Hellcat: A Boxing memory

This week I embarked on a mission to find a boxing DVD for my brother who came down to New York City from Rhode Island to get his hands on a series of fights that cemented his loyalty as a fan of boxing, the Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales trilogy. As he tells it, these fights rank high on his favorite sports memories and he has talked about these fights ad naseum to his friends in Providence and now wants to share those fights in order to convert his friends from MMA fans into boxing fans. In the short time that he was in the city he failed to score the dvd and so I have now taken up the hunt for those fights. It got me to thinking about what was my favorite boxing memory, what stood out as the one moment in boxing that captivated me or that I can vividly retell and use as a lure to bring in the non-boxing fan?

Was it the night that Evander Holyfield defied the odds and upset Mike Tyson, was it the incredible Arturo Gatti vs Mickey Ward trilogy, or the greatest fight I have ever seen involving Diego Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo? Incredibly my favorite moment in boxing did not involve a professional boxer, it wasn't even a scheduled match up, it was an impromptu sparring session between a female flyweight boxer and a male lightweight preparing for the NY Daily News Golden Gloves tournament in January of 2007. I remember being so moved by what I saw that I wrote about it that same night, it was probably the first thing that I wrote about boxing. It prompted me to go digging for the article that I wrote so that I can share this boxing memory with The Blackeyed View readers. The following is the transcript of what I witnessed and how it was interpreted by me three years ago.

I saw the coolest thing last night at my boxing gym. My favorite fighter to watch at this gym is a girl, a shorty that weighs 106 pounds and when she wears the headgear her ponytail sticks out straight up from the middle of her head like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. I've seen her break down a tall Asian girl in two rounds and fight this big, tall African American girl twice her size to a draw. Well last night she sparred against a guy for six rounds. He's a lightweight which puts him at 125 pounds and he was about a foot or more taller than her. Those six rounds they fought I have to describe in 6 stages:

Round 1 (INDIFFERENCE) The guy figured to let the girl punch away, after all she's just a girl. This girl punched him everywhere and he was trying to block her punches but he ended up eating at least 65% of what she threw at him.

Round 2 (REALIZATION) In the next round the guy figured it was time to show her who she was in there with and start throwing punches at her. The problem was that this girl never stopped punching, he realized soon enough that it wasn't he who was letting her hit him in Round 1, it was she who was doing whatever she wanted to do to him. He tried to step up the pressure on her but if he was able to hit her with four punches in Round 2 I did not see it. She continued to out punch him.

Round 3 (DESPERATION) After accepting that what he was doing in the previous two rounds was not helping his cause, he decided to try several different strategies. He switched into a left handed stance to throw off her balance, he tried punching from long range, he tried fighting on the inside, and he even tried to rough her up by fouling her... nothing worked. She adjusted to everything he did and started to bully him by the end of the round. The guy's frustration was starting to show.

Round 4 (FEAR) By this round the girl was in full bully mode and the guy was in full retreat. He got chased all over the ring and there was no escaping this chick. She cut of all escape routes and continued to pound on him, lucky for him he must be able to take a good shot because she was whacking away at him with all her might (all 106 pounds of her). Her frustration at chasing him around came to a boiling point when she got away with hitting him in the crown jewels twice, she managed to do it in full view of the ref but she hid it well and got away with the foul...clever girl.

Round 5 (THE BEAT DOWN) This is the round in which her punches started to hurt him. She punched him with some good clean shots, two of which froze him for half a second. He did not throw any punches at all in this round and only used his hands to try to push her off of him. He was taking a beating and if he was a girl I'm sure that the trainer would have stopped the fight. However his trainer I'm sure took into account the guy's male ego and decided to let him go on.

Round 6 (RELIEF & EXCUSES) She continued to plow ahead and go for a knockout but it was not to be. The guy used everything he was ever taught on how to survive a fight by holding, fighting against the ropes, and dancing away from danger to end the round on his feet. When the bell ended the fight you could see a mix of both relief and shame swell up on his face. And then the excuses started..."I held back, you know I'm bigger then her, she's only 106 pounds if I really hit her there would be problems. I just wanted to get some work in...." blah, Blah, BLAH!

The female fighter's name is Nellie Bartow and in searching for an image of her I discovered that she was also a member of USA's Muy Thai team. That is not surprising to me but what was a pleasant surprise was to discover that she is also a rising star in the fashion world. She is a fashion designer who makes some amazing dresses that have been worn by celebrities. How amazing it seems to me that among the names of Holyfield, Tyson, Gatti, Duran, and Ali, the name of Nellie Bartow, a fashion designer, ranks amongst my favorite boxers of all time. I really wish I had footage of that sparring session to share with everyone but at least I have that memory ingrained in me till the day that Alzheimer's decides to take it away.

