20.03.04 – By Fiona Manning – They call him Stitch. When Jacob Duran, one of the most sought-after cutmen in boxing steps into the ring tonight with French superstar Fabrice Tiozzo, Duran might be forgiven for taking a moment to wonder, if this is Saturday, am I in Lyon? Fresh off a UFC bout with former heavyweight boxer Cliff Couser in Tokyo, Japan, Duran is also the official UFC cutman and a top K1 cornerman. He also has a prized, busy roster of boxing stars including DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley (who takes on Floyd Mayweather Jr on May 22), Ishe “Sugar Shay” Smith, Kelvin “Concrete” Davis and Raul Marquez.
“I’m the only one who works all three sports and is thruthful about it,” Duran said as he prepared to depart for Lyon where Tiozzo (who he says is the biggest boxing name and one of the most popular athletes in France) faces WBA light heavyweight champion Silvio Branco tonight.
While former WBC light heavyweight champ and cruiserweight champ Tiozzo fights to regain his former glory, Duran might be observing things for extra footage in his his searing documentary A Boxer’s Nightmare.
Duran is diligently trying to find a home for the documentary, which is chock-full of interviews with the sport’s biggest names.
“I am very disappointed with the guys at HBO and Showtime,” he said.
“Most of them wouldn’t give me the time of day when I asked them to look at it. Larry Merchant, who I know from many, many fights wouldn’t even watch it.” He said, “What do you want me to do with it? I don’t have time to look at it.”
“[HOB executive] Kery Davis was not honest with me when he said he’d get it to the programming guys. I actually met the guys and they knew nothing about it”
“The only one who was a man about it and was straight up with me was Jay Larkin from Showtime. Jay told me point-blank that they would only do something like that in-house.”
Unfortunately for Larkin, it is highly unlikely anyone in his house could secure the dramatic footage Duran has for his documentary including 19 minutes of the most candid interviews Mike Tyson has ever given.
“I get asked all the time to sell people the Mike Tyson interview segment but I won’t do it,” said Duran. “This is my baby and I will find a home for it. I have 22 hours of material I could still use and I gather more information all the time.”
“Originally, I started doing a documentary on Chuck Bodak who is a legend in boxing and the best cutman in the business. He is my mentor. He looks out for the fighter. I was going to call it ‘The Shaman Of Boxing.’ Of course, once the cameras started rolling something different began to take shape.”
That something different was hours of telling testimony from boxing insiders; the fighters who have been ripped off by promoters, the fighters still trying to get respect, trying to get out of their personal ghettos; the fighters who make it, the fighters who don’t and the fighters who just don’t know when to quit.
“It’s about the boxer’s nightmares,” Duran said. “Although I did this documentary two years ago, nothing has changed. We have still haven’t honored Joe Louis’ dream of a pension fund for boxers. We still have the same medical problems in boxing.”
To that end, Duran next plans to do a three-part industry video called Cuts, Cornermen & Confidence.
“I continually see things at fights that just sicken me,” he said. “I’ve seen cutmen use a towel to wipe down a corner and then use that same towel on a fighter’s facial cuts. It’s the grossest thing. I’ve seen guys with the Q-tips behind their ears or even in their mouths, putting them in on the fighter’s face. That’s bacteria right there! There’s no rhyme or reason to this. And they think they’re a legitimate cutman.”
“The worst thing I have seen in a corner however, is a trainer letting a fighter go too long. It honestly is. A lot of trainers out there think they are the fighter and they push their guys too far.”
Duran feels that the burgeoning UFC business already has a handle on the issue of fighter safety.
“They have the right idea,” he said. “Me, Don House and Leon Tabbs, who is Bernard Hopkins’ cutman, we are the official UFC cutmen.”
“At any given fight, Leon’s on one side of the octagon, I’m on the other. We wrap hands, we do it all. We work with everyone.”
“It is all completely neutral. I think that is the best way to go. You have control that way, keeping things honest and neutral like that. “My background is K1, so that’s kind of where my heart is and UFC. I am amazed by the number of boxers though who suddenly think it’s ain’t no big thing to take on UFC or K1. They’re getting their asses kicked!”
Duran pointed to former world champions “Cool” Vince Phillips and Francois Botha and Butterbean as examples of fighters who have no clue what they are doing in the kickboxing field.
“K1 is the biggest thing in Japan and they thought it was going to be easy money. They thought they were going to just go in there and blast these guys out. Vince Phillips broke his arm. He will never do it again. Trust me. It was a kamikaze thing to do.”
Duran talked to all the fighters (Botha and Phillips were both severely injured in their devastatingly one round KO losses) and said none of them trained properly or realized the seriousness of the sport.
“The only one who takes it very seriously and stands to become a superstar in the sport is Cliff Couser. And I know this because I am training him. He works very, very hard. He quit boxing when he found his niche in this sport. The Japanese just love him. He isn’t thinking like a boxer. He isn’t looking like a boxer. He’s thinking and looking like a kickboxer. When we go to Japan, we go there knowing all the rules and all the disciplines and how to participate in the game. These are 100% different disciplines.”
Duran will be back in plenty of time to resume chores on his Las Vegas radio show The 13th Round (1230AM KLAV, Tuesdays 7-8pm.
He will also be back in the ring with his bucket of tricks for the big UFC show in Las Vegas April 2.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “After all my years in this business, I still love the fights. I’m like a great big kid. I love what I do for a living.”
For questions or comments: email Fiona Manning at Bondigirl@aol.com