Boxing's Dark Side IX Before we get into the dark side of things, we'd like to give our sincere thanks for all of the kind words sent to us by our readers. The "Boxing's Dark Side" series has been very well received, so we'll continue to educate and entertain you to the best of our ability. If you feel yourself floundering, just go up and click on the link to Boxing's Dark Side. That will bring you down to earth. Because of the "No Credentials Necessary" policy, there is a serious lack of intelligence associated with boxing. Oddly, a stereotype once reserved for the pugilists has shifted to the non-participants. That folks, is bad. It was never just boxers who were cast as brainless. The "dumb jock" label has been taped on all athletes for many years. That label has been losing a lot of it's adhesiveness over the years though. Now we're seeing former athletes in front office positions regularly. Boxing has certainly been seeing many former fighters getting into the promotional act. Oscar De La Hoya started a promotional company, and within 5 minutes he was one of the top 3 in the world. Golden Boy Promotions has sustained, and they'll be a top outfit for many years to come. Promoters, writers, managers, and just about anybody else "involved" in boxing, are quick to label boxers. They might call a fighter a stiff, tomato can, bum, average, incredible, great, etc. The vast majority of the people that are applying these tags, have no experience in what they're tagging. They're safe. What are their qualifications for their analysis though? Therein lies the problem. There are no qualifications (or credentials) necessary. Make no mistake people, it IS a problem. Believe me, if Tony Dungy didn't have to worry about the accuracy of his scouting, he'd sleep like a baby. He'd know that he had his job security. But Dungy is measured up too..... He has to answer. So did Matt Millen. So do all of them. While the boxing "community" freely profiles the fighters, do they do any kind of measurement of themselves? We think they should. If you're a promoter, what are you? A stiff? World champion? Journeyman? Top ten contender? What if you're a manager? Are you a tomato can? Maybe you're the pound for pound best? What about writers? Do you have a daily column in the New York Times? If so, you might be a world champ. Do you have a weekly column in the New York Post? That'd still make you a top ten guy. We may as well use the same "system" that's used for the fighters. Professional boxers have to endure a lot of physical trauma though, so non-pugilists would be expected to accomplish things a little bit quicker. As everyone knows, promoters are about dollars and cents. Their rating would be based on profits. Nothing else. To figure out a promoters "ranking" you need to see what he has from his promotions, that he didn't have before he began. If he started out promoting shows 5 years ago from a 1 bedroom apartment, and now has a 9 bedroom house due to his promotional wizardry, he is a world class fighter. If a promoter has been at it for 10 years, and has accumulated $300,000 in boxing profits, he'd be a journeyman. Shocking? Why? If they started promoting 3 years ago, have done 50 shows, and made $3,000 total, they're a stiff. That may seem harsh, but that's the precedent that's been set. They might be doing it as a hobby, and not to make money. They could be running constant boxing events to give fighters more activity. That's irrelevant. If a boxer was fighting as a hobby, and got KO' d 35 times in 50 fights, what would he be? If Norv Turner coached 16 games and won 3 of them, what would he be considered? It doesn't matter how long you've done it, or how many shows you've done. There are people that have been playing in YMCA basketball leagues for 40 years, and they stink. So get that misconception erased from your head. Now, hopefully that was an eye opener. If it wasn't, congratulations champ. The fact that the boxer plies his trade in front of the public, means that he isn't afraid of being judged. The fact that everyone else doesn't do their business in public....... Are they afraid to be judged? Wheather they're afraid or not, doesn't matter. We have a sport that is bordering on a joke. Let's get real. Rather than sit on our asses and talk like we're Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, let's exhibit some realism. If anyone would like to dispute the rating system for promoters, managers, etc., we're all ears. Commissioners? Oh we'll get to them. For now, we'll stick to this. We're going to get at these rankings, and we'll be back with Boxing's Dark Side X on Sunday. If you have some input as to how you think you should be rated, feel free to let us know. You probably won't wanna miss Sunday's edition of Boxing's Dark Side. That'll be our 10th one, and it'll be extremely informative. What the heck has boxing been thinking? Not rating the promoters and everyone else? We've changed that. See you on Sunday.
Boxing's Dark Side X: How The Promoters Stack Up This doesn't necessarily have to be viewed as a "Dark Side." When it comes to sports entertainment, it's all about your standards. We told you that we'd rate some of the non-participants in boxing, but we won't do it numerically.... because we don't have weight-classes. It'd be pound for pound, and that would cause a lot of anger. Fighters are called champions, contenders, journeymen, stiffs, etc. We took the same approach here. We'll be doing managers in our next installment, trainers in the next one, and so on. We will get back to promoters again in the near future, but this is just to give you an idea of how we run this show. We took a few of promoters that you should have heard of. Again, these aren't in numerical order. Like we said, the number of fights, or the number of years that someone's been promoting is neither here nor there. That doesn't mean a thing. There's no head trauma taking place, and there aren't any dislocated shoulders to deal with. Substance is the only criteria for rating non-participants. Weight doesn't matter either. That should be obvious. Cedric Kushner has quite a few pounds on Bob Arum (at least he did at one time), but Arum is a champion, Kushner is an opponent. You may say, "but Kushner did this," or "Kushner did that." Right. Kushner would be considered an opponent, sometimes teetering on journeyman. We're being generous. Kushner started a new promotional company called Gotham Boxing two and a half years ago. Have you been hearing a lot about them? Case rested. Don King- Is the champion of promoting. In 1971 he talked the great Muhammad Ali into fighting in a charity exhibition at a hospital in Cleveland, OH. That was King's first taste of boxing. less that 3 years later, he talked the Zaire government into tapping the treasury to fund Ali vs. George Foreman. I think the rest could be considered history. While many people like to fit in by saying that King "ruined" boxing, there's absolutely no evidence that even hints at it. Don King Productions is his company, and it's gold plated. Champion Bob Arum- Started in 1965. Later on he'd form Top Rank, which formed a long lasting relationship with ESPN, back when it meant something. Top Rank was ESPN boxing for quite a while, literally. The boxing show was named Top Rank. Arum has promoted far too many major boxing events to list here. To get an idea though, Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier II, Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler vs. Tommy Hearns, Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, Foreman vs. Michael Moorer, Leonard vs. Hearns, Hagler vs. Hearns, Ali vs. Spinks I & II. That's a few of them. King and Arum are the champs. Champion Golden Boy Promotions- Was formed in 2001. Popular boxer, Oscar De La Hoya is the owner of the company. De La Hoya has a great staff on board, and they became contenders very fast. Golden Boy Promotions isn't a champion mind you, but they're contenders. The Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Oscar De La Hoya match was a big one, and the promotion was excellent. Look for them to.....contend. Contender DiBella Entertainment- Has had a respectable amount of success as well. They've promoted some terrific boxers. and while they aren't a top rated outfit, they'd have to be considered a fringe contender. Lou DiBella is the president of the company, and he was a programming chief at HBO before he ventured to promotions. DiBella also owns a minor league baseball team. DiBella is clearly a successful guy, but this is based solely on boxing. Fringe Contender Gary Shaw Productions- Like Cedric Kushner, is at journeyman status. He had a nice night a couple of weeks ago, when Chad Dawson put on a great performance and beat Antonio Tarver. Having a fighter win a championship doesn't make you a promotional contender though. Shaw had a hard time making enough dough in boxing, so he tried the MMA circuit. A week before Dawson's triumph, Shaw's MMA ticket, Kimbo Slice, was embarrassed in 14 seconds on national TV. The opponent took the fight about 7 hours prior to entering the cage. The MMA "journey" is over for Shaw now. Literally. He folded his MMA company after a very short period of existence. Many viewed Shaw as a sellout when he made the move to the MMA circuit, his complete failure won't help. One of his boxers has already parted ways with him. Shaw started with the New Jersey commission in the 1970's, he then went on to work as a bigwig for Main Events. He did well in those roles, and earned himself a good living. In 2002 he turned promoter. He's had moderate success as a promoter, which makes him a journeyman. No shame in that. Can he rise above journeyman status? Yes he can. But look at some of the shows that Arum promoted. Journeyman This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Boxing's Dark Side XI: Managers Manager usually isn't the hardest word to define. In boxing though, it's like figuring out quantum physics. A manager manages the boxer's career, plain and simple. If they allow themselves to get swindled by promoters, they just aren't good managers. The majority aren't very good, to be honest. Many do it for different reasons, and are rather lazy about it. We already told you how we were judging people in these rankings. We're going off of what type of money has been made in the game. Not length of service, we explained that as clearly as we could to you. This is based on substance. It's certainly not a popularity contest. We proved where boxing stands on that level. You may not know a couple of these guys, and that's fine by them. Like we did with the promoters, we took a few of the better ones to rate here. If you wonder where you'd rate on this scale, this should give you an idea. We'll probably get to you at some point, but it may be a while. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected - This content is protected This content is protected
Boxing's Dark Side XII: Why They Don't Watch We had planned on ranking the top 50 boxing promoters, but we just couldn't do it. After getting past the first ten or so, we were really fishing for flies. And we don't have any desire to fish for flies. I mean, we'll go fly fishing, but we won't fish for flies. We'll swat at them... If they get too close to our food, but fishing for them is a different story. Enough about the fly fishing....or fishing for flies. Boxing's Dark Side has been taken up by real life events in the past couple weeks. Who the heck needs this series when we have allegations of attempted slayings and psychotic stalkings taking place all over the region? While we let those issues play out in the court rooms, and in the evidence rooms (Gerry Colton's computers are there), we'll give you our 12th installment of Boxing's Dark Side. People like to see success. They aren't really interested in hearing about it, but seeing that successful product; weather it be a person, item, or any other product, is always something that people will take interest in. That doesn't take a molecular biologist to figure out. The major professional sports didn't have the kind of viewer ship..say....60 years ago that they do now. Now they can get dozens of thousands of people in the arena, and many millions of viewers at home too. We've talked until we were blue in the face about the reasons that boxing is viewed as a.....as a....as a....well, isn't viewed by many people at all. We certainly weren't trying to start a debate. We aren't strongly stating our opinion here. These are facts. The piece that we did on the population, those are factual figures. The people that are watching those sports, and the people that are watching ours. It's not a matter of us being negative, it's a matter of us being realistic. How can we look in the toilet and see a brown clump, and tell ourselves that we're looking at the most beautiful fish that ever took to water. That's insane. We've touched on some of the personnel problems. The No Credentials necessary chapter has become somewhat of a cult classic. I guess we can take a bow for creating one of New England boxing's more popular catch phrases/slogans. Let's dig a little deeper here though. Let's try to identify some of the more obvious reasons that the New England boxing picture is one that people find so unattractive. If they find it at all. THINKING BIG/playing small- Any successful person has vision. Of course, unless you have money to start out with, you need to start small and build your way up. That usually begins with a lemonade stand at age 7. We're not talking about the Trumps, Kennedys, or the This content is protected This content is protected r generation talks about how boxing was so popular back in the day, and how you could always catch it on TV. That's when there were about 350 less channels too. Who could we possibly put the blame on? We had the audience, and we lost it. Why? Why are we losing more and more every year? It's gotten to the point of near extinction. If it were any other pro sport, believe me, it would be extinct. Not in boxing though. Take $20,000 out, put a boxing show on at your local armory, and maybe 2 of the 104 people that were in attendance will be talked into going to another event someday. Sure, that'll keep the sport afloat. Only Letting the Fans Know 1 of the 2 Combatants- It's usually a common practice to let the sports fan know what competition they'll see when they drive out to the arena. In boxing, we like to go the "surprise" route. That's sloppy work though. Any potential customer would have to see red flags if they see a TBA listed as the opponent in a professional athletic contest. As time has gone by, it's become abundantly clear why this is such a chronic practice. An opponent is still needed. Unfortunately, there's only a small percentage of opponents that will accept the fight for the embarrassingly low dollar amount that it'll pay. John Henry probably doesn't run into that problem. That's why you can find out the Red Sox opponent for May 4th, 2021, but you may have a hard time finding out Matt Remillard's opponent for next week. TALKING BIG/playing small- After a while, the big talking gets old. People want to see results. If all of these big things are coming up, why are shows taking place in venues that also play host to karaoke night? Karaoke came on the scene like 2 days ago. What's more popular today, boxing or karaoke? There really is no reason to be talking big. Sure, people should feel pride in their modest achievements, absolutely. Just like a chef who made a good meal at Denny's. Like a cab driver who picked up 20 fares in 1 shift. We've waived the right to act like we're bigshots in the entertainment industry. You have to entertain a lot more people than what we're seeing to be considered part of the "entertainment industry." Like we've said it seems harmless, but it has potential fans thinking we all must be ******ed. On the rare occassion that you do talk someone into coming out to see an event, it's not quite the Hollywood setting that they were expecting. They've seen more people waiting to use a urinal at Fenway than they saw in the entire arena. No Money/Lemonade Standing- We mentioned this in one of our earlier installments. Unless you have some serious cash behind you, you have no business running a boxing event. Pardon the pun. While it may seem to be harmless if someone gives it a shot, take a look at the ratings. Take a look around the little arenas. There's a reason for that. What pro athlete is going to risk his health for $400? Jeff Dumont from Cedar Community College might do it for beer money, but Willie Lewis from the Holy Cross football squad will take his shot in the CFL, or go learn to build houses. If a promoter runs a boxing show without a lot of money, he may be tempted to do something that would seem unthinkable. In order to attract people to the show, he might have a friendly police officer fight. "He'll sell 150 tickets!!!!" It's excitement of the lowest order, but he'll keep justifying the cause, "Sure, he looks like he might die if he did 4 cart wheels, but he has quite a fan base." The saddest part of that scenario is that the police officer is probably going to win. He's actually a heavy favorite. The calculator shouldn't be necessary for that math. It happens all the time though. On just about every local show. It might not be a cop, but it's the same general concept. If you were lying when you told the people that it'd be a great show, do you think they might have been lying when they said that they really enjoyed it. The Media Couldn't Care Less- The media will publicize anything that is interesting. They show non-stop sports every day, all day on many channels. They show soap operas, cartoons, criminal trials, cooking, practical jokes (we'll refrain from one here), stand-up comedy, weather forecasts, celebrity interviews, reruns from the 60's, and the news of the day. We can't gripe that none of the networks want boxing. If people were interested in it, you'd see it on the tube all day and night. The media would love to ride a sport like boxing's wave, if it were appealing to the public. They'd be so many great story lines. There isn't though. There used to be, but that day is dead.
