By George Goddiess: In what should have been a dramatic stoppage win for newly crowned IBF titlist Rances Barthelemy there is a cloud of controversy. In a strange turn of events Barthelemy had a hurt Argenis Mendez in serious trouble early in the scheduled twelve round title bout and was going for the finish late in round two. The bell sounded to end the round and neither the referee nor the two fighters seemed to hear as the referee did not jump in to break the action and the two fighters carried on.
A right hook, left hook combination got through and flattened Mendez when the bell finally rang a second time. Mendez was knocked cold and his title is now wrapped around a new champion’s waist. John David Jackson, the trainer of Mendez, was up on the apron in disbelief as his fighter was lying on the canvas from a late blow. When Mendez was finally up and on his stool and surrounded by his entourage there was a look of disappointment and injustice. Mike Tyson is the promoter of Mendez and during his post fight interview was annoyed by the result. He wants the commission to take a look at the film and they have a strong case.
Will this result stand and who will be wearing that red and gold belt when this is all settled? One thing is for sure and that is there must be a rematch of this fight at some point. For ESPN they have had a fair deal of controversy in their fights over the past season and in the first card of this current season. Barthelemy was a major benefactor on the first ESPN card of the 2013 season when he received a generous gift over Arash Usmanee. Last March a card in Chicago saw two controversial draws on the telecast. Adrian Granados spoiled what was supposed to be a Kermit Cintron comeback fight in with a guy with less than fifteen fights under his belt. Cintron was unable to get his punches off and got out boxed only to be given a draw. On the same card Don George was in with David Alonso Lopez and landed the harder shots and looked to have carried the fight with some comfort only to have the fight declared even a draw. In the last fight of the 2013 season Argenis Mendez saw what should have been a victory in his first title defense blemished when it went to the cards where he only was credited with a draw rather than a win.
Teddy Atlas on the telecast had a segment on his wish list of boxing in 2014. The list mostly covered controversy, an element of boxing that he frequently has outbursts on when he sees it. One of his bullet points was to have a system of review for officials. Last night the ball was dropped and it was either a matter of referee Pete Podgorski not stepping in between the fighters like he should of. If it is not the referee’s fault the official in charge of ringing the bell should have hit the bell a second time a third time or even repeatedly. It was apparent that nobody in the ring reacted to the sound of the bell, why did it take so long for it to be rung again. This is especially important given the situation in the ring. Mendez was hurt; he had just been down on some hard punches and any late punch could have and did end the fight. What looked like and should have been an explosive early knockout to tilt a world championship belt has become more complicated than it needed to be.
Also on the card was a rare unanimous draw in a battle between climbing Caleb Truax and tough veteran Ossie Duran at middleweight. This decision was not controversial though all draws become that way as both men will lobby their cause. This fight was a difficult one to score as some rounds were closely contested. Teddy Atlas and the Facebook poll came to a tight Caleb Truax win but the rounds that they gave to the fighters differed at stages showing that this was no easy fight to judge. The feeling was that it was close and that Truax had done enough to have his hand raised exclusively in victory especially because the fight was in his backyard of Minnesota. Duran took this fight on three weeks’ notice and at thirty six years of age was the opponent for Truax who had a massive 2013. In 2013 he scored two solid knockouts, one over Don George on ESPN that was something of an upset.
Truax was ranked fourteen in the IBF and twelve in the WBO and had all the momentum heading into a hometown fight against a short notice fighter but was given all he could handle for ten rounds. The fight did not go Truax’s way in the first four rounds as it started very tactical. Truax’s last few have come easy a fourth round stoppage and he dominated Don George with ease but this fight was different. Truax showed a lot of respect early and the fight had a feeling of restraint in the early rounds. Neither fighter strayed too far from the jab in the first couple rounds and these rounds were tough to score. Teddy Atlas had it two rounds to one for Duran while the fans voted two rounds to one for Truax. Neither had asserted any level of control at this point. Round four revealed something that was to be a factor for the rest of the bout and that was Duran’s jab. It was a very capable and sharp jab definitely developed through years in the professional ranks and from being in with top talent. The jab drew blood from Truax’s nose and would go on to be a more frequent weapon.
Duran had a very difficult guard to penetrate and many punches that looked like they landed in full speed and drew big reactions were revealed as blocked during the slow motion replays. Truax was busier and he went to the body plenty during the fight but had a hard time solving the puzzle. By round five Truax was trying his best to sweep his right hand around the frontal shield of Duran and he connected some good blows in that round. Truax also got the uppercut working and that was a punch that his team felt was available and was a goal for them. Round six was a round that Truax looked like he finally was settled in as he moved well and was out boxing Duran in the way that it seemed he should have been able to do. He was timing Duran’s punches and trying to counter and his footwork was improved in the round. Despite the success Duran did enough to maybe steal the round with a double jab and a right hand and again flurried at the end of the round with Truax on the ropes.
Past the midway point the two men began to slow down and dig in more. The mobile jabbing match was now a more stationary fight with Duran’s overhand rights against Truax’s sweeping right hand and uppercut. There was a wonder in the corners and among the viewers as to who was ahead. Was the busier Truax in his backyard going to get credit for activity and punches that grazed? Or was it Duran whose jab at points could not miss and whose punches came in cleaner and were less partially blocked than Truax’s. Round nine was rail thin (had it even) and in a close fight that could have been the difference maker. The tenth was a highlight of the night as the fight had a crescendo effect. Rounds one, two, and three were patient and slow and built until the tenth where the two men really tried to put a stamp on a fight that both corners knew was close. Duran did well with his left hand both as a jab and a left hook. Truax was trying to get the right hand around the guard and did. The round was toe to toe it was exciting and it was close. The fight was out of the fighters hands and in the hands of the judges and they all saw it as even.
For both fighters this was a mixture of good and bad, kind of the motif that goes along with the draw. For Caleb Truax this was good because he was tested; his last two had come too easy and against a tough fighter like Don George he showed craft and easily shut down George’s offense before knocking him out. As he climbs it is important he is tested and important that he learns as he climbs. For Truax this was bad because of where he was in his career. He was ranked in the top fifteen in two organizations and possibly on the cusp of big things. A win over Duran would have moved him up, maybe not my too much but could have gotten him in line with a fighter like Felix Sturm or more likely Peter Quillin who holds the WBO belt at the weight. Without a high powered promoter and much fanfare a setback like this at age thirty could be a disaster for the hopes of being in a championship contention. This may be a blessing in disguise as Duran exposed some problems in his game and it is better that he figured these problems out now rather than have them crop up with a better fighter with more power. Duran had the jab coming in with such frequency and a defensive shell that made Truax really work to land clean that it made Truax ineffective in many parts of the fight. He has a lot to work on but its better that he did not lose.
For Ossie Duran he has the draw effect as well. The good: Duran proved he is not done and being on a rough stretch of only one win in his last five and having been just knocked out fought a solid performance on national television. This is the kind of performance that may have earned him another fight on the network if he did not scare off promoters from using him as a stepping stone kind of fighter. The bad news for Duran is that he is not getting any younger and in reality he needed a win to get back into the big mix. Ossie Duran did very well but was two points short of getting his hand lifted alone. Solid night of boxing and an interesting January is on the way.
Comments are closed.