Boxing News

For some considerable time I have wanted to write a technical appraisal of the magnificent and timeless Jack Johnson. I have refrained from doing so because Jack, the great Lil’ Arthur as he was known, comes with so much historically vital yet distracting baggage. His story – and ye gods, it is some story even now – is so crammed with political intrigue and controversy that his immense boxing skills are nearly always shoved onto the back burner and mentioned in passing.

Johnson was a giant of a man in every way, but the prime objective here is to demonstrate his wonderful knowledge and mastery of something we used to call the Noble Art. Quite simply, it was the art of hitting without being hit. It was about utter dedication and devotion to an astonishingly difficult and slippery discipline. If you have ever stepped into a boxing ring, even for nothing more than a light-hearted session with a pal, you will know how infernally hard it is to avoid being struck.

I have talked to many young and eager amateurs who have nurtured dreams of stepping up in class. Armed with the firm conviction that their defence is as sound as the good old dollar used to be, they have reeled from sparring sessions with modest professionals in a state of shock and disarray after being clobbered hither and yon. More...

Some time back, when the secretive lair was finally penetrated and the crown jewels sparkled in the sudden sunlight, I realised with a sense of wonder that every great thing ever said about Nicolino Locche was true.

There he was, moving casually and almost contemptuously around the ring, an imperious master of his trade, taunting his hapless opponent with gifts of body and mind that only come from the gods. The hapless opponent was Antonio Cervantes, who was only one of the greatest junior welterweights that ever lived.

What does that tell us about Locche? It tells us volumes. He pitched a 15-0 shutout on the cards of all three judges in that unforgettable exhibition of pure boxing. Yes, the fight was in his native Argentina. No, it wasn’t hometown favouritism gone mad.

What was it about Argentina and other exotic lands when I was growing up in the sixties? They seemed to be cloaked in as much secrecy as the Soviet Union and China. Nothing seemed to get smuggled out. A glimpse of Locche or Eder Jofre on moving film was a rare treat.

The truth, I suspect, was plain old-fashioned laziness on the part of the staid and parochial American boxing media of that time. Who ever profiled Nicolino Locche in any great depth? How many writers from the established titles of the day knew he was even there?

A genuine fistic genius was our midst, plying his trade with all the finesse of a master painter, but the poor fellow came from Argentina and how the hell did you pronounce that surname? The old men of the Ring magazine were far too busy lambasting Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston and telling us that only a few fighters who came along after Jack Johnson were worth a damn. More...

Ed Levine, president of the IBO, has spoken out on the organisation's pioneering world ranking system and other issues currently concerning boxing fans. The IBO is the only sanctioning body to offer an unbiased, computerised ranking of fighters, for which it has received much praise. However, critics have pointed to what they believe are politically motivated inconsistencies, such as the apparent irrelevance of the rankings when the IBO appoints champions or decides matches for vacant championships.

In a recent conversation with this writer, Ed Levine conceded that the IBO hasn't clarified such issues as well as it might have done in the past. “You have to remember that the original idea was way out of the mainstream,” Levine says. “We went with computerised rankings to be as fair as we possibly could to all fighters, but computers can't read circumstances like human beings. Such a system can never be perfect, which means that you have to constantly review it and make adjustments.

“We want the IBO champions to be the best in their class and we are confident we will get to that point. Gauging the quality of fighters is so important and an ongoing issue for us. The difference in quality between, say, the number one and number fifty contenders in each weight class may differ radically. More...

Sorting Out The Middleweights Post-Hopkins

With Bernard Hopkins insisting that his long-awaited and now largely symbolic return match with Roy Jones Jnr is a done deal for June, the middleweight division that "The Executioner" dominated for so long will embark on the scramble for a new figurehead and a new era.

The man who would be undisputed king, Jermain Taylor, is primed to make the first significant move when he defends his WBC and WBO titles against Sam Soliman on April 15. Taylor holds the belts that everybody else wants and he might just hold on to them for a lot longer than many of his critics believe.

Jermain hardly covered himself in glory with his two close but unanimous victories over Hopkins. In the first fight, Taylor didn't chase the title in the way that a challenger is expected to. In the rematch, he seemed to be beset by hesitance and self-doubt after a fast and positive start. Hopkins didn't help his own cause in either case by giving away the early rounds. Jermain was fortunate in that respect, and good fortune in the fight game can sometimes carry just as much weight as natural talent. More...

Silent Assassin Can Pick Off Another Target

Ali Nuumbembe calls himself "The Silent Assassin" and there are many around the fight beat who have a hunch that the Derbyshire-based Namibian could be a significant player in the lively welterweight division. Ali gets his chance to make a big statement of intent on Sunday, February 12 when he clashes with the tough Ghanaian Joshua Okine in an eliminator for the Commonwealth title on a shared Steve Woods/Maloney Promotions bill at the GH Carnall Leisure Centre in Manchester.

The formidable names of Antonio Margarito, Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah, Cory Spinks and the fading but still capable Shane Mosley currently dominate the world scene, but the competition is no less intense and intriguing at Commonwealth level. Nuumbembe is one of a tight group of fighters currently vying for supremacy in the company of Okine, Kevin Anderson and David Barnes, and the cards would appear to be falling nicely for the Assassin. More...

British Champion Jennings must take care take in tricky Mutley defence!

After a rude wake-up call from the rejuvenate Bradley Pryce in his last outing, Chorley’s British Welterweight Champion Michael Jennings will need to be fully focused for a potentially dangerous defence against hard hitting prospect Young Mutley in the chief support to Amir Khan at the Nottingham Arena on Saturday.

The stylish, twenty-eight year old Jennings showed commendable grit in powering back to outpoint Pryce after being floored and seriously shaken in the opening round of an engrossing battle at the Guild Hall in Preston in October. But Michael needs a more authoritative performance against Mutley if he is to convince his doubters that he can progress significantly beyond domestic level.

While a world champion of Scott Harrison’s standing might feel a little irked at being overshadowed by the hype surrounding Khan, Jennings might just be happy to be out of the main spotlight as he attempts to raise his pro record to 29-0 against a talented challenger who can box and punch with authority. More...

Jack Quarry, patriarch of the fighting Quarry clan, passed away at 4am on Saturday morning. A well known character in the fight game for many years, Jack was instrumental in steering the successful careers of sons Jerry and Mike Quarry in the sixties and seventies.

Jerry Quarry established himself as one of the great heavyweight contenders of the era with victories over Floyd Patterson, Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis, Mac Foster, Earnie Shavers and Ron Lyle. He also fought two epic losing battles with Smokin' Joe Frazier and lost twice to Muhammad Ali in a golden era for heavyweight boxing. Jerry died from pugilistic dementia in 1999 at the age of 53.

Brother Mike Quarry was a top ranking light-heavyweight of the seventies who scored quality wins over Tom Bethea, Eddie Owens, Mike Rossman, Jimmy Dupree and Andy Kendall. Mike challenged unsuccessfully for the world crown when he was knocked out in four rounds by the great Bob Foster at the Convention Center in Las Vegas in 1972. A year later, Quarry dropped a decision to English star Chris Finnegan at Wembley.

Jack Quarry's death was reported by Jerry's first wife, the former Kathleen Casey.