I recently read the press conference quotes that were released by  former New Jersey Boxing Commissioner Larry Hazzard and his mouthpiece, attorney James Binns and was struck by the idiocy of most of the comments issued by these gentlemen.

Without question Larry Hazzard nearly destroyed  boxing in the state of New Jersey by instituting medical testing and other requirements that exceeded all but Nevada’s in scope.  Until his recent well deserved firing, New Jersey was one of the last places where promoters wanted to do a boxing show.

In 1985, the year before Hazzard’s reign began, New Jersey  hosted  over  140 boxing matches and there was a wealth of fighters in the state. While there is still a solid amateur program in New Jersey, the amount of professional shows has dipped to as few as fifteen in 2006. Atlantic City has taken a back seat to, Philly,  Foxwoods, the Mohegan Sun, and the state of Florida when it comes to boxing events..

A day in the life of a boxer coming into New Jersey for a fight consisted, under Hazzard's rule, of a day of misery and exhaustion.  A flight most likely into Newark, a run into Trenton for licensing, a run into Secaucus or Camden area for a day of  medicals, back to Trenton. A cost of nearly 1500.00 just to be able to fight in New Jersey for an eight hundred dollar purse.

This cost  was absorbed by the promoters more often than not, which made  one side of a four round bout almost three times the cost in the majority of other states.   The average four round fight in New Jersey with one side coming from another state would run over three thousand dollars plus a lot of hassle. That’s a lot of ticket sales for an unknown  prelim fighter. Not too bad for a mega card getting PPV money but a disaster for the small promoter who is trying to keep boxing and boxers going in the Garden State.

So the result is less fights, less fighters, and less fans..

In the day of digital camera’s, laptops, and wireless communications  there was no need for the amount of running that the Commission required and licensing could be done at the weigh in as it is often done elsewhere. Rather it was about a show of control instead of a civil servant doing his job. Totally incredible was the fact that the day to day operations were handled by the great group of people Hazzard was lucky to have.

I have no doubt that Hazzard received a couple of hundred e-mails in his favor when he was fired; he has been around boxing a long time. What we won’t ever hear about is how many boxing people breathed a sigh of relief or let out a scream of joy when the news of Hazzard's removal broke.

“This is America. Everyone has a right to a hearing as to why they’ve done something. I’ve been involved in combative sports since I was twelve years old. This is my life. I’ve done a job here in the state of New Jersey that helped bring the sport of boxing – a very dangerous sport – into the twenty-first century. This is not about trying to get a job back. This is about a person being allowed to have a reason for being dismissed from a job, just as you would want a reason.” Hazzard was quoted as saying, adding when discussing his relationship with the media in the third person. “I want to be fair about this, judge Larry Hazzard on the job that he has done. Forget about the personality issues, because my personality has nothing to do with whether or not I can do the job. I wanted to set the record straight on that.” 

Larry, when you are a PUBLIC SERVANT, personality matters greatly; the ability to get along, compromise, and fall somewhere in the middle of things instead of swinging to the extreme could have served New Jersey better. Always being on the cutting edge only served Larry Hazzard's ego and not boxing in the state of New Jersey. 

 “The reason for this press conference was because there was misinformation and non-information spread. Now you know the facts, and if I were you, I’d be plain mad. It’s your sport. If I were a boxing fan – and I am – I would be outraged at this politics-as-usual in replacing a good man for no reason. If it’s not broken, you don’t fix something, unless you have an ulterior motive.” Binns commented. 

Binns is getting paid to say things like this but let’s be real Mr. Attorney. What good is bringing New Jersey boxing into the 21st century as you stated, when it also ushers in its demise as well. Hazzard didn’t bring boxing into the 21st century; what Hazzard did was put his ideas and concepts of what boxing should be ahead of what is reasonable for the sport.  

A wise man once told me that, “There is the way things are and then there is the way things should be.” Hazzard forgot that not all boxers are signed with promoters who can foot the bills for a fighter and not all promoters have world champions that can rake in millions for their company. Hazzard's job was to administer the office in fairness, not to set the bar so high that he ended up preventing instead of protecting.