Defying the odds.. Part 2. A meeting with Don King Productions.

                                   

With the small talk pushed aside, Elijah beckoned everyone to submit a small service tip for the waitress who had attended to them before swilling back the remainder of his ice tea and heading back towards the casino, snatching a customary toothpick from the cashiers cage as he passed by. Both Finger twins lagged behind to look in the resorts overpriced gift shop whilst Steve Jaye appeared more curious of a nearby craps table. I hung back to watch what had interested the heavyweight and noticed the huge amounts that were being wagered on each dice roll. Jaye, a smooth featured black fighter smiled and shook his head as the gamblers celebrated yet another successful victory at the green felt jungle. We slowly strolled back to Elijah’s ride and carefully merged onto Las Vegas boulevard rolling south. “We’ve got an appointment with Kings people fellers, we gotta lay down some foundations, make good impressions. “ we pulled into an employee entrance of the MGM grand which swung into a private yard, often used for large productions and premier events, Don King productions had put together a plaza of mobile trailers which served as an office base for the Tyson v Holyfield promotion, occupying the whole plot. Elijah pulled into the only parking space and flashed his headlights at the nearest trailer, as he cut off the engine Carl King appeared from the trailer door, smiling with his arms spread wide. “Chi Town” King called out, in reference to Elijah who had worked with King with a number of Chicago based fighters, including McCall. “How’s life Elijah?” Shouted King Jr, the adopted son of the extraordinary Promoter..  “I’m fine junior, my money isn’t up..  but i survive..” King invited us all into the trailer where it appeared they had been toiling feverishly in the final preparations of the following days huge event. Elijah offered brief introductions as we filed in and sat uniformly at a desk opposite Carl. It appeared to me that Elijah had planned to introduce his young heavyweight to the promoter in a strategic attempt to network his way back into the picture, unfortunately the immature Jaye was completely oblivious as to the importance of first impressions, slouching, still wearing his headphones, completely inattentive to the promoter. Carl a shrewd and switched on operator took a sideways glance at the heavyweight and didn’t appear impressed at his attitude, he acknowledged me with a smile having met me on a number of informal occasions, before enquiring about Elijah and his current health. Elijah played down his own shortcomings but mentioned that he was struggling to make ends meet in the boxing business these days. Carl laughed nervously, “Damn Elijah. No one wants that spot…. Who are the brothers? “ Elijah introduced both of the twins individually and made it clear that they were free agents, offering an opening for King to view them as potential cash commodities. Elijah glanced at the completely ignorant Jaye, who showed no social gravity towards such an important opportunity, sitting with his head to the side, pulsing to the beat of his music. After a few moments of small talk Carl and Elijah began to reminisce about fighters and events they were involved with together. “Who was the tall brother from Chicago, long rangy mothafucker, he fought Mike over at the plaza..   “The Fonz..  Alfonso Ratliff” offered Elijah, yeah a nice dude, a righteous brother.  He held the Cruiserweight title didn’t he Elijah.? Yeah man, he was slick, beat the brakes off Deleon. 

“Hey Elijah do you remember him boxing that tough fucker, another Chicago boy..  the guy with the fake leg..   “  Elijah laughed as did both Finger twins at such an outrageous claim..   Elijah continued, “yeah Ratliff gave him his first loss at the Pavilion on one of Cedric’s shows, yeah real tough dude..” I knew this guy and politely offered his name “Craig Bodzianowski.” That’s him..  exclaimed King..  The Alligator, that’s what they called him..   I remember him boxing on national Tv and that motherfuckin fake leg dropped off causing the referee to halt the fight whilst they reattached that thing..  King, both Finger twins and Elijah all bust into laughter, Jesus..   A beautiful but large black lady politely entered the trailer to ask if anyone wanted any refreshments, Elijah passed, stating that we didn’t want to hold them too long on the eve of such an epic fight. “He ready?” Asked Elijah, referring to Tyson on the eve of the fight..   Oh he’s ready, assured King, he’s perfect. I just know when those officials knock on Holyfield’s dressing room door “TIME!!! (Knocking on the trailer wall..)” imitating the moment to come to the ring..   That brothers ass gonna be twitchy..  He knows what’s coming..   Eric Brown, one time Tyson business aide entered the room and handed King some paperwork, along with Robert Ritchie, a long term DKP employee, both finding the theatrics highly amusing. Elijah and myself shook Carls hand before we offered our pleasantries and all filed out of the office towards the car park. Carl stood on the steps of the trailer and waved us off as Elijah sternly chastised his heavyweight..  “You should have paid more attention, this business is built on first impressions and connections. “ Elijah shook his head and drove off onto the strip.. 

