Raphael Butler’s View, and a Latin Euphemism for ‘Oops’

After talking to Joey Abell a couple of days ago and publishing a short article based on his comments, it seemed appropriate for me to give some virtual ink to Raphael Butler, as well

I spoke with The Silencer tonight about his feelings about the publicity that his December 4th fight with Joey Abell has brought, what he remembers (and doesn’t remember) about that night, and the possibility of a rematch.

Given a free rein to talk about whatever he wanted, Butler chose to lead with his feelings about his friend, Joey Abell.  “Well, reading some of the articles on the internet, it just doesn’t seem like Joey’s being honest about his side of the story.  And it’s also kind annoying me that he doesn’t seem to show any remorse for what happened.  I do feel like Joey heard the bell. I don’t think that Bobby Brunette heard the bell.  But Joey was trying to touch gloves when Bobby told us to fight, and I turned back to go to my corner – that’s when he hit me.”

“I do remember hearing the bell.  I do remember thinking that I was going to get a minute to clear my head.  The first knockdown was a good knockdown and I even remember thinking that maybe this was a good thing because now Joey would stand and fight instead of running.”

“The first knockdown was a legal knockdown,” Butler reinterated.  “He did knock me down fairly that time.  Then the bell rang, and there was a flash and I woke up in the locker room.  I don’t remember that I got up and walked around and that we hugged and I talked to the crowd.  The only thing I remember is waking up in the locker room and the doctor asking me a lot of questions.  Anything that happened after that bell I don’t remember.”

I asked Butler whether he was concerned about long-term damage from the trauma of the punch or the fall, and whether he had gone in for an examination after the fight.  “I don’t have any ill effects from the fight, I don’t have any headaches or anything.  I have some loss of memory, just that ten minute period. But other than that I feel perfectly fine.”

Despite his impression that Abell hasn’t shown adequate public contrition, Butler asked me to mention that Abell had sent him a text message “to tell me that he was sorry and trying to reassure me that he didn’t hear the bell.  He also promised me that he would take a rematch to settle the score.”  I asked Butler whether he would take that fight.  “I’m definitely interested in a rematch.  Minnesota wanted us to be rivals, now they’ve got it.”

Mea Culpa

Some local boxing fans have objected to my use of the expression “meal ticket” in a conversation with Star Tribune writer Abby Simons, a conversation that ended up serving as the basis for an article that she wrote.  The objectionable term came up when I tried to explain why Dan O’Connor was irate at the ending of the Butler-Abell fight – Simons quoted me thusly: “He had just watched his friend and meal ticket get knocked out cold, and that can only happen so many times in a career.” [italics added]  Some people feel that there’s something sinister or dishonorable about the idea of a manager profiting from the work of his fighter.  It’s also been explained to me at length by several people that neither O’Connor nor Butler’s other manager, Steve Munisteri, have ever taken any money from any of Butler’s purses.  As Butler himself explained, “Neither Dan nor Steve have taken any money from my purses, and Steve is paying my way through school now.  They would actually save money if they didn’t help me out.”

While not conceding that the phrase itself should be offensive, or that there would be anything inappropriate about a conventional relationship between fighter and manager(s), I do apologize to those who are offended and I would retract that word if it were possible.  I would hate for my choice of words to call into question the honor of Dan O’Connor.  Unfortunately don’t have the power to retract that word, nor did I realize when I spoke it that it would be published.

Time For A Shakedown, and Other Thoughts

It’s time to see the Minnesota boxing scene grow and change.  Time to see someone rise and someone else fall.  Time to get behind a local heavyweight hero.

There’s going to be a reorganization in Minnesota boxing at the Target Center on Friday night; either Joey Abell or Raphael Butler is going to come out of this scrap as Minnesota’s main man in the biggest division in boxing.  For whichever man wins, this is going to be the biggest win of his career.  On the flipside, the conventional wisdom seems to be that for the loser, it’s the end of the road.  I don’t happen to think that’s really the case.  The loser of this fight will just have another loss on his record, and that’s really nothing new for either man.

