Gutierrez KO 4 Reid: Too Much Heart – When Enough is Enough

27.01.07 – By Ted Sares: Teddy “Two Gun” Reid, 23- 9 -2 with 17 ko’s has too much heart for his own good. Having won only one of his last six, the time has come to walk away on his own terms. Teddy has never been in a dull fight. His style of take no prisoners and fight every fight for the full 3 minutes of every round simply does not allow for that. Having whipped the likes of Terrence Cauthen, Juan Laporte, Emanuel Augustus, Courtney Burton and Juan Carlo Rubio, but having lost to such notables as Ben Tackie, Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis, Golden Johnson, Kermit “El Asesino” Cintron, Rodney Jones, tough Verno Phillips and having fought to a draw with with J.C. Candelo has left its mark on this tough Jamaican warrior. And make no mistake, Teddy Reid is a warrior..

Last night at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT, it all caught up with him when a young Columbian by the name of Richard “La Lamina” Gutierrez, 20-1, had his way with Teddy for the short time the fight lasted. “La Lamina’s” only loss was a MD to Joshua Clottey, no disgrace there. Last night, at 1:14 of the fourth round, he took Teddy out with a body shot that was borderline but looked okay to me. Leading up to the end, he had pounded Reid with way too many malefic head shots. Why Teddy was allowed to go out for the fourth is beyond me, but then we all know that corner men are the bravest men in the ring.

Now I have seen Teddy Reid fight many times. Like Micky Ward (before he retired and before HBO discovered him) or Emanuel Augustus, he has been a quintessential ESPN fighter. His knack of coming back from the brink of defeat to take out his opponents with his long and looping shots that always have carried deceptive power has been his signature. Those fighter who have been able to get inside his wide punching style have been successful but if you fight Teddy from the outside, you are in for a bad night. His ability to stage several rallies during his fights, his resiliency and his all-around-toughness always made for an exciting night. If he didn’t get you by ko, you were likely to get him by one (he has suffered 5 stoppages).

Teddy has been kind of a poor man’s Gatti. He has fought under the radar at some beery ballroom or the gritty Blue Horizon in Philly or at some Music Fair or some Mississippi casino. Maybe his best moment came when he won the NABA Light Welterweight Title by beating former Olympian Terrence “Heat” Cauthen by TKO in Tunica, Miss in 1999. He lost the title to Golden Johnson in 2000 when Johnson came in 9 pounds overweight! He then stopped tough Joe Hutchinson in one in Baltimore a year later to win the Vacant USBA Light Welterweight Title, and went on to beat Pat Coleman in 2003 for the NABF Welterweight Title. However, a year later, he lost his bid for the NABF and WBO Interim Welterweight Titles to rugged Kermit Cintron, 27-1 coming in. The he won the NABF Light Middleweight Interim Title by beating Eddie Sanchez in 2005 but promptly lost it to Rodney “Smooth” Jones, 35-3, four month later. His mauling and TKO of Sanchez would be his last day in the Sun, as he had Eddie down four times.

I saw his draw with Juan Carlos Candelo last January at Foxwoods and it was a dirty and brutal one, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Teddy was deducted 1 point each in rounds 7 and 10 for roughhousing. Judge Clark Sammartino had it 95-93 for Teddy and Tom Kaczmarek 94-94. Inexplicably, judge Robert Paolino scored it 91-97 for J.C., but clearly, he was watching another fight. Of course, with Teddy Reid, the rule, “protect yourself at all times” must be adhered to at all times by his opponents.

Then, last August, he lost badly to Verno Phillips,39-10-1, again at Foxwoods for something called the Vacant Trans America Middleweight Title. In my view, that should have been his last fight. He took a lot of punishment before being stopped late in the fight. Hopefully, last night’s fight will be his last. The beatings are now coming too consistently and the head shots are far too numerous.

The thing about Teddy is that his competition was always tough and his opponents always came in with excellent, if not perfect, records. As just one example Germaine “Silky”Sanders, who Teddy KO’d in brutal, albeit controversial fashion in two in 2002, came in at 21-1. Indeed, his 12-year career of 34 fights was a study in intensity and fortitude. He has nothing more to prove. Teddy is only 35, but in ring age, he is too old to fight competitively anymore. He was and is a tough hombre who gave us chills and thrills, but he had one big problem…..he just had too much heart. Enough is enough. Teddy has gone out on his shield.

Arturo Gatti, are you listening?