You don't need those kinds of problems," or words to that effect.

Of course, I was a smartass who thought I knew everything there was to know, and I'm telling him stuff like, "Don't worry about it. You guys do what you gotta do," or something like that.

Of course, he was right about it and I was wrong about it.

No, I didn't get into trouble. We didn't last long enough at the nightclub. But it's conceivable the club could have had some major-league difficulties if I wasn't around.

There was more than one occasion when someone tried to con his way onto the nightclub card. In one instance, I'm looking over at one of the kids who's taking applications from the contestants, and he's talking to a guy I knew to be an active, licensed pro fighter in Florida. Later, when I was glancing at these applications, I noticed that this pro fighter was trying to get into our event.

I immediately went over to him and told him that if he came around again, I was going to turn him in to the athletic commission. I didn't need to do that, but I do recall mentioning to some commission people that pros were attempting to infiltrate these contests.

At the time, there was another nightclub - one in Fort Lauderdale - that did things a little differently. These guys ran a highly successful weekly "barroom brawl" that drew a couple thousand people into the venue. After a while, I started seeing a kid on the shows named Steve Wolin, who not only had about 20 pro fights, but at least 80 or 90 amateur bouts and several state amateur titles under his belt.

Wolin, naturally, never lost any fights in this competition. Most of the people he went in against were unskilled, out-of-shape, drunk, or most likely, all three. Sometimes he fought twice or three times in one night, as did other contestants. At the end of the rainbow you had trophies, bar tabs, small amounts of cash, etc. to be won.

It was clear to me that Wolin was fighting just well enough to beat the neophytes, but not necessarily enough to seriously hurt them - at least that's what he must have been figuring. That was his choice. But what if that WASN'T his choice?

What if this frustrated fighter, who had by this time turned into an opponent, thought he had to look devastating in there? What if he were trying extra hard to impress his buddies, or some girl he wanted to pick up at the bar? What if he had utilized everything he had at his disposal, culled from years of experience, against this unsuspecting foe, who may have never had gloves on before? What if he were of the disposition that he just wanted to lay a little hurt on somebody else for fun?

You see, the amount of punishment doled out, and the severity of potential injuries, was more or less completely at the discretion of this pro. That absolutely shouldn't be the case.

The point is, there was no mechanism in place to prevent anything like that from happening.

Now, what if the opponent had gotten seriously hurt, even by accident, in a barroom fight against a professional boxer? What if he had gone into the ring intoxicated, something that was entirely possible, since no one had given him a breathalyzer test?

And do you think any of these contestants were told they were going into the ring with a pro? You bet your ass they weren't.

One night I was walking out into the lobby of this club, at the end of the evening, when I saw one of the fighters just lying there, having collapsed all of a sudden. There was no doctor around, no ambulance, and basically no one to attend to this guy for at least fifteen minutes.

This fighter's injury did not occur at the hands of Wolin, but it just as easily could have.

You know, I could've gone to the athletic commission and told them Wolin was competing in these events. But I really didn't have to, since some of the commission's inspectors were attending these fights on a semi-regular basis, just to check out what was happening.

I did approach some of the people organizing the fights - they didn't seem to be all that concerned with the presence of a professional in their midst.

Which brings me to another point. For the most part the people who organize these things - and that's regardless of wherever you go in this country - are so disconnected with the world of real boxing that either there is no way they'd ever know who was actually competing in their ring, or they just couldn't give a damn about the kind of problems they could create, even if they were armed with the knowledge.

Whichever way you slice it, you're talking about a lot of potential danger.

Mixing boxing with alcohol is one thing if you're a spectator. It's quite another thing if you're a participant. And as we've mentioned, it's not at all uncommon for people to be stepping out of a crowd, entering a boxing ring, and taking blows to the head without having been given a breathalyzer test.

The same problems you may run across from time to time, or more often than not, in the "Toughman" world - no doctor or an unqualified doctor, a very limited physical exam, no ambulance, irresponsible organizers, incompetent officials, no matchmaking, loose rules, huge weight differences, and unskilled, inexperienced, out-of-shape participants - can be exacerbated in this kind of wildly uncontrolled atmosphere, including the "alcohol factor".

