Hank Schwartz’s book won this year’s Independent Book Publisher’s Gold Medal, Sports Division.
by Roger Zotti
If anyone is positioned to write about his work as a boxing promoter and fan of the sport, it’s Brooklyn-born Hank Schwartz. A WWII Veteran, graduate from Brooklyn Polytech, and an expert on satellite and microwave technology, Hank promoted one of the most famous fights of all time – the “Rumble in the Jungle,” the 1974 Muhammad Ali – George Foreman heavyweight championship bout in Zaire. (At the time, his vice-president was Don King.) Hank was also responsible for the 1973 Foreman – Joe Frazier bout in Jamaica and the third Ali-Frazier contest, the ‘Thrilla in Manila.’”
Now Hank and his collaborator, Paige Stover Hague, have written From the Corners of the Ring to the Corners of the Earth: The Adventure Behind the Champions (CIVCOM). Winner of the 2010 Independent Book Publisher’s Gold Medal in the Sports Division, the book is immensely entertaining, exciting and informative – for Hank takes the reader on an often surreal and hilarious journey behind the scenes of “the Golden Era of heavyweight boxing.”
Hank says many boxers – unfortunately – don’t know when to retire because “boxing is a gladiatorial sport … when you fight like a gladiator, you live in a world that, in your own mind, you have a position to defend. So you never want to say or think, ‘Well, I’ve had it. You take it over … and leave me alone.’ When they become mentally put down, that’s the time they’ll retire.” Heavyweight fighters, Hank continues, “almost paint a picture of themselves as being back in the Roman era fighting in the Coliseum against other gladiators … The heavyweight fighter is a machine trained to deliver powerful blows” and today’s heavyweights aren’t as good “as those before because I don’t see any of them as delivering the amount of power and speed delivered by Ali, Frazier and Foreman. If I were back in the industry, I would [search hard] to find better talent in the heavyweight area.” This doesn’t mean Hank believes the heavyweight division is dead. Rather, he hopes its glory can be restored using “the newer technology.” The sport “can be broadcast into homes in high definition television and taken in on the Internet, allowing you to [watch] it on your time.”
One of most laugh-out-loud chapters involves George Foreman, who wouldn’t fly to Zaire – for his title fight against Ali – unless his dog Diego was allowed to sit next to him on the plane. Somehow Hank, reeling in disbelief, persuaded incredulous American Airplanes officials to permit man’s best friend to sit beside George and travel first class. Of course, Ali exploited the situation. (See pages 246-47. It’s Ali at his funniest.)
“Ali’s Last Hurrah” is one of saddest chapters. Before the 1980 Larry Holmes fight, Hank reviewed Ali’s medical records: “I suggested the fight be canceled… this would allow Ali to retire with dignity and in relative good health.” But Ali disagreed. At the end of the tenth round Angelo Dundee, Ali’s trainer, stopped the one-sided bout, proving Ali should never have fought the younger, stronger Holmes.
(l-r) Delvin Rodriguez lands a jab against the right eye of Mike Arnaoutis at Mohegan Sun.
by Alex Pierpaoli
Danbury native, Delvin Rodriguez defeated Mighty Mike Arnaoutis for a twelve round unanimous decision, thus retaining his USBA Welterweight Title, in the Main Event of a six bout card at Mohegan Sun. An enthusiastic crowd watched the mostly tactical bout promoted by Star Boxing and aired on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.
After an uneventful first, a round best described as the consummate feeling-out round, Rodriguez used his size and consistent pressure to blunt the attack of the southpaw, Arnaoutis. Mighty Mike’s speedy straight-rights and lefts did little damage to the stronger Rodriguez who landed his own straight shots that swelled and reddened the face of Arnaoutis over the course of the bout. In the eleventh, Rodriguez opened a gash around the left eye of Arnaoutis and the cut bled freely till the end of the bout.
Despite consistent and effective body-punching by Arnaoutis, Rodriguez’s size and power won him the bout on all three official scorecards. Judge Clarck Sammartino saw it 118-109, judge Don Ackerman had it 117-110 and judge Larry Hazzard Jr’s final tally was 119-108, all in favor of Delvin Rodriguez.
