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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart His photograph on his Wikipedia page shows a man of a certain age who has the swarthy looks of an Italian unlikely to out of sorts in an appearance in the likes of The Sopranos. Fortunately, he has the name to go along with it, Tony DeMarco, 58-12-1, 33 KO’s. His real ....
Cortina de Hierro –Castro’s Iron Curtain In 1946 after the end of the Second World War what Winston Churchill described as an Iron Curtain stretched across Europe separating East and West with all professional sport banned in the East. That brought an end to any fledgling careers and any future hopes of a professional career for boxers on the Eastern side of the Curtain. After just over forty years with the dissolution of the USSR the Curtain is no longer a barrier to professionalism and fighters such as the Klitschko brothers and Vasyl Lomachenko have since graced our sport. In 1961 after Fidel Castro adopted Communism as Cuba’s creed another Iron Curtain banning professional sport was woven in the West every bit as important for boxing as the one in Europe. Unlike the European Curtain this one is still in place and still denying professional boxing access to the wellspring of talent that has made Cuba the most successful nation in amateur boxing. ....
Brief Lives: Virgil Honeybear Akins Finally, after all the hard years toiling in hothouse gyms and all the years crisscrossing the country as an itinerant journeyman smoke-filled halls, catcalls and hisses when facing the local hero, narrow losses tallied on doubtful scorecard after doubtful scorecard Virgil Akins became one of The Chosen. It took Honeybear more than a decade to win the welterweight title, and when he did, it vaulted him into nefarious proceedings that would lead, ultimately, to the downfall of the capo di tutti capi of boxing himself: Frankie Carbo, aka (depending on the day) Mr. Fury or Mr. Gray. And while Akins never openly rued his limited reign as champion the way his successor, the radioactive Don Geronimo Jordan, did, he never saw the title as a blessing: Some get the breaks, and some don’t, he said once. Being world champion was the biggest break I ever got, but it didn’t lead nowhere. ....
Hannibal Boxing Virgil Akins knocks down Vince Martinez during their fight for the vacant welterweight world title at the Arena in St. Louis on June 6,1958. Akins won by TKO in round four. Finally, after all the hard years toiling in hothouse gyms and all the years crisscrossing the country as an itinerant journeyman smoke-filled halls, catcalls and hisses when facing the local hero, narrow losses tallied on doubtful scorecard after doubtful scorecard Virgil Akins became one of The Chosen. It took “Honeybear” more than a decade to win the welterweight title, and when he did, it vaulted him into nefarious proceedings that would lead, ultimately, to the downfall of the capo di tutti capi of boxing himself: Frankie Carbo, aka (depending on the day) Mr. Fury or Mr. Gray. And while Akins never openly rued his limited reign as champion the way his successor, the radioactive Don “Geronimo” Jordan, did, he never saw the title as a blessing: “Some get the breaks, and ....
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