DELAHOYA AND GATTI: NO NEED FOR JUDGES

If there is one sure solution to the corruption and incompetence that plagues many of boxing's judges, it's the knockout. No bogus split decisions, no favoritism for the house fighter, no backroom sanctioning body politics...just a winner and a loser.

Coming into his fight with unheralded but highly ranked Derrell Coley, Oscar DelaHoya was preaching the Gospel of Knockout. Promising four fights and four knockouts in Y2K, The Golden Boy's sermon sounded compelling. Born again after bicycling away his welterweight title and undefeated record in a pay-per-view letdown, DelaHoya certainly made good on his resolution once in the ring. From the opening bell to the predictable conclusion, DelaHoya swung for the fences with every punch. He got his knockout, but looked unspectacular, as many fighters who load up too soon often do.

Entering the ring to catcalls and boos, DelaHoya may have felt as though he showed up at the wrong party. Although the ringside seats were stocked with celebrities, the high pitched screams of his female fans and the boisterous calls of his loyal contingent were missing. In the opening round, after several DelaHoya hooks found their target, the Madison Square Garden stands erupted with unified chants of "Co-ley...Co-ley".

Cheers weren't enough for Coley, who brought his knife to a gun fight. While Coley flicked out a light jab onto DelaHoya's gloves, Oscar responded by planting his feet and pulling his heaviest hooks across Coley's ribs and face. No jabs. No swift combinations. No bouncing and moving. Just plodding pursuits ending in overcommitted power punches.

DelaHoya caught Coley a few times in the first round, and when Coley upped his lateral movement in the second, DelaHoya focused his attack downstairs. Ripping Coley with loud thudding hooks to the ribs, DelaHoya forced Coley to drop his guard, either to protect his midsection or because he was unable to keep his arms up. Coley kept moving in the third round as DelaHoya simply took batting practice.

Although the fight was completely one sided, DelaHoya wasn't performing near the top of his game. Looking softer than he has in his more important bouts, DelaHoya clearly had not trained very hard. Not that he needed to, as Coley offered minimal resistance. Still, Oscar's bombs-away strategy resulted in numerous breaks, as DelaHoya would throw four and five wicked home run attempts, land a few, and then require a breather. Like many fighters who focus on the knockout, DelaHoya forgot many of the things that make them happen.

By the fourth round, Coley was hurting. Deciding to make a stand at last, Coley surprised DelaHoya with a straight right hand down the pike. DelaHoya was not as hurt as he was shocked that Coley had finally touched him. Coley threw a couple of shots to the body and came upstairs with a right hand that swiveled Oscar's head. Coley then let his hands go. For just short of a minute, Coley threw his entire arsenal at DelaHoya...and only really hit him once. As the crowd stood and cheered Coley's sudden aggression, DelaHoya ducked, slipped and blocked practically every Coley attempt.

When Coley finally stopped to take a breather of his own, DelaHoya made him pay. Throwing a single jab as a power punch, DelaHoya snapped Coley's head straight back like a Pez dispenser. Moments later, DelaHoya stepped right and landed a flush left hook that sent Coley back on his heels into the ropes. As Coley retreated, he dragged one leg behind him as though it had gone dead. DelaHoya now threw in bunches, and slammed Coley to the body repeatedly. Oscar followed with more hooks upstairs and Coley staggered across the ring, fell into the ropes again, and took even more blows to the midsection. Again Coley reeled across the ring, and time expired after several more DelaHoya bombs pounded his head.

The fifth round returned to a slow pace, with DelaHoya resting and Coley running. Coley's offense evaporated, and he tried in vain to keep away from DelaHoya for three full minutes. Through the sixth, Coley ran, coming close to turning his back on DelaHoya to get away quick enough. DelaHoya caught up with him occasionally and fired away. It wasn't scintillating, but Oscar was getting the job done.

Coley's right eye began to swell in the sixth round, but by the seventh it was a mess. DelaHoya landed a number of hard hooks to Coley's face, and after one particularly heavy punch, Coley backed off out of range and blew his nose. Clearing his blocked breathing was the worst thing he could have done, and his eye quickly swelled shut. As fluid-filled bubbles grew above and under his line of vision, DelaHoya targeted Coley with ease. The end was near. Coley's enthusiasm seemed sapped, and so when a particularly hard DelaHoya left hook to the liver landed, Coley dropped to his knees. Head down, Coley stayed on his knees as referee Wayne Kelly counted to ten. DelaHoya KO7.

After the fight, DelaHoya (32-1/26) was his usual enigma. Looking frustrated instead of his usual smiles, DelaHoya contradicted his demeanor by claiming he was very pleased with his performance. Indeed he had scored the kayo he had promised, but had he really looked that great? Plodding and fighting in spurts, DelaHoya's aggression seemed custom made for someone like Shane Mosley, a busy fighter who prefers a hectic pace. Or perhaps DelaHoya turned in an average performance because that was all he was required to do vs. an opponent of Coley's caliber. Time will tell.

In the featured bout of the evening, Arturo Gatti knocked Joey Gamache literally senseless in a bout that raised some serious questions about the weigh-in process.

