Hall of Fame Induction Weekend

 I. Home

"Here in Canastota, you can feel the heart of boxing."

-- 2022 IBHOF Inductee Regina Halmich

Nestled in the northern fringes of the Alleghany Plateau about 25 minutes east of Syracuse, Canastota is a bucolic village of 4,800 people that epitomizes the beauty and serenity of large portions of Upstate New York. On the drive into town there's green as far as the eye can see, with hills and mountains not too far in the distance. The main street has no more than a couple of traffic lights. The homes are modest, but well-maintained. It's an unusual yet stirring setting to honor boxing, a sport that's associated more with urban travails than rustic pleasures.

Canastota was home to Carmen Basilio, the great welterweight and middleweight of the 1950s, and that is the village's prime connection to boxing, other than Ed Brophy's quest to honor the sport with the brick-and-mortar museum that was erected in the 1990s. And yet towns like Canastota have played a huge role in boxing. Several towns in New York's Catskill Mountains were famous training locations for many top fighters. A couple hours south of Canastota rests the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, where Muhammad Ali would often hold training camp. These serene locations have frequently been utilized by boxers to refresh, focus and prepare for their biggest nights in the ring.

Photo by Adam Abramowitz

The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) museum itself is modest, and perhaps a tad disappointing for those who have visited other halls of fame, such as baseball's, just over an hour away in Cooperstown. The IBHOF museum has lots of interesting items and pieces of memorabilia. You can find the old Madison Square Garden ring, tons of fight robes, gloves, plaques for all of the inductees, famous fights shown on loop on the monitors, tickets, programs, and other ephemera. There also is a refreshing nod to today's boxers, with memorabilia from fighters such as Spence, Fury and Lomachenko on display. But the IBHOF surely has far more memorabilia than its three rooms can showcase. And I hope that the museum can eventually expand to display more of its collection.   

The museum itself only played a small role in the weekend's festivities. Brophy and his team at the IBHOF pulled out all the stops. Leading up to induction day, events were held at a huge outdoor stage. Bernard Hopkins and Ring Magazine Editor Douglass Fischer held a great Q&A session. There was also a wonderful referee roundtable that featured luminaries such as Tony Weeks, Jack Reiss, Kenny Bayless, Mark Nelson, Benjy Esteves and others. 

Hundreds watched these sessions in seats facing the stage. Hundreds more stood and lined the perimeter. Fighters signed autographs in tents beyond the stage area. And fans jumped on these opportunities. They didn't care if they were 80th in line to get a Roy Jones autograph; that's the reason why they came to Canastota, to interact with their heroes. IBHOF merchandise flew off the shelves in the museum shop. Boxing dignitaries, fans, media members and those involved in the sport floated around the grounds, stopping for conversations, pictures, handshakes and hugs. 

The Hall of Fame annual boxing memorabilia show was on Saturday about half a mile away from the museum at the high school. Vendors from across the nation displayed their treasures (and some trash) to boxing's hardcore. It was almost impossible not to part with some money. Signed pictures, autographed gloves, old magazine covers, boxing artwork, books, figurines, newspapers from yesteryear – in its own way it was a paradise. I bought a really interesting book on Philadelphia boxing history. The stage in the gymnasium featured a table for boxing dignitaries. 2022 Hall of Fame Inductee James Toney was signing autographs and the line was over 150 deep. 

This year's induction ceremony covered three years – 2020, 2021 and 2022 – and included huge talents such as Mayweather, Hopkins, Marquez, Ward, Cotto, Jones, Toney, Mosley and many more. The unique opportunity to see all of these legends on the same stage compelled thousands of boxing fans to make the pilgrimage for Hall of Fame Weekend. Because of outsized demand, the induction ceremony was moved from the Hall of Fame to the Turning Stone Events Center.

Throughout the weekend in Canastota, in the lobby and bars of the host hotel (Turning Stone Resort Casino), at the ShoBox card on Friday night, at the banquet on Saturday night, and during the induction ceremony on Sunday, boxing was everywhere. And for those accustomed to following the sport in relative isolation, here was a centralized locus for like-minded people. There were old friends to catch up with, boxing fans to meet, and opportunities to bump into the scores who work in boxing in one capacity or another. It was wonderful! And as Halmich said in the quote above, you could feel the heart of boxing. Here, boxing felt vibrant, present and real.  

II. Family

"Without family, you don't have anything."

 -- 2022 IBHOF Inductee Bill Caplan

Although boxing is often viewed as the ultimate solitary sport, a fighter alone in the ring trying to conquer his or her opponent, a key takeaway from Induction Weekend was the importance of family, and this extended to blood relatives, surrogate families and even the boxing community as a whole. 2021 Hall of Fame inductee Shane Mosley credited his accomplishments to his father, Jack. Floyd Mayweather referred to his father as a genius and a great man. Mayweather was joined by over 50 friends, family members, colleagues and business associates to help celebrate the weekend. Bernard Hopkins called two people up to the stage for his induction speech, his son and Rudy Battle, a mentor and former boxing referee from Philadelphia. Kathy Duva, who had lost her husband Dan decades ago, was delighted that her three children could attend the ceremony. An adopted child, Duva was able to locate members of her birth family in the downtime during the pandemic, and she was exuberant that many of them were able to attend the induction ceremony.  

