A Ring out of time - A story of Heavyweight redemption

[Lee]

	I am writing this so that someday the world will know what I can not now tell. I received a visit 2 weeks back from a strange , hunch backed man in a black coat. A man whose face was obscured in shadow, even when light was cast upon it. He offered to arrange a "trip" for me with three men I knew well for I often assisted them when nobody else would. A trip that would surely take us to world very different than the one we knew. If this diary is ever read and the reader knows of our story in the time that has been promised, these words will make no sense. Unless you realize that as I pen this prose, the calendar on the wall reads January 1st, in the year of our lord nineteen hundred and ten. A full 70 years before our story as it appears the world will come to know it even began.........
	Yes, Sam Langford, Joe Jeanette and Sam McVey are great men and great boxers and if all I have been told will indeed come to pass, they will have a fair and equal chance to ply their trade in a world where men of all races bleed together in the same ring, cheered by all and condemned as inferior by none. It is a world I can scarcely imagine, yet one I hope truly exists in a time and place that we have been promised by the peculiar fellow that has now seemingly infused the four of us with hope......a hope we shall awaken to in the morning. Let us only pray that this promise truly is one of hope and not a condemnation to hell.
	Regards Royston "Ace" Hobbs

[Lee]

This will be a "what if" diary for three great fighters who never got the chance they deserved in their time. It will be their opportunity to truly take their place among the Champions of the sport......If they can earn that distinction. It will be a cross between a role playing type diary and my old Random Chaos Boxing diary, with of course only 3 fighters involved.

The diary itself will start in 1980 and I will have a 10 year history built up by the time the fights start after a couple of more posts on the backstory. I will alternate between this diary (when I feel creative) and my Queensberry cup diary when I don't

I have wanted to do a more story focused dynasty for a while and with the many excellent diary's of this nature already in place and the announcement of TBCB 3, which should make this type of writing easier, I decided to give it a go. It will be told mostly through diary entries and Newspaper clippings, hope you enjoy.

[Lee]

	The evening of January 1st the strange man, who identified himself only Mr. Balboa called the four of us together in his study, located in a wooded area in a place somewhere in upstate New York. "Tomorrow gentlemen, you will awake in a place and time far away that you could never have hoped to have seen had you lived your natural lives from this day forward." Mr. Balboa paused and took a sip of Brandy. "Aye, this warms the innards like no other libation. Now, as I was saying you will be in a world so foreign and strange that any explanation from me will not do it justice. You will however be well accounted for." The stranger went on to tell us of two boxing promoters, Don King and Bob Arum, who had pooled resources to make the coming journey possible. I was to be entrusted with the management of my charges, while the messers Arum and King would handle matters of opportunity, based on the adaptation of the three boxers and myself, to the changes that awaited us. With that he poured us each a glass of liquid from a coal black sifter and bid us good evening. When we awoke the next day we were in a place that appears to have been fabricated from a novel by the great HG Wells himself......

[bear]

Very cool, Lee. Great idea and presentation.

[kenyan_cheena]

Great start, Lee. Looking forward to following this. I had contemplated doing something similar a while back where I was simply going to bring the likes of Ali, Louis and Marciano into modern times and see how dominant they'd be.

I like your choice of JJ, Sammy and McVey. Three of my favourites.

[Lee]

Thanks guys, I have wanted to do this for so long and I am glad I finally decided to do so. Hopefully it will keep you entertained and with that, back to the story

