Double Shocker! 48-0 Chris John and 48-0 Paul Spadafora Are Both Beaten in Title Bouts
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Ever hear of the Marciano curse? Rocky died in 1969, and 44 years later, ‘The Rock’ continues to be an extraordinarily tough act to follow. The Brockton Blockbuster was beaten three times as an amateur, but was never beaten as a professional. Whetheri t was accomplished by skill, luck, hard work, or a combination of factor’s, Marciano’s professional boxing achievement and accomplishment-his 49-0 record-has withstood the test of time.
Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record is a tough act to follow, which the likes of Bert Sugar, Bill Clancy and Emanuel Steward all knew. Larry Holmes reached 48-0 and then lost. Brian Nielsen reached 49-0 and then lost. Chris John reached 48-0-3 and then lost. Paul Spadafora reached 48-0-1 and then lost.
John, now 34 years old, 48-1-3 with 22 knockouts, Jakarta, Indonesia, had held onto the World Boxing Association World Featherweight title since winning it by split decision over Oscar Leon in July 2003, stretching through 18 world title bouts. Yet on Friday, December 8, 2013, John took a huge beating from South Africa’s Simpiwe Vetyeka, the international Boxing Organization World Featherweight champion. John went down in the fifth round and twice in the sixth round. Only the second time he went down in round six was scored as a knockdown, a brutal straight right to the head that practically mangled what was left of John after he had been beaten senseless for all six rounds. Vetyeka, age 32, now 26-2, 16 knockouts, Eastern Cape, South Africa, got robbed of a 12 round decision for the WBC World Bantamweight title in Tokyo, Japan in 2007 again Hozumi Hasegawa.
Southpaw Spadafora, age 38, now 48-1-1, 19 knockouts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, fought in eight consecutive International Boxing Federation Lightweight title bouts between 1999 and 2003, but then went up in weight and had to wait ten years for his next title bout, lost last week to a sharper and faster Johann Perez, age 30, now 18-1-1. 12 knockouts, Caracas, Venezuela by majority decision in 12 rounds. Perez scored after the fourth round on a slower Spadafora consistently to clearly in most rounds from that point on. By the scorecards, Spadafora would have had to win one more round on the scorecards of Glenn Feldman and James Tiu to earn a majority draw. Spadafora had to wait a decade to get at a world title again.
In the case of Chris John and Paul Spadafora, a combined record of 96-0-4 was no match for younger and faster opponents who backed then up, scored consistently at will, and who were able to defeat phenomenal odds to score key victories.
Among possible upsets experts will be looking for in upcoming bouts: the Joseph Awinongya trained and very underestimated Osumanu Adama of Ghana will make his second challenge for a share of the world middleweight title against 28-0 Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan; Poland’s Patrick Majewski will fight a crossroads middleweight bout against contender Curtis Stevens, who is coming off a recent title loss to Golovkin; Marcos Rene Maldana of Argentina will attempt to wrest the WBA World Welterweight title from 21-0 Adrien Broner of Ohio; Canadian’s Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute will battle for the NABF Light Heavyweight title; Abner Mares will fight a rematch with fellow Mexican Jhonny Gonzalez for the WBC World Featherweight title; 21-0 Keith Thurman of Florida battles WBA Interim World Welterweight titleholder Jesus Soto Karass of Mexico; college graduate 14-0 Lamar Russ of North Carolina battles three time title challenger Matthew Macklin of Birmingham, United Kingdom; southpaw James ‘Mandingo Warrior’ Kirkland battles 21-0 light middleweight Glen Tapia of Passaic, New Jersey; Erislandy Lara of Cuba battles Austin Trout of New Mexico for the Vacant WBA World Light Middleweight title; Brooklynites Paulie ‘Magic Man’ Malignaggi battles Zab Judah for the vacant NABF Welterweight title; 26-0 Anthony Dirrell of Michigan battles Sakio Bika of Australia for the WBC World Super Middleweight title; Devon Alexander of Missouri battles 22-0-1 Shawn Porter of Ohio for the IBF World Welterweight title; Joseph Agbeko of Ghana battles 12-0 Guillermo Rigondeaux of Cuba for the WBA and WBO World Super Bantamweight titles; Glen ‘Road Warrior’ Johnson of Florida and Bobby Gunn of New Jersey will fight a cruiserweight war; and 19-0 heavyweight Amir Mansour of Delaware battles Florida’s Kelvin Price; and many more.
Give the recent losses by the seemingly indestructible Spadafora and John, looking inside the above matchups, by the law of averages upsets are going to occur. The facts may not favor beaten fighters against unbeaten ones, but Spadafora and John both prove even unbeaten records can be exposed by better fighters.
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