Boxing/MMA Clutter 10/17/10

What do Hamburg, London, Montreal and Miami, OK have in common?

Not a whole lot. But all three cities hosted this past week's most prominent boxing and MMA cards.

We didn't learn much of anything new in either sport. The heavyweights in boxing still fail to entertain or offer fans much in terms of long-term hope, and while British mixed martial arts seems to be making huge strides in catching up with their stateside counterparts, it can't quite match up; Canadians love Lucian Bute, and Shawn Porter has huge teeth.

Big Bro Klitschko Delivers a Beatdown in Hamburg

Mark down "Germans love the Klitschkos" as another of those widely-accepted truisms that was reinforced this weekend.

In front of what looked to be a packed O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany, Vitali Klitschko dealt Shannon Briggs an unholy beating over 12 one-sided rounds. Brigg's pre-fight huffing and puffing again proved more entertaining than his actual in-ring performance, as he waited and took right hands more than he threw anything actually meant to hurt the older Klitschko.

Briggs' notoriously awful stamina was an issue early in the fight, as the 38-year old Brooklyn native had his mouth wide open by the fourth round. By round 9, Briggs was a bruised and swollen mess, while Vitali hadn't taken much punishment at all.

After the 9th and 10th rounds, Shannon Briggs appeared to be having trouble finding his corner, and literally fell off his stool after the 10th. The fight needed to be stopped. Unfortunately, Briggs was allowed to take another two full rounds of punishment, though he did land probably his best punch of the fight in the final round.

Scores for the clear shutout were 120-107, 120-107 and 120-105, with no knockdowns.

News broke in the US this morning that Briggs was sent to the hospital with a concussion and multiple facial fractures, as well as a torn bicep.

Shannon "The Cannon" Briggs showed plenty of balls and heart in a dreadful losing effort. But he needs to put serious thought into retiring. His current record is (and should remain) 51-6-1 1 NC (45).

"Dr. Ironfist" Klitschko, on the other hand, makes it six in a row since making a comeback, nary losing a round in six fights. His overall record improved to 41-2 (38).

According to BoxingScene.com, Team Klitschko is still willing to give David Haye a 50/50 split for what would certainly be one of the two best heavyweight fights to be made - the other being Wladimir Klitschko against Haye.

Antonio Tarver - He Ain't Heavy

Former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver dipped his toe into the proverbial heavyweight waters on Friday night, decisioning Dominican journeyman Nagy Aguilera in Miami, Oklahoma.

The fight was mostly uneventful as Tarver outclassed Aguilera in the first few rounds, proving to have the far quicker hands of the two. The 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Tarver seemed to slow down and possibly hurt his left shoulder in the third or fourth round, allowing Aguilera to occasionally land punches.

Following clearly his best round in the 6th, Aguilera inexplicably backed up to the ropes over and over, from round 7 on. Tarver seemed content to follow him there and land solid left hands, then cruised to victory in the 10th.

All three scorecards read 98-92 for "The Magic Man" Antonio Tarver, who moves to 28-6 (19). Aguilera fell to 16-5 (11).

At the age of 41, Tarver looked much better than many expected. However he was also fed a guy who almost certainly wouldn't pose much of a threat, but hit just hard enough to keep Tarver honest and at times tentative. The older man's feet didn't seem particularly light, he's apparently still susceptible to injury, he slowed down significantly in the later part of the fight and his punching power simply isn't much to worry about for most upper echelon heavyweights.

Ironic that a 41-year old was featured on a boxing show dubbed "The Next Generation."

Any variety that could make for more exciting fights in the heavyweight division is welcomed, but it's doubtful Antonio Tarver is capable of doing that.

On the undercard, Shawn Porter kept his 0 intact and beat down a game but out-manned Hector Munoz over 9 rounds. Munoz tried to apply pressure from the opening bell, but got his head swiveled consistently and Porter fired off quick combinations. Porter's smart movement and fast hands had him looking a little bit like a late-90's Shane Mosley, though his opponent certainly helped him look that way.

