PSC golf from P J Pool Bar

Tuesday, July 24,
Treasure Hills, Stableford
1st Dennis Jaycock 32pts
2nd Geoff Moodie 31pts (c/b)
3rd Ian Campbell 31pts
Three four-balls started on a very quite Treasure Hills shortly before 10am, and before long players had started leaking more shots than sweat in the intense heat and humidity.

Thursday’s winners (L-R): Malcolm Smith, the very lovely Urai Chootilam (standing in for Jeff Wylie) and Ian Campbell.

The greens keeper had us on the white plates and sometimes put the white markers back on the black tee boxes, so with no run on the ball the course was playing very long indeed. The difficulty was confirmed by the average score of 28.2 stableford points.
Jeff Wylie was unusually absent from the leader board, maybe either as a result of voluntarily dropping himself a shot to handicap 6 or seeing ‘orrible ‘orricks score 4 points for a par when Jeff could only card 2 points for the same endeavor.
The smooth swinging newcomer Steve Lunt took 2 near pins with Dennis Jaycock and Jeff Wylie snapping up the others - with Jeff enjoying his ‘Mal-beer’ for his 2.
Thursday, July 26, Plutaluang S & E, Stableford
1st Jeff Wylie (6) 38pts
2nd Malcolm Smith (34) 34pts (c/b)
3rd Ian Campbell (29) 34pts
Having heard that Eastern Star was working extensively on its greens, the group decided to visit Plutaluang Navy instead. Navy was playing its usual complimentary self and remains a favourite of many, but certainly not all within the group.
Shrugging off the blip he experienced on Tuesday, Jeff Wylie returned to his customary position at the head of the field of 11, which averaged 27.2 points for the day. The merits of stroke play were discussed at length by a number of competitors at a pit-stop to the Flutterby Bar on the return journey.
Nearest the pins were achieved by Neil Duncan, Steve Lunt, Roy Pimblett and Malcolm Smith, who gladly bought himself a beer on the strength of his ‘2’.
If any golfers are seeking to play with our group, please visit the P J Pool Bar & Restaurant on Soi Watboonsamphan (Soi Kanoi) or phone Neil on 089 511 0575.

Marty shoots 70 at Greenwood

PSC golf from The Café Kronborg

Derek Brook
Monday, July 23, Century Chonburi, Stableford
The cheapest green fee course, Century Chonburi, was host to a stableford competition with the players lining up in one flight. Having not been at this course for one year, it is fair to say that there has not been any improvement in the layout or the facilities. I suppose you cannot have everything in life, but it’s a pity as this course has great potential.
Jay Perrin beat the field with 37 points, ahead of Wayne Koch in second on a count back over Mike Winfield in third and Kevin Dinan in fourth, all three players on 31 points.
Thursday, July 26, Greenwood, Stableford
Just up the road from the decidedly down market Century Chonburi, we played this day on the Greenwood course. I say ‘course’, but there are in fact three Nines here, and on this day we played B & C layouts, with the A Nine being rested for the hard use to come.

Marty Allred had a round to remember at Greenwood on Thursday, shooting a gross 70 for 40 stableford points and first place.

This is at present as good as it gets around Pattaya area for value for money. With a green fee and caddy fee of 650 Baht, on certain days they also throw in a three-course meal, which on this day I found to be very good.
On to the course, where the first test was to be the C Nine and with groups ahead the marshals were buzzing around trying to ensure the pace of play was kept up. All in all, the course was in excellent condition, and at present is a pleasure to play. With little wind surely we would have some good scores.
Much later, sat in the restaurant, we tucked into the excellent free food and awaited the results.
In the A Flight, 0 to 15, we had the round of the day, when Marty Allred shot a gross of 70, and had 40 points. Fine round. Second to Marty was yours truly with 37 points and third was Mark Bell with 35 points.
In the B Flight, 16 up, the winner was Daryl Evans with 38 points ahead of Art Bailey in second with 37 points and Mark Brenton in third with 36 points.
T.T.F.N.

