14 North Shore Towers Courier n April 2016 “I thought, ‘Let’s play up his Irishness,’” Rappaport explained. “We’ll get a Leprechaun to enter the ring for good luck. Like a rabbit’s foot.” Rappaport found his Leprechaun through a friend, who had a dwarf as one of his neighbors. For $200, the wee fellow agreed to don a costume and put on a show before Cooney’s first bout. Before the match, the “Leprechaun” got cold feet. “He was nervous and got physically ill,” Rappaport said. “He eventually went out and made it onto the cover of the Daily News the next morning.” Cooney’s next opponent, Sam McGill, was extremely superstitious and refused to fight if the Irishman had a Leprechaun in his corner, going so far as to write a 7-page letter to the Commission explaining why they should not allow it. Rappaport shot back through the press, accusing McGill of hating not only Leprechauns, but also Santa Claus. Rappaport challenged the C ommi s s i o n to show him in the rules where it states, he can’t have a Leprechaun in the ring. Finally, the McGill camp relented, but on one condition: Rappaport had to agree to the Commission that his Leprechaun would not perform any “hoobajoob”— waving his hands, as if casting a spell, or winking—at McGill before the match. Rappaport ceded and informed his height-challenged actor to walk straight to Cooney’s corner without any of the usual antics. But in the time since his debut and his struggle with stage fright and the subsequent notoriety that followed, the once-leery Leprechaun had become a diminutive Diva, and his ego wasn’t about to miss opportunity to play to his fans. By the way the Leprechaun was swaggering toward the ring, Rappaport knew his warnings before the round would not be heeded. But before he could pull off the little feller, the Leprechaun winked at McGill. Cooney won handily and Rappaport was nearly thrown out of boxing. Cooney continued success set him on a collision course with Larry Holmes, then World Heavyweight Champion. Holmes was managed by the infamous Don King, whose reputation for outrageous behavior rivaled Rappaport’s, but with a significant difference. “The man had no ethics,” Rappaport explained. “He’d do anything for a buck.” One needs to look no further then a similar incident that befell both camps in South Africa, which at the time was in the throes of the Apartheid struggle. The South African government offered Cooney what Rappaport described as “an insane amount of money” to fight a match there. Rappaport agreed ONLY if the audience were integrated fairly among blacks and whites. South African officials refused, so Rappaport did as well. Conversely, when King was approached with a similar deal by the South African government for one of his boxers to fight in the country, he did so, only under the guise of a dummy company promoting the event. When it came time to negotiate the planned Holmes/ Cooney battle, Rappaport insisted on an even 50/50 split of the winnings, and no amount of persuasion could force him to change his stance. The King camp was apoplectic. After all, their man was the champ. Still, the Cooney team stood firm, and “the negotiations escalated to ugly proportions,” according to Rappaport, with King accusing the flamboyant promoter’s stubbornness as racially motivated. Imagine King’s surprise when he saw Reverend Reggie Jackson warmly greet Rappaport at ringside before the match weeks later, shaking Rappaport’s hand and thanking him for his recent actions against Apartheid. King finally acceded and the epic battle took place at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas on June 11, 1982. The match broke a lot of viewership records for the time, including being the most watched televised event ever, with a 46% audience rate, and highest Pay- Per-View program sold. It was even cover-featured on Time magazine, which came out just days prior, with Cooney standing beside Sylvester Stallone— as Rocky, another famous underdog, albeit fictional—both “squaring off” against the reader. At the photo shoot for the cover, the 5’10” Stallone had to stand atop a crate, next to the 6’6” Cooney, in order to make the two appear at the same level. Cooney lost in 13 rounds, a defeat Rappaport calls “bittersweet.” Despite the bout’s global success and the lucrative pay day—it was the highest purse for any boxing match at the time—Rappaport was shattered. “For months, I didn’t come out of my apartment.” Cooney’s career floundered after the loss and the once-promising boxer finally retired in 1990 after being knocked out in a match, ironically enough, against George Foreman, who Rappaport would later manage. Rappaport continued promoting and managing into the 21st Century, his last champion being in 2008. “It’s been a career filled with magical and unbelievable moments,” he said. “I’ve met some people you’d never want to associate with and I’ve met presidents. You name an entertainer; I got a story.” With the recent birth of his first grandchild, Tyler Benjamin, there just may be another Rappapport heading into the boxing industry. Turns out, fellow inductee Rocky Graziano (née Thomas Rocco Barbella), on whom movie’s Rocky Balboa was based, is a distant cousin of Rappaport’s Daughter-in-Law, Jacquelyn, whose maiden name is also Barbella. Unbelievable, you say? Not for one of the Wacko Twins! And in this corner… MOM! Photo by Stephen Vratt os “Rightfully deserved,” said Natalie Rappaport of her son Dennis’s achievement in being inducted into the New York Boxing Hall of Fame. According to his mom, Dad was a huge boxing fan, and he and Dennis would watch “Cavalcade of Sports” together, religiously. “Dennis never wanted toys,” Mom said. “He had me buy him boxing magazines instead. He’d cut out the fighters and pretend they’d be sparring with one another.” “He’s a very good son and good brother to his two sisters,” she continued. “He’s very family minded, and we always spend the holidays together.’ Mom also spoke of her son’s big heart, describing the year he dressed as Santa Claus so as to give presents to sick children or when his first grandchild was born. “I never thought he would be that emotional,” Mom revealed. “He cried.” “Dennis has always been dedicated to helping the underdog. He’s a tremendous sport.” Future champ Tyler Benjamin H H H H H H H H H H H H
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