Newsflash: We are again taking orders for autographed copies of my new book, “OFF THE CANVAS”. Check our website for details. So far, to say the least, I have heard only good things about the book. However there is about a 3-week backlog on orders. For faster, non-autographed delivery “Off the Canvas” is now also available on the web at Authorhouse.com, ID#22873, or through major on line book stores like Barnes and Noble, Waldenbooks or Amazon.com.***

First, to clear up a misconception, this column appears only on the finest websites and only with my permission. I do not insist upon any of these sites running my article in its entirety, that’s the decision of that website. As for the political commentary, if it’s on your site, it’s designed for one reason, to make the reader think. I do not endorse nor will I endorse candidates or parties. I deal strictly with the issues. And for the record, I’m an equal opportunity offender.***

Hopeful news for referee and friend Mills Lane who is still suffering from the effects of a recent stroke. He is now going to be treated in the Ukraine, using adult stem cells. To those in the Ukraine, I’ll simply say, “Please get it on!”

And from Mills to Mesi, where Baby Joe’s career is in some danger as the result of an mri that shows a subdural hematoma (bleeding on the brain). He also seems to be in some hot water for being less then truthful with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, when he only presented the results on one positive mri, to them.***

Here’s a challenge for our readers: I want your pick of the biggest puncher in each of the divisions. One-punch knockout power to be exact. This is not an easy task and there is no right or wrong, it’s just your opinion. Send your responses directly to me at RngsportsR@aol.com, as I can’t count votes sent to another site.

It sounds easy, but it’s not. For instance most will probably say that Mike Tyson has the best one-punch KO power in the heavyweight ranks. And they may be right, because the last thing to go in a fighter is his punch. But he’s been inactive and getting older, so only time (and his next fight) will show if he can still bang, but that also depends upon his next foe’s chin.

When all the votes are counted, they will be posted here along with my personal selections, as if anyone cares.

And staying on topic, has anyone invented a machine that would calibrate the power for size ratio? It would be a heck of an invention.***

Let’s call it like it is, there is little power and even less excitement in the heavyweight division these days. Today’s heavyweights don’t seem to pack the big punch of the heavys of the past, and without Lennox Lewis, who’s retired, I’d have to give some very serious thoughts as to who packs the next biggest wallop, and if you’re voting, so will you.

Vitali Klitschko is widely acknowledged to be the heavyweight champion, and perhaps, with the current field of big guys, that’s as it should be, but the rest reads like a who knows, who cares list. John Ruiz can’t punch much, hell he can’t even fight. Chris Byrd has little power. Hasim Rahman can punch, but unless his opponent has a glass jaw, doesn’t show one punch KO potential.

This is just what I would go through when I make my selections, and I’d probably wind up with a lesser light, like maybe a David Tua, who can punch, but is very small and has problems with the taller bangers. Make your own selections, I respect and welcome everyone’s views.***

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 return to health of Jerry Gladman, boxing scribe from Canada, who is down with 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: President Bush is correct when he says that there were meetings between representatives of Al Qaeda and representatives of Iraq, but let’s make it clear that we don’t know how much power these representatives had, and you can be sure, that whatever they spoke about, everything they agreed on (if anything) had to be approved by Saddam and Bin Laden. No one has denied this.

Don’t for one minute think that anyone else could negotiate anything without their okay and instructions, unless of course there were plans to overthrow their respective leaders.

And as I have (and informed others) been saying all along, there were no Iraqi’s on the 9/11 planes and as of now, no weapons of mass destruction found, so I still fail to realize why we went into that Arab nation, although I agree that we cannot pull out just now.

No question, Saddam Hussein was a terrorist and was a constant threat to peace in the region, but at this stage it was only to his own people and people of the region, not to America, or for that matter anywhere outside the Arab world. Taking him out was a very good thing, although I question, as many do, if staying in that country and forcing democracy down their throats is the right way to go.

Point being, taking out Saddam was a good thing, but forcing our will and way of life upon other cultures seems be backfiring. You can’t tell people that ‘because our country has chosen to live free, they are forced to live free as well’. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Finally, Al Qaeda says that they had help from some Saudi’s in capturing American Paul Johnson. That’s a hard thing to comment on, because on one hand you know they only use the truth, which they rarely speak, if it’s of benefit to them, and getting Americans mad at the Saudi’s, if they believe this is to the benefit of the terrorists.

On the other hand, we also know that there are a lot of Al Qaeda sympathizers in Saudi Arabia, and because of that the terrorist statement could indeed be true. But I do feel giving the killers a month to turn themselves in is a bit much. Either they will (doubtful) or they wont, and it doesn’t take 30 days to figure it out, even for these brainwashed dupes.

In any event, we should put pressure on the Saudi’s to close the schools that preach radical Islam in that country, because as long as they keep producing as many or more terrorists then we kill or arrest, we can never win this battle. Then again, they are allowed to preach their nonsense in some American Mosques as well, so somebody with common sense and guts had better get on the ball here also. We can’t defeat these people as long as they can continue to add more and more killers to their midst.

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