I
love Las Vegas—there are as many boxing venues as numbers on a roulette
wheel and Frankie and I recently added another to our quiver—The Las
Vegas Hotel & Casino (formerly the Hilton).
Frank Luca and Crown Boxing put together a nice little card at this storied boxing bastion—and as usual there were plenty of legends ring-side to give the evening an aura of grandeur.
The three fights we watched basically showcased up and coming talent—six hungry young pugs with their rabid fans and friends there to cheer them on. These cards bring out two types—ring rats (the kind of folks who flock to any and all fights) and newbies—folks who follow a certain fighter, many who have seen as few fights as the guys they back have fought themselves. And this is what makes boxing so great and forever rejuvenating itself. Of course Frankie paints a picture better than I and so I’ll let him take it from here.
“Sunset, what makes boxing so great is the legacy, the roots—history. See, you go to a smoker like this one and you have kids with only a handful of fights under their belts. These fighters bring their friends, their fans—folks their age, young people. And then they step into the ring and who is the 3rd man—Hall of Fame ref Joe Cortez and you have Ken Norton, Leon Spinks and Earnie Shavers ringside and these kids can’t help but feel they are in the presence of greatness and that’s a motivation even Bundini Brown couldn’t conjure.”
“Then they toll the bell ten times for Angelo Dundee and as the crowd rises to their feet to respect a guy who trained Ali and Leonard no one can escape the buzz, the electricity—the collective conscious kicks in like goose bumps rising in the emotional stream of the moment. And it’s that history that hooks people, not some new fad or soon to be passing fancy but a connection to the greatest sport of them all—the squared circle where there ain’t a square in the house—and that my little girl is the fight game!”
There’s nothing like non-stop action, Four Round fights, to get the newly enlisted to re-up on the sport and this night delivered.
In the first fight Rocco Espinoza battled Osman Rivera evenly until Rocco put together a late surge in the final round to steal away the hearts of the crowd and the points needed to win a majority decision.
Fight number two provided more of the same—non-stop punching with Brian Battease finally putting a halt to the action in the 4th and final round with a TKO of his game opponent Gabe Garcia. Watching the joy of the fighter and his corner after ref Kenny Bayless stopped the fight made you think Battease had won a championship rather than his 7th victory—but it’s that kind of enthusiasm that keeps this sport alive and well.
Rocco Santomauro (a fighter Frankie and I have covered since his debut performance of a year ago) didn’t disappoint either—pounding out a unanimous decision from the game but outclassed Diamond Baier.
PAC MAN/MAYWEATHER/COTTO
“Boxing is the most partisanship sport there is!” groused the grumpy Frankie Gambino (a guy who believes his paisan Rocky Marciano is the greatest Heavyweight of all time).
“Mayweather and Pacquiao fans are divided amongst racial lines—it’s a color thing kid, like I haven’t seen since the white establishment brought Jess Willard out of retirement to go after Jack Johnson, since Hitler was doing the Goose Step Two-Step when his wunderkind Max Schemling met Joe Louis (twice), since the flag-wavers were chomping at the bit for George Foreman to finally shut up the Louisville Lip!”
“That’s the type of fight that brings out the bettors baby cakes,” he went on. “Why do you think Pretty Boy is going to take on a Puerto Rican on Cinco de Mayo” Frankie ranted. “I suspect that might get the denominations demonstrative!”
Hey, Frankie Gambino is Frankie Gambino folks—I simply won’t apologize for him…
And that’s why Frankie is soooo pissed. He wants to see THE fight. And I’m going to pipe in and say that I think it sucks that Floyd and Manny won’t fight anytime soon, if ever.
Cotto has a chance, I suppose. He’s not a puncher but he’s able. Pac Man ain’t getting any sharper and he’ll probably trade in his boxing shoes for Marcos Manolo’s (he is, after all, a public official in the Philippines).
“I just wish these bums and their handlers would take a cue from the classy young cats who fight for gas money. Step into the ring—fight it out like the men who came long before them—fearlessly—and do something for the sport and not for their overblown egos.” That Frankie Gambino—never politically correct—but never far from the truth!