Masahi departs with a win at Bangpra

IPGC Pattaya Golf Society at the OK Corral

Sunday, July 22,
Bangpra, Stableford
Sunday, July 22 saw the IPGC at the OK Corral return to the popular Bangpra course, which was well turned out with the greens nearly fully recovered from the recent coring and sanding and exhibiting more of the legendary Bangpra speed.
Fourteen players entered the competition and the scores at the top were tightly bunched. French countrymen Gilles Akoum and Alain Postec shared third place with 35 points each and Barry Trowell, showing his best form of late, carded a 36 for second. The day’s best, and a strong continuation of his recent fine play, was Masashi Iizumi’s 37 points.
Back at the “corral” organizer David Thomas, standing in for Mr. Len, was faced with a dilemma: both candidates for the Booby Bevy had slunk off into the night leaving him with little choice but to implement a first ... a Booby Bevy rollover!
Tuesday, July 24, Mountain Shadow, 4-Person Scramble
On Tuesday the OK Corral golfers traveled to Mountain Shadow for a 4-person scramble off the blue tees. The course, as usual, was in fine nick with well-manicured fairways and greens.
The paucity of holidaymakers at this time meant only 4 teams were entered and organiser David Thomas was faced with a claim that Mr. Len had emailed some participants a team handicapping formula of 10% of team total. In the absence of solid evidence to the contrary, it was duly implemented. Later investigation proved it true, and Mr. Len is left red-faced.
The long-hitting team of Mikael Anderson, Roy Thornton, Barry Traynor and Rick Holmes romped to an easy victory and were trailed home in second by the team of Al Keith, La Keith, Russell Exley and Tony Barritt.
There were seven 2’s on the day, three apiece for the leading teams and one for the team of David Thomas, Carl Lovatt, Masashi Iizumi, and Tony Kitchen.
The scramble team handicapping at the OK Corral was defined more than three months ago as the “Canadian” system, empirically shown to be the most equitable, i.e. 80% of team total handicap divided by team member total for all 2, 3, and 4 ball scrambles. It will continue to be that unless specific advance notice is given to all participants. Mr. Len will be awarded the Booby Bevy upon his return for his error in emailing “40%” instead of “80%”, since the 4 and 8 are not contiguous on a standard keyboard.
Could he have been so far into his cups as to be typing with his heels?
Thursday, July 26,
The Emerald, Stableford
Thursday was a trip to the Emerald course on a day sandwiched between the two rounds of the IPGC Championship. Thus there was a very light turnout and only one division.
The course was well presented with consistent greens and narrow fairways, and the light, overcast conditions kept the heat down considerably.
Despite the favorable conditions however, the rolling terrain and well-guarded greens made for some difficult golf, and a surprised Joop Medze claimed third place with 30 points. Only slightly better was Paul Quodomine with 32 points, Paul struggling with his ongoing problems with “golfer’s elbow”. The day’s best effort was a level-par 36 points by David Thomas, a score I’m sure he wished had come a day earlier in the IPGC!
The Booby Bevy was converted on this occasion to the Banzai Bevy on the eve of Masashi Iizumi’s return to the Land of the Rising Sun. His smiling countenance, pleasant demeanor, and very fine golf deserved recognition.

Macey hangs tough in the rain

PSC golf from The Bunker

Monday, July 23,
Treasure Hill, Medal.
A sudden downpour in the middle of the round played havoc with the scores in the first Medal competition of the week at Treasure Hill on Monday.
Only William Macey coped well with the subsequent damp conditions, coming into the clubhouse with a two-over par net 74 to win. Nashi Kaneta came in second with net 77 and a startled Gerry Cooney got third place with a net 84!
Near pin prizes went to all those three plus John Graham.
Wednesday, July 25,
Khao Kheow, Stableford
Khao Kheow proved to be as tough as usual in a Stableford comp on Wednesday, with Geoff Parker losing out on first place to Mick Benton on a count back after both finished with 36 points. Gerry Cooney also lost out on third place to William Macey for the same reason when both returned 34-point cards.
William Macey took two of the near pin prizes whilst Geoff Parker and Mick Benton got the others.
Friday, July 27,
Green Valley, Medal
The second Medal comp of the week was played at Green Valley on Friday and William Macey continued his good form to win with an impressive four-under par net 68. With Geoff Parker having a little slump in his form of late, William has now closed the gap on Geoff in the golfer of the month competition, ensuring it will all be decided on the last game of the month at The Emerald.
Second place on the day went to Peter Habgood with a two-under par net 70 and John Graham claimed third place with a net 75.
Only two par three greens were hit so Peter Habgood and Alan Campbell shared the kitty between them.

