Eric Armit's World View by Eric Armit Mar 12th 2007

What's good and what's bad! A couple of weeks back I supervised a fight in Kirkcaldy where local fighter Kevin Anderson lost his Commonwealth welterweight title to Ali Nuumbembe. It was an excellent fight, a good match, fought fiercely but fairly with the referee not having to call break until about the 7th or 8th round. Fortunes swung a bit and at the end, by the slender margin of one round on one card, the title changed hands. When a local fighter loses by that slender a margin in his own backyard in a very close fight then it restores your faith in the honesty of judges. Kevin and his team were naturally unhappy but took it well in the circumstances, the crowd did not like the result, but there was no trouble. It was a credit to the sport. What's bad? Rob Calloway and Buck Smith are two fighters who should never have fought each other as there is no way it could ever be anything but a disgraceful mis-match. When they met in St. Joseph on February 24, cruiserweight Calloway halted Smith in three rounds. They both fought over here. Calloway lost on a cut to Audley Harrison in 2003. As for Smith I spent time with him in his dressing room, just him, I and Bruce Strauss, before his fight with Kirkland Laing at the Albert Hall in 1990. Later, after Buck scored one of the biggest upset ever seen here with a seventh round kayo of Laing, there was hardly enough room for me to get in the dressing room door. However, now Buck is 41 years old, has over 200 fights behind him and weighs 50lbs more than he did that night in 1990. Sometimes there is just no way to defend what passes for boxing. Don't even get me started about Henry Maske coming out of ten years retirement and going straight into a fight with Virgil Hill. Now that one really stirs me up. Just jumping back to that night at the Albert hall, Bruce “The Moose” Strauss was some character. When we chatted in the dressing room he complained to me about losing on a premature stoppage in one of his fights. I pointed out that I had read the reports of the fight and he had been down 4 or 5 times. “Yeah” he said “But we had another 3 knockdowns planned to give the crowd value for their money” and he was serious! Julio Cesar Vasquez is another fighter who just does not know when to call it a day. The 40 year old former WBA light-middleweight champion scored a first round kayo over Luis Rojas in Comodoro Rivadavia on February 21. Julio Cesar held the title from 1992 to 1995 and made eleven defences, including a points win over Winky Wright when he had Winky on the floor a few times. He still weighed inside the light-middleweight limit for this fight but from a career record so far of 68-10 he is 7-5 in his last twelve. On the same show Hector “El Tigre “ Saldivia forced Amilcar Funes into a fourth round retirement. The vacant WBO Latino welterweight title was on the line as Hector moved to 21 wins, 16 inside the distance. I thought Lavell Finger had the sense to stay away but I was wrong. A former top flight amateur and National Golden Gloves champion, Lavell and his twin Terrell both retired about the same time 5-6 years ago. However on February 22 in Sacramento at the age of 38, Lavell was in the ring again to get kayoed in three rounds by super-middleweight Eric Regan. Lavell, a welterweight when he started out, was 26-1 when he retired but I guess he could not stay away. The skinny Regan is 27-3 but has gone 4-3 in his last seven, so he needed the win. In a real crossroads fight on the same show former World and US amateur champion Mike Simms slipped further as he lost on points to comebacking Louis Azile and he falls to 19-6. Dominican Azile was having his first fight since losing to Wayne Braithwaite for the WBC cruiserweight title in 2004. Heavyweight Malik Scott was also a US champion as an amateur and although he is still unbeaten he seems to be taking the long route. He outpointed loser Ramon Hayes in Lemoore on February 22 for win No 27 but by now he should be more of a name. Perhaps the fact that this was his eighth points win in a row is part of the problem, Heavyweight who can't punch are not a draw. He is big enough at 6'4” and has former top flight pro Harold Knight for a trainer, but does not seem to excite or inspire confidence. Teko Oruh made it 13 wins and a draw by outpointing heavyweight John Clark in another fight on the Lemoore show. Nigerian champion in 1999, some guy named Samuel Peter edged Teko out for the spot on the team for the 2000 Olympics. Suddenly things are looking up for Belgium(and for Frank Maloney). They have a new EBU champion in Ghanan-born welterweight Jackson Osei Bonsu( Frank also manages Ali Nuumbembe, so two new champions in a month) and their bantamweight Carmelo Ballone is the mandatory challenger to Simone Maludrottu for the EBU title. Carmelo kept busy with a fourth round stoppage of Wlad Borov in his hometown of La Louviere on February 23. Carmelo has a 19-2-1 record. One of the losses was a disqualification for the EU title and the other was a split verdict to Maludrottu for the EBU title in 2005 in Italy, so he is a legitimate challenger. Italy also has a fighter in line for a shot at a EBU title. Alberto Servidei is slated to meet Yuri Voronin for the vacant featherweight title. The former unbeaten Italian champion was in action-of sorts in Livorno on February 23. The 30 year old southpaw from Ravenna outpointed Vesselin Vassiliev to extend his run to 24 wins and a draw. Another vision of where boxing is today saw Luca Tassa retain the Italian super-middleweight title by decsioning Vincenzo Imparto on this show. This was Luca's ninth fight. Twenty years ago he would still be fighting four rounds after nine fights and not defending a national title. Over in Japan the hottest draws are the Kameda brothers, a couple of youthful and talented fighters. They are drawing the young female fans into the arenas in droves. At the age of 20 and after only 13 fights Koki has already won, defended and relinquished the WBA light-flyweight title. Younger brother Daiki, just a few months past his 18th birthday was in action in Sapporo on February 23 and kayoed Vicky Tahumil in three rounds. Not bad for a guy who was having only his eight fight, as Indonesian Tahumil went into the contest as the WBA's No 4 light-flyweight and was unbeaten with 33 wins and two draws. Daiki sings love ballads to his girl fans in the ring after his victories. Koki is No 3 flyweight and Daiki No 6 with the WBC and they are Nos 1 and 5 respectively with the WBA. They are not rated in the top 15 by the WBO and IBF but this is no surprise. The Japanese Boxing Commission refuses to allow WBO or IBF title fights in Japan and when these two bodies do rate Japanese fighters it is way down. These two are not the only draw and on the same Sapporo show welterweight Ushi Akibei flattened Joko Tunggal in the first round. This was the 21 year old southpaws seventh first round finish and he has gone the distance only once in his twelve fights. Oliver McCall could probably challenge my judgement of Buck's win as one of the biggest upsets in British rings as his two round stoppage of Lennox Lewis for the WBC title at Wembley in 1994 was a shock for boxing. Of course he played a happier role for us in 1995 when losing his title to Frank Bruno. “The Atomic Bull” is still going and outpointed durable veteran Marion Wilson in Springfield on another February 24 show. Now 41 and a pro since 1985 Oliver has lost only once since 1997 and it is a sad reflection of the sport to think that he could even land another title shot nine years after his last one. In Mexico the former WBA bantamweight champion Julio Zarate made the second defence of his NABF super-bantamweight title with a sixth round stoppage of Jose Navarette. “The Shadow” has a 26-3-1 record with two of losses coming against Wladimir Sidorenko and Mayar Monshipour in WBA title bouts. Ratings Watch A review of the most recently published ratings I have seen is a bit short of British fighters so here is a summary of the top 15's of the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO: Heavyweight-The WBO have Matt Skelton at No 10 and Audley Harrison(pre Mike Sprott) at No 12 and that is it. No WBC,WBA or IBF rating. Cruiserweight-David Haye is No 2 with the WBC,4 with the WBA and 3 with the WBO. The IBF have never heard of him! Enzo Maccarinelli is WBO champion. Light-Heavyweight-Clinton Woods is the IBF champion and the rest is a desert. Not another British fighter in sight. Super-Middleweight: Joe Calzaghe is WBO champion. Carl Froch is No 3 with the WBC, 14 with the WBA, 5 with the IBF and WBO. No one else makes the lists. Middleweight-Scott Dann is No 11 with the IBF and Gary Lockett No 5 with the WBO. You could count John Duddy, who was born in Northern Ireland, and he is No 9 with the WBA, 14 with the IBF and 7 with the WBO. Light-Middleweight- This is a British free zone Welterweight-The WBO like us. Michael Jennings is No 2, Kevin Anderson(pre-Nuumbembe) is No 3, Tony Doherty is No 8 and Takaloo No 13. No one else likes us! Light-Welterweight-Junior Witter and Ricky Hatton and that's it. Lightweight-Again we rely on the generosity and eccentricity( and that's a kind description for it!)of the WBO. They had Graham Earl (pre-Michael Katsidis) No 1, Willie Limond No 10 and a totally ridiculous No 14 for Amir Khan. The WBC also have Graham Earl rated but at No 6. Super-featherweight-Alex Arthur is 3 with the WBC, WBA and WBO and No 11 with the IBF. Kevin Mitchell is No 12 with the IBF and 5 with the WBO. Featherweight-Nicky Cook has disappeared from the WBC ratings as they feel he is promised elsewhere. The WBA have Nicky No 6 and the WBO No 2 with Derry Matthews at No 11. Super-bantamweight-Michael Hunter is No 4 with the IBF and No 7 with the WBO and unbelievably the IBF have Wayne McCullough-last fight July 2005-at No 15. I looked for Barry McGuigan but they seem to have overlooked him! Below super-bantamweight the only rating is Lee Haskins at No 11 flyweight with the WBO. When you come down to it, apart from Maccarinelli, Woods, Calzaghe, Witter and Hatton( the serial relinquisher!), who are/were champions the only British fighters who really deserve to be rated are Haye, Froch, Arthur and Cook, and the others are borderline, which is a pretty poor state of affairs.

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