Gabcast! Boxing Along the Beltway #5
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About Me
- Gary Digital Williams
- BATB is "The place to go if you want to know about any upcoming show or results, from amateur to the pros, in Virginia, Maryland and the District." -- Thom Loverro, The Washington Times. I've covered the Boxing scene in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area for 36 years. I was inducted into the Washington, DC Boxing Hall of Fame in November, 2009. I am also a feature writer for Fightnews.com. I was the play-by-play announcer on the TV series "Boxing Spotlight" which highlighted pro boxing along the Beltway. I have also appeared on numerous radio stations across the country talking about the sport. You can hear my audio commentaries, interviews and play-by-play calls by downloading the free Boxing Along The Beltway Podcast Network on Spreaker.com, IHeartradio.com, Stitcher.com,Tunein.com, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts and Spotify! I'm also proud to say that I am in my 26th year serving as the public address announcer for Coppin State University Eagles Men's and Women's Basketball! I also cover boxing and the Washington pro football team for the Washington Informer Newspaper!
9 comments:
Hi Gary. I enjoyed your observations, and I hope you don't mind me piggybacking onto your format with "Random Observations from Chris".
1)The GabCast format is great! When I saw you interviewing Miller on what appeared to be your cell phone, I couldn't believe the sound quality you got. It wasn't too long ago when one needed to set up a makeshift studio to get broadcast-quality live sound bites.
2) Miller's band let him down with only a trumpet and trombone showing up. While I wouldn't go as far as to say it cost him the bout, Miller is a spiritual guy who is used to pre-fight ritual of singing with live Gospel music in his dressing room, culminating in the procession to the ring, and I do wonder if the break in ritual combined with his friends unexpected absence took its toll.
3) I'm a little more charitable in my assessment of Jimmy's performance and am stuck between a B- and C+, probably opting for the B- to counter some of the ridiculous "fix" comments left earlier. My slightly higher rating is based on:
a) His improved agility, especially in getting off the ropes when pressed, something that cost him dearly against Joey Gilbert.
b) His will to stick it out. Jimmy was admittedly rocked with a body blow in the first round and took an awfull lot of punishment throughout. The commenter who wrote that Jimmy was untouched for the first 8 rounds didn't get a look at Jimmy's face, especially his eye.
c) Jimmy's jab took its toll on Tommy and is easy to overlook because we've seen it before, especially during his first-post Contender fight. But that same jab was virtually non-existent before that (at least on The Contender and the one pre-Contender Jimmy fight I saw.)
d) Jimmy was well-conditioned. Say what you will about him not being as sharp as he might have been, his 9th and 10th round energy was the result of good training and good conditioning.
e) Finally and perhaps most importantly, Tommy Wilt did himself proud and was more than the Langes had bargained for. (I had the fight much closer, scored at 76-76 going into the eighth round.) Johnny Lange made it clear that they weren’t looking for an easy match, but I doubt he foresaw exactly how uneasy the match would be. I wonder how many other good fighters never find out exactly how good they are because they have full-time jobs and fight in non-major markets?
4) Continuing from the that last sentence, it’s a sad commentary that of all the talented fighters on Saturday’s card, most have to support themselves through other means. Even somebody like Anthony Bonsante, who is a top-100 fighter and had national exposure through The Contender, supports his family through his job as a night manager at a K-Mart distribution center. How many other sports have top-100 players who can say the same thing? Certainly not football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, golf, auto racing, tennis…..
5) While the good of the Internet clearly outweighs the bad, it’s unfortunate that it gives anonymous posters a license to spew garbage. At least two postings signed “anonymous” accused Tommy of taking a dive or being paid off to slow down. While a can’t say I “know” Tommy, I did a lengthy phone interview with him and spent several hours with him in person and am confident enough to stand behind my name and say that what you saw was what you got, a humble, quiet, sportsman of integrity from Altoona who fought his heart out and deserves nothing but respect.
