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December 2000 Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!

	VIEW FROM NEW YORK BY STEVE FARHOOD Don't be fooled by occasional working visits from superstar fighers, New York boxing has never been in such a bad way

BIG MSG SHOWS featuring the likes of Mosley do not reflect boxing in NYC - Get Big Pic At my age, it doesn't take much to excite me. In a couple of days, I'll be covering Shane Mosley-Antonio Diaz at Madison Square Garden, and I'm doing cartwheels and jumping jacks in anticipation. That's because live boxing cards in New York City have become as rare as all-nude reviews in Salt Lake City. Don't tell me about economics or demographics or competition for the entertainment dollar. I refuse to accept that a city of eight-million people, including a healthy dose of boxing-crazy Hispanics, can't support live boxing. In "The Big Apple", this is the entire menu: A major show at the Garden about three times a year "Heavyweight Explosion" or "Thunderbox" shows promoted monthly by Cedric Kushner A club card every other month or so at Yonkers Raceway (just outside of the city), promoted by Bronx lawyer Joe DeGuardia Occasional club shows in the borough of Queens I believe that qualifies as a famine. I can only imagine what it was like for my grandfather's boxing writers, who covered weekly cards at MSG, then spent the rest of their work week at the sundry club shows that were subsidised by the Garden. (Today, the Garden, which no longer runs a boxing department, serves only as a landlord.) I might as well drown myself in nostalgia because that world, which was centered at Stillman's Gym and dominated by legends like Teddy Brenner, Harry Markson, James J. Norris, and Don Dunphy, took the full 10-count many years ago. This is what boxing in the world's biggest city has come to: I read more about New York club shows in British boxing publications than in my local newspapers. Then again, the tabloids ignore the small shows altogether. But when there's hint of a scandal, the "Black Eye For Boxing" headline is dusted off for the front page. Has boxing been left behind? Kushner's most recent show, for which I provided TV analysis, featured several "Thunderbox" heavyweight tournament six-rounders, followed by a live performance by recording star Wyclef Jean that rocked the sold-out house. By the time main-eventers Al Cole and Terrence Lewis climbed through the ropes, the Hammerstein Ballroom was half-empty. Maybe if we require our boxers to sing and dance . . . It's no surprise that the dearth of boxing shows has resulted in a dearth of professional fighters. Bruce Silverglade, who owns New York's biggest gym, Gleason's in Brooklyn, reports that about 150 of his 850 members are pros, and of those, only 50 or 60 fight on a regular basis. Without white-collar boxing, he'd have closed his doors years ago. "The state of boxing in New York is terrible," Silverglade said. "A show like Mosley-Diaz means nothing to the fighters here because the promoters bring in fighters from out of town. Because there's so little boxing going on in New York, there are no pure fighters left. They're all part-time fighters. They have jobs, so they don't have the same enthusiasm for training as full-time fighters have. So the quality of the fighters has gone down, too." Twenty years ago, when Silverglade ran Gleason's in Manhattan, he estimates there were 40 or 50 boxing gyms featuring pros. Now there are six. "And 15 years ago," Silverglade added, "there were 1,400 to 1,500 entrants in the annual Golden Gloves tournament. Now there are 400 to 450. It's never been worse than this." For some reason, I don't feel like doing cartwheels and jumping jacks anymore. The Finisher: The most famous active New York-born boxer is Mike Tyson. He hasn't fought in his hometown since knocking out Reggie Gross at the Garden 14 years ago. In 42 career bouts, Riddick Bowe, a product of Brooklyn, fought in his hometown three times. In 25 pro bouts to date, Brooklyn-born Zab Judah, who still trains at Gleason's, has fought in New York City once. Compare those numbers to New York-born Rocky Graziano (46 of 83 fights in New York City) and Floyd Patterson (29 of 64), as well as New York-based Emile Griffith (45 of 112). Hell, Roberto Duran has fought in New York seven times, and he lives in friggin' Panama!

Also available to read from issue: Magazine Contents: Full details of the December 2000 issue - the complete contents listing. World Rankings: See where the top fighters were rated when December 2000 went to press... DUNNE IS NO. 1 For years people had speculated as to the outcome of a lightweight clash between Colin Dunne and Billy Schwer - and now we know. RUTH MASON talks with the winner KO-KO WON'T GO AWAY Naz gave up his title rather than face Istvan Kovacs, but the Hungarian former amateur star won't give up. GRAHAM MACLEAN reports NO FANCY DAN Paulie Ayala is no showman but, as Johnny Tapia has learned twice, the Texan is damned effective. GRAHAM HOUSTON reports on the success of a quiet man

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