Stewart pushes for new weight class

Stewart pushes for new weight class
By Bernard Fernandez
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
PHILADELPHIA -- If all the heavyweight champions of the past were brought back in their primes today, even such legendary figures as Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano would have trouble competing with the jumbo-sized fighters who now dominate the division.
At the very least, they would have their hands full against Lennox Lewis, who is big AND good.
"When you have someone like Lennox, who's 6-5, 250-plus pounds and as athletically gifted as he is, that would be too much for the smaller guys to handle," Lewis' longtime trainer, Emanuel Steward, replied when asked how his man might fare against the 6-0 3/4, 185-pound Dempsey and 5-10 1/4, 185-pound Marciano.
Perhaps that is why Steward favors a weight class somewhere between cruiserweight (which was introduced in 1980) and heavyweight, not unlike what is in place in the amateurs.
"I would strongly support the idea of a 'small' heavyweight division with maybe a cutoff at 220 pounds," Steward said at Caesars Brookdale in Scotrun, Pa., where he is prepping Lewis (40-2-1, 31 KOs) for a June 21 defense of his WBC, IBO and linear championships against a fellow biggie, 6-7, 245-pound Vitali Klitschko (32-1, 31 KOs), at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. That bout was announced Monday after Lewis' original opponent, 6-2 1/2, 243-pound Kirk Johnson (34-1-1, 25 KOs), had to withdraw after tearing a chest muscle in training last week.
"It has to happen," Steward said of the addition of yet another intermediate weight class. "A good big man always is going to beat a good little man."
But didn't light-heavyweight king Roy Jones Jr., a relative sprite at 5-11 and 193, shock the world by wresting the WBA heavyweight title from 6-2, 226-pound John Ruiz?
"Doesn't count," Steward said. "Jones is a terrific fighter and, well, Ruiz wasn't really that good."
Now that Jones is the WBA heavyweight champ, however, Steward anticipates he eventually will be paired against Lewis in a matchup that suggests, at least physically, a point guard trying to post up a power forward.
"I think very realistically that fight is going to happen, even though it'd be crazy for Roy," Steward said. "With Roy Jones' ego, he has gotten intoxicated with being called the heavyweight champion of the world. He's loving it."
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SHORT SUBJECTS
Heavyweight novelty act Eric "Butterbean" Esch might be King of the Four-Rounders, but veteran matchmaker Don Elbaum's latest brainstorm could lead to the crowning of five princes at the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia.
The first round of the inaugural Bob Connelly Memorial Blue Horizon Championships is Friday, with 10 four-round bouts in five weight classes on tap. Participants in the tournament-format field, who will be vying for larger-than-usual purses for fledgling pros, must not have had more than five professional bouts or more than one six-rounder.
First-round winners receive $1,000 and losers $750, with an additional $500 apiece going to the participants in the night's best bout, as determined by a vote of the media. Winners advance to the finals Aug. 15, with payouts increasing to $2,000 for winners and $1,000 for losers. The best-bout guys also snag another $1,000 apiece.
Bob Connelly, Elbaum's longtime associate, passed away in December at age 75.
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SILVER STREAK
Friends of Larry Holmes threw a party for him Sunday in Easton, Pa., to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his winning the heavyweight championship. In one of the great heavyweight bouts of all time, Holmes, then 28, outwilled and outhustled WBC titlist Ken Norton in the 15th round to win a rousing split decision in Las Vegas on June 9, 1978.
For many, the most compelling memory of Holmes' 7 1/2-year reign is his 13th-round stoppage of Gerry Cooney in 1982. For others, it is his domination of a faded Muhammad Ali in 1980, or his getting off the canvas to stop power-punching Earnie Shavers in 1979. Some might cite his controversial loss to Michael Spinks in 1985 when Holmes was on the verge of tying Rocky Marciano's record of 49 straight victories without a defeat, or his controversial comments about Marciano (which he now says he regrets making) not being able to carry his jockstrap.
Holmes, 53, rates his war with Norton, and especially the 15th round, No. 1 on his personal list of special moments.
"Watching the Norton fight (on tape) still gives me chills," Holmes said. "That was the highlight of my boxing career.
"Everybody said my legs were too skinny, I couldn't punch, I was just trying to copy Muhammad Ali. Not many gave me a chance to beat Norton, who was the guy who broke Ali's jaw. I know I had to have been tired in that 15th round, but I didn't realize it because I was so focused on winning."
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