Violent: California mismatches, medical suspensions enabling bad beatings (w/ video)
By Zach Arnold | October 24, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
After yet another boxing tragedy, the sport must act. | http://t.co/Q1W62KF2GW : Steve Kim Article http://t.co/sbdAVSQ0fF via @SportsonEarth
— Steve Kim (@stevemaxboxing) October 24, 2013
Negligence.
The honorable Steve Kim has penned a must-read column for Sports on Earth about the death of boxer Francisco (Franky) Leal last week and how athletic commissions need to change protocols in order to prevent managers & trainers from throwing fighters into situations where they shouldn’t be fighting after suffering concussive beatings.
Francisco “Franky” Leal‘s 27th birthday would have been this Friday. Unfortunately, he and his family won’t be celebrating the occasion. They’ll instead be mourning his death after Leal was knocked out by Raul Hirales in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, this past weekend, and died soon after.
In March of 2012, Leal faced Evgeny Gradovich in San Antonio. Gradovich, the current IBF featherweight champion, doesn’t so much knock opponents out as he does slowly beat them into submission. One punch at a time, he concusses his opponents with a steady stream of leather. After a typically game effort, Leal finally succumbed in the 10th and final round of their contest. Afterwards, he was carried off on a stretcher and taken to the hospital, an eerie foreshadowing of what was to come.
To put Steve’s column into perspective, it is easy to dismiss his concerns as yet another boxing-only story when the reality is that it’s a story that should be of major concern to all combat sports fans. After what transpired with Junior dos Santos, Nate Marquardt, and Diego Sanchez this past weekend in Houston, you better believe that the issue of brain damage will be as big of a problem in MMA as it is in boxing. If you believe the recent results from the Cleveland Clinic study on fighters, we may very well see the suffering of MMA fighters in much the same way we see punch-drunk boxers today. The CC study indicates the impact of brain damage for MMA fighters will surface sooner than the symptoms from brain damage that boxers display.
Article: Franky Leal is dead because boxing fans & industry are hypocrites
The Desert Sun: Trainer Marcos Caballero speaks out on Franky Leal’s death
Franky Leal fought in the wild west of Texas, whose athletic commission is completely shambolic. Any MMA fan who watched the UFC Houston PPV knows how out of control the situation is with Dickie Cole and son Lawrence running the show.
However, the situation for regulating boxing in California isn’t a whole lot better.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Big John McCarthy’s political power in California is significantly solidifying
By Zach Arnold | October 22, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
Keith Kizer may not welcome John McCarthy any time soon to the state of Nevada, but the state with the largest combat sports event schedule in the country is rapidly consolidating power behind the Godfather of MMA referees.
A year has passed since Andy Foster transitioned from Georgia’s athletic commission to his perch in Sacramento as the Executive Officer of the California State Athletic Commission. It has been a challenging year, one in which he feels he is making significant progress. It depends on which side of the aisle you ask in terms of a viewpoint. If you’re a hardcore MMA industry person, you like what he is up to. If you’re in the boxing industry, you think his tenure so far is mind-boggling. If you’re a veteran athletic inspector, you’re inclined to hate the man. If you’re a promoter, you like that he’s trying to save you some money but hate the fact that you’re getting skeletal athletic inspector & official crews to work shows.
A lot of volunteers and newbies are being thrown into the fire by working shows with limited training. Rather than continuing the training of athletic inspectors to learn how to calculate box offices correctly (you can thank Che Guevara for that mess), Andy has brought on state employees to attend shows and handle the box offices despite those individuals not having any sort of fight experience. Give Andy Foster credit — he knows that an athletic commission can be messy but as long as the finances are in order, the politicians will stick with him for a little while.
Right now, there are two major issues with the California State Athletic Commission. The first issue is what to do about the five million dollars in the bank account for the boxer’s pension fund. We recently reviewed the problems with the pension fund and why this is a story that every boxer who has ever fought in California should be paying attention to. The second issue, and much more volatile politically, has to do with the officials & athletic inspectors Andy Foster is booking for shows and how that booking process is taking place. If you are running a big show in the state, chances are that your sheet will be filled with bookings a couple of months in advance. If you are running a smaller show, you may have booking issues as close as a couple of days before an event. It is a chaotic process that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Highlighting the further chaos that encompasses the politics of combat sports in California is the fact that the adults in charge of regulation come from the MMA scene. Boxing is king in California and remains the top revenue driver. And yet people in boxing remain stunned & puzzled why the regulatory scene is being controlled entirely by those who are from Mixed Martial Arts. It was Andy Foster who booked Gwen Adair, Carla Caiz, and Marty Denkin to judge the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Bryan Vera fight three weeks ago. JCC was gifted a terrible unanimous decision in a fight Vera won or got a draw in. Instead of getting rid of Adair (who has previously sued the state for discrimination in order to keep her judging gig) & Denkin, no one was punished by Sacramento because they didn’t see anything wrong with what happened.
Three weeks after the JCC/Vera fight, Marty Denkin resumed his duties as a judge by working the main event of a boxing card in Ontario this past weekend.
Right now, there are five people who are basically running or influencing the show as far as what is happening with who is involved in regulating the California combat sports scene.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Paulie Malignaggi: Media writers won’t clean up combat sports because they’re fanboys & sellouts
By Zach Arnold | October 21, 2013
This press conference rant is all over the place without much focus or context. So, rather than try to logically dissect Paulie Malignaggi’s comments, I’ll just present them to you in unedited form. You can respond to whatever portion of his rant that you would like.
