[Previous entry: "CES’ Burchfield offers solutions, not excuses"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "An Interview with O’Neil Bell"]
12/17/2003 Archived Entry: "WCOB Weekend Round-up: Mega card in Atlantic City"
WCOB Weekend Round-up: Mega card in Atlantic City
by Kris Van de Velde
Corey Spinks follows in family footsteps
Hopkins dominates Joppy/ Again controversial win for Ottke
The massive card at the Boardwalk in Atlantic City was probably not the great success one had hoped for. For that, two of the three main fights were just not exciting enough and Ruiz vs Rahman was rather disgraceful for top heavyweight boxing. There was one major upset, though, in the first of two "undisputed" championships last Saturday night, when IBF welterweight titlist and southpaw Corey Spinks skillfully outboxed pre-fight favourite and WBA/WBC titleholder Ricardo Mayorga (#1, v2000) over the full distance.
From the opening bell, Spinks (#4, v1400) stuck to his gameplan and used his fast footwork and quick counters to halt the advance of a cocky Mayorga. In fact, at times the American - son and nephew of former heavyweight champions Leon Spinks and Michael Spinks respectively - made Mayorga miss so badly the latter looked ridiculous and, indeed, extremely limited. Mayorga kept on storming at Spinks till the finish, but he seldom hit a clean target and even when, Spinks was unmoved. Mayorga also suffered two point deductions for hitting after the bell and for hitting and holding. Miraculously, the scoring of two judges was so tight (Arthur Ellenson incredibly saw Spinks and Mayorga even at 114-114!!!) that Spinks only got the decision because of those deductions: 117-110, 114-112, 114-114. Fair to say boxing narrowly escaped from another travesty this year.
In the context of WCOB, Ricardo Mayorga still wins the 2003 World Cup competition with a 200-point bonus over Spinks, as a result of his two victories against Vernon Forrest. However, Spinks will start the 2004 welterweight competition from pole position.
The heavyweight showdown for the WBA interim belt between Hasim Rahman (#11, v490) and Johnny Ruiz (#12, v480) was a sad and ugly affair and a clear indicator of the poverty in boxing's flagship division today. Ruiz, to his credit, did his best and deserved the unanimous decision and the 490 World Cup points, but did nothing to answer his critics that say he's the worst joke in modern boxing. On the other hand, Rahman also left a lot to answer for. True, it's one helluva job trying to make a good fight aganst someone whose raw and unorthodox style does everything to prevent that, yet Roy Jones Jr. showed the world how to handle Ruiz last March. In brief, Rahman can offer few excuses.
Undisputed middleweight king Bernard Hopkins (#1, v2000) is approaching his 39th birthday and nevertheless continues to look pretty unbeatable. William Joppy (#6, v1000) should have been a greater challenge than the Carl Daniels's and Morrade Hakkars of late, yet Hopkins humiliated his high-ranked and respected foe and earned a lopsided decision: 119-109, 118-109 and 119-108. The fight was less spectacular than the huge swellings on Joppy's face. Hopkins outworked, outpunched, outboxed and outthought Joppy in what was after all an impressive win. Two years past his shocking demolition of FelixTrinidad, veteran Hopkins is definitely still a man to watch out for in 2004. If he can land the fights...
American super welter Travis Simms (#55, v135) caused a major upset by defeating the much-hyped but eventually disappointing Alejandro Garcia (#6, v1000) in five rounds. Although the brutal knock out of Garcia basically was the result of a misunderstanding - the Mexican thought the referee called 'break' and lowered his guard to be crushed by Simms left hook - Simms had been in control from the start showing decent boxing ability. He collects 1000 World Cup points, which puts him in a provisional fifth place in the standings. Of course, Simms will also rocket up the total ranking.
In a super flyweight bout for the IBF belt, Luis Alberto Perez earned the #1 spot in the total ranking with a repeat-win over Felix Machado. Perez won widely on points. Light flyweights Rosendo Alvares and Jose Victor Burgos could not be separated by the judges in their WBA/IBF unification fight, so both fighters keep their belts. WBC cruiserweight champion Wayne Braithwaite (#6, v1000) dropped the wrongly-matched Luis Pineda (#65, v90) inside a round.
Super lightweight Ricky Hatton (#3, v1600) continues to win and should attempt fighting a real big fish in 2004. Last Saturday in Manchester, Hatton outscored Ben Tackie (#23, v370) easily, winning nearly every round.
Controversy once again surrounded a Sauerland-promoted show in Germany's Nürnberg, where Sven Ottke (#1, v2000) made the 20th defence of his IBF super middleweight belt against former WBC titlist Robin Reid (#23, v370). After twelve typically dull rounds, Ottke came home a rather narrow points winner by 115-113 (twice) and 117-112. However, the German benefited heavily from some dreadful refereeing by Roger Tilleman of Belgium. According to the latter, Reid was almost doing everything wrong and was warned continuously for what really were no obvious reasons.
The British press later mocked that their fighter got warned for hitting Ottke! The Briton had indeed started the fight better than the home favourite and was collecting the rounds. The key moment came in round six when Reid dropped the champion with two legitimate punches. Incredibly, the referee ruled it a slip and even ordered a point deducted from Reid's tally for alleged use of his head! Reid's bitterness is understandable as that twist cost him the decision if we look at the final scorecards. In the second half of the affair, a mystified Reid clearly lost motivation, which gave a clumsy-looking Ottke the chance to come back. When questioned afterwards, the unbeaten and very popular Ottke stated that "boxing in Germany is cleaner than in Britain", so he understands Reid's frustration about the referee.
Nevertheless, this has been a bad year for Ottke despite winning the World Cup and another alphabet belt (WBA). All his fights were close and there were just as many people who saw him losing than winning. Sauerland events seem to have become notorious for bad refereeing and scoring. Recent fights including other German heroes like Danilo Häussler and especially Markus Beyer were even more disgraceful. As Robin Reid says: "There'd be no point in having a rematch unless it was in England and my mum and two of my mates were doing the judging."