In the televised co-feature, former Olympian and unbeaten Demetrius Andrade, of Providence, RI, defeated Geoffrey Spruiell by eight round unanimous decision. The junior middleweight southpaw, Andrade, used smart boxing and aggression to force the determined Spruiell to give up ground. By the end of round three it seemed as though Andrade might be able to end things with a busy fourth round but the cagey Spruiell, of Pueblo, CO, was determined to go the distance and made it to the final bell by fighting back wildly when along the ropes and clutching through the rough spots when Andrade surged. Andrade finished the night with a shut-out victory on all three official scorecards and proved his focus is not shaken when faced with a cagey but limited opponent who refuses to be kayoed and is content to go the distance. Andrade improved to 10-0 (7) and Spruiell fell to 8-9 (2).
Middleweight Joe Greene of Queens, NY defeated Chris Gray of Baton Rouge LA by eight round unanimous decision in the most dreadful bout of the night. Both men clutched and grabbed and missed and fouled each other throughout the fight bringing out the boo-birds in the crowd who were only scattered by hoots and whistles between rounds at the appearance of the bikini-clad round card girls. Greene remained undefeated with the decision win and is now 22-0 (14) while Gray dropped to 12-13 (1).
In the first bout of the night super middleweight Shqiprim Muriqi, brother of light heavyweight Elvir Muriqi, stopped Fasika Bezabah at 2:08 of round three. Bezabeh was getting shelled along the ropes when referee George Phillips stepped in and waved off the bout. Muriqi is now 3-0 (2) while Bezabeh remains without a win at 0-4.
Yan Barthelemy, of Miami, stopped Roberto Benitez, of the Bronx, at 1:16 of round four in a super bantamweight contest.
Yathomas Riley of the Bronx, NY, stopped Walter Foster Jr of St Louis, MO, at 1:20 of round number two in a light heavyweight scrap.
Referee Benji Esteves picks up the count over the fallen Juan Urango as Devon Alexander looks on from a neutral corner at Mohegan Sun Arena
by Alex Pierpaoli
photos by Rich Esposito
Devon Alexander unified the WBC & IBF 140 pound titles in beating Juan Urango by eighth round TKO at Mohegan Sun Arena. Alexander, of St. Louis, used smart, aggressive boxing to checkmate the wild-swinging, hard-charging Colombian, Juan Urango, stopping him for the first time in his 25 bout career. The Alexander-Urango fight was featured live on HBO’s Boxing After Dark to cap an eight bout card promoted by the fight game’s own P.T. Barnum, Don King.
In a sport that sees fewer and fewer American stars each year, Devon Alexander stepped forward as a fighter to watch with his brilliant performance versus Urango. Alexander-Urango pitted two southpaws against each other but it was clear from the outset that Alexander’s speedy right jabs were getting to the target before Urango’s wide right hooks and plaguing the Colombian who tried repeatedly to get his offense started. Alexander, unlike other similarly-styled boxers, uses upper body movement to avoid blows rather than distance and stayed close to the danger zone and well within Urango’s punching range while using constant but incremental side-to-side movement to force the aggressive Urango to pursue him. Alexander’s skillful use of distance kept the fight exciting and competitive. And although Urango was able to connect with power shots in rounds three, five and six, he was never able to hurt or stun Alexander, despite winning as many as four rounds on one judge’s scorecard.
Devon Alexander connects with a left to the mid-section of Juan Urango at Mohegan Sun.
Urango was bleeding from the nose and an abrasion above his left eye in round two that appeared to have been caused by a snappy right hook by Alexander. The right uppercut was another power punch that Alexander had success with from the start. Landing from long range or in close, Alexander strafed Urango with the nasty uppercut which Alexander admitted later he and trainer Kevin Cunningham had worked to perfect in training camp.
Their work paid off.
In round eight, Alexander connected with a picture-perfect right uppercut that caught Urango on the face just as he was throwing a left hand power shot and the Colombian slugger was instantly flat on his back as the crowd of 3117 let out a collective gasp. Urango was up at eight and ready to continue but in true professional fashion, Alexander rushed forward and finished things off with another well placed combination including another uppercut which dropped Urango again. Referee Benji Esteves stopped the bout at 1:12 of round eight.
