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November 29th, 2009 | by Evan Korn
1. Lucian Bute is the Truth: Bute possesses a natural flow inside the boxing ring, a fluidity that it makes difficult to avert your eyes from the Romanian-born, Canadian-based Super Middleweight. In his first encounter with Librado Andrade, Bute’s silky style came unglued as the pressure mounted. In Saturday’s rematch, Bute did not need to survive the final rounds, as he knocked out the granite-chinned Andrade with a left hand to the liver in the 4th round. Less than a minute before the knockout blow, Bute knocked Andrade down with a counter left hand to the chin as Andrade barreled forward. With the Super 6 Super Middlweight tournament moving forward without Bute, the winner of said tournament will have a legitimate challenger to the 168-pound throne.
A side-note on Bute: it is refreshing to see a region embrace its fighter like Quebec boxing fans have done with Bute. Given that Bute is not a native Canadian, the unabashed support is remarkable.
2. The Ali Funeka- Joan Guzman Decision wreaked like a New Jersey waste dump: Funeka, the lanky South African Lightweight, dominated the undefeated Guzman from the opening bell. If you were being charitable,there were four rounds to give Guzman (my unofficial card read 117-111). Somehow, judges Alan Davis and Benoit Roussel scored the bout a draw, leaving the announcers, crowd and televised audience in shock.
Davis and Roussell should be taken to task for their bogus scorecards, the result of either corruption or incompetence. Either way, we have a prime candidate for Robbery of The Year. Unfortunately, Roussel and Davis overshadowed a spirited, one-sided Lightweight battle.
Gary Shaw, Funkea’a promoter, said after the fight: “Let me put it to you this way, Ali got screwed and he didn’t even get kissed. Ali got robbed. As one reporter told me, ‘…this decision was so bad it made the Diaz-Malignaggi decision look legitimate.’ This may be the worst decision since Lewis-Holyfield I and it needs to be addressed with a formal investigation by the IBF and Interpol. I implore the Promoters Association to issue a formal statement in support of such an investigation. At the very least, the IBF should make Funeka its interim lightweight champion so that no matter who he fights next, it’s world title fight. We must stop robbing fighters, sending them home with nothing but shattered dreams instead of the rewards they earned in the ring.”
3. Undefeated Prospects Should Avoid Martin Honorio: Honorio defeated undefeated prospect John Molina in Saturday’s ShoBox main event. Fighting above his prime weight, Honorio mixed lateral movement with counter-punching and a concerted body attack to dominate Molina. Four years ago, Honorio defeated then-undefeated Steve Luevano in a major upset. Now, it is Molina’s turn to go back to the drawing board and become a more well-rounded fighter. Standing flat-footed and not moving your head won’t get you far in this business. Molina has time to learn and evolve like Luevano, who has since gone on to win a Featherweight belt.
After the stench of the Funeka-Guzman fight, let’s give credit to judges Ray Corona, Marty Denkin and Pat Russell for doing their jobs and scoring Honorio-Molina for the right guy. Molina, the California kid, would not get the benefit of the doubt in his home state.
4. Rico Ramos is Another Prospect to Watch: Ramos defeated rugged Alejandro Perez on the ShoBox undercard to improve to 14-0. Sporting an educated left hook, the Californian looked poised in breaking down Perez for eight rounds. Props must be given to Showtime for exposing a rising West Coast fighter like Ramos. East Coast-based writers like myself tend to neglect fighters from the other coast. Thanks to Showtime, that won’t be the case with Ramos.
It used to be HBO’s Boxing After Dark that unearthed prospects and exposed suspects. Now, that mantle goes to ShoBox. On a shoestring budget, ShoBox continues to deliver in 2009.
5. Edison Miranda can be a Super Middleweight Factor: In facing Robert Stieglitz for a Super Middleweight belt on January 9 in Germany, Miranda is facing one of the more beatable belt holders in boxing. With no dearth of “champions” out there, that is saying something. Since being dominated by Andre Ward (looking better in retrospect after Ward dominated Mikkel Kessler), Miranda has scored a first round KO. Stieglitz has been knocked out by Andrade and Alejandro Berrio. Miranda punches harder than both. An impressive win over Stieglitz will give Miranda an argument to be the first alternate should somebody drop out of the Super Six Tournament.
Given Stieglitz’s questionable beard and propensity to be hurt by right hands (Miranda’s money punch), look for Miranda to win the bout on foreign soil.
6. Next Weekend Might Be Better: The December 5 Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez bout is like one of those art films that finds a small audience in a few scattered cities across the nation. Recent films of that vintage include “Sin Nombre” and “Goodbye Solo”, which appealed to only to the most ardent art house fiends. These films are more compelling than your typical popcorn fluff, yet they usually fail to find a mainstream audience. Williams-Martinez is boxing’ version of the small-time Indie flick; it involves two guys with limited star power which may find some crossover audience. More likely than not, only us boxing-aholics will find enjoyment in a match without a marquee name.
Chris Arreola returns on the December 5 card against overmatched Brian Minto. Arreola, if anything, is entertaining.
Knockout artist Tyrone Brunson headlines a December 4 ShoBox card against Carson Jones in his toughest test to date.
On the foreign front, Marco Huck fights Ola Afolabi in an intriguing Cruiserweight showdown from Germany, while Amir Khan defends his Junior Welterweight belt against Dmitriy Salita.
Maybe next weekend’s action will lessen the stench lingering from the scorecards of Roussel and Davis.
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 9:17 PM.
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November 30th, 2009 at 11:38 AM
[...] 1. Lucian Bute is the Truth: Bute possesses a natural flow inside the boxing ring, a fluidity that it makes difficult to avert your eyes from the Romanian-born, Canadian-based Super Middleweight. In his first encounter with Librado Andrade, …Read Original Story: Six Boxing Truths From a Bute of a Weekend – Fight Hype [...]
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