Category: Heavyweight Champion

What Deontay Wilder Learned From Joe Louis, And How I Predicted His Defeat

2/27/2020

I wrote a blog last December about how people were getting too high on Deontay Wilder. The former heavyweight champion was boasting about being the hardest puncher in heavyweight history. Fans took this and ran with it, hypothesizing that Wilder was on his way to being the best fighter of all time. Some even felt strongly that he'd knock out Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. WTF?!?! With Wilder's recent loss to Tyson Fury, now many people are finally seeing that I was right in my observations of Wilder not being half as good as portrayed.

I knew this loss to Tyson Fury was coming and spoke about it numerous times. There are two main reasons why I predicted Fury would win this rematch.

"I Am The Hardest Hitter Puncher In Boxing History, Period."

Wilder made that statement in November 2019.

Now, I can almost understand why Wilder felt this way. His knockout record speaks for itself. Aside from Fury, Wilder has knocked out everyone he fought. He fell in love with his power. This is nothing new. I’ve seen this happen to other heavyweights like David Tua and George Foreman, for example. They got so used to knocking everyone out that they neglected other vital parts of boxing skill. For Foreman, he sacrificed his stamina, which Muhammad Ali famously exploited in Zaire. David Tua gained a lot of weight and became a one-trick pony with his left hook. When he finally got a heavyweight title shot in 2000 against Lennox Lewis, Tua weighed 245 pounds and his only strategy was to blast out Lewis with a left hook. He had no plan B, and was embarrassed for 12 rounds.

Wilder reminds me of Earnie Shavers in the sense that most of their knockouts occurred with one thunderous punch. On the rare occasions when an opponent would get up, neither man knew how to finish the guy off because they were accustomed to guys staying down. They never learned to become good finishers. This is why Shavers failed to stop Larry Holmes when he had him hurt, and Wilder failed to finish off Fury the two times he dropped him in their first fight.

Wilder and many boxing fans fell deeply in love with his punching power and knockout records. Wilder is an amazing puncher, but what I realized before everyone else is that Wilder is all punch and little else. His entire strategy is a jab and right hand. But more on that in a minute.

Secondly, the heavyweight division is poor aside from "the big three." (Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Wilder). The guys Wilder routinely knocked out were not great. There is no Oliver McCall or George Chuvalo around these days to test Wilder’s power.

You may think I'm being hard on Wilder, but I'm not. There is some credit to give. He isn't just a slugger, but a smart slugger, and here's why.

Wilder evidently studied some of the most dangerous punchers of the past. Joe Louis often unleashed devastating strings of punches together to destroy his victims. One favorite combination of his was to land a jab and then score with a right cross for the knockout. Wilder destroyed many guys this way. In fact, he used this combination of punches to floor Fury in their last fight, only he added a left hook to the chin after the right hand smash.

George Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer in 1994 with this same maneuver, as did Rocky Marciano when he struck out Jersey Joe Walcott to win the title in 1952. Observe.

The First Fight Said It All

Lastly, all people had to do was watch the first fight between Wilder and Fury. Fury outpointed Wilder most of the fight, and the only reason it was a draw was because of Wilder’s two knockdowns. That’s what made the fight so close. If not for the knockdowns, Fury would have won a comfortable decision.

And, in the words of heavyweight legend Max Schmeling, “I seed something.” During the last round of their first fight, Wilder dropped Fury with the combination of punches I spoke of above. Fury laid there dead. It looked to be over. Tyson Fury appeared to be another Bronze Bomber knockout victim. And, to the surprise of everyone, Fury suddenly rose from the canvas like the Undertaker and continued to fight.

Wilder failed to come across as a finisher, but that was not the only thing I noticed. Fury began to press him and back him up. Wilder didn’t quite know what to do, as he’s unaccustomed to fighting backwards. It took Fury 12 rounds and getting knocked down twice to realize that Wilder cannot fight backward and is uncomfortable with pressure. But the fight was over just as he started to exploit this. In the rematch he picked up right where he left off, and we saw what happened. Wilder, so used to being a knockout king, was clueless and hurt bad.

