05.09.04 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza – Novirasputin@hotmail.com – That’s right, another night in which the biggest winner was the man who spent the least time in the ring, and the most time waving an American flag. I guess it doesn’t get any better than this for Mr. King. Stage a complete sham of a fight, make people think they are watching something that looks genuine, take their money and guarantee to do it all again. Either that or Lamon Brewster and Kali Meehan (photo: Tom Casino/Showtime) are just so bad, that we have only ourselves to blame for allowing the two of them to fight for a title.
I personally believe this fight was completely staged, because Brewster cannot, just cannot, suck so bad. Take round #1, for instance, (one of the worst rounds of boxing I have ever seen, by the way) where Brewster had a petrified man in there, ala Mesi-Williamson (at least Joe did the job the way its supposed to be done), and did exactly, NOTHING! That’s right, except for a late flurry, that as the showtime crew rightly pointed out, won him the round, Brewster did squat against the ghostly afraid Australian Meehan. This coming after he stated before the fight, that he wouldn’t follow his usual plan and attack early. Well, my dear Lamon, what was the alternative, not do anything period? Sure seems that way to me.
It could be argued that Meehan fought gamely, but that is about as much as I can expect from some who is, at best, a club fighter, who used to be a house painter, and a garbage man. Not to get on Meehan’s case, you do what you have to for your family, but he was absolutely horrendous in there, by no fault of his own. Even after he realized Lamon was pulling his punches (by not throwing them, that is), and giving him a chance to make the fight exactly what in essence it was, a sparring match, Meehan tired way too quickly to make anything of it, except feather fisted jabs, that could be seen from a galaxy far far away.
So, after a few meaningless, superficially beautified rounds, where both guys did very little in a very busy looking way, Brewster suddenly got tired in the 8th. From what, I have no idea, but it sure as hell wasn’t from the fact that he was overexerting himself trying to get Meehan out of there. Meehan was, of course, too tired to do anything himself, but barrel at Brewster’s chest, and stiffle his punches by throwing them too close, and at Brewster’s guard. Even so, Lamon still almost managed to get himself TKOed, until Nady reminded him that he was in a boxing match and had to, surprisingly, throw punches! Which he did just enough of to not get stopped.
After that, the match returned to its superficiality, with one guy not doing anything cause he was too tired, and the other guy not doing anything, god knows why, although both looking very serious at their duty. Meehan looked like Vlad Klitschko in the fifth of his last fight, or more fittingly, Francois Botha, (who, by the way, is proud of the fact that he fights with his hands down. Way to go, White Buffalo). In other words, with his hands at his sides and his mouth wide open, gasping for air (at least Vlad threw the Kitchen Sink at Brewster before fading, Meehan barely threw a few punches in comparison). Gee, you would think Brewster, who already has this sort of experience, would do away with Mr. “CheckMate” right there, but apparently that doesn’t satisfy Don King. What did finally satiate King’s appetite was a split decision in favor of Brewster, who took the majority part of the fight at a snail’s pace.
Perhaps I am way off base here but Lamon hurt Meehan every time he threw, and he hurt him much worse than he did Klitschko, even though that fight ended in a KO (more so, cause Vlad punched himself out). So why not finish him? Is Meehan that much better than Vlad? Doubtful. Furthermore, lets assume Brewster attacks hard, and doesn’t finish Meehan off, what is Kali gonna do? He was gasping harder than a woman in heat, I doubt he could press the issue after that. Just look at both guys after the fight in the interview. Meehan is still weezing like a Senior citizen, while Brewster looks about the same as he did before the fight. The whole affair left a sour taste in my mouth even though, on the outside, it seemed like an exciting fight. However, as the Showtime people so eloquently put it, “Both guys are on an equal level, which makes for an exciting fight.” In other words, both are so horrible that it could pass for a hard fought battle, but I just can’t see it that way.
In my opinion, the only surprising thing about this night was that Brewster is voting for Kerry, and Don King supports George Bush (and apparently knows Geography just as well as our president. Yeah, Don, Germany and Russia are two different countries.). I assumed that this fight would be a UD for Brewster, regardless of what happens in the ring, but in retrospect a Split decision works better for the man of the hour, Don King (and perhaps the fighters, too), as well as creates another blown up “contender” for Don King to parade around, and make money on. By the way, according to King, Holyfield is fighting Brewster next. Get ready, folks, I think this one will set the all time record for the least amount of punches thrown in a fight, and I am willing to bet we will see another tasteless decision much like what we saw tonight.
In conclusion, this fight did not deserve TV airtime, but sadly, that is exactly what it got. What surprises me is that some fans wonder why me and a vigilant loyal few, still hold out hope for Mike Tyson. Guys, I hope this fight answered your question.
Bonus thought: Cory Spinks fought a marvelous fight against not only a game, but a calculating former champion, in Miguel Angel Gonzalez, who really did try to win. The difference in the fight, was obviously Spink’s reflexes, which seemed even better, based on the fact that this was a hand picked opponent. Its hard to assess Spinks knowing that, but at the same time it is hard to dismiss how well he fought tonight, irregardless of who it was. I rarely give credit to fighters for what I call “showcase” fights, but I think Spinks has the tools to become a true Legend. Even though this fight is forgettable Cory’s exciting punch output and movement is not.
Finally,
Thanks to Diana Tulman for letting me use her TV to watch the fights .
As always thoughts to Novirasputin@hotmail.com