May 10, 2008

Trent FM Arena-Nottingham, England

There is a huge historic announcement at the bottom of this article, that should be read before this recap.

A correction to last week's recap. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. boxes at 154 pounds. (Thanks to Andy Reese.) Therefore, weight would not be a factor in making a match between him and Oscar De La Hoya. However, that match is still unlikely to happen.

For those of you from Camp Figure Four going to UFC 84, the place to bet on MMA is the Venetian. The bookmaker there is an MMA genius. The Venetian has the lines on MMA matches before any other casino, and will have lines on more matches then any other casino. Also, the lines there will be different then those at any of the other casinos. At Pride 33, the Venetian offered a lot better odds on Wanderlei Silva against Dan Henderson then any other casino. When Henderson won, the Venetian cleaned up. The Venetian was similarly out of step with the other casinos on many of the upsets that night. That cost the people I was giving advice to, who were casino shopping for the best lines, extra money on what turned out to be sucker bets.

The original opening round contest for this show was going to be John Fewkes challenging for John Murray's BBB of C English Championship at 135 pounds. However, Fewkes pulled out of the match on Wednesday with a stomach ailment. That is not a terrible loss, because that match was probably going to be a boring 10-round decision between 2 mediocre boxers. It has been replaced by Carl Froch vs. Albert Rybacki. That is a horrible mismatch, but strangely is now the main event.

1. WBC Super Lightweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Junior Witter (36-1-2, 21 KO's, 139.5 pounds) (c) vs. Timothy Bradley (21-0, 11 KO's, 139.25 pounds)

Witter won this title when it was vacant via 12-round unanimous decision over DeMarcus Corley on September 15, 2006 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. The previous champion was Floyd Mayweather, Jr. who vacated the title to move up to 147 pounds. This is Witter's third defense of this title.

Witter was supposed to face Demetrius Hopkins in March, but Hopkins had issues with his promoter (Golden Boy Promotions) and the match was canceled. (That is very strange, because Demetrius' uncle, Bernard Hopkins, is an executive at Golden Boy Promotions.) Witter is now using this match as a showcase to try and get a match with Ricky Hatton.

The champion's last match was a knockout victory 1 minute into round 7 over Vivian Harris on September 7, 2008 at the Doncaster Dome in Doncaster, England.

Witter is The Ring's number 1 contender at 140 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Hatton.

This is Bradley's first match outside of California as a professional, and first scheduled 12-round match. Bradley was scheduled to face Jose Luis Castillo in Cancun, Mexico on March 8, 2008. However, Castillo failed to make the 140 pound weight limit for the match and it was canceled. Therefore, the WBC decided to name Bradley the number 1 contender to Witter's title without Bradley needing to win an elimination match. The cancellation of the Castillo match means Bradley is coming off an 11-month layoff, which is the longest of his career.

The Palm Springs, California resident's last match was a successful title defense of his WBC World Youth Championship at 140 pounds. Bradley defeated Miguel Vazquez by 10-round unanimous decision at Omega Products International on July 27, 2007 in Corona, California. That belt is not on the line in this match.

Bradley is unranked by The Ring, and the number 24 ranked boxer at 140 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 24-years-old, Bradley has a 10 year age advantage over the 34-year-old Witter. Witter has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Bradley stands 5' 6" tall. Bradley has the reach advantage with a 69" wingspan, compared to Witter who has a 67" wingspan. The boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time are unavailable, but they should be relatively the same size entering the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. However, Witter will switch stances frequently. According to ESPN.com Bradley is a 6-to-1 underdog.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match, except for one change. In case of an accidental foul leading to an early stoppage, the match will be determined by the scorecards after the start of round 5. Usually in that situation the match would be sent to the scorecards, after the end of round 4. The judges are from Italy, Mexico, and Belgium. The referee is Massimo Barrovecchio. The referee's native language is Italian, but it appears his English will be good enough to communicate with the boxers in this match.