Bernard Hopkins on Saturday
Photo by Adam Abramowitz

Sportswriter Bernard Fernandez, a great scribe from Philadelphia, couldn't attend the ceremony in person as he has been tending to his ailing wife, but Hopkins and Fernandez's fellow Philly writer and friend Joe Santoliquito called him live from the stage during the ceremony, and Hopkins, whom Fernandez covered intimately during his professional career, inducted him. 

Marian Trimiar, a female boxing trailblazer from the '70s and '80s, thanked dozens who had helped her during and after her boxing career, including her live-in medical orderly, whom she regarded as her "sister."

The ceremony was also filled with children, grandchildren and other relatives on hand to accept awards on behalf of inductees who had passed away. 

The induction ceremony encompassed whole ranges of emotions. There was bliss. There was laughter. There was loss. You could feel the inductees' love, joy, hardships and sacrifices. It was raw and at times cathartic. 

III. Victory...but at a cost

"People ask me who was the biggest puncher, who was the toughest opponent. It was the sport of boxing."

-- 2021 IBHOF Inductee Andre Ward

As wonderful as boxing can be, Induction Weekend was a reminder of the dark side of the sport. James Toney, the preeminent trash talker of his day, spoke for no longer than a minute as words no longer come easily for him, at least not in a public setting. Ward admitted that the draw of coming back to the ring has been strong, but every day that he didn't fight meant that he had beaten the sport of boxing. You could still feel Mayweather's antipathy towards those who doubted his ability to become a star or believed that he would squander all of his money. Lou DiBella talked about how hard it has been for him to smell the roses during his time in boxing. Throughout the weekend there were a couple of older ex-fighters making the rounds who walked with visible discomfort, reinforcing the physical toll of the sport.

Even in the ring on Friday night during the ShoBox card, there was a reminder that the dark side of boxing remains present. Heavyweight George Arias won a split decision over Alante Green as a last-minute replacement. But Arias was only on TV because Elvis Garcia had failed a performance enhancing drug (PED) test. 2021 IBHOF Inductee Dr. Margaret Goodman revealed that she had left the Nevada Athletic Commission as a ringside physician because she didn't believe that the commission was doing enough to clean up the sport. In her speech Goodman beseeched the audience to do more to get PEDs out of boxing. And I'm sure the irony wasn't lost on her that on the very same stage where she was being honored for helping to clean up the sport, there were a couple of fighters, now Hall of Famers, who had failed PED tests. 

Many of the female fighters who were inducted during the ceremony reminded those in attendance about the limited opportunities that they had at the time. They didn't necessarily want to be trailblazers; they just wanted to fight, and they didn't have the options or the financial possibilities that many of their male counterparts did. It was great to see Ann Wolfe and Christy Martin and Holly Holm onstage, but if they were fighting now their financial prospects would have been exponentially higher.  

IV. Boxing

"Boxing is the most relatable sport. Everyone knows how it feels to be knocked down in life and that you have to pick yourself back up. It's universal."

-- 2020 IBHOF Inductee Lou DiBella 

As many legends of boxing were honored over the weekend, the next generation was also present. Welterweight champion Terence Crawford was around all weekend, so was his last opponent, the recently retired Shawn Porter. Junior middleweight contender Sebastian Fundora was also there. Oh, there was also a fun fight card. 

Bakhodir Jalolov, the Tokyo Olympics super heavyweight gold medalist, headlined the card and fought into the eighth round for the first time in his professional career. The power in Jalolov's left hand is real and he does different things with it. He walks opponents into it, he can go upstairs or downstairs, and he throws a mean uppercut. He shares some similarities with fellow southpaws Oleksandr Usyk and Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in that his back hand is more than just his dominant power hand; he can use it creatively. 

Jalolov before Friday's fight
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Trapp

Jalolov is now 11-0 with 11 stoppages. With his power, amateur pedigree and the fact that he's in the heavyweight division, he will get significant opportunities sooner rather than later. But he still has a lot to work on. His right hook is more of a concept than an actual punch at this point. He also is a little too impressed with his power. On Friday he repeatedly hit Jack Mulowayi with his biggest punch, but stood there in almost disbelief as Mulowayi remained upright. Instead of following up a big shot with subsequent power punches, Jalolov did a lot of posing, admiring his work. He will need to understand that knockouts often come by putting punches together instead of just landing single shots in a vacuum. But that is all for another day. He still has more than enough time to refine his skill set and he is one of the top heavyweight prospects in the sport.  

And it wouldn't be ShoBox without some obscure guy impressing as the "opponent." Chann Thonson is a 30-year-old lightweight from Quebec who fights out of Toronto. Although he's been a pro for almost six years, he only had ten fights coming into Friday's match, where he squared off against undefeated prospect Ty Tomlin, a DiBella fighter. 

After tasting some serious leather in the first round, Thonson figured out that Tomlin was left-hook happy. He realized that if he moved to Tomlin's right side, he wouldn't face the same amount of danger. Having solved problem #1, Thonson proceeded to crack Tomlin with sharp combinations. When Tomlin would rush in irresponsibly, Thonson would make him pay. Thonson's clean punching continued to have more and more of an effect as the fight progressed and he was able to open up a huge cut on Tomlin. Eventually the fight was stopped in the fifth round because of the cut and no one protested the stoppage. It was a solid, clean TKO victory for Thonson, who could be fighting a lightweight of note really soon. 