	It was truly an opulent setting in which we greeted our new future, a hotel which Mr. Arum indicated was in Atlantic City, though in peering from our window it was far from the New Jersey town of the same name I remembered. And it was not just the city, but the motor cars that shot through the streets at such break neck speeds and at such volume. They were an array of colors and sizes and I dared not show the fighters in fear of them cowering in fear of some dark ritual of which we are now a part. Within the room itself was a telephone, with numbers one could push, elegant lighting and large comfortable beds. But the strangest spectacle of all was some kind of magical box, which showed colorful, moving pictures of amazing grandeur. I found myself engrossed in a baseball game, which apart from the colorful uniforms and players of all colors participating together, was much like the games I watched at the Polo Grounds. This contraption, which Mr Arum called a TV had completely engrossed Mr. Langford and Mr. Jeanette, while the skitterish Sam McVey refused to gaze upon it, fearing that some spirits possessed it.
	Mr. King and Mr. Arum assured us that we had taken a journey to a time much different from ours, the year they gave was 1980, though none of us seemed to have aged a day and indeed the fighters looked as if they had recaptured the very essence of their days before the wars in the ring had disfigured their faces and torn at their bodies. We were assured that we would have teachers, who would help us understand this new time and that once we fully did a world of dreams awaited us. Mr. King informed us that we would be attending a "press conference" where we would be introduced to the this new world, though he cautioned us to look fit and confident, yet not to utter a singe word. That time he assured would come, but first we had to fully understand how much this world was different from the one we had just departed.

[Lee]

	Boxing Beat - King and Arum introduce the "future"
	AP - New York City - January 6th, 1980
	In a move that baffled many, Don King and Bob Arum appeared side by side today in the press room at Madison Square Garden. Their purpose? To give the world three young heavyweights that nobody has heard of that they swear will change the Heavyweight division.
	Black Diamond Boxing headed by a sturdy, yet fidgity gentlemen named Roy Hobbs ("My friends call me Ace" was the only quote of note we could get from him) introduced to three boxers soon to debut on the eastern seaboard. Though the names of Sam Langford, Joe Jeanette and Sam McVey turned no heads and in fact brought several audible "who's" from the writers in attendence. Many in the room were convinced by the end of the day, that Arum and King had once again done nothing more than draw the media into what was sure to be the latest in a series of side show catastrophes, in this circus that has become professional boxing.
	They certainly look the the Part
	Was a phrase uttered by many, yet with no amateur records to be found and three archaic looking poses as only credentials exhibited, it was hard to take this as little more than a professional wrestling stunt. Indeed it seemed as though the three were puppets of the vociferous King, whose constant stream of superlatives served it's usual purpose, which is to confuse and deflect. Still, with all three set to debut by early summer, we will not have long to wait to expose the true intent of the wonder twins Arum and King, whose mere presence together is reason enough to be suspect.

[kenyan_cheena]

So the trio's time travelling has effectively removed them from the history books?

Looking forward to what happens next.

[PWillisTheMan]

Very cool, I thought Sam might roll through all of the divisions.

[Lee]

	The "press conference" was thankfully short and as prmised Mr. King took a large portion of the questions. I am truly amazed with the verbal abilites of this man with the peculiar hair, he could truly talk the devil out of his pitchfork if given half the chance. Our ride back to the Hotel was in a rather long motorcar called a "limo" according to Mr. King and I hope to enjoy the experience of traveling in one of these cars once again, though I was soon to find there would be no time for such indulgences.
	The day after meeting the newspapermen, we began a regimen of 5 hours each morning watching history play on the "TV." It was quite fascinating as a device called a VCR was connected to the TV, then small rectangular items were placed in a slot and once they were started the screen came alive with all that had happened since we were taken to this new world. Once this was done the fighters were taken to a gymnasium to work on their pugilism skills and I met with Mr' Arum for several hours each evening go over the management of fighters and how to handle the "media." (which he advised were no longer just newspapermen as I had assumed) It is also quite interesting to note, that the names Langford, Jeannette and McVey have been completely erased from the history of the ring, as if they were never born. Mr. Arum promptly corrected me and explained they had actually been born again and would come to regard this rebirth with a far greatner fondness than the life they had now abandoned.
	Fondly Ace

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

So the trio's time travelling has effectively removed them from the history books?

Looking forward to what happens next.

