Slow Week For Boxing? Not Exactly...
Raymond Zheng
08/09/07
What appeared to be a slow week in boxing was anything but that. To start Saturday night off, Shobox featured the crude, but extremely powerful punching Victor Oganov against another crude, but not as powerful punching Fulgencio Zuniga. By all accounts, the matchmakers designed this fight to showcase the talent of Oganov, who was 26-0 with 26 knockouts. Rumors from inside the Australian boxing circles had proclaimed the Russian as perhaps the next big thing to hit the super middleweight division.
I’m guessing that these rumors didn’t reach the ears of Zuniga. From the opening bell, Zuniga toyed around with Oganov as if the rising prospect was a mere tomato can. Oganov appeared to be confused and frustrated by Zuniga’s awkward punching angles, shifty foot movement, and high punch output. The Russian landed the stronger shots, but Zuniga’s solid chin withstood the barrage of wide hooks before finally stopping Oganov in the 9th round. It was certainly one of the biggest upsets so far in the year. So Oganov was exposed, but is this the end of him as a fighter at a high level? Fighters who have lost in similar fashion have come back in the past, but what exactly is Oganov’s ceiling? He’s loaded with talent, but is already 31 years old and needs to completely adjust his mechanics in order to compete at an elite level. Can he come back? Possibly. But I don’t think he has the skills to compete with a Calzaghe, Kessler, or even a Lacy.
Boxing also had some major controversy later that night in Columbia as Kendall Holt challenged Ricardo Torres for the WBO junior welterweight title. I’m not going to give a detailed summary of what transpired, but I’ll give you some of my thoughts on the fight. It was a boring affair for the most part with both men throwing very few punches. It wasn’t what Holt was doing, but rather what Torres didn’t do. Holt’s activity had him winning the fight on my card at the time of the stoppage. When the referee called it off, Holt was hurt, but I still thought it was a tad premature. As of this moment, Holt’s team has sent a formal protest to the WBO, so we’ll have to see how it goes.
Holt has all the physical tools in the world to rule the junior welterweight division, but his shaky chin has cursed him in his two losses. Meanwhile, Torres has proved even more so that he can easily be out boxed, but he has a great equalizer in his heavy hands. And most importantly due to these weaknesses, both men will ultimately come up short whenever they’re involved in a “big” fight.
Speaking of coming up short in big fights, the return of Zab Judah marked the end of another week in boxing last night. His opponent was a rugged journeyman by the name of Edwin Vazquez. Vazquez is a much better fighter than his 22-11-2 record suggests, but everyone watching the fight knew that Zab should’ve had his opponent out within 3 rounds. Zab has said that he’s ready to conquer the welterweight division again, but based on his performance last night, I’m not quite sure if that’s a possible scenario in his future. Shots that Zab would’ve slipped and countered with power shot a few years ago were connecting with him last night. Most importantly, he just didn’t appear to have the killer instinct that made him such a feared puncher since he turned professional. Yes, he got the win. But just how badly does Judah still want it?