by David P. Greisman
From New York City to New South Wales, in each and every time zone spanning the globe, celebrations have ceased, as the ball has dropped to commemorate the end of one long haul and to signal another year begun anew.
January – named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and doorways – has an apt ability to represent its deity, whose depiction classically consisted of two faces looking in opposite directions.
For while we take the opportunity to look back at the twelve months that have just passed – and this week’s The 10 Count does precisely so in handing out annual awards – we also look forward at days to come, things to do and goals to achieve.
For boxers, our raison d’être, time is both precious and fleeting, providing a dwindling amount of chances for them to become champions, and this January brings to the table three matches in which the six contestants hold not the privilege of Janus. There is no looking back, as the bouts will decide which pugilist will break out toward a furthered career and continued or newfound stardom, and which will break down, fading into obscurity and obsolescence like distant stars, once-brilliant beacons losing luminosity.
On the seventh, two cruiserweight titlists – beltholders in a division that is the figurative definition of obscurity – are destined for unification and, in a pattern that has plagued the weight class since its installation, the winner will move on to bigger and better things in the form of a migration to heavyweight.
Both Jean-Marc Mormeck and O’Neil Bell discussed their plans on a conference call about two weeks ago, with each in awe of the possibility of becoming the first unified cruiserweight champion, WBO belt aside, since future Hall-of-Famer Evander Holyfield. Yet despite the honor of being king of the 200-pound hill, the hope is to follow Holyfield’s lead from two decades ago in making the jump in an attempt to conquer true mountains of men.
“That is the motivation for me,” said Bell to all the media dialed in, “to become the undisputed champion and then move up and conquer that division [the heavyweights] as well.”
“It is kind of a dream to go up to heavyweight,” Mormeck concurred. “I will be moving up to heavyweight.”
Since knocking out Virgil Hill in 2002, Mormeck’s ascent to the top has gone slowly, hampered by once-a-year title defenses, most of which went unaired by American television stations. But last April, the Frenchman burst onto the scene with an impressive outpointing of former WBA beltholder Wayne Braithwaite, a single-fight broadcast carried by the Showtime premium cable outlet.
With the anticipation, however, of April’s Zab Judah-Floyd Mayweather Jr. megafight, Mormeck can reap the benefits of sharing a card with Judah’s mandatory welterweight defense against Carlos Baldomir, taking advantage of the inquiring minds and curious eyes by using the publicity as a launching pad for future paydays against heavyweights, including, perhaps, a bout with Lamon Brewster that Mormeck referenced on the telephone.
As for Bell, he must overcome the stigma that his title reign is little but the product of heavy hands and hometown judges. The IBF titleholder picked up his waistband with a highly-controversial unanimous decision over Dale Brown in May, and retained in August with an eleventh round knockout of Sebastian Rothmann.
Yet it is Bell’s formidable power that makes him both dangerous and exciting, the former of which makes a victory over Mormeck possible, the latter providing decent reason to see him tackle boxing’s marquee division.
Two weeks later on the twenty-first, the fighters are lower on the scale but just as explosive with their punching and potential to entertain. In the first of a long line of pay-per-views to come this year, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao will clash in a sequel to what had been 2005’s best fight until Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo made history two months later.
Last March’s original was competitive, but ended with Morales earning the clear unanimous decision victory. Nevertheless, in the junior lightweight holy trinity of Morales, Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera, combustion is inevitable, and thus rematches are required.
Each man took a tune-up fight in September, and although Pacquiao did his job in dispatching Hector Velazquez, Morales looked overweight and underwhelming in a loss to Zahir Raheem.
The contracts, however, did not call for an actual tournament format, so despite the poor performance of the aptly-nicknamed (for that night) “El Terrible,” Morales-Pacquiao II is still a go.
Morales, with his jump to lightweight aborted by the Raheem loss, will need to show that his listlessness was a fluke, and that he is still capable of going to war and winning on the highest level, of headlining pay-per-views and winning championships.
Pacquiao, already a dominant force on the edge of superstardom, is longing for another decisive victory like his 2003 dismantling of Barrera, an utter squashing that should have propelled the Filipino Firebomber beyond cult status and being a hero in his home country to the level of a household name with a lucrative future.
But rematches with Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez have been elusive, and Pacquiao could use their names to cement his status on this side of the Pacific, even though he clobbered Barrera and was one judging mistake away from having the Marquez draw read as a split decision win.
The stigma is that Pacquiao is all offense, and no matter how impressive his one dimension appears, fans recall Marquez adjusting and coming back from three first-round knockdowns, as well as Morales forcing “Pacman” to consistently retreat under fire.
The 130- and 135-pound divisions are currently stocked full of opponents who would be happy to oblige and go toe-to-toe with the cream of the crop, and headlined shows full of raining blows are guaranteed to whichever man comes out on top.
Seven days after Morales-Pacquiao II is another bout that, on paper, promises a battle that will leave viewers on their feet, clapping and cheering.
For Arturo Gatti, selling out Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on potential has become a tradition, the phrase “box office success” coming quickly in a game of word association whenever anyone mentions the sport’s “Human Highlight Film.”
