The online boxing fan community is often up in arms about the unwillingness of many fighters to fight outside of their own comfort zone. If you want to fight Andre Ward, better get on that bridge to Oakland. Fancy a trip to sunny St. Louis? Sign up to fight Devon Alexander.
We diminish fighters who have chosen to stay at home. Calzaghe ruled the roost in the UK, aside from a twilight foray over the Atlantic to pick up (in retrospect) his career best win against Bernard Hopkins, and a weekend break to dissect the corpse of Roy Jones Jr.
After watching Derek Chisora v Malik Scott, you have to understand why a fighter would not go begging cap in hand to fight you on your own turf. Scott amassed a record of 35-0-1 on his home shores, over a 13 year period to position himself on the fringes of the division. His resume lacks any kind of breakout win, so Scott and his team chose to gamble on Chisora, a name, but a name who had dropped 4 of his last 6 fights.
Scott was, is, and will never be a power puncher, instead jabbing his way to victory from the outside. Why would such a fighter, choose a step up fight in another continent against a durable opponent he had little to no chance of stopping?
Malik Scott found himself in a terrible position.
From the moment he was chopped down to the canvas by Chisora's clubbing right, Scott was lucid, in control, and sensible. He got into a crouched position ready to rise, he looked to his corner to signal he was just fine, and he stared back at the referee issuing the count in his face. He must've seen a face he thought he could trust, as Scott patiently took advantage of the 10 seconds rest he had before resuming the battle and going back to his game plan.
He stepped up at 9. The referee called the fight off. He had been knocked out.
Never box abroad. A flash knockdown is a knockout when you're in the box seat.
No comments:
Post a Comment