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BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY
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NEW YORK, NY (IB – November 14 2004,) – In case you were not on hand in Madison Square Garden in New York City last night, I hope you were able to tune into HBO PPV and observe the talents of the current stock of heavyweight fighters. This Don King promoted event was headlined by a total of five heavyweight bouts. Here is high-level recap of fights in reverse order. More
INSIDE BOXING (November 14. 2004) - At the end of the ninth round, Holyfield nailed Donald with a sharp right and Donald went back to his stool, shaken. At the beginning of the tenth round, Holyfield attacked once again and once again Donald appeared to be on wobbly feet. Then after 30 seconds, Holyfield’s brief burst was over. Donald weathered the storm and went on to out box Holyfield for the rest of the fight just as he did for the first 9 rounds. For one brief 45 seconds, Holyfield looked like the old Holyfield but for the rest of the fight, Holyfield was just an old fighter. The old Holyfield would have knocked Donald out after having him in trouble. Let us be frank, Donald, as a fighter could not carry a prime Holyfield’s jockstrap. At his peak, Holyfield would have taken Donald to the wood shed and this fight would not have even gone the distance. Today Holyfield is not even competitive against a second tier fighter. As one HBO announcer observed, when Holyfield lost to Toney; he lost to one of the best technical fighter. Losing to Donald is different. For most of this fight, Donald just pot shot the former champion and had an easy evening. Last night, we saw the continuing decline of once great fighter. More
NEW YORK, New York (November 14, 2004) - Saturday night in NYC, Andrew Golota returned to the place that made him famous-Madison Square Garden, where eight years ago, he fought former Heavyweight Champion, Riddick Bowe in a fight that made him famous. He lost to Bowe in a fight he was winning because of repeated low blows. This time, eight years later, the opponent was WBA Champion, John Ruiz. It's said that, 'styles make fights' and the combination of Ruiz and Golota promised to be a wild event.
Ruiz' style is awkward and hard on the eyes but he wins fights. He's a scrappy fighter who doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for his tenacity in the ring and the heart he brings to the ring. He's not much of a talker and maybe that's why he calls himself, "The Quiet Man," which reminds me of the classic John Wayne movie about an American Boxer who goes back home to Ireland and tames a wild red headed shrew after brawling with her brother from one side of town to the other. Like him or not, Ruiz is the holder of a major piece of the HW title and taking it from him would be no easy job. More
INSIDE BOXING (November 11, 2004) - An interesting bout has been added to the Don King Saturday night boxing show. DaVarryl "Touch Of Sleep" Williamson will take on former titleholer Oliver "The Atomic Bull " McCall.
In his last fight Williamson was holding his own against Wladimir Klitschko until an accidental head butt produced a cut over Klitschko's eye forcing the action to be halted after five rounds. The fight went to the scorecards and Klitschko got the nod even though Willamson had Wlad on the canvas once.
It was a moral victory for Williamson and it somewhat absolved him of his one round kayo loss to Joe Mesi.
McCall has lived off his upset KO victory over Lennox Lewis for years. He's a tough guy but he's been out of the mainstream for quite some time. The winner of this fight will remain a fringe contender. The loser might as well pack the gloves away. [End]
NEW YORK, NY (IB – November 8, 2004) – This upcoming Saturday night, November 13th, 2004, is another example of Don King’s extraordinary determination and vision to truly deliver a fight fan’s card. Irrespective of what you may think of him, or whatever you may have read that has portrayed him in any way other the positively, this promoter is truly “customer focused.”
The customers in this case are you – the consumer that will either travel to Madison Square Garden in New York City, or contact your cable provider for $44.95 to watch Saturday night’s heavyweight fights. Considering that you will be watching two former Heavyweight Champions fight on separate under cards, Evander Holyfield (38-7-2, 25 KOs) vs. Larry Donald (41-3-2, 24 KOs) and Hasim Rahman (39-5-1, 32 KOs) vs. Kali Meehan (29-2, 23 KOs) , as well as watching two World Heavyweight Title Fights in Chris Byrd – IBF Champion (37-2-1, 20 KOs) vs. Jameel McCline ( 31-3-3, 19 KOs) and John Ruiz – WBA Champion (40-5-1, 28 KOs) vs. Andrew Golota (38-4-1, 31 KOs), I seriously doubt this event could turn out to be a waste of your money. By the way, now that it’s “official”, there will actually be three former Heavyweight champions fighting this night. Don King has added Oliver McCall (41-7, 30 KOs), who KOed Lennox Lewis back in 1994, (then lost the rematch after refusing to fight in the 5th in 1997) will be taking on DaVarryl Williamson (20-3-17 KOs). More