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Sorta Super: Bute-Johnson, And The Question Of Where It Leads
Boxing and college football have a fair amount in common. The championship pictures in both are an absolute mess and many would-be fans keep their distance as a result. The rankings in both are based not just on wins and losses but on perception of quality of opposition and quality of performance. In both sports, there are new scandals surfacing seemingly every week. And in both boxing and college football, if you can overlook all the external crap, the actual athletic competition is often spectacular.
I don’t follow college football closely at all (ever since the ’94 season ended with Penn State undefeated and somehow not able to play for the national championship, I’ve found better things to do with my Saturdays), but I pay just enough attention to know that there’s a parallel to be drawn between Lucian Bute and Boise State. For whatever reason, Bute wasn’t invited to the Super Six. His schedule since Showtime’s two-year-long tournament began has been as small-conference as it gets (Librado Andrade, Edison Miranda, Jesse Brinkley, Brian Magee, and Jean-Paul Mendy). While the big-conference players like Andre Ward and Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler and Arthur Abraham have been beating up on each other and spoiling all the undefeated records except one, Bute has just kept winning. And in so doing, he’s kept everyone wondering: Should he be ranked number one? Number two? Number three? Can you have a championship fight without him? Does he deserve to fight for the championship? All the same questions college football fans will be asking about Boise State if they finish their season undefeated apply here.
Given the quality of his last few opponents, Bute’s fight this Saturday night against Glen Johnson at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City is easy to embrace. Even nearing his 43rd birthday, “The Road Warrior” is a dramatic step up from Mendy, Magee, Brinkley, and Miranda. (Andrade was perceived as a real test at the time of their rematch since, you know, he sort of knocked Bute out in their first fight.) It’s not Bute’s fault that, for their various reasons, neither Kessler nor Kelly Pavlik put pen to paper to face him on this date. And the fact of the matter is, Johnson might prove to be a stiffer test for the Romanian-born Canadian ticketseller than either Kessler or Pavlik would have been.
Bute-Johnson is neither a superfight nor a sham. It might turn out to be lopsided and devoid of drama. Or it might turn out to be a back-and-forth rumble for the ages. Even if it’s a marking-time fight of sorts for Bute, it’s one of those rare marking-time fights in which victory is far from assured.
So just how big is Bute-Johnson? Just how meaningful is it? Just how excited should fight fan be for it?
That all depends on where it leads.
On December 17, Ward is set to fight Froch in the Super Six finals. If Bute defeats Johnson and faces the winner of Ward-Froch next, then Bute-Johnson will have been, in retrospect, very big and very meaningful indeed. If Bute defeats Johnson and doesn’t fight the Super Six winner soon thereafter, then Bute-Johnson will have been just another fight in a not especially fruitful relationship between Bute and Showtime.
I asked both a representative of Bute’s promotional company InterBox and a representative of Showtime about their intentions regarding a matchup in 2012 with the Super Six winner. As you might expect, without knowing whether that winner will be Ward and Froch, and without knowing for sure that Bute will escape this weekend’s fight with his unbeaten record intact, all parties played it conservatively and were optimistic but non-committal.
“Previously, InterBox was going to outline where we would go with Lucian on November 6,” explained David Messier, the publicity director for Interbox. “But with the injuries to Kessler and Ward, that will delay knowing exactly the plan for 2012. InterBox and Lucian’s wish is to fight the winner of those two fights [Kessler vs. Robert Stieglitz and Ward vs. Froch]. But first, Lucian will have to beat Glen Johnson. A very difficult fight awaits Lucian on November 5 in Quebec City. He’ll think about his future after this fight.”
Chris DeBlasio, the head of communications for Showtime Sports, weighed in: “I think everybody wants to see Lucian Bute fight the winner of the Super Six final. It would be the biggest fight in the history of the super middleweight division and one of the biggest fights that can be made in boxing right now. But we can’t begin to speculate yet on the likelihood that it will happen, particularly because we don’t have a Super Six winner yet and Lucian has a very tough challenger in Glen Johnson ahead of him this Saturday night. What we know is that these fighters, Ward, Froch, Bute and Johnson, they all want to fight the best—they’ve proven that. So we’re hopeful that it can happen and we’d look forward to it being a terrific fight.”
Bottom line: We don’t know if Bute-Johnson is a semifinal matchup in a four-man tournament featuring Ward and Froch on the other side of the bracket, but we all want it to be. Unfortunately, all we can do right is analyze the pairing between Bute and Johnson on its own merits.
