Worth the visit

CANASTOTA – Driving from the Dartmouth University campus in New Hampshire to this New York village took about five hours, passing through Vermont at a leisurely pace without running into freeway traffic.

My wife Menchu and I were in Dartmouth to attend my nephew Philip’s graduation last Sunday. TV talk show host Conan O’Brien was the commencement speaker and received an honorary doctorate degree as did former US President George Bush Sr. at the three-hour morning rites. Philip is my brother Ramon’s son with wife Sandy Marshall and walked up the stage to receive his diploma for a Bachelor of Arts degree in biomedical engineering. Philip, 22, is a two-time Dartmouth varsity rowing MVP and two-time Sportsmanship awardee. 

Canastota is accessible by air with visitors landing at the Syracuse international airport about 20 miles away. The village is some 140 miles north of New York City. 

The access point to Canastota is exit 34 via Interstate-90 on the New York State Thruway. As soon as you pass the toll booth, you’ll easily spot the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum to the right. It’s what Canastota is known for. There are two other sports-related Halls of Fame nearby – baseball in Cooperstown and soccer in Oneida.

The International Boxing Hall of Fame was established in 1989 and holds induction ceremonies in June every year. Director Ed Brophy is the man behind the Hall’s creation. Aside from the induction rites, Brophy stages two fund-raisers in September and November to finance the maintenance of the two buildings in the Hall site. The first building is the 300-square meter museum and the second is the 500-square meter event center and gift shop.

Across the street from the Hall is where nearly all the boxing visitors check in – at Days Inn, renovated five years ago.

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Days Inn Canastota general manager Doug Joslyn has worked in the hotel the last 13 years and recalled unforgettable moments in the Hall’s induction history. This year’s inductees were led by Mike Tyson and actor Sylvester Stallone but neither stayed at Days Inn. Tyson was supposedly billeted in a $3,000-a-night suite at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino, about eight miles away, while Stallone came in just for the enshrinement last Sunday afternoon. Stallone skipped the morning downtown parade for security reasons – thousands witnessed the motorcade and police wouldn’t have been able to control a mob scene.

Among the boxing legends who attended the induction were Canastota’s own Carmen Basilio and Billy Backus, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and his Italian wife Kaye, Jake LaMotta, Ken Norton, Leon Spinks, George Chuvalo, Michael Carbajal and John Stracey.

Of all the fighters who’ve come and gone to attend the annual festivities, Joslyn singled out Bernard Hopkins as one of the nicest guys. “When Bernard visited once, you could tell how excited he was to be with the boxing legends and old-timers,” said Joslyn. “He had a thick pile of autographed pictures of himself and passed them out to fans in the streets.  Marvelous Marvin is another nice guy and comes every year with his wife. Alexis Arguello was also a fine gentleman. He often visited to support the Hall’s fund-raisers. Female boxer Christy Martin, Michael Buffer, Bob Arum, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were others who’ve attended past inductions.”

A fighter whom Joslyn dreams of meeting is Manny Pacquiao. “He’ll be in the Hall of Fame someday,” said the hotel executive.

Joslyn said Frazier will likely not visit the Hall again because of a suit he filed against the institution in connection with his daughter Jacqui’s fight against Laila Ali at the Turning Stone Casino in 2001.

 “Joe used to attend the induction with his buddy Dude Love,” related Joslyn. “Then, he got upset when his image was used to promote his daughter’s fight against Laila without his permission. He couldn’t sue the Turning Stone promoters because the Native American reservation is considered sovereign and free from suit. So, Joe ended up suing the Hall. It wasn’t really about using Joe’s image without his permission. It was more his campaign against gambling.”

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Some boxing visitors abuse the Hall’s hospitality by getting drunk or getting lost. Former champion Tito Trinidad disappeared one night during the induction weekend and it was later found out that he slept in nearby Utica after chasing skirts. Spinks got so drunk one night that he flushed pizza down the toilet. 

Last Monday, there were three stragglers at Days Inn from the induction ceremonies. I was able to interview Norton and Carbajal who left that afternoon. Stracey was the last guest to check out – he was still at Days Inn last Tuesday morning.

Carbajal, a Hall of Famer, was dead drunk when I spoke with him. I asked him about his boxing career and he recounted how his brother-trainer Danny swindled him of his ring earnings. He cursed his brother to the heavens. As for Pacquiao, Carbajal said, “I would’ve knocked him out – he started his career as a junior flyweight so we would’ve been a match … even at lightweight, I think Roberto Duran would’ve beaten him.”

A source said Carbajal wouldn’t be invited back to the induction next year. “He was a problem,” said the source. “His wife kept calling the Hall staff to take care of Carbajal who was drunk most of the time. The Hall took care of his expenses but I don’t think they’ll do it again next year.” Carbajal, 43, held the IBF, WBC, WBO and IBA lightflyweight titles and retired in 1999 after halting Jorge Arce.

Joslyn said there were no Asians in this year’s rites. “I remember Fighting Harada and Mr. (Akihiko) Honda of Japan visited last year,” he said. “It’s always an honor to host friends from other countries.”

Stallone, 64, was honored for his role as Rocky Balboa in six movies from 1976 to 2006 with the series grossing about $1.25 Billion in worldwide ticket sales. When Stallone was called up to speak during the induction program, he said, “Yo, Adrian, I did it,” using the famous Rocky line to screen wife Talia Shire.

In Sunday’s column, we’ll describe what’s inside the boxing museum.