Ring 8 Minutes and Notes, Tuesday, February 21, 2012
President Bob Duffy opened the meeting with the flag salute then he talked on referee Wayne Kelly who recently passed away. John Labate gave a 10 count in his memory.
Paulette Balog gave a report on all the sick Ring 8 members, and Charlie Noel’s Niece Karen talked Ring 8 and all the members that supported Charlie over all the years.
President Duffy talked on the Mark Breland Foundation, called “Outside the Ropes” life after boxing. Mark, Junior Jones and Kristin talked on the foundation saying that anyone can donate such items as food, books, clothes, doctor services, car service, etc. President Dufy then asked for a coat drive for the next meeting.
Dr. Jerry Lynn introduced Fashion Designer and 2 time New York Golden Glove Silver Medalist Jill Terry Ward. Ward talked on her career and the Athletic Sports Wear she has.
Referee, Eddie Claudio spoke about the Johnriel Casimero/Luis Alberto Lazarte Junior Flyweight bout at the Club Once Unidos, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina that ended in one of the worse boxing riots in years. In the ninth round, Lazarte looked like he put on a nice acting job to get Claudio to give him time to recover from a supposed shot below the belt. Later in the round, Casimero dropped a fading Lazarte with a series of right hands. He was unsteady when he got to his feet and Casimero dropped him for a second time to all fours with another volley of blows as Lazarte had desperately tried to hang on to him. Lazarte looked dead on his feet when he got up and was lucky the bell sounded to end the round. But early in the 10th round, Lazarte was still desperately trying to hold as Casimero pounded him along the ropes. Debris from the crowd began to fly into the ring as Claudio stepped in to stop the fight as Lazarte was falling over. A few seconds later chaos erupted as more debris came flying into the ring, as did numerous ringside chairs. It looked like an episode of WWE “Smackdown” and was one of the most disturbing scenes you will ever see. One spectator began to swing at Casimero. It was a full-on riot and a complete mess as bottles and chairs were hitting people in the ring. One of Casimero’s corner men, Sean Gibbons, suffered a broken rib. Claudio needed stitches in his lip. Others were dropping like flies as they were hit with chairs. There was a complete lack of ringside security. In fact, it looked like one of the security guards threw a punch at Casimero during the mayhem, which included spectators fighting each other at ringside. Lazarte is a dirty fighter and his so-called fans are even worse. This was simply shameful and to hear Eddie Claudio describe it was something those in attendance at the meeting will never forget.
President Duffy introduced many of the boxing people in attendance.
President Duffy talked on the 2nd Annual Ring 8 Picnic, which will be held in Glen Gove during the summer.
President Duffy showed the membership 3 New York Giant jackets that we will raffle off later on tonight.
President Duffy talked on the 1st Annual New York Boxing Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies, which will be held on Sunday, April 1st at Russo’s on the Bay. He introduced inductees Harold Lederman and Vito Antuofermo. He also talked on Mike Tyson, Carmen Basilio and Emile Griffith. Tickets are $150 each. President Duffy also talked about getting AD’s for our Journal.
President Duffy stated that Tony Mazzarella is working on getting a statue put up in a park by the Crabhouse for the New York Boxing Hall of Fame.
Our photographer Stan Janousek talked on a recent Golden Glove Show that Ring 8 ran.
Frank Pena stated that John Holden wants to form a membership/outreach Committee to bring in more members.
President Duffy showed the membership the poster for the up-coming New York Boxing Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies, and then he introduced our guest speaker, Bobby Cassidy Jr., writes for Newsday and wrote the play “Kid Shamrock,” which was based on the life of his father, Bobby Cassidy Sr.
Bobby started off by talking about referee Wayne Kelly, who had the part of the referee in “Kid Shamrock” and he also talked on Charlie Noel. He talked on several other Ring 8 fighters, whom he also wrote stories on, including Junior Jones.
Bobby stated that boxing is still alive and well. The top 10 PPV shows are not MMA, they’re all from boxing. He stated that although boxing isn’t covered as much, it will never die, someone will always come around. How many boxing movies have there been, more then any other sport.
Bobby talked on the play “Kid Shamrock.” He stated that the fighters wrote the play, he just wrote it down. He then introduced several members of the play such as Dave Schulster the producer of the play, Mark Breland, Tommy “The Razor” Rainone and Kristina. Schulster stated that he hasn’t been to a Ring 8 meeting in 30 years. He talked on Artie Levine and Danny Kapilow.
Bobby then thanked Eddie Claudio for giving us that story of what happened in Argentina. He also talked on Johnny Colon, who’s daughter Cheri was in attendance, and on how he knew him years ago.
Questions: Frank Pena asked Bobby why there isn’t much coverage on Amateur boxing anymore and if Newsday could work on giving it a little more coverage.
John Holden talked on the up-coming Long Island Tournament, which is scheduled to take place in the summer, and asked if Newsday could cover it. Bobby stated that he would do his best to do so.
Harold Lederman talked on Bobby Cassidy Jr., and what a wonderful job he has been doing. Harold talked on Cassidy Sr., and whom he fought. Harold also talked about the recent death of Don Fullmer, who Cassidy Sr. beat back in 1971. Jack Hirsh stated that in that fight, both fighters wore shirts. Bobby Cassidy Jr., stated yes they did bit around the 6th round his father take it off and several rounds later Fullmer did the same. Joe Frazier even sung before the fight.
Right now “Kid Shamrock” isn’t playing but they might be back in the fall.
President Duffy recognized boxing judge John Signorile, who has a small part in HBO’s Broadway Empire.
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