Needless to say, safety is not the major consideration.

And some clubs have had to pay.

Club Boca, in Boca Raton, Fla., lost a $10.5 million judgment to the family of a competitor who became a quadriplegic as a result of one of these bouts.

The man, Carlos Silva, had hit his head on a wooden stage in the first round of a fight he had at Club Boca in November of 1997; he was then allowed to continue fighting until he was knocked unconscious in the third round. he developed a blood clot in his brain that led to his condition and left him unable to speak or move. The club kept having fights for another year before they finally closed the doors. During the trial, the owners of this club used the "Art Dore Defense" - arguing that Silva had signed a waiver, thereby absolving the promoter (the club) of liability. But the jury didn't really buy it.

This wasn't the first problem for Club Boca. Two months before Silva's tragic injuries, a woman was knocked unconscious during a tag-team match, then was elbowed in the neck while she was laying against the ropes, all the time without any intervention at all by the ring "officials". She later sued and got a settlement.

But Silva wasn't settling. And sensing the possible result, the owners of the club - Simon and Barbara Mandell - filed for bankruptcy a week before the Silva trial began.

Perhaps that is the position Art Dore and the Original Toughman Contest have to be put in. Perhaps that's what will finally bring an end to all this silliness - the kind of silliness that can end - and indeed has ended - in tragedy.

Of course, I have another solution.

That's upcoming.

fightpage@totalaction.com

Copyright 2003 Total Action Inc.

Acting with the swiftness matched only by Mr. Dooley of the New York State Athletic Commission, the W.B.A. immediately stripped Ali of his crown when he refused induction into the Armed Forces. Eight ranking contenders were chosen to box off for the ultimate prize, the heavyweight championship of the world. The fortunate eight were: former champion Floyd Patterson, Ex W.B.A. titleholder Ernie Terrell, the Argentine strongman Oscar Bonevena, the fast rising Californian Thad Spencer, Angelo Dundee's hopeful Jimmy Ellis, the "White Hope" sensation Jerry Quarry, 1964 Gold Medalist Joe Frazier, and Europe's entry Karl Mildenberger of Germany. Frazier, the #1 contender by virtue of his fine record since turning pro declined the W.B.A.'s invitation. The W.B.A. then inserted Leotis Martin to take his place.

The elimination tourney was scoffed at then and even today it is still scrutinized. What if the Vietnam War would not have wanted or needed Ali? What if Ali who had already "cleaned up" the division had remained active? Remember Ali defeated Paterson, Terrell and Mildenberger before he was forced to abdicate. He then won two out of three against Frazier and two over Quarry. He beat Patterson again and also whipped Bonevena and Ellis after a three year hiatus. Let's say Ali remained active through 1970. He might have met Frazier as early as 1969. Joe would have been facing a lean, active and sharp Ali not the slow and rusty version he met in their 1971 epic. Also remember Joe would have had two years less experience then what he carried in 1971 . In 1969, Frazier was not yet the polished fighting machine he was to become. In my opinion the Frazier of March 8, 1971, would have given any heavyweight in history a life and death struggle including a prime Ali.

Muhammad would not have too much trouble beating the rest of the contenders. From 1964 to 1967, Ali made seven successful defenses. If he stayed on that pace from 1967 to 1970 he would accumulate seven more. So Ali successfully defends against Quarry and Bonevena maybe Spencer too. Now there is an interesting parallel as Sonny Liston has reemerged as a contender with a victory over Henry Clark. While planning for a possible Ali-Liston III, Muhammad eliminates Frazier and then defeats the light heavyweight king Bob Foster. Meanwhile Leotis Martin upsets Liston and Ali has to fight the other boxer to knock out Sonny. Ali then beats unbeaten, bit over rated Mac Foster to rack up his fourteenth defense. Outside of a possible jaunt to England to take on a young Joe Bugner or set up Ali-Henry Cooper III, there's not many new worlds for Ali to conquer. Maybe an easy payday in Spain against Jose Urtain. Bored, Ali eventually retires without ever a reason to come back since he whipped everybody. We the fans would never get to see "The Fight" of 1971 or his 1973 "Jaw Breaker" loss to Kenny Norton. We would miss the "Rumble In The Jungle" of 1974 and the "Thrilla In Manilla" of 1975. Ali-Wepner would have never happened, so Sly Stallone would have never been inspired to write "Rocky."