No, the real significance of this fight isn’t who comes out the loser, because both men have lost before and will again.  In boxing, every man not named Marciano or Calzaghe eventually loses.  The real significance is going to be who walks out of Target Center with with the wind at his back.

Other Stuff

It’s a little disappointing that there hasn’t been more media talk about this upcoming fight.  It seems that the fighters have done their part to promote the show, but where are the TV commercials, the print ads, the radio spots?

There’s been some talk, both publicly and privately, about how Raphael Butler is finally taking his boxing career seriously, finally taking responsibility for his weight and cardiovascular fitness.  A public example would be this article from Todd Bechthold at MNboxingleague.com.  I can’t give you a private example, for reasons that should be obvious.

Joey Abell isn’t a trash talker by nature – in my experience he doesn’t seem to be much of a talker at all.  Butler also seems like a good-natured guy, but he found it in him to make some provocative statements about this fight for the sake of  the media.  I feel like an old-time yellow journalist when I say that it’s too bad these guys like each other so much, because it would make for better press if they were at each other’s throats!

Mostly forgotten in all the talk about the main event is the fact that Zach Walters has been matched with a pretty good fighter who isn’t washed up.  To put it gently, that doesn’t always happen.  Although Sharpe is at a significant size disadvantage, it’s worth noting that he is coming off a first-round demolition of Bruce Rumbolz, who beat Shawn Hammack, and who Matt Vanda was unable to put away in eight rounds just last year.

There hasn’t been much talk about it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Tony Lee-Hector Orozco fight is the most entertaining bout of the night. Lee is an excellent fighter with a fine amateur pedigree, and Orozco is a comer who has sprung a surprise before.

Robb Leer

Former KSTP sportscaster Robb Leer is the guy who issued my press credentials for this event.  Seems he’s gone rogue and started an independent PR firm, Leer Communication & Consultants.  I’m sure this isn’t news to newspeople, but it was to me, because I’m just a schlub.  Learn more about Leer’s outfit here.

Joey Abell Gets Rematch with Al Cole

Joey Abell (24-4 with 23 knockouts) and former cruiserweight titlist Al Cole (35-14 with 16 knockouts) are scheduled to rematch their September 2008 bout, won by Cole, in Karlstad Sweden on September 4, 2009.  The 45-year old Cole won the first meeting by taking advantage of Sweden’s odd rules (6 rounds, 2 minutes long) and a headbutt that induced a small but deep and free-bleeding cut on Abell’s brow.  Longer rounds would definitely benefit the younger and very fit Abell.

Abell has talked freely of plans for a busy 2009, and so far his plans have been coming to fruition.  Through May Abell has fought four times this year, winning all four bouts by knockout.  No word yet on whether Abell will take any other fights in the interim, but there has been talk of his appearing in Atlantic City in June and on a Seconds Out card in Minnesota in July.

Joey Abell Disposes of Billy Willis in 3

Heavyweight Joey Abell ran his current winning streak to four, TKOing Houston’s Billy “The Kid” Willis in the third round on Friday night.  The tough Texan had hoped to stun Abell with a counter and then flurry while Abell reeled, but the Coon Rapids knockout artist showed toughness and more technical polish than usual while rocking Willis in the first and knocking him down in the third.  Referee Blair Talmadge stopped the fight in the third round when Willis rose from a knockdown but showed a limited ability to defend himself.

Abell’s performance prompted a favorable review by Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News.   Read it here: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/sports/20090516_Abell_uses_expanded_repertoire_to_halt_Willis.html

Joey Abell’s Next Opponent

Friday night Minnesota’s favorite heavyweight will revisit his old Philadelphia stomping grounds to face tough journeyman Billy Willis (12-13 with 9 kayos) in a fight that marks the beginning of Abell’s upcoming busy season.

A win against Willis won’t add much to Abell’s resume except a “W,” but it appears that for the moment, that’s what Abell is after.  Abell’s recent stretch of first-round knockout wins includes several tough veterans, but no one who resembles a contender.  And that’s okay.  Abell’s less recent dry spell (three losses in 2008) set his professional progress back by years.  I’m going to argue now, as I did a year ago, that what Abell needs is not just wins, but rounds.

