BoxRec

kikibalt wrote:Tijuana’s troubles make fight card dicey

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

Bob Arum is not only arguably the greatest boxing promoter ever, he’s also one of the smartest men I know. It’s not a stretch to say Arum is a genius.

He’s also one of the most compassionate men I’ve ever met.

In 2004, longtime boxing writer Jack Welsh was in his late 70s and struggling desperately to survive. He had no retirement savings and next to no income, so he had to scrape up whatever writing jobs he could, which were becoming increasingly few. Money was always exceptionally tight.

At a news conference that year prior to the Vitali Klitschko-Danny Williams fight at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, I was sitting at a table with Arum when Welsh approached and whispered to me that he was broke. Again. I’d just given him money a few days earlier, as had another mutual friend.

Welsh was looking skinnier than I’d ever seen him and it was clear he wasn’t eating well. The man with the most voracious appetite I met couldn’t afford to eat every day.

When he whispered about his financial troubles, I became visibly frustrated, because I’d been giving him money about every 10 days. Arum noticed my frustration and asked what was going on. After I told him that Welsh was worried about being evicted, Arum suggested holding a fundraiser.

I told him a group of Welsh’s friends had done that a year or so earlier and few were in a mood to do it again. At that point, Arum called Lee Samuels, his public relations director, over and proceeded to amaze both of us. He gave Samuels the money to pay Welsh’s rent for several months going forward, as well as several thousand dollars in spending money.

Welsh died in his sleep a few months later and it was Arum who picked up the majority of the funeral costs.

It’s a side of Arum few people know, but one I’ve seen regularly in the 20 years I’ve known him.

Knowing that side of Arum makes it harder to reconcile the thought that he’s willingly putting people’s lives in danger for the sake for a few extra dollars in ticket sales.

Arum’s Top Rank Inc. is promoting a boxing card in Tijuana, Mexico, on Saturday that, by all accounts, should produce some marvelous action.

It’s a must see.

It is, at least, on pay-per-view.

That’s because it’s not worth the risk of going to Tijuana, no matter how Arum tries to spin it.

On a March 9 conference call that included the mayor of Tijuana and a Mexican tourism official, Arum tried to insist the danger to fans who might consider traveling to Tijuana for the fight was minimal. A publicist working for Arum issued a news release with the headline, “Mayor Proclaims Tijuana Safe for U.S. Boxing Fans.”

During the call, Arum said, “I know there have been some problems in Tijuana with the drug trafficking, but they have it under control.”

Uh, no they don’t.

There were 843 murders in Tijuana in 2008, about two-and-a-half times the amount there were in 2007. On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced an extensive plan to decrease the violence. The White House said in statement released Tuesday, “The president is concerned by the increased level of violence, particularly in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, and the impact that it is having on the communities on both sides of the border.”

The situation is so unsafe that, according to USA Today, U.S. Marines are prohibited from going to Tijuana.

Yet, Arum wants boxing fans to feel it’s safe.

He said he frequently travels to Mexico and called a State Department alert warning Americans about the danger of traveling to Tijuana “wrong.” When he was pressed about the murder rate, Arum compared it to his hometown of Las Vegas, which, like Tijuana, is built on the tourist trade.

“How many people get murdered in Las Vegas?” Arum said. “Does that mean people should stay away from Las Vegas because there was a drug killing the other night? The person who is coming to Tijuana to watch boxing has nothing to worry about.”

That’s an absurd comment on so many levels, but it ignores the simple fact that there were about 851 murders in Las Vegas from Jan. 1, 2003 through Dec. 31, 2008, or about the same number (843) there were in 2008 alone in Tijuana. Tijuana had 80 more murders in November alone (212) than there were in Las Vegas in all of 2008 (132).

If the number of murders in the city alone isn’t staggering enough, consider this: 843 murders amounts to one murder about every 10 hours every day of the year in Tijuana.

