Ted the Bull's Scotch and Cigar Club #6

The Scotch and Cigar Club is back, and as always, your guide is the one and only Ted "The Bull" Sares.

* * * * * * * *

Welcome to the latest edition of the Club (18th overall). No more fooling around-we are going first class tonight and from here on out. The very best Champagne (Baccarat with some bottles of 2000 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Rosé just in case), shrimp on ice, chunks of Maine Lobster with a tangy buttery sauce, and a variety of sushi for those with more adventurous proclivities.

The table is also lined up with just about every fine single malt scotch imaginable and the cigar humidor is overflowing with premium Cubans (and only premium Cubans) tonight including Partagas Shorts, Montecristo No 4's, Belicosos Finos Cab 25, Punch-Punch and many more. By the way, is "premium Cubans" redundant? Enjoy.

Our music is usually up to you, but we are starting things off with the Godfather himself, James Brown (and Macio Parker). Yeah, we got "I Feel Good," "Get up off of That Thing," "Living In America," "Funky Chicken," and "The Payback" among many others. Rumor has it that Boosty Collins might stop by as well and share some funk.

With a nod to Rhode Island, the Duke Robillard band with legendary Doug James on baritone sax will be stopping by to do the "Memphis Grind."

Our blues hit of the month is guitar great Robben Ford's "Take Out Some Insurance" from his new blues Collection album. Also, you will want to hear Recovery Road - Robben Ford, Will Lee & Friends. Our jazz hit is Curtiss Fuller's rendition of "A La Mode." This one has to be heard to be believed.

Of course, I'll play anything you want as long as it's not Country, Dixieland or New Age. Fusion (as in Kenny G) is also verboten.

Now, let's get to boxing and please don't hesitate to inject your own boxing topics, opinions, disagreement, or agreement. Let's have some fun here.

1) Pound for Pound Top Dozen

Again, this is simply a snapshot in time as of September 1, 2010 and is different from my last listing.

1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
3. Lucian Bute
4. Andre Ward
5. Sergio Martinez
6. Paul Williams
7. Celestino Caballero
8. Nonito Donaire
9. Vic Darchinyan
10. Timothy Bradley
11. Jean Pascal
12. Juan Manuel Lopez

Others a heartbeat away include Chad Dawson, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, Yonnhy Perez, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Marcos Maidana.

2) Prospect of the Month: James "Keep'em Sleepin" Stevenson

At 13-0 (10 KO), James is beginning to get some attention among the lower tier welterweights. While is opposition leaves something to be desired, he did stop one Dwayne Shelton. No big deal except Shelton is the same guy who gave streaking Mike Tiberi (recognize the name?) his only loss. Mike is currently at 14-1. These are Belt Way guys and they don't usually get the kind of publicity that Philly fighters warrant, but many a fine fighter has emerged from that region.

3) Highest Paid Boxers Report

Etianne "E.T." Whitaker won 19 of his first 25 bouts but when he was stopped by Detroit's Damon "Bulldog" McCreary (who retired with a 13-0 mark), things started to go south. In fact, he has lost 21 of his last 23 and his current record is 33-32-2. His last three defeats were one round stoppages and occurred in seconds. Indeed, he has endured 7 first round wax jobs, while inflicting 10 such icings of his own. That computes to 17 first round fights. He has lost 4 fights in the second stanza while stopping his opponent 5 times in that's same round. Continuing the pattern, he has dropped 5 in the third round while winning 2 in that same round. Thus, 33 of his fights have not gone beyond the third round. If you do the math, E.T. does pretty well on a pay for round basis.

Curiously, he has fought just about anyone who is anybody including the aforementioned McCreary twice, Demetrius Jenkins, Rudy Markussen, Anthony Hanshaw, Jorge Fernando Castro (120-8-3 coming in), Charles Brewer, Rico Hoye, Tito Mendoza, Allen Green, Troy Ross, Jaidon Codrington, Paul Briggs, Chris Henry, Karoly Balzsay, Bryan Vera, and William Joppy. E.T. is also a road warrior deluxe. You name it and he has fought there including such exotic locations as Saint Lucia, Montreal, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, Cordoba, Argentina, Viborg, Denmark,

4) Mismatches of the Month and Worst Records of the Month

Throw a dart at the Thai matches and you will come up with the answer. Front and center, however, continues to be Medgoen 3-K Battery Singsurat who keeps trying to charge his dead batteries by fighting guys who are making their debut. 3-K (68-6) has won his last there against 3 debuting fighters (from Nigeria, Spain, and Japan). In this regard, he practices equal opportunity. Seventeen of his last 32 have come against boxers fighting their first professional bout.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Gabor Blough is now at -2-66-5 while Slovakian Anton Glofak is at 2-80-8 and has been stopped a dangerous 41 times.