People talk about Abell’s confidence as though he were some fragile artifact, but he doesn’t need guaranteed wins to build his confidence.  He needs time in the ring to build his experience.  That’s what Willis brings to the table.  In his thirteen career losses, Willis has only been kayoed once.  Granted the quality of Willis’ competition hasn’t been stellar, but he does own a win against the infamous Andrew Greeley, has gone the distance in a loss to 21-1 Lee Gilbert, and has won his last three matches, the last two in first-round knockouts.

Considering Abell’s recent history the win can’t be considered guaranteed, but it seems like a reasonably sure thing.  What it really signifies is the beginning of his latest run at a title shot.  We can expect to see Abell fight as often as possible through the spring and summer, and that’s good news for Minnesota fight fans.

The Fistic Mystic says: If you can’t make it to the Legendary Blue Horizon™ on Friday night, you can watch the fight on your computer for $5 at gofightlive.tv.

A Busy Man, that Joey Abell

Minnesota’s heavyweight hero is turning up the tempo on his career.

Reports out of Philadelphia have Joey Abell appearing at the Blue Horizon fight club for a Don Elbaum-promoted event on the 15th of May.  Abell says, “The guy that beat me my first time, Arron Lyons, is the guy I’m fighting.”  A revenge match is a worthy cause, and the prospect of evening the score with the man who first rung Abell’s bell is reason enough to celebrate.

But that is not all, oh no that is not all, as my six-year-old likes to say.  Abell told me about his crowded schedule: “After that, on the 27th of May, I’m going to Sweden.  Originally I was going to fight Al Cole, the third guy who beat me, but that might have fallen through.  So I don’t know who I’m going to be fighting there.  And then I’m gonna try to be on a card at Grand Casino in early June.  That’s depending on what happens in Sweden.”

The last-mentioned card is the Seconds Out Promotions event scheduled for June 5th which currently consists of Jaidon Codrington and Caleb Truax against opponents to be named.

If it all happens as hoped/planned, this schedule (three fights in less than a month) can be considered a breakneck pace.  If the plan is a revenge tour, with Abell taking on and defeating all the men who have sullied his record so far, the Fistic Mystic is completely in favor.  Just don’t feel compelled to include the pitifully overmatched Jason Nicholson on the tour.

Minnesota’s All-Time Heavyweights

Here they come.  Here come the pre-emptive disclaimers.

This list of Minnesota’s best heavyweights will probably offend someone because a fighter is excluded or the order seems wrong.  But it’s my list, not yours, so I get to put whoever I want on it.  If I left out a name that you think should be included, let me know and I may edit the list.

This list is not intended to offend those ranked at the bottom.  This is a list of the best, so even those ranked at the bottom are the cream of the crop.  So don’t get your knickers in a twist.

1.  Tommy Gibbons (professional record 96-5 with 48 kayos)

Notable wins: Willie Brennan, Buck Crouse, Billy Murray, Billy Miske (twice), Harry Greb (twice in four bouts), Silent Martin, Willie Meehan, Georges Carpentier, Kid Norfolk, and others

Years active: 1911-1925

It’s almost enough to say that Gibbons may have been the best fighter ever produced by this state.  Almost.  But then I wouldn’t get to point out that Gibbons’ only losses came to a gallery of great stars: Harry Greb (twice), Billy Miske, Jack Dempsey, and Gene Tunney.

 

2.  Billy Miske (professional record 72-14 with 34 kayos)

Notable wins: Jack Dillon (three times), Battling Levinsky (twice), Gunboat Smith (twice), Willie Meehan (twice), Bill Brennan (twice), Fred Fulton, Tommy Gibbons

Years active: 1913-1923

Miske is known for the tragedy of his death: he had an incurable kidney disease that killed him, but he fought right up to the end, defeating 76-18 Bill Brennan by knockout in the fourth round of a bout fought on November 7, 1923 – less than two months before his death.  Miske ought to be remembered for more: he was a tough German kid from St Paul who fought every tough opponent he could lay hands on, including the great Jack Dempsey (a 3^rd-round loss by kayo).

