Issue 030
October 2007
By Derek Constable, portrait by Zack Lynch
Las Vegas aside, no city in the United States sees more mixed martial arts action than Atlantic City, New Jersey. For the thousands of fans who flock there each weekend in search of armbars, TKOs and triangle chokes, a debt of gratitude is owed to New Jersey State Athletic Commissioner Larry Hazzard, Sr.
“I’m totally elated that I’m a visionary... I was able to see potential for this sport, that’s why New Jersey was the first state to welcome MMA with open arms,” Hazzard said. “In fact, we are the authors of the MMA rules.” Though it isn’t widely known, it was the New Jersey State Athletic Commission who wrote what has now become the basis for standard MMA rules. The UFC, the IFL, and every other top promotion in North America worth it’s salt uses rules that were written under the direction of one man.
Commissioner Hazzard is a man of many hats. One of the first students to graduate from Essex County College, this former Golden Gloves boxing champion is also a world-class referee, a black belt in jiu-jitsu and even a former high school principal. “God put us on earth to answer the call of challenges that will make us all we can be. When I feel a strong gravitational pull for me to get involved in something challenging, I feel that is what life is all about and I should answer that call and be all that I can be,” Hazzard said.
Growing up in the inner city Hazzard, like other young black men, looked up to guys like Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson. “Those were our guys,” he said. “They were the best [boxers] that there was during that era, not only that, I think they were outstanding role models.”
While Hazzard was quite the athlete himself, winning three-time Golden Gloves Championships in the 1960s, he found his destiny did not lie in becoming a professional athlete. Instead, after watching a Golden Gloves tournament as a spectator with a friend from the Amateur Boxing Commission, Hazzard found a new calling in the fight world as a referee.
He worked pro boxing events from 1978-1985 and earned such a great reputation that in 1992 the New York State Athletic Commissioner requested he come out of retirement to oversee Pernall Whitaker’s championship fight. Another honor bestowed upon him was the opportunity to portray his former mentor Zack Clayton in the movie ‘Ali’ starring Will Smith.
“The great Zack Clayton,” Hazzard said. “I was able to get the opportunity to work side-by-side with him during those years when I was just breaking in. He taught me and gave me pointers. He saw I had potential and told me I’d be one of greatest referees in world someday... and I got a chance to play the guy.”
Boxing was not such a thriving sport in the 60’s though, and Hazzard had to seek other means of subsidence for his young and growing family. He earned a two year degree in physical education, got his masters degree in administration and started working for the public school system – first as a P.E. teacher and track coach but eventually becoming principal of the entire school.
“There are similarities [between running a school full of teens and a state full of fighters]. You’re dealing with young adolescents and they’re tough young adolescents with almost the same kind of mentality,” he said. “Somehow I feel I’ve always had a knack or natural feel for dealing with young [people], almost like they identify with me. There is always a certain group that reminds you of someone from your childhood or past, and problems they encounter are very similar to problems I encountered as a young man.”
One problem MMA has encountered as it continues to work to be legalised throughout the U.S. is that of fans and the media depicting boxing and MMA as enemies in some kind of winner-take-all battle. For the New Jersey State Athletic Commission, which just oversaw BodogFight and Arturo Gatti vs. Hector Gomez in the same weekend, nothing could be further from the truth.
“They are two separate sports and both have there own following, The sport of MMA isn’t going to steal any boxing fans and the same goes for MMA,” Hazzard explained. “Take your pick – that’s what this country is all about. There’s another sport on the scene and that is what this country is all about. They’re not the only gas station or candy store on the block anymore, so they’ve got to produce a better product to stay in the race.”
Both boxing and MMA are combative sports, but the two are as different as night and day, and at times, so are its athletes. The uneducated fan will tell you MMA is made-up of nothing but tough guys – ex-bouncers, thugs and bar-room brawlers, but in reality these men are former college wrestlers, long-time jiu-jitsu students and fathers just trying to give their kids a better life. “Just about all of the popular fighters are nice stand-up guys, good sports role models. You don’t read a lot about these guys getting in trouble. That’s because these guys are already living the American dream,” Hazzard said.
In the last three months the state of New Jersey has hosted BodogFight, the IFL semi-finals and Kimbo Slice vs. Ray Mercer, and this November the Ultimate Fighting Championships will return to the Garden State. That’s quite a lot of income for the state and fighters, and one hell of good time for fight fans, all thanks to the vision of one man.
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