BoxRec

Photos of the WBHOF, courtesy of Diego


George Chuvalo

Danny "Lil Red" Lopez

Diego's wife, Maria, with Emile Griffith

Dan Hanley Jr. and Mando Muniz

Gil King

Yaqui Lopez & Brian Higgins (Ex-Pug)

Marvin Johnson

Maria with Gaspar Ortega

John Gardelli, Dan Hanley Sr.,Dan Hanley Jr. and Rick Farris

The history of a boxing institution
By Nigel Collins


The Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer sits in his office overlooking the marquee at the old Madison Square Garden at 50th St. and Eighth Ave. in New York City. Photo / The Ring

THE RING LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE IN ASSOCIATION WITH YAHOO!: This story about the history of THE RING magazine kicks off an exciting new era for "The Bible of Boxing" – it’s first comprehensive website, designed to provide everything you want to know about the sport. It will be produced in association with Yahoo! Sports.,

It was the Roaring Twenties, a brief period of economic prosperity and cultural change sandwiched between the end of World War I and the start of the Great Depression. Bootleg booze flowed, flappers kicked up their heels, and in the editorial offices of the New York Evening Telegram, sports editor Nat Fleischer had a brainstorm, the ramifications of which still reverberate today.

The country was in the thrall of the Golden Age of American sports. It was a time when "The House that Ruth Built" sprouted in the Bronx, Red Grange ran wild on the University of Illinois gridiron, "Big Bill" Tilden changed the image of tennis, and Bobby Jones popularized golf.

But none of the new breed of sports superstar loomed larger in the peoples' eyes than Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion of the world. Forged in the hobo camps and mining town of his native Colorado, the vicious-punching, ruggedly handsome Dempsey was the epitome of what the general public thought a heavyweight champion should look like, and fought accordingly -- gunning for the knockout from the opening bell.

Dempsey's bout with Frenchman Georges Carpentier in 1921 was boxing's first million-dollar gate, a watershed event that did not escape the attention of Fleischer, an ardent follower of the sport. He realized that the time had come for boxing to have its own publication, and found a willing financial backer in Tex Rickard, the promoter of the Dempsey-Carpentier blockbuster.

Together with Rickard's press agent, Ike Dorgan, Fleischer launched The Ring magazine on February 15, 1922. It was a modest 24-page publication, costing twenty cents, but set lofty goals from the start.

"It is a magazine that has an idea, a great and glowing idea, that seeks to put and keep boxing in its rightful niche in sport," read the unsigned foreword of the maiden issue, which also promised to "speak for, fight for, foster, up-build, and perpetuate" boxing. In many ways, these remain the publication's guiding principles, 86 years after they were written.

GROWTH AND INNOVATION

Bolstered by Fleischer's immense knowledge of boxing and reputation for honesty, The Ring was a success from the start and quickly grew from a newsletter-like pamphlet to a full-fledged newsstand magazine with international distribution.

Fleischer was a man of many parts-crusading journalist, trendsetter, and, when it came to boxing, super salesman. He quickly strengthened The Ring brand by instituting the custom of presenting world champions with a belt emblazoned with the magazine's distinctive logo. The very first Ring belt was given to Dempsey shortly after the launch of the magazine, with flyweight champion Pancho Villa receiving the second. But that was just the start of a series of innovations.

Inspired by Walter Camp's annual All-America football team, Fleischer pioneered the concept of boxing rankings and published the very first of its kind in the February 1925 issue. Like the magazine, they were sponsored by Rickard, and for a few years signed by Dempsey. "The Manassa Mauler" did not actually compile the ratings (he apparently didn't know enough about the "little guys"), but lent his name to them to show support and enhance their credibility.

The association with Rickard led to a problem the following year when a national weekly tried to buy the ratings from the promoter for $5,000. Rickard accepted the offer, but was forced to back down when The Ring threatened to obtain a court-ordered injunction and also sue for damages.

When Rickard died in 1929, Jimmy Johnston became head of Madison Square Garden boxing and also briefly sponsored The Ring ratings. At first, the ratings were published annually, but by 1930 they had become a regular part of every issue. As time passed, sponsorship was dropped and Fleischer and his staff compiled the ratings, with help from the magazine's worldwide network of correspondents.

