New HW Boxers Rated

[David Myers]

A new heavyweight--Jay Lambert, who represented the U.S. at the 1948 London Olympics--is posted under the <b>Post-war fighters</b> thread. Click <a href="http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=87617">here</a>.

[David Myers]

Just posted the first fighter to beat Sonny Liston, along with a picture of him, under the <b>Post-war fighters</b> thread. Click <a href="http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=87617">here</a>.

[David Myers]

Just posted Abel Fernandez, heavyweight boxer turned actor, under the thread <b>Post-war fighters</b>. Click <a href="http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=87617">here</a>.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

01/19/67 Thursday
Sports Palace, Bologna, Italy
Remington Dyanty – HW (0-1-0) vs. Giulio Saraudi – HW (7-0-2)

Remington Dyanty - Rating 1 South Africa
Heavyweight 1964-72
9 wins / 8 losses / 1 draw / 6 KO

Rating by: Rocco Del Sesto

Remington fought Ezrom Ngcobo(8-8-0,1) in August 1964 for the South African (Non-White) Heavyweight Title. It was Dyanty's first career fight. He lost a 12 round decision to Ngcobo. It was to be the first of 4 meetings between these two. Remington then did not fight again until January 1967 when he traveled to Bologna, Italy to take on Giulio Saraudi. They fought to an 8 round draw. The next month saw him in Sweden to fight Leotis Martin who KO'd Remington in the 3rd of a scheduled 10 rounder. From there is was back to Italy in March of 67 where Remington was KO'd in the 6th by Santo Amonti. He then fought Vittorio Verrengia twice, in August and October of 1967 in Cisterna and then Rome, Italy. Remington lost by TKO in 3 in the first fight then lost an 8 round decision in the second fight. That was to be Remington's last fight outside his native South Africa. He came back to Port Elizabeth, SA and fought Ngcobo again for the South African (Non-White) HW title in December 1967, this time winning the title in a 12 round decision.

Remington then did not fight for almost a year, finally defending his title against Ngcobo in October 1968. Ngcobo KO'd Remington in the 7th round. These two fought 1 more time, in May 1969 in a non title fight with Remington winning a 6 round decision. In December 1969, Remington fought Smith Tshabalala(0-2-0,0) for the then vacant South African (Non-White) HW Title. Remington won back the title with an 8th round TKO.

Remington defended his title successfuly twice over the next 2-1/2 years as he finished his career going 6-2-0 against total meaningless opponents. One of his South African title defenses was against a Fraser Memela(10-11-2,6) who at least had some kind of record. This fight is also billed in BoxRec as for the Natal Heavyweight Title. Anyone know what that is?

Giulio Saraudi - Rating 3 Italy
Heavyweight 1965-68
9 wins / 1 loss / 3 draws / 4 KO

Birthplace: Civitavecchia, Italy

Rating by: Rocco Del Sesto

After 4 easy opponent wins to start his career, Saraudi then defeated Jose Angel Manzur(31-33-14,13) and fought draws with Renato Moraes(20-14-4,12) and Leweni Waga(25-15-1,16). Then in May 1966 he won an 8 round decision against Horst Benedens(27-11-3,17) and in Sept 1966 then beat Jurgen Blin in an 8 round decision. Saraudi followed that up in December 1966 with a fight against Giulio Rinaldi. The fight was stopped in the 5th round for some reason and declared a no contest.

In January 1967 Giulio then fought another 8 round draw, this time with South African Remington Dyanty. After a win against a Valere Mahau, Saraudi's career ended with a 10 round loss to Johnny Prescott and then his final fight in January 1968 was a win, an 8 round decision against Roosevelt Eddie, Jr.


