Tag: forgotten fades

This fight was one of many that happened on that particular day.  PBC had a lackluster card headlined by a disappointing Shawn Porter vs Adrien Broner fight.  Andre Ward would come back after a long hiatus and beat Paul Smith in a fight that really didn’t register any real impact on the excitement meter.  This fight didn’t have any high expectations either.  HBO refused to even air this fight on their network.  From where I am located, it ended up airing on FOX Sports 2.  FOX Sports 2 at the time was not even offered in HD on my cable system so I had to watch it in SD.  The fight I am talking about is David Lemieux vs Hassan N’dam N’Jikam. 

This fight would be contested for the vacant IBF Middleweight title previously held by Jermain Taylor who was stripped due to out of ring issues.  For Lemieux, this would be an opportunity to validate the potential he had shown at various points in his career.  He had to work his way back from reputation damaging back to back defeats to Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine.  For Hassan N’dam, this would be an opportunity for him to regain a piece of the Middleweight title.  He had a brief reign as WBO Middleweight Champion almost 3 years prior.  He was an interim champion that was upgraded to full champion when previous champ Dmitry Pirog retired due to back issues.  He would lose it in a firefight of a first title defense against Peter Quillin in which he would go down 6 times.  He received this title shot by beating Curtis Stevens in an IBF middleweight title eliminator over 12 rounds.  The stage was now set.

The fight

                To sum up the fight, it could easily be compared to the aforementioned N’dam fight with Peter Quillin.  It was a shootout from the opening bell.  No feeling out necessary, no warm up needed.  Lemieux would strike first in the 2^nd round by uncorking a beautiful left hook to drop N’dam for the first knockdown.  N’dam got up quickly, shook it off like it was nothing, and went back to work.  One thing I thought is N’dam is shaking off these punches like it was nothing and Lemieux can crack.  None more apparent than in round 5 where Lemieux’s left hook would drop him 2 more times.  If there was a point in the fight where I thought the ref would take a hard look at N’dam, it would be in that round, but N’dam’s recovery powers were nothing short of amazing.  One more knockdown by Lemieux in the 7^th round, a round where N’dam was boxing Lemieux’s head off.  But for the rest of the fight, especially in the championship rounds, N’dam remained upright and to me out boxed Lemieux soundly.  I was impressed though that Lemieux’s work rate still didn’t drop off.  N’dam surprisingly to me didn’t have enough to power to really keep Lemieux at bay nor really bother him.    Unfortunately he also didn’t bank enough rounds, much less returned a KD, to overcome those 4 knockdowns suffered.   Lemieux would win a UD with scores of 115-109 x2 and 114-110 and become the new IBF Middleweight Champion.  Respect and sportsmanship were displayed all around, it was an extraordinary fight.

Aftermath                

The newly crowned champion Lemieux certainly earned the right to face a soft touch for his first title offense.  Instead he went straight for another fellow champion, Gennadiy Golovkin, also known as GGG.  GGG held the WBA Middleweight title and was calling for a unification.  In the era where other Middleweight champions such as Felix Sturm, Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto, and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez found unique ways to avoid GGG, Lemieux was of a different breed.  On a HBO PPV main event, he put up an admirable effort but would be stopped in 9 rounds.  His reign as champion would be brief.   He has since continued scoring some brutal knockouts along the way.  He received a title shot against then WBO Middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders and would get out boxed over 12 rounds.  Now it seems he will be moving into the 168 division.  I wouldn’t count out Lemieux grabbing a belt there.  For N’dam it was a minor setback.  He would go on to win his next 4 fights before facing undefeated Japanese sensation Ryota Murata for the “regular” WBA Middleweight Title. In one of the more shocking results, N’dam would win a controversial decision over Murata to regain a piece of the Middleweight title he once held.  That reign would be brief when Murata would be the first to stop him in a rematch.  N’dam is still active, even made an overture to 168 in his last fight.  It is a shame this fight was not picked up by HBO else I’m sure most people would talk about it more. Then it wouldn’t be a “Forgotten Fade” and I wouldn’t go out of my way to shed light on it.  Full recommendation to watch.