What’s puzzling is that Arum doesn’t need to urge Americans to travel to the fight. The city of Tijuana is underwriting the card and tickets are free for Tijuana citizens. Already, more than 15,000 of the 21,500 available seats have been claimed.

The venue will be filled regardless of whether or not one person crosses the border to buy a ticket for the fight. Given the violence in the city, it was a dubious decision, at best, by co-promoter Fernando Beltran to put the fight in Tijuana, but there’s no reason to exacerbate the problem by acting as if this is an excursion to Grandma’s house on a sunny spring Sunday afternoon.

Most likely, there will be no incidents at or around the fight. But crowds of 20,000 frequently bring out the undesirables and who knows what calamity may follow?

Arum and Beltran have put together an intriguing card featuring Fernando Montiel, one of the top fighters in the world, and the ever-popular Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

If you like rock ‘em, sock ‘em boxing, this will be the card for you.

Just don’t travel to Tijuana to see the fight.

If it’s not safe enough for a U.S. Marine, it’s not safe enough for anyone.

And so, in what may be a first in boxing journalism, I leave you with this thought:

Stay at home and buy the fights on pay-per-view.

It’s a great fight card, but it’s not worth the risk to your life to go see it.

kikibalt wrote:
Frankie getting ready for a fight, circa-1977. in our hole-in-the-wall gym in La Puente.
That too is gone, there is a parking lot there now.....

dagosd2000 wrote:

kikibalt wrote:Tijuana’s troubles make fight card dicey

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

Bob Arum is not only arguably the greatest boxing promoter ever, he’s also one of the smartest men I know. It’s not a stretch to say Arum is a genius.

He’s also one of the most compassionate men I’ve ever met.

In 2004, longtime boxing writer Jack Welsh was in his late 70s and struggling desperately to survive. He had no retirement savings and next to no income, so he had to scrape up whatever writing jobs he could, which were becoming increasingly few. Money was always exceptionally tight.

At a news conference that year prior to the Vitali Klitschko-Danny Williams fight at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, I was sitting at a table with Arum when Welsh approached and whispered to me that he was broke. Again. I’d just given him money a few days earlier, as had another mutual friend.

Welsh was looking skinnier than I’d ever seen him and it was clear he wasn’t eating well. The man with the most voracious appetite I met couldn’t afford to eat every day.

When he whispered about his financial troubles, I became visibly frustrated, because I’d been giving him money about every 10 days. Arum noticed my frustration and asked what was going on. After I told him that Welsh was worried about being evicted, Arum suggested holding a fundraiser.

I told him a group of Welsh’s friends had done that a year or so earlier and few were in a mood to do it again. At that point, Arum called Lee Samuels, his public relations director, over and proceeded to amaze both of us. He gave Samuels the money to pay Welsh’s rent for several months going forward, as well as several thousand dollars in spending money.

Welsh died in his sleep a few months later and it was Arum who picked up the majority of the funeral costs.

It’s a side of Arum few people know, but one I’ve seen regularly in the 20 years I’ve known him.

Knowing that side of Arum makes it harder to reconcile the thought that he’s willingly putting people’s lives in danger for the sake for a few extra dollars in ticket sales.

Arum’s Top Rank Inc. is promoting a boxing card in Tijuana, Mexico, on Saturday that, by all accounts, should produce some marvelous action.

It’s a must see.

It is, at least, on pay-per-view.

That’s because it’s not worth the risk of going to Tijuana, no matter how Arum tries to spin it.

On a March 9 conference call that included the mayor of Tijuana and a Mexican tourism official, Arum tried to insist the danger to fans who might consider traveling to Tijuana for the fight was minimal. A publicist working for Arum issued a news release with the headline, “Mayor Proclaims Tijuana Safe for U.S. Boxing Fans.”

During the call, Arum said, “I know there have been some problems in Tijuana with the drug trafficking, but they have it under control.”

Uh, no they don’t.

There were 843 murders in Tijuana in 2008, about two-and-a-half times the amount there were in 2007. On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced an extensive plan to decrease the violence. The White House said in statement released Tuesday, “The president is concerned by the increased level of violence, particularly in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, and the impact that it is having on the communities on both sides of the border.”

