| 19 February 2010
Long before the controversial verdict in Juan Diaz-Paul Malignaggi I or the rumors of licensing a proven hand wrap loader, for the highly anticipated Pacquiao-Clottey PPV undercard, the Texas Boxing Commission caught flack for inconsistent and head scratching decision making. As it pertains to Black Gloves Promotions, who held a show on Thursday, February 11th, from the Showroom at Gilley's, the Texas Commission has been consistently inconsistent and an ever present "thorn" in their proverbial and promotional "sides". Smaller, less prickly entities also seem to have beef of some fashion with the local boxing outfit.
Love it or hate it, Black Gloves Promotions is fully prepared to ride or die on the premise of "top-notch boxing with an urban flair" and at some point, you'd expect the boxing commission to learn to live with it. Should the pugilistic heads of state really be concerning themselves with the pace of a 5-bout show, the between fights entertainment or the overall presentation of the card? They certainly weren't obtained to be event coordinators, yet the powers that be forced their negativity and unsolicited "advice" upon Black Gloves at every opportunity, in the most unprofessional manner imaginable. If you're spending between $50,000 and $100,000 to do an event, you've presumably earned and paid for the right to attach any bells and whistles to it that you see fit, devoid of belittlement.
Nonetheless, all evening long, the Texas commission voiced its' beef with hip hop music, the volume, the live singer, the rappers, the saxophonist, the barbecue sandwiches and pretty much everything else that Black Gloves Promotions represents, culturally speaking. At the root of all this is Black Gloves' showcase stallion, Charles "The Future" Hatley, a fighter that is independently trained and promoted by his father, Greg Hatley Sr. The problem is, the resident power brokers openly prefer that Hatley fight for a larger, more established outfit; Golden Boy, Top Rank, et al. Since that isn't happening, licensing deadlines are mysteriously not being met due to things as trivial as a fax and Black Gloves is often forced into scrambling for last minute (and at times more expensive) replacements to fight Hatley.
For example, February 11th's scheduled opponent was Stalin Lopez (6-0, 3 KO;s), a seasoned Cuban prospect, in a bout that had generated a level of buzz in the southwest. Still, in the 11th hour, it was revealed that Lopez's eye exam results hadn't arrived by the commission's imposed cut-off time, seventy two hours prior to fight night. Even though the rest of the 4-page licensing forms were received and even though Lopez's brain trust re-faxed proof that the eye exam had also been sent, he wasn't allowed to fight. His managers even flew to Dallas anyways, to confront the boxing commission face to face, in hopes of still making the fight happen. No dice. Just like that, a salivating matchup of undefeated prospects was defecated upon.
Enter "The Thrilla from Amarilla" (Amarillo, TX.) Marcus Brashears (7-14-1, 2 KO's), a tough journeyman with only one loss by knockout, but a significant step down from the level of opponent that Black Gloves intended on testing Hatley against. To his credit, Brashears capably played the villain's role, getting nose to nose with Hatley at the weigh-in, questioning his manhood and opposition and offering to bet his entire purse that "The Future" wouldn't stop him. In his best Floyd Mayweather Jr. imitation, Hatley whipped out a wad of dead presidents and was all but ready to accept Brashears' challenge contractually as well, until the commission spoke of the illegality of such a thing.
By fight night, even the weather proved to be problematic for the promotion, as more than six inches of snow covered the city of Dallas. At risk was the card itself and the lives of the unbeknownst southwestern souls that dared to get behind the wheel and brave the unfamiliar elements. Fighters arrived late to the Showroom at Gilley's (one ended up no-showing altogether), as did a sparse yet ever growing crowd. For this very reason, Black Gloves had hoped to delay the start of the fights, but then big brother reared its' ugly head again. With minimal prep-time, boxers were bullied into the ring by the commission and the entertainment was heavily frowned upon. "People come to see fights, not all this other loud crap you've got going on”, twanged Dickie Cole, the "good ol’ boy" that runs the commission. Never mind that the audience was comprised of mostly young, urban types who ate up every morsel of the presentation like a fat kid eats cake.
