Congratulations to Andre Ward of Oakland, CA. for bringing home the only American Gold Medal in the sport of boxing. He’s a nice young man with a great family and should do very well as a professional.***

I was ver disappointed, at least for a brief time. Due to the illness and subsequent passing of my best friend, Sue, I hadn’t been in Las Vegas for a fight, major or minor, in some time. I was looking forward to going to the Pacquiao – Morales war in early November, when wham! Top Rank took out Pac Man and brought in Marco Antonio Barrera, for the deciding match in a best of three series against “El Terrible”.

But after my initial anger, I thought that this third bout of a so-far fantastic trilogy should be just as exciting as the previous two, and maybe even better. I still hope to intend and know that I’ll see a helluva fight, but there still may be another problem in me seeing the fight live. The fight may be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Not knocking LA, but I’ve never been known for my fondness of big cities, any big cities, and in my old age, I prefer to avoid them as much as possible. I generally make my yearly sojourn to ‘Tinsel Town’ for a day or two, for the World Boxing Hall of Fame induction ceremony (Oct. 16th this year) and share in the great camaraderie, and I hope to do the same this year. Two trips to LA in the course of three weeks is something I don’t want to do…If you’ve ever seen the long lines and security measures (needed) at LAX, nothing else need be said.

It rarely happens, but Morales – Barrera III just might be the best fight in the series, and that’s going some. I think if you took the scoring in the first fight, won closely by Morales, and the scoring of the second, won closely by Barrera, you might just come up with a draw.

It’s that good a fight.

Agree or disagree, I want to hear from you, I respect every opinion as long as it’s informed and I also promise to respond to everyone.

My good friend Stephen B. Acunto, who founded the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing, along with Rocky Marciano, now has his book “Champions Boxing Guide” available in Spanish. For details visit Steve’s website: AAIB.org

Please help me with my upcoming new book. Send all jokes, quips and boxing oddities to Rngsports@aol.com, thanks, and members of the boxing media are free to send this most welcome information as well.***

Update: We are again taking orders for autographed copies of my new book, “OFF THE CANVAS”. Check our website for details, or for an autographed copy, just $15, send me an e-mail. It’s also available on the web at Authorhouse.com, ID#22873, or through major on line book stores like Borders, Barnes and Noble, Waldenbooks or Amazon.com, and some of the major bookstores. If the store you frequent doesn’t have copies, you can ask them to order if for you.***

Agree or disagree, feel free to express your views.

Glove2Glove:

Herb Platzner, father of RS.com scribe Harrin is having heart problems. Prayers for his health would be much appreciated.***

Dub Harris, WWII hero and founder and past President of the World Boxing Hall of Fame has suffered a stroke in Southern California. Please pray for his quick return to health.***

Please say prayers for the return to health of Helen Wambolt, wife of our East Coast World Boxing Hall of Fame writer Danny Wambolt. Cards will also be most welcome.***

Prayers are requested for Donna Jean Landers, boxing fan from Oklahoma, who has been fighting cancer for three years. She needs your help my friends.

Please say prayers for wife of RS.com writer Marty Carson (auto accident) who is having health problems) of Indiana. Marty is a long time friend and a boxing. expert.***

Please say prayers for the return to health of Orazio Esposito, father of our photographer Richard Esposito.***

Sandy Johnson a staff member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission is fighting breast cancer. A call, e-mail or card, along with your prayers would really do a lot to raise the spirits of an old friend.***

Special prayers go out to Mills Lane for his complete recovery. Mills, who suffered a stroke a few years back may be down, but knowing him, he’s far from out.***

Prayers for the return to health of Don Donelson, father of writer Tom, and Gene Sebastian, brother of former middleweight champ Billy Soose. Both are suffering from congestive heart disease. And to Arthur Terciera, father of writer Keith, also having heart related problems.***

Prayers are requested for Ringsports.com photo journalist Dale Hausner of Arizona, who is having problems with cancer.***

Prayers are requested for Kenneth E. Ryther father of our photo journalist Amy Green. Kenneth is suffering from Parkinson’s.***

Prayers for Ed “Whitey” Hadar, a former boxer who is having some serious health problems.***

Please say prayers for Phill Grazide of Santa Rosa, CA. a big supporter of amateur boxing, who is suffering the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis.***

Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.***

Glove2Glove is a non-denominational group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.

Touching on politics briefly: I must confess that I see why many Americans are somewhat confused as to where at least one of the Presidential candidates stand. Sure, most have made up their mind on who they will cast their ballot for on Nov. 2, but I’m wondering if upcoming events will change that.

George Bush is, and always has been easy to figure out. Forget his interest in helping his friends with tax cuts for the rich, because that’s probably not going to change any votes, either way.

