The Hauser Report: Is the Clock Winding Down for Vasiliy Lomachenko?

Published

2 years ago

October 30, 2022

The-Hauser-Report-Is-the-Clock-Winding-Down-for-Vasiliy-Lomachenko ?

Vasiliy Lomachenko continued his sojourn through boxing with a unanimous-decision victory over Jamaine Ortiz at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater on Saturday night. But there were signs that his magic wand might be less magical than before.

Lomachenko, now 34 years old, has piercing blue eyes and a well-groomed beard. Regardless of what his body might say, his age shows in his face. Throughout his career, he has combined captivating ring skills with a willingness to go in tough. But as Vasiliy went up to 135 pounds in search of greater challenges and more lucrative paydays, he lost some of the competitive edge that he enjoyed over smaller fighters. Two years ago, Teofimo Lopez brought him down to earth with a 119-109, 117-111, 116-112 performance.

Ortiz (16-0-1, 8 KOs) was considered a safe opponent. Jamaine had decisioned Jamel Herring in his last fight. But nothing on his resume suggested that he’d pose any problems that Lomachenko couldn’t solve. Vasiliy was a 20-to-1 betting favorite.

“I’m not his promoter,” Lomachenko said when asked about the apparent disparity in skills between the two fighters. “I’m not his trainer. I’m not thinking about if this step up is too much for him or not.”

Lomachenko, who is a Ukrainian national and member of his country’s territorial defense battalion, was also reluctant to comment on a range of issues relating to the war in Ukraine. “I am a bad judge of politics,” he noted. When asked specifically about the propriety of Russian athletes such as Dmitry Bivol and Alex Ovechkin being allowed to compete in the United States, he answered, “I’d have to know more about their personal circumstances to comment on those situations.”

The October 29 fight card was constructed around Lomachenko, with Top Rank using his presence to fulfill contractual obligations to seven other fighters who are at various stages of development in their respective ring careers and to build them for the future. All seven emerged victorious. None of their opponents came to lie down. But when two men fight and one is better than the other, the better fighter usually wins. And when one fighter is much better than the other, “usually” changes to “almost always.”

Junior-welterweight Abdullah Mason (now 5-0, 4 KOs) looked good in knocking out Angel Barrera in four rounds. Olympic silver medalist Duke Ragan (8-0, 1 KO) disappointed. Ragin won a 79-73, 78-74, 77-75 decision over Luis Lebron that elicited cries of “Bull****! Bull****!” from the crowd. Heavyweight Richard Torrez stopped Ahmed Hefny in an inartful beatdown that was more evocative of “the culture of bruising” than “the sweet science.” In other bouts, Robeisy Ramirez, Delante Johnson, Troy Isley, and Haven Brady prevailed.

Nico Ali Walsh (Muhammad Ali’s grandson) was also on the card.

When Nico (now 7-0, 5 KOs) turned pro in August 2021, Top Rank was told that he wasn’t focused on belts nor did he expect to become a great fighter. Rather, he was boxing because he wanted to challenge himself and experience the core of what his grandfather experienced in the ring.

In line with that thinking, the original plan was for Nico to have a handful of fights leading to a big payday somewhere in the Middle East and then get out of boxing. Now, Bob Walsh (Nico’s father) acknowledges, “Nico has the bug.” And Nico says, “When I was little, I said I wanted to be a world champion like my grandfather. But it was like saying I wanted to be a comic book superhero. Now it’s attainable. It’s real.”

Nico entered the ring at the Hulu Theater wearing a vampire cape in honor of Halloween and evoking memories of Leon Spinks (who Muhammad Ali nicknamed “Dracula” because Spinks was missing numerous front teeth – a condition that gave Leon the appearance of having fangs). Billy Wagner (Nico’s carefully chosen opponent from Montana) had toughman skills.

Nico staggered Wagner with a jab in round one that, judging by the blood, broke Billy’s nose. Thereafter, he controlled the fight with his jab en route to a unanimous-decision triumph.

But Nico got hit with punches that he shouldn’t have been hit with. And I’ll repeat what I’ve written before.

Nico is an exceptionally gifted young man. He’s not an exceptionally gifted fighter. I’d rather that he not get hit with more blows to the head in sparring and in fights. And I’d rather that he not inflict punishment like that on other young men either

As for the main event . . .