As unfair as it was to Ali to have three and a half years stolen from his career, it might have saved the heavyweight division. The elimination tournament, although not always exciting was at least competitive and complete with a few surprises. With Thad Spencer upsetting Ernie Terrell to start things off no one could clearly project a tourney winner. The absence of Frazier saw to that. Meanwhile Frazier was living himself up for a nice payday because no matter who the W.B.A.called champion, they would not be accepted until they beat Frazier and Ali if he returned.

Jimmy Elis and Leotis Martin the two underdogs of the tourney met with Ellis winning in nine rounds. Quarry scored a mild upset in shading ex-champion Patterson and Bonevena was too powerful as he overwhelmed a game Mildenberber. Coming off his impressive showing against Terrell, Spencer was favored to beat the erratic Quarry. Bonevena was thought to be too strong for Ellis who began his career as middleweight. Well Quarry battered Spencer stopping him in the twelfth round. Then Ellis in one of his career best performances dropped the usually durable Bonevena twice en route to a convincing points win. The championship match between Quarry and Ellis turned out to be the dullest bout of the tourney. After fifteen slow paced rounds Ellis was declared champion.

One month before Ellis defeated Quarry, Joe Frazier kayoed his amateur nemesis Buster Mathis in eleven rounds. The victory gained Frazier recognition as champion in New York State and in a few other states. Now the ballyhoo began. Who was the real champ Ellis or Frazier? Would Ali be allowed to box again? Frazier solidified his claim as Ali's successor with victories over Manuel Ramos(Ko-2), Bonevena (W-15), Dave Zyglewcz (Ko-1) and Quarry (KO-7). Ellis was virtually inactive, though not totally his fault. Proposed matches with Henry Cooper and Greg Peralta fell through for various reasons. When Ellis finally did defend his crown he was awarded a very controversial decision over Floyd Patterson. By the time Frazier and Ellis met in February of 1970, Joe was an overwhelming favorite. Few experts picked Ellis even though Angelo Dundee claimed Frazier was made for Ellis. It seemed like Dundee was a prophet during the first two rounds as Ellis outboxed Frazier. All was well until midway through the third round. That is when Joe landed his vaunted left hook that sent Ellis staggering half way across the ring and into the ropes. Ellis lasted the round but he never recovered. Late in the fourth round Frazier pinned Ellis in a corner and after a flurry of hooks Ellis fell flat on his face. He made it up in time and tried to keep Joe off him until the bell. Frazier would not be denied and just before the bell, he connected with a full swing left hook flush on the jaw. Ellis fell flat on his back. How he heat the count is a mystery. Somehow through the game, Ellis struggled to his corner as the bell had already ended the round. Dundee had seen enough and showed compassion by not allowing Jimmy out for round five.

Before the Frazier-Ellis bout, Ali had announced his retirement and had stated that he would give his belt to the winner. Eight months later with his boxing license reinstated Ali met Jerry Quarry in Atlanta winning in three rounds. Meanwhile Frazier had broken his ankle and did not return to action till late 1970 with a crushing knockout of Bob Foster. In December, Ali stopped Bonevena and finally Joe and Ali signed to fight on March 8, 1971, for then, the unheard sum of five million dollars to be split evenly. The rest as they say is history.

Here's why Foreman is right! Bernard Hopkins is some fighter. He's the undisputed middleweight champion (the first since Marvin Hagler in 1987) who just made a record setting 16th successful defense of his title, and man can he fight! Look what this guy brings to the ring. He's an exceptional boxer (fundamentally) and he can change his style to negate his opponents. Against Trinidad he showed he could be pursued, but yet still control the fight, in spite of being the aggressor in most of his major fights. Hopkins has shown a tight defense, is more then an adequate puncher with both hands and has a concrete chin. However, one of his biggest assets is his undeniable will to win; he simply refuses to let his opponent beat him. The champ has always sought the toughest fights and has never avoided any challenger. He keeps himself in tremendous physical shape and hasn't lost a fight in ten years.