 

3.  Art Lasky (professional record 45-9 with 32 kayos)

Notable wins: Jimmy Gibbons, Mike Mandell (twice), Dick Daniels, Tiger Jack Fox, Fred Lenhart, Lee Ramage, King Levinsky,

Years active: 1930-1939

Lasky’s first professional bout was against a fighter with a 9-10 record, and his second was against a man who was 6-1.   By only his sixth pro bout Lasky was fighting (and defeating) 18-1 Jimmy Gibbons.  Less than two years into his prizefighting career, in his fifteen fight, an undefeated Lasky lost to 31-13 Dick Daniels for Minnesota heavyweight supremacy before a crowd of 8400 in Minneapolis.  Not quite the way we do it these days.  Fighting the best available opponents has its risks, and Lasky did manage to lose a few to the likes of Primo Carnera, Charley Retzlaff (twice), Steve Hamas, Jim Braddock, and Nathan Mann.  What’s my point?  My point is that Lasky had an amazing career.

 

4.  Fred Fulton (professional record 85-19 with 70 kayos)

Notable wins: Frank Farmer, Sam Langford (twice), Gunboat Smith (twice), Willie Meehan (three times),

Years active: 1913-1933

A native of Kansas, Fulton moved himself to Rochester and then to Park Rapids, Minnesota.  His alias was “The Rochester Plasterer,” and he indeed plastered a remarkable number of opponents.  Fulton was never a champion, but was a contender for years.  Fulton fought Billy Miske before 8,000 fans in St Paul and met Jack Dempsey in front of an audience of 10,000.  Fulton’s career ended in disgrace when he allegedly took $7500 to throw a fight against 32-4 Tony Fuente in California in 1924.  Fulton would fight only six more times in the next nine years, losing four times.

 

5.  Charley Retzlaff (professional record 61-8 with 52 kayos)

Notable wins: Dick Daniels, Jim Braddock, Art Lasky

Years active: 1929-1940

Retzlaff had an illustrious career, compiling 59 wins by the age of 32, but following a 1^st-round knockout loss at the hands of the great Joe Louis in 1936, Retzlaff was inactive for four years.  Returning to action in 1940, Retzlaff won two by knockout, fought to a draw with 17-9 Arne Andersson in a Minnesota heavyweight title bout, and retired.

 

6.  Duane Bobick (professional record 48-4 with 42 kayos)

Notable wins: Scott LeDoux (twice), Bunny Johnson, Chuck Wepner

Years active: 1973-1979

The elder Bobick brother was the biggest man in Minnesota boxing for a time in the late ’70s, but his sparkling record conceals the fact that Bobick never quite measured up when matched against top-level competition.  Nevertheless, Bobick’s two battles with Scott LeDoux were the biggest draws in the history of Minnesota boxing, and his winning percentage demands notice.

 

7.  Scott LeDoux (professional record 33-13 with 22 kayos)

Notable wins: Rodney Bobick, Pedro Soto, Marty Monroe

Years active: 1974-1983

LeDoux was the face of Minnesota boxing for years.  His very respectable record against extremely tough competition won LeDoux the respect of boxing fans and fighters alike.  Love him or hate him, LeDoux fought the best competition available and his losses were never embarrassing to his fans. LeDoux’s record includes tough losses to Duane Bobick (twice), George Foreman, Johnny Boudreaux (controversial), Ron Lyle, Mike Weaver, Larry Holmes, Greg Page, Gerrie Coetzee, and Frank Bruno.

 

8.  Dick Daniels (professional record 43-20 with 11 kayos)

Notable wins: Clyde Drury, Babe Hunt, Art Lasky, Johnny Risko (twice)

Years active: 1926-1939

Does a man with 20 losses belong on this list?  This one does.  Daniels started his career with a kayo loss to 105-46 Frank Moody.  That’s right, in his professional debut, Daniels fought a man who had already won 105 prizefights.  Daniels followed up the loss with ten straight wins, including one against the 23-1 Clyde Drury.  In his long career Daniels fought for the Minnesota heavyweight title only once, losing to 32-2 Charley Retzlaff in 1932.  But many wins against good opposition make Daniels a heavyweight that Minnesota can remember proudly.

