Amateur boxing is one thing, all fine and pure and predicated on scoring points. Get in there for money and now a man is involved in a fight.
It was Lou Lake, a man-about-boxing in San Diego, who first made this distinction to me. The wisdom of his judgment is being borne out at the Beijing Olympics, not that a lot of people have been paying attention.
Boxing at the Olympics just is not as attractive as it was when the events represented an avenue to riches for such figures as Floyd Patterson, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lennox Lewis and Cassius Clay, later to become Muhammad Ali. In their times, the wise men of boxing would gather at the Games with their checkbooks, prepared to snap up the men who in a different environment would become the greats of the game.
Bill Caplan, a one-time Los Angeles promoter who continues to be involved with the sport as an advance man for Top Rank Inc., said he is unaware of a single major promoter who has had a presence in Beijing. Promoters want fighters in a real sense, and the cockamamie system by which bouts at the Olympics are judged, with a punch not being counted as a scoring punch unless judges act largely in unison when they click on buttons on computers, does not reward the contestants who can punch with authority.
Olympic boxers also are required to wear headgear. Caplan said he was watching some bouts from Beijing the other evening when his wife, in the same room reading a book, became aware of the headgear and asked him how knockdowns or knockouts could be scored in these circumstances. The answer is they rarely occur.
One of the appeals of boxing is that it can be dangerous. The headgear eliminates this element.
Caplan is dismayed by the state of amateur boxing in this country. “The American program isn't any good anymore,” he said. He noted that before the Athens Olympics, Emanuel Steward, who at the Kronk Gym in Detroit developed a number of champions, among them Tommy Hearns, had been retained to condition the U.S. team. Steward looked in on the Pan-Am Games scheduled prior to the Olympics and was so appalled concerning the team that he withdrew as its director.
“There is no mystery about why there are so few American heavyweights,” Caplan said. “The big boys are going into football and basketball, where there is more money. The stars in those sports used to make no more than about $100,000. Boxing was where the money was. Now only the Russians go into heavyweight boxing.”
Caplan attended the Atlanta Olympics. The boxer who caught his eye was Vassiliy Jarov, a puncher from Kazakhstan. Bob Arum was attending those Games. Caplan said he recommended that Arum's Top Rank Inc. sign Jarov.
“He fought like an American,” Caplan said. “He punched to the body.” Jarov would become a cruiserweight champion.
To Caplan, an American has not come out of the Olympics with a gold medal and become a marquee fighter since Oscar De La Hoya in 1992. “From his first pro fight, De La Hoya was able to adjust, to change from how he had boxed as an amateur to how he had to box as a professional,” Caplan said.
Who De La Hoya is to oppose next is boxing's most intriguing matter at the moment. A possible De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao match has fallen through, which is a good thing. Pacquiao is a buzz saw, but he was fighting at 107 pounds when he began his career. De La Hoya has fought at as much as 160. He is much too big for Pacquiao.
Should Sergio Mora, known as “the Latin Snake,” score a repeat victory over Vernon Forrest on Sept. 13, he could get De La Hoya. Arum is understood to be working on a bout against the accomplished Humberto Soto of Tijuana for Pacquiao.
Garcia tops card
Featherweight
Aaron Garcia, sharp in a recent effort at Swiss Park in Chula Vista, is to be featured on promoter
Bobby DePhilippis' next card at 4th and B on Sept. 4. DePhilippis is vacationing in Italy.
Denis Grachev is to box on this card. The powerful Grachev, an undefeated light heavyweight who also engages in MMA, is one of two natives of Russia brought here by City Boxing proprietor Mark Dion. As boxers, Grachev and compatriot Evgeniy Khil demonstrated on the recent program at 4th and B that they have made considerable progress since Dion summoned 75-year-old Pepe Morales from Mexico City to condition them.
Dion said Morales has developed seven world champions.
Khil, a featherweight, began boxing as a southpaw, but he has switched to an orthodox stance. While in Russia in January, he underwent surgery to repair a knuckle problem that had caused him to miss four months of training.
Another opportunity
Cristobal Cruz of Tijuana (36-11-1, 23 KOs), who in March wrested the IBO featherweight title from
Thomas Mashaba of South Africa at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, has another championship opportunity. He is to engage
Orlando Salido of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, (31-9-2, 20 KOs) for the IBF feather belt in a bout being offered by Banner Promotions. A date and a site have not been selected.
Title go for Guzman
Joan Guzman of the Dominican Republic, arguably Sycuan Ringside Promotions' prize chattel, challenges
Nate Campbell for Campbell's IBF lightweight title on Sept. 13. It's on Showtime Championship Boxing. Guzman is 28-0, with 17 KOs, Campbell 32-5-1, with 25 KOs.
Jerry Magee: (619) 293-1830; jerry.magee@uniontrib.com
