By George!

Garden bout leaves Donaire frustrated

October 23, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

At various points Nonito Donaire went from frustrated to bored to POed. He wanted to bring a taste of old school boxing to the Garden Theater Saturday night, the kind of boxing where fighters slug it out to prove who has the bigger heart and better skills.
	 
Instead, Donaire might as well have been in the ring by himself shadow boxing or enjoying one of his hobbies, like karaoke. Omar Narvaez of Argentina was only taking up space.
	 
After getting rocked by a punch in the third round, Narvaez made the unspoken decision to take the rest of the night off, staying in a defensive shell unwilling to exchange punches.
	 
It made for a boring fight where many in the crowd of 4,475 would boo the lack of action. It wasn’t Donaire’s fault. He tried as best he could to get Narvaez to punch back. But it did put a damper on the first fight in New York for the WBC/WBO Bantamweight champion. The Filipino Flash won every round on all three judges’ scorecards, but it was hardly the most satisfying victory of his career.
	 
“I wanted to bring the old school mentality,” Donaire (27-1, 18 KOs) said. “It’s the Garden. That’s what’s supposed to happen. When I knew the guy wouldn’t open up, I kind of got bored. I opened my face up. The least you can do is hit me with something. The crowd didn’t deserve what happened. People pay money. They didn’t deserve that.”
	 
Narvaez, 36, was eight years older and four inches shorter than Donaire. He was also fighting in the 118-pound division for the first time. But he also was the reigning junior bantamweight champion and was unbeaten in 37 fights (35-0-2). But Saturday night he averaged just 24 punches per round (about a third of the normal output by a bantamweight) and connected on just six per round.
	 
“He was in a survival mode the whole fight,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said of Narvaez. “Once he got hurt like never before in his career in the third round he chucked it in. He went completely defense.”
	 
Donaire will now move up to the 122-pound super bantamweight division and seek a fight with WBC champion Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan or a possible bout with the WBO super bantamweight champ Jorge Arce of Mexico. Maybe he’ll get a real fight then.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Wrongfully imprisoned 52-year-old to make pro boxing debut

October 12, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

LOS ANGELES -- Dewey Bozella's dream has always been to have just one professional boxing match. Following perhaps the most unconventional path to a first professional fight in the history of the sport, that dream will come true Saturday night at the Staples Center.
	 
After spending 26 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder and having that conviction overturned two years ago, Bozella is scheduled to fight in a four-round cruiserweight bout against Larry Hopkins of Houston on the undercard of the championship fight between WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins and former titleholder Chad Dawson.
	 
Highlights of Bozella's fight against Larry Hopkins will be shown during the HBO pay-per-view telecast.
	 
"This is the opportunity that I have been waiting for," Bozella said. "Boxing was the one thing that helped me get through my time in prison and the fact that I am getting this chance to make my dream come true, is something that I cannot wait for."
	 
Bozella, 52, has been training in Philadelphia with Hopkins, who at age 46 became the oldest boxer to win a world title last May when he defeated Jean Pascal.
	 
"Dewey Bozella is a prime example of the power of the mind and heart to do anything," Hopkins said. "This is a man who lost everything for a crime he didn't commit, but he never gave up hope. He has inspired everyone who has heard his story, including me. I'd rather face 100 Chad Dawsons than face two or three days in Dewey's shoes."
	 
Bozella is now determined to use his experience to help others. He has organized the Dewey Bozella Foundation, a charity organized to open a boxing gym in Newburgh, New York where he can train youth as a way to keep them off the streets.
	 
"A lot of people helped me get to this point," Bozella said. "I want to be able to pay some of that forward, open my own gym and help others. My main focus is kids, but my gym will be for anyone who wants to come."

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Feuding Garcia brothers ignore meddling Mayweather

September 20, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

Robert Garcia, former world champion boxer turned trainer, said he thought about taking Floyd Mayweather up on his offer to walk him into the ring for Saturday night’s fight against Victor Ortiz in Las Vegas, but decided it might upset his mother, too much.
	 
Robert Garcia and his brother Danny Garcia, who serves as the trainer for Ortiz, are in the midst of a family feud and aren’t speaking to each other even though their homes are connected by a backyard wall in California.
	 
