1 00:00:08,519 --> 00:00:13,039 Good afternoon. You're listening to Gambling with an Edge. Now here are your 2 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:18,719 hosts, Bob Dancer and Richard Munchkin. Good afternoon, Welcome to Gambling with 3 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,920 an Edge. I'm Bob Dancer and I'm Richard Munchkin. This is one of 4 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:32,880 our irregularly scheduled podcast and today our guest is Dennis Rappaport, who was a 5 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:41,079 boxing manager boxing promoter, and we're going to talk to him. Dennis Rappaport, 6 00:00:41,119 --> 00:00:44,359 Welcome to Gambling with an Edge. Hey guys, it's a pleasure for 7 00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:49,119 me to be with you. All right. So you came up in Brooklyn, 8 00:00:49,399 --> 00:00:53,600 So tell us about the Brooklyn roots and how your early years created a 9 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:59,799 foundation for your career as a boxing manager and promoter. Well. I grew 10 00:01:00,079 --> 00:01:07,280 up in Brooklyn with so Richard's tradition from games that we played, punchbowl, 11 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:12,239 stickball, box baseball, and all the other great games that perhaps were unique 12 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:18,439 to Brooklyn. As a youngster, I was always a hustler looking to make 13 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:22,000 a buck. When I was thirteen, I had twenty five kids working for 14 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:30,640 me and doing what well. I became a friend of mine's father sold Viennese 15 00:01:30,719 --> 00:01:34,760 cookies and one day I followed him and I found out the factory and I 16 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:42,280 became a Dennister friendly cookie man, hired twenty five kids and ultimately distributed to 17 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:48,799 charities who are resold. So you were telling us about you were selling everything 18 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:53,200 from cookies to Chinchilla's when you were ten. Yeah, and I was a 19 00:01:53,239 --> 00:01:59,400 distributor for a vider. I sought security lots out of traveling karate school. 20 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:05,599 Uh. I was a kid that wanted to make a buck and be independent 21 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,960 and and it's led me on to various careers. So how did you get 22 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,719 into boxing? Well, I was in the well at seven years old. 23 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:23,120 My father was a huge boxing fan and had come from Canada to the US 24 00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:29,000 forded bootleg fights against professional fighters when he was fifteen, never lost the fight. 25 00:02:30,439 --> 00:02:36,240 He was short, but fearless and very quick and had a love for 26 00:02:36,319 --> 00:02:39,919 boxing. And I remember, as a seven year old youngster watching Rockie, 27 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:46,800 watching Eugene Aston and Jake Lamatta and a couple of months later Sugary Robinson and 28 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:54,919 Jake Nomada, and I was captivated. I was mesmerized and a love of 29 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:02,439 fear became from that point on with being boxed and uh. Years later, 30 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:09,199 I went to the Nassau Colisecene, and I saw other had been a boxing 31 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:15,439 show schedule, and I saw a fellow with a trainer is Uh a sweater, 32 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:19,879 and I went over to him and introduced myself follow him. A businessman 33 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,319 would admit with it very interested in boxing and if he had anybody that had 34 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,639 potential, to let me know. I get a call. About a week 35 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:32,000 and af later. They called me down to a gym and I saw Damon 36 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:38,199 running characters like you only read about. And I was in the real estate 37 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:43,800 business at the time, and all the frustrations and the anxiety of real estate 38 00:03:43,919 --> 00:03:47,319 left and I was in a make believe world of things you only hear about. 39 00:03:47,879 --> 00:03:53,280 So I go into this room and I quickly identified that I was a 40 00:03:53,319 --> 00:03:57,479 subject of a scam. They were going to take this businessman and being of 41 00:03:57,599 --> 00:04:01,240 a fighter that was a twelve pair his prime and try to grab as much 42 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:08,439 money as possible. I picked it up, but something happened. Nothing happened 43 00:04:08,479 --> 00:04:18,079 on that deal, but that feeling in the gym that that's almost inexpressible created 44 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:24,000 an interest, and we started going to gyms and looking for talent, and 45 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:30,480 I first signed the fello about him A Ronning Harris. He was nicknamed Ronning 46 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,759 Masl Harris, and he was I had been an Olympic gold medal winner and 47 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:40,759 he won it in nineteen sixty eighty at George Foreman one, and it was 48 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:46,000 seventeen or eighteen, and I was a pro. Gil Clancy had managed him 49 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,959 and couldn't move him, and he was the first fighter I signed. I 50 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:55,839 remember calling Bob Aram up. You know, I was aggressively ignorant at the 51 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:01,600 time about professional boxing, to say the least. And when I spoke to 52 00:05:01,639 --> 00:05:08,839 Arab, he said, oh, Jannie Harris from Detroit, and I said, 53 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,160 no, he's from Canting. He says, he don't know what you're 54 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,920 talking about and hung up on me. Well, I don't take that type 55 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:21,040 of rejection. Well, so I began to fit out of the box of 56 00:05:21,079 --> 00:05:25,040 what to be able to do with this fight and how I represented him, 57 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,839 How am I going to get him exposure? So I think we used some 58 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,160 innovative and creative things to get him attention. To give you a couple of 59 00:05:33,199 --> 00:05:40,800 examples, we maintained that Ronnie was a black Jew and wanted a fight with 60 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:47,639 the A. I made this request of the commission. They became hysterical laughing 61 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:54,120 and rejected it. I took him to the New York State Supreme Court. 