(JUNE 19) Mike Tyson once
said, "Everybody has a plan, until they get hit." As I was
watching a serviceable tape of Friday's ten round WBAN, IBA, WBF
female welterweight title fight between Holly Holm and Anne
Sophie Mathis from Albuquerque, NM, it appeared that Holm's team
had devised a plan that was a brief variation of the Tyson
quote: "Don't get hit." This was actually a sage strategy since
seven months earlier, in the same ring, Mathis had left Holm
dazed and bleeding in the seventh round of a scheduled ten round
title fight. That bout had immediately became the talk of the
boxing community and the highlights went viral on YouTube.
Friday's return bout was met with a more muted response from the
boxing community; probably best characterized by a sense of
relief that it had not been televised as a major attraction of
the sport of Women's boxing.
The Holm team strategy worked. Holly Holm avoided, for a full
ten rounds, the punching power of Anne Sophie Mathis The problem
with the bout was that the Holm strategy lasted ten full rounds
and made for a less than compelling title fight. The quicker
Holm continually backed away from the bigger, more stable Mathis
and, given Holm's reluctance to initiate the action, it fell to
Mathis to "make the fight." The Frenchwoman continually stalked
the constantly retreating Holm and when the two fighters closed,
Holm usually threw several punches from her toes, always looking
for the opportunity to clinch with the bigger woman. Mathis,
even through the filter of a tape, could be seen expressing
frustration as the fight wore on as the realization set in that
twenty minutes might not be long enough to walk down the speedy
Holm. Yet thru every round, Mathis, to her credit, continued to
bring the fight to her foe, continued in the role of the
aggressor, initiating the sporadic exchange of punches as she
followed Holm around the large ring (more on that later). Holm's
offense, throughout the bout was designed to keep Mathis at a
distance until an inevitable clinch could be effected. This
desultory ritual continued for the entire 10 rounds: Mathis
looking to land big punches, Holm looking to get to the final
bell.
Holm prevailed not only from a strategy sense, but also and in
the eyes of the hometown crowd and that of the judges. The three
cards read: 96-94, 97-93 and, ludicrously, 99-91. The third
"judgment" was rendered by one Dave Moretti.
Holm/Mathis was a difficult fight
to judge and was probably a fair call. Mathis' aggression,
throughout the bout, was her main asset, she "carried" the fight
the entire ten rounds. However, it's probably not particularly
surprising that the visiting fighter seemed to get scant credit,
on the scorecards, for her aggressive approach.
That Anne Sophie Mathis was the visiting fighter after her
decisive win in December was a result of a return bout clause in
the initial contract. Mathis, as the champion, was required to
travel, once again, across multiple time zones to defend, what
was now, her crown. Holly Holm remained ensconced in Albuquerque
as she has for the vast majority of her career. Understand: Holm
is one of the best fighters, not just in the welterweight
division but also in the sport of Women's boxing. That she has
beaten all the best fighters in her class (until the first
Mathis bout) is a direct testament to her future HOF talent.
That most of those fights have been contested in New Mexico
represent, if at all, but the slightest advantage to this
talented fighter. However, when faced with comparable talent,
such as an Anne Sophie Mathis, slight advantages can be
meaningful. In the case of the second Holm/Mathis bout, such a
slight advantage resulted in a substantially larger ring from
the initial bout (reportedly, twenty-two feet, increased from
eighteen) which played, conveniently, into Holm's "don't get
hit" strategy. Did that make a big difference in the bout? Who
knows, but it probably didn't hurt Holm's chances of getting to
the final bell and putting the decision in the judges' hands.
There should be a third fight. It shouldn't be in New Mexico.
Holly Holm and Anne Sophia Mathis are the two best welterweight
female fighters in the sport; maybe the two best fighters in
Women's boxing. They've fought twice and quite frankly, based on
the results, I'd rank them equal with, possibly, a slight edge
going to Mathis. She dominated the first fight, Holm won the
second bout with style adjustments that worked to perfection and
blunted Mathis' main advantage, punching power. I would suspect
that Mathis' team will make adjustments of their own and, if a
third fight materializes, Anne Sophie Mathis will find a way to
achieve more punching room than she had in the second bout.
Holm's team will, of course, likewise make adjustments to their
adjustments and it is this type of back and forth strategy that
makes a series of bouts between two good fighters so compelling.
But that's strategy. The ultimate settlement will be in the
ring. Lenny Fresquez, when asked about a possible third bout in
France, talked about "the money." Mathis has come to New Mexico
twice, she's up to date as far as the dues of ceding a
"hometown" advantage. In fairness, the third fight, if there is
one, has to be in a venue other than New Mexico. It could be
France, it could be some other neutral site in Europe or the US.
Lenny Fresquez is a good boxing guy and he surely knows
Holm/Mathis III should happen and, I suspect, he even knows it
probably should happen somewhere other than where the first two
bouts were held. Money has been used as an excuse to sabotage
several potential "big" fights throughout the history of Women's
boxing:: Martin/Rijker and Ali/Wolfe come immediately to mind.
Holm/Mathis III is too good an attraction to add to the "never
happened" list in a sport that needs big bouts. Lenny Fresquez
is too good a boxing guy to let that happen. We've had "The
Reckoning." Now how about "One More Time" in one more place.
"In the orginal draft of this story, I made reference to the
fact that Duane Ford judged the fight 99-91 for Holm. This was
incorrect, that scoring should have been attributed to Dave
Moretti. I apologize to the readers and to Mr. Ford for the
error, which has been subsequently corrected. Bernie McCoy"
WBAN
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