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The Top Ten Bantamweights of the Decade: 2010-2019
The Top Ten Bantamweights of the Decade: 2010-2019
Bantamweight has not yielded a legitimate, lineal champion since Bernardo Piñango became too big for the division in the late eighties. This is a division of fractured titles, championship silos, promotional business decisions often related to title shots higher up the food chain. Such is the water in which we are forced to swim and if you didn’t love boxing, you’d hate it.
Unsurprisingly then, there is little purchase for many of the men on this list; their placements could happily be reversed, there is confusion all the way into the top two. This one was tough.
Happily, numbers one and two all but select themselves despite the different paths through the bantamweight mess those two countrymen struck. Summitting back to back they summit here, too, in my analysis of the bantamweight decade, which may have been tricky but was always a pleasure.
Rankings are Ring Magazine up until the founding of the TBRB in late 2012, from which time their rankings are preferred.
10 – John Riel Casimero
Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 15-4 Ranked For: 5% of the decade
There was a three-way shoot-out for the number ten spot contested between Zhanat Zhakiyanov, Rau’shee Warren and eventual winner John Riel Casimero. Zhakiyanov and Warren each have an impressive win but a handful of losses; Casimero’s unbeaten record at the weight was preferred.
It helps that the win that carries him is arguably the finest of the three. At the decade’s very end Casimero turned in an unexpected victory over top contender Zolani Tete in what may have been the most thrilling performance for the bantamweight decade.
Heavily favoured, Tete received Casimero in his adopted British homeland in expectations of another bantamweight victory in defence of his strap. Casimero had other ideas. He ceded ring centre, waited for Tete to square up over his jab then pounced. The relationship of Manny Pacquiao to Casimero is a promotional one but the lineage of his style is there to see. In the third, Casimero brought pressure and reduced his frame of movement from three hundred and sixty degrees to around a hundred; this pushed Tete from his front foot onto his backfoot and as a result, when Casimero undertook his final rush of the fight, Tete didn’t have that quarter of a second that transferring his weight provided. Casimero sent Tete onto his haunches, then all fours, with two short right hands. His follow up saw the referee stop the fight and provided Casimero with an unexpected victory and a space on this list mere weeks from decade’s end.
Perhaps it should not have been so surprising. Casimero’s career has been as outrageous and varied as any fought between 2010-2019 and although his arrival at bantamweight in 2017 was greeted with little fanfare, he tied together several wins against moderate opposition while Tete languished with injury. Casimero the bantamweight will bear watching in the twenties.
09 – Fernando Montiel
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 14-4 Ranked For: 10% of the decade
Mexican puncher Fernando Montiel would be named among the Dons of the division 2000-2009 but for 2010-2019, he barely catches on, the reason being his 2011 departure for 122lbs where he saw out the rest of his career. For the decade to hand, Montiel has a record of just 4-1 at bantamweight, the loss coming at the hands of Nonito Donaire.
Each of the four wins has its moments of interest, but it his April 2010 dispatch of the then world’s best bantamweight Hozumi Hasegawa that speaks most forcefully for him. The Japanese, who refused to leave his eastern stronghold, had not lost since his fifth fight way back in 2001 and was heavily favoured. Montiel, who had lost but never been stopped, allowed Hasegawa to control the ring real estate and even allowed him to work without wholesale resistance, a strategy that had painful consequences in the first and second. Montiel did not appear quite lost, however, and worked himself into proximity to his opponent often, and when he was close, he threw hard, wide punches, punches that perhaps one would not normally throw at a world class fighter. Montiel sought the knockout. In the third, just like the first and second, he ate more than his share, but it was all in search of hard single shots.
In the fourth, Montiel landed not a single shot but a series of shots topped by a very hard punch, a left hook, and Hasegawa, unaccustomed to this kind of trouble, looked suddenly disorganised, then perturbed, then crumpled among the ropes, the referee interceding to protect him from the scything battering Montiel carried behind.
It was a punch that bought Montiel one of the best wins of the decade against the pre-eminent strapholder for the weight-class.
08 – Ryan Burnett
Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 20-1 Ranked For: 22% of the decade
Ryan Burnett passed me by early. He seemed too vulnerable and his clear desire to emulate Roy Jones rather tiresome. The low left hand and quick-footed lateral movement look beautiful against professional losers, but when the step up comes all too often that style falls flat.