62 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,839 We won, and at the last minute the Commission the night of the fight, 63 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,959 I got to stay to prevent him from wearing a yamacause it was almost 64 00:06:03,959 --> 00:06:10,199 a riot. The crowd was predominantly laden and they were offended that the commission 65 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:14,800 wanted to take the yamaka off. That begat and the first thing that got 66 00:06:14,879 --> 00:06:18,759 riding exposure it was on talk radio, it was in the newspapers. Fiddler 67 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:27,399 in the ring boxes self and that became one of the numerous things that we 68 00:06:27,519 --> 00:06:32,279 did. Another thing we did was the guard and promised us about and had 69 00:06:32,319 --> 00:06:39,480 renee and as I said, I don't take rejection and know weather. So 70 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:46,040 I called up every newspaper, every television station UH at the time and said 71 00:06:46,079 --> 00:06:48,199 I'm going to show up on this off of Sunday, that I'm going to 72 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:54,839 show up on Monday at the offices of Madison Square Garden. They promised me 73 00:06:54,879 --> 00:06:57,959 a fight and then they claimed they couldn't get anyone to fight him. I'm 74 00:06:57,959 --> 00:07:01,680 going to show up with a seven one hundred and fifty pound gorilla and a 75 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,600 paint. If there's no Midlewight in the world. That'll fight Harris. Harris 76 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:14,120 is so courageous, will fight the gorilla. The early edition of the post 77 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,560 there were about a thousand people outside. To my shock, both in Western 78 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:28,680 which owned the guard must have been embarrassed. Teddy BRender an old, an 79 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:33,920 older matchmaker, you know, one of these guys that just spoke this way, 80 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:42,199 real matchmaker was known to make wars quote them. My partner and said, 81 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:46,600 what is that crazy man doing. He's making Gulf and Western look bad. 82 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,879 And my partner, who was at home, said all he wanted to 83 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:55,560 do was to fulfil your promise and get him a fight. And finally they 84 00:07:55,639 --> 00:08:01,120 relented. Harris went out and fort another gold medal with a sugaray sealed and 85 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:07,759 uh, that was one of many things we did to get exposure. With 86 00:08:07,959 --> 00:08:13,279 exposure gave us the leverage and the opportunity to get invites. And now, 87 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,959 were you also a trainer to Ronnie Harris or just the manager? No? 88 00:08:18,839 --> 00:08:26,160 No, I was. I was the manager occasionally with some fighters. I 89 00:08:26,199 --> 00:08:33,360 was very hands on in terms of selecting trainers, in terms of being at 90 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:39,000 the gym's uh uh, planning strategy, selecting opponents, you know, things 91 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,759 like that. I was very hands on God and it gave me excusevely my 92 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:50,879 real estate business, uh, which uh I was in all my life, 93 00:08:50,399 --> 00:08:56,000 but it didn't have the same job, high profile, or the glitz and 94 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:01,559 glab that I got of when I got involved the boxing. So I understand 95 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:07,080 that you had a fight with Ronnie Harris in Argentina where you ran into a 96 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:16,279 number of problems. Ronnie Harris became the North American Boxing Federation champion, and 97 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:24,320 we had a fight in Vegas against Gracian Toner, the European champion, and 98 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:30,279 I had at the time Mike Marley wrote for I think the Last vacage is 99 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:35,519 at Review, a Las Vegas journal, and I said, somebody put something 100 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:41,480 under my door and said that the fixers in that the judges are you can't 101 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:46,679 win this fight, and I publicized it. Wow, they put everybody on 102 00:09:46,759 --> 00:09:52,080 the defense. Some people accused that I had somebody who I could note to 103 00:09:52,159 --> 00:09:58,080 myself. All the people say, well it was a credible source, Well 104 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:05,879 whatever, Okay. The judges all were very defensive the fights Tona and prior 105 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:11,120 to the fight, an ugly incident took place. It was at the Aladdin 106 00:10:11,159 --> 00:10:16,919 Hotel and a fella I was friendly with at the time, was running the 107 00:10:18,039 --> 00:10:26,919 Aladdin and they put mistakenly put the dressing rooms right next to each other. 108 00:10:26,759 --> 00:10:31,279 And as I was out looking at the audience, a fight broke out between 109 00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:37,080 the camps. I heard the loud, screaming voices, and I ran in 110 00:10:37,039 --> 00:10:41,799 and my people and the Toners people were in a fight. They had Gene 111 00:10:41,799 --> 00:10:46,840 cord body, a bodier, a former champion, and it became an ugly, 112 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:54,600 unfortunate incident. Now, all of a sudden, CBS screens it's time 113 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:01,279 walk out. I had broken up the fight at that point, but unfortunately 114 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:09,559 Ponish people had were bloodied up, so they're walking in this is prime time 115 00:11:09,799 --> 00:11:18,840 CBS with blood all over their face. And Harris won the fight, but 116 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:24,120 it created a major problem. The winner of the fight was supposed to fight 117 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:28,279 Hugo Quoro, the champion, in Monte Carlo, which would have been neutral 118 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:35,519 territory. Because of the reputation, which is somewhat in the farious. According 119 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:43,440 to Aram, of Tonish people from Marseilles, France, they felt that everyone's 120 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,320 life would be in danger in Monte Carlo. I told Aram I would give 121 00:11:48,399 --> 00:11:52,559 him a release of liability and we would take care of our own security, 122 00:11:54,279 --> 00:11:58,639 and he insisted on Uh that the fight take place in Argentina, the hometown 123 00:11:58,639 --> 00:12:05,320 of Corps. Again ill with it. It was Aaron's concerned of us security 124 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:11,320 or we felt that it would be a big attraction fighting the Argentinian in his 125 00:12:11,399 --> 00:12:18,559 own home hometown. Well, we go to Argentina, were treated orally. 126 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:22,720 It was like the literally the event. My z Ohn had been the champion, 127 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:30,399 Quoro was a recent champion and everyone want to treat us for it until 128 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:37,480 the day of the fight, and taught my shock and surprise. The following 129 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:43,679 things happened on our way close to the parking lot, a group of people 130 00:12:43,799 --> 00:12:50,639 try to overturn our car. We finally make it to the arena and myself 131 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:56,919 and a couple of other people were in we'll chenting out the corners and where 132 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,240 Ronnie was going to fight, and we were told that we couldn't be in 133 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:05,440 the corner, and I said, there's nothing in this world that's going to 134 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:09,759 get me out of the corner. Well, my fighters fighting for the Middleway 135 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:18,679 Championship. Shortly afterwards, people came security or police with machine guns. Well, 136 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,200 I wasn't exactly a profile and courage at that point speaking up. So 137 00:13:24,159 --> 00:13:33,639 being surrounded by machine guns, okay, uh we were we I went to 138 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:39,039 sit in the seat. Shortly afterwards, his brother refused to leave, was 139 00:13:39,039 --> 00:13:46,840 surrounded by machine guns, so that he's staying and literally they were taking him 140 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:52,879 and out and a lot of people said he would never be found again. 