Crowning a new heavyweight champion is usually the biggest news in boxing. But in 2006 welterweights are king. While there is a new champion in the heavyweight division, he takes a backseat to Floyd Mayweather Jr and his quest to remain the pound-for-pound champion.
Carlos Baldomir vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr
Ever since Carlos Baldomir beat Zab Judah and Floyd Mayweather opted to fight Judah over Baldomir, boxing fans have been waiting for this fight. Baldomir was a relative unknown before this year but has become a modern-day Cinderella Man. Pretty Boy Floyd shares the spotlight with no one and with his critics insinuating that Floyd was scared of Baldomir, the fight needed to take place.
There was no Cinderella story this night. The story was more akin to Groundhog’s Day. Every round was the same, which makes it an easy fight to recap but not so easy to watch. Floyd’s speed advantage was so obvious I feel stupid even talking about it. Mayweather peppered the champion with shots while avoiding Baldomi’s punches with ease. Baldomir kept coming after Mayweather and never seemed to lose his confidence. He was just out-classed in the boxing ring.
The fight was more of a boxing clinic that became more clinical when Mayweather broke his hand in the 6th round. That was a question of when and not if as Floyd has a history of hand injuries. Mayweather laid off the combinations and decided to stick and move for the remainder of the fight to protect his hand. He probably wouldn’t have finished Baldomir anyway as Carlos can take a punch as well as anyone. Baldomi’s problem is that he lacks power. Not that it would have mattered. Baldomir threw more punches than Floyd (670 to 458) but Carlos only landed 12% whereas Mayweather connected 43% of the time.
The picture indicates Baldomir may have landed more punches had he kept his head up and looked where he was throwing. It wouldn’t have changed the result but Carlos should have abandoned his “little brother” style of fighting. Floyd Mayweather dominated the scorecards and won a unanimous decision. The win gave Mayweather the WBC Welterweight title. In the post-fight interview, Floyd got a little defensive with HBO goon Larry Merchant. Mayweather felt Merchant was trying to downplay his domination of Baldomir and let the old man have it. While it was certainly entertaining, it wasn’t as shocking as what Mayweather said to the media after the fight.
Above is Floyd crying as he announced that his next fight would be his last. If you are reading this, you are either my Dad or a boxing fan. If you’re my Dad then you need to come by my house and fix my shower head. If you’re a boxing fan then you know that a boxing retirement is a joke. “I told you all along it wasn’t about the money, it was about the legacy,” Mayweather said. “I have accomplished all I want in boxing. I am going out on top.”
I like Floyd Mayweather and believe he is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Mayweather is also his number one fan. Floyd’s camp is smart in picking opponents that match up well with their man. Baldomir and Gatti had no chance against Floyd and Judah is a mental case that gave up after four rounds. The problem people have with Floyd is that he talks about being the best but doesn’t always fight the best. Unfortunately, title belts in boxing don’t always signify that you are the best. While Floyd will argue ad nauseam that Baldomir is the best welterweight because he had the title is not true. Antonio Margarito has a welterweight title and Floyd will never fight him. I doubt that Mayweather would get in the ring with Ricky Hatton either. Both of these guys would be definite underdogs against Mayweather but it seems like Floyd refuses to take risks with his choice of opponents. That’s wise on his part but it also draws ire from boxing fans.
I don’t think Floyd’s next fight will be his last. Perhaps Floyd feels worn down by his critics and doesn’t want to put up with it anymore and that’s his motivation. The big money match is with Oscar De La Hoya and I see no reason why this wouldn’t happen. Both sides can talk about money discrepancies all they want but this fight is just too big not to happen. I think both Oscar and Floyd are aware of this.
Sergei Liakhovich vs. Shannon Briggs
The Russian sweep is over. The not-so-talented native of Belarus, Sergei Liakhovich, lost his WBO Heavyweight title to the not-so-talented native of Brooklyn, Shannon Briggs. Briggs is an imposing physical specimen. He’s 6’4″ and weighed 268 lbs for the fight but this was not James Toney weight. This was NFL linebacker weight. Liakhovich won the title from Lamon Brewster in an exciting brawl and more of the same was expected here. It didn’t happen that way. What happened was a boring fight that will be forgotten by the dramatic finish.
Liakhovich didn’t force the action as I expected him to. They mostly huffed and puffed around the ring and threw jabs at each other in order to simulate a real boxing match. Liakhovich showed a little bit of interest in defending his belt and that was enough to give him the early rounds. Briggs won some of the later rounds but he was definitely behind on all the scorecards going into the twelfth and final round. Both men had their mouths wide open and Briggs had to take two to three deep breaths before he could throw a punch. Yes, they are heavyweights, but their lack of conditioning is appalling.
Briggs connected on two heavy uppercuts with thirty seconds left in the fight that put Liakhovich to the ground. Sergei got to his feet because what he lacks in talent he makes up for in toughness and heart. Briggs slowly stalked Sergei and the champ clearly had nothing left but with only fifteen seconds left he only needed to survive the round against a drained opponent. Turned out the opponent wasn’t a factor in that equation. Briggs threw some jabs at Sergei while the champion back-pedaled. Without being punched, Liakhovich stumbled through the ropes and fell out of the ring. The referee began to count but Sergei was clearly finished with the fight and it was called off with one second left.
It was a dramatic finish to a boring fight. Liakhovich would have won had he been able to stand on his feet but he wasn’t so the loss was warranted. Briggs wants a piece of Wladimir Klitschko. He was supposed to fight Briggs in his next fight but negotiations fell flat and Klistchko opted to face Calvin Brock instead. That fight will be this Saturday on HBO as another American heavyweight tries to take a title away from the Russians. While I’m certainly fond of the USA, the Russian sweep of the heavyweight title was good for boxing. It got people talking about the heavyweights again and that’s what the division needed. That certainly wouldn’t have happened with four American champions.
Other Results From the Week
– Super middleweight Kelly Pavlik knocked Lenord Pierre out in the 4th round.
– Ahmed Kaddour from the first season of Contender defeated Jesus Valverde by split decision in a rematch from a draw two months ago.
– Kendall Holt handed Isaac Hlatshwayo his first loss. Holt won the light welterweight contest by unanimous decision.
– David Tua earned a knockout of Maurice Wheeler in the 7th round.
– Scottish super featherweight Alex Arthur defeated Sergio Palomo by TKO in the 5th round.
– Malcolm Klassen defeated Gairy St. Clair by split decision to become the new IBF Super Featherweight champion.
– Juan Diaz retained his WBA Lightweight title with a unanimous decision over a game Fernando Angulo.
– Luis Collazo rebounded from his loss to Ricky Hatton by stopping Artur Atadzhanov in the sixth round.
– Robert Guerrero lost his IBF Featherweight title only two months after winning it from Eric Aiken. Orlando Salido became the new champion, winning by unanimous decision.
– Chris Arreola (tee-hee) was too aggressive for Damian Wills in a battle of undefeated heavyweight prospects.
– Paul Williams did was he was supposed to do, just not against the man he was supposed to fight. Santos Pakau was a last-minute substitute and took a six-round beating that was originally scheduled for Mauro Lucero.
– Tony “TNT” Tubbs inexplicably had a fight and the 48-year-old was able to beat Adam Smith by unanimous decision in a hotel ballroom in West Virginia.
