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Randall Bailey continues to be one of the most intriguing fighters in boxing. I just keep studying him, wondering if he's going to have what it takes to clean out the division. He's got the punch, speed and potential. That much is certain.
However, when it comes to his ability and stamina, I worry about him. The ability is there to be harnessed but will Bailey find a way to make the best use of it he can? Bailey's fight with Rocky Martinez made me ask: Why doesn't Randall go to the body?
In the post-fight interview, Bailey said that he didn't want to go to the body because he didn't want to risk being head-butt. Hmmm. Is that a good enough reason NOT to go to the body? Obviously it didn't matter in this fight at all since Bailey was winning every round convincingly against Martinez until the fight was stopped on a cut. Yes, Bailey was busting Martinez up pretty good. But I have to wonder what might happen against the Tszyu's and Judah's. Bailey will need to go to the body if his fights are going to be going a few rounds, so I think he might as well get some practice while he can against lesser opposition.
Of course, I'm still a bit concerned about Bailey's stamina after his fight with Hector Lopez. I interviewed Bailey a few weeks back at the Don King fight card "Saint Paddy's Day Brawl" and Randall told me that stamina wasn't an issue.
One thing is for sure, Bailey has the potential to wipe out the Jr. Welterweight division. The top fighters at 140 lbs, (Sharmba Mitchell, Kostya Tszyu, Zab Judah), have all been down and are vulnerable.
Having been born and raised in Miami, I have a certain bias with Randall, but I just wouldn't really like to see him do it, I know he can do it.
It's been like three years since Fabrice Tiozzo won the WBA Crusierweight title. Since then, he has beaten relatively weak opposition and Veklor was no exception. However, since this fight went a few rounds and since it's been so long since I've seen Tiozzo go a few rounds, I had realized I forgotten how skilled he is.
He threw a variety of punches against his opponent and especially with the uppercut. I also liked how he mixed punches to the head and body during his combinations. But it's been 3 long years of nothing but tomato cans so I think it's about time for Tiozzo to step up and take some chances because the chronic tomato can thing is making Tiozzo a boring fighter.
Whenever Chris fought back with authority, he proved troublesome for Vitali. But even so, Vitali was landing the majority of the punches and was clearly winning the fight. He wasn't setting the world on fire, but he was proving that he could score effectively enough against an elusive Byrd and therefore, showed that he can box well.
Byrd, while losing most of the rounds, was still proving that he was a force by making Vitali miss the majority of the time, taking Vitali's shots whenever they landedand landing with authority whenever he chose to do it. The only problem with Byrd is that he wasn't throwing enough punches to keep up with Vitali's scoring. More importantly, Byrd showed his bravery by actually pursuing and making the much bigger man go back whilst landing effective shots.
Chris Byrd has been criticized for being a boring fighter at times, but we really need to appreciate Byrd. Not many fighters would go in there on short notice against an undefeated behemoth that has won all of his fights by KO.
I suspected that the Ibeabuchi loss was the result of losing to one of the most gifted heavyweights out there whilst at the same time losing via slightly premature stoppage. I had a feeling that Byrd's chin was better than the Ibeabuchi result suggested, and I was right.
Byrd gained a lot in this fight. A loss would've put him into obscurity since he was seen as a huge threat and a loss would've given promoters further incentive to ignore him. With the WBO title, (a belt aficionados acknowledge as a sort of purgatory between contender and serious champion), Byrd will have a better case for himself when discussing heavyweight superfights.
Hopefully, Byrd will get the chance he deserves. Credit must be given to Vitali for taking on Byrd, a known spoiler, on short notice as well. His "heart" is in serious question now, but he proved to be a talented fighter.
At the time of the stoppage, I had the fight 88-84 in favor of Vitali Klitschko.
I have seen criticisms on the Floyd Mayweather vs Goyo Vargas fight that it was too boring.
No, it wasn't an action fight, but I have to say that I enjoyed watching Floyd work. Artistic is a great word to describe Mayweather's consistent outboxing of Vargas. Lots of great footwork, upper body movement, boxing skills and authoritative punching.
This was Mayweather's biggest fight since his TKO win over Angel Manfredy and Mayweather came through. And there was some doubt as to whether Mayweather could convincingly take Vargas because of all the talk surrounding his peers and attitude. The fact that there were rumors surrounding the fall out between Floyd and his dad had many insiders thinking that it was the beginning of the end for Floyd. That this fall out would eventually lead to Floyd's demise as it did with Mike Tyson when Tyson split up with the people who helped him become a heavyweight menace and conqueror.
I too felt that way and was very relieved that Floyd said that he and his dad were still tight. Floyd is a remarkable talent and it would be a sad thing to see him blow his potential on greatness due to the poor decisions many potentially great fighters make.
From my end, I thought Mayweather pitched a shutout against Vargas. I had him winning every round despite Vargas' game effort.
And by the way, it would be a mistake for people to write off Vargas based on this loss. Vargas is an agressive fighter and still poses a huge threat against the rest of the division. So don't allow this loss to lure you into a false sense of security, Jr. Lightweights.
Before I say anything, yes, the stoppage in Corrales-Gainer was definitely premature from what I can see on the TV screen. I also agree 100% with the HBO team that Corrales would've gone on to finish Gainer off convincingly anyway even though Gainer deserved to continue.
Now that I've said that, let me do my thing. Corrales was impressive. He lost the first two rounds to Gainer who landed the more impressive shots and came back in round three to knock Gainer down twice.
Corrales' chin is proven: he has taken heavy artillery from both Roberto Garcia and Derrick Gainer. But he has also proven his power and boxing ability.
No doubt about it, Mayweather-Corrales is a huge fight right now. Corrales CAN beat Mayweather. Mayweather is fast, but Corrales is big, powerful and a very good boxer. I don't bet on fights, but if I did I would certainly not bet on this one.
After taking hard punches from Garcia and Gainer, I'm 99% sure that Mayweather will not knock Corrales out and needs to outbox Corrales to win. Then again, Mayweather was able to stop Angel Manfredy, albeit in slightly controversial manner, even though Arturo Gatti, one of boxing's hardest punchers, could not. On the other hand, Mayweather's chin is unproven. We don't know if he can take Corrales' power shots. Of the best fighters Mayweather has fought, Genaro Hernandez and Goyo Vargas are not punchers and the Manfredy bout was stopped before Manfredy could land anything significant on Floyd's head.
A very dangerous fight and we'd have to give Corrales and Mayweather credit if they agree to this fight because either one's unbeaten record could suffer.
Stevie Johnston further stamped his dominance of the Lightweight division with a 2nd round destruction of Julio Alvarez who knocked Israel "Pito" Cardona out in 6 rounds.
Max Kellerman's sentiments toward Johnston match my own. I love watching Johnston fight and he is really one of my favorites. What a competitor. I still think Mosley-Johnston would've been a great fight and it's a shame that bad timing didn't allow Johnston-Mosley to take place, (When the Mosley fight had been offered to Stevie, he had just come off a tough fight over Cesar Bazan.)
I want to see Johnston unify. He says he'd like to fight Mayweather after unifying the title and that would be another great matchup.
Realistically, with Mayweather's seemingly upcoming fights this year, one of which may be a megafight with Corrales, and with Johnston's intention of unifying, Johnston-Mayweather probably won't take place anytime soon. However, Johnston's intention to unify will give us some intriguing fights to look forward to this year and I simply see Johnston doing just that.
I was ringside to cover the fights on Telemundo that featured the return of Wilfredo Vazquez and William Guthrie.
Vazquez took on Antonio Salas for an 8 rounder in his first comeback fight since Vazquez's 7th round loss to Naseen Hamed back on April 18, 1998. The fight was at 135 lbs. Vazquez still showed the fighting spirit, but his best days are clearly behind him.
So why is Vazquez coming back?
"I feel I can still do it for about 2 more years, depending how time treats me. I felt about 90% tongiht and with two more fights, I should be ready for a big fight."
