Friday, June 4, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
It's Sirius, tune in!
This Friday night, June 5th , I'll be co-hosting "Fight Club" with Randy Gordon on SiriusXM for the first time. The fights are at 10:15PM ET live at Yankee Stadium. This fight is a great springboard for Yuri Foreman--undefeated but with only 8 KOs, and also for Cotto to stay in the picture. We haven't seen much of Yuri Foreman who is a good boxer but not known as a puncher. It will be interesting to see if he can withstand Cotto's power early on. If he can, he has a much better chance of winning. It's do or die for both. Foreman, stepping up into the main arena and Cotto keeping out of retirement. Cotto's got the heart of a lion--let's see how he stacks up with a much taller Foreman and in the 154 weight class for the first time. Tune in, call in, and ask me questions live!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Mark and Louie
There are quite a few organizations out there that grant wishes to sick kids. The Marty Lyons Foundation is one I support http://www.martylyonsfoundation.org/. Last week I had the honor of attending a cigar night benefit at Battery Gardens in NYC for Marty's organization. There is nothing more inspiring than to meet kids and hear stories of strength during dark times and I can say, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Marty and I go way back and he and his brother, Phil work tirelessly to make kids' dreams come true. He has helped with two different families in my own community that had children suffering from terminal illnesses. One of these families was on a plane to Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins within the week of my initial phone call. Love you Marty! I get chills down my spine when people work together to help someone in need. Just this past Friday, I received a mass mailing from my friend Peter, asking for help on behalf of another organization called the Ashley Lauren Foundation http://ashleylaurenfoundation.org/. Mark, a boy with cancer, wished for a Bichon Frise dog. My wife and I got in touch with a neighbor, Sue, who recently began fostering dogs. She, in turn, called her college roommate with 3 Bichons of her own. Less than 24 hours later, Brenda Lyons delivered 5 year old Louie (one of her 3) to Mark to keep as his own. This picture is priceless and was made possible by several people. Thank you, Ashley Lauren Foundation, Peter, Sue and Brenda! Can you imagine giving up your dog to help someone else? My dog is like one of my own kids--and I wouldn't give up my kids! That is truly selfless.
My Fan from the Bronx
Recently, I had some fun shooting an episode of the new Discovery Channel show "Construction Intervention". It was a beautiful spring day in the Bronx on site at a boxing gym that was being renovated for the show. What was really impressive about this gym renovation was that in addition to making the gym brand new, the crew added classrooms to provide a safe place for kids to go after school to do their homework and work out. Not only is the show helping the gym owner, they are helping improve the community. I love being part of that! The host, Charlie Frattini, is a good guy, despite wanting to go a couple of rounds with me (I told him to stick to construction). After filming at the gym, the crew and I walked over to a neighborhood park to do an opening segment. An old, drunk, cameraless Irishman came over for a photo. We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes as I tried to find a camera so we could move along with the shoot. His demeanor changed as he became impatient. Next thing I know he's tackled to the ground by my new friends at the gym. What happened to the days of beautiful women flocking to my side for pictures? Now its old drunks and I have to provide my own camera! Next time, I'm bringing my big brother. The show airs on Friday, June 4th at 7PM on the Discovery Channel.
http://http//dsc.discovery.com/tv/construction-intervention/.
http://http//dsc.discovery.com/tv/construction-intervention/.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Happy Birthday Lou Duva
So on Friday, I was at the Oheka Castle (http://www.oheka.com/) in my hometown of Huntington, NY to celebrate Lou Duva's 88th birthday. Everyone was there: Holyfield, Sweat Pea Whittaker, Tyrell Biggs, and other boxing greats. Even Brandon Jacobs from the Giants was a guest. A guy bets me $20 I wouldn't know who the man at the bar was. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I'm not the best with names--terrible in fact. Well, guess what, I am $20 richer for knowing it was Lindsey Lohan's father. Okay, so I already forgot his name but I knew it at that moment. How did I know that? Because he approached me earlier about about getting Lindsey into rehab. The main entertainment for the evening was some boxing matches. Michael Grant fought a ten rounder but he ended it midway through the first. There were 3 upsets that night so made for an exciting night of boxing. By the way, did you know there was a castle in Huntington? It used to be a military school on the grounds of Cold Spring Harbor Country Club. Truly a beautiful place.
Two weeks ago, I was enjoying myself in St. Kitts while golfing in the Pro Am amongst other athletes from football, basketball and baseball. See if you can find me in the photo. Hint: I am the only cracker. Yes, by the way, that's Lawrence Taylor on the left. He seemed to be disappointed with a 69 due to his lousy putting. Well, I think he was probably feeling a lot better then than he is now. I'm hoping and praying the recent charges against him prove to be untrue. I hadn't seen Charles Oakley in while he was in good spirits joking about his latest conversation with Larry Holmes in which he declared Larry was a boxer but Charles, himself was a fighter. He was the enforcer for the Knicks when you really had to love the Knicks with Patrick Ewing and John Starks. Good times.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Is Boxing Dead?
Boxing is dead right now. I think I still have a puncher's chance at 53. I'm going to call Holmes right now and get the rematch going. Let's face it, there's nobody out there. The Mosley fight is done. It was a one-sided fight with Mosley not having the get-up and go anymore. He's been through a lot of wars and did very well but with Mayweather's style, it made for a boring fight--other than the 2nd round when Mosley caught Mayweather with a couple of good shots and almost knocked Mosley out. Mosley couldn't finish him. That's directly related to the fact that he's worn out as a fighter and can't turn it up anymore. I'm hoping a Packeau-Mayweather fight will take place but there's nobody else out there. We need a a big heavyweight (or any weight) from America to bring the attention back to the fight game. Even the amateur boxing in the USA is sparse for talent. What went wrong? Did the promoters rape and rob the business for so long that even the fans lost hope? Is ultimate fighting affecting the industry? Let's look at ultimate fighting. Sure it's exciting but there's no telling what the long-term effects of head injuries and broken joints are going to be. After 2-3 years you don't hear from the fighters anymore because the body can't take it for too long. But the sport came along at the right time, with people being disgusted with boxing. Let's hope there's someone out there to bring attention back to boxing--and sooner than later. Don't make me go after Holmes--I'm sure I could take him now!
On another subject, last weekend I stayed at the PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens--a spectacular place. I got a chance to play at Jack Nicklaus' Bear's Club for Marc and Nick Buoniconti's Miami Project. Of all the charities I am involved with, this one I truly believe in. They are on the cutting edge of helping cure paralysis. The energy of the event was powerful. Okay, so my golf wasn't so powerful and my only consolation is that my buddy, Bret played worse than me. I will say, after the last 24 hours of beating myself up, I did redeem myself at Trump National back home in good 'ol Jersey. Must be the fresh air.
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