The fight...
BoxRec shows one fight for Dyanti, a 12 round decision loss in his native South Africa, in a fight for the South African (Non-White) Heavyweight Title in August, 1964. We then jump to this day in January 1967 where he’s fighting Giulio Saraudi in Bologna, Italy, the first of 5 fights Dyanty will contend in in Europe in 1967. You would have to wonder if he in fact had accumulated some kind of impressive record before and after that fight in 1964 that lead Dyanty to travel to Europe for a round of fights with some fairly experienced and worthy opponents, none like that he would face later in his homeland of South Africa. For Saraudi, his record includes recent wins over Horst Benedens who would accumulate a 27-11-3,17KO record and Jurgen Blin whom we know from out of Germany. Up until the fight with Benedens whom he fought in Berlin, Saraudi’s career had been entirely in Italy. He defeated Blin in an 8 round decision in Rome. In the fight in 1967, an 8 round affair, Dyanty took Saraudi the whole route, only to loose a decision to the Italian fighter.
Our replay fight was much shorter. Saraudi dominated it throughout. In the first round, the Italian HW came out a bit slow with neither fighter connecting with anything for the first minute of the fight. Then at the 1 minute mark, Saraudi lands a hard cross that stuns Remington. Then after missing with a punch he lands another cross. A little under 2 minutes into the fight Saraudi then tags Remington hard again with another cross. An uppercut comes in clean for Saraudi before Remington finally manages to get in some scoring blows before the round ends. Round two starts with a solid hook landed by Saraudi in just under a half minute that drops Remington for quick 2 count. Then just under 1 minute into the round, Saraudi lands a perfect combination that sends Remington slumping to the canvas. At the 8 count Dyanty is finally back on his feet. The action slows just for a bit then Saraudi lands some short ripping hooks that pounds Remington’s body. Then he bangs home a clean uppercut. By this time, Remington is clearly looking hurt. It looks like Saraudi could take it this round, but somehow Remington manages to hang on and even manages once again at the end of the round to score some punches. All 3 judges give it decided scoring to Saraudi each going 10-7 in the Italian’s favor. The 3rd round opens with Saraudi shaking Remington again with a hard straight right. He then lands a solid combination and follows that up with a vicious hook that drops Remington for the 3rd time in the bout. Surprisingly, the South African makes up in a quick 2 count! Saraudi shoots some jabs in then over the next ¾ minute, then he delivers a wakeup call with a sharp combination! Saraudi then snaps off a jab and a solid punch to the body. Remington is taking too many clean shots without any kind of response and appears at this point unable to defend himself. That’s exactly what the referee is feeling when he steps in a the 2:32 mark of the 3rd round and stops the fight! A 3rd round TKO victory for Giulio Saraudi.

[shane6969]

Is Guilio Saraudi the same boxer who won a bronze medal in the LHW division at the 1960 olympics (the one that Clay won).
Also, Rocco, I'm pretty sure that Natal is a state in South Africa.

Cheers,

Shane.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by shane6969

Is Guilio Saraudi the same boxer who won a bronze medal in the LHW division at the 1960 olympics (the one that Clay won).
Also, Rocco, I'm pretty sure that Natal is a state in South Africa.

Cheers,

Shane.

Your correct Shane. I did a little web searching and found a site listing boxing medalist winners over the years. It has listed as 1960 LHW Bronze medal winner Saraudi along with an Australian, Anthony Milligan.

Rocco

[jofre]

Originally Posted by Rocco Del Sesto

Your correct Shane. I did a little web searching and found a site listing boxing medalist winners over the years. It has listed as 1960 LHW Bronze medal winner Saraudi along with an Australian, Anthony Milligan.

Rocco

Saraudi drew a bye in the first round of the 1960 Olympics; defeated Muhammad Safdar of Pakistan in the second round (Pts); Rafael Gargiulo of Argentina in the quarter-final round (Pts); and lost on points to Zbibniew Pietrzykowski of Poland in the semi-final round.

Anthony Madigan of Australia drew a bye in the first round of the 1960 Olympics; defeated Lars Norling of Sweden in the second round (Pts); Gheorghe Negrea of Romania in the quarter-final round (Pts); and lost on points to Cassius Clay of the US in the semi-final round.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by jofre

Saraudi drew a bye in the first round of the 1960 Olympics; defeated Muhammad Safdar of Pakistan in the second round (Pts); Rafael Gargiulo of Argentina in the quarter-final round (Pts); and lost on points to Zbibniew Pietrzykowski of Poland in the semi-final round.

Anthony Madigan of Australia drew a bye in the first round of the 1960 Olympics; defeated Lars Norling of Sweden in the second round (Pts); Gheorghe Negrea of Romania in the quarter-final round (Pts); and lost on points to Cassius Clay of the US in the semi-final round.

Thanks for the little history lesson Jofre! Interesting to see also Lars Norling mentioned there whom I'd rated early on in the Hw thread.

Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Only the 2nd and last fight for this Thursday with a quick heavyweight fight that ends in a very surprising fashion at least for this boxing fan!

No new fighters to present here. We've seen both of this gentlemen presented here in TBCB.

01/19/67 Thursday
Sports Palace, Bologna, Italy
Dante Cane – HW (14-1-2) vs. Memphis Al Jones – HW (2-9-2)
Our second of two fights here this day at the Sports Palace in Bologna. Dante Cane is a rising star in the heavyweight-boxing world here in Italy. In 1966, Cane has fought and won 5 times and had 1 8 round draw against Jo Juvillier. He defeated Juvillier in his most recent fight in October. Other victims included Benito Penna, Buddy Turman and Giuseppe Migliari. They’re saying soon Cane will probably be considered a contender for the Italian Heavyweight crown. For Memphis Al, the early start of his career has not been a good one. He was KO’d a little more then a week ago here in our 67 replay in the 1st round by Jerry Quarry. His only wins have been against a Bobby Joe Rapier and Ed Hurley. His losses though have been against some pretty decent opponents including Lou Bailey (busy HW at least), Ron Marsh twice, Bill Nielsen, Jerry Quarry in an earlier fight in May 1966, Joe Frazier, and Orville Qualls. The actual fight in 1967 ended in a disqualification of Jones in the 4th round, reason unknown.
For our replay, we scheduled a 10 rounder. The outcome of this fight was totally unexpected. I guess I was expecting a win here for Cane, but, Jones ends up shocking the crowd here in Bologna. The fight starts out in Cane’s favor as he lands a quick combination 20 seconds into the fight that stuns Jones. But, Jones regroups quickly, lands himself a good right hand punch that quickly stops Cane from gaining any immediate momentum with that early combination of his. The two then work the rest of the round pretty evenly exchanging punches the does not grow any advantage for either. The judges though in the end give a slight 10-9 early advantage to Cane. The second round starts with Cane charging in, but Jones avoids the rush. They then come into a clinch before Cane then slides towards a neutral corner. The 37 seconds into the round, Jones rockets an uppercut in that catches Cane with as clean and hard a shot as any fighter could land. It came out of nowhere! Cane drops to the canvas. 1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10!! That’s it, the locals are jolted into an almost horrified silence as they see their local boy and heavyweight contender stopped in the 2nd round by the American from Memphis!!

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Friday, Januray 20th 1967 will be coming up. Some guys we've seen before, at leasted rated in the game like Archie Ray, Amos Lincoln, Lars Norling, Hubert Hilton, and Prentice Snipes.

Some new faces will be working on...
Bobby Stinianato - HW 41-20-2,17KO's
Vittorio Saraudi - HW 27-3-2,15KO's
Dan Koontz - HW 11-5-0,5KO's
Jack Rodgers - LHW 23-3-2,19KO's
Mert Brownfield - HW 10-15-0,7KO's

Looking forward to working on this group.
Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Our first fight for Friday the 20th between 2 fighters we've seen in the game already, one that I rated sometime earlier and one originally in the game.

01/20/67 Friday
Edmonton, AB, Canada
Amos Lincoln – HW (36-5-3) vs. Archie Ray - HW (20-8-2)
Both of these fighters are on the down side of modestly successful careers in the 1950’s and 1960’s. For Lincoln, he’s got about 3 more years to go with several very noteworthy opponents. His most recent fight, in October 1966 he lost a 10 round unanimous decision to Johnny Persol at Madison Square Garden. Previous to that he’d defeated Elmer Rush in consecutive fights and won a 10 round decision over Billy Daniels. Archie Ray’s career will actually end itself this year, but later in 1967 we see him fight 4 more times and those to against pretty recognizable names. He’s in the mist of a streak though that will include 9 straight losses to end his career. That downward streak started back in May 1966 with a loss to Manuel Ramos. That was followed by two consecutive losses to Boone Kirkman in September and October and the then in December was Ko’d in the 5th round by Dave Zyglewicz to lead into this fight with Lincoln. This fight between Lincoln and Ray was apparently a very tough close fight as Lincoln won a 10 round split decision.
Our replay was really a disappointment. The first round say very little action from both fighters for the first couple of minutes. Each of them finally started landing a few punches over the last 1/3 of the round but it all added up to a point total of 8-6 in Lincoln’s favor. Judge one scored 10-9 for Ray? Then the second round and a quick sudden unexpected ending just like we saw in our last fight between Dante Cane and Memphis Al Jones. 17 seconds into the 2nd and Lincoln lands a combination that drops Ray to the canvas and KO in the 2nd round for Amos Lincoln. Almost an exact same kind of ending as the Cane/Jones fight!

