Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson showed why should be included in the pound-for- pound list on February 23rd. In a very good match-up, Johnson proceeded to destroy top-contender Arthur "Flash" Johnson within 90 seconds. Immediately after the fight, both Mark and his hometown crowd began chanting, "We want Tapia!" Johnny Tapia, on the other hand has recently participated in two meaningless defenses against Andy Agosto and Rodolfo Blanco. Agosto was kayoed by Joma Gamboa immediatley prior to this fight and Blanco had lost four of his last six fights. Now it appears that Tapia is looking for a rematch with Danny Romero. Seriously, besides the city of Albaquerque, who really wants to see that match again? Tapia easily out-boxed Romero and has nothing more to prove against him. If Tapia really wants a fight, he should look east to IBF Flyweight champ Mark Johnson. However, I don't think Johnny (or Don King, for that matter) wants anything to do with "Too Sharp," especially after comparing their performances against Arthur Johnson.Sportsouth, a Fox Sports affiliate, has ticked me off yet once again. Sportsouth has a very bad habit of not broadcasting the fights that are shown on the other Fox Sports networks. However, this time they actually showed a fight. Besides begining at a very unconvient time of 1:00 AM (on a Tuesday morning), I had little to complain about at the time being. The first fight was entertaining (Hector Quiroz-Mark Lewis), but the main event was what I was waiting for. The headliner was a showdown between two young, undefeated Heavyweights (Ed Mahone and Cody Koch). The fight was scheduled for twelve rounds (for the vacant NABO title) and it was a great match-up (How often do you see two promising heavies clash early in their career?). Both fighters came in with impressive records; Mahone was 15-0-1 (15), and Koch was 24-0-0 (20). Also, both fighters were featured in my Heavyweight Prospect section. The fight went back and forth, with Koch usually dominating. Koch's southpaw stance and fast hands seemed to puzzle Mahone, but Ed kept coming forward. After six rounds, I had Koch ahead by 59-54 (Mahone had a point deducted for low blows). It appeared that Koch was on his way to a unaminous decision victory, when suddenly something went wrong and the fight was stopped. No, Koch didn't quit between rounds and the fight was not actually stopped, it just stopped for me. After six rounds had gone by and at 2:30 AM, the TV station suddenly began broadcasting another program. Apparantly the idiots at the TV station only allowed 90 minutes for the broadcast, when it required 120. So, after watching six exciting rounds, I suddenly found myself watching a rebroadcast from C-SPAN2. And after all of this, imagine my disgust when, two days later, I learned that Mahone came back to kayo Koch in the tenth round.
The press has constantly been beating on IBF Lightweight champ Shane Mosley, but for what reason? The press seems to be upset that Mosley hasn't lived up to their high expectations. After all, Mosley's nickname is "Sugar" and thus he must automatically be the next Ray Robinson (or Ray Leonard) or he'll be considered a bust. Now, I'll admit it, his fight with Phillip Holiday wasn't any Hagler-Hearns, or even a Wilson-Tshabalala. However, Mosley clearly dominated the undefeated champ, who was making his seventh defense, and won a unaminous decision. Mosley's next fight, a defense against journeyman Manuel Gomez, didn't help his cause. Gomez, who came in with a 16-8 record, wasn't exactly an ideal opponent. Besides being an unknown with a mediocre record, Gomez also possessed a good chin, and a big heart to go along with it. Gomez made Mosley look unimpressive, but he was finally kayoed in the eleventh. However, the press can't say anything bad about his most recent performance. Mosley looked spectacular in destroying mandatory challenger Demetrio Ceballos. Throughout the eight one-sided rounds, Mosley continuously hammered Ceballos. Although Ceballos' chin kept him in the fight for a while, it was ultimately unable to withstand Mosley's onslaught. After watching this fight, I couldn't help but notice some similiarities between Mosley and two other current champions; Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones. Mosley's combination of blinding speed, blistering power and outstanding skills, almost makes you wonder, do we have another Ray Robinson on our hands, or is he just another Michael Nunn.