In round 1, Bradley throws a lot more punches then Witter. However, Witter lands more punches to win the round, 10-9. Witter wins round 2, 10-9. The champion has boxed the majority of the first 2 rounds out of the southpaw stance, and not the traditional southpaw stance. He is standing very awkwardly. At times Witter is holding his lead hand very high to knock down the lead hand of Bradley. It is the same tactic that Wladimir Klitschko used against Sultan Ibragimov in their awful match earlier this year, only Witter is using less force to knock Bradley's hand down. Then, at times out of the southpaw stance Witter will hold his lead right hand low and do almost nothing. That is allowing Bradley to score with straight hands, when rushing in. However, Witter then immediately ties up Bradley. This means very little is happening in this match, and it can be credited to Witter. Close round 3, because nothing happened. Bradley was better in the last minute, which may have won him the round, 10-9. Witter is ahead in the match on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28. However, I suspect all 3 judges have the Englishman ahead after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Bradley may have won round 4, by being relatively more active and trying to make something of this match, 10-9. This match cries out for the adoption of the Pride yellow card system in boxing. If that was in place, this debacle may already be over. Witter could have already received 3 yellow cards for doing nothing in the first 4 rounds. Witter wins round 5, 10-9. This is easily the worst match that has been recapped this year, so far. Witter has a history of being a boring boxer, and this match is enhancing that reputation. A right hand out of nowhere sends Witter to the canvas with 16 seconds to go in round 6. The right hand Bradley caught Witter with was similar to the awkward overhand right that Chuck Liddell throws as his favorite knockout punch. Witter is up immediately and appears fairly steady, when answering the referee's count. The action resumes with 8 seconds to go in the round. Witter decided to hold on against the Bradley flurry to end the round, and appeared in real trouble in the final few seconds of the round. The first decisive round of the match goes to Bradley, 10-8. After 6 rounds, Bradley leads on my scorecard, 57-56. On color commentary for Showtime, Steve Farhood has Witter winning the match after 6 rounds, 57-56. That knockdown is the first time Witter has been knocked to mat in his professional career.

Witter drops to his knees dodging a right hook with 2:24 to go in round 7. The referee correctly rules it a slip, and the action is restarted with 2:18 to go in the round. With around 2 minutes to go in round 7, there is some swelling beginning to form under Bradley's left eye. It is not impairing his vision, but could later in the match. With around 1 minute to go in round 7, Witter is cut under his right eye. It was probably caused by a Bradley headbutt. Bradley has been warned numerous times in this match, already about leading with his head. The challenger may be on the verge of losing a point for leading with his head. The cut below Witter's right eye should be no factor in this match. Close round 7 that Bradley probably wins, 10-9. With 2:38 to go in round 8, the referee calls time to admonish Bradley about rough tactics on the inside. The action is resumed with 2:32 to go in the round, because the timekeeper failed to stop the clock. Bradley's aggression wins a close round 8, 10-9. Close round 9, that Witter may have barely won, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Bradley leads on my scorecard, 86-84.

Bradley wins round 10 decisively, 10-9. Witter has gone from a boxer in his prime to an old man during the last 5 rounds. With around 1 minute to go in round 11, there is a cut opened up around near the corner of left eye of Witter. Again, it was likely caused by a Bradley headbutt. A point deduction, may cost Bradley the match. Bradley wins round 11, 10-9. To win a champion's title on their home turf, you need to beat them decisively. Bradley is doing that. Witter is not doing anything offensively to try and score a come from behind knockout to preserve his title. It appears the cut near the corner of Witter's eye was actually caused by a left hand from Bradley. After 11 rounds, Farhood and my scorecard have Bradley winning the match, 106-102. This match is on the verge of being the upset of the year.

Bradley closes out round 12 as the aggressor and taking the round decisively, 10-9. The English crowd that had been silent for most of the match, because of Witter's boring style began to boo their boxer in the last minute. Witter put his hands up after the match to celebrate and the crowd began to boo him more vociferously. If Witter takes this decision, the home crowd will turn on him in a way only Tim Sylvia knows. Farhood and my scorecard have Bradley taking Witter's title by the score of 116-111. Assuming everything goes the way it should this is one of the best feel good moments in boxing in a while.

