Straight Writes and Jabs: An Inside Look at Another Year in Boxing

In Memoriam

James Kirkland:“In that ring, you get to do absolutely what you want to do. If you want to head-butt somebody, knee somebody; hell, you can actually do it.They may take a point away, but you can do what you want to do.And being able to break a man down, take control over him, make him bleed, bang his face up; it feels good.” Andre Ward:“Kobe Bryant can have a bad night and he can shrug it off. He’s still Kobe Bryant.You lose one fight in boxing, and the whole world is scratching their heads, saying,‘This guy is not what we thought he was.’” Tim Bradley:“I never feel for my opponent after a fight. He’s in there trying to knock my head off. He’s in there trying to kill me.” Michael Schwartz:“There is really only one person who gives a damn about these kids, and that’s the doctor. Everybody else to different degrees has other motives.The doctor is there to make sure the kid lives.” John Duddy:“The dream is a lot different from the reality of it.” Jim Lampley:“We watch.But we don’t really know.Only they know.” Contemplating his journey through the sweet science, Schatz says,“I look at boxing, and the whole thing thrills me.” The same can be said of At the Fights. STRAIGHT WRITES AND JABS 211 The ritual “ten count” tolled for some good people in 2012. In Memoriam Today ( January 17, 2012) is Muhammad Ali’s seventieth birthday. But a poignant note accompanies the tributes that he’s receiving.Wali Muhammad died this morning at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx where he was in hospice care after a long battle with cancer. Wali (formerly known asWalterYoungblood or “Blood”) was one of the people who worked behind the scenes in Muhammad Ali’s training camp. He was also in Ali’s corner from the first Ali-Frazier fight on. I met Wali in 1989, when I was researching Muhammad Ali: His Life andTimes.We became friendly and kept in touch from that point on. Wali lived a good life. He made a lot of people happy and was very much loved. * * * The world is paying homage to Angelo Dundee, who died on February 1, 2012, at age ninety. But the boxing community suffered another loss that day.RefereeWayne Kelly died after a massive heart attack at age sixty-three. Kelly served with the United States Army inVietnam and fought professionally in the 1970s. His career record was a modest four wins and three losses with two knockouts.The composite record of his opponents at the time he fought them was one win against eight losses and a draw. “I’d like to think that I’m a better referee than I was a fighter,”Wayne said years afterward. He was. Kelly began refereeing in 1988.He didn’t play the political game with the world sanctioning organizations to the extent that he might have.That cost him some high-profile assignments, but he had his share of big fights. Wayne was the third man in the ring for Arturo’s Gatti’s first cham212 THOMAS HAUSER pionship victory (against Tracy Harris Patterson).Three months later, he oversaw Gatti’s dramatic comeback triumph over Wilson Rodriquez on the night that the Arturo Gatti legend was born.A less-knowing referee might have stopped that fight in the early going whenArturo was in trouble. Kelly was also the NewYork State Athletic Commission’s go-to guy for big heavyweight bouts.Wayne presided over threeWladimir Klitschko championship contests (vs. Chris Byrd, Calvin Brock, and Sultan Ibragimov) and, most notably, the infamous confrontation between Riddick Bowe and Andrew Golota at Madison Square Garden that ended in an ugly riot on July 11, 1996. “Golota was clearly winning the fight,” Kelly later recalled.“He was out jabbing Bowe. He was outboxing Bowe. He was outpunching Bowe. And he kept throwing low blows.I don’t know why.It was so unnecessary and stupid. How many warnings can I give and how many points can I deduct? Enough is enough.Finally,I had no choice but to disqualify him.” Thereafter,Wayne occasionally joked,“Great! My legacy will be that I’m the guy who started a riot at Madison Square Garden.” Wayne Kelly was a class act and one of the many...