Hey, I am a fan of Wilder like everyone else. He was the first American Heavyweight Champion in 8 years or so. He can punch like hell. He has spectacular ring entrances. He’s a cocky but overall good guy and exciting fighter to watch. That right hand can drop you at any moment. He’s the most exciting heavyweight champion since the emergence of a young Iron Mike Tyson in 1985.

This is the time for Wilder to relax and enjoy his family, then return to the gym and freshen up on defense and finishing techniques. He showed true heart in refusing to quit, and I feel like he'll come back and eventually win one of the titles again. People used to doubt me when I'd tell them that he's not the unstoppable juggernaut force he was believed to be. I told people all the time that he could punch, but he couldn't fight. Ya'll didn't believe me. This is why it's wise to sit back and observe these guys early in their careers because more often than not, they let you down if you hype them.

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Our last look at "Iron."

2/9/2020

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The last knockout of Mike Tyson's 20 year career. (Feb. 22, 2003)

By early 2003 I was done with Mike Tyson. Or at least I thought I was. It was obvious that the showdown with Lennox Lewis should have been his retirement fight. At the time I was a junior in high school, but a huge boxing fan. I had lost faith in Tyson after the beatdown he took from Lewis, but one punch would later restore it. No one knew at the time that on February 22, 2003, Mike Tyson would knock out his last opponent, and it would only take 49 seconds.

Let's rewind back to February 2003. When I heard that Tyson was fighting Clifford Etienne, I felt that Clifford would murder him. Yeah, Clifford was a bum I'd never heard of previously. But Tyson looked so bad against Lewis that I'd pick almost anyone to beat him by this point.

For the Tyson v. Lewis fight, I threw a big fight party. For the Tyson v. Clifford Etienne fight, the party this time was just me, my dad, and a beer. (His beer)

I remember Mystikal performed the entrance music for Mike. He did the song, Danger!! (Been So Long) I still remember that album. That song might have been his last big hit. Tyson came out to Ambition Az A Ridah, one of the best 2Pac songs of all time. It was always nice to see Tyson honor his slain friend that way.

Now for the fight. (If you can call it that).

Clifford initially was able to dodge Tyson's left hooks and uppercuts by bobbing and weaving in a crouch.

The fight was explosive as both men charged right into each other like rhinos. Clifford tossed a jab first. Tyson was headhunting, slinging hooks to the head after jabbing his way inside. Clifford was ducking low, bobbing and weaving under Mike’s vicious hooks. A young Tyson would have taken advantage of Clifford’s openings with an uppercut. By the time Tyson launched one, Clifford’s head was out of position.

Clifford grabbed onto Tyson and both guys went tumbling to the ground. Remember. We’re only 13 seconds into the fight here. This was happening fast.

Once the ref waved both men back into action, Tyson charged in with a wild left hook but Clifford ducked and went back to bobbing and weaving. Tyson, to his credit, threw to the body and even threw another uppercut to the crouching Etienne, but couldn’t land because Clifford kept moving his head and smothering the former heavyweight champion. Both men got entangled and were (again) separated by the referee.

Iron Mike Tyson smashed poor Clifford with his right hand, resulting in the last knockout of his career.

Tyson was famous for his combinations during his youth, and what followed next is a reason why.

Clifford managed to dodge another Tyson left hook, but was surprised when Tyson smashed him with a right hook on the chin. Down he went. This was a flash of the 19 year-old Tyson; the kid who threw “punches in bunches.” If one punch failed to land, there would always be a follow-up or two that would inevitably catch you flush.

Cliff fell under his own leg, which looked even more painful than the punch. Once on the ground, he removed his mouthpiece and got comfortable laying on the canvas as the referee counted him out.

I was shocked and started rejoicing. Iron Mike was back!!! This was the Mike Tyson I remembered from my childhood. Maybe Lennox Lewis was just too big and too good for Tyson? Maybe Lewis would retire? Maybe Tyson now had a good chance to win the title again? All these thoughts and possibilities flashed through my mind. I suddenly had hope for Tyson. Right in front of my eyes, the former "Kid Dynamite" had knocked out Clifford Etienne in 49 seconds. I was caught up in the moment.

