The Boxing Scene

If There’s Free Food, Grab It

Let’s say, I couldn’t resist . . . If There’s Free Food, Grab It T here’s a centuries-old proverb, “Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.” Howard Cosell used to declaim, “You can buy the writers for a ham sandwich.” “With some writers, it’s in their DNA,” says former Boxing Writers Association of America president Bernard Fernandez. “If it’s free, they have to eat it.” Put those thoughts together and you have what some think is Rule One for being a boxing writer: “If there’s free food, grab it.” “It’s not new,” says Bobby Goodman of Don King Productions (DKP). “The writers could always eat. In the old days, you used to hear, ‘Feed me to read me.’ Lester Bromberg, who wrote boxing for the New York Post, was a notorious eater,” Goodman reminisces. “One time, my father [publicist Murray Goodman] set Lester up in an eating contest. They brought out what looked like a whole side of beef. Lester ate and ate and ate some more. And then he got sick as a dog. That was a memorable moment.” “Everybody likes a good meal,” says Alan Hopper (director of public relations for DKP). “And when you serve food at a press conference, the writers show up on time.” “There are times when it seems like half of my being is about what kind of food and which restaurant,” says Debbie Caplan, who is following in her father’s footsteps as a boxing publicist. “Sometimes the turnout for a press conference is dictated by the restaurant, not the fight.” “Over the years, I’ve heard more complaints about the food than the fights,” adds father Bill. “You can announce that two undefeated champions are fighting each other. And afterward, if you ask people what they thought about the press conference, you’re likely to hear, ‘So-and-so gave us roast beef and turkey, and you only gave us roast beef.’ Sometimes I think the writers are frustrated food critics.” As a general rule, kick-off press conferences are held at the fight site or in a restaurant that bears some relationship to the card. If two Mexican fighters are facing off in the main event, the media isn’t invited to a Japanese restaurant . Promoter Lou DiBella makes a point of holding press conferences for Dmitriy Salita’s fights in kosher restaurants because Salita is an Orthodox Jew. Beyond that, DiBella notes, “It’s no accident that most of the press conferences for my Broadway Boxing series are at Gallagher’s Steak House. The majority of guys writing boxing today are young kids with no money. The free meal, particularly if it’s a steak at Gallagher’s, is an inducement .” Different promoters feed the media differently. For a big fight, things start with the kick-off press conference. Years ago, when Don King had an office on the top floor at Rockefeller Plaza, he regularly held press conferences in the Rainbow Room. Now King’s catering varies; but almost always, the food is superb. “The thing that I appreciate most about Don,” says Alan Hopper, “is that he understands public relations. Don never says, ‘Give them coffee and muffins because it’s cheaper.’ Don wants everything to be first-rate. The food at some of his press conferences is Roman in its excess.” “Don King has everybody beat,” confirms HBO’s “unofficial ringside judge” and culinary connoisseur Harold Lederman. “When Don goes all out, no one else in boxing comes close. There’s so much food at some of his press conferences that you think you’re at a bar mitzvah.” HBO vice president Mark Taffet maintains that the “all-time greatest food at a press conference” was served when Jerry Perenchio promoted Oscar De La Hoya against Javier Castillejo. The kick-off press conference was held at the St. Regis Hotel in Beverly Hills. A dozen chefs wearing high white hats were on duty. “The food was so good and there was so much of it,” Taffet recalls, “that we couldn’t get anyone to leave the dining area and come into the press conference. Finally, we literally had to close down the buffet table.” At the other end of the spectrum, New York Daily News boxing scribe Tim Smith harkens back to Roy Jones versus Eric Harding, which was promoted by Murad Muhammad. “We were in New Orleans, one of the best food towns in...