Eric Armit's World View by Eric Armit Apr 7th 2008

For boxers at the very top boxing is about fame and fortune and you can translate that into a world title fight. Gary Lockett has reached that goal with his shot at Kelly Pavlik, and if he wins then he becomes that much richer and that much more famous. He only has one career and has to take his chance when it comes along. Everything about that is ok. As the WBO rate him number one, and have done for a while, he is the mandatory challenger to Pavlik for his WBO title and whether you agree with that rating or not, ratings are subjective and that is the way the WBO sees is, and that is ok. However, Pavlik is also the WBC champion and their approach has in my opinion been anything but ok and again shows the ugly face of sanctioning bodies. They proudly boast on their web site of the 20 plus people who work on their ratings and make them “The most prestigious ratings in the world," and indeed in European representatives Peter Stucki, Daniele Van De Wiele and Mauro Betti they have three very knowledgeable and honest guys.  For Gary to fight for the WBC title he needs to be in their top 15. Well Gary last fought on December 15. In the WBC ratings issued in mid January he was not in their top 40. In their ratings issued in late February he was still not in their top 40. I wondered if it could be because he was a WBU champion, but no, Derry Matthews was in their featherweight ratings.  I wrote to them a week ago asking whether they would be sanctioning this fight for their title since Gary was not in their top 40. They answered that they had received a request for sanction from Top Rank and would be taking a vote of the Executive (not the Ratings Committee) on whether to rate Gary or not. I guess it will come as no surprise to know that he is now in their new ratings at number 15 (the lowest ranking position allowed to fight for their title) even though he has not fought for over three months, and the saddest reflection of our sport is that no one will be surprised. There was no pressure on the WBC to sanction this fight as Pavlik is in a voluntary position and it would go ahead anyway as a WBO title fight. What they have chosen to do, cynically, is to promote Gary from nowhere to number 15 with no justification other than the request of a promoter and perhaps with an eye on the sanctioning fee, which makes their ratings totally meaningless and insults the work of their Ratings Committee. I wish Gary well. If he wins it will sit right up there with Kenny Buchanan over Ismael Laguna, John Stracey over Jose Napoles and Lloyd Honeyghan over Donald Curry etc. for upset title wins overseas and the above is no reflection on him or his camp. Two matters for concern: On March 29 in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago, Kevin Placide beat Denny Dalton on an eighth round disqualification to win the WBC CABOFE light-middleweight title. Denny had kayoed Placide in ten rounds in 2000. The worry is that Placide was halted in four rounds by Young Mutley on March 14 so was under suspension from the BBB of C. Congratulations again to the Global Boxing Council. On March 29 in Berlin Hendrik Gabel won their International light-heavyweight title with a second round kayo of Ronny Dauke. This was only fight number five for Gabel, but disgustingly Dauke was having only his second fight, having been stopped in two rounds in his only other fight. That is enough to condemn the GBC, but what was the German Board doing allowing a guy like Dauke enter a bout scheduled for twelve rounds? We could see Marco Antonio Barrera competing against Erik Morales again. This time as promoters. Barrera is not talking about a return to the ring at this time as he has two shows scheduled for this month, one in Mexico City and one in Reynosa, where he will feature some young talent under his management, including an unbeaten super-bantamweight Rodolfo Hernandez and middleweight Alvaro “Cobra” Gaona, who claims a 17-0 record. Since Erik also has a good young stable who knows we might see a show pitting the best from their teams against each other. One Mexican chose a new method of formally protesting a disputed decision. On a show in Merida at the weekend Ramon Maas was declared a controversial winner over Eric Lugo. A disgruntled fan at ringside stuck a pistol to the head of Commissioner Mariano Romero and demanded he change the decision or die. Luckily the guy was quickly disarmed. Obviously he did not realise that all he had to do was get Top Rank to submit a request! Simon Block is putting in for a flak jacket. Records become meaningless when Tyrone Brunson can now claim to have beaten Edwin Valero's record by scoring 19 consecutive first round wins at the start of a career by halting Francis McKechnai in one round in Mount Pleasant on March 29. The congratulations have to go to Brunson's people for finding 19 inept opponents. Al least Valero beat guys such as Roque Cassiani, Esteban Morales and Whyber Garcia who were experienced and decent pros. Only one of Brunson's victims had a positive record. Nineteen wins, I wonder when he is going to start fighting for real? I see that cruiserweight Rob Calloway is still striding along in the backwoods. On March 15 in Allentown, “The All American Prize