TALES OF UNCLE BILL
mine, would be there. As advertised, Adams was a physical specimen, 6-foot-6 and well over 300 pounds of stacked muscle, but he didn’t have much to say. Savage, who was to play the part of Adams’ manager, did all the talking in full “Macho Man” mode, which sent me into full fanboy mode. I brought up a ’90s cartoon where Savage voiced an intergalactic wrestling champion and told him it was based on a boxing-themed comic book. The writers at the table – maybe Steve Springer and Mark Whicker, but I’m not 100% – rolled their eyes, but Savage happily nerded out with me. Adams was pissed, more so with Savage than me (thank God). Bill chuckled the entire time. I later apologized for being unprofessional. He patted me on the back and said, “I’m glad you were here, Dougie.” NORM FRAUENHEIM Longtime boxing writer for The Arizona Republic Bill Caplan’s appetite included everything. There was food. Mostly there were people. From “grease cutters” (Caplan’s name for ice cream) to old stories, his life, I think, was an endless buffet. More than a month since his passing, it’s still hard to realize it’s over.
I was there, later in his life, long after George Foreman- Muhammad Ali and his celebrated stunt with Lupe Pintor. Age and too many grease cutters were catching up with him. But nothing could diminish what he loved more than dinner. People. He made friends and they sustained him. In 2023, he came to Vegas in July for the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence fight week. He waited for me to finish writing. We walked across a pavilion on a late summer day with temps at 110-plus. Bill struggled to walk. I helped. But I had to get him into an air-conditioned cab and back to the MGM Grand. I waved down a cab. The driver refused to take him, because he didn’t consider the short trip to be worth a fare. I kicked the cab and wanted to kick a hell of a lot more. The cabbie called the cops, which proved to be a good move. The cop and I got Bill into the cruiser and he took him to the MGM. I was angry and went to cool down at the closest bar. I was late for one of those dinners the WBC stages before big fights. I walked in and there was Bill, seated happily in front of plates of food and surrounded by people. It was as if nothing had happened. Amazed, I shook my head. I had expected to find Bill in an emergency room. Then I smiled. This was the real Bill, sustained as always by his many friends. Rest in peace, Bill Caplan.
Bill Caplan and George Foreman were close, lifelong friends.
DOUG FISCHER The Ring Magazine Editor-in-Chief
The Los Angeles Times. Malamud was conflicted. He was faced with two chances of a lifetime. There to intervene was his longtime best friend and eating companion, Bill Caplan. Malamud asked Caplan what he should do. It was simple, Caplan said. The L.A. Times had been fat and happy forever and always would be. The National was somebody’s short-term pipe dream, which it turned out to be. Malamud finally saw the logic of Caplan’s argument. He told Caplan he also was getting a nice signing bonus from The Times. Malamud, who owned a Cadillac, loved them. So did Caplan. Caplan encouraged Malamud to take The Times’ offer and buy a new Cadillac. He did. Then Caplan bought Malamud’s old Cadillac. “He cut me a good deal,” Caplan said.
My first press luncheon with Bill was in 2002, the early years of MaxBoxing.com. When Bill told me we’d be chatting with a pro wrestler who wanted to try his hand at boxing, I figured this small get-together at a deli was a hard sell to the newspaper sportswriters that he usually invited to these gatherings. But I was still honored to get the call. “The guy’s a giant and four-time tag-team champion,” Bill said of Brian Adams, a veteran grappler best known as Crush but who was going by The Demon at this time. “He also boxed in the Air Force. Let’s see what Top Rank can do with him. Maybe he’s the new Butterbean.” I doubted Adams would go anywhere in boxing – and, indeed, he never turned pro – but it was a free lunch and legendary wrestling champ Randy Savage, an old favorite of
Caplan and Foreman meet the press following the Joe Frazier rematch.
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