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2nd Round
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Posted December 12, 2002
The notorious North American Boxing Federation, which was exposed for its corrupt
ratings practices, blatant favoritism toward selected promoters, and violations of the
Professional Boxer Safety Act and Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act in "Operation
Cleanup", is at it again.
And once again, the NABF is being bankrolled in that pursuit by that bastion of
respectability; the organization that is so vocal about the "dirty, filthy
sanctioning bodies" and wants to clean up the sport - unless, of course, any of it
applies to them - ESPN.
Tonight, in Temecula, Cal., ESPN is televising a co-main event feature which pits Radford
Beasley against Art Simonyan for the vacant NABF title.
Or is it in fact for a title?
It seems now everybody is backpedaling.
Teddy Reid, who was originally scheduled to defend his NABF welterweight title - the same
one he got as a by-product of the NABF's violations of the federal law back on June 28,
had to pull out with an injury sustained in training. To fill that void, co-promoter
Arthur Pelullo and NABF officials (presumably Sam Macias) quickly put together another
NABF championship bout in its place - this one pitting Beasley against Simonyan.
Here are the exact words, as they appeared in a press release from Pelullo's Banner
Promotions issued on Tuesday:
NEW CO-FEATURED FIGHT ON DECEMBER 13 -
ARTYOM SIMONYAN VS RADFORD BEASLEY FOR VACANT NABF FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE IN TEMECULA,
CALIFORNIA, TELEVISED ON ESPN2
North American Boxing Federation welterweight champion Teddy Reid was
injured in training and has withdrawn from his title defense against Sam Garr.
In the new co-featured bout, Artyom Simonyan, 10-0-1, with 5 knockouts,
of Glendale, Ca., will challenge for the vacant NABF featherweight title
against former world title challenger Radford "The Man" Beasley, 22-1, with
14 knockouts, of St. Louis, Mo.
The only problem with all this is that neither Beasley nor Simonyan is even rated among
the top fifteen featherweight contenders by the NABF. In fact, neither guy is rated in ANY
division. And the ratings listed on the NABF's website (http://www.nabfnews.com) were last updated on November 23.
And there's the small matter of how the NABF could actually pull the rug arbitrarily out
from under the champion. While it's true that Juan Manuel Marquez, who won the title in
March, is scheduled to fight Manuel Medina for the IBF 126-pound crown on February 1,
there has been absolutely no announcement that he has been stripped, nor any procedure
that has been conducted by which to strip him. And it certainly is not the policy - at
least the official policy - of the NABF to strip fighters once they agree to world
championship bouts.
The list below is taken directly from the NABF website. They are the current rankings,
which, according to the organization, were updated on November 23. As you can see, Marquez
is still recognized as champion, and Beasley and Simonyan are conspicuously absent:
FEATHERWEIGHT (126#)
NABF CHAMPION: JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ, MX, (W 3/09/02) WBC #3
WORLD CHAMPION: ERIK MORALES, MX
WBC AMERICAS CHAMPION: VACANT
CONTENDERS:
1. JUAN CARLOS RAMIREZ, MX
2. CESAR FIGUEROA, MX
3. ZAHIR RAHEEM, NJ
4. ROCKY JUAREZ, MX
5. WILLIAM ABELYAN, CA
6. GUTY ESPADAS, MX
7. BOBBY VELARDEZ, CA
8. JOHN MICHAEL JOHNSON, TX
9. LUIS FUENTE, MX
10. HECTOR VELAZQUEZ, MX
11. LEWIS WOOD, TX
12. MIKE ANCHONDO, CA
13. ENRIQUE SANCHEZ, MX
14. DAVID MURRILO, MX
15 MARTIN HONORIO, MX
16. STEVE LUEVANO, CA
Of course, the obvious question is, if Marquez was indeed stripped, why weren't any of the
people listed in the NABF's top fifteen contacted with regard to the fight? Why were all
of them bypassed in favor of these two?
Well, the answer is obvious enough, and fits into a very recognizable pattern - Beasley is
signed with promoter Bobby Hitz, and Simonyan has recently inked a promotional agreement
with Pelullo. That jumps them to the head of the pack, regardless of what the ratings say.
As a result, what we had here was yet another NABF title fight which has appeared
literally out of thin air, constructed solely for the purposes of convenience - working to
the advantage of the promoters, the sanctioning body, and the television network -
basically in that order.
Beasley would seem qualified to compete for an NABF title. He is a former NABF champ, who
challenged Joel Casamayor for the WBA's 130-pound title in September of 2000, suffering a
fifth-round TKO defeat. After taking nearly two years off he has come back with two wins -
over fighters with a combined record of 10-27-4.