***

Overall, there's much more I could say about Induction Weekend, but I'm sure we can agree that this article has gone on long enough. So, let me end with this: If you have never been to Induction Weekend, you must put it on your list. If you love boxing, you will walk around all weekend with a huge smile on your face. The experience will enhance your connection to the sport and to those who love it like you do. It was unforgettable. 

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook. 

Tim Bradley's Time

Tim Bradley had a great night on Friday. The ESPN commentator and former world champ provided a clinic in how a sharp boxing analyst can enlighten a broadcast. At the top of the show, Bradley pulled no punches when it came to discussing Oscar Valdez's failed PED test. In an emotional monologue, Bradley was adamant in how allowing Valdez to continue to fight despite the failed test helped erode the credibility of boxing and he condemned the powers that be in their failure to regulate the sport properly.  

And this theme was repeated throughout the extraordinary broadcast. Far too often we see boxing commentators and networks gently push unpleasantries aside. How often do we hear announcers nebulously refer to damaging behavior as "out-of-the ring difficulties" and just leave it at that, a mere footnote before the action commences? But ESPN and Bradley in particular went all in. Bradley didn't allow Valdez any wiggle room. To him a fighter was responsible for any substance he or she may use or ingest. And for proponents of a clean sport, Bradley was singing the perfect tune. 

ESPN Boxing Analyst Tim Bradley
Photo Courtesy of ESPN

Friday's broadcast was unusual in another aspect: ESPN was biting the hand that feeds it. ESPN has an exclusive contract with Top Rank to provide boxing content. And yet it was Top Rank that helped lead the charge to clear Valdez. However, Bradley, Andre Ward and Bernardo Osuna didn't succumb to those political considerations. In their mind, a wrong was committed, an egregious one, and it was more important to them to draw a line in the sand and stake a position on the clean side of the drug testing issue than to play nice with their corporate partners. 

In short, ESPN's commentators were being advocates for the sport, a position that HBO often held during its heyday, as well as former ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas. To the ESPN broadcast crew, boxing's health and legitimacy were far more important than the transactional nature of broadcasting an Oscar Valdez fight or towing the Valdez/Top Rank company line for the reason for the failed drug test. It was refreshing to say the least. 

But it wasn't just the drug issue where Bradley shined on Friday. Throughout the broadcast he provided incisive commentary. During Gabe Flores' bout, where the young prospect was dismantled by Luis Alberto Lopez, Bradley shed light on a personality issue of Flores' that was contributing to his difficulty during the fight. Bradley relayed that he had asked Flores in Thursday's fighter meeting if he was going to work on keeping his left hand up more. To which, in Bradley's telling, Flores responded that he's going to be himself in the ring. In that answer from Flores, there was a hint of stubbornness, a refusal to examine criticism. After the fight, Flores, beaten up and demoralized, blamed himself for the loss saying that his dad provided him with the right instruction in the corner, but he had refused to listen. 

Bradley also pointed out additional aspects of Flores' style that he had failed to develop in his young career. While Flores maintained that he was getting more comfortable holding his feet and fighting on the inside, Bradley astutely pointed out that Flores resorted to backing up against the pressure fighter repeatedly, which invited even more aggression from Lopez. 

In the Xander Zayas fight, where the undefeated prospect was facing the toughest test of his young career against Jose Luis Sanchez, Bradley immediately saw that Sanchez could have success with his right hand over the top because of Xander's poor glove positioning with his left hand. And although Sanchez didn't win the fight, he repeatedly landed those right hands throughout the contest. It was a gut check fight for Zayas and he came through it well, but Bradley and Ward didn't act as a Greek Chorus marveling at the young fighter, as many broadcasters do. The commentators saw real issues and pointed them out. The final scores of the bout, which were a shutout for Zayas, didn't convey the competitiveness of the fight or the issues that Zayas still has to address. And it wasn't all negative. Bradley praised Zayas' skills, power and heart at points in the fight, but it was mixed with the type of reality check that he often gives as part of his commentary. 

The main event between Oscar Valdez and Robson Conceicao saw all three judges and the ESPN crew having Valdez at the victor, but many scoring at home thought that Conceicao had done enough to win. After a fast start from Conceicao, Valdez had more success in the back half of the fight. And as the rounds progressed, the number of authoritative punches from Conceicao started to drop. Yet Conceicao was dancing in the ring, holding his arms up, showboating. Bradley and Ward correctly pointed out that the judges may not respond well to that kind of display when the fighter isn't doing enough offensively to warrant it. There can be room for showboating in boxing, but it only works when one fighter is dominating the other. For Conceicao, he was playing with his food too much instead of putting more punches together, the kinds that can sway judges. 

It was no surprise to Bradley and Ward that the judges scored it for Valdez. And whether you agree with Bradley on who should have won the fight, the fact that he and his team pointed out that professional judges might not take kindly to a fighter (especially a challenger) who engages in those antics, and they were proven correct, is a point in their favor. They were right about how this behavior in the ring would be perceived, and that is what an astute analyst does – illuminate the action at hand. 

Tim Bradley is still growing into his role as a boxing commentator. Sometimes he can be overly negative on young fighters, wanting them to do things that are beyond their capabilities. Other times he, and his team at ESPN, can engage in too much hyping of a network favorite son. 

But he sees the action well. He's not afraid to be bold and he wants to matter in his position. Bradley understands that he has an ability to affect the sport and how it's perceived, and he takes that responsibility seriously. His performance of Friday was another sign that he possesses special qualities. I hope he continues to be bold and incisive. The sport has enough empty suits. 

