June 2 - ESPN2 6:00 pm
Omar Sheika vs. Glencoffe Johnson
Omar has always been a favorite super middle weight of mine. He blossomed on USA's TNF
with his straight forward style and major accurate bombs. He has steadily increased his
caliber of opposition. Omar is ranked #5 by the WBC, #8 by the IBF and #3 by the WBO. He
was originally scheduled to challenge Joe Calzaghe for the WBO super middle weight belt on
June 10th, but Joe withdrew with an injury. This marks the third time this venue has been
scheduled and subsequently canceled. He faces yet another tough bout tonight with
Glencoffe. How tough, is the question. . .
The answer is . . . as tough as Omar wants to make it.
Omar is on the way up. Glen is almost at the end of a could of been, might have been
career. As Glen steps up the competition, he gets out performed. In his last 3 bouts, Glen
has went the distance against world class opposition, and came up short in the eyes of the
judges. He went the spread with Silvio Branco, Syd Vanderpool (who recently challenged
Bernard Hopkins for the the IBF belt and lost almost every round.) and Sven Ottke (the
undefeated IBF champion). He has challenged twice for a world title and when faced with
world class opposition, he tends to lose his composure.
Omar IS world class opposition. In his first fight with veteran trainer Emanuel Steward,
Omar will capitalize on Glen's lack of focus and open quick with overhand bombs. Glen will
be lucky to survive Omar's two fisted barrage beyond 8 heats.
Shieka inside 8
June 3 - Showtime 10:00
pm
Roberto Garcia vs. Ben Tackie
This will be Roberto's first start since losing his IBF Jr Light weight title to Diego
Corrales last Oct by 7th round TKO (a fight that was prematurely halted in my opinion).
Roberto has always performed well, and since early in his career, it was obvious he would
eventually be a world champion. Roberto seized the IBF belt in Mar 98 with a 12 round nod
to Harold Warren. He made two successful defenses of his title, then was stopped in his
last bout by the aforementioned Corrales. He showed true championship poise in both his
defenses, and in his match prior to Corrales, scored a convincing decision to former
champion John John Molina in Jan 99.
Roberto has regrouped and steps right into the fold with Ben.
Ben is no easy fight. The Ghana native showed great skill and blazing hand speed in his
big win against Luis Leija in July 98 for the vacant IBF Intercontinental title.
Ben's only loss was at the hands of former WBC featherweight champion Gregorio
"Goyo" Vargas while vying for the vacant WBC Continental Americas lightweight
championship in Jan 99. In his last outing, Ben out performed renowned and world ranked
Golden Johnson in a 10 round upset this past March.
A win against an up and comer can make Roberto more marketable for a possible 2nd title
bid. Ben will be coming down in weight to face Roberto, but I doubt this will be a factor.
Both are distance boxers, and I expect this to be a sporadic, action packed match start to
finish. If Roberto sees an opening for a quick stoppage, he'll take it. But after
suffering his first professional loss via TKO, I suspect he'll be looking all night, while
performing well and winning rounds to a convincing decision.
Garcia by Decision
David Tua vs. Obed Sullivan
Tua is currently the terror of the heavy weight division. The Somoan native has banged out
some of the toughest bangers in the division. In Mar 96 he banged out John Ruiz in 1 round
(John's only loss by stoppage). Then in Dec of that year, he banged out David Izon (then
Izonretti) in an exciting 12th round stoppage. In his next in fight Apr 97 he stopped Oleg
Maskaev in another late round KO (11th). Then in Jun 97, he experienced his only
loss to heavy handed (and my fav incarcerated HW) Ike Ibeabuchi. His last fight of
notoriety was his dismantling and stoppage of Hassim Rahman in 10 rounds this past Dec.
His last two fights were fast stoppages to Gary Bell (as
predicted) and Shane Sutcliffe (as predicted).