I've gone ahead and posted files for them. For Ray just to put him here for easy access again. Lincoln is originally in the game, I've just added some by info.

Rocco

Forgot to mention the Lincoln file is the game original. I just added the bio info.

Rocco

[CONN CHRIS]

I am creating a batch of the heavyweights that boxed in Connecticut during the forties. Most of the decent ones have already been rated such as Lee Q. Murray, Nathan Mann and Bernie Reynolds. I rated Al Altieri a week or so back. Most of these are just under card fillers, but you can have them if you like. I have ten done so far.


VERNON BEN BENWARE
Hometown - New London, Connecticut
2(1)-8-0
Vernon fought many of his bouts in New Haven. He was Ko'd by Eldridge Eatman and lost to other active Connecticut Heavyweights as well.

GEORGE BONER
Hometown - New Haven, Connecticut, USA
5(3)-5-0
Boner was in and out of the Connecticut boxing scene in five months during 1946. He was KO'd by Steve Ketchell in Fall Rivers MA and was dropped in five by fellow CT native Vernon Ben Benware. George did find himself on a card at Madison Square Garden, although he lost to Ted Walters it must have been the highlight of his five months in the ring.

DANNY BOOKER
Hometown - Mystic, Connecticut, USA
0-1-0
Booker fought one bout in 1949, dropping a third round TKO to Eddie Dempsey.

DAVE BROUDON
Hometown - Torrington, Connecticut, USA
0-1-0
Broudon had one pro bout. It was a first round knock out at the hands of Tommy Giorgio.

JACKIE BYRD
Hometown - Wallingford, Connecticut, USA
0-1-0
Byrd lost a 6 rounder on points to Art McDonald in 1946. Both men were making their pro debuts in Hartford; Byrd never fought professionally again.

[CONN CHRIS]

PATSY D'AMORE

Hometown - Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

2(2)-1-0

D'Amore was stopped one round into his pro debut by George Thompson in his back yard at Newfield Park in New Britain. Two years later, Patsy stepped back into the ring in April of 1944 to take a pair of TKO's from Tiger Jack Browning on consecutive nights in Hartford.

CHARLEY EAGLE
Hometown - Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
22(4)-23-4
Eagle had a decent career as a journeyman heavyweight that took him well beyond the borders of Connecticut. His most notable bouts were a draw with Joey Maxim in Buffalo, NY, a pair of 12 plus round decision losses to Buddy Jack Walker and a ten round decision loss to Lou Nova. He fought fellow Nutmegger Nathan Mann in a 12 round decision loss for the New England Heavyweight crown in 1941.

ELDRIDGE EATMAN
Hometown - Norwalk, Connecticut, USA
14(7)-20-3
Eatman was a mainstay of Connecticut boxing in the forties, fighting nearly every active heavyweight in the state during the decade. A few of the better known opponents that he faced were Nathan Mann, Melio Bettina, Tami Mauriello and Lee Q. Murray (all losses). He saved the best for his last trio of opponents. Eatman dropped a first round KO to Gus Lesnevich and an eight round decision to Roland LaStarza in consecutive months of 1949. His final bout came in 1950, a third round KO at the hands of the legendary Rocky Marciano in Providence, Rhode Island.

CARL EDWARDS
Hometown - Norwich, Connecticut, USA
0-1-0
Edwards battled Johnny Melko in New London in a decision loss for his only pro bout

JOHN EDWARDS
Hometown - New Haven, Connecticut, USA
1(1)-2-0
Edwards dropped his hometown pro debut to Dick Schreck in May of 1948. He KO'd Paul Longo in Norwalk and finished his brief career as Rocky Marciano's third KO victim in August of 1948.