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook. 

Opinions and Observations: Kovalev-Alvarez

Let start with the first knockdown in the seventh round. Eleider Alvarez throws a jab to Kovalev's upper chest. Then Alvarez comes back with an overhand right over Kovalev's ineffectual counter left hook. Kovalev feels the sting of the punch, freezes and then stumbles back a couple of steps; his legs start to betray him. As the full impact of the blow manifests, Kovalev's legs completely give way and he falls to the canvas.

After the fight, Alvarez and his trainer Marc Ramsay referred to that combination as the "Macintosh". They had practiced it specifically for Kovalev. Alvarez revealed that Ramsay asked for that combination heading into the seventh round. Message received, and in a few short moments, a new light heavyweight champion was born.

Why that combination can work on Kovalev is that sometimes he has a slow reaction time on defense, especially when he has to change his eye level from body to head. Ramsay said after the fight that there were a number of things they noticed in Kovalev's past fights that they thought could be exploited. Count the "Macintosh" as one of their prime successes during training camp.

Kovalev got up from that first knockdown, perhaps too fast, and still had a good 20-30 seconds until a punishing sweeping left hook/straight right hand combo knocked him down again. It was in those 20 to 30 seconds where I believe that Kovalev made his only grave mistake in the fight. Instead of holding on, clinching or moving away from danger to buy time, Kovalev immediately started to fire back. On one hand, he was responding like a real fighter, but on the other, he wasn't acting like a smart one. The decisions he made immediately after the first knockdown are what sealed his fate on Saturday. 

Photo Courtesy of Ed Mullholland/HBO

Sergey has always exhibited a sign of disbelief after he gets hurt. It's almost as if he says how dare my opponent have the tenacity to try to fight me! It speaks to his essential ring identity; he is the bully, the one in control. This occurred in the second Andre Ward fight and also in his first matchup against Jean Pascal. Ultimately, he doesn't respect his opponents. He believes that he is unbreakable and when he does get hurt, he lacks the humility to try Plan B. He immediately wants to settle the score and this leads to him taking even more punishment.

Alvarez, who was down on all three scorecards entering the seventh round, dropped Kovalev with different punches in each of the three knockdowns: Overhand right, left hook/straight right combo, and a right hook. In addition, his jab was crisp throughout much of the fight. He displayed versatility, creativity and a good chin; it was a damn good performance. 

He was also losing. To my eyes, Kovalev fought exceptionally well in the first six rounds of the match. No longer the plodder of recent outings, he was on the balls of his feet almost all night, expertly cutting off the ring and making impressive athletic moves. When Alvarez tried to escape, Kovalev moved with him. He also did an excellent job of getting in and out of the pocket, using his feet to reset the action. 

Kovalev displayed a number of new wrinkles during the first six rounds of the fight. His work with trainer Abror Tursunpulatov was bearing fruit. In the past he was essentially a two-and-a-half punch fighter. He would dominate opponents with his jab, right hand and an occasional left hook. However, on Saturday Kovalev was throwing double lead left hooks to the body and head, lead uppercuts and counter uppercuts, the types of punches and punch sequences that he had never before utilized on the world-level. This expanded arsenal helped him establish primacy in the fight. In the fourth and sixth rounds in particular, he was doing major damage with an array of power punches; Alvarez wasn't prepared for Kovalev's variety. 

At the post-fight press conference, Alvarez said that Ramsay implored him to go on the inside in the seventh, to take the fight to Kovalev. According to both it was all part of the game plan. Ramsay said, "We knew coming into the fight that we might lose a few early rounds. It was our plan to use our physicality in the second half of the fight."

That "Macintosh" combination in the seventh short-circuited the plans of wearing down Kovalev. But Ramsay helped instill a mindset in his fighter: It was now time to be aggressive, to look for big shots. And Alvarez heeded his corner's advice and executed the best sequences of his career. It was a perfect example of a trainer and fighter working in unison. 

Photo Courtesy of Ed Mullholland/HBO

Also, I want to dispel two myths from the fight: 1. Kovalev gassed. 2. Saturday's fight was somehow a continuation of Kovalev's two bouts against Ward. 

In Kovalev's last three completed rounds of the fight he threw, according to CompuBox, 82, 37 and 55 punches. The 82 punches in the fourth was his high watermark for the fight. The 55 punches in the sixth were his third highest. In each of those three rounds, he threw over 20% more punches than Alvarez did. Even in the seventh round, where Kovalev spent a major portion of it hurt, he still threw 44 punches to Alvarez's 49. So in essence, if Kovalev somehow tired, wilted or gassed in the fight, the evidence doesn't show it based on activity. Even after being dropped, he came back firing punches. There was nothing about his performance that points to being gassed. 

Second, there's no doubt that Kovalev had wilted both physically and psychologically during the second Ward bout. He was a beaten fighter at the conclusion of that match. With that stipulation aside, I didn't see any similarities between that performance and what I observed in Atlantic City on Saturday night. Kovalev got up from two huge knockdowns. To his credit or discredit, he tried to fight back as hard as he could. That is not what a beaten fighter does. A defeated fighter stays on the canvas, or refuses to let his hands go, or stares at his corner or the ref once action resumes, or turns his back to his opponent. On Saturday, Kovalev did none of those things. 