Boxing's Dark Side XIII This content is protected This content is protected Well, here is Boxing's Dark Side. This was going to be a story on the ABC....you know, the Association of Boxing Commissions. With that story though, it's been one thing after another. I'll be doing a story on them this weekend, and you can't miss that one. Boxing put itself on the ropes, we all know that. The ABC is in here to deal the knockout blow. Oh they're not going to tell you that. Just the opposite. That's why you'll want to tune in here on Friday. Sometimes I feel like NewEnglandBoxingPromoters.com is the Discovery Channel, I swear. In this one we'll talk about the media's lack of interest in boxing. I talked about the media in part XII, and confirmed that they couldn't care less about boxing. I also said that the media will publicize anything that is interesting. Is anybody sensing any kind of pattern here? Didn't we all do word problems when we were in the 4th grade? That means boxing isn't interesting to many people. We can try to throw up smoke and mirrors all we want. We can bull**** and act like that isn't the way that it is, but we're only fooling ourselves. The real media knows that's what we do, and it's made a fool of boxing. Take a look at an interview with an NFL owner. Watch an interview with a 3rd basemen from the major leagues, or a 3rd string guard in the NBA. First of all, the interviewer is seeking them out.... Not the other way around. There's a big difference there. Anybody that asks to be interviewed is suffering from a serious deficiency, one that will take quite a bit of therapy to repair. Another stark difference is the line of questioning. People don't read uninteresting interviews. They'd rather count their shoe laces....over and over. Give them an interesting interview with difficult questions though, and people will talk about it for quite some time. An interesting interview is one that poses the tough questions. The questions that will intrigue people. The questions that make the interview's subject uncomfortable at times. If someone requests to be interviewed, you're almost guaranteed to get an ego massaging snoozefest. They're easy to identify too. Each question is the equivalent of an attorney leading their witness. The question is posed to give the subject an opening to spout off on a tale of heroism. The question is, why in God's name would anyone wanna do that? That isn't going to help anything. Boxing has 14 people watching it these days. What good is acting like we're the second coming of Martin Luther King going to do? In the NFL, there are countless shows every day of the week. The media adores the NFL. There's only one reason for that, and it should be simple to figure out. People that are involved in professional athletics get their share of exposure. Or of course, they could expose themselves. And if you're exposing yourself, it tells anybody that sees it that nobody else cares to expose you. If you're aware of all the things being written about you, you're not very popular. That's a fact guys. Those guys in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, etc. have many people talking about them, and they don't even know most of what's said... There's just too much written about them. If those guys didn't have privately guarded phone numbers, they'd be asked to give interviews all day and night. I have a leg up I guess. I don't care to participate in this particular popularity contest. That's like being voted Most Likely to Succeed at a morgue. Watching people try to gain popularity in boxing can be like watching an elderly person play hopscotch. If this is a popularity contest, think of how stupid some of us might look. We may find that people are interested when we bring up the topic of boxing. They've all heard of it, but they haven't met many people from the sport. Some of you may take a certain sense of pride away from those interactions. Ya really shouldn't. Ya really wouldn't, if you read the "No Credentials Necessary" chapter and understood it. I wrote it as clearly as I could for all age and education levels. High school athletes that need an extra push to get into their dream school should work to get exposure. They need to make a video and send that out to schools, then hope that the college is interested enough to invite them to join their program. If that high school athlete is still sending those tapes to schools 10 years later, he may have a learning disability. It's been said that you have to "Force people to take notice." I'm not sure if people really know what that statement means though. McDonalds makes people take notice. If you're driving down the road, it's hard to miss the golden arches, isn't it? Mobil, Exxon, Shaw's, KFC, the Oakland Raiders, FOXWOODS, Olive Garden, MTV, PBS, Wise Potato Chips, Sega, Wii, Bunker Hill Monument, NewEnglandBoxingPromoters.com, Miller Light, Harry Potter, Survivor, the Boston Red Sox, Monica Lewinski, Sarah Palin, Wal-Mart, Bickford's, Born on the 4th of July, Celebrity Rehab, Taco Bell, Pepsi, Planet Hollywood, AT&T, Madonna, Chappelle's Show, Snickers and Day's of Our Lives have made people take notice. We're all somewhat familiar with those names, right? These are all goods and services that let their product speak for itself. If people weren't interested, they'd be unappealing. That would be fine too. Everybody has their own lot in life. The tragedy would be if these people were craving attention., and only getting it from people in their very own industry. Boxing is craving attention, but they're not getting any. It doesn't do a lot of good to get attention from the people in the "industry." They're in the same boat. That's why you can call up any of the countless people that call themselves a boxing writer, and have a nice little story written about you. While that may make you feel good inside for some warped psychological reason, it isn't an accomplishment. And if we can't understand that, then there's absolutely no hope. Now, if we can get Barbara Walters to do an interview with us, we've accomplished something. Unfortunately, it'll take a hell of a lot more than a phone call to get that one done guys. Stuart Scott? Nope. Oprah? Not a prayer. Geraldo? No. Arsenio Hall? Well, Arsenio Hall doesn't really work much anymore, but no. Fightnews, Eastsideboxing, ***********, Boxrec, and boxing whatever.com isn't gonna do it. Nobody can talk themselves into a legacy. A legacy is what you've done, not what you said that you've done. If your legacy is one of putting on a bunch of boxing shows and managing some decent fighters, great. It'll be remembered by a couple of people. We can't try to act like we flew the first space ship around the universe though. Then our legacy would be that of a delusional *******. We've tried very hard to hammer this point home. That stuff harms any potential that the sport might have. That may be too difficult of a concept for people to grasp. We need to try and appeal to the people that aren't "boxing geeks." We already have those geeks tagging along. That doesn't help us right now though. We need to obtain some new fans, and we need to do it fast, this isn't working. Forget Eastsideboxing.com, forget Fightnews.com, Boxrec.com, Boxingtalk.com, and the countless other sites that appeal to nobody. We need to take a step up. This is getting ridiculous. Everybody seems so angry, but their anger is prohibiting them from getting in that mirror. Maybe it feels safer here on the dark side. Or maybe this is all we're capable of. It's all we've been capable of for quite a while now. That's a fact, not an opinion. Coming Saturday: Boxing's Dark Side XIV- The ABC... "Association of Boxing Collapsers"
