Lou Duva remembers his first year in boxing.

"1863," Duva says, jokingly. "I think I had Cain and Abel. I worked Cain's corner, Al Certo worked Abel's."

No, 'Captain Lou' hasn't been around THAT long, it only seems that way. And this Tuesday at 'The Brownstone' in Patterson, New Jersey, Duva will be roasted in honor of his 80th birthday. Notable names like Pat Cooper, Teddy Atlas, Bert Sugar and the 'other' 'Captain Lou', Lou Albano, will be on hand to good-naturedly grill Duva.

"It's only a number," said the still spry Duva, the patriarch of the Duva boxing family that made their beginnings at the Ice World in Totowa, New Jersey in the mid-'70s.

Despite his age, Duva still has a passion for the sport of boxing, especially when it comes to handling young talent.

"Ohhh, I love it," said an enthused Duva, who had just come back from his trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma where his young charge Oscar Diaz would improve to 8-0 on ESPN2's 'Friday Night Fights. "I mean to get there with a kid and give him an opportunity and teach him and this kid here is not only a talent-but he's got character. This kid, he's part of my family and all fighters should be as good and as nice and as wanting to make it as he does."

Diaz, is a nice looking prospect, in fact he does resemble a young lightweight version of Oscar De La Hoya in stature in build. Diaz, who comes out of Houston, Texas possesses a good left hook and solid offensive skills but does seem a bit hittable and in need of tucking in his chin. Duva, realizes that his young charge is still a work in progress.

"I think he's progressing really well," stated Duva of his young prospect who stopped Greg Hill in three rounds. "Now were starting to get him out of the mold of being an amateur and now he's becoming a young professional. And Tommy Brooks has done a real good job with him. He's starting to get him to jab more, moving his body more and I think now when he gets back to the gym next week, we go to school again. He's going to school to learn how to become a fighter and I think he's doing really well."

In addition to Diaz, Duva now works with other young prospects like Demetrius Hopkins, Troy Ross and Dante Craig among others and unlike before he puts character at a premium.

"Yeah," admits Duva, "because before with a kid I used to get talent all the time, y'know? And more or less character came second because everybody was wining and dining these guys, they were gold medal winners, they were stars in their own right and now I switched. Now, I go after character first and talent second. If I can't get the talent out of there, if I can't make you a fighter, then I'm wasting my time and wasting your time.

"Right now, I want kids with character out there, a kid that knows what he has to do, a kid you don't have to knock on the door to get him to run, a kid that eats right, a kid that does the right things when he's training for a fight and he learns. To me, that's why I love being with these kids like Oscar Diaz."

For so many years Duva and Shelly Finkel formed one of the most powerful and influential management duo's in the history of boxing. Taking such fighters as Pernell Whitaker, Meldrick Taylor and Evander Holyfield to the pinnacle of boxing. But with the nasty and public separation that his family had with Kathy Duva, his relationship with Finkel and Main Events would dissolve. And in recent years Finkel's stable of boxers would be beset with legal problems outside the ring, it's no surprise to Duva, who puts the blame squarely on his former partner and friend.

"Sure, it's just like a father letting the kid go easy because the kid may be a good looking kid or something and not paying attention to him," explained Duva. "Because maybe he's got other kids in the family, but he doesn't do his job as a father. And I think this is the situation you got here, when I was over there I played the role of a surrogate father, y'know? In the gym I knew I had capable trainers and I always got along with the trainers and I always sat down with the trainers to make sure we could do and do what was right for the fighter and we really had sessions going over there. And then I stepped in and really made sure the fighter was himself, grown up to be a man and that he answered to me as a fighter and it turned out good. But they haven't got that in that camp no more."

Duva, is still one of the most recognizable figures in the game and still a fixture in the corners but now his role with his fighters isn't to supervise their daily training activities but to really supervise the trainers. Like a head coach of a football team has offensive and defensive coordinators along with position coaches that report to him, who in effect 'coach the coaches' as they say in football. Duva, 'trains the trainers'.

"I got my son-in-law Tommy Brooks, I got Courage Tshabalala - I turned him into a trainer - we got Diego Rosario," explained Duva. "I'm training a couple of other guys into trainers. Guys that understand how to get the message across.

"I stress with my trainers - don't romance these guys act the part of a father - you're out there to teach this kid about life and boxing and that's always been my goal. It's not the mighty buck, understand? I want to see the mighty fighter."

