Settling in for a night of boxing. I almost missed the Errol Spence v. Chris Van
Heerden fight on SpikeTV because I was tuning in to TRU TV boxing card. My home boy called me up fortunately and told
me about the Errol Spence card. Ain’t it
great now that boxing is once again ubiquitous after being prematurely declared
dead by the straining and desperate MMA publicity squad?
Lennox Lewis, former world Heavyweight Champion was with the Spike TV promotion of Adonis “Superman”
Stevenson versus Thomas Karpensky. Lewis had a partner so I hope he’s not the
one who lined up Karpensky for Stevenson. I like Karpensky but it was clear he was from
the minor leagues. He was the underfunded setup guy for a Stevenson KO. Stevenson got the big buildup but he should
really be fighting Sergei Kovalev, whom he ducked by signing to a promotion
which assured he could keep ducking Kovalev in perpetuity. I won’t believe
Adonis is any kind of Superman until he faces Kovalev. It can be done. The fans want it even if Stevenson doesn’t.
The Error Spence matchup against Chris Van Heerden was a
good match. Spence has gone from good
beginnings at the 2012 Olympics to four rounder, then to six and eight
rounders, and now to the whole distance.
Spence had dispatched all his previous opponents and it was time to move
him up. Van Heerden was a good pick, a
tough, durable and talented fighter who actually had a chance of winning.
Spence was his usual fantastic self, doing all the right things at all the
right times.
He was methodical in his work, offsetting Van Heerden
efforts with a stiff jab. If Van Heerden closed in, Spence would deliver
uppercuts. Ultimately, he pounded a very
game and courageous Van Heerden into a defeat but it was hard work with a guy
who didn’t come all the way from South Africa just to lie down.
On the other hand, I’ve been a long-time fan
of Spence and think he got a raw deal at the Olympics. Usually, I laugh when I hear people saying a
guy could be the next Mayweather or the next Tyson, or the next anybody. But the plaudits that follow Spence around
are well deserved. He’s got the complete
arsenal, the body and the mentality to deliver it. While they mention him as a
Mayweather, his temperament seems more like that of an Ali—much less noise
of course—but with the same grace under pressure.
As for Adonis Stevenson, he gets no praise from me for
knocking out a seriously overmatched and unrepresented kid from a small town in
Pennsylvania. The matchmaker gets an “F”
for making this one. It was entirely bogus and shouldn’t have been
allowed. In spite of having an upset
wins over Chad Dawson, justifying this supposedly, he was clearly not sturdy
enough to fight a heavily muscled and fast punching Adonis who comes at you
from all angles. Stevenson has some
skills, and he’s strong but this fight
with Karpensky didn’t do him any good.
At the end of the fight and during the post-fight interview, he calls out Kovalev, which was kind of a joke
because he turned down a fight with Kovalev about a year ago before Sergei
signed with another promoter. Fact is, Stevenson is milking his division for
whatever he can get out of it.