5) Boxing Personality of the Month: Teddy Atlas

Teddy is a guy whose name can stir up controversy faster than you can say "Margarito," but few doubt his incredible passion for the sport of boxing, refreshing honesty, and the fact his heart is in the right place. Some say he has become a caricature of himself, but I just think that's the way he is. Cus was, so is Kevin Rooney. These guys were or are quai-"Runyonesque." Maybe it has something to do with the Catskills.

While I personally don't see him as an elite trainer, I do believe he is a very fine one who was brilliant with Michael Moorer, albeit a bit overly theatrical and emotional. I also think Teddy's somewhat over the top with his tough guy persona (in my view, he was more like a rebellious kid that got into trouble as the title of his book infers), but on balance, the ledger is manifestly positive. In 1997, he founded the Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation to honor the memory of his late father. The Foundation awards scholarships and grants to worthy individuals. In addition, he breaks down fights extremely well, he calls out a fighter's weakness very astutely, he is a solid trainer with documented success (and has an opportunity to add to his resume with Russian heavyweight Aleksander Povetkin, he has a true passion for boxing, he has done great work for charities, and I particularly liked the way he worked with some of his lesser known fighters back in the day-fighters like the late "Shamrock Express" (Chris Reid) and the explosive "Heat" (John Verderosa).

Insight into what makes Teddy tick can be found in his book: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man, Harper Collins, 2006, By Teddy Atlas, Peter Alson. I have read it and found it to be well worth the money.

6) Boxing in the U.S. Remains in Big Trouble, But There Is Hope

Though I like him, watching Sergio Mora fight on PPV is a forerunner of what we can expect in the way of "free" boxing on television. Pavlik-Espino was hardly a bargain. It's going to get worse. The many negative variables coming from different directions will continue to weaken the sport for which we have such passion. To repeat, boxing in the U.S is in trouble.

Also, those who referred to Dana White in the past as a used car salesman (mostly on other tabloid sites) had best review their opinions. This guy knows what marketing something is all about. He is now the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and a multi-millionaire with over one million Twitter followers and adulation from the estimated 300 million fans who support the sport worldwide. For me, he represents the essence of being an entrepreneur. I admire him and salute him.

And now Evander Holyfield reportedly says he's looking at both Klits and Haye. Swell; get in line with Timur and Maurice, Evander.

Some hope on the horizon

Guys like Beibut Shumenov offer the possibility of a recharge in boxing,. This guy comes to fight and as Dan Goossen says, "It's unheard of, a fighter that wants one challenge after another so early in their career... But this is what boxing needs, the most competitive and biggest fights that can be made. The networks should ONLY be looking at these young champions to be facing off with one another. Beibut wants to give the fans want they want to see." By the way, Beibut has a law degree, speaks five languages (Russian, Kazakh, English, Turkish and Uzbek), and with his brother, Chingis, own a boxing promotional company based in Las Vegas. Wow! And WBO middleweight champ Dmitry Pirog may be another. The return of super exciting James Kirkland can only be a positive for boxing as well. Finally, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez represent something special-a throwback if you will. And for those who think Junior Chavez has a chance against him should they ever fight, it's a no contest. Look, Saul beat Miguel Vazquez twice. This is the same Vazquez who schooled Breidis Prescott (who waxed Khan) and who just beat Ji-Hoon Kim for the vacant IBF lightweight title. Canelo also waxed Raul Pinzon in one--the same Pinzon who gave Ricardo Torres fits. Canelo would walk through Junior and beat him like a rug. I suspect it might not be too long before we see a Cotto-Alvarez matchup. Let's get it on!!!

