Having received few replies from so called boxing experts as to whom the best puncher in each weight division is, I have decided that maybe it’s too hard a task. The point I was trying to make anyway was that there are harder punchers in other weight divisions then there are in the heavyweight ranks, and the fact that so few people responded tell me that I am correct in this theory.

So if I am, I ask again, why should anyone watch this group of today’s heavyweights? They would probably be an embarrassment in any other era. I firmly believe that the better boxers and punchers are in the super middleweight and lower divisions.

Now, here’s a lesser challenge and more fun. In the book I am currently working on, I am using funny boxing stories and oddities that actually happened. I ask the readers to submit the stories and the ones that I receive and use the sender will be given full credit for. Of course it has to be the first one who submits the story in case more then one person sends the same one in.

Send all jokes and oddities to Rngsports@aol.com, thanks, and members of the boxing media are free to send the information as well.***

If you’re in the area of Caesars Tahoe on July 10th be sure to check out the great boxing event there, and bring your camera. Guests include Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Penthouse Pet Sunset Thomas, and Vinny Vella of the Soprano’s, and we should never leave out the very popular promoter/manager Lou Duva who is also going to be on hand.***

Update: We are again taking orders for autographed copies of my new book, “OFF THE CANVAS”. Check our website for details. So far I have heard only good things about the book. Be aware that there is about a 3-week backlog on orders. It could be faster, to get non-autographed delivery “Off the Canvas” which is 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.***

Agree or disagree, feel free to express your views.

Glove2Glove:

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 writer Marty Carson (auto accident) and his wife (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.

Please say prayers for the soul of Jerry Gladman, boxing scribe from Canada, who has passed away as a result of ALS.

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: Just because one is/was opposed to the war in Iraq, doesn’t mean they are against our fighting men there. I thought going in was a mistake as Iraq was no immediate threat to us, although getting rid of Sadaam alone makes for a rational explanation.

If we went into Iraq as part on our ‘war on terror’, then why was a nation with no immediate nuclear or chemical capability singled out? My problem was/is not that Iraq was wrong, but we had bigger fish to fry that had weapons of mass destruction and a means of delivering them against America.

Of course ten years from now the situation could have been different and Hussein could have been a dangerous threat to America, but with their continual arms buildup and willingness to sell their arms to the terrorists, the rogue nations will be far more dangerous in the much closer future.

I acknowledge the fact that it’s harder and more dangerous to deal with the more radical nations like North Korea or Iran, but if we had, at least I might be able to now say that I feel safer then I did before 9/11. In truth I don’t.

Sadaam was a mad dictator and a cold blooded killer. His loss was the World’s gain. But I have never felt threatened by Iraq as I do with other radical nations that have nukes and would have no qualms about selling them to Al Qaeda, our real enemy.

And for the record, I believe that making the President’s tax cut for the rich permanent is a sure way of never being able to pay off our national debt. If I ran my business the way big business runs the White House, I’d be claiming bankruptcy often.

And I also believe that it should be incumbent on the Kerry/Edwards ticket to make known where there investments lie, e.g. big oil, communications, etc. I’ve been on the Bush Administration because of their ties to big oil, and I’d like to know if they would be any better on the matter (conflict of interest).

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