By David P. Greisman
Photo © Javiel Centeno/Fightwireimages.com
“Can neglect defense.”
Three words summarized the in-ring philosophy of Jason Litzau, Jose Andres Hernandez, Edison Miranda and Willie Gibbs, the same three words that made Saturday a promising night for viewers of HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
All year, the network had promised that Boxing After Dark would return to its roots, back to the combustible matchmaking that defined the franchise and made stars out of Arturo Gatti and Marco Antonio Barrera. Instead – sometimes incidentally, sometimes intentionally – the show degenerated into bouts that were either aesthetically displeasing or blatant showcases.
For every Jhonny Gonzalez-Fernando Montiel or Acelino Freitas-Zahir Raheem that went from potentially exciting to dreadfully sleep-inducing, there were match-ups like Paul Williams-Sharmba Mitchell and Andre Ward-Andy Kolle that got airtime just to help HBO fulfill its slogan of “building legends one round at a time.”
Though fights like Gonzalez-Montiel and Freitas-Raheem could be forgiven as products of circumstance, those in the blueprint of Williams-Mitchell and Ward-Kolle were both offensive and indefensible. This was not the series that had been meant to simultaneously break ground and faces.
Fans should give thanks for the holiday season.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Juan Manuel Marquez and Jimrex Jaca collaborated for nine rounds that improved the statures of each combatant. And this past weekend, viewers tore open the wrapping paper, exuberantly encouraged by HBO commentator Max Kellerman’s describing all four of Saturday’s contestants with three simple words:
“Can neglect defense.”
The two budding stars – featherweight Jason Litzau and middleweight Edison Miranda -- had action-friendly styles and a certain cockiness created by having a high knockout ratio. But their respective foils – Jose Andres Hernandez and Willie Gibbs – weren’t mere pushovers, having, against Antonio Escalante and Lenord Pierre, previously taken part in two of this year’s best fights that most haven’t seen.
In the first round of Litzau-Hernandez, the latter floored the former with a hard right that, combined with a late series of flush shots, turned the tallies from 10-9 Litzau to an even 9-9 and then a 10-8 lead for Hernandez. Litzau, though, recovered and began to pull away, punishing a Hernandez whose resistance was dwindling.
If the referee had yet to count Hernandez out in the ring, Litzau shouldn’t have done so in his mind.
Litzau had left his chin available for long Hernandez right hands all night – the final one turned his lights out. With a healthy lead on the cards and the last moments of Round Eight ticking down, Litzau ate glove, chewed canvas and was left 10 seconds later with a bitter aftertaste.
There would be no such momentum swing in the card’s headlining bout – for a majority of the first stanza, it felt like Edison Miranda and Willie Gibbs were, in fact, neglecting offense.
Remaining so, however, would prove impossible for Miranda, whose two hands are grenades with the pins pulled.
A right hand landed high on Gibbs’ forehead, sending him wobbling to the corner with Miranda in fast pursuit. Miranda’s finishing flurry was mostly ineffective, but a few shots found enough chin to topple Gibbs.
Gibbs, kneeling, watched as referee Tommy Kimmons counted to 10, and the fallen fighter rose only after Kimmons began waving his arms to signal the bout’s conclusion. Miranda celebrated, jubilant that, unlike his controversial September loss to Arthur Abraham, his fists alone had decided the results.
With a second consecutive edition of Boxing After Dark that was, at last, positively offensive, HBO supplied its viewers with happy holidays. One hopes that the momentum continues throughout a happy new year.
The 10 Count
1. On that note, the matchmaking for the Jan. 27 Boxing After Dark deserves mixed reviews. If Stephen Colbert had a weekly boxing column, he’d give Kelly Pavlik-Jose Luis Zertuche a tip of the hat for the pairing of an up-and-coming undefeated middleweight with a fighter who oozes machismo. But he’d also give a wag of the finger for the choice of Arce’s foe. Though Julio David Roque Ler holds a 23-1 (14) record, his lone appearance of note was a unanimous decision loss last year to former junior bantamweight titlist Alexander Munoz.
