The Heavyweight Boxing Federation

[kenyan_cheena]

CRITICAL CONTESTS COMING YOUR WAY

Saturday 20 April 2002

This Monday night brings the commencement of the fourth series of bouts in the Heavyweight Boxing Federation's World Championship and 1st Defense tournaments. Needless to say it will be a crucial series of bouts, as each successive one from here on will be.

There are a number of bouts just during this coming week that will play a vital role in shaping the final group standings in both tournaments.

* Monday's card, to be held at the Palais Des Sports in Cannes, France features Group Eight of the WC tournament.

Of the eight competitors in that group, Arizona's Zora Folley is the one for whom a victory is imperative to his chances of progressing to the tournament's second stage.

The tournament's 41st seed, Folley was held to a draw by Houston native Johnny Boudreaux in his last bout. As a result, he relinquished his share of the group lead, leaving the group's top two seeds Sam McVey and Tony Tucker (both 3-0) all by themselves in the top two. A win on Monday against the 121st seed Arturo Godoy should really be a forgone conclusion, but Folley would not dream of taking the Chilean lightly.

"I have to win," he said. "There's no maybe this or maybe that to be considered. If I don't win on Monday, I might aswell kiss my chances goodbye. And, no disrespect, but if I can't win against Godoy, I don't really deserve to go any further in this tournament."

Of course, the two men above him in the standings will both be feeling a measure of pressure to emerge from Monday's event unscathed and perfect. From the beginning of these HBF tournaments, the first goal of the top seeds has been to make it through the fourth series with a perfect record, as all four of those bouts have been against fighters in the lower half of the group.

"No one wants to have that on their record," said Sam McVey. "The HBF positioned all of us top seeds this high because they believed we have the most talent to compete for the Championship. Losing, or even drawing with one of the seeds in the bottom half, that'll make people question your ability. That's why I've treated every one of my opponents to date with the utmost respect. It's really the fear of losing that's driven my efforts so far."

The French event also features an important bout for Group One of the 1st Defense tournament. In that group, there are four men all tied for 2nd place at 2-1.

Sitting behind the group leader and tournament #1 seed Rocky Marciano are Jose Luis Garcia (Venezuela), Tony Galento (USA), Frank Slavin (Australia) and Scott LeDoux (USA). Two of them, Garcia and Slavin, have already suffered brutal defeat at the hands of Marciano, but all four of them are competing with each other for that one spot through to the second stage, and all four will clash during the fourth series. It will be LeDoux (32nd seed) and 56th-seeded Garcia who will trade blows in Monday's opening bout.

It promises to be a fascinating bout. Although LeDoux's victories have both been against fighters who are a combined 0-6, he's shown that he is a good finisher, as both bouts were over within three rounds. As for Garcia, his wins against Galento and Sacramento's Stan Ward were both hard-fought affairs. Victory for LeDoux will be vital, as his next three bouts will be against, in order, Galento, Ward and finally, Marciano. If Garcia wins, he'll have to be warmly favoured to qualify for the second stage, with two of his final three bouts against the winless duo of Mike Schreck and Oscar Pharo.

* As for Galento and Slavin, they'll cross horns during Wednesday night's big Tokyo fight card.

It's another potentially exciting bout. Galento had displayed in both his debut loss to Garcia and an unconvincing KO victory against Mike Schreck five weeks ago a dangerous trait of taking his opponents too lightly. If he does this against the hard-working Slavin, he'll more than likely find himself with a 2-2 record by the time Wednesday night is through.

The World Championship portion of Wednesday's event features the ultra-competitive Group Nine, currently led by Canada's pocket rocket Sam Langford. Looked upon by many as one of the top favourites to win the tournament, the 9th seed will clash with another tough Aussie, 72nd seed Joe Goddard who has earned the respect and admiration of all with his gutsy performances against Joe Baksi, Alex Stewart and Tom Sharkey. Goddard accumulated a 0-1-2 record in those bouts, but with even a little bit of luck it could well have been 3-0.