And, no offense, but Shawn has a grill that would make Gary Busey uncomfortable. That overbite looks like a skateboard ramp, kid. Sorry.

Brits Mostly Fall Short at UFC 120

At the O2 Arena in London, Michael "The Count" Bisping was the only UK fighter of note to win on the card in front of 17,000+ spectators. Bisping shut out popular Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Akiyama, who was coming off an outstanding scrap against perennial brawl-maker Chris Leben at UFC 116.

Bisping, now 20-3, seemed to do a little more than the DREAM veteran Akiyama in at least two of the three rounds, though the action was close and Akiyama appeared to wobble Bisping on more than one occasion.

"Sexyama" is now 13-3, 2 NC.

On the undercard, Mike Pyle improved to 20-7-1 in upsetting Brighton, England's John Hathaway, who entered the bout undefeated at 14-0.

The fight itself was relatively entertaining, as Pyle and Hathaway traded shots in the opening stanza before Pyle took over and dragged his opponent down. The second stanza began with Hathaway looking to change the momentum, but Pyle locked him up in an inverted triangle from the mount, ending the round by hammering away at Hathaway's head. Pyle continued to take the fight to the ground and dominate in the last round, which caused the London crowd to boo emphatically.

Also televised was another upset of Nottingham's Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy, by former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit.

The Albuquerque native Condit's record went to 26-5, as it took him under a round to bring the fight to Hardy and catch him hard as they traded left hooks. Condit's hook simply got there first and landed more flush, and the follow up right hand on the ground put Hardy out.

The loss makes it two in a row for Hardy, who dropped a tough decision to Georges St. Pierre in March of this year. His record goes to 23-8, 1 NC.

Heavyweights Cheick Kongo and Travis Browne earned a draw in a sloppy, foul-filled affair early on the SpikeTV card.

Browne came out swinging wildly and was awkwardly effective in the first round, stunning Kongo and forcing him backwards at will. Browne gassed out in the second though, and Kongo pushed him to the cage, landing a number of short knees to Browne's thighs that clearly bothered the Californian. Browne again looked winded in the third round, but was able to smother Kongo's inside work enough to force the Parisian to clutch Browne's shorts repeatedly, even after being deducted a point by referee Marc Goddard.

The deduction cost Kongo the fight, as all three judges scored the bout 28-28. Kongo's record is now 15-6-2, while Browne remains undefeated at 10-0-1.

Paul Sass of Liverpool, England earned "Submission of the Night" honors with a triangle choke over Canadian Mark Holst.

Sass looked uncoordinated in attempting to strike his way to a takedown, but succeeded and adjusted his submission several times before forcing Holst to tap out with only 15 seconds remaining in the 1st round.

"Ultimate Fighter" Season 9 winner James Wilks was among the talented group of British fighters to be defeated, losing a shutout unanimous decision to Canadian Claude Patrick.

Patrick outdid Wilks standing up and on the ground through 3 rounds, working in ground and pound and maintaining top position while fighting off Wilks' submission attempts. Wilks wound up cut below the right eye by the end of the bout.

According to MMAJunkie, the overall lack of success of the British guys on the card is no reason to halt UFC's expansion into Europe. The president of the UFC, Dana White, acknowledged the unwavering support for the UFC and mixed martial arts in the UK, remarking:

"Fans ... want to see Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping and Hathaway and these guys win, but when they don't, I don't think it's like, 'Oh [expletive], we're never going to another UFC event because the English guys didn't win.'"

Brinkley Gets Clobbered

IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, who may also be the best super middleweight in the world, thoroughly outclassed former "Contender" reality show participant Jesse Brinkley stopping him in 9 rounds at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.

Brinkley's odd head movement made Bute more hesitant than usual early on, and Brinkley was occasionally able to land a surprise counter, though Bute's shots were clearly more significant. Bute almost let Brinkley into the fight by taking a round off in the fourth, but seized control back in the fifth with a nasty body attack that put Brinkley down.