Perry McNeely takes Low Gross title at Pattana

Pattaya Sports Club 70th Members Open

Derek Brook
Friday, July 27, Pattana Golf Club
The competition this month was to be held at Pattana Golf Club, and for those who do not know this place, it’s about as luxurious as it can get.

Low Gross winner Perry McNeely (right) receives the congratulations of the Golf Chairman.

Situated only about 45 minutes from Pattaya, once you get onto Sukhumvit it is all dual carriageway, and when the repairs are completed on Route 7 you will be able to zip up here in quick time, bringing the course into the normal days golf from Pattaya.
Being newly built with super facilities this is not a cheap course, but it’s one every serious golfer would, and should visit.
On this day the PSC had negotiated a special deal for the 104 players, so both clubs were gaining, but especially Pattana, who had many more golfers on the course and, needless to say, many more golfers in their magnificent restaurant.

The Ladies winner Ampham North receives her prize.

Normally on arriving this is one of the slowest places to book in, but on this day it was nicely streamlined, mainly thanks to the efforts of Tim and Nigel.
The competition for the day was Medal for the Men’s A & B flights, Stableford for the Men’s C & D flights and Medal for the Ladies. The tees were to be white for the men and red for the ladies, and the two layouts to be played were the A & B Nines. The players were started off A1 and B1, so of course the count backs would be done as per the card.
We played off B1 first, and for those who do not know it, it is a monster. Water left of us, water right of us, and water in front for the shot to the green. And of course, this being the first tee shot, three of our players went into the drink, with the fourth slicing it straight. The water in front took its toll also. Welcome to B1.

Paul Griffiths (left) was the winner of a tightly contested A Flight.

Pattana, as said, is in great condition, but it does get very windy here, and on this day it was windy, maybe one or two clubs strength. Still, what a pleasure to play - with wide fairways to help the big hitters, deep rough to catch the wayward drive and the greens, as is usual here, being fast and tricky. All in all a great walk, and not ruined!
All good things must come to an end however, and soon, sweaty and tired, we handed our cards into Tim and struggled into the changing rooms for a nice shower, and then onto the restaurant for some refreshment while the ‘A Team’ sorted out the results.
The restaurant here is really fine, white tablecloths and napkins, and it just reeks of money. Probably yours. Still, the food is good and the beer cold, and this all helped pass the time until the results were ready.

Flight B & D winners: Paul Caffrey & Ian Dunkley.

Tony Oakes, the PSC Golf Chairman, took the microphone and thanked many people. First his starters, Nigel and Tim: the latter in particular who sat at the desk all day, probably because we hid his walking stick, and then Tony got down to presenting the prizes.
For this month’s tournament it was decided to bring back the Low Gross competition - in effect, the best player of the day, and why not? Won it myself once you know … but there has been a world war since then - in fact two!
So the Low Gross champion for the day was Perry McNeely with a gross 77, and off an 11 handicap it would have been a lot of points.

Stalwarts Nigel and Tim made sure everything went smoothly at booking-in time.

Moving on to the Ladies Flight, and the winner with a net 75 off her 18 Handicap was Ampham North, with Tewin Lamthong in second place with net 76.
Into the Men’s A Flight (0-12) and this was a tightly contested affair, once Perry had been ‘elevated’, and the winner was declared as Paul Griffiths with a net 73, ahead of a count back for second on net 74 that saw Tony Oakes in second and Bob Rasmusson in third. In fourth with a net 75 was Mick Gray.
In the Men’s B Flight (13-15) the winner with a net 72 was Paul Caffrey on count back over Gerry Cooney in second. This flight also proved tight, with Colin Greig in third with net 73 and Richard Warberg in fourth with net 74.

Nigel rounds the day off with the eagerly anticipated Lucky Draw.

The C Flight winner in the stableford competition was Larry Emerson with 38 points ahead of Chris Bazli in second with 35 points, Terry Curtis in third with 34 points and Chris John in fourth with 33 points.
Probably the most fiercely contested flight was the D Flight, with all players closely grouped. The winner, however, was Ian Dunkley with 38 points ahead of a count back on 37 points that saw Giles Akoum in second and Morten Gausla in third. In fourth was Hans Rehm with 36 points.
The afternoon’s entertainment was not over just yet though. Now Nigel came into his own as he did the Lucky Draw and kept all the players minds off paying their bill. T.T.F.N.

