Holiday Wishes From The Boxing Community
By Benny Henderson Jr. and Bob Carroll, Doghouse Boxing (Dec 24, 2008)  
The Christmas season is a time for joy and goodwill towards men. A time for family and friends to gather around, share some laughs, hugs and even a few tears as the year winds down. The sense of peace on earth is always present at this time of year, even in the boxing community. I recently spoke to some friends from the boxing community and asked them a question or two. Some were just asked, if you could have one wish this Christmas, be it boxing or personal, what would it be? Some were asked a follow-up question, what are your hopes, boxing or personal, for the New Year? Here are the answers that Doghouse Boxing was given.

Light heavyweight prospect Aaron “Jedi” Jaco 14-2 (4):

Christmas Wish:
If it is boxing related, I wish every time a fighter loses, they don’t make up poor excuses. I wish the fighter would say “Hey, I had a bad night and he obviously kicked my ass!” Just man up to the fact that you just had your ass whooped! (laughing).

Hope for the New Year: My hope is that (Floyd) Mayweather Jr. decides to come back to fight (Manny) Pacquiao. I hope he (Mayweather Jr.) does come back, gets his ass whooped and loses all of his jewellery (laughing).

Star of Contender 1 and middleweight contender Anthony “The Bullet” Bonsante 32-10 (18):

Christmas Wish:
If it is boxing related, I would wish, obviously for one more chance at a world title. If it is a personal wish, just that my wife, my kids and I stay safe, happy and healthy. Then hopefully we prosper from there.

Hope for the New Year:
The New Year? That by the end of the New Year, I will be able to marry my ex-wife (the same young lady he spoke about above).

Doghouse Boxing lead writer and undefeated heavyweight “THE Big Dog” Benny Henderson Jr. 2-0 (2):

Christmas Wish:
Personally? I want a (unable to print answer on this website). Boxing related, I wish the commissions would stop being stupid and giving a ranking to people who do not deserve to be ranked! Let’s have fights that make sense. Everyone gripes about the heavyweight division, but don’t blame the fighters, blame the commissions. Let’s hold them accountable for these stupid ass fights.

Hope for the New Year:
Hopes for the New Year? Um, that David Haye will be knocked out. Cowboys win the Super Bowl (writer laughed HARD). Actually, I would love to see a Pacquiao vs. Margarito or Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. Manny Pacquiao is saving boxing. (This writer agrees, but has been accused by The Big Dog and Aaron Jaco, of having a “man crush” on Pacman.)

Heavyweight contender “Danny Boy” Batchelder 25-6 (12):

Christmas Wish:
Ah, that I get a rematch with James Toney.

Hope for the New Year: Well, basically just get back on the winning track, win a couple of good fights and get there with one of the top contenders. You know, get another shot. You know, I had my shot against Lamon (Brewster) but I came up short. I’d like to get in there, get a few good wins, and finally get back into contention where I need to be.

Welterweight prospect and rising star Keith Thurman 8-0 (8):

Christmas Wish:
My wish for Christmas is kind of personal; it has to do with my family. I have three younger siblings and Christmas, I believe, goes to them. I’m older now and I’ve had my time with Santa Claus.

Hopes for the New Year: My hope for 2009 is to have a televised fight. Try to get on TV, get that exposure, try to get out there and let the people know about me.

Heavyweight contender Jason “Big Six” Estrada 15-1 (3):

Christmas Wish:
Actually for a Christmas wish, there are two fighters that I would love to get a shot at, either one or the both of them. The first one at the top of my list would be Chris Arreola, I’m still talking about him, and the other one would be Alexander Povetkin. Those are the two guys on top of my list. I would love to get a shot at them.

Hope for New Year: I hope in 2009, I get a big opportunity, a big fight with basically anybody that is going to push me to the top of the boxing world right now, so that it’s not just hearsay. I want to fight somebody who is really up there and get a chance to fight one of the world champs, or even for one of the smaller belts like the NABF or NABO. I just want something, you know, for 2009. That’ll make my year all worth it.

Retired Boxers Foundation Founder/President and former middleweight contender Alex “The Bronx Bomber” Ramos 39-10 (24):

Christmas Wish:
You know my Christmas Wish would be, number one that we get a lot of great fights this upcoming year, because I believe that there are a lot of great fights that could be made and we should be able to enjoy these fights. My personal number one wish would to always be able to take care of these fighters. You know I get calls from fighters every day. There are a lot of fighters that we (Retired Boxers Foundation) want to help and we put things together to try to help more fighters. I pray to God that in all of the fights next year, no one gets hurt and that he continues to bless all of these fighters that are risking so much for our entertainment.

Hope for the New Year: My hope for the New Year is that people would really understand what it is the Retired Boxers Foundation is trying to do for the fighters. It’s not about an individual person, it’s about what we are trying to do, its fighters helping fighters. My hope is that I continue to get fighters on board. We’ve received calls from people who want to help, people from the US and people from overseas. I just hope that we can continue to help fighters and their families. I want to thank the people who get involved with us, our Vice President Mike Indri, our Executive Director Jacquie Richardson, these are good people. We have a lot of good things happening and I hope to provide help to more fighters and their families in 2009. (Writers’ note: The Retired Boxers Foundation is one of the brightest spots in boxing, and it needs our help to continue to provide help. For more information on the RBF, go to www.retiredboxers.com)

Fightin’ Words Radio Show Co-host Frank “Butch” Carroll:

Christmas Wish:
The one thing I wish for Christmas is for all of the troops fighting overseas to return home safely to their families.

