TAKING LIBERTIES: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your muddled asses yearning to enrich me”
By Rob Dore | boxing
David Haye has become quite the promoter for the sport of boxing, if only because listening to him attempt to hype up his latest payday makes you want to punch him squarely in the face. I wouldn’t recommend actually doing it but it won’t make you want to do it any the less.
With nothing on the line other their own egos, and a far larger payday than either man deserves, David Haye against Dereck Chisora at Upton Park this Saturday night has to be one of the least significant grudge matches boxing has ever spat out.
To calm our fury the Paddy Power Blog team decided to pick put what we see as five of the more significant grudge matches from pugilistic history.
#5: Erik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera
Although the animosity between these two Mexican greats wasn’t as vicious as it was between other rivals, in the ring they fought out one of the most thrilling trilogies the sport has seen. Two of the fights won Ring Magazine’s ‘Fight of the Year’ award (200 and 2004) and though Barrera trumped with two wins, we’re the real winners.
#4: Evander Holyfield vs Mike Tyson
In 1996 Holyfield upset Tyson by handing him his first defeat after his release from prison, taking his WBA and WBC belts in the process. So vexed was Mr Tyson that in the rematch one year later he decided to forgo the usual method of winning via punching and tried to chew his way to victory. After leaving visible bite marks on one of Holyfield’s ears the ref wanted to stop the fight. He didn’t and a crazed looking Mike went straight back out bit a large chunk out of Evander’s other ear. Only then was the fight stopped. This was the beginning of a descent down a very slippery slope for one of boxing’s most feared and iconic champions.
#3: Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling
When they first met in 1936, Frasier was the number one contender preparing for a title challenge. German fighter Schmeling was a former champ, past his prime. So Louis spent much of his training camp playing golf and subsequently suffered a shock defeat. When they met again two years later the fight took on a greater significance than Louis restoring his pride. The Nazi party were touting his previous victory over the African American Louis as proof of Aryan superiority, a sentiment not shared by Schmelling himself. The fight took on huge political significance but as a contest it was one-sided. Louis battered Schmeling into submission in the first round.
#2: Ali vs Frazier
There was genuine animosity between these two fighters with many of Ali’s taunts deemed to be extremely racist, calling Frazier an “Uncle Tom” and a “gorilla”. Insults which deeply hurt the less verbose Frazier. They fought three times with the first meeting, which Frazier won, being the best and the third, dubbed the “Thrilla in Manilla”, being the most famous. If only because of its catchy moniker.
#1: Jack Johnson vs The World
The boxing establishment did everything it could to prevent Jack Johnson from becoming the first black heavyweight champion of the world but he was so talented that he couldn’t be denied forever. He finally won the title from Tommy Burns in 1908. He was then matched up with a series of opponents hand-picked to wrestle the title back. Johnson lived a celebrity lifestyle and refused to even recognise the conventions and social restrictions imposed on black people at the time, including associating with white women. This caused him a lot of trouble inside and outside of the ring, including a prison sentence, but he carried on regardless. He wasn’t fighting for his race but in refusing to bow down to the conventions of others that’s exactly what he did.
Nice one. Good knowledge.
Cheers pal
What are your thoughts on the two “big” fights this weekend?
Ah, the old quotation marks of contempt. It’s hard to argue with them though, Haye and Khan could definitely have been involved in more meaningful fights than these.
Haye needs to get the finger out in this one. After his performance against Klitschko and the luke warm attempt to set up a fight with the older cyborg he needs to show that this licensing debacle was worth it, otherwise he’s heading down that Audley Harrison road. *shudder
If Chisora puts on the sort of performance he did against Klitschko he can give Haye something to think about. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be pumped up for this fight. He thrives on the controversy. Plus the sort of shots that were bouncing off Klitshko are more likely to make an impact on Haye. In saying that, if Haye fights with intent this time he will have too much skill and power for Chisora. Having lost face in his previous bout I think he will want to make a point and he can certainly take Chisora out comfortably inside the distance.
I see the Khan fight following the same format. Danny Garcia is a very limited fighter. He’s too upright, his defence is loose, he walks in straight lines and generally only throws punches in ones and two’s. Unless he alters some or all of these traits (which is pretty unlikely) Khan should have a field day. Garcia’s only hope is a knockout and Khan is certainly ‘knockoutable’ despite what people say about his chin in the Maidana fight. He throws crisp left-hooks and can mix in some good overhand rights and if he lands a few of those he could have some joy, but he will need to throw punches in volume if he does land cleanly instead of backing off after one nice shot. Khan should be too quick and elusive for him though and can also find a stoppage, probably in the late rounds.
A fight I would really love to see is Khan v Matthysse. It could be a repeat of the Maidana fight minus the horrible stamina collapse of the Argentinian midway through. The bullshit myth about Khans new-found ‘Desperate Dan Chin of Resistence’ would be dispelled. That fight won’t happen though, sadly.
I’m also interested to see how Jamie ‘i have the worst boxing nickname on the planet’ Kavanagh gets on on the undercard. I was somewhat underwhelmed the last time I saw him and honestly don’t think he will progress much beyond his current level, but I will be cheering him on nonetheless. Hopefully he proves me wrong. He should win this fight with relative ease though. If not I’d certainly be worried.