Well Ryan Burnett made it work. His final foray into the 118lb ranks was at the end of 2018 against no less a figure than Nonito Donaire. Burnett fought with the Filipino on equal terms, arguably bagging the first two rounds, but suffered a bizarre and catastrophic injury to his back in the fourth while throwing a punch. Suffice to say that that loss isn’t held against him here.
As for wins, when he stepped up to take on Zhanat Zhakiyanov in late 2017 it felt more akin to a leap than step. Up until this point, Burnett’s best opponent had been the solid Lee Haskins. Zhanat was ranked the number two contender in the world and was a grim, insistent, stiff-jawed pressure-fighter. In his last fight he had clambered from the canvas to defeat the talented Rau’shee Warren and Burnett seemed sure to be outpaced. Instead, he stepped into the pocket with the Kazak and outfought him there, not all the time, but often enough to take the majority of the rounds. A key moment came in the third when Burnett landed a beautiful left-hand counter on his opponent and Zhanat suddenly seemed to notice he was there.
Renowned for his incredible commitment to training, impressing even Andy Lee who spent time in the Kronk, Burnett seemed as strong in the tenth as he had in the third.
A clear unanimous decision was his reward and when he met number seven contender Yonfrez Parejo five months later he hardly lost a minute in securing another. Ready for Donaire, it was tragic that injury kept him from testing himself at that level.
07 – Anselmo Moreno
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 10-5 Ranked For: 59% of the decade
Number eight is probably a little hard on Ryan Burnett but I’m a sucker for a divisional stalwart and Anselmo Moreno was one. Only one other bantamweight was ranked for a longer spell in the decade and that man was Moreno’s fistic mortal enemy, Shinsuke Yamanaka, who he could not best in two attempts.
When he came up against Vic Darchinyan in 2011, Moreno bested him and more. It was a one-sided thrashing of a fighter who, although inconsistent up at bantamweight, had only been so unreservedly defeated by Nonito Donaire. Fast and awkward, Moreno was more than anything brutal in his consistency. He never got greedy, never went looking for punches that were not there and landed his power punches at an absurd rate. Most splendid of all was his one-two, but almost as impressive were his uppercuts, his trailing right to the gut smuggled in behind his leading shoulder. Darchinyan was tough enough to see the bell but there was little else to recommend him that night.
This seemed to open up a world of exciting possibilities for Moreno, but despite the fact that he spent six years ranked among the best bantamweights in the world, his opposition was miserable for much of it. Moreno understandably but disappointingly took the ABC route, avoiding meaningful opposition, preferring a steady stream of limited bantams propped up by their alphabet paymaster of choice.
In 2010 though, Moreno fought a fascinating pair with the number six contender Nehomar Cermeno. The first was a litany of low blows and slips on a greasy canvas in a bizarre and absorbing contest that went to Moreno in a split; the rematch saw the same result, but the split was erroneous, Moreno a clear winner.
Overall though, Moreno’s career was a disappointment that saw him run 3-3 versus ranked contenders, the most hurtful of these losses occurring against a Dominican named Juan Carlos Payano.
06 – Juan Carlos Payano
Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 21-3 Ranked For: 47% of the decade
Juan Carlos Payano clutches the number six spot on the basis of that September 2014 victory over Moreno. Payano’s overall record against ranked contenders is not only no better than that of Moreno, it is actually a little worse (though he had the bad luck to run into both Luis Nery and Naoya Inoue) but the difference is not such that Payano’s victory over Moreno is overhauled. Simply put, there is no way Payano can be ranked below Moreno.
Their fight ended in an unsatisfying technical decision after six, Payano receiving a nasty cut during the second round which caused the doctor to pull him while streets ahead in the fight. On the face of it, this sounds unsatisfying and it must be admitted that the more experienced Moreno might have found him late in the fight, but Payano’s plan was brilliant. He busted Moreno’s rhythm and in doing so removed any chance at all that Moreno would break his own. Aggressive, dirty and fast, Payano was smothering and busy inside, persistently outhitting Moreno to rack up rounds.
Much like Moreno defeating Darchinyan, Payano defeating Moreno was his clear high water-mark but also like Moreno, Payano fought a fascinating two-fight series with another top contender winning and then losing against Rau’shee Warren in a pair of fights so close that any given result could have reasonably been rendered for either fight. As it was, Payano took a split decision in a filthy, thrilling first fight and Warren took a majority decision in a rematch punctuated by fast-handed technically sound punching.
Overall, it is an underwhelming career for a #6 but given the other contenders for the spot are Moreno, who he defeated, and Burnett, whose unfortunate injury against Nonito Donaire leaves him something of a question mark, I’m satisfied that Payano is the right choice.
