Dear Mr. Hoffa:

The Retired Boxers Foundation, on behalf of thousands of retired professional boxers, want to thank you and the Teamsters for your interest in organizing a union for professional boxers. I see on your website that one of the Teamsters goals is "organizing the unorganized." God knows that you hit the jackpot! The Teamsters are not the first to suggest a union for the fighters, as I am sure you know. We think we can help the Teamsters gain the success that others have found so elusive, by offering some suggestions that will insure that your mission is the same as the athletes-to improve the working conditions of the fighters; to protect their rights and make sure that they are paid what they deserve for their efforts, including insurance benefits and a pension when they retire.

REPUTATION IS IMPORTANT

If you have done your homework on boxing, and I am sure that you have, you probably know that the sport of boxing has a really bad reputation because of a handful of greedy, unscrupulous and exploitative people that circle the bloodied ring warriors like a shark around chum. I know that the Teamsters have had the same kind of problems so you know first hand about the stigma of corruption and the damage it can do to the innocent people who look to the "leadership" of any organization to deliver on the promises that are made. People who have been around for a while know that the Teamsters have been victimized-just like professional boxing--by the same kind of power hungry thugs and criminals that give all of us a bad name. I know that people change and I am all for giving others a second chance. I always say, "Your past is like your ass-it's behind you."

PROFESSIONAL BOXERS WANT A UNION, BUT IS IT POSSIBLE?

The real reason for this letter is that we do not want the Teamsters/Joint Association of Boxers (JAB) to start off on the wrong foot. We fear that another organizing failure will put the idea of a union to bed for another twenty-five years. More importantly, we do not want you to mislead the professional athletes in the sport of boxing, promising them what others have been unable to deliver for the past hundred years. Professional boxers have been clambering for changes in the sport of boxing and many superficial, but very genuine efforts have been made. In fact, the fella's at the Boxing Organizing Committee (BOC)-Paul Johnson, Jose Chequi Torres, Irv Abramson (before he died), Tim Witherspoon and others--have been very vocal about their mission to organize the fighters and have been the most visible as well as consistent. If it is true that the BOC has declined your offer to join them, you will essentially be working against them. How can the unity among fighters be achieved when there is a division in the organizing entities?

If it is true that the Teamsters offered jobs to at least three of the BOC leaders to abandon the BOC and join the JAB organization on the Teamsters payroll, the job was allegedly offered to Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.

CAN THE TEAMSTERS DELIVER? IMPORTANT QUESTIONS NEED ANSWERS

1. Did the Teamsters offer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad a job with the Teamsters or LRA Consulting to organize the professional boxers union/JAB? Is he on the Teamsters Union payroll?
2. Did Eddie Mustafa Muhammad initiate the proposed Union-Joint Association of Boxers- or was it organized under the guidance of the Teamsters Union with the intent of having a professional boxer lead the charge?

3. JAB has publicly announced the names of two fighters as supporters-one current and one retired. In addition to Holmes and Abdulaev, who else will lead this effort to organize? Your press release said that the "biggest names in boxing" were behind the union. Who are they? The fighters want to know because they think this is the deal breaker.

WHAT CAN THE TEAMSTERS DO THAT OTHERS HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO DO?

1. According to their website, the National Football League organized in 1920, but waited 35 years for representation-noting that they are a team sport in a league, with a defined season. Acknowledging the unsuccessful efforts of many over the past fifty years in boxing to organize a boxers union, what will the Teamsters be able to offer that the AFL-CIO, the BOC and the others have failed to offer, to cement this organizing effort?

2. Boxing is an international sport and organizing efforts in Europe have been tentative at best. Reports from the fighters tell us that less than 100 fighters have joined, and collectively, they report that their opportunities to work, i.e., box for pay, have all but disappeared which is a great concern to them. How many fighters to you intend to sign as Teamsters in order to make a union viable?

3. The Boxing Organizing Committee clearly had a strategy for organizing and they chose the "slow and steady" route. After ten years of the BOC's efforts, why did you chose to rebuff their request for support, and, rather than strengthen their efforts, turn your back on them?

4. What about Gerry Cooney's FIST Foundation Union? Even though FIST has denied that the OPEIU Guild is NOT a union, you reported in your press releases that it was. It would seem that UNITY is a key component of UNION and we now have the BOC, FIST's OPEIU "Union" and JAB. Did you try to hook up with Cooney or do you consider OPEIU competition to the Teamsters? Please explain.

CONCLUSION

Finally, even though I wish you the best, I still think that the professional boxers will get what they want and need when they are ready to accept the fact that the changes they desire are really up to them. In 1960, Jack Demsey spoke to some business people in the Midwest and he said it was TIME to organize the fighters-to fight for dignity and respect. He died waiting. I got tired of waiting for a union and I got tired of the talk. I started the Retired Boxers Foundation in 1998 and started a campaign called "Fighters Helping Fighters." While the Teamsters are working with the Joint Association of Boxing and while we all wait to see if you can make it happen, the retired fighters will continue helping each other. There are others who are tired of waiting, including all of the Ring Organizations and groups like the Golden State Boxers Association. Gerry Cooney continues to do what he can to help fighters and God knows that there is enough for all of us to do to restore the dignity our athletes deserve, whether it is a proper burial, new teeth or a job. For the old timers, it's too late for a union. You have Gerry's number. Mine is (805) 583-5890.

In the meantime, while you initiate collective bargaining in boxing, the Retired Boxers Foundation will continue to pay for Juan Antonio Lopez's chemotherapy and Joey Gambino's new dentures. I will continue to help Olympic Gold Medalist, Andrew Maynard, apply for his Veteran's benefits, and I'll keep checking to see if Bobby Chacon has a roof over his head. Boxing is full of fighters who bow their heads in shame for believing in people who promised them the world and for all the other mistakes they made when they were champions. The fact remains that boxing reform must come from the fighters-not Teddy Atlas, John McCain or the Teamsters.

Good luck. We will be waiting to see if this is about the fighters or if this is about the new Teamsters Organizing strategy to increase membership (membership fees). The BOC worked more than a decade and there were others before them. Maybe the Teamsters have the clout (political and financial) to make it happen. I'm gonna die a fighter, and I would like to leave this world knowing that the kids that follow me will not suffer like some of my friends-that they will have the same respect that other athletes have and that they will have medical insurance and pensions when their days in the ring are over. This is America and I believe that all things are possible as long as people are honest and are willing to "walk the talk."

Sincerely,

Alex "The Bronx Bomber" Ramos
Founder and President
RETIRED BOXERS FOUNDATION
3359 Bryan Avenue
Simi Valley, CA 93063
http://www.retiredboxers.org
JaxFacts@ix.netcom.com