"I would never underestimate an opponent," said Langford. "And that will most definitely not change with Joe. He's already shown everyone what a tough competitor he is. I'll have my hands full, for sure."

For the 2nd and 3rd seeds in the group behind Langford, Ireland's Tom Sharkey and England's Alex Stewart respectively, it's almost a make or break situation. Tied for 2nd place with records of 2-0-1, a slip-up on Wednesday will make it all the more difficult for either man to qualify for the second stage.

Sharkey has been the more impressive of the two, scoring two early KO victories before being held to a draw by Joe Goddard. On the other hand, Stewart has maintained an undefeated record while looking like a beaten man at various times in each of his three bouts.

The trio of bouts involving Langford, Sharkey and Stewart will get under way in series five, when the Canadian dynamo and the Englishman clash. All three of them will surely be looking to record convincing victories on Wednesday night.

(to be continued)

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

* On Friday night, Elmer Ray, Jimmy Young, Floyd Patterson and the rest of Group Sixteen in the World Championship tournament will be back in action at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

Like the situation in Groups Eight and Nine, the pressure is firmly on each of the group's top three seeds. The tournament's 16th seed, Philadelphia-born Young currently sits in 3rd place with his 2-0-1 record, while Patterson and Ray occupy the top two with 3-0 records.

Without a doubt, Group Sixteen has been the most talked about of all the groups in the HBF's tournaments. Much of this is a result of the presence of Florida's Elmer Ray, the extroverted 17 year-old who set off a war of words with Jimmy Young back in January when the Pennsylvanian was held to a draw on debut by Tony Ross. Ray called Young a "bum" on more than one occasion, with the 16th seed's unconvincing victory in his second bout simply intensifying the situation and leading to a near brawl ringside in California.

However, Young was in terrific form in his last bout five weeks ago, a convincing victory over Denver's Buddy Baer. Since then, Ray has refrained from the name-calling and insults, revealing that his attacks were never personal but based on Young's underperforming in his position as a "1st seed."

Ray has also drawn much attention due to his forming of a "Florida Alliance" with fellow Florida boxers: his cousin Terone Haynes, Tampa's Tommy Gomez and Fort Lauderdale's Oliver McCall. The quartet have vowed to support each other in making their individual careers as successful as possible, but have garnered a fair share of controversy due to a publicised rivalry with fellow Flordia fighter Ray Mercer. The rivalry was sparked off by comments Mercer made about the Alliance during a published interview with New York Age journalist and well-known Elmer Ray hater James Reynolds. The beef led all the way to a wild, ringside brawl at a Manchester fight card on 27 March, for which all those involved were fined by the federation.

Returning to the matter at hand, Young needs to win against Illinois native Tom McMahon to keep pace with Ray and Patterson, who have both swept to 3-0 with little trouble. It's really anyone's guess which two of these three will qualify for the second stage, but anything short of a victory will make Young's task an even more imposing one.

However, the last week of action in the HBF's two premier tournaments, during which three of the four World Championship 2nd seeds were sensationally defeated showed that anything can happen in this game. Next Friday's fight card is one to look forward to, without a doubt.

* Group One of the World Championship tournament is all about Gene Tunney and Earnie Shavers.

Through the first three fight cards they've shown that they are clearly the talent of the group, both men winning their bouts with ease but in contrasting fashion. Tunney, the tournament's #1 seed and HBF posterboy, has achieved victory through pure boxing skill, dominating his opponents round after round. Shavers has rolled to 3-0 with brute strength, having scored eight separate knockdowns in his three bouts, including two in his one round decimation of Philadelphia's Tyrell Biggs last time out.

Shavers has made it clear that he's not too impressed with Tunney's style or the fact that he's the #1 seed, bad mouthing the New Yorker to his hometown fans' faces during that last fight card, which was held at Madison Square Garden.

Tunney, a perfect gentleman throughout, has taken Shavers' barbs with a grain of salt, saying that it's to be expected.

