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GREAT MEMORIES, MOST TIMES, ITS ALL YOU GET
Santa Monica, CA-When you come to the realization that all you really get from the sport of boxing are memories, I take great solace in the fact there are quite a few. One of the more interesting periods of time for me, for an array of reasons, was my having encountered a man in the mid1980s. Born Ross Fields, he changed his name to Harold Smith. Followersof the sweet science, the old timers, may recall a time when boxing promoterSmith nearly put both Don King, and Bob Arum, out of business.
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RECORD EMBEZZLER WAS HIGH PROFILE PROMOTER!
With a college education in business from a lofty, almost all-white east coastschool, courtesy of a track scholarship, Ross Fields Sr., now Harold Smith, wasa gambler from the womb. Harold worked his way through collegeplaying bridge. Within a month of learning the game, Smith was beating thestuffing (greenbacks) out of his wealthy classmates. Instead of strugglingon a stipend, Smith was living high on the hog in the late 60s. Somemonths, Id get them for $10,000, he once told me.
DID EASY MONEY BUG BIT HAROLD HARD?
Is that where the easy money bug bit Harold? Some are overcome by the bite of the boxing bug, but if Harold could have made easy money doing anything else, he would have. Having been all over the world with him, the only way I might ever imagine Harold having blisters from an act of labor, could only come from his counting pictures of dead presidents. But boxing, circa 1977, was a far less regulated sport/business than it is today.
COCAINE, PLANES, BABES, & MORE!
Boxing, circa 1977, was a far lessregulated sport/business than it is today. Traveling around in one of two private planes, Smith had on board a couple, if not three or four beautiful women, a bounty of cocaine, and his familiar, and oh so infamous, briefcase of cash, which well get to later.
FUNNY PORTION OF LARRY HOLMES BOOK
In ex-heavyweight champ Larry Holmes book, he talks about the timeHarold came to Larrys Easton, PA office, bringing with him Ã_ of a million($750,000) dollars. Holmes, had his promoter Don King on the phone. Dontyou sign with that mother *******, screamed King. It would take another two years or so, before the empire of Harold Smith, built around MAPS, or Muhammad Ali Pro Sports, would begin to crumble.
BONUSES, RECORD PURSES, & GREAT FIGHTS
Fighters like Alexis Arguello, Aaron Pryor, Tommy Hearns, I can go onand on, but the point Im making is that just about every pug who was withHarold during this first run, were happier than pigs in slop. To the chagrin of King and Arum, Smith was throwing more money at boxers than they wereworth. Harold was able to hand out five and six figure signing bonuses. Ina lot of cases, he was paying more than twice as much for the services of thefighters, than were Bob and Don.
BEFORE THE BLING THING, THERE WAS HAROLD!
Now, what I have failed to mention thus far, is how Harold got his hands onsomewhere between $25 and $60 million dollars. With the help of an employeeof Wells Fargo bank, Harold began borrowing money, and at zerointerest from a Los Angeles branch. As it turns out, the FBIdidntconsider Harold a borrower. They labeled him an embezzler, and Harold, theman that founded bling, was on the run. It would be several monthsbefore he was arrested. Being old school, Harold, kept his mouthshut, bit the bullet for a lot of people, including a heavyweight icon thatshared in some of the spoils, and in turn spent five years in the Federal slam.
FBI AGENT WROTE THE BOOK ON SMITH
The FBI agent, who worked the case, and then penned a book on Smith, Empireof Deceit, says they accounted for every penny, totaling nearly $25million. Harold had people like the late Ernie Fuentes carrying thecash out of the bank. This cautions me to remind you, Smith neverpersonally picked up any cash at any bank. He had schleps, like Fuentes,and others still alive, that would walk into Wells Fargo, and leave with abriefcase of cash. Looking back, Harold was asking to get busted! Jets,broads, coke, Rolls Royces, he was figuratively throwing money around as itwere confetti.
LOSING THE INFAMOUS BREIFCASE OF CASH
In one instance, Smith, on his way to the airport and his private plane,thought he had left the briefcase of cash back at the house. Upon hisreturn ten minutes later, he couldnt find the brief case, which containedabout $400,000. Harold, according to one of his then girlfriends, who nowlives in San Mateo, CA, didnt bat an eye. He simply got on the phone,and ordered up another half a million, was the way she put it.
BRILLIANT MIND, A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!
Intellectually, there are few people as sharp as Harold Smith once was. Hadthis man, whose ideas were so far ahead of their time, found a way to float hisboxing show in a legit manner, he might have reduced King and Arum topromotional road kill. A wonderfully nice man, as are most confidence men, the founder of bling, is today living in relative obscurity. Far removed from thecoke, babes, and his briefcase of cash days, I cant believe that a manas savvy wasnt preparing for his eventual arrest. Harold, where did youhide the damn money? Is it in Panama, Malaysia, or Kuwait?
Pedro Fernandez
Note: Mr. Fernandez is an award-winning writer, talk show host, and four-timeGolden Gloves champion. Comments pertaining to this story, or if you knowwhere Harold hid the cash, can both be left below.