 

9.  John Sargent (professional record 29-5 with 18 kayos)

Notable wins: Yuri Vaulin, Jimmy Lee Smith, Ross Puritty, Chauncy Welliver

Years active: 1990-present

One of the mysteries of Minnesota boxing is this: what happened to John Sargent’s prime?  The Hoggman’s amateur career included multiple UMGG championships and respectable results on the national level.  His pro career began in great style, but before long alcohol and inactivity derailed his progress.  Still active at the age of 44, Sargent exemplifies wasted potential.

 

10.  Jimmy Lee Smith (professional record 11-3 with 6 kayos)

Notable wins: Mark Carrier, Rocky Sekorski

Years active: 1989-1993

It would be easy to overlook Smith due to his short career and abbreviated record.  But a close look at the progression of Smith’s career reveals that after reeling off 7 wins against limited opposition, Smith stepped up the competition level: his last 7 opponents carried a combined record of 129-29 into their matches.  It isn’t known what caused Smith to rush into such tough competition at such an early point in his career, but it isn’t a strategy one sees much anymore.  Whatever his motivation, Smith fought some of the most feared heavyweights of his time in “Terrible” Tim Witherspoon and Carl “The Truth” Williams, defeated a fighter with a 27-1 record (Carrier) and ended the career of fellow Minnesota Rocky Sekorski.

 

11.  Rocky Sekorski (professional record 23-13 with 11 kayos)

Notable wins: Leon Spinks

Years active: 1981-1993

Sekorski deserves attention not only for his TKO of Spinks, but also for his willingness to risk defeat against tough opponents.  Sekorski’s record is littered with losses, but the opponents to whom he lost include Marvin Camel, Pierre Coetzer, Jimmy Young (twice), Adilson Rodrigues, George Foreman, Michael Dokes, and Jimmy Lee Smith.  Fighting the best opposition doesn’t always advance a fighter’s career, but it might get him on this list.

 

12.  Joey Abell (professional record 22-4 with 21 kayos)

Notable wins: Mark “Oak Tree” Brown, Teke Oruh

Years active: 2005-present

The reason that Abell is ranked below Rocky Sekorski is the level of competition.  In a twelve year career Sekorski managed only one more win than Abell has now.  But look at the relative “strength of schedule” and you’ll find that Sekorski was losing to some tough dudes, while Abell has not yet stepped up to fight anyone better than Teke Oruh.  On the other hand, the power and athleticism – and the fact that his fights usually end early and in spectacular fashion – have made “Minnesota Ice” well known among fans of the US heavyweight scene.  The word from the Fistic Mystic is that Abell has plenty of time to and talent to make his career more notable, and you can expect him to do so.

 

13.  Rodney Bobick (professional record 37-7 with 18 kayos)

Notable win: Mike Weaver

Years active: 1972-1977

It’s unclear what “The Bowlus Bear” might have accomplished in his prizefighting career had he not been killed following an auto accident at the age of 25.  His only win against a notable opponent (big puncher Weaver) came at the beginning of Weaver’s career, before Weaver had learned the rudiments of boxing.  Nevertheless, the younger Bobick must be considered one of the best heavyweights ever produced by the North Star State.

 

14.  Raphael Butler (professional record 34-8 with 27 kayos)

Notable wins: none yet

Years active: 2004-present

Butler’s amateur accomplishment of winning the Golden Gloves Nationals in the heavyweight division outshines anything he’s done in his professional career to date.  Butler’s record isn’t a sham, but it wasn’t built against world-class competition, either.  Nevertheless, a man who wins 34 heavyweight bouts as a pro has earned his way onto this short list of the most accomplished heavyweights in Minnesota history.  Butler’s career reminds me of that of Rodney Bobick in that the quantity of wins is more impressive than the quality, and in that his professional performance has not lived up to the evident potential.

