By Jake Donovan
When a fighter passes away due to injuries suffered during his last contest, the first question surrounding the opposing fighter is always, “How will he react?”
Sometimes, the fighter is able to march on, obviously grieving for his fallen former foe, but attempting to put it behind him as best as he can for the sake of continuing his career. More often than not, the tragedy is too much to overcome, usually flopping in his next fight back and never quite getting back on track.
Rare is the occasion where a fighter is asked to grieve after one fight, then to be spoken for after his next. Yet it’s an unfortunate destinations at which super bantamweight Al Seeger arrived following last weekend’s bout with undefeated prospect Victor Fonseca.
The bout was Seeger’s first in nearly six months, shortly after which his opponent – Benjamin Flores – passed away due to injuries suffered in their regional title fight.
There was never a day that went by where Seeger didn’t say a prayer for the Flores family, nor did anyone hold him responsible for the tragic turn of events. Both fighters did their job that night. Seeger just happened to do his job much better, but never with malicious intent.
Whether or not the same can be said for Seeger’s most recent opponent, Victor Fonseca, has been the subject of considerable debate in the wake of their SHOWTIME televised co-feature last Friday.
Seeger proved without a shadow of a doubt that, in the ring, he was able to put the tragedy behind him – or at least perform on a higher level in Flores’ honor. Through eight rounds, Seeger fought as well as has ever been the case in seven year career, well enough to lead on two of the three ringside scorecards to that point.
Fonseca, meanwhile, never looked shakier. The undefeated Puerto Rican southpaw enjoyed early success, but appeared to unravel from the midway point onward. That changed dramatically in the ninth, when separate right hands stunned and then dropped Seeger, the latter punch ending matters instantaneously.
The night went from bad to worse for Seeger, who was taken from the Laredo Entertainment Center to a nearby hospital, where tests revealed blood on the brain. From there, he was transported to San Antonio University Hospital, where another CAT scan revealed a fracture on his forehead.
A report from Tuesday’s online feed of the Savannah Morning Post – the daily newspaper in Seeger’s hometown - revealed that he was scheduled to undergo surgery to have a metal plate placed above the bridge of his nose to repair the fracture.
All attempts at obtaining updates since then have proven unsuccessful as this goes to print. What can be said is that Seeger is alive, which for the moment leaves him in a better place than that of the man whose memories he still carries to this day.
Whether or not he will ever again fight has yet to be determined. Nor has the means by which he suffered the very injuries that landed him in two separate hospitals.
The latter part is where most of the post-fight debate began. Most reports, including that penned by Boxingscene.com’s own Cliff Rold, chalked up the win to a prospect having to overcome unexpected adversity before rallying back hard in the ninth.
Those closest to Seeger – in real life and online - have called into question the means in which Fonseca was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Such thoughts were echoed in the post-fight recap offered by online blogger Tim Starks of Queensberry-Rules.com. His report referred to the bout as “the dirtiest fight of the year.” Starks placed 100% of the blame on Fonseca, whose most infamous moments came in an eighth round that saw him land more rabbit punches than clean blows.
Somewhere in between the two came reports such as the one offered by Michael Woods, the well-respected Editor-In-Chief of TheSweetScience.com – acknowledged the latter fouls in the fight, but questioned the extremity of Fonseca’s tactics prior to that point, going so far as to scanning the earlier rounds for no other purpose than to stumble upon foul play.
Seeger has yet to go public with his own thoughts on the fight. While in the hospital awaiting surgery, he suggested earlier in the week to the Savannah Morning Post that a headbutt early in the fight caused the most damage, with every subsequent punch landed feeling like an anvil struck his face.
The damage caused coincides with the point in the fight in which he began to fall behind, giving away several of the middle rounds as Fonseca began to find his groove. That Seeger was able to rally back in the second half of the bout spoke volumes of his courage as a fighter, and also put to rest any lingering concerns of his being able to move on from the Flores fight.