Lomachenko has never been a fighter who strikes fear into the hearts of opponents by blasting them out with overwhelming power. He relies on speed, reflexes, conditioning, and a keen boxing mind to outbox them.

Fighters who rely on preternatural reflexes and speed get old at a younger age than their brethren. Vasiliy’s age is now showing.

The 26-year-old Ortiz fought aggressively in the early going and, at times, appeared to be the quicker of the two fighters. After six rounds, he was even on two of the judges’ scorecards and leading 58-56 on the third. Then Lomachenko’s craftsmanship and conditioning turned the tide.

It was a good, spirited, action fight. Referee Charlie Fitch did an excellent job, letting the fighters fight out of clinches and only inserting himself in the proceedings when necessary. The 117-111, 116-112, 115-113 decision in Lomachenko’s favor was a good one.

One might also note that Lomachenko is no longer the amateur standout who had trouble dealing with roughhouse tactics in his ambitious early days as a pro. He now knows, and is willing to employ, some of those tactics himself.

The victory brought Lomachenko’s record to 17-2, with 11 KOs. As for what comes next; Devin Haney holds the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO 135-pound belts by virtue of two victories over George Kambosos. Haney is the opponent that Lomachenko and Top Rank say they want next. But Devin has only one fight left on his contract with Top Rank which might complicate matters.

“Hopefully, we can get it on,” Haney said after Lomachenko-Ortiz. “We’ll see when we go to negotiate.”

Those negotiations might be further complicated by unrealistic financial demands fueled by the infusion of “crazy money” in boxing (e.g. see BLK Prime’s apparent willingness to pay $10 million to Terence Crawford to fight David Avanesyan in December).

Also, while Lomachenko is a small 135-pound fighter, Haney is now a big one. Haney-Lomachenko presupposes that Devin (who has been struggling a bit to make weight) doesn’t move up to 140 pounds.

Meanwhile, Lomachenko is no longer “The Man” at 135 pounds. He’s part of a group that includes Haney, Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia, and (soon to be added) Shakur Stevenson. How Vasiliy would fare against these fighters today is an open issue. In his mind, he knows what he has to do to beat them. But his body might no longer be able to do it.

* * *

Last week, I posted an article on The Sweet Science about the decision by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to allow slap fighting to move forward as a sanctioned “sport.” [https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/74363-the-hauser-report-slap-fighting-a-bad-idea-whose-time-shouldnt-come].

There has been a lot of commentary about slap fighting since then with some people not grasping what’s at stake. Coincidentally, neuro-scientist Christopher Nowinski (a former college football player who wrestled under the WWE banner and is now CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation) spoke out recently about the National Football League’s concussion protocol. Here’s what Nowinski said:

“I hate that I have to remind you of this. But these are human beings with futures, that will someday be husbands and fathers. And we need to protect their brains the best we can while they’re out there helping you make money. How are we so stupid in 2022?”

Pay attention, Nevada.

* * *

The November/December issue of “The Ring (which was mailed to subscribers in October) came with the advisory that, after one hundred years, “The Ring” will no longer publish a print edition.

The inaugural issue of “The Ring” appeared in February 1922. To put that date in perspective, Calvin Coolidge was president of the United States. John F. Kennedy was four years old. For the first time in his illustrious career, Babe Ruth no longer took the mound as a pitcher. Rocky Marciano had yet to be born. There were no fights on radio or television because there was little radio and no television.

In the century that followed, “The Ring” chronicled boxing history, sometimes better than anyone else. But without an inspirational change in vision, the print edition was no longer economically viable.

“The Ring” says that it will maintain an online presence. But there’s a special feel to paper. It’s sad that “The Ring” as boxing fans knew it for a century is no more.

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Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – In the Inner Sanctum: Behind the Scenes at Big Fights – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. 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.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images

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Thomas Hauser

Thomas Hauser is the author of 52 books. In 2005, he was honored by the Boxing Writers Association of America, which bestowed the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism upon him. He was the first Internet writer ever to receive that award. In 2019, Hauser was chosen for boxing's highest honor: induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Lennox Lewis has observed, “A hundred years from now, if people want to learn about boxing in this era, they’ll read Thomas Hauser.”

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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