 

Unrankable:  Pat Killen (professional record 35-2 with 32 kayos)

Notable wins: Joe Lannon

Years active: 1883-1891

In a time when many results weren’t recorded, the big counterpunching Pennsylvania transplant won at least 35 bouts against two known defeats.  Killen’s knockout ratio is very impressive and his winning percentage is the highest of any fighter on this list.  Killen never fought for a world title, but he won and defended the “Northwest Heavyweight Title” in his last two bouts before being murdered at the age of 29, ten days after his last fight.  Because Killen never fought anyone else on this list and hails from an entirely different era, I find it impossible to insert him anywhere in these rankings.  But I can’t entirely exclude him, either – hence this pathetic copout.

Blast From the Past: The Local Boxing Scene Blows Chunks (1981)

Here’s an article that ran on the front page of the Minneapolis Tribune sports section back in 1981.  Yes, that’s page 1C.  I wish I were nearly as good a writer as Joe Soucheray, and I wish that any columnist in Minnesota were inclined to give boxing as much ink as he did here.

For what it’s worth, this column presents a great object lesson for those of us who have grown accustomed to local promoters, managers, matchmakers, et al, airing their dirty laundry on boxing bulletin boards.  This is what comes from people who can’t (or won’t) work together with civility and professionalism.

This article is used without permission, by the way.

Originally published October 7, 1981 in the Minneapolis Tribune

Rochester Ben stays at Met and fight fans stay frustrated

News comes by way of some small print and a couple of phone calls that a local threesome of boxing promoters, Bill Cooley, Ron Peterson and Ed Sharkey, made attempts to secure the franchise at the Met Center, a franchise being the right to promote fights.   Normally, this would be water under the bridge, because any news of boxing in Minnesota usually turns out to be no news at all, which is not exactly the same as no news being good news.

Cooley, Peterson and Sharkey offered to post a $5,000 bond in lieu of staging five strong shows in  a  year’s time and also touted the fact they could produce Joe Frazier, at least once, on his comeback trail.  Joe might be 37 and he will probably get his bell cracked somewhere along the line, but he would have been a big name on a local fight card, especially if he climbed into the ring against Scott LeDoux.

And all of this might have happened, except that the Minnesota Boxing Commission, in its finite wisdom, granted the Met Center franchise to Ben Sternberg, thus allowing Rochester Ben to succeed himself as a franchise holder who has excelled at doing exactly nothing.  Maybe there are people around who remember when Sternberg put on a good show, but he has had the Met territory going on three years now and there haven’t been any Rochester Ben fights, unless Bert and Ernie got into it during Sesame Street on Ice.

Local boxing doesn’t deserve as much ink as it will get here, but once in a while, against all odds, it is worth trying to explain how the local action takes place, or in most cases, doesn’t.  Sternberg, for example, already sounds like a villain in this caper, which isn’t necessarily true, while Cooley, Peterson and Sharkey sound like guys who got robbed, which isn’t necessarily true either.

It seems that one day Cooley, the land developer who helped put together the purchase of Metropolitan Stadium, and Peterson and Sharkey, ex-professional wrestlers and part-time promoters, heard about Joe Frazier coming out of retirement.  Cooley dove in.  He contacted a Columbus, Ohio, promoter named Jan Aronson of the Frazier camp.  They taked about this and that and pretty soon Cooley had a role, as they say in boxing.  He was to secure front money for Frazier as well as a local franchise and Aronson would deliver a Frazier-LeDoux match to the Met Center.  This was possible because Aronson and LeDoux’s manager, Joe Daszkiewicz, know each other and in boxing a friendly nod might be as good as a lifelong relationship, particularly if either party smells money.

“But I knew we’d never get the franchise,” Peterson said Tuesday.  “Maybe the commission doesn’t like me.  I know Sternberg doesn’t like me.  I have a reputation of being uncouth.”

Peterson has been known to chase boxing comissioners around a room while trying to break chairs over their heads, but he swore he was on his best behavior for this meeting.

“I wore a brand new jogging suit,” Peterson said.  “OK, I wore just the top to the suit.  But my jeans were clean.”