The situation is so unsafe that, according to USA Today, U.S. Marines are prohibited from going to Tijuana.

Yet, Arum wants boxing fans to feel it’s safe.

He said he frequently travels to Mexico and called a State Department alert warning Americans about the danger of traveling to Tijuana “wrong.” When he was pressed about the murder rate, Arum compared it to his hometown of Las Vegas, which, like Tijuana, is built on the tourist trade.

“How many people get murdered in Las Vegas?” Arum said. “Does that mean people should stay away from Las Vegas because there was a drug killing the other night? The person who is coming to Tijuana to watch boxing has nothing to worry about.”

That’s an absurd comment on so many levels, but it ignores the simple fact that there were about 851 murders in Las Vegas from Jan. 1, 2003 through Dec. 31, 2008, or about the same number (843) there were in 2008 alone in Tijuana. Tijuana had 80 more murders in November alone (212) than there were in Las Vegas in all of 2008 (132).

If the number of murders in the city alone isn’t staggering enough, consider this: 843 murders amounts to one murder about every 10 hours every day of the year in Tijuana.

What’s puzzling is that Arum doesn’t need to urge Americans to travel to the fight. The city of Tijuana is underwriting the card and tickets are free for Tijuana citizens. Already, more than 15,000 of the 21,500 available seats have been claimed.

The venue will be filled regardless of whether or not one person crosses the border to buy a ticket for the fight. Given the violence in the city, it was a dubious decision, at best, by co-promoter Fernando Beltran to put the fight in Tijuana, but there’s no reason to exacerbate the problem by acting as if this is an excursion to Grandma’s house on a sunny spring Sunday afternoon.

Most likely, there will be no incidents at or around the fight. But crowds of 20,000 frequently bring out the undesirables and who knows what calamity may follow?

Arum and Beltran have put together an intriguing card featuring Fernando Montiel, one of the top fighters in the world, and the ever-popular Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

If you like rock ‘em, sock ‘em boxing, this will be the card for you.

Just don’t travel to Tijuana to see the fight.

If it’s not safe enough for a U.S. Marine, it’s not safe enough for anyone.

And so, in what may be a first in boxing journalism, I leave you with this thought:

Stay at home and buy the fights on pay-per-view.

It’s a great fight card, but it’s not worth the risk to your life to go see it.

THIS IS THE WAY IT IS

OK Kevin . I bet you've never been to TJ to see a fight. I bet you've never been to TJ at all. Maybe to Revolucion Street once to go to Jack In The Box to eat a taco,but you have no frame of reference on this subject matter of this fight or any fight that goes on down there.

You guys on the U.S. side,especially the gringos,go if you want to go. You won't get killed .Honest.

So Tijuana is off limits to the Marines. What a joke. It's not the first time. Marines love Tijuana because it's red light district offers them everything that's illegal on this side. Besides,the hookers down there are inspected by U.S. doctors. And 20 bucks will get you a girl that could work Vegas if she had the papers.

So we know the Marine generals know their boys aren't sissies. Tijuana is a lot safer than Iraq. It's just diplomatic red tape bullshit on both sides.

Now that I've cleared the air on the safety issue,you might wonder if I'm going. NO I'M NOT. Why? Look,I've been to plenty of fights in TJ. Read the thread for intimate details. I ain't goin' cause it ain't worth it. Sure,there'll be 1800 Tijuana cops standing around. That's what they'll be doin'. Standin' around. Parking will be a mess. The line at the border will be a mess. I can see it later on Mexican TV. And pay 75 to 150 bucks to watch JC Jr.? I paid ten to watch his old man dismantle Danilo Cabrera at the race track.

I've seen fights at the old downtown bullring that's now gone. I saw Mantequilla,Olivares,Saldivar,and JC.Sr. Oh yeh,Baby Vasquez to name a few. The 60's and 70's when Mexican boxing ruled the lighter weights.I never shelled out more than ten bucks to throw the dead rattlesnake around the ring.

