The New York Times

Sunday, October 10, 1976  There was some, but not many, who could truly empathize with Ken Norton in Yankee Stadium 12 days ago. I was one of the few. Others might have included Harold Johnson Jr., Billy Graham, Joey Archer and Joe Walcott. I’ve included myself in this group of fighters, not for reasons of comparison, but to […]

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November 20,1977 Randy Neumann, left and Duane Bobick before their 1975 fight I started when I was young. I was 18 years old and a freshman in college. Now that I’ve finished, at 28, I no longer feel young. The lure was never one of title or riches; it was more of a quixotic adventure […]

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Sunday May 25, 1973 The legal battles following the Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner free-for-all in March are certainly more interesting than their fight was. Referee Tony Perez filed a $20-million suit against Ali for “…marring his good name and credit … causing him public scorn and disgrace.” Within a week Al Braverman, Wepner’s manager, filed a […]

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Sunday, May 25, 1986 I got the assignment to referee my first world title fight in Italy shortly after the bombing of Tripoli. The fight was between Reyes Cruz and Gary Hinton for Aaron Pryor’s abdicated International Boxing Federation title. Friends and others warned of the dangers of the trip. People will always tell you […]

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July 30, 1989   In the early 1980’s, when I was old for a fighter and young for a referee, I met a man who made a profound change in the way I viewed boxing. Dr. Bennet Derby is a professor of Clinical Neurology and Pathology at New York University. I had the opportunity to […]

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