By Frank Gonzalez Jr. – May 10th, 2008 – Friday night in Atlantic City N.J., formerly unbeaten Light Welterweight, Lanardo Tyner (19-1, 11 KO’s) saw his 0 go after stepping up and finally facing his first respectable opponent (in his 20th professional fight) against “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis (19-2-2, 9 KO’s). This 12 round fight was for the USBA Light Welterweight Title. Tyner had never been past ten rounds as most of his fights ended by early KO’s.
In the first round, Tyner came out aggressively and forced Arnaoutis into the ropes, where he peppered Arnaoutis with power shots that reddened Mike’s face and got his attention right away. I thought Arnaoutis looked ripe for being knocked out but he demonstrated good ring generalship, use of the jab and ultimately, executed a logical plan for winning against a physically stronger opponent.
Arnaoutis suffered a cut over his right eye but didn’t let it bother him. He recognized that he needed to keep things in the center of the ring, where he could use his jab to control the action. Tyner was wildly aggressive in the first few rounds and landed stinging punches when he was able to pressure Arnaoutis into the ropes. But by the later part of the third round, Arnaoutis made some tactical adjustments and started finding a home for his feather fisted jab and gentle combinations. Tyner landed some good shots in spots but his output steadily declined by the middle rounds after wasting so much energy winging nothing but power punches early in the fight. Had Tyner focused his energies on attacking the body, Arnaoutis’ legs may not have served him so well down the stretch.
Throughout the fight, Tyner’s strategy was limited to trying to land one big shot to end it. At times, Tyner showboated, made faces, stuck out his tongue and showed a real penchant for the things that don’t matter, while ignoring the things that do. That big shot never came for Tyner and in the end it was Arnaoutis’ workmanlike performance that won him the fight by a large margin.
Tyner’s unbeaten record is more a reflection of cautious match making than anything else. It’s not Tyner’s fault that this is how contenders are created these days. In a way, he’s a victim of a sport that has no credible rankings system. How do you gauge the ability of a fighter who’s not fought any credible opponents in 19 pro fights? If Arnaoutis had any power, chances are that Tyner would have been either knocked out or seriously hurt. Is this how managers protect their charges, by allowing them to develop a false sense of confidence? Why not bring them up right, match them against increasingly better opponents and truly discover a fighter’s potential by about the tenth fight?
After losing two of his last four fights, Arnaoutis may have been taken too lightly. This match up intended to propel Tyner to legitimacy in spite of his extremely limited resume, over a well recognized opponent in Arnaoutis, who is a good boxer with zero threat of punching power. Arnaoutis proved that it’s better to have little power and good boxing skills than to have big power without the skills to consistently deliver it.
Out of 20 fights, only four of Tyner’s past opponents had winning records. One of those three had a 3-1 record the other three had records of 22-6, 9-2 and 8-6. Of Arnaoutis’ past opponents, 14 of 21 had winning records. This is very telling. When it comes to unbeaten records, what matters most is quality, not just the quantity of wins. These days, being undefeated is way over rated.
If Tyner had the kind of talent his record suggests, he would have shown it in the biggest fight of his career so far. Unlike Tyner’s previous opponents, Mike Arnaoutis had some boxing skills, quality experience and actually came to win.
This victory is a good step in Arnaoutis’ campaign to regain the momentum he lost after losing to Ricardo Torres and Kendall Holt. Guys I’d like to see Arnaoutis fight include, Lamont Peterson (24-0, 11 KO’s), Henry Bruseles (27-3-2, 15 KO’s) who fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. and particularly, Dmitri “Star of David” Salita, who is 28-0 with 16 KO’s and has yet to fight a respectable opponent.
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