by David P. Greisman
The dark clouds have parted, the witching hour has passed, and suddenly it is daybreak, and for the first time in ages, light is shining through.
This moment had been delayed for nearly a year after James Toney’s positive steroid test put on the back burner any semblance of a paradigm shift or sea change. As fate would often have it, just when things were looking on the bright side, our hoping for the best ended up jinxing any possibility of such, henceforth bringing on the worst.
Since then, there had been much talk about what was needed for the heavyweights and for boxing: unification had the top priority, and on an interim basis we needed entertaining fights whose results provided some sort of direction in this labyrinth that lacked any obvious escape.
We would not settle for anything except what we wanted, much like Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, who could not be swayed from his obsession for a pound of flesh.
And while his character and motivations were influenced by prejudice and hatred, leaving him defeated and at the mercy of the court, we boxing fans were eventually able to satisfy ourselves with an ultimate goal outside the stubbornness of tunnel vision. Salvation came not from Portia, but from the portly, when Lamon Brewster and Sergei Liakhovich weighed in with their heavy pounding of flesh.
While the most desirable outcome would have been a clear Brewster victory paving the way for a tournament of titlists, his loss to Liakhovich gave viewers the most entertaining heavyweight match since Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko threw down for six rounds in June 2003.
Now, with the likelihood of a Liakhovich-Brewster rematch delaying any unification that probably wouldn’t have happened soon anyway – especially with the politics of mandatory defenses and promoters’ offenses – at least there is something to look forward to.
As Mick Jagger would sing, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you just might find you get what you need.”
And Brewster-Liakhovich was precisely what the heavyweights, boxing and Showtime needed.
Two weeks after Hasim Rahman and James Toney fought to a draw, Brewster and Liakhovich brought much-needed energy and a decisive outcome, showing that the big guys could choose to throw caution aside and entertain even while under the pressures of lifting the perceptions of themselves, of their division and of the sport.
Liakhovich didn’t need to throw down with Brewster. He had built an early lead with a collection of jabs broken up by the occasional right hand, the simple but effective offense that tends to trouble a Brewster that needs to get on the inside to land his heavy hooks.
So when Brewster finally did inflict some damage, Liakhovich could have and should have stayed outside, off the ropes and out of harm’s way, just as his trainer Kenny Weldon heatedly instructed between rounds.
But Liakhovich, much to the dismay of Weldon (but not to the fans), would not settle for the boring European style of fighting straight up, throwing mainly jabs and crosses like one who boxes for sport but not for blood. Fighting tall would leave his chin up and exposed to the Brewster hooks that knocked out Andrew Golota and Luan Krasniqi, and on the inside he could hammer away at Brewster’s stomach, sapping enough energy so that when Liakhovich hooked with a hooker, the impact would rock Brewster and leaving him nearly out on his feet.
Just like Brewster had become popular for taking punishment but eventually coming from behind to put away, Liakhovich was following a similar strategy in taking punches just to give back in return. In the process, he has now established himself as a contender and a titlist, a big jump considering that, having previously been ranked only 13th by the WBO, he had just recently barely risen from a prospect to a fringe contender.
And the best part about it is that all parties involved could reap the benefits on a night when Showtime was giving it away for free.
It was a free preview weekend for the premium cable outlet, and the self-proclaimed “America’s #1 Boxing Network” pulled through with one of the year’s best fights to date.
In recent years, Showtime has put on a good amount of quality shows, but they have been overshadowed by HBO’s assault of pay-per-view megafights. With HBO bringing Boxing After Dark back soon with high-risk fights for rising contenders, Showtime needed to convince consumers of the value of digging a little deeper into their wallets.
They made their case.
To compare Showtime’s free preview offering of Brewster-Liakhovich to the Rahman-Toney match on HBO’s own free weekend would be like contrasting a basketball shootout between the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks with the slow pace of the Detroit Pistons matching up with the San Antonio Spurs. Sure, Pistons-Spurs may ultimately decide the championship, but Suns-Mavericks is preferable nine times out of ten, and the latter two can contend just as well as the perennial finalists.
