 6/29/07 - Howie ReedThe Square Ring: by Howie Reed There once was a time, every four years in fact with the arrival of the Olympics, when fight fans actually used to pay some attention to the amateur boxers. Some might now make the connection between the demise of both amateur and professional boxing. Much of the displeasure with the amateur sport was caused by questionable scoring and decisions: First there was the 'never heard from again' South Korean fighter named Park Si-Hun who beat Roy Jones jr. in the 1988 Seoul Games 3-2. Jones lost despite pummeling Park for three rounds, landing 86 punches to Park's 32. Someone that was there contacted the Square Ring with the following tale of corruption. "This bout had nothing to do with the competency of officials and their knowledge of scoring or the method of scoring. This was down right fraud and cheating. The organizing committee and President Anwar Chowdry were paid to give Korea two gold medals. They found three scum-bags to do the thievery in that and another bout." Allegedly, Park himself apologized to Jones afterwards. One judge shortly thereafter admitted the decision was a mistake, and all three judges who voted against Jones were eventually suspended. Most observers still believe the judges were either bribed or otherwise coerced to vote for the local fighter by Korean officials. The Square Ring, through an unnamed source, can state categorically, "The fix was in." Cosmetically, amateur boxing tried to fix the problem with push button judges in which an old geezer (remember you don't have to be "old" to be an "old geezer") would push a button when a punch landed. In fact to help cover the skullduggery from the '88 Olympics, it was mandated that no one could judge a fight when they reached the age of 60. Like all amateur sports, boxing was corrupt not necessarily for money, although that was a factor, but mainly for power. Then a few months ago things began to change. The Square Ring e-mailed its source in regard to the changes. This was the response we received. "This is an answer to your e-mail about the dictator Anwar Chowdry of Pakistan who was a tyrant who ruled amateur boxing as if it was his toy to play with ... No Longer!" At the world AIBA (the governing body for amateur boxing) convention, Ching-Kuo Wu of Taiwan ran for President against Chowdry. It is now a new ball game since he is 'in' and the world of amateur boxing will no longer be dictated to by the likes of Chowdry and his henchmen kiss-asses." The first really bold move of the new regime was the changing of the World Championships to the United States and taking it away from Russia. Now amateur boxing has also junked the push button scoring and will go to judges counting punches with the high and low scores tossed out. Kind of sounds like figure skating and we know how successful that was. Let's all sing "Oh Canada". But at least it's a step. With the demise of the Olympics as a proving ground for boxers working towards a professional career, many have taken the path of least resistance. For some that means playing in the wading pool and never learning how to swim. Then when thrown in the deep end they don't have the skills to swim - so they drown. A great example of this is Yoddamrong Sithyodthong (45-6-1) who reigned as the WBA super-bantam champ for three months. At 28-0 he won a unanimous decision over Yoder Ortega to capture the title. Three months later Yoddamrong traveled to Japan to defend against Osamu Sato, got knocked down three times and KO'd in 8. After 12 meaningless wins Yoddamrong got another shot at the WBA super-bantam title against Mahyar Monshipour in Paris. This time he got clocked in 6. Since then Yoddamrong has never been the same or maybe his flaws just became more apparent. Many, not familiar with Thai boxing, were surprised last September when Chonlatarn Or Piriyapinyo (15-0) handed Yoddamrong a fairly easy unanimous decision (118-110, 118-110, 117-117). The rematch came a week ago. In the intervening 9 months Chonlatarn had won 4 more matches while Yoddamrong did nothing. This time out Yoddamrong was down twice before referee Somsak Sirianan stopped it at 0:41 seconds of round 7. 
Real big fights are few and far between. Last Sunday's
fight in Las Vegas between Ricky Hatton (40-0) vs.
