Lyakhovich to get Title Shot
Houston, TX-- Kenny Weldon, trainer of Heavyweight contender Sergei Lyakhovich, informed 15rounds.com tonite that Sergei's scheduled fight versus Vladamir Klitschko has been called off, "for a much bigger opportunity."
Dan Rafael of ESPN.com is reporting that Don King is putting together a fight card for July 23rd from New York's Madison Square Garden. Chris Byrd will defend his IBF title versus Lyakhovich and Hasim Rahman will face Monte Barrett for the WBC interim title. Javier Castillejo vs. Ricardo Mayroga and Zab Judah could also be on the card.
Undeserving fighters getting title shots for no apparent reason. I hope he knocks Byrd out just to make the division that much weaker. Should have thrown Ruiz in with Byrd.
I pretty much agree with all that, but I think Vitali is the best heavyweight even though I like Ruiz. I agree that Vitali needs to fight more but if he is easily injured, what can you do. He got surgery so isn't faking it.
Vitali still hasnt been tested as the real champion, sure he showed awesome courage against Lewis but Lewis was landing the much harder shots and Lewis was training half assed for a push over like Johnson, so in reality it really means nothing but I will give Vitali credit for putting up such a great fight and I dont doubt he wouldnt have if he was originally scheduled either. Vitali comes to fight no matter who is opponent is.
But the thing with Vitali is this, he isnt getting a good break because really all of the top heavyweights are tied in with Don King and Vitali refuses to fight any of his fighters and this holds my respect back for Vitali. Because really if you are not fighting Kings fighters you are not fighting the best heavyweights which is why I was so anxious for the Rahman fight.
My heavyweight listing goes
1. Ruiz-Byrd
2. Vitali
3. Lamon the lame ass
judah is gona fight again in july if he cant secure a deal with dlh..I love it
I love him to get in the ring with Witter, would be a good fight 2nd time round
ok lets clear up this BS about VK only fighting once a year... in each of the past 4 years, VK has fought twice....
by comparison, ruiz too has fought twice a year the last 2 years and in 2002 and 2000 only fought once... byrd fought twice in 2004, but only once in 2003... and lets not forget VK just won the title a year ago... so we can please stop with that BS whining about VK being inactive....
Just aggravating the division is weak as it is but even Davarryl Williamson is more deserving than this guy.
I agree, and that's who I thought that he was going to fight instead of Wlad. Perhaps TOS will be his next fight.
ruiz-its become obvious to me that ruiz is the number 1 heavyweight in the world. ruiz fights everyone and gives everyone a chance at his belt. he beat golota, rahman, johnson, holyfield, and oquendo.
byrd- keeps gettin gift desicions and wont step up his opposition. imo he lost to golota, mccline and oquendo but some how he is 2-0-1 against those guys. instead of fighting wlad or any other serious contender, byrd chooses lyakhovich(sp?)... thats just terrible and im not even a wlad fan.
vitali- fights once a year and when its his turn to fight a worthy challenger he gets "injured". danny williams isnt shit, he beat an old mike tyson and suddenly he is worthy of a title?
lamon brewster- isnt a real champion so he doesnt count but atleast he stepped up his competition when he fights golota. if and when he beats golota, imo brewster will be 3rd among the heavy weight champs.
here is my rankings of the champions
1.Ruiz... even if he is boring, he beats the top guys
2.Vitali... would be number one if he fought more often
3.Byrd... needs to step it up, could also be number 1 if he looked good in a fight and won by a comfortable margin
4.Brewster...will switch spots with byrd if he beats golota.
Kimmy-Still WBO/WBA/WBC/IBF it doesnt matter seperate guys hold them all and that is what makes it a burden. At this point all belts mean the same no fight has really won their title from a real hard fight. However Lamon Brewster and Byrd is the only guys to have fought a legitmate fighter for there title.
Each belt means nothing because they are all recognized and the champions had gotten gifts from the organizations or either bought there title.
The WBO belt increases in credibility every year; one could argue it's a better belt than the WBA belt now, especially since the WBA strips its stronger champs, calls them "super" and makes their belts vacant.
Diego Corrales and Bernard Hopkins hold WBO titles in addition to at least one other major belt. Joe Calzaghe is ranked #1 super middle by fightnews.com - he holds one belt, the WBO.
Ivan Calderon, Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto are all very credible champions.
Id rather have 2 title holders than 4 my friend. Anything closer to one is good in my book.
I like many others don`t consider the WBO title a world title. There have been quality WBO champs over the years but i still see it like an NABF or WBU title!
I totally agree with you guys that this is a weak fight card. You know Ruiz what have jumped at the opportunity to fight Byrd, but Byrd(and King)wanted the safer fight.I could see giving an unknown a title shot if for one; the belts were unified and two, if the champion was fighting 4-6 times a year. If you guys remember Muhammad Ali had a "bum of the month" club which consisted of guys like Wepner,Bugner,Pierre-Coopman,etc. but he only fought these guys after fighting top contenders like Frasier,Foreman,Norton,Lyle.
Undeserving fighters getting title shots for no apparent reason. I hope he knocks Byrd out just to make the division that much weaker. Should have thrown Ruiz in with Byrd.
you make an interesting point, for as long as ruiz and byrd have had their titles, why have they not unified?? its a fight king could have made easy... why is the burden of unifying always on VK?
There will NEVER be a unified champ. If it does happen, it won't last.
It would be better if this emabarrassing divison was just shut down.
Id rather have 2 title holders than 4 my friend. Anything closer to one is good in my book.
Because it moves closer to unification, who wants 4 heavyweight champions.
There will NEVER be a unified champ. If it does happen, it won't last.
It would be better if this emabarrassing divison was just shut down.
Ruiz vs. Byrd ?
Why would anybody who enjoys boxing want to see that fight ?
The only reason I'd watch it, is because Byrd would smack Ruiz around. Ruiz can't handle the little guys, that's been proven.
With Byrd's left-handed stance, Johnny would never get to unleash his deadliest weapon, the ol' step n' grab.
Byrd would just slide to his right when Ruiz tries it.....easy fight for Byrd.
I think it's apparent.....John Ruiz will never be out of the spotlight....
He's a f*ckin' cockroach.
You all like cockroaches ? Do you all "respect" cockroaches because they have staying power? When you see a cockroach in your kitchen, do you accept it, because "Hey, the roach is doing what he has to do." ???
Think about that.
Because it moves closer to unification, who wants 4 heavyweight champions.
No, this is what makes boxing look gay:
(this is where I would insert a smilie if I did that sort of thing)
http://www.top-fighting.de/bildergalerien/ka.jpg