Eric Armit's World View by Eric Armit Aug 20th 2008

If the Olympics pointed the future for boxing I would be in deep despair. The scoring system is ruining the spectacle. There is a certain logic behind the method, but the side effects are a disaster. A lack of openness and constant complaints of bias led to the adoption of the requirement for three-out-of-five judges to push a button for a point to be scored and the making visible to all the scoring. The result is certainly more openness but it has not eliminated bias, but what is worse is that in order to have a good chance of the effect of a punch being spotted head hunting is standard and body punches rarely result in a point. Also, once someone gets a few points ahead in the scoring in the last two rounds then wrestling, running and covering up are the order of the day. It is more a case of how much frustration you can stand. Finding a replacement for the “beauty contest” type scoring that professional boxing utilises has not moved forward one little bit in 50 years, although the WBC are trying to have the scores of a title bout made public after three, six and nine rounds, and a much more sensible computerised boxing scoring than that used in the Olympics is used as an “interesting toy” at some shows in the USA. For pro boxing, the down side of the need to play the game with the computer scoring in the amateurs is that when a guy hands in his vest he almost has to learn the basics again as the tactics needed to win as an amateur are so different to those in the pro side of the sport. If I had to make any suggestions for the amateur sport it would be to stick with the computer, change it to two out of three buttons ( if two judges see it as a clean punch that is enough for me), and do not make the scores public until the end. Boxing the family business! Ricardo Lopez Junior, the son of the great straw weight, competed in the Mexican Golden Gloves, but lost in the finals. Not sure if he will follow in Dad's footsteps as he is also proficient at martial arts, swimming and athletics. Two sons of the greats were in action in South America. Antonio Cervantes Jr was kayoed in one round by Ever Bravo in a fight for the WBA Fedebol super-middleweight title, making it a bad time for the family as dad Antonio, probably the best fighter ever produced by Colombia, signed himself out of a clinic in Cartagena where he was being treated for drugs and alcohol addiction. No one seems able to save the former WBA light-welterweight champion. Third son event was in Caseros, Argentina, on August 6 where light-middleweight Carlos “Gitano” Herrera decisioned Juan Alaggio to go to 17 wins. He is the son of Carlos Del Valle Herrera who lost here to Mo Hope in a challenge for the WBC light-middleweight title in 1980. There was some good news on the rehabilitation front in South America as the former WBA super-flyweight champion Gustavo Ballas was reported to be over his long fight with drugs and alcohol. Now 50, Ballas fell to the bottom as he blew all of his money and landed in jail. However he has been clean for a few years. The stylish Ballas was unbeaten in his first 54 fights and ran up a 105-9-6 record. They don't appear to have heard of bring a guy along slowly in Kazakhstan. After only six fights former top amateur Beibut Shumenov was put in with experienced former WBC light-heavyweight champion Montell Griffin. Shumenov came through for them as he took a wide points verdict over Montell in their bout in Chimkent on August 2. As usual geography means nothing as an American was fighting for the WBC Asian Boxing Council and WBO Asian Pacific light-heavyweight titles. Shumenov, who has won his six paid bouts, five inside the distance, was an Asian Games gold medal winner as an amateur and competed in the 2003 World championships and the 2004 Olympics. It was the first time that Montell had lost to a fighter who was not world rated, but then he is 38. Mariusz Wach and Piotr Wilczewski were both stars of the Polish amateur team and have continued their success in the paid ranks, although they may have both left it a bit late before handing in their vests.. In Swiebodzice on August 7 Wach moved to 18 wins with a points win over Russian trial-horse Daniel Peret and Wilczewski made it 20 wins by kayoing Sergey Kharchenko in seven rounds. Wach, a 6'7”, 28-year-old heavyweight, was multi-Polish champion and beat Cuban Miguel Lopez, but only eight stoppages indicate a lack of power. Wilczewski, a former European bronze medallist and 30-years-old, retained his Transworld Boxing Association super-middleweight title, but has only seven inside the distance. Joe Calzaghe has the longest current unbeaten run on 45 with Chris John running second on 42. Both are world champions, but third place goes to Thai southpaw Duangpetch Saengmorakot, who has never fought for a major title. In Pathumi Thani on August 8 Duangpetch halted Indonesian Eric Dias Siregar to retain his PABA super-flyweight title for the sixth time and take his record to 40-1-1. His only loss came in his second fight back in 1997 and his highest rating is number five with the WBA. On the same night in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, hometown boy Lupe Rosales improved his record to 27-2 with a points win over Hector “Chocolate” Marquez. Rated number 13 super-featherweight by the WBC Rosales missed his title chance when he lost to Francisco Lorenzo in November. Poor Marquez, a former Mexican featherweight champion, has lost 11of his last 12. South African boxing suffered another scare in Johannesburg on August 9 as lightweight champion Amon Baloyi walked out for the last round of his title defence against Pat Malinga and collapsed in the arms of the referee. Amon recovered but was taken to the hospital where they diagnosed the cause as a diabetes coma.  Amon had taken a steady beaten from the more experienced Malinga and the fight could, and should ,have been stopped earlier. Malinga had been out of action for almost a year but has 19 wins inside the distance in his 22-6-2 record. He lost on a sixth round stoppage to Alex Arthur here in 2002 and was given a one year ban in 2004 when he tested positive for steroids. Baloyi drops to 11-4-1. Still on South Africa, two national champions had easy nights as they retained their titles with stoppage wins over comparative novices on a show in Kempton Park on August 16. Daniel Bruwer retained the light-heavyweight title with a sixth round stoppage of Ronnie Lategan. Bruwer started slowly but had too much for Lategan when he got serious. Daniel has won nine in a row in a 20-1-1 record. Lategan falls to 9-6. At bantamweight Simpiwe Vetyeka made it harder than it should have been as he was cut and floored by challenger Nkosinathi Tshinavhe, but again he had too much class and won on a stoppage in round eight. Vetyeka lost a very close decision to Hozumi Hasegawa for the WBC title in May last year, the only loss in his 20-1 record. Tshinavhe drops to 9-4-1. The death of Samora Msophi seems to have sunk in for Boxing South Africa as they pulled the licence of former South African light-flyweight champion Vuyisile Bebe who was reported to have undergone an operation to remove a blood clot after winning a bout last August. Bebe had actually signed a contract for another fight when they took the action, which puts a big question mark over his management. A long career seems to finally be catching up with Thai Wandee Singwancha. In Tokyo on August 11 he lost a wide ten round decision to mediocre southpaw Takahisa Masuda. Wandee turned pro at the age of 14 in 1994 and won the interim WBC straw weight title at the age of 18 in 1998 and won the same title again in 2006. He never quite managed to win the full title and lost here to Peter Culshaw for the WBF super-flyweight title in 2003. Wandee's record falls to 56-9-1. He went into the Tokyo fight with an unbeaten streak of 19 bouts, so it was a big win for Masuda who now has a 19-7-3 record. Two disgraceful matches headed a card featuring former EBU champions in Benidorm on August 12. The former EBU super-bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez was fed a soft touch and duly halted Romanian Silviu Lupu in one round. It was Kiko's second win since dropping his title to Rendall Monroe in March. It was a disgrace to see a fighter of Kiko's class in with a guy with an 0-6 record. If anything had gone wrong there would have been no acceptable excuse for approving this. On the same show the former EBU super-featherweight champion Leva Kirakosayan also halted a Romanian, Andrei Ciubotaru, in one round. Again it was Leva' second win since losing his title to Sergey Gulyakevich. Ciubotaru had lost all of his five fights against other novices. We make all sorts of pronouncements about why boxing should not be banned but when a Federation approves fights like this then it makes a mockery of any pretence of guarding the safety of boxers. Former Commonwealth welterweight champion Kofi Jantuah returned home to Ghana and scored an easy win as he halted Argentinian Ricardo Genero in four rounds in Kumasi on August 16. The “Pride of Ashanti was well on top with Genero cut and hurt when his corner threw in the towel. Now 34, Kofi has had shots at the IBF light-middleweight and middleweight titles, but fought a draw with Spanish newcomer Ruben Diaz in November. Super-middleweight Genero, having his first fight outside South America, is now 13-7-3. In a bantamweight contest Lante Addy halted Alfred Quaye in two rounds. Lante lost on points to Jason Booth for the Commonwealth title in March. Ike Quartey and IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey and IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko were in attendance. Still on the African scene, Namibians were disappointed as welterweight hope Jason Naule lost again to South African Kaiser Mabuza. Their bout in Windhoek on August 16 saw Mabuza almost finish Naule in the second and win on a third round kayo with a body shot. Kaiser had halted Naule in the eleventh round in their first fight in March and so successfully defended the WBA Pan African light-welterweight title he had won then. Kaiser, a former South African lightweight champion, has a 15-6-3 record and Naule is now 12-2. Colombian Fulgencio Zuniga remains a threat at middleweight. He had nothing in front of him in a routine outing in Santa Marta on August 16 and halted Elias Ruiz in two rounds. Fulgencio has beaten Jose Zertuche and Antwon Echols and snapped Victor Oganov's 26 bout winning run in recent action at super-middleweight, but has said he will move back down to middleweight. His two losses in his 21-2-1 record have come against Daniel Santos for the WBO light-middleweight title and Kelly Pavlik.

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