Rusty Rubin is the award winning editor of Ringsports.com.
Many of the newer boxing writers may not remember the date of June 16, 1983, and a fight that many think cost the life of “Irish” Billy Collins and got his trainer Carlos “Panama” Lewis and his charge Luis Resto banned from boxing.
While there is no way of knowing if the damage that Collins suffered in the fight caused his death in a car ‘accident’ or not, many people felt that his bout with Resto was the cause and Collins took his own life.
I won’t go into the long history of the event, that information is easily found on the internet. Suffice to say that Resto had his gloves ‘loaded’ and caused significant damage to Collins.
The recent fight in Los Angeles between Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito certainly brought back some of these horrible memories.
Before the bout in LA, a couple of weeks back, Mosley’s cornerman asked that Margarito have his hand re-wrapped in front of an inspector. During the re-wrap they found a grey, cement like substance on the hand wrap. California has never been known for closely inspecting hand-wrapping, but I would surmise that supervision would depend upon the inspector on hand for that.
We now have to wait and see how the California Athletic Commission handles this potentially damaging situation and have to believe that other State Commissions will follow the lead of the Golden State.
It’s hard to imagine either Margarito or his trainer not knowing what was going down here. Even if Margarito wasn’t part of the ploy, it’s hard to believe that he didn’t notice the difference in the extra weight and smell of the hand-wrap that was used. And, if he didn’t, could that mean it was used in training as well as other fights? There are a lot of questions being raised and hopefully we will get an explanation.
We know that the problem, thankfully, was resolved before the fight, and that Mosley didn’t have the extra problem to deal with, as he won just about every round before the bout was stopped.
The point here is that while Mosley won and escaped unscathed and without incident, how much more does an incident like this hurt boxing? To put it simply, it certainly doesn’t help.
And, in the same vein, I’m not convinced that the folks who regulate boxing in Wyoming did a smart thing by allowing Tommy Morrison to box again. Morrison looked great when I met him in Los Angeles last year, and told me that all his tests for HIV have come back negative. While I hope he’s correct, I never heard of the disease disappearing.
Again we must ask, is boxing being helped or hurt by allowing Morrison to fight? Tommy knocked out his opponent early. A healthy Tommy Morrison certainly would be a plus in today’s heavyweight division.
As with the Mosley fight, one has to wonder if in the long run this event will hurt the sport of boxing.
But boxing will survive! It always does!***
On February 7, at the Pond in Anaheim, California, hard hitting Vic Darchinyan puts his IBF, WBC and WBA junior bantamweight titles on the line against Jorge Arce.
Arce, always a crowd pleaser, is moving up in weight for this match, and while he cannot be discounted, it’s hard to see how someone with a questionable defense can beat a power punching southpaw like Darchinyan.
This fight is more than just power vs. speed, because neither fighter really likes to go backwards. That being said, prepare for a war for as long as the bout lasts. I’ll take Darchinyan by KO, but picking a specific round here is very difficult. The fight can and probably will end with one punch, but what round that blow lands is anybody’s guess.
Long-time friend, Steve Acunto has written a great new book. It’s a Spanish language guide to understanding boxing techniques. This is a Spanish version of his previously released book in English and is available at AuthorHouse.com.***
Glove 2 Glove:
Prayers for the soul of former heavyweight champ Ingemar Johansson, who passed away in Sweden at age 76. It’s sad and ironic that Floyd Patterson, the fighter he won the crown from, also passed away due to Alzheimer ’s disease.
Another outstanding heavyweight and good guy Scott LeDoux is suffering from ALS. Please pray for his strength in battling this illness.
Ringsports.com’s photographer Ray Luna reports that his mother, Geneva has suffered a second stroke. Please pray for her rapid recovery.
Please pray for my Aussie mate John MacDougall, who had to admit his wife of many years to a nursing home. Both John and his wife Gwen need your prayers for recovery and inner strength.
Say a prayer for the return to health for Chicago great Hall of Famer Eddie Perkins, who is recovering from a heart attack.
One of boxing’s good guys, Genaro ‘Chicanito’ Hernandez has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Kudos to the WBC for taking up the battle to help pay for some of Genaro’s high medical bills. I ask you to do your share also by saying prayers for this fine young man, a true fighter and champion who represents everything good that sports in general and boxing in particular stands for.
On behalf of these great fighters, we thank you for your ongoing prayers.
If you know of any boxing people in need of spiritual uplift or prayers, just drop us a line. It’s free to all and no one will ever contact you or put your name on anyone’s mailing list.
Thanks and God bless.***
Rusty Rubin is the editor of Ringsports.com. He is also the author of three acclaimed boxing books! “Woozel, Boxing and Me”, “Off the Canvas” and “Billy Soose, the Champion Time Forgot” co-authored by Tom Donelson.
In these hard economic times, any or all of these books will make an excellent and inexpensive presents to the boxing fan(s) in your life. To order, just go to Autorhouse.com.
Ringsports.com is not sending out any spam ads. I strongly advise everyone to ignore anything not expected. Please feel free to check with me if you have any questions.***