By Lee Groves
Upsets make the sports world go ’round and boxing experienced its share of them this past weekend.
Inside the ring a late surge by Sergio Martinez allowed him to win Kelly Pavlik’s WBC and WBO middleweight titles and open up a world of new opportunities.
Thousands of miles to the south, a blatant foul prompted a disqualification whose aftermath ignited tempers and passions throughout the arena.
Lucian Bute’s surprising power surge continued as he laid out Edison Miranda in three rounds, a far cry from the slick boxer-puncher that once had preferred science to sock.
And this weekend’s Super Six showdown between Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler holds the possibility of another riveting plot twist in what has already been a theatrical tournament.
These and other subjects will be addressed in this six-pack of Weekend Thoughts.
Martinez reached a new plateau against Pavlik, and the cut he created in the ninth round proved to be pivotal to his late-round surge.
Many observers – including this one – expected the Argentine footworker to win the early rounds only to have Pavlik’s size and strength take over once he slowed down. The fight followed form for the first eight-and-a-half rounds as Martinez dominated the opening three stanzas and Pavlik gradually closed the distance and upped his connect rate in the middle rounds.
Those who saw Martinez’s seventh round TKO loss to Antonio Margarito on the undercard of Morales-Barrera I 10 years ago recall that Margarito’s pressure eventually broke Martinez and the seeds for a similar ending were being sown here. That all changed the moment Martinez opened a second cut around Pavlik’s right eye late in the ninth.
The sight of Pavlik’s crimson acted like jumper cables as the competitive spark was transferred from Pavlik to Martinez. Fighting someone of Martinez’s skills is difficult enough when completely uninjured but doing so with blood flowing into both eyes proved to be far too much for Pavlik to overcome.
Martinez’s late push created the margin by which he became the new WBC/WBO middleweight champion as Barbara Perez, Roberto Ramirez and Craig Metcalfe correctly saw him a winner by four, five and three points respectively. By finding his second wind against a volume puncher of Pavlik’s caliber, Martinez erased the preconceptions spawned by the Margarito fight and created a new template of strengths and weaknesses.
For “Maravilla” it was a most marvelous victory, and at age 34 he ranks as one of boxing’s best late bloomers. Considering he picked up the sport at 20, Martinez’s depth of ring craft is remarkable. He executes his slip-and-strike moves with a speed that indicates deep-seated muscle memory, a trait that is extraordinarily rare for someone who spent his formative years in soccer and cycling rather than boxing. Also, the fact that his legs remained springy into the late rounds – even after tasting some of the naturally bigger Pavlik’s thunder – reveals much about his commitment to conditioning.
Now that Martinez has belts at 154 and 160 he faces an interesting decision. Does he keep the two middleweight belts and pursue unification fights with Felix Sturm and Sebastian Sylvester or will he seek revenge against Paul Williams and Margarito? Or does he keep his interim WBC super welterweight title and hope that the big-name 147-pounders will come up to him?
The guess here is that Martinez stay at 160, for he at least has a guaranteed rematch with Pavlik in his pocket should “The Ghost” choose to take it. Better to take sure money rather than wait for someone else to come calling. After all, Martinez is now the “man who beat the man.”
As for Pavlik, he indicated that he would invoke the return-bout clause but given that he put on nearly 19 pounds after the weigh-in his body might be telling him that his future is at 168 pounds. His wallet might agree because even though he suffered his second loss in four fights he remains a compelling – if somewhat compromised – box-office presence. Perhaps he could take a warm-up fight or two to establish his credentials at the new weight, then go after WBO champ Robert Stieglitz or this column’s next topic of discussion….
IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute sure knows how to deal with a bully.
Moments after tasting a right hook from Bute, the expressive Edison Miranda placed both gloves on his hips and struck a muscle-man pose. After staring at him from a distance, Bute allowed Miranda to come after him. He then took a half-step back, planted his feet and delivered a beautifully timed left uppercut to the jaw that put the Colombian challenger on his face. Miranda managed to pull himself upright by five but his legs betrayed him to the point that referee Ernie Sharif stopped the fight at 1:20 of round three.
Bute couldn’t have asked for a sweeter reply to Miranda’s bravado. He didn’t get mad, but he sure got even.
Though primarily known as a speedy boxer, Bute has now scored five knockouts in his last six fights and his last three have come in four rounds or less against fighters who had three previous KO losses in a combined 93 fights.
While Andre Ward is currently regarded as the top fighter in the Super Six tournament, Bute’s belated power surge has vaulted him not only to the number-one spot at 168 but also a pound-for-pound slot on some lists. Bute has always had the skill but now he has the KO clout to warrant elite-level attention and respect. Too bad the Super Six can’t belatedly add Bute and Stieglitz to create the Elite Eight.
Mikkel Kessler could turn the Super Six on its head again with a win over Carl Froch Saturday.
Kessler was the near-unanimous frontrunner when the super middleweight tournament began last October but the Dane’s comprehensive loss to Ward forced many to reassess his talent.
In the wake of his 11-round technical decision defeat last November, Kessler’s “excellent fundamentals” now were thought of as “too one-dimensional” for the rest of the multi-faceted field. As he prepares to meet WBC champion Froch one can see a scenario where “The Cobra’s” quirks could tie the “Viking Warrior” in knots.
While that may well happen, I believe two factors will have a bigger impact on Saturday’s outcome – urgency and home field advantage.
Kessler knows that a second tournament loss will likely end his hopes for advancing to the semi-finals. Not only that, it will forever cloud the way he will be perceived in history. The oracles will say, “yes, he was a good champion who beat some decent opponents in Manny Siaca, Anthony Mundine, Markus Beyer, Eric Lucas and Librado Andrade. But when it came time to elevate himself from good to great against Joe Calzaghe, Andre Ward and Carl Froch, he fell far short of the mark.”
