FUEL MY FIRE

[Randy Pogue]

Ok, so here’s my issue du jour. What do you think about fighters and their ability to hold and defend titles? For instance, Mike Tyson could win a world boxing title, but he can’t defend it in many states because of his inability to be licensed. Does his criminal record change the fact that he is the best fighter in the division, and beat the champion to prove it? Can you have a “world” champion who can’t fight anywhere in the world? If the answer is “no,” does that mean all fighters need to go through the most stringent background check to ensure their ability to defend if victorious?

Let me bring this topic home. I am an ISKA world champ. I have bad vision. My bad vision keeps me from being licensed to fight in California, where I was scheduled to defend my title against Brian Schwartz. So, now my title is being taken away so that Brian can fight "?" for the title. Apparently, I will be the mandatory challenger to the victor, but that doesn’t make it feel any better. Should my inability to fight in that state invalidate my status as the best fighter in the division, just because that is where the promoter wants to put on the fight? If Brian was from Ohio, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, so what should the policy be for sanctioning bodies going forward?

1) All fighters must pass the eye exam of the strictest state, or not be allowed to fight?

2) Fighters can fight for titles if any 1 state will license them?

3) Stay as we are, and fighters who have the bad luck of being asked to defend in strict states get screwed?

Any and all opinions regarding the boxing and/or the boxing situations are welcome. What is not welcome is a bunch of ISKA-bashing, because this could be an issue in any organization. While you're busy posting, please take the time to wish me luck in my boxing match this weekend in Ohio.
Peace.
RP

[P.J. Reilly]

WOW!! You're getting screwed big time! That is just rediculous. :eek: :confused: :mad:

[Ryan Madigan]

Randy, sounds like some bad luck! hope you get to fight Schwartz. Good luck this weekend. My money is on Mark Enix but he is a friend. I happen to be out of town this weekend so it sucks I will miss it. I hope it is a good fight. take care Ryan "The Lion" Madigan I am still up for some sparring too. keep me posted thanks

[admin]

Randy,
Several things here.

1: The vision requirements are not the fault of the ISKA, or at least from what you have said, they don't apear to be.

2: HOWEVER, they are the ones who make the decision about your ISKA Title. Their decision, for a couple of very good reasons, at first look does not seem ethical. However, it may appear to be their only choice they can make.

2A: Scott Coker, who is the event promoter, does not only promote in California, he also promotes in Nevada. So a good question would be, "What are the vision requirements in Nevada?"

2B: Are the vision requirements in the "ISKA" Rules? If not, ISKA should not be allowed to make a judgement call on rules that are not directly related to the actual sanctioning organization of the title you hold. Very clear in legal terms.

3: Now, in ISKA's defense, when did you last defend your title and what plans do you have in the future to defend it? Meaning, if it has been awhile OR you have no idea when you can team up with a promoter to put the show on to defend it, ISKA as well as Mr. Coker and Mr. Schwartz have very little ground to give here.

4: Scott Coker is basically the known promoter of Schwartz, so all should expect him to want to promote him on his own promoted events. This means to offer Brian the best opportunities out there for his career. From Scott's history with ISKA, he is able to get Brian approved for a World Title shot against you with only 8 pro fights. However, "REGARDLESS" of that History, knowing Schwartz, even we would support such a shot due to his ability. He is very deserving of such a shot. He has won all 8 of those fights "AND" he had an impressive amateur career with 8 fights and 8 wins too. So in reality he is 16-0 with 9 KO/TKO wins. So now Scott has asked to challenge for your title. For whatever reasons, you cannot fight in California. Your only defense, which would be very logical and JUSTIFIED is to offer to defend your title "Against Schwartz" in a State where you can fight within say, 3-6 months. This "SHOULD" be a very fair offer to ISKA. Now, if they deny such an offer than "YES, they are doing the wrong thing."... Or are they?

Make the offer first and see what they say. If they agree, there is no reason Mr. Schwartz cannot fight someone else on Mr. Cokers card. But is that what they really want to do....?

With all that being said, we need to add this. Mr. Schwartz "DESERVES" to fight for such a title in his home town if he has a promoter, which he does, that can promote the bout. The question is, what "REALLY" is the right thing to do? If this were the IKF, we would accept the justified solution above as we suggested "IF" you have been active in defending the title. If you have had it for say over a year without a defense, it would make our decision as well as that of the ISKA's more difficult to allow you to bypass Mr. Schwartz in California. However, if you cannot promote such a defense then Mr. Coker, Mr. Schwartz and ISKA are left with the decision they told you. Under the circumstances, and knowing State Commissions, the rule won't change, which makes a bitter ending to it all because this would be a GREAT Fight! If this ends up being the case, and your title is stripped, maybe there should be an "*" next to the Champions name due to the circumstances. Regardless of any * though, if this is the "Set in Stone" decision, we suggest that you Start planning for a promotion where you could quickly face the winner in a state where you can fight, and when that fight is scheduled, remember, you could always add on the Title of another Organization as well...;)

[Greg Kirkpatrick]

Hey this registration stuff is kind of a pain in the ...... boooo tay. It forced me to give my birthday. I'm getting kind of old and sensitive about this stuff. Well, it's coming up soon so please send presents.

