Why isn't Lamon Brewster a star?

http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=19045

By Ben Cohen: For a division that supposedly lacks stars and exciting fighters, you would have thought that Lamon Brewster did not actually exist. If taking a horrendous beating from Wladimir Klitschko for 4 and ½ rounds, then dramatically coming back and knocking him out did not put him on the map, then demolishing Andrew Golota in a single round should have done. But alas, bored boxing writers continue to lament about the state of the heavyweight division, and pine for stars from former eras.

Brewster defended the WBO belt he won from Klitschko three times, the last against Luan Krasniqi in a hard fought battle culminating in a 9th round TKO. He is now slated to fight the Belarussian prospect, and conqueror of Dominick Guinn, Serguei Lyakhovich.

Brewster may not be the most skilled fighter in the world, but he has heart, hits hard, and looks to be improving. He also is now trained by Buddy McGirt, who will no doubt add more depth to the Californian fighter's game.

Lyakhovich is also one to watch, another hard working, hard hitting heavyweight with a few skills to show as well.

In a press conference last week, both fighters and their respective trainers spoke out about a fight that many in boxing should pay considerable attention to.

"This is exciting for me and everything is great right here. This is the best camp in my life. So I am 110 percent ready right now. Everything is fine," said Lyakhovic.

When asked whether a recent lay off would affect his performance, he replied:

"No, because I stay active in the gym and train and spar. I do not think this will affect me."

Did he feel like he was catching Brewster at the right time?

"It does not matter. We are prepared for a 100 percent Lamon Brewster and we think he will give 100 percent," he stated.

Serguie's trainer, Kenny Weldon also weighed in on the fight:

"We have been training about seven weeks now" he stated. "When we started, he was in pretty good shape already. He had been running and such. We spent about two weeks in Arizona before we came to Las Vega. We have worked really hard. He has had great sparring. He is looking outstanding. I really like the way he is looking"

Weldon also talked about his fighters work ethic, one that he compares to Evander Holyfield:

"I think Sergei probably is the only boxer, I have worked with that has as much dedication towards training and hard work as Evander Holyfield. I was with Evander a long time, and I believe that Sergei is of the same type. He sets goals for himself. He knows what he is chasing. He will not go in the ring unprepared."

And what is their strategy for the fight?

"Lamon has an oddity in his style" said Weldon. "He throws a pull hook. He is a sort of play around body puncher that looks for the big shot continuously. There are a lot of different things that you can work on to get ready for him. But you always have to be aware that he's very capable at any time of taking you out. Sergei is the same way. He is very capable of taking anybody out at any given time. Between the two of these guys, this is going to be a great fight because their styles sort of clash".

Enter Lamon Brewster:

"This is the best training camp that I can honestly say I have ever had", the humble fighter stated. "Working with Buddy McGirt has been a fulfilled dream of mine and I think he is the best trainer alive. Going into this fight, I have the utmost confidence because for the first time in a very long time, I have confidence in my corner as well going into a fight."

And how does McGirt like working with Lamon?

"The only thing I have to say is that Lamon has been great to work with," the world re known trainer stated. "The funny thing is that Lamon really does not know how good he really is. Once he finds out how good he really is, then the heavyweight division is really in trouble. They have not seen the best Lamon Brewster yet. There is room for him to get better. He just has so much natural ability and so many tools that he has not used, or that he has not used in a long time. It is key for me to keep just reminding him of certain things that he can do, and once he does them, it just makes my job much easier."

Given Lamon's success against big European fighters (threoo fo his last four fights were against Europeans), what does he attribute it to?

"I do not look at them as European or anything other than a man in a ring trying to take what's mine" said Brewster. "I just do what I have to do to win. I have a saying, "Get in where you fit in, and if you can't stand, sit in." So my solution is that if I cannot work and make it, then I will fight and take it. Sometimes it is hard, but I have no limit to how far I will go outside of not cheating. I am not a dirty fighter. But if I cannot beat a guy on skill, well, then we have to take it to the street."

McGirt weighted in saying:
"He mainly just did what he had to do to win. I watched the Klitschko fight and Lamon did what he had to do. He pulled out all the stops and got him out of there. The key is to not sit there and wait for one punch, because if they do that, they know they are going to be in for a surprise. Lamon has more to offer than that. I know that Mr. Weldon, being the great trainer that he is, has had Sergei prepared for anything and everything. That is what they are going to see next week. Lamon is going to go out there and use those skills that he has always had that he has not used in a long time.

Given that Liakhovich has never fought for a world title before, does Lamon think that this makes him more dangerous?

"Well, honestly speaking, I do not know because until we get in the ring, I can speculate all I want. But I do not really know. I know a lot of guys, they get up to fight for world titles. But he has had a long layoff and he has never felt the power that he will feel against me. That makes a big difference. Sometimes you can get hit so hard that you start wanting to think about living as opposed to trying to prove that you are tough to win a title. It is not worth dying for"

"I just want everybody to know that the decision I made to come work with Buddy was one of the best decisions I have ever made in terms of my whole professional career. I am happier now in my professional career with not only my skills but with my esteem than I have ever been in my whole career."



Also...if he wins...will Brewster start getting respect?

Curious about that answer.

Brewster by KO!