He spoke with the fervor of a televangelist. And spoke. And spoke. And spoke.
Each trip to the microphone produced a rambling babble longer and more bladder-challenging than the one before it.
Turns out, Murad Muhammad was just getting warmed up. In the days leading up to the big event, Muhammad could be seen tooling around town in the back of a white stretch limo.
Isn’t this what big-time promoters do?
But today, nearly three weeks after bringing the big Evander Holyfield card to the Alamodome, Muhammad’s image is very different.
It is an image of a man who is more style than substance.
And, evidently, more flash than cash.
As boxing horror stories go, this one barely makes the radar screen. But don’t tell that to Lou DiBella, a New York promoter who is still owed about $85,000 by Muhammad, or the kind folks at the Radisson Market Square hotel in San Antonio, who are waiting on payment of about $25,000.
DiBella and the Radisson are part of a long line of people from the Nov. 10 card that either haven’t been paid or had checks bounce on the way to being paid.
Muhammad likely will meet his financial obligations ? eventually. But it’s not the way you want to leave town after your big event.
Nothing says scalawag quite like a string of bad checks.
Muhammad is no stranger to controversy. Last year, he was accused by Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao of bilking him out of millions in purse money. Pacquiao sued Muhammad for $33 million and eventually settled out of court, reportedly for $800,000.
The Nov. 10 show at the Alamodome was a box-office flop. No official numbers have been released, but sources say attendance was about 4,000 paid with a live gate in the $400,000 range.
Factor in Holyfield’s purse ? said to be $2 million ? and you can see why Muhammad might be having trouble making his financial obligations. There are reports that Holyfield’s check bounced, too, but that has not been confirmed.
At any rate, it’s clear Muhammad didn’t have the proper financing to do the dome deal in the first place.
The trouble started the week after the fight card when checks written to San Antonio boxers Oscar Diaz, Golden Johnson and Gabriel Elizondo ? all of whom competed in undercard bouts ? bounced.
The checks later were made good, but it still left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth.
It wasn’t until Wednesday of this past week that DiBella received $31,000 of the $115,000 he is owed by Muhammad. DiBella’s fighter, Fres Oquendo, lost to Holyfield in the 10-round main event.
“It’s a disgrace,” DiBella said. “If I did something like this I’d be crucified. Why does he get a free pass?”
DiBella was especially critical of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which oversees boxing in the state, for not revoking Muhammad’s license.
But Dickie Cole, boxing coordinator for the TDLR, said a complaint had to be filed first and to date none had been filed.
That didn’t seem to appease DiBella, who said he was going to file a lawsuit if the money didn’t arrive this week.
“I’ve given him time,” DiBella said. “The guy’s not trustworthy. He’s a con man.”
The Radisson, which served as host hotel for the fight card, is taking a wait-and-see approach. The hotel, which has been involved in boxing for years, has never had a problem with promoters before, officials there said.
Patti Timblin, the Radisson’s director of sales, said she’s been in contact with Muhammad’s office in New Jersey every day.
“We’re trying to be optimistic and work with them,” Timblin said. “I feel we will get paid.”
She said she was told the promoter’s company, M&M Sports, was waiting on its share of pay-per-view revenue from the card so it could pay the rest of its bills.
Muhammad could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, several Web sites are reporting the beleaguered promoter has offered IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko $20 million to fight Holyfield.
None of them said whose $20 million was being offered.
PPV numbers: Fox Sports Net has not released national pay-per-view figures from the Nov. 10 Alamodome card, but Time Warner Cable reported 480 buys locally.
That compares with last weekend’s Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales fight in Las Vegas, which registered 2,972 buys locally (350,000 nationally).
* * * VIEW FROM THE CORNER
Fight analysis
Who: Jermain Taylor (25-0-1, 17 KOs) vs. Kassim Ouma (25-2-1, 15 KOs)
When: 9 p.m. Saturday (TV: HBO)
Where: Alltel Arena, North Little Rock, Ark.
On the line: Taylor’s WBC & WBO middleweight titles
Setting it up
Taylor is coming off back-to-back victories over Bernard Hopkins and a draw with Winky Wright. Most people expected a rematch with Wright, but Wright turned down a $5 million offer when he learned Taylor’s purse was going to be higher than his. Ouma is a worthy foe. Forced to fight in the Ugandan army as a child by rebel soldiers, Ouma later defected to the United States and became a world-class boxer. He is a former IBF light middleweight champion but lost his belt to Raman Karmazin in a disappointing performance in 2005.
Breaking it down
This is Taylor’s second fight with Emanuel Steward in his corner, and that relationship should begin paying dividends. Ouma is not a big puncher, but he’s a tremendously busy fighter who averages more than 100 punches per round. Taylor needs to be patient and make Ouma pay for his aggressiveness.
Prediction
After defensive stalwarts in Hopkins and Wright, two of boxing’s best in the past decade, Ouma will be just what the doctor ordered for Taylor. An interesting sidelight to this fight is the use of a modified open scoring system in which the scores will be read at the end of the fourth and eighth rounds. But it won’t matter much in this one.
Taylor by fifth-round TKO
Local notebook
Undefeated San Antonio super flyweight Raul Martinez (16-0, 12 KOs) is scheduled to climb back in the ring Saturday against Carlos Bouchan (16-7, 12 KOs) of Mexico.
The eight-round fight takes place at Greg’s Ballroom in Mission. Weslaco’s Robert Garcia (21-2, 16 KOs) meets Mikel Williams (7-17-4, 3 KOs) of Monroe, La., in the 10-round main event.
Four San Antonio boxers won titles at the South Texas Amateur Boxing Association Senior Tournament, Nov. 17-18 at Jesse James Leija Gym. But only one, Hector Ramos of Ramos Boxing Club, advances to the state tournament next spring (site and date are both TBA).
Ramos captured a 3-0 decision over Jaime Saldiva of Mission to win the open division title at 141 pounds. Local novice champions were Steven Hall of San Antonio Parks & Recreation, Obioha Nwagua of Fort Sam Houston at 201 and Anneke Talsm of Scholar Warrior at 145.
San Antonio light welterweight Hector Ramos, runnerup in the 2006 U.S. Championships, is competing in a dual meet against a team from the Ukraine this weekend in Harvey, Ill.
The USA vs. Ukraine duel is the first direct meeting between the two countries since 2003 when the U.S. team traveled to Ukraine.
