Eric Armit's World View by Eric Armit Nov 1st 2006

Four years ago Namibian Harry Simon seemed to be heading for the very top. He had won the WBO light-middleweight title in 1998 by outpointing Winky Wright and had beaten Kevin Lueshing, Enrique Areco, Rodney Jones, Wayne Alexander, Hacine Cherifi and Armand Krajnc in defences. However the only places he was heading for were the courts and the hospitals after he was involved in two fatal road accidents in 20 months. Two people died in the first accident but it was decided that another occupant of the car was driving and he was found guilty. The second led to the death of three Belgian tourists, including a 22 month old baby, and four others were injured . Simon was found guilty but unbelievable was only give a four year jail sentence with two of those years suspended. He is currently out on bail and has lodged an appeal. However the leniency of the sentence is also under appeal. Simon is trying to resurrect his boxing career and had an exhibition set against Dingaan Thobela but that fell through and he is trying to set another but as long as he is only released on bail there has to be restrictions on his travels which would severely limit his ability to return to world class level. What a pity about Thobela. If he had known when to walk away he could have been remembered as one of the greats in South African boxing. The “Rose of Soweto” won the WBO lightweight title in 1990, the WBA lightweight title in 1993 and the WBC super-middleweight title by stopping Glenn Catley in 2000. However he kept on going and at the age of 40 was halted by former victim Soon Botes on October 27. It was supposed to be for the South African light-heavyweight title, but Dingaan came nowhere near making the weight. He was fat and slow and looked pitiful and it is a shame that such a talented boxer should have his reputation tainted in such a sorry way. He had very mixed fortunes against British boxers, beating Catley, Brian Roche, Peter Till, Tony Foster and Mark McCreath but lost to Geoff McCreesh, Cornelius Carr and to Karl Taylor. Who would have believed that a guy could lose to Karl at light-welterweight and go on almost six years later and four divisions heavier to stop Glenn Catley? Safety standards in boxing are very variable. We take the high standards here for granted but it is different elsewhere. Take the case of the former Commonwealth flyweight champion Alfonso Zvenyika from Zimbabwe. Alfonso won the title here in 1998 by beating Paul Weir and in the same year beat Keith Knox in a defence before losing it to Damean Kelly. In September Alfonso travelled to Tanzania where he was blown away inside a round by world class bantamweight Mbwana Matumla. Alfonso had no clearance from his own Board, the fight was not fought under the banner of the recognised Tanzanian Board and to top it all Alfonso had suffered a mild stroke whilst serving a recent jail sentence. He now intends to apply for a promoters or trainers licence. You have to wonder about a sport that is so badly run that these things can happen. It does not surprise me I know of a top rated African fighter who three years ago was diagnosed with serious eye defects including being almost blind in one eye and yet his home Board continues to licence him. Still on the “it's a different world” I mentioned Bash Ali a couple of columns back and his attempts to defend his WBF title-that is the one from the defunct Federation and not the current Foundation-Bash staged a couple of fights a while back against “imported” opposition. However an investigation revealed that they had been “imported” from a local trailer park. I am not sure if that is a step up from a Mexican Road Sweeper or not. When a boxer says that he was robbed in a fight it tends to be taken with a pinch of salt. However you have to feel that Guyanan Leon Moore has a point. Leon went to Colombia to fight the former IBF flyweight champion Irene Pacheco for the vacant interim WBO bantamweight title. He lost a very disputed split decision after having Pacheco almost out in round eleven. After the fight the Colombian Federation suspended for life the two local judges who voted for Pacheco. They happen to be brothers and if there is a third brother I guess he had the family pair of spectacles with him that night. Pacheco stopped Damean Kelly in seven rounds in a defence of his IBF title in 2003. Leon is another who does not seem to have gotten the idea of these flattering and misleading nicknames as he rejoices in the nickname of “hurry up chicken! Pacheco is 33-1 losing only to Vic Darchinyan and Leon lost for the first time after 16 wins. He should have a cast iron case for a return, but not in Colombia. Juho Tolppola and Reider Walstad are two of the best fighters in Scandinavia and they both scored wins on a show in Helsinki on October 6. Finn Juho added a good scalp as he outpointed former French champion Gabriel Mapouka to go to 19-2 and Norwegian Walstad had a routine stoppage win over Valery Yanchy in eight. Juho fought mainly as a flyweight as an amateur and was good enough to win a bronze medal at the European championships as an 18 year old. Walstad who is 14-1-1 also took a bronze in the European championships. They both have something else in common-unhappy experiences over here. Juho lost to David Barnes in January 2005 and Reider was halted inside a round by Shinny Bayar in Cardiff in 2004. You can't trust these British. Paraguayan Juan Carlos Gimenez was another who did not find happiness on these shores. The guy was one of those lucky fighters who had a decent looking record, was durable and was sure not to win, the kind every promoter likes. As a result he came here and lost to Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn and Joe Calzaghe. Now 45 years old on October 6 in Carapegua Juan Carlos halted Juan Rivas to win the national cruiserweight title. His third Paraguayan title as he has in the past won the super-middleweight and light-heavyweight titles. Being Paraguayan cruiserweight champion is a bit like being an Admiral in the Luxemburg navy, but it looks good on his CV but not good enough for him to come here to fight Enzo Maccarinelli-I hope!! Former world middleweight title challenger Robert Allen returned to action with a points win over Robert Marsh in Atlanta on October 6. Robert's last fight was a points loss to Bernard Hopkins for the WBC, WBA and IBF titles in June 2004. It was his third fight with Bernard having fought a no contests and lost on points previously. The no contests was because Bernard was injured when the referee in breaking the fighters managed to push Bernard out of the ring where he injured himself. Robert fought here six times early in his career. The 37 year old southpaw weighed 12st 6lbs and although he is not too worn he may be a bit old to make an impression, but he could trade his name for a few paydays at light-heavyweight. Just to cover another couple of veterans still active, former champions Miguel Angel Gonzalez and Julio Cesar Vasquez were both in action recently. Gonzalez, or MAGO as he is known halted Ulises Duarte in ten rounds in Xalapa on October 7 to retain his WBC Fecarbox light-middleweight title. He was one of the best lightweights ever to come out of Mexico. He won the WBC title in 1992 and made ten defences before moving up. After 41 straight wins he lost to Oscar de La Hoya in a challenge for the WBC light-welterweight title in 1997, and then drew a record crowd for his draw with Julio Cesar Chavez for the vacant WBC title in 1998 in Mexico City. His only other losses came in fights with Kostya Tszyu, for the again vacant WBC light-welterweight title, to Cory Spinks for the WBC, WBA and IBF welterweight titles and Luis Collazo for the WBA welterweight title and a non-title fight loss to Manuel Gomez. He will be 36 this month and has a 51-5-1 record. Vasquez was halted in ten rounds by Martin Bruer in a challenge for the Argentinian super-middleweight title in Buenos Aires on October 7. Julio Cesar has lost 7 of his last 11 but was a very good fighter at his peak. He won the WBA light-middleweight title in March 1995 and made ten defences including a 1994 win over Winky Wright, who he had on the floor six times. He lost the title to Pernell Whitaker, regained it and lost it again. He lost on points to Robin Reid in Coventry in 2001 in a challenged for the WBF super-middleweight title. Now 40 he is just a shadow of his former self but has drunk away the money he earned. Argentinian light-middleweight Sergio Martinez seemed to have something against British fighters as he outpointed and halted Richard Williams and stopped Adrian Stone here in 2003/04. He is still winning and in Fuenlabrada, Spain on October 7 kayoed Oscar Tchinda in five rounds to extend his current unbeaten run to 22 fights in a 38-1-1 record. He is rated No 4 by the WBC and 11 by the WBO but seems to be nowhere near landing the title shot his talent deserves. One to watch: Raul “The Cobra” Martinez an undefeated 24 year old bantamweight from San Antonio managed by fight figure Lou Mesorano. Raul has 16 wins with 12 inside the distance. He was a good but not outstanding amateur at flyweight twice winning the US title but failed in the Olympic Trials. He has looked impressive so far.

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