“Speaking of the last fight (with Adrian Broner), there’s some things that irked me. The result definitely irked me. I don’t mind losing a decision, it’s close, it can go both ways. Things happen. I was a little bit irritated with the media putting the decision in the context of some ridiculous decisions, you know. There has not been a day since June 22nd that I don’t get at least one or two people come up to me no matter what I’m city in in the country or the world, no matter where I am, that don’t come up to me and say, ‘Paulie, you got screwed in that Broner fight.’ And I’m not saying everybody has to agree with it but it’s the kind of fight that could have went both ways. So when I hear reporters putting it into the context with the split decision that was ridiculous like Mayweather/Canelo majority decision. Guys, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think one person is going up to Canelo Alvarez telling him that he won that fight, I don’t think one person.
So, I don’t know what bifocals some of you guys had on the night I fought Broner but get some thicker ones for the rest of your careers if you’re going to the job. Because if you’re going to do this job, at least get it right. We do the fighting, we do the hard part, you know what I’m saying? You guys at least put the correct bifocals on and score the fight right and do the thing you’re supposed to do. You could at least do that, that’s the least you owe us fighters.
It’s you guys that have the responsibility to do that, not me. It’s not my responsibility to fix up the fight game. It’s my responsibility to put on a good show and entertain, OK? It’s you guys responsibility to bring out what’s wrong with it and what’s not wrong with it and to change things for the positive. So, it’s just not up to the media to make your fantasy pound-for-pound lists and ‘this guy’s better than this guy.’ That’s cool, but it’s nerd stuff at the end of the day. Go forward and try to make the sport a better place for the athletes and for the fans and everything because we can’t do it on our own, you know what I’m saying?
Like, you know, I remember years ago I was talking about PEDs in boxing and I’m not saying anything has to do with this fight, I was talking about PEDs in boxing. People looked at me, laughing at me, talking about how ridiculous I am. And now everybody’s now on this whole PED [crusade]. If you guys would have listened to me five years ago instead of calling me ridiculous, maybe things would have changed for the better. So, there’s other things that need to change in the sport, you know what I’m saying? We do need to make things better for us fighters, too, so it’s up to you guys.
You guys criticize a fighter for, ‘hey, man, he was way ahead and he just played it safe for the rest of the fight because you know he just wanted to play it safe and he owes the fans entertainment.’ Well, you guys owe it more than us, OK? You guys want us to put our necks on the line in a fight we’re up ahead, we’re ahead in the fight and want us to getting risked knock out? Why don’t you guys risk your jobs and bring out what’s wrong with the sport sometimes instead of keeping quiet so you can get ringside credentials? A lot of you guys are fanboys instead of media guys, you know what I mean?. Hey, if boxing was a mainstream sport… a lot of you guys would not have a job because real media guys would be covering it, OK? A lot of guys ought to be thankful that this a secondary sport in the country. It’s popular, but it’s a secondary sport. So, do your job right.”
OK, I change my mind. A couple of comments. His heart is in the right place and I understand where he’s coming from here. So, as a general opinion, he’s at least in the right neighborhood with his criticisms.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Cain Velasquez gets his TKO finish on a UFC Houston show with brutal fights & officiating
By Zach Arnold | October 18, 2013
UFC 166 draws reported 17,238 attendance for $2.5 million live gate http://t.co/Jx8Y0XYWNw via @MMAjunkie #mma #ufc
— MMA Supremacy (@MMASupremacy) October 20, 2013
Date: Saturday, October 19th (UFC 166 in Houston at the Toyota Center)
TV: Fox Sports 1/PPV
- Bantamweights: Kyoji Horiguchi (-150, 3 to 2 favorite) defeated Dustin Pague (+130) in R2 in 3’51 by KO.
- Featherweights: Andre Fili (-220, 11 to 5 favorite) defeated Jeremy Larsen (+180) in R2 in 53 seconds by TKO.
- Lightweights: Tony Ferguson (-450, 9 to 2 favorite) defeated Mike Rio (+350) in R1 in 1’52 with a choke.
- Welterweights: Adlan Amagov (-180, 9 to 5 favorite) defeated TJ Waldburger (+150) in R1 in 3’45 by KO.
- Lightweights: KJ Noons (-160, 8 to 5 favorite) defeated George Sotiropoulos (+140) after 3R by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 twice).
- Ladies (135 pounds): Jessica Eye (+180) defeated Sarah Kaufman (-220, 11 to 5 favorite) after 3R by split decision.
- Welterweights: Hector Lombard (-180, 9 to 5 favorite) defeated Nate Marquardt (+150) in R1 in 1’48 by KO.
- Middleweights: Tim Boetsch (-200, 2 to 1 favorite) defeated CB Dollaway (+180) after 3R by split decision (30-26 twice, 27-29).
- Flyweights: John Dodson (-350, 7 to 2 favorite) defeated Darrell Montague (+270) in R1 in 4’15 by KO.
- Heavyweights: Gabriel Gonzaga (+170) defeated Shawn Jordan (-200, 2 to 1 favorite) in 1 in 93 seconds by TKO.