Mayweather, in a clear attempt to rattle the Ortiz camp, invited Robert Garcia and his fighter Brandon Rios, a former childhood friend of Ortiz, to be part of Mayweather’s ring walk before Saturday night’s welterweight championship at the MGM Grand. It would have been a dramatic scene with Danny Garcia in Ortiz’s corner and Robert Garcia in Mayweather’s. Robert Garcia said he thought about the offer, but decided against it.
	 
“Having my parents, my mom, watching me walk into the ring with somebody I don’t work with just to make my brother and his corner feel bad and lose their head, that was something I just couldn’t do,” Robert Garcia said during a stop in Manhattan Tuesday to promote Nonito Donaire’s Oct. 22 fight at Madison Square Garden’s Theater.
	 
The cold war between the brothers was chronicled extensively during HBO’s 24/7 series leading up the bout won by Mayweather on a fourth-round knockout. Danny Garcia repeatedly said he still loves his brother despite their differences and is hoping for reconciliation. Robert Garcia would have preferred their family issues remain private.
	 
“We do have our differences,” Robert Garcia said. “It’s not just between me and my brother; it’s between my brother and everybody else: my brother, my parents and my sisters. But we keep our things in the family. We have our differences but I’m not going to go out saying the reasons. We do have reasons. But we keep our dirty laundry at home.
	 
#

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Evidence revealed to say boxer Gatti was murdered

September 07, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

Pat Lynch's gut told him there was no way Arturo Gatti committed suicide by hanging himself in a Brazilian hotel room in 2009. But even Lynch was blown away at the mountain of scientific and forensic... Read on

Pat Lynch's gut told him there was no way Arturo Gatti committed suicide by hanging himself in a Brazilian hotel room in 2009.
	 
But even Lynch was blown away at the mountain of scientific and forensic evidence that shows the former boxing champion was likely murdered by strangulation.
	 
That’s the findings of a 10-month investigation revealed during a press conference Wednesday in North Bergen, N.J.
	 
Commissioned by Lynch, who served as Gatti’s manager, a virtual “Dream Team” of experts in the fields of medicine, forensic profiling, federal law enforcement, science and forensic animation, spent nearly three hours yesterday using pictures, charts, animation, physics and basic common sense to prove not Gatti could not have hung himself as Brazilian authorities concluded, but was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head and then strangled to death.
	 
“This is not a suicide,” said Dr. Stanley Zydlo, who has more than 50 years of experience in forensic examination. “It’s a homicide.”
	 
Gatti became one of the most popular personalities in boxing with his warrior mentality and bloody brawls. A native of Canada, he made a home in Jersey City and drew sellout crowds to his bouts in Atlantic City while winning world titles as a junior welterweight and welterweight.
	 
But two years after retiring from the sport, the 37-year-old was found dead by his wife Amanda Rodrigues Gatti, on the morning of July 11, 2009, on the kitchen floor of a condo they had rented in the resort town of Porto de Galinhas, Brazil.
	 
Their 10-month old son Arturo Jr. was also in the condo.
	 
His wife was initially held as a suspect in his death, but was released when Brazilian scientific police surmised Gatti used a purse strap to hang himself from a staircase in the condo.
	 
Lynch couldn’t live with that result and his team of impartial experts concluded otherwise.
	 
Among their findings
	 
· Gatti’s body was found on the floor lateral to the staircase with his head under the breakfast bar. If he had fallen when the strap broke as Brazilian police said, he would have fallen forward.
	 
· There was a blunt force laceration to the back of Gatti’s head that caused the pool of blood around his body. Yet there was no blood on the staircase or on the breakfast bar except for two bloodied hand towels on the counter.
	 
· The purse strap was found an unreasonable distance from Gatti’s body as was a bar stool, which could have been the only mechanism high enough for Gatti to lift himself up to the staircase.
	 
· The blunt force injury to his head was most likely inflicted by another party in the condo while Gatti was clothed in only his underwear, which was how his body was found.
	 
· There is no evidence the body was suspended from the stairs; no marks, no fibers left in the wood, no blood on the walls from the head injury, no marks on his body from the pressure of hanging against the stairs.
	 