Written by Patscorpio for Ring Gang Radio

One of the few times I remember being taken aback from somebody I talked boxing with was somebody mentioning this fight to me.  It all started from when I had a conversation with my lady.  This was in the early stages in our relationship.  She told me that she had a friend that was also into boxing like I was.  Now when I hear that, most of the time I’m kind of dismissive to comments like that.  This was when the Floyd vs Manny thing was in full swing and by then I was more than over the talks with people taking either side to the extreme.  Her friend would later friend request me on Facebook.  One day I made a post about the greatest fight of all time IMO:  Diego Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo 1.  He posted under it and mentioned Clarence Bones Adams vs Paulie Ayala 1 as his favorite fight of all time.  I went “Whoa!!!” and replied back “That’s a fight you don’t hear somebody mention every day.” I mean I was seriously impressed.  We then had one of the longest conversations ever under that post.  My lady read all that and was like “I told you so!!!”  This fight is one of those that is so unheralded that someone mentioning it to me suddenly will automatically validate as you know something about boxing.

The Fight

                Adams wasted little time on a feeling out process and opened up on Ayala.  Ripping Ayala to the body and piling up the points.   This strategy however left Adams susceptible to counters upstairs as Ayala answered back with mean hooks.  Pretty soon Adams started to show the effects of those punches but it didn’t dissuade him from not staying on the inside.  The fight deteriorated into a phone booth type brawl with some absolutely sickening exchanges. Bones’s eye and cheek were getting puffier by the rounds. I feel for the judges who had to score this fight by this point.  In the second half of the fight, you can see Ayala missing on a lot of shots and Adams closing the gap rolling with Ayala’s punches.  But then you see Adams start to tire and his own activity start to drop.  Ayala took advantage and in the 10^th round, rocked Adams with a huge hook.   Then it was followed by more vicious body punching from both men.   This fight is amazing after all the years.

 In the 11^th round, accidental clash of heads produced a nasty cut over Bones’s eye.  Ayala then targeted the cut, opening it up more.  How the doctor let this fight go on after that round is beyond anyone’s guess.  Maybe he didn’t want the fight to end himself and was into it.  Whatever the case Ayala moved forward on him while Bones tried to fight back.  Bones was caught several more times in that bloody eye.  It’s quite possible he was not seeing those punches coming.  In the final round, Ayala did something that was confusing to me and most likely everyone else.  He got on his bike like he secured the win.  Circling the ring which turned into a run when Bones started lighting his body up.  Then came the clinching when Adams managed to close the gap.  It was a puzzling negative round on Ayala’s part.  When the bell rang, just like I did all those years ago, I thought Bones pulled it out.  My score being 116-113 for Adams.  The first 2 judges announced a 114-113 score for each fighter.  The third judge scored it 115-112 for the winner…..Paulie Ayala!!!  Man you can see the absolute disappointment in Bones’s face but it doesn’t take away on how great that fight was.

The Aftermath                

After a fight like this it was only right that a rematch had to take place.  6 months later they got it on again which Ayala would win a very comfortable unanimous decision.  Bones would go into a decline, never regaining his championship form or any career momentum.  He would bow out of the sport in 2010 following a TKO loss to Edel Ruiz, a 29-22-4 journeyman.  As for Paulie Ayala, he too would go into a career decline. He would receive a PPV shot against Erik Morales for the vacant WBC Featherweight Title and lose a unanimous decision.  One more win against the aforementioned Edel Ruiz would set him up for what turned out to be his final fight.  A 10^th round TKO loss to the great Marco Antonio Barrera in June of 2004.  Both men these days seemed to have settled well into retirement and are still involved in the sport.  Ayala runs a gym and Adams is a trainer with some good prospects on his roster and as well as some vets.   But nothing will ever take away from the greatness of their first fight.  Full recommendation to catch if you haven’t already.

Written by Patscorpio for Ring Gang Radio

In my previous “Forgotten Fades” articles, a lot of fights mentioned were originally aired on ESPN.  Well here’s another gem of a fight that comes from that network – Delvin Rodriguez vs Pawel Wolak 1.  You are probably asking when seeing this choice “Why no mention of the second fight?”  I will touch upon that later in the article.  Delvin Rodriguez (then 25-5-2 with 14 KO’s) was a staple on the ESPN Friday Night Fight cards and had plenty of fan friendly fights on there. Oscar Diaz, Jesse Feliciano, Allen Conyers, Shamone Alvarez were some of those affairs.  He would also have a couple of USBA Welterweight title reigns during that period.  He would be making his 154 debut.  Pawel Wolak (then 29-1 with 19 KO’s) was an exciting prospect in the 154 division at the time.  His only professional blemish was getting outboxed and knocked down by the underrated Ishe Smith.  He would rebound after that to score the biggest win of his career by stopping former WBA 154 champion Yuri Foreman in 6 rounds.  That fight got plenty of attention because it was on the PPV undercard of Miguel Cotto-Ricardo Mayorga. The matchmaker who ended up putting this fight together for FNF couldn’t imagine how it would it turn out.

The Fight

                Similar to his performance in the Foreman fight, Wolak wasted no time bringing the fight to Rodriguez from opening bell.  Putting Rodriguez under pressure by staying in his chest and bullying him in his attempt to wear him down.  Rodriguez was getting hit constantly with body punches and hooks upstairs. This was the pattern for most of the earlier rounds but Rodriguez would not let that be the story of the whole fight.  Every time he was able to create some distance, Rodriguez would punish Wolak with some serious combinations.  He also start timing Wolak’s attempts as he came in with right hands and uppercuts that were noticeably snapping his head back. 

As the fight progressed into the middle rounds, Wolak’s right eye swelled up grotesquely.  It was at the level if not worse than the swelling Hasim Rahman got from Evander Holyfield.   During times of the fight, the ref Steve Smoger would call a break in the action to have the doctors check it out.  To my shock and minor disbelief, they would say Wolak was good to go.  Now I’m watching this and thinking there is no way that Wolak is seeing anything out of that eye.  The fight just got more and more brutal by the round.  Round 9 especially was tough to watch as Rodriguez was targeting that swelling on that eye.  I was cringing at the shots that were landing on it.  That round was also notable for Teddy Atlas going off on a rant regarding Haye vs Klitschko.  Teddy was not a fan of that fight due to what he perceived as lack of desire from both men.  He would say that if those 2 fought like Rodriguez and Wolak, then Klitschko would not be heavyweight champion. The 10^th and final round, both fighters just let it all hang out to the final bell with the audience cheering wild.

Aftermath

Personally I thought Rodriguez edge it out by a couple rounds due to his work in the later rounds.  The judges saw it a little differently.  One judge scored it 97-93 for Rodriguez. The other 2 judges scored 95-95 which made the fight a majority draw. Both Wolak and Rodriguez were nothing but class and cordial to each other in the post-fight interview with the ESPN FNF crew.  Teddy again reiterating his views on Haye vs Klitschko and how that fight was nothing in comparison to this fight.   It was a definite fight of the year candidate.  It would get the Boxing Writers Association of America Fight of the Year award for 2011.   Both were adamant on doing it again.  Which leads up to the second fight.  Sometimes you have the first fight that is so good but underrated that it is warranted its “Forgotten Fade” status.  Sometimes you have subsequent rematches that you just like to forget about it period.  Wolak vs Rodriguez 2 is one of those fights.  The rematch took place on the undercard for Miguel Cotto vs Antonio Margarito 2. This time the fight was largely a one sided affair won by Rodriguez who nearly came close to scoring a knockout in the final round.  Wolak would retire from professional boxing shortly after this fight.  A brief sliver of potential that never got realized.  Rodriguez would soldier on but never really being able to get over the hump.  He would only win 3 of the next 8 fights afterwards.  He would fall short in title shots against then 154 champions Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara.  However they will they will always have that fight.  Full recommendation to watch.

Written by Patscorpio for Ring Gang Radio

ESPN Friday Night Fights was a great boxing platform during its on network TV.  Many fighters of yesterday and today got their start on there.  Some of course would go on to bigger things.  Others would be mainstays who had a reputation of getting into great TV fights.  That was definitely the case of Julian “Mr. KO” Letterlough.  After a 7 year stint in prison, he was released and turned pro as a light heavyweight.  His first 16 fights all but 1 ended in a knockout.  A lone draw would break the KO streak.  Nevertheless his punching power was a force to be reckoned with.  Julio Cesar Gonzalez turned pro in 1997 after representing Mexico at the 1996 Olympics. He would win his first 25 fights prior to this fight with Letterlough.  A good fight on paper but no one expected what would transpire in the ring.

The Fight

The fight itself was a back and forth war.  There were a total of 5 knockdowns in the whole fight.  Gonzalez would be the first to strike dropping “Mr. KO” to the canvas in the first round.  Resilient as always, Letterlough would fight back and in the third round returned the favor.  A brutal left hand followed by a counter right hook would send Gonzalez down to one knee.  Gonzalez popped back up immediately but still had to take that standing eight count.  The bombs continued in close quarters.  A pattern of ebb and flow now firmly established in the heat of combat.  In the early moments of round 5, Letterlough detonated one of his patented left hooks on Gonzalez sending him face first to the canvas near the ropes.  This time Gonzalez didn’t pop back up immediately, wisely taking the full count before returning back to war.  They continued to trade bombs in close quarters.  Absolutely vicious fades were being handed out by both fighters.

The fight almost ended in round 10, when Gonzalez backing up a retreating Letterlough into the ropes and walked into another flush right hand counter.  Gonzalez went down like he was shot with a violent impact.  His head slammed into the canvas and his eyes rolling around his head.  I watched this like “Damn!!!…Mr. KO is a hellacious puncher”.  Teddy Atlas mentioning Gonzalez fighting the wrong fight.  Gonzalez somehow gets to his feet almost similar to Fury waking up against Wilder in the 12th round.  He absorbed a terrible beating in the process as Letterlough smelled blood while Teddy Atlas saying “Mr. KO is about to get a KO!!” loudly.  Gonzalez managed to survive and his corner worked furiously to revive him sufficiently for round 11. In the 11th round, Gonzalez mustered a left hook/right hand combination that sent Letterlough sliding to the canvas.  Letterlough argued to the ref that he slipped but to no avail.  The audience was going absolutely nuts from what they were seeing.  They continued trade until the final bell.  I was exhausted just watching this classic fight.  Unbelievable war.  Gonzalez would prevail winning the UD with the scores of 114-109 x 2, and 113-110.  When do you usually see a fighter going down 3 times roar back like he did to win a decision?  Nothing but pure class and sportsmanship from those 2 fighters.  In my humble opinion, there were no losers.  Everybody was a winner that night.

Aftermath

Julio Cesar Gonzalez would go on a couple fights later to face the great Roy Jones Jr for the WBC/WBA/IBF 175 belts coming up short in an admirable effort.  In 2003, he scored the biggest win and upset of his career outpointing Dariusz Michalczewski to win the WBO and Lineal Light Heavyweight Titles.  Unfortunately his reign would not be long lived as he would lose to Zsolt Erdei in his first title defense.  After winning a title eliminator against Montell Griffi , he would receive a title shot losing to then champion Clinton Woods.   A couple of years later he would receive on what would be his final title shot in a rematch loss to Clinton Woods.  Followed that fight, Gonzalez would go winless in his final couple of fights losing to the likes of Reggie Johnson & Tavoris Cloud.   He would finish with a final record of 41 wins and 8 losses with 25 KO’s.  Julio Cesar Gonzalez would pass away tragically in a motorcycle accident in 2012.

Julian Letterlough later on in the year would receive a title shot at then IBF cruiserweight champion Vassiliy Jirov but fall short.  He would continue to fight on for the next 3 years but never regained any career momentum he had with mixed results here and there.   He would finish with a record of 21 wins, 5 losses, and 3 draws with 20 knockouts.  Unfortunately Julian Letterlough, after a night out with his wife, was murdered outside of a bar in Reading PA in 2005.

Thank you Julian Letterlough and Julio Cesar Gonzalez for the great in ring memories during your careers that you provided and continue to rest in perfect peace.

Written by Patscorpio for RingGangRadio.com

In boxing, half of the time, the best fight on the whole card is not in the main event.  In recent times you have Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura upstaging Canelo vs Miguel; Cotto with their war.  Or the likes of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Chocolatito waging a battle very rarely seen in America in the lower weight classes as a co main to GGG vs Daniel Jacobs.  This particular fight I am about to talk about wasn’t even hyped up to be anything but a showcase for an up and comer.  The fight I’m referring to is Omar Figueroa vs Nihito Arakawa. 

                This fight was part of the “Knockout Kings 2” card put together by Golden Boy Promotions.  A card opened with Keith Thurman stop Diego Chaves in a rousing slugfest and ended in the main event where Jesus Soto Karass became the first man to KO Andre Berto.  It was the middle fight – Figueroa vs Arakawa – that stole the show.  The fight was for the interim WBC Lightweight Tile.  The interim status was because the champion, Adrien Broner, had won the WBA Welterweight title from Paulie Malignaggi and had yet to vacate it.  Omar Figueroa (21-0-1 17 KO’s) was an exciting volume puncher and an extremely hard puncher to book.  If I remember correctly with regards to his knockouts all but one at the time ended in 3 rounds or less.  Nihito Arakawa (24-2-1 16 ko’s) was not really known outside of Japan. Prior to the fight just to get an idea of what type of fighter he was, I managed to see his lone fight outside of Japan vs Daniel Estrada.  I thought that it was a hell of a fight but somebody I thought Figueroa would put away easy.  How wrong I was!!