Everyone likes to get sucked into grand narratives, but sometimes events are discrete. Yes, Kovalev lost to both Ward and Alvarez. However, he didn't quit against Alvarez and showed no external signs of yielding. 

These distinctions matter because many boxing observers are using Saturday's results to weave grand tales of Kovalev's failure as a fighter and a competitor, at the expense of Alvarez's tremendous performance. I'm not saying that fighters shouldn't be criticized. Of course they can and should be when warranted, but be accurate. Kovalev didn't lose the fight; Alvarez won it.  

Ultimately, Kovalev was beaten by a boxing move. A fighter practiced a specific combination in the gym and executed it perfectly in the ring. Similar to when Jermall Charlo dropped Julian Williams with a counter right uppercut, sometimes a fighter makes a superior boxing move, and it turns the fight. It doesn't make Kovalev or Williams physically or mentally inferior. All it means is that on a particular night, an opponent beat them due to ring craft, practice and execution. Alvarez earned his victory on Saturday; nothing was gifted to him. 

***

Having enjoyed many memorable boxing nights in Atlantic City over the past 15 years, I was elated to see a packed house on Saturday. It certainly brought back memories. Over four years since the last big fight in Atlantic City (Hopkins-Kovalev), it was great to see the casino buzzing and the bright lights of HBO Boxing returning to the shore. 

Atlantic City has faced hard times over the last decade with a number of casinos shuttering and tens of thousands of jobs lost. Even some of the casinos that survived, such as Caesars and Bally's, have been saddled by their corporate parents with so much debt that they've just been hanging on. 

Emerging from all of this wreckage, two new casinos opened this year, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, which hosted Saturday's fight, and the Ocean Resort Casino, which will hold a Top Rank card in two weeks. Both properties are refurbishments of casinos that had closed. 

Atlantic City had been a top boxing destination since gambling was legalized in the jurisdiction in 1978. Now, with new players in the market, there exists a significant opportunity to reestablish a boxing presence. In the summer there may not be a better place in the country to experience a boxing weekend. In addition, with the Hard Rock venue and Boardwalk Hall, there are now at least two excellent fight venues in the resort town. 

Main Events and the Duva family have promoted shows in Atlantic City for decades. They understand how to do their job. Yes, Alvarez brought a number of fans from Montreal and Kovalev has built a consistent following among boxing aficionados and Russian-speaking fans from the Northeast. But there were also other touches. Karl Dargan fought on the undercard and brought down a couple hundred fans from Philadelphia. Frank Galarza had a sizable Brooklyn contingent for his fight. These are the little things that seasoned promoters do to help sell tickets and create a better atmosphere in the arena. 

And the arena was certainly rocking after Alvarez's knockout win. I hadn't witnessed such jubilation in a crowd since Marcos Maidana beat Adrien Broner in San Antonio in 2013. For a first event in a new property, Saturday's outcome was ideal. Every one of the 5,600 fans in attendance will remember Kovalev-Alvarez. Perhaps a new star was born with Alvarez, and many new boxing fans may have been hatched as well. I'd say that's a great night for the sport. 

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 

He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.
snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook. 

Opinions and Observations: Sor Rungvisai-Estrada

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai throws only two punches: a right hook and a straight left hand. His opponents needn't concern themselves with defending against a jab or an uppercut: there are just those two shots. Thus, facing a foe with such a limited offensive arsenal, Juan Estrada, one of the best counterpunchers in the sport and a supreme boxing technician, was the bookies' favorite and the pick of many boxing writers (including this one) to be victorious over Srisaket on Saturday. 

In his past efforts against top opposition, Estrada has featured an impressive punch variety, offensive creativity, pinpoint accuracy and the ability to come on late in fights – the types of characteristics that could help nullify Srisaket's powerful but straight-line attack. However, by the end of the fight on Saturday, Srisaket was the one with his hands raised, winning a deserved majority decision over Estrada and retaining his junior bantamweight title. What explained his success?

Courtesy of Ed Mullholland/HBO

Let's go back to those two punches for a moment. What differentiates Srisaket from other fighters with a paltry offensive arsenal is his ability to use his limited shots in unpredictable ways. To initiate an exchange he can throw either the right hook or the straight left to any part of the body: the stomach, oblique, chest, shoulder, chin, or temple. In addition, he's always thinking in combinations. Often the first shot is a throwaway punch, not meant to land, but the second will hit pay dirt. He also varies the speed, power and trajectory of his shots, especially the hooks. Thus, even a well-schooled defensive fighter like Estrada had difficulty in anticipating where and how Srisaket would initiate offense. 

In addition, Srisaket featured new wrinkles on Saturday. He wasn't the crude banger we saw against Roman Gonzalez. No, the slugger incorporated new-found elements of craft into his attack. Deftly using feints, both with his hands and upper body, Srisaket upset Estrada's ability to time him. Yes, he still attacked in a straight line, but his added layers of deception flummoxed Estrada throughout many portions of the fight. Furthermore, he didn't over-commit with his shots, as he had sometimes done against Gonzalez. Srisaket was patient and poised with his offense, which further minimized opportunities for Estrada. 

Andre Ward, who provided enlightening commentary throughout the main event on HBO, quickly realized that Estrada needed to make tactical adjustments in the fight. If Estrada couldn't find sustained success from countering, then he needed to lead. Furthermore, why was Estrada insistent on fighting at range, where Rungvisai's straight left would be most damaging?

