The Dream is Still Alive for Kassim Ouma

Boxing is a sport filled with hard men.  That’s the simplest and most direct way to describe the men who risk life and limb in our modern gladiator sport.  Many of them have had lives more difficult than the average person. 

I’m familiar with a lot of these stories and none that I’ve heard to this point as tragic as the story of Kassim Ouma.  Everyone who is familiar with boxing knows how he was kidnapped at the age of six and made to fight in the National Resistance Army in his native Uganda. 

It is safe to say that Kassim Ouma is a hard man. 

At this point in his career, Ouma’s record is 26-7-1.  To not call it stellar is an understatement.  People were saying that his best days were behind him and that maybe he wasn’t motivated like he once was.  That was all hard to dispute with the losses against Saul Roman and Cornelius Bundrage.  But still, I wasn’t ready to accept Ouma as a gateway fighter and especially not as an opponent .

Yet, that’s what Top Rank brought him in for against one of their top prospects, Vanes Martirosyan, this past Saturday night.  He was to be Martirosyan’s stepping stone to bigger fights against Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams.  All anyone had to do was ask Martirosyan himself, or read any interview that he’d given in the past few weeks. 

Boy did he get a surprise. 

Let me go on record as saying that I think Ouma won the fight.  I thought that with the knockdown in the ninth round that the deal was sealed.  Unfortunately, it seems that we see this happen more often than not.  The featured fighter, especially in a fight like this where we have a prospect versus a supposed gatekeeper, has to be knocked out to lose the fight.

Before I proceed, let me say that I don’t think there was any bias with the decision on Saturday.  By comparison with some of the recent decisions we’ve seen in the past couple of months (see Funeka vs. Guzman), it was as if the blind lady of justice herself was one of the commission-appointed judges. 

That being said, in these situations the crowd favorite, the spotlighted fighter, often has a wee bit of an advantage.  For instance, every time Martirosyan threw a punch, the crowd went nuts.  It didn’t matter if he connected or if Ouma blocked the punch or not.  I believe this vociferous exhortation can sometimes influences judges.  After all, they’re human like the rest of the spectators.

What seemed apparent to many, was that Martirosyan had bit off more than he could chew or even that he wasn’t prepared for what was in front of him.  Ouma was more than game.  He looked to be in the best shape that I’ve seen him in for the past couple of years; he came into the fight at 150 lbs.  He could realistically be fighting at welterweight.  Can you all imagine what fights between Ouma and Antonio Margarito or Joshua Clottey would be like? 

There were a few questions that I had before the fight.  Such as, how would Martirosyan stand up to the relentless pressure applied by Ouma?  Would he wilt?  Or would he rise to the occasion?  There is one answer for both of the latter two questions.  Neither.  He neither wilted, nor did he rise to the occasion.  He held.  He pushed off with his head.  He hit on the break.  He hit below the belt.  His got on his proverbial bike and backpedaled. 

He survived the pressure.

Despite all the bravado that he tried to display, it was still evident that he knew he was in with a different kind of animal.  Ouma took all of Martirosyan’s best punches and kept coming forward.  It was apparent in the young fighter’s eyes: he didn’t know what to do. 

There were times throughout the fight that Martirosyan would hit Ouma with a strong right that would have felled his previous opponents and all he got for it was a smile.  The smiles were usually followed by a counter right and left combo, but with the visage transformed into a savage sneer.  All night long Ouma walked down Martirosyan, and in my estimation, landed more punches, one of which resulted in a knockdown. 

I wondered if doubt ever crossed Martirosyan’s mind.  Isn’t it easy to put yourself in that young man’s shoes and think “What can I do to a man who has seen the things that Ouma has seen?” Ouma is a hard man indeed and he showed he’s not just an opponent .   

At least not yet anyway.