"Lowblows" is my fight column where I give my opinions on fights, fighters or any activities surrounding the boxing world. I call them like I see them.
"You can't count him out." That's a cliche that Evander Holyfield has earned in each and every story written about him. But now he's flirting with disastrous future health prospects.
Yes, Holyfield could continue in the hopes of proving us wrong, but he's going to be doing it at the risk of his health. He's really taken too much punishment and while it would be really cool to see Holyfield again defy time and the odds, I would rather see him retire. It was somewhat understandable when he wanted to continue after losing to Lennox Lewis. Lewis is a premier heavyweight champion and one of the best since a prime Mike Tyson. But John Ruiz is a second tier caliber heavyweight that had no business beating a Holyfield in the first place. If the Lewis fights weren't a sign, then the John Ruiz fights most certainly are. Evander, re-tire.
John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz has proven to be a good contender and has earned the honor of being the first Hispanic heavyweight champion. He seems like a classy guy and has a lot of fight in him. It would be nice to see him prosper a little bit before losing the title. I have Cuban heritage in my blood dating back a couple of generations, so there is a certain comraderie I feel toward Puerto Rican Ruiz being the first latino heavyweight champ just like when Joel Casamayor won the WBA Jr. Lightweight title.
Personally, I'd like to see a fight between Ruiz and the winner of Lance "Mount" Whitaker and Oleg Maskaev. However, I think Whitaker or Maskaev would have the punch to take Ruiz out.
In all the time I've written in this site, the issue of who is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world has never been tougher than right now.
You have Felx "Tito" Trinidad capping a year by knocking out Fernando Vargas in 12 action rounds, which many think earned him the distinction of being the best.
You have Shane Mosley putting the second "L" of Oscar De La Hoya's career on Oscar's resume. But Shane did the job infinitely more convincingly than Trinidad did.
And of course, you have chronic disappointment Roy Jones, who in my opinion, is clearly the most talented fighter in the world, but he also has a problem proving it. You have a possible Roy-Bernard Hopkins II fight on the horizon. But now you now have Roy asking for more money than Hopkins for a third fight if Hopkins should win! Ludicrous. There is also the case of Dariusz Michalczewski and Roy, the two top light-heavyweights, not fighting. And there's no possibility in sight that could resolve Jones-Michalczewski.
Even so, I still think Roy is the best fighter in the world. Clearly, I think he can beat Trinidad or Mosley if they were in the same weight class. It's a really hard decision to make because Mosley and Tito deserve the honor of being no. 1 a lot more than Roy does. But the bottom line is that Roy is, in my opinion, a better fighter than his contemporaries. And it really sucks that Roy is cheating himself out of the glory he could attain. Future generations will question his greatness and those of us who saw him while he was active will have little ammunition to back up how good he really was, or could've been.
For his sake, I hope Roy decides to fight Hopkins or Michalczewski. He could at least say he fought the best available opposition, something he can't claim at this point.
Lennox Lewis beat David Tua in an easy fight that could reasonably be called a sparring session. And yet again, ring smarts, versatility and talent carry Lewis to the biggest win he's had this year. Yes, it was an extremely lackluster fight, but Lewis did what he had to do. Like Larry Merchant said, and I paraphrase, "Why should Lewis go in and slug when that only benefits Tua?" And he's right on the money.
Ike Ibeabuchi slugged with Tua. And yes, it made for a great heavyweight fight with tons of action. But did that really benefit Ibeabuchi in the fight? I don't think so, especially since I'm one of those people who thought that Tua actually deserved to win over Ike. I think Ike would've been better off boxing. He may have even won a more convincing decision. The thing is that the fight was so exciting, action-packed and close that no one really complained.
And by the way, I don't buy any of that crap about Tua not being in top shape. Tua has been clamoring for this opportunity for years and I sincerely doubt he would've come in in anything less than great shape. Lewis may be partial, but I couldn't agree more when he said, "The only thing that was wrong with David Tua was Lennox Lewis."
I can't see any heavyweight right now that would beat Lewis. He's beaten everyone in the heavyweight division that was considered a top contender and only Mike Tyson remains. Besides, Tyson there is Wladimir Klitschko, Kirk Johnson, Lance "Mount" Whitaker, Oleg Maskaev, and Hasim Rahman. All of whom I think Lewis would thrash.
