TalkingBoxing News
WBC Mandates Taylor vs. Wright
TUE December 13 - The fight to determine the best middleweight in the world took a major step forward today. Jose Sulaiman, president of the WBC, served notice today to the camps of middleweight champion JERMAIN TAYLOR and mandatory challenger WINKY WRIGHT "... that the free negotiations period has begun for the mandatory title defense between our champion Jermain Taylor vs. mandatory challenger Ronald "Winky" Wright, as ordered during the WBC annual convention in Spain during the month of October.
If no agreement is reached, the WBC will order a purse offer to be held on January 20, 2006, in Mexico City."
"I am extremely pleased with the WBC's decision to proceed with the mandatory title defense and I look forward to meeting Jermain head-on in the ring in my next fight," said Wright. "Everyone knows that after every fight, I have always asked for another big fight. No breathers for me. I only want the biggest fights against the best fighters because I am a competitor and I believe a champion should act like a champion. Now we are going to see who the best middleweight really is -- Jermain Taylor or me."
Wright and Taylor finished No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, as the top boxing pay-per-view draws for 2005.
Wright, 50-3 (25 KOs), won his second consecutive world title elimination bout Saturday night, with a dominating 12-round unanimous decision over Sam Soliman, 31-8 (12 KOs), at the Mohegan Sun and televised live on HBO, snapping the IBF's top-rated middleweight contender's three-year, 19-bout winning streak.
Wright, who already was the No. 1 contender in the WBC and WBA by virtue of his world title elimination bout victory over Felix Trinidad, May 14 (Trinidad entered that fight as the WBC/WBA No. 1-rated middleweight contender), solidified his position as Taylor's mandatory challenger and is now recognized as the division's undisputed No. 1 contender.
A two-time world champion, and the only man to unify the three major championship titles in the 154-pound division, Wright extended his current winning streak to 11 bouts, dating back to his disputed majority decision loss to Fernando Vargas in 1999.
Soliman Loses Decision with Judges, Wins over Crowd
TUE December 13 - Though ranked as the top IBF world contender, he came into last Saturday night’s HBO-televised WBC Middleweight Title Eliminator bout as a relative unknown here in the United States and a substantial underdog to the very popular and highly skilled Winky Wright.
As the waning seconds of the 12th and final round wound down with punches flying in from all angles, the appreciative capacity crowd at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, stood on its feet and began chanting his name over and over: “Sammy”! “Sammy”! Sam “King” Soliman was an unknown no more.
It was a scene eerily reminiscent of the film “Rocky IV” when the Russian crowd, who came to support their seemingly indestructible ring icon Ivan Drago, ended up chanting the indefatigable American’s name as he began to rally against the Russian giant, eventually knocking him out. But, while he ended up on the short end of a close, but unanimous decision by the three judges scoring at ringside, Melbourne’s Sam Soliman ultimately may have won a lot more than he lost. He won over the live audience, a world television audience, the skeptics who questioned the legitimacy of Soliman as a world middleweight contender, and the respect of the man who many experts feel is the top middleweight in the world.
“Sam came in and gave a great fight like he said he would,” Wright (now 50-3, 25 KOs), who can relate to Soliman’s desire to get a big opportunity, acknowledged. “We both have traveled a long road to get here and I told him I’d give him his chance like Shane (Mosley) gave me.
And while Soliman (31-8, 12 KOs) and his promoter, Dan Goossen, appreciate the opportunity Wright provided, it appears that Wright is not anxious to afford Soliman a rematch any time soon, if at all.
“Look at his face and look at mine,” Soliman offered the standing-room only media throng at the post-fight press conference, pointing to the swelling under and sunglasses on Wright’s eyes.
Without question Soliman’s stock rose dramatically off his performance against Wright. At the press conference, Goossen opted first to propose the rematch to Wright; one which he strongly feels his fighter earned.
“I don’t want to say he (Sam) was robbed,” Goossen stated, hoping to sway Wright into relating to Soliman one more time. “I’d like to get Sam a rematch with Winky. I’m sure Winky remembers his close loss to Fernando (Vargas) and he didn’t get a rematch he felt he had earned. I don’t think there is another middleweight out there who can beat these two.”