In 1928, The Ring initiated another tradition when it named reigning heavyweight champion Gene Tunney as Fighter of the Year. The practice proved a popular one, and when the magazine added Fight of the Year and Round of the Year in 1945, the publication of the annual awards issue became a highly anticipated event. Today, the list of annual awards has grown to a total of seven with the addition of Knockout, Upset, Comeback and Event.

MR. BOXING

Fleischer did not restrict his role to that of editor and publisher. He became boxing's globetrotting goodwill ambassador, traveling around the world, covering fights in exotic locales, hobnobbing with heads of state, helping make important matches, occasionally refereeing, and always furthering the cause of the Sweet Science.

Although he was an old-fashioned, Victorian man, Fleischer's sense of fair play extended to boxers of all races. He championed the cause of black heavyweight contender Harry Wills, who clearly deserved a shot at Dempsey, but, despite Fleischer's efforts, never got it.

In 1938, Fleischer wrote and published the first volume of Black Dynamite: The Story of the Negro In Boxing, a pioneering work, which by time the fifth and final volume was published in 1947 had comprehensively documented black boxers' gigantic contribution to the sport.

It was, however, in the 1960s that Fleischer made his most significant stand against injustice, when he continued to recognize Muhammad Ali as heavyweight champion of the world at a time virtually every athletic commission and governing body had stripped him of the title.

Fleischer did not support Ali's refusal to be drafted into the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. What he did support was everybody's right to his or her day in court. Ali appealed his draft dodging conviction, and Fleischer maintained that it would be wrong to deprive him of the championship until the final verdict was handed down.

When the case reached the Supreme Court in 1971 and the justices ruled unanimously in Ali's favor, Fleischer wrote that The Ring "found justification for its stance in the face of the epidemic of title-rescinding action which followed [Ali's] April 1967 conviction of a felony. … The Ring, corporately, and I, personally, welcome back to the ranks of boxers who are free of movement, and free of the onus of a federal felony, Cassius Clay."

The quirky nature of Fleischer's personality can be found in those few lines. He was progressive enough to put his reputation, and the reputation of The Ring, on the line when he believed it was the right thing to do-but old-fashioned enough to insist on calling Ali by his Christian name years after Ali had converted to Islam.

Fleischer died of heart disease on June 25, 1972, his final editorial appearing in the September edition. After almost 50 years at the helm of "The Bible of Boxing," the man who had become known as Mr. Boxing was gone. His leadership and ethical values were soon sorely missed.

A BREACH OF TRUST

Fleischer's son-in-law, Nat Loubet, who was managing editor at the time of Fleischer's death, succeeded him as both editor and publisher. Loubet's tenure was marked by financial growth and controversy.

With Ali as heavyweight champion and boxing still a regular part of network TV programming, the sport thrived during the 1970s. In 1976 The Ring entered into a 10-year licensing agreement with a Venezuelan company to publish a Spanish-language version of The Ring. It appeared that the magazine was headed for unprecedented growth, but trouble was brewing.

In the December '76 issue, The Ring announced its participation in the Don King/ABC-TV United States Tournament of Champions, which was designed to crown U.S. champs in eight weight classes. King would promote, ABC would televise, and The Ring would supply ratings, records and a belt to the winners. Loubet and Associate Editor John Ort were also members of the tournament's Executive Committee, which was chaired by James A. Farley, head of the New York State Athletic Commission.

The tournament began on January 16, 1977 aboard the USS Lexington, a Navy aircraft carrier docked in Pensacola, Florida. Another card followed in February, and two more in March before the tournament was suspended (and eventually canceled) amid allegations of kickbacks, padded records and favoritism toward house fighters.

There were several investigations into the matter, but no criminal or civil charges were ever lodged. It was, however, revealed that Ort had received $5,000 from King, which, according to Loubet, was for "work outside the contract between The Ring and Don King."

Despite no hard evidence that The Ring had done anything illegal, the publication came away from the affair with its integrity badly compromised. The lingering stench did not begin to dissipate until 1979, when a group of investors, headed by retired basketball great Dave DeBusschere, purchased The Ring from the Loubet family and installed Bert Randolph Sugar as editor and publisher.

