Billy’s Boxing Blog

By William Trillo

A teary eyed Donovan George walked into Librado Andrade’s side of the dressing room to apologize for the fight falling out, he told Andrade he wanted to fight but on the advice of his team the fight would not go on. The two embraced in a tearful hug and then went their separate ways into a rainy Cozumel, Mexico night.

There was no reason for Donovan to apologize, he wanted to fight and cancelling the show was not his agenda.

The reason for their tears was simple, they are fighters who wanted to prove they belonged at the top of the Super Middleweight division and the only way to get there was to settle it in the ring.

If only it were that easy.

On the advice of his promoter Leon Margules (Executive Director of Seminole Warriors Boxing Promotions), Donovan George was left no choice but to pull out of the fight because of an issue with the size of the ring.

I should have known something was going to go wrong when after a beautiful week on the island of Cozumel in Mexico, the clouds began to roll in on fight night and before the canvas could be stretched over the ring in question, Mother Nature let out with a thunderous cry and a tropical rain ensued. (Contrary to rumors Golden Boy was not responsible for in weather).

From that moment on things would only get worse.

With the doors not officially opened yet we made our way into the baseball field dugout that had become a makeshift dressing room for the principals. I wished Andrade and his brother Enrique Ornelas my best and I left the muggy dugout to go find a spot on the apron mat to shoot my photos.

As I sat in my marked territory I saw members of Team George hit the field for the first time. They came to the side of the ring I was on and they were more than displeased with the fact that George’s corner was on the dirt side of the baseball diamond infield. That issue paled in comparison when they realized the size of the ring was not to their liking.

The ring construction crew was still on hand so it wasn’t long before Team George had a tape measure in their hands and were checking the numbers on the ring size. They came up with a ring size of 15 x 15 feet.

That fact was indisputable.

According to Margules, the contract stipulated that the ring be 20 x 20 feet and he immediately told Golden Boy representatives the fight would not take place in that particular squared circle.

After reviewing the contract it was noted that it also had a stipulation saying that if a ring 20 x 20 could not be provided that the promoter would use their best efforts to secure a ring of a comparable size. Margules was well aware of that and told me so himself during a heated exchange we had at the hotel only hours after the fight was cancelled.

During the war of words back at the Hotel, which members of both teams told me they thought it was going to get physical, I told Margules that in my opinion his decision screwed both fighters and someone needed to be held accountable. Taking offense Margules shouted, “My fighter is not getting screwed, I will pay him the $20,000 myself.” I told Margules that wasn’t the point at all, “I know Librado worked his ass off for this fight and I am sure Donovan did too, they came here to fight, not bicker about the size of the ring,” I said, “ Now tell me who is responsible? Someone needs to be held accountable!”

Margules answered, “I don’t know, I asked Golden Boy and they said it was on the local promoter, you would have to ask them.”

I did inquire with Golden Boy and they chose not to respond at the present time.

I also spoke to the local promoter Pepe Gomez about that ring his company supplied. My question was simple, “Was the ring the fighters were in at the open workout 2 days before the fight the same ring used on Saturday night?’

“Of course,” said Gomez. “We don’t have rings at our disposal like on the mainland. This is a small island and this is what we have to work with.”

No one complained about the ring at the open workout and no one raised an eyebrow when they stepped in the ring on Thursday. Maybe Margules would have been aware of the ring size that night but since he was busy hobnobbing with the WBC Presidente in Las Vegas he came in late for the fight in Cozumel.

If you are questioning where his priorities are, so am I and so should everyone on Team George. This was the most important fight of Donovan’s career, if I am his promoter I am there with the team days early.

Ask yourself, what is more important, scoring points with the WBC or being there early to represent your fighter to see to it he gets a fair shake at a world title, the most important fight of his career?

Showing up with just enough time to pull the plug is inexcusable.

Another fact that is indisputable in my opinion.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 4:30 am and is filed under Boxing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.