DVD pick of the week: If you read up to this point then you would have figured that the obvious choice this week is the Marco Antonio Barrera vs Erik Morales trilogy. At the beginning of this series the favorite was the undefeated Erik 'El Terrible' Morales who was on an absolute tear at the time while Barrera was coming back on the heels of TKO at the hands of Brooklyn's own Junior Jones. Barrera was thought of as a spent force who had gone through many wars and was ripe for a losing streak. Well what transpired was a war between these two that was not to be out shined until Arturo Gatti vs Mickey Ward took place a year or two later.



Barrera was able to win this series but not by much. There was a real hatred that developed between these two especially from the part of Morales and the two remained bitter rivals throughout the rest of their careers. Their series of fights propelled both men to super stardom and ensured them a place in the hall of fame when their time comes. Both men ended up losing to Manny Pacquaio but it must be noted that at the time they fought the Pac-man both Mexican warriors were well spent and even though they were not in their prime they were both able to give Pacquiao competitive fights and in the case of Morales handed Manny his only loss in the past 6 years. Catch these men in their primes and watch them go at each other on dvd, you will not be sorry.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden agenda

As an avid viewer of sports news I was confronted by the big Tiger Woods press conference last week on every sports news show and even the non-sports related shows dedicated significant time to his apologies. I did not stick around to hear his excuses for being 'addicted' to sex (I guess we men should all seek help for that), instead I surfed the channels for anything boxing which if you are a long time boxing fan as I am you'll know is hard to do. But the more I channel surfed the more I kept running into Tiger, now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the man as a person it just doesn't sit well with me that news media and many well respected sports journalists continue to refer him as the athlete of our generation. Think of it, to imply that a golfer is the greatest athlete our era has produced is to imply that Golf was the most watched, most played, most popular sport of our time....golf? Really. Comparisons have been drawn to Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Joe Montana, Jim Brown and Bill Russell. Really?


No amount of video editing can convince me that Golf offers the same amount of athleticism, drama, excitement, redemption, and suspense that one can find in boxing, basketball, baseball, football, soccer or even tennis for Pete's sake. If you want to see the difference between an athlete and a golfer look no further than the cover of Vanity Fair that featured golf's number one 'athlete' Tiger Woods. There is no more indisputable evidence that this man is not an athlete of the caliber of Michael Jordan than this picture. Notice the paunch belly, see how he has to hold dumbbells in order to get his biceps to look tight (try holding dumbbells for a while and see how your veins will bulge and your biceps will increase in size in less than ten seconds, try it), see how the rest of him compares favorably to your average shirtless crackhead. And this is the guy that is this generation's Michael Jordan? Puh-leaze!

Although the face of golf is that of an African American, in this day and age it is still a very exclusionary activity and that is not easily accessible to the average person. Sports like football, baseball, and basketball still dominate on the collegiate, high school, and elementary school levels as well as on the street playgrounds. Even in these times were most kids would rather play sports on a video game then on the playing fields there choice of games would include Madden Football, NBA live, and MLB the Show , very few kids would select Tiger Wood's golf games.
Years ago comedian Chris Rock had a skit on his Chris Rock show that hilariously illustrated the disconnect between the sport of golf and the average person on the streets of Harlem, it was brilliant.


I would love to take the following poll to the streets to see how golf would fare:

What sports winning moment would you rather be involved in out of the following choices:

1. Walk off home run in game 7 of the world series
2. Last second game winning three pointer in game 7 of the NBA finals
3. Throw a hail Mary game winning touchdown in the Super Bowl
4. Score a knockout in a heavyweight championship fight
5. Hit a hole in one at the Masters tournament

In my youth, golf was never part of the sports equation, it would have never been included amongst the list of choices above and I fail to see how it has sneaked into the consciousness of the average sports fan. Yet there it is front and center prominently featured on ESPN's sports center and just about every sports show you can think of. And the word athlete gets bandied about when talking of this activity despite the fact that these people have caddies who carry the equipment for the 'athlete' and the 'athletes' get spirited from play to play by a golf cart. Makes me think then that a pool player is also an athlete, a chess player is also an athlete, a checkers wiz is also an athlete, etc, etc, etc. Yet bowling and dart throwing do not receive the same amount of attention as golf, why is that?