Defying the odds, a look back behind the scenes of the 1996, Tyson v Holyfield.. Finally.

Sitting in the Golden Gloves gym in North Las Vegas watching the steely focussed young amateur fighters train in the facility that had only hours previously acted as the secret hideaway for the reigning heavyweight champion Mike Tyson as he headed into his biggest fight since emerging from the Indiana youth facility. Mike had just completed his afternoon session surrounded by his usual caravan of cartoon characters who celebrated as the champions entourage. The contrasting quiet in the gym was serene as I watched young heavyweight Steven Jaye go through his paces, under the watchful gaze of the ageless Elijah Thomas. Jaye shadowboxed at a lethargic pace, a complete polar opposite in tempo to that of his hyperactive team mates, the colourful Finger twins from St Louis, Missouri. Super lightweight Terrell was training for an upcoming bout with Desi Ford in Florida whilst unbeaten super welterweight twin brother Lavell had just scored his 18th straight win over the inept Ismail Tillis in St Louis, both brothers a product of the streets were lively and extremely eccentric. Elijah, a man of few words but a decorated reputation concluded the session and spoke candidly about the Tyson v Holyfield fight which was to take place in 48 hours time. Elijah, the former manager of Oliver McCall knows Tyson first hand having seen his charge employed by Mike for several of his best years as a chief sparring partner. Michael is a killer and will go straight for the throat, offered Thomas, he does things differently since coming out of the penitentiary, but still does enough to dominate what’s out there today. Young heavyweight Jaye appeared uneasy at hearing this coming from his manager, but offered his own take in joining Elijah in expecting a Tyson victory. The finger twins however offered a more philosophical stance, “That brother got Jesus..” referring to Holyfields religious preference, it’s hard to beat a man with his beliefs..  Elijah smiled in dismissal to Fingers outspoken opinion. Lavell the twin nodded in agreement, with an unwritten understanding from his life experiences, that Holyfield had too much character to overlook. We all left the gym after exchanging pleasantries with Gym proprietor Hal Miller a former police lieutenant who brought the Golden Gloves franchise to the valley. Elijah, Jaye, myself and the finger twins jumped into Thomas’s oversized Cadillac coupe D’eville and headed out of the elegantly named Fantasy lane towards Washington Avenue destined towards the Strip. Everyone in our company enjoyed the ride in silence as the eloquent sound of Curtis Mayfield narrated the journey. As the car stopped at a set of lights on Fremont street and Las Vegas Blvd, it seemed almost like a movie set, the glittery lights illuminated the car, complimenting the stylishly  dressed Thomas who was almost pimp like in appearance with his Versace eyeglasses and cream fedora. Jaye had secluded himself from the group and sunk into his seat under his hood listening to his headphones whilst the twins who held a distinct resemblance of R and B artists KC and Jojo whispered between themselves. Elijah had passed the Flamingo intersection and asked his crew if they wanted to eat..  All agreed enthusiastically at the exact time that Thomas had made the executive decision to pull into the parking area of the Aladdin hotel. This place is as good as any, a nigger casino if I ever saw one..  Jaye shook his head as both Finger twins found the comment distastefully amusing. We walked across the elaborately decorated, guilt Porche Cochere before strolling through the entrance and onto a hallucinogenic patterned carpet that led through the casino walkway. The plan was to eat at the popular Aladdin buffet, but the nostalgic Thomas walked me a little further to the entrance to the theatre of the performing arts reminiscing about fighters that he had brought here to box in the past under the banner of local promoter Tony Trudnich. “This was the joint to be back in the day, if you made an impression boxing on the smaller shows at the Aladdin, the Silver slipper or the Hacienda, you’d soon be fighting at Caesars across the street, fighters served their apprenticeship here.” Elijah’s eyes appeared glassy as he immersed himself in nostalgia before returning to realism and the importance of a buffet dinner. 