Hoping to catch some luck and land a big shot, Brinkley picked up his pace in the 6th and 7th rounds, but mostly walked into snappier shots from Bute, who worked a nice uppercut throughout as Brinkley leaned forward. Bute's size advantage became more apparent later in the fight, as most of his solid shots visibly affected Brinkley in one way or another.

Brinkley was strafed with uppercuts again in the 8th and 9th rounds, going down in each. Hurt to the body, cut and beaten up, Brinkley was stopped at 2:47 of round 9.

While the win did little to boost Bute's claim to 168 lb. greatness, it proved once again how popular the Romanian-born transplant has become in Montreal. Over 11,000 people showed up to watch the mismatch.

On the undercard, another Romanian fighter overcame a hard second-round knockdown and being subsequently rocked by Omar Sheika, to earn an entertaining unanimous decision.

The light heavyweights traded combinations a number of times in the fight, with Diaconu generally getting the better of it when they did. Otherwise "The Shark" Diaconu outworked the veteran and worked a decent jab, fending off a late surge by Sheika.

Omar Sheika falls to 30-10 (21), and is expected to announce his retirement following the bout.

Diaconu was coming off back-to-back losses to current light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, and improves to 27-2 (15) with the win.

Random Classics: Aaron Davis vs Mark Breland

There existed a time - not so long ago - when amateur boxing was more than an unsatisfying hors d'oeuvre to the main course of the unprofessional ranks.

The American amateur game has unfortunately transitioned to this current period of general disinterest in the sport. Weight classes have changed, scoring methods are in a constant swing, some say stoppages are too easy to get these days, etc. Whatever the reason, being a good American amateur has become more of a hindrance than an advantage.

Okay, that's an absurd exaggeration.

But in the aforementioned mythical exciting amateur scene, amateur boxing in the US was simply a slight warm-up for the pros, many times with little difference between the two.

For instance, fittingly, the New York Golden Gloves has produced a number of elite, world class fighters who went on to achieve professional greatness, or even just very good-ness. Jose Torres, Emile Griffith, Ray Robinson, Johnny Saxton...all NYGG champions, all known for producing good fights before turning pro.

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Mark Breland was not only a five-time New York Golden Gloves champion, but also member of perhaps the best US Olympic boxing squad ever in 1984.

Oh yeah, and there's the gold medal he won on that team, too.

Breland had been widely considered one of the best American amateur fighters ever, much less alive, by the time he turned pro. Though most amateur records are unsubstantiated, Breland's "official" amateur record stood at 110-1 by late 1984.

Not wasting any time, Breland actually defeated his first future champion, Steve Little, in just his third fight. Mysteriously, his knockout percentage clearly improved as the class of his opposition did the same, and he either smashed through or out-classed journeymen and undefeated prospects alike.

In February 1987, Breland won his first world title fight, stopping South African ho-hum Harold Volbrecht in seven rounds. The former Olympian then traveled to Italy to decision Juan Rondon in a non-title affair.

Just over one month later, in August 1987, Breland lost his WBA welterweight title to Marlon Starling in a fight where he won rounds early and appeared sluggish late, seeming to succumb in the eleventh round as much from exhaustion as being actually hurt.

Breland went 9-0-1 in his next 10 fights, including a draw against Starling in a rematch, a first round KO title-regaining effort (of the vacant variety) against Seung-Soon Lee, making an undefeated Rafael Pineda quit claiming foul, and a vicious three-round destruction of contender Lloyd Honeyghan.

Mark's seven-fight KO streak (to bring him to 27-1-1, 20 KO) set up a showdown with prospect Aaron Davis.

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Raised in The Bronx, Aaron "Superman" Davis was familiar with the New York Golden Gloves. Davis went to the finals at 147 lbs. a few years in a row, winning once in 1986.

Through his first twenty or so fights, Davis alternated between fighting the usual (yet unknown) suspects in New York and in France.