Boxing's Dark Side XIV While Don King and other unscrupulous promoters have been the target of many pointed fingers over the years, a dangerous system was being put in place over in the corner. The crooked nature of the sanctioning bodies has elicited so much criticism that nobody was paying attention to the harmless rodent that was growing itself into an ugly beast. WHO ARE THEY?? They call themselves the Association of Boxing Commissions. I know, I know, they're the ones that are "righting the ship," the saviors. They're the ones that are making it a more controlled sport. Oh, I think that probably has some validity to it. Let's just not get too excited about why they want that control. The "fight" for boxing regulation is nothing short of a joke. More precisely, it's a scam. We've been adopting new safety measures and rules for the last few decades, and the public interest has evaporated so much that the sport is nearly extinct. Regulation? Who the hell are we kidding? It seems like regulation is the best excuse to get tax dollars to the suits, it's not putting money in any boxer's pocket. Think about that. What else could they say to a state? "Fund us, even though boxing isn't going to make you any money at all?" No, that wouldn't fly. They say...."Fund us, we're going to regulate the sport...we're going to clean it up." Right. We have a lot of things to discuss in regards to the ABC. It'll probably take 5 or 6 chapters to cover it, but it'll be entertaining. There are many people out there who were and are still genuine in their call for regulation over this waning sport. We should have known better though, and now it may be too late. We weren't at the stage where regulation was the next step. It would have been a nice thing to put on our "to do" list, but we needed to regain the public's interest first. Some would say, "we need regulation for anyone to pay attention to it." Please. How's that working out? To most people in the educationally challenged boxing business, regulation means, "Something that a basketball announcer says towards the end of a game." The ABC calls itself a non-profit organization. It's important to note that the WBC, IBF, and WBA also consider themselves non-profit organizations. Hmm, we are a charitable bunch, aren't we? The ABC has talked about all of the great things that they are doing to regulate boxing. A charitable fund to help out indigent boxers is one of the things that they claim to have. They insist they're working to set up a pension plan for retired boxers. If anyone has been given some of these funds, please contact us...so that we can apologize. The guess here is that nobody is getting any of this money. How much is in there? No word on that one. We know that the ABC has an annual meeting at a swank hotel in some major city. For the record, that city isn't always in the United States. Travel is certainly not a problem for this non-profit organization. The ABC holds training seminars for referees and judges. The instructors are paid of course, and put up at a hotel, and flown into whatever city they need to instruct in. God, I really do pray that some of these fighters have been helped out financially. In case you were wondering, the ABC has been around for a while now. So there should be at least a thousand or so fighters receiving some type of funding from them. Are they? I would certainly hope so. I'd hate to think that these guys are all living it up for 4 days at a ritzy hotel every year, and they haven't been helping boxers. That would be one of the most disgusting things imaginable. WHO ARE THEY? A few months ago the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) held their annual conference. This "non-profit" organization assembled at an expensive hotel in Montreal, Canada for 4 days. New members were pledged, and then admitted to be a part of the ABC. Fightfax was there, and so was Boxrec. Each of those companies had a representative speak about why their record keeping should be used as the official doctrine. In a clear cut victory, Fightfax was again given that "honor." Now, Fightfax was put up for sale a few months ago, but just as word started to spread around boxing circles, it was no longer for sale. The ABC and Fightfax are in partnership. That's not a question. It's hard to believe that the ABC is a non-profit organization though, isn't it? Everybody that has had some involvement in boxing uses Boxrec daily. For those that do business in boxing, they're on the site anywhere from 20-200 times per day. The more bored boxing fans are on it quite a bit too, but they don't matter in this case. They're just playing fantasy boxing matchmaker. Fightfax backers say that Boxrec has too many errors. Everyone seems to agree however, that Boxrec has improved greatly over the past 5 years. It'll cost you about 3 bucks to see 1 boxer's record on Fightfax. Boxrec doesn't cost a thing, and you can see everyone's record. If a matchmaker, promoter or manager were to do their job and cross reference boxer's opponents, they'd be in the hole a few hundred dollars and a few dozen hours working with Fightfax. What you could accomplish for free in 3 minutes on the Boxrec site , you'd pay $100 for the same info on Fightfax.... and it'd take you 3-5 hours. Fightfax isn't called Fightfax for nothing. They really do FAX you the records. But that's who the ABC chose as the "official record keeper." I wonder if we went to the seminar and pitched the Pugilistic Pony Express, if we might have been selected the record keeping officials. That's just one issue we have with the ABC. An interesting one, but just one of many. The main question is...WHO ARE THEY??? As time has gone by, people in boxing have been programmed to be wary of promoters, managers, alphabet organizations, etc. It seemed somewhat of a Godsend that there were commissioners "overseeing" things. Did anybody really think that these associations or organizations or whatever they wanna call themselves.....did anyone think that their main objective would be to help boxing? Did people really think that helping boxing would be a higher priority to them than their own financial gain? If you did, shame on you. If you still think that they're trying hard to help fighters and the game, shame on your parents, former teachers, former guidance counselors, and whoever else attempted to teach you comprehension. Getting into promoting has become a very tough proposition, if your goal is what it should be......to make a good amount of money. The state of the game has made boxing commissions (aside of Nevada) not so profitable either. So while everyone was trying to figure out innovative ways to stimulate boxing again, this group was devising a plan that would fold it up for good. WHO ARE THEY?? The MMA was thought to be a passing fad a few years ago. While boxing was losing a great deal of it's remaining fans, the UFC fan base was growing larger. Just about all the people that once thought the UFC to be a flash in the pan, have now admitted that it's here to stay, and that it's popularity is undeniable. Anyone that hasn't picked up on that reality yet, go back and slap that former teacher again. Boxing lovers know that we can surely co-exist with the UFC and MMA though. To do so, we would have needed to spice things up a little. Hey, go back to the design that got boxing it's popularity way back when. But no. They just kept implementing more "safety measures." It sounds so politically correct...... SAFETY MEASURES.....NON-PROFIT. If you can't beat em, join em. In a strange move, the ABC...(that's Association of BOXING Commissions)...decided that they would begin doing some oversight on MMA. Hmm. That's odd. Maybe instead of trying to win back boxing's fan base, they thought it'd be easier and more profitable to squash boxing once and for all. Then mixed martial arts could prosper unimpeded. It's a very interesting situation that I see developing, and it get's a lot better. See you on Friday. COMING FRIDAY: BOXING'S DARK SIDE XV- This content is protected