There is one thing that is really getting on my nerves, many people actually think that Butterbean can fight. I've gone to numerous sites and some of them say a bunch of crap about "how good Butterbean is." I went to one site that also had a Top 50 Heavyweight Rankings and Butterbean appeared in the rankings. Beside his name, "he would put up a fight against any of [the other 49 ranked boxers]" was written. Why do people think he's any good? He struggles against part-time truckdrivers and hillbilly wannabees. Butterbean has no talent, less stamina and even less defense. Compare the results of Butterbean's and Duncan Dokiwari's fight with Doug Phillips. Dokiwari is a "real" fighter and thus he destroyed Phillips in less than a round. Butterbean, however, struggled with Phillips and won a four-round decision. Phillips is no good and yet he had better skills than Butterbean. The only reason Butterbean won was because he had a 100 pound weight advantage over Phillips (Phillips was overweight himself, he should be a Cruiserweight). Also, Bill Eaton, whom knocked down and drawed (he should've won the fight) Butterbean, was just iced in the first round by another 300+ pound fighter, Paea Wolfgramm. However, if you look at it right, Butterbean can be considered one of all-time greats. For he did beat Louis Monaco, who beat Michael Dokes, who beat Jose Ribalta, who beat Leon Spinks, who beat Muhammad Ali.
Heavyweight Brian Nielsen seems to be one of the hardest working boxers in the sport. He has had nine fights this year and he is still undefeated at 40-0. He started off the year with his biggest win to date, a 12-round split decision victory over Larry Holmes. He then won two 8-round decisions over Daniel Franco and Damon Reed (15-2 and 18-0, respectivly). He followed up with knockouts over journeymen, James Pritchard and Marcos Gonzalez. At this time, he was a possible opponent for Lennox Lewis. However, since Ray Mercer pulled out of his fight with Andrew Golota, Lewis chose Golota as his next opponent. Nielsen went back to work and kayoed Bruce Douglas (12-1) in the first, Crawford Grimsly (20-2) in the fifth and Don Steele (42-0) in the second. And finally, he capped off the year with a first round knockout over former Cruiserweight contender, Donnell Wingfield.
I'm about sick of Showtime's crap about them saying that they're the "Number One Boxing Network." This title was given to them by the WBA and it's no suprise when considering that Don King "owns" most of the WBA champs. The "real" #1 Boxing Network is HBO and Showtime falls somewhere between ESPN2 and the Fox Sports Network. Showtime has had very few cards this year and most of the fights were complete mismatches. The only exciting matches they had where Hamed-Johnson and two Frans Botha matches. While I'll give them credit for the Hamed-Johnson fight, the two Botha fights were only exciting because of his lack of skills. On the other hand, HBO (and even the USA Network) has easily surpassed Showtime this year. Look at some of the fights HBO has broadcasted this year: Hamed-Kelley, Jones-McKinney, Zaragoza-McCullough, Zaragoza-Morales, Holiday-Robinson, Holiday-Mosely, Gatti-Patterson, Foreman-Savarese, Tua-Ibeabuchi, Jones- Barrera, Jones-Griffin, Quartey-Lopez, Whitaker-Hurtado, Tsyzu-Phillips and Tapia-Romero. Showtime's list includes such outstanding fights as Moorer- Bean, Brewer-Ballard, Liles-Mercado and Akinwande-Welch. For Showtime's sake, I sure hope their service is considerably cheaper than HBO's.
Ever since I put the "Feedback" section on this site, I've getting a lot of e-mails from people who are apparantly trying to sound stupid (so I would post their messages). Some of them are put together in manner which is difficult to determine whether they're "real" or not. While some of the messages are possibly "real," others are obvisiously "fake." The most difficult ones to determine are the ones from the fans of a particular figher. Mike Tyson is a particular fan-favorite and I get at least one a month just about him. I'll post a couple of the "realistic" ones soon.
As strange as it might sound, Larry Donald is now a top contender. After his mediocre performance against Riddick Bowe, few people thought that Donald would ever reach the contender status again. I, for one, always believed that Donald had a lot of potential and would defeat Tim Witherspoon if they were ever to meet. So when Donald took the fight on short notice and won a lop-sided decision, it was no suprise to me. I remember that after Donald fought Derrick Roddy (on a Heavyweight Explosion card over a year ago), he was asked which fighter he would most like to fight. Donald replied, "Tim Witherspoonsss."
December has been a horrible month for the Norris brothers. First, Terry blows a big payday with Oscar De La Hoya by losing to Keith Mullings. Then, Orlin lost a lop-sided decision to Henry Akinwande in a WBA title eliminator bout. Orlin, who was originally going to fight Frans Botha, reportidly earned only $50,000 for the Akinwande fight. Apparantly, Orlin was so convinced he would win that the size of the purse was unimportant.