Unfortunately, it remains doubtful that he’ll be able to move on from this bout, this time on the opposite side of the equation.
Needless to say, it hasn’t been an easy year in what was already a career that long ago deserved better.
Like most fighters in the South that come without lofty amateur credentials, Seeger has suffered the misfortune of fighting out of a region no longer rich in boxing culture, though it wasn’t always that way in Savannah, Georgia.
The town is about two hours east of the birthplace of the greatest of them all, Sugar Ray Robinson, having hosted his second pro fight as well as two more over the course of his legendary career. The town also saw another name often associated with the very best of all time, Joe Louis once fight an exhibition.
One of the game’s dirtiest fighters of all time, Mysterious Billy Smith, once flocked to the Hostess City of the South for a prizefight. Ten months removed from his tour as World welterweight champion, Smith sought to return to the win column. Instead, he left Savannah with his second straight DQ loss and fourth of the year.
Boxing cards came with regularity until 1982, disappearing altogether until a local amateur fighter took it upon himself to resurrect the area’s fight scene. Mike Jarrell, who serves as Seeger’s trainer, set up shop in late 2000, and proceeded to provide a regular series in the area, including several out of the gym bearing his name.
The timing was perfect for Seeger, who was wrapping up his amateur career and set to turn pro, which he did in 2002. All but one of his first 27 fights as a pro took place in his hometown, boasting a record of 25-1. The lone loss came in the form of a 10th round stoppage against Phillip Payne in 2004, one he would emphatically revenge two years later.
Oddly enough, his one fight on the road came after his lone loss, and perhaps represents the biggest win of his career. Seeger traveled to Sault St. Marie, Michigan in September 2004 and scored a shutout victory over Eric Aiken, who would go on to capture a major featherweight title just 20 months later.
Seeger would receive a title fight opportunity of his own, though strangely not until a month after Aiken would concede his own crown. The title shot came three months after the last ever time Seeger or anyone else would fight in his hometown, as Savannah hasn’t hosted a boxing card since July 2006.
His one crack at a major belt resulted in a one-sided eighth round stoppage against Daniel Ponce de Leon on HBO PPV. Had it come a year earlier, Seeger could’ve always went home.
But because the town of Savannah all but dropped out of the boxing business, there would be no rebuilding period. In fact, there wouldn’t be a fight of any kind for more than a year, at which point he was forced to settle for the role of last-minute cannon fodder in losses to undefeated prospects Mike Oliver (November ’07) and Yuriorkis Gamboa (June ’08).
Another nine months would go between fights following the Gamboa debacle, until he was secured as the opponent of choice for Benjamin Flores. The night marked his only win over the course of his last five fights, though one he could never rightfully celebrate, as Flores was in bad shape immediately following the bout’s conclusion, passing away five days later.
Even worse than the fact that he was forced to live with the death of an opponent was the fact that his phone wasn’t ringing for any future fights. He plead for the chance to serve as the comeback opponent of choice for former super bantamweight king Israel Vazquez, and appeared to land the role until Golden Boy Promotions decided to move in a different direction.
Then came the chance to fight on Shobox, although it once again meant accepting a fight on short notice, when the opportunity to face Fonseca arose about two weeks before fight night. As if trying to balance Flores’ death with his own purpose in life wasn’t enough, he also had to contend with the politics of the sport.
Through it all, Seeger remained ever the professional, as was evidenced by his interaction with fans online and in real life, as well as his performance through eight rounds en route to what almost resulted in his biggest win to date
Instead, it may have very well resulted in the end of his career, something else he will have to contend with in addition to the bittersweet memories that linger from the Flores fight six months ago.
Most are afforded the opportunity to experience a fair measure of joy in addition to the pain. For the past year in specific, it’s been far too much of the latter for Al Seeger, who long ago deserved much better than the hand he’s constantly dealt.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
