Russ Amber Rips Teddy Atlas and Californian State Athletic Commision

I know its late and most people probably won't have much to add to this but these are two issues that praticcularly got me pissed off lately so it was nice to see Russ Amber vent a little on them in his blog for TSN.ca. Enjoy the read.


My first question is, what the heck is wrong with the California State Athletic Commission?
A little over a month ago, Kermit Cintron met Paul Williams in an interesting junior middleweight match-up in Carson, California. Unexpectedly and needlessly, Cintron went through the unattached ropes and ended up crashing on to a steel television monitor before landing on the floor. The doctor refused to let him get up, and the fight was over that quickly.
As I re-watched the fight time and time again, I realized that the only reason Cintron went through the ropes the way he did was because one of the most important safety devices (as it pertains to a boxing ring) was - incredibly - missing. The straps which are designed to hold all four ropes together in the event of strain and the weight of a fighter were mysteriously non-existent. In fact, they were replaced with a printed strap which was designed to advertise the name of the promoter and not serve its function of holding the ropes together.
This past Saturday, in the continuing saga of the Super 6 World Boxing Classic, highly favoured fighter and Olympic Gold medallist Andre Ward put his WBA title on the line against tournament newcomer Allan Green. As you all know, Green entered the tournament as a substitute for Jermaine Taylor, who had announced his retirement after being knocked out badly in the 12th and final round of his fight against King Arthur Abraham.

I will get to the fight in just a second, but I am still trying to answer my own question: what the heck is wrong with the California State Athletic Commission? Did they not learn anything from the Cintron-Williams fight?
As soon as I watched both Ward and Green enter the ring, I noticed once again the printed logo of Goosen Promotions on the rope strap and saw as well that the ropes were once again not secured.
In what should have been a more competitive contest, Ward dominated Green for the entire 12 rounds. Showing what a complete fighter he is, and in order to nullify the height and reach advantage held by Green, Ward spent most of the fight pushing Green to the ropes, out-punching him and out-working him in every round. While this was indeed a dominant performance, it was far from the explosive one that Ward showed against Kessler. It was also a fight in which Green appeared to be content to serve as a sparring partner for the vastly talented Ward, the majority of the fight taking place with Green's back to the ropes and Ward unleashing short, hard shots on the inside. While this was all going on, referee Raul Caiz Jr. Was forced to hold on to the rope strand in order to be able to support Green so he would not split the ropes open with his own body weight.

While the fight was not one of those that had you on the edge of your seat, I was getting so riled up that referee Caiz had to do a job that the Athletic Commission should have seen to.
Another factor was that Green's promoter is astute boxing man Lou DiBella. As it turns out, DiBella is also the promoter of Cintron. If there is one person on this earth who should have been overly vigilant about this issue, it's Lou.
I am certainly not saying by any stretch of the imagination that the rope issue had anything to do with the fight. Gladly it did not. However, the potential for another accident was definitely there and had this fight ended in the manner that the Cintron-Williams fight ended. What a black eye it would have been for the Super Six Tournament.
C'mon California, I will be happy to send you shoelaces, which would still do a more than ample job to correct a very serious oversight on your part.
Lastly, now that the dust has settled somewhat, I have a moment to remove myself from what was an amazing night on June 11 here in Montreal.
As many of you may have seen live in person or right here on TSN, my fighter David Lemieux scored a convincing first round knockout over a durable and talented Elvin Ayala. To put the win into perspective, let's look at the Ayala's credentials; a former world title challenger, Ayala was in a heated and spirited battle with King Arthur Abraham before succumbing to the power-punching world champion with mere seconds remaining in the 12th and final round.
He also fought to a draw with former world champion Sergio Mora in a fight that many thought Ayala won, and in his last outing, he lost a 12-round decision to USBA Middleweight Champion Lujuan Simon. Undoubtedly, this was Lemieux's toughest opponent to date in his young career.
As for David, he is just 21 years of age, and turned pro only three years ago at the tender age of 18. Since that time, Lemieux has reeled off 23 straight wins with 22 crushing KOs. In his last few outings, Lemieux has faced such notable opposition as Bladomir Hernandez - who had an 18-2 record coming in (KO 5), "Contender" star Donnie McCrary (KO 1), Delray Raines (KO 2), Canadian warrior Jason Naugler (W 10) and Walid Smichet (KO 2). Add to that now the first round knockout of Ayala, and you have an impressive pedigree for such a young fighter.
The only disappointing moment of the whole night were the comments offered up by ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas. While I generally never criticize commentators on their call of the fights, I was particularly taken aback by the comments offered up by Atlas in regards to Lemieux.
Notwithstanding the fact that he had made Ayala his pick to win the fight at the start of the show, Atlas made it clear at the sound of the opening bell, saying, "I don't see it" pertaining to his statement that "everyone up here is hyping this kid."
I am certainly fine with the fact that Atlas may not be sold on Lemieux; as a matter of fact, I would love to hear why. That's the first part of the problem. Atlas made the blanket statement and then offered up no reason whatsoever as to why he wasn't sold on the kid. The least that Atlas - or any analyst - could do is offer up the viewing audience the reasons why he feels the way he does. Perhaps it could be something along the lines of, "He's slow, he's got no defence, he's got bad balance", or something that would shed light on his commentary.
Atlas went on to say however, that he "will use this fight as the litmus test" to see if he buys into the hype. Okay then Teddy, by your own admission you were waiting on the result of this fight to make your evaluation. Did Lemieux pass the test? Obviously not in your eyes, because you still didn't offer up any accolades at the end of the fight.
Moving on, after Lemieux scored the first of three knockdowns in the fight and was pounding Ayala relentlessly, Atlas continued to say that if "Ayala gets through this first round he will still test the youngster." As he was finishing the sentence, Ayala crumbled to the canvas once again.
After the fight ended at the 2:44 mark of the first round, Joe Tessitore offered the opportunity to Atlas to perhaps say something positive about Lemieux. After all, under the circumstances it was difficult to find fault. Again, the best Atlas could offer was, "I would like to see more."
While I am certainly no newcomer when it comes to training boxers and working on television, I pride myself on being able to take my coaching and transmit it through my work as an analyst of the sport. That's what I find to be the easiest part of the job.
The fact that Atlas couldn't see - or refused to see - the reason for the hype surrounding Lemieux can only lead me to two possible conclusions: he is either no longer able to recognize potential and talent or he refuses to acknowledge when he is so very wrong in picking who he thought would win.