B1 – The monster first at Pattana Golf Club.

Technical Prizes: Near Pins (0-18): Donald Hendry, Dave Richardson, John Hillier, Brian Jacks Near Pins (19-36): Graham Lemmon, Sture Brisholm, Giles Akoum, Graham Buckingham Near Pins Ladies: Mam Trayling, Amphan North, Nora Haugsjordet Long Drive (0-18): Dave Arrowsmith Long Drive (19-36): Barry Rothberg Long Drive Ladies: Nora Haugsjordet

Evason Phuket Race Week: A triumph of man over nature

by Peter Cummins, Special Correspondent, Pattaya Mail
The weather guide the Wind Guru promised the 4th Evason Phuket Raceweek, held off the Evason Resort and Six Senses Spa on Phuket’s south-east coast, some wind - and lots of rain.

The men who made it possible: Race organizers Andy Dowden (left) and Grenville Fordham.
Starting the opening gambit in a light north-easterly, a good storm-front blew in from the north-west fulfilling the guide’s forecast of 8 - 10 knots and, with many variations, this was the basic weather pattern throughout the four days of the regatta, sailed from 19 - 22 July, 2007.
Twenty-nine yachts, separated into five classes, took principal race officer Simon James’ starting signal and, thereafter, it was “all go” around the beautiful bay off the host venue.
As expected in these relatively light conditions and moderate seas, the locally designed and built Firefly Class revelled. Curiously enough, the Bangkok Post ran a story on Sunday, 8 July, carrying the headline: “Fireflies still raising a racket”. Of course that concerned insects causing an ecological nuisance in Amphawa District and not our water-borne Phuket flyers, which are also having an effect, this time on the yachting fraternity, as Phuket-based designer Mark Pescott sees the super-fast, light weight craft take all before them.

IRC Class 2 boat “Minx” makes a turn for home.

As in the other major yachting event organized and managed by Grenville Fordham’s Image Asia Company - the Koh Samui Regatta - the just-finished Evason Phuket Raceweek had the support of many of Phuket’s suppliers and managers in both the public and private sectors.
The splendid Raimon Land Awards ceremonies, after the end of the penultimate day of racing, were a fitting - and well-rewarded - tribute to the management, sponsors and the 29 teams who had battled in five established classes, to ensure the success of the regatta.

Roger Kingdon’s Firefly “Moto Inzi” was the big star of the show, winning five out of the scheduled six races.
One other outstanding social event, among the many during the four-day yachting fest, was the reception aboard the visiting luxury yacht “Kalizma”, a 165 ft (52m.) Edwardian motor yacht formerly owned by Richard Burton. At 101 years of age it was the same vintage as one of the “Classic” category of yachts competing, the Danish schooner “Seraph”.
Perhaps, as main organizer Grenville Fordham of Image Asia pointed out, the Regatta Programme in designating the Raceweek as “Asia’s windiest regatta” was accurate grammatically, but the wind gods had other ideas: “We can control the publicity and PR,” said Grenville philosophically, but what appears - or does not appear - out there on the bay, is out of our hands”.
Probably a more appropriate term would be “Asia’s greenest regatta”, which would be highly applicable to the Evason Resort, the current host venue. The seven-tiered resort, which evolved from Phuket’s first hotel, the Phuket Island Resort, is an environmentalist’s dream.
As the Swedish resort founder, Eva Shivdasani says it: “The Evason Phuket Resort aims to remain in harmony with the environment and its cultural surroundings and to contribute resources ... to help better the environment ... in which we operate”. The ubiquitous electric trams, which ply between the lobby, the rooms and the beachfront, transporting guests over seven levels, would be just one example.
During the regatta, founder Grenville, principal race officer Simon James and Andy Dowden, head of the race committee, plus a legion of helpers and volunteers, persisted in winds ranging from zero to 10 knots, incessant rain-storms and huge wind shifts, to ensure that the regatta reached a successful conclusion. These conditions prevailed right until the end of the event.
Probably the best overview of the Phuket Race Week comes from Captain Marty, one of the region’s best marine journalists, reporting for his website Asian Yachting. While acknowledging great performances in all classes and superb race management he, nevertheless, hones in on the Raimon Land Firefly Series and the Classic Class.
In the former, Roger Kingdon had sailed “Moto Inzi” exceptionally fast around the courses all week to win five out of the scheduled six races. His consistency earned Roger and the crew the overall prize as the Phuket Race Week Class champions. Furthermore, Roger became the inaugural winner of the Raimon Land-sponsored Firefly One Design Class Series, held over several regattas. Bill Phelps on “Twin Sharks” was consistently up with the leaders, coming in second overall.
Class Captain, fleet motivator and Far East veteran Henry Kaye was also happy to bring “Mamba” into third place and deserves recognition for launching this thrilling one-design class competition - difficult enough anywhere in the world but especially in SE Asia.