Boxing's Dark Side XV "Look at the director of that Ohio human services agency that got suspended for a month without pay. Now he's facing review by a county prosecutor for using confidential state databases to find personal information on someone This content is protected This content is protected We contacted ABC president, Tim Lueckenhoff, and he said that the author of the last Dark Side story was misinformed...."Very misinformed." Lueckenhoff said that the ABC should have been contacted before the story, therefore, he didn't want to This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Boxing's Dark Side XVI: TOUGH We'll spare you another story on the ABC for now. We've made it clear that this group is not here to help boxing, but to help themselves. Literally and figuratively... If you know what I mean. We'll get back to them soon, and there will be parts of this chapter that certainly relate to them. If we were in 1st grade, we'd call them bullies. We're not though, so we'll call them state employees. Most of them are at least. All of the phone numbers for these guys are at their state office. How the heck are they being paid by their state to conduct ABC business? I guess we'll have to take that up with the legislature. If they're being paid by the state, and conducting ABC business while on the clock, this would be one of the most blatant slaps in the face to tax payers in at least the past couple minutes. Those that work on casino property, and there's plenty of them, they've got a pretty nice racket going too. Enough about them though. Stay tuned. The word "tough," is used in many different ways. Boxing is a sport that's always been identified closely with that word...."tough." In grade school, Jr. high, and high school, people that would get into fights and win were considered tough. People with above average sized muscles were considered tough. People that acted kinda crazy were thought to be tough. At that age, so many people had such little knowledge of what it meant to be "tough," that they just kinda followed the leader. If a person had a strong desire to be viewed as tough, but he didn't really have the characteristics to be viewed that way by others, he'd try hard to associate with the "tough" guys. Because again, with the distorted understanding of what "tough" really was, being an associate of the tough guy was usually enough. We're talking about the teenage years though, not adulthood. As people got older, they developed a better understanding of what the word "tough" means. They figured out that acting crazy doesn't mean that you're tough, beating up little Timothy from sophomore English isn't tough, and hanging out with "Big" Rocco from detention certainly doesn't make you Allen Asskicker either. The problem is, many people in the boxing business forget that this isn't 11th grade study hall. Those people from detention got so comfortable hanging with "Big" Rocco, that they started to believe that they were on the same level of "toughness." And once you're on even ground, surpassing "Big" Rocco is only a step away. But that was kid's stuff, so it's just part of growing up. If it carries over to your adult life, then Houston.....we have a problem. Because some people are so hard up for attention, and boxing has a no credential's necessary policy, professional prizefighting has become a gathering spot for these types. They like to have the word "boxing" attached, because it carries that "tough" stigma. Some like to play off of the mafia connection from decades ago too. The mafia is another "profession" that is linked to the word "tough," albeit loosely. The mafia is more linked to the word fear, and ultimately, that's what these hangers on always craved. Then they wouldn't have to be proven a fraud. There is something seriously lacking in these personality types. Why would anyone want others to be afraid of them??? Being tough isn't that important to these types of people. Having people think that they're tough is. We gave you some examples of false tough guys, like Rocco's buddy. In boxing, you'll see tough guys aplenty between those ropes, but you'll also see the other extreme outside of them. The progress of the human race is hurting right now, and false tough guys are contributing to the stench that mankind has become. Because of the coddled society that America has become, I'm going to point out some tips for identifying a false tough guy. 1. Blanketing. This is the most obvious sign of all. A person who wishes to be viewed as tough, but lacks true toughness will resort to this often. It's a very transparent sign, but false tough guys can't see that... They're too blinded by their desire to be seen as tough. Blanketing is making sure that there are others around when any type of confrontation occurs. They may get creative in their quest for an image of toughness, and keep people close by, or at the very least, on the phone. They provide themselves a comfortable "blanket" in that way. A true tough guy, would prefer that they confront each other alone, with nobody else around. They don't need no stinking blanket, and being viewed as tough or ballsy doesn't factor into their thinking. 2. Looking/Lookers. This is a common one. So much so, that it could almost be considered the universal sign of a false tough guy. It's akin to blanketing in a way, and it's an extremely undisciplined behavior for an aspiring false tough guy, but again, very common. A looker is someone that says something to one person in a room with a minimum of 3 people. When they say something that they want to be viewed as "ballsy" to that one person, they look at the other person in the room. Many times they want that person to see them look at that other person, because then they look like they have "backup." It's also a way of that person making their subtle dig seem blatant....without actually saying it. It's an embarrassing tip-off is what it is though, so those of you that do it, get to a gym and workout instead. 3. The Freddy Krueger. The Freddy Krueger is an old one. It's probably the lamest of them all, but it's used quite a bit. The false tough guy tries to instill fear. A true tough guy doesn't try to instill fear, they are what they are. A false tough guy is afraid themselves, although they'll never admit it.... unless they were alone with their nemesis and had to.....if there was no "blanket" available. A Freddy Krueger tries to give themselves a "tough" image. by having people think that they are scary. The mafia has always had that mystique....scary. So sometimes people try to associate themselves with them. After all, what's scarier than a mafia hit man that has 10 kills under his belt? 20 kills? Well, what about the two geek's that killed 12 people and busted up a bunch more at Columbine? How about the goofy jackass that blew away 32 people at Virginia Tech a couple years ago? What about the kid from almost every Jr. High School in the nation that has a cache of weapons siting in his room? If you're someone that takes fear seriously, you'll be one of the people that tries to use the Freddy Krueger. If you're someone that truly has no fear, you'd never even think of it. **That's just 3 tips for false tough guy identification. There's more, but that should be enough to get your brains conditioned to this line of thinking. Look, we understand that people have problems in their childhood, and we're sympathetic to that. I mean for Christ's sake, PJ was treated like a pincushion as a kid. No, PJ's father is a grand man, he'd never lay a ball on PJ. Take a look at the quotes below, and digest them... Think about them. Don't ever be a blanketer, a looker, or a Freddy Krueger. We just laid it out for you pretty good, didn't we? 6th graders bring guns to school and blow kids away sometimes. Worry yourselves with that stuff, not trying to play the role of Al Capone's sidekick. If you played little league baseball, but didn't have any amateur fights, then you've got a better chance of being a New York Met than you do of being a fighter. That's just simple mathematics and logic fellas. So while our country faces these tough times that we are going through, don't waste you and everyone else's time trying to be tough. If it means that much to you, go to one of the many boxing gyms in your state and This content is protected tough.
