One week from Saturday in Madison Square Garden, Lennox Lewis defends his undisputed world heavyweight title against unknown underdog Michael Grant in a fight that seems to have little interest to most boxing fans.
For starters, Lewis is not a very exciting fighter. Unless he gets somebody he can beat up on, most of Lewis fights are dull and boring, as were his two fights against Evander Holyfield. He is a cautious and wary fighter, and while that may produce wins, it doesn't fill the seats or entice fans to buy his fights on pay-per-view TV.
His April 29 defense against Grant has the added burden that his opponent is not well known to most fans. While Grant is undefeated, he has mostly fought other unknowns and has never had the exposure needed to sell PPV tickets.
The one exception is Grant's fight against Andrew Golota, whom he fought just before getting the Lewis fight. In that fight, Grant was down twice in the first round, was way behind on points going into round 10 when, midway through the round, Golota just quit!
Don't know whether Golota ran out of gas, or heart, or both - but Grant got the win and the title shot. For the record, Lewis beat Golota when they fought and it didn't take long, as Golota froze in his first big fight and was down twice and gone just 90 seconds into the opening round.
If Grant, in his first big fight, isn't overwhelmed by the event and doesn't freeze up or come out cold, he could make it interesting.
Grant does have some talent, and he needs to make the fight against Lewis a brawl. Grant will lose a boxing match to Lewis, but he has a chance if it turns nasty. In my opinion, That's his only chance to get a win.
Lewis, the English champion who trained for two of his fights before he was champion right here in Carson City at the old CCPAL boxing gym, can be hit and hurt, and he's facing someone bigger than he is.
Lewis, who used to run the streets of Carson City while training here, is not fighting a shorter and lighter foe - like Holyfield who weighed 217 to Lewis' 246 and was four inches shorter - but a bigger man in Grant. Grant stands 6-foot-7 and weighs around 250, while Lewis is 6-5 and will weigh around 245 pounds.
Personally, I think it will be a good fight, but with Lewis in there you never know. The local sportsbooks have Lewis listed as about a 5-2 favorite (Grant is at + 2-1), but the price has jumped around a bit so check the lines as they do vary from sportsbook to sportsbook. The over/under is 1:30 of round 10 (9 rounds), and I love the under.
It will be over fast if Grant freezes, and even if he doesn't, he figures to take some chances as he tries to get Lewis to mix it up with him, and that means Grant's questionable chin will be exposed. So either way, I look for the fight to go under.
I'll make an early prediction and say Lewis will knock Grant out, but I don't think I'll lay the price. Deep down, I hope the American challenger Grant whips Lewis good, but I doubt that will happen - I've been wrong before, though, so your guess is as good as mine.
- The fight is available in Carson Country through AT&T Cable Services and is priced at $44.95. Also, some area casinos will have the fight available on big screen TV if you prefer to see it that way.
- CARSON PRO LOSES - Carson City professional boxer Miguel Angel Ruiz fought last Saturday at the Lucky Eagle Indian Casino in Rochester, Wash. Ruiz fought Don Juan Futrell and Ruiz lost a unanimous 8-round decision in the fight.
There were no knockdowns in the junior welterweight (140-pound limit) fight, as Ruiz saw his record fall to 24-9-2. Futrell improved to 19-2.
- The amateur fight card set for this Saturday at the Boys & Girls Club in Reno has been called off.
"It's just a bad weekend to put on a fight card," said Thelma Tavares, who was putting together the card for the host Reno Jets team. "Easter weekend just didn't work. Not enough fighters available. We'll try again in May."
- Saturday night's HBO telecast of the Fernando Vargas fight against Ike Quartey from Las Vegas was a good one.
Lots of action, as Vargas defended his IBF junior middleweight (154-limit) title by winning a unanimous 12-round decision to remain undefeated at 19-0. Quartey fell to 34-2-1.
Interesting sidelight as Vargas, once known as "Ferocious" Fernando is now billed as "The Aztec Warrior," and prior to Vargas' ring entrance, some "Aztec Warrior" dancers entered the ring and performed a warrior dance for him.
Also, Mike Tyson was there in Vargas dressing room and at ringside - They have the same manager - And Big George Foreman was one of the HBO ringside commentators. Too bad those two can't "get it on" as I think that fight would sell and I give Big George a good shot at beating Tyson. It'll never happen, though.
- Word is that Tyson's scheduled fight against Lou Savarese set for May 20 in Italy will be postponed again (it was originally set for April 8), as Tyson says he "needs more time to train." If that fight takes place, it will be in June or later.
- And we'll close by noting that Golota fights unknown Marcus Rhodes in China this Saturday. The fight, along with the Laili Ali fight against Kristina King, will be shown on same-day tape by Showtime starting at 10 p.m.
Alan Rogers is the Nevada Appeal boxing writer.