Here is my theory, golf is the one sport that is heavily participated by corporate types, titans of industry. I can easily see Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg playing the links of the PGA way before I can ever imagine them getting in the ring or stepping on a basketball court. So corporate sponsorship money gets poured into this 'sport' like no other sport and it gets force fed to the American public. Just like special interest groups have their lobbyists in congress so does golf have powerful groups that influence the sports medias to champion golf as a major sport.

Now I am not calling for the removal of golf from the airwaves, I'm not even calling for the removal of golf in the category of sport. I am simply pleading with the sports media of the world to keep it real and stop acting as if golf is a major sport which holds the fascination of every man, woman and child on the planet. And in the name of the Babe, stop comparing Tiger Woods to the greats of the sports world. If it pleases the elite we can compare Tiger to the genius of say.... Garry Kasparov who is widely considered the greatest chess player of all time. If golf is finally returned to its rightful place in the order of sports maybe we could all be spared the Tiger Woods gossip and I can finally get some boxing news mixed into my Sportscenter.

17 years of rancor comes to a head

Bernard Hopkins vs. Roy Jones Jr. is official

A great debate was held last Tuesday at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square between two of boxing's elder statesmen, sure fire hall of famers Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. to herald their upcoming April 23rd showdown at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The two last faced each other 17 years ago at RFK stadium on the undercard of a Riddick Bowe fight to fill the IBF middleweight championship vacancy with Jones taking an uneventful majority decision win. Since then both men's careers flourished in different ways, Jones shined using his athleticism to do things that no other boxer at the time could do in the ring capturing titles from middleweight up to heavyweight while Hopkins went on a 12 year winning streak in which he set the all time record for middleweight championship defenses beating superstars like Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver, and Kelly Pavlik along the way. Through out the past 17b years attempts to these two back in the ring for a rematch proved futile and both men blamed each other for the collapse of the rematch negotiations.

The recent activities of both men suggest that they are now sailing in two different directions as Hopkins has maintained his excellence by meeting and defeating the top fighters between the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions, while Jones is attempting to come back from a devastating first round knockout loss to Danny Green in Australia in a fight that was supposed to be a tune up for his fight with Hopkins. Compared to Hopkins' performance in his last two fights (unanimous decisions over Enrique Ornelas and middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik) Jones has the look of a shot fighter. Many fans and boxing media see this match up as being made way too late now but if there is one thing that this fight has going for it is that the rivalry is for real.

The differences between both men were on full exhibit at the debate as they each approached their upcoming fight differently. Hopkins was intense in expressing both his view that he had improved since their first match and his personal dislike for Roy Jones, he viewed their rematch as a personal issue while Jones likened meeting Hopkins again to putting on a pair of old pants, that he would win as easily as he would slip into a pair of comfortable pants. "This fight is very important to me because its personal," said Hopkins, "a lot of fighters don't have history, we've got 17 plus year history." From the onset of this promised to be a debate like no other as Hopkins opened up by saying, "Thanks for being here, I'm going to kick Roy Jones' [expletive]." It was hard to mistake Hopkins' intensity as a play to sell the fight as his entire career has seemed to be as intense as his attempts through out the years to get this rematch.

For his part Roy Jones reacted indifferently to questions about this fight being personal to him as he cited that he already owned a victory over Hopkins and that his accomplishments are better than his rival's to whom he constantly referred to as 'Big Head'. Although Jones tried to play it cool during the debate and when fielding questions by the gathered media, when asked by this reporter how badly Jones wanted to hold two victories over Hopkins at the end of their careers, Jones responded with a twinkle in his eye by saying, "Oh that's what its all about."

With the stipulation worked into the contract that if the winner wins by knockout he would get 60 percent of the purse the stakes are raised higher for both men to knock each other out. It's that type of motivation that should make things very interesting when these two collide in April.

Saturday night drama from Newark to Monterrey

Two favored fighters taken to the edge of the upset loss

This past Saturday night two favored fighters headlining cards on different coasts of North America ran the risk of losing to their upstart minded opponents as their enemies came to steal their thunder. Enterprising cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek looking to try his luck in the heavyweight division got all the heavyweight action he could handle from the slick Jason Estrada and lightweight titlist Edwin Valero was tested by Antonio Demarco as he was forced to fight with a huge gash over his head opened up by a Demarco elbow.

