TalkingBoxing Articles
A Couple of Comments
THU March 23, BILL CALOGERO - Comment-one: The Heavyweight Picture
Everyone thought that after Saturday night’s Hasim Rahman vs. James Toney Heavyweight Title fight, the Heavyweight division “picture” would become clearer. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Hasim Rahman has retained the WBC Heavyweight Title, which he was awarded when Vitali Klitschko retired, by his majority decision draw over James Toney. What this outcome has done to the overall picture of the Heavyweight division is, well nothing.
What we needed to happen was one of these two top-rated Heavyweights step up and give the Boxing World a Champion caliber performance, stake a solid claim to a piece of the Heavyweight picture and ultimately setup a Unification of the Heavyweight Title, which would return respect to the title of “World Heavyweight Champion”. What we got was an overall sub-par performance, which has cleared up nothing.
In the beginning of the fight, it was actually entertaining. Rahman used his superior jab and did land some power shots, while Toney showcased his defensive and counter-punching skills. What the fight developed into was a sad reminder of how boring the Heavyweight division is today. It resembled what I call the “Dinosaur Era Of Boxing”, which took place during the early 1980’s. This was a time when we had slow-moving Champions like Tubbs, Witherspoon and Thomas roaming through the Heavyweight Division. It wasn’t until Mike Tyson came along and cleaned things up (he could have been the sports savior until his mind was invaded) and unified the Title. Love him or hate him, when he was the Heavyweight Champion Of The World, it meant something.
Now where do we go? They are already crying for the Rahman-Toney rematch. They of course are the Rahman and Toney camps. That’s the WBC’s piece of the picture. Over in the IBF, we have Chris Byrd defending his Title against Wladimir Klitschko on April 1st. On paper, this is a meaningful fight. The IBF, WBA and WBO all have Klitschko rated either number one or number two (for the record, the WBC doesn’t even have him in the top-ten…..??????). We have giant Nicolay Valuev as the WBA’s Champion. He won a questionable decision over the boring, action-less, John Ruiz, who just won’t go away, for one-fourth of the picture. Sadly enough, they are talking about this rematch as well.
For the final piece of the puzzle, we have the WBO’s Champion, Lamon Brewster. In my opinion, he is the best Heavyweight “Champion” of the mix. He is scheduled to fight Sergei Lyakhovich on April 1.
What does all this mean? Who knows! All I do know is that we HAVE to get these “Champions” to fight each other once and for all. We need to stop this madness and restore credibility to the Heavyweight Division. We need to once again have an Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. Once that happens, it will help bring credibility back to the sport of Boxing.
Comment-two: What’s Up With The NYSAC?
On Wednesday, March 15, Frank Houghtaling and six members of his family were arrested in Albany, NY with a 37-count insurance scam indictment. They had been under investigation for over two years and it all came to a head, resulting in the arrests. Apparently, they were setting up auto accidents, primarily with the elderly and people under the influence. These criminals are not good for society, let alone boxing.
Houghtaling was scheduled to fight former Champion Hercules Kyvelos Friday night at the Washington Ave. Armory in Albany, NY. He made bail and was available to fight. He announced that he would fight. The truth is, it was up to the New York State Athletic Commission to rule whether he would be permitted or not. He was. This is where my problem is.
The New York State Athletic Commission has really tried to improve its image over the past few years. With the hiring of Ron Scott Stevens as Commissioner, things have been looking good. Boxing is alive and well in New York. Although they are criticized on their strict Medical policies concerning boxers, I feel they have done a great job. I happen to agree with their policies and support them. I also feel that ALL commissions should follow them concerning medicals. I thought they were FINALLY heading in the right direction. That was until they announced their decision to let Houghtaling fight.
In July of 2002, I promoted a show in Glens Falls, NY. It was a two-month long process of promoting the show. It had been the first time professional boxing had returned to the city of Glens Falls since Mike Tyson fought there in 1986. It was a great location at a large venue in a very blue-collar town. It was a perfect place to get boxing going again and we anticipated doing shows there every few months.
The card was filled with young up and coming fighters. The scheduled main event was a Light-Heavy Weight bout between Berry Butler and Derrick Whitley. They were both journeyman fighters that put on a good show. It fit perfect with the rest of the card. In New York, the weigh-in is the night before. Present at the weigh-in was all the local media representatives including Newspaper, TV and Radio. AT THE WEIGH-IN, they (the NYSAC) called me over and told me that they would not let Butler fight because they felt that he was “bad for the reputation of boxing”.
On May 9, 2002, these same two fighters fought in the State of Maryland. Whitley hurt Butler badly in the first round. The referee stopped the fight, giving Derrick Whitley a first round TKO win. He was NOT knocked out so the Maryland State Boxing Commission issued the mandatory thirty-day suspension for Butler. On June 1, 2002, Berry Butler traveled to Germany and knocked out Alexander Awdijan in the third round. It was eight days prior to the lifting of Maryland’s suspension. The fight in Glens Falls was to take place on July 12, 2002.
Even though it was Germany’s decision not to enforce Maryland’s suspension and Maryland had no comment on the situation, which now was over sixty days since his TKO loss to Whitley and over thirty days since Maryland did lift his suspension, the NYSAC felt he was bad for boxing and would not let him fight on the card. They made this decision at the weigh-in! The headlines in the paper and on local TV stations read and said “Main Event Cancelled”. The show went on, but as you could image, had an extremely low turnout. Nonetheless, this is boxing and these things happen.
I have since chosen to promote shows in other States, but have kept an eye on New York. I am a New Yorker through and through and wanted to someday do shows in my home State again. With all the good that I feel has come to pass with Professional Boxing in the State of New York over the past few years, I felt that time would come soon. However, after seeing that they let Houghtaling fight, I wonder what’s up.
In his case, how much worse can it be to be labeled “Bad For Boxing”? They acted way beyond their jurisdiction in the Glens Falls case, but failed to do the right thing in Houghtaling’s case. Why and how were they able to penalize Butler for something that was not even their decision (it was Germany’s) and then allow Houghtaling to fight two days after he was released from jail with a much-publicized case? Since the arrest followed a two-year investigation one would have to assume the prosecutors have plenty of evidence to prove their case. I would love to know why and how the NYSAC could let this go.
The outcome of the fight served as the beginning in what I believe is justice. Not only did Hercules Kyvelos win the fight (he won a split decision) he did it in front of Houghtaling’s hometown. Incidentally, his hometown apparently is not too happy with him either. They booed him throughout the fight. Justice part one has been served, but what’s up with the New York State Athletic Commission? In my opinion, they have lost valuable ground. They are the ones who knock the way other commissions are run. They should remember, those who live in large glass skyscrapers, shouldn’t throw stones. I guess that’s why they employ a full-time attorney at the Taxpayers expense. To make sure they make sound decisions, right?
Bill Calogero
TheDailySports.com
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