Boxers

In the spring and early summer of 1984, I watched two teen-agers in the selection process for the U.S. Olympic boxing team who looked to me like future superstars. As it turned out, neither made the Olympic team that year--1984 was too soon for them. But both left the impression that they were champions in early development. One was Mike Tyson, a 17-year-old pounder from Upstate New York who was still learning to box. An unpolished diamond.

Re "Israel's free pass from Boxer," Opinion, April 28 George Bisharat grossly misleads readers when he claims that bipartisan legislation I introduced would allow Israel to "continue racially profiling Americans of Arab and Muslim heritage who travel to Israel. " My legislation would give Israel the opportunity to join the U.S. visa waiver program, allowing Israeli citizens to travel to the United States without first obtaining a visa - a privilege extended to 37 other countries.

No, Gabriel Ruelas kept telling himself, it was all wrong. Jimmy Garcia wasn't supposed to die. He, Ruelas, was the one who was supposed to die young. That's the way it had always been in the dreams. Night after night they would come to him in his restless sleep. The circumstances were different, but the result was always the same. Gabe Ruelas dead before his time. Although he has been a boxer since age 12, he never died in the ring in the dreams. Often it would be in a car accident.

Sen. Barbara Boxer introduced legislation last month that would allow Israel to continue racially profiling Americans of Arab and Muslim heritage who travel to Israel, even as it confers new privileges on Israelis traveling to the United States. I wonder whether she understands what it's like for her Arab American constituents to enter Israel. I always bet myself how long it will take for Ben Gurion Airport's security screeners to detect my heritage. My given names are European, and my family name is an unusual pluralization of a common Arab name that sometimes throws even Arabic speakers.

For more than half a century, it was a musty pugilistic monument--preserved in liniment and sweat--where generations of Los Angeles prizefighters learned the lessons of "the sweet science." The Main Street Gym, on the edge of skid row, was the rattiest workout venue in the city (some said the world), but it also was the most famous. "World Rated Boxers Train Here Daily" read a sign at the entrance.

Chairs, water bottles and fists, ungloved ones, flew in Ring B at the Olympic boxing arena Thursday morning when outraged South Koreans attacked a referee. The mini-riot broke out seconds after Bulgaria's Alexander Hristov had been awarded a 4-1 decision over South Korea's Byun Jong-il. A South Korean coach and a team manager entered the ring first, the team manager grabbing the referee, Keith Walker of New Zealand, by the arm and shouting in his face.

When it happened, more than 19 years ago, it was a shock. And, in a way, it's still a shock. Sonny Liston dead? How could it be? He was a mountain, a guy who had muscles in his ears. He had a left hook that could take down buildings. Before his two questionable performances against Cassius Clay-Muhammad Ali, he was generally perceived as indestructible.

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio, waiting for a call from a man who doesn't trust me, hoping he'll have answers about a man I don't trust, which may clear the name of a man no one gives a damn about. To distract myself from this uneasy vigil--and from the phone that never rings, and from the icy rain that never stops pelting the window--I light a cigar and open a 40-year-old newspaper.

Nearly a century after Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, was convicted of crossing state lines with a prostitute, two conservative, boxing-enthusiast lawmakers are pressuring President Obama to grant him a measure of justice. Dual requests for a posthumous pardon have passed the Senate and House. They were sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former amateur boxer, and Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who trains and spars in his spare time. Advocates say the president should, in the words of the House resolution, "expunge from the annals of American criminal justice a racially motivated abuse of the prosecutorial authority."

Aging boxers If the mega-fight boxing fans dream of — Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. — happens, it won't be until 2012. By next year Mayweather will be 35, Pacquiao 33. Most boxers in their early 30s start to slow down. The records of some celebrated boxers after they turned 33: Boxer; Wins-Losses-Draws after 33rd birthday; age at last fight. Muhammad Ali; 11-3-0; 39. Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.; 14-5-1; 43. Oscar De La Hoya; 2-2-0; 35. Roberto Duran; 26-10-0; 50. Sugar Ray Leonard; 1-2-1; 40. Shane Mosley; 7-4-1; 39.

