“Struggle For Supremacy’: A Preview- Part One.

Byrd-McCline.

Jameel McCline is on his last chance to become a heavyweight champion of the world, and he knows it. I recall a message he once sent me in response to an article I wrote about him a while ago. Watching a heavyweight division comprised of an aging era in slow and painful decay

and a new generation of seriously flawed contenders and illegitimate champions, I deduced that McCline would be the fighter to assume dominance. And why not? Looking at this giant of a fighter who was organized behind a solid jab, occasionally putting his punches together to great effect, who seemed in better condition than his peers despite his immense frame, and when he spoke, he appeared to be focused and intent, a stern self-critic looking to correct the mistakes that he was the first to identify. It was difficult to look at McCline and not wonder whether he had a chance to become a champion, perhaps the champion.

The one flaw in his armory I seized upon was the apparent rigidity in his work at times, which I attributed to a lack of confidence. I concluded this based on the evidence that McCline had long been a sparring partner to the stars, not a star himself and when he started to gain recognition, it happened quickly, perhaps too quickly. Anyway, the message he sent to me in quite direct language, stated that I was wrong in my conclusion and that I should watch while he becomes the heavyweight champion of the world. Well, here I am, still watching, still waiting, as I shall be on November 13, wondering down to the last moment whether he will make my prediction a reality.

Irony upon ironies, on the most crucial night of his boxing career, when he must win at all costs, McCline must fight none other than his good friend Chris Byrd. As long as both men realize that when the bell rings, there is no such thing as friends, this fight may be the evening’s showstopper. Byrd is a good man by all accounts but he has been lucky to hold on to his IBF title; I saw him lose to Fres Oquendo and the vast majority of observers felt that he narrowly escaped Andrew Golota’s clutches. I do not like seeing bad things happen to good people, but it is forty years since heavyweight champions weighed 208-pounds. Byrd has been a cruiserweight just waiting to happen for long enough and McCline is over six-feet-five-inches and expected to weigh approximately 250-pounds or more, add the desperation he must feel to win at this critical time in his life, my feeling is that he is the prime candidate to end Byrd’s lucky streak.

There is an important distinction to make here, Jameel McCline is not an old man on his last legs on the brink of his twilight years. I use words such as “desperation’ and “last chance’ to outline the fact that McCline may lose and continue to box, however, a victory would grant him a chance to begin a legacy as a champion; to truly make his mark in the division rather than the title being some token consolation prize as I felt the WBC title was in Frank Bruno’s case after several failures. You might remember these words of encouragement from an old boxing film that I feel are quite apt in McCline’s case: “You know what you gotta do….do it…..do it!”

Ruiz-Golota.

My vague first remembrance of Andrew Golota, pre-Internet, is of a British news piece covering the absolute mayhem aftermath of the first Bowe-Golota fight. I did not catch much of it as British boxing coverage was always so wonderfully brief, even for

moments of pure insanity such as that, but repeat footage of Golota so thoroughly dominating Bowe before his disqualification inspired a glimmer of a revelation overshadowing the madness that ensued; Golota was going to rule the heavyweight division. Fast-forward to the present and Andrew Golota is the owner of the deepest archive of calamitous capitulations known to heavyweight boxing, and considering some of the “special’ characters we have seen over the years, Golota rightfully stands alone in infamy.

Unfortunately, Golota’s self-imposed retirement did not run smoothly either. The most notable indiscretion was his impersonation of a police officer…..to another police officer. However, let bygones be bygones and if impressions are Golota’s bag, I would not mind seeing the Olympic medalist one, or the undefeated fighter that utterly wiped the floor with Riddick Bowe. I’m not often right, and I’ve been wrong so far with Golota, but my stubbornness will not allow me to concede that he cannot convert his strength, skill and sheer lunacy into a heavyweight championship winning effort. George “Dubya’ Bush receiving a second term in office is one thing, but the prospect of at least another six months of John Ruiz as the WBA heavyweight champion of the world is enough to keep some people up nights.

Yes, I am just like you in that I am morally, religiously, spiritually and even genetically opposed to the notion of John Ruiz being a two-time heavyweight champion of the world. Historians will have to determine whether Ruiz’s legacy will be remembered as a relatively modern day aberration akin to the Bermuda triangle, or whether he will eventually accrue enough befuddlement to warrant a more ancient reckoning, perhaps somewhere between the Pyramids of Giza and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Some heavyweight champions were uninspiring at their worst, others were plainly horrendous but thankfully were quickly ushered out of sight by better fighters. Clinical studies are currently being formulated to finally prove that Ruiz fights actually do inspire depression in boxing fans.

Occasionally, I am torn between precisely what to be annoyed at the most, whether it is that Ruiz claims legitimacy despite being one of boxing’s most blatant political pawns, or whether it is simply his awkward and irritating style of fighting. In the end though, I find that both are equally worthy of my vehemence. It will not be easy and Golota has already shown the first signs that he’ll self-destruct against Ruiz by claiming that “the Quiet Man’ is very tough and he wished he’d been able to fight someone else, but Andrew Golota must beat John Ruiz on Saturday night if there is equilibrium to be felt in boxing again.

Stay tuned to saddoboxing.com for the second installment of this preview.

Jim Cawkwell can be reached a…
jam2lis@sprint.ca