Yes, there were points where Estrada took the initiative in the fight. On the front foot, he had success. In addition, he was able to counter Srisaket deftly at times. He landed his share of impressive shots, but often he was crawling his way back into the round, or trying to steal it in the last 30 seconds. He allowed Srisaket to force the action, establish the flow, come forward and win the ring generalship battle.

Ward made another prescient observation about Estrada that stuck with me after the fight. Sometimes, an excellent boxer is going to have to fight. The very best do whatever it takes to win. Think about Ward taking the fight to Kovalev in the latter half of their first bout and then in the rematch. Or consider how Mayweather engaged in a shootout against Maidana to win their first match. These adjustments weren't necessarily their preferred choices, but the fights demanded that they make the switch. They put aside ego and were eventually victorious. Estrada didn't; unlike them afterward he cried foul. 

Estrada needed to get in close against Srisaket, which would have disrupted his rhythm and perhaps nullified his straight left. But he wasn't willing to engage in that type of battle consistently. Sure he could tell himself that he won the match, but he fought in such a style that the judges were more than justified in selecting Srisaket's work in several close rounds. 

As I pointed out in my column from the first Superfly card in September, Estrada, who had been out of the ring for long stretches of the past two years, didn't have the same type of mobility that he had featured earlier in his career. On Saturday, again, Estrada displayed very little lateral movement. Although he would turn Srisaket at points in the fight, more often he would try to use his gloves, arms and reflexes, instead of his legs, to evade shots. With Srisaket's ability to change the trajectories of his punches, a stationary target played into his hands. 

Although Estrada is only 27, to my eyes he is an old 27. While many comparisons are made between him and Juan Manuel Marquez, those comparisons apply to the late-career version of Marquez – the one who sat in the pocket and countered, not the one who would use his legs and the ring to box. 

Estrada is still an excellent fighter, perhaps top-ten in the sport. However, as Ward pointed out, he wasn't willing to do what was needed to win against Srisaket. If he's already in decline physically (which I think he is) and he lacks the intestinal fortitude to win at all costs, perhaps a rapid decline could be forthcoming. I'm not ready to write him off yet, but if he hopes to maintain his status in the sport, more, not less, will be needed from him in future fights. Super flyweight/junior bantamweight is a minefield of world-class boxers; it's probably the best division in the sport. If Estrada has designs on recapturing a championship belt, he's going to have to fight a certified badass to get it – not an easy task, and one which will require more than he was willing to provide on Saturday.

I certainly wouldn't be opposed to a rematch, but I also would understand if Srisaket wants to go in another direction. With three high-profile road fights in succession, I'm sure he'd love to make a home title defense in front of his burgeoning Thai fan base. There are also other exciting matchups in the division, including those against Jerwin Ancajas, Naoya Inoue (if he doesn't move to bantamweight) Kal Yafai, or even Donnie Nietes, the current flyweight champ who might move up to 115 lbs. for a bigger opportunity (Nietes had an impressive knockout win on Saturday's undercard).

Opportunities now abound for Srisaket. HBO would love to get him back on their airwaves as soon as possible. Offers for big fights could arrive from Thailand, the U.S., England and Japan. It will be fascinating to see if the former garbage man, who used to eat rats in order to survive, will fall prey to self-satisfaction. His $250,000 purse represents big money in Thailand. He could go the Marcos Maidana route and blow up to 200 lbs. Of course, he could also be one of those self-driven, high-performing athletes who won't be distracted by money or publicity. 

Srisaket lost three out of his first five professional fights. He was thrown to the wolves. He was just another expendable Thai boxer. But nine years later, he's headlining halfway around the world, making good money and kicking some serious ass. Nothing was expected of him, yet he never accepted that narrative. He continues to improve, refine his craft and slay dragons. Just two years ago he wasn't even a boxing afterthought; he was irrelevant. Now he might just be among the best fighters in the world. 

It's a wonderful sport.

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 
He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 
Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com. 
snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook. 

The SNB Interview -- Jack Reiss Part II

In Part II of my interview with Jack Reiss, the veteran California referee and judge details the current points of emphasis on fighter safety. Incorporating his experience as a firefighter in dealing with trauma, he provides insight into the dangers of rabbit punching. Reiss also reveals the craziest fight of his career and his most difficult one to referee. He also recounts his performance during the memorable and foul-filled Andre Ward-Edwin Rodriguez fight. 

To read Part I of the interview click here.

Interview conducted by Adam Abramowitz
The interview has been edited and condensed.

You’ve done a couple of memorable fights with Andre Ward (Mikkel Kessler and Edwin Rodriguez). In the Rodriguez fight, you took the unusual step of taking away two points from both fighters in the fourth round. What was your thought process at that point?

I got to give you the backstory there. Those guys hated each other. Adam, when I walked into the arena, you could cut the tension with a knife. I wasn’t five feet in the arena, folding my uniform, when I got approached by the promoter complaining about some stuff that was going on from Rodriguez’s corner. And as I went further in, people from different camps were trying to get my attention, complaining about stuff…let’s just say that there was a lot of tension between the camps.

