Greatest Night in Boxing

By Keith Terceira

22.09 - Have no fear the Byrd-Oquendo fight was definitely not it. Chris Byrd did more last night to assure Fres Oquendo bigger paydays’ than he did for himself. Lackluster, is the most generous word I can use to describe Byrd’s defense of the IBF title. More controversy talk will surround the judging of this fight . The dust has not even settled from last weeks debacle.

Over the rat’s nest that is my desk, hangs an article and pictures that for me was my greatest night of boxing. In the scheme of pugilistic history it is a pimple, a slight wrinkle in time, that passed unnoticed, a non-event. For the few hundred that attended ,it was just another day in their life. That day, for me was "THE DAY". The day I became a boxing fanatic.

In the life of every boxing fan there is a certain fight, a particular fighter, or even a generation of fighters that solidified their interest in the sport of Boxing. For fanatics like me there is "The Day" in our life that we crossed over from being just a fan.

Tony Mazzarella, deserves the credit for making my crossing over possible. I’ll set the scene. June 22nd, 1986, was the time. The famous Waterfront Crabhouse, Queens, New York City, the place. Eight amateur fights were scheduled in the upstairs banquet room to provide the entertainment for a benefit sponsored by the Italio-American Association. We were raising money for Father Coleman Costello’s Queens Outreach program, among others. The event didn’t draw much attention from the daily papers or the media. What it did draw was some of the greatest legends in the sport.

The names of the amateur fighters are lost in the clutter of my mind, but I can name every Ex-fighter present quicker than my wife can quote our children’s birth weights. Willie Pep, Rocky Graziano, Joe Micelli, Phil Terranova, Sandy Saddler, Tippy Larkin, Floyd Paterson, Jersey Joe Walcott, Vinny Ferguson, Johnny Colon, Curley Nichols, Billy Graham, Billy Kilroy, Ted Wint, Al Reid, Jose Torres, Bellasandro Carubia, Pete Hayes, Johnny Defoe, Tami Mauriello. Marvel Comics never dreamed of a superhero convention bigger than this one was for me. The icing on the cake was Ray "Mr Boxing" Arcel.

Almost twenty years now since that day , yet I remember every second of the hour and fourteen minutes, I spent talking to Ray Arcel. The comparisons we discussed between Benny (Benjamin Leiner) Leonard and Sugar Ray . The 5 seconds of dark cloud that crossed his face as I quickly tried to find out about Boston a lead pipe and a twenty year disappearance.. The history that poured out of that man, Grupp’s Gym, Dai Dollings, Frank "Doc" Bagley, on and on we went until I pretty much wore out my welcome.

On that day a little known reporter from a small New England town wished Rocky Graziano a 2 week belated Happy Birthday. I’ve got a picture of him with his arm around Freddie Menna, the smile bright on his face, the eyes sharp and filled with sparkle. Sandy Saddler and Willie Pep in the same room without gloves an event in its self. Getting them to autograph an old pair of gloves that Renaldo "Mr" Snipes dug out of the trunk of his car (for a C-note donation ),made me proud and later helped raise funds for a family burned out of their home, several years later. I almost cried as I watched them auctioned.

Sandy Saddler talked to me for several minutes , giving me his opinions on fighters with 15 - 20 matches fighting for a championship when in his day ,you wouldn’t even be ranked with that many fights let alone out of the clubs. Little Phil Terranova, in such great physical shape that he looked as if he was trying to make weight. Tami and Mike Mauriello, I didn’t dare ask any questions about the mob influence in his day , though I thought about it! I was just to happy being in the presence of these men all at one time, in one room. A quiet dignity permeated the hall, exuding from these men who had reached the pinnacles of their professions , men with nothing left to prove.

Joe Micelli, who I consider the greatest fighter that never fought for a championship, filled me in on the 12 champions he fought during his career. Some of what I learned from these men over several hours will never be printed, but will be etched in my mind forever.

Ray and Rocky are gone as are some of the others and the sport suffers from it. That was my "The Day".

When I get caught up with the hype, the controversy, the lackluster performances of champions that boxing today can be., I look up and remember. I visit the local gym, waiting for the birth of the next superhero . The past and the future of boxing keeping my interest even if the present condition of the sport can’t.

Some kid in a little town or a big city last night crossed over because of Byrd-Oquendo, or De La Hoya-Mosely II, despite the judging. When I go to the gym, without a doubt someone will be imitating a faint, a combo thrown, or showing me just how they would have handled last nights fight. In the grand scheme of pugilistic history, Byrd-Oquendo was a pimple, a wrinkle in time, or at least for someone let us hope so!

What was your "The Day" . Write me at KcircleT@aol.com