Kassim the Machine and Bazooka Quartey
Large here, back after my summer hiatus. A little longer than planned, but hey, give a brother a break. It’s August up in here.
Indulge me – I want to go back to Saturday night’s HBO fight card. I thought both fights were entertaining and worthy of consideration.
First – Powell/Ouma.
You know when you’re out drinking with someone, say Bud for instance, someone who has a gargantuan tolerance and generally could drink like, Frederick Exley under the table… but look, you're game, right? you don't mess around... so you drink with the guy, not drink for drink because that would probably kill you, but you hold your own – he’s drinking six or seven an hour, you’re having four or five.
You know those kind of nights? What usually happens?
I’ll tell you what – you get seriously fucked up. And that brings me to Mr. Sechew Powell. How do you fight a man who throws 110/120 punches a round? Well, you throw 70, 80, 90 punches a round, you try to keep up. And what happens? Eventually you get tired, and then you get a ass-whuppin. Ouma’s punch output against Powell was phenomenal, over a thousand punches in a ten-round fight, and he walked through some legitimate bombs to do it. Sechew, look, you lost decisively, but don’t hang your head son. Kassim the Ugandan Machine waged a hell of a war to beat you. A friend of mine, one who knows his classic fighters believe me, wrote to me that Ouma’s performance made him think of Henry Armstrong. Which says it all right there.
As for Quartey/Forrest… many feel that this fight, a lovely fight to watch, was marred by an absurd unanimous decision for Forrest. Personally, I also think that Quartey was robbed, but I did not think it was highway robbery. Watching the broadcast you would think that it was a walkover for Ike, but then Jim Lampley evidently wants Quartey’s dick only slightly more than he wants Jermain Taylor’s. Vernon was landing a lot of power shots throughout the fight whereas Quartey only consistently landed with his jab. The only fighter hurt in the fight was Ike, after Vernon clocked him with an uppercut in the third and Ike had to hold on for dear life for a good twenty seconds or so. And yes, Forrest fought most of the fight backing up, but hey, so did Ali against Frazier. When you fight a bull, you whip out the red cape and start doing some pirouettes.
That said, I still think Quartey won, mostly on the basis of the point deducted (rightfully so) from Forrest for a low blow. What I mostly want to say about the fight, though, is this – both boxers looked crisp to me, no matter what Lamps has to say about Vernon’s left hand. Both of them have impeccable skills and were moving beautifully and punching with surgical accuracy. It was a real fight fan’s fight, a lot of action, a lot of strategy, a lot of give-and-take. Usually, I’m opposed to these has-been, greatest hits tours, but these two both look to me like they’ve got a lot of gas left in the tank. Maybe one of them will fight Margarito and get us all worked up. I mean, think about it – Quartey/Margarito? Me, I’m paying PPV money for that shit.
In conclusion, I refer you to this excellent account of the evening at East Side Boxing.
Indulge me – I want to go back to Saturday night’s HBO fight card. I thought both fights were entertaining and worthy of consideration.
First – Powell/Ouma.
You know when you’re out drinking with someone, say Bud for instance, someone who has a gargantuan tolerance and generally could drink like, Frederick Exley under the table… but look, you're game, right? you don't mess around... so you drink with the guy, not drink for drink because that would probably kill you, but you hold your own – he’s drinking six or seven an hour, you’re having four or five.
You know those kind of nights? What usually happens?
I’ll tell you what – you get seriously fucked up. And that brings me to Mr. Sechew Powell. How do you fight a man who throws 110/120 punches a round? Well, you throw 70, 80, 90 punches a round, you try to keep up. And what happens? Eventually you get tired, and then you get a ass-whuppin. Ouma’s punch output against Powell was phenomenal, over a thousand punches in a ten-round fight, and he walked through some legitimate bombs to do it. Sechew, look, you lost decisively, but don’t hang your head son. Kassim the Ugandan Machine waged a hell of a war to beat you. A friend of mine, one who knows his classic fighters believe me, wrote to me that Ouma’s performance made him think of Henry Armstrong. Which says it all right there.
As for Quartey/Forrest… many feel that this fight, a lovely fight to watch, was marred by an absurd unanimous decision for Forrest. Personally, I also think that Quartey was robbed, but I did not think it was highway robbery. Watching the broadcast you would think that it was a walkover for Ike, but then Jim Lampley evidently wants Quartey’s dick only slightly more than he wants Jermain Taylor’s. Vernon was landing a lot of power shots throughout the fight whereas Quartey only consistently landed with his jab. The only fighter hurt in the fight was Ike, after Vernon clocked him with an uppercut in the third and Ike had to hold on for dear life for a good twenty seconds or so. And yes, Forrest fought most of the fight backing up, but hey, so did Ali against Frazier. When you fight a bull, you whip out the red cape and start doing some pirouettes.
That said, I still think Quartey won, mostly on the basis of the point deducted (rightfully so) from Forrest for a low blow. What I mostly want to say about the fight, though, is this – both boxers looked crisp to me, no matter what Lamps has to say about Vernon’s left hand. Both of them have impeccable skills and were moving beautifully and punching with surgical accuracy. It was a real fight fan’s fight, a lot of action, a lot of strategy, a lot of give-and-take. Usually, I’m opposed to these has-been, greatest hits tours, but these two both look to me like they’ve got a lot of gas left in the tank. Maybe one of them will fight Margarito and get us all worked up. I mean, think about it – Quartey/Margarito? Me, I’m paying PPV money for that shit.
In conclusion, I refer you to this excellent account of the evening at East Side Boxing.
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