At the meeting in question, Sternberg applied for the license and produced a letter of intent from LeDoux, meaning that yes, LeDoux would fight an opponent of his choice for Ben.  Sly old Ben had been working with Daszkiewicz.  But sly old Daszkiewicz also thought he had committed his fighter to the bout against Frazier, as conceived by Aronson.  Remember, the ground work for this fight was in Cooley’s hands.

Now up pops Cooley at the meeting and makes his pitch – late in the proceedings – for the franchise, but according to Harry Davis, the chairman of the boxing commission, Cooley couldn’t produce any letters of intent or telegrams.  The commission took its vote.  Sternberg won.

“The other group could only say what they might have,” Ben said yesterday from Rochester.  “I had signed telegrams.”

“Right or wrong,” Davis said yesterday, “Ben’s got the franchise.  But he’s been warned to produce or we have to look for somebody else in that location.  I would have loved to see LeDoux fight Frazier in this state.”

Cooley was really a victim of his own bad timing.  He only got involved in the first place because he could provide the front money for Frazier that Aronson lacked.  A week after Rochester Ben got his beloved franchise, Cooley asked for a special meeting of the commission, to show them that he had LeDoux and Frazier all locked up.  If he did, it was principally because Aronson’s deadline had passed for getting front money to Frazier and he had to drop out of the picture, making him the most severely burned party.

“I didn’t know about the war those people had going on up there,” Aronson said yesterday from Columbus.  This guy won’t work with that guy.  What a mess.  I dropped out completely.”

The war, of course, is the war between Rochester Ben and anybody who tries to cut in on him.  Peterson has tried for years to at least occasionally acquire the Bloomington franchise, so there was no way Ben would work a LeDoux-Frazier fight with any goup that had Peterson involved, new jogging suit or not.  And there is no way that Rochester Ben will promote a Frazier fight if it means cutting Joe a slice of money before the house is counted, which means that the only guy who could produce Frazier in Minnesota now has no place to display him unless he wants the Zumbrota Fairgrounds or the Stillwater Armory.

Sternberg doesn’t do business with money he can’t lay eyes on.  It involves risk, or worse, trust.  Rochester Ben figures that anything involving a risk is very bad business in the business of boxing.

Holmgren to fight Strauss

Gary Holmgren (22-4) of St Paul will fight Bruce Strauss (55-17-2) of Omaha, Neb., in the 10-round welterweight headliner tonight at the Prom Center in St Paul.  The boxing card, starting at 8:30pm, features five other bouts, including four-time Minneapolis Golden Gloves champion Scott Papsadora against Timmy Miller of Kansas in a four-round middleweight bout.

Quincy Miner: About His Shoulder Injury

A statement from heavyweight boxer Quincy Miner, regarding his shoulder injury suffered November 28 in a boxing match with Brad Laffin, and his plans for the near future:

“The fight with Laffin was surely going my way until Laffin fell on me…it did give me a certain amount of pleasure to knock him down a couple of notches as he went down twice in the second round.  My shoulder was separated.  The ringside doctors used a towel like a sling to yank and pop my shoulder back in place in the locker room.  I can start training in about 7 days.  That fight was dedicated to my little brother who was shot and killed back in 2006 at the age of 19, so I do feel robbed of a win – but that is just how things go in the boxing world sometimes.  I will be back in Minnesota in January ‘09 for a couple more fights, probably.

I would like to end my comment with a tribute to Jake Betz, who passed away in August.  I fought him in June and he was a good guy.  He was willing to give me a rematch but [sadly] that can’t happen.  My condolences to his family and friends.”

Raphael Butler Wins Again

In a fight that went almost completely unnoticed, Raphael Butler beat veteran Tennessean Marvin Hunt in a heavyweight bout hosted by West Memphis, Arkansas on Saturday night, November 1.

Longtime cruiserweight Hunt (12-22-1 with 5 kayos) weighed in at 204 lbs, while in a somewhat worrying development, Butler weighed in at 279 lbs, his highest recorded weight ever.

Butler’s size did nothing to hurt his power, though, with the big man from Rochester recording a win by knockout at 1:35 of the first round.