Feb 02, 2012 – Don ?War-a-Week? Chargin has been in the boxing business for over 60 years. The man was great friends with all-time heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, saw ?Sugar? Ray Robinson fight live at the tail end of his prime, and saw first-hand how Aileen Eaton would transform a young Cassius Clay into a man that would eventually be known as ?The Greatest?.
Chargin has seen more fights ringside than anybody around today and still has the same passion and fervor for boxing as he had as a young adolescent in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Here is ?The Boxing Truth?s? interview with Hall-of-Fame promoter, Don ?War-a-Week? Chargin:
TBT: There seems to be alot of changes in United States boxing in 2012. Showtime and HBO both have different executive officers with visions for their boxing programming. What are your current thoughts on the state of boxing here in the U.S.?
Chargin: It could be as good or better than ever if we make the right matches. We have good young fighters coming up like Saul Alvarez and Brandon Rios that have the potential to really captivate the imagination of the public but the politics of boxing is hurting the industry. There?s just way too much posturing these days when it comes to making any fight. Luckily for the boxing industry here, Manny Pacquiao isn?t 21 years old or Top Rank would dangle that carrot in front of everyone from 135 to 154 pounds to sign with them in order for a shot at the guy.
TBT: Has this always been the method in with Arum/Top Rank operates?
Chargin: Yes and to a certain extent I don?t blame him. He?s looking out for his own best personal interests and that of his company. On the other hand it feels a bit overboard now with guys like Bradley, Marquez, Pacquiao, and Cotto (in 2009) all being lured in with this method while passing up on some meaningful fights the fans wanted to see. Bradley-Khan last summer was a perfect example of this. What?s good for Arum can at times hurt the boxing industry as a whole.
TBT: What are your thoughts on the whole Pacquiao-Mayweather fiasco?
Chargin: I think that it should have been made. You have all these guys involved trying to one-up each other in the media. If you really want to get this thing done, you get everyone involved sitting in the same room and hammer it out until the fight gets done. My own thing, as strictly as an observer, the Pacquiao side of things lost alot of interest in a Mayweather fight after the Marquez bout.
TBT: What about a reasonable time frame in order to make a fight of this magnitude happen?
Chargin: One of the hardest fights to make in my life was back in 1968 between Ernie ?Big Red? Lopez against Hedgemon Lewis who was trained and managed by Eddie Futch. I sat down with Eddie Futch at 9am in the morning and at 6pm we were still negotiating. Both fighters claimed they wanted it but Eddie just could not pull the trigger. Finally at 6pm my wife Lorraine would step in and say, ?Ok Eddie, we have a dinner planned with guests coming over. You are welcome to come over but we need to go.?
Chargin: Eddie came over and after dinner we continued discussions up until midnight and finally got the thing done.
TBT: So basically for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight a few days of negotiations would make reasonable sense in order to finalize?
Chargin: I believe so. That?s only if both parties really want the fight. Right now it seems as though maybe one side of the equation might not really want it.
TBT: Seems to me like it?s the Pacquiao side that?s been stalling and bullshitting over the past several weeks.
Chargin: That?s reasonable to believe.
TBT: Back to Top Rank and the way they continue to operate… two prospects that you developed over the past several years were Mercito Gesta and Christopher Martin. These were two young fighters that were slowly starting to gain notoriety over the past year and suddenly they are no longer with your promotional firm. They are now signed to Top Rank, how does that work?
Chargin: I guess that Top Rank felt that they were good prospects. Arum felt that he had to have them. Now that he has Manny Pacquiao he feels as though every Filipino fighter on earth belongs to him. It?s easy for a fighter and his manager to say… ?Well we wanted to go with Arum all along.? That?s not exactly what I heard from them when I was spending and losing the necessary money to get them the right opponents to start shining and getting that little bit of notoriety.
TBT: Does it surprise you that Arum operates as such til this day with his multi-millions in the bank?
Chargin: Yeah it?s somewhat of a surprise. I can see him staying in business and I understand that part of it is a game to him but I was hoping that some of his selfish, bad traits would improve with age. It didn?t bother me as much about Arum as it did about Bruce Trampler (Top Rank?s match-maker) who I considered a friend for many many years. I still haven?t heard from Bruce.
TBT: Friendships in boxing?
Chargin: Well I guess it?s hard for Bruce… he is an employee.
TBT: You?ve done business at Casino Del Sol in Arizona for almost a decade now. You brought them some great events including the ?Fight of the Year? candidate in the Tomas Villa vs. Rogers Mtgawa fight a few years back. Now it seems as though Arum & Co. have found a way to infiltrate that site and essentially take over. Did that surprise you?
Chargin: In a way it does, I really wasn?t bothering them so I figured they wouldn?t bother me. Casino Del Sol was the center of my promotional firm and my wife (Lorraine) and I really enjoyed putting on shows there seeing upwards of 5,000 people. One of the members of the tribe of the Casino Del Sol requested that I unfairly, fire a very loyal employee of mine which I refused to do which led to this unraveling and ultimately Top Rank taking the site.
TBT: It?s amazing what a few loudmouths can do and the trouble they can start. As a boxing fan it?s interesting and disturbing at the same time to see an undisputed slant in favor of Arum & Top Rank on a continuous basis. It?s not healthy for boxing here domestically and it gets tiresome seeing his outlandish lies constantly redistributed with this simple-minded media. Has the boxing media always operated as such?
Chargin: Yes, always.
TBT: Why is that?
Chargin: He can turn on them in a split second like only he can and then the next day they?ll forgive him.
TBT: Sounds like a group of jellyfish to me… Any closing thoughts?
Chargin: I figure I can say what I want to about Arum and King because I?m older than both of them. I haven?t had to dye my hair or have any face-lifts either.
As a long-time boxing fan, it?s truly amazing to recap the trials and tribulations of Don Chargin. I?m proud to say he and his wife Lorraine Chargin have been true friends of mine and have shared more insight into how boxing really works than anybody I?ve met to date. Boxing is in a much better place today due to the Chargin?s contributions to the sport.
