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06/21/2004 Archived Entry: "Al “Speedy” Gonzales’ Manager, Pat Doljanin speaks out about Hopkins fight"
AL "SPEEDY" GONZALES' MANAGER, PAT DOLJANIN SPEAKS OUT ABOUT DEFEAT TO HOPKINS
By Juan C. Ayllon
Photos by Edward Zajac
(Highland Park, Illinois): While a cold rain pours outside, Pat Doljanin is simmering on the inside. He is thoroughly convinced that his fighter, Al “Speedy” Gonzales got a raw deal three days ago in his nationally televised June 18th bout versus Demetrius Hopkins. For those unfamiliar with Demetrius, he is the nephew of undisputed World Middleweight Champion of the World, Bernard Hopkins, who is slated to fight Oscar De La Hoya this fall.
Earlier this afternoon, Doljanin spoke with the CBZ about Friday night's controversial bout.
Juan Ayllon: You were saying that there were discrepancies as far as how the stoppage occurred?
Pat Doljanin: No, I think there were discrepancies all the way around. We’ll start out with the choice of referee. I like John O’Brien. I know John is a good man, a very good amateur referee. He has reffed some fights to my knowledge. I don’t think he has reffed any interim fights. I certainly don’t think he has reffed a fight—not that was a world championship—but this was a highly visible fight and the result had a traumatic impact on the winner and the loser, as well. With referees in Chicago like Gino Rodriguez, refereed fifty or sixty world title fights, Jim Adam, Pete Podgorski, you’ve got Sean Kirk; you’ve got plenty of refs who are more qualified than John. I don’t think John was qualified. He continually let Hopkins tie up Al, wrestle with him; we’re inside, he did not allow Al to work on the inside: a fighter’s got a free hand, you should let him work, not break them up. That was a serious problem!
The scoring definitely was atrocious. When one fighter throws nearly twice as many punches, when the same puncher lands more punches than the other fighter, while that other fighter is running away, wrestling and holding, you wouldn’t need to be a boxing fan to realize who’s winning this fight. It was evident that Hopkins did not come to fight. I personally wasn’t impressed. I thought more of him. I think Hopkins uncle [Bernard Hopkins] and Lou Duva had either intimidated—not by way of their actions—but they were intimidated by the fact that they were dealing with people at that level and they were so careful that not to be viewed of getting a hometown decision that they erred completely in the other direction. It’s very frustrating. Why didn’t they take the view how well he’d been fighting? 
Hopkins holds as Gonzales tries to punch free.
Teddy Atlas [on ESPN2’s broadcast of the fight] again and again commented how well conditioned Al was, how Al was pushing the fight, how Al was much stronger. Doug Fisher at MaxBoxing.com this morning said that Gonzales appeared to be taking control of the fight. Look at way the fifth round did, he absolutely did. Hopkins was exhausted. There was absolutely no way he was going to fight three or four rounds [more] at that pace. It’s a shame. It’s like going to the store, paying for a TV and getting a clock radio. I guess the commission got what they wanted.
We’re going to move on. Al showed that he belonged in the mix with young prospects that are out there. In two days—Thursday and Friday—you had four 140-pound prospects fighting: Paul Malignaggi, Kendall Holt, Tommy Davis and Al Gonzales. Al Gonzales and Tommy Davis showed that they are head and shoulders above that group, Davis by knocking out Kendall Holt and Al for the way he handled Demetrius Hopkins. 
The fight was stopped by Jim Strickland. Jim felt that Al was ahead on the scorecards. He didn’t like the way the cut looked, he felt that by going to the scorecards, he would save Al from further damage. As much as like Jim and respect him, that wasn’t his decision to make. Jesse Reid is the chief second. Jesse Reid has had 19 world champions. He’s been in this situation before. He’s the one in charge of Al’s fate. Jesse makes that call. I’m his manager—I don’t make that call! Jesse Reid is in charge in terms of decisions made. He was very disappointed with Jim’s decision to stop the fight. The doctor asked, ‘What do you guys want to do,’ and Jim said, ‘That’s it! You’ve got to stop it.’
JA: What was Jim’s role in Gonzales’ corner, officially? PD: Jim was the cut man, and Jim did a phenomenal job! He’s a great cut man. Jim stopped the bleeding. The cut wasn’t getting any worse. It wasn’t hampering Al’s vision at all. If we’ve got a guy who’s not throwing any punches, as long as the head doesn’t hit him again, the kid would have been fine.
Al’s cut in the Gutierrez fight was far worse than this cut. It was far worse! In addition, he had a broken jaw and, on top of that, he had a guy who was trying to rip his head off. None of those things were present in this fight. It’s a shame that it went to a technical decision.
The short of this long story is that nothing was determined by the result of this fight. We would love to, and we’ve asked, for a rematch with Demetrius Hopkins. Whether or not we get it or not, but I can assure you of one thing: it will not take place in Chicago.
