Rusty Rubin, Managing Editor
www.ringsports.com

With the year 2003 winding down, let’s make some predictions for the upcoming boxing season.

Who will retire: Lennox Lewis, Prince Hamed, Derrick Gainer, Corrie Sanders, Julio Cesar Chavez (again),

Who should retire, but won’t: Hector Camacho Sr., Evander Holyfield, Henry Akinwande, Mike Tyson, John Ruiz, (and most of the heavyweight division). That should spare boxing scribes and fans some torture. Finding a bright light in this field is as hard as picking a winner in a 200 horse race.

I think the brain session of boxing promoters can and will help the sport, but not enough to do the damage that’s been done to it in recent years. Can anyone spell ‘blind judge?’

And speaking of boxing promoters, how’s this for a pick. Don King will not try to change his image by getting his head shaved.

There will be no boxing commission next year or in the foreseeable future.

OK, most judges are honest and do call it like they see it. The problem is are they watching the same fight we are?

The recent Oscar – Mosley decision in favor of Mosley may have been controversial, but it was very close, and I also scored it for Shane.

But the Oquendo – Byrd fight the following week leaves me to wonder what fight the judges were watching. No way Chris won that fight. But here we’re talking heavyweights and neither fighter is exciting to watch, as is most of the rest of that weight class.

Both Klitschko’s when not to tentative, can create a lot of action and excitement. But when they get off to a slow start, and paw instead of jab, it’s time for a nap from the viewers. But they still probably create the most excitement in a very dull weight class.

Freddie Roach will continue to train winners and will be named trainer of the year for the second year in a row. (If he doesn’t get it this year, somebody isn’t paying attention) Buddy McGirt will also come into his own as a trainer of champions.

I expect Ricardo Mayorga to lose his title, and Manny Pacquaio to continue to improve and fight Eric Morales before years end. Bernard Hopkins will continue to pick up paydays by fighting guys well below them.

And the US Olympic Team will pick up two golds and a punch of lesser medals in boxing, in the Games held in Athens.

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

Boxing feedback:

Cheating and Steroid abuse, the Roy Jones Jr song plays on!
An open letter from a fan to the boxing media:

Steroid abuse by Roy Jones has always been kept quite by the main stream media . Why? Could someone please tell me? Hey folks I am just a boxing fan of 40 years who wants to know the truth. It is a fact that Jones has tested positive for steroids, yet he was never suspended and the details were disregarded by media outlets. Several boxing sites have reported over the last few months that Jones has, in the past tested positive for steroids. I was shocked by this revelation. Why? Because Roy Jones is a huge name in the boxing world who's every move is covered by the sports media. Why was this information not at the forefront of boxing news?

I recently received a letter from my 19 year old son, who is currently a freshman in college, where he made a good point about the history of Jones career. He pointed out that during the career of Roy Jones the media has overlooked his actions. From Roy Jones Jr causing negotiations to crumble due to his outrageous monetary demands, to ducking mandatory contenders and even Roy Jones theft of a world championship title that did not belong to him, the media has been more than glad to look the other way. As a fan I am sick of it and very disappointed in the sports media.

Hey people, the use of steroids is cheating, and that is a fact. Did anyone see the Jones/Tarver fight? I am sure we all did.(Scoring: 114-114, 117-111, 116-112)I thought Tarver won the fight. Jones Jr did not do enough to take the belt from the champion.(The idiot who had it 117-111 for Jones needs to quit) Hell, Tarver out landed and out threw Jones the entire fight(Tarver 120/504 Total Punches 111/ 424 Jones), beating him to the jab(Tarver 47/249 Jabs 17/172 Jones). But there would be no Buster Douglas type victory for Tarver. Jones and the crooked judges made sure of that. Now you can disagree with my point of view at the out come of this fight, but 95% of fans at ringside let their opinions be known by screaming "Bullshit, Bullshit!! F**k Roy Jones!". Keep in mind people this was a pro Jones crowed going into this fight. Were these fans delusional at the end of the fight? They were all drunk right? If you listen to many of the writers who reported on this fight, they were. Baloney! Heck, even Roy Jones himself had the look of a loser when the fight ended. Antonio Tarver should still have the WBC Light Heavyweight Title because he didn't lose at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, the Las Vegas bums at ringside robbed him. I felt sorry for Tarver that night and still do. He was cheated out of his victory, a victory that would have gone down as the biggest upset of 2003, and there have been many.