How bad is your eyesight? I think in CA if you don't meet the regular standards then you are allowed some special testing to determine that you are able to see well enough to fight. For instance you may not be able to see things in the distance but this does not matter cuz the guy you are fighting is usually pretty close to you. This info is just from my memory so I may not be 100% correct on this and if I am correct on this then you will have additional costs for the testing.

The Nevada eye tests are VERY strict. More strict than CA. The regular eye test for Nevada is very comprehensive. CA eye tests are just done from a chart from a regular doctor. Nevada tests must be done by an opthomologist and they will squeeze and prod and poke and dilate and do all kind of crazy stuff to you. Can't fake it in Nevada!

Got any doctor friends?? Good luck

[Randy Pogue]

Well boys, it's like this. Although it may not have started out this way, the last week or so has left me feeling that Cory and Scott's position has always been,

"Brian is fighting, on Nov 12, for the ISKA super-middleweight world title, and we would prefer it to be a defense, because it sells better. If need be, though, we will strip Randy of his title and make him the mandatory challenger going forward."

I won my title last December, so it's not as if I'm trying to let it collect dust. Cory spoke to me about fighting Brian for my title THE SAME DAY I won it. Whatever. I'm not going to cry conspiracy, it is what it is. Cory had a non-title fight for me in England in April, but it fell through. He called me about a title defense in Germany after that, but the promoters never called me back. Now here we are.

Unfortunately, I don't believe Vegas is an option. Brian doesn't put butts in the seats in Vegas the way he does in California. Cory's position has always been Nov. 12 or not at all. I even agreed that I would have eye surgery as soon as possible and reschedule the fight, but Nov. 12 was the ONLY option, and Scott even suggested I find a surgeon or surgery that had shorter recovery times so I could be ready for the 12th. Yeah, let me get right on that.

The ISKA has no vision requirements, but they might tomorrow.http://www.ikfkickboxing.com/wwwboard/images/smilies/smile.gif

You mention that Brian only has an 8-0 record. It's true, and certainly I could make issue of that. But I didn't want an issue, I wanted to fight. I had been through this whole thing about five years ago, when I was supposed to fight Eric Regan. If I had an extra 4 grand laying around, I'd have gotten it done in the meantime. But I don't. Because of that, there was some talk, this past spring, of Scott giving me an advance on a purse so I could get eye surgery. THAT'S how important this was to him. But, in the end, it was easier to just convince Cory to strip me. It's not as if they even took the time to give me the bottom line.

"Listen, Pogue, you need to get surgery, by this time, and pay for it yourself, or we're stripping you." That never happened. The taking of my title began two weeks ago. So throw thoughts of fairness out the window. I mean, at least give me the opportunity to beg my parents for money, or something, and reschedule the fight. Whatever.

Y'know, when I wrote my first post, I saw both sides of the issue. But the more I think about this and how the timeline has gone on, I am getting royally shafted, and I'm starting to take it personally. It was absolutely left open about fighting in a different state, and or fighting after surgery, with a definite deadline. Unfortunately, the rule is only in California, and only on Nov. 12.

So let's see what becomes of this "title" fight. The former champion was Tony Ventura. I fought Tony because the mandatory challenger, Tom Kimber, broke his hand training. I wonder if Brian will fight either one of them for "his" title, or if some chump gets to take a dive instead. Tony and Tom will probably be busy that day. http://www.ikfkickboxing.com/wwwboard/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif I'm not taking anything away from Brian, but my guess is that there is no way they are going to risk him losing, so he'll fight some tomato can and get a belt.

Here, let me be cocky for a second. Another reason the fight has to be in California is because that is the only state Brian can win a decision from me in. Honestly, there is zero way that in 8 fights, he has ever been in the ring with someone like me. Along those lines, though, I thought the chances were very good that I would lose that fight, since it was in California. I wanted the fight anyway, because I wanted the experience, but i didn't expect to win a decision on Scott's show.

I'm way past caring about my record, I want experience. That's why I just took a continuous point fight in Italy, and followed it two months later with a full-contact fight in the heavyweight division. Plus, if I had lost the title, I'd just go get another one. Speaking of which, I noticed that the IKF Light-Heavyweight World Title is vacant. Is anybody in the top 10 active? Since I now have a vacancy of my own that needs to be filled, let me say that I am both cheap AND easy, so BRING IT ON.
Peace.
RP
P.S. Sorry for being long-winded again.