Since his signature fight with Felix Trinidad 18 months ago, he's defended his title twice, stopping nondescript mandatory challengers Carl Daniels and Morrade Hakkar. Hopkins' goal of making a record setting 20 successful defenses of the middleweight championship seems certain to be realized. However, what isn't certain is whether we will ever see Hopkins really challenged again. The problem for Hopkins is the lack of quality challengers in his true weight division. He is in the same situation as Roy Jones in the light heavyweight division. They are both great fighters fighting in divisions with storied histories of past greats. Unfortunately for them, the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions are enduring what may be possibly their worst era ever, regarding the depth of outstanding fighters. Like Jones, Hopkins must go outside his division to attract a mega fight.

Forget about seeing Jones-Hopkins II. Jones (who is the last to defeat Hopkins) showed in his heavyweight debut vs. John Ruiz that he's just too big for Hopkins. So where does Hopkins turn? It appears that going after one of the light heavyweight title belts that Roy Jones will have to vacate is an option. By capturing a piece of the light heavyweight title, Hopkins can add his name to the short list of middleweight champions who have moved up and won the light heavyweight championship. A more lucrative option would be to try to lure one of the junior middleweight "young Turks," as he refers to them, to meet him at a catch-weight.

In reality, there's only one fighter who can provide Hopkins with the marquee match that would add to his legacy and several millions to his bank account--Oscar De La Hoya! Not Shane Mosley or Fernando Vargas, not Winky Wright, and not Vernon Forrest, only De La Hoya. Hopkins-De La Hoya is definitely a super-fight that all boxing fans would love to see. Hopkins has gone on record saying that he would be willing to meet "The Golden Boy" at a catch weight of 158, with both fighters putting their titles up. I've seen De La Hoya quoted, saying that he would agree to those terms. Before we get too carried away, lets remember we're talking about boxing and the best fights usually don't happen when they should. I can't remember the last fighter I've seen who at age 38 looks like he's as good as he's ever been like Hopkins does. Other than Roy Jones, De La Hoya is the best fighter/manager in boxing today. I have no doubt that De La Hoya also sees this, and that's why this fight has no shot of happening for at least two years, and maybe even longer. Oscar will try to stall the fight until the "Executioner" shows signs of erosion. Unlike Hopkins, there are plenty of interesting fights in the junior middleweight division for De La Hoya to stay in the spotlight while adding more dead presidents to his portfolio, and the longer he can push the fight back, the more it's to his advantage.

From the De La Hoya standpoint, this is a very wise path to follow. I'm sure that Oscar and his advisers know better than to mess with the "Executioner" right now. Hopkins is still as hungry as ever and close to being at the top of his game. And more importantly, De La Hoya has no shot of beating Hopkins, just as no other junior middleweights have any chance of upsetting the middleweight champ. Hopkins is simply too strong, too tough and too complete for any fighter 160 pounds or below. How does fighter A beat fighter B, when fighter B can do everything better than fighter A? This is the exact situation De La Hoya would face in a proposed fight with Hopkins, if it were to happen within the next year. How would De La Hoya win? He can't out box Hopkins, nor can he out punch him, and I have no doubt Hopkins is more determined and tougher then De La Hoya. This doesn't just pertain to Oscar, the same holds true for all the top junior middleweights. They are all in the same boat in that they have nothing in their arsenal that Hopkins doesn't have an answer for, nothing! Since Trinidad never had Bernard in any trouble, I can't envision a scenario where De La Hoya, Mosley, Wright or Forrest could hurt him enough to break him down, which means they'd have to out box him (good luck). Again, how do you out box a fighter who is longer, stronger, equally as fast and more experienced then you? If they pressure him like Trinidad did (which is Tito's style), they are just setting themselves up to be hit harder by Hopkins' counter-right, left-hook combinations, which slowed Trinidad before stopping him. How about if they move and try to box, making Hopkins come forward after them? For this to be effective, they have to out jab him, which is not likely since his reach is just as long or longer than theirs and his jab is just as fast. Another problem in this strategy is you must take the lead against one of the best counter punchers fighting today, which would suit Hopkins fine. I just don't see any way that any of the top junior middleweights in the world have a chance vs. the middleweight champion. Not when they can't out-speed, out box, out-punch or out-tough him. And lastly we mustn't forget, like Hagler, Hopkins is a champion who fights as if he's the challenger.

