ONE NIGHT... THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF THE SPORT By Aladdin Freeman

In my eyes the HBO card of the weekend of April 10 of 2004 showed what’s bad and good about boxing all in one night.

THE BAD:

I may be crazy by saying this, and I may have to go back and look at how I watch and score fights, but there is no way I saw Cory Spinks winning his fight vs. Zab Judah in such a one sided manner.

In my eyes I did see Spinks winning the first three rounds, then I gave the next seven to Zab, the  11th to Spinks and the 12th to Zab, that’s 8 rounds to 4 in favor of Zab, and I could even see one of the rounds going for Spinks to make it 7 to 5 but that’s about it. It didn’t seem like that hard of a fight to score, Spinks' corner certainly didn’t act like he was winning the fight... “Stop bullshitting in there,” they shouted. I heard more cuss words from that corner than one would from a group of drunken sailors.

Zab may have made a mistake by just trying to knock out Spinks rather than letting his hands go more, but he clearly did more of the damage and his jab and body punches were popping all night. I feel sorry for Judah, he looked better than he has in a while and was very calm for such a big event and in my eyes he did what he had to do to bring home all the belts.

The judges scores of 114-112, 114-112 and then 116-111 all in favor of Cory Spinks left me scratching my head in similar fashion as when Shane Mosley got the nod over Oscar De La Hoya back in September of 2003, another fight that took place in Las Vegas. In that match-up it seemed like Mosley landed the harder shots but De La Hoya landed more punches; in this fight Zab landed more punches and the harder punches as well, yet Spinks walked away with the belts. Even in Don King’s crooked ass world it would have made dollars -as well as sense- to have Judah winning the fight so they could rematch, which they may do anyway.

I can’t begin to tell you again how much I hate close, competitive fights that go to the cards in Las Vegas. Time and time again in a close fight out in Vegas there always seems to be controversy. Yes,  it’s a fun atmosphere, but every time I see a fight in Sin City I’m hoping for a Knock Out because you can’t trust the judges out there. Want something to do when you're bored? Get with your boxing friends and try to think of how many bad or controversial decisions have taken place in Las Vegas. Morales vs. Barrera I and II, Morales vs. Espadas, De La Hoya vs. Trinidad, De La Hoya vs. Quartey, Hagler vs. Leonard, Freitas vs. Casamayor, Ayala vs. Tapia II, Adams vs. Ayala, Mosley vs. De La Hoya II stand out off the top of my head.

Roy Jones Jr. in my opinion was on both sides of the fence but when it came to the Zab Judah fight, Jim Lampley asked him straight up what did he think, he should have said it was Bullshit. Instead he wanted to be a good “house negro” and not offend anyone by saying what he really saw, a smaller man kicking the ass of a bigger man who had the belts. We don’t need this crap in boxing, with as much crap as is going on now; shoot straight and call them as you see them Roy.

The Ring Mat... Come on Don King! That was the worst mat I’ve seen in a long time; forget the fact that the card you're putting on Pay Per View sucks, but a mat with that much writing and paint on it puts the fighters at serious risk and someone should have called OSHA on you. Also, no one should bother wasting whatever they are charging for that 'Tom Foolery' of a card.

THE GOOD:

Lamon Brewster wasn’t given a chance by anyone other than the MOB who made him an opening 11-1 underdog and a closing 10-1 underdog. Waldimir Klitschko, who was being billed as the next big thing in the heavyweight division, and then became just next after taking a serious beating at the hands of Corey Sanders, was coming back to make a point.

Everyone I know including yours truly -even though I’ve been a critic all along- picked Klitschko to win and win early. Looking at the results against similar opposition it would be easy to see why, but Brewster, who was dedicating the fight to his recently deceased trainer Bill Slayton, was fighting for a lot more than a chance to shake up the heavyweight division.

The fight was far from perfect for Brewster, who got battered from pillar to post for most of the evening except for a big jab in the 3rd round and the two left hooks in the 5th round that ended the fight. Wladimir Klitschko has some of the best offensive fire in the whole division; he also has the worst chin in the division, with the exception of Clifford Ettiene.

Klitschko was dominating the fight, even dropping Brewster in the 4th round and landing some thunderous right hands in the 5th round but  just ran out of gas and simply couldn’t continue at the end of the 5th round.

Mike Tyson once said something I find interesting now, and that was don’t measure a fighter by how they are when they are kicking ass and things are going their way, see what they do when they are getting their ass kicked and how they handle the pressure, that’s how you judge to see if a fighter is a warrior. Aaron Pryor would get dropped and then get up and kick your ass, same with Felix Trinidad, Terry Norris got knocked slam out by Julian Jackson and never had a good chin after that, yet went on to become a champion. Lamon Brewster with the aid of his former trainer and God did pass the test Mike Tyson was talking about. Wladimir, however, didn’t when he fought Sanders in March of 2003, and he failed again on Saturday night.

Roy Jones Jr. was very good when he pointed out that: 1) The Klitschkos can’t take what they dish out,  2) Vitali does fight at a better pace, not to tire himself out, and 3) that an in shape Lennox Lewis would kick both of their asses. He was right hand when he felt Zab was loading up with the left hand and that he does possess the power. This is what we need from Roy; he’s the best fighter on the planet and should have no problem offering insightful points on every fighter he gets to watch.

Larry Merchant gets the nod for telling the hanger-ons and Don king’s crew that if they didn’t stop all the background noise he would cut the interview short. Love him or hate him for his beliefs, Larry doesn’t back down from anyone and if he feels he’s being wronged or can’t do his job in a certain fashion he will let you know he doesn’t approve of it.

All in all it was a evening that in my eyes displayed the bad and good of boxing and hopefully in the end the good outweighed the bad; it’s up for you to decide.

4-15-2004