By the way, I have known Paul Longo's grandson (also a Paul) most of my life, they have a family dairy similar to the outfit that my family runs. I never knew that Paul's grandfather had briefly stepped into the ring back in the forties until I saw his fight listed at boxrec. I asked him about it over the weekend and sure enough, that was his gramps. It's a small world.

[Hootowl 9]

Nice Chris,
Thanks for the 40's Heavies.

[CONN CHRIS]

Glad you liked them, they are just card fillers (and local interest ones at that). Here are a few more, I have about 35 to 40 from the decade that I want to rate - some did had a bit more of a national reputation.

JOE FASTA
Hometown - New Haven, Connecticut, USA
5(5)-0-0
Fasta was in the ring for seven months at the end of WWII. He scored four knockouts against fellow Connecticut pugs like Frankie Whalen and George Boner. Joe did travel beyond Connecticut's borders once before hanging the gloves up. He KO'd one of the many who have fought out of Boston as John L Sullivan in Boston.

GEORGE FITCH
Hometown - New Haven, Connecticut, USA
24(12)-16-1
Fitch did well enough against the local Connecticut talent to be called on as an opponent for Heavyweights with national appeal. He was stopped by Tami Mauriello, Archie Moore and Elmer Ray. A second bout with Ray ended in decision but with Fitch still on the losing end. George drew with Eddie Blunt and held victories over Oscar Goode, Henry Cooper (of NY, not UK), and Buddy Knox. Bouts with in-state interest include a win over Tony Shucco, a ten round decision loss to Charley Eagle and a pair of losses to Nathan Mann. The second fight with Mann in 1940 was a 12 round decision loss for the New England Heavyweight Title that Mann held.

GEORGIE FULLER
Hometown - Norwalk, Connecticut, USA
7(3)-14-1
Fuller fought many of the other CT Heavyweights of the forties; he stopped a streaking Star Harvey before dropping ten straight bouts himself including a loss to Tiger Ted Lowry in Portland Maine. His final bout was a ninth round KO to Roland LaStarza in Waterbury, the epicenter of CT political corruption.

[CONN CHRIS]

I had a thought. If several of us were willing to rate blocks of the local talent (some might use a different word, but they are my local boys so I'll say talent) we might be able to do away with with some of the phoney but useful tomato cans and stiffs in our universes.

I plan to do Connecticut heavies for the 50s and 60s after I finish this batch of 35 or 40 from the 40s. It would be great to see some of the local heavyweight color from the UK, other states, Mexico, and our friends up North.

Just a thought,

CONN

[CONN CHRIS]

TONY GILLO

Hometown - New Haven, Connecticut, USA

15(3)-53-8

Gillo was a professional opponent that poorly represented his state; with a dismal out-of-Connecticut record of 1-25-3. The one win came when Lew Perez lost to Gillo on a DQ. Some of Tony's more notable opponents include Danny Nardico, Billy Fox, Tiger Ted Lowry and Tony Zale. Gillo was stopped 24 times in 76 pro bouts.

OHIO GIONELLI
Hometown - Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
1(1)-0-0
In his lone professional bout, Gionelli scored a third round KO over Freddie Martin in his hometown.

ERNIE GRIFFIN
Hometown - Hartford, Connecticut, USA
20(10)-12-3
Griffin began his career in Washington, moving to Hartford in 1946. Once in Connecticut, he became a regular on state cards for several years. He holds wins over local boxers Tony Gillo and Vernon Ben Benware as well as one-time contender Frank Poreda (prior to his move East).

JACK HAWKES
5(4)-15-1
Hawkes was in and out of boxing inside of two years. He fought mainly in Connecticut but did take his glass jaw on the road to the Valley Arena in Holyoke, MA on a regular basis.

LEVI JACKSON
Hometown - New Britain, Connecticut, USA
6(3)-2-2
Jackson lost on two of his three trips out of state but fared rather well against the local Nutmeg boys.

[CONN CHRIS]

LEE HUNT

Hometown - New Haven, Connecticut, USA

0-4-1

Hunt fought twice at the Armory in Bridgeport and twice at New Haven Arena managing only a 6 round draw with Whirlwind Whetson. After a year and a half layoff Hunt stepped back in the ring to become a KO victim in Cleveland Williams' pro debut.

