Oba Carr Gets Iced in Illinois

Walter C. Donovan, III

11.02 - In a shell-shocking upset, unheralded Luther "Sugarman" Smith destructed perennial welterweight contender Oba Carr within two rounds Sunday night in Elgin, Illinois. Carr, 54-5-1 (31), came into this bout with an IBF #10 ranking, still in some semblance of title contention despite his sixth round KO loss to former IBF junior welterweight champ Rafael Pineda last year.

It was smooth sailing for Carr…until a few pulverizing right hooks from Smith, 22-3-2 (12), floored Carr twice in the second, the second knockdown involving three separate spills to the canvas in an attempt to regain his footing. Rising with a champion's heart after crashing to his knees, a woefully dizzy Carr fell helplessly into the arms of referee Gino Rodriguez, ending the fight at :43 of round two.

Carr is faced with a precarious situation. His ability to take a punch has obviously deteriorated, yet he's only three months shy of his 30th birthday. After 175 amateur bouts (where he compiled an astonishing 168-7 record), 60 professional bouts, and years of rigorous training and hardcore sparring, Carr's days as a serious contender are in serious jeopardy. He has failed in three prior welterweight title bids, losing to Felix Trinidad for the IBF belt in 1994 (KO by 8), Ike "Bazooka" Quartey for WBA honors in 1996 (L 12), and Oscar De La Hoya for WBC laurels in 1999 (KO by 11).

Each time Carr fought gallantly (he has the distinction of being the first man to officially knockdown Quartey), and if you ask all three of Carr's title bout conquerors, they'd likely tell you the same thing: he's one ultra-tough hombre with solid technical skills. But how much bodily punishment can one man take? Oba Carr has been a fighter his whole life it seems, and started his pro career as an 18 year old sensation fighting out of Emmanuel Steward's famous Kronk Gym in Detroit, which has produced the likes of former WBA lightweight champ Hilmer Kenty, former WBC welterweight champ Milton McCrory, former junior featherweight/featherweight contender Jemal Hinton, and most notably, four division/five-time world titlist, Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns (sorry Tommy, but I won't count the WBO super middleweight belt you won from James Kinchen, or the WBU and IBO cruiserweight belts you grabbed by beating Lenny LaPaglia and Nate Miller, respectively).

I was hoping Oba Carr could hang in there long enough to spank the winner of the upcoming IBF welterweight title bout between Michele Piccirillo and Cory Spinks, grab himself a title, and make some money with it. Given the IBF's propensity to award title shots to fighters coming off losses (e.g., the late Rudy Zavala given a shot at then-IBF junior featherweight champ Kennedy McKinney in July 1993 before Jesus Salud, Zavala's conqueror), Carr could still be in the mix as a voluntary defense. Besides, if an undeserving jackass like Anthony Mundine was given a shot at an IBF belt, let an honorable warrior like Carr get another crack…even if an unknown kayoed him.

Maybe that's it! I've got it! Carr needs a muse, something to get his juices flowing! What better muse is there than an IBF belt (I'm boasting in my ironical mastery)? If you fight enough stiffs, sooner or later, you'll get stiffed yourself. Sometimes once, twice…even thrice (no, Tyrone Trice, sit down, please…I said "thrice," not "Trice," dammit). This is probably what happened to Oba Carr. Obviously, if he gets flattened again next time out, this viewpoint is null, as Carr will truly be a shot fighter.

Even Max Schmeling suffered knockout losses to Larry Gains (KO by 2) and little-known Gypsy Daniels (KO by 1) before first challenging for the heavyweight title, and was thrashed by Max Baer after holding it…only to come back, hand Joe Louis his first pro defeat in 1936, then challenge Louis for the title two years later. It takes a special kind of man to rebound the way Carr must in order to reemerge as a legitimate title threat. I only want to see Carr do well for himself, and if he needs a few years rest to peel the burned layers off his once-promising career to come back with a vengeance, then he has my best wishes.