Category: Boxing

Exclusive: McClain Talks about the Promotion of the Ali-Martin card By Sue TL Fox

(AUG 25) WBAN interviewed "Yahya" Johnny McClain one on one about the latest promotion that he was involved in with the Ali-Martin card that was held on August 23, in Biloxi, Mississippi. I spoke to McClain about the August 25th article on Fightnews.com that is entitled,  "Promoters Spar After Ali-Martin."  McClain said that in regards to that article, that  “it is not true.”  McClain went on to explain,  “Brian Young (Prize Fight Promotions) did not speak to me after the fight or any other time regarding those matters….AND if we did ‘spar’---I would kick his ass.” McClain also talked about the remarks made in that article about him removing the Prize Fight Banner at the Post Fight Conference.  McClain said, “I DID remove the sole banner, because he (Young) had the Read more [...]

Whaley’s fight cancelled after tragedy strikes event! Brad Rone Declared Dead after fight

(JULY 19, 2003) Last night in Cedar City, Utah, at the Cedar Raceway, Kelly Whaley was to have fought in the main event against Angela Poe, when one fight prior to their fight ended in tragedy. The Whaley team told WBAN that the venue could not have been any more perfect and it was going very well up to the point of a heavyweight bout between Billy Zumbrun of Ogden who fought the ill-fated Brad Rone of Las Vegas. With only about five seconds left in the first round, Zumbrun had delivered a body blow to the kidney, and that shortly after the bell range, Rone fell to the canvas. Rone was taken to Valley View Medical Center, where he was declared dead. The cause of death is unknown, but it has been speculated that it could have been heart related. An autopsy will be performed by the Salt Lake Read more [...]

The Right Way By Bernie McCoy

Frank Lahey, one of the great football coaches at Notre Dame once said, "Egotisim is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity". Yesterday's silliness at the Biloxi MS press conference for the August 23 Laila Ali/Christy Martin may not have been totally stupid, but it was close enough to make the evening news. Putting Ali and Martin in a room with one microphone is similar to putting Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie in a room with one trumpet. Both women have egos equaling or exceeding their skill in the ring; both women are used to being the center of attraction at press conferences;  both women are used to throwing "punch" lines at their future opponents in the ring and getting no response in return. Thus, when Ali and Martin turned the press conference into the type of "dialogue" Read more [...]

“Little Mama” wouldn’t sit down! By Sue TL Fox- July 1, 2003

(JULY 1) Today in Biloxi, Mississippi, the press conference for the August 23rd, Pay-Per-View fight that is to take place at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, proved to be quite exciting when Martin and Ali ended up in a pre-fight brawl! WBAN spoke to Laila Ali shortly after the incident and told WBAN about what had occurred between Christy "The Coal miner's daughter" Martin and herself. Ali said that Martin was the first to get up and speak about the upcoming fight, and that Martin gave thanks to Don King, who successfully promoted her as a boxer, and that "Laila" knows in order for her to be considered one of the best that she has to go through her (Martin). I asked Ali if she had interrupted Martin anytime throughout her talking, and Ali said, "no." Ali then went on to say that Read more [...]

Crying Wolfe: Ali saga on Ann Wolfe

The out-of-the-blue announcement of the August 23,  Laila Ali and Christy Martin matchup brought the expected reaction from the "usual suspects" in Texas. RPM Boxing issued a broadside stating that Ali, by taking the Martin bout, was once again, "dodging the bullet", a matchup with RPM's estimable fighter, Ann Wolfe. Wolfe's name, indeed, has usually been a noticeably absent element any time opponents for Laila Ali are the subject. However, like almost everything to do with Ali and her career, it comes back to Johnny "Yahya" McClain, who is Laila's husband and, not surprisingly, the promoter of the August 23 card on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. McClain has done a masterful job of positioning Laila Ali as the new "face" of Women's Boxing, replacing the other woman in the ring on August Read more [...]

