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A Championship Weekend
Last Friday ESPN Radio 1100 Las Vegas staged its 3rd annual 24 hour radiothon to raise funds for the Caring Place, a charity founded by Al Bernstein, a close personal friend and his wife, Connie. The word “courage” is used often when covering the fight game but I will submit to you that there isn’t a tougher, more courageous person on the planet than Connie Bernstein. She’s fought off the scourge of Stage 4 breast cancer that has affected other parts of her body and continues to be the beacon that the Caring Place represents to those families touched by cancer. TCP provides support services at no charge to families in southern Nevada whose loved ones have been subject to the pain and suffering of this scourge. I am grateful and honored to consider these wonderful people my friends and the next time you see Al appear with Steve Albert on Showtime Championship Boxing, just know that his humanitarian efforts exceed his massive broadcasting talent. His efforts throughout the broadcast and behind the scenes made it the special event it is and continues to be. My involvement in the radiothon goes back three years, I am proud to say that I was the person that kicked off the first ever hour of the radiothon and have participated in all three events. This year’s model was boxing themed by virtue of naming of Top Rank’s Bob Arum as Las Vegas Sportsman of the Year and appearances by HBO’s Jim Lampley and in ring interviewer Jim Gray. But of the entire 24 hours, I got the best deal of all. I won the bidding to host the 4PM hour with my good friend Al and Hall of Fame trainer and manager Emanuel Steward, now an ever improving HBO analyst. The subsequent cocktail and program featured a performance by Vegas headliner Clint Holmes and a brief speech by Arum that actually contained some humor by starting with, “on Saturday night at the MGM Grand…..sorry, wrong speech.” The Caring Place has made incredible strides in the three short years of its existence; it’s gone from a concept in Al and Connie’s mind to a building that opened its doors and has already served hundreds of individuals (for more information, please visit (www.thecaringplacenv.org). So the gathering was both a celebration for the progress made and a call to action to increase its footprint in the greater Las Vegas area. But this wouldn’t be a boxing column if I didn’t talk about the hour with Al and Manny. I’ve been on the air in Vegas dozens of times, host my own fight talk show on AM830 in Los Angeles (shameless self promotion, thanks) and have been on ESPN Radio nationally but those 60 minutes flew by like 60 seconds. One of Al Bernstein’s great broadcasting gifts is his ability to serve as moderator when three people are on air. Most shows become unwieldy and lose focus with three simultaneous voices but Al’s steady steering never got us too far off the track. Steward, although possessing the least amount of radio experience, had the most to say throughout the hour and the listeners were better off for it. We explored the state of the heavyweight division at length, from Wladimir Klitschko to Muhammad Ali. Manny had some pointed things to say about those he’s trained and trained against. “Wladimir his the hardest of any heavyweight I’ve trained including Lennox Lewis, sometimes my hands hurt when I hold up the pads during training,” Steward related. Regarding the future for the Ukrainian champion he conveyed, “We want to fight Alexander Povetkin, the undefeated Russian next and I think Wladimir wants to fight another three years and call it quits.” With regards to having other fighters calling out his champ Steward stated, “When you’re the best, you’re going to have people challenge you and call you out, like this guy (David) Hoye. He’s calling out Wladimir and he’s never fought a heavyweight,” dismissing the claims that Hoye wants the champ. And when the subject of another over loquacious fighter, the over-the-hill James Toney came up, Manny was even more direct about a matchup with the perennial contender, “I like James, he’s from Detroit and I know him personally. But we would never take a fight against Toney because I wouldn’t want to see James get hurt. He doesn’t have any speed anymore and he can’t stand in and take the shots that Wladimir delivers.” And that’s that. Coming out of a commercial break, Steward recollected his time with Lennox Lewis and how his legacy has grown and will grow over the years. “There is no doubt that Lennox was a great heavyweight champion, yes he had some downfalls against Rahman and he had some trouble against Vitali (Klitschko) but his size and speed made him untouchable at times.” And then he chimed in with a comment that borders on blasphemy for certain fans of the fight game, “I think Lennox would have beaten Muhammad Ali in both their primes. Ali was great had holding a fighter’s neck and pulling him down. He couldn’t do that against Lennox (who’s 6’5” compared to the Greatest’s 6’2”), I mean how can you pull someone’s head down when you’re reaching up? Lennox had that reach and was certainly more powerful than Ali, so I don’t see why he couldn’t take him.” Turning to the lighter weights, Manny commented on how recently retired Floyd Mayweather would stack up against the featured combatants, Cotto and Margarito. “How can you compare a guy to these two if he doesn’t want to fight them? You can go around saying you’re the greatest, but if you refuse to get in the ring, how can you prove yourself? And regarding the comments about a potential Manny Pacquiao- Oscar De la Hoya, the boxing legend thinks, “they could do that fight but Oscar is a much bigger guy, I don’t see how Pacquiao could hurt him. Yes, he looked great against David Diaz but Diaz is slower than most heavyweights I’ve seen. He just stood in front of Pacquiao and never moved he was a perfect guy for him.” As the hour drew to the close, Steward threw kudos in our direction regarding the discussion, ”it’s great to talk with someone who knows boxing. I remember being on the air in San Francisco when the four Russians had all the heavyweight championships. The host suggested they have a “White Hope Tournament” to find a Caucasian championship contender. I laughed and told him that ALL the champions were white! 
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