05.05.08 – By Ted Sares: Arguably, there is nothing more thrilling than an upset. For some, it means shocking disappointment; for others, it is sudden and pleasant surprise. Kirkland Laing shocked Roberto Duran but himself was later shocked by Buck “Tombstone” Smith. Lloyd Honeyghan did it to Donald Curry. Buster Douglas’s KO of Mike Tyson was perhaps the greatest upset in boxing history. George Foreman‘s KO of Michael Moorer in 1994 was one for the ages, but then Moorer turned the tables on Vassiliy Jirov tens years later. Louis Monaco stopped Kevin McBride in 1997, but McBride himself stopped Mike Tyson eight years later. More recently, Brian Vera pulled one off against a heavily Andy Lee..
Which brings us to the under card of the recent Jesse Feliciano-Andrey Tsurkan bout at the Utopia Paradise Theatre in the Bronx. Home town guy Jon “The Fighting Marine” Schneider, 7-1-1, was scheduled to fight Clarence Moore, 4-3-1. The Marine had shut out Moore in a 4-rounder in 2007 and was heavily favored to do it again. Hell, what was a guy from West Virginia doing in the Bronx in the first place?
A glance at their respective level of opposition would indicate, however, that Moore had fought the better fighters and, for the most part, in their own home towns. All of Schneider’s fights have been in the friendly environs of New York City. Moore was also coming in at 7 fewer pounds reflecting perhaps how determined he was to avenge his earlier loss. He also had far more quality rounds under his no longer ample belt
Still, the stage was set for a Schneider blow-out and, with a disproportionate amount of hoopla, the fans were anticipatory and excited for this televised 6-rounder to begin.
The local favorite won the first round easily impressively, but in the second, he walked into short uppercut followed by a left hook. Stunned badly, he was stopped in his tracks and unable to tie up Moore. He then was met by a volley of wild shots until a vicious uppercut got in and positioned him for the end. Moore quickly followed up with another equally malefic uppercut which sent The Fighting Marine to Jarhead Heaven at the 2:48 mark of the second round.
The crowd was silence and stunned at the sudden turn of events, while Moore himself seemed shocked as tears of joy welled up in his eyes. Schneider sat on his stool, dejected and wondering what had just occurred while being consoled by trainer and former Champion Lou Del Valle.
This had been a thriller for as long as it lasted; heck, this had been an upset pure and simple, and now all the pre-fight hype didn’t amount to spit. A 33 year old cruiserweight named Moore out of Charleston, West Virginia saw to that.