Now you are probably asking, "What does the Jones/Tarver fight have to do with steroid use?" It has plenty and I will explain;Since November 8th we have heard the excuse that Jones sad performance against Tarver was because Jones had to lose 25 pounds of muscle to make weight for that fight. Really? Is that so? My take on this, baloney!! This is probably the first fight in a very long time that Jones was not juiced up on steroids. Hey people, there have been many Internet articles leading up to this fight about allegations of steroid use by Jones. One web site even published a letter from the IBF showing Jones did test positive in the past for anabolic steroids. Note that none of the main stream media have printed anything about the steroid allegations attached to Jones names. Could it be they are frightened of the truth or merely protecting Jones again. What happened to "RJ"? Remember Jones said that he was not going to be the one showing up in the ring against Tarver, it was going to be "RJ". He said RJ would knocked that black bald headed bitch out. That is what Jones always referred to Tarver as, "Black bald headed bitch". Looks like Tarver made Roy his bitch on November 8th, wouldn't you agree? And what does "RJ" stand for? "Roid Jerk"?

As you can tell I am very angry. I am angry because Jones has been given greatness without fighting for it, and mentioned in the same breathe as Ali, Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, and all the other great ones. What the heck has Roy Jones Jr done to be included in this group of great fighters? Nothing but juice up on roids, cheating to leave the appearance that he is Superman. I don't know about some of you, but in my opinion what made many of 'The Greats' great was they never avoided a match by sabotaging negotiations the way Roy Jones jr has, they fought each other, not ducking the fights they knew they couldn't win. Do any of you really think Jones would willingly get in the ring with someone like Sugar Ray Robinson? Hell, Jones wouldn't even fight Ruiz until Ruiz and his manager gave Jones everything including the Statue of Liberty.

Speaking of Ruiz, him and his manager should be voted idiots of the year for giving Jones the bigger purse and any other amenity he asked for. What were they thinking? Vegas odds had it right, Jones was the favorite. Do you know why? Because Ruiz was lucky he was even champion. Do you remember Ruiz' last fight with Holyfield? (Scoring: 115-113 Ruiz, 116-112 Holyfield, 114-114) Ruiz was jumping up and down like he hit the lotto...Have you ever seen anyone so happy to get a draw? Holyfield won that fight and we all know Holyfield is a shot fighter. (13 of the 16 polled sports writers had Holyfield winning by margins of two to seven points, 2 even, 1 Ruiz).

The point I am making here is, Jones win over Ruiz was just another well orchestrated bout with Jones beating a fringe contender who held a paper belt. For what its worth, no one really knows what kind or how many designer steroids Jones abused going into the Ruiz fight.

Don't think I am off base here because the BALCO Labs investigation have proven designer steroids are the new kids on the block. In many cases they are undetectable, hell we could learn tomorrow that Jones system was full of THG (Tetrahydrogestrinone), and I doubt he would be suspended or that the main stream media would even report it. Jones has been protected from anything that has the ability to tarnish his image. Fernando Vargas tested positive for using an anabolic steroid, and he was fined and suspended. Why didn't Jones face the same admonishments when he tested positive for anabolic steroids? Why ask why? We all know the answer, he is Roy Jones Jr.

He is able to lie, steal, cheat and abuse steroids and not a damn thing is done about it.Lou Dibella wants to have a promoters summit to address the problems in boxing. What they should have is a summit asking why fans are so pissed off at boxing. I am sure they would be told the fans are sick of being sold damaged goods such as Roy Jones jr.

I want more for my HBO buck. I don't want to be sold a steroid using, over hyped, over priced, belt stealing, mandatory ducking, HBO promoted jerk like "His Royness" Jones jr.

And a shout out to the HBO Crew: Oh my God!! I almost regurgitated my dinner at the sounds of Jim Lamply licking the gym boots of Roy Jones. I like George and Larry, the whole HBO crew, but you guys over did it during the Tarver fight. You are all guilty of false glorification of Roy Jones Jr. Not just on the night of the Tarver fight, but each and every time Jones jr is in the ring.

Jones will continue to sandbag his way through negations, rankings and titles. He will no doubt continue to use and abuse steroids as long as he is allowed to evade the consequences of his actions in part because of the medias refusal to shine a light on it.

Mr.Alton Green
Atlanta, Georgia
Alton_Green@hotmail.com

Glove2Glove:

We ask for your prayers for the soul of both boxer Richard Lujan and boxing writer Joe Behar who passed away recently.

Please say prayers for solid boxing guy, member of the WBHOF and all around class act Sabatini Abrucchi who is recovering from cancer surgery.

Say a prayer for the return to health of great boxer Mando Ramos, who is badly hurting, a result of an unsuccessful back surgery.