The fight of the night definitely belonged to Cliff Etienne and Lawrence Clay-Bey. Very much an action fight. I didn't think very highly of Clay-Bey prior to this fight. I saw Clay-Bey as a mobile fighter with some skills, but I incorrectly predicted that Etienne would swarm him and knock him out in 7 rounds. Mind you, I thought I was being generous by predicting Etienne in 7. Clay-Bey turned out to be a warrior. He took some heavy punishment and made things very difficult for Cliff, even wobbling him twice or thrice. Personally, I think Clay-Bey increased his credibility with this defeat and I'm more interested in seeing Clay-Bey now than I was before. As for Etienne, he continues to grow. I really like Cliff's style and I hope to see him rise to heavyweight prominence. But only time will tell because in my opinion, Etienne still has a long way to go.
It was great to see John-John Molina win a well-deserved decision against Ben Tackie in his biggest fight since his close decision loss to Roberto Garcia. I had the priviledge of covering two of Molina's most recent fights and I had the opportunity to interview him. He's easily one of the nicest guys that I've met. He's very humble, a caring person and he's a great fighter. Against Tackie, Molina looked like he had an endless supply of energy, throwing combinations with aplomb as if he were just making his pro debut. Fascinating given that Molina is actually a rugged veteran. After all this time Molina is still going strong.
Finally, Jesse James Leija, like Molina, looked like a million bucks against the declining "Mighty" Ivan Robinson. He too is still going strong after all these years and he looked sharp in decisioning Robinson. I think Robinson ought to retire. Recently, Robinson was KO'd by Antonio Diaz (which to Robinson's defense was a fight that was well over his best fighting weight) and a controversial draw against Vivian Harris in a fight just about everyone felt he lost. Leija was coming off a controversial points loss to Juan Lazcano. For the record, I thought Lazcano barely won a very tight decision, but Leija looked excellent in that fight anyway. But for more on Lazcano-Leija, you can check my Lowblows Archive for the column.
Lennox Lewis has been a fine heavyweight champion and his critics are very quick to laugh at the notion, but to deny what Lewis has accomplished is simply not fair. He was determined to unify the heavyweight championship. His road to the unified title was a long, frustrating one, but when he got the job done when he convincingly beat Evander Holyfield in their second fight, the hard work paid off. And the anti-Lewis crowd was robbed of much of their venom spewing arsenal.
Lewis beat several legitimate contenders enroute to the title, but his most difficult challenge was to get Don King to put Holyfield-Lewis together. King eventually must've seen that Holyfield-Lewis was a must see fight and Lewis finally got what he coveted for so long. I think Lewis has clearly succeeded in breaking into the all-time top 15 heavyweights. It is my opinion that he would've given most heavyweights a hard time and may have been able to beat several great heavyweights in the top 10. The sternest Lewis bashers will always try to come up with an excuse to try and rob Lewis of his well deserved praise. But the more objective fans know better. You may not agree with me on every point. You may not even agree that Lewis is a top 15 fighter, but you have to admit that Lewis has earned respect for proving many people wrong including myself. I was never a Lewis basher, but quite the opposite. Even as a big fan, I incorrectly predicted losses instead of wins in some of his key fights. (If you're out there, Lennox, I'm sorry.)
Against Tua (another fighter I like), I was hoping Lewis would win, but I predicted Tua would pull it off. To his credit, Lewis proved me wrong. Here's how I think this great heavyweight would've fared against all-time greats of the past:
Lewis vs. Jack Johnson: Talk about a boring fight, at least for a few rounds. Without a doubt, this would probably have been the most tactical fight between two greats that ever was. I think eventually Lennox would hurt Johnson and take him out. Johnson was way ahead of his time, but I think Lewis would prove the better man.
Lewis vs. Muhammad Ali- I think Ali had the mobility, know-how and talent to beat Lewis on a decision, but I think Lewis had the style to give "The Greatest" a really tough fight. I see this one being an Ali-Norton in terms of closeness.