141 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:58,720 My partner, Mike Johns, cooled off the situation, but it was a 142 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:05,039 it was a horrible situation. They made our trainer in between rounds leave the 143 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,559 corner, so when the bell rang to the next round, he had a 144 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:15,080 run for the rescuer. He had to run to the ring while the Arris 145 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:20,720 was the split decision. A referee named Bill take and a sparring partner was 146 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:26,360 so traumatized by the events they wouldn't even let us back into the dressing room. 147 00:14:26,399 --> 00:14:31,679 It was locked. They were literally frightened for their life. It was 148 00:14:31,559 --> 00:14:37,200 a horrific experience. Harris lost the split decision, and if they fought anywhere 149 00:14:37,279 --> 00:14:43,399 else in the world, okay, without all these things going on. And 150 00:14:43,559 --> 00:14:46,759 Harris was aware of some things because when he would go back to his corner, 151 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:52,240 he didn't see his corner and they were running there, and he was 152 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:58,039 aware of he must have seen the machine guns earlier on. And he didn't 153 00:14:58,039 --> 00:15:03,320 fight to fight. He was capable. He was super talented. Rowdy wasn't 154 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,320 exciting, but he was a tremendous technician. You couldn't hit him in his 155 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,879 rare end if you didn't want to get hit. And uh, it was 156 00:15:11,919 --> 00:15:18,039 a bit of disappointment. And uh, my first uh or many situations of 157 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:26,440 guy's fighting for a title. Uh, that was one that I'm not a 158 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:33,039 gracious loser, and I had I usually get even. That was one that 159 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:37,639 I never had the opportunity to get even on. But it was a nightmarish 160 00:15:37,639 --> 00:15:43,600 situation. M Hm. You were involved with Jerry Cooney. How did that 161 00:15:43,679 --> 00:15:50,159 happen? Well? Interestingly enough to fellow Bill say, Oh, it introduced 162 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,159 me to Ronnie Harris was the first black referee, or not the first black 163 00:15:54,200 --> 00:16:00,600 referee, but among the early black referees, and he introduced me also to 164 00:16:00,679 --> 00:16:07,279 Cooney. Cooney had an outstanding amateur record and beat the Russians. He was 165 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:14,240 a young fellow. I wasn't that much older than him, Okay, and 166 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:21,559 we sat down, we broke red. I had already signed another gold medal 167 00:16:21,559 --> 00:16:27,000 winner from that great nineteen seventy six Olympic team Howard Davis, who had won 168 00:16:27,039 --> 00:16:33,159 the vout Back Bark Award as the Outstanding fighter in the Olympics over Sugar elen 169 00:16:33,159 --> 00:16:38,039 In and all the other great fighters. And I negotiated a deal directly with 170 00:16:38,159 --> 00:16:42,440 CBS, which was the first time that was done. Okay, a sports 171 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:48,240 illustrator called it the contract of the year. We negotiated, which is a 172 00:16:48,279 --> 00:16:55,759 long story, but it was an outstanding, outstanding deal. And Jerry was 173 00:16:55,919 --> 00:17:00,440 from Long Island, knew about the Davy situation. We had got a lot 174 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:06,839 of favorable publicity making the deal. Uh. There was an instant before and 175 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:12,960 we uh we signed him and UH with Jerry at one point as he's being 176 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:19,200 developed and he was very personable and he added, uh outside the ring, 177 00:17:19,279 --> 00:17:25,799 he was very understated. Inside the ring, he uh he would send three 178 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:32,079 four guys sparring partners to the hospital a week. Uh. It was what 179 00:17:32,279 --> 00:17:37,640 happened for the first year. His trainer Woodland him spar so he was being 180 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:42,559 a lot of the guys in the gym. Oh, the poor boy from 181 00:17:42,559 --> 00:17:48,119 Long Island, he won't spa and they were doing maybe there was ten sparring 182 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,440 partners. Soon as Victor allowed him to spa. He knew that they were 183 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,599 going to look to take his head off, and he just destroyed him. 184 00:17:56,079 --> 00:18:00,799 At the end, he emptied out every every weight in the gym anyhow, 185 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,480 which Aerry. We did another thing. We brought a leprechaun into the ring. 186 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:11,000 Jerry, and I gotta tell you the first, the first time, 187 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:18,119 this fella leprechaun, if you will, was very nervous. He was so 188 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,880 burgers okay, and he was in the green uniform and he was gonna hexit 189 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:27,559 the oppoted. He literally got sick, threw up in the bathroom. Uh 190 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:36,440 didn't do any of the uh the hexing uh was frozen. But the next 191 00:18:36,599 --> 00:18:41,839 day it made the front page of the Daily News. Little did I know 192 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:49,799 that we created a diva. So his next fight was at the Westchester County 193 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:56,119 Center. We used him again and he was finding a guy by the name 194 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:02,799 of Sam McGill. Whole in this world could have ever pictured that McGill, 195 00:19:03,799 --> 00:19:14,319 a professional fighter, was literally afraid of a leprechaut. Came down for the 196 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:22,759 commission and one of the commissioners was a former pr man by Ella Fitzgerald years 197 00:19:22,799 --> 00:19:29,440 before, and he says to me, I got a six page letter from 198 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:34,799 the McGill's management about not allowing a leprechaut in the ring. Not allowing it. 199 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:40,160 He's very superstitious, so I said, and I was trying to keep 200 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,559 a straight face. I couldn't believe he was saying this to me. I 201 00:19:42,599 --> 00:19:47,799 said, Marvin, you show me where in the New York State Athletic Commission 202 00:19:48,039 --> 00:19:52,680 it rules out elepercats. That's like Santa Claus. He didn't know what to 203 00:19:52,759 --> 00:19:56,200 say it. Finally he said, look, you could let the lepochart