Holyfield’s last stand and other predictions

By Jim De Pierro

Its very rare in boxing that three different networks will show what has the potential to be three great fights all in the same weekend. I have been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time as yours truly will be seeing the entire Holyfield-Rahman card in person.

First up will be the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights card featuring James “light out” Toney against Michael Rush who some of you may remember as being Hasim Rahman’s punching bag for 5 rounds a few years back when Rahman was coming off his loss to David Tua. I Don't expect much out of this fight as it will most likely be “lights out” for Rush in what will probably be a one sided fight.

James Toney KO 6 over Michael Rush

The real reason to tune into FNF this week will be to witness the re-match of Leonard Dorin 20-0 (7 KOs) against Raul Balbi 49-5-1 (33 KOs) for the WBA lightweight title. The WBA gets a lot of crap and rightfully so for their ridiculous mandatories and for putting boxing fans through the anguish of having to witness thirty six rounds of Holyfield-Ruiz in what is surely one of the worst trilogies in boxing history. Dorin-Balbi I is the type of fight that begs for a rematch as the first contest was extremely close and a very back and forth brawl. Until Ward-Gatti came along this was the fight of the year. It at times reminded me of Barrera-Morales.

In the first fight Dorin certainly looked the part of the loser after the fight in a caricature that could easily have been a lightweight version of Rocky Balboa or Arturo Gatti. I felt the first fight could have gone either way, both fighters had their moments and the volume of punches was incredible. Some people undoubtedly feel that Balbi was robbed but I think peoples perception of the fight is clouded by the fact that Dorin looked so beaten up but was given the decision while Balbi appeared to have less wear and tear after the fight.

The only significant factor in the re-match that will be different from the first fight is that this fight will be taking place in Dorin’s home country of Romania. Both Dorin and Balbi threw everything they had at each other the first time and neither fighter was able to attain a KO. In all likelihood this fight will be decided by the judges. Dorin was certainly lucky in the first fight in that the ringside officials gave him the benefit of the doubt by not stopping the fight on cuts. Personally I don't think fights should ever be stopped on cuts as long as the fighter is not blinded by his/her own blood and can still effectively defend themselves which Dorin was able to do. Being that this fight is taking place in Romania it is highly unlikely that the fight would be stopped on something like cuts in a venue that will be highly sympathetic to the defending champion. Dorin stands a good chance of winning fight outright. Unless Balbi is very dominating Dorin should win regardless.

For those of you who have never seen Dorin fight don't be fooled by the fact that he only has 7 KOs in 20 fights. I would describe Dorin’s style as an very aggressive volume puncher. Dorin is not some light tapper that dances around the ring for twelve rounds while putting everyone to sleep. Dorin will be in his opponent’s face from the opening bell. Dorin doesn't have one punch KO power but his punches will get his opponents respect.

Leonard Dorin Unanimous Decision over Raul Balbi

Being a Yankee my exposure to Ricky Hatton 28-0 (23KOs) and Eamonn Magee 23-2 (15KOs) has been quite limited on this side of the pond. Hatton, I have seen on a couple of occasions on ShoBox and while he looks a little crude at times his style is very fan friendly. I like Hatton’s commitment to body shots which most up and coming prospects tend to overlook. Eamonn Magee I have only seen once against Jonathan Thaxton who took Hatton the distance. I thought Thaxton was more than holding his own against Magee before the fight was stopped. The stoppage looked premature as it seemed to me that the fight was called off when Thaxton was only in a little bit of trouble. I can’t prove it but my hunch is that this fight was just an excuse to give Magee a KO win over a guy that went the distance with Hatton just to hype this fight. I don't put to much stock into common opponents.

Ricky Hatton TKO 7 over Eamonn Magee

Hopefully by the time the main event takes place in the Boardwalk Convention Center in Atlantic City I will not have fallen asleep. The only reason I might not be awake is that I will have to watch Larry Donald fight on the under card which can be a trying test on anyone’s stamina to remain awake. They should pay me to watch Larry Donald fight. Hopefully TBA will be someone halfway decent that could pull off an upset.

HBO will undoubtedly play Evander Holyfield 37-5-2 (25 KOs) vs. Hasim Rahman 35-3 (29 KOs) fight as an appetizer to the Lewis-Tyson pay per view fight one week later. This is one case where the appetizer will be better than the main dish as I think this fight will exceed expectations in terms of being a quality boxing match.