When I went into the dressing room, both fighters and their camps were complaining about the other fighter. I knew it was going to be a very tense fight. I understand that these are highly trained athletes. They are full of adrenaline and you add stuff like this. Now they got emotion on top of it. Sometimes in a fight like this, or any championship fight when there’s a lot at stake, it’s not going to be pretty for the first few rounds. I try to let that adrenaline spike settle out of them and usually the fight will settle into what it’s going to be. I try to give little corrections and soft and silent warnings that nobody really sees or hears outside of the ring. “Knock that off,” “keep them up,” “watch your elbow,” “let him go.” Nobody can really see or hear what I’m doing except the fighters or maybe those right at ringside. I’m trying to steer them.

But in this particular fight it was so egregious that I had to take harsher steps. I had to go further than I would have like to have had in the first couple of rounds. In the fourth round, when they got into that clinch, and Andre’s head was under Edwin’s arm, I was saying “stop,” and Edwin was walking backwards and wasn’t stopping. He almost had him in a guillotine. He was lifting Andre by the throat, choking his air off. He wouldn’t stop when I was saying stop and Andre took matters into his own hands and threw that punch over the top. I jumped in there between them and stopped them. I knew that I had to do something drastic to regain control of this thing. I had to let both of them know that I’m not going to tolerate this…so I took two points from both of them and also fined them.

When you are reffing a fight with a guy like Andre Ward, Sakio Bika or Bernard Hopkins, experienced vets who know how to foul, is your preparation any different?

No, I want to know what I’m dealing with but my preparation is the same. Let me tell you that there’s a big difference between Sakio Bika and Bernard and Andre. Bernard and Andre are closer together but Sakio is in a league of his own. Sakio can’t help himself. I don’t know to explain it but he throws a punch or two and falls in. He grabs. He’s a difficult guy to ref.

Whereas Bernard knows exactly what he’s doing.  Bernard is a master. If I’m on the left, he’s holding on the right. If I’m on the right, he’s holding with his left. Some of the funniest things that ever happened to me were in the Joe Smith fight with Bernard. Bernard and him clashed heads in the second round. Joe Smith grabs his head and says he got butted. And Bernard says to me, “Jack, that was a left hook.” [laughs] This is in the middle of the whole thing and he’s telling me it was a left hook. Then, another time he was against the ropes and one of Joe’s blows was a little below the beltline and I said Joe, keep them up, just silently. And then Bernard looked at me and started grabbing his groin. He was fine until I said that! So he’s always looking for an angle. He’s always looking for something. He’s a master at it.  Two different things. With Sakio, it’s not purposeful.

You’ve reffed fights all over the world. What’s been your favorite place that you’ve traveled to?

I’ve got more than one. I had a wonderful time in Singapore doing “The Contender.” I spent about a month there. People were nice. Really clean place. The food was delicious. Germany is another great place. Really clean. The fans get into the fights. I’ve had a lot of great experiences in many different places. I can’t just pick one over the other.

What’s the craziest experience you’ve ever had reffing a fight?

This goes back to the Hernandez-Leyva fight in Mexico we were talking about earlier [in Part I of the interview]. Both guys were clashing heads and punching each other. They were both a bloody mess. Once the fight was over, fans started pelting us. They were peeing in plastic cups, twisting the top and throwing them at us. They were throwing bottles at us. They were throwing whatever. I was standing in the corner of the ring waiting for the ring announcer to announce the end of the fight and a full diaper of shit flew right by my face. I got angry. I turned to the crowd to give a look to whoever did it. You know, a fuck you look. And I got hit square in the head with a Gatorade bottle.

So Pat Russell was judging and he said, Jack, let’s get out of here and we bailed out. There were federales around us, protecting us. And the federales had to escort us to a bus waiting with dark windows. It was just crazy. There is actually lots of stuff like that that happens in boxing.

What’s the most difficult fight that you’ve reffed?

I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. But let me tell you, Sakio Bika-Anthony Dirrell sucked [their second fight].  It was so brutally painful for the audience and for me to watch. I kept saying to myself, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” Do you know that expression? I said if I get too involved and warn these guys, they aren’t going to change. Then I’m going to be the focus. Instead, I kept it moving as fast as I could. It was brutal, Adam. It was one punch and hold. Two punches and hold. It was just like a dance the whole night. It seemed like 40 rounds instead of 12.

What’s your process like for evaluating your performance?

I have a couple different checks and balances. I’m more critical of myself than anyone else could ever be. It’s interesting that you asked that question. If a baseball player hits 3 out of 7, he’s the greatest in the world. He’s on the All-Star Team. If I’m not perfect, even 9.5 out of 10, I still focus on whatever I did wrong. I get aggravated at myself and I try to find out why I did what I did, or didn’t do what I should’ve done.

But my checks-and-balance system is that I try to get every single fight that I do, especially the ones that are on TV, and I evaluate everything that I did. How I looked that night. Sometime I look heavier than others. I look at my uniform. How was I moving? Were my voice commands right? Were they too loud or not loud enough? Was I breaking them too quickly? I really scrutinize myself.

As a checks-and-balances system, I have a group of trusted officials who I respect. Right now that’s Pat Russell, Tom Taylor, Mike Bell, Big John McCarthy. We’ve had a tremendous influence on each other. We’re close friends. We’re brutally honest with each other in a good way. We dissect what happened. We don’t say you sucked or anything like that. We’ll say this is what happened. In the heat of battle, I did this. What could we have done different or better? So if the same situation comes up in the future, now I got more tools in my tool chest. 

Between these guys, and I got referees from all over the world who call me, text me, email me, it ends up being about situations. Now I don’t attack guys and they don’t attack me but we talk about situations and alternatives for the future. And that’s how I regularly try to improve myself.

