BOXING : Setting Klecko’s Record Straight

A couple of former New York Jets, Joe Klecko and Joe Fields, decided to write a book last year.

It’s the tale of a couple of linemen, both of whom rose from low draft choices to NFL stardom.

The book, actually written by Greg Logan, contains a version of Klecko’s boxing career, which has outraged one buyer. When Bruce Blair was a heavyweight collegiate boxer at West Chester University, near Philadelphia, Klecko boxed for Temple University. “Klecko out-and-out lied about our bout in 1975, and I want to correct it,” Blair said. “I’ve got newspaper clippings, all kinds of people who saw it, all kinds of proof. Can you help set the record straight?”

In Klecko’s recollection of his collegiate boxing days, he says he was known then as “Smokin’ Joe” Klecko because he trained at Joe Frazier’s Philadelphia gym.

OK, there’s a blinking red light.

Klecko next says his Temple boxing career record was 25-1.

That’s incorrect.

It was 25-2, and both losses were to Bruce Blair.

Klecko acknowledges one loss to Blair, but attributes it in part to having had sex the afternoon before his fight against Blair.

Klecko’s version of Blair-Klecko I: “In the second round, all he did was run from me and I made the mistake of chasing him, when I had no legs. I beat the . . . out of the SOB. I said to the ref, ‘Will you stop this? I don’t want to hurt him anymore.’ ”

Of the result, a unanimous, unquestioned decision for Blair, Klecko says: “We were fighting in his hometown, so they gave him a split decision.”

Here’s how Randy Shantz of the West Chester Daily Local News covered that fight, March 16, 1975:

” . . . Blair unleashed a punishing, two-fisted attack on Klecko, earning a unanimous decision. . . . Klecko, noticeably weary starting the third round, was overcome early by Blair’s swarming flurries and sagged at the knees. . . . The bell sounded to end the fight and saved the Temple star from an inevitable knockout.”

Blair also points out there is a major omission from Klecko’s recollection of his college boxing days--Blair-Klecko II. Sure enough, Smokin’ Joe doesn’t have a word in there about the rematch.

“Maybe Joe just forgot about the rematch,” Blair said. “If he hasn’t forgotten about it he should, because that was Klecko’s ‘No mas’ fight. He quit on his stool, like a dog.”

Reporter Shantz wrote: “When the second round ended, Klecko was obviously tired and somewhat shaky from Blair’s punching. When he stayed on the stool as the bell rang for Round 3, referee John Fitzpatrick raised Blair’s arm.”

That, according to Blair, was Klecko’s last bout. He finished 25-2 as a collegian and Blair was 28-0. Blair continued to box as an amateur, in hopes of making the 1980 Olympic team, but failed.

“Joe Klecko was the Mike Tyson of college boxing in those days, and I won’t try now to take anything away from him, like he did to me in this book,” said Blair, who now works for Top Rank Boxing in Las Vegas.

“He could have been a good pro boxer. He had great size, good hand speed and had some skills.

“When I heard he’d written a book, I bought it. I figured there’d be complimentary stuff about me in there. But when I saw all that . . . , I really blew up. This whole thing makes me wonder if all these books written by ex-athletes--are they all full of lies, like this one?”

One of Blair’s responsibilities at Top Rank is to keep an eye on Olympic gold medalist Kennedy McKinney, who, when Blair turned his back on him about two weeks ago, disappeared for nine days with his wife and infant son.

McKinney, who has had a cocaine problem since he turned pro in 1988, missed a mandatory drug test after vanishing and everyone concerned feared the worst.

“Everything is fine now,” Blair said. “Kennedy has been under a lot of scrutiny the past few months. He’d been clean, and he just felt a great need to get away from everyone with his family.

“He went to L.A. for a few days. But we’ve made it clear to him we are very unhappy he did it without telling us, that we do not condone it. When he got back, he wanted to be tested right away. He was, and he tested clean.”

McKinney, dropped from Top Rank’s Nov. 8 ESPN card at Bally’s in Las Vegas, is back on the show.

Boxing Notes

The California Athletic Commission finally is putting together a plan for random testing for illegal drugs at every state boxing show. . . . Top Rank’s pay-per-view ($19.95) heavyweight doubleheader Jan. 11 features Ray Mercer-Francesco Damiani and Tommy Morrison-James Tillis. If time permits, Bruce Seldon-Tyrell Biggs will also be shown.

Also on pay-per-view: Loreto Garza-Vinny Pazienza from Sacramento, Dec. 1, for $12.95. Promoter Don Chargin is looking for another big crowd for that one, after drawing 15,008 for Tony Lopez-Jorge Paez Sept. 22. Chargin has scaled Arco Arena seats for Garza-Pazienza from $100 to $27. . . . Guillermo Moreno of Beaumont and Albert Guardado of Colton won gold and silver medals, respectively, at the recent USA Amateur Boxing Federation’s junior tournament at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

Promoter Don King says he has letters from three of boxing’s governing bodies that, he says, require the winner of Buster Douglas-Evander Holyfield to next fight Mike Tyson. There has been talk of George Foreman getting a title shot before Tyson. . . . Former super-lightweight champion Lonnie Smith will fight Antonio Garcia of Mexicali in Las Vegas Tuesday.

Because of rules forbidding special exhibitions of amateur boxers on pro cards, the nation’s best amateur boxer, Oscar de la Hoya of East L.A., will be virtually unseen in his own town before he goes to the 1992 Olympics.

What’s wrong with having de la Hoya and another Southland national champion, Shane Mosley of Pomona, appear in two three-round undercard matches, under amateur rules, on a Forum pro boxing show, with any money paid going to their club?

Paul Konnor, USA Amateur Boxing Federation officer from Milwaukee, says the rule is an international one, not a USA/ABF rule. “We don’t like the rule, and it’s going to get even tougher,” Konnor said. “Now, they’re talking about a rule prohibiting any trainer of pro boxers from working the Olympics or world championships.”

Kevin Rooney, Tyson’s fired trainer, won Round 1 in his wrongful-termination suit against the former heavyweight champion when a New York judge denied a motion for dismissal of the case Friday.