Boxing in 1998: Forget about it
Posted: Thursday June 25, 1998 01:03 PM
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We won't see a Holyfield-Lewis matchup in 1998 (CNN/SI) |
By Dave Raffo
Sportsticker contributing editor
NEW YORK -- Midway through the year, it's clear 1998 won't be a memorable
year in boxing. We haven't had a blockbuster fight yet,
and there's almost no chance of one taking place the rest of the
year.
About the best thing you can say about boxing in 1998 is that
the George Foreman-Larry Holmes fight probably won't come off
until next January. The problem isn't a lack of good fighters or
great matchups. It's just that these fights aren't getting made.
And don't blame Mike Tyson's exile for the current boxing
drought. After consecutive losses to Evander Holyfield, Tyson
would be fighting his way back into contention--probably against
bums. And if he did fight WBC champion Lennox Lewis or a rematch
with WBA-IBF champion Holyfield, it would only delay the one
heavyweight showdown the world is waiting for: Holyfield-Lewis.
Boxing would be booming in the second half of 1998 if Holyfield
and Lewis would meet, and Oscar de la Hoya fought one of the
other welterweight champions, either Ike Quartey or Felix
Trinidad.
But instead, Lewis is scheduled to fight mandatory
challenger Zeljko Mavrovic in September, Holyfield will probably
reschedule his mandatory fight against Henry Akinwande in August
and de la Hoya will take on Julio Cesar Chavez in September.
That's three dog fights, at least from an expectation
standpoint.
Quartey and Trinidad might fight each other in the fall. That
would be a good fight, but not as big as if one of them fought
de la Hoya. Maybe de la Hoya will fight the winner, but that
won't be until next spring at the earliest.
So why aren't the good fights happening? In the heavyweight
division, it't mostly because the two champions have ties with
rival promoters and TV deals that complicate the matter. That
problem might go away next year because the Mavrovic bout is
Lewis' last under his current HBO deal.
In the welterweight division, de la Hoya and his promoter Bob
Arum are trying to cash in on easy fights for big money before
taking a risky bout against Quartey or Trinidad.
Another problem is that boxing's ruling bodies make their
champions fight mandatory defenses. Like many rules in boxing,
this one is good in theory but terrible in practice. It was
designed to force champions to defend regularly against worthy
challengers. If carried out correctly, it keeps champions from
ducking qualified contenders and makes for good fights.
Unfortunately, the ratings are flawed and challengers get the
No. 1 ranking only because of their ties to certain promoters.
When that happens, we get mandatory defenses like
Holyfield-Akinwande, Lewis-Mavrovic and de la Hoya-Patrick
Charpentier.
There's no public demand for these bouts, and all they do is
make it tougher for champions to fight other champions.
Then again, mandatory defenses have been around for decades, and
champions and their handlers have found ways around them. They
still could now, if they wanted to. ...
Roy Jones is stuck without the prospect of any huge fights until
he's ready to move up to heavyweight.
The biggest light heavyweight bout for him would be if IBF
middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins moves up. Even that
wouldn't be so big, however, considering Jones defeated Hopkins
five years ago in a boring fight.
For now, Jones is left with WBA light heavyweight Lou DeValle.
Although he's now a champion, Jones remembers Del Valle as his
sparring partner back in 1995. Jones and Del Valle will meet
July 18 at Madison Square Garden, only because IBF champion
Reggie Johnson has a shoulder injury and can't face Jones.
"I never intend to fight any of my sparring partners," Jones
said. ...
De La Hoya will fight Julio Ceaser Chavez later this year (AP) | |
"If he told me from day one that one day I want to fight you, I
would have still sparred with him, still would have tried to
help him, but at least I would have known where he was coming
from. Instead he played it cool, laid low until the time came
when he said, 'I want Roy Jones.' I don't have any respect for
that.'"
Del Valle sparred around 40 rounds with Jones, and was taking
mental notes.
"I always knew it was going to happen," Del Valle said of a
fight with Jones. "I'm the type of person that I go to bed and
dream. I always dream about certain fights and they always
happen; I have that power. I had this dream about Roy Jones,
that I was going to fight him and beat him.
"I think I figured him out more than he figured me out. I really
believe that I gave him problems the whole [training] camp."
Jones denies Del Valle gave him problems, and said it doesn't
matter if he did because he would be a different fighter in a bout than
in sparring.
"I don't have that killer instinct when I spar," he said. "He
doesn't know enough to beat me, so I'm not worried about it."
...
King for any day
Don King, who likes to reward juries who return non guilty
verdicts against him with ringside tickets to fights, is getting
too chummy with the jurors of his current case a little too
early for the prosecutors' liking.
Assistant U.S. attorney Baruch Weiss told the judge that King is
trying to win over the jurors by making faces and remarks and
shaking his fist in a mock boxing pose during his trial for
insurance fraud. King faces up to 45 years in jail if convicted.
Of course, King's lawyer Peter Fleming Junior says the promoter
has done nothing inappropriate in regards to the jury. ...
Talk about washed up? Bonecrusher Smith and Joe Bugner will
square off July 4 in Australia, and these two guys make Foreman
and Holmes look like upcoming contenders.
And the question on everybody's mind is: "Does he have enough at
48 to stop me? And do I have enough at 45 to stop him?"
That question was asked by Smith when he arrived in Australia.
Although Smith and Bugner are younger than Foreman and Holmes,
the latter duo were at least serious contenders (even a champion
in Foreman's case) within the past five years. Smith hasn't been
a serious contender since he lost his WBA title to Tyson in
1987, and Bugner hasn't been a contender since the 1970s. ...
Buster Douglas, 6-0 on the comeback trail entering his fight
tonight against Lou Savarese, said his lapsing into a diabetic
coma after ballooning to 400 pounds in 1994 pushed him back into
the ring.
"If that had never happened, I don't think I'd have ever fought
again," Douglas said.
Douglas still hopes for a rematch against Holyfield or a shot at
another title, but he's not sure he'll hang around that long.
"I'm going to give it a good run this year and see what my
opportunities look like at the beginning of next year. If they
look promising, I'd continue on." ...
Andrew Golota and former heavyweight champion Tim Witherspoon
will fight September 4 in Golota's native Poland, if Golota gets
past Corey Sanders July 21 in Atlantic City. While Golota will
earn only $30,000 against Sanders, he's risking a $450,000
payday against Witherspoon. ...
Former WBC featherweight champion Rolando Navarrete is given a
50-50 chance of survival by doctors after he was stabbed in the
back by a former friend in his native Phillipines. Navarrete
held the title from 1981-81. Soon after losing his title, he was
convicted of rape in Hawaii and did jail time. ...
Jane Couch has become the first woman licensed to box in
England. The 27-year-old Couch sued the British Boxing Board of
Control on sexual discrimination charges after the BBBC denied
her first application for a license. The BBBC finally relented
and granted her a license. ...
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