- Lightweights: Gilbert Melendez (-700, 7 to 1 favorite) defeated Diego Sanchez (+500) after 3R by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 twice).
- Heavyweights: Daniel Cormier (-600, 6 to 1 favorite) defeated Roy Nelson (+400) after 3R by unanimous decision (30-27 three times).
- UFC Heavyweight title match: Cain Velasquez (-200, 2 to 1 favorite) defeated Junior dos Santos (+170) in R5 in 3’09 by TKO via non-stop beatdown.
Aftermath/fallout
I'm no doctor but I have see a lot of men who are too tough for their own good and JDS is one of them. He was out and this should stopped.
— Dana White (@danawhite) October 20, 2013
What a horrible showing for Dickie Cole’s Texas athletic commission. However, that apparently is a feature and not a bug for the Austin tax collectors. Business friendly.
Ok, I wasn't crazy, the Dr. checked JDS's good eye. WTF is wrong w/ the TX commission? @danawhite #UFC166
— David Bixenspan (@davidbix) October 20, 2013
Cain Velasquez took years off the life of Junior dos Santos and probably damaged his brain in the process. This fight and the beatdown Diego Sanchez took from Gilbert Melendez should be reminders about the recent Cleveland Clinic study on how MMA fighters suffer from a different type of brain damage than boxers. The damage MMA fighters receive shows up faster because of the part of the brain that is impacted (the part that controls speech & pain).
It’s time for Nate Marquardt to retire. He’s taken a lot of damage as well. The immediate reason a lot of testosterone users want T is because they are past or current steroid users. Some abuse pain killers and some damage their bodies through bad weight cuts. The fourth reason is accumulated brain damage. I hope the man is OK. It’s time for his manager to have a serious sit down with him. When I saw the punches Lombard inflicted on Nate’s head on the mat, the CC study popped into my head because the ground punching is really what adds to the risk that these fighters take. Much more vulnerable.
Cain Velasquez out-struck Junior dos Santos 123 to 46, connecting on 61 percent of his strikes. Sixty-six of them came from the clinch.
— Josh Gross (@JoshGrossESPN) October 20, 2013
Junior dos Santos made it past round four but what a beating. Herb Dean did a poor job as an official when it came to preventing the further beatdown. The shine is starting to fade on Herb as an official. The TKO finish was what everyone expected but the one-sided nature of the fight was sad to watch.
Roy Nelson dropping an Uncle Tom reference on Daniel Cormier a few months ago earned him a prime & well-deserved thrashing. He got what was coming to him. Cormier is super-smart and the real deal. American Kickboxing Academy really should be proud of the job they’ve done with both Cain & Cormier. Cormier is not going to be a fun fight for Jon Jones if DC can make it to 205.
The story of the night was the awful officiating by Dickie Coles’ commission, both with the referee & judge selection. Talk about a dog’s breakfast. Texas is currently battling Florida for the mantle of worst big state AC in the country. Nevada & New York are right near them with California also doing some occasional run-ins.
The lowlight of the night featured Jon Schorle, former California top official, and Ruben Najera (first-time working a UFC show). Tim Boetsch vs. CB Dollaway was a giant mess. Dollaway taunted Boetsch, then poked him in the eye once to the point where he was bleeding and the Texas AC doctor did nothing to stop the fight. Then came the second eye poke from Dollaway right after he got warned. Dollaway won at least two of the three rounds, so the worst case scenario should have been a draw after a point was taken away. Nope. Schorle & Najera both scored the fight 30-26, meaning they gave Boetsch all three rounds. The third judge scored the fight 29-27, meaning he gave Dollaway all three rounds.
If you took the prop bet of John Dodson winning by KO/TKO, you got lucky. +200. Other than Mighty Mouse, JD is on a roll.
You should have taken the under on how long the Shawn Jordan/Gabriel Gonzaga fight was going to last. There went any shot of Jordan becoming a title contender a couple of years from now.
Sarah Kaufman decided to throw out the game plan against Jessica Eye and paid the price on the score cards. Eye winning by decision was the correct score. Under the 10-point must system, Eye won the first two rounds. Under PRIDE scoring, Kaufman would have won. Ruben Najera gave R3 to Eye when he scored that fight. Thanks, Texas. Bottom line? Sarah didn’t fight a smart fight and way too many fighters on the UFC Houston card either threw away their game plans, had no game plan, or else brought the worst people to give corner advice in between rounds that you could possibly find.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The ghost of Howard Cosell on ESPN’s 30-for-30 series about Duran & Leonard
By Zach Arnold | October 16, 2013
Eric Drath & ESPN’s 30-for-30 series delivered another highly successful sports documentary. Too bad the mothership didn’t get off their ass and spend some time promoting the television program.
You knew that ESPN would eventually revisit the infamous “No Más!” incident between Roberto Duran & Sugar Ray Leonard. It was the angle that they choose to pursue that made the documentary intriguing. As enjoyable as the Frank & Ken Shamrock documentary on Spike TV last week but with a lot more talking heads & resources at the producer’s disposal.