Mike Tyson and Fifteen Years By Bernie McCoy

Fifteen years is a long time. To adjudge just how long, think of one name in the boxing world, Mike Tyson. Fifteen years ago this week, Mike Tyson laid a very solid claim to the title, " the baddest man on the planet" by annihilating, and there's really no other word for it, Michael Spinks in just over a minute in a heavyweight championship bout in Atlantic City. Fifteen years later, Tyson continues to scuffle around the heavyweight ranks, but he is now known more for his bizarre conduct and statements to the press than for his ferocious boxing skill in the ring. Tyson was scheduled as a "program saver" for the original incarnation of the  Lennox Lewis championship fight on June 21. However, remaining true to his career-long erratic behavior, Tyson dropped out of the scheduled bout soon Read more [...]

Friday the 13th: Boxing card at the Chinook Winds Casino – by Katherine Dunn

Friday, June 13th, 2003, Chinook Winds Casino, Lincoln City, Oregon. Promoter: Top Rank; Matchmaker: Pete Susens  -Ringside Physicians: Dr. Luis Rios, Dr. Ron Shear; Referees: Jim Erickson, Dave Hagan, Jeff Macaluso; Judges: Greg Baker, Robert Flamme, Trevor Lewis, Denis Ryan; Regulation: The Siletz Tribal Athletic Commission I’ve decided to blame Bob Arum for the Friday the 13th horror show at the Chinook Winds Casino. In letting the casino and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz off the hook, I’m giving them credit for their first fight card, back on December 4 of 1999, when they hosted the excellent HBO broadcast of Fernando Vargas vs Winky Wright and Diego Corrales vs John Brown. That was promoted by Ringside Ticket, Inc run by Patrick Ortiz. Then the Siletz held the respectable Read more [...]

Auturo Gatti-Mickey Ward, They Deserved Better By Bernie McCoy

The first fight was the best, probably the best of this generation. The return bout wasn't quite as great, it couldn't have been, there's never more than one Taj Mahal. The third fight was the least of the three, but will probably be better than 90% of the boxing matches we'll see in the next five years. When Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward finished the last round of their ten round segment of thirty rounds of boxing on Saturday night in Atlantic City, they stopped punching for the first time in thirty minutes of ring savagery. They  then  stood in the middle of the ring, forehead to forehead and muttered words to each other that only they were privy to, words that, in a true sense,  only they should have been privy to. There was no prancing around the ring, no jumping on the ring ropes, Read more [...]

Michelle Gatewood wins her pro debut By Sue TL Fox, Ringside

(JUNE 16) On Saturday night (June 14) in front of a packed house of boxing fans, Lucky Eagle Casino, in Rochester, Washington, had it's "Fight Night 41".  In the women's bout, it featured two newcomers to the sport. Doll Crain, who weighed in at 100 lbs., and then had to put on some quick pounds for the fight, fought Michelle Gatewood, 110 lbs., out of Spokane, Washington. Crain has been on the fight scene for quite awhile working as a boxing trainer, and a cornerman for various fighters on many cards. Crain showed tremendous heart despite the brutal pummeling she endured. Gatewood punished Crain, she delivered one blast after another until Crain fell to the canvas. Crain would pop right back up, only to be sent right back down again. In the third round at 1:23 seconds, the referee Read more [...]

Talkin’ Boxin’ by Howie Reed – Boxing News in May of 2003

THERE were two major fights (major cause they were on TV only) Saturday Night on Television. One on Showtime (Sharmba Mitchel-Ben Tackie) and one on HBO ( WBA Leonard Dorin-IBF Champion Paul Spadafora). In the air of disclosure I will admit that I saw neither. I write this with no shame and no sorrow. Before going into a long explanation it should be noted that Dorin-Spadafora boxed to a flat footed draw. (115-113 Dorin, 115-114 Spadafora, 114-114). From news reports it was a good fight. Of some interest is that prior to the fight Dotin’s folks had complained about the fight using two California judges. In the end one favored Dorin and the other called it a draw. The WBA judge had it for Spadafora. The Showtime fight was "kinda" a title eliminator to see who wasn’t going to fight Kostya Read more [...]