Before the scores are in, Timothy Bradley drops to his knees on the canvas and begins to cry, overwhelmed at the enormity of what he has accomplished. Bradley acknowledged before the match, that the only reason he got this title match was because it was mandated by the WBC, and that he had never faced an opponent who was nearly as good as Witter. The scores are taking a long time to be added up. That is usually a bad sign in cases like this. The official decision as read by the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match as a split decision (and the crowd has begun to boo that): 115-112 (Witter, which was booed), 115-113 (Bradley, cheered), 114-113 in favor of the winner and new WBC Super Lightweight Champion of the World, "Desert Storm" Timothy Bradley. In a great scene, Bradley is receiving a standing ovation from some of the English crowd for winning the match, while the crying boxer is hoisted up on the shoulders of his corner men. The win moves Bradley to 22-0 with 11 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Bradley said in his post match interview did not say anything of note, but came across very likeable. He was not asked about potential next opponents, but that was probably the last thing on his mind.

The Californian pulled off a shocking upset here, and it will be the likely upset of the year. The fact that it was a split decision, and the scores were so close is terrifying. Bradley dominated this match, and appeared to be the only boxer interested in winning this match. There are a host of potential opponents for him, and at 24-years-old it is unclear what he really is as a boxer, yet. Bradley will need to prove that this win was not, because Witter got old. He needs to have strong follow up performances to prove he is the future of the 140 pound division.

Witter looked very old in this match, and boxed a boring match. After, not having lost since June 24, 2000, when he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to Zab Judah, Witter is now in boxing purgatory. There is no reason any top boxer should face him. Witter is too boring to market, and could potentially beat them, if he returned to his previous form. However, it appeared he had nothing left at the end of this match. Witter has been calling out Hatton for years. A match with Hatton at this point, would likely end in Witter's retirement. Witter had problems with the physicality of Bradley. Hatton's physicality retired future hall of famer Kostya Tszyu on his stool after round 11. Witter would be unlikely to fair that well. Witter has one last shot, it appears he will be given an immediate rematch. That should be in the United States, where the judging would be more reasonable. If Witter loses the rematch, it may become a de facto retirement match with the future prospects that may be available for the aging boxer.

2. Super Middleweight (168 pounds) 12-Round Match:

Carl Froch (22-0, 18 KO's, 167.5 pounds) vs. Albert Rybacki (15-0, 8 KO's, 168.25 pounds)

Froch had a strong amateur boxing career that was capped by winning the bronze medal at 165 pounds for England at 2001 World Championships.

The native of Nottingham is the number 1 contender to one of the title belts at 168 pounds that Joe Calzaghe won from Mikkel Kessler. However, it appears Calzaghe has no interest in facing Froch anytime in the near future.

Froch's last match was a technical knockout victory over Robert Reid at 3:00 of round 5, when the match was stopped in the corner on November 9, 2007 at the Ice Arena in Nottingham. The victory was Froch's fourth successful defense of his BBB of C British Super Middleweight Championship. Froch won the British Board of Boxing Control British Super Middleweight Championship, when it was vacant via technical knockout at 2:10 of round 1 over Damon Hague on September 24, 2004 at the Ice Arena. (Thanks to Mike Sempervive for deciphering that title abbreviation.) However, this title is not at stake in this match.

Froch is The Ring magazine's number 6 contender at 168 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Calzaghe.

Rybacki has been brought in to lose and showcase Froch's skills. Rybacki is a last minute replacement coming in on 3 days notice, and says he is only at 50%. The resident of Poland admits he was not training, before being named the replacement. Rybacki has never been in a scheduled 12-round match, and only 1 match scheduled past 6 rounds. The longest match of Rybacki's career was a match he won by technical knockout in round 9 on October 26, 2002 over Tony Dodson at the Leisure Center in Maesteg, Wales for the WBF Intercontinental Championship at 168 pounds.