Vazquez's opopnent Salas is 31 years old with a record of 15-18 with 5 KOs coming into this fight. He has foguht the likes of Wayne McCullough, Willie Jorrin and Topo Gerena and he too thinks Vazquez's best days are behind him: "Vazquez is a good fighter, but I'm not young either. He could've knocked me out, but he isn't the same fighter. If he fights Hamed or Wayne McCullough, he has no chance. We've both given what we could give in this game."
Vazquez landed the harder shots throughout and was agressive. I had him losing the first round, which was bascially a feel out round, but I had him pitching a shut out after that. Salas was a game opponent throughout. Salas' best moment came toward the end of round 7 in which he caught Vazquez with a power shot to the head. Vazquez bounced back to his corner with a slight wobble.
All three judges had it 79-73 in favor of Vazquez. This writer had the same score.
William Guthrie took on journeyman Wesley Martin in a crusierweight fight. Guthrie showed an impressive right jab throughout the fight and pretty much dominated the fight with that punch.
Martin came to fight however and he landed many impressive power shots throughtout the fight. Unfortunately for Martin, they were too far in between.
Guthrie displayed a good chin in this fight. A chin many people no doubt thought he didn't have due to two back to back KO losses to Reggie Johnson and Michael Nunn.
"The last two fights weren't on my mind at all. In boxing, if you lose, you come back. My whole fight game has changed. I dind't go iin there to blow him out. I wanted to box. I'm a totally different fighter now."
Jim Strickland, who has been in Guthrie's corner since day 1 and has worked with the likes of Evander Holyfield, Angel Manfredy, Mike McCallum and tony Tucker (in the Mike Tyson fight), said: "I'm encouraged [by what I saw tonight.] He was knocked out twice in a row because he was overconfident. We played it safe tongiht because we didn't know how durable he would be. We're trying to get a reading in how he absorbs shots. He was conservative tonight. Two months later, we'll step it up."
Guthrie was caught with several head snapping shots in this fight. Martin was throwing with authority and KO intentions, but Guthrie never faltered. He definitely showed poise, something he lacked in his two knockout defeats.
No opponent has been named for Guthrie's next fight, but he isn't in a hurry.
The judges had Guthrie winning by two scores of 80-72 and 79-73. This writer had it 80-73 in favor of Guthrie.
It was nice to see the real Naseem Hamed back in business against Vuyani Bungu. I've always thought Hamed was one of the supreme talents in boxing, but I was incredibly disappointed with his performances against Paul Ingle and Cesar Soto. More than that, I was really disappointed with the way that Hamed seemed to be handpicking his opponents carefully only to give a mediocre performance by Hamed standards.
In a previous column of mine, I said that Hamed was capable of delivering so much more and that it would be a criminal waste of talent to simply get by like he did against Soto and Ingle. I also said that Hamed's theatrics lost their luster due to such average performances. Not anymore.
In the Bungu fight, Hamed came out and did what he had to do and did it true to Hamed form. At least the Hamed that destroyed Tom Johnson, Manuel Medina, Kevin Kelley and Wilfredo Vazquez.
Hamed came in did his theatrics, but he also came to win impressively. And he did just that. Hamed's performance was a perfect blend of showboating and fighting. Elegant movement, brutal body shots and one textbook knockout punch in the 4th was all in Hamed's agenda. It was awesome.
It was especially impressive since no one had ever knocked Bungu out before, not even power-hitting Danny Romero was able to muster a knockdown against Bungu. Now, lets see Hamed step up and fight the elite. Bungu is an iron-chinned boxer with lots of talent, but lets face it. Bungu was stepping up from his best fighting weight and has no punching power. So lets see Hamed pick it up and fight Erik Morales, Freddie Norwood, Juan Manuel Marquez or Marco Antonio Barrera.
I'd pick Hamed to beat every one of them. Welcome home, Naz. It's good to have you back.
Saturday night showcased a pretty good fight card. Of the big fights, Clarence "Bones" Adams scored an upset over heralded Nestor Garza. Adams won a definitive, but cautious 12 round decision over Garza. I thought Adams probably could've taken Garza out of there quicker, but Adams was very careful and that was probably a smart approach given Garza's power and ability to come back. Still, Adams scored two knockdowns and repeatedly hurt Garza through out the fight. Credit to Garza, he kept fighting 'till the end.
Oba Carr devestated Ramon "Yory Boy" Campas and scored a 8th round TKO after Campas quit in his corner. Carr repeatedly rocked Campas with the left hook, making Campas' head snap back consistently and making Campas' right eye swell into a slit. Campas made one or two rounds close but he could never really back Carr up. Carr's ingredient here was speed. He really overwhelmed "Yory Boy" with his speed and effective punching. Carr moved up from Welterweight after losing a gutsy 11th round KO to Oscar De La Hoya. Carr's victory over Campas proves the De La Hoya bashers wrong since many of them claimed that De La Hoya beat a washed up Carr. I don't know about you guys, but Carr didn't look washed up to me. Incidentally, this fight went completely the opposite to what I expected. I thought that the De La Hoya fight sapped what was left of Carr's career after Carr gave a brave and good account of himself against the "Golden Boy" only to lose via brutal knockout. Carr will be around some time more.
Paulie Ayala beat Jimmy Bredhal over 12 interesting rounds. Many of the rounds were close, but I think Ayala convincingly and successfully defended his title. Bredhal gave a good account of himself, made many rounds close, but just didn't do enough to take Ayala's title away. The deciding factor in the fight for me was that Ayala landed the more impressive shots. Ayala landed with authority despite that he's not a big puncher. I had it 117-112 in favor of Ayala.
In other fights, Danny Romero knocked out a game Adaryll Johnson in 5 rounds. Incidentally, i thought Johnson made a better account of himself during the fight than the commentators suggested. I'd like to see Romero take on a top 5 fighter real soon, hopefully in his next fight.
In a woman's bout, Tracey Stevens upset Nina Ahlin with a 4 round unanimous decision. Stevens was only 1-3, but she used her southpaw style to confuse Ahlin, who was 5-1-1 with 2 KOs coming into this fight, and subsequently landed more frequently, even wobbling Ahlin toward the end of their entertaining 4-round bout. Ahlin turned the tide slightly in the 4th and last round as she started landed a little bit more effectively with her left hand, but it was too late and Stevens was too determined. A nice little showcase for the women. I had it 39-37 in favor of Stevens.
And Eric "Butterbean" Esch stomped George Linberger with one shot in the 1st round. Impressive for the Bean given that Linberger nearly gave Brian Nielson of Denmark a heart attack when they fought. A left hook nearly decapitated Linberge and the ref promptly stopped it.
I was really undecided who to pick in this fight. First I thought maybe Reid, then I thought about the experience factor and thought Trinidad on points, and then I thought that moving up, Reid's right hand would be a factor.
After 6 relatively close rounds, I had Reid ahead 58-55, especially after Reid knocked Trinidad down briefly in the 3rd with a right hand. Then in that fateful 7th round, Tito landed a beautiful left hook and turned the fight around. I think the Reid bashers have to look at this performance and say, even though Reid took a beating for the remainder of the fight, he showed an iron will and still was able to fight back even though he wasn't doing enough to win the rounds.
I have to take my hat off to Tito. Great combinations and wondrous courage. Trinidad did take some good Reid combinations. I no longer think Trinidad's chin is that suspect although I still don't think it was sturdy enough to absorb Reid's right hand had Reid kept landing it.
As for Reid, I see that Reid had the potential to take Trinidad out, but his inexperience was showing in spades in the later rounds. He needed to launch that right hand big time and didn't. I think getting hurt repeatedly and absorbing too much of Trinidad's debilitating power shots made Reid hesitate late in the fight. Still, you can't blame Reid. This was Reid's 15th pro fight, Trinidad had more than double his experience, and I thought Reid did as good as you could ask for a fighter with 14 fights coming into this fight.
However, it would be a mistake to interpret "inexperienced" as being mismatched. Reid did have some wins over some good, experienced opponents, such as Laurent Boudouani, so it wouldn't be fair to Trinidad to say that he simply beat an inexperienced fighter. Reid's problem was that he never faced anyone with Trinidad's power, experience and ability and that he is still very much learning despite some impressive wins. There is still every indication that Reid is a special fighter because he has recorded some good wins, and he made a brave and sometimes effective account of himself against Trinidad.
