By Cliff Rold
In 2001, all of the hype in the boxing world focused on a possible showdown between Roy Jones and Felix Trinidad in the U.S. market while, in the strong German boxing market , Super Middleweight Sven Ottke and Light Heavyweight Dariusz Michalczewski stood out as the exemplars of their divisions. Jones-Trinidad took place seven years too late but managed to provide entertainment value. Now, reports state that Ottke (34-0, 6 KO) and Michalczewki (48-2, 38 KO) will attempt to do the same on May 24 at the Tui Arena in Hannover, Germany.
I know it’s 2008. I really do. But if not for the steady stream of Obama v. Clinton steel cage match coverage, it wouldn’t be out of the question to peek around looking for H.G. Wells.
Ottke, 40, retired undefeated in 2004 having unified the WBA and IBF 168 lb. straps and having made 21 defenses of his IBF strap. That’s the good stuff. There was some bad as well. He never fought Joe Calzaghe (a big reason for the “0” at the end of his record) and, particularly as he aged, there was reason to believe that officials were bending over backwards to protect Ottke.
And I mean protect.
Ask Robin Reid about it. In a 2003 bout, Reid appeared to be warned repeatedly for daring to punch Ottke in the head. Not the back of the head either; just anywhere in the head that might hurt his foe. Things like this are why no one outside Germany has ever really beat themselves up about Ottke’s retirement. There’s also the style issue. While there were some entertaining shows, like his come from behind one-punch knockout of Anthony Mundine, most of his bouts were, well, dull.
That’s being polite.
Michalczewski, 39, was anything but dull. At his very best and even past it, he was one of the most dependably exciting fighters in the world. He reigned as the lineal World champion at 175 lbs. from his 1997 victory over Virgil Hill until a 2003 loss to Julio Gonzalez, tying Bob Foster’s record of 14 title defenses with some solids against Graciano Rochigianni and Montell Griffin along the way. None of those defenses happened against the best guy in the division and for that, historically and deservedly, he will always suffer in esteem.
Put another way, in U.S. eyes he was and still is just the guy who never fought Roy Jones, a phantom name without much face value who astute viewers could bring up to show they were paying attention.
And now he’s the 40-year old guy fighting the other 40-year old guy in what might once have been a good fight boiled down to a fight a good seven years too late.
So why care about this one? Two reasons. The first is that, of the rare fighters who stake their claim on a career that ended without blemish, Ottke seems less than deserving. Rocky Marciano had Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore. Ricardo Lopez had Rosendo Alvarez and Ala Villamor. Ottke did not have Calzaghe. They earned their zeroes the hardest way they could. Ottke did not.
Dariusz at least creates a rooting interest in the fight.
There’s another reason to care as well, if only slightly. In speaking with Bernard Fernandez of Maxboxing and the Philadelphia Daily News after Jones-Trinidad, Jones’ trainer Alton Merkerson mentioned Michalczewski has a serious potential opponent for Jones later this year. If the sport gets to that point, the odyssey through the 2001 that wasn’t will be over.
And we can party like its 1999.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
