On Sept. 29, 2001, I had the priveledge of sitting next to former NFL defensive back Johnny Sample in the auxillery press area at Madison Square Garden while at the Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad middleweight unification championship fight.
Sample, a Philadelphian who played seasons with the Colts, Steelers, Redskins and Jets, was there to support Hopkins. When Hopkins entered the ring to Ray Charles' America the Beautiful, Sample said so all around him could hear, "Sing it, Ray."
About his connection to Hopkins: "I used to watch that boy fight at the Blue Horizon gym back when he was just getting started.
When midway through the fight it became apparent that Hopkins was going to take Trinidad to school, Sample directed to Trinidad, "You're in with a man tonight."
It was entertaining. And so when Sample died in 2005, I remembered that night in the Garden quite fondly. He was both a gentleman, a Philly fan and a boxing fan.
He was also correct about Hopkins that night. That was, without a doubt, the pinnacle of Hopkins' career, as he dominated the previously unbeaten Trinidad and knocked him out in the 12th before an arena filled with Tito's Puerto Rican fans and New York feeling very patriotic in the aftermath of the horor of the 9/11 attacks two weeks earlier. It was quite a night.
Hopkins was 36 then, and if you would have told me that he'd still be making top dollar near the top of boxing when he was 43, I wouldn't have believed you. But he has, racking up wins over the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Antonio Tarver, and Winky Wright, cementing his place as a sure Hall of Famer, one of the greatest middleweights of all time, and in my opinion the greatest Philadelphia fighter in the history of the proud pugilistic city.
Even his two losses to Jermain Taylor were highly debatable, and he squashed talk that those were the beginning of the end of his career when he went up to light heavyweight and embarrassed Tarver.
Saturday night in Las Vegas, Hopkins lost a split decision to unbeaten super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe in a regular HBO fight. I had Hopkins ahead 5-1 and in complete control after six rounds, but he seemed to fade over the second half of the fight, with Calzaghe sweeping the last six to take a slim victory on the scorecards. Two of the three judges agreed.
Sure, Hopkins complained after the fight. He's arrogant enough to believe that he did enough to win, because that arrogance and confidence in his abilities has had a lot to do with his success through the years. And it was certainly a close fight. But realistically, I think it would be difficult to find more than one round over the last six that was even close to being a Hopkins round. Calzaghe was much busier, and Hopkins seemed slower and tired down the stretch.
It was the first thing close to a clear-cut loss for Hopkins since his defeat to Roy Jones back in 1993, and it should be a sign that it's time for "The Executioner" to hang up his gloves for good.
Not because he's a shot item, like so many once great fighters who go on way past their primes. Hopkins is still good enough to beat most of the guys he'll get in the ring with, almost all of whom are younger than he is, but there are going to be nights when he just doesn't have 12 good rounds in him anymore.
Nor do I think he's in danger of getting hurt in the ring. Unlike Roy Jones, who has taken more punches in the last three or four years than he did in his entire career prior, Hopkins' defense is still very difficult to penetrate. I don't think I've ever seen him even buzzed in the ring, except maybe back in his first fight with Segundo Mercado back in '94, but that was a long time ago. This isn't a Muhammad Ali situation.
I just think now is right time for Hopkins to say, "My legacy is secure, I have enough money in the bank, I have things set up for life after boxing, I have nothing left to prove."
It's been an amazing career. An amazing life for the numbers runner from North Philly who ended up in Graterford Prison in his early 20s, doing hard time and facing a life that in all likelyhood was going to turn out badly. But he cleaned up his life, thanks to a very loyal family and his boxing career, and he didn't even do that the easy way, challenging the boxing establishment every step of the way.
While it was maddening to see Hopkins walk away from fights with the likes of Jones or Calzaghe in the past because of some injustice that he felt wasn't right and we felt was just what boxing is all about these days. He didn't accept the status-quo in a sport riddled with corruption and dishonesty. He spit it back at the powerbrokers.
Which doesn't mean he was always right. His feud with former advisor Lou DiBella was ugly and brought out the worst in Hopkins. As much as stompping on the Puerto Rican flag was used to enrage Trinidad prior to their fight and draw up interest in the pay-per-view, it did nothing to help boxing's image.
I thought after he beat De La Hoya was the right time, and echoed that after his landmark win over Tarver.
But now, Hopkins' decision on whether to keep on fighting or retire for good, is as clear as the decision in Saturday night's fight.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Why the IBF is a Joke
Whenever someone tries to make a feeble attempt at defending the tradition of the sanctioning bodies and their so-called "world titles" it can be kind of amusing if you look at the facts close enough.