"It's not my way of doing things," he said. "But I can understand where Earnie's coming from. It's his way of maintaining that hunger to succeed and it really looks like it's worked for him, so far."

Saturday night's event will be the first HBF fight card held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and it doesn't need to be said that there will be fireworks...

[kenyan_cheena]

Sunday 21 April 2002

HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING FEDERATION
FIGHT CARD SCHEDULE
MONDAY 22/04/2002 - SATURDAY 27/04/2002 INCLUSIVE

MONDAY 22/04/2002 - PALAIS DES SPORTS, CANNES, FRANCE

1D - G1: 4(32) SCOTT LEDOUX vs 7(56) JOSE LUIS GARCIA
1D - G1: 3(24) STAN WARD vs 8(64) OSCAR PHARO
WC - G8: 4(57) JOHNNY ARTHUR vs 7(105) JOHNNY BOUDREAUX
WC - G8: 3(41) ZORA FOLLEY vs 8(121) ARTURO GODOY
WC - G8: 2(25) TONY TUCKER vs 6(89) ROGER RISCHER
WC - G8: 1(8) SAM MCVEY vs 5(73) LEM FRANKLIN

TUESDAY 23/04/2002 - ULLEVI STADIUM, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
THE NORTHERN EUROPE BOXING LEAGUE

(8) ROSTAND PLAN vs (12) RICHARD DUNN
(7) CHARLES MORECK vs (11) CHARLES BRADLEY
(4) BRION MAYO vs (9) CHARLIE JORDAN
(3) ARTUIR CLAFFEY vs (10) TUNNEY HUNSAKER
(2) FLEMMING EKELUND vs (6) OLAF HEIBERG
(1) INGEMAR JOHANSSON vs (5) BRAN BAGGETT

WEDNESDAY 24/04/2002 - ARIAKE COLISEUM, TOKYO, JAPAN

1D - G1: 2(16) TONY GALENTO vs 6(48) FRANK SLAVIN
WC - G9: 4(56) JOE BAKSI vs 7(104) GERRIE COETZEE
WC - G9: 3(40) ALEX STEWART vs 8(120) JOHN HOLMAN
WC - G9: 2(24) TOM SHARKEY vs 6(88) JIM SAVAGE
1D - G1: 1(1) ROCKY MARCIANO vs 5(40) MIKE SCHRECK
WC - G9: 1(9) SAM LANGFORD vs 5(72) JOE GODDARD

THURSDAY 25/04/2002 - ESTADIO NORTE, ROSARIO, ARGENTINA
THE SOUTH AMERICAN BOXING LEAGUE

(8) RAMON VILLA vs (12) BRETT RANFORD
(7) JIM STEWART vs (11) CLEAVER TWIDELL
(4) OMELIO AGRAMONTE vs (9) JACK CARROLL
(3) ROBERTO DAVILA vs (10) DAVE BAILEY
(2) JORGE LUIS GONZALEZ vs (6) LEONARDO BARBARESSI
(1) GREGORIO PERALTA vs (5) BERNARDO MERCADO

FRIDAY 26/04/2002 - HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA

1D - G8: 4(25) BILLY WALKER vs 7(49) KEENE SIMMONS
1D - G8: 3(17) BOB DEVERE vs 8(57) JOE ERSKINE
WC - G16: 4(49) NATHAN MANN vs 7(97) ROCKY JONES
WC - G16: 3(33) ELMER RAY vs 8(113) TONY ROSS
WC - G16: 2(17) FLOYD PATTERSON vs 6(81) BUDDY BAER
WC - G16: 1(16) JIMMY YOUNG vs 5(65) TOM MCMAHON

SATURDAY 27/04/2002 - CAESAR'S PALACE, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA

1D - G8: 2(9) EMBRELL DAVIDSON vs 6(41) LEE SAVOLD
WC - G1: 4(64) KARL MILDENBERGER vs 7(112) GARVIN SAWYER
WC - G1: 3(48) LARRY MIDDLETON vs 8(128) JOSE URTAIN
WC - G1: 2(32) EARNIE SHAVERS vs 6(96) BOONE KIRKMAN
1D - G8: 1(8) HERBIE HIDE vs 5(33) KALLIE KNOETZE
WC - G1: 1(1) GENE TUNNEY vs 5(80) TYRELL BIGGS

