Bob Sapp: A Threat to the Klitschko Brothers
By SJ Jarapa
What if Bob Sapp were to be purely a boxer?
Think of the buzz he’s very capable of generating. His radiant star in other sporting fields alone is enough to stimulate a certain degree of excitement in today’s boring heavyweight boxing. Given that there would be quite an absence of the many weapons which have all demonstrated to be anything but friendly to his hackneyed style of fighting, his recent losses wouldn’t matter all that much as he would, with a little work here and there, one might infer, feel a class above even with his predictable in-ring routine versus the C and D classes that comprises much of boxing heavyweights’ current compilation of elites.
So loved has Mr. Robert Malcolm Sapp had been in Japan that his appeal pulled in a boat-load of money-making endeavors throughout this decade. He was made a commercial model, a fascinating artist with a music CD entitled “Sapp Time,” indeed he was an ultra-popular icon who appeared in endless streams of Japanese TV programs, Hollywood Blockbusters, and many other forms of broadcasting mediums – he wasn’t just the biggest brute to ever grace the sport of pugilism but a phenomenon larger than his own 350+ pounds of hulking mass and supplements.
Despite his moniker “The Beast” he was somewhat of an Aw Guy. Once when asked if he has a girlfriend, his answer could not have been more heart-wrenching. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend. But that’s probably why they call me a beast.”
You could just feel the planet going “Aww…” with it.
Bob “The Beast” Sapp at that point was no doubt bigger than life itself.
He enjoyed the sheen of being one of two most-popular Americans in Japan, sharing the spotlight with the then U.S. President George W. Bush. Bob was so alluring that he was able to transform the most inconsequential of affairs into a festival talked about for what could seem ages by the simple breath of his appearance, whether that be in the rings of K-1 and PRIDE or in the very stage of pop culture. He was the guy to call for the ratings game.
His athletic career began on the walk of promise, having been a standout offensive lineman for the University of Washington, where he annexed the Morris Award. His football’ing was to proceed and burgeon on to the turfs of the NFL but spun towards an unexpected alley after showing in just one regular season despite being signed under oath for a few more terms with the league when he elected to take on the scrupulous profession of fighting.
His first mission: Toughman Boxing, where he fought and beat William “The Refrigerator” Perry.
PRIDE then came, Japan’s premiere MMA sanctioning body – at the time deemed worldwide as being many levels better than the UFC. The association shelled out a million more than its rivals were willing to pay to hook in the finest talents in the world, therefore festooning its arenas with exhilarating battles between the best in legions and the best in nations. It offered the paramount of thrill by routinely enforcing the best matches possible.
Bob Sapp wasamong those talents.
He stormed in its rings like a berserker, bull-rushing his way into a cycle of success with his size, volume, and aggression, and quickly catapulted his rank on the plane of public exaltation. Although, he fought, initially, against low-level oppositions, and mounted victories by unfair strength and weight advantage, he was an excellent prospect and a key fan favorite, who launched a new technique, to cloak his limitations, and front out into mainstream awareness. The technique recognized as “Bull-rush” was nothing more than blind abandon which, if employed by someone of lesser magnitude, would otherwise prove an idiotic application of an exercise that could lead into something lamentable in the most abysmal of sense.
But it was an effective skill, exclusive only to The Beast.
And a skill which saw him upset the legendary four-time K-1 Grand Prix Champion Ernesto Hoost, twice by technical knockout. The victories over Hoost seemed the apex of his career – since later his bull-rushing days were driven into a chain of disqualifications due to hysterical aggression which occasionally resulted in the accidental ruin of his opponents’ precious jewels. Then his leading light bucked downhill towards an inescapable decline when his orbital bone met the fist of the powerful Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic and was stopped for the first time. Later, the more experienced veterans of the sport began to detect – eventually discerning his weak spots in his midsection and legs, and then exploiting his inadequate supply of batteries.
Since then, he’s been afraid to engage the real pros, bequeathing the world with a new-found defensive technique – that entertain cower-behind-the-muscle-armor-and-spin-around-the-ring-hoping-his-opponent-would-punch-himself-out technique.
Since May of last year, Bob Sapp has lost 3 in a row.
Perhaps this is the time for Bob to make an exit from MMA and traverse a road that would fit his style best.
In boxing, not only could Bob make box office killings, he could literally kill someone… okay, maybe I shouldn’t be saying this since he lost by TKO in his last fight.
That is not to say though that he’s a potential pushover in boxing. To suggest that is probably ignorant… since his best asset has been his crushing power that has so sent many of his foes into the void.
If anyone could cast whirlwinds of pressure on Wladimir Klitschko…I’m betting it is Bob.
If Bob can recall the ferocity that made him a star then… I’m really not convincing anyone with this am I? Well, the Klitschko brothers would probably toy with Bob in a slug and slide fight… but what if Bob can manage to pin them to the ropes and…bull-swarm them with punches courtesy of his 300 pound fists? Anything’s possible. If not the Klitschkos… I’m certain he’ll make a run on most of the heavyweights… He’ll tear through the top ten…
You know what? I’ll just end this piece here and say, “Bob Sapp will be a force in today’s heavyweight boxing.” I just feel it in my bones.