Roman Greenberg Won't Be Back in the Ring

The boxing career of former heavyweight contender Roman Greenberg is over, according to a knowledgeable source. For years, fans held out hope that Greenberg, who turns 31 this week, would continue fighting after his lone career loss, but that possibility has now ended.

Greenberg was born in Moldova and grew up in Tel Aviv. After turning pro in 2001, he won his first 27 bouts. In his first 14 fights, Roman defeated only one man with a winning record, but his next 13 wins were all against opponents with marks over .500.

On August 29, 2008, Greenberg faced the toughest test of his career. Cedric Boswell sported a 27-1 record, but was 39 years old when he entered the ring against Greenberg at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia. After a slow first round, Boswell's faster hands began to touch Greenberg in the second. An overhand right threw Greenberg back to the ropes. Boswell then probed Roman's lax guard until he landed two looping rights that dramatically wobbled the Jewish fighter. Referee Bill Clancy quickly stepped in to wave off the fight despite Greenberg's protests. Within a flash, Roman's air of invincibility had vanished.

According to the knowledgeable source, Greenberg hasn't rediscovered the will to return to the ring since. Roman resisted every effort his former manager, Robert Waterman, made to coax him back into the sport. Greenberg's heart simply wasn't in it. In 2012, Waterman told Barry Toberman of The Jewish Chronicle, "Roman trained hard, but the problem was getting him to training."

Greenberg was one of three men- along with Dmitiry Salita and Yuri Foreman- who were responsible for the recent resurgence of Jewish boxing in the twenty-first century. Since The Jewish Boxing Blog began in 2010, no fighter has stoked the hopes of Jewish boxing fans more than Greenberg. Countless readers have written emails to The JBB hoping for some hint of his return. Those emails have tapered off as the years have passed.

Greenberg currently works as a bouncer for a Tel Aviv nightclub.

Salita Doesn't Want to Retire, Hopes to Face Bracero

Last month, Dmitriy Salita was quoted in Haaertz as saying, "Physically, I feel great, but the business and inconsistency of the sport has me seriously thinking about doing something else." The former world title challenger recently clarified his comments, telling The Jewish Boxing Blog, "I do not want to retire from the ring. However, I have a family and that is my first focus. Boxing is my job!"

Salita has made a yeoman's effort to step up the competition in recent years, but it's been all for naught. Former world champion Mike Anchondo backed out of a fight with Salita twice, once in December of 2010 and again the following spring. Salita signed a contract to face Ismael El-Massoudi sometime late in 2011 or early in 2012, but El Massoudi pulled out. Next, Salita called out beltholder Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi said he'd love to fight Dmitiry, but then went in another direction.

Most recently, Salita was scheduled to take on Hector Camacho Jr. The fight was initially postponed due to an injury incurred by one of the main event fighters and then was bizarrely cancelled. Salita explained that, after the fight was inexplicably shelved by Golden Boy Promotions, "Post-cancellation we tried to do the Camacho fight ourselves, but he did not want to take it."

Salita added, "We sold loads of tickets for the Camacho fight that we had to return post-cancellation. I did get a lot of frustrated long time fans that did not understand why my fight got cancelled. I hope that it does not damage my relationship with my fans and supporters."

Dmitriy has now turned his sights to another Brooklynite, Gabriel Bracero (22-1, 4 KOs). Salita hopes the fight will be televised by Showtime and will take place on June 22 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. For his part, Bracero announced on Twitter, "I love the idea."

Salita concluded, "At this level of my career, I need the network and promoter to want to make these step up fights... My friends in the boxing world tell me that logically it does not make sense that I do not get good opportunities, especially in New York City, the world's biggest Jewish metropolis. My record and fan support should make things easy, but they are very hard. I honestly feel that I have been getting second class treatment. It's very frustrating as you can imagine."

Salita vs. Bracero would be an interesting fight with a lot of local appeal, although it might be relegated to Showtime Extreme, unfortunately. The winner should vault himself into contention to fight another name opponent at welterweight, possibly on the main Showtime channel. Hopefully, the fight gets made; both men deserve it.

Brooks Suffers Injury

Michael "Lefty" Brooks suffered an injury in training and has pulled out of his scheduled May 18 clash with Chazz McDowell. Brooks hopes he will be back in action by May.

Brooks wrote to McDowell on Facebook, "Chazz, I hope they get you someone else and you win. I would like to go through with this fight on a later date."

The 9-0-1 fighter later wrote a note of inspiration, "Back to the training, the focus never left. Bumps in the road get passed by moving forward or paving them flat! Everything happens for a reason and we control destiny, so let's get it."

Brooks to Fight on May 18

Michael "Lefty" Brooks is slated to take on Chazz "Magnificent" McDowell at the Mid-Hundson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York on May 18. The all-New York affair will take place at lightweight.

This fight will likely go the eight round distance. Combined, both men have a total of three knockouts in a 19 fights between them and neither man has even been stopped. Brooks is the naturally bigger man as he fought over the lightweight limit in each of his first seven fights while McDowell has never weighed as much as 135 pounds. McDowell, however, has fought as many as eight rounds twice while Brooks has done so only once.

Brooks (9-0-1, two KOs) is a proficient body puncher who has added more wrinkles to his game in recent fights. Against Bryan Acaba two fights ago, Lefty adjusted his combinations on the fly in winning a majority decision. In his last bout, Brooks fought to a technical draw in Mexico in March. This will be Michael's fourth opponent with a winning record.

McDowell (6-3, one KO) won his first five fights, but has lost three of his last four. In his six wins, his opponents had a combined win total of two heading into the fight. Their combined record is 2-14-1 at the time they faced McDowell.

Chazz is also a singer. This year, he released a song called "She's Wet," which isn't exactly about a woman caught in the rain without an umbrella. In the song, his voice is mercifully distorted by an auto-tuner as it squeaks over a pseudo-pornographic video. Thankfully, his jab is better than his music.

In his last fight, McDowell used that jab effectively and boxed on the perimeter of the ring against Chip Perez, but was susceptible to Perez's overhand right. Brooks is a lefty, so the overhand right won't come into play on May 18, but McDowell's lack of a right hand will. The straight right is usually an orthodox fighter's best punch against a southpaw and McDowell didn't show an effective one against Perez.

Perez was awarded a majority decision over McDowell, who is from Yonkers in New York, though the fight probably should have been ruled a draw. Chazz was far busier and landed more often during the first four rounds, but faded during the second half of the fight.

Brooks and McDowell have a common opponent. Brooks defeated Jamell Tyson in 2011 by unanimous decision thanks to overhand lefts and combinations to the body. Tyson decisioned McDowell in 2012. McDowell didn't jab against his southpaw opponent, which was a problem because his right was like a Carolina hot dog, no mustard on it. Tyson feigned a jab and landed a straight left to the chin knocking down McDowell at the end of the first round. The same move wobbled Chazz in the fourth. Another straight left sent McDowell into the ropes in the fifth, which was deemed a knockdown.

Discussing Brooks, McDowell told The Jewish Boxing Blog, "[He's a] good fighter. He comes forward and is probably going to try to cut me off." Brooks wrote on Facebook, "[I'm] feeling good and can't wait to get back in the ring."