Afterwards, Alexander, now 20-0 with 13 kos, hinted at an upcoming bout with former 140 & 147 pound titlist Zab Judah, who was ringside for the Main Event. Judah knocked out another St. Louis native, former welterweight champ Cory Spinks in Missouri in 2005 and promoter Don King looks to be setting the stage for Alexander to try and avenge Spinks’ defeat to Judah in the coming months.
After his performance versus Juan Urango, Devon Alexander certainly looks up to the task. During the in-ring post-fight interview with HBO’s Max Kellerman, broadcast to the arena on the PA system, Alexander made it clear what he thought about a fight with Brooklyn’s Judah.
“Zab’s the past tense,” Alexander said. “I’m the present tense.”
In defeat Juan Urango returns to Colombia with a record of 22-3-1 (17).
Providence’s Peter Manfredo Jr. attacks Matt Vanda in a middleweight Main Event at Mohegan Sun. Manfredo was the busier, more aggressive fighter over ten rounds and the Rhode Islander landed a big left hook to the floating rib in round six that put Vanda on one knee. The crowd enjoyed Manfredo’s work rate, chanting: Pete-ah, Pete-ah! as he pursued Vanda, pressuring him throughout the bout. With the decision win, Manfredo improved to 34-6 (18) while Matt Vanda dropped to 42-10 (22).
Delvin Rodriguez, Danbury, retained his USBA Welterweight Title at Mohegan Sun in an exciting and hard fought unanimous decision win over Atlantic City’s Shamone Alvarez. Delvin rallied in the late rounds, surviving an injured right hand and scoring a knockdown in the eleventh, to secure the close victory on the judges’ scorecards. Rodriguez-Alvarez was the Main Event of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, which broadcasted three bouts of the seven bout show, live from Montville.
When the decision for the Main Event came it was razor-thin but unanimous in Delvin’s favor; Judges Don Trella and Joe Pasquale tabbed Delvin the winner by 114-113 and Glen Feldman had it slightly wider for him at 115-112.
Afterwards, Delvin spoke to reporters in the locker room, his right hand and wrist wrapped in an ice pack. A member of the Dot-Com Media told Delvin that Compu-Box only had him throwing 3 right hands in round nine after the injury occurred.
“It hurt!” Delvin laughed. “I try not to show the opponent because you never want to show the opponent what you feel, you know, no matter how much it hurts. So I came back with my left hand and hit’em with the hook and a lot of jabs. As a fighter that’s what you gotta do, man.”
A disappointed Shamone Alvarez said later that although he felt he deserved the decision Shamone blamed himself for letting the fight get too close.
“I just messed up, man,” Shamone said. “I gave him one foot too much, that six inches to a foot of distance and then that daggone knockdown.”
In victory Delvin becomes a likely challenger to IBF titlist Joshua Clottey, the same man Shamone lost to by decision before meeting Delvin. If anyone could assess the two it would be the man who has now fought both of them and in that comparison Shamone likes Joshua over Delvin.
“I think Joshua is a little more stronger,” Shamone opined on the IBF Champ. “I guess because of his center of gravity. He’s a little shorter, like he’s got this center of gravity thing going on. Just a little stronger…He threw more punches faster.”
With the loss, Shamone drops to 20-2 (11) and Delvin improves 24-2-2 (14).
Also, in a special presentation from the United States Naval Academy, Capt. Karen Direnzo swore in Ship Serviceman Second Class Brian J. Namiluk who returned to Iraq on March 11. Brian entered the ring a civilian and was under no obligation to re-enlist and return to active duty in a war-zone but was doing so to set an example to the assembled and to support his Brothers-in-Arms overseas.
“I wanted to do something in front of a lot of people, Brian said. “And I wanted it to be special.” It was, and Brian received a very warm and heartfelt round of applause from the Mohegan Sun crowd. The Resident wishes him safety and good luck in his deployment.
