The BAWLI Papers No. 96
(Boxing As We Liked It)
Edited by J Michael Kenyon
Sunday, June 20, 1999
New York City, New York, US of A
___________________________
IN THIS ISSUE: LEGENDS BATTLE GOES INTO THE RECORD BOOKS; WHAT MIGHT BE
NEXT?
_____________________________
The BAWLI Papers are periodically sent to a free-of-charge mailing list. To
subscribe, at no cost, send an e-mail message to
in the bodyof the message. To unsubscribe, do the same thing,except for
placing the lower-case word "unsubscribe" inthe body of the message.
Readers are welcome to submit interesting and otherwise noteworthy articles
concerning professional boxing's long and storied past. The emphasis,
generally, should be on the foremost fighters, managers, trainers and
promoters, and events that otherwise were of some moment in the sport's
history. Either transmit the articles via e-mail or mail them to the editor
at the following addresses:
J Michael Kenyon (oldfallguy@aol.com)
4739 University Way N.E., Suite 1150
Seattle, Washington 98105 (temporary)
__________________________________
To access back issues of The BAWLI Papers,
please connect with Marty Mulcahey's splendid Boxing Wise Website: Dedicated
to the Sweet Science of Boxing.
The site contains: Information and opinions on the Sweet Science. This is a
no frills boxing site with lots of information, opinions and boxing related
articles. Everything at Boxing Wise is free.
http://members.tripod.com/~fivedogs/
The popular Cyber Boxing Zone, located at
http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/bawli-idx.htm also has a growing
archive of The BAWLI Papers.
_____________________________
A THOROUGHLY DISSENTING VIEW
(London Evening Standard, June 18, 1999)
By David Smith
PINEHURST, N.C. -- Some sportsmen grow old with grace and dignity. Others
grow old humbled and humiliated.
That truth is exposed by two events taking place today within an hour's
drive of each other in rain-swept North Carolina.
Here, at Pinehurst, on one of the world's greatest golf courses, the world's
greatest golfer is thrilling the galleries attending the 99th US Open just
as he has during a record run of 43 consecutive appearances in this major.
Jack Nicklaus may be just seven months away from his 60th birthday but he
can still hit a golf ball better than some professionals half his age. And
he does so with the stature of a statesman who represents all that good
about his sport.
The same can not be said of Larry Holmes and James 'Bonecrusher' Smith --
combined age 95 -- who tonight will deliver one of the lowest blows to
boxing.
Some 40 miles south-east of Pinehurst, at the Cumberland County Coliseum in
the military town of Fayetteville, 49-year-old Holmes and 46-year-old Smith
will haul their creaking bodies into the ring and fight for something billed
as "The First Legends Heavyweight Championship."
Welcome to the world of seniors boxing.
Senior tours work in tennis and golf. Smith's argument is that it can work
in boxing too, with the winner of tonight's bout earning a possible clash
with George Foreman, 50.
Smith, who beat Frank Bruno in his prime but who lost last year to a
way-past-his-prime Joe Bugner, claims divine inspiration for the Legends
concept.
"God kinda laid it on my heart," said the part-time preacher.
He had better pray for God's protection tonight.
Smith and Holmes fought once before, in Las Vegas in November 1984, with
Holmes winning in the 12th round. It is unlikely to go one quarter of that
distance the second time around.
Holmes, world champion from June 1978 to September 1985, has kept reasonably
active even if he is a pale shadow of the dark force that pummelled Muhammad
Ali for round after round on that awful night in Vegas 19 years ago.
The toll that time had taken on his strength and reflexes was revealed in
January 1997, when Holmes lost on points to ponderous Dane Brian Nielsen in
Copenhagen.
Trying to inject a touch of humour to a situation that was far from funny,
Holmes said: "Ray Charles could have seen some of Nielsen's punches.
"He was so slow he made me look good, and I'm just an overweight
grandfather."
There will be another fatty in the opposite corner tonight. Smith weighed
more than 20st when he failed to get further than the first round against
Bugner.