Over dinner it was interesting to observe the culinary selection of each individual at the table. Heavyweight Jaye had a plate of chicken and mashed potatoes along with some bread and collards. The Chicago fighter ate and made noises to reflect his eating satisfaction..  whilst Both finger brothers chose small plates of fish and salad greens, each poking a fork into separate dishes and eating vigorously. Jaye was seated opposite Thomas and commented on his selection of unorthodox foods. “Hey Lija, why you eat like that, you coulda had roast beef, chicken, Catfish, meatloaf.. anything..   referring to the small plates of romaine lettuce, beets, tomatoes and croutons that the 80 year old sage had opted for. Lavell finger jumped to Elijah’s defence..  brother, that’s why Lija is a fit and spritely example of life, those greens and beets are natures steroids, they supercharge your body, Terrell nodded in agreement, that there is the route to everlasting life, we should all be eating like this to call ourselves athletes. Jaye submitted to the facts and nodded in appreciation as he pulled the final strands of meat from a chicken thigh. I did find it amusing at how both Finger twins were dressed immaculately, their hair was almost flawless and fingernails manicured to death..   but were both freshman when it came to self awareness, completely oblivious to their communal surroundings, both brothers flagrantly ate and spoke with their mouths full of food, occasionally spitting as they made enthusiastic points in the conversation. I actually found it endearing as no matter what they were perfect gentlemen.        Continues…. Tomorrow 

A Meeting with Don King productions. 

Mystery surrounding Janibek Alimkhanuly choosing to travel late to Australia for Mikhailovich clash.

                                     

The status of a unified champion is one that is craved by so many fighters but achieved by so few, whilst that of an undisputed champion is one that can define a legacy. Now, there is one man closing in on the undisputed crown after picking up two belts with ease, although he has put himself at a major risk of losing it all. The skill of Janibek Alimkhanuly was realised years ago and the Kazakh was quickly deemed as the bogeyman of the middleweight division despite limited experience as a professional. However, in recent times, the middleweight division has been blown wide open after the reigns of Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade and Gennadiy Golovkin were each brought to a close by the respective sanctioning bodies rather than worthy opponents. That left ‘Qazaq’ style well poised in a position to capitalize and pick up the world titles and that is exactly what he has done, being elevated to WBO world champion and then knocking out Vincenzo Gualtieri to add the IBF trinket to his collection. Yet, Alimkhanuly has ran into a new issue that may prevent him from becoming the undisputed champion – his weight.

The 2013 amateur world champion fainted ahead of a title defence against Russian-New Zealander Andrei Mikhailovich due to a strenuous weight cut back in July and caused the bout to be rescheduled for this Friday night in Sydney. Now, the undefeated southpaw is tasked with an additional concern after it was revealed that he will only arrive in Australia on Wednesday, failing to allow his body to adjust to the 17-hour time difference between Sydney and his residence in California.  Mikhailovich’s promoter, Marco Rose, admitted that news Alimkhanuly’s seemingly ill-prepared travel arrangements was a ‘shock’, speaking with Fox Sports.

I don’t know if it’s over confidence or a lack of respect for Andrei but I’ve never had an international fighter request to fly here so late….  Normally, they’re arguing with us about trying to get Down Under weeks earlier so that they can shake the jet lag and acclimatise. So I’m absolutely shocked Janibek is only arriving on Wednesday…. Especially given the fact that he’s coming off those issue where he didn’t make weight last time.  You’d think you would be doing everything possible to make sure his weight is right this time around because I can assure him, Australia’s scales are the same as the ones he missed on in the US.

Janibek will be dealing with all that jet lag while also trying to cut weight.

Teofimo Lopez reveals bizarre reason why he would choose not to fight Shakur Stevenson.

                                     

Teofimo Lopez says the reason he doesn’t want to fight lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson is because he saw how he was suicidal after a loss in 2015 at the National Golden Gloves in Las Vegas.

Lopez says Shakur wanted to go to the top of the hotel and “jump off.” Teofimo adds that he doesn’t want to have the “blood” on his hands if Shakur falls apart after losing to him and takes his own life. Fans saw Shakur cry after his defeat in the 2016 Olympic finals against Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez. He was all broken up after that defeat. The judges weren’t into giving Shakur a win after he was outworked by a young Robeisy, who was on the attack the entire fight, outslugging him. That fight showed the blueprint for defeating Shakur: attacking him relentlessly, chasing him down, and not letting him win rounds with his low output.

Teofimo fights at 140 now, and he’s big for that weight class. In making weight for Teofimo’s last fight against Steve Claggett on June 29th, he appeared badly drained and performed poorly, struggling to beat the fringe contender by a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight closer than the judges’ scores.

Shakur looks big for the 135-lb division, but his lack of power makes it near-impossible for him to move up to 140 to fight the stronger punchers like Teofimo, Alberto Puello, Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela and Liam Paro. Those guys hit too hard and would be difficult for Shakur to handle. Stevenson had recent hand surgery, but he’s expected to defend his WBC lightweight title against William Zepeda in February. That will be a very difficult fight for Shakur because Zepeda is a pressure fighter who can punch and has a high output. Moreover, Zepeda cuts off the ring well and walks through punches to land his powerful body shots. He’s kryptonite for runners.

