2011 - The Year of the (Under) Dog?

 

The dictionary states an underdog as 'a competitor/competitors though to have little chance of winning a fight or contest'. An alternative online dictionary defines it is 'One that is at a disadvantage'. In 1964, Cassius Clay was just 22 when he defeated the menacing Sonny Liston and “shocked the world” in a fight that  Cassius was never expected to win. In 1990, Buster Douglas, in arguably the sport's biggest ever upset, became world champion when he knocked out Mike Tyson during a fight in Tokyo where the bookies had Douglas as a massive 42-1 underdog. In 2001, apparent poor preparation, on Lennox Lewis’s behalf, enabled Hasim Rahman to secure the WBC, IBF & IBO world titles when he scored a fifth round knock out over the British champion in South Africa.

Ten years on from the aforementioned fight in South Africa, 2011 has already provided several shocks which have sent shockwaves through the boxing world –with some of the biggest ripples, ironically, coming from the ‘little men’.  Just over a third of the way into the year, we have seen a Mexican icon unexpectedly turn back the clock, a highly touted middleweight prospect being severely exposed, the ‘Pride of Puerto Rico’ beaten for the first time and the surprise crowning of a new welterweight world champion. Ok so they may not go down in history like the fights mentioned at the start of this article but they sure are making some headlines at the moment...

When it was announced that one of the sport’s biggest punchers, Marcos Maidana, would be fighting Erik Morales for the ‘interim’ WBA championship on April 9th, boxing fans and pundits alike, questioned the intelligence of the matchmaking. Here was the Argentine Maidana, with 29 wins and 27 of those coming by way of knockout, against the Mexican future hall of famer who was, at 34, thought to be way past his best and fighting at well above his best weight. What unfolded, unexpectedly, was a sure fire candidate for fight of the year. Despite fighting the majority of the fight with only one eye, due to a severe swelling, Erik Morales gave Marcos Maidana the fight of his life in a fight that could’ve gone either way once it went to the scorecards. Ultimately, Marcos Maidana won the bout via a majority decision but the headlines belonged to the three weight world champion who proved there is still something left in the old tank yet and will surely be involved in another world title fight, at his new weight of 140, before he hangs up the gloves…

The stock of highly rated James Kirkland will have taken a massive hit after he was blown away, in a round, by Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishida. James Kirland, recently released from prison for second time following gun charges. The Texan, with 20 knocks out from 25 wins prior to the fight, didn’t look like he belonged in the ring that night in Vegas on the same bill as Maidana/Morales. Used to bulldozing his way through opponents, the knockdowns and subsequent stoppage, have seriously damaged his reputation as one of boxing’s most feared fighters. With his problems out of the ring, and his commitment to the sport being questioned, rebuilding James Kirkland back up may prove to be misson impossible for Goldenboy Promotions.

Victor Ortiz’s fighting spirit has been questioned over the past couple of years ever since he, as seen in many people’s eyes, quit after flooring Marcos Maidana three times back in 2009 and failing to build on that. Ortiz, himself, was floored twice during the fight and the referee subsequently stopped the fight at the end of the sixth round due to a swelling of the eye. Ortiz’s claim that he ‘didn’t deserve this’ had many people questioning his heart. A similar story was seen last year after a lacklustre draw with Lamont Peterson. Despite putting Peterson down twice in the third round, ‘Vicious’ Ortiz failed to capitalise on the draw and laboured to a majority draw after a late comeback from Peterson who, arguably, won most of the rounds. This, however, was wiped out last weekend and Vicious Ortiz was reborn when he beat WBC welterweight champion in a thrilling fight. Ortiz, who was always refered to as a welter fighting at light-welterweight, was fighting like a man possessed, sometimes throwing wildly, knocking down Berto twice in round one and round six. Ortiz, himself, was knocked down in rounds two and six, but rarely look troubled and won a unanimous decision in a fight that will be replayed for years to come. Having browsed various boxing forums, it’s seems this display and will to win shown by Ortiz, which many doubted, has won over the boxing public and maybe, just maybe, America could have it’s next boxing superstar. A future fight against Amir Khan is now hotly tipped as is a possible fight against Manny Pacquiao although I am not so sure a fight against the latter will materialise.

For me, personally, the upset of the year has been Orlando Salido’s eight round tko win over Juan Manuel Lopez. ‘JuanMa’ has had his fair share of problems recently. He is divorcing his wife of just one year, has five children to support and his weight has also been a reported problem. There are rumours his weight was as his at 190lbs back in December and, as a featherweight, this can’t be doing his body any good at all. Known for his explosive style, often disregarding offence, the fight with the Mexican Salido was always going to be a potential banana skin for Lopez. Salido’s right hook proved to be a major weapon and he caught Lopez flush on numerous occasions, flooring him in the fifth round. I was surprised Lopez got up from the shot but JuanMa has always been resilient and got up to his feet. He seemed to clear his head in the sixth round and began to fight a lot better but, then with his defence seeming non existent, took a lot of straight rights and hooks from the challenger in the eighth before the referee called a bout to a half. Salido, having lost 11 fights before, caused what will undoubtedly be the upset of the year. JuanMa, visibly angry and throwing a bottle of water into the crowd, disagreed with the stoppage but the referee made the right call. Despite having a solid chin, the accumulation of punches he was taking where taking their toll, his legs had gone, and the stoppage would’ve only have happened later. A rematch is apparently to be scheduled for August, with the venue said to be Puerto Rico again. JuanMa can definitely recover from this and reclaim his title. He is still one of the most exciting fighters in the world but needs to improve on his defence a lot. A ‘superfight’ with featherweight king Yuriokis Gamboa may or may not happen following this defeat but, unless the improvements are made, I have no doubt we will be seeing a similar result and another defeat on JuanMa’s record if Bob Arum does put it together. It’s a fight the world wants to see but JuanMa needs to straighten out a few issues before he can even think about that…

With two thirds of 2011 left, I am sure we will see another upset or two in the coming few months which will further establish 2011 as the year of the underdog. Canadian middleweight prospect David Lemieux, tipped by this writer as a future world champion, has also seen defeat and I still stand by that claim but he needs to work on his boxing as he has now realised he can’t go into every fight blasting the opponent out of the there in a couple of rounds. There is much more boxing to come and many more upsets to be recorded. That being said, there would have to be something major happen to top what has happened recently in the world of the sweet science…

    

Top Ten British P4P List

DeGale vs Groves set for May 21st

Today it was announced that the eagerly anticipated British showdown between British Super-Middleweight champion James DeGale (10(8)-0-0) vs Georges Groves (12(10)-0-0) will take place at the 02 Arena, in London, on May 21^st 2011. It will provide chief support to the WBO light-heavyweight showdown between Welsh challenger, Nathan Cleverly (21(10)-0-0) and Jurgen Braehmer (36(29)-2-0) and the event will be shown, live, on Sky PPV.

David Coldwell initially won the purse bid for the bout, back in February, with a £400,000 bid and the bout was originally pencilled in for April 9^th but, following discussions between the two parties, it had been agreed to move it to May 21^st.  That date had originally been set aside for David Haye’s mandatory defence of his WBA heavyweight title before it was announced that he would fight a Klitschko in June/July. DeGale vs Groves promises to be one of the most explosive fights in Britain this year and, as they like to say in America, someone’s ‘0’ has to go.

Cotto vs Marg II - The road to redemption?

Mandatory retirement age for OAPs (Old Age Punchers)?

I decided to do this blog after reading the letters page in the respected UK publication, Boxing News. Like most magazines, they have a letters section where you, the reader, can write in and 'have your say'. Obviously there are some views you will agree on and some you find just, well, absurd. This week's corker came from a reader via email ( I won't name names Mr B F) and he suggested that David Haye is right to retire at 31 and that that there should be a mandatory retirement age of 35 in boxing. Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion, I felt I had to write in to the magazine to hopefully make him think again.  He also argued that fighters lose their reflexes in their thirties and that they are clearly not the athletes that they are in their 30s. The boxing fan even went as far to claim that fighters doing well at the sport at 35, with the exception of Vitali Klitschko, is very rare. He wanted a clear out of the 'deadwood'. To quote a commonly used twitter abbreviation, SMH. (Smack my head for those not in the know). So should boxers have to retire at 35 years old? Are their reflexes that shot that shouldn't be allowed in a ring? I can think of more than a few exceptions to the rule:

As the WBA, WBO and The Ring titleholder, lightweight king Juan Manuel 'Dinamita' Marquez is still, without doubt, one of the world’s best and most exciting fighters. If you believe what you read, he is also being ducked by the greatest fighter on the planet, Manny Pacquiao. And with good reason. JMM got off the floor three times in their first fight to earn a draw with the Filipino back in 2004 and, in 2004, lost a split decision in a fight that many people though Juan Manuel Marquez had done enough to win. 'Pac' seems to be in no rush to step in the ring for a third fight - instead choosing to fight Shane Mosley on May 7 when the option to fight JMM was there.  In 2010 he soundly defeated former unified lightweight champion Juan Diaz by unanimous decision and then beat Australian, Michael Katsidis, in nine rounds. He is 37. Trying telling Michael Katsidis that JMM's reflexes are shot...

Bernard Hopkins, dominated the middleweight division for ten years and, half of this time, he was in his mid to late thirties before moving upto light heavyweight where he beat Antonio Tarver to become world champion. Aged 41. Just a few months ago, Bernard Hopkins was robbed of another world title when fought, and in 99% of people's opinions, beat light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. A world champion who was 17 years his junior and coming off of a great win against Chad Dawson. And who was also fighting in his hometown. The judges at ringside called the bout a majority draw with WBC chairman Jose Sulaiman sanctioning an immediate rematch due to the controversy. Not bad for a 45 year old. 

Wladimir Klitschko, 35 this month, is set to have a ‘superfight’ against David Haye in the summer and has been in the shape of his life – should the fight be scrapped and Wlad be forced to retire because of his date of birth? The same could be said for his older brother Vitali. Nearly 40, he is still regarded, by some, as the best heavyweight in the world and a fighter who David Haye will have real problems beating, should he get past Wladimir on July 2nd. The brothers have been dominating the heavyweight division for years and no one has come close to putting a stop to that. Even at their age. You try convincing other fans, let alone the brothers themselves, that their time has come to hang up the gloves.

Finally, I would like to draw his attention to the Fighter of the Year 2010 who also won 2010 Knockout of the Year -  Sergio Martinez. He has climbed up the pound for pound lists over the past couple of years and is now ranked the third best fighter in the world following a draw with Kermit Cintron, a controversial loss to Paul Williams in a fight many thought he won, a win over Kelly Pavlik and a sickening second round knock out of Paul Williams in their eagerly anticipated rematch. Some pundits even have him as number two behind Pacquiao and it would be very hard to argue against this due to Floyd Mayweather's inactivity. His next obvious step would be a superfight with either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather but, due to the difference in size, this is not something that is likely happen. He is fighting better than he has ever done before and, just this weekend, knocked highly rated Sergiy Dzinzuruk down five times before the referee stopped the fight in the sixth. Sergio is a renowned athlete who is probably in better shape than 99% of the other fighters, has movie star good looks according to HBO and, if you listen to his promoter, is a 'f*cking beast'.

Oh, and Mr B.F, I forgot to add: He is also 36. Not bad for so called ‘deadwood’.

From Twitter to Blogger

Never been a fan of blogs if I'm honest. Always saw them as places people went to speak to themselves for a few minutes. Random musings about the world that no one ever read apart from yourself, your mother and, if you're lucky, one of your mates who had too much time spare time at work. Well, that was then and this is now. I have too much to say and, as much as I love twitter (@boxingbantz) as anyone who reads this will probably have gathered, 140 characters just doesn't cut it. BoxingBantz has found a new platform and this is it. (Note to self: never refer myself in the third person again. I am not Floyd Mayweather). Even if just a few of my followers (or even the mate at work who has too much time on his hands) takes the time out to read this, it'll have been worth it.

- Lee.