· The purse strap was actually 47 inches long, too large to keep Gatti’s head from slipping through it and it could only support a little less than 70 pounds for only four or five seconds.
	 
· The marks on Gatti’s throat were not consistent with a hanging, but more like those found in strangulation.
	 
The investigators and experts stopped short of accusing Gatti’s wife of a crime, but retired FBI special agent Stephen Moore called the investigation by Brazilian police “inexplicable,” and Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, an expert forensic pathologist, called the autopsy in Brazil “horribly incomplete.”
	 
Moore said, “It’s inconceivable what they say happened, happened.”
	 
A full report of the findings will be translated into Portuguese and given to the public prosecutor in Brazil.
	 
The case is still technically open and the prosecutor has agreed to review the new information, and could call for a new investigation or trial.
	 
“We know he was murdered,” Lynch said. “Now let’s find out who planned it and who did it. I think a lot of people have an idea who the finger should be pointed at. But we’ll see.”

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Williams-Lara judges suspended

July 13, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

The judges who scored last Saturday’s controversial fight between Paul Williams and Erislandy Lara have been placed on indefinite suspension by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board.
	 
According to several reports, judges Al Bennett, Hilton Whitaker and Don Givens were suspended after a review of the majority decision given Williams after a 12-round junior middleweight bout at the ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
	 
Most ringside observers thought the underdog Lara won the fight. He connected on more punches (224 to 200), more jabs (46 to 39) and more power punches (178 to 161). He also did more damage turning Williams’ face into a bloody mess. Yet, Bennett scored the bout a 114-114 draw, while Givens (116-114) and Whitaker (115-114) scored it for Williams. The Post saw the bout 115-113 for Lara.
	 
Though the decision will not be overturned, NJSACB commissioner Aaron M. Davis released a statement saying he was “unsatisfied” with the scoring of the contest. He added the three judges would not work another bout until they undergo further training. “Any contestant who enters a ring or cage in our state deserves the best officiating that we can provide. While we do not mean to diminish Mr. Williams’ competitive spirit and exciting style, we feel that we did not provide our best officiating on July 9.” Davis said in the statement.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Boxing writer Kimball goes the distance with cancer

July 08, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

George Kimball III wrote about some of boxing’s greatest fighters ever during his award-winning career as a sports journalist. But in battling esophageal cancer for the last six years, he was as courageous as any of them.
	 
First diagnosed in 2005, Kimball died at his New York home Wednesday night. He was 67.
	 
Kimball covered nearly every major sporting event during a 25-year career as a columnist for the Boston Herald. But his most memorable work came from boxing. In 1985 he was awarded the Nat Fleisher Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism from the Boxing Writers Association of America. He also is the author of Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and the Last Great Era of Boxing (2008) and "Manly Art: They can run -- but they can't hide" (2011). In collaboration with John Schulian, he edited two anthologies, "At The Fights: American Writers on Boxing" (2011) and "The Fighter Still Remains: A Celebration of Boxing in Poetry and Song from Ali to Zevon" (2010).
	 
“When he was first diagnosed they gave him six months to live,” said Ron Borges, a columnist at the Boston Herald and formerly of the Boston Globe. “But he was very productive post diagnosis. When a lot of people give up he was just the opposite. You have to say, he was very much a fighter and a brave guy at the end.”
	 
His friends will not only remember his journalistic genius, but also the times when he would remove his glass eye, lay in on table and say, “I’m keeping an eye on my seat.” Or the time he ran for sheriff in Kansas against an opponent with one hand, promoting his own “two-fisted" campaign.
	 
“George Kimball had a special presence in the boxing world,” said Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports. “He was a splendid writer, a gifted storyteller and an engaging personality. Everybody who crossed paths with him undoubtedly has a great memory to cherish.”
	 
In 2004 Kimball married New York psychiatrist Marge Marash in a ceremony officiated by former heavyweight champion George Foreman. "She was his rock," said author Thomas Hauser. Arrangements for a memorial service are pending.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Five questions for Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer

June 30, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

Richard Schaefer is the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, who will be the lead promoter for the WBC welterweight championship bout between the champion Victor Ortiz and challenger Floyd Mayweather Jr., who will trying to win his seventh world title. The pay-per-view bout is scheduled for Sept. 17 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
	 
Q: After the loss to Marcos Miadana two years ago, Ortiz himself questioned his future in boxing. How has he bounced back from that?
	 
