ERIC ARMIT’S WORLD VIEW
by Eric Armit
BritishBoxing.net
Oct 22nd 2008
UK
This is a changing world and in many ways for the better. When I was
a lad there were certain things that had a stigma attached to them
which are accepted today. Some of those were social (illegitimacy,
homosexuality) but some were sporting (being an East Fife supporter).
For instance, in boxing there was a huge stigma associated with
being a southpaw. It may sound impossible now, but I can assure you
that any southpaw entering a gym in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s
could expect one of three things to happen. He would be thrown out,
he would be given a bucket and mop, as that was all he was useful for,
or he would be converted to what we described as "orthodox".
After having a tough time with Kenny Lane in a title defence "Old
Bones" Joe Brown vowed never to fight another southpaw and Sugar
Ray Robinson once declared that all southpaws should be strangled
at birth. In those days southpaws were avoided, very few received
title shots and very few won world titles. For instance a 1977 list
of southpaw world champions numbered only 22 in the history of boxing
up to that date. Boy, have things changed.
Recently two southpaws – Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver – fought for
the IBF light-heavyweight title. Almost every division has a southpaw
champion or former champion. Working through the divisions we have
Ruslan Chagaev, Sultan Ibragimov, Wayne Braithwaite, Firat Arslan,
Joe Calzaghe, Lucien Bute, Raul Marquez, Cory Spinks, Daniel Santos,
Sergiy Dzinziruk, Paul Williams, Zab Judah, Carlos Quintana, Manny
Pacquiao, Joel Casamayor, David Diaz, Edwin Valero, Steve Luevano,
Steve Molitor, Juan Manuel Lopez, Daniel Ponce De Leon, Gerry Penalosa,
Hozumi Hasegawa, Cristian Mijares, Vic Darchinyan, Omar Narvaez and
Ivan Calderon. All champions or former champions.
I don’t remember any "southpaw liberation parades" or any
non-discrimination legislation, but suddenly southpaws seemed to be
outing themselves shamelessly and now they are everywhere. I can even
see the PC police banning the use of the word "orthodox" as it would
suggest that being a southpaw was somehow abnormal. I guess I will
have to learn to live with this changing world.
When is this sport going to stop marching backwards? Vitali Klitschko
returns at the age of 37 and regains the WBC heavyweight title and then
43-year-old Bernard Hopkins beats Kelly Pavlik. Two of the biggest
attractions in the next few weeks will feature the 39-year-old Roy
Jones (Junior!) against 36-year-old Joe Calzaghe and in the other
we have a 35-year-old Oscar De La Hoya, still the sports major money
spinner.
What I want to know is "Where have All The Young Men Gone". At least
Canada has a good selection of young prospects coming along (none
of them southpaws), and in Montreal on October 4 four of them came
through with inside the distance wins. In the main event Antonin
Decarie retained his NABO welterweight title with a twelfth round
stoppage of Hector Munoz. Not a big puncher, the WBO’s No 7 had
Munoz down twice and halted the American with 18 seconds to go. The
25-year-old has 20 wins. At light-welterweight Dierry Jean made it 15
wins by putting Mexican Fabian Luque down three times for a second
round stoppage. Luque was halted in four by Martin Gethin in Las
Vegas in December. Welterweight Phil LoGreco moved to 16 wins as he
kayoed Jose Corona in the first round and light-middleweight David
Lemieux put Lance Moody down for the count in round one with a body
shot. Lemieux, only 19, is making waves as he now has eleven straight,
all inside the distance and only one going beyond round two.
On the same night, but down in Hermosillo, Mexico, southpaw flyweight
Hernan "Tyson" Marquez moved to 21 wins as he halted Carlos Rodriguez
in one round. Fifteen have come inside the distance but the opposition
has been somewhere between awful and worse.
Another Mexican to watch is welterweight Norberto "Demonio"
Gonzalez. In Monterrey on October 10 he outpointed useful Antonio
Arras to go to 16 wins, twelve inside the distance. The 27-year-old
was a top amateur winning a silver medal in the Central American
Games. Alejandro Sanabria is another good Mexican prospect . The
21-year-old super-featherweight moved to 17 wins as he kayoed Daniel
Aguillon in the twelfth round of their fight for the WBC Fecarbox title
in Polanco on October 15. Unfortunately, Aguillon did not recover. He
was rushed to a hospital and underwent an operation. Whilst he is
alive at the time of writing, the doctors have declared him brain
dead, but the family are hoping for a miracle and have not agreed to
his life-support system being turned off.
