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The Hometown Hammer segment has quickly become one of the ‘buzz-building’ components of young Skrap Magazine. Little do many know, and probably appropriately so, that our Hometown Hammer was forged thru some serious blood & fire. You have NO idea. But you will, because before you now is the tale of the drama & near-disaster of our first Hometown Hammer fiasco…luckily a lot was learned and we think it finishes with a happy-ending…

           

            Ikaika McMillan is a bad-mother fucker. I don’t care what anyone says. Running in certain circles, you hear the stories. Coming back from a world-champion boxing gym in L.A. [with Sugar Shane Mosely, the Navarro brothers, Larry Mosely, Genaro Hernandez, etc.] I’ve seen some AMAZING fighters & hand-skills. In Waimanalo, I saw Ikaika first-hand when he was raw. Hitting mitts with Coach Duke, he had power & speed beyond impressive. He was a beast. With pure talent. All he needed was perfection of technique. And that’s what he was in there doing when I first saw him. For whatever reason tho, our paths stopped crossing. But when I would get updates from Coach Duke, he would tell me Ikaika went on to win Golden Gloves[after minimal formal training] and was probably gonna turn pro. After seeing his potential and left-hook in action, I had no doubt he would be a force to be reckoned with at the elite level. On top of that, outside the ring, he was humble & polite. Not faking, or forced, but genuinely nice. Even more I was a fan. So when the mag started, and Hometown Hammer first came up, I suggested someone from the Windward-side, since our first issue was going to be Wai’anae & Nanakuli stacked. I mentioned Ikaika & the partners agreed. They had stories I never heard. All interesting and worth telling. It was a unanimous, non-objected decision.

So we get a hold of Ikaika in California for the general questions, background, etc. We also asked for a couple of guys we could talk to here that were around for those ‘wilder’ days. Here is where we/I take responsibility and lumps for crappy ‘reporting’ & ‘investigating’. As the intention of the Hometown Hammer was supposed to be past-‘street heavies’, our approach was to present it with a somewhat ‘fantastic’ feel while retelling what the ‘word on the street was’. So that’s what we did. Mind you none of us in Skrap magazine had ever done anything magazine related before. That’s why it’s raw, and that’s why we just try to tell it like we see it. A big problem arose however from the telling of one particular story.

            In talking to one ‘source’/witness bout Ikaika’s encounters, I didn’t feel the need to ask for any names of the people involved, as we weren’t gonna print any names anyway. Plus, as I like not knowing ‘who this person or that person is’, I wouldn’t have known any of them anyway. That now turns out to be a mistake, as not doing so made it hard to clearly define who was involved where, or what happened to who. Add the fact, that the guy telling the stories was himself nervous & visibly uncomfortable and it was not the smoothest interview conducted. The next compiling mishap came with us doing our taped ‘interview’ at a busy & loud Jack-in-the-Box. So basically, as a result of a first-time ‘reporter’ and a first-time ‘witness’, and all kind background noise, we weren’t able to easily differentiate two stories about Ikaika and Waimanalo skrappers. The final killer[which we now have changed our ways], was not letting Ikaika himself read the story before it got printed for errors. Do to a short deadline, Kaiks wasn’t given the opportunity to read his story before it went to print. With that alone, all this could have been avoided. But it didn’t happen that way. So we got what we deserved.

ANYWAYS, the first issue finally comes out, and everyone LOVES it. All of it. Huge success for our first offering. We’re stoked. And then we get a reality check e-mail. It was from Joe Kahawai. In it, Joe states that he loved everything about our magazine, except that the Ikaika story about beefing the Waimanalo bull[which was him] was not only inaccurate, but wrong. We definitely never saw this one coming. So, we talk to Ikaika about it. And him being the stand-up guy he’s always been, says “yea. Joe has a point. Some of the story was off. I didn’t knock him down three times.” But the email said a lot more was off than that. In the email, the version is COMPLETELY different. So I forward it to Ikaika so he can read it himself. And that’s when it starts looking ugly. Both guys have opposite versions of what happened. And depending who you talk to, so does half of the witnesses. Our take on it is that both guys are so tough, feared & plain bad-ass, that no-one really wanted to speak out against either as a result of you wouldn’t want Ikaika or Joe having a problem with you. So, even though there were apparently plenty of people there, Ikaika’s closest stand by one version, Joe’s closest stand by their version, and everyone in between stays kinda silent. And it would have stayed that way for another 10 years, except for us re-telling a version of a story nobody wanted to speak about. And believe us, if we knew this would have been the result, we never would have mentioned it. We’re sick because we try to do a story on one good local boy and it ends up stirring up dust between two good braddahs. Great.

