Thursday, November 29, 2007

Ballroom Scale Watch!

Here are the weights for tomorrow night's Ballroom Boxing card at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, MD. Note there are some notable changes to the card.


Horace Grant 245 vs. Harvey Jolly 195 3/4

Mike Paschall 174 1/4 vs. Randy Pogue 175 3/4

Carson McCourry 178 vs. Bob Wilder 177 1/2

Alexander Johnson 170 1/2 vs. Zeferino Albino 174 1/2

Scott Buchanan 221 1/2 vs. Mike Miller 255

Carlos Jones 180 1/2 vs. Gary Lavender 185 1/2


Harvey "Candy Man" Jolly (6-6-1, three KO's) is from Adrian, MI and has lost his last four bouts to relatively decent competition (Joey Abell, Zuri Lawrence, Alfredo Escalera, Jr. and Bowie Tupou)

Undefeated DC heavyweight Scott "Duke" Buchanan (3-0, three KO's) and Landover, MD cruiserweight Carlos "The Headbanger" Jones (5-12, three KO's) were late additions to the card when bouts for Thomas "KO" Snow and Earl "Mighty Mouse" Cole fell through.

Buchanan's opponent, Mike Miller of Cleveland, OH (2-7-1, two KO's), is winless in his last seven bouts. Jones will try to snap a five-bout losing streak against Gary Lavender of Pine Level, NC (4-9, four KO's) who stopped Kishawn Davis in the first round in his last outing on November 17 in Wilson, NC.

Danny Kisner is also off this card because he suffered a rib injury in training a few days ago. Emily Klinefelter, the amateur champion from Iowa, is also apparently off this card.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harvey Jolly is not a heavyweight???

Anonymous said...

Niether is Danny Kisner

Anonymous said...

Norman Allen pulled out yesterday - it had nothing to do with Chris.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate the kind words. I was originally told to make his fight at 135. Only in the last four days was I told that his fight could be at a heavier weight. Although his team would prefer for him to fight at the lighter weight and use his tremendous size advantage at that weight to Earl's advantage, there was no one at lightweight that I could find that wanted to fight a 6'3" lightweight (within reason). At the higher weights he is clearly much easier to match up. Another local fighter committed to the fight but was unable to make a catch weight that was agreeable to both fighters and pulled out yesterday three hours before the weigh in. Unfortunately that did not leave me enough time to get a replacement. If I make another match for him I will understand the flexibility about the weight and adjust accordingly. I am disappointed that he will not be fighting as I consider him to be one of the most exciting young fighters in the area. PERIOD.

Anonymous said...

Who was the original fighter supposed to be smart guy? And why don't you become a matchmaker if you're so great.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Lay off Chris. He is one of the best matchmakers in the country. He told you why he couldn't find someone: "Only in the last four days was I told that his fight could be at a heavier weight"

You are obviously just wanting to get your hate on.

Anonymous said...

Thats bullshit he had plenty of time.

Anonymous said...

Chris,
It's great to see Carson McCourry's active again. Maybe now I just might be able to make my LONG delayed pro debut against him on one of your future cards.

A little history on this ...
Back in the mid '80s on up until 1996, I was involved in the game in just about every capacity you can imagine. I was a sparring partner for a while ( for fighters like Louis Howard, Doonie Poole, Calvin Porter, Roger Brown & a host of others ), then a licensed cornerman, I helped out with PR, matchmaking, "ran" gloves, basically whatever needed doing in the days & weeks leading up to the cards & on fight night, I did at one time or another.

I did this for a lot of top promoters like Arum, King, Main Events etc., but the vast amount of my steady work came from Don Elbaum & Mike Acri. And I worked all of Don's shows in '90 - '91 in Rockville, Bethesda & Baltimore.
It was during a couple of these early shows at the Crowne Plaza that I saw a fighter of Don's by the name of Jeff "Bad Mood" Schmude get belted out by Jason Waller & Eric Elliot. And heard that Acri wanted to feature him in his hometown of Erie, PA on 11/10/90.

A card that I was already scheduled to work for Acri as I'd been working all his ERIE BOXING CLASSIC cards for the past couple-few years by that point in time. Only this time I wasn't interested in working it in my usual manner, this time I wanted to fight & make the pro debut that I''d never gotten around to making up to that point.

At 28, I figured it was about time & going by what I'd seen of Schmude, I knew without a doubt that I could beat him. And doing it in front of his hometown crowd wouldn't bother me at bit. So, I talked to Elbaum & Acri & they made the match.

At that time, other than the occasional sparring gig, I hadn't fought competitively since the last bout of my amateur career here in Buffalo in '85. Which, I started out as a skinny 17 year old 125 pounder & finished up at '56 lbs with a 17-5 record. Nothing spectacular, but I was a good walk in banger who fought some good fighters in my day like JL Ivey & Henry Hughes. So, it was just a matter of getting back into fighting shape.

On short notice. As at this point it was mid September & the fight was in early November. But, I trained my nuts off & came in a 156, just like I wanted to.

Unfortunately, while Schmude didn't mind fighting a couple-three hundred miles from home for some quick cash, his heart wasn't into making his hometown debut against me. And he had his trainer Lou Bizarro pull him out of the fight just before weighing in, pleading sick.

Naturally I was gutted, but Acri tried to save the day for me by matching me up with Ohio's Mike Warren. Who was supposed to fight John "Boy" Bizarro that night at '47, but came in heavy. So, that left two middleweights needing a fight. Perfect, right?

Nope. Greg Serb refused to allow the match because Warren was a six & eight round fighter with a 8-4 record & I was a debuter. We pleaded with the guy to sanction a four between us, but he was a real prick that day. So, no fight for me.

Fast forward to Carson McCourry's pro debut in Baltimore about a half year later & who's his opponent? Jeff Schmude. And who does Elbaulm press into service to work Schmude's corner? Me.

And it wound up being Jeff's most impressive outing actually. He gave Carson a good go of it before running out of gas & getting stopped in the third. He never made it out of the first round in any of his other three pro fights.

Jump ahead again a couple of months & McCourry was scheduled for his second bout against Donnie Pully on a show that Kipp Elbaum & I were running ourselves because his dad Don was cooling his heels in a federal facility for a little while at the time.

Unfortunately for both Pully & McCourry, the guy who came to work Pully's corner was a heavyweight by the name of Darrin Hayden. A short tempered heavyweight that wound up accused of stealing the fighter's meal money from the front desk as it was getting doled out. By your's truly.

During said transaction, Hayden grabbed some envelopes & took off to his & Pully's room. When I went to the room with Kipp to say "what's up?", Mr. Hayden took offense & proceeded to cause quite the scene. During which, the only guy that wound up getting hurt was his own guy, Donnie Pully who just happened to be in his way as he took off from the room & the hotel. Poor Pully wasn't involved or even aware of the missing $$$ issue until then.

Pully was just a bit roughed up, but OK. But, being a rather, how shall I say it, "gentle soul" for a professional pugilist, he pulled out of the fight & left for home. Leaving McCourry without an opponent for the following day's fight.

Then came my big blunder. Elbaum asked me to step in & I should have. I was totally out of shape, but I could've made the weight. I just let my pride get in the way. As I saw Carson as an undiciplined street fighter that I thought I could beat given a chance to train for it & I didn't want to go in there halfassed & probably lose.

But, at that time, I didn't know that it would be the last time that I'd ever be that close to fighting that one pro fight I'd always wanted. So, I turned it down.

Seeing as how I've already written & bored you with a novel length post already, I won't bother you with the details of what occurred to keep me out of the ring for the ensuing years. I'll just ask you if you think there's any legit chance of me getting that opportunity to fight Carson McCourry again. What do you say?

I know 45 is just a wee bit long in the tooth for someone to be inquiring about a pro debut, but I'm totally serious about this. I wouldn't waste your time otherwise. You have my word on that.

I look forward to your reply. And thanks for taking the time to read this thing. LOL.

Peace.

- Jim Allcorn

I can be reached at:

bluerosekiller@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

Jim,

Here's the deal, Maryland will never give you a Federal ID. You have to get a Federal ID from the state in which you live. You better hope you live in VA if you want to fight. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

That was a very interesting read...

Anonymous said...

Jim you would have done well with Carson last night!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Damn, are you sure there's not some way around it?

Now admittedly, it's been a while since I've been involved in the game. As I said in my previous post, the last card I worked outside of my hometown was one in Reading,PA all the way back in '96 with Simon Brown headlining. So obviously, it's been a while.

Such is life when you get married, have kids & thus, have to get a "real job" ... LOL

But, back in the day, Maryland used to have a VERY easy going commission. Of course, at the time, I think the gentleman in charge was 90 something if he was a day. I can't remember his name ( Chester, perhaps? ), but I used to be in charge of picking him up from the train station for all of Elbaum's shows. Very nice guy. Just very old, very slow & not too concerned about what was going on, if you know what I mean?

That being said, Elbaum was able to bring in some fellows to fight that would've done well to tie there shoes to be honest with you. So, considering my age, I was hoping that although I'm sure Chester (?) has gone on to his greater reward by now, that the commission was still fairly "relaxed". Know what I mean? I mean, McCourry & his buddy Kisner aren't exactly young men anymore either ...

So, please. Let me know if you can think of any "loopholes" to get me licensed. Believe me, I'm not looking to begin a whole new career by any means. I just want to have that one, single pro fight. Win, lose or draw.

Peace.

- Jim

Anonymous said...

Oh & boxbible, thanks!

I appreciate that you took the time to read it. Take care.

Anonymous said...

I agree with boxbible that it was a great read. What the local scene needs more than 40 year old fighters though, are folks like you that not only have experienced what sounds like all aspects of the game, but also have a flair for telling a good story.
My recommendation would be that you start a new boxing blog, that is not news related as BLTB is, but one that reads like your letter here and is about the boxing life.
So many people see the sport as glamorous ie. the bright lights, big crowds and lets get ready to rumble. You have clearly seen the world from the other side of the spit bucket, and I am sure people would love to hear more stories well told such as yours.
So my recommendation is to let the 40 year olds be, and concentrate on something that you clearly do well.
I will look forward to seeing your next byline.

Anonymous said...

Talk about a bullet. Really cold. That is not what Jim was asking for.

Anonymous said...

When Chris is not BS'ing trying to make a match, I guess he can be a brutally honest man...

Anonymous said...

I guess. Sometimes honesty may be best. I know I don't always like it, but often in retrospect, it's a great leveler that's saved me some body/heart ache.

Anonymous said...

I think I prefer BS...

Anonymous said...

Me too ;)

Anonymous said...

Everybody does not hate Chris. He is about as far away from being a loser as the North Pole is from the South Pole.