So, let Rahman face Oleg Maskaev, and allow Nicolay Valuev to run up his undefeated streak against nobodies while waiting for either Chris Byrd or Wladimir Klitschko to drop from the ranks. If unification ever comes, it will come when those who are less entertaining and less deserving leave the picture. In the meantime, we’ll take Sergei Liakhovich and Lamon Brewster, two breaths of fresh air on a clear, sunny morning.
The 10 Count
1. Joe Mesi shook off two years of ring rust in going the full eight rounds against journeyman Ronald Bellamy, a fight that went unaired in America but will be shown via webcast on April 11. Mesi will provide commentary, and portions of the proceeds will go to a charity that Mesi sponsors. With his loyal fans and the curiosity in seeing a fighter teetering on the edge of danger, the webcast may do decent numbers for its medium. While I am glad that Mesi won and left the ring safely, I will shudder when he eventually picks a dangerous opponent that poses a serious threat.
2. Meanwhile, the long-rumored comeback of Prince Naseem Hamed may continue to be more fiction than fact, something more properly covered by Weekly World News as opposed to boxing sites. According to the Associated Press, last week Hamed pleaded guilty to causing an accident by driving dangerously outside of Sheffield, England, last April. If he receives jail time, it will be the most serious blow to his reputation since Marco Antonio Barrera slammed Hamed’s head into a ring corner.
3. Thinking back to the Barrera-Hamed fight, Barrera showed that, should he ever double in size, he might have what it takes to headline on Wrestlemania. After all, in the 12th round of that fight, Barrera put on a headlock at one point, and then a half nelson before walking Hamed to the corner to slam his head. Hey, anything would be better than Sunday’s Boogeyman-Booker T bout.
4. Did anyone else catch the excuse for Sergei Liakhovich’s 2002 loss to Maurice Harris as a bad reaction to a B-12 shot? I’m just curious, but did Miguel Tejada supply the shot? And where in the world is Rafael Palmeiro hiding?
5. More from Showtime’s broadcast of Brewster-Liakhovich: BoxingScene.com got a mention on live television for having a featured scorer in press row. And, thankfully, he didn’t embarrass himself like guys from other outlets did during January’s Zab Judah-Carlos Baldomir fight.
6. I wish I had something to write about Friday’s ESPN2 Friday Night Fights and Showtime’s Shobox shows, but Friday Night Fights was so boring that I fell asleep and have yet to review the videotape. In a television season that has been better than usual, this week’s Friday Night Fights airing was definitely a miss.
7. Speaking of missing, Zab Judah was missing from the conference call promoting next week’s pay-per-view with Floyd Mayweather. A question: if Judah gets blown out as many are expecting, who is he going to blame this time around now that he can’t point his finger at Don King asking him to do promotional work to supplement his paycheck?
8. Boxers Behaving Badly: This time I’m glad to make this entry. Although I am highly saddened by the loss of Sam Kellerman, brother of boxing commentator Max, I was glad to read the Associated Press report that former boxer James Butler pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and arson, and will be sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison. Although the act will never be erased, perhaps now the Kellerman family can achieve some manner of closure.
9. Read that Forum Boxing signed both Juan Manuel and Rafael Marquez to promotional contracts, plucking them from recent virtual anonymity. Rafael Marquez may still be a desired opponent, but now that Juan Manuel no longer holds his featherweight titles (and now that Manny Pacquiao has bouts with Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera or both on the horizon) he has a long way to go before achieving prominence once more.
10. ESPN2’s Wednesday Night Fights returns (sort of, considering it used to be Tuesday Night Fights) this Wednesday (duh), creating another destination for my television viewing. With football over, a national college basketball champion about to be crowned and Major League Baseball losing more of my respect daily, I will always be glad to have more boxing.