Trinidad? Great performance. He did what he had to do to win. He started off slowly, got going and eventually gave out a beating by hitting Reid with everything but the kitchen sink and thereby doing everything but score the KO. A masterful performance by Trinidad against a talented, determined albeit inexperienced opponent.
De La Hoya-Trinidad II or De La Hoya-Mosley, which ever comes first, I'll be happy. I look for DLH to get past Mosley. And DLH-Trinidad II will be better than #1. DLH took the Trinidad left hook better than Reid did. There is a potential war brewing inside of DLH-Trinidad II and hopefully that will come to fruition.
I scored the Trinidad-Reid fight 115-108 for Trinidad.
Christy Martin received what Showtime commentators made out to be a gift decision, saying that Belinda Lauracuente basically dominated Martin and deserved the decision.
I don't agree.
For one, I thought the fight was much closer than the commentators advertised. Martin landed a lot of short, inside punches that while not as picturesque and artistic looking as those Lauracuente landed, were still scoring shots. I noticed the Showtime team had trouble calling these shots when Martin landed them.
Lauracuente landed the harder, more picturesque shots, but they were too far in between in my opinion. In fact, this fight reminded me a lot of another "controversial decision" in which I disagreed with several people: Larry Holmes-Maurice Harris.
Like Harris against Holmes, Lauracuente would land beautiful head snapping shot, but would start running away and not follow up these shots. Martin, like Holmes, would throw a lot more shots, many of which weren't pretty but were scoring nonetheless.
I think Martin was busier and would be effective when going to the body and whenever she was able to bull Lauracuente to the ropes and start throwing punches.
The bottom line is that I feel several rounds were pretty close and could've gone either way and this decision was not the robbery some people are claiming it is.
For the record, I scored Holmes-Harris for Holmes via close margin and I gave Martin the decision by a score of 77-74. It's also important to note that I saw this fight after it took place, meaning I already heard about the controversey. I saw this fight and didn't see it as controversial. Although listening to the Showtime team and at the Internet scoring, you would've thought so.
Here's my scorecard:
1) 9-10 2) 10-9 3) 9-10 4) 10-9 5) 10-9 6) 10-9 7) 10-9 8) 10-9
I was impressed by De La Hoya's agressive style against Derrell Coley, but I don't know whether to be really impressed or somewhat impressed.
The style in of itself was definitely a good change for Oscar: he was stalking, jabbing, going to the body, hooking and doing it effectively.
I just can't figure if he should've taken Coley out of there sooner. He nailed Coley with a few good left hooks throught the fight that staggered Coley but Coley would get out of the way before De La Hoya could mount a fight ending rally.
I think Coley simply stepped up and gave a good account of himself. He was able to land one really good shot that caught the attention of De La Hoya, but that's all it did. Some people say that De La Hoya was staggered, but I didn't see that at all. All in all, Coley was able to be a little competitive with Oscar. Coley ducked, moved got out of the way, threw punches, so I think he definitely tried.
Coley apparently has been knocked out quicker and knocked down a few times, but that doesn't bother me as much because fighters tend to step up when they fight a De La Hoya.
Also, De La Hoya and Coley were fighting as Jr. Middleweights with Oscar at 154 and Coley at 151. I think Oscar was testing the Jr. Middleweight waters to see how his body would react at that weight. For the moment, I think Oscar should stick at Welterweight. He should wipe out the remaining Welterweight contenders and then maybe think about moving up. But for right now, I'd like to see Oscar eliminate Shane Mosley, James Page and Vernon Forrest.
Next up for Oscar is either a rematch with Felix Trinidad or a superfight with former amateur rival Shane Mosley. I'd look for Oscar to beat both, but I think Shane will provide a better challenge.
Shane is underdeveloped in terms of experience but is hungry enough to give Oscar fits. Shane has never tasted power remotely close to that of De La Hoya's so I think there is a slight possibility that Shane might be in over his head.
Word now is that Shane and Vernon Forrest have to do battle before anyone can challenge Raul Frank for the vacant IBF title. This would be a fantastic matchup and a tough fight for either. I'd look for Shane, the more experienced of the two, to get by Vernon in what will be a first superfight for both. The winner of this fight should be ready to fight De La Hoya.
By the way, how about that new De La Hoya attitude? The serious, darker approach to interviews with a smile sporadically injected in there. It fits him well and looks tougher than the smiling 100% of the time.
What was Arturo Gatti doing weighing like a middleweight and fighting a Jr. Welterweight?
Gatti had a significant and unfair advantage over Joey Gamache in weight, 20 pounds according to the pre-fight particulars. No wonder Gamache got creamed.
To his credit, Gatti looked great and ready to conquer the world but unfortunately he was matched against an outgunned challenger.
Kostya Tszyu vs. Arturo Gatti? Now that is a superfight if I ever heard one. I just hope for Tszyu's sake that Gatti doesn't come in weighing 20 pounds heavier.
If Gatti is going to come in 20 pounds overweight and fight Jr. Welterweights, why don't we get Bert Cooper to fight Joe Calzaghe and Omar Sheika and call him a great Super Middleweight while we're at it?
Give Vivian Harris credit for taking on a dangerous fight last Friday night against Ray Oliveira.
Harris lost to Oliveira by wide decision, but you could see the potential and heart there. Oliviera was a very experienced fighter, having fought Vernon Forrest and Syd Vanderpool among others. Harris was simply biting more than he could chew in this one, but he still lasted the distance and gave it his all.
It was not a bad first loss by any means. I guess if you have to lose to an experienced veteran, Harris made as good and as classy an account as you could give. He'll be back.
The always entertaining Angel Manfredy came back on ESPN 2 in his first televised fight since his loss to Stevie Johnston. His opponent: Sean Fletcher.
Manfredy looked great and he was able to get Fletcher out of there in the 4th with a devestating left hook to the chin that had Fletcher dazed, out of the fight, and sagging on the ropes. Manfredy wasted no time and dealt Fletcher several more shots before the referee's inevitable intervention.
Manfredy is one of my favorite fighters and I hope he gets a title shot soon. He's destined for one, I think. Wins over John Brown, Arturo Gatti and Ivan Robinson are no easy feat. His fight with Johnston was very close in my opinion. Manfredy has lost to the elite, but don't count him out. He takes on all-comers and never says die.
Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera lived up to the hype. It was a tremendous fight, a lot of close rounds too. I've already heard talk that the decision was a jip, which I disagree with.
There were several close rounds that could go either way. And being that there are judges who score close rounds for the champion, the decision didn't surprise me. For the record, I don't score fights that way.
I had the fight 115-112 in favor of Barrera. After 9 grueling rounds, Morales needed rounds 10, 11 and 12 to get a draw on my scorecard. He had succeeded in getting those rounds until a knockdown was called. I had Morales winning 10 and 11 convincingly and he was on his way to winning the 12th until the knockdown.
I thought the knockdown was legit in real time, by that I mean that I thought a punch had landed and thus knocked Morales down. The replay clearly showed that it wasn't a punch that made Morales go down. However, it was probably an effect of an accumalation of punishment over 12 furious rounds that made Erik go down. Morales was hit to the body and head with clean power shots the entire fight. It's very plausible that Morales went down from weariness and an accumalation of body shots. This counts as a knockdown.
Should the round be a 10-8 in favor of Barrera even though Morales was winning the round? Without question. Morales had never been knocked down in his career, amateur or professional, so scoring a legitimate knockdown against Morales is definitely worth the extra point.
This was the first in what will hopefully be a long line of superfights for 2000. It doesn't look like there will be a rematch for the time being, but boxing being how it is, that doesn't surprise me. Boxing would be so much better if fights like these were made. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the "boxing authorities" are interested in the improvement of boxing, but what else is new? My scorecard read:
1) 9-10 2) 9-10 3) 9-10 4) 10-9 5) 10-9 6) 10-9 7) 9-10 8) 9-10 9) 9-10 10) 10-9 11) 10-9 12) 8-10
A lot of controversy seems to surround women's boxing. Some of it seems to stem from the fact that many male fans don't like it, nor want seem to think women should be fighting. To them, I'd like to send a friendly piece of advice: Join the 21st century!
If women can play basketball, baseball, football or any given sport, it shouldn't be different with boxing. Women have as much a right to be in there as the guys do.
Some will say that women's boxing is inferior to men's boxing in that their techniques are inadequate and sloppy. Hey, I got news for you. Women's boxing is just coming to fruition. When men's boxing started coming strong in the US in the late 19th century, you could see men swinging and swirling in the ring just like some of the women are today. You got to start someplace, no? Besides, there are several technically sound female fighters out there. Lucia Rijker is one. Kathy Long is one. Lena Akesson is one. There are plenty of talented, technically strong women in the sport.
Some say that women's boxing pairs experienced women versus inexperienced ones that could get the inexperienced ones hurt. That's funny, I see the same problem with male boxing. How many times have we seen a Roy Jones-Ricky Frazier in male boxing? Or a De La Hoya-Charpentier? It's a problem plaguing ALL of boxing, not just women's boxing.
The problem is that many of these people who criticize it, don't take the time to look into it. Or maybe they're just sexist. One boxing colleague of mine stated that the anti-women boxing advocates reminds him of the days when many men were into male-only clubs. And it's true.
ESPN 2 ran a poll last week that indicates the majority of those polled didn't favor women's boxing.
Fools that they are. Not only do women have as much a right to be in there as the men, but many times, they can be just as exciting, or in some cases, more exciting.
On February 11, we saw ESPN 2 an all women's card that showcased six evenly matched female fighters, all six who gave it their all. Non-stop action. And if it wasn't a slugfest, it was an interesting, scientific boxing match.
To those all those anti-women's boxing advocates: Not only do you have to join the 21st century, but you are also missing out on some of the most entertaining match-ups around. The women can deliver. And I got news for you, they aren't going away.
When the female superstars of today like Christy Martin and Mia St. John go away, there will be others to replace them. Just like the guys. After John L. Sullivan came Jim Jeffries, then Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, then Marciano, then Ali, then Frazier, then Foreman, then Tyson, then Holyfield. Not to mention the many male champions I didn't mention who have been popular in their own right.
So sit back, relax, watch the girls teach some of the male fighters a thing or two about guts and have a good time. Women's boxing is here to stay.
Don't think so? Some more advice: Buy it, you'll sleep better at night.
Zab Judah was impressive in winning the vacant junior welterweight title against Jan Bergman. I pretty much expected Judah to win in impressive fashion. Judah did go down for the first time in his career in the third round, but got right back up and soon enough reclaimed his dominance of the fight and ended matters in the 4th, with a devestating barrage.
Judah says he wants Tszyu next. Tszyu beat a dependable, tough Ahmed Santos on the same card as Judah-Bergman, and continued his winning streak with an 8th round KO.
Judah has the style to compete with just about anyone, but Tszyu possesses strong power and the shots that Bergman nailed Judah with might have more devestating consequences if they were landed by an accuarate counter-puncher like Tszyu. Tszyu also knows how to pick a fighter apart. It's hard to forget Tszyu's brutal 10 round massacre of the granite-chinned Gonzalez.
Judah however has excellent Pernell Whitaker-like defense. He'll need it along with a good chin to be able to successfully defeat a more experienced power-hitter like Tszyu.
Tszyu-Judah is an intriguing matchup. It should happen and it could go either way.
Next up for Tszyu is the mandatory Julio Cesar Chavez, which isn't a very smart fight for Chavez to take. Yes, he's a great fighter and a great fighter may always have one last great fight left, but with Chavez it seems to be too risky a chance to take. If he wins, he scores a wondrous upset. If he loses, which is the most likely scenario, it could be catastrophic for Chave'z health. Anyone who follows boxing I'm sure finds it a difficult task to forget how Willy Wise, a non-puncher, had Chavez wobbling all over the ring and won an easy 10 round decision over Chavez. What would a power-hitter with Tszyu's tenacity do to an old Chavez? Too depressing to think about.
A year or two ago, Tszyu-Chavez may have been a great matchup. Chavez was declining, but still proving to be a competitive fighter who was beat only by De La Hoya and Frankie Randall. It's impossible to see Chavez the same way after a one-sided defeat to Wise. It's time for Chavez to hang them up.
Here's to Tszyu-Judah, NOT Tszyu-Chavez. Wishful thinking.
Vassily Jirov vs. Saul Montana was good stuff. Montana was always there in the fight. Jirov was connecting with his right jab and left hand, but Montana was nonchalant.
In the 7th round, Montana cracked Jirov with a stunning left hand that had Jirov wobbly, but just as Montana was about to go to work and try and finsih Jirov off, he slipped. The referee intervened and wiped Montana's gloves off, giving Jirov a precious second or two to recover. But Montana went back to work anyway on the still shaky-legged Jirov, but Jirov would dodge, move his head, throw his right jab and fight back.
The round would end and would go to Montana on most everyone's scorecard, but Jirov would eliminate the scorecard factor by stopping Montana by 9th round TKO. Montana was hurt by a left, his arms went down to his sides as he walked over to the ropes. Jirov then unloaded several severe shots to the head that prompted the stoppage. Montana collapsed as the ref held onto him and waved it off.
There might be speculation as to the extra second or two was significant in the 7th when the referee intervened at Montana's slip, but I don't think it was. Jirov, while shaky, didn't look seriously hurt, but I still think the ref should've allowed Montana to get right back and fight without wiping his gloves off. The ref probably made the right call in terms of being "by the book", but I thought it was perhaps an uninspiring decision on his part. I would've allowed Montana to continue his assault.
A stirring fight, and good win for Jirov, who is always interesting to watch. Time to match him up against Gomez or Tiozzo. Should be outstanding.
It seems that Robbie Peden and David Santos are going to fight in February and this is very exciting for me.
For one thing, I've had the good fortune to watch both of these fighters in person at ringside and I can tell you firsthand that both come to fight and both are agressive.
For Peden, this is a big step up. He's 15-0 going against Santos who has 30+ fights.
Peden fought an undercard bout against Eloy Ortiz in November on the undercard of the Joel Casamayor bout that I covered for "Boxing World." He flattened Ortiz with a devestating right hand in which the ref didn't even bother to count.
Santos is coming off a gutty and very valiant defeat against Joel Casamayor in which he gave Casamayor his toughest test. Santos constantly put pressure on Casamayor and was constantly launching his right hand at Joel.
I had the opportunity to interview both fighters, both are extremely cool people, so I wish them both luck.
Hopefully, this magnificent matchup won't fall through.
To find out more about Robbie Peden, go to my "In-Depth" section to see the story I did on him especially for my website. If you want to see the story I did on Casamayor-Santos, where I got to interview both men after the bout, sit tight because I'll reprint the story in this site soon.
There isn't a lot you can say about Tyson-Francis the fight, but it was nice to see Tyson look somewhat like he did in the old days. That one uppercut that landed on the chin was superb and very picturesque. And there were no acts of violence, outside of boxing of course, committed by Tyson. After the fight, Tyson was cool. He was respectful to everyone involved with the fight. He even apologized to Jim Grey and shook his hand.
One thing I always liked about Tyson was that no matter what, he was always objective and honest about his self-evaluations after a fight. After he lost to Holyfield the first time, he didn't make any excuses: "I just take my hat off to him, he just fought a great fight." After Francis, Tyson admitted that he was still rusty and that it might be a while before he was ready. We'll see.
It is nice to have a seemingly normal Tyson back in the ring though. When he's like this, he's easily the most exciting fighter in the world, and one of the most destructive. God forbid, Tyson goes back to losing his cool, it was great seeing him look like his old self against Francis.
Lets just hope Tyson keeps his head together. For his sake.
There were no surprises when Mosley blew Wise out in 3 rounds. Mosley did what was expected in beating his opponent.
The fight was a gross mismatch and a waste of everyone's time. The only winner was Wise who received his biggest paycheck. We didn't learn anything new about Mosley that we don't already know: he can look impressive against mediocre opposition.
Mosley's "reasoning" for this bout was that Wise fought on even terms with Derrell Coley. Talk about runabout ways of making a match legitimate.
Many of my contemporaries argue that De La Hoya took easy fights at Welterweight before he stepped up to Quartey and Trinidad, but there's no comparison between De La Hoya and Mosley.
De La Hoya has fought infinitely more quality opponents than Mosley and keep in mind that they're about the same age and have about as many fights. It's time for Mosley to step up. He's had more than his own share of easy fights. And yes, while DLH has occasional easy fights, you'll notice that he takes them after having fought difficult fights.
DLH fought Chavez, Gonzalez and Whitaker and then Kamau. He's fighting Coley after fighting Quartey, Carr, and Trinidad in a row. Call me biased against DLH, but I was the first to criticize DLH when he stated he didn't want a rematch with Quartey and when he granted Chavez a rematch when he should've been fighting higher quality opposition.
If Mosley gets the DLH match, more power to him, but tonight's fight against Wise served no purpose other than to showcase Mosley beating up on a sacrificial lamb. It would've been a lot better if Mosley had taken on Vince Phillips as originally planned or if he had Vernon Forrest.
On a bright side of things, I always enjoy watching Mosley. He's an exciting fighter with wondrous potential for greatness.
Hardcore Mosley fans should take my criticism as a compliment because I strongly feel that Mosley should fight better fights and can be successful. But ranking Mosley a top 5 P4P having fought very limited fighters is overkill because he's not fighting the high caliber of opposition that some other boxing champions are fighting.
While David Izon deserves all the credit in the world for hanging tough, it was pretty clear that Derrick Jefferson was beaten by his own lack of stamina.
Jefferson was pounding out a lopsided victory over Izon when his stamina simply took a nosedive and he suddenly began collapsing from his own weight. The man couldn't even bring himself to stand.
Meanwhile Izon, who wasn't doing anything offensively to turn the fight around, won simply because Jefferson ran out of gas.
I think Izon made sense when he said that Jefferson was starting to tire out against Maurice Harris, and that Harris would've won, but got careless and lost.
Jefferson needs to learn to pace himself better and seriously work on stamina. I haven't seen a top fighter with such poor stamina in a while.
It says something about Jefferson's lack of stamina when by the time Larry Merchant comes for the post-fight interview and Jefferson is still huffing and puffing into the microphone as if he just finished sprinting laps.
What can be said of Roy Jones-David Telesco?
Jones completely dominated Telesco over 12 rounds to gain a lopsided decision. He beat Telesco with his right hand all night and there was a lot of talking.
Arthur Mercante Sr. justifiably threatened to start taking off points for the excessive talking when the HBO team began to state that Frazier-Ali I, a fight Mercante refereed, had a lot of talking, but Mercante never said he would take points off in that fight.
This isn't even a comparison. Frazier and Ali were brutally beating each others brains out and would talk in between deep breaths and hard fought exchanges, but it never got to the point where Jones and Telesco let it go. Jones and Telesco would let precious seconds of the fight just evaporate as they waited on the other to make their move.
They talked more than they fought.
I also have to give credit for George Foreman for taking a stand in what he believes in when he said: "If you think that's ring generalship then you got a problem." Foreman is usually ever the diplomat so it's nice to see him take a stand when he does.
Some boxing fans call him blatantly biased, but to me it's nothing more than personal dislike for George. When it comes to boxing, no one can boast the experience in the ring that Big George holds. He's more qualified than anyone to say anything in any broadcast team because he's been in the ring for over 70 fights, many of whom have been the best fighters of all time.
While he occasionally says things that don't seem to make sense, if you listen closely, you'll find that they do. The bottom line is that when Big George talks, everyone should listen.
As for the fight itself, Roy Jones simply dominated. Watching fighters like Jones in action you always appreicate the art which they practice. Jones landed a beautiful right hand at will while Telesco stood there mostly, and simply marveled at his opponent.
Still, Telesco isn't the best fighter in the Light-Heavyweight division, so I don't know what people were expecting.
If anything, Telesco took Roy's shots and proved that kind of resiliency, but other than that, Telesco didn't give observers any incentive to want to watch him again. Even if his efforts were futile, had Telesco fought more and still lost a lopsided decision, he could've raised his stock. Last month, Antwun Echols lost a lopsided decision to the best fighter in his weight class in Bernard Hopkins, but Echols still rose his stock by giving it his all and making the rounds close and intersting even though he was clearly losing most of the time.
Now, I want to see what the rest of the middleweight division can do against someone of Echols' ability and desire whereas I could care less if I ever see David Telesco fight again.
There was some slight controversy surrounding the decision between heavyweight journeymen Ross Puritty and Frankie Swindell.
To tell you the truth, it shouldn't really be seen as such a controversy. The first 4 rounds were really close, and it wasn't until later in the fight that the rounds became more definitive.
However, 97-93 in favor of Puritty as one judge had it, sounds way too good to be true even though he closed the show. It wasn't an action-packed fight, but it was a close fight and an interesting one too.
I thought Swindell just edged Puritty for the decision, and here's what my scorecard looked like:
1) 10-9 2) 10-9 3) 9-10 4) 9-10 5) 9-10 6) 10-9 7) 9-10 8) 9-10 9) 9-10 10) 10-9Final tally of 94-96 in favor of Swindell.
When it comes to practicing the "Sweet Science", no one does it sweeter than Johnny Tapia. Tapia is not a knockout puncher, but he still exudes an enormous aura of excitement when he steps into the ring.
His determination in the ring is unsurpassed, and his movements in the ring are magnets to the eye, or as some of my contemporaries will say: "eye candy."
Tapia thoroughly dominated a good champion in Julio Eliecer Julio and convincingly took his WBO title away.
Julio had his moments. Surely, he rocked Tapia sporadically with his arsenal of heavy artillery. But more often than not, Tapia proved his superiority by dramatically changing the tide whenever Julio looked like he was on to something. Tapia would constantly snap Julio's head back with his jab. Tapia's flurries would dazzle Julio and Tapia's vicious attacks would make him crawl into a shell.
With this win, Tapia proved that he is still on top of his game and that he can outbox his opponents at will.
Paulie Ayala will need to milk the title he took from Tapia for what it's worth because on the night of their rematch, Tapia will reclaim what is his.
Ayala, who deserves every credit in the world, will be tough and determined, but he will lack the know-how to beat a mentally prepared and focused Tapia.
Tapia lost his title to Ayala by abandoning the Science he has mastered in favor of slugging. What we, and probably Tapia, have forgotten is how exciting the Science can be when done right. Thanks to Johnny, against Julio, he would remind us just how sweet our Science can be.
I'm not going to mince words. Sheika is becoming more and more disappointing as his career moves along. He got a remarkably generous decision against Demetrius Davis two years ago, officially loses his next fight, follows them up with KO wins over questionable opposition and allowed Simon Brown, a completely shot fighter, to last the distance.
When you think of "shot fighters" these days, you probably think of several fighters, but especially Tim Witherspoon and Simon Brown.
Well if Tim Witherspoon is shot, Brown is a corpse.
One thing you'll notice about Sheika is that he's especially sloppy if he doesn't get his man in 2 rounds.
But I'm the first to admit, I'll be right there when Sheika fights. He can deliver some memorable, picturesque knockouts and you never know what might happen at one of his fights.
Still, Sheika has disappointed and is destined to become a 2nd rate fighter if he doesn't improve. Allowing a shot Brown to last the distance isn't the way to proving your worth.
What the hell was Brown doing there anyway?
It's getting harder and harder to defend Naseem Hamed these days.
Just how do you justify fighting a past his prime Junior Jones for your next opponent with guys like Freddie Norwood, Juan Manuel Marquez, Derrick Gainer, Erik Morales and Luisito Espinosa all in the same vincity?