The hook? After all these years, would Leonard be able to get an honest answer out of Duran as to why he quit in round 8 of their re-match in New Orleans on November 25th, 1980 at the Superdome? Their first encounter in Montreal, five months prior to the rematch, made what happened in New Orleans all the more shocking. Leonard decided to go to Panama once and for all to meet Duran and ask him what happened. Before the meeting, Duran stated that Leonard could approach him 100,000 times and that he would give Ray the same answer each time he was asked. Ray stated that he would hope Duran would tell him the truth and that the truth would set him free like it did when Leonard told the public that he was an alcoholic.
There were cameos from Sal Marchiano (veteran New York sportscaster), Steve Farhood (now of Broadway Boxing/SNY & Showtime), Mike Tyson, and Christie Brinkley. Photos of her with Duran before the New Orleans fight were shown in the documentary.
The real star of the documentary was, not surprisingly, the late Howard Cosell. It was like a Tony Kornheiser time warp to when the network heavies wanted to be on the big boxing telecasts. Kornheiser believes today’s boxing scene is happening on barges and broadcast on PPV. What can I say.
There was a round-by-round break down of the re-match in New Orleans. Comments from Farhood, Tyson, and trainer Ray Arcel‘s widow were mixed in-between Cosell’s dramatic call of the fight. Duran was melting down before everyone’s eyes and Leonard was ratcheting up his jackassery in the ring by taunting him repeatedly.
Then Duran quit. The referee asked him a couple of times before stopping the fight. He was interviewed for the documentary and maintained his shock to this day about what happened.
Cosell went ballistic about what happened in the ring. Soon, it became apparent that Leonard’s masterful performance would be secondary to what Duran did in quitting. Leonard mentioned buying newspapers the day after the fight and finding out that the press wasn’t talking about the way he won. His post-fight comments about how he was the one who broke Duran down aired and yet the press wasn’t concerned with that.
In the words of Sal Marchiano, “Ray got more credit for fighting courageously in Montreal than cleverly in New Orleans.”
Footage of Duran sitting at a table with a translator was shown. This was the footage of Duran announcing his retirement and someone from the press throwing a rubber chicken at his table. Then came the litany of excuses. First it was stomach cramps, to which Ray Arcel’s widow (in 2013) called BS on. Second, it was issues regarding his weight and losing 10 pounds the day before weigh-ins. It was noted that a doctor had given Duran some Ex-lax and diuretics to try to get the weight off at the last minute. Footage of a Cosell interview with the doctor aired in which the doctor pulled out the Sammy Sosa “I don’t know your English” defense when Cosell asked him why Duran needed diuretics to lose the weight. Third, it was the spicy two steaks he ate.
No matter what the truth was regarding Duran quitting, the weight issue was very real for him heading into the fight. Brinkley noted just how much food Duran was consuming after the weigh-in and that he was eating out the whole restaurant. I felt like I was listening to a critique of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for a moment.
The documentary shifted to Roberto Duran’s current day life in Panama. Ray Leonard is in good physical shape. Duran, not so much right now. He’s busy playing pool, drinking, and watching Steve McQueen movies at his house on the projector. Leonard traveled to Panama to find out what really went down during their re-match in New Orleans.
The two met and did a photo-op for the local press. Then ESPN staged an encounter between the two men at “Arena Roberto Duran” in which the two men, introduced by the voice of Cosell, entered into a boxing ring. Leonard noted how the stare-down brought back scary memories of the past. As the two men talked, Ray asked him what happened.
“I had so much rage. I don’t know how to explain myself.”
Ray tried to bait an answer out of Duran. “What really happened in New Orleans? Only you know.” Duran kept his guard up.
“I didn’t say ‘No Más.’ Cosell made that up.”
Duran elaborated that he spent a lot of his time partying in New York and drank all the time. He claimed that his manager called him and told him to get to Panama to visit a doctor for some weight loss aids (injections/drugs). As Duran rambled, Leonard commented on what Duran was saying.
Ben Koo (Awful Announcing): Lack of closure hurts documentary & disappoints
“I wasn’t happy (with the response). Deep down inside, I was dying. … I backed off because I saw him struggle. I saw him searching for words and I felt almost like a sponsor trying to help him get by, get through this. I saw something in him that he still has not been able to totally deal with.”
Duran said that despite getting heckled on the streets of Panama with chants of ‘No Más’ that Panama loves Leonard and what he represented in boxing.
“I don’t regret anything.”
Leonard explained why he didn’t press Duran for the truth in their TV encounter in 2013.
“I felt that I wanted to protect him and let him know that as far as I’m concerned, it’s OK. There was nothing else I could do but let him go.”
Duran mainted his current stance.
“Up until this point, I’ve only said the truth.”
The comments from Farhood and Tyson about Duran trying to make up for what happened later in his career were great.
“What he did in return, he made up for everything,” exclaimed Tyson. He noted that when Duran quit that it personally got to him when he was watching the fight.
The show closed out with some quick highlights of the third Duran/Leonard encounter at the Mirage in Las Vegas many years after the New Orleans fight. Duran asked Leonard why he was acting like a jackass in their second fight. It was an Occam’s Razor moment. Leonard said that he was messing with Duran’s mind because he knew he could and it worked.
Despite Leonard stating that he would be the bigger man and let things go with Duran not fully opening up about what went down in New Orleans, there was no real happy ending to this documentary. Not to say that the ending to the Frank Shamrock documentary on Spike was super-happy or anything but there seemed to be some sort of resolution in that situation whereas there doesn’t seem to be a satisfying conclusion for Leonard in his visit with Duran.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Luca Fury: Why will UFC fire fighters for bad sportsmanship but not for failing drug tests?
