26.04 - For those of you who have Showtime make sure you catch this week’s Shobox ‘the new generation’ as two of the heavyweight divisions most exciting fighters Clifford “the Black Rhino” Ettiene [23-1-0 (17)] will take on Terrance Lewis [31-10-0 (21)] in what should be the first of two action packed heavyweight fights this weekend. With Terrance Lewis there is no result involving him that could surprise me. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to hear that he knocked out Ray Mercer only to drop a decision to Peter McNeeley in his next fight. Terrance Lewis is the type of fighter who could beat just about anybody on his best day as one time heavyweight prospects Darol Wilson, Robert Davis and Ed Mahone can all atest to. On the flip Lewis is the type of fighter who could also lose to some no name scrubs on his worst day. Losses to has beens like James Page and Levi Billups and third tier fighters like Ron Guerrero, James Gaines and Michael Rush are not the kind of things that Lewis is going to want to tell his grandchildren when he is an old man looking back at his career.

In an insightful interview with T. E. Oliver, Lewis makes the comment, “If I went out there with a David Tua-type of attitude I would probably only have one or two losses. Most of the fights that I’ve lost were because I’ve grown complacent and got lazy.” To a certain extent I would tend to agree with Lewis as he has shown that he can be a force to be reckoned with in fights with Moorer, Davis and Mahone when he has his mind set on winning. With Moorer (TKOed in 2), I feel that Lewis was the victim of an early stoppage although the final outcome was never in doubt with me. Against Mahone and Davis, Lewis shows the promise of being a contender. It’s a shame that he ended up losing his next fight to Ron Guerero (KOby in 7) as I think he is certainly capable of beating Guerrero whom I don’t find particularly impressive. One thing that has to be considered though is that Mahone and Davis largely chose to fight Lewis’s fight by slugging with him.

Clifford Ettiene, for his part minus one absolutely dismall performance against Fres Oquendo where he was knocked down seven times, has looked like he has the makings of a top ten contender. Ettiene has posted solid victories over Lamon Brewster where Brewster was knocked from pillar to post for 10 rounds and Cliff Couser who stood his ground but lost in three tough rounds. The most notable victory in Ettiene’s career was an action packed fight of the year candidate when he beat Lawrence Cley-Bey in a ten round unanimous decision. I remember thinking later on that night as David Tua was giving a lack luster effort in his bid wrest the title from Lennox Lewis that it was to bad the Ettiene wasn’t the one challenging for the title that night as Ettiene I think would have given it 110%.

Although many might dismiss Ettiene as having a glass jaw as a result of being dropped seven times by Oquendo enroute to an 8th round TKO loss I don’t think that is necessarily the case. I am almost certain that Ettiene looked as clumsy as he did as a result of Oquendo hitting a nerve in his head thus causing Ettiene to lose his equilibrium. I have seen fighters get hit with punches in the upper part of their head that don’t look very hard but leave the fighter discombobulated and dizzy. Oquendo managed to hit Ettiene in the exact same spot almost every time with the same telegraphed over hand right every time. Ettienes biggest limitation as shown in the Oquendo fight was his inability to adapt. Ettiene and Lewis are similar in that both only know how to fight one way. I expect one possibly both to climb off the canvas at some point during the course of this fight. Ettiene should win about seven rounds to three.

Clifford Ettiene Unanimous Decision over Terrance Lewis

Johnny Tapia [51-2-2 (28)] should continue his climb up the featherweight ranks as he will easily dispose of Manuel Medina [60-11-0 (27)] and add the IBF featherweight title to the list of his accomplishments. Although Medina’s experience is incredible as he has been in with just about everyone so to is Tapia who in my eyes and his is still undefeated. The only area where Medina has a significant experience edge over Tapia is in losing and that’s a lesson Tapia isn’t going to learn come Saturday night as Medina will walk out of the ring with a dozen losses on his record

Johnny Tapia Unanimous Decision over Manuel Medina

If there is anyone that looks the part of what a heavyweight champion should look like it is Shannon Briggs [36-3-1 (30)]. At the still young age of 30 standing 6’4” with an 81” reach and rippling muscles with power and handspeed that is easily superior to 90% of the heavyweights out their backed up with 22 first round knock outs you would think whoever is facing this guy would have to enter this fight as a heavy underdog. But oh how looks can be deceiving. Like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz, Briggs is only missing one thing to make him a whole fighter. If only he had a heart. History has shown Briggs to be a paper tiger as evidenced in fights with Darol Wilson, George Foreman and Sedrick Fields.

