Panel

Don Majeski

Bruce Silverglade

Larry Goldberg

Jill Diamond

Jack Hirsch

To paraphrase George Orwell: “All sports people are equal…but some sports people are more equal than others?”

The panel which is mostly based in the New York Area,  where Boxing`s Cathedral Madison Garden is forever rooted,  insisted rather than mooted fair and equal play for the Noble Art.  Whereas the sports of pitchers/ sluggers and the ones that jam basketballs through hoops are allowed back in the gym.  Boxing, which Jimmy Cannon referred to as: “The red light district of Sport,”  are left as the no hopers.  No green light for boxers to resume training, which remains online,  or in parks, minus all of the prerequisites! Yet Gleasons Gym is only a distanced hop, skip and a jump away from the Mets gym?!

Don states that in this State,  that boxing is being discriminated against with the jobs of trainers, cut specialists, corner people, trainers, matchmakers, managers and the boxers themselves at jeopardy. Bruce says that he`s written to and received a response from Kim Sumner from the Commission, but no action: “I`m sitting here in an empty gym. It`s rent is extremely high. Why is boxing being discriminated against? I`m training professional fighters.”

Don urges: “We never stick together and act as a group. We`ve got to act as leaders, get together and sign a petition.”  He insists that the perception of boxing that you`re guilty until you`re proved guilty must be dispelled, commenting: “We are considered a vice rather than a profession.”  Jill commented that the lack of proper preparation due to no access to facilities: “Is becoming a health issue.  We need professional people, who know about boxing, running these commissions.”  While Bruce said that if boxing gyms are used only for pro fighters we are not talking about an exorbitant amount of people.

Don asked: “Where the hell is the person who`s the head of the Commission. I`m trying to call her now! Fighters can`t put food on the table!” Bruce agreed: “Everyone in boxing is alone. We don`t speak together, and until we get a league, we`re individuals.” Don suggested standardizing the medical rules in Boxing saying: “We could take one percent from all the shows and put it to the medicals. But at the moment there is no force of will.”

Other gyms in  in Nevada and Georgia are being allowed to open up, following safety protocols, by their Commissions.  But New York appears to at the bottom of the barrel?  The comic/tragic saying of Caroline Rhea: “My favorite  machine at the gym…is the vending machine,” seems to be the only current slot in the Big Apple.  As Charles De Gaulle once observed: “He who laughs last, didn`t understand the joke!”

More controversial talk about heavier women boxers fighting lighter men in a boxing match….is a thirty pound advantage enough?   And great fights that never happened like Carlos Ortiz Vs Roberto Duran,  Larry Holmes Vs George Foreman, or even Claressa Shields against Laila Ali?   To gain it all, please go to the link: