I hope to be able to add a photo to this, but the Sun Ming Ming era has begun along the Beltway. The 7'9" inch Sun scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots in 20 minutes in his Maryland Nighthawks debut as the Nighthawks defeated the Strong Island Sound 115-110. An overflow, sellout crowd saw the game at Montgomery College in Rockville in which I was fortunate enough to sit in for Henry "Discombobulating" Jones as the public address announcer.
Let me thank Henry for thinking of me for the job and also thanks to the entire Nighthawks staff for making me feel welcome! It was a great experience and the Nighthawks are a first-class organization!
Some observations on Sun: He is still learning this game, but he is not totally lost. He has a nice little shooting touch from about 10 feet out, but he is slow.
The boxing community along the Beltway can learn something about promotion from the Nighthawks staff. The Nighthawks immediately made Sun a part of their promotional and advertising package. There was a flyer from one of their sponsors, a gym that said "The same staff that works with Sun Ming Ming can work with YOU too!"
I found an appearance Sun made on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last year on Youtube. Here's the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nx6EP-kxOg4
By the way, one of the owners of the team -- Tom Doyle (who also serves as the COO of the American Basketball Association) -- has had boxing ties. He once handled the affairs of one of the newest hall of famers, Roberto Duran.
There is another Beltway Boxing reference here. I saw two former Beltway Boxers at the game. Baltimore cruiserweight "The Runstopper" Courtney Bridget was in attendance. Bridget is now a trainer in the Baltimore area. One of his charges -- Nick "Flash" Collins -- will be fighting on the February 17 card at Suitland Senior High School.
The other former boxer is a REAL blast from the past and I hadn't seen him since he stopped boxing in 1994. Many of you probably remember a talented middleweight in the 90's named Les "White Lightning" Johnson. Johnson fought out of Rockville and he was trained by Junious Hinton. Johnson was a fixture on the TV series "Boxing Spotlight" that I worked on and he was one of the more popular boxers in the area. Johnson was 21-3 with 15 KO's and was working his way up the ladder until a serious injury to his shoulder stopped him from competing. Johnson is very good friends with Doyle and he comes to numerous Nighthawks games. I hope to do a "Where are They Now" style interview with him soon.
Interesting read Gary! Thanks for the 'heads (way!) up' on Ming!
ReplyDeleteBTW - I think Ming may have some difficulty staying physically sound, given his size and such. I just recently saw a few brief vid clips of him, and your asessment seems to be 'spot-on'. Yes, he is pretty slow, but as you said -- he does look to posess some level of b-ball acumen and ability. In any case, he's intriguing, and I think more people should support this level of basketball. Especially considering/hearing that this particuarly franchise also puts on a great show and marketing. Hey, I'd go see them on occasion if I lived in the area.
ReplyDeleteP.S - Yeah, I know I can't resist with-the-irresistable Nicolay Valuev comparisons, your review reads eerily similar to a few of his earlier ones! ( * I still don't think Valuev is that good, but I have to give the big lummox some credit; he's not horrible either. He's turned into a decent & respectable pro fighter that just so happens to be HUGE...and have a huge head...and a very hairy back...;-)
Look forward to interview with Les. I often wondered why his career ended so suddenly. How did he hurt his shoulder? Saw him fight several times, in fact I believe he went to high school with my little brother. Also, what ever became of Ed Griffin out of Bmore? He seemed to be a talented fighter who was moved up in class to fast.
ReplyDeleteEd Griffin was a very talented welterweight who lost some key battles in his career. One of those notable losses was to Curtis "Dynamite" Peoples at Martin's Crosswinds in 1995.
ReplyDeleteI see Ed at most of the cards in the area. He is doing fine and has been training some young fighters in the Baltimore area.
As far as Les, I'm still working on getting an interview with him, but there is talk that he and Maryland Nighthawks owner Tom Dolan are working on putting together a boxing promotion in Montgomery County.
My mistake, that should read Tom Doyle, not Dolan.
ReplyDelete