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The Standing Eight Count – Requiem for the Light Heavyweights

standingeightcountBy Dave Wilcox

In March of 1983, Rich Wilcox headed off on a ski trip to Lake Tahoe, Nevada with young teenage son, Dave riding shotgun. That weekend was filled with a couple firsts. My first and as it turned out only ski trip ever, but more importantly it was the first time yours truly placed a bet on a boxing match.

Silly laws couldn’t stop me from underage betting. My father gladly went into a casino and dropped an Alexander Hamilton on my main man, Dwight Braxton (who would later become known by Dwight Muhammad Qawi) to defeat the “Spinks Jinx” Michael Spinks and unify the WBC and WBA light heavyweight titles. It was a sure bet in young Dave’s eye’s.

As it turned out, Spinks defeated “The Camden Buzzsaw” by unanimous decision over 15 rounds and thus started the tradition of me picking the wrong guy to win a fight. I have perfected the art ever since!

The light heavyweight division has historically been a very exciting division. From Billy Conn and “the old mongoose”, Archie Moore to guys like Michael Spinks and Roy Jones, JR., the division usually packs quite the punch.

Ever since Antonio Tarver made my day, month, year and decade by uttering his famous words “you got any excuses tonight, Roy?” and then proceeded to knockout the egomaniacal, Jones in two rounds back in May of 2004, the light heavyweight division has been a little stale.

In 2014, business seems to be picking up for my beloved light heavyweight division. In November of this year, Sergey Kovalev beat future first ballot Hall of Famer, Bernard Hopkins by a one-sided shut out to unify the IBF, WBO and of course the very important WBA “Super World” light heavyweight championship belt.

What the hell is a “Super World” title anyway? I consider myself a pretty close follower of the sport, but I have never heard of it and every time I turn around there is a new organization or title at stake.

Sorry, my attention deficit disorder strikes again. Back to the light heavyweights we go.

The Kovalev performance against Hopkins was quite impressive and Sergey seems to be a very strong and determined fighter that will be tough to beat.

Enter Adonis “Superman” Stevenson….

Stevenson defended his lineal WBC light heavyweight belt this past Friday in Quebec against Dmitry Sukhotsky. “Superman “knocked out the Russian in 5 rounds, thus setting up the talk for what is considered one of the biggest possible attractions in 2015.

Forget about those little guys that barb back and forth on Twitter claiming they want to fight but don’t for almost a decade depriving the fans of what they deserve, let’s get these light heavyweights in the ring to get it on.
I haven’t been this excited for a match at 175 pounds since Sugar Ray Leonard went up against my fellow colleague at RSR, Donny Lalonde back in July of 1988.

Sergey Kovalev is a stoic guy with a quiet demeanor and is very sound boxer/puncher with what appears to be an iron jaw. He is a very intimidating in the ring and likeable character outside of it.

In contrast, Adonis Stevenson is a very boisterous and charismatic guy with a thunderous left hand that can get guys out of their senses and a fight quickly. “Superman” does appear a bit sloppy at times with his hands low and winging wild punches.

The fight is a promoters dream! Can Stevenson land the big right? Will Kovalev slowly beat “Superman” down? These and so many more scenarios began to pop in my mind after watching Stevenson’s Friday night win.
Let’s make this fight happen boys. The boxing world is starving for classic fights and matchups and it is the feeling from this keyboard, that Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson are the right men for the assignment.
The early prediction here is an exciting back and forth contest with Kovalev winning by late TKO in a very competitive fight in Canada, thus setting up a lucrative rematch in Las Vegas that puts our beloved light heavyweights back in the spotlight of the sweet science.

Those fights will give up and coming Russian destroyer, Artur Beterbiev plenty of time to get more polished in the ring and become a very exciting challenger for whomever is champ. If you didn’t see this guy on the undercard of the Stevenson fight, make sure to find it on Youtube. He just might be the future of this division.

American speedster, Andre Dirrell is back from his head injury and has put together a string of impressive wins that will make him someone to be reckoned with as well.

The guy that can really get the division buzzing would be Super Middleweight champion, Andre Ward. As soon as Ward passes go and gets out of his self-imposed jail cell, he will be huge for the 175 pound ranks. Ward has been inactive during court battles with his promoter since November of 2013 when he defeated Edwin Rodriguez by lopsided 12 round decision in Ontario, California. Andre Ward might possibly be the most talented fighter in any division.

The light heavyweight division might be on the verge of greatness. Let’s hope the principals involved make it so.

Sound advice of the week award:

This week’s winner is the head trainer for Devon Alexander, Kevin Cunningham. As Alexander stood from his stool to come out for round ten and was obviously being soundly beaten by Amir Kahn, Cunningham gave his man this sound advice.

“Hey man, you gotta get this dude.”
Sound advice indeed, all that was missing was pom-poms.

Random thoughts:

The greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali was admitted to the hospital last night with pneumonia. We send our strongest thoughts and prayers to the champ and his family for a speedy recovery.

My fantasy football team is in the finals today. I changed it up a little this season. Instead of picking the team and doing the lineup each week myself, I have a great partner who does everything and we split the winnings down the middle. I pick fantasy football games as well as I pick fight winners.

Quarterback Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears is listed as the #2 QB on the depth chart this Sunday as he backs up, the current starter, Jimmy Clausen. That Cutler contract extension for 7 years and 126 million dollars is working out well. Don’t worry Bears fans, that 19 million dollar salary in 2020 for Jay Cutler won’t seem as bad by then. Inflation will help out.

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. The Wilcox house will have their annual and not so traditional taco fry that as always is prepared by the boss, Deborah Wilcox and I expect to be in a complete taco coma that should last at least two or three days.

No matter your religion and beliefs and regardless of how your family celebrates this great time of the year. I wish you all much happiness and love as you spend time with your families this Holiday season.

Thanks and as always, Keep Punching!

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