Take the history of the International Boxing Federation's welterweight championship. Starting in 1984 when Donald Curry won the inaugural version of the title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Marlin Starling right up through last Saturday's title-winning effort by Antonio Margarito over champion Kermit Cintron, and there's only been 12 IBF welterweight champions.
And consider that among those 12, three never made a single title defense, and it appears that when Margarito steps into the ring in July to fight for Miguel Cotto's WBA welterweight title, he will become the fourth to hold that distinction.
That's some history. Let's not forget that a few years ago the IBF chose to recognize Zab Judah as its champion in a defense against Floyd Mayweather, despite the fact that Judah, who had been considered the division's undisputed champ, lost his last fight and another organization's belt to Carlos Baldomir a few months earlier. Then when Mayweather chose to fight Baldomir after beating Judah, it stripped Mayweather and deamed an untelevised fight between Cintron and marginal contender Mark Suarez as a title fight for its vacant title.
Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs) became the IBF mandatory challenger for then-champion Cintron when he scored a 12-round decision over Shamone Alvarez in Las Vegas in December 2007. That meant that he was guaranteed a shot at the title, and the IBF would mandate when that title bout had to take place.
Despite the fact that Cintron had already made one optional - non-mandatory - defense of the title since his previous mandatory defense in July 2007, the IBF was within its power to demand that Cintron's next defense be against Clottey. But when Cintron signed to fight Margarito, formerly a title-holder in the division for the WBO, they did no such thing, except guarantee that Clottey get the next shot, regardless of the champion.
Bear in mind, however, that both Clottey and Margarito, who ironically fought each other for the WBO title in December 2006, a Margarito win, are promoted by Top Rank, Inc., ie Bob Arum.
In the meantime, Arum agreed that the Cintron-Margarito winner would next fight Cotto in July, whether the IBF was involved in that fight or not. So, essentially Arum knew that he was covered one way or another. Clottey would fight for the title.
But because Margarito is fighting Cotto, he will be forced to relinquish the IBF title, meaning that Clottey will likely get a shot at a vacant title sometime later this year.
Whether Joshua Clottey deserves a shot at Margarito or not, is another debate. It's a fact that the IBF said he was the No. 1 contender before Cintron ever fought Margarito. The organization had to know that Margarito had no intention of defending against Clottey should he have defeated Cintron.
The question then remains, why did the IBF sanction Cintron-Margarito then?
Probably because it was a high-profile fight on an HBO card highlighted by Cotto's WBA defense against Alfonso Gomez. Meaning both Cintron and Margarito made significant purses, and both would be forced to pay a percentage of their purses to the IBF for sanctioning the title fight. It paid for the IBF to sanction it.
The other option would be for the IBF to demand that Cintron defend against Clottey before fighting Margarito, or strip Cintron if he went forward with the Margarito fight. If that had happened, I don't believe Cintron-Margarito would have happened. I also don't think HBO would have paid the same for Cintron-Clottey, and there was probably a good chance that Cintron-Clottey would have ended up on Versus or a smaller card. Hence, it didn't really make sense for the IBF to do that, did it?
Which brings us to the mandated Margarito-Clottey fight that's not going to happen. Margarito is going to fight Cotto, regardless of whether it's for the WBA, IBF, or no title at all. Most fans of the division recognize those two fighters as two of the top three welterweights in the world - Floyd Mayweather still has to be considered No. 1 - HBO is going to pay top dollar and an arena somewhere is going to be treated to a packed house of rabid Puerto Rican and Mexican boxing fans.
It would be logical to assume that the IBF sanctioning that fight would make a whole lot of sense for the organization, because its name would be in the middle of a huge event and the sanctioning fees would be astronomical as compared to what they will be when Clottey fights for the vacant title.
Why couldn't a deal be made with Clottey to step aside once again to allow Cotto-Margarito to go ahead as a unification WBA/IBF fight? After all, isn't Bob Arum his promoter too?
Expect Clottey to fight for the vacant title later this year. I'm hearing September, on either HBO Boxing After Dark or Showtime. As for an opponent, the two most likely would be No. 2 contender Andre Berto, an unbeaten 2004 Olympian in whom HBO has a vested interest in, or former champion Cintron.
Don't get me wrong, Clottey against either opponent would be a significant Top 10 fight, but marketing it as a world title fight is absurd, but the IBF and the promoters will, trust me. What the IBF has done to itself is make itself nothing more than a glorified NABF regional belt. Very few will be fooled and it has marginalized the significance of holding its belt.
How exactly has this sanctioning body helped the sport or the fighters with the way this has been handled?
