Here's an update on the lineup for Thursday's Ballroom Boxing card at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, MD:
The bout between Horace "The Reason" Grant and "The People's Champion" Jonathan Felton will not take place. Apparently, Felton was incorrectly listed as suspended on Fight Fax by the Pennsylvania State Commission. Grant is still scheduled to be on the card.
UPDATE: Horace Grant will now face Mike Sheppard of Palestine, WVA (10-7-1, six KO's) in a six-round bout. You may remember Sheppard won a six-round majority decision over Phill Brown on May 31 at Michael's.
In another heavyweight bout, seven-footer Ernest "Zeus" Mazyck, now fighting out of DC (6-0, two KO's) will battle Ryan Thompson of East Cleveland, OH (2-1, two KO's).
Glen Burnie's Danny Kisner (1-0, one KO) returns to take on debuting Roy Furlow.
Oxon Hill, MD light heavyweight Alexander Johnson (1-0, one KO) will take on James Jenkins, who makes his pro debut.
Also, Miami, FL heavyweight Henry Fuentes (2-0, one KO) will go up against Anthony Harris.
Thomas "KO" Snow is still slated for the card and there will be four amateur bouts for the evening.
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30 comments:
What?!?!... no opponent for Snow yet?
But I swear I saw Middendorf at the mortuary last night with a shovel?!?
Thomas "KO" Snow is still slated for the card and there will be four amateur bouts for the evening.
Very fitting. Maybe Snow will OK one of the amateurs as a last minute sub.
If it's not too risky. he he he he
I have a guy Conney Bowmen.Whats up Snow you want that or what.I thought so.
I saw Middendorf at the mortuary last night as well. He was paying his respects to all the fine dead men that have appeared on the Baltimore Boxing cards over the last few years.
CHRIS HAS HAD ALOT OF THE FIGHTERS IN THE AREA BEAT AND HE PUTS ON A COUPLE GOOD FIGHTS A YEAR BUT WHEN YOU GET YOUR LOCAL FIGHTERS BEAT THERE IS KNOW ONE ELSE TO FIGHT ON THE CARDS LIKE MICHAELS AND THEN YOU HAVE TO BRING IN OUT OF TOWNERS. THERE GOS THE CROWD
Sounds like another bum card for the Ballrooom which is continuing its downward spiral. They'll probably have only 3 pro bouts plus the amateur bouts. I stopped going last year because of poorly matched bouts. I don't care if locals are on the card or not, I just want 7 good pro fights like they used to have a few years ago.
I do 35-40 shows a year. Usually 10-12 shows in this area. I put mostly area fighters on the local cards and do my best to take the best talent that I can and put them on out of town shows, television or otherwise. But if you take those 40 shows that average 6 bouts a card that equals 240 individual fights. Add that to the forty additional individual fights that I make each year and you have 280 individual fights. That means 560 fighters. Some of them win, some of them lose and some of them draw. That is the sport that we are in, that is the nature of the game. The sport is changing more and more to promoters and television wanting guys that are willing to fight whenever and whomever. A lot of that comes from the influence of MMA, where a young star can take a loss on UFC one week and be back with just the same hoopla and money two weeks later. TV wants fighters that fight. To that end, any fighter of quality who wants to make a name for himself can get the early wins and develop as a professional to a certain point, but then they have to step up and fight. When they do, some are going to lose and come back even stronger, and some are going to fall back and become opponents. Unfortunately there are not two winners in every fight as far as W's and L's go, but there can definitely be two winners if the right sort of experienced is garnered and the losing fighter can learn how to take his game to the next level.
In terms of Thursday's show at the Ballroom, up until Felton fell off the card and put in question Ray Grant's fight, I had 8 local fighters on the pro card with another 8 on the amateur side of the card. There were 8 fighters from out of town. If you look at the other local show coming up and listed above, you will see that there are five local fighters on the card. The Rosecroft show is slated to have 8 local fighters on that card.
And in terms of the crowd Thursday night, come on out and see as over 1000. tickets have already been sold. And with articles coming out in area papers on Zeus (Ernest Mazyck) the crowd will be crazy. And finally, in terms of the out of town fighters that we have brought in to the Ballroom over the years, I think that the real fight fan has been more than pleased to see who has fought there. The importance of the Ballroom show to the community and to the boxing world in general is that we have put on all sorts of local fighters who have emerged into stars, ranked fighters and regulars on national television and showcased them in the context of the quality out of town fighters. Just take a look at the 130lb world rankings today and you will see five guys ranked in the top twelve who have fought at the Ballroom. We have great fighters here and if they are seen with other great fighters from around the world, it only enhances who they are. In the same way that you can look at a Jake Smith card where all the "A" side guys always beat the guys from Ohio and remain undefeated, but you never see them in the context of other great fighters. So those guys keep winning, but no one outside of B'more has ever heard of any of them. So come out Thursday and see some great area fighters and a few quality fighters from the rest of the world.