So then it’s out, and Waimanalo is torn again. Cause the people who love Joe are saying, “Bra. How’s this?!”  There are two sides to every story, and yes, you & we should look into them, but now it was too late. We responded to Joe’s email by saying, here’s how it all came about. There was absolutely no fault on Ikaika, and could we please get together to get your version and what he thinks will mend all this. Our intention was to get both Ikaika and Joe together to sit-down and come to a resolution. But it wasn’t that easy. First off, both being ‘pit-bull’-type, warriors by nature, everyone [including the two] was pretty sure, the odds on them trying to settle it with fists was going to be the unavoidable outcome. And that twisted us at Skrap inside. We fucked up, but we didn’t want it to get worse. Kaika came home from Cali for a minute, and schedules never clicked so the sit-down never happened. Then after about a month or so, the Skrap partners finally got a chance to meet & talk to Joe. And the first thing was, he too was an understanding, humble, hella-cool guy. Damn this sucks. He’s a ‘true bruddah’, and a positive, friendly, guy. Being the ‘un-named’ vanquished in the article, he felt it only fair that his version was expressed. All things considered, and seeing how no-one could prove what really happened, we agreed to have his side told. YET, seeing how Ikaika had nothing to do with this sudden storm, and that he never asked for this and was completely classy & understanding all the way thru, we felt he was entitled to a response back to Joe’s. We felt/feel obligated to Ikaika because we we’re just trying to do a ‘fun’ story on a Waimanalo Brawler & Good-guy, and now he’s in the middle of serious dramas he never asked for. Tho of course, he too was willing to do whatever it took to end it. We thought about publishing Joe’s letter in issue two. Then Ikaika would get his response in issue three. But being a quarterly mag, this ugly mis-understanding would be dragged out for almost a year, back-and-forth. That wasn’t gonna make anything better. So we asked Joe if we put it on our web-site, explaining what occurred, would that be satisfactory? He said yes. All he wanted was his version of what happened available. So we’re obligated to that also. And now that our web-site is actually up & functional, we present Joe’s email.

But that’s just the semi-silent war of words. As you can imagine, Ikaika living in the mainland was basically the only thing stopping them from re-living the action that started this ordeal in the first place. And again, it seemed even with posting of different versions, fists was becoming inevitable. Waimanalo was a buzz, and everyone knew it. And Skrap Magazine, for the life of us, could not figure out a way to smooth things out. We asked all kine people. How the hell do we avert imminent disaster?! Two really good, no-bullshit, no-scared guys were being left no real choice but to settle it once and for all. At one point they both agreed to the two of them showing up with us in Waimanalo and skrapping it out. Luckily, fate stepped in and schedules again didn’t jive. The whole way, I’m asking Ikaika, and anybody who’ll listen, how do we get past this without two unbelievably good guys beating the crap out of each other over something that happened ten years ago? And no one could see a way. One of our thoughts was, well, what if we had it in a ring, with a referee, and had proceeds from the door go to Waimanalo charities? So some type of good could come from an unfortunate situation? And the two agreed. But that still wasn’t good enough. And didn’t seem like it would really end-it. So we tossed & turned. With no good answer, and no seemingly reasonable way to avoid part 2 of a street-brawl for the ages, that would freshly rip old wounds and divide a town even wider.

            Then I got a call from Kaui Kauhi. And all he says is, “Bro. You guys can’t let this happen. Joe & Ikaika cannot fight! Basically, it will be horrible for Waimanalo and too many people will end up getting hurt! Nothing good will come out of this!!”   I responded by saying I know, I know! But what can we do? Tell me how to stop it and we’ll do it in a heartbeat. This is the absolute last thing we ever wanted, but this is two grown-ass bad men, who see no other way but to let actions solve the problem. We can’t stop Joe. If he feels he was wronged, he has every right to prove himself and literally fight to make it right. And Ikaika didn’t ask for any of this, but now he is in essence being called out and a liar, and will without hesitation fight for his honor. Then Kaui came up with the answer; ask Ikaika to let it go. Ask Ikaika to let it go… That was it. That was the only way this whole thing could be averted. He didn’t ask for this so he wasn’t responsible. Kaika was the only one who had an honorable/non-throwing way out. And if anyone else had anything to say about it, or had a problem with it, they can try and voice it to Ikaika, but who would dare? So we asked him. Hell, I straight begged him; don’t do it. ‘Please be one of those bigger men & walk away.’ A fight over who said what 10 years ago is not worth it. Those who know the truth, know the truth. And that’s fine. Those who want to believe what they want to believe, that’s fine too. Whatever happened, it’s not worth what’s going to result from a battle of titans over drama of the past. Waimanalo would never heal. And I’m sure it wasn’t easy, cause this turned into a sore point for Ikaika for months. But I think Kaui and others’ pleas were taken to heart.