That's why I ain't goin'. I'd have to go by myself .Besides, I can't find a Marine who'd go with me anyway.

Randyman wrote:

kikibalt wrote:
Frankie getting ready for a fight, circa-1977. in our hole-in-the-wall gym in La Puente.
That too is gone, there is a parking lot there now.....

Frank, the hole in the walls produced some of the biggest hearts.

Randy

Dongee wrote:Rick:

I have nothing but pleasant memories of that area on West Adams, when I lived briefly with my dad at his home on Somerset Drive, just south of Adams. I attended the Ben Bard's Adams moviie house there, getting in for a dime at age 11. Even younger, of course, I was baptized at St. Vincent's, corner Adams and Figueroa.

And Rick, my staunchest hope for you is that you never lose that great sense of "belonging"
which so many folks abandon when their home address changes. Remember the words in that old song "The Last Time I saw Paris"......."No matter how they change her, I'll remember her that way."

I don't profess to know what it is that motivates you so. But I am certain that it is a benevolent force of which you may not have any control. Give it a free rein, carry on....the best may be yet to come.

hap navarro

kikibalt wrote:
Miguel Canto & Martin Vargas
WBC Flyweight Championship
November 30 1977, Santiago, Chile

kikibalt wrote:Give Tijuana a chance because Mexico is vital to boxing

by Norm Frauenheim

A reasonable argument continues about whether to cross a border that, at least according to headlines and perhaps hyperbole, sounds like a battlefield. Bob Arum says that all is quiet on the Tijuana side of the southern front, despite news reports and State Department advisories that say otherwise.

Maybe, Arum is right. I hope he is. For one night, at least, maybe all the violence in Tijuana will be controlled with a Latin Fury card Saturday in a bullring close to the border and not far from streets bloodied by warring drug gangs.

Maybe, the gangsters will take a night off and watch somebody else fight. There is precedence for that. During Manny Pacquiao’s fights in Las Vegas, there have been reports that Filipino rebels suspend their insurgency long enough to watch their famed countryman, the Boxing Writers Association’s 2008 Fighter of the Year who also qualified for some peace-prize consideration.

Arum has been taking some heat from U.S. media for trying to quell fears about Tijuana during a conference a call a few weeks ago. He tried to separate the documented violence in Juarez from what has happened in Tijuana. Given the alarming statistics, that’s hard – no, impossible – to do. Throughout all of the criticism, however, it is hard not to admire Arum, whose loyalty is about as old school as it gets.

Arum is taking a chance with a Tijuana card featuring Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. against Argentina’s Luciano Cuello, just as surely as he took one in his angry defense of welterweight Antonio Margarito, who was suspended in the U.S. for one year and faces public condemnation for a lot longer in the wake of charges of altered hand wraps before his loss to Sugar Shane Mosley.

But there is an important thread of consistency in his decision to stand behind a fighter and a city. Both are Mexican. Without Mexico, it’s hard to imagine where Arum’s business would be, or if it would be much of a business, at all.

Over at least the last decade, Mexico has been Arum’s biggest, most reliable market. Without Mexico, Pacquiao wouldn’t be quite the phenomenon he is today. The Arum-promoted Pacquiao hates being called The Mexicutioner. Without Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez, however, he just would be a good Filipino fighter.

Then, there is Floyd Mayweather Jr and Ricky Hatton, neither an Arum client. They wouldn’t be as rich with out those Mexican fans either. Both have acknowledged that with a tip of the symbolic sombrero – Mayweather in a Pancho Villa-like costume before beating De La Hoya and Hatton in appearances with Barrera, his compadre.

Mexico has created opportunities for them and avenues to new markets for Arum, who is in Tijuana this weekend like a vigilant shop-keeper. He’s minding the store, making sure not to anger his best customers.

