By Tom Donelson
After the smoke cleared from the Saturday night’s Don King extravaganza, three themes came front and center.
The first theme is the heavyweight division is still as muddle as ever and every major fight seems to muddle the situation even more. This was supposed to be Hasim Rahman’s chance to make his claim as a legitimate heavyweight contender, if not champion. The fight scores would indicate a one-sided fight but the scoring did not truly reflect what actually happened in the ring. One or two punches appeared to decide each round. In the eighth round, Monte Barrett spinned Rahman’s head with a solid right and one minute later, Rahman returned the favor by spinning Barrett with a nasty right of his own. It was a case of which right you loved since these were the only two noteworthy punches that landed throughout the eighth round.
In the twelfth round, a Rahman’s left hook knocked Barrett’s mouthpiece out, but with one minute left in the fight, Barrett shook Rahman with a right and appeared to hurt the “Rock.” Rahman looked uncomfortable chasing Barrett and Barrett did not choose to engage Rahman as he came in. The fight proved to be a boring affair that did little to enhance Rahman’s case against Vitali Klitschko. There was one positive that did come out of the fight, Rahman used his left hook more effectively that he has in the past and this could beceome a significant weapon against the taller Klitschko.
In the past, when Rahman fought an inside fight, he lost. He lost to Evander when he decided to fight on the inside with Holyfield as opposed to using his jab and fighting on the outside. This same scenario happened again when he fought John Ruiz. He could easily have lost to Barrett, but Barrett chose to not fight and instead he boxed on the outside. Barrett’s offensive offerings proved to be more ineffective than what Rahman gave him return. With Lamon Brewster fighting Luis Krasniqi for the WBO title and Chris Byrd and John Ruiz waiting for their next opponents, none of the champions appear to be fighting each other in the near future.
Rahman’s job is to capture Klitschko’s WBC title so Don King can control the entire heavyweight division, but what the heavyweights need is one champion and that will only happen when the various champs fight each other. Maybe Byrd and Ruiz might consider fighting each other, so we can at least eliminate one of the champions and begin the process of identifying who is the legitimate heavyweight champion.
The second theme was how wide-open the welterweight and junior middleweight divisions have become. When Roman Karmazin defeated Kassim Ouma, the junior middleweight division was shaken. Ouma was the heir apparent to Winky Wright, a slick boxer with a little pop in his punches but Karmazin blasted Ouma in their last fight. While Karmazin is the recognized champion, it is a shaky reign. Karmazin has already lost to Javier Castillejo, the former WBC champion. Castillejo lost his title to political intrigue when he decided to defend his title against Vargas as opposed to Mayorga. Somehow the former junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas did not deserve a shot at the title and Vargas is now planning to sue the WBC. This won’t be the first time that the WBC was sued. Graciano Rocchigiani was awarded 32 million dollars when they stripped him of his light heavyweight title and awarded the belt to Roy Jones, Jr.
Mayorga won the WBC title this past Saturday but the title is tainted due to the political intrigue that preceded the fight. However, Mayorga showed improvement over his previous efforts in the ring. Mayorga looked his best since his first victory over Vernon Forrest. He actually slipped punches and he knocked the slick boxer, Michele Piccirillo, down three times. The only competitive round was the eighth in which both fighters nailed each other with nasty rights. Mayorga jumped on Piccirillo and pummeled Piccirillo on the rope in the first minute. Piccirillo countered a minute later with a right that shook Mayorga but Mayorga countered back with yet another right of his own that sent the Italian reeling one more time. From this point, Piccirillo went into survival mode and appeared satisfied with finishing the fight. The rest of the fight was Piccirillo running and Mayorga chasing.
The junior middleweight division features Vargas, Castillejo, Mayorga, Karmazin, Ouma as well as WBO champion Daniel Santos and WBA champ Alejandro Garcia, who pounded out a tough decision over Luca Messi with a broken left hand on the recent Don King card. While there are no huge names left in the division, there are some excellent fighters and potentially great match-ups that will have boxing fans salivating.
The welterweights are in a similar state. While Shane Mosley is back in the welterweight division, there are plenty of other excellent fighters. Mosley may not be the best welterweight, just the best known. Luis Collazo gave Miguel Gonzalez a boxing lesson as his hand speed beat Gonzalez to the punch over seven rounds before Gonzalez’s corner stopped the fight. Collazo is a legitimate threat to Jab Judah as the recognized welterweight champion and least we forget, the best welterweight may just be Antonio Margarito. Plus Cory Spinks is still available and Sharmba Mitchell has moved up to the welterweight to add some star power to the mix. The welterweights, like the junior middleweights, is deep in talent. While other divisions have more star power, these two divisions are as competitive as any division in boxing today.
The third theme is King’s genius on display. The Guy knows how to play the angles to get his guys title shots and he knows where to go to put on great shows. Boxingranks writer Tom Luffman recently observed how King is making the Midwest his personal playground as other promoters work the Vegas route. King has put together some great cards to big audiences in the Midwest, while bringing big time boxing to starving boxing fans. This past weekend, he came one step closer to controlling the entire heavyweight division. (If Rahman can upset Vitali Klitschko.) And with Mayorga, he has the most charismatic junior middleweight champion and that gives him leverage in a division that is presently controlled by other promoters including Oscar De La Hoya.
