publicist for a day

amhlilhaus

Black Belt
@Black
Joined
Dec 21, 2002
Messages
5,106
Reaction score
0
stole this idea off another site, never seen it done here so let's give it a try.

publicize a lesser known fighter, the idea being to make someone who never heard of them want to check out their career in more detail, obviously some embellishment is likely but keep it factual!

here's mine

a truely fearless warrior, standing an impressive 6 feet 2 inches, this former world champion has one of the ring's best nicknames, he is of course 'the white buffalo' frans botha. botha combined his never say die attitude, remarkable sense of timing and suspect conditioning to turn most of his major fights into can't miss spectacles.

he started off his career impressively, winning the traansvaal title in only 10 fights, and 8 fights after that beating future wbo title challenger mike hunter, who had already beaten oliver mccall, pinklon thomas, and ossie occasio, and after losing to botha defeat contenders tyrell biggs, buster mathis jr and title challenger alexander zolkin. beating well known trial horse ken lakusta earned botha a shot at the ibf title against axel shulz which botha won in shulz's home country of germany, but a failed post fight drug test stripped him of his well earned title.

no longer considered a champion, botha had arrived however and had tremendous fights against some of the top guys in the division, losing a tough bout against a prime michael moorer for the ibf title, and outboxing mike tyson before growing careless and walking into a crushing right hand. botha's next big fight, a tremendous all action brawl with shannon briggs which was controversially scored a draw along with a solid win over the tough steve pannell earned botha a chance against lennox lewis. botha did well the first round but was hit so hard by one of the heavyweight divisions' hardest hitters ever that he was literally knocked through the air and went down to defeat. a four fight winning streak, including one over the dangerous david bostice led to botha's last chance at a world title, against the larger, faster, younger, and harder hitting wladimir klitschko. botha fought well, but klitschko's physical advantages, along with a illness by botha that sapped his strength led to his falling valiently in the 7th round. botha's last major fight came against the young aggressive clifford ettienne, where the 'white buffalo' knocked down the 'black rhino' twice but was shafted with a draw.

botha retired for five years afte this bout where he fought in kickboxing and mma but his true legacy as a fighter was as a defrocked former world heavyweight champion. frans botha never had the most skill, power or stamina, but he was incredibly well managed and had a very solid career. botha would use his incredible sense of timing to continually land his thunderous right hand, and made a name for himself despite a somewhat basic style of a jab and right hand, although as the tyson fight showed he was capable of stick and move boxing, he was more comfortable brawling with his opponents and he went much farther than most observors ever thought possible.
 
Nice Job !
Fun thread idea, being a publicist is fun- the art of spin.

I might have added for Botha
 
punches hard and punches fast..... and he's white


p.s was screwed out of the golota fight
 
I didn't add botha's k-1 career because I haven't seen any of it, except his farce with mighty mo.
 
Okay.....Here's mine:

Juan LaPorte, The Featherweight version of Jake LaMotta

When the young Puerto Rican challenger stepped into the ring with champion Salvador Sanchez, few gave him a fighting chance. Fewer still had even heard of the challenger who barely had sixteen fights under his belt. Sanchez, who had destroyed Danny "Little Red" Lopez to win the championship was such a favorite that the word "mismatch" was on everyone's lips.

For fifteen rounds the young challenger stayed with the champion every step of the way and even won a handful of the middle rounds. When it was all said and done, LaPorte had gained the respect of all and was being touted as the next Featherweight sensation.
LaPorte eventually went on to capture a version of the Featherweight crown defending it twice before losing it to another little sensation- Wilfredo Gomez.

Incredibly tough and determined LaPorte fought every viable contender in his division and beyond. If Juan suffered from anything it was a lack of charisma in front of the microphone. Quiet and easy going LaPorte was content to do his fighting in the ring and let the others do the talking. In an era where personality meant more than ability and substance, this would come back to bite the Puerto Rican. Juan, on several occasions, came out on the short end of the stick when the Judges score cards were read. A majority of observers believe that Juan bested Eusebio Pedroza in Juans quest for Pedroza's championship. Many boxing observers believe that Juan also bested Julio Cesar Chavez at a time when the Mexican wrecking ball was thought to be almost indestructible. Add to that another "smelly" pinch your nose loss against Billy Costello and Juan soon became known as boxings hardluck ex-champ.