[kenyan_cheena]

NEW YORK AGE JOURNALIST JAMES REYNOLDS
ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL IN BROOKLYN

Sunday 21 April 2002

Today's issue of the New York Age features a story claiming that the paper's premier sports journalist James Reynolds was admitted to the Brooklyn Hospital Center last night. The controversial scribe had been complaining of severe, debilitating headaches earlier during the day, news that has led to a flood of speculation with much of it pointing to Reynolds having a tumor.

A veteran of the print media, Reynolds has come under fire this year over his unpopular campaign to have Florida's Elmer Ray expelled from the ranks of the newly-formed Heavyweight Boxing Federation. His fixation with Ray started in January when the 17 year-old slugger caused a stir in Japan with his abusive behaviour towards two fellow competitors: his debut bout opponent Buddy Baer and the 16th seed in the HBF's World Championship tournament, Philadelphia's Jimmy Young. Ray has more-or-less toned down his outgoing, extroverted nature since then, but none of it has been good enough to persuade Reynolds to quit his anti-Elmer Ray stance.

(to be continued)

[Brooks TVB]

Ray beat him up? Don't leave us hanging like this man. LOL keep up the great writing.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Brooks TVB

Ray beat him up? Don't leave us hanging like this man. LOL keep up the great writing.

Patience, my friend.

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation of post #484)

In early March, Elmer Ray formed an alliance with three other Florida fighters: his cousin Terone Haynes, Tampa's Tommy Gomez and Fort Lauderdale's Oliver McCall. The quartet made a pact to support each other in their individual careers, attending each other's bouts and training together. A few days later, an interview that Reynolds conducted with another Florida boxer, Ray Mercer, led to a feud errupting between Mercer and the "Florida Alliance". Mercer criticised the Alliance during the interview, but it was quite clear that Reynolds' questions were meant to lead Mercer in that direction.

A war of words between Mercer and the Alliance (in particular, the temperamental Oliver McCall) led to an all-out brawl at a fight card in Manchester, England on March 27, with the quintet of Mercer, Ray, McCall, Haynes and Gomez all being fined by the federation as a result. When questioned over the situation, Reynolds refused to take any responsibility for inciting the two camps.

During these past four months, Reynolds also raised the ire of one-time close friend and HBF President Michael Vincennes as a result of the story he published in the Age in mid-February relating to a possible expansion of the HBF. The sudden animosity between the two was played out publicly in a series of heated "accusation and retort" interviews, with Reynolds once again playing the innocent party.

Recently, Reynolds' attitude towards Vincennes and the HBF has become even more hostile. Back on April 6, just a couple of days after the announcement of the formation of the International Boxing League, he predicted a grim future for the federation. This prompted Vincennes to sadly proclaim that the journalist was "nothing to me now".

It appeared that Reynolds was putting his support squarely behind the new organisation, but ever since the underwhelming response from the IBL's Chief Director James Molk, who said "it's been a very strange journey that Mr. Reynolds has tried to lead us on" (amongst other words of criticism), Reynolds has not spoken or written a word on boxing. His articles of the past couple of weeks have focused squarely on baseball.

If it's determined that Reynolds has a brain tumor it will surely lead many to speculate over whether it was the reason for his erratic, uncharacteristic behaviour. Frontal lobe tumors have been known to cause changes in both personality and judgment. But if Reynolds was suffering from this condition, surely it should have been diagnosed earlier.

For now, all we can do is speculate and wait until the truth is revealed...

[kenyan_cheena]

MCVEY OVERCOMES DETERMINED
FRANKLIN IN FRANCE

Monday 22 April 2002

California's Sam McVey turned back the biggest challenge of his career to date when he scored a unanimous decision victory against Alabama's Lem Franklin. Each judge scored the bout 58-54 but that was not a true indication of Franklin's competitiveness.