By Zach Arnold | October 13, 2013
I wonder how much FOX influenced the UFC's decision to cut Palhares? My guess is FOX was horrified and wanted it dealt with immediately.
— MMA On The Reg (@mmaonthereg) October 11, 2013
A simple question from Luca Fury that gets right to the heart of UFC’s haphazard policy of punishing fighters.
If you exhibit questionable behavior consider beyond the pale, the UFC will fire you as long as you aren’t a top superstar. Luca recently (and aptly) pointed out what happened to Renato Babalu and Paul Daley. He also noted Rousimar Palhares getting cut from the UFC for holding onto the heel hook hold long after Mike Pierce submitted during their UFC Brazil fight last Wednesday.
Palhares is the perfect transition to Luca’s over-arching question. This is a fighter who fought on the UFC Brazil show while coming off of a drug suspension for… elevated levels of testosterone, a 9:1 T/E ratio to be exact. The suspension came after Palhares fought on a UFC Australia card last December. Which makes what Palhares did to Pierce on Wednesday night even dumber in retrospect.
Now, let’s point out the obvious: Palhares didn’t get fired for failing a drug test but he did get fired because of his prior record of bad sportsmanship. And that is where Luca pointed out the obvious public relations quandry UFC has right now when it comes to their selective punishment of fighters who behave badly or fail drug tests.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Frank Shamrock: Bound by Blood is a must-see documentary for all the right reasons
By Zach Arnold | October 11, 2013
Watch the Frank Shamrock: Bound By Blood documentary online
The bad news is that Spike TV didn’t give the documentary a real promotional push. The good news is that they at least got a TNA audience lead-in. I think a lot of fans were more than happy to wash out the sour taste left in their mouths by Dixie Carter to see a real icon in combat sports.
Loretta Hunt (Sports Illustrated): Frank Shamrock documentary stirs ghosts still haunting former UFC champion
The story was simple — after all of the bad blood between Ken & Frank Shamrock, the two were finally going to meet to have a one-on-one sit down to hash out their differences. In the process, we learned all about Frank’s background in Redding and Susanville, California. Drinking alcohol at age 7. Heading to juvenile hall after threatening his sister. Going to Susanville after being adopted by Bob Shamrock.
Then came the beatdown by Ken at the Lion’s Den gym. Six months of training, Frank was sent to Pancrase to fight Bas Rutten in Tokyo (December 1994 at Ryogoku Kokugikan). He won that fight. Talk about a flashback to my early days of writing about that scene. Ken ended up moving to WWE and TNA in the late 90s, which left Frank to oversee Lion’s Den and he wasn’t comfortable with Ken having him run the gyms the way Ken wanted them ran. So, he left. Ken claimed Frank was jealous and that all Frank had to do was ask for his blessing to party ways. Instead, he “ran away.” Frank claimed that Bob Shamrock told him that if he and Ken didn’t get along that there would be no more relationship.
When it came to fighting, “Frank was a scientist whereas Ken was a brute.” Footage of Frank’s fight with Enson Inoue at Vale Tudo Japan ’97 was shown. Then the mention of Frank’s fight against Kevin Jackson and then the encounter with Tito Ortiz to win the UFC belt. Henry Holmes, Frank’s business manager, had a cameo where he talked about Frank retiring and giving up the UFC belt in order to get out of the onerous contracts at the time.
Also the Frank Shamrock as "MMA's first real free agent" thing? He fought twice in six years after leaving UFC
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) October 11, 2013
There was the K-1 fight against Elvis Sinosic. Then the teaser about Frank fighting Ken with Bob Shamrock picking Ken to win the fight because he’s too strong for Frank. Bas Rutten loved the idea of the two brothers fighting each other. Maurice Smith felt Frank would have won.
A review of Frank’s history in Strikeforce was covered – from mentions of the Cesar Gracie & Renzo Gracie bouts to Frank becoming the local San Jose hero. “San Jose was quickly becoming my town and HP Pavilion was my house.” Then came the pictures of Frank vs. Phil Baroni and finally Frank “passing the torch” to Nick Diaz. Several interview clips of Nick Diaz talking about Frank Shamrock was interesting to watch. The crazy cameo(s) from Mickey Rourke talking about the pain of watching Frank get beat up by Nick Diaz was oddly compelling.
Then came the death of Bob Shamrock. Tonya, Ken’s wife, called Frank and told him that Bob wanted to see him in the hospital before he died. Frank didn’t appear at the hospital or the funeral. Ken was super pissed that Frank didn’t go to the funeral. Frank explained why he did what he did: “I didn’t know what to do. I really regret not calling him.”
Before Frank traveled to Las Vegas to meet with Ken, he went back to his old stomping grounds in Redding to find his older blood brother, Perry, who happens to be homeless. Perry had written him a year earlier asking for money. Frank found him under a highway overpass where there were a couple of chairs, a sofa, and a tent. Perry hadn’t communicated with anyone in over two years, the last time he had a laptop. He was surprised that Frank was able to locate him. Frank promised to help him, hugged Perry, and left in his car. After the meeting, Frank cried and said “I need to help him get out of there.”