Hope for the New Year: My hopes for the New Year is for improvement in the economy, that people have a little more respect for each other and that the title will come back to an American heavyweight.

Talkin’ Boxing with Billy C radio show host Bill Calogero:

Christmas Wish:
My ONE Christmas wish for boxing would be NO MORE RETREADS! I wish that the promoters and networks would just promote and stop bringing in the Rahmans, Holyfields, Golota's, etc... no more retreads! They had their time. Let’s see the young guys before they are too old. Promoters need to promote!

Hope for the New Year: My hopes for 2009 would be a message to all boxing people...fighters, promoters, managers, networks, etc and most important....FANS....I want to see young up and coming fighters fight each other. It Is OK to have a loss on your record. I hope that we as the Boxing Public will accept a loss on a fighter's record as a learning process rather than thinking they are no good. If these young fighters fought each other early on and more often, we will have a much better pool of fighters because they will gain the "on the job" experience that most lack today. They do not learn a thing from fighting tomato cans or from fighting a fighter that is just not in the same class as them. It is like a pro football team playing against a Pop-Warner team. What do they gain? (For more on “Talkin’ Boxing with Billy C” go to the shows website, www.talkinboxing.com)

Former IBF world featherweight champion Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero 22-1 (15):

Christmas Wish:
My Christmas wish that my wife continues to get better and my family is healthy.

Hope for the New Year: My hope for 2009 is that I work my way into a mega fight with one of the big names in the sport. Guys like (Juan Manuel) Marquez, (Marco Antonio) Barrera or (Manny) Pacquiao.

Welterweight prospect and rising star Danny "Swift" Garcia 10-0 (7):

Christmas Wish:
My wish would be a shot at a small title as I work my way to the top.

Hope for the New Year: My New Year hope is that I continue to stay healthy and learn my craft while staying busy in the ring. It would be great to get 10 more fights in 2009!

Boxing and MMA publicist Mario Serrano:

Christmas Wish:
My wish would be that boxing continues to grow and that new TV networks provide new dates for our up and coming and established fighters.

Hope for the New Year: I only hope that I stay humble and work hard for my clients. (Writers’ note: We would like to thank Mario Serrano for contacting Robert Guerrero, Danny Garcia and Carina Moreno for this article. Mario always comes through when we need to contact one of his clients. We won't lie to you...we love Mario over here at the Doghouse.)

Four-Time World Champion, current WBC female minimumweight and WIBA minimumweight champion Carina "La Reina" Moreno 20-1 (6):

Christmas Wish:
My Christmas wish is landing a big fight with one of the elite fighters in my division.

Hope for the New Year:
My hopes for 2009 is to travel overseas and fight in Germany against the best fighters at 105lbs and 108lbs.

Cruiserweight contender and rising star “Awesome” Aaron Williams 19-1 (13):

Christmas Wishes:
My personal wish is just to live and my boxing related wish is a title shot.

Super middleweight contender “Sweetness” Allan Green 27-1 (19):

Christmas Wishes:
My personal wish is I wish everyone would leave me alone on Christmas Day and my boxing related wish is for a big fight, I want a big fight!

Middleweight prospect Austin Trout 16-0 (12):

Christmas Wishes:
My personal Christmas wish is for the game Rock Star 2, my boxing related wish is to fight for a fringe title.

Heavyweight contender Brian “The Beast” Minto 32-2 (21):

Christmas Wishes:
My personal wish is for my children to have a great Christmas and the boxing related wish is to have a big, meaningful fight to boost my career and to become champion.

Heavyweight contender Travis “Freight Train” Walker 28-2 (22):

Christmas Wishes:
A simple personal wish, clothes. The boxing related wish is to have the (Chris) Arreola fight back. I would see what I did wrong and capitalize on it!

Former heavyweight contender Dominic “The Southern Disaster” Guinn 30-6 (20):

Christmas Wishes:
Personal wish is for my kids to grow up and become successful, the boxing wish is for a big fight. I want Chris Arreola or Kevin Johnson!

Contender 4 contestant Erik Vega 8-3 (6):

Christmas Wishes:
Personal wish would be for a truck, I want a truck. My boxing wish is for a fight, I really want to fight.

Boxing trainer, trainer for Contender 4 and former heavyweight contender John Bray 15-3 (5):

Christmas Wishes:
My personal wish is for world peace and happiness for my sons. My boxing related wish is for a savior in boxing. We really need one right now!

Middleweight contender Miguel Espino 19-2 (8):

Christmas Wishes:
I don’t need for anything personal but my boxing wish is to keep working hard.

Former WBO and Linear world heavyweight champion Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs 48-5 (42):

Christmas Wishes:
Personally I have everything I want. As far as my boxing wish? I want to be Russian! They are giving those guys title belts and HBO contracts!

We would like to thank all of the fighters who took time out of their schedules to speak with us and would like to wish all of them and all of the readers, a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays. You can listen to Bob Carroll, Butch and “THE Big Dog” Benny Henderson Jr. every Wednesday night from 6-7pm EST on Fightin’ Words Radio Show. To listen live via the internet, go to www.1490wwpr.com and look for the ‘listen here’ tab. Don't forget to check out the Fightin' Words Radio Show website, www.fightinwordsonline.com

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