                From Round 1 to Round 12 it was a flat out war.  Omar was landing at will on Nihito for the majority of the fight and he just kept on coming.  There were 2 knockdowns of the flash variety that were scored by Omar in the 2^nd and 6^th rounds.  I love a good clean brutal fight as the next boxing fan but seeing Arakawa absorb this type of punishment was alarming.  His eyes were swollen as was his head.  The funny thing is I kind of expected Laurence Cole to stop the fight after the 6^th round.   In a way I’m glad he did not stop it.  Not to say it was all one way.  Arakawa was throwing back but the problem with that was he was not sitting on his punches.  They were arm punches.  Numerous arm punches that also found their target more often than not.  Omar’s nose ended up broken and bloody.  What was more troubling was that Omar ended up damaging his hands from landing so many punches.  All of these injuries would set the stage for a late rounds rally by Arakawa, who moved forward on the fading Figueroa.  The conditioning that both fighters shown for this was incredible, especially for Arakawa.  It’s amazing neither men collapsed from this fight.   When the final bell ran I remember my beater being sweaty from watching this feeling relieved it was over.  It was an outstanding fight.  Now I remember not agreeing with the official scores for Figueroa (119-107, 118-108, and 118-108).  Personally I thought it was around 115-111, however Figueroa was no doubt the winner of the fight.  Arakawa, even after the beating he took, was able to give a post-fight interview ending it with a “Thank you very much Texas San Antonio.”

                The aftermath of this fight I honestly thought this fight would have ruined both fighters.  Bradley vs Provodnikov was the leading candidate for fight of the year for 2013 and this was the first fight to really challenge it. Even Tim Bradley remarked that his fight with Provodnikov was kid stuff compared to that.  The compubox stats were eye popping.  Omar landed 480 out of 942 punches; Nihito landed 280 out of 1170 punches.  No slouching on the work rate whatsoever.  Nihito Arakawa is still fighting as of 2019.  After Figueroa, he was given a shot on the Canelo vs Angulo PPV card against Jorge Linares.  Linares easily out boxed him to a wide decision loss. After which he returned to Japan, where he has been operating since. He is ranked 7 on the WBO 135 rankings so we may see one more high profile fight from him in the near future.  As for Omar, he never really regained his momentum as he has had to battle chronic hand issues, inactivity, and weight/ discipline issues.  He has maintained his zero since that fight and had a very good win over a faded Robert Guerrero. But spotty performances sprinkled in with had close calls against the likes of Ricky Burns and Jerry Belmontes.   Nonetheless it doesn’t take away from the unheralded classic that is Figueroa vs Arakawa.  As always, do not take my word for it, watch for yourself.

Written by Patscorpio for Ring Gang Radio

https://www.sho.com/video/28051/figueroa-vs-arakawa-full-fight

Background

                Shobox for years has been where many fighters who were up and coming prospects received their first taste of national exposure.  It boasts a sizable alumni of fighters who would go on to become world champions.  Esteemed names such as Tim Bradley, Ricky Hatton, Shawn Porter, Errol Spence, Chad Dawson, Andre Ward, etc., etc.  However we can’t forget about the prospects that fought on those Shobox cards that unfortunately were not able to reach world champion status.  Two prospects who put on what I consider the greatest fight ever aired on it:  Ebo Elder v Courtney Burton.

                Ebo Elder debuted in 2000 at light welterweight after a successful amateur career.  He rose to attention with wins over highly regarded prospects such as Emmanuel Clottey and a then undefeated Oscar Diaz.   Ebo would also become a born again Christian following out of ring issues that nearly derailed his career.  Courtney Burton debuted in 1996 after a successful amateur career as well.  In 2003, he burst upon on the world title scene with back to back knockout wins over faded former world champions Gabriel Ruelas and Angel Manfredy.  This would lead to an IBF title eliminator against Julio Diaz where he would come up short.  He then rebounded with a disputed win over Emmanuel Augustus.  The stage was set but nobody who caught this fight live, in person or TV, would expect it to play out the way did.

The Fight

                Man talk about a closet classic.  Both men just bombed away from jump.  Fast paced action from the start that never let up.  Burton was switching up his stances constantly which you can see was visibly confusing Ebo and blasting away with his left hand.  There was a point deduction in round 6 on Ebo for repeated low blows.  But Ebo kept plugging away and in the process was absorbing tremendous damage.  His face was a grotesque mask of pain, cuts, and lumps.  His eyes were so swollen it is a wonder that he was able to see anything.  Many times you could see Ebo staggering to his corner at the bell and wondering if the ref was going to stop this.  Courtney was giving it as good as he got for ¾ of the fight.  Toe to toe action galore.  Ebo’s pressure eventually got to him and wore him out leading to the increased amount of punishment that Courtney ended up taking.    In the 12^th and final round, Ebo summoned one final reserve of energy and strength.  With 1:14 left in the fight, Ebo walloped with a brutal straight left hand that sent Courtney into the ropes.  Desperately trying to hold on but Courtney instead took another left hand and snapped his head all the way back and put him on the canvas. Courtney got up but was in serious trouble.  He backed up with Ebo in pursuit.  Ebo then landed one more straight left followed with a right and left that sent Courtney down and out under the ropes.  The ref waved it off immediately.  The climax of this fight captured perfectly as Ebo sunk down to his knees exalting God for the victory. He then would go over and pray with Courtney, who was sat up and put on a stool in a unique show of sportsmanship and respect.  After which Ebo mentioned to him over and over that he was a “bad dude”.  2 of the judges had Ebo ahead 106-102 and 105-103 while one judge had it even at 104-104.  So the fight was still up for grabs for both men.  A pure gut check ending to an incredible fight.    

Aftermath                

The drama and the brutality of this fight is the reason for its “Forgotten Fade” status.  I found a first-hand account of this fight from Ebo himself on his Facebook page.  Ebo said “I fought Courtney Burton, who was then ranked #4 in the world in the lightweight division in a “title eliminator”, where the champion, Juan Diaz, would have to fight the winner. In undoubtedly the most brutal fight of my career, God intervened in the last round. My jaw was broken, my kidneys were bleeding, and blood was running from cuts over both of my eyes. In spite of my complete fatigue, injuries and a powerful left that nearly took me out, the Holy Spirit came upon me with 2:05 left in the 12th round.”   For him this would be proved to be a pyrrhic victory and the last win of his career.  9 months afterwards, he would receive a WBA lightweight eliminator shot against Lakva Sim and get stopped in the 12^th and final round.   His final fight would take place on season 2 of The Contender where he would get stopped in 4 by Michael Stewart.  After that he would retire to become an evangelist and a motivational speaker.  Courtney Burton would fall even harder.  Equally ruined, he would get ko’ed in 3 straight fights after to Rolando Reyes, Juan Lazcano, and, in a rematch, Emmanuel Augustus.  He would retire in 2006 but come out of retirement almost 4 year later.  He would win one fight against a journeyman before losing a decision to a then undefeated prospect Vernon Paris.  He would retire again for good after that loss.    As always highest recommendation to watch.  Don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself.

Written by Patscorpio for Ring Gang Radio

I posted the video for Omar Sheika for the latest “Nightly Knockouts” post on the Ring Gang Radio Instagram.  A video showing a young Omar Sheika destroying a journeyman in only 30 seconds.  In In the process of finding this video on Youtube had me stumble upon a bunch of Omar Sheika’s fights.   ESPN Friday Night Fights was one of my favorite boxing series to watch.  At times it was the only thing worth watching on TV Fridays.  Many future stars made their debuts on it and had several unheralded fights that never got the recognition it deserved.  Omar Sheika had a certain couple of fights there that meet that criteria.  The couple of fights I’m referring to are his 2 barnburners with Scott Pemberton.

