22.01.06 – By Troy Ondrizek: It was the 28th of September, and Germany was a buzz with anticipation of grabbing their first heavyweight title since Max Schmeling held it decades ago. Their warrior that night went by the name Luan Kransiqi. Kransiqi has been a solid contender for some time; he possessed victories over perennial contenders Lance Whitaker and Sinan Samil Sam. All three have been steady good fighters who just couldn’t take it to the championship level. This night Luan would overcome his previous mediocrity and try to rewrite history. Poor guy didn’t really know what he was up against. Lamon Brewster, the man who stood in Kransiqi’s way, did. Lamon knew he was going into possibly the most bias boxing country in the world, in Germany. He knew he was doing it on Schmeling’s 100th birthday. He knew Luan was a better boxer than he.
He knew he could con the boxer-puncher into trading with him late and put him away. The absurdly pro-Kransiqi crowd cheered all night in Luan’s favor, even we he missed. After an exciting seven rounds in which Lamon was behind on all cards including mine, he knocked down Kransiqi for a very, very, very long nine count; which really ended with the bell. At that point I had the fight a draw, yes you can mock as you will, but I had it a draw after eight rounds. The judges disagreed with me, but that didn’t matter. After another exciting round, Brewster floored the weary Kransiqi again. This time Luan got up with time to spare, he proceeded over to his corner, and declared he was done. Lamon Brewster walked through everything the formidable Kransiqi had that night, and delivered a remarkable TKO victory.
That was the best I have ever seen Kransiqi fight, and Brewster still came away victorious. That victory, coupled with his first round blowout of the “Foul Pole” Andrew Golota, has provided Brewster with a certain amount of credibility that all other heavyweight belt holder’s lack. It only took Lamon four months to fight Kransiqi after he beat Golota. It’s been nearly four months since he fought Kransiqi, and we as fans are still left wondering when Brewster will fight again. Yes there is a supposed fight with his number one mandatory Wladimir Klitschko. That’s the fight we as fans are desperate to see. Why hasn’t he done anything to fight again? Why hasn’t this fight with Wladimir been finalized? Why hasn’t he signed to fight with anyone period? Is Lamon Brewster turning into another Jean Marc Mormeck?
Jean Marc Mormeck was the undisputed cruiserweight king until January 7th, when he stumbled into a supernova named O’Neil bell. Mormeck had an impressive victory earlier that year against previously unbeaten Wayne Braithwaite. In that bout, Mormeck proved his dominance over the division’s best, and captured his second trinket, the WBA cruiserweight title, to add to his WBC title. However, Mormeck failed to capitalize on his success, and instead chose to be dormant for over nine months, and subsequently fell victim to Bells’ power. It seems that all momentum that Mormeck had after his defining victory over Braithwaite; had indeed disappeared somewhere during summer or fall. Now Mormeck is going to have to fight some stiff competition to get him into championship contention. So I ask; is Brewster going to fall into the same stagnant muck too?
Brewster fought long and hard to legitimize his claim as champion after his stunning upset of Wladimir Klitschko. Brewster was totally outclassed in that fight. It was a weird ending that was made more controversial by the outlandish claims by Klitschko’s camp of Brewster poisoning the former champion. Not only was his victory over Klitschko tainted, but he was holding the WBO belt; that until Brewster came along, didn’t have much credibility. He followed that fight up with a dismal performance against Kali Meehan, in which several people think Meehan won that fight. So after trying so hard and finally achieving his goal of credibility, why has Brewster drug his feet on another fight?
Now Lamon is a game competitor that has always overcome adversity to be who he is. I believe that this layoff will not stop him from becoming some kind of unified champion. Then again, I thought that Mormeck was going to dispatch of Bell with ease; even though he hadn’t fought for a long time. So I ask; does inactivity breed complacency? For if Brewster does indeed fall victim to his own comforts of spoils. Then the division will be in more disarray then when Vitali retired, and this writer will have his heart broken by another fighter who failed to reach their potential because of complacency. I believe that Brewster right now can beat anybody in the division, but he’s not fighting right now is he?