FIGHTING BACK

Sugar, a convivial raconteur with a deep knowledge and love of the sport, did much to restore the publication's credibility by purging it of anybody who had been involved in the scandal. He also vastly improved both the writing and graphic content of the magazine, but it floundered financially, and Sugar was replaced by Randy Gordon starting with the March 1984 issue.

Gordon's term lasted less than a year, and Nigel Collins, who had joined the staff in '84, made his debut as editor in the January 1985 issue. The staff and budget was slashed, and thanks in part to the emergence of Mike Tyson and the renewed interest in boxing he created, The Ring survived and even made progress toward raising its profile.

Collins reinstated the policy of awarding Ring championship belts in 1988, and experimented with a return to the traditional eight weight divisions. The move garnered support from a number of significant media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports, and Jack Fiske, longtime boxing writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, who wrote, "The Ring magazine has come up with an idea whose time has come. Although not original, it's worthwhile and overdue."

Nonetheless, the financial hole inherited from previous administrations proved too deep to dig out of, and in 1990 The Ring was purchased by Stanley Weston, who worked for Fleischer in his youth but had broken away and formed his own publishing company. Weston moved the operation from Manhattan to Long Island and made Stu Saks publisher and Steve Farhood editor.

The new team produced an excellent product for the next 3½ years, but following the July 1993 issue, The Ring was sold to Kappa Publishing and the editorial offices relocated to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, approximately 35 miles outside of Philadelphia. Saks and Farhood stayed on, and Collins returned as managing editor.

A BOLD NEW FUTURE

When Farhood left, after the publication of the December 1997 issue, to pursue a career in television, Collins began his second term as editor-in-chief. Three years later, The Ring revitalized its image by ditching pulp paper and switching to a glossy, all-color format.

During Farhood's tenure, the tradition of awarding Ring championship belts had again been shelved. Therefore, in an effort to restore credibility to championship boxing, which had become a corrupted tangle of multiple titleholders in virtually every division, The Ring launched its new Championship Policy in the April 2002 issue. (See Ratings for an explanation of the policy.)

The Ring entered the digital age in July 2005 with its original website (thering-online.com), a technological advance that made possible another innovation-weekly ratings updates, instantly available throughout the world.

Moreover, The Ring's Championship Policy gradually gained traction, in part thanks to ESPN2's Friday Night Fights, which adopted both the Championship Policy and ratings. In addition, a number of top fighters, weary of paying exorbitant sanctioning fees and being forced to fight undeserving mandatory challengers, realized that they could save hundreds of thousands of dollars and control their professional destiny by fighting for The Ring championship.

"The Ring belt is the best thing to happen in a long time," said Winky Wright, who won The Ring junior middleweight title in 2004.

Wright was not alone in his assessment.

"If you want to look up who the real champion is, then go to The Ring magazine," said Oscar De La Hoya. "They are the ones who can really do what no other organizational body can do, that is bring back fans and make them aware who the champion is."

Despite all the progress, the one thing The Ring lacked to push it to the next level was a passion for the sport at the corporate level. That all changed in August 2007 when The Ring was sold to Sports & Entertainment Publications, the publishing arm of Golden Boy Enterprises.

At first, there were understandable concerns about the potential for conflict of interest. Industry insiders and some readers feared that having the magazine owned by an active fighter, who is also one of the sport's foremost promoters, could conceivably mean the end of the autonomous impartiality that has been its hallmark for 86 years.

Both De La Hoya and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer issued reassuring statements, including the promise that the magazine would be "held in an editorial trust where it will be operating totally independent of any influence" and that to do otherwise would "destroy our investment."

"The proof of our sincerity will be found on the pages of this and upcoming issues," wrote Collins in the January 2008 edition, the first under the current ownership. Eleven issues later, critics have been unable to point to a single lapse in ethics or instance where favoritism was shown toward De La Hoya or a Golden Boy-promoted fighter.

Now, as The Ring enters into a website partnership with Yahoo! Sports, the venerable publication will reach a vastly larger audience than ever before, allowing it to serve boxing and its readership in exciting new ways that even a visionary like Nat Fleischer could never have imagined.