Let’s give President Bush full credit for supporting the accuracy of John Kerry’s war record in Viet Nam, and in effect calling the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, liars. We can’t allow dirty campaigns that deal in half truths to take our mind off the upcoming election. Let’s deal with the real issues, which it seems Bush wants to do, although we’ll know more in the upcoming debates.

Our President, a very likable guy, stated in a debate before the last election that his favorite philosopher was Jesus Christ.

I have no problem with anyone who believes in God, that’s all to their credit as a person. But I have to wonder if he gets his political guidance from the Bible instead of the Constitution, because that’s both dangerous and wrong. Of course getting his intelligence from some of his ‘advisors’ (like in Iraq) has proven to be downright scary, and costly.

The President is sworn to defend our Constitution, not the teachings of the Bible, although some may correlate. I respect his beliefs as I would anyone else’s, (except those of the terrorists who’s beliefs come from lies, dreams and fantasies), and probably share most of them, but the U.S. Constitution, not the Holy Bible, happens to be the law of the land.

I’m reasonably certain that George Bush, like most of us, either hasn’t read or does not fully comprehend our Constitution, and therefore may need advisors to be able to interpret it correctly. If the interpretation is given to him by guys like Reverend Jerry Falwell, we’re all in deep shit. But I’m even more certain that since the Bible is a bigger and older document, the problem is compounded ten-fold, even to most Americans.

Both documents are subject to interpretation and the job of our President is to enforce the legal teachings of the Constitution not the religious teachings of the Bible, which is better left to trained clergy like the Reverend Falwell. Hopefully, we all respect, understand and follow the teachings of the Bible, whichever one we believe in, although because it’s older and its meanings may have changed somewhat, we still live out lives by loving one another.

The Constitution is also open to interpretation, (as is the Bill of Rights) and probably can use a major overhaul to keep up with the times. How the laws are interpreted has always been the job of the U.S. Supreme Court. Because of the growth of America, it’s hard to put together a Constitutional Convention to bring it up to date, so we have to go with what we’ve got, which still probably is the greatest document ever written in this land.

But I can see some problem with voters being comfortable with John Kerry. It’s widely acknowledged now that he was indeed a war hero. Still, we really don’t know a lot about where he stands on the issues that effect us most. What will he do for the seniors? What will he do for the un or underinsured workers, or deal with the outrageous cost of prescription drugs? What about the oil problem? How will he deal with terrorism? Unemployment? Illegal immigration? Outsourcing? The economy? How about Social Security? Stem cell research funding? How will he mend the fences with our allies that the current President tore apart with the ill-conceived invasion on Iraq, which will have cost us more than 1000 lives by Election Day and a hell of a lot more injuries? How about North Korea and Iran?

And most important, which candidate do you want to appoint the next member or members to the U.S. Supreme Court? The answer to the last question may depend to a great degree upon how strong your religious beliefs are.

I’m not saying John Kerry won’t do as good or better job than President Bush. I have no way of knowing that. No one has! But I’d like to see a lot more specifics before casting my vote. What I do know is that Kerry is more cerebral and is far more likely to understand and enforce the Constitution than our incumbent President, and appoint more moderate Supreme Court Justices. Like it or not, that is an important issue to many.

The reason we have Presidential elections every four years is to get rid of someone who we don’t think is doing the job he was elected for and replace him with someone who we feel will do a better one. Sometimes it’s a crapshoot, and we have to only hope that the replacement will be better, as is my conundrum this year. Hopefully that answer will be provided in the upcoming debates, which I will watch unlike both conventions, with great interest.

What I personally resent are the continuous negative attacks by those who speak with one voice, the voice of Karl Rove, who is one of the best around at spewing hate and lies in Republican campaign ads (bet the Dems wish they had him on their team) and getting the voters distracted from the far more important issues. Only a mastermind like Karl Rove can make people forget the real war in Iraq, and in its place make the voters remember (and many don’t want to) a war that happened thirty five years ago. Whenever there’s a close election you can depend on Karl Rove to be able to change the issues and influence the outcome. I must admit I’m impressed.

We know what to expect out of President Bush, and that’s not going to change much, if at all, in the next four years. If you like what he’s done and want him to keep on doing it, cast your vote for the Republican on Election Day.

But if you don’t agree with the President, dollars to doughnuts you’ll vote for Kerry. I know that a lot of folks don’t have a clue as to where he stands on the issues listed above. And unless Senator Kerry makes those positions clear, or hits a homerun by capitalizing on the mistake in invading Iraq and other key issues, it may be four more years. Is that good or bad? Your vote on Election Day will help determine that. Watch the debates and make it an educated one!

Marie Antoinette said to the hungry masses “let them eat cake”. To paraphrase this to all the terrorists I say: “Let them eat pork!”***

Agree or disagree, I’d like to hear from you.