However, rather then defend that title, Rybacki did not have another official match for over 2 years. Then on December 19, 2004, Rybacki won a 6-round unanimous decision over Dmitro Gotovsky in Hungary. Rybacki then had another extended absence from in-ring competition. His next match was nearly 18 months later, when he defeated Houssain Osman via 6-round decision on June 1, 2006 at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in Birmingham, England.

Rybacki last match was following a 21-month layoff against Freeman Taft on March 22, 2008 at the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The resident of Poland won the 6-round match via technical knockout at 2:32 of round 6. This is the shortest break between matches for Rybacki, since he had a match on October 28, 2000 and December 8, 2000. Rybacki's first match then was a 4-round decision victory over a 3-17-1, Stefan Stanko. His second match was a 4-round decision victory over a 6-16-2, Matt Mowatt.

Rybacki is unranked by The Ring, and ranked number 218 at 168 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 30-years-old, Froch is 7 years younger then the 37-year-old Rybacki. Both boxers stand 6' tall. Froch has the reach advantage with a 76" wingspan, while Rybacki has a 72" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available, but Froch will be the larger boxer in the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

Froch's entrance explains why this match is going on as the main event. When he is announced a drum troop plays, and that transitions into Queen's "We Will Rock You". As the lyrics for "We Will Rock You" kick in, the curtain that is covering the stand Froch is on raises up. That reveals to the darkened stadium the boxer in a black hooded robe surrounded by the usual fog machines. This gets the crowd into a frenzy for their hometown boxer, after what was for them a boring last match. It is a very impressive site. After this, Froch needs to knockout Rybacki quickly.

The British Boxing Board of Control rules are in effect for this match. There are some major changes in the rules under this format. Only the referee scores the match. In case of an accidental foul that causes a stoppage, the boxer that must retire loses by technical knockout. These are embarrassingly horrible rules. This makes open scoring sound like a good idea. The referee is John Keane from the United Kingdom.

After the blustery entrance, Froch starts deliberately, but still wins round 1, 10-9. Apparently, Froch's friends have money with English bookmakers on this match ending in round 4 or 5. Therefore, Froch has decided to spend the first few rounds seeing if he can not to punch to keep Rybacki around long enough for his friends to make some money off his "efforts" in the ring in this match. With 44 seconds to go in round 2, Rybacki goes stumbling into the ropes. It is ruled a slip, and the action is restarted with 38 seconds to go in the round. Froch wins round 2, 10-9. If this match ends in round 4, there should be a cry of shenanigans. Froch could have easily finished Rybacki in the last 30 seconds of round 3, but appeared to intentionally back up and stop punching for 13 seconds. That way Froch did not accidentally knockout Rybacki. Froch wins round 3, 10-9, but it could have been scored, 10-8. Froch is ahead on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Expect the miraculous knockout in the first minute of the next round.

With 25 seconds to go in round 4, the referee waves off the match with Rybacki still standing. It was not any particular punch that caused the referee to step in to end the match. It was an accumulation of punches and the fact Rybacki was not fighting back that caused the referee to stop the match. It was a good stoppage. If Froch was going to finish the match decisively in round 4, he failed. Froch's hands were slow, and he never seemed that interested in this match. However, the lackluster finish can wipe away the questions of shenanigans.

The official outcome from the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr.: is that at 2:35 of round 4 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still undefeated, Carl "The Cobra" Froch. The win moves Froch to 23-0 with 19 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Froch was underwhelming in this performance in this match. His next match will be for a belt, but clearly not against Calzaghe. Calzaghe is going to vacate that title. It would make sense for the WBC is to match Froch up with the former belt holder Kessler. Froch's punching in this match was wild, and his hands appeared very slow. Kessler would likely knock him out, early. This was a glorified sparring match that Froch charged his fans to see. He needed to get a dynamic quick win, after what to the English fans must have been a terrible first match. Instead he was almost as boring as Witter. The best part of this match was Froch's entrance. After that it, was all downhill.