And, I will go on record in saying that was Al’s last fight in Chicago. The commission here should be ashamed of itself, if it has any shame. The judging was absolutely pathetic and I think that this commission is in serious need of an overhaul. They need to look within themselves to what kind of changes they need to make to be a better boxing commission because those kinds of decisions do nothing but discourage fighters and drive…[them] away. We’re not leaving the boxing business. We’re leaving Chicago. We can fight in Indiana; we can fight in California—Jesse Reid has a number of connections out there; there’s 47 other states that we can fight in. Guy’s get treated better in Germany when they go there—and we all know how bad the Germans treat American fighters. Yet, this happens in our own town. It’s an absolute shame.
We’ve had nothing but phone calls from trainers, managers, other promoters who felt that—you know—it was unfortunate and, if they didn’t know any better, it was as if ‘the fix’ was in. Unless you’re completely incompetent, the only other explanation is for the scoring to be deliberate. If you look at the numbers, if you look at the fight and you see your judge give Al one round, it’s unacceptable. It’s beyond description how pathetic a job that is. Mr. McCarthy should choose to think about getting out of the business. He’s doing nothing but a disservice. Boxers do this for a living. It’s their livelihood. If we got treated ‘fair and square,’ would we be having this conversation?
But, given the facts, it’s painfully obvious that there are people in the commission who don’t want Al Gonzales to succeed. I don’t know if it’s against Al personally, me personally, Albert Falcon personally or our promoter, Dominic Pesoli. But something’s rotten, that’s all I’ve got to say. When I’ve got a commissioner telling me that I can’t coach during the course of a fight—there’s absolutely no rule, Juan, that says you can’t coach during a fight—that’s amateur boxing! I had the central head commissioner telling me that I can’t shout out instructions? And then, when I get by him, he tells me if I continue, he’s going to pull me out of the corner and make me watch the fights from the seats! I want the commission—and believe me, we are going to take the commission to task—I want to see the rule that says you cannot coach during the course of a fight. They weren’t saying this to the Duva corner and, again, I think it’s because they were intimidated by him, because of his reputation and the name that they have. They were so afraid to make the wrong move; they were walking on eggshells. It was to the detriment of my fighter.
That’s probably the thing that gets me in trouble with my fighters: I stick up for them and speak out. I don’t care who’s making the call. This is absolutely ridiculous.
Jesse Reid had even mentioned to me, "What's this guy's problem?" when we were being warned by a representative from the commission. He continued to tell Jesse that he couldn’t coach and Jesse said, ‘Well, look, son…this is a prizefight. There is no rule anywhere in professional boxing that you cannot coach during the course of a fight. I’ve given him instruction; he is listening. Don’t you want him to do well in this fight? And, I think it ended there. Maybe I should have said that! [Laughing] It bothered him.
But I certainly didn’t say anything else. And there were things that I saw Al listens to me to make. And, it’s hard not to, either.
Again, if you add it up, any person with a modicum of boxing intelligence can figure out what’s happening here. And, again, it’s a shame! All I can say is we’re going to move on, whether it’s Hopkins—fine, that’s what we want, I don’t think it’s going to happen, not after what he found out; I think he underestimated Al in a big way—there’s a Dirk Allen out there, there’s no shortage of young, 140-pound fighters. There’s Oscar Diaz, a good fighter with only one loss on his record, Ebo Elder with one loss on is record—excellent fighter, and you know, we can get it out with and shut the fat mouth of Paul Malignaggi, that would be even better! But, again, you know, Malignaggi doesn’t have the guts to face Al either, so we’ll look for bigger and better things. And, believe me, the way Al fought Hopkins, Malignaggi, nor his bottle-feeding matchmaker Kirk are going to put him in with Al. Al’s a monster. And, [if] Malignaggi lasts more than three rounds, I’d be surprised.
JA: Those are strong words!
PD: Well, w took this fight to make a statement. There were a lot of people who thought Al had absolutely no chance, he was going to get outclassed and stopped; he was going to get a beating. Al showed the country, Al showed the boxing world that he belonged, that he’s a legitimate, 140-pound prospect. JA: What’s next? You said that you were going to go after Hopkins and, if not, you were going to fight someone else—
PD: We’ve asked for an immediate rematch. I’ll give the quote of Teddy Atlas: Teddy Atlas said, ‘This fight screams for a rematch,’ and I can’t put it any better than Teddy Atlas put it. The fight screams for a rematch; nothing was decided and if they think something was decided, they’re delusional, because everyone that saw that fight knows what happened, outside of the judges, who obviously don’t know a ‘left hook’ from a coat hanger.
I seriously want to know what kind of background the judges have, I want to know what kind of training they have, I want to know what qualifies them to be a boxing judge, other than a political appointee or political crony. With the exception of Judge Jacobko, who’s an excellent judge. I thought going one point either way was acceptable. The other two judges were so far off the mark, they should be ashamed of themselves.
