New Mexico Boxing / FightNews: Cozzone

sunday april 8, 2001

‘King’ Marco Dethrones the Prince

Allah might’ve foretold the outcome of Saturday night, but he didn’t tell Prince Naseem Hamed. Not many others predicted the results of Hamed vs. Barrera. Damn near everybody expected Hamed to win.

Me? I’m gonna throw in my told-you-so right now. I finally won some money betting—enough to clear up what I lost on Espadas-Morales & Corrales-Mayweather—although I admit I thought if it came to a decision, I feared Hamed would take it due to the Powers That Be and all the big money fights that’d follow a Prince reign.

We all knew Marco Antonio Barrera would prove to be Hamed’s toughest opponent; and that Barrera was his first real test. We also knew that the Prince was Barrera’s toughest foe—but would he be able to withstand Hamed’s power? And, how would he cope with Hamed’s unorthodox style?

When it was all over last night at the MGM Grand, “King” Marco had reduced Prince Naseem Hamed to the role of court jester. And the sad thing? Naz was seemingly content to spend his time in the ring playing the role—shaking his head, “I ain’t hurt, I ain’t hurt” and smiling at Marco with that goofy grin, in between his desperate attempts to land the Big One.

Barrera was calm. Barrera was all business. Barrera proved he can not only take one of Hamed’s over-hyped knockout shots but that he could neutralize him with an ironclad defense. Swapping his usual straight-ahead-and-bang plan for a counterpunching, vigilant approach, Barrera also proved that an orthodox style was nowhere near as one-dimensional as Naz’s crazy angles and hands-down, showboating techniques.

The stage was set long before Round One.

All week, you had the Prince mouthing off, promising “wicked” scenes and “unbelievable knockouts.” All the while, Marco Antonio was quiet, humble, respectful . . . a man of few words who said only that he’d prepared well for this fight and for us to wait until Saturday night; he’d show us what he had in the ring.

The packed-in crowd at the MGM reflected the fighters’ manner. Before the fight and at the weigh-in, Prince fans were loudest. But that all changed when they showed Barrera on the video screens, waiting in the wings and trying to keep warm while the Prince tried on glove after glove and readjusted his hand wraps.

When Barrera appeared on the screen, the crowd exploded: “BA-RERR-A! BA-RERR-A! BA-RERR-A!” When Hamed was shown, any chants or cheers by the subdued UK-ers and Naz fans were drowned in a chorus of boos. Barrera buffs continued to cheer when the man made his way to the ring where he waited for Hamed’s theatrics to start. The boos for Hamed continued when he made his entrance on a raised platform on the upper level, taking his time and bowing to placards on which were most likely Islamic maxims. Flames and gigantic sparklers like the ones that caught my sister’s shorts on fire one year when we were kids erupted and the Prince took a ride on a metal hula hoop to descend to Earth. Still more boos as Prince made his way to the ring. I heard someone threw a beer at Naz, too.

This might be Vegas—America—but last night, it was Marco’s House.

Hamed got to the ring and put his gloves on the ropes for his traditional flip. He hesitated and then, obviously, thinking he better not take any chances, he changed his mind and entered the ring the normal way.

To my superstitious mind, it was a sign: Take no chances. Part of me thought he’d lost the fight right then and there.

The delays continued as Michael Buffer read the intros—he damn near read a bedtime story for Hamed who was allowed to say a few words of Allah before Buffer finished up the intros and gave the fighters over to the ref, Joe Cortez.

Finally, all 13,000 of us were on our way to see just who the #1 Featherweight of the World was. There were quite a few names in the crowd—Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Johnny Tapia, Sugar Shane Mosley, the Klitschkos, to name a few. Hell, everyone was there but the one entity Hamed needed most—Allah.

(Alright, enough of the Allah jokes.)

The pattern was set early on, when Prince first tasted Marco’s glove that rocked him back and off balance. This was going to be one long fight for him.

It got worse. Barrera made the Prince come to him, and then he hit him frequently and hard. There were no knockdowns, unless you want to count the time Hamed pulled Barrera down to the canvas with him, his arm locked ‘round Marco’s head—at which point, Barrera popped him one before the ref could intervene.

