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(OCT 18) It's boxing's basic story, the
on-going interaction between the fighter and the promoter. It's been
done in novels, movies and countless magazine and newspaper stories.
I've done the story a couple of times and every time I did, there was
always a "good guy" and a "bad guy". In truth, it was usually the
promoter who wore the black hat. This story is different in the sense
that not only do both the promoter and the fighter believe that they are
each "on the side of the angels", in point of fact, they may both be
right. It could be that there aren't any "bad guys" in this tale, just a
fighter and a promoter doing what they do best in the often unforgiving
atmosphere of the sport of boxing.
This story begins last June in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (and that's a
factor to keep in mind). Layla McCarter, one of the slickest boxers in
the sport, was fighting an eight round main event with Jelena
Mrdjenovich on Rock and Sock's "A Ring of Their Own" show. It was a PPV
event in Canada, highly anticipated, given the popularity of the
Canadian Mrdjenovich in her home country. It was also a return bout of a
fight four months earlier, also in Edmonton, which McCarter won
decisively (59-55 3x) over six rounds, handing Mrdjenovich her first
setback as a professional. The rematch, was made the main event as part
of Rock and Sock's first promotional foray into Canada and continued the
promoter's strategy of making compelling, competitive match-ups a major
part of their cards.
The particular venue is important to the story since Canada is a land of
socialized medicine and, as a result, it is not mandatory that boxers be
insured against injury in the ring. The caveat to this rule is that the
Canadian health care program does not cover non-Canadian fighters. Layla
McCarter currently fights out of Las Vegas.
The return bout was, by most accounts, much closer that the first one.
It was adjudged to be even through the first three rounds, with,
possibly, a slight edge to Mrdjenovich. In the fourth round, McCarter
suffered an injury to her left arm, later diagnosed as a broken radial
bone in her forearm. McCarter, to the surprise of almost everyone in
attendance, continued with the bout, essentially fighting the last four
rounds with one arm useless. She switched to a southpaw stance to
protect the injured arm. Mrdjenovich controlled the fifth, six and
seventh rounds, but McCarter came back strong in the final stanza, and,
by most ringside accounts, won that round. It was, however, too little,
too late, Mrdjenovich winning a unanimous decision, (78-75, 79-74,
79-73). McCarter not only lost the fight and suffered a debilitating
injury, but she later realized she was also staring at some sizable
medical bills, given the Canadian rules on insurance.
It wasn't until the following morning that Layla McCarter finally got
some good news. Ken Weiss, the co-founder of Rock and Sock Productions,
caught up with McCarter at the airport, as McCarter was about to board a
plane back to Las Vegas. For the first time, Weiss informed McCarter and
her manager, Luis Tapia, that Rock and Sock had, indeed, taken out
insurance on the non-Canadian fighters on the card and the medical
expenses facing McCarter would be, for the most part, covered. It seemed
as if the sport of boxing had, at long last, a "feel good" story about a
fighter and a promoter.
Layla McCarter has been inactive since the June bout as she recovered
and rehabbed the injury. Recently, she received a bill from the
insurance company in the amount of $500, representing the "deductible"
portion of the insurance policy. McCarter referred the insurance company
to Rock and Sock, who, in turn, informed the company that McCarter was
responsible for the $500. It was at this point that the story seemed to
revert to a "normal" fighter/promoter story.
I spoke with Ken Weiss recently and he outlined Rock and Sock's
position: "We weren't obligated to insure the fighters in Canada. We did
take out insurance on the non-Canadian fighters, which, of course, added
to our cost of doing business. We had no share in the PPV revenue and
only received the U.S. TV rights for the bouts so our return on
investment was somewhat restricted."
I pointed out to Weiss that he and (Rock and Sock co-founder) Arnie
Rosenthal have an enviable reputation in both the entertainment and
boxing field and that sending fighters into a ring, unprotected by
insurance, isn't something that anyone with that type of deserved
reputation would be expected to do. While conceding the point that
sending the fighters into the ring uninsured was never considered, he
reiterated that, "bottom line, Rock and Sock absorbed an added cost with
the insurance and, in fact, we paid a higher premium in order to get the
lowest possible deductible cost as part of the policy. By insuring the
fighters, we saved Layla a five figure medical bill. We are simply
looking to her to pick up the smallest element of the overall bill. When
Layla came to us for the $500, we felt a bit like we bought someone a
car and then they complained because we didn't fill it up with gas."
From Layla McCarter's standpoint that "full tank of gas" was premium
priced. The $500 is almost a 15% "hit" on her purse for the Edmonton
fight. And, to carry the analogy a bit further, that night in June in
Edmonton was no "drive around the block." Not only was McCarter in
against a very good, very tough fighter in the person of Jelena
Mrdjenovich, she also, undoubtedly, had to face another tough battle
that night, the urge to stay on her stool after the fourth round.
It can be validly argued that what Layla McCarter did, for those last
four rounds that night in Canada, was more than a bit reckless. After
all, she had a broken arm, which was useless in terms of offense or
defense in the ring against a very dangerous fighter. She risked further
aggravation of the injury and, possibly, permanent damage to the arm.
The ring doctor advised her to quit, but McCarter replied that she was
capable of defending herself by switching to a southpaw stance and that
she wanted to finish the fight.
Are there other female fighters who would have "toughed out" those last
four rounds? Of course there are, but the list of those fighters is
considerably shorter than a list of those boxers who would have signaled
"no mas" after breaking their arm during a bout. And that is in no way a
knock on those fighter who would stop fighting; trying to fight any
opponent with one arm is difficult, fighting a opponent with the skills
of Jelena Mrdjenovich with one arm is practically impossible. Layla
McCarter fought those last four rounds for her own reasons, "a TKO would
have devastated me", she said, after the bout. But, no matter what her
motivation, Layla McCarter coming out for those last four rounds with a
broken arm is something that anyone, who was in the crowd in Edmonton
that night, probably won't soon forget. Foolish? Maybe. Courageous?
Absolutely. And, as a result, instead of an anti-climatic four round
TKO, Layla McCarter provided a full eight rounds of boxing, never giving
up against insurmountable odds, trying to pull out an unachievable win.
In another, even more dangerous context, that's called "above and beyond
the call of duty". What Layla McCarter did that night in Edmonton,
answering those last four bells, can, at the very least, be called
"giving everybody their money's worth."
Thus, instead of the good guy/bad guy, fighter/promoter story, this is
the story of a promoter who went the "extra mile" to assure that a
fighter had insurance protection, which, it turns out, she needed. It's
also a story of a fighter who traveled through pain and exhibited a
determination that best epitomizes the high level of courage that's
often needed in a brutal sport: the credo that says, "fighters fight".
How should this be resolved? I have an opinion, but it's been said that
wisdom is what occurs when personal opinions are ignored. I don't have
the wisdom to decide how to settle this dispute, but I do know what
shouldn't, under any circumstances, be a result. Rock and Sock
Productions and Layla McCarter should not part company over $500. Rock
and Sock continues to be the only promoter currently putting a sustained
promotional effort behind the sport of Women's boxing with their boxing
shows and telecasts. They're currently out in the market place alone and
they need all the help they can get, in and out of the ring. And part of
that help, inside the ropes, will come from fighters like Layla
McCarter. McCarter has proven, throughout her career, that she is among
the most skillful of the fighters currently competing in the sport and
she put an exclamation mark on that point in June in Edmonton. In this
case, the fighter and the promoter truly deserve each other, in the best
sense of that phrase. Bernie McCoy
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