Jose Luis Castillo (55-7-1) was an authentic "major
fight."A real major fight delivers it's own PR without a lot of the "phony bologny" that permeates most fugazi fights. The fact that this was a "real' fight is strange cause they were fighting for a fugazi" IBO title. The only IBO champions that a sports fan may recognize are Wlad Klitschko and Ricky Hatton. World known referee Joe Cortez was the only person in the ring in shirt, slacks and tie when the opening bell rang. Hatton was a big favorite with the 11,000 Brits that traveled across the 'big pond' for the fight, betting US$1.80 to win a dollar. Just days before the fight a Federal Judge granted an attachment to Castillo's purse in the name of Gary Shaw Productions and the Diego Corrales's Estate of up to $1.2 million. As with most things legal, there was a "but" attached. Shaw and the Corrales Estate had to post a bond and when they couldn't the Judge removed the attachment. Then, just before the fight began in the pre fight blather it was revealed that promoter Bob Arum had paid Castillo's US$250,000 fine to the Nevada Commission and supported the fight throughout his year of inactivity while on suspension. The purses for Castillo's last two fights with the late Diego Corrales had been held up. Last Sunday was a "major event" and not a major fight. If you watched the fight on TV the preceding paragraph would explain why the gentleman sitting in the second row in the brown suit had a face longer than the late Sea Biscuit. Bob Arum already knew what it took Hall of Fame trainer and boxing commentator Emanul Stewart almost half of round one to discover, "Castillo is a tired fighter." Being unkind, that means that Castillo's was a "shot fighter", in the ring for a pay day, which he may or may not get. As for Arum, it's a case of kissing his investment good bye. For those into records, the event ended at 2:17 of round 4 when Castillo went down from a left hook to the side. The punch, so we were told, "surprised" him and was "devastating". Hogwash. The only surprised people were referee Joe Cortez who couldn't believe that Castillo was down and Ricky Hatton thinking that maybe Castillo was complaining of a low blow. Of course the Hatton fans were over the moon. The fight proved nothing in regard to those that have questions about Hatton's ability. It was a win against a fighter that was not only 'over the hill', but well out in the desert. In true Mexican fashion Castillo tried to save himself with a couple of low blows but referee Joe Cortez said, "stop" which Castillo didn't so he lost a point. That's probably the time when Castillo decided to end the nonsense. Actually, the fans that came to root for Hatton were the real show. They were in great form asking the question, "What American fighter could sell 11,000 tickets to a fight in England?" The answer of course is none. In fact there's no American fighter that can sell 11,000 tickets for a fight anywhere. When plied with lager the Brits do love to sing and they were in fine form. They opened with "Blue Moon" and ended with a Christmas song in June as they sang "Walking in a Hatton Wonderland." For those not familiar with English football (called soccer in civilized countries), "Blue Moon" is the signature song for Manchester City football (soccer) team. As all residents of Thailand know, that team is being purchased by Thailand's deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (still with a warrant out for his arrest). Word is the new owner is trying to hire the equally flawed Sven Erickson, former England manager, as the headman. Could one expect any less? "Your Lordship?" Yes Jeeves what is it? "Your Lordship, I have to toddle along, but first I'd like to give some results that you've missed. Fahsan 3K Battery (58-8-1) had no trouble last Friday at the Taweethapisek School in Bangkok when it took only 25 seconds into the second round to KO Yuvensius Laeande, who is either 2-4-2 or 13-2-2. 3K has won 13 in a row since he was sent to the 'land of nod' by Manny Pacquiao in 2004. "Promoter Jimmy Chaichotchuang said before the fight, 'Fahsung 3K Battery is chasing a shot at IBF jr featherweight champion Steve Molitor of Canada. I'm confident 3k Battery would defeat Molitor.' Of course Your Lordship most everyone knows the result because the fight was carried nationally on Channel 7, but it's never bad to be sure. "Anyway, that aside Your Lordship I've laid in a copious supply of lager, your cigars have been brisked and there's a rack of oldies in the record machine. I'm off for a night on the town with the lads and lasses." 
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