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By Thomas Hauser: Barney Frank has been in Congress since 1981 and is chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. That makes him one of the most powerful people in government. His career is also notable because, in 1987, he was only the second member of Congress to openly acknowledge being gay. What does Barney Frank have to do with boxing? 
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By Thomas Hauser: A lot of people liked Arthur Curry. Almost everyone else loved him. Artie’s mind was filled with wonderful thoughts and his feelings were founded on love. He was about giving. He enjoyed doing things for people and took care to never hurt anyone. He was a man of integrity who radiated truth. He spoke his mind and didn’t hide his feelings. “Being real,” he called it. But he was always kind.
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By Thomas Hauser: HBO is the dominant player in boxing today. It wasn’t always that way. In the mid-1980s, the broadcast television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) ruled the ring. The man most responsible for upending that hierarchy was Seth Abraham, the architect of HBO’s boxing program.
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By Thomas Hauser: On May 2nd, Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton engaged in battle for the right to be called boxing’s “pound-for-pound” champion. Pacquiao and Hatton have aggressive relentless ring styles. They are two of the most exciting fighters in the world. Each man has stayed close to his roots, geographically and in terms of character. Both have special meaning to their constituents. No two fighters are more loved in their native lands.
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By Thomas Hauser:
This is the first in a series of articles that will appear over time.
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought three fights that are the pyramids of boxing. Dave Wolf was in the Frazier camp for each of them.
Dave was a gifted writer who later gained recognition as the manager of Ray Mancini and Donny Lalonde. He died last December.
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By Thomas Hauser: Danny Jacobs is being groomed for stardom. Outside the ring, Jacobs is easy-going with a natural, almost disarming, quality about him. He likes to talk. “And I love to cook,” he offers. “Chicken, pasta, different sauces. Bread pudding is my favorite. I make it well.” He’s also a talented young fighter, who says without false modesty, “I’m capable of being the best in the world. I can make a big mark in this game.”
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By Thomas Hauser: There was a time when New York City was a breeding ground for elite fighters. Those days are long gone, but prospects still surface in the Big Apple. Will Rosinsky is one of them.
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By Thomas Hauser: In the past, I’ve recounted the memories of boxing notables who spoke fondly of their greatest moment in a sport other than boxing. Since then, I’ve received several emails asking what my own “moment in the sun” was. Here goes:
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By Thomas Hauser: In the past, I’ve recounted the memories of fighters who spoke fondly of their greatest moment in a sport other than boxing. The recollections of some notable non-combatants follow:
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By Thomas Hauser Don’t get carried away by the title of this article. It would be a stretch to liken Bob Arum to Gary Cooper in High Noon. But in recent weeks, there has been talk of a new economic model in boxing. And Arum, in tandem with Todd DuBoef (his stepson and the president of Top Rank) might be charting a path out of the wilderness that the sweet science has wandered through in recent years.
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By Thomas Hauser One night next month, moments before the opening bell, ring announcer David Diamante will take the microphone for one of the many fight cards he works in the New York metropolitan area. Diamante is tall and slender with a gaunt face, aquiline nose, and piercing blue eyes. His voice is a gift and he uses it well.
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By Thomas Hauser A fighter sacrifices. He tortures his body; he hardens his mind. And all the while, he’s surrounded by people, some of whom give him their heart and soul while others view him as prey. Depending on those associations, the business of boxing can be profitable for a fighter or worse than any physical beating that he suffers. John Duddy is learning that hard lesson now.
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By Thomas Hauser Hi. It’s me again. Yeah; I figured that would make you happy. Anyway; HBO seems to be struggling with its boxing programming. Your ratings for boxing last year looked like polls tracking the national approval rating for George Bush’s handling of the economy. So I thought I’d pass along a few thoughts.
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By Thomas Hauser I’ve lost a good friend. Dave Wolf died in his sleep last night. When I say “good friend,” I mean it.
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By Thomas Hauser One of the joys in covering a big fight is that I never know what “extras” fight night will bring. Earlier this year, I was in the press room at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City readying for Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins when Joe Frazier came in.
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By Thomas Hauser It’s hard to know how future generations will evaluate Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar is more than a name. He was once a very good fighter, but that time has come and gone. He has lost four of his last seven fights. One can argue that he hasn’t beaten an elite opponent since a split-decision victory over Ike Quartey on February 13, 1999.
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By Thomas Hauser Each year during the holiday season, I publish a “top forty” list of what I consider to be the best books on boxing. That list, updated to accommodate recently published titles, follows. Some of these books are now out of print. But with the proliferation of online services like Abebooks.com and Amazon.com, all of them can be found.
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By Thomas Hauser In today’s era of devalued titles, it’s not enough to be a “champion.” To be fully recognized and make big money, a fighter has to be a star.
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By Thomas Hauser The main arena at Madison Square Garden is a nice place to make history. On November 8th, Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr did just that, although the results were far more gratifying to Calzaghe.
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By Thomas Hauser When Paulie Malignaggi steps into the ring to face Ricky Hatton on November 22nd, two fans with unique perspectives will be at ringside. Anthony Catanzaro and Chris Santos are part owners of restaurants that are as different as the styles of the fighters they’ll be watching in Las Vegas. But they share a passion for the sweet science and for Paulie.
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By Thomas Hauser Boxing has its own version of The Golden Rule: “Do unto to others as they would do unto you.” On October 18th, Kelly Pavlik entered the ring at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City intent upon scoring a decisive victory over Bernard Hopkins. He didn’t have to knock Hopkins out. But he was committed to fashioning a triumph that left no doubt. “I want everybody to know that I beat Hopkins,” Pavlik said. “And I want Bernard to know that I beat him too.”