The 73rd seed in the World Championship tournament, Franklin had fought with determination and courage while losing his opening three bouts (all by unanimous decision). Against McVey, he looked a goner after the second round. The 8th-seeded Southern California native had dominated the first round before sending Franklin to the canvas twice in the space of thirty seconds during round two (the first knockdowns scored by McVey in his career). It seemed like it would just be a matter of time before McVey finished the job.

But something unexpected happened in round three. The Alabama native rallied. In fact, he did more than that. Launching an all-out offensive assault, he took the round from McVey, inflicting more punishment and landing more shots on him than any of the 8th seed's previous three opponents had in any single round. A series of clean, damaging combinations rocked McVey and for the first time in his brief career, he had been dominated in a round. Franklin's extraordinary rally brought the crowd to their feet and he exchanged aggressive words with McVey before returning to his corner.

McVey delivered an equally-impressive reply in the fourth, wrestling back control of the contest with renewed aggression. But the tough Alabama native was still standing at its end. Showing that he wasn't going to go away, Franklin came out and won the fifth convincingly. It wasn't as dominant a showing as his round three effort, but it was more than enough to convince each judge to award him the round.

As the bell sounded to start the final round, the audience came to their feet with applause. The two warriors touched gloves, speaking words of respect before getting down to business. However, it was soon obvious that Franklin had expended all that he had left in round five. He was listless in the final stanza, looking more interested in making it to the final bell than pulling off a shock knockout. He pawed at the Californian with a weak jab, resignation showing in his eyes. McVey was more than happy to cruise until the final bell, doing enough to take the round and further secure his victory.

"That was pretty tough," McVey said after. "Haven't been tested like that yet, so I give Lem credit for his performance. He really pushed me tonight. You know, I had him in a lot of trouble after round two. He could have just rolled over, but he didn't. He came out and kicked my butt in the third, and then again in round five. I really respect him because he's given his all in every fight. The tougher fights are out of the way for him now and, I'd just love to see him win three in a row to end the stage. It'd be great if he qualified for the Continental Americas tournament."

The 8th seed was excited as he spoke of his next matchup.

"That's gonna be even tougher than tonight," said McVey. "Me and Zora, we've hung out together a bit during the tourney. He's a cool brother, but in five weeks time it'll be all business. Friendship'll be left outside the ring because I know he's gonna be desperate to win, 'specially after what happened to him tonight. I'll have to be as ready as I can be for him."

[kenyan_cheena]

TUCKER'S TITLE HOPES IN TACT
WHILE FOLLEY FALLS FURTHER BEHIND

In the evening's Co-Feature, 25th-seeded Michigan native Tony Tucker remained perfect with a tough unanimous decision win against Oakland's Roger Rischer.

As in the Main Event that would follow, the judge's scorecards (60-54, 59-55, 60-54) didn't really reflect the evenly-fought nature of the contest. Rischer kept pace with Tucker through the first half of the bout but didn't get any favours from the judges, with the Grand Rapids big man sweeping all three cards to that point.

Tucker secured his victory in the fourth and fifth rounds, going to town on his smaller, game opponent. Tucker's piston-like jab had brought a deal of swelling to Rischer's right eye but the Californian showed fighting spirit in the final round, going toe-to-toe with the 25th seed and taking the round on one card.

"I'm feeling a lot of relief, more than anything else," Tucker said. "The 2nd seeds were an endangered species last week so I'm happy that I avoided the same fate. It's just a really contented feeling to be in this position where everything's gone to plan so far. I'll go home, recuperate and relax for a week and then get right back into training for the next bout. This South African guy Arthur's gonna be a tough challenge, so we'll have to come up with a solid gameplan. If we can get past him and then Zora can upset Sammy V., I'll be sitting on the top of the group. It couldn't work out any better than that and it's honestly what we're hoping for."

(to be continued)

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

While Tucker moved to 4-0, Zora Folley's chances of qualifying for the tournament's second stage took a major body blow when, due to one of the most incompetent judging performance seen to date in the HBF, his bout against Arturo Godoy was declared a draw.