By time he entered the ring to face Mark Breland on July 8, 1990, Davis was 29-0 (18). His more notable wins were against Luis Santana and Gene Hatcher.

An overly fortunate decision win against so-so New Jersey staple Curtis Summit steered Davis toward a title shot with Breland, who was looking to make a fifth defense of his WBA welterweight title that he'd fairly recently won back. With the win, Davis became the #6 ranked contender in the WBA.

Funnily enough, Curtis Summit would later claim in the book "The Gloves: A Boxing Chronicle" that he knocked Breland out during sparring while in training camp for the Davis fight, and that the entire training camp had essentially been a disaster.

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Enjoy.

Random Classics: Matthew Franklin vs Marvin Johnson I

"War educates the senses, calls into action the will, perfects the physical constitution, brings men into such swift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the sport's greatest warriors, Matthew Saad Muhammad, came to know more of his opponents in a brutally intimate way than he probably cares to remember.

Boxing can thank the unknown woman who introduced Matthew to Catholic Social Services for his tenure in the sport, rescuing him from mean Philadelphia streets after being abandoned by extended family following the death of his mother.

Born Maxwell Antonio Loach, Muhammad was unable to clearly speak his own name when asked, upon being taken in by a Catholic foster home, and was mistakenly renamed "Matthew Franklin."

Arrested for "gang activity" three times by the age of seventeen, Muhammad decided to head in a new direction, stuffing clothes inside a makeshift heavy bag and punching walls, teaching himself to fight.

A short amateur career propelled him towards a professional stint, the early goings of which offering just as few luxuries as his childhood.

Twenty fights into his career, Muhammad had either lost to or drawn (albeit generally controversially) with three future belt-holders: Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Mate Parlov, and the first recognized cruiserweight champion, Marvin Camel.

A solid showing against journeyman Ed Turner set up a clash with the up-and-coming prospect/contender Marvin Johnson.

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Growing up just about as rough in Indianapolis as Muhammad had in Philly, Johnson battled his way to an impressive amateur career, winning two Golden Gloves titles, and eventually a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics.

Fifteen fights into his professional career, Marvin Johnson was no stranger to the "City of Brotherly Love."

Famed promoter Russel Peltz wound up catching one of Johnson's performances in Indianapolis, and brought him to Philadelphia, where Johnson would fight three times at the classic boxing venue The Spectrum in 1976 and 1977.

Seeking bigger career paydays and attempting to make a name for himself, the eventual three-time light heavyweight champ Johnson took on contender Matthew Franklin for the North American light heavyweight title (NABF) on July 26, 1977.

And the blood-lusting boxing gods were pleased.

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Franklin was 15-3-2 (9), while Johnson carried a record of 15-0 (12) into the ring.

A tense staredown set the tone.

The southpaw Johnson took the fight right to Muhammad Franklin, forcing him to clinch in between attempts at getting Johnson's attention with lead right hands. Action evened up about halfway through the round, as Franklin began ripping uppercuts and hooks to the body, mostly whiffing attempted uppercuts upstairs. Both fighters ended the first round strong.

A high pace continued through the second round, both men taking turns whacking at the other, Franklin generally the more effective as he stopped Johnson in his tracks a number of times with clubbing shots. Johnson broke through near the end of the second, cracking Franklin with a few uppercuts and bloodying his nose, despite going backwards for the first time in the fight.

Both fighters weathered heavy punches to give their own in the third round. The momentum shifted a handful of times; Johnson landed uppercuts and hooks walking back, Franklin marched forward in a beastly robotic fashion, landing measured shots, then haymakers.

Neither guy seemed willing to be outdone in the fourth, eating leather, diving in for seconds and then unleashing. Back and forth. Just when it seemed as though Johnson would take over with more uppercuts and big hooks, Franklin roared back, snatching the round with clobbering shots in the final seconds and stinging Johnson.

