The Travelin’ Man Takes to the Stage at IBHOF Induction Weekend 2024 – Part IV

Saturday, June 8: Although Fight Night at the Turning Stone produced more than its share of knockouts, the length of the main event, combined with the drive back to the hotel and the winding-down period, made for a late night. Still, I managed to awaken shortly before 7 a.m., and while I was looking forward […]

The post The Travelin’ Man Takes to the Stage at IBHOF Induction Weekend 2024 – Part IV appeared first on The Ring.

Saturday, June 8: Although Fight Night at the Turning Stone produced more than its share of knockouts, the length of the main event, combined with the drive back to the hotel and the winding-down period, made for a late night. Still, I managed to awaken shortly before 7 a.m., and while I was looking forward to checking out the memorabilia show at the high school at 10 a.m., my primary thoughts centered on what was going to happen at 2:30 p.m. on the museum grounds – my first time hosting a Ringside Lecture.

I have attended dozens of these over the past 30 years, and, in recent times, I have been a frequent inquisitor. There, I did so as a member of the audience and most of the time I asked one question before sitting down. Here, I not only will be interviewing one person, but I will be questioning two – WBC/WBO super welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora and IBF flyweight monarch Gabriela Fundora, the first brother-sister tandem ever to reign simultaneously. A big “get”? Yes. But although I’ve had a life-long aversion to public speaking, I am approaching this with more calmness for several reasons:

*I couldn’t have asked for two better people to be interviewing. In my experience, they are incredibly grounded, down-to-earth, positive people who have not let their accomplishments change who they are at their cores. Also, they have been honest and expansive with their questioners, and their willingness to share the conversational load is much appreciated.

*Sebastian has twice been a guest on the podcast hosted by IBHOF master of ceremonies James “Smitty” Smith and empaneled by me, and Gabriela was an impromptu part of the second interview after her brother informed us of her off-camera presence. Although I have conducted countless interviews by phone since becoming a published boxing writer in 1987, conducting face-to-face interviews, especially on stage at the International Boxing Hall of Fame, is a different animal. However, the podcast, combined with Smitty’s tutelage and encouragement and the fact that I conducted last year’s trivia session on that same stage, has given me the “reps” needed to pull this off.

*Finally, the virtues of preparation are very real, especially for me. I spent about 20 minutes assembling my list of questions, and while they weren’t exactly hard-hitting, I believed they would strike the right tone for the occasion while also serving as a catalyst for what I hoped would be informative and entertaining responses.

Even better for me: I typed out the questions in my e-mail program, and to avoid having to write them out longhand, I asked Doug Joslyn – the person manning the registration desk at the Days Inn – if I could e-mail the questions to him and have him print them out. He could, and he did.

With that, I was ready to go. My nervousness lessened, I focused on getting a good start on this article, then prepared to leave for the card show, my favorite event on the schedule. It was here that I gathered significant source material for “Muhammad Ali: By the Numbers,” the book I co-authored with CompuBox president Bob Canobbio, and it was here that I spent, by far, the most money. Even though I’ve invested 50 years of my life to my love of boxing, I’m always willing to learn more about it and be entertained by its rich history. Thanks to the Brophys, they gave me the means by which I was able to sell dozens of copies of my two books that also include “Tales from the Vault: A Celebration of Boxing’s Closet Classics.”

Just as I was about to leave for the show, my plans – and the trajectory of this day – changed because of a text I received from Smitty.

“Can you do me a favor?” he wrote. “Get me a large cup of coffee with cream and extra sugar at Dunkin (Donuts, which is located next door to the Days Inn). They make it that way. Thanks.”

Smitty is someone who requires lots of energy to maintain his preferred level of public performance, and since today was going to be particularly busy between the ringside lectures and the Banquet of Champions, his request wasn’t one to take lightly. Besides, he’s not only my podcast partner, he’s also my friend, and if I can do something to help, I will, no matter how small the task may seem.

I’ve never been a “breakfast person,” so this marked one of the few times in my life that I’ve frequented Dunkin Donuts. Given the early hour I was concerned I would encounter a long line. Thankfully, I didn’t, and because of that, I was able to secure his “nectar of the gods” in short order.

I assumed Smitty would be either inside the museum or the gift shop, but I was wrong on both counts. So, I waited….and waited…and waited some more, all while holding his cup of Joe. I kept myself occupied by engaging in conversations with all who approached me, but while half my mind was on the conversation at hand, the other half was keeping a sharp eye out for Smitty while also worrying that his coffee would get cold.

Finally, I spotted him, excused myself, and gave him the coffee.

“Thanks,” he said.

He arrived a few minutes before the first scheduled ring talk of the day. The subjects: A pair of former WBO heavyweight champions in Ray Mercer and Lamon Brewster. To my surprise, Smitty asked me to join him on stage to be part of the lecture. I didn’t have any questions prepared, but I knew enough about their respective careers to compensate.

One of the dynamics of our friendship is that he likes to throw curveballs at me just to see how I would react. It was his way of getting me to break out of my shell, and, over the years, the tactic has produced positive results. It worked again here, and it helped that Mercer and Brewster were sharp, engaged and talkative. I handled the impromptu interview with aplomb, and it was exactly what I needed as far as eliminating any remaining nervousness about my impending solo act. As Smitty told me during his brief and informal pep talk, doing this was just like doing our podcast, except it was on stage and not on Zoom.

After “Merciless” Mercer and “Relentless” Brewster departed the stage, Smitty said he didn’t need me for the next lecture that featured Hall of Famers Jim Lampley and Ricky Hatton, but that he would like me to take part in the one after that with Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Because Barrera was reportedly not feeling well (he would appear later at the Banquet of Champions), it ended up being a solo interview with “El Terrible.” Juan Kassab, a dentist by trade, served as our Spanish translator.

Before the interview, Juan asked me if I spoke Spanish.

“Mi español es muy pobre,” (“My Spanish is very poor”), I replied with a grin. “But I do understand ‘boxing Spanish,’” meaning that I recognize enough words to get a general gist of what boxing commentators may be speaking about at certain points, but I don’t know enough words or enough of the grammar rules to be considered anything but the most rudimentary of speakers. That said, when I traveled to Argentina in April 2013 to work an HBO show topped by Sergio Martinez-Martin Murray, I was able to carry off a conversation with TyC broadcasters Sergio Charito and Silvana Carsetti well enough to secure a photo with them  and to engage in a multi-language chat with Silvana, one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met, a few minutes later. By the time I flew home, I realized that my Spanish skills had been enhanced, but the lack of necessity since then erased that temporary progress.

While emotional and exciting in the ring, Morales is usually low-key in interviews. He did brighten when I asked him about his fight with Hector Acero-Sanchez, a 12-round unanimous decision victory that took place during Hall of Fame weekend in 1996 and which occurred on the undercard of the first meeting between Oscar de la Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez, a broadcast that was provided exclusively on closed-circuit and not on pay-per-view at home. Perhaps he perked up because he is not often asked about that match, and I believe the ability to bring up rarely-asked subjects is one of the biggest assets I bring to the table as an interviewer.

I had planned to stop by the card show after the Fundora ring talk, but the IBHOF’s longtime official photographer Pat Orr informed me that the show was a virtual ghost town and was already winding down. So, for the first time in memory, I failed to show at the card show. Has hell frozen over yet?

Another sign of erosion was expressed to me regarding the VIP event, the autograph-and-picture-oriented event that replaced the VIP Gala at the Greystone that represented the weekend’s most popular (and lucrative) events. Year One was unanimously regarded as a disaster while Year Two was so well-done that even my unsmiling friend Bill Johnston hailed it as “perfection.” The multiple reports I received from this year’s event were negative; while not as bad as the inaugural event, it still fell far short of the high bar set in 2023.