Yes, wiped completely from all literature of the sweet science

Originally Posted by PWillisTheMan

Very cool, I thought Sam might roll through all of the divisions.

I toyed with having him fight Middleweight, but decided this would be easier to manage and he may at some point cross paths with another heavy handed slugger, who is also short in stature named Mike

[Lee]

A quick out of character post.

I am currently building history for our three time travalers (from 1968) and am up to 1976. My Current Champions are George Foreman (WBA) and Duane Bobick (WBC) with the IBF title to come into the picture in '76.

One interesting note is a Tongan Boxer named Mani Vaka. In real life he was 24-11-0 (16) with his biggest win a 1 round KO of Pat Duncan. He lost to Mike Weaver, Oscar Bonavena and Fonomanu Young Sekona 4 times. He never sniffed a world title in real life....but.

In my universe he started off 9-8-0 (6), then ran off a nine fight win streak from 1971 to 1973 to earn an NABF title shot against Ted Gullick, who he starched in the 5th round. After successful defenses against Tommy Kost and Ron Stander, he earned a shot at the WBA world title against Earnie Shavers who was 23-0-0 (21) at the time.

Shavers had the Tongan warrior down 3 times, but somehow Vaka survived. Despite a huge lead, art imitated life and Shavers ran out of gas as the fight entered the Championship rounds. Vaka was able to come back and shocked the world knocking the Champion out in the 11th round to capture the title.

Vaka then defended the WBA belt against Pedro Lovell (TKO 6) before giving Shavers a rematch. This time Vaka caught Shavers in the 1st round dropping him twice and retaining the title again via TKO. It was then that George Foreman 18-0-0 (18) was given a title shot and destroyed Vaka via 3rd round KO.

Mani Vaka currently sits at 25-9-0 (20) (pretty close to RL) and thanks to one magical run was Champion of the world from 06/27/74 to 08/03/75. Just thought it was kind of cool seeing this fighter rise to the top from relative obscurity.

Now back to simming so we can get Langford, Jeannette and McVey debuting.

[kenyan_cheena]

Wow, that's amazing about Vaka. Just the type of thing that makes us love the game even more.

[Ric915]

Great Stuff Lee will definately be following along.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Wow, that's amazing about Vaka. Just the type of thing that makes us love the game even more.

Agreed, as I was simming I was like, "who the hell is this guy?" So I had to go and research him on google and Boxrec I actually found myself rooting for him against Big George, but that was just too tall an order.

Originally Posted by Ric915

Great Stuff Lee will definately be following along.

Thanks Ric, I haven't felt like writing in a while and this has me interested again. I will have to stretch the backstory a bit more, since I am not ready to have fights yet, but I am enjoying writing through the eyes of Mr. Hobbs. Thanks for following

[Lee]

	I have learned so much and feel ready to take on this strange new world and none of us have had a problem getting used to the comforts of 1980. I am spending a great deal of time reading up on the history of boxing and am currently going through the events of 1976. The year after Geroge Foreman ascended to the thrown. Of course now there are three world champions which is preplexing at best, but as Mr. King says "That's one belt for each of ya, only in America baby!" I don't quite grasp all of Mr. King's lingo, but I suppose I concur.
	Of particular interest was a recent documentary we watched on our old nemesis Jack Johnson called "Unforgivable Blackness." It paints a vivid picture of how hated he truly was and casts light on some of the qualities that made him endearing, though those were mainly lost on my three fighting associates. Joe Jeannette was particularly venomous when learning that another black man would not fight for the heavyweight title for over 22 years after Jack Johnson was defeated by Jess Willard in 1915. Turning away from the "TV" Jeanette snarled. "That man could have allowed us all a better life, instead he treated no better than the white man treated him.....Running like a scared rabbit from all of us, living high on the hog while we fought for pigs feet and pennies. I ain't got no respect for the man!"