[JohnMac]

Randy,

I remember years ago when you fought a training buddy of mine and friend Melvin "The Beast" Robinson. Good fight. I was impressed with your kicking skills. I'm sure that Cory and the ISKA like you and think you're good for the organizaton, but it just comes down to money. Of course there is politics too. There always is when there is money involved. They need to promote the ISKA in events that fill seats and the home town "hero" factor is a draw. What about trying to contact the promoter of Michael's in Glen Burnie, MD. They used to promote those bad Hammer fights (those fights were hilarious! what title did he have anyway?). You could fill the house there with some Baltimore/DC fighters on the card. My guess, however, is that it will be hard to draw this guy out of CA if he has a consistent promoter and can legitimately duck you. I was hoping you and Melvin would pair up again in the future. Good luck and sorry this happened to you.

John

[Jason (fight geek)]

RP,
You are for sure bent over receiving freight.
I think he should not be fighting for YOUR title. Fine let them put on the show, but it should not be for the title you won. If he brings people in he brings people in, title or no title. But even if it does bring more people in, this is what kills the meaning of titles. Besides the fact of so many titles.
This also brings up again the idea of a national fighting (boxing) commission. I know some people are against it, which is fine, but don't bi$tch when all of a sudden KB is under the boxing commission and you are not happy and you did nothing about it. I guess it is the entire states rights vs fed rights thing,
Anyway,
I think it is totally lame. I understand if you had a disease or something, but stripping a title for a situation in which a few hundred miles away you would be ok to fight is STUPID. If you won it last December your eyes where probably not any worse than they are and you WON a world title. Brian Schwartz sounds like a great fighter, and he probably deserves a shot, but he doesn't deserve to fight for a vacated title that is vacated under these circumstances.
Since I kissed your ass so much on this email I hope you get KO'd this weekend. Just Kidding
jason

[admin]

We called the CA Commission today to get the FACTS about all this.
The Commissions actual ruling is;

They "APPROVED" you to fight.
The only snag was, they would not approve you to fight while wearing contact lenses. According to the State, you were APPROVED by the Ophthalmologist.

HOWEVER, if you are willing to fight "Without" your contacts, the State of California would allow you to fight.

However again, "IF" they catch you with them in, during the fight, you would be disqualified.

Randy... Just don't wear them!
Not being sarcastic here Randy but you you really need Them? Just what is your eyesight situation?

[Randy Pogue]

Unfortunately, the situation is bad. Their requirement is 20/200. I'm about 20/800. The last I heard from the State, they were talking to the doctors to see if they could allow my level of vision to compete. I never heard back, but it became moot when it was made clear that they would check, in the ring, for contacts. Although it may be listed in other rulebooks, I've never been asked, by a referee, if I was wearing contacts. And while, yes, I've had contacts knocked out in fights and had to continue anyway, I would never begin a fight at that much of a disadvantage.

The end result was and is, I need surgery. I had been looking into surgeons, had consultations, and picked one. That fight was going to pay for surgery completely. When talk of this fight began seriously in August, I was told that the vision requirement had changed and licensing would be no problem. That was great, because then I didn't have to worry about paying for surgery. To go from that to losing my title without a fight kind of bugs me. It would have been nice to have bottom line of what I needed to do and by when...aside, of course, from "call your doctor, schedule surgery, have surgery, recover, train, and be ring-ready in 6 weeks."

It's all good. I'll find a way to have the surgery anyway, and I'll be good to go after the holidays. Plus, I don't have to diet hard now.http://www.ikfkickboxing.com/wwwboard/images/smilies/biggrin.gif Speaking of which, is there any word on the Light-Heavyweight division?
RP
P.S. Jenna and I both won decisions this weekend. Sorry, Geek, I didn't get knocked out. I guess you should keep butt-kissin' a while longer.http://www.ikfkickboxing.com/wwwboard/images/smilies/tongue.gif And Ryan, I'm sorry you lost all that money betting against me.http://www.ikfkickboxing.com/wwwboard/images/smilies/smile.gif Mark is a good guy and a hard puncher. All of the people out there were very nice. As far as sparring, it sounds like you might be looking to step beyond sparring, but stay in touch either way.

[Jason (fight geek)]

20/800?

I have two questions.

1. What is your dog's name?

2. Has he ever accidently confused the green with the red light?


On to a third more serious question,
Do you where contacts and do any of the states you have fought in have rules against using them?
thanks
fight geek

[Randy Pogue]

Yup...20/800

1) Jenna

2) As far as I'm concerned, they are ALL green.:D

Alright geek, you need to be a good geek and use that big brain of yours. I think I wrote, "Although it may be listed in other rulebooks, I've never been asked, by a referee, if I was wearing contacts. And while, yes, I've had contacts knocked out in fights and had to continue anyway, I would never begin a fight at that much of a disadvantage."

So yes, I've worn them, and if other states have the rule, they don't check.
RP