IRC 2 contenders jostle for position at the start of the Phuket Raceweek, held July 19-22 off the Evason Resort. (Photo courtesy Asian Yachting)
Captain Marty also regales the Classic Class, which presented a wonderful parade of sails when viewed from the Evason Resort platform. Gunther Nutt’s Norwegian classic “Kerida” made it three wins in a row and a run-away victory in the overall standings. Mark Myking’s second place in the last race on “Idiom” was a gallant effort but he had to settle for third overall when the points were tallied. Tom Howard’s 101-year-old Danish schooner “Seraph” came in second place overall among these “Grandes Dames” of the sea.
Once again Image Asia Events must be congratulated for taking the initiative and running the 4th Phuket Raceweek in the middle of the year. This regatta may not attract the big name teams in the racing class, but it serves the purpose of honing the local sailors’ skills up to international standard throughout the year and before the big events in December.
Unfortunately, the strong SW Monsoon winds do not always materialize, as was witnessed this year.
Another positive outcome of Raceweek, according to Capt Marty, was that the newly formed Selangor Youth Team gained some invaluable international exposure and were successful against the more experienced and older sailors within their class.
Event organisers and the racers alike are very optimistic that the ever-increasing number of boats visiting Phuket each year will contribute to the regatta’s continued growth and success. And Capt Marty, for one, concurs with this positive outlook for the race.

The 4th Evason Phuket Raceweek (Results) IRC 1: 1. Scott Duncanson (Som Tam Express, 5); 2. Peter Ahern (Yo!2, 8); 3. Jim Poulson (Vino, 11); 4. John Vause (Ruby Tuesday, 13); 5. Ben Copley (Asia Spirit, 20); 6. Keith Garry (BeauX Esprits, 24); 7. David Lindahl (La Samudra, 24); 8. Horst Lakits (Big A, 31); 9.Bob Yapp (Yo Mo, 34); 10. John Clayton (Millennium, 38) IRC 2: 1. Peter Dyer (Madam Butterfly, 7); 2. Evason Phuket Tua Lek, 8); 3. Niels Degenkolf (8); 4. Mick Kealy (Minx); 5. Stuart Crowe (Cinders, 17); 6. Jimmy Watt (Perky, 24); 7. Mike Bein (Thai Marine Suk San ll, 26) Multihull: 1. Tim Milner (Seekronghuk, 5); 2. Bob Brindley (X Cat Riot, 8); 3. Chris Runnegar (Chameleon, 11) Raimon Land Firefly: 1. Roger Kindon (Moto Inzi, 4); 2. Bill Phelps (Twin Sharks, 9); 3. Henry Kaye (Mamba, 11); 4. Chris Jongerius (The Frog, 13); 5. Andrew Marshall (Pink Lady, 17) Classic: 1. Gunther Nutt (Nerida, 4); 2. Tom Howard (Seraph, 6); 3. Mark Myking (Idiom, 10); 4. Graham Chuck (Anjuna, 11)