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.

Chas. Shandor, father in law of Ringsports.com writer Nick Constantine has been diagnosed with cancer and needs your prayers.

Prayers are asked for and welcomed for LaVerne Gaither of Atlanta, who is having some serious medical problems.

Your prayers have worked and Martin Sommers is back in hospice care. He and his family pass along their heartfelt thanks, and ask that your prayers continue.

Also down but not out with cancer is Kathy Ceravola, sister of top referee Elmo Adolph, and my best friend and co-founder of Glove2Glove, Susiey Walker.
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.

Classified:
Reader Ed Ramos has the following articles available for sale. All come with letter of authenticity
1- Rocky Marciano golden gloves autographed 1968 trophy-$700.This trophy comes with a notarized letter of authenticity. The autograph was obtained by the son of the promoter of this tournament.
2-Muhummud Ali plaque -$1500.This plaque was given to Ali over 10 years ago and is in excellent condition.
3-Joe Louis-Max Shmeling vintage puppets from either the 1930s or 1940s-$300 set. These puppets are extremely rare and are in very good condition.
4-Sonny Liston cut signature-$1000.
5-Cassius Clay 1963 cut signature-$900.
6-Sugar Ray Robinson autographed collage poster-$400.
7-Boxing Illustrated autographed by Ali in 1974-1975-$300.This vintage Ali autographs is one of the best ones that I have ever seen on a magazine.
8-Cassius Clay autographed boxing glove from the early 1960s-$1500 or best
offer.

Touching on politics briefly:

Once again the terrorists of Al Qaeda are threatening our shores with a major attack. It’s like the little boy that cried wolf, but you have to believe that sooner or later it will happen again. But don’t panic as that’s exactly what they want you to do.

And while I really detest having to mix religion with politics, I will in this column for the first (and I hope only) time.

It’s interesting how these Muslim terrorists disdain the teachings of Allah and the Koran and have perverted their own belief system to best work for them, which, simply put, means that no other belief system counts and if you don’t believe the way they want you to, then you must be destroyed.

Over the years more people have been killed in the name of God then for any other reason, and that’s downright dumb. No God wants murder and bloodshed shed in His name by His followers. Every God I know of except that of the brainwashed terrorists, is a God of love.

The interesting thing is that the major combatants here, have three different names for the same God. Or at least it’s my belief that God by any other name, is still God. And that it’s the same deity for everyone. In the terrorists case the name changes to power and greed.

Look at the roots of the three major religions in question here. Muslims, Christians and Jews. The Arabs are said to have descended from Ishmael who was born a Jew. Jesus was also born a Jew and the Jews are referred to in the Bible as the chosen people. In short, all originated from the same religious order, but they have separate belief systems. That’s fine, as long as it comes from the understanding that God is about love, not hate, and he doesn’t take sides folks, that’s called free will.

So the question to be asked is, what happened? Why do the Palestinians and other Arab people hate the Jews? Don’t they come from the same God? Why do the terrorists, who believe in the teaching of Allah and the Koran hate the Christians and Jews? Same rationale. And I’m sure you can make a good case for the Jews hating at least some Palestinians, but terrorists of all types are very easy to hate.

I can’t make much sense out of all of this, but let me say that the US military leader who uttered the stupid words that ‘our God is better then their God’, has his head up his ass, because in the big picture my friends, it’s the same God and it’s a God of love and peace, and not hatred and killing!

History shows that it’s this type of backwards thinking that gave us the Crusades and started this hatred to start with.

Another example are the differences in Ireland between the Protestants and Catholics, both Christians to be sure, but look at the hatred and distrust we have there, although thank “GOD” the killings have slowed down in recent years.

Understand this is my belief system, and I don’t choose to say I’m right and you’re wrong or force it on anyone else. That also is free will.

And my message to all for the holiday season. May your God, whatever name you choose to call Him, spread his love and blessings to you and yours, and rid your heart of any hatred or prejudice you have towards others.

Agree or disagree, all responses are welcome and the best will be published.

Political feedback: I was really interested to read your comments about bush's "war on terror". I'm from England, and have often wondered how the USA views this dishonest war. Your comments were illuminating.

Of course Saddam would have had nothing to do with Osama. Osama's an Islamic fundamentalist, something that Saddam is totally opposed to. He has a history of brutal repression of Islamic fundamentalism.

I found out about saddam from a biography written by a right wing British journalist called Con Coughlin. a book that is available to Bush and Blair. I could go on and on and on! but read this link, it puts it much better than I could. WWW:Monbeit.com

Regards, Nick Long