Mike Katz Exits The Ring

By Scoop Malinowski

Mike Katz was a boxing media pillar back in the 90s, the last Golden Age of the sport, the pinnacle era of boxing. A good old timer, he wrote boxing for the New York Times and New York Daily News, was a ringside fixture at all the big fights.

Mike died this week at age 85. He was a titan of the sport. I have two lasting memories of Mike – Irish Pub Hotel just off the boardwalk in Atlantic City, mid 90s, probably a Lennox Lewis fight weekend. Mike just got his hands on a VHS tape of early fights of this new Brit sensation none of us had heard of yet – Prince Naseem Hamed. He was excited, we all were, watching in the hotel lobby. Mike gave me the video, which I returned a few weeks later. If you haven’t seen those early UK fights with Hamed, you need to. He was more Ali than Ali in those days, when the British fans responded favorably to his act and it fed him even more electricity and fuel.

They say Mike was a bit truculent at times and had some quarrels with other writers and industry people but I never saw that side. He had that curmudgeon presence but I always found him likable and fun to engage with. He was one of those characters that made covering boxing so special and exciting back in those days of the 90s.  Another time in a press room at a fight, maybe the Garden or Atlantic City or Vegas, Mike was talking with somebody and I just remember overhearing Mike say to somebody I don’t remember, to some kind of question if he had money and he replied, “All Jews have money.” He was quick and sharp with a snappy witty comeback.

Also I remember shortly after my incident with Mike Tyson at the Lennox Lewis press conference in New York City in 2002, I saw Mike at some event right after. And I will never forget the glowing look he gave me, like non verbally saying to me, Wow kid, you really did something I respect.

Back then boxing was a joy to be around, I remember I couldn’t wait to get to the fights. The fights were real back then, tension, pressure, grudges, were part of the experience. There were so many living legends on the scene – LeRoy Neiman, Angelo Dundee, Larry Merchant, Budd Schulberg, Emanuel Steward, Wally Matthews, Bert Sugar, Teddy Blackburn, the photographer. Everybody got along, we talked boxing, we argued, we all loved the game, the fights, then on to the next big showdown.

It started to change in the 2000s, as newspapers cut staffs and boxing beat writers lost their role. Katz ended up switching to the internet but kind of vanished not long after that, I thought of him every now and then but hadn’t seen him in decades. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

Mike Katz was a legend and certainly worthy of a significant tribute from the sport today, but it’s uncertain if there will be any. Mike Katz thanks for the wonderful memories and all those columns in the New York Daily News which were always must-reads. You are a part of all of us who were lucky to know you.