05 – Abner Mares
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 22-3-1 Ranked For: 19% of the decade
Abner Mares was the beneficiary of the single worst refereeing performance of the decade (which is saying something) in his August 2011 victory over Joseph Agbeko. The likely reasons for Russell Mora’s apparently inability to recognise the numerous low blows Mares landed cannot be printed here due to libel laws but it was an embarrassment both to the sport and to Mares who seemed unable to properly control himself. Fortunately, Agbeko would provide him with a chance at redemption in a rematch, something Mares grasped at with both hands. He all but outclassed Agbeko second time around, and although he remained – always has – a roughhouse handful, his work was cleaner, his superiority clear.
That eventful 2011 was preceded by a comparable 2010. In May he fought a brilliant, difficult, dynamic combat with Yonnhy Perez in a battle of undefeated contenders, ruled a draw, Mares unlucky not to get a nod by my eye. Perez was never the same and Mares was confirmed tough; nobody at bantamweight would ever succeed in making him blink. Later that same year, he met with Vic Darchinyan. The much more experienced Darchinyan boxed rather than fought and a flash knockdown and a serious cut above the right eye tested the younger man’s temperament, but Mares came flying through, sweeping the ninth through twelfth by my card with a sapping pressure and a drilled left hook.
Five fights in two years are enough to break Mares into the top five. His is a tenuous grasp, but his unbeaten status at 118lbs, the high level of competition he faced – only one other bantamweight fought a two-year period this intense – in that short spell speaks highly for him. And, honestly, he’s a better optic fit than Payano. At higher weights his style was compromised against larger fighters, but at bantamweight he was a glory of dirty pressure fighting.
04 – Luis Nery
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 30-0 Ranked For: 32% of the decade
Of all the fighters on this list, Luis Nery has the single best win. Nery, blessed with punch and chin both, was in his early twenties when he flew out to Japan to take on the world’s best bantamweight Shinsuke Yamanaka. Yamanaka, unbeaten for more than a decade, was clearly favoured. Nery overcame Yamanaka’s technical surety early with a controlled fluidity that saw him outscore his more prestigious foe; Yamanaka began to inch closer in the third, scoring with his jab and straight as the fight threatened to turn into something truly thrilling. Nery put a stop to this in the fourth, more aggressive now behind his southpaw one-two, Yamanaka, for the first time in my experience, throwing a concerned look to his corner. He was right to be concerned. Nery looked less controlled thrashing Yamanaka around the ring, but it was the thrashing that was the pertinent point. Yamanaka was rescued by his corner with thirty seconds of the round remaining.
Now, the detail: Nery failed a test for performance enhancing drugs, was cleared, but ordered to provide Yamanaka a rematch. Nery did so, and was once again triumphant – but he failed to make weight, weighing in at the super-bantamweight rather than the bantamweight division. He receives no credit for that win here.
The victory over Yamanaka alone is enough, to be frank, to haul him into the top five; he tops out here at four thanks to his 2019 victory over Juan Carlos Payano, still holding onto his ranking, blasted from it by a gorgeous left hook to the body in the ninth round, making him 3-0 versus men on this list.
Had Nery made weight for his second contest with Yamanaka as he did for Payano, he would have made number three. That indiscipline sees him docked a spot.
03 – Nonito Donaire
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 18-5 Ranked For: 28% of the decade
Recently, I was asked to contribute a vote to a project concerned with determining the greatest bantamweights of all time. The top ten turned out fine – but there, ensconced within the top twenty, was Nonito Donaire.
This is completely inexplicable. Donaire has fought but a handful of bantamweight contests and all of them were fought between 2010 and 2019 and the absolute highest he could rank on this list is number three; the notion of his ranking amongst the greatest bantamweights in history is bizarre.
Donaire makes that kind of impression though. His two stints as a bantamweight were both highly visible (for the division) and highly entertaining. He stepped up in 2010, already a pound-for-pounder, already something of a crossover star thanks to the frantic joy he inspired in HBO. In 2011 he faced off against divisional number one Fernando Montiel.
Montiel, huge at the weight, a power-puncher, himself ranked on the Ring’s pound-for-pound list, was nevertheless an underdog such was Donaire’s super-flyweight reputation. Boxing was the expectation for his strategic approach, Donaire meanwhile was expected to seek a home for his vaunted left hook. Instead, Donaire emerged face-first, used his jab only as a cosmetic buttress, and lashed at Montiel with straight rights. He dominated completely, and perpetrated a knockdown so savage it had the appearance of the grotesque. Montiel continued to kick and paw even as he was ensconced in some distant netherworld; he collapsed his way to his feet and the perpetually hapless Russell Mora allowed the fight to continue for two needless punches.