I wanted to ask you about the various conventions and conferences that you attend as a referee. Right now, what are some specific aspects of fighter safety and referee performance that they are emphasizing?

Right now, the biggest issue where it comes to officiating is rabbit punching, especially after Prichard Colon and that incident. Right now, the referee, that commission, everyone is being sued. Additionally, what happened with Magomed Abdusalamov. So that’s the most prominent thing right now that people are looking for.

I’ll break it up into two parts. Rabbit punches are extremely dangerous. I’ve known they’ve been extremely dangerous because I’m a fireman and I have that trauma experience. Let me tell you what happens. A guy gets hit with enough rabbit punches, the nerves at the base of the skull – if they get swollen, if they swell up from getting damaged or punched – they control the diaphragm and the breathing. If you get hit enough, it swells up and you can stop breathing. The diaphragm stops working. Now, instead of a single injury, you have a major medical emergency. Additionally, possibly a brain bleed. You know the brain is bleeding inside the skull cavity and pushing the brain to one side or the other, pinching everything off. So it’s a dual effect.

The second part of it is what happened to Magomed Abdusalamov. He was fighting back. He was taking punishment but he was also giving it.  He truly had a puncher’s chance. So when do you pull the plug on a guy like that? There’s a series of questions that I ask myself.

When I got a fight where one fighter is beating the other guy, and I’m uncomfortable because I might need to be pulling the guy out, I ask myself five or six questions right there in the ring: Can he win the fight mathematically? If he can’t, that’s an indicator that I’m going to pull him out. Does he have a puncher’s chance? A real puncher’s chance. Everyone has a puncher’s chance but not everyone has a punch. So is it a real puncher’s chance? Next, is that guy fighting to survive or is this guy fighting to win? Because if this guy is just fighting to hang on, that’s not what he gets paid to do. Next, is there visible physical damage? Can I see something? With Magomed, he had a broken cheekbone. He was swallowing a lot of blood. If a guy breaks his nose or a cheek, I’m not worried about the damage physically, like I am with a cut, I’m worried about where’s that blood going. Not only the loss of blood. If it’s the stomach, there’s less room for air to get into those lungs. There’s lots that goes with it. And then I say to myself, what’s the best thing for me to do for boxing right now – to pull this guy out or let this fight continue? Depending on the answers, I pull him out.

So those are the two main issues: the rabbit punches and guys who are on their feet but are losing round after round, but still throwing back.

Now that you’ve been an established boxing referee for a long time, I’m sure that you are now in the position to mentor others? What’s the one piece of advice that you give young referees?

I tell them to be careful of what they wish for. Everybody thinks it’s easy. They do a couple of fights and they are politicking and going behind people’s backs trying to get title fights. But let me tell you, the air is rare the higher you go. You know what I mean? The higher the monkey goes up the pole, the more his ass is exposed. When you start going up the pole to those higher fights, you got guys like Lampley, Kellerman and Lederman watching you. Teddy Atlas, Roy Jones. You’re under scrutiny. Your mistakes are amplified twenty-fold. And if you’re not ready, you could get somebody really hurt, or your career could be ruined.

You got to really get your experience. I’ve literally worked a thousand fights off camera in all of these little shows – because California is the king of the club show – making my bones, making my mistakes in front of small crowds. Getting booed. Sitting down with a guy like Lou Filippo or Jim Jen Kin or Marty [Denkin] or Pat [Russell] and saying what happened, what did I do wrong? It’s better that happened there rather than in front of the whole world.

What’s the best fight that you’ve been a part of, either as a ref or a judge?

I tell you what I like. Refereeing GGG, Andre Ward, Vasily Lomachenko, Terence Crawford, like in his last fight, and there’s that buzz in the audience. It’s the highest amount of pressure on me, and I’m sure that any official would tell you the same thing. Your margin for error is very, very small. I’m feeling that electricity and it’s really exciting. It’s challenging and I love it.

I wanted to end with a quote of yours that I thought was quite profound. You said, “The great fighters always find a way to continue. The great officials always look at the bigger picture?” Can you explain what you mean regarding “the bigger picture?”

Everything I’m about to do I’m always asking the question, “What’s the best thing for me to do for boxing in this situation? Whether it’s stopping it or letting it go, whether it’s taking points or not, in every single fight my goal is the bigger picture… any time I don’t insert myself and bring controversy to boxing, to the commission or myself, that’s the goal. The bigger picture is it’s not about me. I’m not going to over-officiate. If somebody does something that I don’t like, I don’t take it personal. It’s not about me. This guy did it for whatever reason. I don’t over-officiate. It’s like the difference between a young cop and an old cop. A young cop wants to arrest people. An old cop wants to make everything go away and not have to arrest people.

Lastly, what keeps things exciting for you in the ring? What’s your favorite part about your job?

What keeps things exciting for me in the ring is that the challenge never goes away. You get in there and you got to be as perfect as possible. There’s a lot of pressure on me. Think about it. There are two guys in the ring that the whole world is watching and then there’s a third guy with them. So it’s a lot of pressure and I enjoy it. And I absolutely love learning. I challenge myself to find innovative ways to do things better. I love the learning aspect of it. I say Ok, everyone said you did a good job but is there anything you could do better? 

Click to read Part I of the Interview

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com
He's a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com
@snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook.