The Square Ring

Even Jeeves, manservant to the Lord of the Manor, will recognize that all have the common threat of emanate danger. Papa Hemmingway probably should have tossed out mountain climbing, as only an idiot would want to climb Mt. Everest at 29,000 plus feet, in sub zero weather and the wind blowing 50 miles an hour. Those that do should be committed either to a funny farm or take a trip to Pattaya. “Trip to Pattaya?” Warmer than a stupid mountain and a heck of a lot more fun. Pattaya proves there is life during life.

There are fatalities in all sport. Regulatory bodies for sport mostly do their best to protect the athletic.

For years, the country of Indonesia saw an inordinate number of boxing ring deaths. Thanks in a large part to the World Boxing Council (WBC) and their president Dr. Jose’Suliaman that is longer the case. Regardless of what is done, there is always at least one unknown. The referee with his or her abilities is that unknown. It would be unfair to ever blame a referee for any ring fatality. There are though referee’s that are assigned bouts that put a boxer at risk because of their indecision, incompetence, arrogance or lack of ability. For year’s The Square Ring has railed against Texas Referee Laurence Cole with little or no effect. Larry “the Clown” Cole, by almost any standard, is a terrible referee. He gets assignments, many of them plumb, because his daddy Dickie runs boxing in the state of Texas. In a recent column TSR wrote, “Some day he will get someone killed in the ring.” Unfortunately, that day arrived. Benjamin Flores died following a fight in Dallas Texas. The referee stopped the fight when Flores was not fighting back. “He was helped to his stool, appeared unconscious and was removed by stretcher. Taken to a hospital he died 5 days later.” The referee? Laurence Cole.

It would be unfair and uncalled for if The Square Ring placed sole blame for the death of Benjamin Flores on a single doorstep. The fact does remain though those maybe referee “Cole was aware that this was a mis-match but made a very costly decision. If that is true, he may have a hard time living with that decision. I know him and his pompous attitude. His conscious is brand new and never has been used.” Those words written by a fellow referee who is considered one of the best in the world.

The Next Big Fight

With Pacquiao-Hatton in the rear view mirror and for the record, that one drew a live audience of 15,368, which generated $8,832, 950 dollars in revenue. That’s comes out to $574.77 USD per ticket which begs the question “what recession”? Unofficial reports have 800,000 and PPV buys. At $50.00 dollar per view that would make the total for the fight $48 million, $832 thousands and a mean less $950 dollars. What is next on the agenda in the wonderful world of box fighting? That woman, man and those that declined to state would be the June 20 rumble between Vladimir Klitschko’s (52-3) and David Haye (22-1). Upwards of 60,000 are expected to jam the Schalke Stadium in Gelsenkirchen. David Haye is well known in the UK but mostly a mystery outside. He is the real deal. He is smart, can box and hit like a Teeluk when the check bounces. Haye has 21KO’s from 22 wins which is not too Chablis. The only boxer that has gone the distance with him is Ismail Abdoul. Abdoul went 12 rounds which is good. The downside is he lost all 12 on all cards. Abdiul’s is a little unusual because he fights with an “ankle bracelet” as he is doing time for doing the crime. His trainer is Ronny Van Heesvelde who just happens to be the uncle of The Square Rings own boxing expert Sir Frog the headman at Patrick’s Belgium restaurant. . How about then apples?