Ike Quartey is scheduled to fight Pernell Whitaker on April 25. The fight, which will give Whitaker a chance to win a seventh world title (not to mention a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya), will be televised on HBO. This should prove to be an excellent match-up, a boxer versus a puncher. Both fighters are coming off less than impressive performances (on October 17). Quartey was dropped twice by Jose Luis Lopez en route to a controversial majority draw, and Whitaker clowned his way to a decision victory over Andrei Pestriav. Quartey, however, didn't deserve all of the negative the press that followed the fight. Quartey dominated the fight (usually with just his jab), except for the 2nd, 11th and 12th rounds (Quartey was dropped in rounds 2 and 11). At the very most, that gave Lopez three 10-8 rounds. Other than that, Lopez continuously found himself at the end of Quartey's jab. That would give Quartey the victory by 114-111, at least in my opinion.Don't expect to see many "big" Heavyweight fights this year. However, '98 should show us who will be the champions of the future. Look for the return of David Tua and Andrew Golota, who, despite recent losses, are still two of the most promising Heavyweights. On the other hand, Tua's conquerer, Ike Ibeabuchi, might not be boxing this year. Instead, his next fight may be one of the un-sanctioned type; a court battle. The rumor that Ibeabuchi is in trouble with the law, appears to be true. While I'm on the subject of promising HW's in trouble with law, I might as well mention that Jo-el Scott is being released in June. Also, keep a look out for undefeated Lawrence Clay-Bey. Clay-Bey, now 7-0 (6 KO's), is coming off a fine victory over previously undefeated Mario Cawley (21-0). In Addition, HBO is putting together another "Night of the Young Heavyweights." Unlike the first one, the sequel will showcase three widely known Heavyweights; Michael Grant, Chris Byrd and David Tua. It is scheduled for May.
Here's a rough schedule of upcoming HW fights in the first half of '98.
March: David Tua-Jeff Wooden (USA), Herbie Hide-Orlin Norris, Oleg Maskaev- Courage Tshabalala, Lennox Lewis-Shannon Briggs (HBO).
April: Tim Witherspoon-Jimmy Thunder (USA), Andrew Golota-TBA (USA).
May: Michael Grant-TBA (HBO), Chris Byrd-TBA (HBO), David Tua-TBA (HBO), Evander Holyfield-Frans Botha (PPV).
Heavyweight prospect/contender Hasim Rahman continues to win, but fails to impress. After sleepwalking through recent victories over Obed Sullivan and Jesse Fergusson, it's doubtful that HBO will continue to broadcast his future fights. Rahman can definately punch when he wants to, but he has shown himself to be a terrible finisher. Although he has a good number of kayoes, only one has come against a quality foe; Jeff Wooden (who also happens to have a glass jaw). Rahman has hurt every decent fighters that he has faced (Sullivan, Fergusson, Berbick and Purity), but he has always let them off the hook. Unless Hasim learns how to finish off good opponents, he'll probably never reach the next level.
After the Evander Holyfield-Lennox Lewis fight was scrapped because of Holyfield's demand for more money, both champions have already gone on with their careers. Lennox Lewis is scheduled to defend against Shannon Briggs in March and Holyfield will defend against Frans Botha in May. The Lewis-Briggs fight will finally settle the "Lineal Title" debate, but it should prove to be mismatch at the least. For now I'll pick Lewis by first round KO, which I've only done on one occasion (Jeremy Williams-Marcus Rhode). However, the Holyfield-Botha fight will accomplish nothing. Botha is tough, but Holyfield is a good two levels above him. The Holyfield-Botha match will be fought in South Africa and Showtime will broadcast it on Pay- Per-View (good luck Showtime). While Holyfield is a marquee name, Botha is far from it. Just for the record, isn't Holyfield being a little hypocritical? I'm sure that I'll get some complaints for saying this, but Holyfield, being as religious as he is, is acting a little strange recently. First, he is allowing himself to be promoted by a two-time killer (Don King) and he is being very greedy (agreeing not to fight unless he gets $20 million). Holyfield is a great champion, but I don't think he's the "angel" everybody thinks he is.
The Duvas (Main Events) are apparantly under-looking the abilities of their heavyweight charge, Courage Tshabalala. Since being KO'd by Darroll Wilson, Tshabalala has fought only Tony LaRosa (who actually hurt him). Now, the Duva's are looking to throw him in with Oleg Maskaev in a March fight. Besides taking a giant step up in class, Tshabalala will also fight in Maskaev's backyard (Moscow). While Tshabalala has a puncher's chance, he is likely to get out-classed and knocked out. Strangely, the fight is being billed Tshabalala vs Maskaev, while it should be the other way around.
Julio Cesar Chavez is slated to fight Miguel Angel Gonzalez for the vacant WBA Junior-Welterweight crown. While Gonzalez is likely to be the favorite, the odds-makers haven't put the "Chavez Claus" in to consideration. Looking back at his fights with Pernell Whitaker and Frankie Randall (the rematch), it is hard to imagine the judges letting Chavez lose. If Gonzalez is unable to stop the aging legend, he might not like the outcome. For that reason, I'll pick Chavez by a controversial decision. By the way, the winner of this match will be forced to fight Kostya Tsyzu, who is the WBC's #1 and mandatory challenger. The WBC is putting together some good matches, for once.
Undefeated Heavyweight Prospect/Contender Ike Ibeabuchi has reportidly been arrested on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder. Supposedly, Ike kidnapped a 15-year old boy and hit him when he tried to escape. For now, this is just accusation and it hasn't been confirmed. If it does turn out to be true, this will be the second undefeated Heavyweight prospect to go jail in the last year. Jo-el Scott was the other one and he's now in jail for a couple of years.
There's a lot of good fights forming on the horizon. First, Julio Cesar Chavez will take on Miguel Angel Gonzalez on October 25th for the vacant WBC Jr. Welterweight crown. Also on the same card, Ricardo Lopez will defend his WBC/WBO Strawweight titles against the WBA Strawweight champ, Rosendo Alvarez. Then on November 8th, Evander Holyfield will fight Michael Moorer for the WBA and IBF Heavyweight championships. Next, IBF Super-Middleweight champ Charles Brewer, will probably defend against Vinny Pazienza. Considering their styles and Brewer's chin, this should be a great match. Also, there's been talk of a fight between Ike Quartey and Terry Norris before the end of the year. But Ike might fight Jose Luis Lopez beforehand. And Oscar De La Hoya, if successful against Camacho, will probably fight either Wilfredo Rivera or Patrick Charpentier in December.
Buster Douglas is going to take a big step towards a world title fight when he faces John Ruiz on October 11th. Ruiz currently holds the NABF Heavyweight title and he's ranked in the Top 10 by two of the three organizations. This fight should prove to be a very competitive match. Both fighters have good skills and technical boxing ability, not to mention excellent handspeed. While Douglas appears to have more power, but Ruiz has been punching harder in his last couple of outings (including a 22 second blow-out of Ray Anis). Although Ruiz is younger and he's defeated better competition recently, Douglas has a lot more experience. This should turn out to be a great match, but I see Douglas having a slight advantage. It's almost guaranteed that the winner will get a title shot.
George Foreman is going to be back in action in November (no official date yet), but he's not fighting Larry Holmes. Instead, he will face off against undefeated prospect, Hasim Rahman. Rahman pulled out of a scheduled August 14th bout in order to prepare for this fight. Rahman was quoted saying, "This is the chance of a lifetime. Why risk getting hurt in a meaningless fight when I can fight Foreman?" Rahman currently holds the USBA title, which he won in his last fight (against Jeff Wooden). Although Rahman is relatively unproven, he has proven to be one of the best of the heavyweight prospects. He currently stands with a record of 23-0 (20 K0's) and he has beaten the likes of Trevor Berbick, Jeff Wooden and Ross Purity. I for one, am glad that Foreman chose Rahman instead of Holmes. Unlike Holmes, Rahman should stand toe-to-toe and slug it out with Foreman. This fight should be almost a duplicate of the Foreman-Savarese fight, but it will probably be more exciting and Rahman should be able to come through with a victory.
Felix Trinidad has finally found an opponent to fight on August 23rd. Australian contender, Troy Waters, stepped in to fight Trinidad on the upcoming Pay-Per-View card promoted by Don King. Waters was the fourth opponent given the opportunity of fighting Trinidad. Terry Norris was supposed to fight him, but he split away from Don King and dropped the match. Then WBA Junior middleweight Champ Laurent Boudouani was set to defend against Trinidad, but Boudouani pulled out because of an injury. And then, former Junior middleweight champion Vincent Pettway also had to pull out because of an injury.
Shane Mosley finally got his title shot and he came out with the crown. Mosley fought undefeated IBF Lightweight Champ Phillip Holiday and clearly won the decision. Mosley started strong and dominated the early rounds, but Holiday came back and won the middle rounds. However, Mosley clearly dominated the late rounds and won via unaminous decision. Although one of the judges scored the fight an absurd 115-114, justice prevailed and Mosley was finally belted.
Johnny Tapia finally fought Danny Romero and he won by unaminous decision. This fight had everything a great fight needed and more; a bitter rivalry, a boxer versus a puncher, two fighers from the same hometown, two championships and it was between the two best fighters in the division. This was the perfect fight to bring the sport out of its recent slump. While the fight could not have possibly lived up to its incredible expectations, it still was a great fight and quite argueably the best fight of the year. While both fighters had their moments, Tapia clearly won the fight. Tapia won the early rounds with his superior speed and jab. However, Romero came back and won the middle rounds, but Tapia soon got back on track. Tapia won the late rounds (except for the 12th) and secured the decision. Tapia retained his WBO Bantamweight crown and picked up the IBF title in the process.
Lennox Lewis just couldn't look impressive in his last two outings. But it's not Lewis' fault, it's his opponents'. First, Oliver McCall had a mental breakdown and started crying during their fight. And now, Henry Akinwande. For the second time in the last two weeks, another big and anticipated fight ended in a disappointing outcome. The Lewis-Akinwande fight, which was billed as "The Tallest Championship Fight Ever", also set another record. It was the first time in heavyweight history, that two heavyweight title matches ended by disqualification within two weeks. Henry Akinwande, in my opinion, was the best undefeated fighter in the division. He was a level above the other prospects; David Tua, Chris Byrd and Michael Grant. He showed good skills, fast handspeed and even decent power. Akinwande also faced (and beat) good opposition. But against Lennox Lewis, Henry seemed to be clueless. It appeared, that Akinwande thought that Lewis would use the same style he normally used. But Lewis wasn't being a defensive boxer/puncher against Akinwande. Instead, he was being suprisingly aggresive. When Akinwande saw Lewis rushing him, it clearly showed that Henry didn't know what to do against him. It seemed like Henry had a fight plan (to stay on the outside, box and use his reach advantage), but he didn't plan on Lewis being aggresive. Henry tried to fight on the outside, but it wasn't working against Lewis. When Lewis got on the inside, Henry's only defense was to hold on. It seemed that Akinwande was intimidated by Lewis. As Lewis began to get to him, Henry began to hold constantly. Finally the referee, Mills Lane, had enough of Akinwande's holding and after repeated warnings, he was disqualified. After the fight, Lewis replied, "What can I do. How can I look good against a fighter who doesn't want to fight me". That's funny, because that was exactly what Akinwande said after he beat Scott Welch.
Felix Trinidad is apparantly not fighting Terry Norris as suspected. Instead, he is moving up to challenge WBA Junior-Middleweight champion Laurent Boudouani. It's possible, if Trinidad wins, that he might fight Terry Norris later, in an attempt to unify the titles.
Smokin' Bert Cooper finally won his first fight in the last three years and in impressive fashion. Cooper KO'd unbeaten Richie Melito in the first round. Melito was down twice before the referee called off the fight. After the fight, a victorious Bert Cooper said, "I finally won a belt". Cooper was referring to the vacant WBF Championship, which he won. Cooper's record rose to 34-17-0 (29 KO's) and Melito fell to 16-1-0 (15 KO's).
Kostya Tsyzu was defeated for the first time in his professional career. He was stopped in the tenth round by the unheralded Vince Phillips. Besides losing his IBF Junior-Welterweight crown and undefeated record, Tsyzu also lost a possible big payday with the WBC Welterweight king, Oscar de la Hoya. Tsyzu started fast, outworking and outpunching Phillips in the early rounds. But the whole while, Phillips was fighting back and showing he was still in there. Tsyzu was floored briefly in the sixth when he was caught by a left hook, right cross combination. In the tenth, Tsyzu was battered into the corner, where he was caught by a barrage of right hands and was left defenseless. So the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. On the official scorecards, Tsyzu was leading on one, losing on another and drawed on the other, going into the tenth. This was Phillip's second try at a world title, his other time was a third-round TKO loss to WBA Welterweight Champ, Ike Quartey.
Buster Douglas didn't have a good night when he fought 6-6-2 Louis Monaco. Actually it was a terrible night for the former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. After getting momentarily stunned by a hard right, Douglas got cranked by another big right hook and went down. One problem, the punch came about two seconds after the bell rang. The referee stepped in to break up the fighting and Douglas got nailed while the ref was in front of him. Douglas didn't see the punch coming. He went down and barely got up. He then staggered back to his corner. The referee gave Douglas five minutes and after which, Buster couldn't continue. So he disqualified Monaco. However, that was not the end for Buster. The USA comentators, Sean O'Grady and Al Alberts, continously badgered Douglas about his courage.
George Foreman had his best preformance in a couple of years when he won a 12 round split decision over undefeated Lou Savarese. Compared to his last 2 fights, Foreman's preformance was phenominal. He used his jab to bust up Savarese's eyes, which caused Lou to fight inside. Foreman clearly took control in the last 5 rounds, where George wore down Savarese. Foreman also looked in very good shape after the 12 rounds, especially for a man pushing 50.