Foreman is right on the money on this one, and Merchant is dead wrong. The way this writer sees it, the junior middleweights have three choices. They can watch their caloric intake, they can stall the fight as long as possible in hopes that father time catches up with Hopkins, or they can fight him now and get schooled before being taken apart! Does anyone really believe we'll see any of the top junior middleweights in the ring with the middleweight champ anytime soon? I doubt it!

Walcott's career began in 1890 and lasted through 1911. He engaged in 135 recorded pro contests, but Joe insisted there were many more. He failed in his first two attempts to win title recognition losing to lightweight champion Kid Lavigne in 1897, and welterweight champion Mysterious Billy Smith in 1898. After beating Ferns in 1901, he held the crown until losing to Dixie Kid in 1904. He reclaimed the title when Dixie Kid moved up in weight, but lost all recognition when he was defeated by Honey Mellody in 1906.

From his retirement in 1911 until 1935, Walcott worked many different jobs. His boxing fortune had long since depleted. Destitute he eventually surfaced in New York City. It was there that Mayor Jimmy Walker learned of Joe's Plight. Walker was able to get Joe a job at Madison Square Garden. There Joe stayed for a month or so and then he vanished without a trace. "Barbados" Joe Walcott was a 5'1" freak of nature with a barrel chest and a reach equal to a much taller man. It was these physical attributes that enabled him to battle even heavyweights with success. Now he had disappeared without a clue to his whereabouts. His final resting place may never been known if it had not been for the efforts of Bill Cereghin, a devoted boxing fan from Defiance, Ohio.

Cereghin went on a mission to find the once great champion. In 1955, Bill's efforts led him to Massillon, Ohio some twenty years after Joe had last been seen. Massillon is a town famous for the exploits of their high school football team once coached by Paul Brown. In Massillon, Bill got the break he was hoping for. Someone remembered a person fitting Walcott's description working in a small town near Massillon called Dalton. When Bill arrived in Dalton, there was no sign or clue of Walcott. He searched the town cemetery with no luck. Finally a gravedigger led Bill to a Potter's Field on a small hill and said he remembered burring a person of Walcott's description who claimed he was once a great fighter. Bill then met with the undertaker who verified the gravediggers claim. Joe had been walking on night and was hit by a car dying at the scene. Now satisfied that his search was over, Bill decided to try and dignify the unmarked grave. Bill found a slab of cement and with a black crayon wrote "Joe Walcott; died October 4, 1935," the date the undertaker had put on Walcott's John Doe death certificate.

This story was brought to my attention by Sal Marino, a boxing expert, from Niles, Ohio. Upon reading of Cereghin's search and discovery of Walcott's grave, Sal decided to pay Dalton a visit. Since Dalton is within a reasonable distance from Niles, Sal and his wife made the trip. At the cemetery they too found Walcott's place of rest. No longer was the grave marked with the crayon inscribed cement slab. It now has a small but simple headstone. Did Bill Cereghin who was making an effort to collect enough money to buy a stone succeed? I am not sure. The story about Bill's search came out over thirty years ago. I have had no luck in my effort to contact Bill. It is fans like Bill and Sal who take the time and effort to keep the memories of our boxing heroes alive. Mr. Boxing himself, Nat Fleischer rated Walcott the best welterweight of this century's first fifty years. How could a boxer that was bestowed such an honor by left unremembered in an unmarked grave? The boxing company owes Mr. Cereghin a debt of gratitude.