I don't understand the continued harping about getting "your local fighters beat." The matchmaker has a responsibility to make fights. If he is a good matchmaker, beholden to the fans who pay for the show, he makes even fights. The managers have a responsibility to their fighters to get them fights. If they are good managers, beholden to their fighters, they put them in positions where they can win. If they are trying to climb the ladder to bigger fights and more money, they take calculated gambles against tougher opponents. The matchmakers offer the managers the fights and the money, and the managers make their decisions. We've been down this road before: The original premise of Ballroom Boxing was to be unlike other area promotions; the promoter would not sign fighters to manage and the fights would be made competitive for the fans. Except for a few ill-advised ventures, the Ballroom has not been in the business of building careers, other than as a place to showcase rising talent. If that talent is local and has a following, all the better. You can argue that the Ballroom Boxing shows aren't what they once were, and you might be able to make a good case, but the reason is not because the fights were evenly matched. It is not because local fighters weren't protected.
As for Chris Middendorf being spotted at the mortuary, that reminds me of the old Flash Gordon boxing newsletter, the greatest of all the newsletters, in which he listed his favorite, hopelessly overmatched opponents.
The honor roll: Paul Bearer, Rocky Noggin, Manuel Labor, Bruce Strauss (for real!), Charlie Horse, Earl Spill, Otis B. Driftwood, Willie Standup, Otto De Morgue, Doug Graves.
-- John Scheinman
Chris,
Which paper and when will the article(s) be out on Zeus?
chris, did you find Snow's opponent yet? We all hope he doesnt fight another bum.
You really shouldn't put Jake Smith down like that. Jake is a heck of a guy and a good promoter. He has a stable of fighters that he is building and they are progressing in their careers. Several of those guys have the talent to do something big in the sport. The advantage that Ballroom Boxing has over all the other promotions in the beltway is that the promoter owns the building. They make money on all the food, alcohol, etc. that is sold throughout the card PLUS they don't have the overhead of renting and insuring an arena/building in which to stage the fights. Jake Smith doesn't have this luxury. I'm sure Martin's costs him a whole lot of money. Probably far more money than most of us would consider. Plus, I'm sure he doesn't see a dime of the food and alcohol sales even though people are at the facility to see his boxing show. That's just the way it is, not just at Martin's (which by the way is a tremendous facility) but 99.99% of the other arenas/facilities/ballrooms, etc where professional boxing is held in the US. Jake has to protect his guys to a certain degree to keep them marketable. And on that point, most of his guys are young prospects who have been matched progeressively tougher throughout their careers. Chris, you're the matchmaker with a promoter behind you who owns the facility. You're not writing the checks. It's not your money. It's Jake's money. There is no way a show like Ballroom Boxing could lose a significant amount of money even with a small crowd. A Scott Wagner show at Michael's is about as financially safe as it gets in the boxing game. And god bless 'em for that, good for them! It's a great facility and the shows are usually solid shows. A guy like Jake Smith (and every other promoter in the area) faces a lot more financial risk than a matchmaker like Chris Middendorf. Middendorf doesn't have any financial risk in the promotion. You should think about that before you openly criticize someone like Jake Smith for protecting the fighters he promotes. Every promoter out there that has a financial interest in a fighter, or has a fighter signed to a promotional contract, protects that fighter to a certain extent.
Snow has been a bit slow to step up, fighting 5 guys with 0 bouts and others with records of 0-2 and 1-1. His last two bouts were guys with 11 and 6 bouts respectivly, so he is starting to fight guys with some experince. Snow can fight and the bout between him a Carney Bowman would be a match I would love to see, but Snow needs more work and Beeper(Bowman) has had problems staying focused. If Beeper doesn't cash in on his talent soon, a Snow, Bowman fight would wind up being one of those pivital bouts for both guys. Hear that Chris.
It is just a different philosophy of not only putting on shows but also the development of the fighters on the cards. As long as we have, and continue to have, world class fighters develop on the Ballroom shows and go on to being world champions or regulars on ESPN, SHOWTIME and HBO, then we will stick with that program. And I assume as long as the other shows can keep their "A" side fighters beating up on guys from Ohio, but not going anywhere on the national scene, they will continue on that course. Different strokes for different folks.
You obviously have an axe to grind with Jake Smith. Like I said before Chris, Jake is putting up his money by being the show's promoter and you're just the matchmaker. You have NO right to put Jake down. You're really coming across as a great big jerk and quite honestly, I am somewhat surprised.
Ballroom Boxing is great, but, also, all credit to Jake Smith; his shows are fun! The high road is the honorable road and only the out and out cheats and bad guys should get badmouthed. Peace in the Beltway valley, you all.
John Scheinman said:
The honor roll: Paul Bearer, Rocky Noggin, Manuel Labor, Bruce Strauss (for real!), Charlie Horse, Earl Spill, Otis B. Driftwood, Willie Standup, Otto De Morgue, Doug Graves.
All hail Flash Gordon!!!
I once had the great honor of sitting in his company at the Garden in new York.
And I make sure his honor roll will never be forgotten...
Kenny Last, Manny Losses, Mustafa Gotsumten, Boris Kartoff... hey, it's starting to sound like Thomas Snow's record!
