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November 1998
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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R U READY FOR THIS?
Finally De La Hoya will feature in the kind of match befitting him, but will he find the going too tough when he faces Ike 'Bazooka' Quartey this month? Preview by GRAHAM HOUSTON |
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REPUTATION RESTORED: after first fight fiasco, Chavez showed resilience
and determination
- Get Big Pic The predictable win over Julio Cesar Chavez - though in a fight that was more
competitive than expected - is out of the way, and now Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya turns
his attention to an altogether tougher proposition when he meets Ike Quartey, of Ghana, in
a clash of unbeaten welterweights at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on 21
November. This, on paper at least, is the toughest fight in the glittering career of the Olympic
gold medallist who has won 29 consecutive bouts (24 inside the distance), in the process
picking up five world titles in four weight divisions from 9st 4lbs (130lbs) to 10st 7lbs
(147lbs). Quartey, who will turn 29 six days after the bout, has won 34 fights - 29 opponents
halted - and drawn one. And that, in his last bout, against the tough, hard-hitting
Mexican Jose Luis Lopez, apparently came when Quartey was not at his best physically: he
says that he was suffering from the effects of malaria. The fight with De La Hoya - under the sponsorship of Caesars Palace - should by rights
have been a unification match, but Quartey forfeited the World Boxing Association
championship when he failed to go through with a mandatory defence against the Russian,
Andrei Pestriaev. Quartey said he had a recurrence of malaria, but it was largely thought that he felt
uncomfortable meeting Pestriaev in France in a fight promoted by the Ghanaian's estranged
promoters, the Acaries brothers. But even without the unification label, the fight at Las Vegas is in all but name a
meeting of two champions. It matches two of the top three welterweights in the world (the
other being, of course, Felix Trinidad). De La Hoya, 25, talks of the bout being a war but you can be sure that he will be
boxing a careful, strategic fight, certainly in the early rounds. He will not want to get
involved in any head-to-exchanges with the powerful, heavy-handed Quartey - not early in
the contest, anyway. He could get away with that sort of thing against the older, smaller
Chavez, but Quartey is another matter altogether. "Challenges like these make me train harder and motivate me," De La Hoya told
the Associated Press news agency when back home in Los Angeles the week after the Chavez
fight. He said he overruled his promoter, Bob Arum, in taking the Quartey fight next. De
La Hoya sees the match as an answer to the critics who say he has been overly protected. Quartey is not an ageing fighter going down the other side of the hill, nor is he a
smaller man moving up in weight - the type of opponents who have for the most part been
selected for De La Hoya. He is a big, strong man, perhaps in his physical prime, with a
thudding left jab and hook: indeed, his left might be every bit as hurtful as that of De
La Hoya. A knock against Quartey is that when he gets into the ring he will have been inactive
for 13 months. De La Hoya is faster and will have the crowd with him. But Quartey is
convinced that he is stronger and harder punching than the Golden Boy. In the De La Hoya camp, strategy adviser Gil Clancy, said from New York: "I'd say
that Quartey is about as good as anybody around right now, and Oscar's going to have to
prepare real well to win the fight. Everything works off that left jab [of Quartey's] -
it's his best punch. Basically, when he puts that much power into a jab, if you can make
him miss, whichever way you make him miss, it has a tendency to throw him off-balance a
little bit; then you counter." But Clancy said that De La Hoya knows he has to be smarter than he was in the fight
with Chavez. "I think the Chavez fight was a good learning experience," Clancy
said. "He wanted to fight that kind of fight against Chavez, it was such a personal
thing. In retrospect, he realises he could have made it a lot easier on himself." Do any past welter champs come to mind when Clancy looks at Quartey? Yes, the veteran
fight man said: "Benny Paret [the Cuban who had three fights with Clancy-managed
Emile Griffith, the last one tragic] was very similar to Quartey - a strong, strong guy
with good boxing skills." De La Hoya is the favourite, of course (5-2 on as this preview was being written). He
seems to be a winning machine, still improving, and is considered better able to vary his
tactics than the rather mechanical, straight-ahead African. Then we have to consider the way that Quartey faded against Lopez, when he was down and
almost out in the last two rounds, and a somewhat unimpressive win in New York over