Dallas' own Dorrough, Mr. "Ice Cream Paint Job" himself, performed cuts from his album including "Walk that Walk" and then led Hatley (and his mushrooming entourage) out with his signature song, much to the dismay of the Texas boxing brass. As Hatley rhythmically bobbed, weaved, gyrated, wiggled and tip-toed his way to the squared circle, the now decently sized crowd fully bought into the party atmosphere.
At the opening bell of the scheduled 8-rounder, Brashears, who had talked a good game at the weigh-in, revealed what would prove to be his fight plan throughout; playing to the crowd, covering up, absorbing punches like a sponge and shaking his head "no", with verbal responses of "you can't hurt me" sprinkled on top. If this was devised to actually win the fight, the plan failed miserably. Less than a round into the fray, two looping right hands staggered Brashears and forced his glove to touch the canvas to maintain balance. A flurry of bolo styled uppercuts emphasized the level of this 2-fisted beat down in the 2nd and Hatley resembled a fighter hitting the double-end bag in the 3rd, with a Roy Jonesesque shoeshine flurry.
Round 4 was the first stanza that wasn't one-sided enough to arguably be scored 10-8, as Brashears managed to get in the occasional wild counter left, but Hatley was back to his dominant ways by the 5th. Everything from his high octane arsenal was on display; body shots, hooks, crosses, bolo's, winging blows, looping blows, uppercuts, with both hands, orthodox and southpaw. But to his credit, the gritty Brashears braved it all and lasted until the final bell, becoming the first man to do so in Hatley's (10-0, 9 KO's) brief career.
Afterwards, as Hatley brought his children into the ring, Cole angrily attempted to prevent him from doing so. It's not clear why this act bothered Cole so much and Hatley didn't allow the resistance to prevent him from celebrating his moment with his offspring. He even playfully grabbed the house microphone and told Cole that he "wanted a title shot" and to "make it happen, Dickie".
Beef, exterior inconsistencies and slights certainly aren't new to Black Gloves Promotions. In fact, it's been par for the course ever since Greg Hatley, Sr. re-formed the Oak Cliff Boxing Club and established the National Black Gloves amateur tournament, more than a decade ago. "In the ammy's, we had to bring boxing teams from out of state to support us.", Hatley, Sr. said, "Even today, teams will bring 80 kids to the Dallas Golden Gloves and other tournaments in the area, yet won't bring a single kid to the National Black Gloves. From 2003 to about 2006 or 2007, Oak Cliff Boxing was the best amatuer team in the area. We had my sons (Charles and Greg Jr.), "Big" Greg (Corbin, a 2-time National Golden Gloves super heavyweight champion) and Domonic (Littleton) all winning national titles." Hatley continued, "In the ammy's it was Oak Cliff against the state of Texas and the same is happening in the pros. Other promoters say we're 'not the right fit', whatever that means. They won’t put us on their shows."
The normally soft-spoken trainer/promoter/businessman didn't pull punches while searching for an explanation. "I hope it's not a race-issue, but I notice that a lot of Ft. Worth and Dallas shows won't put blacks on their cards except as opponents. But with Black Gloves Promotions, we put on good fighters regardless of color. We want to have fans of all races and we'd love to fight in front of other audiences, but we don't get those opportunities unless we create them." Hatley summed it up by saying, "We get no respect locally. We gotta get world titles to get respected, I guess."
"I'm not taking anything away from Roberto Marroquin, who is a very talented up and coming young fighter, but Charlie was hands down the best in the area in 2009. If you go by performances and not politics, it's not even close. Charlie fought in three different weight classes in 2009, yet wasn't challenged. He fought bigger men, cause none of the top welterweights and junior middleweights in Texas will fight him, yet Charlie walked thru everybody. He was skillfully breaking guys down in the 1st round, Ray Robinson and (Mike) Tyson style."
"Charlie's destroying people from the southpaw and orthodox stance," Hatley continued. "Guys don't even know which hand he is and can't tell when he switches stances. Charlie is even handed, naturally. And he has KO power in both hands, from either side." Hatley, Sr. was equal parts matter-of-fact, yet unassuming as he finished saying, "I'm not mad at anybody or anything, I'm just wondering what's going on." This particular writer has the same quandary.
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