Take the history of the International Boxing Federation's welterweight championship. Starting in 1984 when Donald Curry won the inaugural version of the title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Marlin Starling right up through last Saturday's title-winning effort by Antonio Margarito over champion Kermit Cintron, and there's only been 12 IBF welterweight champions.
And consider that among those 12, three never made a single title defense, and it appears that when Margarito steps into the ring in July to fight for Miguel Cotto's WBA welterweight title, he will become the fourth to hold that distinction.
That's some history. Let's not forget that a few years ago the IBF chose to recognize Zab Judah as its champion in a defense against Floyd Mayweather, despite the fact that Judah, who had been considered the division's undisputed champ, lost his last fight and another organization's belt to Carlos Baldomir a few months earlier. Then when Mayweather chose to fight Baldomir after beating Judah, it stripped Mayweather and deamed an untelevised fight between Cintron and marginal contender Mark Suarez as a title fight for its vacant title.
Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs) became the IBF mandatory challenger for then-champion Cintron when he scored a 12-round decision over Shamone Alvarez in Las Vegas in December 2007. That meant that he was guaranteed a shot at the title, and the IBF would mandate when that title bout had to take place.
Despite the fact that Cintron had already made one optional - non-mandatory - defense of the title since his previous mandatory defense in July 2007, the IBF was within its power to demand that Cintron's next defense be against Clottey. But when Cintron signed to fight Margarito, formerly a title-holder in the division for the WBO, they did no such thing, except guarantee that Clottey get the next shot, regardless of the champion.
Bear in mind, however, that both Clottey and Margarito, who ironically fought each other for the WBO title in December 2006, a Margarito win, are promoted by Top Rank, Inc., ie Bob Arum.
In the meantime, Arum agreed that the Cintron-Margarito winner would next fight Cotto in July, whether the IBF was involved in that fight or not. So, essentially Arum knew that he was covered one way or another. Clottey would fight for the title.
But because Margarito is fighting Cotto, he will be forced to relinquish the IBF title, meaning that Clottey will likely get a shot at a vacant title sometime later this year.
Whether Joshua Clottey deserves a shot at Margarito or not, is another debate. It's a fact that the IBF said he was the No. 1 contender before Cintron ever fought Margarito. The organization had to know that Margarito had no intention of defending against Clottey should he have defeated Cintron.
The question then remains, why did the IBF sanction Cintron-Margarito then?
Probably because it was a high-profile fight on an HBO card highlighted by Cotto's WBA defense against Alfonso Gomez. Meaning both Cintron and Margarito made significant purses, and both would be forced to pay a percentage of their purses to the IBF for sanctioning the title fight. It paid for the IBF to sanction it.
The other option would be for the IBF to demand that Cintron defend against Clottey before fighting Margarito, or strip Cintron if he went forward with the Margarito fight. If that had happened, I don't believe Cintron-Margarito would have happened. I also don't think HBO would have paid the same for Cintron-Clottey, and there was probably a good chance that Cintron-Clottey would have ended up on Versus or a smaller card. Hence, it didn't really make sense for the IBF to do that, did it?
Which brings us to the mandated Margarito-Clottey fight that's not going to happen. Margarito is going to fight Cotto, regardless of whether it's for the WBA, IBF, or no title at all. Most fans of the division recognize those two fighters as two of the top three welterweights in the world - Floyd Mayweather still has to be considered No. 1 - HBO is going to pay top dollar and an arena somewhere is going to be treated to a packed house of rabid Puerto Rican and Mexican boxing fans.
It would be logical to assume that the IBF sanctioning that fight would make a whole lot of sense for the organization, because its name would be in the middle of a huge event and the sanctioning fees would be astronomical as compared to what they will be when Clottey fights for the vacant title.
Why couldn't a deal be made with Clottey to step aside once again to allow Cotto-Margarito to go ahead as a unification WBA/IBF fight? After all, isn't Bob Arum his promoter too?
Expect Clottey to fight for the vacant title later this year. I'm hearing September, on either HBO Boxing After Dark or Showtime. As for an opponent, the two most likely would be No. 2 contender Andre Berto, an unbeaten 2004 Olympian in whom HBO has a vested interest in, or former champion Cintron.
Don't get me wrong, Clottey against either opponent would be a significant Top 10 fight, but marketing it as a world title fight is absurd, but the IBF and the promoters will, trust me. What the IBF has done to itself is make itself nothing more than a glorified NABF regional belt. Very few will be fooled and it has marginalized the significance of holding its belt.
How exactly has this sanctioning body helped the sport or the fighters with the way this has been handled?
- Todd Thorpe
Ripping the Sanctioning Bodies
The proceeding blog will be my first such rant on this site against the major sanctioning bodies that attempt to govern the sport of boxing around the world, but I assure you, it won't be the last. Nor is the International Boxing Federation, the target of today's rant, alone. It will be joined by its friends as the weeks, months and years go on, I assure you.
I don't enjoy talking about boxing politics rather that the fights and fighters themselves, but it's a necessary evil when considering the state of the sport as it exists today. Make no mistake by their claims of being non-profit organizations that are looking out for the safety of the fighters and the integrity of the sport, each one is in business to make money for themselves. That's the bottom line. That's what drives each to make stupid decision after stupid decision that further drive away the possibility of attracting new fans to a sport with an aging fanbase.
Let me start by saying I'm not totally in accord with those who choose to lend credence to the championship policy of The Ring magazine. It's better and more sound than the sanctioning bodies, but their policies are a little flawed too. I love The Ring's non-biased rankings and its idea of creating one true world champion for each weight class, but right now the sport and those involved with it are too ingrained in the current sanctioning body system that change is very slow moving.
My overall opinion on the sanctioning bodies are that they've ruined the sport. The laundry list of corruption and mismanagement could take hours to read, and none of the four major sanctioning clowns are exempt. Personally, you'll never hear this writer call a fighter a "world champion" because he owns one of these title belts. You become a world champion by being the best fighter in a division by beating the best fighters in that divisions, not by the decisions of people like Gilberto Mendoza, Jose Suliaman and Marian Muhammad. Ruslan Chagaev is the WBA heavyweight champion, and that's it. He's no more the heavyweight champion of the world than I am.
Nor do I think it's prudent to deny or downplay the significance of the belt, because that's sticking your head in the sand and not paying attention. Fighters, managers, promoters, television networks and even journalists use the multiple titles for their own good, as well as the other way around. Those who claim that certain excellent fights might never take place without the presence of the alphabet belts are correct. TV networks love promoting "world title fights", and most of the time they ignore whether such claims to "world championships" are on the up-and-up.
For most fighters, winning a belt is the pinnacle of such careers. Future Hall of Famers like Roy Jones and Oscar De La Hoya loved collecting title belt hardware in their primes. But let's not be fooled. For most, the most important thing about winning a belt is that it will potentially lead to bigger paydays. A fighter making $20,000 on ESPN2 can grow to making $200,000 on Showtime because of the presence of a belt. Yes, being the one, true undisputed champion in a division can lead to pay-per-view main events and purses in the millions, but that's a dream that only a select few can realistically hope for, and it's proven that being a pay-per-view fighter is more often determined by being an attraction that having any particular championship.
What all have done is devalue the word "champion" and the prestige that once came with it. An alphabet title is a prop or a stepping stone to bigger money fights, and that's it. It's no more prestigious that winning a regional NABF or USBA title used to be in the 1970s and '80s.
The harm comes from what it does to the fans, or more seriously, potential fans.
In 2001, Don King went through a lot of trouble to stage a middleweight championship tournament, featuring the three "major" sanctioning body champions - Bernard Hopkins, William Joppy and Keith Holmes and the prize of King's stable at the time, junior middleweight two-belt holder Felix "Tito" Trinidad. We all know the result of the tournament - Hopkins destroyed Trinidad in the championship fight at Madison Square Garden two weeks after the 9/11 tragedy to become the undisputed middleweight championship.
Two months later, on the undercard of the Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman pay-per-view heavyweight rematch, also promoted by King, Joppy, who was brutally knocked out in the fifth round of the tournament semifinals by Trinidad earlier in the year, fought Howard Eastman for the vacant WBA middleweight title. And when Jimmy Lennon Jr. handled the introductions before the fight, he said it was for the middleweight championship of the world. HBO analyst/watchdog Larry Merchant called it on the carpet for what is was during the fight, a farse and an insult to the intelligence of the fans.
But because of the ridiculous "super champion" policy developed by the WBA and others, the WBA title was declared vacant, and top contenders Joppy and East fought for it that night.
If a marginal boxing fan attached himself and got juiced to the middleweight unification tournament, he would have rightfully recognized Hopkins as the undisputed champion. But what happened if he bought that PPV? He would be confused and if he was smart, he'd shake his head and talk about how corrupt and what a joke the sport of boxing was for allowing such a thing to happen.
In a nutshell, that's what the sanctioning bodies have done to boxing and boxing fans time and time again. And they really don't care.