First Fight – 7/25/2003

                This at the time was seen as a must win for both men.  For Omar Sheika, he was riding a 2 fight losing streak coming up short in an IBF title eliminator fight against Thomas Tate after dropping him twice.  He had also had unsuccessful title challenges against then WBC Super Middleweight Champion Eric Lucas and then WBO Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe.  For Scott Pemberton, he was starting to get up there in age as well having personal issues outside of the ring.  Both fighters being notable punchers, no one thought this fight would go the distance. It certainly didn’t appear that way when in the second round, Pemberton got dropped by Sheika with a right hook counter.  Sheika for most of the early rounds was the aggressor scoring with hard combos.  Pemberton weathered the storm and starting putting in effective body work in the middle rounds.  By 9^th round you could see the pace of the fight start to wear on Sheika as his output slowed.  Pemberton also started to clinch more than usual.  He looked like he was going to fight to a clear decision when Omar came alive in the 11^th round and nearly came close to putting him away late with a loud thudding left hook.  Pemberton, as he had been doing all night, weathered the storm and gave it as good as he got in the final round.  Scott Pemberton would win a split decision by 2 scores of 114-113; Sheika given the nod on the final card 116-111.  I personally do not agree with that score as it was too wide for my liking but it was still an outstanding fight

Second Fight – 1/23/2004

                The first fight was wildly considered to be a top FOTY candidate for 2003.  In fact ESPN had actually named that fight as its fight of the year.  So you already know they were going to do it again.  The second fight pretty much picked up where it left off.  Round 1 or Round 13 depending on how you looked at it.  It almost mirrored the first fight where Sheika controlled the earlier rounds and again drops Pemberton in round 2.  Pemberton weathers the storm again by clinching repeatedly in order to get his bearings back.  The middle rounds were mostly Sheika being the aggressor and in the 6^th round forced a standing 8 knockdown after catching Pemberton on the ropes with a barrage.  After that round, Sheika’s activity began to drop as Pemberton willed himself back in the fight.  By the 9^th round Pemberton was landed almost at will on a defenseless Sheika.  The 10^th round, Sheika completely exhausted would get knocked down by a 3 punch combination.  The ref would have done well to stop the fight by then as Sheika labored to his feet.  Pemberton followed up with a big right hand that had Sheika in all types of trouble.  One more combination from Pemberton would send Sheika falling off balance into the corner forcing the ref to stop the fight.

Aftermath:  Both fights were brutal affairs that put more than enough of mileage on both fighters. Pemberton, the victor of both fights, would only fight on 4 more times.  He would eventually receive his one and only title shot against then IBF Super Middleweight Champion Jeff Lacy.  Lacy wound run right through him in only 2 rounds.  Omar Sheika would fight on another 8 years. He also received a title shot against Jeff Lacy and in his career best performance gave him all that he could handle.  Sheika would lose a disputed UD with the scores being close on 2 cards.  He would receive one more title shot against then WBC Super Middleweight champion Markus Beyer who handled him with ease on his way to a wide decision.  Sheika would never regain any form and the fights added up. His last fight of note was getting ko’ed in 5 rounds by an aging Roy Jones Jr.  Neither of them ever made it to the top level of the sport but those 2 fights were nothing but pure class. Do yourself a favor and catch those fights.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Written by PatScorpio for

RingGangRadio.

Introduction

                One of the old adages of boxing is “boxing goes as the heavyweights goes.”  This has been, more or less, been the way boxing has operated for 115 something years.  At the turn of the century though there was a change in this status quo.  The heavyweights were no longer the de facto marquee division of boxing.  The fighters in the lower divisions had managed to maintain and/or raise their profile to the level where they were able to create bankable, crossover stars.  In contrast, the heavyweight division went on a decline.  The top HW fighters and contenders of the 80s and 90s were aging and the newer class of heavyweights did not necessarily have the spark or “it factor” to capture the public’s attention.  Contrary to popular belief, there were definitely good to great heavyweight fights that occurred in the post Tyson/Holyfield/Lewis era.  The fight I am highlighting in this article was IMO the best heavyweight fight post 2000.  An all-time classic heavyweight title fight and slugfest to boot.  The fight I am referring to is Lamon Brewster vs Siarhei Liakhovich.

The Fighters

                “Relentless” Lamon Brewster debuted on the scene in 1996 and was considered somewhat of an underachieving prospect dropping fights to Clifford Etienne and Charles Shufford.  Lamon would work his way back from those minor setbacks where he would score his biggest career victory to date:  Stopping Wladimir Klitschko in 5 rounds to win the vacated WBO World Heavyweight Championship.  This fight would put on full display the vulnerability factor that would come to epitomize him and his career.  Dropped for the first (and only time) in his career in the 4^th round by Wlad, Lamon managed to come back in the next round to hurt and drop Wlad, albeit after the bell.    He would then go on to defend the title successfully 3 times in wildly exciting fights against the likes of Kali Meehan, Andrew Golota, and Luan Krasniqi.