The only other significant fight of Donaire’s first bantamweight stretch was visiting 115lb legend Omar Narvaez who was so terrified of Donaire he did not even try to win a round, losing twelve nothing to a fighter in his absolute prime. Then bigger opponents, and purses, bid him north. He returned to the division a less stellar figure with a 2018 victory over Ryan Burnett, before staging a thrilling, fighting loss to Naoya Inoue in 2019.
A significant decadal figure, Donaire perhaps could have found himself in the running for the divisional top twenty had he remained at the poundage throughout the decade; in reality, he spread himself far too thin to challenge for a top two spot.
02 – Naoya Inoue
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 19-0 Ranked For: 15% of the decade
Naoya Inoue rocketed into the bantamweight division with back-to-back first round knockouts of number five contenders Jamie McDonnell and Juan Carlos Payano. McDonnell, a huge bantamweight who had never been stopped, was overwhelmed by a combination of body attack and swarming two-fisted pressure in mere seconds. Large, but without the technical acumen to live with Naoya, he was always going to become unwound against the Japanese, but even more impressive was Naoya’s one round destruction of Juan Carlos Payano. Payano, though no classic technician, had proved himself an adaptable, thinking fighter against world class opposition. Naoya spent the opening seconds looking at him, and soon matched his pawing jab with one of his own, all the time measuring him. Having done so, and found him wanting, Naoya stepped across his man opening up the channel inside the half-jab and knocked him unconscious, again, in mere seconds.
Emmanuel Rodriguez, the world’s number six contender, had won nineteen in a row when he agreed to travel to Scotland to meet Naoya on a Josh Taylor undercard and managed to last into the second. These were some exciting minutes though as the two met ring centre, both happy to linger in the danger-zone, Naoya getting to demonstrate aspects of his defence – the turn and block in the first round was consistently good – and his chin, as he twice ate straight right hands from Rodriguez.
All the while though, Naoya was testing his opponent, seeking his weakness. At the start of the second he demonstrated the full array of punches he had identified in the first as applicable, summiting in a monstrous left hand that set Rodriguez neatly on the canvas. It seemed to me no man was capable of surviving Naoya’s attention when hurt.
I was proven wrong by Nonito Donaire who survived a knockdown in the eleventh to post a clear twelve round points loss in Naoya’s final fight of the decade in the fight of the year. Donaire used all his veteran’s instinct to push, trick and survive Naoya, even banking some rounds on the way.
What this added up to was a veritable number one decadal resume, built in just eighteen months. He is edged out by a man who spent the best part of a decade building his.
01 – Shinsuke Yamanaka
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 17-2 Ranked For: 66% of the decade
The selection of Shinsuke Yamanaka as the bantamweight number one for 2010 to 2019 was inevitable. First and foremost is his longevity which is equivalent to that of numbers two, three and four combined; his winning record against contenders which includes the highest number of defeated men of note on this list; and finally the length of time during which he was ranked the best bantamweight in the world, longer than anyone else considered.
The raw data screams Yamanaka (pictured on the left against Anselmo Moreno), and although Naoya’s enormously impressive two-year run gave me pause, the raw data must have its answer.
Not that an analysis of Yamanaka’s bantamweight decade was in any way dry. He was a fighter with an enormous capacity for work, something he built upon, making him a perennially mobile and perpetual puncher, albeit one that measured rather than sought to overwhelm with volume. He carried his workrate late and he carried his power late, the former helping him home in his first contest of real international meaning, his 2012 contest with Vic Darchinyan. Darchinyan was yet to sink to gatekeeper status when he travelled to Japan to face Yamanaka and he looked dangerous early; late, though, there was only one fighter in the contest as the Japanese out-worked and out-fought his game opponent down the stretch, winning all but one of the final six rounds on my card. That he held his power was made apparent during his bloody 2013 contest with #6 contender Malcolm Tunacao, who was bowled over and rescued by the referee midway through the twelfth and final round of a tough fight.