in 204 00:19:56,279 --> 00:20:06,559 the ring, but he can't x the opponent. Little did I know that 205 00:20:06,759 --> 00:20:11,839 the leprecaon after getting all this publicity and seeing him on a front page, 206 00:20:12,519 --> 00:20:18,000 this guy thought that he was a star. So I said, go into 207 00:20:18,039 --> 00:20:21,079 the ring, but you can't x the opponent. You can dance around a 208 00:20:21,079 --> 00:20:22,640 little bit, but you know, I don't give him one of these things 209 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:27,920 and move your fingers. Anyhow. Make a long story short, I created 210 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:33,480 a monster. As soon as McGill got into the ring, the leprechaun starts 211 00:20:33,599 --> 00:20:40,519 dancing next to him and starts wiggling his fingers. McGill turned around not to 212 00:20:40,599 --> 00:20:45,759 look at the lefrachaun. Uh the commission came. Always said Rappaport will grab 213 00:20:45,799 --> 00:20:52,079 your license, and I had to have the leprechaun uh seasoned assist from making 214 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:59,839 the opponent. He went on won the decision, and I think that was 215 00:21:00,079 --> 00:21:04,359 the end of uh the uh uh, the Lucker con and boxing. Yeah, 216 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,599 so how did you get? Then the match with Cooney? How I 217 00:21:08,599 --> 00:21:15,839 mean with Holmes, how did that? Well? It was a Cooney became 218 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:21,200 uh. He knocked out uh everywhere but him a ron Lyle in one, 219 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:26,559 one or two rounds with he broke his rid with a body shot. Then 220 00:21:26,599 --> 00:21:32,160 we were matched against Jimmy who had beat beat him but didn't get the decision 221 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:37,400 Ali, who did defeat Foreman. Uh was a real uh. One of 222 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:44,920 these guys that were was a real Uh made everybody look bad. To be 223 00:21:45,039 --> 00:21:48,960 very honest with you, I didn't want that fight. I was very concerned, 224 00:21:48,599 --> 00:21:55,200 uh because nobody looked good against uh Young. And often people will say, 225 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,960 oh, Cooney Ford an old Jimmy Young. Well, if you say, 226 00:22:00,079 --> 00:22:03,319 could look at Young's record after he fought Cooney, he beat five guys, 227 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:07,920 most of them were undefeated. Okay, King, this was a co 228 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:15,319 promotion because I always I would never get involved with King controlling any part of 229 00:22:15,079 --> 00:22:21,920 any fighter that I was involved in. He had a young young people got 230 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:26,519 him in the best shape that he was ever ind okay, and Cooney destroyed 231 00:22:26,559 --> 00:22:30,720 him. They stopped to fight. Young was a bloody mess and Young almost 232 00:22:30,759 --> 00:22:37,400 never got hit in a fight. And all of a sudden, Cooney now 233 00:22:37,519 --> 00:22:45,119 is a is a national star. And at the time Norton was coming back 234 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:51,119 and he was fighting a car, but a young car that was eighteen and 235 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:56,839 oh like seventeen knockouts who had just knocked out Ernie Shades. We agreed to 236 00:22:56,839 --> 00:23:02,359 fight the winner. To a mild surprise, guys, Nordon defeats Cord. 237 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,960 We fight obviously, we fight the winner. We couldn't fight the loser. 238 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:18,000 Coney in fifty four seconds knocks out when it is scariest knockouts. You'll let 239 00:23:18,079 --> 00:23:22,839 it see. It was a one or two point away from from a fatality. 240 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,079 The referee was late and stopping it. I jumped into the ring and 241 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:33,839 all I saw with a white of Norton's eyes. Now it is fifty four 242 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:41,920 seconds, okay, And then a match was made and it was the biggest 243 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:45,440 grossing event in one night in the history of the sport. I even think 244 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:51,079 it exceeded the gross of the Super Bowl that year. Okay, it took 245 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:56,440 place in Vegas. They built in Caesars, they built a parking lot. 246 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,599 It was fucking a parking light. They built in a I reader. It 247 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:08,000 was every celebrity, every star that you could possibly name, was there. 248 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,079 It became let me, let me give you an example. Cody was on 249 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:18,640 the cover of every magazine. Okay, you could think of not only sports 250 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:25,200 illustrated in sport magazine and boxing magazines, but what I call coursed dover them 251 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:30,799 things, things that were not oriented towards sports. The cover of Time magazine, 252 00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:33,720 which was a funny story. By the way, on the cover you 253 00:24:33,759 --> 00:24:41,200 see a picture of him and Sylvester Stallone, And if you took a look 254 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:47,839 at the cover, you'd be shocked because if you look Stallone, Stallone isn't 255 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:52,599 tall, and Cooney's about six feet six six feet maybe almost six feet seven. 256 00:24:53,759 --> 00:24:59,720 And people always wondered, how in this world do you see them to 257 00:24:59,759 --> 00:25:06,440 get together? And Stallan is almost as big as Tony. We got to 258 00:25:06,519 --> 00:25:11,160 the studio a great photographer but a nickname Neil Leifer, who was one of 259 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:18,440 the great photographers, had uh Stallone didn't want it to be a big such 260 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:23,720 a big disparity in size, so he stood on a cart. Then we 261 00:25:23,799 --> 00:25:29,079 got into an argument. The argument was, hey, look, we don't 262 00:25:29,079 --> 00:25:32,319 mind if you want to appear taller, but you're not going to be taller 263 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:37,079 than company. So I finally was resolved itself that he was almost the size 264 00:25:37,079 --> 00:25:42,240 of coding with the box that used, and that was the cover of time. 265 00:25:44,279 --> 00:25:49,920 Unfortunately, h to fight you more fire and press more international than Tregue. 