Darker Than Dark: Thank You Gary Shaw, but MMA isn't the Boxing Way It doesn't get much darker than this folks. It's well known that mixed martial arts is blowing boxing away in popularity. There were those that thought MMA was just a fad, and would go away soon enough. That's not going to happen, and any reasonable person should know that. 6 year old kids are in love with the sport for God's sake!! It's here to stay. It didn't have to further damage boxing though. Boxing could have capitalized on MMA's popularity, after all, they were a sort of "sister sport." MMA fans are hardcore fight fans, so they love to see someone get knocked cold. Gary Shaw decided to move over to the MMA arena, and he embarrassed boxing to a laughable degree. Dana White is the boss of the UFC, and the UFC is the only thing that really matters in MMA. Gary Shaw spouted off about how he was going to rise above White though, and then he went on national TV and showed everyone that he thought MMA was the WWF....or WWE...or whatever they call it now. He exposed the dark side of boxing to the masses that didn't know much about it. In BDS VII, we talked about the tremendous business plans that other pro sports have. Then we compared it to the disgraceful business plan that most boxing promoters have. We likened boxing's business plan to the New England Patriots playing the Bay State Gas touch football team. MMA doesn't follow that model. The UFC and MMA go by the NFL business plan. There's no bringing in tomato cans for the promoter's fighter to get a soft win. No. Those guys fight tough fighters each and every time out. That's why they don't want boxing promoters coming over to their sport. Dana White used a simple business blueprint, and made into an undisputed empire. He went against all of the things that have ruined boxing, and moved far ahead of it in a couple of minutes time. But a boxing promoter had to jump on over, and here's what Gary Shaw had to say about Dana White's business approach after wrestling star Brock Lesnar was beaten in his UFC debut. “I like Brock, but it just shows that Dana doesn't know what he’s doing. Every time he signs someone, they get beat right away. I guess if you want to get beat right away, you should go to the UFC." Brilliant Gary, absolutely brilliant. Dana White responded to the ridiculous comment like this, “Gary Shaw is a ****ing loser, if we were getting competition, it’s not coming from Gary Shaw and both of the people who are watching his shows. This guy is a low-level bottom feeder. He didn't like MMA a few years ago, but when he finally couldn't make money at boxing anymore, he came over to this sport to try to leech money out of it.” Game set match to Dana White. The boxing promoters that have faith in what they're doing, are rising up and succeeding. The ones that admit that they can't promote boxing, will fade away or try to slither their way into the MMA arena. They'd be better served just fading away though, because they have a red X on them when they try to infiltrate that sport. As a boxing promoter, Shaw is nothing special, as White pointed out. Gary Shaw likes to wear a warm-up suit while he does his boxing business. You'd think he was one of the boxers if it wasn't...HIM in the warm-up suit. He was in boxing though, so he probably felt tough....worthy. Maybe that's why he has such a big mouth. It's kind of like the example of people posing for pictures with their fists clenched. Gggrrrrrrrrr. We love you Robert Kraft. The end. This content is protected
Boxing's Dark Side XVII This content is protected Throughout the "Boxing's Dark Side" series, we've identified several personality traits that make the New England boxing scene look a little bit like Jr. high school. We didn't need to consult with Sigmund Freud's spirit in order to figure out what the main disorder was. It's delusion... Or delusional behavior. There are 4 different types of delusion, but one is glaring. That'd be the Grandiose Type. I'm sure you've all heard of someone having delusions of grandeur. Grandiose type is: The delusion of inflated worth, power, knowledge, identity, or special relationship to a famous person. Either there are a ton of people running around the New England boxing circuit with Grandiose Type Delusion, or we are home to the largest cluster of liars in universal history. We took that definition right from the dictionary, and being the master educators that we are, we'll break it on down for you. Who knows, maybe we'll help some people, if they can get over their delusions of grandeur. Delusion of inflated worth- This doesn't mean monetary worth in boxing. How could it? Anybody that has this delusion, usually gets slapped into reality real quick. Given the fact that sports and boxing is entertainment, you'd have to look at what television companies have offered you recently. That's your worth. If you're a writer, what books or magazines have written checks out to you. Delusion of inflated power- As sad as it is to say, there are a lot of people that have this part of the delusion, even with the Red Sox and Patriots right up the street. Maybe it's the fact that the sport has a lot of poverty stricken individuals working as the talent (boxers.) Promoters will have fighters calling them almost begging to be a part of their next show. They need the money, and the promoter can provide that. Maybe that gives them a feeling of power. The delusion though, is that Bob Kraft is 15 minutes away, negotiating with an athlete for a contract that will pay him upwards of $12,000,000.00 per season. A promoter will be feeling power in his negotiation with an athlete for $800.00 per fight. Delusion of inflated knowledge- This one's ugly, and probably the most prevalent. This one can get downright scary. It's probably a combination of the no credentials necessary policy and the lack of interest in the sport that causes this. But it's way out of control. It's very difficult to analyze a sport that you've never participated in, that's just the truth. When someone played baseball as a kid, and they're writing boxing...that's the no credentials necessary policy at work. When they're sitting at ringside. making comments that they think sound good, that's the lack of anyone's interest in play. Think, "Big fish in a small pond." For the most part, no one is going to say anything to that person. They're going to let him soak in his delusion of knowledge. Because of that though, some have gotten so bad that they think they understand it so well that they could actually be a good fighter. Think about that for a second, it happens all the time. They've never been hit once by a professional or amateur fighter, but they've seen it a bunch of times, so they know that they'd be a good pugilist. They talk to people that do it, so surely they could do it too. It's stupid. Any idiot can be knowledgeable about boxing. It's akin to being knowledgeable about Montpelier, Vermont Public Access TV. If you know 5 boxers, then technically you'd be considered knowledgeable about boxing. Take a frigging bow. If you were getting accolades for your baseball knowledge, that's an accomplishment. Baseball is America's pastime, and there are some people with mind-boggling knowledge of that game. Boxing isn't America's pastime, and you need a hell of a lot more than the knowledge of the champions from 1970 to get recognized for being knowledgeable.....You need a mirror and a hobby. This content is protected - This is a problem too. Think "Almost Famous? Not Even Close." Remember that one? If you don't, go check out the Boxing's Dark Side page. Too many people have a deluded identity in this boxing business. As I've said, it seems harmless enough, but people recognize it, and they've obviously decided to turn away. People lost their identity with that knowledge crap. They figured out what a jab looked like from ringside, and they identified themselves as a promising boxer. Do ya see the delusion there? These are people that have never boxed a round in their entire life. That's like watching the Patriots each Sunday, getting to know Kevin Faulk a little bit, and then thinking that you could grind out at least 50 yards every game. Sometimes you lose your identity. You forget that you're a manager, or a promoter, or a writer, or a photographer, or an announcer, or whatever the hell you are. Problem. Delusion of a special relationship to a famous person- This one runs rampant, and it's embarrassing as hell. We already explained that Tom Cruise's closest friend couldn't write a book and sell copies. Why? Because he's not famous, Cruise is. It's always bad when someone hears a person speak of how close he is to a celebrity, yet they never hear the celebrity utter that person's name. As I said, many of you can relate to these afflictions. Even if you don't think that you have the disorder, then you should be able to readily admit that you're a liar. So while everyone wants to sit around on their ass, and ***** about all the problems in boxing.... These are the problems. You may not want to admit that to yourself, and you might want to continue with the delusions that you've created. But trust me, they're a big problem. Look at the other sports. Watch the way the coaches act. Listen to the way the experts talk. Listen to what the commissioner says, and how he acts. Watch the way the owners act, and listen to what they say and the way that they say it. Don't try to copy them, because you're not smart enough to pull that off successfully, and you'll sound and look like a jerk. Just watch them....listen. Think about the money that they make in their sport, then think about what you make in your sport/hobby. Think about why the public is interested in them, but not you. Then make a choice. Are you delusional or are you a liar?
