by James Slater – Two heavyweights, one young the other sliding towards his late-thirties, were in action last night in Poughkeepsie, New York, and the two men enjoyed mixed fortunes. Ireland’s 37-year-old Kevin McBride, best known for being the last man to defeat former world ruler “Iron” Mike Tyson, was way too heavy and slow to cope with the upset-minded Zack Page; while 24-year-old Nagy Aguilera jumped right on Roderick Willis, taking him out in the opening round..
McBride, who weighed-in at a near-career-heaviest 282-pounds looked a lumbering figure in dropping a wide, unanimous, eight-round decision to the 37-year-old journeyman. Losing by scores of 80-72, 80-72 and 78-74, “The Clones Colossus” fell to 34-7-1(29). Ohio’s Page, known as “Zack Attack” perhaps earned himself one or two decent paydays in improving to 21-29-2(7).
On the same card, Aguilera of The Dominican Republic returned to the ring for the first time since his brutal, short KO loss to former WBC heavyweight champ Sam Peter. Taking on 37-year-old Roderick Willis of Texas, Aguilera needed just 67-seconds to take his man out. Now 16-3(11), Aguilera simply gave Willis, now 14-7-1(8) no time to get into the fight.
It will be somewhat interesting to see where both McBride and Aguilera go from here. McBride, who was returning to the ring for the first time since his 2007 stoppage loss to Poland’s Andrew Golota, had made it known he was looking to finally get himself a shot at a world title. For even at age 37, the huge heavyweight saw himself as a future champion. Now, though, in losing his last three fights, the only real option for McBride is retirement.
Fans had actually pretty much forgotten all about the big Irishman a year or so ago anyway, truth be told. Disappearing after the 6th-round TKO loss at the hands of Golota, it was assumed McBride had already quit the sport. Now, in being made to look as slow as a glacier against the much smaller (205-pounds) Page, McBride will in all likelihood opt to call it a day. Destined, it seems, to go down as a footnote in heavyweight history due to his 2005 upset win over Tyson, McBride has done all he will do.
Aguilera, however, is still young enough at age 24 to perhaps develop into a decent contender. Sure, he got smoked by “The Nigerian Nightmare,” but that loss marked the sole time Aguilera has been halted, and Peter is always dangerous, especially early on. Can the young fighter who ended the career of former WBC champ Oleg Maskaev put the March loss to Peter behind him and prove he has what it takes? An interesting next step for Aguilera would perhaps be a fight with Page. Zack is capable of testing any fighter he meets, and he has been stopped just twice in his pro career.