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12/13/2006 Archived Entry: "Team Rivera Contests Travis Simms' Claims"
Team Rivera Contests Travis Simms' Claims
For two days last week in New York City and Hollywood, Florida WBA 154 pound world champion Jose Antonio Rivera (Worcester, Massachusetts) and one-time prospect Travis Simms (Norwalk, Connecticut) spent time with reporters and TV personalities as they discussed their upcoming clash for Rivera's WBA championship on the undercard of the heavyweight rematch between James Toney and Samuel Peter at the Hardrock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Both boxers appeared very confident at the Don King Productions sponsored press conferences.
However, probably the most interesting aspect to come out of their two days together was the DKP press release handed out to all attending media that featured information given to the writers of the release by Simms that are, in the words of one Rivera camp member , "blatant and ridiculous lies given out by a guy with serious inferiority complex issues."
Some members of Team Rivera seem to feel that Simms outlandish view of himself is indications of a man who is not happy with himself, like a former bench warmer in high school who claims to people who didn't know him back then that he "was a one-thousand yard rusher as a star running back."
Apparently the press release handed out to the media at the two day event featured information in a Simms bio that are bold faced lies and exaggerations that Rivera's team feels show a serious lack of confidence and the previously mentioned inferiority complex on the part of the Connecticut native.
Four areas of the release brought special attention to many of those that read it and to some it showed in a certain way that the undefeated Simms, while once seen as a good up and coming prospect, has been forced to make up lies about himself to try and present the image of someone who should be in the pound for pound rankings instead of his rightful place in the prospect category.
He actually told a Worcester Reporter that he was "pound for pound the best boxer." Enough said.
First of all the bio stated that Simms "was 295-10 as an amateur boxer," a claim that is highly unlikely seeing as how he was not even at the national amateur level for more than three years and only captured one national event in all his time as an amateur (just over ten years). At least one amateur coach close to the New England amateur scene stated that Simms was "dreaming if he thinks anybody believes he even had that many fights. Averaging thirty fights a year when he hardly even made it to more than a few national events? That kid has issues."
The Simms bio also stated that he "was a ten time Western Mass. Golden Gloves champion in Holyoke" when in fact he won the Golden Gloves only one time (in 1993).
Lance Henry, a light heavyweight amateur boxer out of Rivera's "Fight Factory Gym" in Connecticut, was present at the New York press conference and upon reading the release stated that "the whole list of Golden Gloves champions from Holyoke since the 1950's is on the wall at the gym and Simms only won it once, not ten times!" A phone call to the Holyoke Boys Club who hosted the annual tournament each year between 1958 and 2005 confirmed that Simms had in fact "only won one single open class Golden Gloves title here, back in 1993. He didn't even compete in the Golden Gloves here ten times let alone win it that many. Our boxer Jose DeJesus actually stopped him on the stool back at some point in the 156 pound division so I know he didn't win it that year" laughed former Holyoke Golden Gloves administrator Jimmy Saraceno.
Why would Simms pass on such a blatant lie to the press covering this fight? Is he of the opinion that only winning one local total as an amateur is not impressive enough?
Then you have the absolutely outlandish claim from the 35 year old boxer is that he was "the 156 pound alternate on the 1996 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team." Such a feat would have been impressive enough if it were not for the fact that it is also another lie. A check with USABoxing, Inc., the national amateur boxing governing body based in Colorado Springs, reveals that "Darnell Wilson of Lafayette, Louisiana was in fact the alternate in 1996 at 156 pounds."
A check of previous biographies on-line featuring Simms also revealed that claim so it is apparent that he has been spreading this lie for quite a while now and some members of the media have actually reported it more than once.