Goossen takes some issue with the way the fight was scored in the middle rounds, which were weighed heavily in Wright’s favor. It was clear from CompuBox numbers that Soliman was clearly throwing many more punches than his opponent (1,260 to 652 in all). While a large number of these shots were being blocked by Wright’s gloves and arms, Goossen feels that while these were overlooked in the scoring, they had a telling effect on the fight’s closing rounds, as Soliman poured it on in the 11th and 12th while Wright’s hands were visibly lower from the toll these unscored punches had taken. Soliman’s plan was to hit elbows, arms, shoulders, anything to open up Wright. These punches should have been scored. Much like the way the late world heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano used to wear down his opponents before taking them out.
Goossen also pointed out something he claims to have never witnessed in all his years in boxing.
“Winky is a big, strong middleweight. He actually came into the ring 11 pounds heavier than at the weigh-in. Meanwhile on fight night, Sam weighed in a pound less than at the weigh-in. I’ve never seen that.”
If Wright chooses to go in another direction and avoid a rematch with Soliman, Goossen would like to secure a world middleweight title fight against Jermain Taylor, who holds the WBA, WBC and WBO belts.
“Sam wants to fight the best,” Goossen insisted. We saw the fight against Winky, as an opportunity to showcase Sammy’s talent against one of the top fighters in the world and garner a much bigger audience and payday, despite what many people believed was a walk-over fight for Winky. What started out as Mission Impossible, ended with thunderous chants of Sammy, Sammy, Sammy.
Mission Impossible; Accomplished!!
Champions Judah, Mormeck Discuss Title Bouts
TUE December 13 - SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING begins its 20th year with a world championship doubleheader Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006 (9 p.m. ET/PT, (delayed on the west coast). Hometown favorite and one of the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers, undisputed welterweight champion Zab “Super” Judah, will defend against WBC No. 1 contender Carlos Baldomir in the main event. In the SHOWTIME co-feature, two reigning cruiserweight champions collide when World Boxing Council/World Boxing Association (WBC/WBA) champion Jean-Marc Mormeck faces his International Boxing Federation (IBF) counterpart, O’Neil “Supernova’’ Bell, in a world title unification bout.
ZAB “SUPER” JUDAH (34-2, 1 NC, 25 KOs)
“Baldomir is a fighter. He is the No. 1 mandatory so you have to respect him for that, but at the same time I am here to do what I do best and that is destroy. I am here to take on the best. I am not here to run from anyone, I only take on the best. I do not run from anyone. I want the best and nothing less.
“I do not get ring rust. I am in the gym 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And I beat down champions of the world in the ring. I am the champion of the world, I never get ring rust.
“Welterweight is the division everybody wants to be undisputed at. Sugar Ray Leonard, Shane Mosley, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran; everybody wants to be the best at welterweight. It is a weight class where you want to be called undisputed, you want to say ‘I am the king,’ and right now, I can say I am the king.
“ The year 2006 is going to be a beautiful year. In ’06, I am going to take on the best. I want the best and nothing less.
CARLOS BALDOMIR (41-9-6, 12 KOs)
“My biggest goal for 2006 is to become a world champion. I have sacrificed being away from my family for five months and not even Zab Judah can stop me from accomplishing this.
“Zab Judah has the advantage of speed but I have the advantage of a knockout punch.
“Zab does not intimidate me. I have been in this same scenario in different parts of the world. He talks and I punch.”
JEAN-MARC MORMECK (31-2, 21 KOs)
“There is no difference leading up to this fight in what we do. There is no technique, no secret to training, but we will be ready. Evander Holyfield is a great, great example for me. I am very proud to be the one on Jan. 7 to do what he did.”
O’NEIL BELL (25-1-1, 23 KOs)
“It is an excellent match up. Mormeck does not back up, he will come to me. It is an excellent way to start the year and you can expect explosions. Most of my opponents have ducked and dodged me, but Mormeck has come and put up the belt.
“When I unify, I will go down in history and I will be in the hall of fame, be in a class with Evander Holyfield. That is a big honor.”
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