The heavyweight top ten was shuffled on March 23, 2001 when two of the division's big names saw their stock tumble. Former #1 contender David Tua needed a Hail Mary bomb to knockout mediocre opponent Danell Nicholson, while Clifford "The Black Rhino" Etienne was exposed in an embarrassing loss to relative unknown Fres Oquendo. Overall, it was a baffling night in which all expectations were thrown out the window.

Despite the fact that David Tua looked no better than he did in his lackluster points loss to Lennox Lewis, the big story of the night was the unraveling of the Clifford Etienne myth. With a 19-0/13 record carved from carefully selected opponents, a previous title reign in the Louisiana State Correctional League, and a go-for-broke style not seen often in the division, Etienne was beginning to build a reputation as the Next Big Thing. His crowd pleasing toe-to-toe war with Lawrence Clay-Bey had sealed his reputation as a brawler, and when Showtime signed him to an exclusive deal, more than a few observers were surprised that HBO let this prospect slip from their grasp. It turns out that HBO's mistake was also their gain.

Etienne didn't look right from the opening bell. His bull rush offense was in place, but he generally just charged in with his head down like... well, a rhino. In fact, his best punch of the round was a forehead that smacked Fres Oquendo square in the mouth. After catching the charging fighter a few times in his arms, Oquendo quickly wised up to Etienne's rather unoriginal gameplan. With less than a minute to go in the round, Etienne was again coming at his opponent in a bowing position. When Oquendo fired his long right, it sailed over Etienne's shoulder and clipped him on the back of the head. Etienne's back knee gave out and in a flash he was kneeling. Etienne smiled, unhurt from the knockdown, despite Oquendo getting in another glancing shot before referee Jay Nady could pull him off.

As soon as the mandatory eight count was over, Etienne foolishly came at Oquendo again with his head hanging out past his feet. The first punch Oquendo threw again caught him on the back of the head, this time just behind the ear. Technically these rabbit punches are illegal. But when a fighter throws a normal right hand, and the opponent is practically turning that side of his head to his fist, it's not something the referee can penalize. Sure enough, this second punch also buckled Etienne's knee. In a deja vu, he popped up again smiling, seemingly unaware that he had even been down.

The clock was ticking down, and Etienne tried to survive the final ten seconds so he could return to trainer Don Turner and regroup. But sure enough, the fighters came together again, and yep, Etienne was down again when his knee dipped to the canvas after a glancing blow to the top of his head. A huge opener for Fres Oquendo.

Etienne looked desperate to start the second round. His charges grew more wild as he repeatedly dove head first into his opponent. Etienne landed a few solid body shots in these charges, but throwing low only accentuated how much he was leaning forward. Often these lunges ended in clinches, and a frustrated Etienne began trying to rough up Oquendo. With about a minute left in the round, Etienne was leaning forward so dramatically that Jay Nady twice yelled for him to keep his head up. About three seconds after the second warning, Etienne lowered his head again and while he was looking at the canvas, Oquendo again nailed him with a right that caught him on the back of the head, and he was down to his knees. It was like Oquendo kept accidentally hitting a button that turned off Etienne's right leg.

If you can believe it, round three was a duplicate of round two. Etienne, desperately leaping in with wild punches, eventually allowed himself to be hit behind the ear again, and fell to all-fours for the fifth knockdown in three rounds. Each time he rose, Etienne showed no signs of being wobbly or hurt, so Nady let him continue. But now Etienne was down by 7 points on the Boxing Chronicle card, and we generously only scored round one as 10-7 instead of 10-6.

Etienne's desperation had built with every round, and in the fourth he again showed his willingness to let it all hang out. He charged at Oquendo with such reckless abandon that Oquendo was forced to either retreat or else catch a 225 pound man in his arms. Oquendo chose to retreat. Etienne was whistling bombs past Oquendo's head, each one drawing ooohs from the crowd despite few clean blows. But Oquendo's retreat consisted of him literally running back from Etienne's wild Toughman Competition offense. By mid-round he was tired from his backwards sprint and a few of Etienne's big shots landed. As the round neared completion, a winded Oquendo momentarily dropped his hands as he took a giant gulp of fresh air into his lungs. Etienne jumped on him, landing a big left hook... his best punch of the entire night. But Oquendo was able to survive the round.

Back in his corner, trainer Felix Trinidad Sr. urged Oquendo to "walk not run." While Oquendo slowed down his footwork in the fifth, he gave away another round by inexplicably retreating the entire stanza. Oquendo must have been winded, because he was completely surrendering a fight that he had been controlling. Worse, Oquendo now dropped his hands frequently and backed straight up instead of using lateral movement. As a result, Etienne found his target with greater accuracy. Unfortunately, Etienne was also throwing a lot of punches with just his arms. He didn't seem to be shifting his weight with any of his punches, and more than a few times he missed and wound up hopelessly off balance when his legs didn't move from their original stance. Oquendo had the final say in the round, as he finally stopped his retreat, held his ground, and popped Etienne with two solid one-twos coming in.

When the sixth began, Oquendo's chances seemed to be slipping away. He again went into retreat mode, and the offense that had worked so well for him in the opening rounds was nowhere to be seen. Etienne, a mess of herky jerky motion, only rarely moved his head when punches were coming at him... but it took awhile for Oquendo to begin throwing again with confidence. After eating several more big shots, Etienne made the mistake of banging Oquendo hard on the belt when Joe Cortez was standing right next to him. The semi-low blow drew an instant reaction from Oquendo, and time was called.

Oquendo looked to be tiring badly to this point, and the roughly one-minute break completely revived him. When time-in was called, he spun his legs in place like Speedy Gonzalez and now it was his turn to charge Etienne and land some big punches. The break did absolutely nothing for Etienne, who only threw three, maybe four, punches in the entire last 90 seconds. In this time, Oquendo patiently beat him with a steady diet of a newly stiff jabs and some light, but accurate, rights. Oquendo banked the round and regained control of the bout.

Again desperate, Etienne rushed at Oquendo to start the seventh in a blaze of mediocrity. Arm weary and sloppy, head down and not throwing combinations, breathing hard and unskilled, Etienne looked like a pretender instead of the contender he was thought to be. Again Oquendo backed off, barely throwing a punch as Etienne swung wildly. Unfortunately, Etienne's bombs were horribly telegraphed, and Oquendo was able to get out of the way of most all of them with little trouble. After 90 seconds of wild assault, Etienne was done. We mean completely done. Punched out. Now it was Oquendo's turn to punch.

Etienne was barely able to raise his hands to defend himself, and he continued to eat jabs and right hands. If Fres Oquendo had been a top ten fighter himself, Etienne would have been in trouble. But Oquendo rarely turned over his knuckles for maximum power. Still, his punches stung, and Etienne was catching. Etienne grew so weary that three times he literally chased after Oquendo with his wrists pinned to his hips. The third time, only seconds before the bell, Oquendo loaded up with a right hand and fired it like a major league pitcher down the pike. A defenseless Etienne walked right into it and sprawled forward onto the canvas. This was no shot at or behind the ear... this was a flush right to the face, and Etienne was down. He beat the count and returned to his corner, where he loudly complained that his legs were gone. He looked ready to quit.

But the bell for the eighth rang, and Etienne answered it. But as Oquendo repeatedly thrust his jab into his opponent's face, it was now Etienne who was in retreat, for the first time all night. Oquendo gave cautious chase, and eventually followed a jab with a solid right hand. One such right weakened Etienne's legs. Another caught him on the side of the head and dropped him to his knees. Etienne didn't look dazed, but barely looked like he wanted to continue. He stayed on his knees until eight, and moved slowly to his feet at nine. Although he was up, and probably alert enough to respond, he was still done. Exhausted and beaten, down seven times in eight rounds, Etienne was defeated. Jay Nady called it just before he would have called "ten."

Fres Oquendo, tears of joy pouring down his face, screamed with delight. Indeed, this victory was a major upset. Now 20-0/11, Oquendo will get a sweet payday for this victory. But he's no world beater. He showed some stamina problems of his own, didn't land with good power, had no left hook to speak of, and needs to work on his defense... but a win is a win, and this was an impressive one.

For Clifford Etienne, who was surprisingly gracious in defeat, this is a major setback. Losing to a David Tua, Kirk Johnson, or Klitschko wouldn't have been good... but losing to Oquendo is awful. While his chin may not be as bad as it seems (most of the knockdowns came from shots to the back of the head), his stamina was lousy. Before the fight Etienne bragged about his superior conditioning. Perhaps he was overtrained, because he ran out of gas bigtime this night. Showtime likely has an out clause for a loss in their contract, and HBO is probably glad they couldn't sign him. Etienne's style will get him a chance to rebuild on television... but his team will probably be super-cautious in matchmaking for quite some time.

While Etienne's outing was unimpressive, it may have been less disappointing than David Tua's lackluster effort against Danell Nicholson. Tua recently graduated from the Oscar DelaHoya school of hype, wherein a fighter repeatedly claims that "this time" they are ready and "now" they've learned what's needed to excel. Despite claims of a whole new regimen, Tua weighed in at a hefty 247, and looked only slightly firmer than he did against Lennox Lewis. And despite claims that we'd see a whole new Tuaman in the ring, we were really treated to the same old song and dance. As in fights with David Izon, Oleg Maskaev, and Hasim Rahman, a lazy Tua was kept mostly at bay by a lowly regarded opponent until he was finally able to land the one big punch that delivered victory.

