The Week that Was in Boxing
Friday: Things got off to a quick start this weekend, with good Friday cards on ESPN2 and Showtime. Breidis Prescott, best known for a one-round blastout of Amir Khan a few years back, continues to look ordinary. There’s no doubting his punching power, wielded from a big six-foot frame. It’s just that when he doesn’t get the quickie knockout, he doesn’t usually have a Plan B and appears to lose focus. While winning a decision over journeyman Harrison Cuello, he looked flat. A somewhat unimaginative puncher, Prescott needs to throw a lot more punches to make his best weapon count.
Hats off to Christopher Martin for schooling the much more celebrated prospect—Chris Avalos. Martin, who actually had a sub-.500 amateur career, has been making great strides as a pro and it showed on Friday night, as he was far too cute and classy for the ballyhooed Avalos, now 16-1 (13 KOs). Martin, 19-0-2 (5 KOs), was actually the puncher in the fight, as he landed crisp counters that snapped back the head of Avalos throughout the fight.
Martin appeared to run away with it in the second half of the fight. It’s interesting now looking back that Martin was a 6-1 underdog, though he was also unbeaten. Results like these should make us reconsider how we evaluate fighters. Why was Avalos so much more hyped than Martin? Watching the fight, it became clear that Martin is by far the more polished and cerebral fighter. Avalos, 20, should be able to regroup. He just ran into a heck of a little fighter that no one really knew about.
Minnesota judge John Mariano had it 98-94 Avalos in one of the worst cards I’ve ever seen. If states like Minnesota want to continue to host boxing cards of any consequence, they need to get some better officials. The first order of business should be to give this Mariano clown his walking papers. I defy anyone to produce a person in attendance that evening that had the fight scored for Avalos, much less by 4 points. Surely, there are some people in the state of Minnesota who can score a fight in a way that has some connection to reality.
Tip of the cap to veteran heavyweight Maurice Harris who scored an upset decision over ranked Nagy Aguilera. Harris, who began his pro career as a light heavyweight way back in 1992 is still only 34 somehow. Despite a spotty record of 24-14-2, Harris has upset wins over David Izon, Jimmy Thunder, Jeremy Williams, and Sergey Liakhovich. He also deserved a decision that was given to Larry Holmes in 1997. This was his 4th straight win since returning after a 3-year layoff.
Saturday – The HBO Doubleheader
HBO offered up a nice card on Saturday, opening up with Tavoris Cloud taking a big step up in meeting the consummate pro—ex-champ Glen Johnson. I always fancied Cloud as a strong, but raw fighter with huge deficits in polish and versatility. He really seemed to take his game up to another level on Saturday.
Johnson pressed him throughout, troubling Cloud with his workrate and grit. Cloud, however, kept his nose to the grindstone and kept at it. By the end of the night, Cloud threw 80-100 punches every round; punctuating his workrate with occasional flurries he ripped to the head and body with great velocity. Johnson was clever and resourceful as always, but Cloud showed a few wrinkles himself. It was impressive that Cloud, battered to some degree, could dig deep and sweep the last 3 rounds from the never-say-die Johnson. With little top-shelf experience to call on, Cloud did very well.
Cloud is an offensively dynamic fighter. In the 5th round, he appeared to rattle Johnson. In fact, Cloud did more palpable damage to Johnson than anyone since Bernard Hopkins stopped him 13 years ago. With his workload and power, the comparison to Matthew Saad Muhammad is not a bad one, but on Saturday night, Cloud showed a lot of development. He paced himself well, soldiered through some punishment, and sharply kept his hands moving to put enough rounds in the bag.
Nice job, Tavoris. He still has a way to go, but this was a great win.
A bit of the luster is off Devon Alexander after what appeared to be a nip-and-tuck decision over Andriy Kotelnik. The judges predictably had it for the hometown attraction Alexander, all scoring it 116-112. I thought Alexander might have edged it with his far greater punching volume, but at no point did Kotelnik look like a 9-1 underdog.
Kotelnik frequently reached Alexander with his jab, then found success with his right hand as the fight wore on. Alexander’s punching, while flashier, seemed to be a lot of empty bluster. His punches usually were off the mark or bounced off Kotelnik’s high guard. As far as landing flush and telling punches, it was all Kotelnik.
It was troubling to watch the much-ballyhooed Alexander struggle so mightily with the less gifted, but more technical Kotelnik. It seemed that his strategy consisted almost solely of moving his hands. When all else fails, a high-volume punch output is not a bad plan to fall back on, but Alexander looked lost over the second half of the bout. Kotelnik kept plugging away, landing the cleaner punches every round.
You can understand Kotelnik’s frustration. The hometown element was too much to overcome. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine him getting the nod if the bout were held at a neutral location. Alexander is only 23, so let’s not jump the gun in dropping him down a few pegs. Kotelnik is a top guy at 140, having already beaten Marcos Maidana and now almost upsetting Alexander. He’s the type of guy who can give any young fighter a difficult evening. Alexander showed some maturity in not unraveling under Kotelnik’s passionate attack.
I’d like to see them do it again, but I have a feeling Alexander will be just as fine with leaving Kotelnik in his rear-view mirror.
On the untelevised portion of the card, Cornelius Bundrage upset Cory Spinks to lift the IBF 154lb. title. The stoppage was premature. Nevertheless, one feels compelled to congratulate Bundrage. When he first appeared on The Contender, you would have received pretty huge odds on him ever becoming a world champion. One upset after the next followed, culminating with another surprising win on Saturday night.
Looking Ahead…
Fight fans get to see exciting heavyweight contender Chris Arreola on ESPN2 on Friday, as he takes on Manny Quezada.
The light heavyweight division continues to heat up on Saturday as Chad Dawson takes on Jean Pascal in Montreal. Should be a good fight.