Again a special thank you to Mr. Sal Marion, the founder of LEGENDS OF LEATHER, Ohio's greatest boxing social club, for the information and pictures he sent to me.

Undefeated with 31 wins, he’s got more knockouts than the Miss Universe Pageant and most of the time he finishes his work early. Of his 27 knockouts, 22 have come before the start of the sixth round.

A native of Kazakhstan and now fighting out of Scottsdale, AZ, he’s a southpaw who goes by the nickname, "The Tiger." He won the IBF title in June, 1999 when he stopped Arthur Williams in the seventh round of their fight in Biloxi, Miss.

He’s held the title since and shows no signs of wanting to give it up.

He’s quietly predicted that he’ll stop Toney when the two meet for Jirov’s title on April 26 in Mashantucket, Conn.

The fight, which will be televised on HBO, will be part of a package that includes a fight for the vacant IBF light-heavyweight title between Montell Griffin of Las Vegas and Antonio Tarver of Chicago.

James "Lights Out" Toney (64-4-2, 42 KOs) is five years older than Jirov and almost three inches shorter. A former middleweight and super-middleweight champ of the world, he hasn’t seen 170 pounds in over a decade.

His weight on a given day could be anywhere from 198 to 225 pounds, depending on what he had for dinner, and between fights, he’s been known to balloon up to the size of the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man.

In his younger days, Toney liked to skip working out and drive past the gym on his way to an all-night party. He had the attitude of a guy who thought he was so good, he didn’t have to work as hard as everyone else.

But he grew out of it.

Now 34, he says he’s got about five more fights left in him, though that number could fall off if he loses to Jirov.

But he won’t.

The thing you’ve got to remember about James Toney is that once you get through all the fast talk and bold predictions that are part of his entertainment package, Toney is a pure fighter. Ignore his age, forget his weight and don’t pay any attention to his constant babble. He’s still one of the toughest guys out there, still one of the supremely gifted fighters who somehow always manages to back up all his bravado.

When Toney puts away the chit-chat and turns to serious things, he can still be a world champion, and that’s why he’s still hanging around the gym, still looking for another chance to prove he’s one of the best fighters in the world.

He’ll tell you at 34, he’s a better fighter than he was at 24. He’s learned a thing or two about mental toughness, about doing things right. And that‘s what separates him from the fighter he was.

Toney also predicts a knockout, but in his case, that’s just standard procedure.

"James’ mental knowledge of the game is right up there with his physical abilities," said Dan Goossen, who promotes Toney and sees him virtually every day. "He’s so mentally strong now, it puts him at a whole different level. He’s focused now both inside the ring and outside it."

Which means Toney no longer drives past the gym on his way to a party.

Goossen said he knew his fighter had the mental toughness he needed when he learned last Christmas eve that the fight with Jirov that was originally scheduled for Jan. 25 had been cancelled because Jirov injured his ribs while training.

"My biggest concern was how James was going to handle the disappointment," Goossen said. "But I was ecstatic with the way he took it. That’s when I knew he had that mental toughness."

How are your ribs feeling Vassily?

McCullough, not only looked alert and well, he looked like the picture of health. I mention this because he took a pretty frightful beating in Glagsgow, Scotland a few weeks ago in his failed attempt to win the WBO featherweight title from the rough and rugged Scott Harrison.

There were published reports coming out of Ireland that McCullough had suffered everything from a heart attack to a brush with death. It was almost as if they had already dug his grave and waiting for him to fall six feet under. To paraphrase Mark Twain, 'the reports of his demise were greatly exagerated'.

" Hey, you're alive!!!," I told him with mocking suprise as our eyes met. He could only laugh and shake his head. With all the reports he had to read about his own demise, I guess you could say that he was surprised himself to be there.

" I did the press conference after the fights and I was walking out of the arena and felt a bit weak, my legs felt like rubber and they rushed me to the hospital because I was dehydrated," explained McCullough, of the post-Harrison aftermath." My ear was bent out of place like Dumbo or something but I was in the hospital for three days with a drip in my arm, where they put vitamins and potassium in my body. I was completely dehydrated.

