Atlantic City Mayor Lornezo Langford talks about a major boxing tribute he is helping to plan for June.
Atlantic City's statue honoring the late fighter Leavander Johnson.
ATLANTIC CITY — There is an old saying that goes something like "one can't truly know where they are going until they first understand and embrace where they have come from." In the sport of boxing's storied history, it's easy to find many names of people who have shown hearts like lions, as well as extraordinary skills beyond belief. It is these fighters who make it easy to refer to the sport as the "Sweet Science."
Over the years, Atlantic City has played a huge part in boxing's overall landscape. Giving credit where credit is due, Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford recently discussed the city's boxing history and an upcoming event he is helping to plan for June 2, which will bring together many of the pugilistic greats that have graced Atlantic City rings and gyms.
So far, reportedley, what is being planned is a Boardwalk parade of boxing legends and a black-tie gala to be held at Resorts. The events will be a part of a multi-cultural festival to be held June 1-3 in Atlantic City.
"Boxing has been a part of Atlantic City's legacy for nearly 40 years and we want to honor that legacy," Langford said at a recent press conference.
Atlantic City's chief municipal prosecutor, Jonathan Diego, is the chairman of the boxing committee.
Here are excerpts from my interview with Mayor Langford.
Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, Arturo Gatti ... and the list goes on. Being an Atlantic City resident all of your life you have seen all of them come and go. Just how far back do your Atlantic City boxing memories take you?
Probably around the mid-to-late '70s. There use to be live boxing at the Steel Pier and we had a local prospect. As a matter of fact, he was a No. 1 lightweight contender by the name of Ernest Bing. At the time he was a Pleasantville resident, but he was a native of Atlantic City. He actually fought for a lightweight championship against a guy by the name of Gaetan Hart who was champion at the time. I've always been an avid boxing fan. During the mid-'70s there was a cable network, Prism, and you may be too young to remember that, but there used to be a lot of fights that came monthly or seasonally from Philadelphia at the [former] Spectrum on that network. But it was 1978 when Resorts International opened and they kind of ushered in the rebirth of big-time boxing back into the city of Atlantic City. Their first card featured an Olympic gold medalist by the name of Howard Davis Jr., and from that moment on it re-established Atlantic City as a boxing Mecca.
Have you ever done any boxing?
Not in the ring
What, just training?
No just the streets
Working hands-on in the sport, I first began as a die-hard fan and often feel like once a fan, always a fan. How often do you follow the sport today? How, from your vantage point, boxing has progressed/regressed in Atlantic City from yesteryear to modern day.
I still get excited and am still a fan, but admittedly there is not as much for me to get as excited about as I use to. In some respects I think boxing has regressed, because again, if you go back to 1978 when Resorts ushered in what I would refer to as the modern era of A.C. being the boxing mecca, which was from the 1978 through the late '90s, Atlantic City was the place for big-time events. I will reference Tyson. Mike Tyson fought here many times during the '90s, but coming into the new millennium, Atlantic City has not been the mecca that it had been in the past. That's why from the mayor's perch, I want to try and do something to re-establish that and bring it back to the level it use to be.
What do you think can be done?
First of all, I think the State of New Jersey needs to do more to take themselves out of the way. For example, I remember a few years ago when the State of New Jersey denied Don King a boxing license. I think that was counter productive. I remember many of the championship fights in the '90s here were promoted by Don King. He had a relationship with Arthur Goldberg, who was the then CEO of Bally's, and they were bringing big-time fights to Atlantic City. When they denied Don King his license, we kind of took ourselves out of that market in some respects. So I think the first thing we should do is get government to be more supportive and add to creating an environment that is conducive for big fights, rather than being an obstacle and standing in the way. Now, that is the first thing; secondly, we need to collectively be aggressive and go after these major fights. Atlantic City has already proven to be a mecca for major boxing events and to the extent that we pull our resources, I think we can compete to bring some of these big fights here.
Piggybacking off of what you've just said; me growing up and being an avid fan, one couldn't help but hear the whispers of good things, but also those shouts of the bad things about King. He's been labeled as a crook by a few, but even if that were true, you can't deny that when he was on top, you never even heard a whisper about the sport as a whole going down like today. Boxing was actually on a high, if you will.
I will tell you this: I will not refer to Don King as a crook. Whatever one may have against Don King, that is between Don King and them. I will say this though, in a pure boxing sense, Don King was great for the city of Atlantic City.
Exactly, and for the record, I never called King a crook. As a matter of fact, I have been in and have seen this sport from so many different angles. From supervising championship fights, to television and radio, promotional endeavors and also writing, I have seen quite a bit. I have personally come down hard on journalists who I feel piggyback off of other journalist's venom. I say piggyback because in all honesty, out of 10 boxing writers, I feel only about three truly know what they are talking about. The others gravitate to the sensationalism of others.
I will say this as well: Don King is a very shrewd business man, but I think if he was a crook he'd be in jail.
Exactly. With your busy schedule, just how often do you attend the fights yourself?
I do get out sometimes, it just depends on the card. I was at Tropicana [in early February] and also at Resorts the weekend before [for Team Snooki Boxing]. Dee Lee Promotions did a card at the Tropicana. Bruce Seldon's son, Isiah Seldon, a local prospect fought on that card, along with Tim Witherspoon's nephew, Chazz Witherspoon. I thoroughly enjoyed [it] and thought all the fights were great. If you payed your money to see that fight card, you know you got your money's worth. Every fight was worth the price of admission. Now the week before at Resorts, Snooki from the Jersey Shore had a card where she was a promoter. It was entertaining and decent. So anytime there is a fight card where I feel it will be entertaining, I try and get there.
We have so many honorees this year — Iran Barkley, Marlon Starling, IBF President Daryl Peoples, Jackie Kallen, Ivan Robinson, Chuck Wepner, Cedric Kushner, Randy Neumann, Keith Holmes, William Joppy, and so many more.
“Being a boxing fan, I appreciate the legacy and history of boxing in Atlantic City. Of course, during the casino era, in the 1980s, when Don King was promoting the Mike Tyson fights, this is where the action was. And the town came alive with every major fight. It was good for the economy. Everybody did well.”
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1. Cabayote said... on Feb 15, 2012 at 03:19AM
“I so agree with this article. We trully need the big fights back in AC. I've been saying that for years. It also used to bring so much traffic in AC. And we're there's traffic there's money and were there's money three jobs. This article needs to be published more, so it can reach more people to get the Mecca back in AC”
2. neil a pasquale said... on Nov 30, 2012 at 05:24PM
“how about ac fighters a lopt of talent there”