David is Lennox Lewis' mandatory, and I believe will be Lennox Lewis' undoing. Evander had
to pullout of his scheduled match next weekend with John Ruiz because of a rib injury and
David's promoter Dan Goosen of America Presents said David would step in for Evander.
On the Bill Lekas radio Show Dan is quoted as saying , "I got a hold of Don King
and the Nevada State Athletic Commission and if David knocked out Sullivan within the
first four rounds he would be allowed to fight another ten or twelve round fight within a
four day period." Hmmm. . . Is it me or are they totally looking past Obed?
Obed is another could of been, might of been contender. He has lost 5 of his last 8 bouts,
and when faced with heavy handed opposition, gets stopped. Michael Grant stopped him in 9
in May 98 and Vitali Klitschko stopped him in 10 this past Dec. (as predicted) In his last bout, he dispatched unheralded
Jeff Lally in 3.
For David (ranked #1 by the IBF), the promise of bigger paydays that would come to
fruition with an impressive win to John Ruiz (Ranked #1 by both WBC and WBA and a person
David stopped in 1 round) is far to attractive to overlook. I suspect this will be a
motivating factor for David to bomb out Obed early. Expect just that. Fast and furious
bombs from the opening bell. A lot like he did Gary Bell and Shane Sutcliffe.
Tua inside 4
In Retrospect:
Omar Sheika vs. Glencoffe Johnson
Almost as expected. I expected this to be a tough fight for Omar.Knowing that Glen had
never been stopped, perhaps my expectations were too high. Hell, Glen went the distance
with Sven Otke and ended standing, that should speak volumes. Needless to say, I did
expect Omar to be in the aggressor in the fight, he was. Omar did have Glen down in the
4th round after falling behind the first 3 rounds. Glen had his moments and rallied in the
9th and was landing many bombs and cut Omar over the right eye with a left hook in this
round. Judges scored it 95-95, 96-93, 96-93 for Omar. Glen led Omar 30-27 after three
rounds on all three scorecards. Omar proved his mettle in this match. I'll keep an eye on
this kid.
Roberto Garcia vs. Ben Tackie
Almost as expected. Ben behind on all cards drop the big match ending left hook 35 seconds
into the final round. Roberto was pitching a shutout until the 6th round. Ben rallied and
turned the fight around in the 6th, but Roberto stood his ground and took rounds 7 and 8.
By 9 the pace was getting to Roberto, and Ben landed a questionable knock down, and for
the first time in the match, Roberto was trying to hang on. In round 10, a reenergized Ben
starting dropping bombs on Roberto, when a left hook had Roberto on his back. He was
obviously hurt, but beat the count and was on his feet by 8. Richard Steele looks in his
eyes,and waves off the fight to a complaining Roberto. The sad part is we will never know
how Roberto would of performed hurt. Hell, going into the last round, he was leading on
all score cards, 87-83. He could of survived, or even rallied to win the round. But, as
always, another controversial stoppage by the King of controversial stoppages, Richard
Steele.
Now we will never know. . .
Kudos' to Ben who took a lot of punishment. He has the resiliency to be a champion, he
just needs to start working on his hand speed, and getting off first. Ben can be a
dangerous force in the light weight division, especially under the tutelage of Dan Goosen.
This remains to be seen.
David Tua vs. Obed Sullivan
Exactly as expected. I expected David to open fast, and he did just that, stopping Obed
with an inside left hook in 51 seconds of the first round. Any concern of mine about David
coming in at 253 was erased with his opening salvo. I must admit that I am a bit skeptical
of this KO. Looking at the tape in slo mo, it appears Tua barely landed on Obed, and Obed
went down a little too easy. It actually looks like a grazing left hook. Hmmm.
Another important thing to note is that NOBODY has ever stopped Obed this quickly. It took
Michael Grant 9 rounds and Vitali Klitschko 10 rounds to stop the former Marine. It's
quite obvious that Tua is the man to fear for Lennox Lewis. We'll see what happens after
Lewis fights Frans Botha. I'm curious to see what happens with the Ruiz fight next week
too.