Detroit's Oba Carr in October 1996 (one judge had the fight a draw) - plus the inactivity
factor. But Quartey's motivation will be sky-high for the fight with De La Hoya and he promises
the sort of performance he gave back in 1994 when he stopped the Venezuelan, Crisanto
Espana, in Paris to become WBA champion - a title he defended seven times before it was
declared vacant. Quartey's manager, Seth Asah, an Accra businessman, said over the phone from Pensacola,
Florida, where Quartey set up training camp: "We've been together since 1990. When I
first saw him I had no doubt he would be a champion. The odds don't make a fight. It's the
fighters who make the fight. I think we're gonna take the title from Oscar. What happened
with Lopez was he [Quartey] had malaria and I think some of his cells broke down. You're
going to see a different person in the ring on November 21st. Normally Ike is the one who
takes charge. He did that all through the fight against Lopez until the last few rounds,
and even then he survived the knockdown. So we're going to take charge immediately. "Oscar has speed, he moves around, but I hope he's not going to be just hit and
run. He can't do that for 12 rounds. By all means we're gonna catch him. Ike is super
confident." Quartey said: "I expect Oscar to use the jab, try to move. He can't fight me the
way he fought Chavez. If he does, he's in trouble. They know who I am, how strong I am.
I'll chase him, I'll follow him everywhere he goes. He can run but he can't hide. I was
not 100% fit for Lopez. For Oscar, I'll be the person that fought Espana." The fight with Espana was the one that brought Quartey to the attention of the boxing
world. Espana, who boxed out of Belfast, had won 30 consecutive bouts and destroyed the
favoured Meldrick Taylor in eight rounds to win the championship. But Quartey wore him
down and overwhelmed him in the 11th round. Even though the judges had the fight even
after 10 rounds, Quartey was getting stronger. In the 11th he battered Espana into the
ropes for a standing eight count, then knocked him down. Although Espana was to say that
he had weakened himself making the weight, the devastating nature of the defeat ruined him
as a fighter. But although Quartey looked very impressive that night and, later, in a three-round win
over Vince Phillips (now a world junior welter champ) in April, 1996, the subsequent
fights with Carr and Lopez seem to indicate that perhaps he is not the overpowering force
we thought him to be. Quartey had a knockdown recorded against him in the 11th round of the fight with Carr,
when he was hit in the body. Against Lopez, the African was down twice, a flash knockdown in the second, then a
serious flooring in the 11th. He was on his bike at the finish, tired, bleeding from
inside the mouth, bruised under the eye. Two of the judges gave the last four rounds to
Lopez, the other judge gave three of the last four to the Mexican. Was Quartey unwell that night, as he says, or was a serious stamina defect exposed? The
jury, as they say, is still out. To beat De La Hoya, he will need to keep the pressure on in every round. A late
fade-out could lead to Quartey getting knocked out. But another possibility is that the powerful punches of Quartey will give him control
of the fight to such a degree that De La Hoya will be unable to rally. It seems fair to
say that De La Hoya will be hit harder in this fight than he has ever been hit. However,
that said, De La Hoya took some good cracks from Chavez and never went anywhere. Questions
about De La Hoya's chin seem finally to have been answered to the fight trade's
satisfaction. The general consensus in the business is that De La Hoya will be able to outbox
Quartey, that he is the more fluid, versatile fighter. De La Hoya has better hand speed, no argument there, but Quartey may be the better
hitter with two hands: the defending champion does his power hitting with hooks and
uppercuts from his left side, but the African has knocked down opponents with the right
(Espana, Phillips) although the left is his main weapon. De La Hoya's likely strategy will be to move around Quartey, seeking to beat him to the
punch with the jab, to slip punches and counter and try to break down the challenger with
body shots in a hit-and-get-out style of boxing. If De La Hoya can keep doing this he
might be able to build up points, sap Quartey's strength, then come on to end the fight
with a barrage of punches in the later rounds. There is no mystery about what Quartey will do, which is what he has always done, and
that is to come right at De La Hoya, trying to impose his will with that strong left jab
and the heavy punches that come behind it. De La Hoya must break up Quartey's rhythm, if
he can, ripping his shots downstairs at every opportunity, not allowing himself to become
a target. It is a wonderful match, the sort that boxing needs. De La Hoya should win but, for the
first time in his career, one feels a vague sense of uncertainty when making a prediction.