Then my dad brought me back to reality. “He (Clifford) probably took a dive.”

Damn.

I hadn't thought of that. And during the replays you see how smoothly Cliff removed his mouthpiece and made no effort to get up. He was considered a nobody, likely hired to help Tyson get some of his hard-hitting reputation back. I realized my dad was probably right.

The post-fight interview went much longer than the fight itself. Tyson said he broke his back while riding a motorcycle. And he also talked about his new tattoo on his face. Even though he wasn't saying crazy things about kissing Razor Ruddock's big lips or eating Lennox Lewis' children, this interview was still quite bizarre.

Like my dad said, the knockout could be suspect. Considering the way Clifford was content to lay there during the ten-count, and the way he was so quick to embrace and whisper to Tyson when it was over....makes you scratch your head a bit.

Another thing. Tyson is the most explosive in the first few rounds. Why the hell did Clifford come right at Tyson at the start of the fight? That's suicide. A stupid strategy. By this point, Tyson had been defeated four times by three men, and they each finished him using similar tactics. Surely Clifford knew better.

Clifford was also noticeably taller than Mike. Why did he come right at Tyson and fight by ducking into his reach? That's another questionable strategy. If you come right at Tyson and duck into his range, it's only a matter of time before you get blasted out. Clifford should have used his height to his advantage. There is no way someone tall like Muhammad Ali would charge at Tyson and foolishly fight him this way.

But to be fair, Clifford did seem a bit dazed after the knockout. Today I feel the same as I did that night as a teenager - the punch was legit, but Clifford was content to lay there and get his money. He knew he had no chance. He and Tyson put on a nice little 49-second show, and they both got paid. That isn't fair to the people spending money on this farce. But that's the fight game.

Honestly, Tyson was long over by this point. You could argue that his decline began with Cus D'Amato died. Tyson began to ignore his skills after firing Kevin Rooney, often looking for quick knockouts with his right hand. Then came the prison sentence, a year suspension after biting Holyfield, and here we were after the Lewis loss.

Tyson only fought two more times, losing to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride. Both fights took place when I was in college. I predicted Tyson would destroy the huge, lumbering McBride, but instead he quit in the sixth round and retired. He was actually winning the fight, en route to a split decision victory.

The last time Tyson's arm would be raised in victory.

Fighters like Joe Louis, Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali just didn’t have it anymore when they retired. They were mere shadows of themselves. The 37 year-old Joe Louis that was knocked out by Rocky Marciano was still fundamentally sound. His jab still had some bite to it, and his left hook was still mean. In his fights with Ezzard Charles and Marciano, we saw flashes of the prime Brown Bomber, as he tried to unleash the devastating combinations or “Joe Louis Specials” that he once routinely destroyed guys with. He was arguably the best finisher of all time. Fast forward to October 1951; age had robbed him of those graceful reflexes. He was too old to fight off a younger, stronger heavyweight like Marciano.

Ali had deteriorated to an even worse state by the time he fought Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbrick in his last fights. His arch nemesis Joe Frazier didn’t do much better in his final fight either. Against Jumbo Cummings, Frazier did his best and fought to win. He fought with his usual aggression and tried to kill the guy. The crowd gasped each time Frazier slung his fierce left hook, but the smoke was gone.

In their last fights, Ali, Frazier and Louis fought to win, but their declining skills prevented it. Tyson, on the other hand, maintained the fast hands and brutal power of his youth, but mentally caved in. He said himself after the McBride fight, “I don’t have the fighting guts no more. I haven’t loved this since 1990.” It showed.

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A.J. Dugger Reviews ROCKY MARCIANO (1999)

2/26/2014

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When I was a teenager living in Memphis, TN, I remember browsing my local Blockbuster Video Store. (RIP, Blockbuster). I stumbled across a movie called Rocky Marciano. Being a boxing fan, I was immediately intrigued. In case you're unaware, Rocky Marciano retired with a record of 49-0 with 43 wins by knockout. At the time, I knew almost nothing about Marciano other than the fact that he retired undefeated and, according to Eddie Murphy, beat up Joe Louis when he was 175 years old.

I rented the film but I wondered how a movie like this would work. We know Rocky never lost a fight, so what would be the conflict? How do you make a movie where everyone already knows the ending? Turns out, Director Charles Winkler did a great job spinning around this issue, and the film became my favorite boxing movie to date.

The Plot

We meet 10 year-old Rocky Marciano during the Great Depression when everyone was pissed off and money was scarce. His father (played by the late George C. Scott in one of his final roles) was a miserable Italian immigrant working at a Stacy Adams shoe factory. In the meantime, Rocky discovered a love of boxing. His hero was the great Joe Louis, the heavyweight champion at that time. We witness young Rocky hanging up a picture of Louis in his bedroom and celebrating with the locals on the legendary night when Louis knocked out Germany's Max Schmeling in one round.

As an adult, Rocky (Jon Favreau) had enough of work in the shoe factory and, reviving his love of boxing, decides to get involved in amateur boxing where he quickly suffers humiliating losses to Golden Gloves Champion Henry Lester and four other contenders. Ignoring the pleading of his best friend Allie Colombo, (Rino Romano) Rocky decides to turn professional. His strategy of training harder than his opponents sounded ridiculous at first, but his conditioning and hard-hitting style allowed him to win his first 12 fights by knockout. By the middle of the movie, he's already gone 25-0 against the best boxers in the world.

Jon Favreau did a great job impersonating Rocky's hard-hitting style.

Around this time is where the problems begin to pile up, and boy did Rocky have a lot of problems on his plate! First, he meets a well-connected manager named Al Weill. Al may be good at booking fights, but he talks Rocky into signing a contract where he receives half of Rocky's earnings for the rest of his life. This begins a long flow of money problems Rocky faces throughout the movie. Next, Rocky nearly quits boxing when he literally punches the undefeated 6'4 Carmine Vingo into a coma. Vingo recovered and is paralyzed today, but the incident had a bad effect on Rocky. Around the same time, he asks his girlfriend Barbara Cousins (Penelope Ann Miller) to marry him and she turns him down. Damn.

Eventually she comes around, but Rocky is hit with tough news at their wedding when Al Weill announces that Rocky will have to fight his hero, The Brown Bomber Joe Louis!

This is the real conflict of the movie. Rocky loved Joe Louis. No, I mean, he really loved the guy. Everytime Louis was in Rocky's presence, he walked in slow motion and appeared to float. He was Rocky's hero since childhood. Louis defended the heavyweight title 25 times and was champ for almost 13 years. But he was forced out of retirement because of tax problems. Even though he was past his prime, he was still regarded by most in the film as "the greatest boxer who ever lived" and few gave Rocky a chance at beating him.

However, beating Joe Louis was the only way Marciano could get a shot at the heavyweight title and have enough money to rescue his father from that "damn shoe factory," as he put it. The money would also put Rocky in a better position to get away from the greedy Al Weill and the other gangsters lurking around.

Rocky after a hard-fought victory over his friend and hero, Joe Louis.

Why I Like This Movie

Even though it's not entirely accurate, a lot of things were done right here. For starters, I like the way Favreau played Marciano. He gave him a bit of cool cockiness that made him likeable. He's someone you could easily be friends with and you want to see him succeed.

Secondly, Favreau and Duane Davis (who played Joe Louis) really did their homework on the fighting styles of the characters they played. Favreau did a great job mimicking Rocky's bobbing and weaving style, while Davis looked great portraying Louis' flat footed, boxer-puncher techniques, right down to crushing jab and swift, hard combinations Louis would throw. In the end, the climactic fight between the two was really well done and an excellent representation of the real battle between Louis and Marciano. To sum it up, Louis controlled the fight early with his jab, but Marciano's constant pressure and body attacks wore him out as the rounds progressed. Marciano floored Louis with a hard left hook in the 8th round and finished him moments later by knocking him through the ropes with a devastating right to the jaw.

Many friends of Rocky will tell you that he was a bit weird when it came to money. He only took cash, and hid money in odd places. The movie explains early on how The Great Depression effected Rocky during his childhood. After growing up poor, he made sure to save every penny he had. He didn't trust banks or checks. Only cash.

The film paid close attention to history, particularly in scenes like the one when Rocky was training for the Louis fight. Along with Allie and trainer Charley Goldman (Aron Tager) Marciano watches Louis' fights with Schmeling, looking for any potential weaknesses in The Brown Bomber. Goldman points out that Louis drops his left hand, leaving him wide open for the overhand right. This shows the trio came up with Marciano's fight plan for Louis - kill the body and the head will die. In other words, hit Louis so much in the ribs and stomach that when he drops his hands to protect the body, smash him with a knockout blow upstairs. The strategy worked. Watching this is like being a fly on the wall in a real training camp.

To me, the film landed all the right blows for a boxing movie. You care about the characters, the fight scenes were excellent, the acting was good, etc. Plus it's nice to see something done on a heavyweight champion whose last name isn't Ali or Tyson. No offense to those two, but other boxing legends are lost in their shadows and Marciano is one of them. In addition, Marciano is one of my favorite heavyweight champions of all time. In his prime he was exactly my size. (5'10, 184 pounds, although my long dreads may be extra weight). In boxing, my favorite boxers are the little guys with a big punch. Rocky had freakish punching power for someone so undersized, something else explored in the film.

Also, in a time of racial tension in this country, Marciano was not a racist man. The film goes out of its way to show this several times, among them being scenes showing Marciano's respect for Louis, and the fact that he attacked a reporter who made a racist remark about Louis. Because of this, I respect Rocky as both a boxer and as a man. Also, if you pay attention, you'll notice that actor Tony Lo Bianco (who plays gangster Frankie Carbo in this movie) played Rocky Marciano in another Marciano biopic during the 1970s. But every movie has cons and sure enough, this one is no exception.

Actor Duane Davis doesn't look a dayum thing like Joe Louis. I'm sorry. lol. But he did fight like him.

Cons

Only three things bother me about Rocky Marciano. One is the constant flashbacks. It starts to give you a headache after a while, especially when they arrive without warning. One minute Rocky is balding and happily retired. The next he's a young contender struggling with a corrupt manager and knocking people out.

Second, the movie somewhat ignores Louis' age when he fought Marciano. Remember that in the beginning of the story, Rocky is a small boy celebrating a Louis victory. And as an adult, 13 years later, he's fighting the man! But strangely, no one really mentions Louis' age and everyone acts like the fight is prime versus prime. I understand at the time that Louis' legacy was already intact and Rocky was still a prospect, but the movie's writers basically ignored Louis' age. The producers should have given the Louis character a bald spot or gray hair or something to show that he was much older than Rocky.

Lastly, (and most important) the movie stopped too early in Rocky's career. The film ends just after his victory over Joe Louis, therefore we don't get to see his tough fight against Jersey Joe Walcott for the heavyweight title, or the battles with Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore. Those fights were classics and would have been great to see. I understand that the movie would have to be a miniseries to include those highlights, but it would have been worth it, in my opinion. The producers did such a great job with the fight scenes that I know they would have done Marciano's later fights justice.

Other than those three minor quibbles, this film is great! HBO also scored a knockout with their 1995 movie, Tyson, which featured some of the cast from this film. That movie was awesome as well, but the Marciano movie edges it out a little, possibly because Mike Tyson's story has been told countless times.

As far as Rocky Marciano goes, I definitely recommend this movie. Even if you're not a fan of boxing, I think you'll like this one. Great storytelling, and my favorite boxing biopic of them all.

**** 1/2
Four and a half stars out of 5

Trailer

Bonus Material

Listen to my interview with Rocky Marciano biographer John Cameron.

See what Joe Louis himself had to say about his brawl with The Brockton Blockbuster. (Scans taken from Joe Louis' autobiography, My Life).

What Deontay Wilder Learned From Joe Louis, And How I Predicted His Defeat

"I Am The Hardest Hitter Puncher In Boxing History, Period."

The First Fight Said It All

Our last look at "Iron."

A.J. Dugger Reviews ROCKY MARCIANO (1999)

The Plot

Why I Like This Movie

Cons

Trailer

Bonus Material

Recommended Reading

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