The Re-Education of a Boxing Fan

With Manny Pacquiao's short destruction of Ricky Hatton, and Chad Dawson's boring beating of Antonio Tarver, as well as nothing in the UFC, I needed some boxing history to fix me up for the month of May.

I turned to the second and third fights of the Rafael Marquez Vs. Israel Vazquez trilogy, the first fight of Marco Antonio Barrera Vs. Erik Morales, Diego Corrales Vs. Jose Luis Castillo, and finally, the Barrera Vs. Prince Naseem Hamed fight, for education.

Wow! What a week it was in my land.

First, I'd like to comment on an old fight I saw a month or two ago, off the Internet, Evander Holyfield Vs. Riddick Bowe, and what a fight that was.

Imagine that fight taking place today. One fighter, practically a Cruiserweight, going up against a true Heavy Weight, with Middle Weight skills. And if the Heavyweight has Middle Weight Skills, the Cruiser Weight is boxing like a Light-Welterweight.

Confused yet? I am.

Holyfield was amazing in that fight, taking on a guy with 30 pounds more than him in natural weight. Remember, when Pacquiao took on Oscar De La Hoya last December?

Cagayan de Oro Rep.Rufus Rodriguez (in the Philippines) requested the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) temporarily suspend Pacquiao's boxing license to protect him from a fight in which he was "clearly mismatched".

When Pacquiao, who was moving up a massive 12 pounds in weight, hammered out a stoppage of De La Hoya before the ninth round, the boxing world was stunned.

But when Holyfield boxed his heart out against Bowe, a man with a 30-pound advantage on fight night, and lost, it was almost considered an upset.

The combinations these men were throwing were something hard to find in today's heavyweight class. Not just from Holyfield, either, because Bowe won on the account that he kept on "boxing" like a true warrior in the face of Holyfield's carnage.

It was an amazing fight to watch, considering the lopsidedness, and lack of strategy, in the wins of the Klitchko brothers, who dominate today's Heavy Weight class.

Not to take anything away from the Klitchko brothers, but the Holyfield and Bowe fight had something that was missing from any of their fights: the sweet science.

Well, now that I've got Holyfield and Bowe off of my massive man-chest, let's discuss Marquez Vs. Vazquez.

I still need to see the first fight, even though Vazquez clearly quit from his stool, not able to breath through his broken nose. But in the second fight, though happy with the win, I thought the stoppage of Marquez was highly controversial, no doubt, early.

In the third fight, feeling the second had ripped off a game-Marquez, I was happy to see Vazquez win the fight on what I thought was a clear and game-changing 12th round. It was an amazing fight, and amazing comeback. Everything Vazquez did in that final round made you forget any doubts you'd had before that.

He came out hungrier and he won. It's just too bad Marquez was in a position to grab rope and claim the referee screwed up again, giving him a standing count. It was clear to everyone else he was down on his feet.

Onto Corrales Vs. Castillo.

I read about this fight in Dan Rafael's ESPN boxing blog this week, read a bit about Corrales in a Stoker MacIntosh article on B/R, downloaded the fight, and was the luckiest guy on earth since my wedding and the birth of my first daughter.

This was a boxing war the kind of I'd never seen before or since.

Living in South Korea, I'm used to seeing boxers go head-to-head, neither backing down, throwing punch after punch after punch, trying to knock the other guy out.

I don't know if it's because they're East Asian or not, but they seem to lack the raw punching power to turn out the lights on their opponent. They also seem to know it, since neither fighter gives any thought to defense.

Living in South Korea, and boxing here, it's been a strategic question of mine, how to respond to such an opponent. Watching Corrales and Castillo fight, however, gave a whole new meaning to toe-to-toe: head-to-head.

Those two clashed in a war of heads and heart, minus the head butts and clinches that plague other highly physical matches, in exchange for low-blows and head-rocking hooks, that neither seemed bothered by, for 10 grueling rounds.

I've never seen a North-American boxing match like this one, where the two boxers met shoulder to shoulder, pushed like two bulls in an Asian bull-fighting clash, constantly landed flush hooks, uppercuts, and counters on each other for 10 rounds, and still avoided clinching while having a great mind for defense.

In Korea, they go head to head, but leave their chins wide open, while they swing wildly for the lottery. In the face of such competition, I've wondered what style would work best. Corrales and Castillo left me a textbook of moves to box effectively against over aggressive opponents.

Although I'm not sure Corrales deserved the stoppage when it happened, I have no problem with him winning. I think Tony Weeks should've given Castillo a standing count rather than calling off the fight, but that's how the dice rolled on that evening. I can't say I would've called it any differently if I was Mr. Weeks in his shoes.

For my last and final fight analysis, Barrera destroyed Prince Naseem Hamed, and gave me bragging rights over my three Middle-Eastern friends one star-shining night, eight years ago.

It wasn't as lopsided as I originally remembered it to be, but it was bad enough to turn Emmanuel Steward against his pupil, Hamed, and that's all I needed to feel good.

It's not that I had anything against Hamed himself, but my friends made a big racial/religious superiority deal over the fight—as they did with all sports—so Barrera winning made me feel proud to be white, even though he's Mexican.

Barrera getting that big win over Hamed was a bit of payback for that rough decision loss to Morales in their first fight. Morales was the busier fighter, and Barrera was the stronger puncher. Who do you roll with?

It's a question that will always divide boxing fans, who seem to switch in every fight, favoring power or activity over the other, depending on the fighters.

Which scores the points?

But without a doubt, when two warriors square off, both intent on hurting the opponent, and both putting their record on the line, boxing wins.

It's good they hug after the fight. It confirms for us fans why we watch the fights: to appreciate the best against the best. To see how high the human spirit can soar. Not how fast it can fall.