A: When you have that upbringing as a kid and you have to deal with what he had to deal with; the parents leaving and getting into foster care, he turned out a very good young man and he has channeled that negativity into a positive and made something out of his life. That’s a Victor Ortiz that has an unbelievable will power.
	 
Even after the Miadana loss we believed in Victor. He was 22 years young. We all makes mistakes and said stuff or did stuff we probably wouldn’t do or say today. Victor said some things and made some statements that I’m sure he regrets now. But he learned from that.
	 
Q: Do you think Victor Ortiz is ready to fight someone with the talent of Floyd Mayweather Jr.?
	 
A: When you watched that Andre Berto fight from the first second he stepped into the ring you knew he was not going to be denied. He was not going to leave that ring without the belt. Today Victor Ortiz mentally is in a better place than he ever was. He so motivated, he’s so fired up. He’s 10 years younger than Floyd. He has fought regularly, he’s a southpaw and he has unbelievable power.
	 
“Victor is ready. Victor is as ready as you can be. He’s been through the ups and downs and this is his chance. I’m really impressed with the way he’s approaching this fight. This guy’s ready and Mayweather better be ready.
	 
Q; Ortiz is a Golden Boy fighter, but you also have promoted Mayweather’s last four fights when he could have worked with any promoter.
	 
A: It’s a relationship we have. It’s a strong relationship. Floyd Mayweather has made in his last four fights with us record numbers which no one fighter in a span of four fights has made including Tyson including Oscar. He’s making money. What do you want to fix if it’s not broke?
	 
When Mayweather wants to fight, he’s going to let us know. It’s going to be up to us to put the right fight together and the right structure in place to ensure it’s the biggest fight of the year again and that’s what you’re going to see here.”
	 
Q: You said this will be the biggest fight of the year, bigger than Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III in November. Why are you so confident Mayweather-Ortiz will do so well?
	 
A: I have no doubt this will be the most heavily promoted fight in the history of boxing. I’m really excited about it. I think the sky is the limit and the beneficiary is the sport of boxing and those two athletes.
	 
We have the most skilled athlete of our generation and you have a young man I think America will fall in love, who has an amazing story and an amazing personality. Whether it can break the (pay-per-view) record for Mayweather-De La Hoya at 2,480,000 homes, I don’t know. But I have no doubt this will be the biggest fight of the year.”
	 
Q: Why should the public view this as a compelling fight? 
	 
A: The question is can a Mayweather after 16 month of being inactive with a lot of distractions outside the ring; can he keep Victor Ortiz off for 12 rounds? And can Victor’s power connect? Can he hurt Mayweather? And when Mayweather gets hurt, how is he going to react? We know Floyd is great. He fought Shane (Mosley) after Shane had beaten (Antonio) Margarito. He fought (Ricky) Hatton when (Hatton) was undefeated and he fought Oscar when everybody said Oscar was too big because Oscar said the fight had to be at 154. I still don’t think Floyd gets the proper credit from the media as it relates to who he fights. Floyd Mayweather is not afraid of anyone and he proves that again by taking on young, hungry strong, powerful, southpaw in Victor Ortiz.”

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Puerto Rican boxers showcase talents

June 09, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

Miguel Cotto began a tradition of boxing being part of the Puerto Rican Day weekend. That tradition continues this year when area promoters Lou DiBella and Gary Shaw stage two nights of boxing featuring some of Puerto Rico’s top prospects.
	 
Fighting under the moniker “Team Puerto Rico,” the touted prospects will be spread over two nights at the Roseland Ballroom. Seven bouts are scheduled for Friday night. Among those scheduled to appear are Kenny Galarza (14-1, 14 KOs) of Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico; Thomas Dulorme (13-0, 11 Kos) of Carolina, Puerto Rico; and Jose Pedraza (2-0, 2 Kos) of Cidra, Puerto Rico. Area boxers on the card, include Steven Martinez (9-0, 7 KOs) from the Bronx; Alex Perez (13-0, 7 KOs) from Newark and Boyd Melson (3-0, 1 KOs) from White Plains.
	 
