*There’s a whole lot of news and update that I’d like to talk about that has occurred since this month began. So much so that I wasn’t sure where to start. There’s some good , some bad, some sad, and some tragic news.
So let me begin this edition by paying tribute to one of the greatest and finest fighters in the ring and out.
The one and only Bobby Chacon who fought some of the most memorable fights in boxing you’d ever want to see in the late 70’s and early 80’s, recently died from injuries suffered from a fall while being treated in a care facility. They called him “School Boy” and he was one unique individual in boxing and was inducted into the Boxing Hall Of Fame.
He won some and lost some in the ring and folks I got to tell you something, this was one guy who could really fight. Who could forget those four tough fights he had with Rafael “Bozooka” Limon especially the 15 round fight (yes they were going 15 back then) they had in 1982 that was proclaimed Fight Of The Year by Ring Magazine.
After he lost his title to Ruben Olivares the next year he started drinking and using drugs but he kept on fighting in the ring in spite of pleads from his wife to quit boxing. She would go on and kill herself and leave him with the three kids they had together.
He fought some of the best in boxing in those days from Alexis Arguello, Corneilius Boza Edwards, to Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini just to name a few. He was one of the nicest guys to meet outside the ring, he was just 64 years young. May God’s peace and blessings be upon him, we will never forget him.
In other boxing news IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook showed grit and courage by stepping up two weight classes and went against Gennady “GGG Golovkin to fight for the middleweight championship at the 02 Arena in London, England this past weekend that was telecast live on HBO. And although the fight didn’t make it past the fifth you just have to tip your hat to Brook who nearly got knocked out in the first round, and gave Golovkin the time of his life for that short period and brought it to him until his corner threw in the towel apparently thinking he couldn’t do it anymore. I think the jury is still out on that because for me, he looked like he still had a lot of fight left in him. If nothing else, Brook proved that he could be competitive with anyone. And I also think that he could do extremely well if he chose to, in the junior middleweight division. He’s such a good fighter who hails out of the U.K. and holds the IBF welterweight title that he captured from Shawn “Showtime” Porter a while back. It would be nice to see how well he would do against Kieth Thurman, Danny Garcia, Timothy Bradley, or even Jessie Vargas who was originally set to go against him before that fell through.
And while all that was going on overseas, we had a barnburner in Inglewood, California at the Fabulous Forum with Roman “Chocolito” Gonzalez going against Carlos “The Prince” Cuadras for the WBC super flyweight title. Folks, I got to tell you something, if there was ever a fight to be considered “Fight Of The Year” candidate, this was the one. These guys didn’t hold anything back and went toe to toe for twelve grueling rounds in front of a capacity crowd of 6,714 plus people that definitely got their moneys worth. At the end of all that went down, it was a split decision for “Chocolito” Gonzalez who is now a four time champion. Although it wasn’t easy, because he had his hands full going against “The Prince” Cuadras who came in this one defending his title. But don’t worry, “The Prince” will be back.
And by the way speaking of Vargas, he’s now set to defend his WBO welterweight title against Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao who’s coming out of his short lived retirement on November 5th at the Thomas And Mack in Las Vegas. This should be very interesting folks, because Vargas is a very tough fighter who is getting the ring with one of the greatest fighters in the welterweight division. There are some ring observers who are wondering if the “Pacman” can balance the challenges he faces in the boxing arena with his new duties in the political arena. We’ll certainly see how that turns out.
What everyone wants to see is Golvkin fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez who’s set to go against Liam Smith this coming weekend in a fight that will be also telecast live on HBO. And more than that, everyone is waiting to see that much anticipated matchup between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward that’s set for November 19 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This one should be a dandy that pits two of the best light heavyweight champions in boxing today in the ring. This will be an HBO pay per view telecast live, and we can’t wait to see this one go down
And finally, I’d like to end this edition by encouraging you all to keep legendary photographer Howard Bingham in your thoughts and prayers. He is slowly recovering from surgery to have a tumor removed from his brain. He’s been through a whole lot especially in light of the fact that he lost his son Damon earlier this year who was also a fine photographer, and his best friend “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali whom he went everywhere with throughout his career.
May Allah (God) continue to give him life health and strength.
“When the tide goes out, that’s when you’ll find out who’s been swimming naked”- Warren Buffett
Mohammed Mubarak’s Ringside Update can also be read in the High Desert Inland Valley News, and the Pace News. He can be reached at [email protected] for your comments. He is an artist as well and you may go to mubarakart.com or qmubarak06 on instagram and view his works.
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