Danell Nicholson opened the fight looking like he was going a half-assed impression of Muhammad Ali. Decked out in white trunks, Nicholson circled Tua on his toes while flicking out a jab thrown from mid-chest. These weren't hammer jabs, but they were enough to keep Tua at the distance. Gone is Tua's extreme speed. Absent is his head movement. Mostly, Tua's only defensive moves are to either dip to his left or block with crossed wrists in front of his face. He did manage to throw a whopping three big hooks in the first round, but they all sailed past Nicholson. While Nicholson's jabbing wasn't particularly impressive, it was more than enough to outdo Tua, especially when Nicholson sealed the round with two short right hands before the bell. After the opening round, scattered boos filled the small Texas Station Casino ballroom. It was Lewis-Tua all over again, only this was no Lennox Lewis.

Tua didn't do much more in the second round. Flat-footed, he simply followed Nicholson around the ring. It was Danell's job to circle Tua at all times, spinning him at center ring. Occasionally, Tua would get Nicholson's back on the ropes, or momentarily catch him in a corner. Tua would then unload a single big punch (usually a left hook, but also a big overhand right was shown)... and miss. Mostly Nicholson just jabbed, and it worked great. Tua had absolutely no answer for multiple jabs. As long as Nicholson fired his jab in fours and fives, Tua seemed content to simply sit at the end of it. Another easy, but boring, round for Nicholson.

The third round was closer, as Tua's infrequent punches came closer to landing. Even when Nicholson absorbed blows in his gloves, the advantage seemed to be with Tua. His big punches landed with loud thuds, and drew gasps from the blood thirsty fans. But after three rounds, Tua's eyes were beginning to puff from the tapping, and his black mouthpiece could be seen each time Tua gulped air through his mouth.

Nicholson regrouped in the third, and upped his pace just slightly. Again, it was barely enough to be offensive, but more than enough to keep Tua away. Tua was really breathing hard now, and the few times he trapped Nicholson on the ropes he failed to punch. This fight was looking more and more like the late rounds of Lewis-Tua, with the bushy haired Samoan unable to throw. By the end of the round, Tua had grown so passive that Nicholson finally got up the courage to follow his jab with a few right hands. After a few easily landed pot shots landed, Tua's left eye began to swell even more. This fight had the makings of another upset on it... until Tua's power again saved the day.

Nicholson was winning the fifth round easily before it all went south. He thrust out his jab over and over, and each time he touched Tua with it. Tua did little more than miss wildly with windmill overhand rights, and Nicholson was getting into a groove, perhaps too much so. Nicholson grew relaxed, and in the final minute of the round, he casually went to lean back from a Tua hook. Unfortunately, Nicholson only leaned back his head this time, instead of his full torso, and there he was, hands-down and chin up. Tua's hook rocked him to the core and flattened him to the canvas.

Nicholson turned over onto all fours and used the ropes to pull himself up to his knees, facing into a neutral corner, as referee Joe Cortez applied the count. Nicholson was seriously hurt, and made no effort to get up. At eight, he rose slowly while still facing in. At nine, he was standing (barely) but his back was still to Cortez. Many referees would have stopped it there. Cortez grabbed Nicholson's wrists and turned him around. Cortez asked him if he was OK, and Nicholson seemed dazed and unresponsive. Cortez should have stopped the fight there... but he let it go on. As Tua rushed his wounded foe, Nicholson wobbled across the ring on rubber legs. Tua hit him with a body shot, and as Nicholson bounced off the ropes he caught another flush Tua hook on the forehead. Amazingly, he did not go down. In fact, he had the wherewithal to grab on and hold, making it to the bell.

It was a virtual repeat of Tua-Rahman, except that Tua's punches landed before the bell. Nicholson was still shaky to start the sixth. He jabbed at Tua, shuffled left, then shuffled right, and then it was over. Caught on the ropes, Nicholson partially blocked a Tua hook and leaned back again when Tua followed it with a jab. Now Tua hooked off his jab, and Nicholson's head was a sitting target. The hook landed on Nicholson's head with a loud crack that sounded like a sledge hammer hitting concrete. Nicholson's head spun, showering the ringside observers in sweat. In a flash he was on his back, staring into space. Cortez didn't even need to begin a count... Nicholson was out.

And so David Tua's stock sinks, even in victory. Simply put: he's too heavy to generate the speed he showed early in his career. And while he might have the most one-punch power in the division, he has an increasingly difficult time landing his shots. Tua's defense is as suspect as his drive. While he'd probably wipe out John Ruiz again in a rematch, most of the top heavyweights will find Tua easy to hit, maybe even easy to beat. Even Mike Tyson might want this fight now, so wide a target is Tua. We hope Tua (now 38-2/33) can regroup, rededicate himself, and find the desire to work hard in the ring... because this pray-for-one-punch style is downright boring.

And so Tua's name slipped a few notches in the Top Ten, while Etienne's name disappeared altogether. With Ruiz wearing a belt, Holyfield insisting he can still fight, Lewis facing Rahman and Tyson unable to decide whether he wants to fight in May, fight in June, or fight at all... the heavyweight division badly needs a fresh face. But who will it be?

.....Chris Bushnell