Bute is 11 years younger than Johnson and is faster, slicker, and a more accurate puncher. And he’s probably the very best bodypuncher in the sport at this moment. It would appear that Bute is in his absolute prime right now. Then again, Miranda, Brinkley, Magee, and Mendy might have simply been the perfect opponents for making it look that way.
Johnson has had one of the most unusual boxing careers of the last couple of decades. He won his first 32 pro fights, but hasn’t enjoyed a winning streak exceeding four fights since. In fact, he hasn’t won more than three in a row since 1999. But of his 15 defeats, there’s a case to be made in seven of them that he won. And his two draws both should have gone his way. Johnson is 51-15-2 (35) with a whole bunch of asterisks.
Since his career year in ’04 in which he beat both Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver and was named Fighter of the Year, it’s fair to say Johnson has declined. But it’s been the most incremental of declines. He’s slipped by about a percentage point or two each year, which means now, seven years past his absolute prime, he’s somewhere in the vicinity of 90 percent of what he was in ’04. Two fights ago, Johnson knocked out Allan Green, and in his next fight, he came up just a round or two short against Froch. This isn’t a shot fighter. This is a guy in his 40s who beats all the guys he’s supposed to beat and comes pretty damned close against all the others.
Johnson is going to pressure Bute; we know that. He has one of the great chins of his era; we know that. The questions are, has Bute progressed enough since his 12th-round meltdown in the first Andrade fight to deal effectively with Johnson’s pressure, and what’s going to happen when the best bodypuncher in the business bangs Johnson’s 42-year-old ribs? We might see Johnson’s first knockout loss in 15 years. We also might see Johnson’s first win as an underdog since December ’04 against Tarver.
Bute vs. Johnson is a solid, compelling super middleweight fight, one nobody can reasonably complain about. But if Bute wins and this victory doesn’t lead to Ward-Bute or Froch-Bute, then “solid” is all it is. If it does lead to one of those showdowns for undisputed 168-pound supremacy, then it’s much more than that. If it sets up Bute for the ultimate challenge, Bute-Johnson is super by association.
Eric Raskin can be contacted at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com. You can follow him on Twitter @EricRaskin and listen to new episodes of his podcast, Ring Theory, at http://ringtheory.podbean.com.
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Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza Shine in Phoenix
Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza Shine in Phoenix
PHOENIX – Saturday was a busy night on the global boxing scene, and it’s quite likely that the howling attendees in Phoenix’s Footprint Center witnessed the finest overall card of the international schedule. The many Mexican flags on display in the packed, scaled down arena signaled the event’s theme.
Co-main events featured rematches that arose from a pair of prior crowd-pleasing slugfests. Each of tonight’s headlining bouts ended at the halfway point, but that was their only similarity.
Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete, now 39-2-1 (32), defended his WBO Junior Lightweight belt with a dramatic stoppage of more-than-willing Oscar Valdez, 32-3 (24). The 29-year-old champion spoke of retirement wishes, but after dominating a blazing battle in which he scored three knockdowns, his only focus was relaxing during the holidays then getting back to what sounded like long-term business.
“Valdez was extremely tough in this fight,” said Navarrete. “I knew I had to push him back and I did. You are now witnessing the second phase of my career and you can expect great things from me in 2025.”
“I don’t really know about the future,” said the crestfallen, 33-year-old Valdez. “No excuses. He did what he wanted to and I couldn’t.”
Navarrete, a three-division titlist, came up one scorecard short of a fourth belt in his previous fight last May, a split decision loss to Denys Berinchyk. This was Navarrete’s fourth Arizona appearance so he was cheered like a homeboy, but Valdez was definitely the crowd favorite, evident from the cheers that erupted as both fighters were shown arriving in glistening, low rider automobiles.
Both men came out throwing huge shots, but it was Navarrete who scored a flash knockdown in the first round, setting the tone for the rest of the fight. There was fierce action in every frame, with Navarrete getting the best of most of it, but even when he was in trouble Valdez roared back and brought the crowd to their feet. He got dropped again at the very end of round four, and Navarrete sent his mouthpiece into orbit the round after that.
When Navarrette drove Valdez into the ropes during round six it looked like referee Raul Caiz, Jr was about to intervene, but before he could decide, Navarrete finished matters himself with a perfect left to the ribs that crumpled Valdez into a KO at 2:42.
“He talked about getting ready to retire soon so I told him we had to fight again right now,” said Valdez prior to the rematch. There were numerous “be careful what you wish for” type predictions of doom and he entered the ring at around a two to one underdog, understanding the contest’s make or break stakes. “Boxing penalizes you if you have a lot of losses,” observed Valdez. “It’s not like other sports where you can lose and do better next season. In boxing, most people don’t want to see you again after a couple of losses.”
What Valdez might decide remains to be seen, but even in defeat he proved to be a warrior worth watching.
Co-Feature
After their epic, razor-close encounter almost exactly a year ago, it was obvious Rafael Espinoza, and fellow 30-year-old Robeisy Ramirez should meet again for the WBO featherweight title belt Espinoza earned by an upset majority decision. Espinoza turned the trick again this time around, inside the distance, but it was more anti-climactic than anything like toe-to-toe.
The 6’1” Espinoza, now 26-0 (22), was the aggressor from the opening frame, but 5’6” Ramirez, 14-3 (9) employed his short stature well to stay out of immediate danger and countered to the body for a slight edge. The Cuban challenger avoided much of their previous firefight and initially controlled the tempo. The crowd jeered him for staying away but it was an effective strategy, at least at first.
Espinoza connected much better in the fifth round and looked fresher as Ramirez’s face rapidly reddened. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere in round six, Ramirez took a punch then raised a glove in surrender. Whatever the reason, even looking at Ramirez’s swollen right eye, it looked like a “No Mas” moment. Replays showed a straight right to the eye socket, but that didn’t stop the crowd from hooting their disgust after ref Chris Flores signaled the end at 0:12.
***
Richard Torrez, Jr, now 12-0 (11), displayed his Olympic silver medal pedigree in a heavyweight bout against Issac Munoz, 18-2-1 (15). Torrez, 236.6, found his punching range quickly with southpaw leads as Munoz, 252, tried to stand his ground but looked hurt by early body work that forced him into the ropes. He was gasping for breath as Torrez peppered him in the second, and Munoz went back to his corner on unsteady legs.
Munoz’s team should have thought about saving him for another day in the third as he ate big shots. Luckily, referee Raul Caiz, Jr. was wiser and had seen enough, waving it off for a TKO at 0:59.
“I don’t train for the opponent,” reflected Torrez, who isn’t far from true contender status. “Every time I train, I train for a world championship fight.”
***
Super-lightweight Lindolfo Delgado, 139.9, improved to 22-0 (16), and took another step into the world title picture against Jackson Marinez, now 22-4 (10), 139.2.
On paper this junior welterweight matchup appeared fairly even, and Marinez managed to keep it that way for almost half the scheduled ten rounds against a solid prospect but Delgado kept upping the ante until Marinez was out of chips. The assembled swarm was whistling for more action after three tentative opening frames, as Delgado loaded up but couldn’t put much offense together.
That changed in the 4th when Delgado connected with solid crosses. In the fifth, a fine combination dropped Marinez into a delayed knockdown and a wicked follow-up right to the guts finished the wobbly Marinez, who had nothing to be ashamed of, off in the arms of ref Wes Melton. Official TKO time was 2:13.
In a matter of concurrent programming, Saturday also held a lot of highly publicized college football and basketball games which likely detracted from the larger mainstream audience and media coverage this fight card deserved. That’s a shame but you can’t fault boxing, Top Rank, or any of the fighters for that because, once again, they all came through big time in Phoenix.
Photos credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Brooklyn’s Richardson Hitchins Wins IBF 140-Pound Title in Puerto Rico
A change of champions took place as Richardson Hitchins rallied from a lethargic start to wrest the IBF super lightweight title from Australia’s Liam Paro by split decision on Saturday in Puerto Rico at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan.
Brooklyn has another world champion.
“I’m just happy to be a world champion,” Hitchins said.
Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) proved that his style of fighting could prevail over Paro (25-1, 15 KOs) who had previously knocked off another Puerto Rican champion, Subriel Matias.
Both fighters expected a different kind of encounter as Paro immediately started the fight with constant pressure and short, precise combinations. Hitchins had expected a different attack and seemed hesitant to pull the trigger.
“I couldn’t get my timing,” said Hitchins. “I thought he was going to put the pressure on me.”
Soon Hitchins ramped up his attack.
After Paro had jumped ahead with a constant strategic attack, Hitchins slipped into second gear behind a sharp right counter that found the target repeatedly.