                “The White Wolf” Siarhei Liakhovich debuted in 1998, a couple of years after representing Belarus in the 1996 Olympics.  A decent boxer-puncher but his chin was considered questionable after a KO loss to Maurice Harris.  He did manage to work his way back from that defeat including getting a good win over fringe contender Dominick Guinn in December of 2004.  However this was Siarhei’s last fight prior to getting a shot at Lamon Brewster, which was scheduled for April 1, 2006.  So during this period of inactivity, Siarhei managed to maintain ranking of 13 with the WBO in order to justify this title shot. 

The fight

                Prior to his scheduled 4^th title defense, Lamon started experiencing vision problems and underwent laser eye surgery unsuccessfully to correct it.  Details on why the fight still went forward remain a little murky.  In particular that Lamon had a state mandated eye examination 8 days before the fight and was given the ok to fight.  There was also reportedly a desire to go on to fight by Lamon so he could fulfill his contractual obligations to Don King and move on to another promoter.  This fight aired on Showtime as part of its free view weekend.  I had grown to be a fan of Lamon Brewster during this period of his career because his fights as mentioned before were exciting, in contrast to the other HW champions like John Ruiz or Chris Byrd.  I would be lying to you if I said I was anticipating this fights or did I think this fight would turn out the way it did.  I think my opinion of this fight was definitely shared by the majority of boxing fans.

                The fight, point blank, was 12 rounds of epic brutality and ebb and flow.  The first 4-5 rounds shows Liakhovich outboxing Brewster with an educated jab and beautiful combination punching.  Brewster being just a sad slower until the 5^th round.  Brewster then start living up to his nickname and started letting off savage combinations to the body and head.  Liakhovich, to his trainer’s dismay, followed suit.  The middle rounds were filled with violent back and forth action. Liakhovich came back nearly stopping Brewster in the 6^th.  Brewster then coming back getting the best of Liakhovich in the 7^th round knocking him down in the last seconds of the round after both inflicted heavy punishment on each other.  Liakhovich managed to regain his bearings in the 8th and in the 9^th round wobbled Brewster an over hand right and left hook and came very close to KO’ing him.  Referee Ernie Sharif would have done well to stop the fight at this point.  How Lamon Brewster remained on his feet after that is beyond me but essentially that emptied his tank.  He never was able to mount any real sustained offensive response nor was able to keep Liakhovich at bay until the final bell.  Siarhei Liakhovich dethroned Lamon Brewster by unanimous decision (115-113, 115-112, 117-110) to be the new WBO Heavyweight Champion.   I found myself agreeing with the post-fight comments of the Showtime broadcasting team.   In particular with Karyn Bryant who mentioned to Steve Albert” that although the fight was free, she would have paid a heck of a lot of money to see this fight”.

Aftermath

                You would think a fight like this would be mentioned over and over with its highlights being shown ad nauseam on Showtime in throwback montages. Surprisingly, that is not the case. It is only mentioned from time to time and usually by only hardcore boxing fans.  To me it is the best heavyweight fight of the last decade and the last one I considered an ATG until Joshua vs Klitschko. Both men really put it on the line and unfortunately both ended ruining each other.  For Lamon, he had suffered a detached retina in the first round.  On top of his fighting style, this most likely played a part in the tremendous punishment he took.  He would go 2-3 in his last 5 career fights.  2 of those losses ended in a KO.  A shell of what he was during his reign.   He would retire in 2010 with a left eye that, to date, has not fully healed.  

As for Liakhovich he got his day in the sun but it would be brief.  This was in a way a pyrrhic victory. He managed to win a war with one of boxing’s heaviest punchers, he also used up a career worth’s of punch resistance.  He would go 4-6 in his next 10 fights never really being able to take a good shot from an opponent.  He would lose his belt in his first title defense to a sluggish Shannon Briggs by KO in round 12, needing only to remain standing to win.   He would also suffer some more brutal knockouts along the way at the hands of Robert Helenius, Bryant Jennings, and Deontay Wilder.  Of course these are just my words and thoughts.  Please watch the fight and most likely that you will also be in agreement as well.

Written by PatScorpio for Ringgangradio.com