Duva, has never been one to run away from public confrontations - even at this stage of his life (just watch the ending of the Thomas Tate-Omar Sheika fight from last October) - but he is glad that the family feud involving Kathy Duva, who was married to his late son Dan and the rest of the Duva family, was settled quietly.

"It's all done," said Duva. "The litigation's all done. I could've went into court and I wish I would've went into court sometimes and let the facts come out about everybody over there. But what the heck am I going to keep that thing going on for another year or two? There was a time element, that's all. I just figured, 'What the hell are we gonna do with this here?' I just wanted to get it over with and that's the only reason for stopping and making a settlement.

"I was also concerned about the children, my son Dan's children. I wanted to make sure they weren't caught in the middle of this here because something would have come out at that trial and all that. I thought about it, it was my grand kids - all 11 of them and that doesn't pay.

"I had a meeting with my kids and said, 'I think this is what we should do' and they went along with it."

Which meant starting over from scratch, but the Duva family did have their names and reputations to get them started. His son Dino and daughter Donna, would start a new promotional firm Duva Boxing which is starting to gain some momentum. And Lou, well, being who he is, you knew he could sign young talent. But he was starting over and he was noticeably absent from the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, while the rest of the boxing world fought and bid over the game's premiere amateur talent. Which meant that he wouldn't be getting a bushel full of blue chippers like he did in 1984 when he and Finkel bagged the foursome of Taylor, Whitaker, Holyfield and Mark Breland.

Instead, with kids like Diaz and Hopkins, he gets kids who don't come as highly touted despite solid amateur credentials but on the flip side, didn't come with an outrageous sticker price and can be developed at a slower pace and more judiciously without the pressure of most Olympians.

"If I have to take my kid to school for another year - I'll do it," states Duva. "But not with them. They've got to put them in there because they want to get their money back. I don't have to do that.

"And they're hungry. They will learn and they want to go to school and they want to be taught, understand? None of my fighters go to the fights with limousines, they don't have a social director, musical director, masseurs or all that. They don't have no room service, these guys, when we go out to eat we got to go downstairs and go to a fast-food operation. But again, they'll grow up to be respectable, reliable people."

Which means will be seeing plenty of Lou Duva for a long while, the word 'retire' to him, is a four letter word.

"Why would I retire?" asks Duva, rhetorically. "The only way they're going to get rid of me is there going to have to carry me the hell out of here."

Which of course almost happened in the aftermath of the mayhem that was Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota at the Madison Square Garden in 1996, when Duva who has suffered various heart ailments was carried out of the ring.

"Hey, it was more dangerous on that gurney that they had me on then any fight," pointed out Duva, laughing as he recalled that infamous night.

Duva is going as strong as ever according to his son, Dino, "I've found that amazing for the past 10 years that he still has more energy than most people half his age."

And if he would have died that night at the Garden, it would have only been appropriate according to him.

"There's no such thing (as retirement for him), he's gonna die in the ring. We've already accepted that."

DOG AND PONY SHOW

I heard that the Senate had another one of their feeble attempts to bring about change in the game of boxing. I say 'heard' because I can't stand to watch these types of proceedings because they're nothing more than political footballs to kick around for the day and absolutely nothing of true impact really gets accomplished. Besides, if it's on C-SPAN, it has to be boring.

Also, while it's great to see some of the big-names in boxing come out, like Muhammad Ali, these types of panels need more men like Lou DiBella, who have been inside the bowels of the sport and in the trenches of this business. The fundamental problem with boxing has never been inside the ring- the sport will always have great performers. But as Roy Jones proved once again, he should be shown inside the ring and never heard from it outside of it as he babbled incoherently again about the wrongs of the sport.

As one observer said about Jones, "He's not as stupid as he looks, but he's not nearly as smart as he thinks he is." In other words, he should stop telling HBO how to do their business and just keep exploiting his own deal he has with them.

Furthermore, until the government really gets serious about boxing reform and people like Joe Dwyer, Charles Muniz, Garry Gittelsohn, Judd Bernstein, Milt Chwasky and Charles Jay - guys who can really explain the ills of the boxing biz - are let in on the discussion, these sessions will be nothing more than grandstanding and mental masturbation.

SPEAKING OF JAY

For anyone who really want's some keen insight on the industry and it's pratfalls, log onto www.totalaction.com and go to it's 'fight page' section where Jay has been penned some well-written and provocative pieces dealing with some key issues.

'Operation Cleanup' is a series of articles that attempts to educate those who want to learn more about the boxing industry.