Adamek is being built up by his promoters as an attraction in the heavily Polish populated Newark, NJ area and in this sense enjoyed a distinct hometown advantage at the Prudential Center that Estrada with no huge following of his own could not overcome with his solid counter punching style alone. Estrada consistently connected with a counter left hook and an occasional right hand that found Adamek's head while Adamek looked to land straight left right one two combos with mixed results. Estrada made himself an elusive target and looked to counterpunch which he did successfully but not often enough to take the rounds according to the judges. Adamek was aggressive for the first half of the fight but during the last three rounds he was visibly tired and uncharacteristically back pedaling. The crowd which was solidly behind Adamek during the fight, seemed to sense in the last rounds that defeat was possible for their hero as he gutted through the latter part of the fight. The Pole sported a mouse under his right eye and had the look of a marathon runner who just finished a 100 mile marathon while Estrada looked relatively unscathed at the final bell. The judges score cards read 115-113, 116-112 and a confusing 118-110 all in favor of Tomasz Adamek. Estrada protested vehemently during after the scorecards were read and at the post fight conference.

Meanwhile in Monterrey, Mexico the crowds rallied around 24 year old Mexican hopeful Antonio Demarco (23-2-1) as he faced the hard punching WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero whose victories have all come by knockout. Valero won the first round by sheer aggression but faced his first in ring crisis as he suffered a major gash on the right side of his head the result of an errant Demarco elbow which followed a right hook attempt. Valero's cut man openly admitted that he could not close the wound but Valero was allowed to fight with the crimson mask for the rest of the fight. Demarco's corner seemed to be working to force the stoppage on cuts that there man was able to open up in the first round by landing some stinging jabs but they were unable to contain Valero's fighting spirit as he seemed to fight like a man possessed and tore into Demarco every time he backed him into the ropes. The challenger's best chances to score the upset were in the beginning rounds when it seemed that the free flowing blood from the wounds on Valero would sap him of his strength. But Valero never let up and it was Demarco who did not answer the bell for the start of the tenth round. The southpaw champion maintained his flawless record of wins by knockouts as it now stands at 27-0 with 27 KOs.

The Blackeyed View Interview with Jason Big 6 Estrada

This Saturday February 6th at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ two heavyweights will wage war for positioning within the heavyweight ranks when former light heavyweight and current cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek takes on Jason 'Big 6' Estrada. Adamek is coming off a big 5th round KO victory over former top contender Andrew Golota in Poland and while the focus of the promotion is on the Polish fighter, it is worth noting that Estrada is one of the few outstanding American boxers left in the heavyweight division. As a former Olympian with a winning record (16-2, 4 KOs) and solid boxing skills, Estrada represents one of the few hopes there of bringing back the heavyweight championship of the world to the United States. With his Puertorican roots by way of his father/ trainer Rolando Estrada, he also has an opportunity to tap into the large hispanic audience that makes up a significant part of the boxing fan base. The stakes are high for the combatants this Saturday as Adamek needs this win to continue to make waves in the heavyweight division but Estrada plans to make waves of his own. We caught up with him for a brief Q&A before his daily workout.

The Blackeyed View: Jason 'Big 6' Estrada thanks for taking the time to talk to us. First of all where did the name Bog 6 come from and what does it mean?

Jason Estrada: Actually it came from one of my teammates from the Pan American games, a boxer named Lamont Peterson. We were sitting around one day and he asked me how tall I was and I said I'm like 6'1 or 6 feet and he goes, 'Wow you look bigger than that, you know when you get in the ring with these big guys you're the same height as them. You're a big six footer." When he said big six footer it went from big six footer to Big 6 and my dad took it and ran with it.

TBV: You have a big fight coming up this Saturday against Tomasz Adamek at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. How has your training camp been for this fight?

JE: My training camp has been great. It's really been the first time I had so much time to prep for a fight. Its been a real good experience for me, one of the best training camps I've ever had because I've been able to take my time and do what I need to do instead of having four weeks to rush into so its been a grat camp.

TBV: Much has been made about your weight issues in the past, are you happy with the weight your coming into this fight?

JE: Yeah, yeah I'm very happy. I never really fall into the whole issue of everybody worried about my weight. All I say is that its where I was comfortable at the time, that its where I had to be with the kind of time I had to prep for a fight [in the past]. Its harder to lose weight when all of a sudden your asked to fight in four weeks. So a lot of the times when I had weight issues it's because I didn't have much time to get my diet right and I had to kill myself to get to a comfortable weight. That's basically something that happened. I'm not worried about what everyone else says, I go in there and fight my heart out.

TBV: You're a skilled American born fighter who represented the United States in the 2004 Olympics with a winning record and a latino background, which makes up a major part of the boxing audience these days, why are you not featured on HBO or Showtime?

