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Best Heavyweight Fight of 2006 (so far)
MON April 3, BUSTER PARIS - Just when you’re ready to wash your hands of the Heavyweight division you get an unexpected and spectacular surprise – in this case in more ways than one. We had the best (to date) Heavyweight battle of 2006 and were privileged to witness two fighters full of heart and superb sportsmanship that we can all feel proud of our sport.
Cleveland, Ohio’s Wolstein Center played host on Saturday, April 1st 2006 to a Heavyweight title fight (the WBO) between “Relentless” Lamon Brewster (WBO Champion, Ring Magazine’s #4 Heavyweight and Boxing Digest’s #2) and Sergei “The White Wolf” Liakhovich (not in top 10 rankings of these lists).
Lets cut right to the chase here – it was a great fight, full of back and forth action and at times you would teeter on the edge of your seat breathlessly anticipating one of these warriors getting knocked out.
No doubt you heard the yelling of - “here he goes, oh my God – here he goes…oh…no!…wait…wow!” - more than just a few times.
In the end you couldn’t help but be moved and somewhat in awe of the great sportsmanship shared by these two Champions, especially after such an amazing and well-fought fight.
Round 1 started off at a somewhat slow to medium pace/feeling out process with Lamon Brewster deeply jabbing – really pounding and stretching it out there. Lamon would throw a couple of overhand rights as well and at like the 1:40 mark would land a strong right hand. Sergei Liakhovich would mostly throw some jabs and started to introduce a double jab. I gave this round to Lamon.
Round 2 finds both men more intense and more focused. Sergei seems much more comfortable, but is keeping his left hand too low. He is landing some nice rights and both are throwing very decent jabs. Near the end of the round Brewster lands a right and unexpectedly Liakhovich lands a big jab that has Lamon take a few balance catching steps backward. This was a difficult round to score and I had it as a draw.
Round 3 with both having had tasted what the other can do they are somewhat tentative. Brewster breaks the ice with a heavy 3 shot combination. Sergei smashes in some thudding blows to Brewster’s body and begins his own show of 3 shot combinations. This would be key for Liakhovich as Lamon was never able to deal with Liakhovich’s faster hand speed and with his throwing combinations. I gave this round to Sergei.
Round 4 has both fighters trading double jabs and single hooks to the head –Sergei actually starts doubling up on everything while Brewster starts to just throw one massive punch at a time – he’s somewhat connecting on Liakhovich, but not landing flush. Near the end of the round Lamon misses some career ending hooks – the breeze from those punches makes El Nino’s weather pattern look like a butterfly kiss. It’s Liakhovich’s round.
Round 5 I gave to Lamon – great round for both - at 30 seconds in Brewster lands a strong jab. They play around and trade for a good minute or so and then at like 1:25 Brewster turns it on and about 20 seconds later staggers Sergei over to the ropes with left bombs to the head. Lamon is all over him and is pummeling Sergei with ginormous hooks, then out of nowhere Liakhovich starts to answer back and with 20 ticks left has Lamon against the ropes and now Sergie starts pounding away.
For some inexplicable reason the bell dings with 5 seconds left – with almost any other two fighters in the ring this would have been really ugly, but these two are true Champions and true gentlemen - and what could have been a whole chaotic scene was brushed off as simply a mistake and not worth a second thought.
Round 6 and both are trading blows. Sergei once again proves that Brewster is speechless against the oncoming combinations and cannot produce an answer. Liakhovich wisely begins to offer up more combinations and every time he throws them they land cleanly and beautifully, then Lamon remembers how to retort and begins to land these colossal bombs, but Sergei’s hand speed and focused combos as well as a killer uppercut manage to get Brewster in the corner. Sergei begins to pound away – and – Brewster is fighting off the corner, but really looks hurt and Liakhovich is all over his head – then – Lamon lands that enormous right hand.
The bell rings and both fighters stagger about and almost drunkenly head towards their corners – great, great, great round! – got to give it to Liakhovich.
At this halfway point I have the bout 58 to 57 - Sergei Liakhovich.
Round 7 – This winds up being a 10/8 round for Lamon whose face is looking swollen – especially under his left eye. Both fighters are jabbing and both not wanting to really get in and mix it up after having had sampled each others best shots. Lamon is landing heavy blows and is picking up the pace as well as the intensity. He is showing the world why we call him “Relentless” and is brutally pounding away at Sergei and with 20 seconds left Liakhovich just can’t take it anymore and is forced to take a knee – one word describes the round – Wow!
Round 8 would be the last round that I had for Brewster. Both warriors are looking beat up and the round starts off slow with both tossing out jabs. Brewster picks up the pace and Sergei is again throwing and landing big combinations and Lamon starts missing the huge one punch again, but eventually starts to land it. Both are trading and Lamon is landing the bigger and harder blows.
Round 9 had Brewster taking a big beating and you waited for him to fall, but he miraculously never did. Sergei was finally using distance as weapon and was landing incredible hammering punches. Lamon was hurt and in the corner and Liakhovich was all over him, but couldn’t do more damage. Both fighters were exhausted.
Round 10 Brewster looked worn out and Sergei was coming in jabbing and bouncing and once again utilized combinations and adding points to the scorecards.
Round 11 Liakhovich has a second wind of sorts and is bouncing and jabbing. He’s keeping the distance in his favor and is landing beautifully off his combinations, then one left hook stuns Lamon and against the ropes he goes. Sergei is punching and Lamon is trying to come back, but is just too tired, but does manage to land a solid straight right that insists upon and welcomes a clinch.
Round 12 and both are slugging away. Brewster landing some left/right combos that we haven’t really seen all night from him and both are still trading jabs. Liakhovich taunts Lamon briefly to come and get him and they both slug away as the encounters and action continue to flow back and forth.
After the last bell of the 12th I had the bout scored 115 to 113 for Sergei Liakhovich
I kept repeating one word – “wow” – over and over again - it really was a great fight. Best Heavyweight fight in 2006!
These two men are not only fantastic warriors – they are noble and impressive sportsmen - and true gentlemen.
Post fight they both had nothing but nice things to genuinely say about each other and treated the other and the opposing corner team with respect, good will and plain old good sportsmanship.
6 things I’ve taken away from this bout:
1. You can’t take any fighter for granted or count any fighter out – I didn’t think the “White Wolf” stood a prayer against “Relentless” Lamon Brewster and thought it would be a 1st or 2nd round KO.
2. Lamon Brewster is one of the nicest guys in boxing today – a real classy and heartfelt guy.
3. A question – has a big weakness been exposed in Brewster – is he susceptible and vulnerable to combinations – and if so was Chris Byrd taking notes? (I think Byrd is one of the best in the division for throwing combinations and a fight between these two is inevitable)
4a. Sergei Liakhovich’s wife could not stop smiling and was beaming so full of pride that it was infectious – I’m sincerely happy for both them.
4b. Sergei and his wife came to America with $100 that she borrowed - and his dream of becoming a Champion.
4c. See 4a again and try not to smile.
5. I want to see this rematch.
6. Sergei Liakhovich is now in the Heavyweight mix – and is a welcome addition!
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions
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