Franklin darted forward at the beginning of the fifth before allowing the pace to slow down a bit. Johnson attempted to seize control of the bout not long into the round, but was met with hard return fire. Finally Johnson backed Franklin to the ropes, landing a series of hard straight lefts and carrying the momentum to the end of the round.

Again blood flowed freely from Franklin's nose in the sixth, as Johnson guided him about the ring with constant pressure. Johnson's left hand managed to swell Franklin's right eye, though not without eating some stiff counters himself. Johnson wouldn't be denied though, literally leaping in with hooks and uppercuts, seeming to temporarily tame Franklin's aggression.

Johnson wasted no time in the seventh round, ripping hooks to Franklin's ribs and again backing him up around the ring. Franklin seemed to be trying to weather the storm a bit or take a break, not coming fully alive until late in the round, and then only to interrupt Johnson's rhythm with short, softer punches.

Franklin stepped it up in the eighth round, letting his hands go more consistently and rocking Johnson back on his heels early on while backing up. Standing his ground, Franklin did solid work along the ropes, but still took intermittent punishment. Closing the round strong was Franklin, while Johnson took a deep breath before slowly walking to his corner after the bell.

The ninth round brought more smothering in-fighting from Johnson, who landed a few sickening body punches and hooks early. As Franklin began to turn things around, Johnson again landed a 4-punch combination that rocked Franklin backwards. Shortly thereafter (and nearing the end of the round), Franklin bounced some terrible straight rights off Johnson's forehead and temples that had Marvin's legs rubbery.

Greatly diminished was Johnson's head movement in the tenth, and Franklin slammed right hands home as a result. Sensing a way to end the bout, Franklin dialed in with more right hands, though Johnson continued to walk forward. An arm-weary Johnson forced the brawler out of Franklin with about a minute left, as both guys battled back and forth, stopping each other in their tracks repeatedly. Johnson closed strong, with Franklin's right hands barely missing their mark.

Both fighters entered the eleventh for the first time in their respective careers to that point, and Franklin made an early statement with more right hands. Franklin again moved to the ropes, and Johnson happily crowded him with hooks. After about a minute of phone booth scrapping, Franklin let loose with a combination that seemed to wobble Johnson, and he attacked to the end of the round, unable to put Johnson down. A mistake led to Johnson catching a bit of a break, as the referee believed he had hear the bell 10 seconds before the round actually ended.

Franklin smelled blood in the twelfth, going straight at Johnson with zero regard for the sloppy shots thrown back at him. A huge straight right hand caught Johnson and staggered him, and Franklin swarmed his potential kill, propping Johnson's head up with uppercuts and finishing with right hands. An exhausted Marvin Johnson collapsed to the canvas and was left to lay motionless at 1:12 of the final round.

Both men reportedly earned a mere $2500 each for the bout.

Oscar-Worthy Ambitions

Few sports exhibit the same cutthroat business model of boxing. Perhaps the solitary nature of the sport compounds the ruthlessness, but in fact most other sports seem to emphasize, at least on the surface, creating and maintaining a level field of play - salary caps, conduct policies, universal governing organizations, etc.

Boxing has always operated under the guidance of its own Golden Rule: he who has the gold greases the palms of those who make the rules.

However, Golden Boy Promotions' president Oscar de la Hoya is apparently looking to reform that idea.

In a September 27 interview with Broadcasting & Cable, de la Hoya ruffled quite a few feathers by claiming the sport would be much better off with Golden Boy Promotions as the sole promoter and distributor of boxing, directly referencing and praising the business model of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and what it has done for mixed martial arts.

Fellow promoters Gary Shaw and Bob Arum seemed angrily annoyed by the interview; Arum suggested Oscar's ideas would be illegal, and Shaw claimed he'd warned HBO about Golden Boy's attempt at a monopoly.

All feigned outrage aside, the question becomes whether or not a UFC-like business model would even work in the sport of boxing - or, more accurately, who that model would be good for.

Lou Dibella was the only one who got it right; he essentially laughed off Oscar's comments, saying it was business as usual, and citing Golden Boy's close relationship with HBO as an example.