" But of course the press in Ireland said I had brain surgery and then two days later said I had a heart attack because they couldn't get any information from the hospital, they started making stories up. And they're still doing it even today in the newspapers in Ireland."

And more than a few people were surprised to see 'the Pocket Rocket' moving about a few days after his grueling bout.

" I got out of the hospital on that Tuesday, it was three days later and I walked by the Belfast City Center on Thursday, my first day out in public and everyone was coming to me,' We thought your face was mangled?!?!' I'm like,' Well, it's clear' My ears are fine, the bruises are almost all gone away on my eyes and by Friday I did a photo-shoot for one of those newspapers and they're wasn't a mark on me."

Not bad for a dead guy, huh?

McCullough has had a very storied and successful career, in addition to being a bantamweight titlist, he gave bigger men like Naseem Hamed and Erik Morales all they could handle. McCullough wasn't blessed with a big punch but the courage and heart the size of Ireland. And he possesses one of the best beards in boxing today. Which to many observers could be dangerous since he might leave him vulnerable to permanent damage in the future. Many speculated that after his loss to Harrison, that he retire. He ain't having it.

" World champions get beat, they get knocked out- I didn't get knocked out," he reasoned." I was fighting on my feet till the last bell. And then all of a sudden my own newspaper in Ireland is saying that I should retire? And I'm like why?

" I haven't even thought about it because once you start thinking about retirement- you're already retired. I haven't thought about it, I'm gonna sit down with my wife and think things over. I'll go back to super-bantamweight, 122."

The loss to Harrison was bit of a reality check for McCullough. Harrison, he notes, is the strongest fighter he's ever faced.

" My dream fight was always against Barrera," he continued." I knew he's the best out there. Scott Harrison was a big guy, the biggest featherweight probably in history and I fought Hamed and Morales and they couldn't do the damage he did to me. Barrera's a smaller guy than me, he's a bit smaller. He's a dream fight, it's not about the money, I've made money. I've been one of the best bantamweights in history. But either him or I go back to 122 and fight whoevers down there, Oscar Larios or Guzman for the WBO belt. He's with Frank Warren my promoter, so maybe he can make that fight."

McCullough says that the criticism his corner got for not halting his bout with Harrison was not justified and he had no problems with going the distance. But you wonder what effect those last rounds will have on his long-term health.

A guy like him deserves to go out on his terms, but you do wonder if he's too tough for his own good. He's still a respected fighter with a name, so you know he won't have difficulty getting fights and perhaps he does make another run at a title shot at 122 pounds.

It's his career and life, it should be his perogative what he wants to do with it.

You just hope he makes the right choices. But it's good to have him around alive and well, though.

KELLEY SHOULD CALL IT KUITS

He tried to talk himself and anybody else that would listen that he was going to upset Marco Antonio Barrera. He had convinced himself and at least a few others to at least think he might be competitive.

Well, he wasn't. And Kevin Kelley got dispatched in four efficiently brutal rounds by Barrera . From the very first time he got hit, Kelley's legs gave and his reflexes simply weren't there. Openings that were once so evident, closed up quickly.

Like a gunslinger with no more bullets in the chamber, he could no longer pull the trigger.

And what makes this loss so painful is that unlike his loss to Erik Morales a few years ago, this time, he wasn't taking this fight on short notice with weight to lose. This bout with Barrera was made with plenty of time for a proper training camp and even more importantly, enough time to get into a proper frame of mind. He and his people swore up and down that they did everything they could to turn back the clock and Kelley looked the part physically. But like a car that has 300,000 miles on it's odometer, even an old car with a new paint job and rims, will show it's age and corrosion early and often.

There are no excuses now, Kelley, who's had a great career and who's fortitude and toughness should never be questioned, simply doesn't have it anymore.

It's time to get out.

According to those officials, by just competing in that event, he forfeited his amateur status. I was at the "Badman" show, so I saw the guy fight. But I really didn't know about the rule, since the competition was billed as something that was essentially "amateur" in nature.

