First off, results from fights around the world that I neither witnessed or read about...which provides a fresh unbiased perspective:
Ridiculous Results:
- Shamone "The Truth" Alvarez brought tears to the eyes of Michael Jackson fans as he lost a split decision to Ghanaian Ayi Bruce, whose name sounds...well...fun.
- Oliver McCall def. Fres Oquendo, yes, you read that right
Uh, ok.
McCall is now 45 - notable losses: Timur Ibragimov, Juan Carlos Gomez, DaVarryl Williamson (Great guy from Colorado whom I still call a friend), Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Tony Tucker, Orlin Norris, Buster Douglas (yes, he's that old), some guy named Mike Hunter and some bouncer named Joey Christjohn.
Fres Oquendo was once a contender. He, however, succumbed to the powerless punching master of credit cards known as John Ruiz. Granted, David Tua turned his head into a Pez dispenser 2 years prior but his losses include: Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, the geriatric Evander Holyfield, fat ass now MMA master James Toney (weighing in at 230lbs), then finally Jean Marc Momeck.
How they were fighting for the IBF Inter-Continential aka...Aaron's backyard fight championship...heavyweight title was beyond me.
Upcoming Matches to Follow:
Of course the biggest fight this weekend is in the UFC.
11 December 2010 - Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Kosheck
This is just another example of how the UFC is doing something right and the world of boxing doing everything wrong. McCall vs. Oquendo or two guys who've never seen a rotary dial phone?
St. Pierre is the Tiger Woods of MMA (minus the model wife who apparently lost her appeal). He does everything right and doesn't back down from a challenge. He trains hard and is a well balanced fighter who has a ton of energy who is always fun to watch. Kosheck just has really weird hair at the moment. I'd cheer against him regardless but the blond curly mop reminds me of that Finnegan character I mentioned last week. I'm guessing that all too unmanly haircut is all the rage with athletes these days.
The undercard that I'm really excited about is Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle.
McCorkle has an Irish (or Scottish) sounding name so he's my obvious pick. In addition, he stands 6'7" and weighs 265 pounds. What's more, his fighting name is, get this, "The Big Sexy." On the UFC site, he lists his strengths as Size, Strength and "very Internet Savvy." This is truly a complete man who has won my allegiance.
Stefan Struve, who goes by the name Skyscraper, stands at 6'11" and is 238 pounds. This match up is looking more like Yao Ming vs. Shaq than something you'd see in the UFC and I love it.
Dingbat of the week:
Julian Assange. Why? Because he's detracting from all the news worthy news such as Mayweather being arrested or something to do with Tony Romo's lack of love life now that his shoulder/career has been demolished. For some reason I can't stop calling Tony Romo, Steve Bono. (Apolo Anton Ohno, Sonny Bono, the real Bono...guess that's pronounced Baano)
Serious Article of the week (finally):
If you've stuck with me this long, you're a saint. As you've probably witnessed over the past several weeks, the movie The Fighter, featuring Marky Mark and Batman, is due out this month. The story is about one of the most entertaining, tough and rugged fighters of our era, Mickey Ward. I first saw Mickey Ward in 1994 when he was in the midst of a four loss slump. By that time, he had amassed a 21 win, 7 loss record, which by today's standards makes him a punching bag. Ward plodded on regardless of the poundings and heartbreaking decisions knocking out his next five no-name opponents. For his efforts, Ward earned a shot at the WBU Intercontinental Light Welterweight title. Writing this title, I feel like the pedantic wanna be socialite ordering some sort of exotic coffee at Starbucks.
Ward won the title and went on a 9 fight winning streak until he came up against Vince Phillips, the 140 pound IBF champion. The fight was called in the 3rd after nearly nine minutes of Ward bleeding all over Phillips. That fight caught the attention of boxing "experts" and contenders throughout the world. Ward, who marched forward with a typical "punch me five times and I'll punch you once" style, became a fan favorite. He lost to Zab Judah in a boring run and hide fight but received another shot at a world title against a true Irishman from Ireland (not Boston) in none other than the city of London. Ward made short work of Shea Neary knocking him out in the 8th by nearly taking his head off with a devastating right hook that made me laugh, spit out beer then cry two tears.
I was happy for Mickey but his success would not last more than five months. He was robbed in a fight against Antonio Diaz that was so close that only a French figure skating judge could make the call. After that fight, I figured that the dejected Ward would pull up his tent stakes and go the way of Joey Gamache, another north eastern fighter who suffered one of the most horrifying knockouts I'd ever seen by the hands of none other than Arturo Gatti. While I truly loved Gatti, I hated to see Gamache in that state. Gatti had miraculously weighed in the night before at 140 pounds then somehow gained 20 plus pounds in 24 hours. The fight was basically a middle weight against a lightweight. A word of caution, if you've not seen this before, it's a truly horrible knockout.
Gamache vs. Gatti KO
After Ward's loss to Diaz, he was back in the ring with Jesse James Leija who had just pummeled baby Camacho to a "No Contest." The fight was stopped on cuts after the 4th and went to the score cards. Ward, once again was on the short end. Again, his career looked to be over but HBO devised a non-title contest between Gatti and Ward, two punchers who gave up the art of ducking. It was Italian vs. Irish and the country became polarized. You were either a Gatti fan or a Ward fan. I was in the Gatti camp as I had been for ten plus years but Ward dashed my hopes by beating Gatti in 10 rounds of brutal action. It was designated as the fight of the year by HBO. Both fighters landed in the hospital but for some strange reason, they were back at it again within seven months.
The second fight was another brutal match up. World champions such as Mayweather, were all but forgotten during this time period. The country was no longer polarized as we all fell in love with the fighters and the match. The Morales vs. Barrera fight paled in comparison to Gatti/Ward. All fights in the history of the sport would be compared to this perfectly matched fight. Gatti took the second fight and again, both fighters ended up in the hospital. Seven months later and they were back at it again. Ward took over 350 punches and ended up in the hospital. Gatti won the rubber match but both fighters lost a piece of themselves. Following the fight, in which he said was his last, Ward clearly stated, "why'd I pick this sport?"
Video Link: Postfight - Mickey Ward
In the hospital, both fighters laughed and talked while sitting in beds adjacent to each other. They became life long friends with Ward attending the rest of Gatti's fights. Gatti died in July 2009 in what was called a suicide but what many believe to be murder.
"I was absolutely stunned -- I couldn't believe it, it's still kind of hard to believe," Ward told ESPN's Brian Kenny. "It's really hard to take."
Ward went on to say, "When we went in there and we fought, we tried to take each other's head off, but outside the ring we had respect for each other," Ward said. "After the three fights we had it built into a better friendship, a long-lasting relationship."
I just hope the movie "The Fighter" due out on December 17th does both Mickey Ward AND Arturo Gatti justice.
The Fighter
*Writer submissions accepted by email. Please include a sample of your writing and qualifications. Published submissions are paid up to $20 per article. Major articles/interviews receive compensation based on article placement.
Contact Information:
Aaron Weissenfluh - writer, publisher, editor, fighter, trainer, dude
aweissenfluh@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment