November 12, 2006 –By Mike Indri, Retired Boxers Foundation – New York – Wladimir Klitschko, who earlier in the week had said he really can’t be considered the best heavyweight boxer without all the titles being unified, did wonders for his calling as the top dog of all the heavyweights with his impressive 7th round knockout victory of highly touted and previously undefeated Calvin Brock..
In front of the 14,260 in attendance at the most historical and magical venue in all of boxing, Madison Square Garden, and the millions watching televised live on HBO, Klitschko out-boxed and out-jabbed a very disappointingly ineffective Brock for six rounds before pulverizing the Main Events promoted fighter with several damaging right hands which wobbled and stunned the Virginia native, before the Ukrainian giant’s final right hand bomb crashed onto the semi-conscious Brock and dropped the beaten fighter like a chopped redwood. With the Garden crowd a scattered sea of blue and yellow, symbolizing the flag of his beloved Ukraine, Klitschko watched as a severely wounded Brock struggled to get to his feet and did indeed beat referee Wayne Kelly’s count. Unfortunately for the likable Brock, he was in no condition to continue.
“He (Brock) did beat the count, but was wobbly,” stated the veteran referee right after the bout, “I looked into his eyes and he wasn’t coherent,” added Kelly, “He didn’t contest my call, which meant he was hurt.”
At the post fight press conference a humble Klitschko stated that it took him a while to get on track due to Brock’s stubborn defense and also re-iterated his goal of unifying the heavyweight titles.
“I don’t want to just keep fighting, I want to unify the title,” stated the victorious Klitschko, who improved to 47-3, with Brock being his 42nd knockout victim. “I don’t consider myself the real champion, there must be only one champion,” Klitschko proclaimed, adamantly.
Newly crowned WBO Heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs was also on hand and confronted Klitschko, implying that it should have been him in the ring squaring off against the hero of Kiev, instead of Brock.
While both fighters sounded good saying the right things to the media in regards to unifying the heavyweight title, as all boxing fans do wish for some semblance of honor to the once most cherished and respected crown in all of sports; being boxing’s heavyweight world champion, both champions know that the probability of that ever happening is about 0%, as both fighters have to deal with their respective sanctioning bodies mandatory challengers first; Briggs, in the person of Sultan Ibragimov, and Klitschko required to face Ray Austin.
In the night’s co-feature bout, as the roar of the crowd became deafening, it was apparent that the true “Champ” had arrived. Muhammad Ali returned to the scene of his 1971 mega fight against Joe Frazier, this time to root on his daughter Laila Ali.
Defending her WBC Super Middleweight title against the relatively in-experienced Shelley Burton, Laila Ali showed why she is considered the pound-for-pound premier fighter in all of women’s boxing. Highly skilled and displaying the cat-like reflexes similar to those attributed to her proud father, Laila pounded out a fourth round technical knockout win, keeping her record pristine at 23-0 (20 KO’s). Burton, while out-classed, gave a proud account of herself and fought as best she could. The Montana native, who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, saw her record fall to 8-3.
On the K-2 Promotions “Klitschko vs. Brock” under card…….
Light heavyweights Reggie LaCrete and Denys Lozada opened the show in a four battle Brooklyn battle. LaCrete, who was making his pro debut, picked up the win as Lozada, now 2-1, was unable to continue after round three. LaCrete (1-0, 1 KO) was trailing on 2 of the 3 judges scorecards at the time.
Next up, undefeated Irish middleweight Andy Lee, who fights out of Detroit’s Kronk Gym, defeated rugged Dennis Sharpe, via six round unanimous decision.
Lee improved to 6-0 (3 KO’s), while Sharpe a native of Chuck Wepner’s hometown, Bayonne, NJ dropped to 17-3.
The boxing fans who came early were treated to an exciting ten rounds of evenly matched and hard fought action, as undefeated Joey Rios challenged fellow Bronx prospect Frankie Figueroa for his NY State Jr. Middleweight title. Figueroa started early and took the opening round, while “Mr. Rios” then came on and exchanged throughout the next eight rounds, leading up to the crucial tenth and final round. Unfortunately the last three minutes would determine the outcome of this highly entertaining NY championship bout. “El Gato” Figueroa dug a little deeper and had a little more left in the tank, taking the tenth round on all three of the judge’s scorecards; giving Figueroa a majority decision win instead of a draw, had Rios taken the stanza. Either way, Frankie “El Gato” Figueroa deservedly retained his NY belt and has earned the right to be called New York’s top Jr. welterweight.
Figueroa improved to 14-2 (10 KO’s) with the dramatic victory, while Rios suffered his first pro defeat, and has nothing to be ashamed of in dropping to 14-1, with 6 knockouts.
Judge Tom Schreck and Ron McNair scored the fight for Figueroa, 96-94 and 97-94 respectfully, while former world champion Billy Costello saw the thrilling match a 95-95 draw.
Another New York title was at stake as undefeated heavyweight Derric Rossy found himself in a slugfest with tough-as-nails brawler Shannon Miller. Miller, a native of Troy, NY, had every intention of leaving the MSG ring with Rossy’s belt. The 6’5″, former Boston College football standout from Medford had other ideas.
From the opening bell, Rossy boxed well and found Miller an easy target. Banging away with both hands, it wasn’t long before Miller’s face was reddened and his left-side of his face was bloodied by a cut over his eye.
Murderous uppercuts and combinations dazed Miller, yet the gutsy fighter stood toe-to-toe with his dangerous foe.
This heavy handed action was to continue throughout the entire ten round bout, as neither determined fighter would stop throwing bombs; not even the ring physician, who looked at Miller’s left eye gash often, would be able to stop this battle of NY big men.
Rossy, who by fight’s end had blood streaming down the left side of his face as he was slamming his hurtful jabs into Miller’s bleeding and bruised mug, would take the grizzly fight by unanimous decision, and keep his NY heavyweight title belt; which I’m sure he will appreciate even more after tonight’s big heart performance. Miller drops to 14-3, while the NY champ stays perfect at 14-0.
Afterwards at ringside, a happy yet depleted Rossy stated, “He (Miller) is tough as nails and actually tougher than I thought. I tried to outbox him, but was drawn into his tough man-type of fighting.”
After the action packed state title fights, the crowd was actually lulled into the 12 round IBF Jr. Welterweight title eliminator bout between former world champions Manuel Medina and New York’s own Kevin Kelley.
While both great fighters are obviously past their prime, their boxing hearts and souls are evidently very much intact, as both boxers tactically took it to each other. While Kelley appeared to have Medina hurt in rounds nine and ten, the closeness and equally fought rounds were very difficult to score. In the end it was Manuel Medina who prevailed in the eyes of the judges who awarded the Mexican battler with a majority decision. Two of the judges saw it 115-113 for Medina, while the highly respected Steve Weisfeld called it a 14-114 draw, giving Medina (now 67-15 with 31 KO’s) the razor close win. A very disappointed Kevin Kelley, with his left eye badly swollen and practically shut, dropped to 59-8-2 (39 KO’s) after being unable to pull out the extremely close fight in his hometown.
A truly entertaining night of boxing put forth by HBO and K-2 Promotions, in association with Main Events Promotions. Young state title holders aspiring to become world champions, former world champions looking to get back to where they already were, and a current world champion looking to become even greater. Hopes and dreams on all levels, taken place at the world’s greatest sports venue, Madison Square Garden. No boxing fan can ask for much more than that!