By Jason Peck: Tarver-Green is off (thank God), and just about everything that can be said about Jones-Trinidad has been said. To my knowledge, these fights haven’t yet gotten the disrespect due them. To my knowledge, these travesties can’t be blamed on a sanctioning body. Just outright short-sightedness, greed and a little bit of cowardice. These fights waste some serious God-given talent, have little potential for a good scrap, and – in the end – won’t make much difference in their respective weight classes. Mostly, they just preserve a perfect record..
Without further ado:
LUCIAN BUTE VS. WILLIAM JOPPY: Every now and then a fighter wins against someone so shot that actually has to redeem himself as though he had lost. This just might be one of these times.
Look at Bute. He’s young, he’s hungry, he’s a solid, impressive fighter. So who does he schedule his first defense against? I’ll tell you who – with William Joppy, an over-the-hill, former middleweight champion who hasn’t fought anyone of worth since losing to Jermain Taylor three years ago. The only positive note about that beating is that it wasn’t nearly as awful as the horrific ass-whippings Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad inflicted before that. Since Taylor, his opponents have barely held winning records.
Quite frankly, I’m worried for Joppy’s safety.
I suppose this could be acceptable move for Bute, provided he plans on fighting at least two or three more times this year. But his stock goes down if he makes this one of two in 2008.
Winner: Bute, somehow.
RUSLAN CHAGAEV VS. MATT SKELTON: Remember the days when heavyweight had six-pack abs? I’ve noticed a disturbing trend toward slovenly physiques in boxing’s glamor division, and the waistlines keep getting bigger. This one could actually set a record for slovenly conditioning in a title fight.
Expect considerable ring rust from Chagaev after a long layoff. And quite honestly, Skelton looks like he couldn’t handle five minutes with a Thighmaster, let alone 12 rounds of boxing.
I’ve always respected the Brits. Boxing may be down and out in America, my backward country. But they never forgot what the real sport is.
So what the hell is wrong here? This is the heavyweight champion from the country that gave us Chris Eubank and Lennox Lewis? I watched the movie “Crank” the other day, and I’m pretty sure Jason Statham could beat him up. But then again, Hugh Grant looked pretty beefy in “Love Actually.” Either way, there has to be an Englishman out there who can knock him out.
Winner: Who cares?
JUNIOR WITTER VS. DEMETRIUS HOPKINS: Talk about a waste of talent.
Junior Witter claims that top-tier fighters like Mayweather, Hatton and Cotto are afraid of him. But Hatton himself pointed out Witter’s problem by simply comparing his resume to Witter’s. Hatton has fought more world-ranked fighters, and vacated three times the belts that Witter had ever won.
I’m not saying that Hatton could beat him, but that’s a hell of a point. Likewise, everyone “ducking” him has also accomplished far more. So why would they take such a risk, when they’ll earn such a small return?
In truth, Witter is tremendously gifted fighter who spent much of his career holding himself back. He prices himself out of lucrative fights, and seldom picks a serious challenge. To date, his seventh-round stoppage of former world champion Vivian Harris stands as his greatest victory by far. Prior to that, his only big fight came against Zab Judah, which he lost. Shame on Witter – he should have had way bigger notches in his belt by now.
Should this fight pan out, it’s well in keeping with Witter’s habit of fighting non-threats. Demetrius Hopkins is capable, but his questionable victory over Steve Forbes proves he’s still not yet ready. And Witter was planning on fighting him before the Forbes victory, meaning that Hopkins would be fighting for a world title without ever fighting a world-level fighter.
Go figure. On the other hand, Demetrius has accomplished the following:
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Was born the nephew of Bernard Hopkins.
Winner: Witter. Despite everything, he’s still fought tougher opposition. And experience matters in everything, except for presidential races.
CHRIS JOHN VS. NAMELESS FIGHTER: So far, Chris John’s career has been so disappointing that I can’t dwell on it.
FACT: Chris John beat Juan Manuel Marquez, decisively.
FACT: JMM was regarded as the best featherweight in the world, following the exodus of Barrera, Morales and Pacquiao.
So, THEREFORE, Chris John is probably the best featherweight in the world.
But what does he do with the brownie points he scored from besting a P4P fighter? Nothing. Absolutely goddamned nothing. The featherweight division is packed with people he could beat, but won’t. Even after such a victory, he continues fighting like he was a prospect, rather than a capable champion.
Talk about a waste of talent. In retrospect, I feel bad about the Witter comments. I should erase them, but…
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I hate to sound overly negative, there’s actually several fights I’m looking forward to. In my opinion, Casamayor-Katsidis should be a great scrap, along with Judah-Margarito. And of course, there’s the third fight between Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez.
But I’m just upset about the way world champions merely tread water. That may have been OK years ago when they defended their titles several times a year. But these fights? They better fight a hell of a lot in 2008 to wash the stink away.