Both Gennady Martirosyan and Attila Kovacs had scored wins over Steve
Conway and had good records, so it was an interesting match-up in
their October 4 middleweight fight in Vyborg, Russia. Armenian-born
Russian Martirosyan came out on top with a points win after ten rounds
to improve his record to 14 wins in 15 fights. Hungarian Kovacs
was unbeaten in his last 22 going in, but the 34-year-old "Viper"
is now 24-2. The experienced Azeri cruiserweight Ali Ismailov scored
a good win in the other ten round bout on the show as he decisioned
the 22-year-old American Max Alexander.
Unfortunately most of the 34-year-old Ali’s experience came in a long
amateur career and he is 14-1-1 as a pro with the loss being to world
rated Vadim Tokarev in his fifth fight. Alexander lost to Sam Soliman
and Brian Vera in the Contender series but he drew with Rob Calloway
in his last fight and is 14-3-2.
Senegalese-born super-middleweight Muhamed Ali N’Diaye won the vacant
Italian title with a close points victory over Roberto Cocco in
Pontedera on October 10. Both fighters are relative novices. N’Diaye
has a 14-1 record and Cocco lost for the second time against just
nine wins. N’Diaye won a silver medal for Senegal in the African
championships as an amateur.
Veteran southpaw Kevin Kelley is just too old at 41 to keep up
with the youngsters. In Tucson on October 10 he had the skill but
not the strength and pace to match prospect David Rodela and lost
on points over eight rounds. The former WBC featherweight champion
has lost two of his last three, but is probably not ready to hang up
his gloves yet. Rodela, a super-featherweight from Oxnard, the same
town as Fernando Vargas, is 11-1-2 and unbeaten in his last ten. He
won a gold medal in the United States championships, a silver in the
National Golden Gloves and United States Juniors, but lost in a US
v England match to Steve Bell in 2001.
Four bouts came up with very mixed results on a show in Bloemfontein
on October 10. Two went the full twelve rounds and two ended in the
first round. At super-middleweight William Gare retained his WBF
title with a points win over Czech Jindrich Velecky. It was Gare’s
second defence and he boxed well. He is 34 and has a 24-14 record,
losing here to Steve Roberts for the WBF light-middleweight title in
2001. Jindrich falls to 14-5.
An excellent match-up saw Kaiser Mabuza retain his WBA Pan African
welterweight title and win the South African title as he took a
majority verdict over Sam Malinga. After a bit of a rocky period,
Mabuza is unbeaten in his last five in a 16-6-3 record. Malinga,
who stopped Colin Lynes and Ted Bami here, falls to 20-5-1. A fight
for the vacant WBA Pan African cruiserweight title was a farce as
South African champion Thabiso Mchunu kayoed Marciano Commey in the
first round. Mchunu now has five wins. Commey, who turned pro as a
welterweight in 1990 has won two of his last eleven, but the WBA do
not care.
The other first round win was scored by Bongani "Cyclone" Mwelase
who halted 38-year-old Juan Carlos Villarreal to win the vacant
WBF title. Southpaw Mwelase , the South African champion is a tall,
loose-limbed banger who has twelve wins, eleven inside the distance,
but he needs to work on finding a defence. Villarreal lost to Shea
Neary for the WBU light-middleweight title in 1998.
The former Commonwealth welterweight champion Ali Nuumbembe kept
himself in the picture as he beat German Daniel Kaefer on a fifth
round retirement in their fight in Windhoek on October 17. It was Ali’s
second win since losing his title to Craig Watson and takes his record
to 20-3-1. On the same show Bethuel Ushona, who beat Ali back in 2004,
outpointed Zimbabwean Mordechai Donga over six rounds. Ushona has 15
wins but was largely inactive in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In Argentina Cesar Cuenca moved to 34 wins and one no contest as
he beat Ariel Burgos on a disqualification in the ninth round of
their fight in Chaco on October 18 and retained his Argentinian
light-welterweight title. Burgos was way behind when he blatantly
butted Cuenca and was thrown out. Only four of Cesar’s fights
have failed to go the distance. One was a no contest, one was a
technical verdict, one was, shockingly, a real stoppage and this
disqualification. Never mind a paper bag, Cesar could not punch his
way through wet toilet paper.
It has been a bad few weeks for French prospects . Ali Chebah saw
his 27 win streak snapped when he lost to Reyes Sanchez in Mexico
and now middleweight hope "Brigadier" Julien Marie Sainte has gone
the same way. On October 18 in Vireux-Wallerand Sainte was halted in
four rounds by the modest Venezuelan Jairo Alvarez and lost for the
first time after 17 wins. It looked easy on paper as Alvarez had lost
six of his previous seven, but who knows with these South Americans?