7) Margarito gets license to fight Pac-Man in Texas

"It was an honor to fight in the first world championship held at Cowboys Stadium. Jerry Jones was a wonderful host."
--Congressman Manny Pacquiao

My feelings on this have begun to change ever-so-slightly, though I still condemn Margarito for failing to show proper remorse and I am bothered by the hugh payday he will receive.. However, in my mind, I can separate his actions with the Resto-Collins affair. The entire deal has been predictable and it is now a done deal (no big surprise) so I have decided to move on.

To those who choose to boycott the fight, I say have at it, for your cause is clearly a righteous one in your minds.. As for me, I have played with the idea of going down there with some Texas buddies and watching Pac and Margo getting it on, but the undercard might be such that the trip would not be worth the trouble. The entire event-- what with the monster crowd and its ethnic content-does have an allure that I cannot deny. To boycott it on PPV or live or on replay may well be to cut off your nose to spite your face. Remember, this is Manny Pacquiao in there.

Now then, if someone offered to "fully comp" you for the fight, would you accept the offer and go down there to watch it?

8) "Sucra"

Former title challenger "Sucra" Ray Oliveira (47-11-2) returns to the ring on October 2 for the first time in more than five years against light heavyweight Joey "KO Kid" Spina, at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. I know Ray and the entire Oliveira family and I don't want him to take this fight. In his last one with Emanuel Augustus in July 2005 at the Hampton Beach Casino in New Hampshire, bad things happened in the ring and thankfully Emanuel saw it and held back. That one was topped in the 8th before anything tragic happened.

Spina (25-1-2) is a heavy puncher and could do serious damage to Ray. For God's sakes, this fight should not be allowed.

9) Excerpt from Planet Boxing:

Brownsville

Home to Abe "Kid Twist" Reles and "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss, two of the Jewish mob's most feared henchmen, Brownsville was where lighthearted kvetching and the shouts of pushcart vendors faded into the muffled screams of the mafia hit. In the hands of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and "Big Al" Anastasia, Murder Inc. turned the business of crime into a vast, well-oiled enterprise.
--From Bummy Davis vs. Murder Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Mafia and an Ill-Fated Prizefighter

We both went to P.S. 396,...He's a couple years older than me, so I wasn't a friend of his or anything. He was a loner. Actually, all I remember about him is that he was big for his age and that he always had a bag of cookies with him.
--Riddick Bowe speaking of Mike Tyson

Brownsville "never promised you anything. It was up to you to find your niche and make a life for yourself, to find your thing and grab it with both hands.
-- Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

...Jacobs, 21, has not let any of that go to his head. He remains focused on honing his craft and building himself into a champion. Though he was born and raised in Brownsville, Jacobs doesn't have the same flash and swagger of other boxers who came from that neighborhood.
--Tim Smith

At one time, the section of Brooklyn known as Brownsville was one of New York City's most infamous slums. A lot of "famous" people came from here--Aaron Copland, Willie Randolph, Lloyd "World" Free, Nelson George, John Gotti and a whole lot of others. But when it comes to boxers, there must be something in the water that produce the greats who drank it, including Benny "Schoolboy" Friedkin, Al "Bummy" Davis, explosive Mike Tyson, troubled Riddick Bowe, Floyd Patterson, and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, as well as combustible Zab Judah, Daniel Judah, Shannon Briggs, Junior Jones, Mark Breland, and now Curtis "Showtime" Stevens (21-3) and Daniel "The Golden Child" Jacobs (18-0). As an amateur, Jacobs won his fourth New York Daily News Golden Gloves Championship (one short of Breland's record). Yuri Foreman (28-0-0-1) recently won the WBA super welterweight title and it's possible he has been drinking the same Brooklyn water.

Al "Bummy"Davis, who grew up in the then-predominantly Jewish Brownsville section, developed into a tough, street-smart young man, and became well-known in a neighborhood that was famed as the home of Murder Incorporated. He was a slugger with a lethal left hook and an old school record of 65-10-4 with 47 KO's. Named to Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time, he was murdered in 1945 when he was drinking with his friends in Dudy's Bar in Brownsville and four armed robbers walked in. "Bummy" attacked the robbers, knocked one of them down, was shot three times, but still managed to chase the other three. During the pursuit, he was shot a fatal fourth time.

For an interesting boxing tour, visit the author's website featuring new articles and new photos at www.tedsares.com. Also, please sign the guest book so I know you dropped by?