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By Thomas Hauser Sarah Palin has avoided open-ended interviews with the media since her nomination at the Republican National Convention last month. But she was willing to sit down for an extended conversation with Thomas Hauser on the subject of boxing on the condition that an unedited transcript of the interview appear on SecondsOut.com.
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By Thomas Hauser My first book served as the basis for a feature film starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. Missing told the true-life story of an American named Charles Horman, who was killed by the Chilean military in the aftermath of the 1973 coup that toppled Chilean president Salvador Allende. One night, I asked Charles’s mother what she thought was the most important message I could convey in the book. Her answer has always stayed with me.
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By Thomas Hauser Most people don’t know it, but Republican Party insiders say that Sarah Palin was the “safe” choice as John McCain’s running mate. Some McCain strategists opposed her selection on grounds that America isn’t ready for a vice president who names her children "Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig." But in the end, the half-baked half-term Alaska governor was a safer pick than the alternatives.
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By Thomas Hauser The Marquis of Queensberry Rules that John L. Sullivan proselytized for throughout his career didn’t make boxing less violent. Gloves were worn to protect fists, not an opponent’s brain. And under the new rules, a fighter could no longer gain thirty seconds of relief by falling to the ground.
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By Thomas Hauser Throughout American history prior to John L. Sullivan’s ascent, most recreational activity had a practical side. Horse racing was the nation’s most popular spectator sport, but hunting and fishing were far more prevalent.
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By Thomas Hauser Next month will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of John L. Sullivan. In recent decades, Sullivan has faded from memory. To many, he’s now more myth than reality, a sporting Paul Bunyan. In a way, that’s fitting because, in his era, Sullivan was a near-mythic figure as large as Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, and Muhammad Ali were in their prime. He was America’s first mass-culture hero and the most idolized athlete who had lived up until his time.
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By Thomas Hauser When Antonio Margarito beat Miguel Cotto into submission last month, Paulie Malignaggi was an interested observer.
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By Thomas Hauser It was called “La Batalla.” On July 26th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the eyes of the boxing world focused on the much-anticipated showdown between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito But things in the sweet science are never as simple as they seem. La Batalla unfolded against a backdrop of the never-ending battle for television dates and control of boxing. Behind the scenes, tempers were flaring and tensions rising.
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By Thomas Hauser How important is Boxrec.com? Ask people in the boxing industry: *Bruce Trampler (Top Rank matchmaker): Short of actually being at a fight, they’re the best source of information out there. I have my own computerized records, and I’m on Boxrec at least a dozen times a day. We take it for granted, but everyone in boxing would miss it if it was gone.
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By Thomas Hauser Earlier this year, I posted a column entitled “Twenty Things You’ll Never Read on a Boxing Website”. By popular demand, here are ten more:
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By Thomas Hauser It’s a feeling that most people never experience in their lifetime; the feeling of landing a punch that separates an opponent from his senses and leaves him lying unconscious on the ring canvas.
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By Thomas Hauser Dear Senator Clinton, I know you’re disappointed at the way things worked out with your presidential campaign. But all is not lost. There’s a good chance that you can still be president of something.
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By Thomas Hauser Former middleweight champion Tony Zale grew up in the steeltown of Gary, Indiana. In the late-1940s, he won two of three slugfests against Rocky Graziano in boxing’s bloodiest championship trilogy.
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By Thomas Hauser On January 22, 1988, former champion Larry Holmes challenged Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship of the world. That night, a staggering 53 percent of all homes with HBO tuned in to the fight. By way of comparison, only 35 percent of homes equipped with HBO had watched Barbra Streisand’s historic HBO concert two years earlier.
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By Thomas Hauser John L. Sullivan’s last fight (other than exhibitions) was in 1892. James J. Corbett retired from the ring in 1903. Bob Fitzsimmons followed a decade later. It’s safe to say that no one alive today saw them ply their trade. And with the passage of time, less and less is remembered about them.
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By Thomas Hauser When Paulie Malignaggi steps into the ring on May 24th for his rematch against Lovemore N’dou, an integral member of Team Malignaggi will be watching intently from the corner.
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By Thomas Hauser In boxing today, fighters fight for bogus world championship belts bestowed upon them by money-hungry sanctioning bodies in exchange for sanctioning fees subsidized by television networks that demand “title” fights.
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By Thomas Hauser Earlier this month, I wrote an article entitled Hypocrisy at West Point that called into question a policy known as the “alternative service option.” In relevant part, that policy states, “Army cadet-athletes now have options to pursue professional athletic opportunities thanks to the U.S. Army’s Alternative Service Option program. If cadet-athletes are accepted into the program, they wi
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By Thomas Hauser Visually, the upcoming fight between Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins looks like a confrontation between a concert violinist and a street thug. The combatants’ personalities are vastly different too.
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By Thomas Hauser Caleb Campbell (United States Military Academy, Class of 2008) is 23 years old and was captain of the 2007 Army football team. Less admirably, he is a prime example of the hypocrisy that attends the war currently being waged at the behest of his commander-in-chief.
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By Thomas Hauser 1. It was a hard-fought battle with lots of controversy, but promoter Gary Shaw accepted his fighter’s loss gracefully.
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By Thomas Hauser “The greatest tragedy for heavyweight boxing,” James Lawton has written, “is not so much the decline so visible in the remnants of a once compelling trade, but the way what is left of the carcass is still fed upon so ravenously.”
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