By Pedro Fernandez

FROM TOKYO TO THE GRASSY KNOLL!

Having been one that looks suspiciously at everything from the faked Apollo pictures to the Grassy Knoll, I’ve found there was no “Conspiracy to Defraud” Jose Navarro of the WBC 115 lb. belt a fortnight ago in Japan when he took on the defending champion Katsushigie Kawashima.  No, officially this will go down as “Two Lone Nuts” acting on their own here as Gelasio Pérez of Mexico and Noppharat Sricharoen of Thailand gave the fight to the native son.  Officially Perez and Sricharoen are now the fight games version of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby.  And while Ruby and Oswald were more than buddies, there was no agreement between these two Judges to throw what turned out to be a pretty one-sided fight. 

 

CAN YOU ANSWER A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS?

Am I saying that I think that Perez and Noppharat came to these erroneous conclusions unknowingly?  No, what I’m saying is that the concept of Officials getting paid from the Promoter, in this case Akihiko Honda, it stinks!  This man takes hospitality to a new level, a guy that treats you better than you’ve ever been before!  Can you now see the bad position the current system puts even honest and straight up Officials in? 

 

PUTTING A “WEAK OR NEEDY” JUDGE ON THE SPOT!

Tell me that a weak guy, or somebody that desperately wanted to come back to Japan before the next millennium, can you tell me they wouldn’t somewhat feel squeezed here?  Do you need a crystal ball to figure out which way the weak will lean?  And while the majority of Judges I know could be objective, two things immediately come to mind here.  1. Perez and the Thai guy weren’t of this ilk.  2. As sick as it sounds, they were merely following a boxing tradition!

HORRID DECISIONS ARE NOTHING NEW!

“Hometown Decisions” in the world of boxing have been around since the beginning of time.  Ever since there was a higher value established in winning versus losing, road warriors, no-names, and those not aligned with a promotion, they’ve constantly faced almost insurmountable odds in securing a victory on points.  So can this tradition (sic) of malpractice ever be halted?  Easily!  But will boxing seek such remedies?  Never, not in a million years!

 

LIE DETECTER EXAMS ARE MANDATORY!

 

If the U.S. Government, the Nevada Commission, or any other group put me in charge of selecting Officials, you would see very little, if any controversy in the scoring of major fights.  I’d start with an elite group of 40 Judges and 20 Referees.  A policy would be implemented that would prevent these Judges, and or Refs from working together on a fight more than once every 18 months!  All of my Officials would take mandatory Polygraphs in the interviewing process, and again if and when my Board felt that it might be appropriate.

 

A POLL OF HONEST OFFICIALS REVEALS THIS!

 

And before you say I’m asking for too much, let me tell that a majority of Officials I’ve ran my system by, all but one of them had “No Problem” with the application process.  The lone exception told me that he thought I was being too intrusive!  Since boxing is not relegated to the U.S.A., neither would my Officials.  So now that I’ve just solved the boxing games biggest problem, let’s implement this system and move on to the next item on the reform agenda…To be continued! 

 

THE WBC REVIEW WILL MIRROR “WARREN COMMISSION”

The inept, incomplete, and error filled probe into President Kennedy’s execution in 1963 was done by the Warren Commission, a panel headed by then Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.  Having read all 4.3 million words in the 26 volumes, I can tell you it isn’t worth the paper it is written on.  That being fact, I can’t imagine the WBC and VP Mauricio Sulaiman and their review of Katsushigie Kawashima-Jose Navarro offering anything more than pabulum similar to that put forth by the late Chief Justice.

 

HARLEY BROWN’S HMO ALMOST KILLED FEM!

Detroit, MI Promoter Harley Brown runs a pair of HMO’s (Health Maintenance Organizations) that are slow on payment, and horrible when it comes to treatment, this according to the Detroit Metro News.  It seems Harley’s company allowed “Temporary Stints” inserted in a woman’s kidneys because it was an “Emergency” procedure.  Removing the stints wasn’t an “Emergency” according to Brown’s firms Ulticare and Ultimed.  And every MD this lady went to wouldn’t take Harley Brown’s HMO’s because according to the Metro News, “They don’t pay!”  And here I thought Harley’s screwing people was limited to ring announcers and the like!  As for Brown’s January 15 boxing show, it was canceled last week!

 

EX-HBO EXAM JAMES NOW ON BOARD WITH OSCAR!

 

Longtime HBO suit Xavier James has a new gig.  From his New York City base, Xavier will act as an Advisor with Golden Boy Promotions and Oscar De La Hoya.  After inking World middleweight king Bernard Hopkins, and now James, De La Hoya has two well-known African-American names in the front office with him at GBP!

FRESH BOXING NEWS DAILY AT WWW.RINGTALK.COM

 

Just in case you were brought to www.RingTalk.com by a referring site, we thank you and invite you to join the “Ring Talk Family!”  As one of the forefathers of boxing on the Internet, I can tell you we take pride in being “Brutally Honest!”  No matter where the chips fall, you the boxing deserve to have a news source not controlled by sponsors and the like!  Remember, you can find this and more at www.RingTalk.com!

 

GOING TO PULL NAVARRO-KAWASHIMA MONDAY!

 

Greg Leon of Boxing Talk has announced he is putting the Jose Navarro-Katsushigie Kawashima fight up for his “Paying” members on Monday.  Thus, I’ve decided we will stop our English program on Monday so you can pay to watch Greg’s version in Japanese!  As for Leon saying he would attack me in the street, this after he chickened out of a three-round pugilistic contest, all I can say is that I honestly expected more.  Folks, you should know Mr. Leon has 20+ years on me, and a distinctive height and reach advantage.  Still, he wants to jump me!  For those of you that thought Greg was anything more than a punk with a website, what do you now think of Mr. Macho not?

 

DIFFERENT SITES, ETHICS, AND DIRECTIONS TOO!

 

When Mr. Leon released the names of the two finalists for “The Contender” TV series, an NBC program that has yet to air, he wasn’t acting like a Journalist or a reputable news source.  No, Greg was just being a jerk!  And after reading his keyboard assault on myself yesterday, I can tell you that Leon again blew an opportunity to better his image.  Instead of an intelligent response, G.P. showed a limited intellect, AKA a lack of smarts!

 

SCHEDULE, ODDS, & PREDICTIONS MONDAY!

 

A number of you are clamoring for the January edition of “Pedro’s Schedule, Odds, & Predictions.  With nothing happening until next week, I’ve decided it can wait until Monday morning! 

 

BEING FAIR & BALANCED ONCE AGAIN!

After doing a feature story yesterday on Hector Camacho that chronicled some of my times with him.  I was stunned to find out now that the “Harlem Heckler” says the Ecstasy tablets he’s been charged with possession of with were not his!  Read the Press Release in its entirety by clicking www.RingTalk.com

 

Pedro Fernandez

Note: Mr. Fernandez is not your average boxing writer. A four-time Golden Gloves champion who spent eight honorable years with the San Francisco Police Dept., Pedro Fernandez is a schooled Journalist who has had a byline for better than three decades!  He can be reached with your comments at Pedro@RingTalk.com