Mauricio Sulaiman speaks on the heavyweight landscape.

                                   

The heavyweight division will always be the one that moves the world of boxing and sports fans in general.

The world heavyweight champion is considered the most fearsome and powerful man on the planet, ever since the beginning of the sport of fists.

John L. Sullivan was the last heavyweight champion when gloves were not used and fights were bare-knuckle, and he was also the first world heavyweight champion with gloves.

He was a legend, the first athlete in the history of the United States to become a celebrity, and the first to earn a million dollars.

Another legend defeated him and became champion, Jim Corbett, known as Gentleman Jim. Thus, the crown was passed between gladiators who shocked everyone in every place they stood. Then came Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion.

He was quite a character in a crude era of humanity and was hated by whites. The champion was imposing and feared nothing and no one. He married a white woman, which led to him being accused, imprisoned, and stripped of everything he owned.

Other giants who wore the award were Joe Louis, who defended his championship 25 times, Rocky Marciano, who retired as an undefeated champion with a record of 49-0, and Sonny Liston, a fearsome man considered invincible.

Then came Cassius Clay, who changed his name to Muhammad Ali, and was, is, and will be the most famous and influential athlete in history.

Ali changed boxing and the way sports are promoted forever. He was known by every human being who walked the earth and is still remembered today as the greatest.

In modern times, the impactful knockout artist Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, and the brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko also stood out.

And who brought interest back to the top division was the knockout artist Deontay Wilder, who was champion for five years, followed by Tyson Fury, who knocked him out twice, and the current champion, the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.

The boxing scene has changed and, above all because of the great campaign of fights between the world’s top heavyweights.

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh appeared on the boxing map, and in less than a year he has achieved a revolution.

In October, 2023, he put together the inaugural Riyadh Season event called Battle of the Baddest with the WBC world heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, against the former champion of the same weight, but from the UFC, Francis Ngannou.

That card was exclusive to heavyweights and served as an elimination tournament. The best have faced each other, and today we can say that there are at least six to eight fights of great interest that may take place in the near future.

The best in the world have fought each other, and the possible combinations between Usyk, Fury, Dubois, Joshua, Wilder, Kabayel, Zhang, Sanchez, Okole and Ruiz continue.

This past Saturday, Turki Alalshikh with Riyadh Season, and under the promotion of Queensberry and Matchroom, filled the legendary Wembley with 96,000 fans to witness the fight between two English giants: the champion Daniel Dubois, and the former champion, Anthony Joshua.

The spectacular nature of this premier division came to light from the first round to the surprise of most fans. Joshua fell to the canvas after receiving a powerful right hook, just at the end of the round.

The second and third rounds were highly anticipated, because while Anthony tried to get back into the fight, Daniel clobbered him with blows that staggered AJ.

Finally, in the fifth Joshua managed to connect a tremendous right hand that sent Dubois to the ropes, and when he tried to finish him off, they exchanged right hands and Joshua fell, poleaxed.

On December 21, the rematch will take place between Usyk and Fury in Saudi Arabia and depending on the result, the division’s plan will be defined in 2025.

Devin Haney pursues legal action against both Ryan Garcia and GBP.

                                    

Devin Haney’s doesn’t appear to have come to terms in regard to how his April 20th fight in New York transpired. TMZ Sports has recently confirmed that Devin is now suing Ryan in an attempt to seek closure. Haney who appeared to lose the high profile bout, prior to the adverse findings, filed the lawsuit against Garcia in New York last Friday. Devin has alleged that Garcia committed battery and fraud in the leadup too, and during their April 20 event at Barclays Center.

Garcia initially was ruled to have won the fight after knocking down Haney multiple times … but the outcome was later ruled a no-contest after NYSAC officials found that Garcia had Ostarine in his system.

Haney said if he had known Garcia had ingested a performance-enhancing drug prior to stepping into the ring, he definitely wouldn’t have agreed to the fight. Therefore, Devin states that he never consented to being on the wrong end of Garcia’s punches under such circumstances. 

Haney also said, among other things, that by ingesting the banned substance despite agreeing to fight under the guise that he would test clean, Garcia made misrepresentations that would have caused Haney to withdraw from the match as well.

In addition to Garcia, Haney is also suing Golden Boy Promotions for a breach of contract.

In his suit, Haney is suing for damages, claiming the entire ordeal caused him both physical injuries and damaged reputation which will amount to millions of dollars, along with emotional and mental distress. 

We’ve reached out to Garcia’s attorney for comment, without any successful responses so far.