The Boxing Scene

Fistic Nuggets

2007, like its predecessors, brought its share of miscellaneous insights and humor. Fistic Nuggets T hree years ago, I reported on Don Elbaum’s efforts to promote a series of fight cards in Nevada to be known as “Bordello Boxing.” Prostitution is legal in Nevada, and the plan was to promote monthly shows at an upscale brothel called Sherry’s Ranch. Things didn’t work out. Advertising was considered essential to the venture, and it’s illegal under Nevada law to advertise to induce people to come to a brothel. “It’s a shame, really,” Elbaum said afterward, acknowledging defeat. “Boxing and prostitution is a marriage made in heaven, or wherever. The greatest thing anyone ever said about boxing is that it’s the red-light district of professional sports. Red-light districts intrigue people. They don’t want to be seen going in or out, but they want to be there. I love that description .” At any given time, Elbaum seems to be juggling ten balls in the air. Often, he drops nine of them. Sometimes he drops all ten. But he personi fies poet Robert Browning’s immortal words, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for?” Elbaum is always pursuing a dream. When he was fifteen, he left home to join a carnival. “It was summer vacation,” he recalls. “School was out, and a carnival was passing through town. It had throwing balls through a hoop, popping balloons, everything you can think of. One of the games was, you chose a number and they spun a wheel and, if your number came up, you won a doll. The girl spinning the wheel was the daughter of the guy who owned the carnival, and she was drop-dead gorgeous beautiful. I spent eight hours talking with her. I went home that night and told my parents that I was leaving home to join the carnival. My father understood; my mother had a different view. But I did it and ran a penny-pitching game with the carnival for a month. The owner’s daughter and I really hit it off. I had a ball.” The following summer, Elbaum left home again; this time, to play an Indian in a wild west show. “The owner of the show was named Wild Bill,” he remembers. “I can’t remember his last name. He had a beautiful daughter too, but I was less successful with her than with the carnival owner’s daughter .” Since the failure of bordello boxing, Elbaum has continued chasing rainbows . His most notable recent venture was trying unsuccessfully to convince Oprah Winfrey to serve as the ring announcer for a fight card at the Blue Horizon. He’s always “working on a few things.” • • • No report on the subject of boxing and prostitution would be complete without a tip of the hat to Cedric Kushner. Where women of the night are concerned , the promoter is something of a ladies man. “One way or the other, you pay for it,” Cedric observes. “I just pay more directly.” Kushner has a ceiling on what he will pay for services. “The end result is the same,” he posits, “so why pay more?” The following stories are told without passing judgment and with Cedric’s permission. In July 2001, Kushner was at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to promote the heavyweight match-up between Michael Grant and Jameel McCline. Two nights before the fight, Craig Hamilton (Grant’s advisor) was playing blackjack in the casino when an attractive woman in her early twenties walked over and stood behind him. “Anyone could see what was going on,” Hamilton recalls. “She was wearing an extremely revealing dress. I was up three or four thousand dollars , so there was a big pile of chips on the table in front of me.” Kushner came over and asked Hamilton, “Would you mind telling me what the story is with the girl behind you?” “You figure it out,” Hamilton responded. “She’s about thirty years younger than I am; she’s dressed like a hooker; and I have a big pile of money in front of me.” “Would it be possible for you to make an inquiry on my behalf?” So Hamilton turned to the woman and said, “Look, we both know why you’re here. I’m not interested, but my friend is. How much?” The woman examined Kushner and answered, “Three hundred for an hour; seven hundred for the...