Through it all, the tough fights and the bad decisions, one fact remains about Juan that no Judge can ever take away from him. In over 57 fights....he was never stopped. Never knocked out. Never heard the count of ten. Sanchez, Gomez, Lockridge, Tzyu, Chavez, Castillo, Costello, Pedroza and several dozen others tried. No one succeeded....Not a bad legacy when you take a minute to digest it . Not bad at all.
 
Good idea. Im not very good at this, but I always liked this guy.


"Jessie" James Hughes
The Outlaw

JesseHughes02.jpg


James Hughes wasn't the best boxer you will ever see. He was an awkward-clumsy-slow starter. However, what he lacked in skill, he made up for with heart. Hughes often took horrible beatings in the ring, but his will was second to none, and he overcame time and time again. Hughes was getting better with every fight. He seemed to be learning on the job. There was a lot of momentum behind his career, when his life, tragically, came to an end. He was found shot dead face down in a swamp shortly after his last fight in 7/1995. His murder was never solved.



If you're interested in learning more about Hughes, here is a great bio of the man and the fighter. "Jesse" James Hughes: A Family Remembers What a County Chose to Forget
 
I'm going to do one on a more current Fighter, and current incident:

Cristobal Cruz.

When veteran Fighter Cristobal Cruz stepped into the ring against highly touted South African Thomas Mahsaba for Mashaba's 5th defense of his IBO Featherweight Title, it was clear to everyone that he wasn't supposed to win, he wasn't supposed to put up much of a Fight, surely this was another ESPN Showcase bout to advertise Mashaba, who should be moving into top Title contention shortly after this bout.

Boy were they sadly mistaken.

Cruz represents one of the vast middle-rungs of purely badass Mexican Fighters who turned Pro before he sprouted chest hairs, at 14 years of age. Like most standard-issue machines from south of the border, Cruz is vastly limited in-terms of overall Boxing skill. He tends to swing wide, isn't the fastest Fighter of foot, and doesn't seem to grasp the concept of head-movement very much, at times almost proud to take a punch. This seemed made-to-order for Thomas Mashaba.

However, Cruz possesses some of the more key traits of his fellow Countrymen as well. He is amazingly stalwart, very durable, and vastly better than his ugly record of 35-11-1 suggested. And according to the 31 year-old hardened veteran, that night was to be the night the World would learn so. Coming from a man who has only been stopped twice in nearly 50 Professional Fights, and the more recent of those times by a future World Class Fighter as long ago as 2002, Mashaba's camp should have taken more notice.

Cruz proceeded to flap his wings like a humming bird and over the course of 12 rounds put out a staggering 1,580 punches, setting a new Compubox record of punches thrown in a 12 round Fight. It makes one wonder if Cruz is as deserving as Antonio Margarito for the nickname "The Tijuana Tornado," for Cruz threw furiously and with little regard for his own safety, round after round, seeming to baffle Mashaba for much of the night.

On this night, Cristobal Cruz would not be denied, there was nothing Mashaba could to to stem the onslaught enough to keep the win that wouldn't be out of the hands of the sturdy "Lacand
 
Someone should do Pierre Coetzer.
I know some info on him, but not enough to play publicist.
 
I'm going to do one on a more current Fighter, and current incident:

Cristobal Cruz.

When veteran Fighter Cristobal Cruz stepped into the ring against highly touted South African Thomas Mahsaba for Mashaba's 5th defense of his IBO Featherweight Title, it was clear to everyone that he wasn't supposed to win, he wasn't supposed to put up much of a Fight, surely this was another ESPN Showcase bout to advertise Mashaba, who should be moving into top Title contention shortly after this bout.

Boy were they sadly mistaken.