After dusting #8 contender Stephane Jamoye in seven in 2014 (if you haven’t seen the straight left to the gut to finish him, find it; it is a sickener), Yamanaka embarked on the series that would define his bantamweight career, two fights with Anselmo Moreno. Yamanaka got to Moreno a little late, but Moreno still inhabited the world’s top five 118lb contenders and was still a fighter of excellence. Their first fight was a knife edge, a split decision for Yamanaka and a draw on my card; Yamanaka followed the puncher’s way, offering an immediate rematch having learned how Moreno moved. More, he embraced his role of puncher, deepening his stance, doubling his jab and looking to make trouble. He got it early, Moreno tattooing him with fierce regularity, but Yamanaka’s chin was equal to the job and in the sixth he was rewarded, inflicting heavy knockdowns on his opponent who he finished in the seventh.
Naoya Inoue is a better fighter than Shinsuke Yamanaka and I am satisfied of the fact, but these lists are about the most accomplished decadal fighters – Yamanaka was clearly that. For every Jamoye or Moreno there was a Carlos Carlson (22-1) or Diego Santillan (23-0), fighters who did not rank but could wield a glove. Inoue’s 4-0 doesn’t come close.
At least not yet. As boxing bounces back from the Covid-19 epidemic, it will be interesting to see what the bantamweight division of 2020-2029 delivers.
Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda
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The Hauser Report: What’s Going On With Premier Boxing Champions?
Eight years ago, Al Haymon unveiled what many thought would be the future of boxing. The boxing community had been awash in rumors for months. Haymon was amassing a war chest totaling hundreds of millions of dollars with the help of a venture capital fund in an effort to take over the sport . . . Haymon was signing hundreds of fighters to managerial and advisory contracts . . . Haymon was planning some sort of TV series . . . Time-buys on multiple networks for an entity called Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) were confirmed.
On March 7, 2015, Haymon began the rollout of his plan when NBC televised the inaugural PBC offering – a fight card featuring Keith Thurman and Adrien Broner in separate bouts. Free boxing. On network television.
But the plan fell short of expectations. Advertisers didn’t come onboard. DAZN and then Saudi Arabia became the flavor of the month. Now PBC is seeking to reassert itself through an alliance with Amazon. The first “PBC on Prime Video” offering will be a pay-per-view event on March 30 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But PBC isn’t the power it once was. No one talks about Al Haymon taking over boxing anymore.
Amazon will distribute the PBC show. It wants to build a live pay-per-view platform for multiple events, and this is an early foray into that realm. It has no interest in playing the sort of role that HBO and Showtime played in boxing. Amazon (like In Demand) will take and distribute the product it’s given.
The PBC pay-per-view events that are streamed on Prime Video will also be available to viewers through other streaming platforms like PPV.com as well as linear-TV cable and satellite PPV distributors.
In addition, Prime Video has said that it will stream a series of “free” (with a subscription to Amazon Prime) PBC Championship Boxing events in the United States and other designated countries on an exclusive basis.
The degree to which Amazon will provide a marketing push for PBC’s shows is unclear at the present time.
Four fights will be on the March 30 PPV stream. The main event was to have matched Keith Thurman vs. Tim Tszyu. Eight years ago when he headlined PBC’s inaugural telecast on NBC, Thurman was young and fresh. Now he’s 35 years old and has won only one fight in the preceding five years (a ten-round decision over Mario Barrios). Tszyu (the son of Kostya Tszyu) was eased into the WBO 154-pound title through an “interim” portal and is being groomed for a big-money fight down the road.
Then, earlier today (March 18), it was reported that Thurman had been injured in training camp and Sebastian Fundora (who’d been slated to fight Serheii Bohachuk on the undercard) will likely face Tszyu. Fundora was speeding along a fast track until his most recent fight which saw him pitching a shutout against Brian Mendoza when a one-punch knockout in round seven derailed his dream.
The primary supporting bouts on the pay-per-view stream are expected to be Erislandy Lara vs. Michael Zerafa and Rolly Romero vs. Isaac Cruz.
Lara is forty years old. During the past five years, he has fought Ramon Alvarez, Greg Vendetti, Thomas LaManna, and Gary O’Sullivan (which somehow enabled him to claim the WBA 160-pound belt). Zerafa’s primary qualification seems to be that (like Tszyu) he’s from Australia.
Romero is a tiresome loudmouth who often fails to back up his talk. He was knocked out by Gervonta Davis and was trailing Ismael Barroso on all three judges’ scorecards when a premature stoppage by referee Tony Weeks gifted him the WBA 140-pound belt. Cruz went the distance in a losing effort against Davis.
Former Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza has been consulted with regard to production on the March 30 PPV stream. As of this writing, the commentating team hasn’t been announced (which is odd since the event is less than two weeks away).