Fighters from Africa have made their mark in boxing over the years. Keeping to the
black African fighters, who represent the ancestral heartbeat of what was once called the
Dark Continent, here are five of the best, not in any particular order. DICK TIGER: The Nigerian who once boxed out of Liverpool will no doubt get the vote of
many as the continent's greatest fighter. Was world middleweight and light-heavyweight
champion in the 1960s when weight divisions still, with rare exceptions, had one champion
and title fights were 15 rounds. Lost his first four fights on arrival in England but in
May 1957, stopped the red-hot prospect Terry Downes in six bloody rounds in a huge upset
at Shoreditch Town Hall in east London. Won the world title by outpunching rugged Gene
Fullmer over 15 rounds in October 1962, at San Francisco, lost and regained the title in
fights with Joey Giardello, and won the light-heavy title by outpointing Jose Torres in
December 1966 at Madison Square Garden. Died of cancer in Nigeria in December 1971, aged
42. HOGAN KID BASSEY: Like Dick Tiger, moved from Nigeria to Liverpool. Won world
featherweight title with dramatic 10th-round victory over favoured French-Algerian Cherif
Hamia in Paris in June 1957, after having been knocked down himself earlier in the fight.
Died in Nigeria last January at the age of 65, apparently from a heart attack. BATTLING SIKI: Real name Louis Phal, he came from the then-French colony of Senegal and
was one of boxing's true eccentrics. Won the world light-heavy title by battering the
artistically superior Georges Carpentier in six rounds in Paris in September 1922, in a
major surprise. Lost the title when he was outpointed by Irish-American Mike McTigue in a
20-round fight in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day, 1917. Died in violent circumstances in New
York in 1925, aged 28. AZUMAH NELSON: The "Professor" from Ghana was world featherweight and twice
super featherweight champion. At the age of 37 scored spectacular victory in five rounds
over favoured Gabriel Ruelas to win his second title at 130lbs (9st 4lbs) in December
1995. Future now in doubt after successive losses to Genaro Hernandez and Jesse James
Leija. DAVID "Poison" KOTEI: An excellent boxer from Ghana, Kotei won the
featherweight title when he outpointed Mexican Ruben Olivares in an upset at the Inglewood
Forum, Los Angeles in September 1975. Lost the title in a brutal 15-round battle with the
hard-hitting Danny "Little Red" Lopez in Accra 14 months later and was never the
same. All about QUARTEY Ike Quartey is the last of 27 children born to a father who had five wives. He said he
inherits his strength from his father, Robert, who has been described as "a legendary
street fighter" in Bukom, the toughest suburb of Accra. His father died in 1993. His brother, Clement, was 1960 Olympic welterweight silver medallist. Quartey boxed for
Ghana in the 1988 Olympics as a light-welter, when he was outpointed in the third series
by eventual silver medallist Graham Cheney, of Australia. He says he has been coached by
David Kotei, Ghana's former world featherweight champ. It is said that the gym where Quartey trained as a youngster in Accra was so short of
funds that it had no speed bag, so he built up his strength and power by concentrating on
the heavy punch bag. Captured the championship of Ghana in his eighth professional fight; won the African
title in his 11th bout. Had his first fight in the U.S. in November 1991, when he stopped
the former American amateur star, Kelcie Banks, in the seventh round at Las Vegas. Quote attributed to Vince Phillips concerning his fight with Quartey: "I hit him
in the first round and he laughed. I hit him in the second and he sneered. He knocked me
out in the third." Quartey has trained off and on in the same gym as Roy Jones in Pensacola, Florida, for
two years (Jones's lawyer, Fred Levin, also represents Quartey) and the two fighters have
become friendly. Stanley Levin, Fred's brother, said: "Roy will offer Ike any advice
he can pertaining to the Oscar fight." |
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