Saturday, May 01, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ROYCE FEOUR: Heavyweight picture remains muddled with mediocre fighters

Vitali Klitschko poses with his WBC championship belt at a news conference following his heavyweight fight last week against Corrie Sanders in Los Angeles. photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The situation in the heavyweight division, such as it is, should be put in perspective.

Sure, Vitali Klitschko dominated Corrie Sanders to win the vacant WBC heavyweight championship in Los Angeles last week. Klitschko stopped Sanders in the eighth round to claim the title that opened when Lennox Lewis retired in early February.

Klitschko's beating of Sanders was the fourth heavyweight title fight in April. Thank goodness it's over.

Can you imagine four heavyweight championship fights in the same month creating less buzz around the country than those four? It should take at least two years to hold four legitimate heavyweight championship fights, not two weeks.

Let's briefly examine those fights.

Unheralded Lamon Brewster stopped Klitschko's younger brother, Wladimir, in the fifth round at Mandalay Bay on April 10. Klitschko easily won the early rounds, even scoring a knockdown. Then he suddenly collapsed in exhaustion and Brewster scored a fifth-round TKO for the vacant WBO belt.

WBO title bouts don't get that much attention, but because of the well-hyped Klitschko, this one did. And he was exposed as a four-round fighter with a weak chin.

Promoter Don King staged two heavyweight title bouts on a card at Madison Square Garden in New York one week later. John Ruiz, the WBA champion, stopped Fres Oquendo in the 11th round in a horrible fight that had people cheering when it was stopped. A heavyweight title fight can't get much worse.

And Chris Byrd of Las Vegas retained the IBF title with a draw against Andrew Golota, who had no business in a championship fight but gave a good account of himself. Look for King to make a rematch.

Vitali Klitschko was easily the most impressive of the champions, but what does that say? He's the best of the heavyweight belt-holders, that's all. He's not an undisputed champ, only the best in a weak field.

The older Klitschko brother disposed of Sanders the way he was expected to. But face it, whom did he beat? Sanders is 38 and considered retiring last year before he knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in the second round in Germany. Sanders hadn't fought in the 13 months since he stopped Klitschko and entered the ring against Vitali Klitschko with a flabby belly.

Sanders was breathing hard by the second round and did little except to try to load up for a big left hook. It looked like Sanders' strategy was to count on his left hook to win. If not, so be it because he was getting one last payday and would go back to South Africa and possibly seek a career as a professional golfer.

How sharp could Sanders be? Even counting the loss to Vitali Klitschko on Saturday, Sanders had only four fights in more than three years and three of those didn't last two full rounds.

At the same time, it's not Klitschko's fault he had an out-of-shape opponent. Klitschko could have beaten better fighters.

The 6-foot-7-inch Klitschko could beat Brewster or Ruiz in unification fights. Klitschko does have a loss to Byrd, but that's misleading. Klitschko had a big lead in the fight four years ago in Germany, winning all nine rounds on one card and eight rounds on the others when he quit after the ninth round with a shoulder injury. He had surgery for a torn rotator cuff soon afterward.

Klitschko has power, potential and is the best of the title-holders, but don't make comparisons to heavyweight champions of the past.

Royce Feour's boxing column is published Saturday. He can be reached by phone at 383-0354, fax at 383-4676 or e-mail at rfeour@reviewjournal.com.