At age 31 and with nearly six years of championship-level boxing behind him, the Froch fight will represent Kessler’s last best chance to hold off final judgment on his accomplishments. Knowing this, Kessler shuffled his cards by hiring Jimmy Montoya in the hopes that he will be his face.
While the talents of the veteran corner man/motivator are unquestioned, geography will prove to be an even bigger help. This will be Kessler’s 40th fight in his native Denmark and his home record going in is 39-0 (30 KO). The Danish fans’ vociferous vocal support surely will enhance Kessler’s emotional state while Froch must fight to keep it from sapping his.
Plus, the undefeated Froch has been perilously close to defeat in his last two fights. Froch stared down a four-point deficit on two cards entering the final round before conjuring a miracle TKO with just 14 seconds left on the clock. And many fans and experts believe he was lucky to escape his hometown with a split decision over Andre Dirrell in Stage One.
Given the topsy-turvy shifts of momentum after only four fights, I wouldn’t be surprised if the pecking order goes through another spin cycle. After all, Abraham and Froch joined Kessler at the top with their victories over Taylor and Dirrell, but now Ward and Dirrell have leap-frogged Kessler and Froch with their own excellent performances. The ladder could change again if either Kessler or Froch win impressively.
Although the styles won’t mesh well, I believe the intangibles inherent with a Kessler fight in Denmark will allow the hometown hero to prevail by decision.
I don’t know about you, but I see flickers of Shane Mosley in Shawn Porter.
Yes, that sentence might seem blasphemous given that Porter is still a prospect and “Sugar Shane” is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. But in watching Porter’s one round knockout of Raul Pinzon on ShoBox – as well as several other outings – I’m convinced that he has seen more than a few Mosley fights along the way. From a distance, he even looks a bit like Mosley.
At 5-7, he’s a bit shorter but his approach is similar in that he maintains a busy, if not accurate, jab, strings together powerful fast-twitch combinations, shifts fluidity between head and body and snaps back into defensive position once he’s done throwing his punches. His one-punch power is also impressive; the right hand lead that put Pinzon on his face was lightning quick and one must take note that the Colombian weighed more than 170 when he stepped in the ring.
I also like Porter’s ambition and work ethic. A former amateur star at 165, Porter wants to work his way down to welterweight and it’s wise that he’s taking a gradual approach. If he can carry the power he showed against Pinzon to 147 and augment his already above-average speed by dropping the weight, Porter will eventually make some real noise in one of boxing’s deepest weight classes.
Argentine 122-pounder Yesica Marcos works the body like few female fighters I’ve seen.
In my 36-plus years as a fan I’ve witnessed many things but one sight I haven’t beheld is a one-punch body-shot knockout by a female fighter. Perhaps there have been a few that have occurred, but none immediately leap to mind.
The main event of a rare Friday night telecast on Argentina’s TyC channel April 9 was a 10 rounder between hometown favorite Yesica Marcos and Brazilian Simone da Silva Duarte in San Martin, Argentina. This fight for the WBA’s interim female super bantamweight title saw Marcos earn a commanding decision but what impressed me most was Marcos’ robust body attack.
Most women fighters I’ve seen have been strict headhunters, but Marcos is different. More than once she dug in the hook three and four times in succession, something I rarely see from her male counterparts. To her credit Duarte hung tough and fought back fiercely, making this clash an entertaining one despite its lopsided nature.
I’m not sure whether it was Duarte’s toughness or a lack of power on Marcos’ part that allowed the Brazilian to last the distance. It could be a combination of both as Marcos has only four knockouts in 15 wins while Duarte slipped to 8-1 (2 KO). Still, Marcos is the kind of all-action fighter I’d like to see on TV again soon.
Emotions spill over during the main event of TyC’s weekly Saturday night broadcast.
Argentine lightweight Oscar Pereyra appeared to be well on his way to capturing the vacant WBA “international” belt after dropping Patricio Pedrero in rounds and six with left hooks. But in the seventh, the surging emotions careened out of control moments after Pedrero struck gold with a vicious right uppercut that had Pereyra stunned, stumbling forward and desperately seeking a clinch.
As referee Hernan Guajardo rushed in to separate the fighters, a hyped-up Pedrero -- realizing he had a precious chance to score a dramatic come-from-behind victory – launched not one, not two, but three punches on the break that caused Pereyra to collapse near the corner pad. Guajardo called time and ordered the ring physician to examine a swelling under Pererya’s left eye that had the look of an orbital bone fracture.
The fight was called off seconds later and Pedrero, thinking he had won by TKO, first raised his arms overhead, then tried to forge some sort of détente by attempting to hug his rival. Pereyra would have none of it as he ducked his head and gestured angrily at him.
When it became clear that Guajardo had disqualified Pedrero for hitting on the break, the boxer tried to convince the referee that his punches were legitimate. When he failed to do so, he stomped around the ring and flailed his arms in fury. Several people in the crowd threw debris as Pedrero continued to plead his case to anyone within earshot. Pedrero’s corner man did his best to calm his charge down but it did no good as he continued to shout at several Pereyra supporters in the crowd.
A security detail clad in three-piece suits managed to squelch the potential riot threat by positioning themselves several feet in front of the ring. Meanwhile the debate between Team Pedrero and Guajardo raged for several more moments but the referee rightly stood by his DQ ruling. Pereyra twisted the knife by flexing his arms and firing a hard stare at Pedrero as he was hoisted skyward during the official announcement, a move that brought back a dismissive over-the-shoulder smirk on his way out of the ring.
Pedrero did get in the last non-verbal blast by flexing his right arm and pointing at his bicep, then vented his frustration by throwing a chair against the back wall and kicking a trash receptacle as he was leaving the arena.