[rotorhead]

Any room for a side story with Harry Wills?? He suffered the same fate essentially.
This should be fun to follow.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

Any room for a side story with Harry Wills?? He suffered the same fate essentially.
This should be fun to follow.

Gotta love Mr. Peabody

There are actually two fighters from this era that will show up in the future and Harry is one of them....The other is man who was robbed of a possible shot due to tragedy and not the social climate of the time (which is of course a tragedy in itself)

I can't get the damn history built up quick enough so I can debut these buys now I will be going to Las Vegas for a week in the morning, but we should start to see Langford, Jeanette and McVey in action by the end of next weekend.

[Lee]

	The lads are rounding into fighting form and we are currently negotiating their debuts. Mr. King or Mr. Arum is always involved and I feel like a mere puppet at this stage, though I hope that will change as I acclimate myself to this "modern" time. Relaxing with my Boxing encyclopedia at the moment and currently reading about 1979, It is quite exhiliarting to know we may someday fight some of the men I am learning of currently. Stuck in the first page of 1979 is list of rankings as they appeared just over a year ago, torn from the pages of a boxing magazine. I have all faith that the names Langford, Jeannette and McVey will one day appear in the rankings I paste below.

			World Rankings - January 1st 1979
#	WBC		#	WBA		#	IBF
C	Larry Holmes	18-1-0 (15)	C	George Foreman	24-0-0 (24)	C	George Foreman	24-0-0 (24)
1	Earnie Shavers	34-3-0 (32)	1	Earnie Shavers	34-3-0 (32)	1	Earnie Shavers	34-3-0 (32)
2	Bernardo Mercado	14-0-0 (12)	2	Ron Lyle	18-1-0 (15)	2	Ron Lyle	18-1-0 (15)
3	Mike Schutte	22-3-0 (15)	3	Jimmy Young	24-4-0 (6)	3	Bernardo Mercado	14-0-0 (12)
4	Ron Lyle	18-1-0 (15)	4	Bernardo Mercado	14-0-0 (12)	4	Jimmy Young	24-4-0 (6)
5	John L Gardner	17-3-0 (12)	5	Leroy Jones	16-1-1 (10)	5	Mike Schutte	22-3-0 (15)
6	Jimmy Young	24-4-0 (6)	6	Mike Schutte	22-3-0 (15)	6	Leroy Jones	16-1-1 (10)
7	Leroy Jones	16-1-1 (10)	7	Duane Bobick	22-3-0 (21)	7	John L Gardner	17-3-0 (12)
8	Lorenzo Zanon	16-1-0 (6)	8	Eddie Neilson	18-2-0 (14)	8	Duane Bobick	22-3-0 (21)
9	Eddie Neilson	18-2-0 (14)	9	John L Gardner	17-3-0 (12)	9	Lorenzo Zanon	16-1-0 (6)
10	Duane Bobick	22-3-0 (21)	10	Katsumi Wakisaka	33-18-2 (25)	10	Eddie Neilson	18-2-0 (14)

[Lee]

	As I sit and read the Newspaper I can scarely believe the time is at last upon us. In little more than a week I will make my way to the ring with my three charges to embark on what we all hope will be a fullfilling journey. In looking at the Heavyweight Rankings from the beginning of this month, it is my firm belief that Langford at the very least could beat several of these men by the end of the year. Wishful thinking? Perhaps, but I have watched seen them all fight and only Holmes, Foreman and Shavers give me pause for concern. I am including the newspaper clipping and the rankings if for no other reason than to see how truly wise a prognositcator I turn out to be.