The Square Ring: by Howie Reed

The following e-mail arrived at Casa’ de Reed recently: “Howie - Tell me how you really feel.” That was from a fair young damsel whose name is withheld to save me from getting a beating. It’s assumed that she was referring to Jeeves singing the old Helen Reddy song, “I am woman, hear me whine.”
Rest assured that Jeeves has been severely punished and placed on a probation that includes only two afternoons a week with the guys at the TQ.
After finally watching Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright, I have figured out what’s wrong with boxing. Lousy fights enabled by sportswriters that want to be called journalist, with some nothing more than “flack’s” for promoters and venues.
One exception, name withheld to protect the honest, wrote, “Wright was the busier of the two combatants early on in the bout when he labored effectively behind his jab.”
Notice how clever he was: “Wright was the busier of the two.” “Busier” is always a relative term.
He continued: “Hopkins worked his angles and landed more power shots, most notably in the later rounds. Hopkins’ best weapon was a short right hand.” Notice here that he doesn’t mention a lot of action with both fighters tossing leather? He can’t, he’s too honest!
Finally the gentleman gets to the truth: “There was lots of holding and wrestling at close quarters forcing referee Robert Byrd to intervene frequently to separate the two boxers.”
Me? Not so clever. The fight sucked - but so long as dummies will pay, then promoters will continue to pull the old “bait and switch” - promising filet mignon but delivering a steak tougher than a ten baht pair of cow skin shoes sold on Beach Road.
Hopkins did what he does best -win ugly and get rewarded. After the fight Wright did what he does when he loses ... and that’s whine.
“I won the fight. It was a dirty fight. He was head butting all day. I thought I won the fight, but it was a close fight. I’m good though.” That came from the mouth of Ronald “Whiney” Wright. Hopkins said: “I could fight for four or five more years.” As a boxing fan The Square Ring would say ... Please don’t!
Of course, like the rest of the world neither Hopkins nor promoter Oscar De La Hoya will listen. So what’s next? “It has to be about something. It has to have a reason. I have to have a purpose before I get back in the ring,” said Hopkins.
De La Hoya? “Bernard Hopkins has a lot of attractive opportunities as a light heavyweight. He wants to fight Calzaghe at Yankee Stadium in New York. If Bernard Hopkins wants Calzaghe, then it’s our duty to go make that fight,” said the ‘golden one.’
Ok that would be attractive, as Calzaghe would make Hopkins fight - something Wright didn’t or wouldn’t do. But is Calzaghe interested? Not so you’d notice.
“Hopkins can just get in the line and wait for me because of all the messing around he has caused me. I was all set to fight him a couple of years ago, and he doubled his financial demands after at first agreeing to the fight,” said Calzaghe. “If he was really that keen to fight me, he would have signed up there and then, but he got cold feet and then tried to save face. It’s convenient to call someone out when they already have a fight lined up, but right now I’m focusing on a real fight against Kessler. Once that is done I will look at Ol’ Hopkins, but judging by his performance against Wright, there isn’t much competition there for me anyway.”
Translation? “Take a hike Hopkins unless the money’s right.”
The night was almost saved by the undercard - at least the TV portion of it.
“The fight between the Aussie Katsidis and the Filipino Amonsot was my personal highlight of the card”, wrote Vic (O.R.) Cross. “That Katsidis is one tough hombre but my plaudits have to go to Amonsot who was down in the 2nd and again in the 10th. What a chin this kid has. The winner was Katsidis but if you had a look at both of them at the end you would have to believe he was the loser from the cuts above and below his left eye. He is definitely someone who looks like he has a great career ahead of him. Amonsot is pretty young and is another Filipino who is a real crowd pleaser.”
Amonsot may have paid a price as after the fight he was rushed to the hospital where he was given a CT scan for suspicion of subdural hematoma (bleeding of the brain). The fighter never lost consciousness though and he was released from the hospital last Thursday without serious injury. He arrived back in his native Philippines on Saturday.
With Philippine boxers now no longer fighting in Thailand, there are signs that the good folks from the ‘Land of Smiles’ are turning to China for record building opponents. Recently in Maha Sarakham, Pramuansak Posuwan (37-1-1) got a win against Wei Zhi Feng (4-3). Originally the opponent was Ji Tao, who was 2-0, but he never made it to the Kingdom. Pramuansak got this win with a 2nd round KO at the 2:11 mark.