Smitty symbolically handed the baton to me shortly after 2 p.m., and from there I made sure to keep a sharp eye for the Fundoras. The lecture was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. and was told that everything was on schedule. Except it wasn’t.

A grey car pulled onto the museum property around 2:45, and when I saw Sebastian’s head poke upward, I knew my personal showtime was at hand. Autograph-seekers instantly swarmed the two fighters, and knowing their history of being exceptionally accommodating to fans, it looked as if they would be trapped for quite a while if I didn’t do something. So, I turned on the microphone and informed the crowd, “if you look behind you, you can see unified WBC/WBO super welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora and IBF flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora arriving on the grounds. They are the first brother-sister combination to reign simultaneously, and in a few minutes, they will be part of today’s final Ringside Lecture.”

The ploy worked. While still signing, Sebastian and Gabriela began moving toward the stage, and within a couple of minutes they took their seats a few feet to my right. I decided to stand behind the podium for the entire interview so that I could easily access the clipboard that housed my list of questions. Believe it or not, I was perfectly calm, so much so that I improvised and asked several follow-ups that weren’t on my list. The pace was lively throughout the 20-minute talk, and, as expected, Sebastian and Gabriela were easygoing, engaging, emotive and communicative. Several members of the audience helped by contributing their own well-thought-out queries, and as the athletes answered I glanced at their father/trainer Freddy Fundora and their promoter Sampson Lewkowicz and saw that they appeared pleased.

After receiving the answers to my final question, I informed the public that they would be spending several minutes signing autographs, and, with that, it was finished.

From my perspective, my maiden solo Ringside Lecture couldn’t have gone any better: I was smooth, relaxed and composed; I felt no nervousness and several members of the audience congratulated me. In short, all my prayers were answered in the most positive way.

I returned to my room to update this story, then, at 4:35 p.m., I packed my belongings and started the drive toward the Turning Stone Resort Casino, the site of the annual Banquet of Champions.

I arrived at 5 p.m., and I spent the 30 minutes waiting for the doors to open speaking with fellow writer/longtime friend Boxing Bob Newman, one of my original tape-trading partners, along with his wife and their friends. Unfortunately, we were seated at different tables, and, as is usually the case with the Banquet of Champions, many of the people at the table were the same ones with whom I sat and dined last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. A compilation of classic one-punch knockouts played on the big screens as we chatted, and I’ve seen many of these videos often enough to identify the fighters, tell the story behind the story, and say “boom” at the culminating moment.

No matter how many times I see these knockouts, they never get old. Like toddlers who want to see a certain movie, hear a certain bedtime story or listen to a certain song ad infinitum, we boxing fans relish the sight of a well-executed one-punch knockout, not just because of their relative rarity, but because it forms the initial core of why we love watching. Our appreciation of the nuances of the “Sweet Science” increase with age, experience and willingness, but we never lose the thrill of a pugilistic car wreck as long as that wreck doesn’t inflict permanent damage.

Since I was the first to arrive at Table 45, I grabbed the best seat in terms of facing the stage. Smitty, as always, was clad in a resplendent suit and he carried off his various duties with his usual professionalism while “Boston Boy” Mark Carey emceed the live auction that ultimately produced $14,750 in committed bids from eight items. Two of these items featured sweeteners. The sixth item – a signed official fight poster and an action shot of Hall of Famers Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, attracted a final bid of $2,000 after Carey announced that the winner would get to pose for a photo on stage with the fighters while the final item was one that wasn’t included in the prepared printout. There, Golden Boy Promotions offered a package that included a trip to Las Vegas, two ringside tickets, two credentials that include access to the weigh-in and the press conference, and three nights at the host hotel that housed the fighters and other luminaries. As expected, this lot attracted an event-high bid of $4,500.