Then came the build-up to the meeting between the two brothers. Ken asked, “What did my dad do to him that caused Frank to not go to his funeral?”, and stated, “My Dad gave him everything and he spit on him.”
In a Las Vegas gym, Ken sat in one folding chair and the other folding chair was set up for Frank to face him eye-to-eye once he sat down. Frank took off his shoes and extended his hand to Ken for a handshake. They shook hands. About six minutes of the reunion was shown on television. There was a lot of nervous tension. Frank started talking. It quickly degenerated into a rough back-and-forth. After Frank thanked Ken for being his mentor, Ken stepped in.
“I’m a little confused.”
He wondered why he ran away from Bob Shamrock and the Lion’s Den. Frank was upset about the beating Ken gave him when he first stepped foot at Lion’s Den. Ken responded to Frank’s feelings by stating, “This is (about) your own insecurity, man.” Ken said that anyone who survived the initiation beating at Lion’s Den was respected by all the team members.
When Frank tried to justify not showing up to Bob Shamrock’s funeral as a sign of respect, Ken had none of it.
“I don’t buy that (reason). You were a coward. … You let him die with no closure.”
@ShamrockKen @frankshamrock – you showed that we are human tonight. Crazy to see what makes a fighter tick. #respect to u both.
— Tito Ortiz (@titoortiz) October 11, 2013
Then came time to discuss whether or not the two brothers should fight each other. Ken wanted to fight Frank. Frank didn’t seem so into the idea. As they were arguing back-and-forth, Frank made his position clear.
“I’m not a fighter, I”m a human being.”
Ken justified his behavior towards others by stating, “I beat the hell out of everybody. I yelled at everybody.” Ken prodded Frank by telling him that Bob asked for him on his death bed in the hospital. Ken claimed that Bob told him the only way the two brothers would repair their relationship was if they had a fight. Ken said he would accept Frank’s decision either way on the matter now that the topic was out in the open for discussion. Frank cemented his opinion about not wanting to fight now.
“We have to beat each other up to get closure? I don’t want to get hurt any more.”
The two brothers hugged each other. Frank was crying and Ken was smiling. And the two parted ways.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A league of denial on brain damage & testosterone
By Zach Arnold | October 9, 2013
The NFL, like combat sports, will stay popular regardless of brain damage. Always the cover-up that brings down the titans. #leagueofdenial
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) October 9, 2013
On Tuesday night, Public Broadcasting via Frontline aired a two-hour documentary on the National Football League called League of Denial. If you have followed the concussion dilemma in American football over the last decade closely, then nothing in the documentary was necessarily news to you. However, the documentary is based on a book written by the Fainaru brothers (Steve & Mark) who also happen to write for ESPN… and ESPN backed out at the last-minute from the cooperation with PBS according to a report in the New York Times that alleged that the NFL … convinced… ESPN that backing out would be the right thing to do.
After watching the documentary online, you can see exactly why the NFL and its business partners wanted nothing to do with the television presentation. PBS presented evidence we already largely knew about but did so in such a methodical, easy-to-understand, detailed manner that you’ll never look at NFL politicos the same way ever again. It had all the echoes of Big Tobacco from a generation ago.
I mention this as a back drop to initial results released from a medical study via the NIH two months ago related to boxers & mixed martial artists who agreed to participate in a study for the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health (Cleveland Clinic). If anyone can provide me with a PDF of the up-to-date study results, I would be very grateful.
The NIH abstract from the brain study states the obvious — that both boxers and MMA fighters can suffer from concussive brain damage due to blows to the head in fights. We know about pugilistica dementia. What the study does conclude is that the specific type of brain damage suffered by boxers and MMA fighters is different.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Boxers beware: Where’s your pension payout from the California State Athletic Commission?
By Zach Arnold | October 3, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
Food fight at CSAC front office over $5.5 million USD boxer’s pension fund
They won’t be punishing judges Gwen Adair, Marty Denkin, or Carla Caiz at this Monday’s California State Athletic Commission event in Los Angeles. However, the commission’s document dump for Monday’s meeting contains a boatload of information about where things are headed.
For example, page 5 of the 180-page document claims that Karen Chappelle from the Attorney General’s office in Los Angeles is billing the commission a lot of money to handle two major lawsuits (Dwayne Woodard’s age discrimination case & Sarah Waklee’s sexual harassment case). I would suggest so far that the commission has gotten the raw end of that deal in terms of quality legal representation.
On page 18, there is an itemized list of shows and how much revenue/expenses CSAC has from each event. What’s interesting to note is that while boxing revenues are most important, the UFC events are the easiest cash grabs for the commission. A whole lot of money.
On page 41, there is discussion about whether or not the commission will abandon the rules/regulations regarding color-coded tickets. On page 72ish, there are detailed booking sheets revealing which inspectors/officials worked what shows. Around page 100, there’s a copy of a box office sheet that Andy Foster’s #1 inspector, Mark Relyea, completed. Guess he’ll get an award for that.
On page 131, there’s quite a letter from Jeremy Lappen that, on any other occasion, would be a hot topic of discussion. In short, after Andy Foster emasculated CAMO over their fee structure for regulating amateur MMA, CAMO faced a choice — either go with the program or else risk losing their delegation to the controversial Steve Fossum. Instead of putting up a rightful legal challenge in court over what was about to happen to CAMO, Jeremy Lappen simply walked away. With the prospects of money drying up for the non-profit entity, Jeremy Lappen diminished his role with CAMO and left JT Steele at the helm.
