Graham Houston -

Lamon Brewster comes into his heavyweight title defence against Serguei Liakhovich after making significant changes. He has dropped longtime manager/confidant Sam Simon and trainer Jesse Reid, who engineered Brewster’s big wins over Andrew Golota and Luan Krasniqi, and will have a new trainer, Buddy McGirt, in his corner in the Showtime free-preview-weekend attraction on Saturday night.

The decision to replace Reid with McGirt, Brewster says, was because he felt the need to have a trainer who was “a great technician”, and he told a telephone conference call the other day: “It is almost like I can say I have been reborn again because I have been reminded of how good I really am as opposed to just depending on my punching power. Now, there is so much more added to me that it scares myself.”

McGirt said on the same conference call: “The only thing I have to say is that Lamon has been great to work with. 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.”

Now this is super-positive stuff. There is another school of thought, though, which is that Jesse Reid was in fact an excellent choice as trainer for Brewster because he increased the fighter’s punch-output and got him to be the sort of aggressive puncher that some might feel is the most effective style for a heavyweight who on occasion has been disappointingly negative (losses to Clifford Etienne and Charles Shufford and a narrow escape against Kali Meehan).

Reid took his dismissal hard especially after steering Brewster to the 53-second annihilation of Golota (who was a clear betting favourite) and the ninth-round knockout over Krasniqi in Germany. Speaking on the phone from his home outside Las Vegas, Reid said: “I really can say that those two fights were done with a lot of my ideas and thoughts and I’m very disappointed that my reward is to be let go. It’s a sad thing, but people who do things like that will be paid back — it definitely will happen in boxing. I think we’re going to see a difference in Lamon in these next couple of fights — if he makes the next couple of fights.”

Brewster is 32 years old and knows his own mind. Perhaps we will see a sensational performance from him on Saturday. The fact that Brewster has made such drastic changes fairly close to a big fight give me a slightly uneasy feeling, though.

Liakhovich, the “White Wolf” from Belarus, has been training for more than six weeks in Las Vegas with Kenny Weldon, his trainer for the past four years. When Weldon compares Liakhovich’s work ethic to that of Evander Holyfield — with whom Weldon was closely associated for a number of years — then you can be sure that the challenger will be in tremendous condition.

Neither Liakhovich nor Weldon are the type to go in for predictions, but the challenger’s manager, Ivaylo Gotzev, said from their hotel in Cleveland this week that he loves his man’s chances. “To me, it’s seek and destroy,” Gotzev said of Liakhovich. “He’s ready, he’s never had a better camp — great sparring, many rounds of good boxing — he’s never been more motivated or more sure of himself. The stars are aligning and everything is great for us. I’ve been with this kid since 1998 and I just love it, I’ve never felt better, he’s never been in better shape mental or physical.”

Liakhovich has been sparring with Friday Ahunanya and Robert Hawkins, heavyweights built on similar lines to Brewster, and Gotzev said: “I personally think that Friday — in the gym anyway — is faster and more aggressive than Brewster is in a fight, and Robert Hawkins was a durable guy; an absolute perfect camp.”

Obviously, upbeat statements from a fighter’s camp are part and parcel of the business. Both the Brewster and Liakhovich camps are saying that their respective fighters have never been better. In Ivaylo Gotzev’s own words: “We’ll find out who’s right on Saturday night.”

On paper, of course, Brewster should win. When he is letting the combinations fly he is a formidable fighter. I am not just thinking of the way he demolished Golota and broke down Krasniqi but earlier fights such as when he knocked out the Olympic bronze medallist Nate Jones and the towering “Irish” Tommy Martin.

Brewster, with a record of 33-2 (29 KOs) is the more experienced of the two boxers and he has fought a higher standard of opposition, most notably when he outlasted Wladimir Klitschko.

Liakhovich, 29, with a record of 22-1 (14 KOs), produced his best performance when he outfought Dominick Guinn to pull out an impressive, unanimous 10-round decision in December 2004, but Guinn caved in mentally in that fight whereas Brewster is extremely game and strong-willed.

Apart from beating Guinn, Liakhovich has only one win over a heavyweight of note — a unanimous 12-round decision over the Nigerian Friday Ahunanya, who is now his sparring partner.

Also, while Brewster’s chin is considered reliable Liakhovich suffered a severe setback a couple of years ago when he was knocked out in the ninth round by Maurice Harris, a talented but somewhat erratic boxer. However, Ivaylo Gotzev blames his fighter’s showing on an adverse reaction to a vitamin B-12 injection that was administered in the dressing room. He said that Liakhovich was hyperventilating and couldn’t breathe properly in the fight: no more pre-fight vitamin shots for Serguei.

As an amateur Liakhovich boxed in the Olympics and was a world championships bronze medallist while Brewster was the U.S. champion.

I believe that Brewster has the advantage in firepower but Liakhovich can probably match him for hand speed. In terms of technical ability they might not be all that far apart although Brewster is perceived as the more proficient. For a big man (6ft 4ins, 240lbs) Liakhovich shows good movement: I do not consider him to be simply a mechanical, stand-up European heavyweight.

Liakhovich has not boxed for 16 months (a scheduled fight with Owen Beck last September had to be cancelled when the Belorussian suffered a torn cartilage in his chest) and this could be considered a negative, but he is hungry and determined.

Brewster has shown himself to be resolute. If he cannot hammer Liakhovich early, he might — if all else fails — be able simply to grind his way to victory in a war of attrition.

The memory of Brewster labouring against Meehan — and almost getting stopped in the eighth when he took a lot of punches while backed up on the ropes — is still fresh in my mind, though.

If Liakhovich can surprise Brewster a bit in the early stages, perhaps by hitting him with one or two good, clean shots or by running off some combinations before the champion settles into the fight, then the big man from Belarus can get some momentum going. If this happens, Liakhovich could be hard to beat.

I could be wrong but I have a nagging suspicion that Brewster might be underestimating Liakhovich, that he might be thinking he can just walk in and blow him out. Such an attitude, if this is indeed the case, could be costly.

Yes, in terms of experience against tougher opposition, punching power — and a proven ability to endure and win under difficult and even daunting circumstances — Brewster has to be favoured, but I do make Liakhovich “live” in the fight, in part because of the sweeping changes Brewster has made as regards to the people around him.

Everything might work out wonderfully for Brewster on the night, Buddy McGirt — who has certainly enjoyed great success — might indeed be the perfect trainer for him and it could be that the World Boxing Organisation champ will look the best he has ever looked. Yet I have to wonder if, just possibly, Brewster’s mind, with all that has been happening outside the ring, is as settled as it should be as he goes into a contest with an opponent who seems psychologically and physically ready to put up the fight of his life.

I do believe that Brewster will win because when it comes right down to it he seems to be simply the better, bigger hitting, more battle-hardened fighter, but I do feel that if Liakhovich is allowed to get a firm foothold in the fight an upset might become a distinct possibility.



Hopefully after this fight the Heavyweight picture will become a little clearer