By Dr. Peter Edwards
In this edition of "Who's Hot, Who's Not", we touch on the weekend fights, the situation between the two top middleweights in the world and a very popular "Pretty Boy".
Who's Hot
Carlos Baldomir - The 34-year-old Argentine fighter had a dream - to win a world title before his retirement. This past Saturday night, he achieved that dream by stepping inside the arena of dreams, Madison Square Garden, and pulling off what might be the upset of the year when he scored a unanimous decision over Zab Judah. Away from his wife and children for weeks, he fought his heart out and won over a pro-Judah crowd.
On paper this fight was such as mismatch that many fans did not even bother watching the telecast or tuned out after the barnburner between O'Neil Bell and Jean-Marc Mormeck. A 16-1 underdog, and as high as 20-1 in other places - who really gave him much of a chance in the boxing world? Most expected the bout to last three rounds at best. This fight put the seal of approval on the old saying; "anything can happen in the sport of boxing".
Prior to the bout, Baldomir said he was two fights away from retirement - now the sky is the limit.
O'Neil Bell - He stood toe to toe with one of the hardest punchers in the game, took a few on the chin and came back to win. Bell was not as big of an underdog as Baldomir, but most expected Jean-Marc Mormeck to go right through him. Even the very few who picked Bell to win, did not expect him to dominate the second-half of the fight on route to knocking Mormeck out. Mormeck is known for his stamina problems, but he is also known for his iron chin. Bell took some big shots and never ran away from the fight. He took some chances by trading with the stronger man, and they paid off with large dividends - the undisputed cruiserweight championship of the world.
Floyd Mayweather - For not signing the contract to fight Zab Judah.
Jean-Marc Mormeck - You have to give the guy credit. He fought like man, and he lost like a man. There were no excuses made after being stopped for the first time in his career, he simply said the better man won. He gave as good as he got and there were moments when the fight displayed shades of Toney-Jirov. Mormeck, breathing heavy since the third round of the fight – never stopped fighting. He could of made the fight a lot easier for himself if he just took a step back and boxed, but he promised a fight and that is exactly what he gave the arena. If Mormeck works on his stamina problems, he can once again become a world champion down the road.
Who’s Not
Zab Judah – I was never a big fan of Judah. I always felt the Brooklyn bred fighter had more bark than bite. The ability was there, but he never had the mindset of a champion. The cockiness, lack of focus and wannabe gangster image was his downfall in the ring. Rather than focus on the task at hand, he had his mind fully focused on a future fight with Floyd Mayweather.
He had me fooled for a little while, I actually thought Zab grew up and matured. I was fooled right up to the moment he gave Baldomir a pre-fight bodyshot when the referee told them to touch gloves. Let’s not forget the post-fight speech – “it’s Don King’s fault”. I can’t even recall a fighter losing and blaming the loss on running around to do interviews. One minute he said he lost because of taking part in too many interviews, and the next minute there were hidden allegations to the fight possibly being fixed because of a sour relationship with his promoter. Talk about reaching for the stars. If anyone was more upset about Judah blowing up a major payday, it was Don King.
Can Zab come back from this loss? I personally don’t think so. I’ve said the same thing in the past about Mike Tyson, but Zab is no Mike Tyson. Zab couldn’t even sell out the Theatre in Madison Square Garden, which is located in his hometown.
Jermain Taylor and Winky Wright – Just put your financial differences aside and make the fight. I have an idea; if both of these guys are so confident of victory, then they should put all the money in the pot and the winner takes all. That was easy, problem solved.