As it stands, promoters organizing boxing cards that feature fighters under their promotional banners, especially against one another, is nothing new. It maximizes profit and allows you to avoid working with other promoters, who you may or may not have undercut, sold out or snatched a fighter from in the past. Most importantly, promoting is a business, not a charity.

But the UFC is more than a promoter.

The UFC has become synonymous with the sport of mixed martial arts itself, despite many other organizations like Strikeforce, the now-defunct PrideFC and it's successor DREAM doing very well at times. The more popular athletes in the UFC are among the most popular athletes in the world.

In addition to being easily the most popular MMA organization, the UFC has also hooked up with a cable television channel, SpikeTV (whose core demographic is young males), to exclusively air its non-PPV fight cards.

A big difference between MMA and boxing, and a big reason why it would be difficult to apply the former's workings to the latter, is the amount each pays its fighters.

While HBO has seemingly set its financial bar too high, paying its "house" fighters much more than they're worth in reality, the UFC often spends less on purses for an entire event than HBO does on only one of its fighters.

No wonder Oscar would like to mimic the UFC in terms of controlling the sport.

If a fighter has nowhere (or very few places) else to go to make good money, even if "good" is only relative, then it leaves him no other choice but to play ball. This, of course, would be great for the promoter.

But boxing is a deeply-evolved sport compared to MMA, styles and technique perfection aside. However, more time has also given boxing plenty of opportunities to fragment itself beyond the point of recognition.

Boxing has had more than one belt or champion per division for more years of its history than not, meaning more sanctioning organizations, rankings-makers and conflicting interests. That's without mentioning promoters, managers and the various entities controlling television dates. Delving into the world of boxing sponsorship (or lack thereof) is yet another hang-up on this issue.

At the end of the day, there are too many hands reaching out to grab loot for boxing to become much like the UFC.

The older promoters Oscar specifically mentioned in his interview, Don King and Bob Arum, both seem to still hold decent sway over sanctioning bodies and numerous powers that be. Arum's company Top Rank remains a force in boxing's premier city, Las Vegas.

Sanctioning bodies themselves would fight a new world order in the sport tooth and nail, as it wouldn't allow them to collect sanctioning fees on their interim champions, Super champions, Champions Emeritae, Silver champions and borderline useless eliminators.

Most importantly, Golden Boy would have to find a way to completely bypass HBO as a distributor. No easy feat considering HBO has probably become boxing's biggest promoter itself.

Golden Boy Promotions may actually be closer to dominating the promotional action of boxing than it realizes, though. Aside from being headed by one of the most popular fighters the sport has ever known and one of the most recognizable faces in the sports world, Golden Boy seems to have its own "chokehold" on HBO television dates - the most coveted boxing airtime this side of the Atlantic.

The problem is, unlike the UFC, Golden Boy has rarely sought to actually develop fighters. Rather, the promotional company seems to either sign established fighters toward the end of their careers for its younger, more marketable guys to feed off, or stars who have become free agents or are in some way connected to de la Hoya.

With "The Ultimate Fighter," the UFC has banked heavily on a mainstream, reality-based show featuring young and/or deserving prospects and pugs. These fighters are then used to fill undercards and matched accordingly to produce exciting fights.

The best Golden Boy could muster was a lame attempt at beating "The Contender" to the punch with a show called "The Next Great Champ," a reality show with unknown fighters that produced abysmal ratings and was quickly canceled. An attempt to create an eight-round championship belt did little to boost interest.

Upon creating Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar de la Hoya promised to bring boxing back to the fans, hosting affordable local shows and actively recruiting young prospects to ensure that the future of the sport is prosperous.

Ultimately, Oscar has done little else than evolve into the same mob bosses he's promised to vanquish.

Mixed martial arts continues to school the sweet science in the art of promotion, marketing and generation of interest. Us masochists can only hope to be entertained as these delusional boxing figureheads happily eat each other alive.

Don't hold your breath, Golden Boy.