Lewis vs. Joe Louis- Clearly a fight that would be determined by who hit who first hard. Both had shaky chins, but Lewis does have one clear advantage and that is height and reach. If Lewis can set up the right hand with his left, he could bomb out "The Brown Bomber", but he would have to be extremely wary of a Louis counter. We all know that if Louis catches you, he catches you, and it's lights out. I'd pick Lewis.
Lewis vs. Jack Dempsey- Dempsey is a great fighter. I'm no Dempsey basher, but I think Lewis wins this one. Dempsey was fast and strong and I definitely think he would've given Lewis a fight. It wouldn't be a cake walk, but I think Lewis can knock out Dempsey late whereas light-heavyweight king Gene Tunney couldn't.
Lewis vs. Rocky Marciano- I'm a huge fan of Rocky, but I think Lewis is just too big, too versatile and too strong. It wouldn't be easy for the first half the fight. Lewis may even see a scary moment or two, but I think Lewis wins an unpopular decision here because I don't see this as a crowd pleasing fight. I think Lewis uses a safety first approach and boxes his way to a decision.
Lewis vs. Charles "Sonny" Liston- Like Lewis-Louis, I think this could be determined by who hits who first hard. Both have good jabs, both can tag, but again, Lewis has the height and reach. If Lewis can keep Liston at bay with the left jabs and right crosses, he can win a late rounds TKO or decision.
Lewis vs. "Smokin'" Joe Frazier- I think Lewis's biggest trouble would come against fighters with Frazier's style: short, bobbing and weaving and strong. A prime Frazier had the ability to bob and weave so effectively that he made for a hard target even against the swifter Ali. Lewis can punch big with the right, so he'd always have a puncher's chance, especially with the uppercut, but I see Frazier taking Lewis into the later rounds for a late stoppage or decision.
Lewis vs. George Foreman- A lot of people forget that a young Foreman had an uncanny ability to cut the ring off. He was so good at it, that he forced Ali to adopt the rope-a-dope tactic because he couldn't dance out of Foreman's range. But Lewis is bigger than Ali, if Lewis could manage to keep Foreman at bay with the jab, he may be able to beat Foreman in the later rounds or take a decision. But I think the most likely outcome is that Big George would eventually catch Lewis with something big and score the knockout.
Lewis vs. Larry Holmes- Could go either way. I see this as a very close, hard to score fight. Of all the superfights I imagine Lewis in, this is probably the one I have the most trouble with. Holmes was vulnerable to the right hand as evidenced by his fights with Earnie Shavers, Renaldo Snipes and Mike Tyson. But Lewis's chin is shaky enough that maybe a flush Holmes right could do the job. Very even fight, in my opinion. Maybe Holmes by a hair, but I wouldn't bet any money on it.
Lewis vs. (prime) Mike Tyson- I think Tyson takes Lewis out. I wouldn't rule Lewis out because he is very intelligent, but I think Tyson was just real powerful, real fast, real good. Very hard to hit, great head movement. Tough to beat. And if you're hurt against Mike Tyson, it better be with only one or two seconds left on the clock because you will not survive. Tyson is one of the best all-time finishers in the game. Lewis's best chance would be (predictably) to take Tyson into the later rounds where Tyson usually is less effective and sloppier. Lewis's right hand could possibly bail him out in the early rounds, but I think Tyson would've eventually nailed him hard and put lightning fast combinations together.
Lewis vs. (prime) Evander Holyfield- I thought their fight no. 2 was closer than fight no. 1, but I still thought Lewis won convincingly. Holyfield was not able to keep up a sustained attack like he used to and Lewis was too fresh a fighter for him. A younger Holyfield would've given Lewis nightmares. I think it would've been even closer than fight no. 2 with a real cause for a draw in this case. But if Holyfield could nail Lewis in fight no. 2, a more sustained attack by 1991 Holyfield may have gotten the job done. Very close, slight edge to Holyfield.
Lewis vs. Riddick Bowe- Bowe was very versatile at his best. He could box on the outside, slug on the inside, he could do it all. Lewis is probably the more tactical one and smarter. And I think the outcome will depend on whether "Big Daddy" can take a Lewis right hand flush. If he can, Bowe can pull this one out. If he can't, he takes a beating and loses. Both men can hit, and if they fought three times, it could possibly be a Zale-Graziano type series with different kinds of outcomes. Another close call, and I think Lewis by a hair.
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