Former British Heavyweight boxer Frank Bruno is seen at the David Haye
and Monte Barrett Heavyweight eliminator title fight at the O2 arena,
London on November 15, 2008. Haye knocked out Barrett in the fifth
round of his first Heavyweight match to win the bout after moving
from the Cruiserweight division. AFP PHOTO/CARL DE SOUZA
(Photo credit should read CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)

Italy fights mob terror near Naples


An Italian paratrooper of the Folgore corp patrols a street in Casal di Principe, near Caserta , southern … CASAL DI PRINCIPE, Italy – The paratroopers' armored vehicles had barely taken up position in this fiefdom of the Casalesi crime clan when the mobsters decided to show who was boss.

On a sleepy Sunday, a few hundred yards from where the crack Thunderbolt brigade was deployed with automatic rifles, two gunmen drove down the town's main street and pumped bullets into a 60-year-old man at a table just inside the entrance of a card parlor.

The murder of an uncle of a crime syndicate turncoat left blood oozing across the stone sidewalk and a collective silence by potential witnesses among fellow card players, prompting a wry comment that the victim must have been playing solitaire.

After dealing blows that left Sicily's Cosa Nostra reeling and making inroads against Calabria's potent 'ndrangheta syndicate, Italy's new war against organized crime is challenging the Camorra, the Naples regional mafia depicted in a film just released in the U.S., after the mob carried out a brutal, monthslong murder spree that included gunning down six Ghanaian immigrants in one swoop.

In recent months, the government has sent 3,000 soldiers into other cities across Italy to help battle crime syndicates. Now it has poured 500 soldiers and 400 police investigators into the region northwest of Naples, with most patrolling the flat, bleak, provincial countryside that is under the sway of the Casalesi, so named for its stronghold here in the town of Casal di Principe.

The deployment is set to last until December and could be extended if violence persists. Using the military against criminals is not new — it has been done in Naples and Sicily — but the theory still stands that sending in troops can free up local police who know the territory to intensify the search for clues and suspects.

However, as shown by the brazen murder of the card player on Oct. 5, the Camorra is proving a fiercely tenacious enemy.

"They are not in decline. They are very strong economically," said magistrate Franco Roberti, who heads a team of anti-mob prosecutors in Naples.

The Camorra runs lucrative rackets ranging from numbers games to horse race betting, drugs and smuggling immigrants. The Casalesi are also involved in illegal transport and disposal of tons of toxic waste from the industrial north to the underdeveloped south, according to a report by a parliamentary anti-Mafia commission.

But the Camorra, and in particular the Casalesi, thrive mainly on extorting "protection" money from a terrorized citizenry.

"You kill one to teach a lesson to 100," is how Rodolfo Ruperti, a police official in the provincial capital of Caserta, describes the thinking behind a murder spree blamed on the Casalesi, which has claimed at least 18 lives since spring.

Victims have included relatives of turncoats, a few rare businessmen who dared refuse extortion demands and, last month, six immigrants in the nearby town of Castel Volturno.

Investigators described the massacre of the Africans as an intimidating show of firepower, possibly meant to signal Nigerian drug traffickers to stop operating in Casalesi territory. The attackers sprayed a hail of bullets at the immigrants chatting outside a social club.

Ruperti said in an interview that investigators believe the driving force behind the orgy of bloodshed is Giuseppe Setola, a sharp-shooting fugitive mobster who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in the past.

Setola is waging a "strategy of terror," Ruperti said. "He needs to use sheer power" to win command of the Casalesi clan since he lacks the charisma of imprisoned clan boss Francesco Schiavone.

Schiavone, known as Sandokan after the hero of a series of pirate adventure books popular in Italy, is believed to rule the Casalesi despite being behind bars for years. Schiavone's wife was arrested as an alleged clan paymaster in one of the recent police raids that have netted dozens of suspected Camorra members.

A manhunt is on for Setola, who escaped in spring from house arrest, granted so he could recover from an eye problem. "His eyes can't be so bad," Ruperti commented drily — since Setola is believed to have carried out some of the recent killings himself.

Paramilitary police last month unearthed a cache of weapons, including a Kalashnikov, buried in a basement in Castel Volturno. The arms are believed to be part of the arsenal used by Setola and his men.

