Tag: NYSAC

Bob Arum on why cards at Madison Square Garden were canceled

Bob Arum of Top Rank eventually decided to cancel the Shakur Stevenson and Mick Conlan cards at Madison Square Garden because fighters…

It came down to one question: Can fighters be tested for the ever-expanding coronavirus?

Ultimately, the answer was a no. So on Thursday promoter Top Rank and New York City’s Madison Square Garden decided to pull the plug on both the Shakur Stevenson-Miguel Marriaga and Mick Conlan-Belmar Preciado cards that were scheduled to take place today and Tuesday, respectively, at MSG’s Hulu Theater.

Initially, both Top Rank and MSG decided to carry on with both cards without a live audience, inviting only relevant staff and media. That fulfilled the criterion laid down by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who announced a ban on gatherings larger than 500 people. Stevenson-Marriaga was scheduled to be featured on ESPN, Conaln-Preciado on ESPN+.

But with nearly the entire American sporting scene moving to suspend seasons outright – from professional and collegiate basketball to hockey, soccer and baseball – there was pressure for boxing to do the same. Then, of course, there was the question of testing. Or rather, the inability to do so.

That was the final nail in the coffin, according to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum.

“We were consulting the whole time with the New York State Athletic Commission,” Arum told SiriusXM. “They correctly brought in their medical staff and their advisers, and they said we would advise you to not go ahead [with the two shows] because who is going to test the fighters? And if a fighter has the virus, he could easily transmit it to his opponent, who might not have it, because they’re in very, very close contact.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 testing is only available for those who have received doctor’s orders or “have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19, or if you live in or have recently traveled from an area with ongoing spread of COVID-19.”

Fighters who show no apparent symptoms, therefore, would not be eligible to get tested.

Arum had hoped that the shows could go on, given how much preparation and investment are made into one-off events like boxing.

“We have an obligation to these young men, to these fighters, who work like a bastard to get ready for a fight,” Arum said. “The last thing we wanted to do is pull the plug so we figured we could apply with the New York State rule, no more than (500) people in a room, and do the fight without an audience. No media, no nothing, just the television. And it looked like we could get that done.

“I mean it was a big sacrifice for us to lose the gate, but at least the fights [could go] on.”

But with no ability to test for the coronavirus, the fights, ultimately, were a moot point.

 

Follow Sean Nam on Twitter @seanpasbon

NYSAC comes down hard on Ivan Redkach for biting Danny Garcia: report

The NYSAC has come down hard on Ivan Redkach for biting Danny Garcia on the shoulder in their welterweight fight last Saturday in Brooklyn.

The New York State Athletic Commission reportedly has bitten back.

The NYSAC has come down hard on Ivan Redkach for biting Danny Garcia on the shoulder in the eighth round of their welterweight fight last Saturday at Barclay’s Center on Showtime, according to SB Nation.

A spokesperson said Redkach has been fined $10,000, suspended for one year and forfeited his purse. The California-based Ukrainian can appeal at a formal hearing if he chooses.

Redkach was behind on the cards when, according to Garcia, he said “Mike Tyson” and then bit Garcia’s shoulder. Garcia immediately told referee Benjy Esteves what happened but later seemed to take Redkach’s strange behavior in stride.

In fact, Garcia hugged Redkach after the fight – which Garcia won by a unanimous decision – as if nothing had happened.

“He bit me. He said, ‘Mike Tyson,’ when he bit me,” Garcia said in a post-fight interview, chuckling. “That’s the first time ever getting bit in a fight. Things happen, though.”

Redkach also behaved afterward as if he hadn’t crossed a line. When Garcia was being interviewed, he simply walked over to Garcia and cordially thanked him for the fight.

Magomed Abdusalamov’s improvement after brain injury: ‘like a miracle’

Magomed Abdusalamov suffered life-altering brain damage in the ring in 2013, but last week, he was found speaking in full sentences.

Call it a Thanksgiving miracle.

Doctors said Magomed Abdusalamov, the Russian heavyweight who suffered life-changing brain damage in the ring in 2013, would be unable to express himself, have feelings or even hug his three daughters and wife for the rest of his life. But in an interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines last week, the 38-year-old Abdusalamov was able to do exactly those things.

“I feel better,” Abdusalamov said. “I think six months from now I’ll be even better.”

Most medical experts believed Abdusalamov would remain in a vegetative state after his frightening beatdown at the hands of Mike Perez in November 2013 at Madison Square Garden, adding that he would not improve at all after the first 12 to 18 months of is recovery.

But Abdusalamov’s wife, Bakanay Abdusalamova, said that when doctors checked in on her husband three years later, “They were shocked. Like a miracle. They thought he’d always be in bed, maybe not even live three years.”

In his first public remarks about that fateful evening, Abdusalamov recalled how he was feeling in the locker room after the fight.

“I told (the doctors) I had pain in my head. I said I had a headache,” he said.

Abdusalamov suffered multiple strokes and ended up paralyzed on his right side. At the time, he could utter no more than a few grunts and whispers. Now he is able to form full sentences.

“My wife makes me very happy,” Abdusalamov said. “I love Baka. She gives me life.”

Abdusalamov and his family are currently applying for a visa that will allow them to stay in the country longterm.

The incident cast a harsh light on how the New York State Athletic Commission handled the postfight care of Abdusalamov. His family sued the State for medical malpractice and in 2017 received a $22 million settlement from New York State. More recently, the family settled with three ring doctors who worked the night Abdusalamov was injured.