Simonyan is a bit of a different case. He has never gone ten rounds, won a FOUR-round
decision in his last fight, and has fought a roster of opponents with a combined mark of
47-75-12. Hardly enough credentials to justify him leapfrogging FIFTEEN rated contenders
to earn a championship opportunity, when what he was originally scheduled for was his
first-ever eight-round bout.
When asked whether ESPN acknowledged or endorsed the fact that such a manipulation of the
NABF championship process had taken place, Bob Yalen, ESPN's head of boxing, said,
"When the promoter came back with this as a replacement fight, I questioned him on
the fact that neither fighter was rated by the NABF, and that I thought Juan Manuel
Marquez was the champion. He stated that it had been indeed sanctioned as the vacant NABF
title fight. If it is sanctioned by the NABF we have to acknowledge that fact, though we
don't have to endorse it, as we were not privy to what was discussed between the promoter
and the sanctioning body."
There is no doubt in our mind that what was discussed between the promoter (Pelullo) and
the sanctioning body was a way to facilitate the NABF generating a sanctioning fee to
replace that which was lost by Reid's pullout, with Pelullo's fighter (Simonyan) receiving
the title shot. There is no reason to believe that Pelullo would have gone ahead and
issued a press release announcing a title fight if he had not been given authorization
from the NABF, because if he had, that would constitute false advertising, wouldn't it?
TOTAL ACTION became apprised of the NABF's latest game on Wednesday, and began to
investigate it. Apparently that put a whole set of wheels in motion.
Now the NABF is trying to circulate a story that the information in that press release was
a mistake, and that the Beasley-Simonyan fight is NOT for an NABF title, and never was.
That simply doesn't pass the giggle test.
On the Banner promotions website, the fight, under "Upcoming Events", is listed
like this:
"CO-FEATURE – 10 ROUNDS, FEATHERWEIGHTS"
Yet underneath that is exactly the same stuff that was in the press release:
"In the new co-featured bout, Artyom Simonyan, 10-0-1, with 5 knockouts, of
Glendale, Ca., will challenge for the vacant NABF featherweight title against former world
title challenger Radford “The Man” Beasley, 22-1, with 14 knockouts, of St.
Louis, Mo."
Gee, when the NABF panicked, somebody forgot to change something.
Surely it was the NABF's intention to sanction the fight. Otherwise it would have notified
Pelullo, and there would have been an announcement by now. Instead, as of 9 AM Eastern
time on Thursday, when I had my contact with Yalen, he was operating on the assumption
that the fight was indeed an NABF championship bout. According to a feature story about
Simonyan, obviously PR-inspired, published on the Fight News website late Thursday
morning, "Simonyan was scheduled to fight an eight rounder, however he jumped at the
opportunity to fight in his first television bout. His 12 round vacant NABF featherweight
title fight replaces the NABF welterweight title fight between Teddy Reid and Sam Garr
when Reid suffered an injury during training."
I have yet to receive a press release from Banner Promotions, or anything in the way of an
announcement by either the NABF or ESPN, with the intention of clearing up this confusion.
So now we'll have people paying $30, $50, and $70 for tickets at the Pechanga Resort &
Casino who think they are going to see a "championship" fight, with legitimate
contenders, who in fact will not.
Perhaps this is a matter for the California State Athletic Commission to explore.
And how does ESPN intend to handle it? Obviously they're in the middle of something pretty
sleazy here. Yalen told us he'd be just as happy with a ten-round fight as he would with a
12-rounder, and that's fine. But the fact remains, this act of manipulation was performed,
at least in part, by promoters Yalen has consciously chosen to do business with - Pelullo
and Hitz. If Yalen, and ESPN, are really concerned about integrity in boxing, perhaps they
might want to find out who was lying to them - Pelullo or the NABF, or both, and take
action accordingly. My guess is they won't. Of course, it's an educated guess.
And how about those "journalists" manning the ESPN microphones? Yalen says,
"All the announcers have free reign for every fight to question the method by which
the fighters are rated or the method by which a fight gets sanctioned - there are no cuffs
put on them at all."
Well then, in that case we should enjoy listening to Max Kellerman, who has passed himself
off as sort of a "guardian of principles" in boxing (that is, when he's not
conveniently looking the other way), as he brings into question the motives of the NABF,
and the motives of his own employers as they willingly participate in this out-and-out
charade. We'll find out tonight if he has that kind of integrity.
C'mon kid - spit all over that studio. I dare you.
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Copyright 2002 Total Action Inc.
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