He claims he has trained for more than 90 days for this fight and is down
from 300lbs to . . . well, he's not sure. But the man who briefly held a
world title in 1984 insists he'll be fighting fit.
Scraping the gutter of hype, Smith said: "I talked to a funeral director and
I asked him 'do you have a casket to fit Larry Holmes?' He said 'yeah, I've
got one', and I said 'can you ship a body back to Easton, Pennsylvania?' And
he said 'yeah'. So I said 'get ready.'
"I'm just kidding about killing somebody, but I'm gonna win this fight."
This, remember, is an intelligent man who has a business degree, served as
chairman of the North Carolina Boxing Commission, and markets a vegetable
cocktail called "Bonecrusher's Power Punch."
Holmes, too, hardly needs the money. He owns two office blocks and a
nightclub back home in Eason, and really ought to be enjoying a happy
retirement playing with his grandchildren.
Instead, he and Smith are about to shed their respectability in the name of
sport.
Come tomorrow, there will only be one legend in these parts. And he'll be
swinging a golf club, not punches.
__________________________
INJURY FORCES SMITH TO QUIT
(Raleigh News & Observer, June 19, 1999)
By Al Myatt
FAYETTEVILLE -- Reduced to half his arsenal, James "Bonecrusher'' Smith
couldn't go the whole way against Larry Holmes. Smith's right shoulder
popped out in the second round at the Crown Coliseum on Friday night, the
same ailment that kept him from coming out for the second round against Joe
Bugner in Australia last summer.
This time Smith gamely battled into the eighth round, exchanging left jabs
with Holmes, a jab master. But two minutes into the round, Smith (43-16-1)
signaled to Eddie Mustafa Muhammad in Smith's corner that he couldn't
continue.
Muhammad waved his arms to referee Bill Clancy, and Holmes (67-6) became the
first Legends of Boxing heavyweight champion with his 43rd knockout victory.
Holmes now is in position to negotiate a title defense against 50-year-old
George Foreman. "We've both beaten some of the same people but we've never
fought each other,'' Holmes said of Foreman. "It seems like a natural
matchup. It seems destined.''
For his part, Smith may be looking at retirement, again.
"I don't know,'' said the Buies Creek resident. "We'll get the shoulder
checked.''
Smith's trainer, Mike Bivins, was more definitive.
"That's it,'' Bivins said. "We thought the shoulder was all right. But it
went, and there went our whole game plan.''
Both fighters were cautious in the first round, occasionally trying to work
right follows off left jabs.
Then Smith lost his major artillery, the right hand, for all intents and
purposes in the second round.
"I had the jab going, but my best shot is the right hand,'' Smith said. "I
couldn't get it going, and that's my best shot.''
In a bizarre sequence earlier in the eighth round, Holmes registered the
only knockdown of the bout.
Holmes backed away and spit, and in response to a heckling Smith fan at
ringside, asked, "Do you want to get in here?''
Smith relaxed for a moment, but Holmes moved forward and landed a body shot.
Smith, off balance, went tumbling.
Holmes followed with a combination in Smith's corner, and Smith signaled to
Muhammad that he was unable to continue.
It wasn't Las Vegas, where Holmes had a 12th round TKO of Smith in 1984. But
Fayetteville put a glitzy foot forward with ring girls from Hooters and an
enthusiastic crowd estimated at 3,700.
Promoter Cozell McQueen didn't rule out trying to match Holmes and Foreman
in North Carolina, although the crowd was less than he hoped.
Smith entered the ring first. Gospel music artist Dottie Peoples sang the
national anthem, which was followed by jets of fireworks from each corner of
the ring.
Greg Page (56-14-1) won a featured heavyweight matchup by technical knockout
when Tim Witherspoon had to retire before the eighth round. The preliminary
diagnosis on Witherspoon (46-10) was a torn back muscle.
