Boxing: Heavyweight Weekend

[H2O Man]

There are a couple heavyweight fights which will be televised this weekend. One is important and represents the best in the sport, while the other is tragic and reflects the criminal and brutal side of boxing.

First, the good fight: Saturday at Madison Square Garden, Wladimir Klitschko defends his "title" against Calvin Brock. Klitschko, 30, is 6'7", 241 lbs, and has a 46-3 (41 KOs) record. Brock, 31, is 6'2", 224 lbs, and has a 29-0 (22 KOs) record.

The fight will be on HBO. I think that it is curious that several sports journalists have made it sound like Klitschko is a sure bet to win. While his physical advantages would favor him, I think that Brock is the more skilled of the two. It will be interesting to see if Brock can upset Klitschko. I expect Wladimir to attempt to make a dull fight of it, by clinching at any time Brock gets close to him. And I know Manny Steward is a great cornerman, and works well with tall fighters. But I honestly think Brock has a better corner. Good luck to both men!

Second, a fight I will refuse to watch -- and not just because it is PPV ($45!) -- takes place tonight. Evander Holyfield fights Fres Oquendo. Evander, 44, has a 39-8-2 (26 KOs) record; Fres, 33, is 26-3 (16 KOs).

Evander was once a great fighter. Larry Holmes has said that he had positive proof that Holyfield took steroids to bulk up from the lower weights to become a heavyweight, and I will say that Larry Holmes is an honest man. But putting that aside, it is clear that like him or not (and I don't), evander was a brave, extremely talented warrior. He would fight anyone. And he won lots of great fights because he could absorb huge amounts of punishment, and outlast most people.

Evander took lots of punches before becoming a heavyweight. Watch his first war with Dwight (Braxton) Qawi, who had been trained by my friend Rubin in Rahway SP. As a heavyweight, Evander's defense skills did not improve. He was always easy to hit. And some of the biggest, hardest punchers in recent decades would hit him round after round.

Evander shows some of the sad but classic signs of brain damage from taking too many punches. His skills have long since ceased to exist. NYS took his license, but some other places allow him to fight.

On 11-9, Tim Dahlberg had a wonderful article about Evander; I'm going to try to link it. I spoke to Tim about the sad state of the hundreds of unknown fighters who have similar problems. I'm hoping that he will continue to focus attention on this issue. The guy understands boxing.



http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=AotkcYROiCPGBZgpcvsaNqGUxLYF?slug=ap-timdahlberg&prov=ap&type=lgns


Oquendo had taken some time off from boxing, but has had a couple "warm-up" fights. He is not a great puncher, and that really is worse for Evander, because he'll likely be willing to absorb more, and his corner and the ref will allow it. It would be better if Fres beats Evander tonight, than if Holyfield wins and is matched with the Russian Giant in his next fight.

[PDittie]

1. Better links here

http://sports.yahoo.com/box

then select "Holyfield chases the past because no one will tell him no"

or use this:

http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2904256289315614886833236622533978327992

Thanks, H20man. Hope we don't have a tragic headline this weekend.

[H2O Man]

2. It's sad that Evander

is not able to recognize what is happening to him. It's even worse that some people would pay to watch his decline. And it's criminal that promoters will capitalize on his tragic course. Boxing needs to stop promoting shows that worthy of Rome.

The other fight could be very good. Though he is the underdog, I'd like to see Brock win.

[H2O Man]

3. PS

Brock's 4-23-05 fight with Jameel McCline is on ESPN-Classic tonight at 8 pm est.

[H2O Man]

4. Holyfield ....

by disputed decision.

Now for the real fight!

[dr.zoidberg]

5. I'm happy for Brock.

As many who post in the boxing threads here knows, I am a fan of Calvin Brock. I have pretty much been ever since he came to my attention after his win over Jameel McCline, which was a great fight by the way. I have even predicted that he would be heavyweight champion one day. Well, it won't happen tonight. I think that Wlad has way too much for Brock to handle, and I see Wlad winning a wide UD. Of course, I said this about Wlad's fight with Lamon Brewster a few years ago, and we all know how that one turned out.

It's funny, I would give Holyfield a good shot against Valuev because I really think that Valuev isn't very good. I mean, Larry Donald beat him,IMO(ignore the scorecards out of Germany. They score fights about as well as Mr. Magoo can see.).

[H2O Man]

6. Brock may surprise us.

I think he has the ability to upset Klitschko. He has to let his hands go inside.

[MessiahRp]

7. Well that was forceful...

Brock looked awkward from the first moment and even though he seemed to be getting inside more and getting to Klitschko more he still was letting constant jabs slip right through the middle of his guard and drill him in the face.

The knockout was pretty startling. You could see Brock was possibly out on his feet the moment before when he took that first right hand but Wladimir crushed him the second time.

I don't know if anyone can say he's not the man in this division now. Maskaev is old, Valuev is not a very well trained fighter and Briggs can be beaten by anyone who keeps him busy since he gets winded in the first round.

Oh and after watching the Mayweather-Baldomir fight I have two observations.

1. Mayweather's style is reminiscient of Roy Jones without the power.

2. If anyone caught Mayweather trying to be fancy backing up and ducking out like he always does with a really hard left hook, Mayweather would be screwed. From what I have seen he has bobbed and weaved his way out of a lot of shots but if someone had some serious power and waited for his predictable bob and weave backwards and caught him with a hook as he did it, Mayweather would be eating canvas. Of course even though he was heavier Baldomir never had much power anyway (13 KOs, not too impressive) so other than Mayweather's hand hurting him he had nothing to offer as an opponent.

Rp

[H2O Man]

8. Brock looked good

from the second round on, until he stood still and took a lot of hard jabs. If you watch him walk back to his corner after the next to last round, he is not on solid legs.

Klitschko beat a heck of a fighter. He deserves a lot of credit for an impressive win. But if he fights Briggs, he gets knocked out in two rounds.

Mayweather is different from Jones, in that he does his thing at a closer range. But there are similarities. Mayweather does defensive things that only Ali and a couple others have done. It's not a type of skill that anyone can learn. He was born with radar.

Baldomir tried, and wasn't close. No one can beat Floyd right now, if he is in shape.

[MessiahRp]

9. I don't know about that.

Briggs fought a guy that didn't put up a fight at all in Liakhovich and barely threw any punches. If he winds up praying for one shot he's going to take a ton of jabs first from a taller, stronger guy in Klitschko.

I also think Mayweather would get rocked by anyone with decent speed and real power. Baldomir fought like a 90 year old. He tries to be fancy because he lacks serious power and because he's afraid of getting hit. I think De La Hoya would give him issues. I think Mosely would knock him out.

Rp

[H2O Man]

10. Oh, I know.

I'm a little disappointed, because I thought Brock had begun to figure out Klitschko's style. I thought he was on track to pull off the upset. Klitschko is doing very well now, and two of his last three wins have been over undefeated, serious contenders.

It will be interesting to see if he is willing to fight Briggs now.

Mosley might pose difficulties for Mayweather. That would be an interesting match-up.