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Bewildering Bazooka, But Here’s The Deal
MON August 7, BUSTER PARIS - Saturday – August 5th 2006 – After 10 rounds of boxing Judge Melvina Lathan scored the bout 96-93 and both Judge Tony Paolillo and Steve Weisfeld scored it 95-94 for the winner via unanimous decision - Vernon “The Viper” Forrest (38 wins and 2 losses).
The sadly too familiar look of utter shock and disbelief was frozen on the face of Ike “Bazooka” Quartey (37 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw) – who HBO’s unofficial ringside scorer had winning the fight 97-92.
The collective chant of “Bull Shit” championed by the crowd rocked Madison Square Garden, but gave little solace to a bewildered Bazooka and at the post fight interview when HBO’s Larry Merchant asked Ike ‘how shocked are you?’ – Ike couldn’t even answer – his lips parted and he intended to explain, but he couldn’t find any words. It was as if they were taken away … like his victory … and he struggled to find something, but baffled and befuddled he just shook his head.
I completely understand where Quartey is coming from. Harold Ledderman who in my book is usually 98% right on target had the fight at 97-92 for Quartey.
What’s the deal?
Well - lets take a look at Compubox Punch Stats:
Ike threw 481 punches and landed 201 of them (42%)
Vernon threw 818 punches and landed 184 of them (22%)
Ike threw 258 jabs and landed 82 of them (32%)
Vernon threw 428 jabs and landed 50 of them (12%)
Ike threw 223 power punches and landed 119 of them (53%)
Vernon threw 390 power punches and landed 134 of them (34%)
Clearly Quartey was the more accurate and effective puncher. All his punches seemed to be the more powerful of the two warriors, all his punches seemed to be inflicting the most damage and all of Ike's blows had bad intensions behind them - you could clearly see why they call him Bazooka - even the sounds of his shots all had a deep and booming thud.
Also - looking at ring generalship - Quartey was the one constantly moving forward, he was the aggressor and walked Vernon down the entire fight.
That being the case how in the world did Ike Quartey lose? – well, here’s the deal.
Look at Forrest’s output, look at what he threw – 818 punches and even though he only landed 184 of them he looked to be much busier. Even though he was moving backward he still managed to look busier – heck, check out his jab output alone - 428 of them - as compared to Quartey’s 258 – made it look like Vernon threw twice as many jabs as Ike and that’s what got the judges attention – that’s what got my attention. I got caught up in the 818 punches, I got caught up in the 428 blistering jabs – which is why I’m not a Judge … and why Harold Ledderman is one of the single greatest judges in the game.
Also – Vernon Forrest is an aesthetically pleasing fighter to watch – he’s so long and gracefully violent - and he throws great combinations. It really was awesome and almost hypnotic to watch him launch out his incredibly long and viper-like jab trying to keep Ike at a distance - and I think that’s where the judges got hypnotized – they forgot that he was backing up and being walked down and got caught up in the dazzling differences of body types and skills being shown.
Here’s the deal – you can’t win a fight going backwards – or at least it’s an incredibly rare accomplishment that I’ve seen done well only a handful of times.
Every time Quartey would back up Forrest we’d see Vernon throw those long and pretty jabs and those eye-catching combinations, but for some reason not notice that they weren’t connecting and then not noticing or not respecting that Ike would pack up his lunch pail and go to work blasting and pounding away on the inside.
In the end though I don’t think Quartey was robbed – I understand what the judges were thinking and I understand his great disappointment, but it wasn’t a robbery – just plain old-fashioned bad (or incorrect) judging/scoring.
Going forward after this … for Vernon Forrest – I don’t think there’s a lot of time left for him. While he fought well and looked good doing it his punches didn’t seem to have any power to them. They didn’t seem to be hurting Ike and there’s lots of questions regarding his left arm and hand.
Fortunately for Vernon, as I look at the other players at 154 pounds (Jr. Middleweights) I think he’ll actually do well as long as he avoids Oscar De La Hoya and his nemesis Ricardo Mayorga – so I guess there is some time left - that is unless some Welterweights (147 lbs) move up or some Middleweights (160 lbs) move down.
For Ike Quartey – what is next him? – I think Larry Merchant asked the question that needed asking – and Ike’s answer speaks volumes and provides an enormous sense of drama as well as a feeling of tragedy, misfortune and heartbreak.
“Can you retire again after this performance?”
To which he answered:
“…I don’t know…I don’t know (Lou?). I’m disappointed big time…(softer – almost a whisper) big time…”
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions
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