Brewster Makes Comeback Against Batchelder on Saturday Night

By Boxing News - 08/28/2008 - Comments

brewster35753.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: With his last victory almost three years ago against Luan Krasniqi, former World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster will trying to pick up the broken pieces of a once exciting career when he goes up against Danny Batchelder (25-5-1, 12 KOs) on Saturday night. Brewster (33-4, 29 KOs), known for having knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in the 5th round on April 10th, 2004, as well as his tendency for being in exciting wars with many of his opponents, is trying to get back to where he was before in his career.

It’s a gamble on his part, because at 35, he may be beyond the point where he can go back to what he was three years ago. Indeed, Brewster absorbed a lot of punishment in a handful of fights, in particular his fights with Klitschko, Kali Meehan, and Serguei Lyakhovich. Before meeting up with these fighters, Brewster had fought well against the mostly C-class opponents he had fought, taking most of them out without taking too much punishment. However, in a short period of time between 2004 to 2006, Brewster was involved with four very hard fights which saw him taking an awful lot of head shots in that period.

The only easy fight during that stretch run, as it turns out, was a one-round blow out of Andrew Golota in May 2005. Out of all the fights that Brewster was in, this was the only bout that he actually started out fast and it showed the promise that he has when he was letting his hands go with abandon.

If Brewster hopes to contend for another title, he’s got to make some serious changes in his style of fighting. He can’t continue to just soak up punishment with his face, waiting for an opening to slip in one or two punches. He’s going to have to make his own opportunities by going after his opponents. Starting with Batchelder, Brewster will have to be opening up with his offensive weaponry with much greater frequency if he wants to line himself up for a title shot against one of the champions.

Batchelder, probably no more than a C-level fighter at best, has a decent work rate and may end up actually beating Brewster if he doesn’t start letting his hands go a little more often. Though I doubt that Batchelder has the skills to beat Brewster, I’m referring to a prime Brewster from three years ago. What I saw of Brewster in his comeback last year against Wladimir Klitschko, a fight which resulted in Brewster losing by a 6th round TKO, I can easily see Batchelder beating him by decision. Brewster looked significantly older than he used to look, with his power gone and work rate also gone.

It might have been just a bad night, after all, he was facing Wladimir Klitschko, who can make anyone look bad at times. But, Brewster was coming off eye surgery for a detached retina for his left eye, and that may have affected him to the point where he doesn’t want to get hit like he did before. Getting hit, however, has been part of Brewster’s line of work, allowing him to get in close enough to land his own shorter hooks.

He’s going to have to show his tough beard like before if he can work his way through the maze of fighters into another title shot. If I was him, I wouldn’t waste time with Batchelder and let him hang around too long and get confidence; I’d go right after him and try to take his head off in the first few rounds. I think Brewster probably still has more than enough power to take out a fighter like Batchelder if he can get his offense untracked and stop waiting around like often does in fights.