So I put the kid into a pro show the next week. He wanted to be a fighter, so if he wanted to do so he had no real choice. He got knocked out, and that was basically the end of his career.

The point is, these "toughman" contests - or any variation thereof - exist in this nether land between professional and amateur boxing. As far as some commissions are concerned, they are not professional contests and therefore don't fall under the same laws and/or regulations as professional fights would, and the bouts obviously don't go on anyone's professional record. For anyone but the winner of most of these events, there is no financial reward. But the amateur governing body - USA Boxing - doesn't want to come anywhere near it, beyond the extent to which it bans Toughman competitors from ever competing in amateur boxing - that is, if they find out about it.

On June 13, 2002, a Michigan congressman proposed something he promoted as a solution to this dilemma. Rep. James Barcia, a Democrat, introduced H.R. 4929, which would "recognize the American Boxing and Athletic Association as the official sanctioning body for amateur elimination boxing contests." This would have established the ABAA as the entity setting and enforcing standards for these types of events across the country. And I would assume that no one would be permitted to go forward with an "amateur elimination contest" without ABAA sanction and approval.

For now, let's get away from semantics. Let's forget about the proposition that someone from this ABAA might walk into a courtroom, maybe even in the state of Michigan, and try to enjoin an event like the National Golden Gloves or the Olympic Trials because it could be argued that these too could be considered to be "amateur elimination boxing contests."

For now, I'd rather focus on just exactly what the "American Boxing and Athletic Association" really is. In a letter sent to Barcia on October 16, 2002, Tim Lueckenhoff, president of the Association of Boxing Commissions, wrote, "As they are
private entities, there may be more than one legitimate sanctioning body for such sports. To bless one with the designation of 'official' will unfairly give preferential treatment to a non-governmental organization over others in the marketplace, regardless of their proficiency or standards."

It's actually much worse than that.

In fact, it's worse than any sanctioning body one can imagine, because it's clearly set up as a promotional tool, designed to support one organization and one organization only - The Original Toughman Contest - to the exclusion of all others.

There's a good explanation for that.

You see, the "ABAA" is Art Dore. And Art Dore IS the "ABAA".

The Amateur Boxing and Athletic Association is 501-C(3) non-profit corporation that is on file in the state of Michigan. The registered agent for the company is Arthur P. Dore. Dore, and Murray Sutherland, the former super middleweight champion who is one of his employees, are listed as officers on the Form 990 of this corporation, which was previously known as the "Art Dore Boxing and Athletic Association".

The address is a post office box in Bay City, Michigan.

James Barcia, the representative who introduced this bill, is from Bay City as well.

And in case you're a little slow, what this means is that - unbelievable as it may seem - an elected public official actually engaged in a pro-active attempt to create a legal monopoly for one of his constituents - no doubt a constituent who arranged some "campaign financing" somewhere along the way.

If this bill had gotten through the House Science and Commerce Committee and eventually passed, Dore could have effectively knocked out all opposition - not to mention all of his competition - in what would have been one of the all-time great end runs around any form of independent boxing regulation.

Thank God it never got that far.

Mercifully, for the sport of boxing, Congressman Barcia became a victim of redistricting and re-apportionment. The 2000 U.S. Census eliminated one of Michigan's seats in the House of Representatives for 2002, and Barcia was the casualty. So instead of working for the benefit of Art Dore in Washington, he now must do so from the Michigan State Senate, which he was elected to last year.

But this should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who contends that the solution to ANY of boxing's ills is to get a bunch of Washington politicians involved, because we have before us a textbook example of the potential disaster that can result. Barcia's office won't clarify it, but what we're presented with is one of two possible scenarios - either it was a case of a politician who was completely clueless as to the ramifications of legislation he was actually introducing, or a politician who was perfectly aware of the potential effects, and consciously proposed that kind of bill anyway, in the name of the public interest, with hidden motives we can only speculate on.

Either way, it sucks.

Likewise, either way, because this was his "brainchild", there's very little doubt as to where Art Dore's head is at, in terms of his long-term objectives.

And that's a very dangerous place, even by the standards of professional OR amateur boxing.

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