JE: I don't know, I really have no clue. I see it as my time is gonna come. You could only basically wait your turn. Some people are pushed a certain way, they have certain people backing them and it makes it easier for them. But I've always traveled that hard road where I don't owe anyone. In the long run it's going to benefit me. I'm gonna get me chances to be an HBO fighter so I'm not too worried about it, my time will come.

TBV: Your half Puertorican and what is the other half?

JE: African American.

TBV: How would you describe your Olympic experience?

JE: I can say that it was good and it was bad because you know that the timing was terrible. The timing of the games was terrible because at the time everybody hated the United States, there was that type of stuff. But the Olympic experience itself was uplifting, it was like an eye opener, you never can have that experience again because as you know once you turn professional you can never go back [to the amateur level]. But hopefully one day I can be able to win a big world title and kind of take that place of me not winning a gold medal. Winning a world title is right there, I'm still fighting for my country regardless.

TBV: You've been described as a slick fighter by boxing people but anyone whose seen your fights can tell that your punches carry power. Knockouts sells fighters, can boxing fans expect you to turn on the juice and go for more KOs in the future?

JE: I go out there and I try. My problem is the quality of my opponents. The opponents that I fight are a lot of guys that have winning records so it's a lot harder to knock these guys out unless you catch them with one good shot that puts them out automatically. But once you catch them with that shot and you don't knock them out after that its kind of an uphill battle because they know how to box, they hold, they make the fight sloppy, they survive. That's really my main issue, its not about what I do it's the about the kind of quality that I've been facing since I turned pro. If I was to take an easier route and box these guys that you hit and they lay down, 'd probably be 18-0 with 18 knockouts.

TBV: So far who or what has been the toughest opponent of your career?

JE: I would have to say my toughest opponent was not an actual person, it would be myself. I've never gotten in with an opponent that made me say, " Aw man I'm in trouble' because its never been like that, its always been with me. Problems caused during camp, injuries and going in there and fighting anyway because of my pride. So I would have to say my toughest opponent has been me. [Alexander] Povetkin (his last opponent which resulted in a decision loss) was a grat fighter but still in my heart I felt that I won. But I always knew that if I didn't go [to Germany] and knock the guy out that it [the win] was not going to happen. So in the end I would say my toughest opponent would be me for the fact that it's hard doing what I do and my pride sometimes gets me in trouble when I know I shouldn't even fight because I have injuries during camp and I go ahead and fight. That's another thing about this camp right now, its the perfect camp I have no injuries.

TBV: How do you feel about your opponent this Saturday?

JE: I think its going to be a good fight. When all is said and done I feel that I'm a better fighter and I will be the victor in the fight. But I'm not taking nothing away from his, not overlooking him. He did a lot at light heavy, he did a lot at cruiser but we're in this division and I think I'm just a better fighter than he is.

TBV: So much of the boxing press has focused their attention on Tomasz Adamek during the run up to this fight, does that upset you and do you think Adamek is looking past you?

JE: He might be but it doesn't upset me you know its part of the game. I don't know if he's really overlooking me or putting it out there so we hear about it and maybe train less hard. There are a lot of tactics and slick tricks that guys use but in any case I'm working hard so it really doesn't matter if he's overlooking me I'm gonn bring my best. If he is overlooking me that's gonna be a mistake on his part.

TBV: You called out Chris Arreola when he was undefeated, now that he is no longer undefeated and is looking to rebuild, do you think he will fight you now?

JE: I don't know, actually I'm not worried about Chris Arreola, that time has passes, right now I'm so focused on Tomasz Adamek that I'm not even thinking of Chris Arreola. After the fight you can ask me the same question.

TBV: Incidentally Arreola had been mentioned as American's best hope until Klitschko beat him, aside from yourself where are the American heavyweights? It seems heavyweight boxing is dominated by big Easter Europeans.

JE: That's all in due time when the [American] heavyweight generation comes back. Things always change, things never stay the same. A lot of guys in other countries are hungry now, we as Americans have a lot of opportunities so perhaps some are lacking the hunger. But eventually things will change. Everything changes in time.

TBV: If you were offered the chance to fight either Klitschko brother this year, would you take it? Do you feel ready?

JE: Oh most definitely, especially if the money is right. I'm in the type of situation where I can beat any of these guys, its all about me getting the opportunity. Once I get the opportunity I'll be so focused, its going to be a serious transition. I'm not afraid of any of these guys and I will fight any of these guys if I get the opportunity to face them.

TBV: What's going to happen this Saturday?

JE: Jason...Jason Estrada victory. That's basically what it's going to sum up to. If I'm able to stop Adamek that's great but just want to win. I don't care how I win, I'm gonna win.