A KNOCKOUT NIGHT FOR COMBAT SPORTS

Posted on | March 9, 2008 | No Comments

By: Rich Bergeron

Saturday night proved to be a banner night for combat sports with all the main events in the major televised boxing and Mixed Martial Arts cards ending in knockouts. Showtime’s broadcast of David Haye’s complete domination of Enzo Maccarinelli kicked off the night and ended with a brutal 2nd round knockout. The timing of that quick telecast put the following Cage Rage 25 broadcast on Showtime up against Sam Peter vs. Oleg Maskaev on HBO. Just as Ken Shamrock started his short brawl with Buzz Berry to mark his EliteXC debut after a long absence from the sport, Peter and Maskaev were poised for their own long-awaited heavyweight battle for the WBC belt.

WBA and WBC Cruiserweight Champion David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs) came in as the much more chiseled fighter, and he cruised through the first round with a cautious and tentative approach. WBO Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Maccarinelli (28-2, 21 KOs) used a stiff jab to keep Haye out of firing range in the first frame, but Haye would not be denied in the second. Maccarinelli’s reach proved to be a nuisance early on, but then Haye caught his opponent with one of his best thundering overhand rights early in the second round. Maccarinelli didn’t waver or wobble at that point, but he did back off and stop throwing punches. Haye waded in a few moments later and ended the fight with another right hand followed by a flurry of blows that sent Maccarinelli staggering straight to an early stoppage.

Maccarinelli admitted later on that he’d made a stupid mistake and didn’t follow his trainer’s advice. Ironically, one of the pre-fight tips Showtime announcers offered Maccarinelli was to keep the left hand up. The bad habit was too tough for the losing fighter to break Saturday, and he received a hard lesson in the importance of maintaining smart defensive posture.

Haye expressed his hopes of moving up to heavyweight to emulate Evander Holyfield, who was in the audience for the fight. Haye has only the IBF Cruiserweight Title standing in the way of him becoming the unified Cruiserweight Champion. IBF belt-holder Steve “USS” Cunningham has been calling Haye out in recent weeks and may be next in line to fight the champion unless he moves up to heavyweight right away.

Over on HBO, Juan Diaz (33-1, 17 KOs) took his first professional loss against Nate Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KOs) to lead off their boxing telecast. Diaz weathered an early storm of punches from Campbell, who never let up as most of Diaz’s previous opponents have after starting so strong. Diaz fought bravely through twin cuts over his left eye, but his hampered vision and Campbell’s high output of punches put Diaz in a hole he simply couldn’t make his way out of by the final bell.

Campbell maintained a steady, hammering pace throughout the fight and taunted Diaz regularly at the close of almost every round. At one point he was overheard promising Diaz he could expect more of the same “all night long.” By the final round Diaz was a lumbering, bloody mess despite his early ability to trade blows with Campbell and land more meaningful, scoring shots.

Campbell took the IBF, WBA, and WBO Lightweight titles with the split-decision win and said the key to his victory was knowing Diaz just couldn’t handle the punishment.

John Ruiz (43-7-1, 29 KOs) made a successful comeback to boxing in an un-televised bout against Jameel McCline (38-9-3, 23 KOs) earlier in the night. Ruiz won a unanimous 12-round decision by scores of 119-109, 118-110, and 117-111.

HBO’s main event proved to be one of the best fights of the evening as Nigerian Sam Peter (30-1, 23 KOs) settled an old grudge with Russian Oleg Maskaev (34-6, 26 KOs). Both fighters had moments of brilliance early on, but it was Peter who provided the most effective approach early on. The WBC open scoring system had Peter ahead on all the scorecards after four rounds. Maskaev did manage to wobble Peter on a few occasions, though.

Both fighters traded some heavy shots throughout the fight, and at certain points both fighters appeared exhausted from the output. Shaking off the ring rust from being on the bench for more than a year, Maskaev looked pretty impressive at times before the sixth round ended his hopes of holding onto the WBC belt. Peter simply caught him against the ropes with one of his punishing overhand rights and beat the Russian into a corner where the referee waved the contest to a close before Peter could put Maskaev on the canvas.

Post-fight talk of future opponents included the mention of both Klitschko brothers. Peter maintained he would beat them all and that he was the best heavyweight in the world. Don King, who promotes Peter, re-iterated that thought and will hopefully make sure the better of the two possible fights is made. A rematch of Peter and Wladimir Klitschko has been talked about for a long time, and both fighters have vastly improved their game since the first fight. If anyone can make that fight happen, it’s Don King.

Over on Showtime, another knockout ended the main event as Ken Shamrock (26-13-2, 0-1 CR) couldn’t even make it through the first round against Buzz Berry (12-7, 7-3 CR) at Cage Rage 25. Shamrock danced around the cage for most of the round landing a few jabs and avoiding the heavy-handed attack of Berry for the first half of the round. At one point Shamrock went for an ill-advised body lock takedown against Berry, who came into the fight 25 pounds heavier than “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.” Shamrock might have been better suited to go for Berry’s legs to get a takedown.

Instead, Shamrock chose to bounce back to the outside and continue trying to make the fight more of a boxing match. Berry finally caught up to his quick opponent and landed a combination that dropped Shamrock just long enough for the referee to stop the contest as Shamrock lay on his back dazed but not hurt too badly. Though it is the fifth straight loss for Shamrock in Mixed Martial Arts, in all fairness his opponent was a formidable one to face after such a long absence from the sport. Shamrock would have fared much better against more of a tune-up type of opponent. Look for him to come back strong the next time out and break his losing streak against a more fitting opponent.

Masakazu Imanari (14-5-1, 2-0 CR) hobbled Jean Silva (15-8-3, 7-5-3 CR) earlier in the night by rolling into a reverse heel hook to end the featherweight championship fight with Silva screeching in pain. Imanari secured the hold late in the first round despite Silva’s rigorous training designed to avoid Imanari’s trademark submission. Silva did well wriggling out of previous attempts until the final seconds when he yelped and slapped Imanari’s thigh repeatedly so the referee would intervene and make the Cage Rage featherweight champion let go.

Ryan Shamrock lasted a bit longer than his legendary father, but a broken hand forced him to retire after the first round against Giorgio Andrews in an earlier featherweight fight. Ironically, the only fight of the whole card to go the distance was between two super heavyweights.

For more Cage Rage 25 results and post-fight reporting check out: THE FOX SPORTS WRAP UP.

EliteXC will be back at the end of the month with the grudge match between Frank Shamrock and Cung Le. Hopefully that night is filled with just as many knockouts.