Saturday’s card features Luis Del Valle (12-0, 10 KOs) of Bayamon, Puerto Rico; Jonathan Gonzalez (12-0, 12 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Gabriel Bracero (15-0, 1 KOs) of Brooklyn.
	 
“If you look at the top four or five championship prospects from Puerto Rico, they’re all on these cards,” DiBella said. “Puerto Rico is a tremendous hot bed of talent right now. You go into the gyms in Puerto Rico and the level of sparring in a Puerto Rican gym is mind boggling because they’re such a talent pool there.”
	 
Added Shaw, “You’re going to see the next huge Puerto Rican star come out of this group. I really believe that.”
	 
Friday night’s card will be televised on ESPN2, while Saturday’s bouts will be part of the Shobox: New Generation broadcast. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster or by calling DiBella Entertainment at 212-947-2577.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Mayweather will return to ring vs. Ortiz

June 08, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

When Floyd Mayweather sat ringside at Andre Berto’s WBC welterweight title defense against Victor Ortiz last April, the crowd at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods chanted, “Fight Manny…Fight Manny!”
	 
The chants were aimed at Mayweather as the crowd pleaded for him to accept a much-anticipated fight with Manny Pacquiao. But those requests have fallen on deaf ears. Instead of fighting Pacquiao, Mayweather will challenge Ortiz for the title he took from Berto that night. The site of the Sept. 17 pay-per-view bout has yet to be determined.
	 
"I am ready to return to the ring and give my fans a fantastic night of boxing by fighting the best out there and for me, that is Victor Ortiz," said Mayweather, who will not have fought in 16 months. "He is the current champion and an extremely talented fighter who showed amazing skills, and heart, in his last performance against Andre Berto. At this stage of my career, these are the challenges I look for, a young, strong, rising star looking to make his mark in boxing by beating me. Like the rest of my opponents, he is going to try to prove that he can beat me. I commend him for accepting the fight, but on September 17, Ortiz is just going to be another casualty, the 42nd one who tried and failed. Trust me, I will be ready."
	 
Meanwhile, former two-time junior lightweight champion Genaro Hernandez died Tuesday after a three-year battle with a rare form of cancer. He was 45. Hernandez died at his home in Mission Viejo, Calif. He fought professionally from 1984 to 1998 compiling a record of 38-2-1 with 17 knockouts. One of his losses came against Oscar De La Hoya in 1995.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

MMA bill passes New York senate

May 23, 2011 , ι By GEORGE WILLIS

Mixed martial arts is one step closer to being legalized in New York. A bill to make New York the 46th state to sanction MMA passed the State Senate on Monday with a vote of 42 to 18. The bill needs... Read on

Mixed martial arts is one step closer to being legalized in New York. A bill to make New York the 46th state to sanction MMA passed the State Senate on Monday with a vote of 42 to 18.
	 
The bill needs to get through a final Assembly floor vote to finally regulate MMA in New York.
	 
"It's time to bring the fastest growing sport in the world to New York," UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta said. "With every passing month, our sport gets more and more popular around the country and in New York.
	 
"We want to thank the State Senate, and we're confident that when Assembly members take an objective look at our safety record, our popularity with their constituents, and the economic benefits and jobs we would bring to the State, they will take the same action and UFC fans will finally be able to see live UFC events in their home state."
	 
Current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones said, "We're so close to the time I'll be able to fight in my home state of New York.
	 
"Growing up in Rochester it's always been my dream to compete in front of family and friends in the greatest state and biggest media market in the country."
	 
A recent study estimated that holding two Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events in the state (one at Madison Square Garden and one in Buffalo) will create roughly $16 million in revenue.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

↑ Back to Top

Viewing Page: 1 of 29

Next >

Subscribe to this Blog

About the Author

GEORGE WILLIS A columnist for the Post since 1997, George Willis has covered World Championship Boxing, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the Masters, the Ryder Cup and the Super Bowl. The Baseball Hall of Fame voter is a graduate of New Mexico State University. Columnist Archives

Follow George on Twitter