As long as there have been weight limits, there have been fighters struggling to make weight. Needing to lose weight quickly, fighters are often reduced to sweating off pounds in a steam room or running an extra mile before stepping on the scale to make weight. Arturo Gatti has made such weight fluctuations an artform. Dehydrating himself by severely limiting his liquid intake and spending time in the sauna, Gatti is able to weigh 141 on Friday and the enter the ring at 160 on Saturday. It's a double edged sword, as Gatti has trampled certain opponents by being the much larger man and lost a few fights by the exacerbated swelling and late round fatigue that plagues fighters who have dried out to make weight.

But this evening, the sword seemed to have only one sharp side, and Gamache paid the price. Outweighed by 15 pounds, Gamache simply could not take the punches Gatti threw. After two minutes of Gatti's rarely seen jab, Gamache caught a straight right hand to the face as he was leaning left that turned him around and sent him down, so that his knees and face supported a perfect A-frame. As Benji Estevez began his count, Gamache stayed in this awkward position, half-out of the ring, for several seconds.

Rising on wobbly legs, Gamache beat the count. With a minute remaining, Gatti came at Gamache for the finish. Gamache threw three quick left hooks, two of which landed flush, hoping to hold Gatti off. As Gatti shook off the return fire, he launched a beautiful double left hook of his own. The first smacked against Gamache's ribs and the second clipped the front of his face, sending him down to the canvas again. Lying on his back, Gamache had the wide eyed look of someone who didn't even know what hit them. But still he rose.

Gatti again rushed in for attack, and again Gamache unleashed desperation left hooks that landed flush on Gatti's head. Now it was bombs away. Both men threw repeated left hooks at each other and both landed, but when Gatti's punches landed they carried the force of his extra weight, and Gamache was again stunned to the ropes as Gatti landed square on target. Gatti wildly charged, hoping to take advantage of the three knockdown rule, which was in effect. His frenzy resulted in a swing-miss-slip that bought Gamache some time. As the final bell rang, and Estevez waved his arms out to end the round, a late Gatti hook slammed into the front of Gamache's face and wobbled him again. Gamache slumped forward slightly, and Estevez's outstretched arms may have prevented him from going down again. Gamache, however, was too stunned to protest, and so he simply returned to the wrong corner for the one minute break.

The fight would not last much longer. After exchanging a few jabs in the second stanza, Gatti tagged Gamache with a left hook that reeled him back several steps. As Gamache caught his footing, Gatti reached back and threw a side armed right that snapped Gamache's head. Gamache was hurt and raised his gloves to his face. Then things got really bad.

Gatti threw and landed a textbook combination. All three punches landed about as well as they could. First Gatti threw a right uppercut that Gamache saw coming. He flinched his head, catching the punch flush on the left side of his jaw. Gamache was gone as soon as the punch landed. He was knocked out on his feet, but the combination was already in progress. Gatti's left hook followed immediately after the uppercut and caught Gamache right in the nose. Gamache's head wobbled in place like one of those baseball novelty statues and he began falling backwards to the canvas. All part of the same movement, Gatti's right hand came next, slamming into the limp Gamache's left ear as he was headed to the floor. As Gamache fell back, slamming his head on the canvas, he was gone. No count necessary.

Gamache was immediately surrounded by his cornermen, boxing officials, and a doctor...all of whom simply let him lie in place on the canvas. For several minutes, Gamache tried in vain to regain his senses, and three times attempted to sit up only to collapse back to the canvas. As Gatti's celebrating turned to quiet concern, Gamache struggled to come to, looking bleary and completely unaware of his surroundings. As the cameras focused on his plight to sit up, there appeared to be no physician recommending anything. No one was examining his eyes with a flashlight, no one moved for oxygen or a stretcher. They simply huddled over Gamache watching along with the viewers to see if he would pull through. Eventually he sat up, then was lifted to a stool, and luckily was on his feet and alert a few minutes later...but there were some tense moments prior to Gamache's recovery.

Aside from the weight disparity and the brutal finish, Gatti (31-4/26) looked pretty good. Although he weighed in at 160, his physique did not resemble that of a man who took off poundage because he had failed to train. In fact, Gatti was as buffed and cut as he's ever been. Furthermore, he set up his power with a stiff jab and some renewed head movement, except in the two sections when he got caught looking for the finish. It remains to be seen if Gatti can continue fighting that style over a sustained fight, but if he can then what does it mean for the division? Surely Kostya Tszyu is as big a puncher as there is at 140, but can even his power compare to Gatti's middleweight size? Certainly a matchup between these two power-punching, defense-lacking pugilists would be exciting while it lasted.

But Gatti's place in the 140 hierarchy comes second to questions about his place in the division at all. Fighters in the modern era are given 24 hours to rehydrate after weigh-in, a practice endorsed by doctors who seek to protect dehydrated fighters from taking blows to the head while dried out. But in light of this victory, and Gatti's previous bout in which he hospitalized another outsized opponent, perhaps some protection needs to be given to the fighter who doesn't dry out as well. Gatti-Gamache was not a horrible mismatch of skill levels, but was an abhorrent mismatch in weight. Gamache left the ring on his feet, but how long before someone doesn't

.....Chris Bushnell

BOXING CHRONICLE.COM SCORECARDS:

ROUND

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

TOTAL

GATTI

10

KO

GAMACHE

7


ROUND

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

TOTAL

DELAHOYA

10

10

10

10

10

10

KO

COLEY

9

9

9

9

9

9

 

© 2001 Chris Bushnell. All rights reserved.

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