By Troy Ondrizek
You may not have noticed, but we are in a horrific recession. The housing market is bleak at best, gas prices are crippling many Americans, and even longtime American Icon Anheuser Busch sold out to a Belgium company. The economy, for lack of a better term - sucks. The other day Steve Kim penned a poignant piece in regards to our poor economy and HBO’s recent affinity for posting pay-per-views. With that in mind, while all these PPV’s are draining us the consumer, and ultimately boxing; if the major TV execs would stay away from that platform this recession could be good for boxing.
The recent news of middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik moving up to fight former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins is proof of such. As Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum eloquently stated, “This fight was not our first choice, but it was the only alternative we had to make a buck.” By there not being a lot of money to go around, the best fighters can maximize their earning potential by fighting each other, and that is the sole benefit of this.
Trying their best to make us all forget how bad things have become are the light heavyweights. Not letting the lightweights or welterweights run away with the admiration of the fans; a division recently that had a dearth of talent and little exposure, the light heavyweights are giving us three big fights in the coming months.
To be honest, I’m not all that excited about the upcoming title fight between Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr., but it could be better than advertised. I felt there were more meaningful fights out there for Calzaghe, and unlike his outspoken father, I believe Kelly Pavlik was a much better option. Sure Jones Jr. is a surefire hall of famer, but he is past his prime and Joe has found his greatest success in “exposing” young lions. I wouldn’t count out Roy quite yet, his desire and hunger is still there and he will do anything to preserve his pride.
This is a battle of aging empires, one built on speed and power, the other on speed and volume. Reflexes are always the first thing to go and Antonio Tarver taught Roy that. Since then, Jones has been fighting more off of experience then just off of talent, and that makes him potentially more dangerous because he still shows signs of those surreal gifts from time to time. Joe has been fighting some of the best in the business lately and is learning some valuable tricks to go along with his talent. You couple that with his mean streak and you have a formidable fighter. However, father time has yet to erode Calzaghe’s speed and athleticism, so will this be the fight where Roy could play Joe’s Tarver?
What really got me thinking about the light heavyweights is the bout between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver. Jose Sulaiman and company were complaining about how Gary Shaw (Dawson’s promoter) was handling the fight between the now former WBC titlist in Dawson, and the interim titlist Adrian Diaconu. Well now old Jose is forced to hang his brand on Diaconu (not necessarily a bad thing) as Dawson pursues a much better fight that is vastly more lucrative. There are no complaints from Showtime about this fight; they have been chasing it for a long time. Tarver made them pay him big bucks for little fights against Elvir Muriqi and Danny Santiago. He finally fought a meaningful fight in his last outing against IBF titlist Clinton Woods.
In that fight Tarver looked magical doing a ballroom dance spinning Woods around and hitting him with flush uppercuts, spinning again almost doing a pirouette all the while hitting Woods with shots from every angle. Clinton was abnormally passive, probably a combination of being overwhelmed by the moment and by Antonio. Not to be outdone Chad Dawson fought some cannon fodder waiting for a fight with Tarver. Just like his upcoming opponent, Chad, in his last bout, fought his first “live” opponent in some time. Unlike Tarver against Woods, Dawson found out in his last fight that there is still life in Glen Johnson’s fist and it was more than a tough fight. While “Bad” Chad didn’t look or do great, it was good enough to squeak by (fight was closer than the scorecards) the rugged veteran. These fights were co-featured to set up this bout, and this is one of the best fights that could’ve been made in the sport.
Antonio Tarver’s fighting style involves his prefight activities. One of the most gifted orators in the sport, Tarver wins most of his fights before they start. As he has aged, his prefight rhetoric has grown stronger and more precise as his dependence on natural talent inside the ring has diminished. Tarver is now a rhythm fighter, and he needs to be in one to score regularly. His fight with Woods was this way, he destroyed Clinton verbally during the press conferences, and in the ring he had great success throwing a one-two followed by a left uppercut. Over and over he did this and would occasionally extenuate that combo with a right hook to turn Woods away from him and start the process again.
In the fight with Muriqi, when Tarver was pressured he found it difficult to score and as a result Elvir found some modest success. Muriqi threw Tarver off rhythm but didn’t have the skill or the experience to capitalize on his surprising success. Antonio might’ve complained about the scoring, but he had a tougher time with Muriqi then what he is willing to admit.
Chad Dawson might not have the greatest chin as is evident in him being put down twice (Harding, Adamek) and was hurt several times against Glen Johnson. Dawson’s chin is better than what many will admit; I suggest this due to how many flush shots he took against both Adamek and especially Johnson. Chad took those shots and kept fighting, whether or not his chin is comparable to Evander Holyfield’s; his fighting heart is. Dawson’s speed and length will give Tarver trouble, so will his combinations and punches from different angles. The same could be said for Tarver against Dawson.
You’re not going to “win” a press conference with Antonio Tarver, but some pressure and variety will do wonders against him. Instead of calling Dawson a “Young Lion,” lets call him the “Young Tiger;” the “Young Tiger” that’s going to maul the “Magic Man” like he was Roy Horn.
Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik punched through Gary Lockett last month like Lockett was a paper machete wall. That comfortable victory sat well with Pavlik’s bank account, but not with his legacy. So like any self respecting champion would do, Kelly went looking for a more “lasting” fight in his next endeavor. Unable to find any at middleweight, Pavlik and company tagged former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins to fight next. This fight is being held at a catch-weight of 170lbs, which is in the limits of Hopkins’ current residence.
Hopkins passed on his middleweight mantle rather controversially to Jermain Taylor, the man whom Pavlik dramatically took the mantle from and placed it upon himself. If we did the rules of three, meaning, since Taylor was the man who beat Hopkins (twice), and Pavlik is the man who beat Taylor (twice), then Pavlik should easily handle Hopkins. That thought process doesn’t apply to boxing. It’s an old adage for a reason, styles make fights and Bernard’s style will create fits for Kelly. Jermain found greater success in the second fight with Kelly by fighting in spurts and frustrating him with some defense. If Taylor was more active in that fight, he would’ve won it. Bernard fights in spurts and then uses his superior ring generalship to frustrate his opponents and bait them into his deadly counters. If there ever was a fighter susceptible to this it is Kelly Pavlik.
I am not suggesting Pavlik is definitely going to lose this fight and one can never count out Kelly’s power no matter what round the fight is in. Kelly is a pressure fighter who never stops coming at you, thus letting way to countering opportunities. Pavlik’s volume of punches often overwhelms opponents. When Kelly is engaged with a fighter, he typically sticks to a one-two and left hook. He’ll repeat this combo a 1,000 times if need be. But when an opponent is hurt or lets off the gas and plays peek-a-boo, Pavlik throws punches from every angle with malice. It’s odd really, how different he is between his own styles. Boxing, Kelly is boring and predictable, but when he is fighting he is as an imaginative finisher as I have ever seen. Don’t forget that Calzaghe’s workrate won him the fight against Bernard in their recent meeting. There is no doubt that Pavlik will bring the same volume of punches against Hopkins as Calzaghe did, but will his power be an effective replacement for Joe’s speed?
No matter how pathetic the economy is, and how HBO is trying to milk a dead cow of money; boxing will survive. And it seems that the light heavyweights are flourishing under these harsh conditions, maybe everyone else will take note.