266 00:25:51,640 --> 00:26:00,160 It was an extraordinary event, uh King, I made King do. 267 00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:08,279 I insisted on parody that Cooney the Challenger get as much as Homes. As 268 00:26:08,319 --> 00:26:12,680 it turns out he wound up making a couple of million dollars more than Homes 269 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:19,519 because I had sent auditors and accountants to every close circuit location okay, so 270 00:26:19,599 --> 00:26:25,519 I would know exactly the money that was taken in, so King couldn't uh 271 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:32,079 finagle with the numbers. And interestingly enough, Homes had heard about that we 272 00:26:32,079 --> 00:26:38,680 were hiring it and asked if he could have a copy okay, and I 273 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,880 said, yeah, it's going to cost about one hundred thousand dollars okay, 274 00:26:44,759 --> 00:26:48,799 with all the auditors and accountants going out, you pay air. Cooney pays 275 00:26:48,839 --> 00:26:53,279 air, the Corney side pays air, and you'd be entitled to it. 276 00:26:55,200 --> 00:27:00,480 Homes didn't want to go for the fifty thousand. After the fight, he 277 00:27:00,599 --> 00:27:04,000 caught contacts us asked for a copy. I said you could have a copy 278 00:27:04,079 --> 00:27:10,400 after you said fifty thousan frankly, he never did, and it wound up 279 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:19,400 costing him two million dollars and it was an Unfortunately, King was fueling the 280 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:26,079 worst feeling for the worst instincts of people, UH, trying to exploit the 281 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:34,240 U a black fighter, undefeated champion against a white contender, a tremendous puncher 282 00:27:34,599 --> 00:27:40,359 that was undefeated. And it was first of all, it was morally reprehensible, 283 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,799 Okay. Cooney's line was, it's not important if you're black or white, 284 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,559 just how you for you left or right. It made him very uncomfortable. 285 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,839 It was not only morally reprehensible. And I come from being a background 286 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,839 of being an activist to civil rights where I was almost lynched by the court 287 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:06,079 quote Sclan. He wasn't aware of it at the time. Me and King 288 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:12,759 got into very in negotiations, with me UH demanding parody and a co promotion 289 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:18,200 that he co promoted with a guy that had been a real estate part remind 290 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:25,480 for years frankly and uh, we're all kinds of controls on dollars flowing. 291 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,960 And uh, you know, King tried everything. Uh he uh, he 292 00:28:32,039 --> 00:28:37,400 tried to put on the job. He tried intimidation. Yeah, yeah, 293 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:42,200 I don't mean to sound like I'm some tough guy, but intimidated. He 294 00:28:42,319 --> 00:28:45,559 got no chance of working with me. It just it was like, you 295 00:28:45,599 --> 00:28:51,680 know, forget about it, and it looked hot at times. Then King 296 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:56,680 did put on Sharman almost to a dance. Uh. He was manipulative Macavelliot. 297 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,480 He said, well, why you know, what is it that you 298 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,759 Why are you so hilarying me? And I said, because if you had 299 00:29:03,759 --> 00:29:11,240 the opportunity to take our eyeballs any out. Make a long story short. 300 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:18,480 King had a great work ethic. Was as manipulative as you could ever envision 301 00:29:18,559 --> 00:29:25,319 any want to be used, any and every approach He did his background. 302 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,440 First, he thought that I made the eracist and you know that's why he 303 00:29:30,519 --> 00:29:36,200 couldn't manipulate me. I had a partner and it was a proot, you 304 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:37,440 know, for all the morning in Bob, So it will take a little 305 00:29:37,519 --> 00:29:42,240 less. I refused I wanted to try to psycholige that we work on Holmes 306 00:29:42,319 --> 00:29:51,359 his mind and demand party parody in perse. Anyhow, we're negotiating in Chicago. 307 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,920 King must have done some investigation. Then his shock he found that not 308 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,599 only was it I e racist, but somehow he found not that I was 309 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:04,559 almost lynched by the ku Kluts plan, and I was very much an activist 310 00:30:04,599 --> 00:30:11,720 for civil rights. To my shock, We're negotiating in a Chicago hotel room, 311 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:17,640 and who walks in the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and he first thanks me 312 00:30:17,759 --> 00:30:22,119 for a position that I had taken on apartheid, where I wouldn't allow Cooney 313 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:29,440 to go to South Africa unless it was in part of a viable, integrated 314 00:30:29,519 --> 00:30:36,119 audience, and I had to be guaranteed that came. Meanwhile, had said 315 00:30:36,319 --> 00:30:41,200 Greg paines here under a different corporation to South Africa, and hey, I 316 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:45,920 make a long story short. The Reverend Jackson thank me and then said, 317 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:52,599 you know, a dentist, if you allowed Cooney, who's white, to 318 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,240 get as much as the champion arms as black, you'll be retarding the civil 319 00:30:56,359 --> 00:31:03,400 rights movement for fifteen you know, like taking fifteen years back. I looked 320 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:07,920 at Reverend Jackson, and I said, look an old due respect, this 321 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:12,160 is not black. This is not white. We're talking about green. Cooney 322 00:31:12,319 --> 00:31:18,400 is the attraction. Holmes was in the shadow of Ali. It was never 323 00:31:18,559 --> 00:31:23,079 the type of attraction that Cootie is. Now when you talk black and white, 324 00:31:23,279 --> 00:31:29,599 the reality is Ali was black. Was the biggest attraction in boxing. 325 00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:34,759 Sugar a leaded was a contemporary of homes Was. It a far bigger attraction 326 00:31:36,039 --> 00:31:41,039 because he had charisma. I said, Cooney has the charisma. Holmes has 327 00:31:41,039 --> 00:31:45,400 the belt, and that's the only reason we're even agreeing to parody. He 328 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,799 looked at me, he left the King and sort of said this isn't going 329 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:55,839 to work, put his palm on my forehead and said, Lord bless this 330 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:01,240 crazy man. Shrugged his shoulders the King and walked out. And that's part 331 00:32:01,279 --> 00:32:10,000 of what happened with the Homeschoony fight. Unfortunately, I think it was the 332 00:32:10,039 --> 00:32:16,400 thirteenth rounder Cooney was stopped. The fight was originally set for March, was 333 00:32:16,519 --> 00:32:24,839 corresponded until June because Scooney had a rotato cup injury and King was trying to 334 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:30,640 put the pressure for the fight and still take place in March. And I 335 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:36,680 would never allow a fight of a mind. Okay to go into a fight 336 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:42,400 with a serious injury, So me and King really had a curious thing. 337 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,319 I wouldn't allow it to happen. And the fight was postponed in June, 338 00:32:45,839 --> 00:32:52,519 and unfortunately several things had taken place after the Northern fight. The Hollywood crowd 339 00:32:52,559 --> 00:33:00,680 came around too much partying and some inner demons that Cooney faked and it wasn't 340 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:09,880 the same Cooney that fort Norton or or uh uh it was uh you but 341 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,160 no, you were looking for a name. He fought young and Lyle before 342 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:22,680 Norton. Yes, uh uh Jimmy m Lyle. Uh, I feel about 343 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,720 him, Adino Dennis who I don't know, like thirty five and two Edny 344 00:33:25,839 --> 00:33:35,480 adamal Lopez and I think to all with sphinx or uh uh some tough guys. 345 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,000 A lot of people give me more credit than I deserve. And how 346 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,759 I'm gonna moved Cooney, et cetera. Uh. The reality is when he 347 00:33:42,839 --> 00:33:51,000 had a tremendous amount of of talent and charisma, was very personable and uh 348 00:33:51,880 --> 00:34:00,720 you know uh and uh, although unfortunately we're not in contact like I thought 349 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:05,759 that we were. Uh, we had a very close relationship, and it 350 00:34:05,839 --> 00:34:09,760 sort of standens me that uh we uh checked at the parts on our over 351 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:16,280 the years. But Corney H. Corney's greatest triumph wasn't in the ring, 352 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:27,559 was entertaining sobriety and from uh from some self destructive things. Uh. But 353 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:35,079 uh he's solid, he's financially secure, he's uh uh, he's on serious 354 00:34:35,199 --> 00:34:39,840 radio. Uh and he gives back so as to help fighters in need. 355 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:45,719 And uh, who's lived a life that that matters. Now you had dealings 356 00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:52,480 with Donald Trump in the boxing business too, right, Yeah, I did. 357 00:34:52,559 --> 00:35:00,719 It's uh back in the uh when we announced that a Sphinx Corny fight. 358 00:35:01,519 --> 00:35:08,920 The fellow who controlled spacers who had beat in Holmes was a fellow by 359 00:35:09,039 --> 00:35:16,360 him of Butch Lewis. Butch was a charismatic guy. But if he had 360 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:22,440 the leverage over you, okay, he was impossible to deal with. But 361 00:35:23,679 --> 00:35:31,320 occasionally he would wear a tuxedo with a bow tie without a shirt. I 362 00:35:31,519 --> 00:35:37,719 had no idea that this press conference that was going to be held at the 363 00:35:37,679 --> 00:35:43,880 Plaza that he was going to show up, and it took sedo with a 364 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:49,400 bow tie, went out his shirt. But knowing that he had several times 365 00:35:49,519 --> 00:35:52,679 done this. I got one of my guys and I took a long shot 366 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:58,920 and I said, go get us buy a tuxedo shirt. Little did I 367 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:06,800 know, he shows up in a tuxedo bow tie, but without a shirt. 368 00:36:07,559 --> 00:36:13,360 And he gets up and at the time Trump owned the plaza. And 369 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,199 he gets up and says, I want you to know if you're wondering why 370 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:23,119 I'm not wearing a shirt and negotiating with Trump. He literally took his shirt 371 00:36:23,159 --> 00:36:30,519 off my back. Now it's my term and I bring a paper bag. 372 00:36:31,159 --> 00:36:36,880 And I don't know Trump, I know Trump. I know you better than 373 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,360 I know Trump. At that point, if i'll and I come up and 374 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:43,880 say, I want you to know what kind of class app he is. 375 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:51,000 He said to me he believes every man with taste shouldn't wear a tuxedo without 376 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,760 a shirt. And he asked me to give this to you, and I 377 00:36:54,000 --> 00:37:02,840 presented Lewis with a tuxedo shirt. Well, Trump asked h fellow by m 378 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:07,519 of Mark Edison, who was from the Grossinger family. But now I was 379 00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:15,719 working uh with Trump Maystern PC. He died of that plane crash with several 380 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:20,440 of Trump's executives. Who is this guy? Who is this guy Trump, 381 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,920 being the gissist that he is. He said, well, it's Dennis rappaported 382 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:34,519 and he's in the real estate business and he's a real good client at our 383 00:37:34,559 --> 00:37:42,320 hotel. You know, he likes to play. And after that I received 384 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:51,199 a call at my hotel and the voice says, hey, how's everybody cheating 385 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:55,000 here? Now you know, how's everything going? I was cruel as who 386 00:37:55,039 --> 00:38:00,920 it was, But I have a habit. My habit is instead of saying 387 00:38:00,039 --> 00:38:05,840 who is this, I figure I'm going to catch the voice and know who 388 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:10,639 it is. Finally, this guy goes on and starts ragging how we out 389 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:20,079 maneuve it merv Griffin and all this, and I put together that's trouble. 390 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:22,880 He said, sir, how do you think we're doing. I said, 391 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:27,760 you're losing a lot of money unnecessarily. He said, well, what are 392 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:32,360 you talking about. I said, your elevators are antiquated. And I said, 393 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:37,079 you get an average a big player if he has to wait ten to 394 00:38:37,079 --> 00:38:43,039 fifteen minutes every time he wants you use the elevator, you realize the amount 395 00:38:43,119 --> 00:38:47,840 the time you're losing. From the table. That night, a psychologist who 396 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:52,360 I had worked with some of my fighters, a sports psychologists. Was in 397 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:59,119 the lobby getting into the lobby into the elevator, and who was there Trup, 398 00:39:00,079 --> 00:39:04,480 his wife, a couple of executives, and it must have thank you 399 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:09,199 a while for the elevator to get there. And he happened to have been 400 00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:15,000 in my suite Palumbo. When I was talking to Trump, Andy, I 401 00:39:15,079 --> 00:39:19,760 make the one story short, Sharp was screaming at them. He's absolutely right, 402 00:39:20,039 --> 00:39:23,360 this is completely unacceptable. Do you realize what we're losing? Well, 403 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:31,239 from that point, all of a sudden we got invited myself and the elected 404 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:37,800 somebody that later became my wife. He invited six couples to Mary Lago when 405 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:42,719 it was his personal residence. We're invited on his boat, parties, et 406 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:47,480 cetera. And uh, you know this was you know and for some reason, 407 00:39:49,559 --> 00:39:54,960 uh I remember after the Sphinx and Dyson Ford my sister in law. 408 00:39:55,599 --> 00:40:00,280 May she rest in peace. Uh uh. He used to warn junkets from 409 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:07,119 Youngstown, Ohio in Cleveland to the tas So she had a whole bunch of 410 00:40:07,159 --> 00:40:13,159 people from Ohio. Trump walks into this private club and all of a sudden, 411 00:40:13,639 --> 00:40:16,599 the person he walks off to his day and he will get into a 412 00:40:16,599 --> 00:40:22,719 whole conversation, and he tells me how busy they were, but they didn't 413 00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:25,000 have a great hole. They went to a perv to bed luck, et 414 00:40:25,039 --> 00:40:32,360 cetera, and hehow uh and everybody is wondering, who's this guy that trump 415 00:40:32,199 --> 00:40:37,280 it was talking to it. Ah. Now he isn't too fond of me, 416 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:45,119 because frankly, i've uh uh uh, I'm not uh you know, 417 00:40:45,679 --> 00:40:54,159 I make accusations of Inglish insurrection as the associate bath uh narcissists, pudince puppet, 418 00:40:54,159 --> 00:41:00,159 et cetera. So where we once had a friendly relationship, and I 419 00:41:00,199 --> 00:41:05,239 don't want to really this isn't the place here in the politics. But let's 420 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:12,679 you say our political views are very very different. Now. Who was Mitch 421 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:23,719 blood Green? Mitch blood Green? What a caliber, unforgettable Mitch Green. 