However, all of these items are small potatoes compared to the real main event issue at Monday’s commission meeting — and it’s getting little-to-no media attention at all. The issue at hand? What the hell to do with the $5.5 million dollars sitting in the boxer’s pension fund. And the fight could get very ugly between the commission and the third party that is investing & managing the funds.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Honeymoon over: Officials, inspectors, insiders turning on California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | October 2, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
Mood of the grunts in So. Cal working for California commission (Andy Foster) is very angry right now about what's happening (JCC/Vera).
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) October 1, 2013
Behind-the-scenes in California, Saturday night’s fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera became a turning point for Andy Foster, the Executive Officer of the Consumer Affairs-controlled California State Athletic Commission. It’s close to a year since he took over the job of Sacramento’s regulatory body. The MMA industry was excited to see his arrival. The boxing types had no clue what to expect and were stunned at DCA’s selection. A year later, the book from MMA insiders is that they like Andy Foster. The book from boxing insiders is that he’s naive, can be easily manipulated, and doesn’t know what he is doing.
In a state where boxing revenue eclipses MMA revenue, the opinion of those in the boxing scene matters.
There is no way to skirt around what happened on Saturday night with judges Gwen Adair, Marty Denkin, and Carla Caiz of the Caiz clan. It was a total disaster. Bryan Vera won the fight. He didn’t lose it. The worst-case scenario should have been a draw. Instead, Chavez was selected as the winner via unanimous decision. On the surface, Carla’s scorecard could be justified… except she scored the last six rounds in favor of JCC. This pissed off people in the boxing scene big time. It spurred one of our favorite Twitter personalities to produce this graphic:
Judge Carla Caiz NOT WATCHING THE FIGHT SHE IS JUDGING as Bryan Vera lands a punch in round 9: http://t.co/Zg0OdqMxmL
— Fight_Ghost (@Fight_Ghost) September 30, 2013
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Bryan Vera’s camp filing protest with California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | September 29, 2013
You know what happened with the score cards from Saturday night’s fight in Carson, California between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera. Not only did we break down the scores, we also broke down the politics & lawsuits from each of the players involved in the controversy: Gwen Adair, Marty Denkin, and Carla Caiz.
In Saturday night’s article, I strongly suggested that Andy Foster drag Adair & Denkin in front of the commission on October 7th in Los Angeles. Bryan Vera’s camp (Banner Promotions), according to Boxing Scene, will be filing a formal protest to Andy Foster about what took place. Don’t expect the protest to even be given consideration whatsoever, unfortunately.
The score cards were so bad that Kevin Iole on Yahoo, Chris Mannix on Sports Illustrated, Dan Rafael on ESPN (web & TV), Bill Dwyre in The Los Angeles Times, Steve Kim of Maxboxing, David Avila of The Sweet Science, Gabriel Montoya at Doghouse Boxing, Doug Fischer at Ring TV, and Mark Whicker in The Orange County Register tore into the judges & the California State Athletic Commission.
Here’s the bad news for all the critics: no punishment, let alone admonishment will be issued against Gwen Adair, Marty Denkin, or Carla Caiz. Any protest filed by Vera’s camp will be immediately dismissed by Sacramento. Sacramento is well aware of the public outcry but do not expect any action whatsoever to be taken. They genuinely believe that Chavez won the fight on the merits and do not see what happened as a scandal. You can call it tone-deafness, considering what happened two weeks ago with Cynthia Ross in Nevada, or you can call it a cynical calculation based on the 24/7 news cycle which causes ADD amongst scribes & fans.
One thing is for sure — the honeymoon between Andy Foster and various members of the combat sports media is over.
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
No good, really bad week for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. & California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | September 28, 2013
Andy Foster’s first real crisis has arrived as head of the Sacramento DCA-controlled California State Athletic Commission. In fact, the whole week with Top Rank & Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been one giant embarrassment.
Judge 96-94 97-93 and 98-92 for Julio Cesar Chavez. BAD CALL OUCH #ChavezVera
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) September 29, 2013
You could hear the embarrassment in Lupe Contreras' voice from the first word out of his mouth. Pretty obvious whose name was getting read.
— Eric Raskin (@EricRaskin) September 29, 2013
Scott Christ summed up the absurdity here.
Coming off of his suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission due to testing positive for marijuana metabolites, Chavez signed a bout agreement to fight Brian Vera in basically what, on paper, amounted to a squash. The fight was booked after Andy Foster (rightfully) ruled in arbitration that Dan Goossen had not violated his contract with Andre Ward. Thus, Ward couldn’t jump ship to Top Rank and fight JCC. So, what originally looked like a fight scheduled for Staples Center with JCC/Ward turned into JCC/Vera at 163 pounds. Then it went up to 168. Then it went up to 173 pounds.
Then came the rumors of JCC trying to cut weight to make it to 173 (at Azteca gym) for the fight and that Vera allegedly got a 6-figure payoff from Top Rank for his troubles. Plenty of folks in the boxing press wanted action from the California State Athletic Commission to put a stop to the circus. Andy Foster was going to allow the fight to happen as long as there wasn’t a spread of more than 11 pounds in weight between Vera & JCC. So, if Vera showed up at 173, JCC had up to 184 pounds or else the fight would have been called off.