When the final bell sounded, it was inconceivable to think that the verdict would be anything but a unanimous decision victory in Folley's favour. He punished Godoy throughout the contest, coming close to finishing him off in both the third and fifth rounds. The Chilean showed precious little in the way of offense save for the final round, but one judge in particular seemed to be dreadfully enamoured with him, somehow seeing fit to score the contest 58-56 in Godoy's favour. Only one of the three was watching the same fight that the audience was, giving Folley a 58-56 verdict while the third had it 57-57.

Of course, punch totals can often be misleading when looking at a verdict. But in this case, they were hard to ignore. Folley landed 200 of 330 blows while Godoy connected with only 102 of 260.

Usually a man of reserved character, Folley found it difficult to contain his disappointment and anger in the minutes after the verdict.

"You know, I said last week that if I couldn't beat Arturo, I didn't deserve to make the second stage," Folley said, bitterness in his voice. "But I think with the effort I put in, I deserved to win this bout. I know that scoring a fight can be a subjective thing, but come on, man! This damn result is gonna make it near impossible for me to qualify. It's hard enough doing all the training and then stepping in the ring and going at it for six rounds, but to have a win stolen from me is just like a kick in the stomach. It just makes me feel sick."

With his record now 2-0-2, Folley will have to sweep his final three bouts to go any further in the World Championship tournament. It's a mammoth task that begins in five weeks when he clashes with the group's top seed Sam McVey...

Earlier...

Opening Bout

Minnesota-born 32nd seed Scott LeDoux increased his chances of qualifying for the second stage of the 1st Defense tournament with an impressive 2nd round KO of Venezuela's Jose Luis Garcia.

With both men at 2-1, it was a vital matchup and LeDoux was able to push aside a slow start in the opening round and knock Garcia out cold just forty seconds into round two. It was a four punch combination, punctuated by a crunching left hook that put the 56th-seeded Venezuelan to sleep.

As a result of the victory, LeDoux surprisingly finds himself a member of the small "three stoppages inside of three rounds" club. The other members are Rex Layne and Rocky Marciano.

"I'm pretty surprised by it myself," LeDoux said when asked about his trio of stoppage victories. "I think it's been a lot of luck, really. But it's three wins and I'll take that no matter how they've come about."

Next up for LeDoux will be another critical bout against 16th seed Tony Galento, who could very well boast the same 3-1 record as the Minnesota native when they meet in five weeks time. Galento clashes with the Australian Frank Slavin on Wednesday night.

Preliminary 1

Sacramento's Stan Ward improved to 2-2 with an uneventful six round unanimous decision victory (59-55, 60-54, 59-55) against the 1st Defense tournament's 64th and last seed Oscar Pharo.

Ward is the 24th seed and will look back at his opening four bouts with a deal of disappointment, especially considering that his next three are against #1 seed Rocky Marciano, Scott LeDoux and Tony Galento. The chances of Ward advancing to the tournament's second stage are remote, at best.

Preliminary 2

South Africa's Johnny Arthur was victorious against Johhny Boudreaux of Texas in another low-key contest.

Arthur won by unanimous decision (59-55, 59-56, 59-55) and remains undefeated at 2-0-2. However, like Zora Folley he has no hope of going any further in the World Championship tournament unless he sweeps his final three bouts, all of which are against the group's top three seeds (in order, Tucker, Folley and McVey).

