There is a lot happening concerning world titles for Australian
based boxers over the next three to four months.
The WBC has decided to make Antonio Tarver defend his light
heavyweight
against Paul Briggs and the WBC has mandated that Danny Green will now
face
Marcus Beyer as the mandatory challenger because Mikkel Kessler and
his handlers are unwilling to travel to Green's hometown of Perth
Australia to fight an official elimination bout. Just when I thought
it was a bit strange for a few Aussie fighters not to be getting the
short end of the stick, the politics of world boxing reveal themselves
from the shadows like a Sith Lord from Star Wars!
PAUL BRIGGS
Don King has won a purse bid to stage Tarver-Briggs for approximately
2.7
million US dollars. Tarver apparently is deciding whether to take this
bout or whether he should pursue more lucrative bouts with Glengoffe
Johnson or one of the heavyweight champs. Personally I can see why he
wishes to do this as Paul Briggs is a serious contender with a big
punch and well capable of beating Tarver. I think people have been too
keen to place Tarver in the top five pound for pound boxers on the
planet. He probably deserved the decision in the first bout with Roy
Jones Jnr., but he did not dominate the contest by any means. The
return bout he landed one punch, a punch that could be considered well
timed, lucky or both. To me the jury is still out on Tarver.
If Tarver chooses to give up his belt it might make Briggs trip to a
world title easier, but for Paul a lot less satisfying. He genuinely
wants to fight and beat the man who beat Roy Jones Jnr.
I recently obtained a copy of Paul Briggs' most recent bout, a WBC
official eliminator against Drew Stipe. It was quite a novelty for me
to view a bout with absolutely no commentary (some form of dispute at
the last minute forced the cancellation of PPV coverage); still I'm
glad I saw the bout as this was one of most one-sided foul riddled
bouts I have seen without a disqualification being awarded.
Drew Stipe -for those of you who don't know- is a 6' 4" Croatian,
fighting out of Germany. He is quite surprisingly muscular for a man
of this height, who weighs only 175 pounds. Stipe had the better of
the contest during the first 6 rounds and was fighting very cleanly
until Briggs dropped him with a very powerful left hook in round six.
After a second knockdown in the 6th, Stipe grasped Briggs in a bear
hug and then very deliberately drove his knee into Briggs' groin, I
bet this reminded Paul of his days fighting Muai Thai kickboxing in
Thailand. Stipe tried this tactic a second time in round 7 but this
proved to be a mistake. As Stipe lifted his knee Briggs connected with
another punch, catching the lanky Croatian off balance and knocking
him to the canvas again. For the rest of the bout Briggs had to endure
deliberate head butts, shoulder charges, elbows and an underhook
chokehold that would have made Randy Couture proud. Stipe was
penalized at least three points during the bout and after clearly
doing the wrong thing I heard him say "Who Me?"
Stipe did make it to the final bell and lost a unanimous points
decision. Briggs' promoters made some smart moves by not having an
Australian referee or any Australian judges, thus leaving Stipe no
reason to claim bias. I have heard that Stipe has commented in Europe
he feels he was hard done by. In my humble opinion it's a wonder the
WBC and every other sanctioning body won't ban him for life and send
him off to the Ultimate Fighting circuit.
In beating Drew Stipe, Paul Briggs defeated probably the most
difficult and awkward fighter you could possibly dream of facing (more
like a nightmare) and came out victorious. Tarver, however, will be a
lot faster and a lot more skilled and I rate Briggs an even chance of
winning the proposed bout. For people who have not seen Briggs fight,
don't write him off as being another soft mandatory contender.
DANNY GREEN
After postponements, cancellations, injuries and Marcus Beyer losing
his title to an unworthy challenger, Danny Green has been officially
named as Marcus Beyer's official mandatory challenger. Mikkel Kessler
and his people disputed Green's right to challenge Beyer even though
they participated in a purse bid and lost. Now they are taking legal
action saying that Green's purse bid was not on time. What is it with
these European fighters and their promoters? Why do they have to cry
when things don't go they way? As it is Danny Green who became the
official number 1 contender when he stopped Eric Lucas in December
2003; it was a joke that Green had to participate in an elimination
bout with Kessler in the first place.
I have to laugh at Kessler and his people as Danny Green's two most
devastating performances have occurred overseas, in his opponents'
backyards. Maybe Kessler and his promoters should look at Green's
bouts with Marcus Beyer and Eric Lucas and work out that hometown
advantage will not mean anything when Mikkel gets in the ring with
Green. The only way to beat Danny Green is by being the better man on
the night or to screw him over with biased officials with
conflicting interests like in Germany when he wiped that canvas with
Marcus Beyer. The legal action Mikkel Kessler and his people are
taking makes me ANGRY!
It was a pleasure to see the WBC not put up with Kessler's promoters
nonsense by setting a deadline to accept the purse bid and proceed
with the organization of the bout in Perth. Instead, they have acted
like spoilt brats by taking legal action. Team Palle (Kessler's
promoters) need to get over the fact that the bounce of the ball
didn't go their way, and either go ahead with the fight in Perth or
step aside and wait another 12 months before the WBC Super
Middleweight champ makes his next mandatory defence.
Kostya Tszyu is scheduled to face Sharmba "The little Bigmouth"
Mitchell in
a rematch of their 2000 unification bout. Look out for a separate
article in the not too distant future, previewing this overdue bout.
Nedal Hussein is due to face WBC Super Bantamweight champ Oscar Larios
in
November and Vic Darchinian is due his shot at Irene Pacheco sometime
soon.
