[url]http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/19/sports/heavyweight-page-a-boxer-with-heart.html[/url] HEAVYWEIGHT PAGE: A BOXER WITH HEART By MICHAEL KATZ Published: June 19, 1981 Greg Page had what he called a funny feeling as he headed toward the hospital. His father, Albert, had been there 30 days, but it was only a week earlier that his mother had told him why: cancer. Page had suspected. He had noticed that his father was losing weight. ''What's up?'' he had asked. ''I'll be all right,'' Albert Page replied. But Saturday night in Louisville, Ky., last month, as he went to visit his father, Page knew that he would not be all right, and he understood why his father had suddenly been giving him lessons in how to deal with boxing promoters. That night Page became the head of the family. His father died at the age of 45. ''I'll never lose another fight, Dad,'' Page told him right before the end. Page has not lost in his two and a half years as a professional. He has won 16 fights, 15 by knockout, including last Friday night's second-round victory over Alfredo Evangelista on the Larry Holmes-Leon Spinks card. Holmes predicts that Page will be the next heavyweight champion. Page agrees, as do many others. Cooney's Main Rival More and more, Page, who is 22 years old and from Muhammad Ali's hometown, appears to be the main rival of Gerry Cooney as heir apparent to Holmes. Holmes, the World Boxing Council champion, has said he wants to take care of Cooney before retiring in the next year. But he does not plan to wait around for Page. He says that Page, once the country's top amateur, is ''a year away.'' ''It's time for the older crop to get out of the harvest,'' Page said. ''We've come along step by step, and we've run out of steps.'' But he is in no rush. He does not want ''to make the same mistake Spinks did, going for the title before I'm ready.'' He might be closer than he wants to be. Next week in Houston, the World Boxing Association executive board will meet to determine whether to strip Mike Weaver of the title for signing to fight Cooney, the No. 1 contender, instead of James (Quick) Tillis, the No. 3. If it does so, the W.B.A. may order a fight for the vacant title between Tillis and Page, who is ranked fourth (Spinks was No. 2 before being knocked out by Holmes). Page would accept a Tillis fight, but he knows that virtually everyone in boxing considers Holmes the champion. Holmes is not Page's target, Cooney is. There was a time when Page's words sounded as if they had been written by Ali, the threetime champion, and he even clowned in the ring like him. But Page has toned down the rhetoric. He used to call Cooney a one-armed fighter. Now he says he cannot comment ''on the grounds I might incriminate myself.'' Facing Tough Opponents ''Cooney and Page is going to be a major, major fight,'' said Butch Lewis, the promoter who handled Page's fights until Albert Page signed a three-bout deal with Don King last month. ''But Cooney's people don't know what Gerry can do. They know he can punch. But they don't know what he can do when he's in there with a young buck who can fight back.'' Page, by contrast, has been fighting what the regulars in the gym call ''live bodies.'' He has outpointed George Chaplin, the defensive specialist. When Larry Alexander, a dangerous club fighter on a winning streak, thumbed him in the first round and Page could not see from long range, where he likes to fight, he moved inside and battered Alexander. Page took the best shots of Stan Ward, a slugger from California, and stopped him April 11. It was the last fight his father had seen. Then Page whipped Marty Monroe, a legitimate top-10 contender who had to quit after five rounds. And the way he stopped Evangelista was impressive. He set him up, taking a couple of light left hooks, then made him miss with a hook and, on his toes, moving backward, countered with a right that floored Evangelista. He has shown speed, quickness, courage, punching power, especially with his right, and the ability to take a punch. He moves with the rhythm of a natural boxer. There is still some polishing to be done, but the only unanswered question seems to be whether he can go 15 rounds. He is fat and has a hunger for ice cream, fast foods and sodas. Against Evangelista, he weighed 235 pounds, nine more than what he was for Monroe. A Propensity for Size ''I come from a big family,'' he said. ''My father was a big man. I have an uncle 5 foot 7 who weighs 310 pounds, another who's 6-4 and 250. But my wind is great and it isn't as if I can't get my punches off. Who can move like me?'' His mother, Alice, is now in charge of Page's career. He has two fights left with King, but he says that Lewis is like family. And family is what counts with him. It was his father who laced on his first pair of gloves, when he was 5, to box with his brother Dennis, then 7 and now a light-heavyweight prospect. ''It was punishment anytime I was hard-headed about anything,'' Page said. ''Dennis used to beat me blue. I never liked fighting. In school, I used to talk my way out of fights.'' When he was 14 and thinking of a basketball career, he was taken by his father to LeRoy Edmerson's gym in Louisville. ''Make him a fighter,'' Albert Page told Edmerson. He has, and the front of Page's T-shirt says, ''Future World Champion.'' On the back is, ''A Tribute to Dad.''
Some interesting points. The article talks about a new generation of heavyweights, who were expected to furnish a successor to Holmes. Obviously that never happened. It also talks about a potential fight between Page and C00ney. It is a shame that never happened, because it could have created a rival worthy to share the ring with Holmes.
Nice article Hilarious that the WBA threatened to strip Weaver for wanting to fight the #1 Contender. Just like the WBC stripped Chacon for fighting the #1 Contender. Gee, I wonder why we could never take these alphabet organizations seriously. LOL.
