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 Can Kali Meehan Pull a Lamon Brewster?
By David A. Avila (August 25, 2004)
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Sitting quietly on a chair, immaculately dressed with dark clothes and a light-colored shirt and freshly shined black boots tapping ever so slightly, Kali Meehan listens to the boastful words of his opponent's supporters at a press conference in Beverly Hills.
Still he continues to tap on the dais not murmuring a word.
Then someone loudly claims that anyone who has not sacrificed like his opponent Lamon Brewster can't possibly win let alone deserve an opportunity to fight for the title. That's when the New Zealander jumped in.
"I've sacrificed," said Meehan (29-1, 23 KOs), staring dead into his attacker's eyes with emotion dripping from his words. "Maybe not the same as Lamon, but I've sacrificed."
It was not long ago that Brewster (30-2, 27 KOs) stood in front of a similar press conference to announce his fight for the title with Wladimir Klitschko. With tearful sincerity brought on by pent up emotions Brewster declared he would win. And he did.
Now Meehan, 34, emanates the same overt emotions as the two are collision bound for the WBO heavyweight title on September 4, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The bout will be televised on Showtime.
Meehan's story reads vaguely similar to Brewster. Long ago the New Zealand native roamed the streets looking for trouble, ready to show his toughness to anyone who dared.
But, one day, an older man named Latu Raeli guided him into a boxing gym. From that day on boxing was branded into his heart. From then on Meehan became a gym rat as he tried to learn what he could to become a professional boxer.
Realizing he needed to find decent sparring, the 6-5 heavyweight moved to Australia in pursuit of the title shot and has been seeking perfection with a maddened hunger and ultimately the world title.
It hasn't been easy.
Most of his fights have taken place in Australia or New Zealand where he captured the IBF Pan Pacific heavyweight title. The three times he's fought somewhere other than an island on the Pacific Ocean he's met problems. Three years ago he met Mike Tyson conqueror Danny Williams in London and suffered a first round loss.
"I was so relaxed and calm in there and he threw a big right hand and I went down," explained Meehan during a telephone press conference yesterday. "I tried to survive and attack him and he caught me again. I thought to myself, this is not the way it's supposed to go."
Meehan returned to jeers from Australian fight fans who muttered the words that break a fighter's heart: he has a glass jaw.
"I know I don't," Meehan says emphatically. "He (Williams) was the better fighter that night."
Just last April 10, on the Brewster-Klitschko under card, Meehan fought American veteran Damon Reed at the Mandalay Bay. For four rounds Meehan tried to figure out the perplexing style of his opponent who danced, wrestled and dipped under each charge. But one punch turned the fight and suddenly the laughing Reed had a look of a thief caught with his hands full. Five times Reed hit the canvas until the referee stopped the fight.
Through it all, Meehan showed in his Las Vegas debut what he does best: stalk and attack as patient as a leopard on the hunt.
"Once you get in the ring it (being an underdog) means nothing," said Meehan whose lineage derives from Fiji Island. "Fighting for a world title is a dream come true."
To make that dream come true Meehan traveled to America where he could find sparring that would teach him what his professional fights could not. His last sparring assignment was against the same man he is set to fight, Brewster.
Brewster remembers full well what he will face.
"I have personal experience against this guy and I have to be at my absolutely best," said Brewster defending his title for the first time.
Standing straight up, Meehan glances around the room as if taking in the whole Beverly Hills atmosphere. It's a surreal setting with fancy dining tables, television cameras, banners and glitzy $70,000 cars waiting to be parked.
"This is a dream come true," said Meehan. "When I was a little boy in New Zealand we used to see boxing on TV. To fight in America is something to dream of."
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