Rybacki has no business on television, and probably should stop boxing. At 37-years-old, it is unclear what the upside is for him to continue boxing. At this point his future in the sport is probably to get paid to get beat by better boxers on small shows so they inflate their records.

The first match was great for the story starting in round 6. If there was no story to the match, it was at best an average boxing match. The entrance for the second match was great and very entertaining. The match itself was awful. If you can appreciate the story and drama, the first match is a must watch. If not the entire event is an easy skip.

News and Notes: The HBO PPV set for May 31 featuring Judah vs. Shane Mosley has been canceled. Judah slipped in his hotel bathroom and put his right forearm through the glass shower door. The cut required 50 stitches to close. Judah has been told he cannot train for 4 weeks. Reportedly, Judah and Mosley will still face each other when Judah is healthy and a PPV date can be worked out. That will probably sometime in the fall. All of the undercard matches for the show have either been postponed or canceled.

Ruslan Chagaev has postponed his May 31 heavyweight title defense against Nikolai Valuev, until July 5. Chagaev' people are saying he suffers from a rare viral infection, as do a few other boxers in his camp. However, it was reported last year by numerous sources that Chagaev has hepatitis B, and that caused him to miss most of the year. The July 5 match with Valuev is scheduled to take place in Hannover, Germany, and unlikely to be televised in the United States.

A deal is now in place to have Samuel Peter defend his heavyweight title against Vitali Klitschko in the fall. The likely dates are October 4 or 11. An October 11 date would be 46 months to the day of Klitschko's last match. However, it appears the match will run on Showtime, which runs its big events on the first Saturday of every month. That would mean the match would likely happen on October 4. Peter and Klitschko's people are still arguing over whether the fight will take place in the United States, where Peter would like it, or Germany where Klitschko would like it.

AEG bought a stake in Golden Boy Promotions last week. AEG owns arenas around the world including the O2 Arena in London, England and the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Head of Golden Boy Promotions, De La Hoya, recently said that one of his career goals that he had yet to attain was to become a billionaire. He was very close going into his match with Steve Forbes. After the 27,000 paid attendance for that match and this deal, De La Hoya may have realized that goal. Other money from the deal is expected to be used by the promotion to sign young talent.

The next recap will come out May 25, and cover the previous day's Versus show featuring Hatton. There will be no coverage of next Saturday's HBO Boxing After Dark event.

Huge Historic Announcement

We here at Camp Figure Four and wrestlingobserver.com are proud to announce that for the first time in the history of internet wrestling journalism, we will be sending a representative to the E3 Media & Business Summit. This exclusive invitation only event devoted to the video game industry has never been covered by the internet pro wrestling media. We are excited to be the first in the industry to have exclusive insider access to the show.

This resulted from the efforts of many people, outside of Bryan, Dave, and I. We need to thank Midway’s Reid Druck, TNA’s Ross Foreman, and the ESA’s Dan Hewitt. Also, a special thanks to Derek Burgan. His article a few weeks ago on the TNA video game was instrumental in making this happen.

We began actively working on getting an invitation to E3 on December 20, 2007. This process culminated, when we finally received the email invitation at 11:52 AM Pacific Standard Time on Friday May 9, 2008. We would like to thank everyone who has helped us along the journey to get this invitation, but has not been mentioned by name.

Our coverage of E3 is going to be a work in progress, which we hope to improve over many years. Please send any suggestions of what coverage you would like to see to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Please do not email Dave or Bryan with any of your suggestions. Also, please do not post any of your suggestions on “The Board”. Suggestions posted on The Board will not be read, unless someone emails them to me. However, please do spread this news on The Board. The more feedback emailed to me on what type of E3 coverage people would like to see, the better we can produce the content followers of these websites want.

Sincerely,

Jereme Warneck
Boxing and Video Game Correspondent for wrestlingobserver.com and f4wonline.com
Hidden Valley Lake, CA

I can be reached for feedback and comments at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything.