Friday, August 18, 2006

A Friday Night of Ho-Hum Fights

EVANDER FEASTS ON "THE BEAST"

Evander Holyfield looked to be in good shape tonight, as he dominated the thoroughly outclassed journeyman Jeremy "The Beast" Bates, winning the fight with a second-round TKO. Unfortunately, this will probably lead to Holyfield moving up to fight someone who isn't a unskilled journeyman, and that will not be pretty. Bates, despite his complete lack of skill, managed to rock Holyfield with what looked to be a relatively slow punch, and I shudder to think of how a skilled fighter will leave "The Real Deal" with "Real Dain Brammage". Of course, I believe that if Evander wants to fight, and he passes the physical requirements, he should be allowed to fight. I just hope that he'll decide to hang it up.

ESPN2's Friday Night Fights card disintegrated with both Sam Soliman and Vasily Jirov pulling out of the two fights of note, both complaining of back injuries. Soliman looked great in his previous bout against Winky Wright, and Jirov has been known for tough wars with Joe Mesi (who defeated yet another tomato can in last week's latest installment of his half-assed comeback) and James Toney. When these two guys pulled out of their respective fights, I expected the worst, and that was pretty much what ESPN2 delivered. The "main event" ended up being a yawnfest that pitted journeyman Cisse Salif against undefeated prospect Damian Wills, who is co-managed by movie star Denzel Washington. These guys looked slow, flabby, and unskilled, and I think that none of the top 20 heavyweights should have anything to fear from these two. As bad as this fight turned out to be, the undercard was even worse (though there was an exciting four-rounder between Joaquin Marquez (fresh out from a 7-year prison stint) and Roderick Grajeda, an under-achieving journeyman who was homeless as recently as six months ago. Neither of these guys are in a position to set the world on fire, but Grajeda showed a lot of heart and "ring smarts" in toughing out the draw with the more talented Marquez.

Tomorrow night's Sharmba Mitchell/Paul Williams fight promises to be more exciting, especially if they show "Fast Eddie" Chambers' fight on the undercard. I'll be watching.

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