Cruz represents one of the vast middle-rungs of purely badass Mexican Fighters who turned Pro before he sprouted chest hairs, at 14 years of age. Like most standard-issue machines from south of the border, Cruz is vastly limited in-terms of overall Boxing skill. He tends to swing wide, isn't the fastest Fighter of foot, and doesn't seem to grasp the concept of head-movement very much, at times almost proud to take a punch. This seemed made-to-order for Thomas Mashaba.

However, Cruz possesses some of the more key traits of his fellow Countrymen as well. He is amazingly stalwart, very durable, and vastly better than his ugly record of 35-11-1 suggested. And according to the 31 year-old hardened veteran, that night was to be the night the World would learn so. Coming from a man who has only been stopped twice in nearly 50 Professional Fights, and the more recent of those times by a future World Class Fighter as long ago as 2002, Mashaba's camp should have taken more notice.

Cruz proceeded to flap his wings like a humming bird and over the course of 12 rounds put out a staggering 1,580 punches, setting a new Compubox record of punches thrown in a 12 round Fight. It makes one wonder if Cruz is as deserving as Antonio Margarito for the nickname "The Tijuana Tornado," for Cruz threw furiously and with little regard for his own safety, round after round, seeming to baffle Mashaba for much of the night.

On this night, Cristobal Cruz would not be denied, there was nothing Mashaba could to to stem the onslaught enough to keep the win that wouldn't be out of the hands of the sturdy "Lacand
 
Boxing is built on the backbones of the James Hughes's, Sam Reeces, Cristobal Cruz's, and Reggie Stricklands of the World. Without them, Prospects would never be.
 
Boxing is built on the backbones of the James Hughes's, Sam Reeces, Cristobal Cruz's, and Reggie Stricklands of the World. Without them, Prospects would never be.

Amen, brother. And a thumbs up to all of you guys for your writing efforts. :icon_chee
 
"Saigon" Skipper Kelp

Born in Saigon Vietnam, Skipper Kelp quickly made a name for himself in the amatuers for his vaunted Left hook and wild take no prisoners approach in his style and won national titles at 132lbs and 139lbs.

At 5'8 and 147 he really didnt have any physical advantages for a welter weight, but he more than made up for it in heart and sheer determination.

At 17-1-1 (13 Ko's) he would face off against his toughest challenge to date, The always tough Bronco Mckart. McKart, leaps and bounds above Kelp in the technique department, would go on to win via 6th round KO over the Skipper.

Saigon's most memorable fight took place on May 14, 1996 and was televised by USA Tuesday Night fights. Adrian Stone was the opponent for Kelp, who was brought in as the "opponent" after a decision loss to Raul Marquez. The fight started off that way, with Kelp getting dropped in the opening minute of the first round by the hometown boy . Kelp got up, gathered himself and proceeded to get himself back into the fight. Kelp's power started to visibly wear Adrian down thru-out the middle rounds. In the 10th, Kelp connected with a devastating jab, left hook combination, which sent Stone face first into the canvas in a heap. Stone made the count and was able to hang on for the remainder of the fight despite being dropped again later that round.

Kelp would go onto win this fight by decision. He would only fight two more times in his career, one a losing effort to Tony Martin, and the other, a decision win over little known Javier Mendez.

Saigon would continue to stay in the game of boxing by teaching/training with children at the YMCA here in Vegas and was the boxing trainer, along with John Lewis, for Phil Baroni in a few of his UFC fights. He is now Coach of the UNLV boxing team. He also trained Duncan Dokiwari for a period of time.

kelp-1.jpg


Here is link to an interview...

OTM - Skipper Kelp Interview

And his record...

Skipper Kelp

I also have a nice HL vid I did of Saigon. I'll try to up it asap.
 
I remember watching most of these guys, including Skipper Kelp.
 
I liked Kelp and he has a very interesting life story.
 
Boxing is built on the backbones of the James Hughes's, Sam Reeces, Cristobal Cruz's, and Reggie Stricklands of the World. Without them, Prospects would never be.

Yes indeed.
Good read too.
 
Totally digging this thread... Gotta come up with a good one!
 
That was brutal..

man.. adrian stone always gets knocked down spectacularly..lol.. he makes it look great everytime.
 
Back
Top