Oscar De La Hoya got his first major challenge as a pro and he barely came out undefeated. He fought a very game Pernell Whitaker. Pernell came to win and almost did. Whitaker promised to turn back the clock and be the fighter he was, he did. For the first time in his career, Oscar was confused by another fighter's style. Whitaker fought out of the southpaw stance. This basically nullified two of De La Hoya's best punches, the left hook and the left jab. Whitaker used his jab to keep Oscar away and slipped most of his punches. But Whitaker's continuous showboating didn't help him on the scorecards. Whitaker landed more punches, but most of them were jabs. While De La Hoya landed alot more power punches. Whitaker scored a questionable knockdown, but was unable to follow up. With the fight very close going into the 12th round, Whitaker clowned around and threw few punches. But De La Hoya came out the victor and the new WBC Welterweight Champion.
Michael Moorer won his latest fight (barely) in a very impressive 12 Round Majority Decision over the great Vaughn Bean. In case you didn't realize, I was being sarcastic. Michael Moorer put on probably the worst preformance of his life (even worse than his fight with Melvin Foster) against a not-so- -great fighter named Vaughn "Shake'n Bake" Bean. This was one of those fights that will never be shown again, so if you missed it, be glad. And to think this was a Heavyweight Championship fight. Michael Moorer has to be the laziest, unmotivated fighter today. This fight was so uneventful, that I can't remember one instance where the fight was actually exciting. And the worst part was that Mr. Bean won a few of the rounds. The Judges scorecards were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-113. Teddy Atlas, Moorer's trainer, was so upset with his fighter's poor performance that he tried every trick in the book to try and motivate him. The two most absurd acts were when he used a celluar phone (saying that Moorer's son was on the line) and when he told Moorer (after round 10) he was 4 points behind and needed a knockout to win. And Moorer went on to lose the final round. It was later reported that Atlas has resigned his job as Moorer's trainer, it's about time. Moorer has been reported to fight on the level of his opposition, he better hope that was the case in this fight.
Genaro Hernandez has a lot of heart. He could have stayed on his back and won the title (just like Montell Griffin the night before). But Hernadez got up and continued and (yet he never fully recovered) won the fight. Hernandez dominated most of the fight. When the foul occured (Azumah Nelson hit Hernandez in the throat 2 seconds after the bell rang), Genaro was miles ahead on the scorecard. Hernandez continued after the five minute rest period and still dominated the fight. After 12 rounds, Hernandez won a lopsided decision and with it, the WBC Junior-Lightweight title. Now how about a unification bout between Arturo Gatti and Hernandez, this would be one fight where both of the fighters are guarantied not to quit.
Roy Jones made a big mistake. In his fight with Montell Griffin, that mistake cost him not only his title, but it also flawed his perfect record. After a slow start against a very game Griffin, Jones began to dominate the fight. He scored a knockdown in the second half and after that, he was in complete control of the fight. Then in the 10th round, he overwhelmed Montell with his power and speed. Montell, after taking a beating, took a knee. Jones paused for a second, then he threw a right and a left. The second put Griffin on the canvas, where he stayed and yet won the fight and the WBC Lightheavyweight Championship. The referee was at part to blame for not seperating the fighters after the knockdown. But it was Jones' own fault that he was disqualified. Actually I thought the fight should have been called a No-contest or a Technical Draw, like the Buster Mathis-Riddick Bowe fight. I don't think the title should be won on your back. But all that beside, Roy Jones is still a great fighter and he was on his way to either knocking Griffin out or winning by Decision.
Sugar Ray Leonard shouldn't have comeback. The Terry Norris fight was enough, but now he's back again. He didn't need to prove anything nor would he have gained anything by beating a 35 year-old Hector "Macho" Camacho. Leonard is a legend and he still is, but it was a shame to see such a legendary fighter get pummeled by none other than Hector Camacho. Leonard said the reason he wanted to fight Camacho was "because he has a big mouth", but the 4 million dollar payday might have also been a big part. But Leornard, who has made over 100 million dollars in his career, didn't appear to be in need of any extra money. If Leornard wanted to comeback, he should have fought some warm up fights to chip away some of his ring rest. But Leonard went ahead and fought Camacho. And he was stopped for the first time in his career. After the fight Leonard said that he would DEFINATELY retire, but now he says he still wants to fight again. But don't they all.
Naseem Hamed proved me wrong in his fight with his Eighth Round KO of the long-reigning Featherweight King, Tom Johnson. Hamed with his strange and unorthodox style controled most of the fight. After the third round, Johnson's legs were very wobbly, but Johnson caught Hamed right at the end. Hamed lost his balance and his glove touched the canvas, but it wasn't rulled a knockdown (it should have been though). Hamed then continued to pick apart Johnson, but every so often Johnson rallied. But the damage started to pile up and finally Hamed caught Johnson with a well timed right uppercut. Johnson went down and was counted out. Hamed retained his WBO championship and he picked up Johnson's IBF title.
Go Back to Main Page
Get your own Free Home Page