The arrests of Camorra suspects have dealt a severe blow to the syndicate, but it keeps finding ways to renew itself: "There are always new recruits, because more than being a criminal phenomenon, the Camorra is a social phenomenon," Roberti said.

Potential mobsters are tempted by the mob's quick money in bleak towns like Casal di Principe, where most of the young are unemployed.

One job is shaking down businessmen like Pietro Russo, who squinted in the sunlight as he walked among charred ruins of his mattress factory in the town of Santa Maria Capua Vetere.

Russo rebelled in 2004 against the Casalesi extortion gangs, wearing a police wire to negotiations with his extortioners. This year, the mob got its revenge, burning down his business and forcing him to lay off his seven factory workers.

"They sent youths around who'd come into the store and say, 'Get yourself in good stead with the Casalesi,'" Russo said. "Then they'd accompany you to Casal di Principle to give you the details. They'd tell how much you have to pay and how you have to pay it."

His cooperation with the police led to the arrests of Casalesi clan members. But he has yet to rebuild his business, and he and his family live under the strain of a constant police escort.

Russo scoffed at the term "protection" money. "What could these people give you? They are squalid, ignorant .... They destroy the few jobs we have," he said.

The 42-year-old businessman heads a fledgling association of about a dozen businessmen daring to defy the Camorra. But so far, the Casalesi haven't suffered the far wider rebellion like the one that has hurt Cosa Nostra in recent years.

The Camorra's notoriety is spreading to the U.S. "Gomorra," a film that premiered this month in New York, is based on a Neapolitan journalist's best-selling book about the syndicate, and is Italy's entry for the best foreign film Oscar.

The book by Roberto Saviano tells in grisly detail how the Camorra infiltrates nearly every facet of life. The 29-year-old Saviano lived for a time in Casal di Principe, a town of about 20,000 people. Since writing his book about the Naples region's crime syndicate, he has been given a police escort and recently said he might flee Italy in fear he could be slain.

For those waging less sensational battles against the Camorra, living in the stronghold of the Casalesi clan leaves its mark.

Here, we "breathe fear," said Genoveffa Corvino, a psychologist at a home for boys with family problems that was recently opened in a villa, replete with marble staircases, confiscated from a Casal di Principe mob boss.

Corvino said the peculiar style of residences here — most are behind thick, high walls topped by metal fences — reflects the siege mentality.

"There's a culture of staying closed inside, of minding your own business," said Corvino.

The villa is now called the Don Peppino Diana Home after the name of a town priest fatally shot in the face after using his pulpit to denounce the Casalesi clan.

When the boys' home opened, some neighbors donated their children's old bicycles to quietly make clear they supported converting a mobster's luxury mansion into a refuge for children, Corvino said.

"It's a small thing that shows what side they are on," he said.

Associated Press Television News producer Paolo Santalucia contributed from Naples and Santa Maria Capua Vetere.

Diego and Frankie Duarte

Ed Hernandez

Gato Gonzalez and Randy De La O

At Champions Sports Bar inside the LAX Marriott
Front: Jeri and Randy De La O, Maria Esty, Brian Higgins
Back: Ed Hernandez, Roger Esty


The Boys from Classic American West Coast Boxing
Brian Higgins, Dan Hanley Jr., Randy De La O, Roger Esty and Ed Hernandez

At the inductions banquet dinner
Jeri and Randy De La O, Brian Higgins (standing), Ed Hernandez, Roger and Maria Esty, Orlando De La Fuente and his grandson


Rick Farris and guests at the induction banquet.

A dynamite team and two of the nicest guys you could ever meet: Dan Hanley Jr and Sr.


John Bardelli and his lovely sister attending the inductions and accepting a posthumous induction on behalf of their father , Guido Bardelli (Young Firpo the all time great Light heavyweight).

I want to thank Rick for the free ducats to the WBHOF Banquet. The gang,and I'm certain I'm speaking for everyione,had a great time. It's like we'd grown up together.

