Eric Armit's World View by Eric Armit Jan 22nd 2008

Well, Roy Jones Jr beat Felix Trinidad but I didn't feel the earth move. What I really enjoyed was Roy and Don King saying that they intended to get on a private jet and fly to Wales to get a fight with Joe Calzaghe and also offer to fill in if Bernard Hopkins pulls out. It isn't that long ago that Jones was refusing to fight Joe and certainly would not go to Wales as he felt that he could not trust the judging in an away day. It must just make Joe's day to realise that now he is “the man” and Roy is hurrying over with the begging bowl. I can just imagine the customs officers at Cardiff airport musing “Good morning Mr. Jones, you are the man who felt he could not get an even break in Wales. Would you like to open all of your cases before you strip naked or after?” I can also see Bernard waving his axe and murmuring “ Jones take my place - over my dead body." And yet it is a pity. Roy was a truly great fighter and is still a good one, but I wish he had walked away after beating Antonio Tarver in 2003 when his place in the Hall of Fame was assured. I was so sorry to read of the death of Duilio Loi. For me he was one of the best fighters Italy has ever produced, if not the best. He had a remarkable 126 fights in 14 years as a pro and lost only three, two of those to other Hall of Fame fighters. From when he lost to Jorgen Johansen for the European lightweight title in front of almost 17,000 fans in Copenhagen in August 1952, through to his split decision defeat by world champion Carlos Ortiz for the light-welterweight title in June 1960, he was undefeated in a run of 72 fights. His only other loss was to Eddie Perkins and he beat Johansen, Ortiz and Perkins in return bouts. His victory over Ortiz in Milan in won him the world light-welterweight title and drew a crowd of 65,000. He also had the sense to go out as a champion, retiring in December 1962 after regaining his title with a win over Perkins. He faced just about everyone who was anyone in his day. The list is incredible: Bruno Visintin, Glen Flanagan, Ray Famechon, Guy Gracia, Boswell St Louis, Joe Lucy, Seraphin Ferrera, Orlando Zulueta, Jose Hernandez, Piet Van Klaveren, Rudi Langer, Idrissa Dione, Bud Smith, Tommy Molloy, Conny Rudhoff, Emilio Marconi, Mari Vecchiatto, Chris Christensen, Billy Collins, Ike Vaughan, and as an example which typifies his career in 1962 in his third last fight he beat local rival Fortunato Manca to retain his European welterweight title-and Manca had lost only one of 60 fights going in. They were all tough and he beat them all. A great fighter with the record to prove it. It is easy to see that no one is watching the IBF now. They have nominated Spaniard Rafael Lozano, 38 this month, to fight Nicaraguan Jose Palacios in an eliminator for their strawweight title. Lozano was stopped in four rounds by Brahim Asloum in December 2006 and since then has had only one fight, beating a Romanian with a 2-9 record. To put it in perspective the EBU don't even bother to rate him and yet there he is at No 10 in the IBF ratings. What rubbish. Another puzzling one is the No 2 rating by the WBO for Martin Kristjansen. He drew with Stefano Zoff in December 2006 and as with Lozano has only beaten a nothing Romanian since (and then only by one point on one card), but finds himself at No 2. So there you have it. If you want to get a rating get a Romanian - and the worse they are the higher your rating. The WBO also rate Vitali Klitschko who has not fought since 2004, but let's not be too picky. Still on ratings, the WBO continue to be just too magnanimous to British fighters and way out of step with the other bodies. They have Gary Lockett at No 1 middleweight, but no Jermain Taylor in their top 15 and none of the other bodies have Gary in their top 15. They also have Michael Jennings at No 3 welterweight, but again none of the other bodies have him in their top 15. Three of the bodies rate Amir Khan WBO at 6, WBC at 9 and WBA at 15, but the IBF misses him out. However the IBF weigh in with Kevin Mitchell at No 9, the WBO have Kevin at No 4, but the WBC and WBA don't rate him and it is a similar story for Derry Mathews where the IBF have him at 12, the WBO naturally have him highest at No 4 and again the WBC and WBA decline politely. The Global Boxing Council are keeping their standards down quite successfully. A recent contender for their intercontinental light-heavyweight title had a 0-3 record. The title fight was over twelve rounds although the fighter had fought only two four round bouts and one six rounder. What was he doing fighting for a title and what was he doing being allowed to go twelve rounds? It may seem unimportant but if something goes wrong in a match like this the whole sport gets a black eye. Let's compare rate of progress. On January 5 in Atlantic City Chazz Witherspoon makes it 21 in a row with a points win over Kenny Releford but is not yet rated in any of the top 15's. Cousin Tim in his 16th fight was facing Larry Holmes for the world title and by fight No 21 had already won and lost the WBC title. Come on Chazz, you're slacking. On the same show Cuban defector Yuriorkis Gamboa halted Gilberto Luque in one round to go to eight wins. The 26-year-old super-featherweight (he won an Olympic gold in 2004 at flyweight)looks to have what it takes to make it as a pro. Former Ricky Hatton victim Aldo Rios collected the vacant Argentinian lightweight title with a points win over Diego Alzugaray in Neuquen on January 12. Not an earthshaking event but what struck me was that it illustrated how national titles are suffering because of the other meaningless titles around. Before fighting for the national title Rios has already fought in bouts for the WBA Fedlatin lightweight title, WBC lightweight title, WBO Latino lightweight title, WBO lightweight title, South American lightweight title, WBU light-welterweight title and IBO lightweight title. These days national titles are almost an after-thought or for the second string fighters. Former Joe Calzaghe victim Will McIntyre is still active and winning. In Biloxi on January 4 he outpointed Matt Charleston at cruiserweight. Will has returned to backwoods boxing where he is more comfortable and is 10-1-1 against very modest opposition since that 2001 loss to Joe. The show highlighted the talent of the Peterson brothers. Although they are a valuable commodity they are not being wrapped in cotton wool. Jose Izquierdo, who was stopped in eight by Anthony, was 16-1-1 going in, including a victory over touted Nick Casal. Brazilian Antonio Mesquita, who lost on points to Lamont, had 34 straight wins. With lightweight Anthony on 26 and light-welterweight Lamont on 24 that gives the brothers 50 wins between them. They just failed to make it to the Olympics. Both reached the final box-offs, Anthony lost to Vicente Escobedo and Lamont to Rock Allen. Light-middleweight Vanes Martirosyan also boxed in the Olympic trials and won through to the Tijuana qualifier where he beat current unbeaten pro Andre Berto. However he ran up against Cuban Lorenzo Aragon in Athens and went out. Vanes is making good progress in the pro ranks and his points victory over Clarence Taylor in Los Angeles on January 14 took him to 17 wins. The Armenian-born light-middleweight is trained by Freddie Roach. Double National Golden Gloves champion Eric “Danger” Fields will soon have the top cruiserweights looking over their shoulders. In Key West on January 18 he destroyed the former IBF champion Kelvin “Koncrete” Davis in one round. The 25-year-old now has 11 wins, nine inside the distance and eight of those in the first round. This crushing loss and a recent bad fall were enough to have Davis announce his retirement. Fields has to be one to watch, but get to your seat early. One of my former tips, San Antonio super-flyweight Raul Martinez, started the year with a win as he outpointed veteran Alex Baba in Brownsville on January 18. “The Cobra” has 21 wins and is looking for action. He is managed by an old friend of mine, Lou Mesorano, who recently contacted me hoping to land bouts for Raul and his cruiserweight BJ Flores who is unbeaten in 21 fights. Best of luck Lou but generally promoters import guys to lose, not to win. On the same night in Lyon, Arsen Martirosian, no relative to Vanes, won the vacant European External super-bantamweight title with a points win over Nikita Lukin. These titles are the EBU's for fighters not eligible to fight for the European Union titles and it is a pity to see a guy with Lukin's 7-12-2 record contesting a title. It devalues the title and it is almost a case of any title fight is better than none - but is it?

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