New York --June 1, 2011 - by Ron Ross

           

Carl “The Cobra” Froch, WBC super middleweight titleholder, batted clean-up at the Super Six World Boxing Classic, Super Middleweight press conference at the Hotel Edison Ballroom this afternoon, being the last man to grasp the microphone and tell it like is … or ain’t.  We’ll find out when he meets Glen “The Road Warrior” Johnson Saturday night in their semi-final round square-off at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom on Atlantic City’s boardwalk..

With the winner of this bout shooting for all the marbles against Andre Ward, who already won his semi-final round by soundly thrashing Arthur Abraham seventeen days ago in California, all Froch has to do is back up his words with his fists.  The brash, cocky Brit didn’t hold back as he predicted – or, even stronger – promised a dominating whipping of one of boxing’s  senior stars.

 

Actually, he leveled his verbal assault at Johnson’s trainer, Orlan

do Cuellar, who had described what a successful training campaign Johnson had concluded and explained that “no man has ever really beaten up Glen Johnson “ and that this fight was not going to be any different, promising that Johnson would be there in his face come Saturday night.

For his part, Johnson was, as usual, the soft-spoken, action-speaks-louder-than words gentlemanly senior-citizen warrior that the crowds cannot help but embrace as the people’s choice.  He described how he came down from what was deemed by many as his natural weight –  transforming from a 175-pound old man to a lean, mean 168 fighter – but that he was still an old man and had a lot of respect for Froch.

He went on to say that he wasn’t one for lip service and wasn’t big on predictions. All of that will be left for Saturday night in the ring. These are the qualities that make this 42-year old warrior so endearing to the fans.That’s when “The Cobra” struck. With microphone in hand, Froch leaned forward in his seat on the stage and taunted “Glen Johnson’s trainer is delusional.” Then Froch boldly predicted, “Glen Johnson is not going to win the fight. He is not going to win a round. I will dominate, it will be a dominating performance.”

 

Froch, the lad from Nottingham, England, at 33, is no babe in the woods.  A huge fan favorite in the UK, Froch sports an enviable 27-1 record with 20 KO’s. His only loss , dropping a unanimous decision to Mikkel Kessler on April 24, 2010 in Denmark was followed by his convincing beating of Arthur Abraham, setting the stage for his chance to move to the championship round against Andre Ward. One obstacle stands in his way – Glen “The Road Warrior” Johnson.

RR

 

The elimination tourney was scoffed at then and even today it is still scrutinized. What if the Vietnam War would not have wanted or needed Ali? What if Ali who had already "cleaned up" the division had remained active? Remember Ali defeated Paterson, Terrell and Mildenberger before he was forced to abdicate. He then won two out of three against Frazier and two over Quarry. He beat Patterson again and also whipped Bonevena and Ellis after a three year hiatus. Let's say Ali remained active through 1970. He might have met Frazier as early as 1969. Joe would have been facing a lean, active and sharp Ali not the slow and rusty version he met in their 1971 epic. Also remember Joe would have had two years less experience then what he carried in 1971 . In 1969, Frazier was not yet the polished fighting machine he was to become. In my opinion the Frazier of March 8, 1971, would have given any heavyweight in history a life and death struggle including a prime Ali.

Muhammad would not have too much trouble beating the rest of the contenders. From 1964 to 1967, Ali made seven successful defenses. If he stayed on that pace from 1967 to 1970 he would accumulate seven more. So Ali successfully defends against Quarry and Bonevena maybe Spencer too. Now there is an interesting parallel as Sonny Liston has reemerged as a contender with a victory over Henry Clark. While planning for a possible Ali-Liston III, Muhammad eliminates Frazier and then defeats the light heavyweight king Bob Foster. Meanwhile Leotis Martin upsets Liston and Ali has to fight the other boxer to knock out Sonny. Ali then beats unbeaten, bit over rated Mac Foster to rack up his fourteenth defense. Outside of a possible jaunt to England to take on a young Joe Bugner or set up Ali-Henry Cooper III, there's not many new worlds for Ali to conquer. Maybe an easy payday in Spain against Jose Urtain. Bored, Ali eventually retires without ever a reason to come back since he whipped everybody. We the fans would never get to see "The Fight" of 1971 or his 1973 "Jaw Breaker" loss to Kenny Norton. We would miss the "Rumble In The Jungle" of 1974 and the "Thrilla In Manilla" of 1975. Ali-Wepner would have never happened, so Sly Stallone would have never been inspired to write "Rocky."

As unfair as it was to Ali to have three and a half years stolen from his career, it might have saved the heavyweight division. The elimination tournament, although not always exciting was at least competitive and complete with a few surprises. With Thad Spencer upsetting Ernie Terrell to start things off no one could clearly project a tourney winner. The absence of Frazier saw to that. Meanwhile Frazier was living himself up for a nice payday because no matter who the W.B.A.called champion, they would not be accepted until they beat Frazier and Ali if he returned.

Jimmy Elis and Leotis Martin the two underdogs of the tourney met with Ellis winning in nine rounds. Quarry scored a mild upset in shading ex-champion Patterson and Bonevena was too powerful as he overwhelmed a game Mildenberber. Coming off his impressive showing against Terrell, Spencer was favored to beat the erratic Quarry. Bonevena was thought to be too strong for Ellis who began his career as middleweight. Well Quarry battered Spencer stopping him in the twelfth round. Then Ellis in one of his career best performances dropped the usually durable Bonevena twice en route to a convincing points win. The championship match between Quarry and Ellis turned out to be the dullest bout of the tourney. After fifteen slow paced rounds Ellis was declared champion.

One month before Ellis defeated Quarry, Joe Frazier kayoed his amateur nemesis Buster Mathis in eleven rounds. The victory gained Frazier recognition as champion in New York State and in a few other states. Now the ballyhoo began. Who was the real champ Ellis or Frazier? Would Ali be allowed to box again? Frazier solidified his claim as Ali's successor with victories over Manuel Ramos(Ko-2), Bonevena(W-15), Dave Zyglewcz(Ko-1) and Quarry(KO-7). Ellis was virtually inactive, though not totally his fault. Proposed matches with Henry Cooper and Greg Peralta fell through for various reasons. When Ellis finally did defend his crown he was awarded a very controversial decision over Floyd Patterson. By the time Frazier and Ellis met in February of 1970, Joe was an overwhelming favorite. Few experts picked Ellis even though Angelo Dundee claimed Frazier was made for Ellis. It seemed like Dundee was a prophet during the first two rounds as Ellis outboxed Frazier. All was well until midway through the third round. That is when Joe landed his vaunted left hook that sent Ellis staggering half way across the ring and into the ropes. Ellis lasted the round but he never recovered. Late in the fourth round Frazier pinned Ellis in a corner and after a flurry of hooks Ellis fell flat on his face. He made it up in time and tried to keep Joe off him until the bell. Frazier would not be denied and just before the bell, he connected with a full swing left hook flush on the jaw. Ellis fell flat on his back. How he heat the count is a mystery. Somehow through the game, Ellis struggled to his corner as the bell had already ended the round. Dundee had seen enough and showed compassion by not allowing Jimmy out for round five.
Before the Frazier-Ellis bout, Ali had announced his retirement and had stated that he would give his belt to the winner. Eight months later with his boxing license reinstated Ali met Jerry Quarry in Atlanta winning in three rounds. Meanwhile Frazier had broken his ankle and did not return to action till late 1970 with a crushing knockout of Bob Foster. In December, Ali stopped Bonevena and finally Joe and Ali signed to fight on March 8, 1971, for then, the unheard sum of five million dollars to be split evenly. The rest as they say is history.
Jim Amato