A friend of mine recently sent me a tape of the Briggs-Botha fight and in it Bobby Cyz says paraphrasing ‘Briggs says Botha is to slow and Botha says Briggs doesn’t have heart’. What I found really interesting about that was that they were both right and that Briggs lack of heart cancelled out Botha’s lack of speed and the result was a draw. The end result was an entertaining bout where two of the most overated heavyweights in boxing today ended up exposing each other in one night.

Jameel McCline’s career and history as a fighter is the polar opposite to Shannon Briggs. Whereas Briggs looked to have the makings of a superstar as he annihilated one opponent after another, McClines record at one time stood as an unimpressive 2-2-1. By the time Briggs was 25-0 McCline was only 2-1 fighting to a four round draw against Albert Williams on the same night that Briggs would suffer his first loss to Darol Wilson claiming asthma as his excuse which was news to his then trainer Teddy Atlas.

Briggs star, although dampened would go on to a form of tainted glory as he would later beat George Foreman with the help of the three blind mice and be the linear heavyweight champion. Although Foreman got robbed blind I maintain that this was actually a blessing in disguise for boxing. After seeing Foreman the beneficiary of a controversial decision over Axel Schulz and refusing to fight a rematch I hardly felt sorry to see Foreman get the short end of the stick. The Briggs-Foreman robbery was good in three way.

1.) It allowed Foreman to retire on a high note. If Foreman had won that decision he might have stuck around and fought someone who was capable of giving a 48 year old man a terrible beating.

2.) It preserved the lineage and thus the credibility of the heavyweight championship. It would have been a travesty if Foreman were allowed to retire by defending against the likes of Lou Savarese, Shannon Briggs and Crawford Grimsley.

3.) Even though he didn’t deserve the opportunity Briggs made good use of his title shot against Lewis as it looked like for the first two rounds he might join Oliver McCall and pull off a monumental upset nearly three years before Hasim Rahman upset the apple cart.

McCline for his part has spent the majority of his career in anonymity often fighting on the undercard of more well known fighters. For some time McCline was just a staple on Cedric Kushner’s Heavyweight Explosion. Eventually McCline was deemed good enough to be a stepping stone for Michael Grant and later Goofi aka Lance Whitaker. What Goofi and Grant didn’t know was that they would be the ones end up getting stepped on as McCline would emerge as top contender in his own right. The work ethic and many rounds of sparring with the likes of Lennox Lewis have paid their dividends as McCline is now the solid favorite to beat Shannon Briggs. I am generally pretty skeptical new age things like hypnosis and yoga and the like but if anyone can change my mind its Jameel McCline who has one of the most unique training regiments I have ever heard of.

The way I see this fight going is that Briggs doesn’t bring anything to the table that Goofi or Grant didn’t have other than better hand speed and more experience. Most people feel that Briggs best chance to win is to go for an early KO. I think Briggs best chance is to capitalize on his experience and take advantage of McCline’s rookie mistakes. Grant and Goofi were essentially amateurs like McCline learning on the job. If Briggs has a solid amateur background which can serve him well against McCline who still has a lot learn at this point even though his learning curve has been exemplary.

One of my favorite stories growing up was the story of the tortoise and the hare because it showed that hard work and diligence can overcome insurmountable odds of an opponent who is quicker and flashier than you but doen’t hold your same work ethic. Briggs throughout his career has played the part of the hare, it is only now that the tortoise shall manage to pass the finish line as the hare shall realize his time has come and gone and that his efforts while valiant will be to little to late.

Jameel McCline KO 7 over Shannon Briggs