Traveling to Tokyo as a record-builder for Yusuke Imamiya (although at 14-10 what the hell does one more win mean?), Yodbuankam Sortanapinyu (0-2) got clocked at 2:42 of the first round. Meanwhile, Terdkiat Siththeppitak (13-2) traveled to the Botanic Garden Amphitheatre in AussieLand where he got planted by Shannan Taylor (45-6-2) at 1:30 of the 6th round of a 10-rounder. There is some question about the authenticity of Siththeppitak’s record - not to say anything of his ability.
The Cuban Amateur Boxing Program (please remember here that amateur is a relative term) took a hit during the just concluded Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro. Yes, Rio is somewhat like Thailand - where men are men and sometimes the women are too.
Two of Cuba’s best amateur boxers said “Adios” to El Commandante Castro by going AWOL and exiting with the one finger salute. Two-time Olympic gold medallist Guillermo Rigondeaux (244-4) and Erislandy Lara Santoya hopped on a plane in Rio, flew to Paraguay, and will eventually end up in Germany. For historians, that’s kind of the reverse from World War II when “good Germans” would leave ‘The Fatherland’ and end up in Paraguay.
El Commandante Fidel was not pleased. He officially declared them traitors saying, “They were knocked out by that green paper. The United States have always used this kind of procedure to try to destroy Cuba’s resistance.”
Arena Box-Promotions of Germany has signed the two fighters, as they also did with the three Cubans that defected in December. Yo, Fidel ... time for a dirt nap!
“Your Lordship, the rumor mill was running 24/7 last week. As sometimes happens, the mill had it spot on. Floyd Mayweather jr. is going to come out of ‘retirement’ to fight Ricky Hatton on December 8 in Las Vegas. No venue was announced but HBO will do the PPV.
“Ray Hatton, Ricky’s father/manager, said that a deal had been struck in ‘principle.’ Of course we all know about the hazard of using the words ‘principle’ and ‘boxing’ in the same sentence. There has apparently been a verbal commitment that everyone knows is not worth the ‘paper’ it’s written on. Papa Hatton opined: ‘I can’t honestly tell you a deal has been done until I see the signatures on all the documents, but what I can say is that both sides were happy with what was finalized verbally.’
“Last week in Tacoma, Washington USA, two former champions, Vernon Forrest (39-2) and Carlos Baldomir (43-11-7) met each other. Forrest once seemed to be the only man that could beat Shane Mosley (he did it twice) but then he lost two on the trot to Ricardo Mayorga. Forrest took 2 years off, returning with last week’s win over Baldomir that gives him a 4-fight winning streak and the WBC super welter title.
“One of the judges for the Sunday bout was Thailand’s Anek Hongtongkam who had it 116-111 for Forrest. So that’s the way it was.
“In the Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Edgar Sosa retained his WBC mini-fly title when ‘old war horse’ Luis Alberto Lazarte was DQ’d for low blows.
“Your Lordship, I understand that you attended some live fights at an Injun casino recently?”
Yep, had a heck of a good time Jeeves and saw three really good fights at the Avi Injun Casino outside Laughlin, Nevada. It could have been billed as the “Night of the Fighting Sons”, but wasn’t cause someone didn’t think of it.
In the semi main, Carlos DeLeon jr. (18-1-1) was matched against a gentleman named Will Gill, who had a less than imposing record of 8-17-1. DeLeon is just flat lazy in the ring. He allowed Gill to hang around while winning a UD over 8. The judges didn’t have it close but the Square Ring did because two rounds were given to Gill for DeLeon’s laziness. DeLeon’s dad was a hell of a fighter, beating the likes of Marvin Camal, Greg Page and Leon Spinks. His most notable loss was by decision to Evander Holyfield.
The top of the card featured an out of shape blob of fat named Hector Camacho jr. who’s record of 42-3-1 was built mainly against guys that couldn’t fight. The fight against Don Juan Futrell (20-3-1) was supposed to be at 147lbs - then 151lbs, with Camacho finally weighing-in at 161lbs the day before the fight. As Nevada doesn’t do ‘Fight Day’ weigh-ins, it was estimated at ringside that he probably weighed 170lbs by the opening bell.
One print writer labeled Camacho as “woefully out of shape”, which is an understatement. Don Juan laid a whipping on Camacho opening cuts over both eyes while generally out-working, out-hustling and out-trying his sometimes lethargic opponent. Don Juan lost a point in the 6th for a low blow but still escaped with a split decision 76-75, 76-75, 75-76. The Square Ring had it 78-73. The judge who scored for Camacho is a pal so her name won’t be mentioned.
“Well Your Lordship, I have arrived with lager, cigars and a stack on new CDs. While you enjoy your first lager and a cigar, may I read you a quote from Mr. Mayweather jr? It goes like this, ‘I had to come out of retirement extremely quick. The fans are demanding it. The fans keep asking me to come back. We all know the sport of boxing needs Floyd Mayweather jr.’
“Your Lordship, what’s the matter? You’re turning blue. What? Write it down ...Rum ...coke ...lime ...and lots of it! Coming right up M’Lord.”