Meanwhile, the rest of the sports landscape is rapidly changing.
On January 23, it was announced that Netflix (Prime Video’s most formidable competitor with 247 million subscribers) had signed a deal to stream WWE’s flagship wrestling show – Raw. The ten-year deal will cost Netflix roughly five billion dollars. Netflix can opt out of the deal after five years or, if it chooses, extend it for another ten years.
Then, on March 7, Netflix furthered its commitment to “trash sports” when it announced that Mike Tyson and Jake Paul will meet in the ring in Texas on July 20 in an encounter to be streamed live on Netflix. It’s unclear whether the encounter will be a “fight” or a glorified sparring session.
Adding to the mix; Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers announced on February 6 that they will launch a joint subscription streaming service later this year that will bundle sports content from ESPN and affiliated networks (such as ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS), the Warner Brothers’ Discovery networks that showcase sports (TNT, TBS, TruTV), and Fox (the Fox broadcast network in addition to FS1, FS2 and BTN).
But back to PBC on Prime Video. If the March 30 fight card were streamed as part of the Amazon Prime membership package, it would be a plus for boxing fans. But it won’t be. It’s a pay-per-view event. And even before Thurman’s injury, it wasn’t pay-per-view-worthy as that term was once understood.
You get only one chance to make a first impression. This isn’t a good first impression for PBC on Prime Video.
***
On December 17, I posted a column in which I urged that Gerry Cooney and Cedric Kushner be included on the ballot for induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. There’s another, more obvious omission that I’d like to address.
Al Haymon has been at the center of the boxing universe for two decades. He built his power through a series of alliances with HBO (his point person was Kery Davis), Golden Boy (Richard Schaefer), and investors (Waddell & Reed) and maintained it through dealings with Showtime (Stephen Espinoza) and various other networks. There were times when it seemed as though he was on the verge of “taking over boxing.” Now Saudi Arabian oil money is the dominant force. But Haymon is breaking new ground through an association between Premier Boxing Champions and Amazon Video.
Haymon likes to style himself as an “advisor” or “manager.” In reality, he functions as a promoter. But labels are irrelevant. The bottom line is that no one has had a greater influence on boxing over the past twenty years than Al Haymon. He belongs in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the first step toward that end is to put his name on the ballot for induction.
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book — “MY MOTHER and me” — is a personal memoir that will be published by Admission Press this spring and is available for pre-order at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Dillian Whyte Returns from Purgatory and Brushes Away a Wimpy Opponent in Ireland
Dillian Whyte Returns from Purgatory and Brushes Away a Wimpy Opponent in Ireland
Tomorrow (Monday) is a national holiday in Ireland which is always the case whenever Saint Patrick’s Day happens to fall on a Sunday. That explains why today’s fight card in the County Mayo town of Castlebar is being staged on a Sunday. After the show, the attendees with regular jobs can stay up late quaffing down a few pints at their favorite pub knowing they can sleep-in tomorrow. (And they likely needed a few pints to wash away the pain of paying good money to see this craphole show.)
All of the A-Side fighters were Irishmen including the headliner Dillian Whyte, a Londoner of Jamaican extraction who claims that one of his grandparents was born in Ireland. The “Body Snatcher” was matched against German-Romanian slug Christian Hammer.
Whyte, who turns 36 next month, last fought in November of 2022 when he won a lackluster decision over Jermaine Franklin. His rematch with Anthony Joshua in August of last year fell out when an “adverse analytical finding” turned up in his VADA test. Whyte bellowed loudly that he was innocent, but there was the presumption of guilt because he had served a two-year ban for illegal substances earlier in his career. But lo and behold, in a curious development, Whyte was cleared this month when a forensics expert associated with the Texas Boxing Commission asserted that the adverse result was caused by a nutritional supplement that contained a contaminent that wasn’t disclosed on the supplement’s list of ingredients. (Whyte was training in the United States and licensed to fight in Texas when the random drug test was administered.)
Hammer brought a 27-10 (17) record but had been stopped five times, most recently by Joe Joyce who blew him away in four rounds. He was in Castlebar just for the payday and retired on his stool after three frames. He was never down in the fight, but was tattooed with a bunch of punches on his flabby midsection. (The weights were not announced.)
With the win, Dillian Whyte advanced his record to 30-3 (20 KOs). More relevantly, he is back in the mix in the heavyweight picture. His American trainer Buddy McGirt hopes to have him back in the ring in a couple of months.