Spending Time in the Garden By Bernie McCoy May 23, 2003

To many boxing fans my age, and that means those who saw Floyd Patterson fight an eight-round main event in Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway Arena because he wasn't old enough to be licensed to fight ten rounds, "the Garden" can mean only one thing. Its the arena that was on 50th Street and 8th Avenue in New York City and it was the Mecca of boxing in the forties and fifties. This, of course, was decades before it was ever conceived that "big fights" would be held in casino parking lots or ballrooms and most people thought Zaire was a bakery in the Bronx that had bagels "to die for". Friday night was fight night at the Garden, not once a month or every other week, but every Friday, most weeks of the year. The main event started at ten o'clock, since it was televised as part of the "Gillette Cavalcade Read more [...]

The One and Only By Bernie McCoy

He began life eighty three years ago this month, May 3, as Walker Smith Jr in the small town of Ailey,Georgia. His birthplace was one, maybe the only, of the small town elements about the man who was known throughout his career as "Sugar Ray". He lived large outside the ring and inside the ropes he was the largest presence of his, or possibly, any other generation of fighters. There have been other boxers who have appropriated the sobriquet "Sugar Ray" throughout the years, some who have even carried the proud name into the ring with a modicum of distinction.  However, to most knowledgeable boxing fans, "Sugar Ray" goes with Robinson the way "Babe" goes with Ruth. He had nearly 200 bouts in his career and won 173 of them, 109 by knockout, but these are only the unrefined statistics of Sugar Read more [...]

Drama Without a Script… By Bernie McCoy

Its been written that sports is "drama without a script". Every so often, however, a sports event plays out exactly according to a script,  like the last act of a play. On October 26, 1951, that play was, in the eyes of many, a tragedy. The day before, October 25th, I had, chronologically, become a teenager. I could now truthfully proclaim that "I was in my teens" and look forward to all the wonders life had to offer a teenager in Brooklyn. It didn't take long. October 26th was a Friday and Friday was fight night at Madison Square Garden. I usually had to argue, cajole, persuade, and, usually, as a last resort, grovel, to get my dad to take me with him to McGuire's, the neighborhood gin mill, to watch the Friday Night Fights on TV. Once in a great while, he'd give in, particularly if Read more [...]

Women’s Boxing: TV or Not TV – By Bernie McCoy

Have you ever heard of the United States Basketball League?  Its a sub-NBA league existing primarily in medium sized markets around the country and populated with  players not ready for the prime time of the National Basketball Association. Have you ever heard of the Champions Tour, formerly the Senior Golf Tour? Its a sub-PGA tour existing on medium sized golf courses around the country populated with players past their golfing prime and no longer competitive on the Professional Golf Association tour. Don't look in your "local listings" for the next USBL basketball game, they aren't on TV. However, the Champions Tour is regularly telecast and has been for the last fifteen years, providing viewers with "compelling" telecasts of fifty and sixty year olds, climbing in and out of Read more [...]

Talkin’ Boxin’ by Howie Reed – Latest News on Boxing in April of 2003

THERE are perks that come with covering or competing in sport that come only to those that do. It probably takes a singer to fully enjoy Frank singing "One for My Baby" from his Wee Hours of the Morning album. Having the opportunity to watch some of the sporting artists at work, I put Marco Antonio Berrera right there at the top. He’s Jerry Bailey on a horse. He’s Gordie Howe going into the corner with elbows failing and coming out with the puck.. He’s Willy Mays cashing down a fly hit directly over his head in center. He’s Roberto Clemente making the throw from the right field foul line to third. He’s Dale Ernheart giving a little nudge to the car in front. He’s Donnie Gay riding a bull. He’s John Lowe playing a game of darts. He’s every great running back you’ve ever Read more [...]