Three Punch Combo: Wilder-Fury, Barrera-Hamed, Cabrera-Macias and More

After Deontay Wilder stopped Luis Ortiz in round ten this past March, I wrote a story comparing Wilder to Naseem Hamed. The unorthodox manner in which Wilder fights where he makes so many obvious errors inside the ring but yet makes that style effective in part because of his one punch power reminded me of the way Hamed fought during his heyday. Now, Wilder will soon be facing an even bigger test than Ortiz in that of Tyson Fury. In continuing with the Hamed comparison, I am wondering if Fury can do to Wilder what Marco Antonio Barrera did to Hamed.

When Hamed fought Barrera in 2001, Hamed had just as many critics as Wilder does today. Experts were convinced that at some point Hamed would pay for all the mistakes he made in the ring. He did so many things fundamentally wrong like lunging forward with his hands down with his chin exposed or pulling straight back with his chin high in the air. Most who followed boxing figured eventually he’d run into someone skilled enough to expose those mistakes.

However, that opponent was not thought to be Barrera. Remember, Barrera had been beaten twice by Junior Jones a few years earlier and since then, with the exception of Erik Morales, had not fought a high level of opposition. As a matter of fact, a few months prior to facing Hamed, Barrera struggled mightily against an obscure opponent named Jose Luis Valbuena. Many people who watched that fight thought Barrera was fortunate to get the decision. Ironically, that poor performance helped Barrera land the fight with Hamed.

As we know, the rest is history. Barrera took the fight to Hamed from the opening bell and for the most part dominated the action. It took an elite level fighter to do so, but ultimately the many flaws of Hamed were exposed.

So this brings me to Fury-Wilder. Obviously, Fury and Barrera are stylistically two entirely different fighters. Fury relies on movement, ring skill and defensive prowess. He is not easy to hit clean. Often times, he frustrates his opponents into making mistakes and then quickly counters before either tying up or retreating out of harm’s way.

Fury gets this opportunity with Wilder in part because Wilder’s team feels Fury is vulnerable. And why wouldn’t they? After his signature win over Wladimir Klitschko, Fury was out of the ring for over two years and dealt with a myriad of issues. In his two comeback fights since the layoff, Fury has shown some of the old skills that made him champion but it is hard to decipher what he has left in the tank due to the level of opposition he faced.

However, based on his past, Fury does have the skill to expose Wilder who makes a ton of mistakes and can get easily frustrated. Remember him swinging wildly and missing often against Gerald Washington all the while being out-boxed for four rounds? Of course, Wilder rescued that fight with his power, knocking Washington out in round five. But Fury does have the defensive ability to make Wilder miss all night.

It is going to take a very skilled upper level fighter to defeat Deontay Wilder just as it once did to defeat Naseem Hamed. Wilder’s unorthodox style and his power make him a difficult matchup for most heavyweights. But at some point Wilder will be exposed much like Hamed was at the highest level and for my money I think that will happen when he steps in the ring with Tyson Fury.

Another USA Tuesday Night Fights Memory

In my last column, I alluded to this month being the 20 year anniversary of the end of the long run of the popular USA Tuesday Night Fights series.  Reminiscing about the series that provided so many great memories for fight fans, I looked back on the 1997 welterweight slugfest between Derrell Coley and Kip Diggs. A few months after that memorable fight, another unforgettable slugfest took place, this time at the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia between heavyweights Courage Tshabalala (20-1, 17 KO’s) and Darroll Wilson (18-1-2, 12 KO’s).

On paper, this fight had the potential for fireworks. Both fighters liked to mix it up and both had shown a questionable set of whiskers. Tshabalala was considered a top heavyweight prospect but was entering the ring coming off a recent stunning knockout loss to journeyman Brian Scott. Wilson was best known for his shocking upset win against Shannon Briggs but was coming in off a recent early knockout loss to David Tua. Both Tshabalala and Wilson had a lot on the line in what was a classic Tuesday Night Fights crossroads tilt.

Thirty seconds into the fight, Tshabalala dropped Wilson with a stiff left jab. Tshabalala would dominate Wilson for the remainder of the round with power shots. Near the end of the stanza, he rocked Wilson with a left hook to the jaw.

The next two rounds were also controlled by Tshabalala. His power shots were seemingly taking a toll on Wilson who was fighting primarily going backwards. Near the end of the third, a thunderous overhand right put Wilson on the canvas. Wilson tried to get up but fell backward. With referee Rudy Battle beginning to waive the fight off, Wilson got to his feet and Battle signalled the timekeeper to ring the bell to end the round.

Lou Duva, one of Tshabalala’s cornermen, tore into Battle between rounds, screaming that Battle had signified initially that the fight had ended. But the fight would continue despite Duva’s pleas.

Wilson was still on shaky legs when round four began as Tshabalala came out looking to end the fight. Though Tshabalala landed some good shots, Wilson seemed to be regaining his legs as seconds ticked by and then started landing some big counters of his own. A slugfest was now underway with both launching big shots at one another. With the crowd in a frenzy, Wilson turned the tide, landing sharper harder punches and now hurting Tshabalala. With under a minute to go in the round, a fusillade of clean power shots from Wilson put Tshabalala on the canvas. Tshabalala wasn’t able to beat the count, giving Wilson an improbable come-from-behind win in a forgotten Tuesday Night Fights classic.

Under The Radar Fight

The Golden Boy on Facebook series continues next Saturday with a card headlined by rising 130-pound star prospect Ryan Garcia (15-0, 13 KO’s) taking a step up in class facing Carlos Morales (17-2-3. 6 KO’s). While the development of Garcia piques my interest, it is the co-feature between undefeated 154-pound prospects Marvin Cabrera (8-0, 6 KO’s) and Neeco Macias (16-0, 9 KO’s) that I think steals the show.

Cabrera and Macias are both southpaws but by no means would either be considered a “cutie.” Instead, both are very aggressive. Given their respective styles, we should see plenty of action.

Cabrera is the more polished fighter of the two. He is also the bigger puncher. He will press forward behind the right jab and look to get in range to work combinations to the head and body of Macias. Cabrera is a very good body puncher but does leave his chin exposed when he throws downstairs.

Macias is a volume puncher who is going to look to outwork Cabrera. Macias will throw a lot of punches per round and from all sorts of angles. However, by doing so, he often leaves many openings for his opposition to counter.

In Cabrera and Macias, we have two aggressive offensive-minded fighters who on paper are evenly matched. They each also have some major defensive holes in their respective games. I expect we see an all-out brawl in what should be a very entertaining fight.

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