Other Bouts of Note
Roy Moylette, a 33-year-old junior welterweight from the nearby town of Islandeady, made the locals happy when he got off the deck to win the decision in an 8-round bout with Argentine journeyman Requen Facundo (17-15-2). Moylette (14-2-1) entered the pro ranks with a wealth of international amateur experience, but his pro career never took off. Heading into this match, he announced it would be his farewell fight.
The Argentine, a late sub who had begun his pro career as a featherweight, had Moylette on the canvas in the second round but couldn’t sustain the momentum. The referee, who had the unusual but unmistakably Irish name of Padraig O’Reachtagain, scored it 76-75.
In what was likely his final pro fight, 39-year-old Cork super middleweight Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan left on a downbeat note, losing an 8-round decision to Sofiane Khati. O’Reachtagain had it 77-76 for the outsider.
O’Sullivan (31-6, 21 KOs) will be remembered as the Irishman who wore a handlebar mustache during his fighting days in Boston, a look that harked to John L. Sullivan who Spike believed to be a distant relative. In his previous bout in May of 2022 he was stopped in eight frames by Erislandy Lara in Brooklyn, his fourth setback inside the distance and third in his last six.
A 31-year-old French-Algerian, Khati improved to 15-4 (5).
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Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser: ‘The Blue Corner’
Boxing, like all sports, is more fun to watch when the viewer has a rooting interest. That interest can spring from a variety of factors. Some people like or dislike a particular fighter on a personal level. Others – let’s be honest – root for or against a fighter based on ethnicity.
If I don’t know either of the fighters in a fight, I root for the underdog.
That can be dispiriting. Too many fight cards today consist largely of A-side vs. B-side fights. As a general rule, the A-side fighter comes out of the red corner and the B-side fighter is seated in the blue corner. Upsets are few and far between.
Tom Loeffler’s March 15 fight card at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater is a case in point. There are underdogs and then there are hopeless underdogs. I went to the fights hoping something that wasn’t supposed to happen would happen. But a look at the opponents’ records told me that was unlikely.
BoxRec.com is a wonderful tool for scoping out how competitive a fight is likely to be. Here’s what I learned from BoxRec.com before the fights and how things unfolded in the ring.
Fight #1: Giovanni Scuderi (9-0, 4 KOs) vs. Brandon Carmack – Scuderi’s last opponent had 57 losses. And that opponent might have beaten Carmack. I’m sure Brandon could decimate most people in a bar fight. But he lumbered around the ring like a heavybag with feet. Scuderi telegraphs every righthand he throws. But he has a basic jab. The match had the appearance of a picador sticking lances into a slow sluggish bull. W4 for Scuderi.
Fight #2: Nisa Rodriguez (0-0) vs. Jozette Cotton – Rodriguez is a 33-year-old New York City police officer with an extensive amateur background who was making her pro debut. Cotton was winless in four pro fights. Rodriguez fought tentatively. Cotton had a roll of flab around her waist (which spoke to her conditioning) and fought like she didn’t know how to box. W4 for Rodriguez.
Fight #3 Joseph Ward (10-1, 6 KOs) vs. Derrick Webster – Webster is 41 years old and has now won one of six fights since 2018. KO 2 for Ward.
Fight #4: Reshat Mati (14-0, 8 KOs) vs. Irving Macias – Macias has lost three of his last four fights, and the guy he beat during that stretch has 19 losses (including his last seven fights in a row). W8 for Mati.
Fight #5: Cletus Seldin (27-1, 23 KOs) vs. Jose Angulo – Angulo has lost six of his last eight fights, including four KOs by. W8 for Seldin, Here, I should note that, after the fight, Seldin took the ring announcer’s microphone, dropped to one knee, opened a small box containing a diamond engagement ring, and asked one Jessica Ostrowski to marry him. The future Mrs. Seldin (who was clad in black leather) said yes, and the happy couple paraded around the ring together.
Fight #6: Feargal McCrory (15-0, 7 KOs) vs. Carlos Carlson – Carlson has had ten fights since 2016 and lost seven of them. The three guys he beat during that stretch have 92 losses between them. And he hadn’t fought in more than two years. Referee David Fields did the fans a favor by stopping the bout prematurely in round three. If Carlson had fought as vigorously during the fight as he complained about the stoppage afterward, it would have been a better fight.
Fight #7: The main event matched Callum Walsh (9-0, 7 KOs) against Dauren Yeleussinov. Walsh is a 23-year-old junior-middleweight who UFC CEO Dana White is trying to build as a boxing version of Conor McGregor. Yeleussinov has lost three of his last four fights (including a first-round KO by). And the opponent Dauren beat during that stretch has 22 losses (including a current losing streak of 19 a row). Yeleussinov was tailor-made for Walsh – slow on his feet with slow hands and not much of a punch. Callum got off first all night. KO 9.
