Eric Armit's World View by Eric Armit Jul 18th 2008

For once the WBC withdrew from the brink and almost showed some sense. Whilst no one likes to see a fighter win the way that Francisco Lorenzo did against Humberto Soto in the fight for the interim WBC super-featherweight title, the decision given in the fight was a disqualification win for Lorenzo. However, with Soto being Mexican Jose Sulaiman made it clear he intended to award the win to Soto and declare him interim champion. Unlike the case regarding Graciano Rocchigiani, when Sulaiman's unilateral decision nearly put the WBC out of business, this time he decided to hold a vote of the Governors. They ignored his bias, took a more sensible approach, and ordered a rematch. In the confirming press statement Sulaiman made it clear he did not approve of the decision. That same press release also stated that with regard to the verdict the WBC “confirmed its decision of NO CONTEST, which was rendered at the ringside“. I spoke to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, under whose jurisdiction the fight was held, and they told me that the decision was, and still is, a disqualification win for Lorenzo, and that Lorenzo was presented with the interim belt after the fight. Soto was stupid to throw two punches at Lorenzo whilst he was on the floor, irrespective of their power. Lorenzo went against the spirit of the game by acting like he had been hit by a thunderbolt instead of a cuff. However the whole fabric of boxing is at risk if sanctioning bodies are going to change valid decisions in this way. To add insult to injury Lorenzo was fined by the WBC for unsporting behaviour. So I guess throwing punches at a guy on the floor is sporting behaviour! The South Africans and promoter Branco Milenkovic in particular are having a high old time. Branco sent Vusi Malinga to Thailand on June 12 where he virtually ended the career of the great Veeraphol Sahaprom with a fourth round stoppage. Fifteen days later Nkosinathi Joyi retained his IBO straw weight title with a seventh round stoppage of tough Mexican Sammy Gutierrez. Sammy was no patsy as he has a draw with the current IBF champion Raul Garcia in his 20-3-2 record. It just got better on July 5 when in two IBF final eliminators lightweight Ali Funeka destroyed Zahir Raheem in four rounds and flyweight Mouti Mthlane easily decisioned Australian Hussein Hussein. That's four major victories in less than a month and all in the lighter weights. This week also saw the death of a Mike Schutte, a former South African heavyweight champion, who fought from 1971 to 1978 and had a 38-9-2 record. “The Tank” a huge beefy guy fought some top boxers such as Chuck Wepner, Rudi Lubbers, Bepi Ros, Duane Bobick, Kallie Knoetze and Gerrie Coetzee. The ban on South African boxing meant that Mike never fought outside of the country, but he was a big favourite. He ended his career in June 1979 with a win over Neil Malpass. Alexis Arguello is hoping to soon be elected as the Mayor of Managua, but before then the Nicaraguans have granted him another honour as they have chosen Alexis as their flag bearer for their team at the Olympic Games. Good to see how Alexis has overcome the problems that a few years back seemed to have him heading for a drink fuelled oblivion. Amateur success is no guarantee of professional fame, take Ricardo Williams Jr. Multi US titles and an Olympic silver medal had him tagged as a “can't miss” star of the future when he turned pro in 2001. After only 14 fights he was on the road to nowhere-at best-with a criminal career just as possible. Losses to Juan Valenzuela and a “washed up” 40-year-old Manning Galloway were followed by a conviction for drug dealing in 2005 and off he went to jail. However, the story is not over. On June 27, just a couple of days after his 27th birthday, Ricardo returned to the ring in Fort Lauderdale with a win. The road will not be easy. He failed before, the odds are he will again, but at least boxing is giving him a second chance. Tony Dodson turned up on a show in Campione d'Italia on July 1 and registered a win as he outpointed Frenchman Mounir Sahil. It was Tony's first outing since September. Also on the show Tunisian-born Naoufel Ben Rabah outpointed Mounir Guebbas. Naoufel lost to Juan Urango for the vacant IBF light-welterweight title in June 2006(Urango lost the title to Ricky Hatton in his first defence in January 2007) and faded from the scene after losing to Lovemore Ndou in February 2007. Panamanian Ricardo “Maestrito” Cordoba kept busy with a points win over useful Jose Arboleda in Panama City on July 2. The tall, slick, southpaw has talent but has not had the breaks. The only loss in his 33-1-2 record was to Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym in Thailand in August 2005 for the interim WBA bantamweight title. The two draws were in challenges to Wladimir Sidorenk for the full WBA title, both fights in Germany, and he has a win over the current WBA super-bantamweight champion Celestino Caballero. He is due a break. Why do they do it? July 3 in Worley up pops former IBF lightweight challenger Ivan Robinson. Now 37, Ivan took local favourite Favio Medina the distance in losing clearly on points. Such a long way from when Ivan was fighting Phil Holiday for the IBF title in 1996 or 1998 when his win over Arturo Gatti was Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. Three wins in his last 13 fights says it all. Just fodder to pad Medina's record. Former Kevin Mitchell victim Andrey Isaev popped up with a win on the show in Ankara on July 4. The 25-year-old from Belarus outpointed Beka Sadjaia and has 18 wins, 8 in a row since that lone loss to Kevin in 2006. On the same show German “sleeper” Mahir Oral outpointed Jurijs Boreiko. The tall middleweight has a 24-1-2 record and when you look at the records of some of his recent opponents(28-1, 27-1, 22-0 etc) you realise he has been given the tough ones. He holds a win over EBU No 2 Domenico Spada, but you won't find him in the EBU ratings as he fought for the WBA version of the European title which makes him a “non-person”. Ukrainian Stas Merdov won the vacant EU-external featherweight title(that's a EBU European title for those who are not members of the EU-sort of a EU boxing subsidy) with a ninth round stoppage of former Nick Cook victim Yuri Voronin in Donetsk on July 8. Stas has a 25-5 record. Voronin has no luck in title shots having been beaten in three tries at the EBU title. Two of Poland's former amateur stars scored stoppage wins on a show in Chicago on July 11. Heavyweight Mariusz Wach stopped Eric Boose in seven and super-middleweight Piotr Wilczewski halted Tom Reid in two. The 6'6” Wach, a double national champion as an amateur, has 17 wins and Wilczewski, also a national champion and European bronze medallist has 19 wins. Three Canadian prospects scored wins on a show in Brossard on July 8. Benoit Gaudet retained his NABA super-featherweight title with a points win over Venezuelan Jhohnny Antequera, middleweight Renan St Juste decisioned Dominican Jose Rosa Gomez and super-bantamweight Sebastien Gauthier halted Argentinian Nestor Paniagua in two. Gaudet, who won bronze medals in the World championships and the Commonwealth Games, is 17-1. Canadian champion St Juste is 18-1-1 and Gauthier, another Commonwealth bronze medallist is 14-1. The losses on the records of Gaudet and Gauthier were fights they should not have lost, so like Andrew Kooner-Shinny Bayaar, they seem to have a talent for finding banana skins . Bermane Stiverne is the big hope of the Canadian heavyweight-at least Don King thinks so. On July 11 in Montreal Bermane halted Brad Gregory in the first round to take his record to 15-1. All 15 wins have come inside the distance, twelve in the first round. However, Stiverne's banana skin, a fourth round stoppage loss to trial-horse Demetrice King, still leaves a question mark over Stiverne, who beat David Price on his way to a gold medal in the Tammer tournament back in 2004. My contacts insist that Marcos Maidana is the hottest thing in Argentina. In Sunchales on July 11 the hard-punching light-welterweight floored Esmeraldo Da Silva twice on the way to a second round stoppage. That makes it 23 wins, 22 inside the distance for the 24-year-old who is nicknamed “El Chino”. Twenty of those fights ended within the first three rounds. However it is easy to build a big record down there and he may find it a different world when he challenges Andreas Kotelnik for the WBA title later this year. American cruiserweight Jonathan Banks collected the IBO title with a points win over Vincenzo Rossitto in Hamburg on July 12. Detroiter Banks, trained by Manny Steward, is 20-0. Italian Rossitto was stopped in two rounds by David Haye in 2005 and is 36-6-2. “Fred Astaire” dances on. Argentinian Cesar Cuenca moved to 33 wins and one no decision with a points win over Marcelo Miranda in Concepcion del Uruguay on July 12. The Chaco southpaw is a great defensive boxer but just one win inside the distance tells you he probably dances like Fred but punches like Ginger. No problem with punching power for 21-year-old Nicaraguan Roman Gonzalez. “El Chocolatito” halted Abraham Irias in two rounds in Managua on July 12. That makes it 20 wins, 18 inside the distance. He is lined-up to challenge Yutaka Niida for the WBA straw weight title but the tough little Japanese battler will be a huge step up for “Little Chocolate”. Cedric Boswell must be challenging Albert Sosnowski for the “slowest progress by a heavyweight” award. In Atlantic City on July 12 Cedric halted Cliff Couser in two rounds to take his record to 27-1. It has only taken 38-year-old Cedric almost exactly 14 years to get this far, so don't rush him. Couser nearly made it big when he halted Monte Barrett in two rounds last July but Monte did the same to him in a return bout and Cliff has lost his last five, although in fairness he is rarely given an easy fight

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