Things began to swing in the Brooklyn fighter’s favor.
Those long arms came in handy for Hitchins who snapped off deadeye rights through Paro’s guard repeatedly. Soon the southpaw Aussie’s eye began to show signs of damage.
But Paro never quit.
Aside from using quick counters, Paro began firing lead lefts and the occasional right hook and uppercut. But seldom did he target the body. Slowly, the rounds began mounting in favor of the Brooklyn fighter.
Perhaps the best blow of the fight took place in the ninth round as Hitchins connected flush with a one-two combination. Though stunned, Paro trudged forward looking to immediately counter.
He mostly failed.
Still, Paro knew the rounds were not one-sided and he could close the distance. The Aussie fighter did well in the 11th and 12th round but could not land a significant blow. After 12 rounds one judge saw Paro the winner 117-11, while two others saw Hitchins the winner 116-112 for the new IBF titlist.
“He’s a hell of a boxer,” said Paro who loses the title in his first defense. “It’s not a loss, it’s a lesson.”
Other Bouts
A battle between Puerto Rican featherweights saw Henry Lebron (20-0) out-battle Christopher Diaz-Velez by decision after 10 action-packed rounds.
In a lightweight fight Agustin Quintana (21-2-1) gave Marc Castro (13-1) his first loss to win by split decision after 10 rounds.
Welterweight Jose Roman Vazquez (14-1) defeated Jalil Hackett (9-1) by split decision after 10 rounds.
Photo credit: Melina Pizano / Matchroom
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A Six-Pack of Undercard Action from the Top Rank Card in Phoenix
A Six-Pack of Undercard Action from the Top Rank Card in Phoenix
Top Rank promoted a 10-fight card tonight at the NBA arena in Phoenix. The undercard included welterweight standout Giovani Santillan and a bevy of young prospects.
Based on his showing tonight, Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez is a prospect on the cusp of being a contender. A high-octane fighter with ring smarts that bely his tender age, the 22-year-old Gonzalez pitched a near 8-round shutout over Argentina’s Gerardo Antonio Perez, advancing his record to 12-0 (7). Although Gonzalez was forced to go the distance after five straight wins by stoppage, Perez, an Argentine who had never been stopped and was better than his 12-6-1 record, had a granite chin.
LA junior bantamweight Steven Navarro improved to 5-0 (4 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Gabriel Bernardi (7-2). Navarro had Bernardi, a Puerto Rican, on the canvas twice before referee Raul Caiz Jr waived it off.
In a welterweight contest slated for “10,” Giovani Santillan improved to 33-1 (18 KOs) at the expense of Fredrick Lawson who retired on his stool after only one round. It was a nice confidence-booster for Santillan who took a lot of punishment in his last fight vs. Brian Norman Jr, a fight that Santillan was expected to win. However, tonight’s win should come with an asterisk as Lawson, a Chicago-based Ghanaian, is damaged goods and ought not be permitted to fight again, notwithstanding his 30-6 record. (All six of his losses, including the last three, came inside the distance.)
In a welterweight contest slated for six rounds, 19-year-old SoCal prospect Art Berrera Jr advanced to 7-0 (5 KOs) with a second-round TKO over Juan Carlos Campos (4-2) who fights out of Sioux City, Iowa. Referee Wes Melton lost his balance as he stepped in to stop the one-sided affair with a nano-second remaining in round two and went flying into the ropes, but was seemingly unhurt.
In a major surprise, Cesar Morales, a former Mexican national amateur champion, lost his pro debut to unheralded Kevin Mosquera, a 23-year-old Ecuadorian. A flash knockdown in the opening minute of final round factored into the result. The judges had it 39-36 and 38-37 for Mosquera (3-0-1) and 38-38.
The night did not start well for Morales’ trainer Robert Garcia who had five fighters in action tonight.
In the lid-lifter, 21-year-old Las Vegas lightweight DJ Zamora, a protege of the late Roger Mayweather, improved to 15-0 (10 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Argentine import Roman Ruben Reynoso (22-6-2). Zamora put Reynoso on the canvas in the opening round with a left to the solar plexus and knocked him down in the second round with a counter left to the chin. Reynoso made it to his feet, but had no beef when the fight was waived off. The official time was 1:56 of round two.
Bouts involving former Olympians Lindolfo Delgado and Richard Torres Jr plus two compelling world title rematches round out the 10-fight card. TSS correspondent Phil Woolever is ringside. Check back later for his post-fight reports.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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