Then of course you have the fact that Simms still actually considers himself the WBA champion when in fact he was stripped of his "title" for refusing to grant a rematch to the man he "defeated" for the WBA regular title, Alejandro "Terra" Garcia of Mexico (Simms was never the official WBA world champion having only held the "regular' title, unless of course he thinks the "regular" crown he held carried more weight than the real WBA 154 pounds titles that Shane Mosley and then Winky Wright held at the time). Garcia and Simms fought each other close for four rounds in their fight and then in the fifth Garcia apparently thought the referee was about to step between the two and call for a break when he dropped his hands, relaxed his body and glanced at the referee at which point Simms let loose with a vicious punch that stopped Garcia in his tracks. Although the punch was declared legal it was very obvious that Garcia thought a break was being called and he foolishly dropped his hands.
When Simms failed to grant the rematch that Garcia deserved he was stripped of the title and Garcia subsequently won the real (not regular) WBA title in a fight for the vacant belt with former Olympian Roshii Wells, who Garcia stopped in thrilling fashion. After two defenses he was then dethroned in a spectacular 12 round war on "SHOWTIME" with Rivera earlier this year.
So basically it is a situation where Travis Simms never actually held the WBA championship of the world that Rivera is now the owner of yet he continues to try and fool people by claiming he is the "defending champion."
Said Rivera, taking the high road, "Simms has a beef with me apparently and not with the people he should have one with and that's the WBA. They stripped him of his regular title and then I turned around and won the legitimate WBA title from Garcia, the guy he wouldn't fight in the first place. It's not my problem. All I know is that on January 6th when the announce the challenger first and the champion last... I will be introduced last."
Rivera's trainer, the up and coming "Iceman" John Scully, when contacted for comment had this to say: "You know all of the amateur stuff was a long time ago and doesn't really matter that much anymore. The pro game is a whole different world anyway. My whole thing is this and it is a thing where the guy we're are fighting is an older guy (almost 36 years of age) who hasn't fought very much in his nine years as a pro and by the time the first bell rings he will not only haven't fought in something like two years and three months but over the last four or five years he hasn't had very much experience and he hasn't had any really tough, grueling fights, either.
The fight with Bronco (McKart) went 12 rounds, the only time Simms has ever been twelve, but it was a thing where Bronco was several years past his better days and he obviously didn't have the same desire and hunger that he did when he was beating some good guys earlier on so it was hard to really get a gauge on Simms in that fight and when it comes down to it, on fight night, Jose has a ton more experience against an overall much better class of opposition and Jose has not only been twelve rounds on four different occasions but he has also been ten rounds on six occasions so that's ten different fights where he has been ten or twelve good strong rounds while the other guy (Simms), I have only seen him fight twice in my life as a pro and it was the one time he went ten rounds against a guy that really didn't fight back all that hard on that night and then the twelve rounder with Bronco. Apparently those are the only two fights where he went any real distance so that obviously favors Jose more.
So my thing is that no matter how hard you run, no matter how many miles, no how many rounds you spar or hit the bag or how many exercises you do it is simply a thing where you cannot make up for all that inactivity and lack of experience. You can't just come back after more than two years against a guy like Jose, who is in his prime right now, when you yourself don't have a ton of experience to begin with, and expect to have a strong performance for more than a few rounds. Sooner or later that doubt and those questions and the fatigue and the reality will set in. No disrespect to him but I just don't think Simms is an overpowering guy as much as he has more of a boxing type style and to fight that way you need activity and consistency and you need rounds under your belt. I don't know much about Simms as a pro other than the facts but either way, on our side, on fight night, we will be even more prepared than we were for Garcia because Jose is in a good position now and he doesn't want to lose all that he has worked so hard for. He isn't in this game to win trophies and fame and see his name in the paper. He fights for his family, for a better life, and that type of motivation is a constant source of inspiration for a man. At this weight (after having drained himself terribly for years to make 147) Jose is feeling like a monster and fatigue will never be a problem for him. He longs for the late rounds!!"
RIVERA'S TITLE DEFENSE AGAINST SIMMS WILL BE SHOWN LIVE FROM HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA ON "SHOWTIME" JANUARY 6, 2007.