[kenyan_cheena]

SUMMARY OF RESULTS
HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING FEDERATION FIGHT CARD
MONDAY 22 APRIL 2002
PALAIS DES SPORTS, CANNES, FRANCE


OPENING BOUT

HBF 1st Defense Tournament - Stage One - Group One
4(32) Scott LeDoux KO2 7(56) Jose Luis Garcia

PRELIMINARY 1

HBF 1st Defense Tournament - Stage One - Group One
3(24) Stan Ward UD6 8(64) Oscar Pharo

PRELIMINARY 2

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eight
4(57) Johnny Arthur UD6 7(105) Johnny Boudreaux

SUPPORT BOUT

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eight
3(41) Zora Folley D6 8(121) Arturo Godoy

CO-FEATURE

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eight
2(25) Tony Tucker UD6 6(89) Roger Rischer

MAIN EVENT

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eight
1(8) Sam McVey UD6 5(73) Lem Franklin

[Romdawg88]

Damn, tough break for Zora it be one thing if he had just lose but to actually fight well enough to win and then get robbed by the judges thats a huge blow. Hopefully he does well enough the rest of the way to quailfy for the regional tournment.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Damn, tough break for Zora it be one thing if he had just lose but to actually fight well enough to win and then get robbed by the judges thats a huge blow. Hopefully he does well enough the rest of the way to quailfy for the regional tournment.

Yep, he'll definitely be in the regional tournament (he'll probaby be one of the top seeds), but that decision against Godoy was just a killer. Instead of being 3-0-1 and still in striking distance of Tucker and McVey, he's 2-0-2 and will have to win out just to make the second stage of the WC tournament.

I've never been more surprised by a verdict. The round by round point totals were 12-7, 7-3, 18-4, 9-8, 19-2 and 13-11, all in Folley's favour, yet one judge scored it 58-56 to Godoy.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Yep, he'll definitely be in the regional tournament (he'll probaby be one of the top seeds), but that decision against Godoy was just a killer. Instead of being 3-0-1 and still in striking distance of Tucker and McVey, he's 2-0-2 and will have to win out just to make the second stage of the WC tournament.

I've never been more surprised by a verdict. The round by round point totals were 12-7, 7-3, 18-4, 9-8, 19-2 and 13-11, all in Folley's favour, yet one judge scored it 58-56 to Godoy.

He must have been watching the ring girl the entire time or he pulled a Larry Merchant a just got hammered both the fight.

[kenyan_cheena]

REYNOLDS FAMILY RELIEVED BY JOURNALIST'S IMPROVEMENT

Monday 22 April 2002

Yesterday, it was reported that prominent New York Age sports journalist James Reynolds had been admitted to the Brooklyn Hospital Center on Saturday night. Said to be suffering from a severe headache, there were many who excitedly jumped to the conclusion that the 57 year-old scribe might have a brain tumor, while others extrapolated further, saying that such a tumor could have been responsible for his uncharacteristic behaviour during the past months.

Today, his family confirmed that Reynolds is suffering from nothing more than a nasty case of influenza.

"Besides feeling like he's been hit by a sledgehammer, he's fine," said his wife Julia. "I must admit that the worst entered my mind for a time on Saturday, because he said that he'd never experienced such an intense headache before. He actually said that he felt like his head was going to explode, which scared me. But he'll be okay. It's really knocked him around, though. The doctor has said he'll have to rest for at least the next week."

Mrs. Reynolds became quite defensive when questioned about her husband's state of mind.

"He's been quite stressed lately," she said. "But to be perfectly frank, I think a lot of that has been due to the way some of you have treated him. James has been a respected, upstanding member of the journalistic field for more than half of his life. But now, because he happens to have an unpopular opinion, all of you are just sinking your teeth into him."

Reynolds will most likely check out of the BHC on Wednesday and return home to continue his recuperation. As for his position with the Age, there are rumours that he's on thin ice due to the nature of his most recent articles on Elmer Ray, the Heavyweight Boxing Federation and the sport of boxing in general.

No other journalist working for the New York Age enjoys the level of freedom that Reynolds does, but it's been whispered that the publication's owners have grown increasingly tired of his anti-Elmer Ray stance. It could very well be that he's gone too far and might soon find himself unemployed...

[kenyan_cheena]

Coming up in the HBF...

* Johansson makes homeland debut in the Northern Europe Boxing League
* Elmer Ray and the Florida Alliance in New York
* All the action from Tokyo, featuring Sam Langford and Rocky Marciano
* Nigeria to host next African Boxing League fight card