Stinker on 32nd St

NEW YORK – Legend has it that back in the 1930s, an inmate on his way to be executed shouted out for the only person he believed he could help him. “Save me Joe Louis,” he cried for the soon-to-be legendary heavyweight champion. Tonight at Madison Square Garden, after a dismal 12 rounder that was supposed to showcase the best of heavyweight boxing, Wladimir Klitschko’s 12 round unanimous decision win over Sultan Ibragimov should have fight fans screaming the same thing because the sport’s glamour division is in dire need of excitement and fighters that are willing to fight, preferably both.

They didn’t get either tonight.

Scores were 119-110, 117-111, and 118-110 for Klitschko, who added Ibragimov’s WBO title to his IBF crown in the first heavyweight unification bout in the Garden since Lennox Lewis’ 1999 draw with Evander Holyfield.

After elaborate entrances for both men and an ovation for Klitschko that got the crowd of 14,011 as loud as it usually gets for Felix Trinidad fights, the two combatants pawed at each other for much of the opening round, with Klitschko’s offense consisting of smacking down on Ibragimov’s outstretched right hand, while Ibragimov landed a couple of body shots that probably earned him the round.

The second round was just as dismal from an action standpoint, even though Klitschko finally started working his jab in between his slaps on Ibragimov’s gloves, and while the third round was horrid as well, at least Ibragimov was trying to make a fight of it in spurts, while Klitschko refused to let his hands go, even when he would trap his foe in the corner.

Boos followed both fighters back to their corners after round three, and as the fourth commenced, the two finally got into an exchange that reminded the crowd that they were watching a fight. The action was short-lived though, and the bout settled back into a tepid pace that was only punctuated by Ibragimov’s occasional lefts to the body and Klitschko’s occasional jabs to the head.

By the fifth round, portions of the Garden crowd started chanting for Irish middleweight John Duddy, the all-action fighter who won a decision on the undercard, and you couldn’t blame them.

The sixth saw some sporadic action from both men, but there was nothing sustained, and nothing that made you believe that this was the best the heavyweight division had to offer.

Klitschko landed his best punch of the fight thus far in the seventh, a stiff right hand that sent sweat flying from the head of Ibragimov but otherwise left him unmoved. It may have been the encouragement Klitschko needed though, as he finally attacked with some bad intentions in the eighth round, and Ibragimov responded with two leaping rights to the top of the head and the crowd had finally gotten back into the fight.

In the ninth, Klitschko scored with a hard combination that sent Ibragimov stumbling into the ropes (and which could have been called a knockdown), and with big brother Vitali cheering him on from the corner, ‘Steelhammer’ stalked Ibragimov with more purpose in his stride, though he was unable to follow up on his success from early in the round.

The tenth round was sloppy, with Ibragimov scoring a takedown early and Klitschko countering with a headlock later in the frame, unfortunately, as far as boxing was concerned, the spurts of action were few and far between.

Klitschko did score with a nice right to the face with seconds remaining in the 11th round to account for that stanza’s excitement, but that was it for the rest of the disappointing fight.

With the win, Klitschko ups his record to 50-3 with 44 KOs. Ibragimov falls to 22-1-1 with 17 KOs.

Irish sensation John Duddy may have saved a proposed spring fight with middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik with a ten round majority decision win over unheralded Wallid Smichet in the co-feature, but the defensive flaws and tender skin he showed in victory may mean a short night if he steps into the ring with ‘The Ghost’ this June.

“I trained a lot better than I looked in the ring,” said Duddy, who was returning to New York for the first time since a three fight Irish tour. “I think I was rushing because I was back in New York.”

Scores were 95-95 and 98-92 twice for Duddy, a verdict that was met with many boos from the packed house due to the wide scoring void on two judges’ cards in what was a close battle that many at ringside felt could have gone either way.

“I should have knocked him out in the first or second round,” said Smichet. “Look at my face, look at his – you tell me who won.”

Duddy came out fast and scored well to the head and body, leading most of his fans to believe that they were going to be seeing an early knockout. Smichet didn’t play along though, and he tagged Duddy repeatedly with flush hooks and crosses in a three minute session that was an early candidate for round of the year, not exactly what Team Duddy was looking for. And though Duddy went back to his corner having hurt Smichet briefly in the round, his face was already beet red and swollen from the Canadian’s onslaught.

The pace dipped slightly in the second, but Smichet still scored enough to open a cut under Duddy’s left eye. The Irishman flew out of his corner to begin the third, immediately jarring his foe with power shots against the ropes, but by the end of the round, a series of hard right hands crashed into Duddy’s head with frightening accuracy.

Smichet’s two-fisted assault continued in the fourth and it opened another cut, this one over his foe’s right eye. If anything, Duddy showed a tremendous chin and heart, and in the fifth, with blood covering his face from a cut over his left eye, he hurt Smichet on two occasions, giving a glimpse of hope to his supporters.

With the pace fatiguing both men – especially Smichet - Duddy was able to avoid any serious trouble in the sixth and seventh as he worked his jab and his body shots on his foe and started to get some momentum back.

By round eight, Duddy was in control of the bout, and while he was still getting hit with a few solid power shots that drew oohs and aahs from the crowd, his jab and busier attack scored plenty of points down the stretch and allowed him to pull out the win, which improves his record to 24-0 with 17 KOs. Smichet falls to 17-4-3 with 13 KOs.

In an NABO / NABA middleweight title bout, unbeaten Queens product ‘Mean’ Joe Greene retained his titles with a 10 round pounding of veteran Francisco Mora.

Greene was impressive throughout, using a ferocious body attack to drop the Argentinean four times, twice in the second and twice in the fourth. The end finally came at the conclusion of the tenth round, when the game but outgunned Mora was deemed unfit to continue.

With the win, Greene improves to 18-0 with 14 KOs; Mora falls to 52-13 with 35 KOs.

Cruiserweight contender Jonathan Banks (19-0, 14 KOs) kept busy with a quick first round knockout of former champion Imamu Mayfield. Two knockdowns spelled the end for Mayfield (25-9-2, 18 KOs), who was counted out by referee Eddie Cotton at 1:49.

Local rising star Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin had little difficulty with Thomas Brown in their middleweight bout, knocking his foe out with a single left hook at 1:32 of the first round. Quillin improves to 17-0 with 14 KOs; Brown falls to 11-4-1 with 7 KOs.

300-pound Belarus heavyweight Alexander Ustinov remained unbeaten, clubbing Earl Ladson (13-17-1, 7 KOs) to the canvas three times before referee Eddie Cotton called a halt to the bout at 1:59 of the opening frame. With the win, Ustinov moves to 8-0 with 8 KOs.

In the opener, Bronx junior middleweight prospect Ronny Vargas improved to 6-0 (4 KOs) with a four round shutout of Tennessee’s Monyette Flowers (4-9-1, 2 KOs). Scores were 40-36 across the board.

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