6) On the same note, why all the hostility toward Joe Hensley and, to a lesser extent, Chris Middendorf? These guys put their money where there mouth is and did something that hadn’t been done before. If you think they could have done better, drop them a (respectful) line with suggestions, or hook your horse to another wagon. But “rival promoters” remember, your competition is not the Hensleys and the Middendorfs , but baseball, football, movies, television and everything else that competes for that precious entertainment dollar. Every new fan that one of these guys hooks on boxing is another new fan than might buy a ticket to one of your shows!
Hey Christopher!!
Really appreciate the comments! Yes, it was my cell phone and I was stunned by the quality myself on both the Miller and Lange interviews.
That's an interesting comment about Miller's pre-fight situation. I'm trying to remember now whether he had the band for the Dante Craig bout. I think he did, but I'm not sure.
Your thoughts about Bonsante are so true! That's why we never say boxers "play" boxing.
What I'm finding out is that there seem to be a lot of jealous people in our boxing community -- those who don't want to see others succeed.
This also seems to be the situation involving Joe Hensley and Chris Middendorf. I don't know why there is hostility toward Hensley. The Middendorf hostility has been surprising as well. Without facts, I can't say anything bad about Middendorf because he has never done me wrong.
That's because your not a fighter, and he can't get anything out of you.
Get a life. I get paid by the promoters as a matchmaker. Or in a rare cases I can be hired by a manager to consult with him/her on opponents and be paid by the manager. Most matchmakers also act as booking agents and will fill fights for people on other promoters cards and charge a fee based on what the fighter is getting paid. I do not do that as I prefer to put together whole shows.
When I wrote of the hostility expressed toward Hensley and Middendorf, I was writing from a fan's perspective, not a boxer's. It goes back to what Gary said about some in the boxing community who don't want to see anybody else succeed.
Just look at all the barbs that were flying at Joe Hensley prior to Oct. 7th, his first show in the area. The same thing happened to Chris Middendorf before his first Patriot Center show of Jimmy Lange Vs. Perry Ballard.
Perhaps the most notable was Thom Loverro of The Washington Times who wrote a scathing piece ridiculing Middendorf for even considering such a foolish idea...and he didn't even attend the show! In fairness to Thom, he did, to an extent take back some of his words in his column last Saturday. But it was more than a year late and too close to the fight time to spike any sales.
As far as the venue is concerned, I like The Patriot Center. Yes, the crowd looked thin on Saturday, but it sure didn't sound thin. The fact is that there is a gigantic disparity between the crowd size of the typical club fight, and the 3,500-6,000 fans who have attended each of the three Patriot Center Shows, and there aren't many venues that can cover that gap.
Midendorfus appears. Did you pay your net bill with some of that money you stole from Poo and other local fighters? If I recall, you did Dana Dunston dirty to way back when.
Wow...What a post up top from Christopher Nicholson. EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT post...
* Sidenote - Guys, I know Christopher Middendorf about as well as Christopher Walken, and Joe Hensley about as well as Joe Cocker. That is - not very well at all. But the only complaint whatsoever I have about this superb blog are the shots directed at them. Do I say this because I care deeply about them? NO! I'm saying it because I come here to read about Boxing, and feel it's just not the right time or place for that kind of talk. At the very least, please don't do it under the guise of an 'anonymous moniker'. Anyways, that's my .02 cents on the bit, and probably the last I'll ever say on it. Peace & respect all...
Thanks for the kind comments, The Cruiserweight Bizzy! I'm glad that Gary is putting an end to the anonymous personal attacks, according to the above Blog entry. While "Boxing Along The Beltway" has had plenty of pointed criticism, much of it coming from Gary himself, there are certain rules of fair play, just like the sport itself.
I like "the rules" that Gary uses for his own views:
1) He signs his name to everything he posts.
2) He explains his reasoning so even if you disagree, you can understand how he reached his conclusion.
3) He, as far as I know, has always offered the recipients of that criticism a chance to respond.
How can you argue with that?
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