When it came time for weigh-ins, Vera and JCC made the 173 benchmark. At fight time, Chavez was bigger… and Vera was smacking him around enough to where he should have won the contest.
Andy Foster is an MMA guy. He is not a boxing guy. California is a state that is boxing-crazy and driven by boxing revenue much more so than MMA. This is where Andy’s background came into play. He assigned Lou Moret as the referee. Moret, for all intents and purposes, is now the #2 boxing referee in California (behind Jack Reiss). Pat Russell isn’t getting booked as #2 any more. As for the judges assigned to JCC/Vera, you couldn’t have possibly booked a worse crew if you tried: Gwen Adair, Marty Denkin, and Carla Caiz. Yes, of that famous Caiz clan with Raul Sr. and Jr.
Gwen Adair has previously sued the state of California in the past on sexual/racial claims and has gotten settlement(s) treatment. Job security will remain intact as long as there’s a legal avenue to use. Sports Illustrated did a profile article on Gwen Adair in October of 1998, talking about how her mother launched Fatburger and appearances on M*A*S*H. The Los Angeles Times profiled her in November of 2009. They quote Marty Denkin in the piece. They also quote Gwen stating that she wished she got more high-profile bookings. You don’t say.
If you talk to various inspectors and officials down South, they speak of old-timer Marty Denkin as someone who views himself (still) as a political wheeler-and-dealer. His daughter Jackie, despite being on somewhat tenuous political ground, remains a judge.
As for the Caiz clan, Raul Sr. is in political favor. Jr. on the other hand, not so much. Carla is booked as well.
As for one Louis F Moret, he has political juice in the state. For years, he was a member of the board of administration that dealt with California’s public employees retirement system. Otherwise known as the monstrous behemoth named CalPERS. Moret views himself as a political mover-and-shaker close to big wigs like Nancy Pelosi.
Don’t believe me? Read this June 18, 2008 article in The Los Angeles Times titled Pension board member helped fix deal, suit alleges with the sub-headline Louis F. Moret is accused of conspiring to arrange a $48 million dollar South Gate garbage contract.
- Gwen Adair scored Saturday’s fight 98-92 in favor of JCC. Gwen only gave R8 & R9 to Vera.
- Marty Denkin was 97-93. Marty only gave R3, R8, and R9 to Vera.
- Carla Caiz was 96-94. Carla gave first four rounds to Vera & last six rounds to JCC.
Che Guevara, the hack who was CSAC’s Chief Athletic Inspector, came from a boxing background. He got his job because he did the wrong thing when it came to throwing others under the bus with the Antonio Margarito hand wrap situation back in 2009. Hell, he got his job promotion because of it. I don’t think that Che, if he was walking the straight and narrow, would have allowed this combination of officials to work a fight like JCC/Vera. I say this bitterly given my utter disgust with the man’s prior on-the-job behavior.
Andy Foster has his first major image crisis on his hands here. Should Andre Ward get past Edwin Rodriguez in November (in Ontario, California), it would appear that HBO will help set up Ward vs. JCC… and that fight will likely happen in California in 2014 — which makes the events that transpired tonight look even worse than they appear to be on the surface. Bet the conversations between Danny Goossen and Bob Arum will be fun for that meeting.
As for Andy Foster, if folks like Gwen Adair will sue to keep their gigs then the only recourse he has left is to put the judges on the agenda for the next commission meeting on October 7th in Los Angeles. Let John Frierson & Martha Shin-Urquidez dispose of the malcontents. Dan Rafael went on ESPN television and ripped Marty Denkin, stating that Marty should have been put out to pasture years ago.
Kevin Iole summed up the situation on Yahoo in a relatively detailed manner. Vera’s camp believes that HBO will book a JCC/Vera rematch. Good luck with that.
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Why are the Ultimate Fighter ratings on FS1 lower than expected?
By Zach Arnold | September 26, 2013
The Ultimate Fighter last night on FS1 drew 778K viewers, 0.5 in A18-49. #mma #ufc #fs1
— MMA Supremacy (@MMASupremacy) September 26, 2013
We’re a month into the Ronda Rousey/Miesha Tate Ultimate Fighter series and so far, the numbers are… inconsistently consistent. Low, yes, but fluctuating. Unlike other UFC programming on Fox networks, this is the show where the suits look at the live airing numbers plus the DVR figures. We only get a glimpse at the live airing ratings, so let’s take a look at numbers from MMA Payout about the first month:
Week 1: 762,000
Week 2: 870,000
Week 3: 639,000
Week 4: 778,000
We know all about the problems with Ultimate Fighter. The show has worn out its welcome. It doesn’t recruit the best young talent because if you’re good enough to fight in the UFC, the UFC has already signed you. The show has bounced from network to network. The concept of a “6-figure contract” holds little regard in terms of credibility.
With this season of Ultimate Fighter, some new dynamics entered into the equation.
The show is airing on a new channel (Fox Sports 1). The argument is that the network is growing its audience. The problem with this argument is that when the channel launched, UFC blew the roof off the ratings with their Boston event headlined by Chael Sonnen with 1.8 million viewers. So, hiding behind the “FS1 is a new channel” line of reasoning doesn’t hold water for UFC because of UFC’s proven strength to mobilize its hardcore fan base.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |