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11/15/2004 Archived Entry: "Ruiz, Byrd Retain Titles; Rahman and Donald Get Easy Victories"
Ruiz, Byrd Retain Titles; Rahman and Donald Get Easy Victories
Nothing learned in New York as heavyweights lumber toward unification
By Todd Hodgson at ringside
(New York) - Don King successfully killed the boxing buzz created by last month's electric Felix Trinidad vs. Ricardo Mayorga matchup -- and, more recently, by Kostya Tszyu vs. Sharmba Mitchell -- by promoting the most dismal PPV card in recent memory, which proved to be even worse than expected.
A paid attendance of 12,777 shelled out upwards of $800 for a ticket to this nonsense.
In the co-main event, John Ruiz maintained his status as the most hated heavyweight on earth by clinching and whining his way to a controversial 12-round unanimous decision over Andrew Golota. With the win, Ruiz retained his WBA heavyweight title and improved to 41-5-1 (28).
The fight unfolded as expected, with Ruiz dive-bombing before throwing sloppy jabs; falling to the canvas without provocation; clinching; and incessantly complaining to referee Randy Neumann.
Ruiz's trainer-manager Norman Stone berated Neumann during and between every round, at one point calling him a "cocksucker with no balls." Neumann finally ejected Stone from the arena in round eight after he refused to remove loose tape on Ruiz's glove.
Seven fights erupted in the audience during Ruiz-Golota, all of which exhibited cleaner, more effective punching and better ring generalship than the fight in the ring. It was a bit surprising that more fights didn't break out after the decision was read, given the large number of boisterous Polish fans in attendance who were upset with the verdict -- although I think everyone in attendance was just relieved it was finally over, and sought to find the closest bar as quickly as possible.
And make no mistake, this decision stunk. Golota, now 38-5-1 (31) floored Ruiz twice in the second round, and though the second knockdown was more of a case of Ruiz flopping to the canvas in an attempt to stall and angle for sympathy from Neumann, it was not a slip, so Neumann was correct to rule it a knockdown. Ruiz also lost a point in round four for hitting on the break. I gave every close round to Ruiz and still had Golota a 114-112 winner.
"I thought I won the fight," Golota acknowledged. "He went down twice; I controlled the fight. I am going to watch the tape and see what is going on."
Byrd squeaks by McCline
The most drama of the evening was produced by the co-main event. After a rough start, IBF heavyweight titlist Chris Byrd retained his title by eking out a close split-decision victory over No. 1 contender Jameel McCline. Byrd tasted the canvas for the sixth time in his career in the second round, after McCline forced him to the ropes and unleashed a flurry, landing a clean right hand.
"I can't believe [the knockdown] happened," Byrd said. "He hit me right behind the ear. It was a perfect shot. I got my eyes back in the third."
McCline tried to finish Byrd in the third but seemed to tire quickly. "I was surprised when he got up," McCline said. "It looked like I fell apart a little at the end, and it cost me. He has fast hands and took me out of my game plan."
Byrd again proved his heart and came on strong in the late rounds, peppering the 270-pound challenger with clean combinations. Byrd secured the win by out-landing McCline 70 to 25 in the championship rounds.
Rahman destroys Meehan
Hasim Rahman (40-5-1; 33) came one step closer to yet another title shot, scoring a fourth-round TKO over Kali Meehan (29-3; 23). An inspired Rahman, weighing the lightest he had since knocking out Lennox Lewis in 2001 (232 pounds), started aggressively, easily winning the first three rounds on two judges' scorecards.
The brutality continued throughout the fourth, and Meehan's corner asked referee Eddie Cotton to stop the one-sided affair after the fourth round.
Rahman, who at age 32 was the youngest heavyweight on the card Saturday, is now the top contender in the WBC, and he indicated he would like to face any of the champions, especially Vitali Klitschko.
Donald embarrasses Holyfield
The most impressive performance of the evening skillwise was by Larry Donald, who used the corpse of Evander Holyfield as a heavy bag for 12 one-sided rounds. Donald controlled the action throughout and won every round on my card. (All three judges gave Holyfield the first round, probably still in reaction to the warm reception the Madison Square Garden audience was still giving the former champ.)
"Why not continue to pursue my dream?" Holyfield snapped after the fight. "I felt a lot better than last time. I feel good."
I don't really care if Holyfield keeps fighting -- it's his life, and if he wants to put his numerous children at risk to grow up with a father who can't form complete sentences, that's up to him. But there's no reason a fighter who has won approximately two of his last 21 rounds (all on pay-per-view) should continue to appear on television screens. He should either quit or join the off-television journeyman circuit with Tony Tubbs, Tim Witherspoon, Oliver McCall, and the rest. If he needs more evidence that his best days were a decade ago, he can look at Saturday's CompuBox stats, which estimate that he landed fewer than eight punches per round.
McCall's stock drops; "Touch of Sleep" cruises to unanimous decision
Oliver McCall, 39, was on the non-PPV undercard, losing to DaVarryl "Touch of Sleep" Williamson in a somewhat competitive yet dull fight.
Despite showing up at a respectable 233 pounds, McCall's timing was atrocious. Williamson wisely chose to backpedal and counterpunch throughout the fight, and after dropping the first round, he out-boxed the former crack addict who knocked out Lennox Lewis a decade ago.
"I felt a little rusty tonight," McCall claimed. "I didn't get to spar like I wanted to […] but I am not making any excuses. I will go back to the drawing board."
Williamson gave McCall credit for his durability: "McCall was tough as nails. He kept beating my jab, left hook, and body shots. I hurt him in the sixth or seventh round, and again in the 10th. I think I scored the most telling blows."
Scores were 96-94, 96-94, and 97-94, all for Williamson.
Other undercard action
Junior-middleweight prospect Yuri Foreman (16-0; 7 KO's) of Brooklyn, New York, stopped Shakir Ashanti (15-9; 4) of Greensboro, North Carolina at 1:07 of round two.
Super-middleweight Aaron Mitchel (22-1-1; 17 KO's) of Philadelphia knocked out Carlton Holland (16-11-1; 8) of Durham, North Carolina at 2:33 of round five.
Bantamweight Thomas McCuiston (1-0) won his professional debut, beating Samuel Rohena, also making his professional debut, via four-round unanimous decision.
Light-heavyweight Marcus Johnson (2-0; 2) of Killeen, Texas, defeated Mateen Haleem (1-1; 1), stopping him in the third round.
Oleksandr Garaschenko (13-8; 5) of Ukraine won a six-round unanimous decision over Ron Boddie (14-26-4; 6) of Philadelphia in another light-heavyweight contest.