	Mercado ready for his shot at the Champ
	AP - Atlantic City - June 6th, 1980
	Back in his native Colombia Bernardo Mercado is already a national hero, which begs the question. How crazy will it get if he dethrones current IBF and WBA Heavyweight Champion George Foreman next week in Atlantic City? "I think I may be new president of Colombia" Mercado said with a sheepish grin. When looking at the man Mercado must defeat, winning his countries presidency may actually prove an easier task.
	George Foreman has fought 27 times and has won 27 times, all by knockout. The mere sight of Foreman standing across the ring is enough to make the bravest of men quake, yet Mercado feels confident. "I too am never beaten and hit hard" Mercado told reporters after a recent workout. "George Foreman is tough, but he is still a man like me and if I hit him, he will feel pain too." It is not hitting Foreman that Mercado should worry about, but rather how will he stand up to the power of Big George? While Mercado's 18 win ledger (15 by KO) includes wins over contenders Mike Schutte (MD 10) and Danny McAlinden (KO 5) he is still an unproven commodity. Foreman on the other hand has defended his WBA belt 10 times and the IBF title 5. He has beaten the likes of Earnie Shavers (KO 1), Ron Lyle (TKO 2), Duane Bobick (KO 4) and Eddie Neilson (TKO 2). In fact, in his last 16 fights, Foreman has been taken past the 5th round only once (a TKO win over Pedro Lovell in 6) which does not bode well for Mercado's political aspirations.
	Black Diamond Boxing to be unfurled
	Don King announced today that the highly anticipated debuts of Sam Langford, Joe Jeanette and Sam McVey will take place on the undercard of the Foreman / Mercado Championship tilt. Langford will take on Tim Davis 2-8-1 (1), Jeanette will lock up with Lou Taylor 0-5-0, while McVey will launch his career against Dick Koch 0-1-0. As expected all three fights look to be easy wins for the mysterious trio. King has exceeded even his standards for superfluous ramblings in hyping these three and the boxing world is eager to see what the trio is truly made of.
	Rounding out the card will be an NABF title fight with Champion Stan Ward 13-4-3 (6) putting the belt up against hard punching veteran Jeff Merritt 40-10-0 (36), while top contender Leroy Jones 20-1-1 (13) looks to earn a title shot of his own if he can defeat trialhorse Richard Dunn 35-13-2 (21). The event is sold out, but will be broadcast via closed circuit television in several venues around the country

			World Rankings - June 1st 1980
#	WBC		#	WBA		#	IBF
C	Larry Holmes	21-1-0 (16)	C	George Foreman	27-0-0 (27)	C	George Foreman	27-0-0 (27)
1	Bernardo Mercado	18-0-0 (15)	1	Earnie Shavers	38-4-0 (36)	1	Earnie Shavers	38-4-0 (36)
2	Earnie Shavers	38-4-0 (36)	2	Michael Dokes	15-0-0 (11)	2	Bernardo Mercado	18-0-0 (15)
3	Mike Schutte	25-4-0 (18)	3	Bernardo Mercado	18-0-0 (15)	3	Michael Dokes	15-0-0 (11)
4	Leon Spinks	14-1-0 (7)	4	Ron Lyle	20-3-0 (17)	4	Ron Lyle	20-3-0 (17)
5	Ron Lyle	20-3-0 (17)	5	Jimmy Young	27-5-0 (8)	5	Leroy Jones	20-1-1 (13)
6	Leroy Jones	20-1-1 (13)	6	Leroy Jones	20-1-1 (13)	6	Jimmy Young	27-5-0 (8)
7	Michael Dokes	15-0-0 (11)	7	Duane Bobick	25-4-0 (24)	7	Leon Spinks	14-1-0 (7)
8	Jimmy Young	27-5-0 (8)	8	Mike Weaver	14-0-0 (14)	8	Duane Bobick	25-4-0 (24)
9	Gerrie Coetzee	15-2-0 (13)	9	Eddie Neilson	22-3-0 (17)	9	Mike Schutte	25-4-0 (18)
10	John L Gardner	19-4-0 (14)	10	Leon Spinks	14-1-0 (7)	10	Mike Weaver	14-0-0 (14)

[lethal liberal]

Fantastic stuff Lee!