EDDIE JESSUP
Hometown - Torrington, Connecticut, USA
0-4-0
Jessup was an early opponent for Nathan Mann, after a seven year layoff he returned in the early forties to fight three more times before calling it quits for good. Eddie suffered a second round KO at the Govenor's Foot Guard Armory in Hartford to give Georgie Fuller his first pro victory.

DULA KOVACH
Hometown - Naugatuck, Connecticut, USA
6(1)-3-2
Kovach did well knocking around with others on the local circuit in the Waterbury area. He was stopped once by Art Henri who proved to be too much for Dula in the second round of their bout.

WHEELER LEWIS
Hometown - New Britain, Connecticut, USA
0-1-0
Lewis lost a four round decision to Dula Kovach in his only pro bout.

FREDDIE MARTIN
Hometown - New Haven, Connecticut, USA
0-1-0
Martin faced fellow Connecticut Heavyweight Ohio Gionelli in his lone pro bout. Gionelli prevailed, knocking Martin out in round three at the Buckingham Hall in Waterbury.

[CONN CHRIS]

ART McDONALD

Hometown - Hartford, Connecticut, USA

2(1)-0-0

Easy Going Art fought only 2 bouts, both at the end of 1946 and both in the Hartford Armory.

CHARLEY MELBANE
Hometown - Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA
1(1)-1-0
Mebane won his pro debut in Hartford and lost a second fight in Ohio two years later.

JOHNNY RICE
Hometown - Stamford, Connecticut, USA
13(6)-15-1
Rice went on the road quite a bit for a club-level fighter; taking bouts in Philly, Louisville, Maine, Rhode Island, Boston and New York. Larry Villeneuve and and Roy Taylor were slightly above his pay grade, but mosty Rice fought against others of a similar skill level. While in Connecticut, he boxed mainly in the Southwest corner of the state.

COLEMAN WHITE
Hometown - Hartford, Connecticut, USA
6(2)-3-1; 1 NC
White bagan his career in Hartford with a KO loss to Ray Byron and a no contest. Then he relocated to Florida and went 4-1-1 before taking a ten year lay off from the ring. He returned in 1959 to take a 4 round decision from Jim Tillman in Miami Beach.

JOE YORFINO
Hometown - Stamford, Connecticut, USA
2(2)-1-0
Joe won a pair of knockout victories five years apart before being knocked out by Johnny Rice to end his flirtation with the ring.

[CONN CHRIS]

This has been fun, pouring over the cards from my state in the forties. It is a little surprising to see the lack of talent in the HW division though. After Murray and Mann, the talent just isn't there. I had assumed that there would be a multitude of local heavies with 20 to 40 career bouts but those type of local fighters appear to all be at the lower weights for this decade. It may have something to do with the popularity of the featherweight division at the time, between Battalino and Pep, that was the division everyone in Hartford focused on for decades.

I am still holding out hope that Clay-Bey can revive boxing in our area. Given the state of things in the heavyweight division, it is not absurd to think that he can get a title shot with a few decent wins. Unfortunately, he has been a bit of a dissapointment to me thus far. I have enjoyed watching his career unfold, but my dissapointment is with the low (actually "no") profile that he has taken in the state. It's probably unfair, but I was hoping that he could be a little like what Pep was. Willie Pep didn't just love boxing, he loved Hartford and loved being out and about. Willie was absolutely everywhere in the late seventies and early eighties (before he started to slow down). If there was a car dealership opening or a high school sports banquet, Willie was there. It seemed like virualy any newsworthy event had a reference to Willie because he was just always there. He loved talking with people in the area and was always a gracious ambassador for boxing and Hartford. Scully was a bit like that too, but his career just didn't grab enough attention to make him the kind of public figure that Pep was. Even though Clay-Bey will never be a champion, I think he could obtain a similar level of local public interest just by taking a run at the top ten because of the interest in the heavyweight division by the general public.

Hopefully, Scully will rub off on him, although he has been Clay-Bey's trainer for quite a while now and it hasn't happened yet. Sorry for the ramble - it just is a bit sad to see the state of pro boxing in my state today, the two casinos have sucked the life out of it and running through these forties fight cards has realy driven that home.