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Editorial - Rinsing Off The
Mouthpiece
by GorDoom
It's time to give Lennox Lewis his due. For the last decade, with
the exception of the first Oliver McCall fight, which proved to be an
aberration, Lewis has dominated or beaten everyone placed in front of him.
Granted, Lennox Lewis will never have boxing fans screaming &
clawing to get through the turnstiles to see him. He's by no means a dynamic,
charismatic, heavyweight champion, but all he does is win & win
convincingly.
The fight of the year will undoubtedly be the Marco Antonio
Barrera & Erik Morales epic. & most critics will probably anoint Shane
Mosley as the fighter of the year based on his huge win over Oscar De La Hoya.
But the Ol' Spit Bucket would like to make a case for Lewis
as fighter of the year. First off, I will admit that I have been very critical
of Lennox in the past. But ever since the first McCall fight in 1994, Lewis has
cleaned out the division. With the exception of Leg-Iron Mike, Michael Moorer
& Riddick Bowe, Lewis has faced & beaten every major contender in the
last decade.
Granted, some of these performances may not have been among the
most exciting in the annals of the sweet science, but as Al Davis says,
"Just win baby!" & that, Lennox Lewis has.
This year Lewis faced two #1 challengers, Michael Grant & David
Tua, that many pundits actually favored over Lennox. Yeah, well ... He
absolutely destroyed Grant & put on a boxing clinic against Tua that was
exactly the way to beat him. In between, he demolished a capable (for these
days) contender
in Frans Botha.
By the way, it's been a helluva long time since a heavyweight
champion has defended his title three times in one year - especially against two
consensus # 1 contenders. Which brings me back to the Fighter Of The Year issue.
The only logical contenders for this honor are Lewis, Shane Mosley
& possibly Felix Trinidad or Fernando Vargas. Tito & Fernando's quest
for this honor is still up in the air because of their unfinished business. If
either one wins convincingly, combined with their previous impressive victories
over David Reid (Trinidad) & Ike Quartey (Vargas) would definitely put
either under strong consideration.
Sugar Shane Mosley's tremendous win over De La Hoya, is
definitely the kind of fight that merits this kind of recognition. But, it was
only one fight. Mosley's other defense was against Antonio Diaz, a tough but
limited jr. welterweight contender, who was completely out of his depth when
faced with Mosley.
Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad & Fernando Vargas are
tremendous fighters. Trinidad & Mosley are already well on their way to the
Hall Of Fame ... But, keep in mind, so is Lennox Lewis. All four of them are
excellent fighters that would have been at the very least top contenders if not
champions in almost any era.
If either Trinidad or Vargas wins conclusively, one of them
will emerge as a serious top pound for pound entry for having partially unified
the jr. middleweight title. The winner -if it's a great performance - will
deserve any honors that he might accrue. If he doesn't, in The Bucket's view, as
hard as it might be for some folks to swallow, Lennox Lewis is the clear cut
choice ...
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