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11/12/2007 Archived Entry: "Recap of Mike Oliver's IBO Title Win"
Recap of Mike Oliver's IBO Title Win
By John "Ice" Scully
Boxing Trainer and former contender
John "Ice" Scully (far right) and Mike Oliver (center) show off Oliver's new title belt
UNCASVILLE, Conn., November 8, 2007 - "And the........new!!!!" Mike-Mike (Oliver's nickname) wins a unanimous twelve decision over Seeger to become the IBO champion at 122 pounds and with that comes further solidification that he deserves a shot at Molitor's IBF crown.
The fight was stylistically very tough and I give both guys big credit. Seeger used his height and range to good effect, I thought, and was a cagey and tricky stylist who could beat a lot of good guys in the weight class if he continues to get opportunities. Mike-Mike, on the other hand, pushed himself through necessity away from his usual slicker boxing style and got aggressive. I could see that Seeger was a little too rangy and comfortable at a distance and we needed Mikey to get some urgency into his game so that in the later rounds we could make more headway than we would likely be able to had we laid back and tried to straight up box with this particular guy.
Early in the very first round something happened during an exchange of punches that caused Mike some terrible trouble with his right eye. Almost immediately it started to swell and for a few seconds there it even looked to me like his eye lid had been flipped inside out! I am sitting there in the corner thinking how I cannot believe something like this had to happen to us so early in a twelve round fight. I feared the worst, with that being that it could continue to swell to the point where my man couldn't see anything at all from the right side. This fight quickly turned into a serious gut check for Mike Oliver and I am very, very pleased to say that he came through like, well, like a champion. You don't wish for episodes like this, but when all is said and done you are happy they occurred because you can only tell how a man will come through this type of adversity after he has actually done it.
There were times during the fight when it appeared to me that Mike-Mike couldn't see the punches coming at him, especially the long jabs and right hands that got through on occasion, but he still pressed the fight at my urging from the third round on (an unusual but necessary strategy for him on this night) and gradually wore his opponent down to the point where he gained control of the fight around the eighth or ninth round. Seeger didn't succumb without a fight, though, and kept trying right until the bell to end the 12th. The decision was unanimous in our favor and now we look towards fights with -from what I am hearing- either Molitor or Ponce DeLeon. We'll see, I guess.
"Ice"
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Oliver won the vacant IBO super bantamweight title at the Mohegan Sun Casino with Cyber Boxing Zone contributing writer, John "Ice" Scully as his trainer. The CBZ extends its congratulations on a job well done!
