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Is Otto Wallin the next Ingemar Johansson or the next Olle Tandberg?
Back in March of this year, there was a collective groan when it was announced that Germany’s Tom Schwarz would be Tyson Fury’s next foe. Fury’s U.S. promoter, Bob Arum, had already announced that the rematch with Deontay Wilder had been placed on the backburner, but yet there had remained a glimmer of hope that public opinion would force Fury to proceed directly to a rematch with Wilder rather than let it “marinate” and potentially dissolve.
When the Fury-Schwarz fight was made, Tom Schwarz, although undefeated, was ranked by BoxRec as the world’s 41st best heavyweight. To put that in perspective, he ranked 31 places below Dominic Breazeale.
To create more interest in Fury vs. Schwarz, by all indications an egregious mismatch, the promoters conjured up the name of Germany’s most famous boxer, Max Schmeling. Back in 1936, Schmeling upset the previously undefeated Joe Louis and there was nothing fluky about it. Schmeling chewed up the Brown Bomber before stopping him in the 12th round. But for publicity purposes, the Schwarz-Schmeling comparison wasn’t a good one as Schmeling fought Joe Louis again and was so thoroughly drubbed in a fight that lasted only 124 seconds that it almost blotted out what Schmeling had accomplished in their first meeting.
Fortunately for the promoters, there was a more helpful comparison right at their fingertips in the form of Axel Schulz who would attend the fight as part of the German broadcasting team. Schulz, a virtual unknown when he was pitted against George Foreman at the MGM Grand in April of 1995, was the anti-Tom Schwarz, the counter-point to the argument that Tyson Fury’s hand-picked opponent was a no-hoper.
Foreman was long in the tooth in 1995, but Axel Schulz, raised in East Germany, was yet considered easy meat. “Ring experts,” said Alan Goldstein in the Baltimore Sun, “classify Schulz as a harmless piece of strudel.” But those experts were wrong. Big George escaped with a majority decision that many considered a gift.
“I would never fight that kid again. Forget it. Wherever he came from, let him go right back. He was like a Tasmanian devil or something,” said Foreman after the fight. True to his word, he spurned a rematch, leading the IBF to strip him of his title.
Could Tom Schwarz be the next Axel Schulz? We know the answer. That’s yesterday’s news.
And now, after this meandering preamble, let’s move on to Otto Wallin who will fight Tyson Fury on Sept. 14 at the MGM Grand.
Wallin hails from Sweden. He stands six-foot-five, similar to Tom Schwarz, but is somewhat leaner and unlike Schwarz he’s a southpaw. He’s undefeated as a pro (20-0, 13 KOs), but has fought only once in the United States. His bout with journeyman Nick Kisner, a puffed-up cruiserweight, ended after one round when Kisner suffered a bad cut over his right eye from an accidental head butt and would not come out for the second round, claiming that the cut had blurred his vision. It was ruled a no-contest. A second U.S. fight fell out at the 11th hour when shopworn B.J. Flores failed his pre-fight medical exam.
As for good boxers from Sweden, it’s a very short list, understandably so as professional boxing was banned in Sweden from 1970 until 2007. The most famous Swedish boxer, needless to say, is the late Ingemar Johansson.
Sixty years ago, Johansson was accorded scant chance of taking the heavyweight title from Floyd Patterson. But Ingemar not only did it, he did it in a spectacular way, knocking Patterson to the canvas seven times in less than three full rounds of fighting before referee Ruby Goldstein halted the slaughter. The stunning upset was the lead story on the front page of dozens of newspapers including the New York Times. (They fought twice more with Patterson winning both inside the distance, but it is their first fight that everyone remembers.)
As the Fury-Wallin fight draws closer, the name of Ingemar Johansson will be bandied about in many pre-fight reports: Can Otto Wallin accomplish what Ingemar did on that balmy night in Yankee Stadium?
For the sake of ballast, writers that invoke the name of Johansson ought to leaven their copy with a reference to Olle Tandberg.
Tandberg, from Stockholm, was 18-4-1 but riding a 12-fight winning streak when he made his U.S. debut on Jan. 9, 1948 in a 10-round contest at Madison Square Garden. In the opposite corner was Joey Maxim.
Joe Louis was nearing the end of his title reign. The previous month, in the same Madison Square Garden ring, he had been fortunate to turn away Jersey Joe Walcott, winning a split decision that was widely viewed as a gift. It was obvious that a shake-up in the heavyweight division was imminent and those with a vested interest hoped that Olle Tandberg would add his name to the mix.
Joey Maxim was a solid technician who would go on to win the light heavyweight title, but at this juncture of his career he was regarded as nothing more than a high-class journeyman. He wasn’t a hard-hitter. He had knocked out only 13 of his 69 opponents. Tandberg would out-weigh him 208-179.
Tandberg was the “A” side, but Joey Maxim took him to school. “Maxim gave a thorough lacing to the Swedish giant,” said New York Times ringside reporter James P. Dawson. “He exposed Tandberg as a cumbersome novice, little more than an amateur.” Incredibly, one of the judges actually favored Tandberg (5-4-1) but his score was myopic, to say the least.
Tandberg never fought for the title, but his managers succeeded in luring future title-holder Jersey Joe Walcott to Stockholm in the summer of 1949. Jersey Joe knocked him out in the 5th before an announced crowd of 43,000 at a soccer stadium and that was all she wrote for Olle Tandberg who promptly retired.
Fury
Early in his career, Tyson Fury attracted notoriety for off-the-cuff remarks that were flat-out ignorant and were hurtful to certain segments of the population, but of late he has been on his best behavior, mending fences, as it were. In Las Vegas in the days before his bout with Tom Schwarz, he was the opposite of reclusive, chatting and posing for pictures with strangers, basking in their adulation and winning legions of new fans with his charismatic personality. A prizefighter with the soul of a troubadour, the big galoot is larger than life, a cartoon character, a promoter’s dream. Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in his second act were cartoon characters too.
Oh, and the self-styled Gypsy King can fight more than a little. He’s very fluid for a man his size and can deliver punches that sting with either hand. He thoroughly dismantled the seemingly rugged Schwarz who was a bloody mess when the fight was stopped late in the second round.
Returning to the question that was the title of this story, we ask whether Otto Wallin, the Swede, is the next Ingemar Johansson or next Olle Tandberg.
That’s a rhetorical question, folks. If you foresee Wallin winning this fight, we know a bookmaker who will give you juicy odds and take all that you can beg, borrow, and steal.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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