It's a joke. Boxing is a great sport featuring the best and most dedicated athletes in the world. It's an insult that it's come to what it is today. And as a true fan and a journalist who considers himself responsible, I won't let such injustices pass without calling them out on the carpet.
-Todd Thorpe
I don't enjoy talking about boxing politics rather that the fights and fighters themselves, but it's a necessary evil when considering the state of the sport as it exists today. Make no mistake by their claims of being non-profit organizations that are looking out for the safety of the fighters and the integrity of the sport, each one is in business to make money for themselves. That's the bottom line. That's what drives each to make stupid decision after stupid decision that further drive away the possibility of attracting new fans to a sport with an aging fanbase.
Let me start by saying I'm not totally in accord with those who choose to lend credence to the championship policy of The Ring magazine. It's better and more sound than the sanctioning bodies, but their policies are a little flawed too. I love The Ring's non-biased rankings and its idea of creating one true world champion for each weight class, but right now the sport and those involved with it are too ingrained in the current sanctioning body system that change is very slow moving.
My overall opinion on the sanctioning bodies are that they've ruined the sport. The laundry list of corruption and mismanagement could take hours to read, and none of the four major sanctioning clowns are exempt. Personally, you'll never hear this writer call a fighter a "world champion" because he owns one of these title belts. You become a world champion by being the best fighter in a division by beating the best fighters in that divisions, not by the decisions of people like Gilberto Mendoza, Jose Suliaman and Marian Muhammad. Ruslan Chagaev is the WBA heavyweight champion, and that's it. He's no more the heavyweight champion of the world than I am.
Nor do I think it's prudent to deny or downplay the significance of the belt, because that's sticking your head in the sand and not paying attention. Fighters, managers, promoters, television networks and even journalists use the multiple titles for their own good, as well as the other way around. Those who claim that certain excellent fights might never take place without the presence of the alphabet belts are correct. TV networks love promoting "world title fights", and most of the time they ignore whether such claims to "world championships" are on the up-and-up.
For most fighters, winning a belt is the pinnacle of such careers. Future Hall of Famers like Roy Jones and Oscar De La Hoya loved collecting title belt hardware in their primes. But let's not be fooled. For most, the most important thing about winning a belt is that it will potentially lead to bigger paydays. A fighter making $20,000 on ESPN2 can grow to making $200,000 on Showtime because of the presence of a belt. Yes, being the one, true undisputed champion in a division can lead to pay-per-view main events and purses in the millions, but that's a dream that only a select few can realistically hope for, and it's proven that being a pay-per-view fighter is more often determined by being an attraction that having any particular championship.
What all have done is devalue the word "champion" and the prestige that once came with it. An alphabet title is a prop or a stepping stone to bigger money fights, and that's it. It's no more prestigious that winning a regional NABF or USBA title used to be in the 1970s and '80s.
The harm comes from what it does to the fans, or more seriously, potential fans.
In 2001, Don King went through a lot of trouble to stage a middleweight championship tournament, featuring the three "major" sanctioning body champions - Bernard Hopkins, William Joppy and Keith Holmes and the prize of King's stable at the time, junior middleweight two-belt holder Felix "Tito" Trinidad. We all know the result of the tournament - Hopkins destroyed Trinidad in the championship fight at Madison Square Garden two weeks after the 9/11 tragedy to become the undisputed middleweight championship.
Two months later, on the undercard of the Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman pay-per-view heavyweight rematch, also promoted by King, Joppy, who was brutally knocked out in the fifth round of the tournament semifinals by Trinidad earlier in the year, fought Howard Eastman for the vacant WBA middleweight title. And when Jimmy Lennon Jr. handled the introductions before the fight, he said it was for the middleweight championship of the world. HBO analyst/watchdog Larry Merchant called it on the carpet for what is was during the fight, a farse and an insult to the intelligence of the fans.
But because of the ridiculous "super champion" policy developed by the WBA and others, the WBA title was declared vacant, and top contenders Joppy and East fought for it that night.
If a marginal boxing fan attached himself and got juiced to the middleweight unification tournament, he would have rightfully recognized Hopkins as the undisputed champion. But what happened if he bought that PPV? He would be confused and if he was smart, he'd shake his head and talk about how corrupt and what a joke the sport of boxing was for allowing such a thing to happen.
In a nutshell, that's what the sanctioning bodies have done to boxing and boxing fans time and time again. And they really don't care.
It's a joke. Boxing is a great sport featuring the best and most dedicated athletes in the world. It's an insult that it's come to what it is today. And as a true fan and a journalist who considers himself responsible, I won't let such injustices pass without calling them out on the carpet.
-Todd Thorpe
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