Liakhovich v. Brewster

Tonight, after the hectic pace of the past few weeks had finally subdued, I nestled into my couch to watch a healthy amount of television. I watched the A's beat the Yankees, Gina get kicked off of America's Next Top Model, best of skits from The Chapelle Show and, keeping with the model theme, Super Models Gone Bad on E!. As dramatic as all of these things were, none of them could hold a candle to Liakhovich v. Brewster on Showtime--quite possibly the best heavyweight title fight I've ever seen.

The heavyweight division of boxing has been in a real mess ever since Tyson went apeshit crazy. I guess a case could be made that it was pretty messy even when Tyson was knocking fools out in the first 20 seconds of the first round. Regardless, there hasn't been a real unified champion in forever, and sports commentators and promoters are clamoring to find out who the next undisputed bad ass will be. Enter Liakhovich v. Brewster for the WBO Heavyweight Championship.

I'm not at all familiar with Lamon Brewster, the defending champ going into the match. My enjoyment of boxing is pretty pedestrian. I don't follow the sport on a daily basis, but I will watch pretty much any fight, usually as long as I catch it from the beginning, because fights tell full stories, and I don't want to miss anything. However, from the pre-fight interview, in which Brewster (the dude on the left in the picture above) was wearing a white T-shirt with his two children on it, seemed like a pretty nice guy. He mentioned his hardships growing up (it's rare that fighters come from untroubled backgrounds, I guess, because if you had it really easy, you've got no excuse to fight) and how he's using the money he's making as a fighter (a pretty good sum since he's been champion for a couple years) for his children's education. The commentators said that he has the most killer left hook in the heavyweight division, but needs to work on his defense, meaning his fights are slugfests. I liked Brewster instantly.

But then came challenger 13-ranked, 29-year-old Sergei Liakhovich, who came to the US from Belarus with $100 bucks in his pocket (that he borrowed from someone else) and a dream to become the heavyweight champion. He hadn't had a fight in 16 months, and people criticized Brewster's decision to fight him because they thought Liakhovich an unworthy adversary. He was given no chance to win. He talked about the political climate in his country and how he fights for his homeland. His beautiful wife was in attendance, sitting in the second row, and the fight was being broadcasted back to his country. It's no mystery why there are so many boxing movies.

I spent almost the whole fight standing and pacing around my living room. I pace when I get excited (I also pace when I'm bored, but this time was for excitement). Just when one fighter looked as if he was finished, he'd land a Herculean blow out of nowhere that would turn the tide for a round or two, only to have the tide turned back again. I one of the earlier rounds, Liakhovich was pinned against the ropes and Brewster went in for the kill. Liakhovich took a flurry of shots to the head but somehow, I'm still not sure how, stayed standing and after Brewster punched himself out, retaliated to have Brewster against the ropes. In the seventh round, after Liakhovich dominated, punishing Brewster with shots to the body and quick left hooks, but by the end of the round, he had run out of gas, and again, Brewster, who looked worse for wear, moved in and eventually dropped Liakhovich to the canvas at the end of the round. In the ninth, Liakhovich, who looked like he had nothing left, hit Brewster with a right hand straight to the ear that even rocked me out of my seat. The punch had a dizzying effect, sending Brewster to the ropes, where he was unloaded upon. Somehow, and again I don't know how, he managed to stay up. Liakhovich managed to ride that last momentum swing into the 12th round and emerged the new champion, winning in a close but unanimous decision.

Usually heavyweights aren't as active as these two fighters, but these guys threw so many punches at times, they could've outworked a featherweight. Epic. They're set to have a rematch, but if I want to see it, I'm probably gonna have to pay for it. And I think I just might. As Don King says, "Only in America."