Freddie Roach (left), here working with Manny Pacquiao, said Oscar De La Hoya couldn't handle tiny Ivan Calderon in sparring when Roach trained De La Hoya. Photo / Fightwireimages.com

At first, I thought putting this fight together would be impossible because Manny and Oscar were in different weight classes. Then I started thinking about it. After I trained Oscar, I realized he had trouble with smaller guys and southpaws. Oscar sparred with Ivan Calderon, the former 105-pound champion, when I trained him for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight because I wanted someone real quick. Calderon slapped Oscar around like it was unbelievable. I said between rounds one time, “Oscar, I want you to hit him one shot to show him who’s boss.” He couldn’t do it. I got mad at him. I told him the same thing another time; we used Calderon for a couple of days. I said, “Go ahead and hit that little mother.” Again, he couldn’t do it. Calderon was too quick and had a southpaw stance, like Manny does. That’s when I thought of Manny. I knew then it was a winnable fight.

Freddie Roach

Randy, Diego, great photos, will be getting some from Rick sometime next week he said.

Emile Griffith

By Diego

BETWEEN ROUNDS

"He stole all my money."
He was a good fighter. Didn't have any particular outstanding talent that the other guy would have to worry about though. Came along at at a time when his division was thick with good fighters at his weight,but if it hadn't been that deep he wouldn't have won the belt anyway. He was in there though. He was tough.
"My manager lived like a king. I had nothing."
"How are you feeling?,I asked.
"I'm OK. You know we're in Hemet. "
"I thought Hemet was inland. We're by the ocean."
"No,we're in Hemet."

Some of the other fellas' gathered around. We were about to go the lounge for a bite and then some rounds of drinks. The expug was standing a little off to the side as our group gathered around.
"You want to join us?"I asked him.
"Yeh,thanks."
He followed behind,and then a stocky guy with a bald head and a big voice walked up to our group. He had a Middle East accent.
"You know me you fellows?"
We looked at him and then looked at each other.
"I'm the Caribe Heavyweight Champion of the world. Klitschko no want to fight me."
"Where have you fought"?,I asked.
The guy's eyes were as wide as his size.
"I win title in Mexico. I have three fights. Klitscko no want to fight me."
The guy had a medallion around his neck.
"Guess my age? I'm 51. I walk on treadmill everyday. Young man say how come you so in good shape? I say hit my stomach."
Just then the expug,who must have been listening,stepped in from of the big guy and threw a punch at the guy's waist. The expug pulled it back before it landed.
"Go ahead. Throw punch,"said the big guy. "You do that and I bend down low and throw uppercut from down here and break your jaw."
The big Middle East guy showed how he'd counter with a slowly exaggerated motion. All the time his eyes were wide open big.

Our group started to walk into the lounge. I looked over my shoulder to see if the expug was following. His attention was now focused on the big Arab.
"But if you do that,then I'll throw a left hook counter."
Both of them were standing very close to each other.

We sat at a round table inside the lounge. The waitress came over. Through the glass I could see the expug and the big Arab slowly moving their arms in pantomime motions. I lost interest with what they were doing. Another of our group arrived as the waitress was taking our order. We were a chair shy. I walked towards the door and grabbed a chair. I saw the two outside still waving their arms.

As I was walking back with the chair,I heard the Arab say,"Klitschko,he no want to fight me."

Oscar De La Hoya, here speaking at a news conference in New York, says choosing to face Manny Pacquiao in his next fight was a "no-brainer." Photo / Fightwireimages.com

A lot of people ask me: Why did you chose to fight Manny Pacquiao? The process went like this. I chose Pacquaio first and foremost because of the challenge. Manny Pacquiao is considered the best pound for pound fighter in world today by the experts. That is a challenge that motivates me. Second, I took the fight because of the fact they called me out. I always take it as a challenge when you call me out. I’m going to respond to it, I’m going to react to it. And, third, this is a worldwide event. You have the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and you have the most popular fighter in the world in myself. Having both inside the ring creates excitement, it creates noise for the sport of boxing, not only in the boxing community but all over the world. This fight was no-brainer for me. This fight I’m sure was a no-brainer for Manny. He’s going to make a lot of money. When you have a fight like this, a fight that doesn’t come along very often, you have to jump at the opportunity. That’s what I did.

Oscar De La Hoya