Brizel On His Namesake Brizuela, Who Doesn’t Win IBO World Lightweight Title
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Every sports writer who has the same name as an athlete wants their namesake to be a star. After all, it is good public relations in both directions. Why couldn’t my last name be Mayweather, Leonard, Manning or DiMaggio? Granted, I do not look like Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins or Pele. However, I do have a last name with a similar namesake who fought for a world title this past weekend. My namesake, Daniel Eduardo Brizuela, lost.
ARCTI Sports YouTube trailer for Brizuela versus Cerdan IBO World Title Bout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wdECO6oH2M
Argentine featherweight (and sometimes a bit higher) Daniel Eduardo ‘ Tatu’ Brizuela (the Spanish equivalent of my last name) hails from Las Heras, Mendoza, Argentina. Noteworthy here because every boxer out there does not get a chance at a world title no matter how many years they persevere. My namesake did get a shot at a world title. Brizuela’s current record stands at 25-2-2 with eight knockouts.
Brizela, age 27, a former World Boxing Organization and International Boxing Federation Latino Lightweight champion, was unbeaten in his last eight consecutive bouts going into his International Boxing Organization vacant World Lightweight Title bout with 30-3 Daud Cino Yordan of Indonesia in neutral Metro City Northbridge, Western Australia. This was the first bout in 29 appearances that Daniel Eduardo Brizela has fought outside of Argentina. Cerdan (no relation to Marcel Cerdan) had fought in Australia previously in 2011, when he won the IBO Asia Pacific Featherweight title with a fourth round stoppage of Frankie Archuleta.
Cerdan, 26, known as ‘The Indonesian Thunder’ had lost 12 round decisions to 48-0-3 WBA World super Featherweight champion Chris John and former WBA World Featherweight champion Celestino Caballero, as well as having fought a two round no-contest with Robert Guerrero. This past April, Cerdan was stopped in the twelfth round by Simpiwe Vetyeka of South Africa, and lost the IBO World Featherweight title won from 22-0 Lorenzo Villanueva by second round KO in 2012.
While rooting for my namesake, reality dictates Cerdan had a superior amount of experience. Hard work on both sides could not overcome such experience. Well, Cerdan won a 12 round unanimous decision in Australia to win the the vacant IBO World Lightweight title, perhaps a ticket to bigger fights and opponents such as Antonio DeMarco, especially now with the departure of Adrien Broner from the lightweight division. Scoring was 117-111, 116-112, and 115-113 for Cerdan. If Brizuela had won two more rounds on the cards, he would have salvaged a draw, but it was not to be. No, I’m not related to Babe Ruth, and my last name is not Foreman, Louis, Lewis, Jeter, Mantle, Alvarez, Martinez, Chavez, or Rodriguez.
My namesake did NOT win a world title, but probably I am the only one who noticed the name similarity. Given that, I guess I can like with it. And so it was.
COMMENTS
English