And even more we have respect for Ikaika. And Joe for not pushing the issue. The two of them have come to an understanding of ‘agreeing to disagree’ and I think have allowed this to pass. Both doing their hometown and those that love them a great service, by setting a fine example that even violence doesn’t have to be settled with violence…again. And for Hawai’i, and Waimanalo, that’s HUGE. And we personally thank you both for seeing the bigger picture and not being so selfish to have to prove to the world who is what. Ain’t NOBODY gonna question Joe or Ikaika, in abilities, integrity, character or sacrifice, and now understanding. Once again, two damn-good guys are proving one great example. We personally want to thank them for teaching us how to do our job better, and how to move forward in a positive direction. WE fucked up. Both Joe & Ikaika were cool enough to be understanding with us when they didn’t have to. SO WE APOLOGIZE TO THEM AND EVERYONE ELSE for rookie mistakes that could have been costly. In the end, we thank you two for allowing Skrap magazine’s Hometown Hammer to go from a great experience to a gut-wrenching one, back to a good one. With a bigger lesson and bigger impact for a lot of people than we ever expected. We can honestly say you two will forever be class acts to us & now our readers. I’m sure everyone agrees that moving on is the best for everyone…

Much, much mahalos.

THE FOLLOWING IS JOE.K’s E-MAIL 2 SKRAP MAGAZINE:

To Skrap Magazine;

 

I recently received about 12 copies of your July ‘08 magazine from various people who ALL agree that Lies have crept into such a wonderful Hawaii based magazine.  It was good to see fighters I know sporting Killer threads and showing off their training routines.  It’s about time local fighters are recognized for their efforts in and out of the rings.  Thanks.

 

The LIES I write about begin on pg 14 during a fairy tale of a story.  I will correct the story and hopefully gain the “RESPECT”, as mentioned on pg 1 of your magazine.  Before I tell the story please do a background check on all of your future stories to ensure correct, true and valid information from respectable resources.  Also, to the author of the fairy tale on pg. 14 “If your gonna write about me, good or bad, truth or lie please mention my name”.  It’s Joe Kahawai.

 

The story I tell you is TRUE and VALID.  Seen by My Eyes and Hit by my hands. 

 

Years ago Ikaika and about 20 of his cheerleading friends came to my house about 2 o’clock in the morning.  No smack talking involved.  Before this I hadn’t seen Ikaika for years. I had no reason to talk or  even think of him.  Any how he like bang.  No problem.  This was real fast.  Scuffle.  Straight right to the nose.  Ikaika on the pavement. I pick him up slam him on my neighbors wall, neck crank.  He’s done.  “nough Joe, I thought we was boys.  That is the TRUE story.  Nothing else.  No three times dropped.  Many witnesses can verify these FACTS.  Even those that came with Ikaika and call him, friend.  Even the EMT that checked Ikaikas busted nose. 

 

I have NEVER , NEVER, NEVER TOUCHED THE GROUND.   I will never say, “Enuff Kaika”.  Never did to Kaika or any other fighter.  I will never quit.  You betta knock my ass out.  I came out fighting.  Been doing this for years.  Since before I can remember.  Infact, I was knocking out grown ass men when Kaika and Kaui was riding the bus home from school.   And since people are getting Super Hero names call me UNDEFEATED. This shouldn’t become a battle of witnesses.  All that matters is Ikaika knows who hit the pavement.  He also knows it wasn’t me.  

 

This was not to tear down the reputation of a fighter.  Nor  to take away any due to Ikaikas fighting skills.  Talented he maybe.  God gifted he is.  I was actually glad that a Waimanalo Bruddah, such as Ikaika had been profiled in your magazine.  I’m also glad that he is training to make the transition from pavement to ring.  The dedication, the training, the time away from family.  It takes a toll.  GoodLuck.  The only part I got problems with is the incorrect story of how I got dropped not once, but three times and pussied out at the end.  Joe Kahawai, is still UNDEFEATED on the pavement.      

 

On the other hand.  Great Mag.  Ask Fili and the Young Guns Departments are well presented.  Enjoy the pics from the Paparatti.  

 

Good Job Sonny.  Saw the lobby knockout on Youtube.  Don’t take s#!* from nobody.

 

I hope the SKRAP mag editors will allow this piece into the next mag.  It will ensure credit due to those who have earned it.  It will also set the standards for all others interested in submitting fight stories.  Be TRUE, Be PONO. 

 

 

Mahalo,

 

Joe Kahawai        

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