Hamed is blowing his prime by avoiding the elite and dodging and opting to take on solid, but lesser opposition.
Hamed proved a lot by beating good fighters like Tom Johnson a few years back, but other fighters do come along. Hamed is clearly interested in the money only and shows no sign of caring for the sport that helped him become a very rich man.
Unlike some fans, Hamed's brash, showy style never bothered me. I liked that he was loud, stylish and cocky...because he backed it up. Now, it's a different story. Now, Hamed has just fallen into the category where he's all talk and no show, and worst of all: boring.
I mean, was that Cesar Soto fight a cure for insomnia or what? This is definitely not the Hamed who beat Tom Johnson and Kevin Kelley. Even the whole ring walk thing has worn thing, particularly because his fights are so lame.
Hamed says that his idol is Ali, but you'd never suspect that if you look at the way he's choosing his opponents. Ali was extremely cocky and loud, but he always backed up what he said and he fought the best available opposition. He said, "I'm the greatest!", but he showed you why through his efforts and accomplishments in the ring.
Nowadays, fighters like Hamed say, "I'm the greatest!...but I don't have to prove it." Hamed can say whatever he wants but that's what his actions are telling us. And to be honest, on top of being frustrating, it's also quite sad.
It's easy to go out there and be a showoff, but it's a much more difficult thing to prove it the way Ali did.
I think Hamed is one of the most gifted fighters in the sport right now and he could do so much more than he's been doing.
With all due respect to Jones, a fight with him now doesn't prove much because Jones hasn't shown the boxing world that he's worthy of a shot. If you've seen Jones' latest fights, you know what I'm talking about.
I guess Kevin Kelley really scared Hamed out of fighting the top guys. How else do you justify all the dodging he's been doing since?
One thing is certain: Hamed isn't giving the boxing world any incentive to treat him like the great fighter he can seemingly become.
For the first time in his career, Bailey has to go a few tough rounds with a determined opponent. Hector Lopez gave Bailey a good fight, taking a lot of power shots and punishment to the body only to come back to score effectively with some of his punches.
By the mid-rounds, Bailey was visibly tired and breathing hard. This was clearly Bailey's toughest fight to date after easily dispatching of 19 straight opponents by KO, inluding Carlos "Bolillo" Gonzalez.
Bailey would gather up his will and win by 9th round KO.
So what does Bailey take from this? Not every fighter will be easily overcome and he needs to go back to the gym and seriously work on stamina.
His punching power, speed, combinations, jab and will to win are all alive and well. The only thing that remains untested is his chin, which according to Don Simpson in Miami, (who oversaw him in the amateurs) says he has got a good one.
Should he successfully improve his stamina, Bailey will undoubtably conquer the Junior Welterweight division.
Obed Sullivan is a good fighter when he wants to be and he clearly wasn't when he faced Vitali Klitschko in Germany. Sullivan took some heavy punches from Klitschko and hung tough until he quit in round 10 out of a seemingly serious eye injury, but he never offered anything in terms of offense.
Sullivan was there for the taking and Klitschko did not go for a KO. An inspired Sullivan was able to give Michael Grant a very tough, close fight and Sullivan was unable or unwilling to do that against Klitschko and Klitschko was unable or unwilling to go for the KO.
I was also very surprised that given the hype of the Klitschko brothers how amateurish Vitali looked throwing the jab. He would land a fair number of effective right hands and he seems to have a sometimes ok left jab, but from what I've seen, I think Andrew Golota and Lennox Lewis would eat Vitali up and spit him out.
After seeing incredibly overhyped Wladmimir and Vitali Klitschko, I'm surprised that Lennox Lewis and Andrew Golota aren't given more credit for their ability.
I think Holyfield, Lewis, Golota, Grant, Tua, and maybe even Franz Both would beat either Klitschko. The only way Golota, who I hear is considered for a fight with one of the Klitschko's, would lose to these guys is if he beats himself by quitting or DQing himself.
This is the first time I see Vitali Klitschko fighting at any length. The first time I saw him was when I was at his USA debut live in Miami, when he blew out Ricardo Kennedy. So far, I'm not impressed.
I keep wondering when Shane Mosley is going to show that he's worthy of being a "Sugar." His next fight is against Willy Wise. With all due respect to Wise and his upset over Chavez, I don't think he's a worthy opponent for Mosley. At least not yet. Does anyone here think that a fight with Wise is going to prove anything?
What I don't understand is how a lot of the boxing media continues to rate Mosley in the top 5 in the world when he really only fought 2 tough opponents in Philip Holiday and Wilfredo Rivera.
De La Hoya fights Quartey, Carr and Trinidad in a single year and he's "Chicken De La Hoya"; Mosley fights Wilfredo Rivera, Willy Wise and an overmatched John Brown and he's "Sugar Shane." Will someone explain this to me?
Trinidad: Talking Tough
Felix "Tito" Trinidad, (pictured right exchanging punches with Oscar De La Hoya), is starting to talk the talk, saying that he wants to fight David Reid and William Joppy next year with possibly a fight with Roy Jones in the future.
Supposeably, Trinidad-Reid is scheduled for March 4th of 2000.
If this fight materializes, credit has to be given to Tito for following the biggest fight of his career with another tough fight.
Reid was the only Olympic Gold Medalist in the last Olympics and he has been making a name for himself by beating some tough fighters. Reid has under 20 pro fights and already he has beaten James Coker, Simon Brown, Robert Frazier, Keith Mullings, and he dethroned Laurent Boudouani. Reid is known for being very quick with a good right hand.
This is a fight that Trinidad can lose. He's fighting a bigger fighter who is quick and can hit hard although Reid has looked vulnerable in his more recent outings.
Trinidad himself didn't look a million bucks either coming off a questionable victory over De La Hoya. In fact, I personally thought De La Hoya was flat out robbed and that Trinidad shouldn't be walking around with the title.
I think De La Hoya will beat him convincingly if a rematch were to happen, but at this point, it doesn't look like the rematch is going to happen. Still, you have to give Trinidad credit for seemingly chasing the best fighters in the Jr. Middleweight division and making the fight with Reid. It's especially gratifying because Trinidad had fought mostly mediocre opposition up until the De La Hoya fight, so it's nice to see him continue the trend of wanting to fight the best.
A fight with Joppy, the middleweight champion, is another tremendous matchup that could also go either way. However, I think a fight with Roy Jones is unrealistic and is a bunch of talk because Jones is much bigger than he is. Personally, the absolute only way I see Jones losing is if Jones drained himself losing weight to meet Trinidad halfway.
For the record, I think a fight with Reid could go either way, but I'd probably pick a bigger Joppy to beat Trinidad at this point.
I understand that Floyd Mayweather, one of my favorite fighters, is now hanging out with a bad crowd. Specifically, he's hanging out with former Tyson manager, Rory Halloway. This crowd of hooligans has now started showering Floyd with gifts.
Needless to say, I think they're up to no good and that Floyd should immediately cease relationships with these guys.
Need proof that Halloway is bad for Mayweather? You need to look no further than Mike Tyson.
Ever notice how Tyson was always gracious in defeat as in victory? When he lost to Douglas and Holyfield the first time, Tyson was extremely gracious. When they asked Tyson about the headbutts after the first Holyfield fight, Tyson replied: "I take my hat off to him [Holyfield]. He's a great fighter. He headbutt me, but I probably headbutt him too."
Interestingly, after the second Holyfield fight in which Tyson was DQ'd, Tyson's response was: "He headbutt me for two fights!" And lets not forget that Halloway seemed to have no problem with Tyson's biting of Holyfield's ears as evidenced by his post-fight interview with Jim Grey. My guess, ladies and gentlemen, is that the Tyson camp of the time royally screwed with Tyson's head and brainwashed him into thinking that Holyfield purposely headbutt him. The result of it was that Tyson had a complete mental breakdown, disgraced himself, and wound up getting suspended from boxing. Tyson has been unstable ever since.
Now, since I've named Halloway specifically, let me make it clear that I don't blame Halloway by himself. He may have nothing to do with Tyson's downward spiral, but he certainly didn't help Tyson's situation. The Tyson camp of the time was a large group of gangsters and I wouldn't trust a single one of them with a box of Snickers bars.
If Mayweather continues to ignore those responsible for helping him become a champion, like his father, and continues to follow that group of troublemakers, I predict Mayweather will lose his title and end up getting upset by a lesser fighter.
For Floyd's sake, I hope he's not seriously considering becoming buddy-buddy with those guys.
Fernando Vargas emerged victorious in easily his toughest fight so far, a fight that Vargas could've lost.
It was a very close and very tough fight for Vargas, but Vargas did what he had to do to win. He was facing a determined southpaw who uncharacteristically became the agressor against Vargas. Wright was backing Vargas up for a lot of the fight, scoring effectively with his right jab and left hand.
Vargas didn't allow Wright's determination to frustrate him. Vargas showed a lot of patience and heart in this fight and scored effectively with his own power shots to the body and head.
It developed into an extremely even bout with both men fighting a good fight.
I scored the bout 115-114 in favor of Vargas, but could've seen Wright taking the fight. Wright said he was robbed, but I disagree. Yes, Wright could've been given the decision, but the fight was very even and could've gone either way. There was no robbery. Some boxing insiders would've argued that he didn't take the title away from the champion and would've given the close rounds to the champion. I personally don't do that, but I still gave the fight to Vargas by a point.
Both fighters were very impressive. Wright increased his stock with an outstanding effort while some may criticize Vargas for eeking out the win.
I give praise to both fighters equally. Wright, for stepping up and giving a gutsy performance and Vargas, for showing the determination and patience of an experienced veteran with under 20 fights as well as for closing the show like a true champ.
There was nothing bad you could say about either fighter. It was a close fight with both fighters giving it their all. There were no real losers in this fight.
My scorecard read:
1)10-9
2)9-10
3)10-9
4)10-9
5)10-10
6)9-10
7)10-9
8)9-10
9)9-10
10)10-9
11)9-10
12)10-9
Final tally of 115-114 for Fernando Vargas
Why is it that everytime a fighter with tremendous potential arrives on the scene, he quickly begins to slack off or do something stupid?
Hopefully this isn't the case with Diego "Chico" Corrales.
According to the HBO telecast, there were rumors about questionable preparation on the part of Corrales.
You'd never know that from looking at Corrales fight John Brown.
Against Brown, Corrales was very dominant and would prevail by unanimous decision. I myself scored it 116-112 like two of the judges did, (the third judge scored it 117-111).
Hopefully, Corrales will take his training seriously in the future because he can't afford to fool around with the prospect of fighting Floyd Mayweather in the future.
John Brown, as usual, fought a brave fight and won a few rounds on my scorecard. You can always count on Brown for a display of guts in the ring. Here's a 5'3 guy coming at 6 foot tall fighter and holding his own.
I thought the fight was closer than HBO's Harold Lederman felt. Brown won his share of rounds, but even so, a decisive victory for Corrales.
Oh, and a tip of my hat to Corrales for fighting tough John Brown after winning a tough title winning fight against Roberto Garcia only a few weeks prior.
I think Michael Grant is a very talented heavyweight and has accomplished a lot in a short period of time. However, I wasn't very impressed by what I saw when he beat Andrew Golota.
You have to give Grant all the credit in the world for hanging tough and for coming back to knock Golota down, but I don't give him too much credit for the win.
Why? First of all, let me say that Golota didn't lose by what Grant did but by what Golota himself did, which was to inexplicably quit. Golota has a history of freaking out in fights, which have led him to lose fights he was winning.
Golota convincingly beat Riddick Bowe twice and dealt Bowe the worst beatings of his career only to "lose" the fights by disqualifying himself because of excessive lowblows. Golota then has a title shot against Lewis, freaks out under the pressure of the event, and cracks. Later it is found out that Golota had something injected into his knee.
In this latest debacle, Golota was convincingly beating Grant over the course of 10 rounds and as he did with Bowe, Golota was dealing Grant a beating that no one before had come close to doing. Golota then gets knocked down, but gets up with absolutely no problem. You can tell Golota is fine physically and abruptly decides to quit.
Watching Golota in the Bowe, Lewis and Grant fights have to be among the saddest and most frustrating affairs I've seen in boxing. To see a fighter with so much talent just blow it all away like that is truly depressing. Golota has the ability to slug and box. He's got a great left jab and good right hand. He's got power and a good chin. From a technical standpoint, Golota has the whole package. Yet, his mental instability in the ring has denied him of living up to the greatness that his skills could lead him to. To think that Golota could've been the heavyweight champion of the world right now speaks volumes about the talent he has squandered.
Andrew Golota now has 4 losses on his record, all 4 losses come at the hands of Andrew Golota.
Lennox Lewis proved a lot of people wrong again as he became England's first undisputed heavyweight champion since Bob Fitzsimmons over a century ago.
To his credit, Lewis fought another intelligent and more exciting fight than the first time. Lewis also added credibility to his suspect chin as he survived every Holyfield onslaught. Holyfield always had an ability to knock the best chins in the division down, or seriously rattle them. Only the best chins have survived a Holyfield onslaught and Lewis sucked it up, gave as good as he got and outpointed Holyfield.
Holyfield showed vast improvement from the last fight. Holyfield won several rounds decisively and made a lot of the rounds extremely close. He wobbled Lewis several times and landed a good amount of jabs and powershots. However, there were several times that he had an opportunity to land, but was unable to pull the trigger. An unfortunate sign of a fighter in the twilight of his career.
In the end, I scored the fight 116-113 in favor of Lewis. I thought Lewis could've been more gracious in the post-fight interview. Instead, he didn't give Holyfield any respect when it came to the powershots, dismissing his own wobbling as "just playing."
Holyfield was extremely classy in defeat, saying that he wouldn't take anything away from Lewis and made no excuses. I was also impressed with the way Holyfield thanked God. How many athletes praise God in defeat as well as in victory? Not very many. If this is Evander's last fight, he walked away larger than life with an outstanding effort, a classy demeanor and a world full of fans.
Some have suggested that Holyfield eeked it out, but I don't think he did. Certainly it was a closer fight than the last time, but I think Lewis deserved the decision.
Still, I wouldn't put it past a fighter of Evander's greatness to win the title a fourth time. Who knows...?
Funny how all the "superfights" that we were all salivating for last year have mostly turned up this year, only to fall way short of expectations. It seems that boxing's biggest draws have all been involved in controverisial decisions or lackluster fights. De La Hoya, Holyfield, Trinidad and now Hamed and Tyson have all been involved in what the casual fan make call scandolous affairs.
This year, the casual and hardcore fan have been played for a fool. It'll probably make the casual fan think twice before dedicating a weekend night to boxing rather than enjoy the nightlife.
The Hamed fight was a borefest and Tyson is again plagued by controversey. To his credit, Hamed seemed just too superior for Soto. So much so that it made for a boring fight. It wasn't even competitive. Still, Hamed should avoid wrestling theatrics in the future. It makes for boring fights and is unsportsmanlike. I expect better for one of the best fighters in the world.
Tyson showed vast improvement against Norris in terms of upper body movement and defense compared to the Botha fight. I think a "no-contest" was the right call because only Tyson knows whether it was intentional or not and these sort of things happen in boxing a lot. The difference is that the fighter fouled normally doesn't dislocate his knee on the way down. It was a bad omen.
Once again, boxing is the laughing stock of the sports community. It's getting to the point where boxing has very little credibility as a sport and the lack of media coverage is a direct result of it. These money making draws, such as Tyson and De La Hoya, are the gateway between the sport and casual fans. Boxing needs these guys to keep bringing in fans, so when they fail to deliver, it hurts the sports' potential following immensely. Not that Tyson and De La Hoya are to blame, mind you, but the fact that these high profile fights are failing to entertain drive fans away and therefore hurts boxing's image. Think I'm overreacting? CBS Sports has a forum entitled: "Has boxing lost its credibility?" Boxing's image keeps getting worse and worse, my friends.
I just hope most people tuned in to watch the Erik Morales-Wayne McCullough and Diego Corrales-Roberto Garcia fights on the undercard of Hamed-Soto and Tyson-Norris respectively, because the Morales and Corrales fights are true examples of boxing on a good night.
I actually had Wayne McCullough winning a close fight against Erik Morales with a score of 116-113. I was very impressed with the way Wayne would come back with many effective punches right after absorbing Morales' best. This is why I leaned toward Wayne in many of the close rounds. And by the way, I do feel that this was a very close fight, so I won't argue vehemently that Erik got the decision. Certainly I feel that, regardless of the winner, it was a closer fight than the HBO commentating team made it out to be. Congratulations to Morales on winning a tough, hard fought points victory.
I was very tied up toward the end of the week, so I was unable to post my final prediction for Corrales-Garcia like I wanted to do. For the record, I ultimately predicted Corrales would win. Dennis' "Boxtalk" site has been holding a fight predictions contest; every week or so, Dennis updates the section, showing who picked who. You'll find that I did in fact pick Corrales.
Shane Mosley struggled heavily against Wilfredo Rivera and was looking at an embarrassing draw coming into the 10th round according to the judges scorecards. I also had the fight even and I thought Mosley needed a convincing 10th round to eek out the decision.
Mosley deserves all the credit in the world for scoring the KO when no one has ever been able to knock Rivera out. However, it's very hard to praise Mosley after this fight.
Mosley landed bombs the entire night and it 10 rounds for him to dispose of Rivera. By comparison, Oscar De La Hoya had a far easier time against Rivera even though he scored the victory on a cut instead of a KO. Still, DLH easily beat Rivera and put Rivera on his butt with a right hand during their fight while Mosley-Rivera was a war that was very close.
Whoever would've thought the so-called "Sugar" Shane would've nearly been upset by Wilfredo Rivera in his Welterweight debut? Rivera is a good Welterweight, but if Mosley had been in against a fighter like DLH, Felix Trinidad or Ike Quartey that can punch, he would've been in deep waters. It's a good thing Mosley didn't get the shot at De La Hoya that he was clamoring for or he would've been knocked out.
Mosley has a lot of potential, but I think people are jumping the gun and overrating him. He hasn't beaten a top 5 fighter since his lackluster decision win over Philip Holiday. Since then, he has faced overmatched or past their prime opposition. Now, in his biggest fight against a solid Welterweight, he nearly gets upset on points. I think Mosley has tremendous talent and could grow into a successful Welterweight, but I'd pick De La Hoya, Trinidad or Quartey to beat him at this point and probably by knockout. If DLH-Mosley happens in December like a rumor suggested, I'd look for DLH to knock Mosley out in about the 9th round.
I'm pleased that ESPN2's Friday Night Fights has been putting together better fights as of late.
I wrote an article about the show's failure to bring good competitive fights and it looks like after a year of being on the air, they have started to turn that around.
They brought us the rematch between Vinny Pazienza and Dana Rosenblatt and last Friday, they borught us another evenly matched fight: Junior Jones-Tracy Harris Patterson.
Good work, guys.
I was surprised how well DLH outboxed Trinidad in the first 9 rounds of the fight. I thought DLH would have more trouble with Tito than that even though I thought he would win. His footwork, jab, adaptability, defense, body shots was very impressive. There were times that he reminded me of a young Ali with his footwork and flurry.
I was surprised how ineffective Tito was. He landed the harder shots and DLH took them very well, adding more credibility to his chin.
I thought DLH won the first 8 or so rounds, but there were about two rounds that could've gone to Trinidad. Obviously, DLH threw rds 10-12 away, which by the judges scorecards meant DLH lost not by what Trinidad did, but by what he DIDN'T do.
DLH was easily outboxing Tito whenever he damn well pleased and then he blew the last 3 rounds, which is HIGHLY uncharacteristic for DLH. Maybe he was tired, maybe he wasn't. All I know, is that DLH was more tired and was hit with harder shots in the Quartey fight and he still managed to unleash a furious rally in the 12th round of that fight.
I honestly can't see Tito winning that fight. At best, or rather after giving Tito the benefit of the doubt, Tito deserved a draw. As it is, I scored it 117-112 for DLH.
I also can't buy the notion that DLH did to Tito what Whitaker did to DLH. In DLH-Whitaker, Whitaker was throwing pittypat, ran and showboated while DLH landed one power punch for every few pittypat jabs that Whitaker landed. In this fight, yes, DLH was more of a defensive fighter, but he committed to the jabbing and flurries unlike Whitaker in his fight with DLH. DLH would also landed more effective body shots than Trinidad. In fact, I can't remember a single significant body shot from Tito, who was known for the bodypunches prior to the fight.
DLH also proved what I've been screaming about the last few days: HE HAS AN UNDERRATED RIGHT HAND. DLH also displayed great defense, making Tito miss for much of the fight, which was nice.
It was nice to see DLH prove to be as much a sportman in losing as he was in victory.
My reaction to the decision wasn't unlike DLH's. I smiled. And it was the type of ironic, almost cynical smile that said to me, that's boxing for you. It almost sounds to good to be true. Trinidad wins fight #1 only to set up the rematches even though, in my mind, DLH won a convincing boxing match. I continued to smile for a while afterward...
Finally, I'm convinced DLH won this fight. I always thought that, despite his talent, Tito was overrated because of his lack of superfight experience. DLH easily outboxed Tito whenever he wanted to and still gave Tito little pressure. The only pressure Tito had in the ring was that he was behind on points and even then he was very ineffective and won the last 3 rounds on sheer activity.
DLH said he was taking a vacation and damn it he deserves one. Right now, even though I know he won't get it, he's undoubtably the fighter of the year. My scorecard for this fight read:
Final tally of 117-112 in favor of Oscar De La Hoya.
It's gotten to the point where fans see a good matchup on FNF and automatically know the fight won't actually take place come fight time.
So I ask: What exactly is up with ESPN 2 Friday Night Fights? This is the umpteenth that they have had a problem keeping together a good matchup. They've been around, what, a year or so and they keep having problem scheduling decent matchups? These guys need to get on the ball because they've become a joke in terms of matchmaking amongst boxing fans. They started out pretty good, giving us Golota-Witherspoon, Davey Hilton-Stephane Ouellet, now what?
Steve Ottke-Thomas Tate, the best matchup either on Friday the 3rd or Saturday the 4th, has happened right under our noses and no one in the US is picking it up. Why didn't ESPN 2 showcase that fight? ESPN 2 has been showcasing Tate in his last few fights, talking about Tate's clamoring for a title shot and the good competition he has been facing. In fact, I don't think there was a single Thomas Tate fight that was not broadcast since FNF started out, (which by the way is a good thing). Yet, now that Tate has his title shot, the fight was nowhere to be seen in the US.*
Very few memorable fights have turned up on this network in the last year that FNF has been around. Needless to say that these guys have been failing miserably at their jobs in terms of matchmaking. The Thomas Tate-Merqui Sosa stands alone in a long year of mostly mediocre matches.
To be fair, I enjoy their attention to Boxing current events, their in studio analysis with Max Kellerman and Brian Kenney, their "Classic KO" footage; I like the teaming of Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas, so the show definitely has some very important strong points, but the key to making Boxing interesting is a decent matchup every now and then and this is the one critical point where Friday Night Fights is taking a nose dive in terms of credibility as a serious Boxing network.
I for one hope to see Friday Night Fights overcome this problem because it is a very good boxing show when it comes to everything else, EXCEPT good matchmaking. And as I'm sure we all are aware, good matchmaking is what boxing is all about. As it is, ESPN 2 is giving us the Football equivalent of the Denver Broncos versus the Seattle Seahawks.
* According to FightNews.com, Ottke was awared a points victory when he suffered a cut that was supposeably caused by a butt. It was a controversial call because Tate had landed a big right hand before the cut could be seen. The fight took place in Ottke's home turf.
Reid W12 Mullings