WASHINGTON - Barbara Boxer has long been one of the Senate's environmental champions, racking up perfect scores for each of the last five years on the League of Conservation Voters' report card on key votes. But the Californian now finds herself on the opposite side of an issue from her usual environmental allies and some of her fellow Democrats. Environmentalists are upset because she is pushing legislation that would impose deadlines for environmental reviews of water projects, a move they see as "tilting the scales" toward rushed approvals.

Chris Arreola is a boxer who would wear his emotions on his sleeve. That is, if there were any room. The massive arms that the Riverside boxer hopes will carry him back into the heavyweight title picture are covered with tattoos. The muscles ripple and the tattoos jiggle. For lovers of tattoos and boxing, Arreola is an art form. He is also among the more interesting people in a sport that often filters out real personalities in exchange for orchestrated hype. There is nothing orchestrated about Arreola.

WASHINGTON - Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer have served longer together than any other pair of California senators - 20 years - and will soon replace Iowa's team as the current longest-serving tandem. In a chamber where the presence of spittoons and snuffboxes testifies to the power of tradition, that historically would have meant they could exert more influence on behalf of the state. For generations, seniority has aided senators in delivering federal largesse back home.

Austin Trout doesn't mind being the bad guy who spoils outcomes the fans want. He did it in December, ruining a planned comeback victory by Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto in front of Cotto's den of supporters at Madison Square Garden. Trout also came to the Home Depot Center in Carson last year, paying no mind to a crowd jeering during his victory over Delvin Rodriguez. And Trout has gone to Mexico to beat up the older brother of unbeaten world super-welterweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

Saying too many homes have been lost “to bank malfeasance or error,” Sen. Barbara Boxer called for federal investigations into whether banks are breaking the consumer-protection pledges they made in last year's $26-billion settlement of foreclosure-abuse investigations.  “I am extremely concerned over reports that banks continue to violate the rights of homeowners and the terms of the National Mortgage Settlement,” Boxer (D-Calif.) said in a letter to U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder,  Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and Joseph A. Smith, the official monitor for the settlement.

SACRAMENTO -- Just months ago, the California Athletic Commission appeared down for the count, on the verge of insolvency, but a key lawmaker now says he's willing to give the commission and its new managers another chance. State Sen. Curren Price Jr. (D-Los Angeles) said he will introduce legislation that will extend the sunset date for the commission by two years. He said he has support from a majority of the members of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, which he chairs.

The gym--tattered, cramped and smelling of sweat--is filled with young boxers. Some are jumping rope. Others are pounding on punching bags. Two others are in the ring, trading jabs. Amid it all stands Canto Robledo, owner, manager and trainer of Crown City Stables, who is shouting out instructions to the fighters in the ring. Robledo is intense. This is his gym. These are his fighters. This is his life. "My dream is to get a champion of the world," said Robledo, 72.

Kid Akeem Anifowoshe, who lapsed into a coma after losing a bloody International Boxing Federation junior bantamweight title fight last week in San Antonio, has shown dramatic improvement and has not lost any of his mental faculties, his doctor said. "It's a surprise for him to survive," Dr. Gerardo Zavala said. "When he came to the hospital, I thought he was going to be dead. Now it looks like his mental faculties are there. I think everything is going to be OK."

With Los Angeles facing the imminent possibility of having no female elected leaders at City Hall, some of California's most prominent female politicians joined forces Thursday to promote Wendy Greuel's mayoral candidacy. Democratic congressional leader Nancy Pelosi, the only woman to serve as the speaker of the House of Representatives, announced she was endorsing Greuel to become the city's first female mayor. "She's operational, she gets the job done," Pelosi (D-San Francisco)

Hayden Panettiere and boxer Wladimir Klitschko are reportedly engaged, but shhh! It's a secret. "Very few people know, and she isn't wearing her ring publicly yet," a source told Us Weekly, which reported the news Wednesday. The mag reported that the couple might wed this summer. The "Nashville" starlet, 23, and Ukrainian heavyweight, 37, have yet to publicly confirm their relationship, let alone their engagement, despite being seen together packing in the PDA. The two were super-cuddly at a Miami Heat game in Florida, where he lives, over the weekend.