I am a boxing manager: if you have questions about the boxing biz, ask!

I have read this afternoon that the WBC & other people from the fight fraternity have already raised $50k so hopefully it will at least get the ball rolling so to speak.

Seems crazy that this scenario can happen in a sport so dangerous & not have the correct cover.The promoters hopefully get shamed into helping out also HBO should also step up.

NYSAC will also be interested in what wasn't done to help the fighter as they could be handing out some severe sanctions if negligence is proved.

 

Yeah that's mad! I knew US was all private health care but if your a boxer you would expect that to be taken care of for you! Surely this is down to bad management of the fighter.

It's shocking to think the boxer should pay for massive medical bills should anything unfortunate happen!

 

There comes a point in a young fighter's career where not only the quality of opponent goes up so becomes the length of the contest that fighter is pitched into.The trainer & manager will decide it's time to move them up in level's don't underestimate the increase in the length of bout also raising question's.

The fighter's stamina,conditioning the quality to operate under both mental & physical pressure all carefully monitored.The trainer & manager discussing does it impact on the quality of the fighter's work or is that fighter blessed with the ability to gain a second wind?Are they ready to tackle the longer bout's the four & six round contest's where you rarely needed to go to the well as you learn your trade 'on the job' so to speak.Move up in class & those contest's replaced by the medium distance eight rounder's to the ten & then the marathon twelve round distance it has tested the best of the modern era one & all.Talk to any boxer,trainer or manager they will tell you no different if corner's are cut the weight not done right this is the time it can & will be exposed.

When you watch your favourite modern fighter go back to his corner end of the ninth round tired & grateful of the minute respite they are aware they are entering the championship rounds.Ten to twelve the rounds that sort 'the men out from the boys' a phrase heard many times anywhere boxing is discussed at any decent depth.Well little more than a generation ago & those same championship fighters were sitting down at the end of the tenth in the knowledge that should the fight go to the cards the contest they were in was only two-thirds over.

The fifteen round title fight energy sapping,gut wrenching & needing to seriously leave something in the tank & that applied to the people involved on the periphery let alone the fighter's themselves!These fight's often turned on there head late in the championship rounds of 13-15 with some heartbreaking consequences.For the protagonists it ranged from defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory to the fight we can pretty much remember as the contest that bought about change.

Tomorrow marks 31 years to the day where Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini met Duk Koo Kim over 15 rounds for the WBA lightweight title in La Vegas,Nevada.Kim was written off before the contest as he had only fought once outside of South Korea if the press in the States had thought it would be a walk in the park for Mancini's camp they rightly felt differently.

Mancini was trained by Murphy Griffith who helped trademark 'Boom Boom's' aggressive style.Mancini a fighter that all parties involved knew would be a firework fighter spectacular,exciting but would lack longevity.Dave Wolf his manager also knew it would be a hard nights work ahead he got Ray $250k for the war that was ahead Kim got less than 10% of that figure he was getting $20k.Mancini would later say he trained like the challenger & boy he needed to.

In the lead up to the fight Kim had trouble shifting the last few pounds to make the 135lb limit.He did & left no one under any illusion he saw this fight as the chance to shock the USA.He wrote a message on his bedside lampshade in Nevada 'live or die' wrongly reported at the time as 'kill or be killed'.Kim was going to leave it all in the ring that night & sadly it proved to be prophetic.

The fight to use a well worn term a total war the fight could of been fought in a phone booth no quarter given none taken.Mancini many years later talked of how he thought of quitting midway point left eye damage something he would never be a stranger to in later fights.

The fight started at a relentless pace both fighters having to take the best the other man had to offer.Sugar Ray Leonard commentating praised the intensity of the contest.
It really could of gone either way until they came out for the 11th Mancini's attritional style started to reap rewards.Kim started taking some severe punches mainly right's Mancini's left was swollen & every shot he threw with it was felt by both fighters.

The thirteenth round came & went Kim taking a real barrage 39 punches the footage would show still Kim fought back.The fight was brutal on both men it ended in the 14th Mancini went for broke & it was over inside 19 seconds of the penultimate stanza Kim taking two brutal rights.He fell into the ropes then hitting his head sickeningly on the canvas amazingly he rose to his feet but the referee Richard Green waved it off.

Mancini knew he had been to the brink & then some celebrations straight away overshadowed as Kim minutes after the end became unconscious & left the arena on a stretcher.He had suffered a severe hematoma to the brain & emergency surgery proved to be futile four days later he was dead his life support machine turned off.

The WBC was the first organisation after the tragedy to react reducing the length of title fights to 12 rounds the other organisations would follow suit over the rest of the 80's.

The fallout from the fight impacted many Mancini a little over two years later was to retire for the first time at 24 after losing back to back fights with Livingstone Bramble.The WBA 15 round marathon's at that time still in operation.Two comebacks years later the firework had seen brighter nights he was never the same fighter after Kim...many fighters experiencing similar know only too well.

Kim's family back in South Korea never recovered his mother committed suicide three months after flying to Nevada to be by her dying son's bedside.Just as sadly the referee Richard Green also took his own life the next year as the fallout of the tragedy continued.

Kim at the time of the fight had known his girlfriend was carrying his unborn son a true warrior his name lives on.

 

dempsey, any advice for a fighter taking fights on short notice. Some do's and dont's?

 

Just days after that fight I saw members of the korean amateur boxing team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport...Very subdued individuals.

 

Nice touch Dempsey,anyone reading & contributing for any length of time knew JG.

John Garfield was one of those posters who linked the great names of the past I read about to his real life experiences of meeting them.Absolute gold.

Real mine of information the classic forum rightly has a tribute thread to him as do other sites....he wrote.....we read always a tale to tell a fountain of knowledge.

We can all argue about champions past & present,where they rank Joe was certainly ranked top of the P4P forum list....something that no one will forget.

 

Let's hope they raise enough to ensure he doesnt have to fork anything out!

Shortcuts can be fatal in every way!

 

Dempsey, Nice job on your guy picking up the win this past weekend. Keep up the good work.

 

Oh yeah Dempsey, any advice for a manager just getting into the business on getting fighters to trust you and possibly sign with you? No experience and no bread to put into training and things of that nature.

 

With the news that Abdusalamov is making slow progress in what will be a very long road ahead in his recovery a little bit more about the piece i posted last week on the Mancini-Kim tragedy.

The BBC website sport section boxing page they have a audio & video section.Last week they posted a small interview with Ray Mancini on the anniversary of 31 years since the Kim fight for anyone interest

I am glad the tragedy has been remembered & the BBC put together a interview.To the BBC journalist that highlighted the story glad that it was remembered & to be of help.:good