I like Rahman to win for several reasons. The first being that Rahman is younger and I think actually hungrier than Holyfield. The addition of Bouie Fishcer (2001 trainer of the year) will be big plus for Rahman as he is a more distinguished trainer than Adrian Davis who was fired by Rahman following his loss to Lennox Lewis. Initially Rahman placed much of the blame for the loss of his heavyweight crown to Lewis on Davis but in recent interviews he has admitted that it was largely his fault for not going into the re-match with Lewis without a game plan. This suggests to me that their has been a maturing on the part of Rahman. From reports I have read on various boxing web sites Fishcher is looking to improve on Rahman’s speed and work on combination punching so as not to be too reliant on looking to win the fight with just one punch. Rahman, from what I have heard, is going to come in at about 232-233 lbs which is the lightest he has been in years. Although Rahman suffered a brutal loss in his last fight I think that will actually make Rahman a more dangerous fighter as this is a do or die fight for him. Rahman was able to rebound from his knockout loss to Oleg Maskaev without any ill effects and I don't think Lewis’s knockout will have any lasting repercussions on Rahman. The fact that John Ruiz was able to knock Holyfield down in their second encounter combined with the fact that Holyfield looks less of a fighter every time he gets in the ring leads me to believe that Holyfield is ripe to being stopped by a big puncher who can put punches together as I think Rahman can. My guess is that Holyfield can’t fight a full three minutes of any round will be looking for a counter shot or steal rounds by fighting hard in little spurts. I wouldn’t place money on this fight but I am cautiously optimistic that Rahman will win at some point past the 5th round.

Hasim Rahman TKO 8 over Evander Holyfield

While I certainly don't expect Holyfield to win I would be a fool to dismiss his chances entirely. Boxing experts have been writing Evander Holyfield’s boxing obituary for nearly ten years now ever since he lost the title the first time to Riddick Bowe in 1992. Evander Holyfield likes to think of himself as a four time heavyweight champion but that only rings true according to the alphabet boys. I for one believe that championships are won and lost in the ring so by my reckoning Holyfield is a two time heavyweight champion which is still quite an accomplishment. When he had lost his title to Michael Moorer and was diagnosed with heart problems we thought he was finished. Holyfield went on to lose the third and final fight of his epic trilogy with Riddick Bowe.

The beginning of 1996 was probably the lowest point of Holyfield’s career his next fight was widely regarded a weak performance against Bobby Czyz. Its at this point that Holyfield would go from being underrated to overrated as he would not once but twice beat Mike Tyson who at the time and to this day to some extent captured the public’s imagination of who was the real heavyweight champion. I would argue that post-1995 Mike Tyson was the most over hyped fighter ever. Tyson at that point and today is really nothing more than an incredible marketing job in the 1980s built up on a half a dozen brutal knockouts of top contenders in the late 1980s. When Holyfield beat Tyson twice the average person who didn’t pay to much attention to boxing was left with this quandary. Either Mike Tyson isn’t very good any more and I was wrong to buy into the hype or I was wrong about Evander Holyfield he really is the best heavyweight in the world. Most fans following Holyfield’s two victories over Tyson seemed to buy into the later view that Holyfield had been underrated all these years and thus began the Holyfield era. The Holyfield era lasted until the infamous draw with Lewis when everyone except Jean Williams realized that Holyfield was no longer the best heavyweight in the world thus the beginning of what I consider the Lewis era which lasts to this day and will continue past June 8th. Years from now boxing historians will most likely point two Holyfield’s two victories over Mike Tyson as his greatest accomplishments in the ring. For me, I really think that Holyfield’s second fight with Bowe was more of a feat than beating Mike Tyson. Holyfield-Bowe II didn’t generate the kind of dollars or attention that Tyson-Holyfield I and II did but Bowe was a big man in his prime who had just about every intangible advantage over Holyfield. Bowe was bigger, stronger, faster and already had once beaten Evander Holyfield. The only thing that Holyfield had over Bowe and the only thing he needed was his desire to be heavyweight champion again. Tyson in retrospect was really just a shell of himself who could have been beaten by many top 10 fighters when Holyfield fought him.

I have never been a fan of Evander Holyfield except for when he was fighting thugs like Bowe and Tyson. I have always respected Holyfield though. I think Holyfield is one of the better heavyweight champions that boxing has seen. Most heavyweight champions ruled their division because they excelled at one area and were able to capitalize on their strengths. Guys like Dempsey, Louis, Liston and Tyson were the best in their eras because they were stronger than anyone else. Ali had speed and wits that were unmatched. Guys like Holmes and Lewis ruled largely based on their great jab, size and skills. Evander Holyfield was never the best in his era because he was bigger, faster, stronger or even the most skilled fighter of his time. What Holyfield had that no other heavyweight in his era could come close to in contesting was his heart and desire to be the best.

I like Holyfield as a fighter in that he always gives it a 100% effort in every fight that he is in. Holyfield’s heart and love of the game is without a doubt his greatest strength but its also his greatest weakness. Things I don't like about Holyfield is that he can be delusional at times like when he said that God told him he would knock Lewis out in the third round.

Even at the age of 39 Holyfield has taken exceptionally good care of his body. Holyfield has never been out of shape due to a lack of training on his part but unfortunately there is one foe that is undefeated among all champions that no fighter has ever been able to beat and that is father time.