By the end of 12 rounds, I had Barrera winning 117-110, only giving Hamed Rounds 5 & 10 (plus, taking one point off Marco for the turnbuckle move in the last round.) The judges had it closer: 115-112 times two, and 116-111. I’m not sure what they were watching but after Morales-Espadas and Ayala-Dianzo last week, I’m not going to complain.

The 3 ½ to 1 underdog had given Naz his first loss and with a solid old school approach, made him look silly. Relying too much on KO power and landing a crazy left (that was immobilized and put to bed by Barrera’s chin and style), Prince Naseem Hamed was no longer undefeated.

Marco Antonio Barrera is not only the cause of Hamed’s one loss now, but he’s going to be held accountable for Hamed’s future losses. Last night, Barrera broke the aura of invincibility that has surrounded Hamed for so long. Things are no longer going to be so easy for Hamed.

Despite my unsympathetic words, O Prince Fans, I have nothing but praise for your man. He brings a lot to the table for Boxing: a lot of money and a personality that sorta grows on you. After a while, you actually start liking him, cocky attitude and dirty ring tactics or not.

Last night, despite losing convincingly, Naz gets a big-ass points and props-a-plenty for being a man and not a sore loser after the fight. There were no “shoulda won” moans and groans, or excuses of broken hands or sore ribs. There was only respect and truth:

“I tried so much,” he admitted. “But he won the fight. What can I say? I give credit is due. It is my first loss and I take it like a champion.”

And Barrera?

In an unassuming-yet-victorious voice, he stated:

“Now I am the king . . . .”

On the Undercard

Stephane Ouellet did a crash and burn in his fight against Omar Sheika. Round Two saw Ouellet hit the ground from a walloping combination. He got up but the ref said no mo’ and stopped the fight.

In what was the best undercard fight, Fernando “Bobby Boy” Velardez scored a major upset over Juan Carlos “Ranchero” Ramirez. On just two days notice, 20-year-old Velardez stepped up to the plate and wow’d the audience with a stunning 6^th Round stoppage over the Juarez veteran.

Again, the superstition: I’ve seen Ramirez fight several times in Juarez, and there is usually a mini-cockfight in the ring as he makes his way to his corner. (Note: by “mini-cockfight,” I don’t mean to say the cocks are miniature, but that the actual fights, between normal-sized cocks, is only for a few seconds, before they have the chance to tear each other apart and draw blood.) But cockfighting must be illegal in Nevada because Ramirez fought without it. I could not help but ask myself: Would Ramirez had won if there’d been the cockfight? (Would Hamed had won had he performed his usual flip into the ring?)

Ramirez is a distance fighter. He does not tire and he finishes strong. But last night he did not get to prove his stamina. I had Velardez winning Round 1; Ramirez, Round 2. Then, in the 3^rd, Ramirez took a tumble and fall from a wicked shot. He got up on shaky ground and was soon put down again. Still, he managed to get up and survive. Round 4 saw Ramirez back, somehow. He outboxed Velardez who was beginning to tire. But then there was Round 5—a disaster round for Ranchero. First he had a point deducted for a low blow. After Bobby Boy recovered a few minutes later, he dropped Ramirez yet again. By now, Ramirez was also bleeding from a cut near his left eye. The cut was checked out in Round 6 and the ref stopped the fight on the advice from the physician.

Winner by TKO: Bobby Boy Velardez.

Another near-upset on the undercard was Clarence Vinson vs. Bryan Garcia.

Garcia, a 4-3 fighter from Santa Fe, looked sharp and fought fancy, outlanding Vinson. Unfortunately, Vinson’s punches landed harder than Garcia’s. At first, the announcer called the fight a draw—one judge had it even; one had it for Vinson; one, for Garcia—but then an error was discovered and Vinson was given the majority decision.

That’s Fight #2 in which Vinson has looked not-so-promising (his first had been against Adrian Valdez who fought a good fight against the showboatin’ Olympian.)
Michael Bennett and Jermain Taylor both looked good, although it was hard not to look good. Taylor took care of Kenny Stubbs in Round 2. Stubbs fought with heart but was getting the stuffin’ beat out of him. Bennett’s opponent, Billy Zimbrun, was down four times in Round One before the ref called it quits.
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