Other notable moments from the banquet: Jim Lampley putting an arm around Micky Ward as he paid loving tribute to the Gatti-Ward trilogy, memorabilia donations by Ricky Hatton, Jane Couch and the Fundora siblings, a brief burst of vocal liveliness from the usually reserved Michael Moorer, referee Tony Weeks’ recollections of the final moments of Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo I, the gratitude Butterbean expressed concerning his physical and emotional metamorphosis, and Hatton’s remark that “I haven’t seen this many stars since (my knockout loss to) Manny Pacquiao.”

This year’s banquet moved at a faster pace than usual, and, in general, the quality of the food was above-average. The event also moved at a quicker pace, resulting in its ending at 9:23 p.m.

My first objective during the event’s afterglow was to chat with 2024 IBHOF inductee Wally Matthews, with whom I worked several episodes of the short-lived boxing series on Versus as part of the CompuBox team. Because we hadn’t seen each other in many years, I mentally prepared to reintroduce myself to him and to provide context as to how I knew him, but before I could get a word out, he said with a bright smile, “hi, Lee, it’s good to see you again. How are things going with you?” Outwardly, I maintained my composure, but internally I was floored. It was as if we had worked that final show the previous night, and we spent the next few minutes catching up as well as my informing him about the virtues of self-publishing because that was how I produced my two books. He said during his remarks at the banquet that being in Canastota reminded him of the joys of interacting with boxing fans, and I got the impression that he wanted to express that joy through the written word.

After saying goodbye to Wally, I was greeted by more friends and admirers as I circulated around the floor. My friend Glenn from England expressed continued admiration for the successes produced by my treadmill program while I reacquainted myself with WBO minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo, whose visage was unmarked despite having fought 12 rounds less than 24 hours earlier.

The final interaction inside the room involved Corey Chase, a Canadian boxer who compiled a 2-1 (1 KO) record that included one no-contest between 2013-2016. Still incredibly fit, he, too, offered positive comments on my continued efforts to sustain good health and said he has been a longtime fan of my work. He asked me to pose for a photo, a request I happily accommodated.

Outside the auditorium, I chatted briefly with Diego Corrales’ mother, who told me she will never view Corrales-Castillo I due to her son’s wishes, and I posed with longtime friends Tris Dixon and “Boxing” Bob Newman for a group photo, a photo that has become a tradition with us.  The three of us have known each other for decades, and I believe our bond is based, in part, on the knowledge that despite our considerable professional successes, the root of those successes was the purity of the passion we had when we were merely fans who wanted something more for ourselves. Because we acted on those desires and because we were willing to put in the work, we revel in each other’s triumphs. To me, the annual photo is our way of celebrating it.

By this time, I wanted to get back to the Days Inn in Canastota to get a jump on my writing. After I pulled into the parking lot, I saw I received texts from Smitty concerning a private fight-watch party within the Turning Stone. I texted my regrets, but we did talk on the phone for a little more than an hour about the day’s events as I watched Xander Zayas’ decision victory over former 154-pound titlist Patrick Teixeira on ESPN.

I finally turned out the lights at 2:30 a.m., and given all the events of this day, it was no surprise that it didn’t take long for me to drift off to dreamland.

*

Lee Groves is a boxing writer and historian based in Friendly, West Virginia. He is a full member of the BWAA, from which he has won 22 writing awards, including two first-place awards, since 2006. He has been an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame since 2001 and is also a writer, researcher and punch-counter for CompuBox, Inc. as well as a panelist on “In This Corner: The Podcast” on YouTube. He is the author of “Tales from the Vault: A Celebration of 100 Boxing Closet Classics” (available on Amazon) and the co-author of  “Muhammad Ali: By the Numbers” (also available on Amazon) as well as the 2022 winner of the BWAA’s Marvin Kohn “Good Guy Award.” To contact Groves, use the email l.groves@frontier.com or send him a message via Facebook and Twitter (@leegrovesboxing).

 

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