by David P. Greisman
Dispose of the sunrises, the optimism, the glimmers of hope on the horizon, and bring back the negativity, hysterics and hopelessness.
The heavyweight honeymoon is over.
For a moment, for less than a week, this scribe was channeling Wallace Stevens, the poet whose “Peter Quince at the Clavier” and “The Idea of Order at Key West” were odes to sacramental beauty.
This faithful columnist was taken in by the possibility that the heavyweight blight that had been such a pandemic of late would finally end; that the four titlists, along with a small handful of contenders, would finally step up and resurrect boxing’s marquee division.
But if Stevens saw reality “as the activity of the most august imagination,” then I cannot now help but imagine the reality of the winter settling in due to the actions of the heavyweights.
Blame Vitali Klitschko.
On a beautiful November Saturday in the Mid-Atlantic, I spent ample time following the latest scandalous saga involving the WBC beltholder, a knee injury that ultimately forced the postponement of Klitschko’s November 12 defense against Hasim Rahman.
Early reports by Dan Rafael were that the Ukrainian had tweaked his knee, that MRI scans showed slight, old tears.
Promoter Bob Arum told the reporter that Klitschko was fitted for a knee brace, and that the champion could “do everything except sometimes when he goes side to side the knee will give. But that’s what the brace will control.”
Old tears became a new sprain caused in sparring, but word was that the fight would still go on.
That didn’t last long.
Just like in April, June and July, the fight has been called off, delayed supposedly until a later date.
This year, the amount of press releases that the Klitschko camp has sent out may surpass the number of professional fights that their pugilist has had this century. The most recent one quotes Vitali as he laments, and the injury changes once more: “I have at least a torn meniscus and a bone bruise. I was fitted with several knee braces and tried to spar. But nothing worked. My knee was just too unstable.”
“All of this is very devastating to me,” Klitschko continues, “I am not sure anyone can imagine how very sad and depressing this year has been for me because of all the injuries.”
“There was absolutely no way I would go into the ring in my current condition.”
On the same day that an enigmatic knee injury precluded Klitschko from boxing for about eight million dollars, ultimate fighter Joe Stevenson went fifteen hard minutes with a hurt clavicle for a six-figure contract. For a fraction of Klitschko’s one-night fee, Stevenson demonstrated a superior set of guts, grit and determination.
Such is the difference between those that need and those that have. Klitschko has the championship, and doesn’t feel the need to risk it. As a consequence, the fans who have a want for title fights and a need for resolution are left lacking in both areas.
If Klitschko doesn’t think that people “can imagine how very sad and depressing this year has been,” then the Ph.D. recipient deserves to have his degree revoked.
Klitschko insists that “Next year can only be better,” but fans and pundits alike will need plenty more before they are convinced. Just when we thought that the threshold had been crossed into better, blissful days, the rug was once again pulled out from under us, leaving the division marked with a marriage of infamy and monotony.
The heavyweight honeymoon is over.
The 10 Count
1. Of course, it wasn’t just Vitali Klitschko that caused the abrupt return to my former attitude concerning the heavyweights. The dubious honor may also go to one of the other dubious titlists, John Ruiz.
Like too many others, Ruiz is now doing more fighting in press releases and the courts than he does in the squared circle. This past week, he filed a $10 million lawsuit against James Toney, alleging that Toney’s use of steroids prior to their fight this past April created “energy, aggression and strength levels [that] were unusually high in comparison to his apparent [lack of] physical condition.”
Never mind Ruiz’s unsightly jab-and-grab style, or that his manager and trainer Norman Stone mouths off enough to offset Ruiz’s moniker as “The Quiet Man,” because it must be Toney’s fault that Ruiz’s reputation is so poor that earning the big bucks is extraordinarily difficult.
Ridiculous.
2. But back to Klitschko. He may still have his title, but for how long? Reports are that Don King is lobbying for Klitschko to be stripped, and for Rahman, who earned the WBC interim heavyweight championship in August, to inherit the belt. Knowing the tendency toward litigation for King and the Klitschkos, I have a feeling that a judge could decide who the champion will be, and not with the ten-point must system.
3. Of more pressing concern to Rahman is the money that he was due to receive from the event, which Bob Arum bid in excess of $12 million to televise on pay-per-view. Rahman was to receive $4.2 million, an amount that, following taxes and team payments, would have been directed to paying off the debts that caused the Baltimore native to declare bankruptcy.
4. As long as we’re on the subject of Don King heavyweights and court cases, Kevin Iole is reporting that Chris Byrd has signed a petition to join Wladimir Klitschko’s lawsuit against the IBF, with the hope that the litigation will allow him to get out of his contract with King.
Among the allegations is one that King and the IBF conspired to alter the rankings so as to make DaVarryl Williamson (a King heavyweight) be Byrd’s mandatory, a decision that caused last month’s televised snoozefest.
King won the right to promote that bout with a purse bid that guaranteed that Byrd would be paid much less than his contractual minimum, a strange development considering that purse bids are designated for when multiple promoters cannot agree to terms, and King has both Byrd and Williamson in his stable.
The loquacious promoter responded with an amazingly humorous quote, as per his trademark: “There is no subterfuge or any kind of trickeration here.”
5. Leaving the heavyweights behind, super middleweight Jeff Lacy is doing all of his fighting outside of the courts, and in the process is courting a fan base with sensational knockouts and frequent title defenses. Lacy stopped Scott Pemberton in just two rounds on Saturday, retaining his IBF 168-lb. belt for the fourth time in less than a year. It was Lacy’s fifth appearance in just thirteen months, and although many are clamoring for him to meet the injured Joe Calzaghe, it is Lacy that is now in the driver’s seat, with an effective, fan-friendly style and potential for megafights waiting for him north and south of his division.
6. Two undefeated super middleweight prospects clashed the night prior to Lacy-Pemberton, and the results were frightening. Allan Green needed only 18 seconds to knock out Jaidon Codrington, leaving Codrington unconscious, dangling facedown over the middle ropes. Considering how scary the situation appeared, with Codrington being taken from the ring on a stretcher, it was with great relief that the initial reports – that he suffered fractured vertebrae – were retracted.
7. It must be that time of year, as former featherweight titlist Naseem Hamed is again teasing a comeback to the sport he left three-and-a-half years ago, one year and one fight after his 2001 dethroning at the hands of Marco Antonio Barrera. I wonder which will happen first: Hamed actually returning, or Evander Holyfield actually retiring.
8. After having his star born by flooring Miguel Cotto in a losing effort, Ricardo Torres will attempt to stay in the public’s mind when he faces Henry Bruseles this December. While Bruseles may be best known for being toyed with by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in January while Mayweather gave the ringside crew his Super Bowl picks, his is at least a more recognizable name for Torres to put on a ledger that, prior to the Cotto fight, held little but unknown victims from cards in Torres’ native Colombia.
9. Dan Rafael is reporting that the undercard of December’s James Toney-Rob Calloway fight will include a rematch between Juan Diaz and Lakva Sim. Diaz, who won the WBA lightweight title from Sim last year, has been mostly inactive in 2005, defending his belt once in January, and then suffering an injury that canceled an April bout with Ebo Elder. Although Diaz had an over-the-weight return in July, stopping Arthur Cruz, winning the rematch may be a daunting task. Sim knocked out Elder in September, and he will be bringing momentum into the ring while Diaz will be dealing with rust.
10. Now accepting wagers on Riddick Bowe’s weight for his December bout with Ray Lunsford. Please place your bets in the form of over/under, as in whether or not Bowe’s stomach will flow over his trunks, or be under control.