Notes, quotes and oddservations

· Pacquiao as Fighter of the Year was a foregone conclusion at the very second De La Hoya lost to him last December. A further sign of Pacquiao’s widening stardom arrived in Time, which included him on a list of 202 candidates for being the world’s most influential. Pacquiao is among a handful of sports figures, including Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, golfer Tiger Woods, basketball’s Kobe Bryant, baseball’s Alex Rodriquez, cycling’s Lance Armstrong, race-car driver Danica Patrick and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Apparently, no newspaper publishers or editors had anything to do with the magazine’s list. They decided boxing was dead years ago and have since gone on to kill off their own business.

· It looks as if Phelps is slowly re-surfacing after weeks of controversy surrounding those photos of him poised over a bong. He is scheduled to appear with Muhammad Ali Saturday night in Phoenix at Ali’s annual fund-raiser in the fight against Parkinson’s.

· Just wondering: Will De La Hoya announce his retirement before Mayweather Jr. says he is coming back?

· OK, Tijuana is dangerous, but ringside isn’t always safe either. A Phoenix ringside photographer, Dale Hausner, could get the death penalty for his conviction on 80 criminal counts, including six murders. In a strange choice of words, a jury declared Hausner “eligible” for death. Huh? How does you gain eligibility for lethal injection? Anyway, I know Hausner, the so-called Serial Shooter. He always struck me as a harmless nerd. Once, I appeared on public-access television to talk boxing with him. He was the host. He gave me a small, bull-like stuffed animal that was supposed to be Mike Tyson, one of his heroes. Before his trial, I got a couple of calls from a Hausner attorney, who wanted me to testify in his behalf as a character witness. I never returned those calls.

bennie wrote:Gutted to read about Steven Luevano's eye problems. I was at ringside in London when he broke up Nicky Cook to win the WBO title and he really impressed me with his slickness and the way he worked the body. I hope he is able to come through this.

raylawpc wrote:Hey Guys. Completely off the topic of boxing, but . . .

I teach a citizenship class on Thursday nights and one of the ladies, a Mexican, asked if the name "Enrique" has an English or American equivalent. The only thing I could think of was "Henry." Do any of you guys know the answer?

BTW, this lady's name is Enriguetay. (She hates her name.) She been here in the States for about 10 years. She's my best student.

dagosd2000 wrote:

raylawpc wrote:Hey Guys. Completely off the topic of boxing, but . . .

I teach a citizenship class on Thursday nights and one of the ladies, a Mexican, asked if the name "Enrique" has an English or American equivalent. The only thing I could think of was "Henry." Do any of you guys know the answer?

BTW, this lady's name is Enriguetay. (She hates her name.) She been here in the States for about 10 years. She's my best student.

You thought right,Tom

dagosd2000 wrote:Frank
Took the day off. Going to get the other eye looked at. I want them to fix it like they did the other one. Things are falling in place lately. I'm waiting for the roof to fall. Should think like my wife though. One day it will fall so don't worry about it. Got to get back to Jiquilpan to get my mind straightened out. Lots of roll models there who don't worry about too much.

kikibalt wrote:

dagosd2000 wrote:Frank
Took the day off. Going to get the other eye looked at. I want them to fix it like they did the other one. Things are falling in place lately. I'm waiting for the roof to fall. Should think like my wife though. One day it will fall so don't worry about it. Got to get back to Jiquilpan to get my mind straightened out. Lots of roll models there who don't worry about too much.

I never worry about anything, and it drives Connie nuts....

raylawpc wrote:HOW TO CALL THE POLICE
WHEN YOU'RE OLD
AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.

George Phillips, an elderly man, from Meridian, Mississippi, was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?"

He said "No, but some people are breaking into my garden shed and stealing from me."

Then the police dispatcher said "All patrols are busy. You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available."

George said, "Okay.."

He hung up the phone and counted to 30.

Then he phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them," and he hung up.

Within five minutes, six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George, "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

kikibalt wrote:Rog, going to have some menudo con pata in a little while, wanna go?, you buy...