Oh no he didn't!
Oh yes he did!
KABOOMBOOMBOOM!
Hey, BoxBible,
I wish I'd kept all those old newsletters, but I've still got "Flash Gordon's 1986 East Coast Boxing Yearbook." The first record entry, for Asim Abdul, reads thusly: "Ron Suber, philadelphia, Pennsylvania, B-1964, Switch Hitter. FYI - "Asim Abdul," aka "Ron Suber" also takes dives for the Johnny Barr stable under name of "Charles Robertson" such as 2/15/85. The "Abdul," "Suber," and "Robertson" records are combined here."
Below that is a photograph of a bum asleep on a park bench. Absolutely classic!
Except for jokes like that, which showed Flash's utter disdain for dishonesty in the game, the beauty of this yearbook over all the others is that pictures of each fighter accompany their records. That must have taken a lot of work, but for interchangeable prelim fighters with little reputation, it is absolutely invaluable for true fans (and commission members) to spot a cheat, or a guy fighting under an alias. Flash was all about integrity and he practically made a fetish out of it.
The promoter/matchmaker guide in the back is priceless, a look back in time to many names, long gone, that populated the game at all levels, from big time to the fringes. No one, these days, would take it upon themselves to do such amazingly thorough work.
All Hail Flash, indeed.
-- John Scheinman
Yo John Scheinman,
Whatever happened to Flash?
(Malcolm “Flash” Gordon—“The greatest anti-hero boxing ever had,” says Bert Sugar—vanished in the mid-80s; Bos’ last sighting was in April 1986, at the Mark Breland-Daryl Anthony fight in New Jersey.)
That's from a Johnny Bos ode on some web site.
When I was a lad, starting at about 14 (1974), my grandfather and father began taking me and my little brother to the fights in NYC. We ALWAYS sought out the Flash newsletter because they sold it on the sidewalks before the shows. It was the only program you HAD to have. Whenever I found myself in Penn Station, I would seek it out, because some of the newstand guys (Not that generic bullshit "Hudson News" garbage, but real newstands) carried it. The heirs to Flash Gordon "Flash" and "Boxing Update," which featured the great, great Jack Obermayer have also folded, undone by the Web sites. I like the Web sites, but they're not portable at least for someone like me, who's not all wired up.
My guess is that Flash just got tired. We can't all do the same thing forever. I've followed boxing for thirty-six years, but I'll admit that I don't like I used to. I would never miss a local show in the old days -- never -- but times change. -- J.S.
Yo John Scheinman...
I once met Mike Malrey down at Don King's office when he was still working for them...
After being introduced, I asked him, "did you ever get the interview with Flash"?
Everybody just about died laughing.
Needless to say, I got my fighter signed, collected a hefty bonus, and got a title shot two fights later... he lost though...
(for the uninitiated... Mike Marley used to work for the Post in New York and once camped outside Flash Gordon's apartment for three days trying to get an interview... Flash never gave interviews and didn't accept advertising for his program/newsletter, but let everyone know what a weasel Marley was... Marley used to rail against the establishemnt, especially the WBC and WBA and King and Arum... then suddenly ends up working for King... if any of you've watched "The Great White Hype", Jeff Goldblum's character borrows a lot from Marley)
John,would you still have a copy of the newsletter?
I was a casual friend with "Marlowitz" and he's a good guy. It is true, though, he took the money with King, but he was an irresistable read back in his boxing writing days and laid some of the foundation for morality at a time of deepening pollution. He was no boxing saint like Flash, but he was good at what he did. Hey, when I started out with Bert Sugar, he ripped King and the alphabets in just about every single editorial. That doesn't mean he was a paragon of virtue, but that doesn't necessarily make him a hypocrite. I do believe, though, in the glass houses and casting stones business.
Now I have to see "The Great White Hype" because of what you wrote.
p.s. -- I don't have any of my old newsletters, but I do have my beloved Flash yearbook, which is just about as good.
p.s.s. -- Who the hell am I talking to on here? Why don't you guys ever sign your names?
-- J.S.
God bless John Scheinman!
Skinnyscott (I forgot my password)
So Flash Gordon is still alive?
John,
Will you be at the next B-more show on Oct 12? I would love to see the flash yearbook.
Brad Dudley (Jake's ring announcer)
Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't Josh Hall and Max Kisner the two guys that started ballroom boxing in the Baltimore area(Glen Bernie) back in the 80s.
Max Kisner did shows in the 80s but they weren't called "ballroom boxing." Sorry I missed the real McCoy last night. Work project is busting my hump. I'm iffy on the Oct. 12 show, Brad. That's my birthday, and I may be elsewhere, but if I show up, I'll try to remember to bring the old yearbook (in a bullet-proof, hermetically sealed tungsten steel container connected to a battery that generates thousands of volts of electricity. Just a precautionary measure, of course.) -- J.S.
p.s. -- Skinnyscott, hope the show went great, and hope to talk soon.
"Great White Hype" is brilliant!
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