But for his opponent, the undefeated Thomas Damgaard, the prompt response is typically, “Who?”
In compiling his record of 37 wins with 27 knockouts, Damgaard has never left his native Denmark, and almost eight years into his career, he remains on the periphery, and even scribe Martin Mulcahey has seemed to grow impatient with waiting after touting the prospect for years.
But if Damgaard needs to show what he has, Gatti must demonstrate what he has left after a decade-and-a-half’s worth of punishment, culminating in the embarrassing one-sided beating at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. last June.
With his limitations against the upper echelons of fighters exposed, Gatti’s direction is uncertain, and it is possible that this jaunt up to welterweight against a hand-picked opponent was designed to send promoter Main Events’ longtime meal ticket out on top.
After struggling to make the 140-pound limit for years, the extra seven means that Gatti might not be entering the ring feeling drained, but whether or not this signals yet another in a long line of reincarnations, it seems certain that Gatti-Damgaard will aptly wrap-up our January jump-start, in the process leaving us fulfilled.
The 10 Count – Annual Awards Edition
1. Fighter of the Year: Ricky Hatton, for demolishing Kostya Tszyu and nearly beheading the awkward Carlos Maussa, taking control of the junior welterweight division after years of feasting on leftovers and being protected by (possibly-former) promoter Frank Warren. It remains to be seen if, when fighting across the pond and away from home, he can get away with his tendency to foul, but after racking up 40 wins and 30 knockouts, he seems ready for any challengers, with big names from lightweight to welterweight reading off as a list of fantastic foes for megamatches. An honorable mention goes to middleweight champ Jermain Taylor for building up a sizeable status and fan following in just two fights, whereas it had taken Bernard Hopkins over a decade to do the same.
2. Fight of the Year: Diego Corrales TKO10 Jose Luis Castillo. This one was a runaway, despite excellent, entertaining bouts between Jorge Arce and Hussein Hussein, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao, and Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Torres, among others. This match’s effect was amplified by the environment in which I first watched it, a crowded sports bar that erupted with each and every heavy blow, gasped at the state of Corrales’ face and exploded when “Chico” rallied back in the tenth to win it.
3. Round of the Year: Round 10, Corrales-Castillo I. Two knockdowns, two lost mouthpieces, one deducted penalty point, one amazing comeback, no question the round of the year, no matter any associated controversy.
4. Knockout of the Year: Jose Luis Castillo KO4 Diego Corrales. While it may seem that I am too high on these guys, Castillo’s left hook was picture perfect, beautiful to watch as a single counter pit Corrales down for the count, evening the score between the two, again with controversy due to Castillo’s weight issues, but setting the table for this February’s rubber match.
5. Trainer of the Year: Dan Birmingham, for being in the corner of Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy, two fighters who went a combined 5-0 this year, and both of whom are getting ready to take on their respective division’s champions in 2006.
6. Strained Trainers of the Year: Fighters’ fathers, including Felix Trinidad Sr., Jose Morales and, tragically, Bill Johnson. For Felix Trinidad and Erik Morales, their fathers froze in their corners as their sons were outboxed in one-sided losses. For Bill Johnson, he had to deal with loads of criticism while handling the unfortunate death of his son, Leavander. No parent wants to see his or her child injured or killed, and yet, in involving themselves in their sons’ careers and thereby trying to protect them from the sport’s infamous history of corruption, the Trinidads ended up retired, Jose Morales was fired, and Bill Johnson had to bury his child, a fate wholly undesired.
7. Promoter of the Year: Gary Shaw Productions, for holding in its stable three top-notch gunslingers, Diego Corrales, Jeff Lacy and Manny Pacquiao. Corrales went 1-1, Lacy went 3-0 and Pacquiao 1-1, but the trio entertained each time out, and they all are set to headline highly-anticipated shows in the first three months of this year
8. Upset of the Year: Carlos Maussa KO7 Vivian Harris. As tempting as it is to give this award to Kevin McBride’s victory over Mike Tyson, that result came more as a consequence of Tyson’s diminishment over the years and less from McBride’s capabilities. Maussa-Harris was designed as a showcase event for the oft-avoided Harris, but Harris, the former WBA junior welterweight titlist, fought a terrible fight strategically, while Maussa, a crazy character in a sport full of them, was as capable as he is cocky, toppling Harris en route to triumph.
9. The “Anti-Oprah” Award, for gaining weight being a good thing: Nate Campbell and Zahir Raheem, two lightweights that had been campaigning in divisions too low, but upon removing the stress of making lesser weights, earned big wins over Almazbek Raiymkulov and Erik Morales, respectively.
10. The “Motherly Love” Award, for care and concern in the ring: Zab Judah, Emanuel Augustus and Glencoffe Johnson, who, in the process of stopping Cory Spinks, Ray Oliveira and George Jones, respectively, either urged the referees to step in and protect opponents no longer capable of defending themselves, or directed their shots to locations where less damage would occur until their refs made the stoppages.