Tag Archives: dominick

The Wilder-Breazeale Melee: Families Should Be Off Limits

Posted on 02/27/2017

The Wilder-Breazeale Melee: Families Should Be Off Limits
By: Sean Crose

This sort of thing happens. What’s more, it’s happened since the early days of boxing. Back in the late 1800s, James J Corbett nearly threw down with Bob Fitzimmons on a stretch of road in the leadup to their heavyweight title matchup. Since then, boxing has provided the world with more out of the ring, inappropriate antics than most could imagine. Some of us may well remember Mike Tyson’s off the wall New York brawl with Mitch Green…or Larry Holmes’ WWE maneuver on Trevor Berbick. Again, such things are part of boxing.

IMG_2842

The out of the ring melee that apparently went down Saturday night between the camps of heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and contender Dominic Breazeale, however, seems to have involved Breazeale’s children – and that’s not acceptable. “I want to address the fact,” Breazeale tweeted, “that Deontay Wilder and a mob of about 20 people unprovokedly attacked my Team and my family in the lobby last night.” According to Breazeale, he and his coach were struck in front of Breazeale’s wife and kids in the lobby of a hotel. TMZ has run some confusing footage of the chaos, but it’s hard to discern much of anything on screen.

It’s important to keep in mind that there is no definitive proof of anyone actually doing anything criminal after Saturday’s fight card in Alabama (where both Breazeale and Wilder won in impressive fashion). All there essentially is at this point is TMZ and the words of some of those involved. That’s really not a lot to go on. Still, all camps should clear the air about this. Explanations need to be given and, yeah, apologies need to be made. Causing madness in hotel lobbies is simply inappropriate.

Again, this sort of thing happens. Boxing is a tough sport where some very tough people get very psyched up. Such incidents are perhaps probably only natural considering the frame of mind your average fighter must put himself in. Restraint, however, is needed – especially when innocent people can be hurt. And this is particularly true in the case of children. Some things can’t and shouldn’t be laughed off. And if Dominic Breazeale is right in his assertion of what happened on Saturday (and I’m not saying he is), people should be called out and held accountable for it.

In other words, this sort of thing should be saved for the ring.

More Columns

Showtime World Championship Boxing Preview: Anthony Joshua v. Dominic Breazeale

Posted on 06/23/2016

Showtime World Championship Boxing Preview: Anthony Joshua v. Dominic Breazeale
By: Matthew N. Becher

In 2012 Anthony Joshua, then 22, and Dominick Breazeale, then 26, each represented their respective countries, the United Kingdom and the United States, in the 2012 Olympic Games, held in London, England. Both fighters competed in the Super heavyweight division, with Breazeale losing in the first round and Joshua eventually standing on the top of the medal podium, having a Gold Medal placed around his neck. This Saturday, from the O2 Arena in Greenwich, London, live on Showtime, both fighters will meet face to face as undefeated professionals, for the IBF Heavyweight championship of the world.

Anthony Joshua: The Next Dominant Heavyweight Champion?

Dominic Breazeale (17-0 15KO) got a late start in the boxing game. He was a football player, a Quarterback at that, who played division one for the University of Northern Colorado. When professional football did not seem like a valid option, the 6’8”, 250lb Breazeale found out quickly that he could turn that throwing arm into a pretty heavy knockout punch. After competing in the Olympics he immediately turned pro later that year and has amassed an unblemished records of seventeen wins, with fifteen coming by way of the knockout. He has wins over Amir Mansour, Fred Kasi, Yasmany Consuegra and Victor Bisbal in the last year. This weekend’s title fight against Joshua will be his toughest to date, and Breazeale has stated that this fight will end by KO, “We’re two knockout artists, so whoever lands first is going to win….I’m not some pushover like he’s had in the past. If I see an opportunity, I am going to take advantage of it”.

Anthony Joshua (16-0 16KO) has been groomed to become the heavyweight champion of the world, winning his first title earlier this year in April, in only his 16th professional fight. Joshua has faced a bit of better competition against the likes of Kevin Johnson, Gary Cornish, Dillian Whyte and Charles Martin, will all of them getting knocked out by Joshua. In only 3 years as a pro, the Gold Medalist and now IBF heavyweight champion has accomplished a lot, and sees Breazeale as just another mandatory competitor towards his ultimate goal of unified heavyweight champ, “I still have another couple titles I need to get my hands on. I’m still hunting. There’s still work to be done”.

This has the makings for a very exciting heavyweight fight, between two big sluggers. With the difference in competition that both have seen and the fight being in London, the edge is definitely in Joshua’s favor, but in the heavyweight division, it only takes one punch to change all of that.

More Columns