|
"The Big Truck" Tries to Break into The Big Time
 By Thomas Gerbasi
(August 20, 2004)
 Send this page to friend Give us your feedback
 On October 2, WBC cruiserweight champion Wayne Braithwaite will attempt to unify his title against WBA champ Jean Marc-Mormeck in Madison Square Garden as part of the Felix Trinidad-Ricardo Mayorga pay-per-view show in New York City. Should be a big deal, eh? Well, unfortunately, in a world that gives more column inches to men’s gymnastics than to the sweet science, this intriguing bout gets pushed to the side in favor of more trivial pursuits.
Joel Rivera is Braithwaite’s PR agent, a job that by mere description describes an uphill climb. See, Braithwaite is champion of a division long disrespected even in a disrespected sport, and as a soft-spoken Guyanese immigrant, he gets lost in the media shuffle of outspoken champions like Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver.
But oh, how his fists speak volumes.
"What more can you ask a cruiserweight to do?" asks Rivera. "Wayne’s 21-0 with 17 knockouts. He’s a champion, this is a championship fight coming up, WBA vs WBC, and you would think that a lot more attention would be given to it. A lot of people say that the cruiserweight division isn’t exciting, as far as I’m concerned, Wayne is the most exciting fighter since Mike Tyson. Boxing fans come to see knockouts, and that’s what Wayne has been delivering."
>
He’s not Tyson, but as far as delivering within the ropes, Braithwaite is unaccustomed to being in a bad fight. Even in his last bout, which may have been his most lackluster in terms of sustained action due to a hand injury suffered during the early rounds, "The Big Truck" easily outboxed previous KO victim Louis Azille over 12 rounds, and woke up a sleepy Garden crowd in the early rounds with fierce power shots and an aggressive attack.
Braithwaite was unsatisfied with his performance.
"People are going to see a better fight from me than the last time against Azille," he said. "This will be a far different fight from the last time."
>
Against Mormeck (30-2, 21 KOs), who is best known for two victories over Virgil Hill, Braithwaite will be facing a hard-nosed straight ahead fighter who is making only his second stateside appearance.
"Mormeck is a very strong fighter but I don’t think he uses his head a lot," said Braithwaite, 29. "I think he has the right style for me, so I’m not worried. Mormeck will be more worried about me than I’m worried about him."
And even though Mormeck has shown a tendency to get outboxed (the slick boxing Hill lost a razor-close decision in their rematch, and Alexander Gurov was ahead on two scorecards before being stopped in March of 2003), Braithwaite, who has underrated and underused boxing skills, is not turning into Pernell Whitaker on October 2.
>
"I’m not going to box him," said Braithwaite. "I’m going to knock him out."
With a victory this Fall, Braithwaite’s stock will rise in the boxing world, but as far as mainstream exposure goes, don’t expect miracles, despite the fact that the native of Georgetown has the type of human interest story that makes you want to investigate further.
"He came from Guyana, he’s had to struggle with a language barrier, a cultural barrier, and he hasn’t let anything stand in his way," said Rivera. "Not only does he represent all of Guyana, but he represents his local block, his family, and he’s really down to earth. It’s really the American Dream of coming here with nothing and making his way up to hopefully one day becoming a multimillionaire and a household name."
Braithwaite, who says the thing he misses the most about Guyana is the food, is a legitimate star back home; not a "let’s go on SportsCenter" type of star, but a "let’s go on Oprah" star. When the President meets you at the airport and you’re one of a handful of boxers from your country to EVER win a world title, that’s special.
>
"People love me there," Braithwaite admits. "They treat me real good; they treat me with a lot of respect and they’re happy to see me."
So it has to be a bit of a shock to come back to his adopted home in Brooklyn and go from being a rock star to just another hopeful in a crowded city. Braithwaite says he’s motivated "just being myself", and while he admits to being recognized on the streets here and there, he knows that duplicating his stardom in the States will be a process that has to begin in the ring.
"My main goal right now is to unify all the belts," said Braithwaite. "I want to dominate the cruiserweight division."
>
For Rivera, his job is getting people to know who Wayne Braithwaite is, and to put aside their pre-conceived notions of what a cruiserweight champion is "supposed" to be. Remember, Evander Holyfield was a cruiserweight champion once.
"Some of the difficulties definitely have to do with the cruiserweight division," admits Rivera. "But it also has to do with the fact that boxing is about a few players that have big names. Who was (Antonio) Tarver six months ago? Who was Winky Wright? They were excellent boxers, and you and I knew who they were, but the average American at home didn’t. Now they’re household names. So I think it’s really all about having that one big fight. We’re definitely looking for that fight once Wayne unifies the cruiserweight division."
A win over Mormeck will ensure a further unification clash against newly crowned IBF boss Kelvin Davis, another Don King promoted cruiser, and if you’re any kind of boxing fan, you know that the fireworks in this one could light up the New York skyline. But that’s still not the mainstream type of bout Braithwaite could use to lift his profile. That bout awaits a few pounds upstream.
"I’m thinking about moving up to heavyweight," said Braithwaite. "After I unify the belts, I will think about taking a heavyweight fight to see how I feel. If I feel good at heavyweight I’ll stay there; if I don’t feel good I’ll come back to cruiserweight."
And maybe, just maybe, Wayne Braithwaite could be the fighter who can give the cruiserweight division respect. If so, he’s ready for his close up.
>
"It would be good," he deadpans. "I can deal with the fame."
Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums
E-Mail Thomas Gerbasi at tgerbasi@mindspring.com
|
