Took no longer than one paragraph of sweetheart Elisa's assault on some of those that pull the strings in the today game of pro boxing ... and Poof ... just like magic there was good ol' Phineas Taylor Barnum in the forefront of my alleged mind.

Was back during the 1800s that the yesterday showman and circus producer shouted quite accurately there was a sucker born every minute and two more to take him ... wotta visionary that PT guy.

In the today fight game, you mention the word promoter and two names quickly come to mind ... Don King and Bob Arum - and you hear it all the time "he's a King fighter ... Arum owns the other guy" ... things like that.

Same unhappy campers sing no other tune ... just as they fire away at them alphabet groupies when a fight goes the "wrong" way ... and they shout "fix, fix, fix" like them wise guys of the Carbo era.

And so it was refreshing seeing our Elisa zero in on what most today fight fans are blind to - the shortcut method for dummies in promoting boxing - ideal example indeed the past Friday, Kermit "Killer" Cintron against a bonafide gamer altho' short on skills Jesus Valverde.

And the game plan was for the young, prematurely heralded, and undefeated "Killer" to be the first ever to KO the never dropped no less stopped opponent ... and in doing so, the incoming mail and phone lines would never cease ... or so they expected.

And on that note, it is visible here, the Kermit boosters at Main Events are no more interested in the health and well being of a Valverde than they are of its current fresh faced hot-shot Cintron.

Guess here is, no sooner the bubble bursts, that references to the "former" killer will be responded to with the usual ... "Kermit who?"

Only a fite fan needing navigating help with dark glasses, white cane, a Rin-Tin-Tin four-legger, and a metal cup would miss seeing a sad ending to the story.

Final comments: re the needed but awol, enswell tool in the Valverde corner ... bad news is the missed opportunity to reduce swelling ... badder news is nobody working corner had back-up coin to simulate the usual frozen metal - but then again, were the corner crowd that incompetent, either way they would likely have worsened the puffy area.

PS: It's a given: in pro boxing nothing ever really changes but the names, times and places ... and a promoter by any other name is a promoter, whether it be an Arum, King, HBO, Showtime ...(ESPN at smaller scale?) ... etc, etc, etc.

Semper fi,

GEL

08-29-03

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