Boxing's Dark Side XVIII The crazy thing is, people do love to watch boxing. While baseball is America's pastime, and football is America's passion, living creatures have always liked to see a good fight more than anything else. Think back to 5th grade. If there were 20 people watching a baseball game during recess, and a fight broke out over by the cafeteria doors, those 20 people were heading over to watch that fight....and so were the baseball geeks. A fight always gets people's attention. Even if it's at Fenway Park during a Yankees-Red Sox playoff game. Even if it's in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs and the score tied. If David Ortiz is facing a full count with the winning run on 3rd, and a fight breaks out in the stands, watch where the Fenway faithful's eyes are locked. It aint on "Big Papi." That goes for every sport, every social function, and every single thing in this life. People love to watch fights. If a fight breaks out at a church, the priest is an afterthought. If a fight breaks out at a funeral, the dead can wait a few minutes. What the hell has gone so wrong that we can't get people excited about something that they love more than anything in this world? Tom Berenger would just look at us and say, "how did you screw up so bad?" If you can't understand the implications of this, it means that if Will Morgan and Chuckie Lambeau got into a fight in the nosebleed section at Gillette, more people saw their fight than a "title" fight that was held at a Rhode Island casino. Will and Chuckie's competition wasn't a high school play across the street either. Their spectators were passing up a piece of the Patriots vs. Colts. Why is it then, that if the Patriots and Colts were playing at the same time as a 7 fight boxing card, and they're taking place across the street from one another with tickets priced the same, that nobody aside from the boxer's blood relatives would choose to watch the fight card? If that doesn't get your mind working, you may have a slight case of ******ation. If you don't think it's true, you may be delusional and need to look at Dark Side's past. When the word virtue first came into existence it meant manliness or courage. Now, everyone loves a person with virtues, which is why people always had a hankering for a good scrap. The best fights were usually going to be the ones that were planned, because those would test a man's virtues, while a "spur of the moment" fight was more of a testament to a man's vices...which is the opposite of virtues. A planned out fight though, the combatants had to think about what was ahead of them. They knew that there would be people watching the fight, and they'd be watching with great interest. There was anticipation. They also knew that because the fight was planned in advance, that the other person wanted to fight them too. So this was going to be a victimless affair, in a way. Everyone else was going to watch in fascination. The first sport ever to be filmed by a TV camera was boxing, of course. It's popularity was astounding. Two men agreed to a fight, trained to fight, and fought with a crowd of people watching. How could it get any better? Certainly people wouldn't rather watch a game with a guy hitting a little ball with a wooden stick, would they? They wouldn't rather see 10 guys bounce a ball and try to throw it through a hoop, would they? Especially if they bump into each other softly and get penalized for it? Boxing doesn't compete with the major sports anymore though. So why would people not want to see a fight? Especially when there's going to be 7 of them? Why would they choose to play parcheesi at Dairy Queen rather than pay 20 bucks to watch something that's interested them and everyone they know since they were 3 years old? Why does the media, who grew up on this same fight loving planet, neglect to cover the sport? Ahhh, they turned away because all other sports have great parity. Boxing doesn't have that. Why? Because promoters don't like it. Because commissions don't require it, contrary to their vows. The small minded commissions only require (sometimes) that the records be somewhat comparable. They think that they'll fool people into thinking that there's great parity, because a 19-0 boxer will be facing a guy with a 16-4 record. Problem is, this isn't like the Sixers and Celtics. The Celt's and Sixers played the same teams. The boxers didn't play against the same competition. Neither the Celtics nor the Sixers were able to face the Baronie Boy's Club basketball squad until they were 10-0. No, they had to play the Lakers, Pistons, Nuggets and other good teams. That 16-4 fighter faced a different level of opposition though. He faced off against the guy that delivers mail to the Baronie Boy's Club, the guy that unclogs the toilets at the Baronie Boy's Club, the kid that was given daily wedgies in the locker room at the Baronie Boy's Club, and a few gym teachers. The 19-0 guy is a former Olympian. There's no parity. What's the commission's solution to a problem like this? Nothing. Make sure the referee jumps in early so that the Boy's Club Bandit doesn't get hurt. Great, that'll keep the fans pouring in. Put the former Olympian in with a veteran that's 18-20, but has some decent wins and will provide good competition? No. That doesn't look good. The bad news is, the public knows how stupid the sport is run. Take a look at Sportscenter this week. It's on all the time. See how much boxing gets mentioned. You'll see plenty of golf, car racing, and just about every other sport. You won't see boxing though. And we just reminded you that everybody loves to watch fights. Pro sports teams don't get spotted 10-0 records. They don't get spotted 20-0 records. They don't get spotted 1-0 records. If they did, their record would be considered tainted, thus, their team would be tainted. If someone tried to make the argument that, "Boxing's always been that way," the reply should be, "Good for boxing, other sports haven't always been that way. Now let me finish watching Sportscenter." Would NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, have the Patriots forego playing the St. Louis Rams in order to play 14-0 Mount Union College? Of course not. Why? The Rams and Patriots play against the same competition. Mount Union plays against division 3 college football teams..... and so does This content is protected competition. Mount Union has parity. They've been fairly dominant this season, but they're playing the same competition as everyone else. So a Stag Bowl championship actually means something. It means a hell of a lot more than a WBC Intercontimentallyretarded title, that's for sure. Check out the stands for the D3 title game, and then check out the little league baseball sized crowd at one of those goofy "title" bouts. You'll see. If the commissions said that they didn't go by records alone, then they'd have to admit that they are clueless about boxing....and they aren't going to do that. The only other option would be to admit to themselves that they're on an even keel with a little league baseball Commissioner. That's not an insult really....well, I guess it could be interpreted that way. But it is true. If that seems extreme, think of Roger Goodell (NFL Commissioner,) then think of Joe Carroll (Norwell, Massachusetts Little League Commissioner.) Which one of those guys do you think has more in common with a boxing commissioner? Which one of those guys do you think a boxing commissioner has more in common with? We'll be back with another one of these things Friday.