Frank Luca and Crown Boxing put together a nice little card at this storied boxing bastion—and as usual there were plenty of legends ring-side to give the evening an aura of grandeur.
The three fights we watched basically showcased up and coming talent—six hungry young pugs with their rabid fans and friends there to cheer them on. These cards bring out two types—ring rats (the kind of folks who flock to any and all fights) and newbies—folks who follow a certain fighter, many who have seen as few fights as the guys they back have fought themselves. And this is what makes boxing so great and forever rejuvenating itself. Of course Frankie paints a picture better than I and so I’ll let him take it from here.
“Sunset, what makes boxing so great is the legacy, the roots—history. See, you go to a smoker like this one and you have kids with only a handful of fights under their belts. These fighters bring their friends, their fans—folks their age, young people. And then they step into the ring and who is the 3rd man—Hall of Fame ref Joe Cortez and you have Ken Norton, Leon Spinks and Earnie Shavers ringside and these kids can’t help but feel they are in the presence of greatness and that’s a motivation even Bundini Brown couldn’t conjure.”
“Then they toll the bell ten times for Angelo Dundee and as the crowd rises to their feet to respect a guy who trained Ali and Leonard no one can escape the buzz, the electricity—the collective conscious kicks in like goose bumps rising in the emotional stream of the moment. And it’s that history that hooks people, not some new fad or soon to be passing fancy but a connection to the greatest sport of them all—the squared circle where there ain’t a square in the house—and that my little girl is the fight game!”
There’s nothing like non-stop action, Four Round fights, to get the newly enlisted to re-up on the sport and this night delivered.
In the first fight Rocco Espinoza battled Osman Rivera evenly until Rocco put together a late surge in the final round to steal away the hearts of the crowd and the points needed to win a majority decision.
Fight number two provided more of the same—non-stop punching with Brian Battease finally putting a halt to the action in the 4th and final round with a TKO of his game opponent Gabe Garcia. Watching the joy of the fighter and his corner after ref Kenny Bayless stopped the fight made you think Battease had won a championship rather than his 7th victory—but it’s that kind of enthusiasm that keeps this sport alive and well.
Rocco Santomauro (a fighter Frankie and I have covered since his debut performance of a year ago) didn’t disappoint either—pounding out a unanimous decision from the game but outclassed Diamond Baier.
PAC MAN/MAYWEATHER/COTTO
“Boxing is the most partisanship sport there is!” groused the grumpy Frankie Gambino (a guy who believes his paisan Rocky Marciano is the greatest Heavyweight of all time).
“Mayweather and Pacquiao fans are divided amongst racial lines—it’s a color thing kid, like I haven’t seen since the white establishment brought Jess Willard out of retirement to go after Jack Johnson, since Hitler was doing the Goose Step Two-Step when his wunderkind Max Schemling met Joe Louis (twice), since the flag-wavers were chomping at the bit for George Foreman to finally shut up the Louisville Lip!”
“That’s the type of fight that brings out the bettors baby cakes,” he went on. “Why do you think Pretty Boy is going to take on a Puerto Rican on Cinco de Mayo” Frankie ranted. “I suspect that might get the denominations demonstrative!”
Hey, Frankie Gambino is Frankie Gambino folks—I simply won’t apologize for him…
And that’s why Frankie is soooo pissed. He wants to see THE fight. And I’m going to pipe in and say that I think it sucks that Floyd and Manny won’t fight anytime soon, if ever.
Cotto has a chance, I suppose. He’s not a puncher but he’s able. Pac Man ain’t getting any sharper and he’ll probably trade in his boxing shoes for Marcos Manolo’s (he is, after all, a public official in the Philippines).
“I just wish these bums and their handlers would take a cue from the classy young cats who fight for gas money. Step into the ring—fight it out like the men who came long before them—fearlessly—and do something for the sport and not for their overblown egos.” That Frankie Gambino—never politically correct—but never far from the truth!