Fighter” kayoed unbeaten novice Juan Carlos Robles in eight rounds. Rob has won his last twelve, eleven inside the distance, and, although most of them have been “Brunson” quality, he is just about all that is keeping boxing alive in his area. In his 29 fights since his cuts loss to Audley Harrison in 2003 he has won 26 and lost only to Hasim Rahman, Ruslan Chagaev and Jameel McCline and will do okay until he steps up again. Juan Carlos Burgos looks like one to watch. The nephew of the former IBF light-flyweight champion, Victor Burgos, moved to 17 wins as he beat experienced Miguel Angel Munguia with body shots, forcing a third round retirement in Ontario, Canada on March 15. Young Burgos, a 20-year-old featherweight, has won 14 inside the distance, and was vote “Newcomer of the Year” in Tijuana. Munguia gave John Murray a war over ten rounds in Las Vegas in December. The European light-middleweight ranks are pretty strong with an unbeaten champion in Zaurbek Baysangurov, a mandatory challenger in Jamie Moore and world rated Michele Piccirillo at number one. Hidden behind these and deserving a title shot at sometime is Frenchman Christophe Canclaux, rated number two and the EU champion. In Saint Nazaire on March 22 Christophe took an easy one as he marked-time with a second round kayo of Pat Hruska. Now 32, Chris has a 36-2 record, both losses being close majority verdicts, and has won his last eleven. He will be hoping to get a shot at the winner of the fight between Zaurbek and Jamie. Koki Kameda revived some clan pride as he returned to the ring with a points win over good Filipino Rexon Flores in Chiba on March 22. Brother Daiki had lost the clan a great deal of face with his disgraceful antics during and after his loss to Daisuke Naito for the WBC flyweight title. Southpaw Koki, only 21,and already a former unbeaten WBA light-flyweight champion, is just as mouthy and flamboyant as his brother. He has 17 wins and is now mandatory challenger for the WBA flyweight title. Nobuo Nashiro is also a former WBA champion, but he has had only twelve fights. The former WBA super-flyweight champion registered win number eleven as he kayoed Sairung Suwanasil in three rounds in Uruma on March 23. It is incredible when you think that Nashiro only had 14 amateur fights and won the WBA title in only his eighth pro fight. We could never envisage a British fighter doing that. Lasse Johansen took almost two years out after losing to David Haye in March 2006 and sensibly is taking no chances as he sheds the rust. In Esbjerg on March 23 he halted veteran loser Zoltan Beres in four rounds. That moves Lasse to 16-1 and drops Zoltan to 36-39-2. A fight for the French middleweight title in Paris on March 27 saw Francois Bastient retain his crown with a fifth round kayo of former champion Thierry Karl. The 26-year-old won the title by beating Karl on points in June and now has a 34-6-1. However, Francois was outclassed by Sebastian Sylvester for the EBU title in January and is purely national level. His next challenger is likely to be Robert Roselia who halted Amar Amari in two rounds on the same show and in his 27-4-1 record he includes two wins over Bastient. Tavoris Cloud is establishing himself as a name to watch in the light-heavyweights. In Chicago on March 28 he kayoed Mike Wood in one round and now has 18 wins, 17 inside the distance. A former top amateur who competed in the 2000 World Juniors, he holds the USBA, NABA and NABO titles and is rated right behind Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver by the IBF so he is in the queue for Clinton Woods. A young and old contrast. On March 28 in Kissimmee Swedish heavyweight Attila “The Hun” Levin (boy they must have worked hard to come up with that nickname)returned after three years with a first round stoppage of trial horse(that's a polite term for a professional punch bag) Willie Perryman. A 1996 Olympian, European bronze medallist and a winner over Danny Williams in the World Juniors back in 1994, Attila is still only 31,which is not old for a heavyweight, and has a 30-3 record having retired after back-to-back losses to Jerry Williams and Nikolay Valuev, so he may feel he has unfinished business. The other end of the scale saw 17-year-old Mexican lightweight Antonio Lozada Jr make it 15 wins by halting Adolfo Arrellano in one round in Tlalnepantla on March 28. Time was given as six seconds! Dad was a very good bantamweight who fought for the Mexican title and ended his career as an opponent for a young Carlos Bazan in France in 1992. Former Richard Williams victim Tony Badea returned to action with a second round stoppage of Justin Berger in Edmonton on March 28. Tony ,a former Canadian champion light-middleweight champion, dropped his Commonwealth title to Williams on a third round stoppage in January 2001. He had been inactive since losing to the current IBF light-middleweight champion Verno Phillips in July 2002. On the same show the Canadian cruiserweight champion Ryan Henry outpointed Alvaro Enriquez and has an 11-2 record but has won his last seven.

Go back Comment on this article | Send to a friend | Print

Friend name: Friend email: Your name: Your email:   Privacy Statement

There are no comments. Click here to be the first who comment on this article.