422 00:41:24,199 --> 00:41:30,920 He stood about six foot five, six foot six. He used to like 423 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:37,000 to take his shirt off and show his muscles. He wants. There was 424 00:41:37,079 --> 00:41:44,880 a gas station on the Grand Central Parkway. He once took over the gas 425 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:51,239 station chased the attendant as people pull up the gas He said, I'm a 426 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,400 garser. What ten dollars twenty dollars given to you? Put your own gas 427 00:41:54,440 --> 00:42:00,079 in until the police came. Mitch had spent a a lot of time in 428 00:42:00,119 --> 00:42:05,880 and out of jail, and there were rumors of angel dust and what have 429 00:42:06,039 --> 00:42:12,880 you from getting high. It was a great amateur who could knock you out 430 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:19,280 at one shot, but for some reason something happened in the pros and he 431 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:27,079 didn't have that lethal power before Mike Tyson went to dismas right after Don King. 432 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,199 Chased Don King into the kitchen, always feeling that he got beat for 433 00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:39,519 money in all this, and he was someone had wanted me to get involved 434 00:42:39,559 --> 00:42:45,960 in promoting him. A guy from Chicago signed him, and I really didn't 435 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:51,159 want to get involved. Finally I get involved, and I got to tell 436 00:42:51,199 --> 00:42:55,719 you something I found them today. There's a Jewish word. It's called my 437 00:42:55,840 --> 00:43:00,480 sugar. Yeah it could be my sugar. But I sort of found him 438 00:43:00,519 --> 00:43:04,960 likable. One day we were walking to the garden. Now when we're at 439 00:43:05,039 --> 00:43:12,800 Don King Wig Okay and the place when crazy residents of corporations. Before that, 440 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,039 we weren't a private club. We're asking him for an autograph. He 441 00:43:16,199 --> 00:43:22,639 was, and I gave him a line, Uh Bill, call him Mike 442 00:43:22,719 --> 00:43:28,000 Tyson, call him Cicily Tyson, and he would go on. He wants 443 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:34,559 to rematch at all list with Tyson anyhow uh. One day in Hallow, 444 00:43:35,199 --> 00:43:38,559 coming out of U Gopa Dan's, a clothing store, is Mike Gyson. 445 00:43:39,519 --> 00:43:47,320 Green heres he's there, takes his bike and rides over and confronts Dyser and 446 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:52,559 becomes belligerent, and Tyson hits him, which tremendous shop with his fish. 447 00:43:53,480 --> 00:44:00,719 Green goes down. Hyson gets ready to get into his car, and all 448 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:05,639 of a sudden, you hear this mid shaid, sissy, you're a sissy. 449 00:44:06,079 --> 00:44:10,760 You're Cicely Tyson, not like Thyson. You're running away, and Tyson 450 00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:17,199 comes back and hits there three four shots, tremendous shot shots, and he 451 00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:24,679 figures Gringing is out and he's about to get into his oar again and Green 452 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:32,320 says, you ain't shit. You away again, and Tyson this start comes 453 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:37,880 back and get hits him with six or seven punches here there every shot you 454 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:44,400 could think of, shots that would send people for the hospital to be unconscious. 455 00:44:45,159 --> 00:44:46,960 And he walks away, figuring this guy is going to be out for 456 00:44:47,079 --> 00:44:53,960 ten minutes. As I said, you ain't shit man, you'll know like 457 00:44:54,280 --> 00:45:00,679 sicily then you wore a mile this dart Tyson, it gets into his car. 458 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:07,719 Interestingly enough, about a week a week in half later, Mike is 459 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:14,599 out for dinner with a young lady from Africa, a very extracted lady, 460 00:45:15,039 --> 00:45:19,760 and they had gone to a nice restaurant in Haller. All of a sudden, 461 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:25,920 someone saysted you won't believe We'll just pulled up in his bike Mitch Screen 462 00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:34,719 and Tyson is saying to himself, oh my god, by evening, please 463 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:40,440 please. Unfortunately nothing happened. Now to end the story, what happened with 464 00:45:40,719 --> 00:45:51,519 Mitch Green mid Screen? After me decided I mid Screen's record with me was 465 00:45:52,679 --> 00:45:59,320 zero winds, zero losses, zero fights. I took him to young Stad, 466 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:04,880 Ohio to set up a fight. We had a press conference. After 467 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,960 place that we went to, we would take off his shirt, his shirk, 468 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:14,760 and somebody said, look, you could sign, you can eat whatever 469 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:19,280 you want. You're a friend of Dennis's. Out of respect, okay, 470 00:46:19,679 --> 00:46:23,719 but don't take your shirt off again. And these were two guys. One 471 00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:29,639 was a fella whose name was Joe Lewis, but not the Joe Lewis who 472 00:46:29,679 --> 00:46:34,159 out of his nose must have been bidden off. And one was a fellow 473 00:46:34,159 --> 00:46:39,440 beamed Bernie, who was wow, and he wound up dying in in jail. 474 00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:47,920 A very a very a very good hearted, but a dangerous guy. 475 00:46:49,679 --> 00:46:53,719 And he told Green, look, next time they'll send you out a pint 476 00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:59,400 box. Okay, I've asked you now several times. You can't go with 477 00:46:59,480 --> 00:47:05,239 the public establishments and start taking off your shirts, you know. Anyhow, 478 00:47:07,679 --> 00:47:13,760 Green went to Youngstown, went there for for press confidence. I couldn't get 479 00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:16,840 him into a ring. Many years later, I had everywhere and I never 480 00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:21,800 one forced her so and cold and said will you fight Mitch Green? I 481 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:23,519 said, yes, of course, but you got to have a backup. 