It’s a bit unusual to cover two fights in two nights in Northern Nevada, but that was the plan for the weekend.

Saturdays fight card was held at beautiful Caesars Tahoe, where Lou Duva and Reno Ring Ltd. put on an exciting fight card, in front of the largest indoor crowd at the resort that this old scribe can ever remember seeing.

Let me state that Lou, at age 82, is still in good health and as sharp as ever. He doesn’t seem to have lost a step. Also on hand were Vinny Vela (Soprano’s, movies), Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini former lightweight champ, Max Baer Jr. (Jethro on the Beverly Hillbilly’s and Sunset Thomas, Penthouse Magazines favorite centerfold.

On to the action, and there was plenty of it. The first bout featured heavyweights Jason Williams, 235, and T.J. Wilson 241. The taller Wilson, jumped on Williams, 235, early and never let him get untracked, scored two first round knockdowns and a knockout at 2:29 of round two, ended this one-sided contest, and brought Wilson’s record to 10-1, with 7 KO’s. Williams dropped to 9-4 (6). Vic Alegria was the third man in the ring.

The second fight was a non-stop war, with the verdict decided by a second round knockdown scored by Larry Gonzales, 5-0, 137, who handed a tough, game Curtis Meeks, 140, his first loss in nine fights via a close split decision. It was a great fight, with a lot of non-stop action over the six round distance. Norm Budden refereed. The interesting thing was that Gonzales ran out of gas in the final round, and he’s from the high elevation of Denver, CO., while Meeks, from Texas’ sea level was much stronger at the end.

Bout three lasted all of 23 seconds when 18 year old, 6’3” Mike Marrone, 205, jumped all over Mike Moncrief, 207, 1-3-1. Moncrief never get untracked and may haven’t had time to throw a punch. Marrone has very fast hands and as he learns and grows, he may become a force on what passes for today’s heavyweight division. Marrone moves to 3-0, all via the kayo route. Referee Vic Alegria had an easy night and fight as he didn’t have to work hard in his two assignments. Working a total of less then one round in two fights.

Many in the crowd came out to see local favorite, middleweight Joey Gilbert. Gilbert. 160, suffering from an intestinal flu ran his record to 8-0 (7), with a unanimous decision win over equally tough and game Farid Shahid, 160.5, 2-2 (1). Norm Budden was the third man in.

And in the main event, Oscar Diaz, 144, 18-1 (11) coming off his first loss was cut over the left eye by an unintentional head butt, which also caused bleeding from the scalp of Juan Amezcua, 141, 9-2 (7).

But it wasn’t the cut that ended this bout, scheduled for 10, early. It appeared that Diaz was concerned about the fight getting stopped, and as round two started he attacked Amezcua relentlessly, knocking him down early in round two, and for the count at the 1:03 mark of round two. Vic Drakulich refereed.

On the previous night, July 9, at the Reno Hilton, promoter Greg Gulli put on the third of a series of fight cards, highlighting some of the younger, up and coming boxers. While most of the young men involved in this evenings fights, lacked experience, they provided plenty of ring action.

The most experience fighter on the card was Luisito Espinosa, 129, a former champion from the Philippines, now living in Las Vegas, who showed he has lost a lot over the last few years, something that having almost sixty tough pro fights have done to even more experienced pugilists.

Esposito, 47-12 (26), although game, was slow to get untracked and was late in blocking Carlos Navarro’s big punches, and never could solve the Southpaws uppercuts which landed with far more regularity then Ex-Lax.

Navarro, 130, 25-3 (20) looked strong throughout in winning the WBC Mundo Hispanio Jr. lightweight title.

Referee Norm Budden wisely stopped the one sided contest at 1:49 of round seven, with Esposito taking a pounding, suffering from bleeding in his mouth and two cuts around his left eye. It would probably be wise for Esposito to look for another career, as the years and punches have clearly taken their toll.

In other action: Ales Perez 179, upped his record to 3-0, with a first round TKO over a much shorter Carlos Paez, 180, making his pro debut. Perez may have a big future in the ring, so keep an eye on him. Referee Vic Alegria gave Paez every opportunity, but to no avail, and the pounding of Paez was halted at the 2:50 mark of the first round.

Dominic Chavez 140, 2-0, took a 39-37 unanimous decision from debuting Hilario Lopez, a rangy 140 pounder, who although competitive, left his defensive knowledge in the gym, which often happens with a young fighter. Lopez used a straight right to score the only knockdown in the first round, and although the rest of the four round action was mainly toe to toe, it was Chavez who dominated.

Juan Zuniga 140, 2-4, needs two things to be competitive; a better chin and an ability to turn over punches. He was dominated the entire distance by a much shorter Shaun Plessis,140, of Canada, who upped his record to 7-0 with 3 knockouts. Referee Vic Drakulich stopped this one-sided affair at the 34 second mark of the third round, it was scheduled for six.

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.***
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 soul of long-time boxing cornerman Al Gavin, who passed away a few days after a passive stroke.

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.

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: Rarely does the stupidity from Washington make me as angry as the report saying that the Bush administration has asked Pakistan to make capturing Osama Bin Laden a priority, before the upcoming November elections.

Cutting off the head of the snake should always have been the number one priority, and a goal that we should have pressed for and accomplished before spreading ourselves too thin in Iraq. Didn’t we learn from the Nazi blunder of invading Russia in WWII, not to fight on two fronts?

Excuse me for asking, but why wasn’t catching this murderous scoundrel who heads the terrorists, made a priority before?

Why was the capturing of Sadaam and the killing of his two murderous sons more important? Although low lives, they were certainly far less of a threat to anyone outside Iraq than Al Qaeda, and their brainwashed hoards of followers. In fact, Iran and North Korea were and remain far bigger threats.

The message here is both honest and clear. The higher ups in the administration feel that the President will have a much easier time getting re-elected if he has the head of Al Qaeda on his mantel, alongside Sadaam’s gun. Of course this is something most American’s would love to see, but the issue is why the election makes it more important. This should have been top priority from Sept. 11th!

While we can’t argue the logic in this, as the polls do show a very tight race, I wonder how you explain to the families of the victims of 9/11 that Bin Laden’s capture is more important now, than when those airplanes struck and their loved ones killed.

How can they explain that the capture of Sadaam seems to have been the real priority all along, and perhaps, just perhaps, because of the failed assassination attempt on the President’s father by Iraq more than ten years ago.

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