Arne K. Lang

Jimmy Clabby was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame this month and will be formally inducted at the Hall’s annual jamboree in June. Clabby, needless to say, won’t be there. He’s been dead going on 92 years. Throughout history, many great fighters died under sad circumstances. The case of Jimmy Clabby, the Indiana Wasp, is especially distressing.

In a rematch of their May 3 skirmish in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Noel Mikaelian turned the tables on Badou Jack, winning a unanimous decision to regain the WBC world cruiserweight title that he once held. The judges had it 115-111 and 116-110 twice. The match, promoted by Bash Promotions at a new TV and cinema production studio in the Boyle Heights district of Los Angeles, was a messy affair marred by excessive clinching.

Today’s bout between defending WBA “regular” champion Kubrat Pulev and Murat Gassiev at Dubai was ballyhooed as an historic event, the first world heavyweight title fight in the United Arab Emirates. Gassiev claimed the title with a one-punch knockout, discombobulating Pulev with a short left hook to the jaw, bringing what had been a tactical fight with no indelible moments to a sudden conclusion. The punch knocked Pulev flat on his back.