Arce promises fireworks every time out, but his time in the 115-pound division shouldn’t be wasted on the Hawk Makepulas of the world.
2. Since being hired as “expert commentator ” for the Boxing After Dark series and the occasional World Championship Boxing show, Lennox Lewis has improved markedly, going from approximately 45 uses of the word “definitely” on the June 24 broadcast to just six on Saturday. He still meanders through circular sentences on occasion, but there are also observations that make one appreciate having a former fighter with a headset. Nevertheless, there was one sentence that had Lewis sounding like he was auditioning for the role of Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger:
“I think he’s on a good level because of the fact that he actually boxed Arthur Abraham from Germany and did a great job with him. This guy, Edison Miranda’s got great long arms, great physique, always in great shape. He wants to prove to the American public that he’s a great middleweight, and he deserves to have a chance at the top.”
Lennox Lewis as a source of accidental amusement? It’s grrrrrrreat!
3. To be fair, Lewis wasn’t the only member of the HBO commentary team whose words caused a chortle Saturday night, and it’s not like this scribe doesn’t understand the difficult job that the broadcasting crew has. But at the same time, it is, indeed, extraordinarily funny to hear, for example, the first part of what Max Kellerman said about Jason Litzau: “It’s a rare thing for an undefeated fighter, especially a guy who hasn’t lost yet…”
4. Back, though, to the actual boxing. Edison Miranda wasn’t the only middleweight to make an impact with a single punch last week, as longtime 160-pound contender (and former Miranda knockout victim) Howard Eastman stopped Richard Williams in the twelfth and final round.
It was Eastman’s first win since 2004, following consecutive decision losses to Bernard Hopkins and Arthur Abraham and the aforementioned stoppage at the hands of Miranda. If Eastman wants to ready himself for one final run at the top, he will need to put together a streak of victories, all the while beating opponents far more noteworthy than Williams.
5. Reports are that the Marco Huck-Pietro Aurino cruiserweight bout – which ended in a second round disqualification victory for Huck – had at least two intentional head butts from Aurino and a knee from Huck. And people say that Mixed Martial Arts and the Sweet Science don’t go together.
6. Spanning elsewhere on the globe, In Jin Chi outpointed Rudy Lopez en route to a 12-round unanimous decision, regaining the World Boxing Council featherweight title he lost to Takashi Koshimoto in January. Chi had been scheduled to face Rocky Juarez last year, but an injury to Chi left Juarez contending for the interim belt against late replacement Humberto Soto. And though Soto beat Juarez, the title shot never came, and Soto eventually migrated to junior lightweight. If Chi wants a piece of the prosperity at 130 – where numerous name titlists reign – he should follow the lead set by Soto, Juarez, Manny Pacquiao, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, to name a handful.
7. It has, after all, been a turbulent year for the featherweight division:
Since January, the WBC belt has bounced from Chi to Koshimoto to Lopez and, as noted, back this weekend to Chi.
The World Boxing Association title was, thanks to terrible judging, unjustly taken from Juan Manuel Marquez and given to Chris John.
As for the International Boxing Federation, which also found a way to take Marquez from its top distinction, its trinket has been owned by Valdemir Pereira, Eric Aiken, Robert Guerrero and Orlando Salido, though the bauble has since been vacated following Salido’s testing positive for the banned steroid Nandrolone.
Marquez, though, now owns the World Boxing Organization’s belt, having risen from interim beltholder due to Scott Harrison’s numerous personal and legal problems.
8. Now that another of Julio Cesar Chavez’ sons – Omar – has embarked on a pro boxing career, will he, too, be forced down on our throats in special feature bouts on numerous pay-per-views?
9. On the same card, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. went the 10-round distance for the first time in his career, earning a unanimous decision over designated opponent Christian Solano. Chavez is now 29-0-1 (22) and remains active, having fought 10 times in 2005 and six times in 2006. He may still be a prospect whose future remains distant, but when he does finally step up in competition, few will be able to say he lacks experience due to what has essentially amounted to a professional amateur career.
10. Is it really that time of December already? Next week, my year-end awards.
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