In six of the seven fights, the underdog lost every round.
I’m tired of fighters who talk tough and posture at press conferences but won’t fight an opponent who’s remotely competitive. And yes; I know that prospects can’t go in tough every time out. But a prospect’s opponent should pose some kind of challenge.
And let’s be honest; most of the fighters on the March 15 card were there because they were local ticket-sellers, not prospects. Only Walsh has world-class potential. He’s 23 years old with skills and is getting better. Right now, he’s a very good club fighter. Let’s see if he becomes something more.
* * *
One moment from promoter Larry Goldberg’s March 7 club-fight card at Sony Hall in New York stands out in my mind.
In the second fight of the evening, Jason Castanon and Luis Rivera-Reyes squared off against one another in a scheduled four-round junior-welterweight bout. Each man was making his pro debut. Castanon’s opponent had pulled out the previous week, leaving matchmaker Eric Bottjer scrambling for a new opponent. Rivera-Reyes had been scheduled to fight on the undercard of a show in Puerto Rico but his opponent had also fallen out, so he was available.
Bottjer thought that Castanon vs. Rivera-Reyes would be a competitive fight. Each man was old for a boxer making his pro debut. Castano is 30; Rivera-Reyes is 35. But they had comparable amateur backgrounds.
Rivera-Reyes held his own in round one. But Castanon was the stronger, better-schooled fighter. In round two, Luis started getting beaten up. The punishment mounted in round three. Rivera-Reyes was still trying to win but it was a futile effort. With seconds left in the third stanza, a righthand staggered Luis and a second righthand put him down hard. He rose through an incredible act of will because that’s what real fighters do. But he was badly hurt and on wobbly legs. Referee Eddie Claudio asked if he wanted to continue.
Rivera-Reyes shook his head. No.
Afterward, an uncharitable observer said that Luis “quit.”
I think that Luis acted with honor. Sitting several feet from the ring, I had a perfect view of the pain and despair etched on his face as he confronted the reality that he was a beaten man. He didn’t jump to his feet at the count of ten-and-a-half, pretending that he was ready to keep fighting. He didn’t ignore the referee’s question and feign outrage when the fight was stopped. He acknowledged that he had given his all and was beaten. Fighters aren’t video-game figures. They get hurt. And sometimes they just can’t take anymore.
The moment reminded me of the 1983 rematch between Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor. Pryor had won their classic first encounter with a brutal knockout that left Arguello unconscious on the ring canvas. In round ten of Pryor-Arguello II, Alexis found himself on the canvas again. He was a warrior, one of the greatest fighters of all time. He could have gotten up. But he didn’t. He had done the best he could and realized that it was over. He sat with tears streaming down his face and later acknowledged. “It’s hard to accept, but it’s good to accept. I did it with grace and just accepted that the guy beat me. Even though I did my best, in the tenth round I accepted it right there. I said, ‘This is too much. I won’t take it. I‘ll just sit and watch Richard Steele count to ten.'”The look in Luis Rivera-Reyes’s eyes when he shook his head will stay with me for a long time. He had been beaten into submission in his first pro fight. And I wondered, how long will he hold onto the dream.
* * *
A nod to “March Madness” which begins this week . . .
College basketball has a problem – court storming.
It’s now in vogue for fans of the home team to surge onto the court after a big win. Tearing down the goal posts in football endangers fans who are tearing down the goal posts. Court storming endangers the players.
On January 21, Caitlin Clark (Iowa’s superstar guard) was knocked to the floor when Ohio State fans stormed the court after a big win.
On February 24, Kyle Fitzpatrick (Duke’s All-American center) injured his knee when Wake Forest fans stormed the court after a dramatic upset.
To date, the NCAA has done nothing about the problem. Several conferences have taken action on their own, the most notable example being the SEC which instituted an escalating fine that begins at $100,000 for the first incident. By contrast, the ACC has no penalty for court-storming; the Big Ten has no penalty until the third incident; and the Big East penalizes offending schools the paltry sum of $5,000.
It shouldn’t be hard to end court storming.
The NCAA should institute a rule – and fans should be advised late in each contest – that court storming will result in forfeiture of the game.
***
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book – MY MOTHER and me – is a personal memoir that will be published by Admission Press on April 2 and is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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