482 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:29,880 I don't think you'll ever get into the ring. And uh, actually that 483 00:47:30,039 --> 00:47:34,400 time he did, I no longer promoted him, forced to beat him a 484 00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:40,599 decision. Green was a very it was a character. If you read about 485 00:47:40,639 --> 00:47:44,039 him in the book, you would say, I had that's fiction. It 486 00:47:44,079 --> 00:47:46,840 could never happen. But for some reason I got a kick out of him 487 00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:54,960 in many ways. And uh, but again never got him into the ring. 488 00:47:55,880 --> 00:48:00,840 I had a promotional deal. It didn't matter. It was uh, 489 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:05,039 you know, at the time. Whenever I did, I could yeah get 490 00:48:05,079 --> 00:48:09,519 him to show up for a fight, and the mitched blood Green. Uh 491 00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:17,199 was certainly an unforgettable character. Yeah, now you were a manager for most 492 00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:22,599 of this career, but then you became a promoter. So how did you 493 00:48:23,159 --> 00:48:30,480 decide to change? Well, initially after Cooney, Uh, it's uh tiring. 494 00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:36,280 You want to know what direction his life would go? What to do? 495 00:48:36,559 --> 00:48:39,239 You know he had fought most of his life, And I said, 496 00:48:39,239 --> 00:48:45,159 well, horrible promotional company called super Fights with another guy named Jeff Levine. 497 00:48:46,079 --> 00:48:52,320 And Uh, I really loved managing. I loved me being uh at the 498 00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:57,239 at the at the training camp, and I didn't love being up online, 499 00:48:58,079 --> 00:49:00,679 uh, getting trying to get new spot orring for Corney because he went through 500 00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:06,360 sparring partners like you would go through war. Uh, like you would have 501 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:15,239 food, you fellow. Uh uh So anyhow, I uh that's originally why 502 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:21,599 there was all large story. There's a lot of polarization and divisive. There's 503 00:49:21,599 --> 00:49:30,599 some undermining going on. Uh and that created a uh some polarization. Uh. 504 00:49:30,639 --> 00:49:35,440 They were manipulate people who manipulating things, and that created problems between me 505 00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:42,360 and Cooney and uh, ultimately and promoting, I met between management and promoting. 506 00:49:43,039 --> 00:49:47,880 Uh. I managed or promoted five evyweight champions, some for very short 507 00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:53,320 lengths of time, some after they were champions, some before they were champions, 508 00:49:53,440 --> 00:50:00,920 or some wilt with champions uh and also called promoted for uh uh Macho 509 00:50:01,039 --> 00:50:07,440 camacho and a lot of well known names and lower divisions. It was a 510 00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:16,760 you know, boxing at its best could be something like poetry emotion. It 511 00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:22,280 could be Picasso, it could be Mozart, it could be Beethoven, it 512 00:50:22,679 --> 00:50:28,480 could be an art form at its best. It could be cool and ugly. 513 00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:34,400 The politics of it, the hpocrisy of a lot of these sanctioning organizations 514 00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:38,880 and their money grabs, and the multiple multi champions in each division by the 515 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:47,920 same organizations. Uh, the apocrisy. I met some very fine people uh 516 00:50:49,199 --> 00:50:53,679 in boxing. Uh, some quality people. I met leaders of countries. 517 00:50:54,800 --> 00:51:01,760 UH met some uh celebrity these I can't even begin to tell you. And 518 00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:07,199 I became friendly because of my exposure in boxing and people, I admit, 519 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:15,719 and also a lot of sleeves, so you know, Uh, the whole 520 00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:20,119 hit, the whole spectrum. That's why I referred to it as damon running. 521 00:51:20,199 --> 00:51:25,320 But let me just say this, there was so many magical moments, 522 00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:35,880 unforgettable memories. I've seen fighters traveling the boulevard of broken dreams and blighted hopes. 523 00:51:36,679 --> 00:51:40,840 I called one of the Cinderella story Oligisky. It was stopped three out 524 00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:45,400 of five times, and I got a call. His trainer told them to 525 00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:52,719 retire his uh promoter released him for nothing. They thought that he had yesterday 526 00:51:53,159 --> 00:52:00,320 but had no more tomorrow's and was looking at life. Uh to the floor 527 00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:04,920 with the toilet. I'm not going to say a laboratory. And I got 528 00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:08,280 to call for Victor Valley Junior, son of Victor Valley Senior, who trained 529 00:52:08,679 --> 00:52:13,119 most of my fighters, and he says, I think I see something, 530 00:52:13,480 --> 00:52:15,679 and I had them bring them over to my place and then my building. 531 00:52:15,679 --> 00:52:20,480 There's a gym, you know, a gymnasy, you know, just a 532 00:52:20,599 --> 00:52:24,320 state of the art gym, and there was plenty of room, and I 533 00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:31,400 looked at I just took a shot and from a guy the boxing will was 534 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:37,039 laughing while at Rappaport getting involved with this maskuya he shot. He's got nothing 535 00:52:38,039 --> 00:52:45,400 well, between the sports psychologist to keep bringing Victor into teacher, between him 536 00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:52,000 motivating him, building up his confidence. Remember he was stopped in three of 537 00:52:52,079 --> 00:52:57,800 the last five fights he had before I got involved. A couple of years 538 00:52:57,880 --> 00:53:05,039 later, his and his were he becomes heavyweight champion of the world and I'll 539 00:53:05,079 --> 00:53:12,440 never forget. At the post by press conference, I was exhilarated. This 540 00:53:12,599 --> 00:53:17,320 was I call this the greatest comeback in boxing history. Uh. Think of 541 00:53:17,320 --> 00:53:22,599 a story about James J. Braddock and they called it the Cinderella Man. 542 00:53:23,599 --> 00:53:30,880 Well, Oleg's daughter, sit down, ayodareal Cinderella story and the press conferences, 543 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:35,519 I will talk about the Cinderella story. And I said in the words 544 00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:40,960 of a famous crooner, Flak Sinatra, and he said, wote a song 545 00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:47,280 about high oaks, and he said that with high hopes, even an ant 546 00:53:47,599 --> 00:53:53,800 could move a rubber tree plant. Nothing is impossible. The only limitations that 547 00:53:53,920 --> 00:54:01,039 are limitations that we put on ourselves. Dad a dream and Julie dig and 548 00:54:01,159 --> 00:54:07,960 tonight all the nonsa is all the all the doubters, all the people that 549 00:54:08,119 --> 00:54:14,800 said the impossible said it was impossible. Well, you've seen an example of 550 00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:21,519 the impossible becoming a reality, pulling the sky of every way shift in the 551 00:54:21,559 --> 00:54:25,719 world and it was just exhilarating. Well, that seems like a perfect place 552 00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:30,280 to wrap this up. And it's very clear, you know, we can 553 00:54:30,360 --> 00:54:37,199 hear your real love of the sport coming through without question. You're the poet 554 00:54:38,039 --> 00:54:44,639 of the of the gym ah. I thought you and it's been a pleasure 555 00:54:44,639 --> 00:54:45,840 to be with you. Guys. It's been fun.