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By Cliff Rold - We remember the remarkable rematch turnarounds.
Evander Holyfield made technical adjustments, and got his wind up thanks to one “Fan Man,” and got past Riddick Bowe the second time around. Rocky Graziano snared the Middleweight title when Tony Zale made the fateful decision to give him a second crack at it. Joe Louis nuked Max Schmeling before the Manhattan Project changed the world.
We remember the nights when special fighters seized legendary moments, quenching the blood thirst of revenge.
And why wouldn’t we?
Those nights are not that common.
Most of the time it seems, and if memory serves it’s been quantified somewhere, rematches go the way of the first fight, if shorter. It makes sense, especially when first fights end by knockout. As the pressure increases, as the heat rises in the ring, the man who won the first time around knows he can finish.
The previously vanquished hopes he can but draws only on the knowledge of failure.
Failure in boxing isn’t like failure elsewhere. Former Straweight and, more recently, World Jr. Flyweight Champion Ivan Calderon (34-1-1, 6 KO) of Puerto Rico felt the bruises, the aches, probably had trouble with a deep breath or two, after he found out last August.
In the BoxingScene and Ring Magazine Fight of the Year for 2010, Calderon gave everything he had. It wasn’t enough. The heavy hands, relentless pressure, and focused body assault of Mexico’s Giovanni Segura (26-1-1, 22 KO) was too much. The end came in the eighth round, Calderon forced to his knees by the strength of a man just shy of seven years younger. Segura, already the WBA titlist, added Calderon's lineal, Ring, and WBO honors. [Click Here To Read More]
Evander Holyfield made technical adjustments, and got his wind up thanks to one “Fan Man,” and got past Riddick Bowe the second time around. Rocky Graziano snared the Middleweight title when Tony Zale made the fateful decision to give him a second crack at it. Joe Louis nuked Max Schmeling before the Manhattan Project changed the world.
We remember the nights when special fighters seized legendary moments, quenching the blood thirst of revenge.
And why wouldn’t we?
Those nights are not that common.
Most of the time it seems, and if memory serves it’s been quantified somewhere, rematches go the way of the first fight, if shorter. It makes sense, especially when first fights end by knockout. As the pressure increases, as the heat rises in the ring, the man who won the first time around knows he can finish.
The previously vanquished hopes he can but draws only on the knowledge of failure.
Failure in boxing isn’t like failure elsewhere. Former Straweight and, more recently, World Jr. Flyweight Champion Ivan Calderon (34-1-1, 6 KO) of Puerto Rico felt the bruises, the aches, probably had trouble with a deep breath or two, after he found out last August.
In the BoxingScene and Ring Magazine Fight of the Year for 2010, Calderon gave everything he had. It wasn’t enough. The heavy hands, relentless pressure, and focused body assault of Mexico’s Giovanni Segura (26-1-1, 22 KO) was too much. The end came in the eighth round, Calderon forced to his knees by the strength of a man just shy of seven years younger. Segura, already the WBA titlist, added Calderon's lineal, Ring, and WBO honors. [Click Here To Read More]
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