By Brent Matteo Alderson
Photo © David Greene/FightWireImages.com
Can a fighter only gain redemption through revenge? Obviously not in the opinion of Wladimir Klitschko, who lost three bouts as a professional to three different men and has yet to even try to avenge one of them.
Now it’s understandable why Klitschko never went after Ross Puritty. At the time of their bout in 1998, Wladimir was just 22-years-old and on the fringes of contention and Puritty was considered a tough journeyman that gave young heavies some good work.
Throw in the fact that Wladimir lost primarily due to exhaustion and it’s completely understandable why Wlad didn’t go back and avenge that blemish. What about the losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster? Wlad never mentions their names and they hold knock out victories over the Urikranian Olympian. I know that a lot of pundits claim that matches with those two aforementioned fighters would back-track his career, but I completely disagree.
Even though it’s not a requisite for being great fighter, it’s not a coincidence that a number of the greatest fighters in history avenged losses that took place before or around the time of their physical primes.
In 1917, Jack Dempsey was stopped in one round by Fireman Jim Flynn and one year later he avenged that knockout with a first round knockout of his own. Ali avenged his losses to Norton and Frazier, and Sugar Ray Robinson avenged his losses to Randy Turpin and Jake LaMotta. And Sugar Ray Leonard avenged his loss to Duran twice. Even the great Joe Louis was disturbed by his loss at the hands of Max Schmeling and stated right after he beat James Braddock for the title in 1937 that he “didn’t feel like a champion until he beat Max.”
Now those are just a few of the instances in boxing history where great champions felt it was necessary to prove their greatness and redeem themselves by reversing a past loss.
Those rivalries were between boxers who were thought to have been at the top of their game, but there are numerous other instances when great fighters purposefully avenged prior losses in order to try to erase the stigma of those losses even though the fighters they were facing were no longer in their prime. These fighters avenged those losses because they wanted to redeem themselves by gaining revenge.
The great Carlos Monzon went back and avenged every single one of his losses that took place earlier in his career and Marvin Hagler went back and beat Willy Monroe and Bobby Watts. So why hasn’t Klitschko been so eager to avenge earlier defeats? For one thing, it’s not obligatory. Fighters don’t have to go back and avenge their losses to prove their greatness. Bernard Hopkins never went back and beat Clinton Mitchell, the Light-Heavyweight who beat him in his pro-debut and Mark Too Sharp Johnson never beat Richie Wenton, the Irishman who beat him on Saint Patty’s day in Ireland in his second pro-fight. Heck, Henry Armstrong never went back and fought Al Lovino the man who knocked him out in his pro-debut. Those losses are different because they happened early in those fighters’ careers when they weren’t world class fighters. Nobody ever brings up those losses because they happened when they were just learning the game, when they were in the early stages of developing into world class pugilists.
Now there are some fighters who lost to fighters when they were already world class and never tried to avenge their losses. In recent years, Terry Norris reined as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and established a legacy as one of the 154-pound division’s best champions and he never tried to avenge his loss to Julian Jackson.
And Kostya Tszyu who eventually unified the 140-pound titles and secured his place among Junior-Welterweight greats never made a concerted effort to set up a rematch with Vince Philips. Let me ask you something, does Norris’ knock out loss to Keith Mullings in December of 1997 and Kostya Tszyu’s loss to Ricky Hatton hurt their standing in the division? No. I don’t think so because both of them had distinguished careers and won a lot of big fights at the weight. And those losses had more to do with father-time and ring-wear doing them in than the men they were facing, but you know what does hurt their place in history? Their losses that occurred close or around their primes.
Terry Norris is one of my all time favorite fighters. He could box, he could punch, and he made for exciting fights, but I have to place Mike McCallum ahead of him at 154 pounds primarily because the "Body Snatcher" knocked Julian Jackson out in two rounds while Terry got knocked out in two by the "Hawk." Terry never engaged in a rematch with Jackson and both of them were promoted by Don King. You have to fault Terry for failing to make that fight happen because he should have sought revenge and redemption. So today his losses to Mullings, Rosenblatt, and Boudouani don’t haunt his place in history, but his loss to Julian the Hawk Jackson always will.
Same goes for Kostya Tszyu. Kostya should probably be ranked as one of the top 140 pounders in history. He beat so many good guys, unified the titles, and was one of the division’s best fighters for about ten years, but I’ll never rank Tszyu ahead of Chavez, Ross, or Pryor because he never sought a return match with Vince Philips.
I know Vince had already lost a step or two by the time Kostya re-established himself in the division, but it doesn’t matter. Vince Philips was still world class and Tszyu should have gone after that fight. He should have begged for a fight with Philips, but he didn’t. He conveniently side-tracked him. For that his over-all place in history will be diminished. Chavez never loss to a Vince Philips when he was in his twenties and neither did Pryor.
So why did Norris and Tszyu fail to engage in rematches with their nemeses? The same reason that Wladimir Klitschko has failed to avenge his losses. Because the fighters that beat them had styles that were tough for them to beat, plus throw in the fact that they already had the mental edge knowing that they had already knocked them out and it’s easy to see why Norris and Tszyu didn’t want to face such a daunting task. Same thing goes for Wladimir. He’ll never fight Corrie Sanders again or Lamon Brewster, because Wlad’s weakness is his chin and both of those fighters are powerful punchers and would have a mental advantage going into the fight. They would feel that all they had to do was keep the faith and hit Klitschko on the chin and the victory would come.
If Wladimir Klitschko truly wants to be a great fighter and be recognized as the world’s premiere heavyweight then he needs to face his past demons and redeem himself by seeking rematches with his former conquerors.
Notes:
It was another great night of boxing at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario California. 22 year old Jose Manuel Lopez 18-2 (11) fought a war with Adrian Navarrete 14-3-1 (12). Navarrete had Jose staggered in the seventh and just when Adrian was about to go in for the finish, Jose turned the tables on him and unleashed a left right combo that caused Navarrete to fall face first. I used to go to the Los Angeles Forum fights on Monday nights back in the 90’s. I saw Mark Johnson and Marco Antonio Barrera fight there a number of times and always missed going to local fights on a regular basis, but the fights at the Double Tree have filled the void. Thompson Promotions has been putting on fights there for six years. If your in the Southern California area check out their schedule at ThompsonBoxing.com
Sugar Ray Robinson lost to Ralph Tiger Jones in his second comeback fight after retiring to dabble in show-biz. I wonder why he never fought Jones again. It doesn’t matter I still think Robinson is the greatest fighter of all time. And I’m not talking about the Middleweight version, I’m talking about the Welterweight version that beat Tommy Bell, Kid Gavilan, and Charlie Fusari.
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