By Sammy Rozenberg (photo by Tom Casino)
Heavyweight championship boxing returned to Cleveland, Ohio for the first time since September 23, 1983 when WBA Heavyweight Champion Michael “Dynamite” Dokes lost his title by way of a 10th round knockout to South Africa’s Gerrie Coetzee. The Dokes loss was considered an upset, and it was almost like a repeat as the crowd saw yet another heavyweight championship upset. This was no April Fools joke as the Brewster loss shakes up the heavyweight division once again.
Sergei “The White Wolf” Liakhovich (23-1, 14 KOs) set the record straight by coming off a 16-month layoff to stop the nine fight win streak of Lamon Brewster (33-3, 29Kos) and in the process capture the WBO heavyweight championship. Brewster held the WBO title for nearly two years and was regarded as possibly becoming the premier fighter of the division.
Initially, losses to Charles Shufford and Clifford Ettiene gave most the impression that Brewster was nothing more than another heavyweight destined to be a journeyman fighter. Brewster was able to change his image around when he rallied to score a dramatic fifth round TKO over Wladimir Klitschko to capture the WBO crown in 2004.
Since the TKO win over Klitschko, Brewster has given himself a name for showcasing action by putting on exciting performances time and time again in the ring. In 2005, Brewster’s reputation of being a devastating puncher was solidified when he successfully defended his title by way of 53-second first round blowout over Andrew Golota.
In September of 2005, Brewster showcased his courage by traveling to Hamburg, Germany to face Luan Krasniqi on the 100th anniversary of German legend Max Schmeling's birthday. After falling desperately behind on points, Brewster came back to floor Krasniqi in the eight and stopped him in the ninth round before a packed house of 10,000 German fans.
The heart, courage and insistence to trade power punches with his opponents was Brewster’s downfall. Liakhovich was able to control Brewster with his jab and threw vicious body punches throughout the fight that seemed to slow Brewster down considerably. There were points in the bout where Brewster appeared to have Liakhovich in serious trouble, but Liakhovich was able to stay on his feet and come back with his own power punches. It appeared like the fight would go in Brewster’s favor in the seventh round as Liakhovich crumbled to the canvas as a result of being pounded by big punches. Liakhovich was able to pull himself up from the floor and continue strong for the remainder of the fight.
In the ninth round, Brewster was seriously hurt by Liakhovich as a right hand caught him on the temple. It was a miracle that Brewster was able to make it out of the round as Liakhovich was landing huge punches at will. The final scores were 115-113, 115-112 and 117-110, all for Liakhovich.
There were high expectations for a rematch between Brewster and Wladimir Klitschko, but that fight is now an afterthought for the moment. No rematch clause was instilled in the contract, but Liakhovich and Brewster appear to be very keen towards coming together for a rematch.
It all comes down to money, money talks in boxing and Liakhovich will fight whoever brings him the most money – whether it be Brewster or another heavyweight.
On the undercard:
Making his first appearance in the ring since his upset shocker over Mike Tyson last June, Kevin "The Clones Colossus” McBride (34-4-1, 29 KOs) battered Byron Polley (19-6-1, 9 KOs) on route to a fourth round stoppage. The bout was stopped after the ring doctor felt that a deep cut over Polley’s left eye was too serious to let him continue. There were no knockdowns, but Polley took a voluntary knee in the third round after being hurt from McBride’s hard punches.
In a very unexpected upset, super bantamweight Eric Aiken (15-4, 12 KOs) stopped former IBF bantamweight champion Tim Austin (27-2-1, 24 KOs) in the sixth round. Austin seemed overwhelmed from the start of the first round. Aiken was able to get Austin in serious trouble during the fourth round, but somehow Austin was able to weather the storm. The end came in the sixth round when Austin was dropped and appeared to be in very bad shape. Aiken picks up the biggest win of his career and Austin may now be facing retirement after this unfortunate setback.
In a battle of heavyweights, Ray "The Rainman" Austin (24-3-3, 16 KOs) stopped Jeremy Bates (21-11-1, 18 KOs) in two rounds.
Light heavyweight Jaffa Ballogou (44-6, 39 KOs) stopped Oleksandr Garashchenko (14-8, 6 KOs) within seven rounds. The bout was a turned out to be a very one-sided affair, Garashchenko’s corner stopped the fight near the end of the seventh and final round.
Billy Lyell (11-2, 2 KOs) decisioned Robert Dula (15-2-1, 8 KOs) over eight rounds. The scores were 79-73, 79-72, and 77-75.
In welterweight action, Artur Atadzhanov (10-3, 7 KOs) stopped Martimus Clay (10-11-1, 3 KOs) in four rounds after Clay suffered an injury to his shoulder and was unable to continue.