Blast From The Past: Do Jack Fiske's Words Still Ring True Today?

Alright, so I've been reading A LOT of Jack Fiske's readings lately. I want to be a sports writer and there isn't a better person to model yourself after then Jack Fiske. He was the premier west coast boxing reporter for 40 years, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle. Anyways, one of his most memorable pieces was his soap box farewell and subsequent thrashing of referees, commissions, promoters, networks and sanctioning bodies.

It's almost as interesting to read now then I'm sure it was then, 13.5 years later. I think a lot of the things he said, like networks being in someone's pocket, mismatches being sanctioned for no real reason, and bad referees. Fairly uncharacteristic of Fiske but he really laid it down, and I don't think boxing has learned much. Just thought I would share an interesting read.


Referees, Commissions, Alphabet Groups Dragging Sport Down
Jack Fiske
San Francisco Chronicle 11-27-1993

Before I go, listen up.

Some referees should never be trusted with the lives of fighters. The Philadelphia referee on Tuesday's USA Cable show, Hurley McCall, was so indecisive he almost had two fighters decapitated.

The WBC, WBA, IBF and the other alphabet organizations are not the only things dragging boxing down. Perhaps less deadly -- but still detrimental -- is a trend toward placing the fighters in secondary roles. Ring announcers, television commentators, promoters crowding the ring and grabbing the microphone after a fight, showboat referees and (at live fights) the ring card girls push the bleeding participants out of the deserved spotlight. The fight's the thing! There is unnecessary show biz schmaltz placed on how ridiculously long a ring announcer can stretch out the prefight introductions. A Spanish-speaking announcer goes into a long litany to prove his bilingual talents. The television teams are, almost without exception, shills for the promoter, the network or the matchmaker. Every match is a cross-roads fight or a chance for a title opportunity even if neither fighter can walk straight.

The various commissions look the other way in too many instances. The most recent example: the Pennsylvania board permitting middleweight contender Bernard Hopkins to play crunch on virtual novice junior middleweight Wendell Hall in Philadelphia.

Although the various commission rule books almost always include a clause that the two fighters should wear contrasting colored trunks in the ring (they are instructed to bring two different colored pairs to the weigh-in), the rule is seldom enforced. When it becomes difficult to identify which participant is which in a clinch, for instance, the spectators in the cheap seats are the losers. If a commission doesn't enforce its own minor rules what trust can we have that it will play straight in major decisions?

The purists -- a small group of which I claim to be a member -- will condemn next Friday night's heavyweight format of 16 guys in a one-night elimination tournament. My feeling is that it's an imaginative concept and as long as the virtually-non-existent Mississippi commission doesn't screw up the details, it'll be a welcome innovation to a moribund sport.

You may think such promoters as Shelly Finkel, Mike Trainer and Rock Newman do a tremendous job for their fighters, but they don't come close to what Ernie Sanchez and David Abraham of San Jose have accomplished with David Vedder, a less than ordinary light heavyweight.

Vedder has fought and lost to Virgil Hill for the WBA title, lost to Jeff Harding for the WBC title, lost to Anaclet Wamba for the WBC cruiserweight crown and on December 11 will fight Henry Maske for the IBF title. Considering that Vedder's record is 15-12-3, 3 KOs, and he's had one fight in exactly a year, wouldn't you salute his management for achieving miracles?

Women's basketball, soccer or volleyball will never gain the interest and readership that boxing attracts. Place men's college soccer and men's water polo in that category, too. Editors who think they are doing a public service by increasing the space (without coverage) for those sports are not in touch with reality.

Off the top of my head, the six most exciting fights I've witnessed were Bobby Chacon vs. Bazooka Limon IV, George Foreman vs. Ron Lyle, Larry Holmes vs. Ken Norton, Rory Calhoun vs. Spider Webb, Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns I and Michael Carbajal vs. Chiquita Gonzalez. I'm sure there were many others but time has eroded my memory.

The best amateur contest was Luis Molina of San Jose decisioning Juan Melendez of New York in the lightweight finals of the 1956 Olympic trials at the Cow Palace.

It's time the boxing world realized the ability of Italian lightweight/junior welterweight Duilio Loi, who won the 140-pound title from Carlos Ortiz in 1960, lost it back to him at the Cow Palace and beat him in their rubber match. Loi finished a 16-year career (1948-1963) that covered 125 fights and a record of 115-3-8, 25 KOs.

While we're talking Italian, how about Fabio Bettini, who twice fought Sugar Ray Robinson and walked off with a draw each time? Nobody else can say that.

The more tattoos a fighter wears, the more inept he is.

In four decades of covering this sport, only one fighter has ever sent me a signed Cristmas card, Tommy Hearns. That's all the more reason I'd sleep better if he didn't fight again.

There have been hundreds of outrageous decisions rendered, but never one as blantantly crooked as Alfredo Escalera having his hand raised over Tyrone Everett for the WBC junior lightweight title in Philadelphia in 1976.

The back-room deals in boxing are more interesting than the fights themselves.

There are so many fools in the sport that to suffer them gladly is to let yourself in for plenty of headaches.

That's it after more than 40 years at ringside. See you!