By Neil Dennis: On Thursday night, Tye “Big Sky” Fields will fight yet another low-ranked opponent on the Versus Network. Originally, this was supposed to be Josue Blocus, whose biggest claim to fame was a one round knock out of perennial “opponent” Sedrick Fields (who, incidentally, went the distance with “Big Sky” Tye). Blocus was forced to bow out and replaced by Roderick Willis. Even less of a name than Blocus, Willis’ biggest fight was his recent split decision loss against 40 year-old ex-champ Michael Moorer.. Once again, Fields seems to beg for boxing fans to scream at the top of their lungs for him to fight someone, anyone, of substance.
Sure, Fields’ defenders will point out his wins against Saul Montana and Bruce Seldon, but who are they? Saul Montana has lost fifteen times, and was knocked out in ten of those bouts. Yes, Bruce Seldon was at one time the WBA Heavyweight Champion. However, Seldon only successfully defended that title once before Mike Tyson KOed him in a single, albeit controversial, round. What’s more, his time as a beltholder was over nine years before he and Fields met in the ring. His only fights in those nine years were against two proverbial “tomato cans”: Otis Tisdale and Lenzie Morgan.
Personally, it amazes me that Fields has any fans outside of his home state of Montana. He has played his entire career as if he’s nothing more than a talented club fighter. He seems to flat-out refuse to step up in the opposition he faces. And somehow, he manages to be ranked higher on Boxrec.com than fighters like Chris Byrd and Luan Krasniqi, who at least have the guts to take on A level fighters on a regular basis. You would think that, now that Fields is 33 years old, he would have made the step up in order to secure some kind of title shot. Alas, that isn’t his style, which seems more akin to how Lou Saverese propped his record up before Mike Tyson knocked that house of cards down. I would like to believe that Fields knows his chances at a title shot are fading fast. Not one of the four of the major sanctioning bodies rank him in the top ten, and he is only getting older. Only time will tell if Fields finally realizes the state his career is in, and takes a on fighter who might actually provide him a challenge for a change.