Page knocked Witherspoon down in the first round. Clancy deducted points
from Page in the third round for a low blow. The referee subsequently
instructed Witherspoon to lower his trunks.
Former Raleigh resident Billy Costello (40-2) took a split decision after 10
rounds over Juan LaPorte (40-17) of Brooklyn, N.Y. Costello, who now lives
in Kingston, N.Y., said he weighed 195 pounds a month ago. He was still four
pounds over the 160-pound middleweight limit early Thursday afternoon and
said he was weak after shedding the additional pounds before the fight.
"God is good,'' Costello said. "He got me through this. I asked for help,
and he delivered me like the Israelites after 40 years.
"I had no strength. I was zapped. I thank God. Juan was tired, too, but not
as tired as I was.''
________________________
HOLMES STOPS BONECRUSHER
(Fayetteville Observer-Times, June 19, 1999)
By Hermann Wendorff
As the clock approached midnight, the bell Geri-tolled for Larry Holmes in
the inaugural edition of “Legends of Boxing” Friday night at the Crown
Coliseum.
Holmes, who is 49, defeated 46-year-old James "Bonecrusher” Smith in the
heavyweight main attraction of boxing's senior tour when Smith retired in
the eighth round with a shoulder injury.
After tussling with Holmes in the corner, Smith backed into a neutral corner
and held up his left hand, tapping his right shoulder with his glove.
Foster immediately ended the fight at two minutes of the eighth round, much
to the chagrin of the crowd of 3,000.
Moments earlier, Smith had missed with a left hook and fallen to the mat,
laughing as he got up.
When promoter Cozell McQueen wrapped the title belt around Holmes' waist,
the crowd responded with indifference broken up only, by a smattering of
boos.
Indeed, the fans had trouble deciding whether they were allied with Smith,
the ordained minister who resides in Dunn, or Holmes, the brash talker from
rural Georgia. When the bell sounded signifying the start of the fifth
round, fans of Holmes began a “Larry! Larry!” chant, only to be drowned out
seconds later by the call of “Bone! Bone!”
Neither fighter established a clear advantage, and both appeared to be
laboring with each passing round.
Smith, bearing his usual stoic visage, started out tentatively, and the
first two rounds didn't produce any notable action.
In the third, however, the boxers flailed and landed effective body blows,
and Holmes ended the fourth with a flurry that had Smith against the ropes.
The main undercard bouts produced two bizarre results.
In the 10-round heavyweight duel, Greg Page battled with two-time
heavyweight champ Tim Witherspoon for seven rounds before the 41-year-old
Witherspoon retired with a back injury.
The fighters, who met for the world heavyweight title in 1984, had battled
evenly with Page landing effective punches in the early rounds and
Witherspoon gaining an edge beginning in the fourth round, when referee
Bruce Foster deducted a point from Page for a low blow. One of the best
punches might have come after the bell in the first round, when Page
accidentally hit Foster with a left hook.
Witherspoon couldn't come out of his corner to begin the eighth round, and
the announcer said a ringside physician had diagnosed a “possible torn
muscle.”
The middleweight undercard featured two New York boxers, Billy Costello and
Juan Laporte. Costello came in with only two losses in 41 professional bouts
and was the clear favorite against Laporte, who was 40-16.
But Laporte dominated the fight, even in the middle rounds when both boxers
appeared too tired to stand. He knocked down Costello with a left in the
first round and stunned him again in the seventh and the eighth. The
10-round split decision inexplicably went to Costello, however, and the
crowd spouted its disapproval with a chorus of boos.
___________________________
(ED. NOTE -- Although he's not quite in the proper age bracket . . . BAWLI
editors consider 38 to be the minimum age for a "legends" sort of match,
Mike Tyson's various sojourns in the slam have added enough age and rust to
qualify him for inclusion in this rapidly expanding club. Hence, we eagerly
anticipate the possibility of a tangle with Foreman, or maybe the winner of
a Foreman-Holmes fight.)
