There are a couple heavyweight fights which will be televised this weekend. One is important and represents the best in the sport, while the other is tragic and reflects the criminal and brutal side of boxing.
First, the good fight: Saturday at Madison Square Garden, Wladimir Klitschko defends his "title" against Calvin Brock. Klitschko, 30, is 6'7", 241 lbs, and has a 46-3 (41 KOs) record. Brock, 31, is 6'2", 224 lbs, and has a 29-0 (22 KOs) record.
The fight will be on HBO. I think that it is curious that several sports journalists have made it sound like Klitschko is a sure bet to win. While his physical advantages would favor him, I think that Brock is the more skilled of the two. It will be interesting to see if Brock can upset Klitschko. I expect Wladimir to attempt to make a dull fight of it, by clinching at any time Brock gets close to him. And I know Manny Steward is a great cornerman, and works well with tall fighters. But I honestly think Brock has a better corner. Good luck to both men!
Second, a fight I will refuse to watch -- and not just because it is PPV ($45!) -- takes place tonight. Evander Holyfield fights Fres Oquendo. Evander, 44, has a 39-8-2 (26 KOs) record; Fres, 33, is 26-3 (16 KOs).
Evander was once a great fighter. Larry Holmes has said that he had positive proof that Holyfield took steroids to bulk up from the lower weights to become a heavyweight, and I will say that Larry Holmes is an honest man. But putting that aside, it is clear that like him or not (and I don't), evander was a brave, extremely talented warrior. He would fight anyone. And he won lots of great fights because he could absorb huge amounts of punishment, and outlast most people.
Evander took lots of punches before becoming a heavyweight. Watch his first war with Dwight (Braxton) Qawi, who had been trained by my friend Rubin in Rahway SP. As a heavyweight, Evander's defense skills did not improve. He was always easy to hit. And some of the biggest, hardest punchers in recent decades would hit him round after round.
Evander shows some of the sad but classic signs of brain damage from taking too many punches. His skills have long since ceased to exist. NYS took his license, but some other places allow him to fight.
On 11-9, Tim Dahlberg had a wonderful article about Evander; I'm going to try to link it. I spoke to Tim about the sad state of the hundreds of unknown fighters who have similar problems. I'm hoping that he will continue to focus attention on this issue. The guy understands boxing.
http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=AotkcYROiCPGBZgpcvsaNqGUxLYF?slug=ap-timdahlberg&prov=ap&type=lgnsOquendo had taken some time off from boxing, but has had a couple "warm-up" fights. He is not a great puncher, and that really is worse for Evander, because he'll likely be willing to absorb more, and his corner and the ref will allow it. It would be better if Fres beats Evander tonight, than if Holyfield wins and is matched with the Russian Giant in his next fight.