This weekend had two occurrences of one of the utmost rarities in boxing. The hometown challenger lost. Now, that in and of itself is not too rare, but let me set the stage. Paul Butler, who had won a belt last year at bantamweight, immediately relinquished it to drop down to his more natural weight at super flyweight. One would think he had done so, in order to have an easier time of it. It turns out, Stuey Hall was merely a paper champion at 118lbs, and that win was nothing to write home about. Randy Caballero may disagree, as he had to work to clearly beat Hall, but either Zolani Tete is a beast, or that was in fact the case.
Butler got his title shot in the same organization, in his hometown, last Saturday, and could not come close to winning. Tete completely dominated, before stopping Butler in only 8 rounds. The bizarre part was that Butler was heavily favored, yet had no answers for what amounted to a bigger leap up in class than he was expecting. Perhaps he should have stayed at 118lbs, as dropping down rarely results in success. At least at bantam, he could have lost his title to an American (Caballero), which may have paid him a bit better. At least he gets to share his shame with another fighter, for whom even more was riding on his IBF title shot.
Yes, another lighter weight IBF titlist kept his crown against an overhyped challenger. Ruenrong domianted 2x gold medalist Zou Shiming in front of Macao's faithful, cheering for their Chinese hero. It did not help. And contrary to popular belief, Shiming's lack of power did not undo him here. It was simply his lack of ability and experience. Remember, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Vasyl Lomachenko were 2x gold medalists because of their extraordinary talent, and natural amateur style. Shiming succeeded with the help of corrupt judging, as well as a style specifically designed to score points in the now-defunct Olympic scoring system. That same system cheated Raushee Warren in the same 3 Olympics, yet I think few sane people would pick Shiming to defeat the American as a pro.
Trying to win a title in your 7th fight is tough. It is tougher when you are not a puncher. It is tougher still when your trainer splits his time between you and several other top fighters. It is even harder when you are already rich after only a few fights. Shiming could walk away now, and still hold a place in boxing history. 2x gold medalist, and the man who opened China for boxing. He'll probably stick around until a belt can be deliverd to him more easily, but he is this generation's Paul Gonzales, to be sure. If it seems like I am enjoying these men's downfall, don't misread it. I am actually enjoying the lesson learned by promoters for both events. You can set up everything for your fighter to win, but if the goods are not there, sometimes they will get exposed. It is then you will remember.. "oh yeah, they still need to learn how to fight."
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com