Oscar De La Hoya is taking a beating, but it's not from an opponent, it's from the media. De La Hoya was in a no-win situation when he fought Hector Camacho on September 13th. But nevertheless, De La Hoya easily beat Camacho and floored him in the process. Many people are bashing De La Hoya because he couldn't kayo Camacho, but that's unfair. Camacho had only been down once before and had never been stopped. Chavez and Trinidad easily beat Camacho, but not nearly as bad as De La Hoya did. Camacho's style and chin allowed him to last the distance with De La Hoya, but he was battered and hurt throughout the fight. Also, the media is saying that De La Hoya isn't fighting anyone good. Well, look at what the other champions have done this year. All Ike Quartey has done, is beat an out-classed Ralph "Tiger" Jones. Terry Norris has beaten undeserving Nick Rupa and two journeymen (in non-title fights). Whitaker hasn't fought since his fight with De La Hoya and Trinidad has beaten only Kevin Lueshing and Troy Waters. None of these champions have even fought anyone as good as David Kamau or Hector Camacho this year. However, Quartey will fight Jose Luis Lopez and Whitaker will fight Andrei Pestryaev in October. While De La Hoya isn't fighting the absolute best in his division, he is still fighting contenders. He will be fighting Wilfredo Rivera and Patrick Charpentier next. Then he will either fight Whitaker, Norris or Quartey. Even though Rivera and Charpentier aren't the best fighters, they still are contenders.
With Don King's rediculous WBC Jr. Middleweight Title Eliminator match between Felix Trinidad and Troy Waters, the chance of a Norris-Trinidad fight has lowered. The last thing Terry Norris wants to do is fight for King again. Since Norris is under Bob Arum, he'll be looking for a fight with De La Hoya, Quartey or Whitaker, not Trinidad. Don King is trying to force Norris into fighting Trinidad, but I bet Norris vacates the title and fights someone else.
Don't say I didn't warn you. If you bought the Trinidad-Waters card on PPV, don't complain that it was a rip-off. Read the article below this one. I had it up at least a week before this card happened. The card contained; 2 mismatches, 1 decent women's bout, 1 boring boxing match and another match that was only exciting for the first four rounds (until William Joppy hurt his hand). The Trinidad-Waters fight was a joke. How Don King got Waters ranked #1 is a mystery to me. Waters looked like he didn't even want to fight, plus he has a terrible chin and he went down every time Trinidad landed anything. The Lopez-Sanchez bout was a blow-out, but at least it was between two of the top Strawweights. And the Joppy-Green fight was action-packed, for four rounds. Then, it became a boring boxing match and Green won a contreversial decision. Although I couldn't stand the way Joppy fought, I thought he should have won by a point or two. And the other two fights were nothing to write home about. If you paid for that card, I'm sorry for you. But don't forget, I warned you!
Enough is enough, what Don King is trying to sell to the public on August 23rd is a joke. But wait a second, aren't Felix Trinidad, Ricardo Lopez, William Joppy, Wilfredo Vazquez and Christy Martin on the card? Actually the $24.95 Pay-Per-View card WILL showcase some of the best fighters in the world, but against who? Well the Main Event will pit pound-for-pound contender Felix Trinidad against none other than Troy Waters, who happens to be a replacement of a replacement of a replacement. The co-feature will be the only good matched fight on the card, Ricardo Lopez VS Alex Sanchez. But do keep in mind that these are Strawweights that we're talking about and this fight will not send a shockwave through the general public. Also William Joppy will fight Julio Cesar Green (remember him), Wilfredo Vazquez will fight Rogue Cassiani (who?) and Christy Martin will take on Isra Girgrah (???). So do the math, one decent fight and four mismatches for only $24.95, what a deal!!! Also, be sure to keep in mind that the two big matches that were originally proposed for this card, are now cancelled (Felix Trinidad-Terry Norris and Julio Cesar Chavez-Miguel Angel Gonzalez). If you thought that Holyfield-Tyson II or Roy Jones-Montell Griffin II were rip-offs, keep in mind that they at least had a lot of potential going in. Unfortunately this upcoming PPV card has nothing of the sort.
Does anyone else see a connection forming on the Oscar De La Hoya-Hector Camacho undercard? Is it just a coincidence that IBF Junior middleweight champion Raul Marquez is making his second defense of his title (against Yori Boy Campas). It looks to me like HBO has trying to get a Junior middleweight champion recently. First, it was Terry Norris (who they might get), but now it is Raul Marquez. Marquez, at least right now, appears to be the "easiest" of the Junior middleweight champions. It so appears, that De La Hoya might just jump ship (in this case, the Welterweight division) and move up to Junior middleweight. It now looks like De La Hoya will definately NOT fight Pernell Whitaker again. Instead, it seems like he will defend once more (after the Camacho fight) and move up to fight Marquez. Oscar always said that he wants to be like "Sugar" Ray Leonard, well it appears that he will go up in weight again and try to get another step closer to his goal.
Maurice Harris was robbed!!! In his fight with former Heavyweight champ Larry Holmes, Harris clearly dominated. But he had no chance of winning. The only thing Holmes had to do was not get knocked out. After the first round (which was a feeling-out round for both fighters), Harris clearly won the next four rounds. I'd give Holmes the first round because he was more aggressive. The 6th and 7th rounds were close, but Harris still won them. Holmes didn't do bad in the 9th, but he didn't do enough to win the round. And Harris completely dominated the last two rounds. So how did Holmes win? I have no idea, but I think his name was all that was needed. Larry Holmes, the legendary champion, couldn't lose to a 9-8-2 fighter. I could justify giving every round, except the first, to Harris. He must have landed at least 2-1 (if not 3-1) throughout the fight. This fight really ticked me off. I saw a 22 year-old fighter, who gave a superb effort, get robbed of a hard earned victory. And I also saw an old geezer (who got $225,000 for this fight) waltzing around, getting hit by just about every jab and right hand Harris threw. After 10 rounds of taking a beating, Larry Holmes got a split-decision victory. The judges scores were; 96-94, 96-95 and 94-96. Even the score for Harris was low. Being completely generous, at the most, Holmes might have won 2-3 rounds. I can not believe these judges could actually find 6 rounds that they thought Holmes won. Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder couldn't have done any worse. I can honestly say that I would have had no objections if the fight was scored 99-91 (for Harris) on all three judges' scorecards. And worst of all, the judge that gave it to Holmes with a score of 96-94, was none other than Harold Lederman (HBO's Unofficial Official). Harold also gave the final round, which Harris easily won, to Holmes.
Is Don King's empire beginning to crumble? King's strangle-hold on the Heavyweight division has been considerably loosend. Ever since the WBC stripped Tyson of his championship (for failing to fight Lennox Lewis), things have been steadily going down hill for King. Last November, he took a giagantic blow when Mike Tyson was stopped by Holyfield. Then in January, he took another shot. His Heavyweight contender, Oliver McCall, had a mental breakdown and was stopped by Lennox Lewis. A short time later, his IBF Champ (Michael Moorer) barely won in a very unimpressive outing with unknown Vaughn Bean. And June threw July were even worse. First, Herbie Hide destroyed Don's other Heavyweight pretender, Tony Tucker. Then, Heavyweight contender Orlin Norris, broke away from King. Soon thereafter, King's #1 attraction, Mike Tyson, was disqualified and banned (from boxing) for at least a year. And finally, King's other top Heavyweight, Henry Akinwande, was also disqualified in his ill-fated attempt at Lennox Lewis' WBC crown. Right now, King has only three Heavyweights that are in the title picture. They are; WBA Champ Evander Holyfield, IBF Champ Michael Moorer and Frans Botha. But unfortunately for King, Evander Holyfield has only one fight left under him and that fight will be against Michael Moorer. And if every thing goes as expected, Holyfield will win and King will be virtually non-existant in the Heavyweight division. But the WBA may order a mandatory title defense against Frans Botha. If this happens, Botha will be lucky to last three rounds and King will have no one left. Also King just lost Terry Norris (who left along with his brother) and that kayos his proposed Trinidad-Norris fight. Don King is now in a desperate position. If this stuff keeps happenning to him, the "Don King Era of Boxing" will be over in no time.
Evander Holyfield hasn't only been a victem of a bite, but he has also been a biter. Seventeen years ago in a Golden Gloves tournament in Atlanta, young Evander Holyfield fought Jakey Winters in one of the semi-final matches. Winters knocked Holyfield down in the second round and then he battered him throughout the third (and final) round. Holyfield got frustated while in a clinch and resorted to biting. Reportidly, Holyfield spit out his mouthpiece and bit Winters' shoulder. The bite broke the skin and caused bleeding (and a one-point deduction). Holyfield lost the fight by unaminous decision.
Frans Botha continues to win since his 12th round TKO loss to Michael Moorer, but has yet to be impressive. In his first fight, he knocked out former prospect James Stanton (who also lost previosly to Darroll Wilson and Oliver McCall) in the 10th round. But Botha looked very sloppy in doing so. And in his most recent fight, he had a tough time with unknown Lee Gilbert. Gilbert had a 17-0-0 (15 KO's) record, but against who. Gilbert's last fight was against another undefeated fighter whom he KO'd in the first round, but his record was a big 1-0. But Gilbert did make a good showing for himself in losing a 12-round decision, despite being floored late in the 11th. But Botha is taking a little too much of a beating by the critics. Yes, he is looking unimpressive and No, he will never be a great fighter, but at least he's winning for a change. I thought Botha lost his title winning effort against Axel Schultz, but he did show tremendous courage in loss to Michael Moorer. In my opinion, these are the first two fights (against decent opposition) in which Botha clearly won. Botha is now heading towards a possible title shot with the winner of the Holyfield-Tyson rematch. Botha will probably never "win" another title (well, he might have a good chance against Moorer again), but it looks like he will try.
Uriah Grant has been a ranked Cruiserweight for some time now, for reasons unknown till now. Grant was the #1 contender in the IBF, 6th in the WBA and 26th in the WBC. Grant seemed to deserve the WBC's ranking, but clearly none of the others. He lost in humiliating fashion to Chris Byrd, last fall and has only won a single fight since. Grant has previously had at least two title shots, both against Al Cole and both ending in decision losses. But Uriah Grant got another title shot, the time against newly crowned IBF champ, Adolpho Washington (who won Al Cole's vacated crown by defeating Torsten May). Once again Grant was the underdog, but this time he came through with the victory. He won a split decision over Washington and claimed the IBF Cruiserweight championship.
The glass broke on Tuesday, June 3rd. In one of the most exciting Heavyweight fights of this year, Darroll Wilson came back and stopped Courage Tshabalala in the fourth round. Wilson was floored early in the first (by a jab?) and was keeping his distance for the rest of the round. In the second, Wilson stayed cautious and threw his jab from a distance. But late in the round, Courage charged in swinging and caught Wilson. However, Darroll landed a good one-two, but it was after the bell. In the third, Wilson used his superior skills to out-box Tshabalala, but he was caught flush by a winging right hook. Wilson went down and barely got up (he got up, but fell down again and he made it up just before the referee got to ten). Lou Duva (Tshabalala's manager/trainer) started protesting the referee's call. Wilson regained his composure in the fourth, where Tshabalala came right after him. Wilson weathered the storm and fought back (much like he did against Shannon Briggs). And soon thereafter, Tshabalala was hurt. They both got in a good slugfest, but Tshabalala tired and began to absorb blows. Finally, Wilson put his punches together and floored Tshabalala. Courage spit out his mouthpiece and stayed down for the count. Courage Tshabalala, despite his early advantage, did not live up to his name
Jesse Fergusson's on a roll. With a four-win winning streak, Fergusson has re-established himself as a contender (a top-30 one, at least). Since he returned last fall, Fergusson has won a unaminous decision over 18-0 prospect, Bobby Harris (and knocked him down twice), won a decision over fellow journeyman, Everton Davis (who just stopped Jeff Wooden at the time), Knocked out 15-2 Thomas Williams. And most recently, on the Kostya Tsyzu- Vince Phillips undercard, he knocked down Samson Po'uha four times in route to an eighth round stoppage. Throughout his career, Fergusson has fought eleven world champions, including Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Frank Bruno, Orlin Norris, Bruce Seldon and Buster Douglas (whom he defeated). Fergusson also got a title shot against Riddick Bowe (though he was stopped in the second) after he upset Ray Mercer.
There's more bad news for Heavyweight, Jimmy Thunder. Thunder was knocked out in the eighth round by the unheralded, .500 fighter, Maurice Harris. Harris thoroughly out-boxed Thunder throughout the fight and hurt Thunder badly in the sixth. Thunder survived only to be caught with a crushing left hook in the eighth. With a delayed reaction, Thunder went down face- first into the canvas. The referee instantly stopped the fight and Harris' record improved to 9-8-2 (with 5 KO's). Besides beating Thunder, Harris previously stopped Sam Hampton (who knocked down and lost a contreversial decison to Obed Sullivan) and won an eight round decision over David Izonritei. This fight was the second time Thunder screwed up this year. First, he blew a possible fight with Lennox Lewis when he lost to John Ruiz. And this time he ruined his upcoming fight with Tim Witherspoon.
Riddick Bowe, since beating Andrew Golota twice (yeah right), has been in the news more than any boxer I can think of. First he announced he was going to join the Marines and was going to resume boxing when he got out. Well everybody remembers the Marines fiasco, in ten days and then leaves. Then he announced his retirement from boxing. But a few weeks later he fought again. Unlike his other fights, this one not only was unsanctioned, but it was also against his sister. They both suffered split lips and the fight was declared a draw, after they announced that they had solved their problem. Now Bowe is back in the news. Now he is applying for a security position in his local area. He will be paid $10.26 an hour, if he is hired. He said he wants to get the job so he can work with the kids in his area.
Louis Monaco has had one of the strangest careers i've seen. The first time I saw him, he wasn't even a .500 clubfighter and his record was something like 0-1. In that fight, he fought the joke of the Heavyweight Division, Butterbean. Monaco was KO'd in the first round. In his next televised fight, he lost a 4 round decision to former Toughman Champion, "The Alaskan Assassin" Cody Koch. Again he appeared on TV, this time he fought "Hurricane" Peter McNeeley. He ended up KO'ing McNeeley in the fifth. Now Monaco was 4-3-2 (3 KO's), but this time he was matched with Trevor Berbick. He lost a 10 round decision. Monaco was then KO'ed in 3 by both Mike Grant and comebacking Jeremy Williams. In his next big fight, Monaco fought undefeated 19-0 Kevin McBride. Monaco KO'd McBride in the 5th. And most recently, Monaco fought another former Heavyweight Champion on a comeback, this time Michael Dokes. Monaco won a 10 round decision. At 6-6-2 (4 KO's), Monaco has already beaten 3 name opponents and fought 4 other quality fighters. With his two recent wins, I had no choice but to put him in at Number 50 in my Top 50 Heavyweights. Who would have thought that a Butterbean KO 1 victem could improve so much.
Jimmy Thunder is a fighter who either makes other fighters look bad or makes other fighters look good. He made Mike Grant look bad when he easily KO'd Ray Anis, Grant won a tough 10 round decision over him. He made Michael Moorer look bad when he KO'ed Melvin Foster, Moorer won a mediocre 10 round decision. He made Larry Holmes look terrible when he easily KO'ed Quinn Navarre, Holmes won a very close decision. However, he made David Tua look excellent by losing a 12 round decision to John Ruiz, Tua only took 19 seconds to finish the job. Terrence Lewis also made Thunder look bad by stopping William Morris in 2 rounds, it took Thunder 10. But most recently, Thunder made George Foreman look horrible. Foreman (in my opinion) barely won a lackluster 12 round decision over Crawford Grimsly. Thunder then iced Grimsly in 3 seconds. That fight earned Thunder a big fight with Tim Witherspoon on the upcoming Golota-Mercer undercard.
Other Notes:
Former Undefeated and Undisputed Heavyweight Champion, Leon Spinks has a new job as a Plexiglass cleaner at the hockey rink in St. Louis. It is sad to seesuch an outstanding fighter's career fall from so high, to rock bottom. Spinks is best known for winning a Gold Medal in the 1976 Olympics and then defeating Muhammad Ali to win the Heavyweight Championship.
With George Foreman's new exercise of pulling jeeps, Big George could always make some extra money as a tow truck while getting his daily workout.
It looks like Oscar De La Hoya wants to take it easy for a while, after dominating three weight divisions. After fighting about the best competition available over the last couple of years, Oscar is going to step it down a little bit. He is scheduled to defend his new WBC Welterweight Championship against David Kamau on June 14. Then Hector Camacho in August and Patrick Charpentier in December.
Former Super-Middleweight Champion Nigel Benn was arrested for assault charges in a nightclub. His victim reportidly needed 105 stitches in his face and nose. Benn supposedly punched him (with an ashtray) and kicked him while he was on the ground.
The Australian Heavyweight, Craig Petersen, was found dead in his house in New Mexico. Petersen had previosly defeated Bert Cooper, Jimmy Thunder, Lionel Butler and Alex Stewart. He also fought Jimmy Thunder (in a rematch), Herbie Hide and Chris Byrd, all to whom he lost. He lost his last fight via a 6th round stoppage by Chris Byrd.
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