_______________________
TYSON TO GET OFFER FOR FOREMAN
(Arizona Republic, Friday, June 18, 1999)
By Norm Frauenheim
George Foreman and Mike Tyson are boxing's old man and the parolee. As a
fight, they have been the biggest fish tale in a sport full of whoppers.
But fantasy might becoming fact because of a financial offer that is
expected to be pitched to Tyson this weekend in the Valley.
Ron Weathers, a former Foreman promoter and adviser, plans to travel here as
early as today with a $25 million offer for Tyson to fight Foreman, 50,
later this year.
"Mike Tyson will do the right thing, which is to take the money," said
Weathers, who will negotiate on behalf of Fred Levin, a wealthy Florida
attorney.
Levin, attorney for light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones, Jr., got a $325
million fee for a lawsuit that netted the state of Florida $11 billion from
the tobacco companies.
Weathers, who is hoping to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Tyson to
pitch the offer, is carrying a letter signed by Levin that, in part, reads:
"I am prepared to pay $25,000,000.00 cash to Mike Tyson for Mike to fight
George Foreman."
Weathers also is carrying a letter addressed to Tyson that urges him to take
the fight. Tyson will turn 33 on June 30.
Levin confirmed Thursday from his Pensacola, Fla., office that he is
attempting to put together the heavyweight bout. He said Weathers will
represent him in any meeting he might have with Tyson, who returned to the
Valley early this week after 3 1/2 months in a Maryland jail on misdemeanor
assault charges.
"I've been trying to do this for a couple of weeks now," Levin said. "But
it's been hard to talk to all the different people involved."
As a result, Weathers is bringing the proposal to Phoenix for a personal
presentation to Tyson, who plans to resume training at the former Madison
Square Garden, a central Phoenix gym where he worked out before a victory
over Francois Botha on Jan. 16.
But Tyson adviser Shelley Finkel said a bout between the two former
heavyweight champions remains farfetched because he said neither Weathers
nor Levin could get an agreement with Foreman.
"I've asked George to call me, and he hasn't," Finkel said from his New York
office. "That's it. I don't believe there's any chance until I talk to
someone. I don't know of Ron Weathers going out there. I don't know about
Mike seeing him or talking to him."
After the Foreman-Tyson possibility surfaced a couple of weeks ago in the
New York Daily News, there were subsequent reports that the bout wouldn't
happen because Top Rank promoter Bob Arum continues to hold rights to
Foreman.
Arum promoted the 1994 bout in which Foreman, then 45, became history's
oldest heavyweight champion with a knockout of Michael Moorer.
Arum also promoted Foreman's controversial decision over German Axel Schulz
in a subsequent defense of the World Boxing Association title.
Finkel said Weathers and Levin could not put together the fight as
independent promoters. "Not if they can't deliver the fighter (Foreman),"
Finkel said.
But Weathers said there was enough money to include all the parties with a
potential interest.
"We'd include him," Weathers said of Arum, who would have to share with Dan
Goosen of America Presents, which also has promotional rights to Tyson.
Levin said he would offer a minimum of $15 million to Foreman, who is
expected to return to the United States this weekend from Australia.
According to Bill Caplan, a longtime friend of and adviser to Foreman, the
fighter still is interested in a Tyson bout, which was his goal when he
launched his improbable comeback in the late 1980s.
"I don't want to see George fight anyone, with the exception of Tyson, which
I would love to see," Caplan said. "I would also love to see Fred Levin
promote the fight."
Levin said he would not want Tyson to fight a tuneup, which has been
speculated, because a shaky performance by Tyson would lessen interest.
Tyson looked very beatable through four rounds before he knocked out Botha
in the fifth, trailing on the judges' cards. There is speculation that
Finkel is close to getting an agreement from Schulz to fight Tyson in
September.
"If Mike fought a tuneup and looked bad, it would be tough to sell a fight
with Foreman," Levin said. "If Tyson lost, it would end it. I think the time
for them is now. It could be one of the great ones of all time."
__________________________