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Fighter Accuses Greg Sirb By Shaun Matthews Greg Sirb, former president of the ABC....you know, that useless gang of bottom feeders we've told you about before, appears to have struck again. Let me rephrase that. He appears to have been caught striking again. Sirb is the commissioner of the Pennsylvania Boxing Commission. He fancies himself quite the czar on boxing, although that reputation he was trying to carve out for himself is pretty much squashed. You should remember Sirb from his role in the Dark Side chapter about the ill-treatment of Greg Page's family. Page was knocked into a coma, and his family was basically ignored. Ironically, Page was pretty much ignored too.....as he lay on the canvas slipping into a coma in which he will never fully recover. Greg Sirb loves to talk about how much he cares about the boxers. That's pretty much universally recognized as bull****, but give the pesky little guy credit, he keeps trying. He gets caught in quite a few lies though. He lies constantly, but he gets caught in them more than your average fibber. The following is a letter from a fighter that fought in Pennsylvania recently. He lost a four round decision to an undefeated fighter, and then got medically cleared, and was headed to California to work. Until Sirb stepped in. This letter from the fighter, Travis Hartman, has been making the rounds lately. Here it is. Dear Mr. Greg Sirb: I am a professional boxer. This is how I make my living, how I pay for college, how I cover my expenses. Unfortunately, I am being deprived of that necessity and right because of a random decision that was made after my March 7 fight in York, Pa., a show that fell under your jurisdiction as the executive director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. As all boxing-savvy people know, a boxer receives an automatic suspension, for his own protection, if he is knocked out or injured during a fight. I learned via a letter postmarked March 11 (which arrived in my mailbox on March 16) that I have been dealt a 30-day suspension from the PSAC for the following reason: "Must have rib exam." While I did complain of rib pain after my four-round fight against Terrance Crawford that night, the aforementioned rib exam was completed on March 7 -- the same night as the fight -- by Dr. Roberto A. Moran Bojorquez at a hospital in York. Dr. Bojorquez took five X-Rays of my left ribcage, plus another five of my chest, and immediately reported to me that all of the results had been negative. I have no fractures, no tears, no major injuries of any kind -- a fact that is documented by Dr. Bojorquez's medical reports. Furthermore, when I asked Dr. Bojorquez if I could be medically cleared to accept another fight in two weeks -- on March 21 -- his response was, "You could fight next weekend if you had to." That, Mr. Sirb, is why your decision to suspend me is inexplicable. In fact, I have yet to receive a logical or reasonable explanation of the decision you have made. Your claim of always looking out for a boxers health and well being echoes in my ear, and I appreciate and commend all commissioners who truly care about the well being of a boxer. But, in this case I feel you have overstepped your boundaries and undermined the medical profession. Your random and capricious suspension cost me an opportunity to earn money I desperately need by participating in a fight this coming Saturday night, March 21, at The Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif. Furthermore, your decision has cost the California promoter money (my airline ticket already has been purchased) and headaches (he now must find a suitable 11th-hour replacement for me on his card). Finally, your decision has damaged my reputation in a sport in which a boxer's reputation is crucial: I accepted this fight, I promised to be there and be ready, and now -- because of your baseless decision, and through no fault of my own -- I cannot live up to my commitment. Equally disturbing, Mr. Sirb, is this: When I called you to discuss the matter, you informed me that your decision cannot be appealed. You backtracked on that statement after I pointed out that I already had researched my right to appeal -- which, as you well know, and knew when you made the statement -- appears in Article 12 of The Boxer's Bill of Rights. After I referred you to Article 12 of The Boxer's Bill of Rights, you pointed out that your decision conflicts with the judgment of the medical doctor who examined me on the night of the fight and expressed to you that your erroneous ruling threatened my right to earn a living this coming Saturday night, March 21, in California, you made the following statements to me: Do you expect me to call a hearing every time a boxer wants to fight while on suspension? My answer to you was, "No, but I think certain circumstances do warrant special attention. I have presented you with every piece of information to point out the error in your decision to suspend me. So, yes, I do think this is a circumstance that warrants an urgent response. Since I have yet to receive that response, Mr. Sirb, and here I sit, one day before the California weigh-in, in my home state of Missouri, having missed today's pre-paid 6 a.m. flight to California. I demand a written explanation from you, Mr. Sirb, detailing the following: 1) Considering that I was thoroughly examined and cleared on the night of the fight by a licensed M.D., of your choice, and those records are readily available to you, on what grounds have I been suspended by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission? 2) Why did you originally tell me I have no right to appeal your decision when, in fact, you knew that wasn't true? 3) What steps do you plan to take to compensate me financially for a decision that you either know is incorrect, or, with one simple phone call to Dr. Bojorquez, could verify as incorrect? Like so many fighters, I box because I love the sport. It's in my blood. It's a part of who I am. My life is boxing, but boxing is not my life. I am a college-educated-boxer and will have a career after boxing. Unfortunately, you may now add me to a long list of fighters who have become disillusioned by overlords whose random, incompetent decisions affect our lives and our livelihoods. You owe me a thorough explanation, Mr. Sirb -- an explanation I promise to share with my attorney and the California promoter who, through no fault of his own, and no fault of mine, lost money and gained an unnecessary measure of stress as a result of your decision. I may not be a Bernard Hopkins or an Oscar De La Hoya of the boxing world, Mr. Sirb, but in no way does this give you the right to push little guys of the boxing world around and expect no consequences for your incompetent decisions. Club fighters, and journeymen, make up the vast majority of the boxing world and demand the same rights and respect as every other fighter in the world. Sincerely, Travis ** Sirb has clearly been taken to task here. He's been taken to task a bunch though, and he never responds. In this particular instance, he kind of has to. What the hell is he doing? Surely he doesn't think that he can just deprive people of their right to make a living, does he? What in the world would make him feel that type of power? Does he suffer from some form of mental disease? Quite possibly. Is there an ego driven reason for his behavior? That's hard to say, although it does have all the characteristics of Napoleon Syndrome. We don't know how tall Sirb is, but he better not be short, or else we've identified his problem for everyone. If he's paying for therapy, he should make out his checks to Shaun Matthews.
