What Latimore, 20-2 (16), did was very simple; he just suffocated Powell, 25-2 (15), with a barrage of punches throughout the fight. The offensive-minded Latimore never stopped hurling leather in Powell’s direction.
"I put a lot of pressure on him. I really didn’t give him time to set up and I stuck to my game plan," said Latimore. So will the same theory apply on Friday night? "Yup, come forward, go forward; never take a step back."
At one time, Latimore was one of the most active young fighters in the sport, having begun his career in 2006 with 11 outings, followed by eight more the following year. But the win over Powell, which earned him a shot at the vacant IBF junior middleweight title, halted his activity. Since that victory, Latimore has performed just twice.
"That was the most difficult part," said Steve Smith of Rumble Time Promotions, which handles Latimore’s career. "After we did that, we had to do our part with the IBF, to get ourselves in position to fight Cory Spinks. Because of the IBF rules, we couldn’t take a fight if we were the highest rated fighter. We had to actually cancel two fights because we were the highest rated contender and we were waiting for Cory to fight us."
Eventually, last April, he faced Spinks for that title in a showdown in “The Loo.” After scoring a first-round knockdown, Latimore seemed to go headhunting and was out-hustled by the more seasoned “Next Generation.” "I should’ve slowed it down and just took my time," Latimore admits."Used my head more, I was a little anxious, I dropped him and, hey, it happened. But next time, we’ll just capitalize on that."
The winner of Latimore-Powell II is mandated to get the winner of Spinks-Cornelius Bundrage, which was supposed to be featured on next week’s edition of “Friday Night Fights” before the Treasure Island card in Las Vegas imploded. Smith would love another crack at Spinks, who he believes was better equipped to be fighting such a big bout at home. He explained, "What happened was the St. Louis crowd was there and everybody was shocked because we built this kid; I built this kid in St. Louis, so he had a lot of fans. He was a local kid that was real good as an amateur. When he knocked Cory down, the fans went crazy; he got caught up in it and he realized he could just hit him with one shot and I think what happened was, he didn’t catch him again. He [Spinks] was a veteran guy and he did enough to win the fight. Well, that’s what the judges say."
And Smith is completely unbiased in his assessment of the judges, right?
"Exactly," he answered, with a big laugh.
Latimore is currently trained by Jose Ponce, after a short spell with Jack Loew, best known as the trainer of world middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik. And before that, a move out to Las Vegas to be taught by Kenny Adams. It’s as if he’s going through trainers faster than Daniel Snyder goes through head coaches with the Washington Redskins. Is there a lack of stability there?
"It’s not a lack of stability; his family is back here. He has kids from a prior relationship [and] that’s why he’s back in St. Louis and he went to court and is just involved in his kids’ life, that’s all," explained Smith. When he migrated out west, a couple of years ago, it was said that he needed to get out of St. Louis and its temptations. Is he better equipped now to handle that environment? "Absolutely, he’s grown up, obviously. He was just a young kid, just 20, 21 years old. He’s gotten married since then. It’s a little different lifestyle," said Smith. "He was living where he grew up in the Peabody Projects. He made enough money and he’s living in a very nice area called St. Peters, Missouri and it’s a nice area. So it’s a totally different atmosphere."
Latimore says, "I’m much smarter now and I know what I need to do to get to where I gotta go."
Another win over Powell gets him closer to that place. The goal is to prove that the first victory was no fluke.
"It was absolutely no fluke," Smith stated without hesitation. "Deandre, right now, is in the best shape- mentally, physically- that I’ve ever seen him. He had a lot of distractions- and I’m not making excuses for the kid- but he had a lot of distractions going on personally when he was fighting Cory for the title. So this fight, he’s back home with his family and wife and he’s just in the right mindset and he’s out to prove that he really is the fighter that he was that night he beat Sechew."
MARCH 17TH, 1990
I was reminded of this by a reader named Benjamin Castro that March 17th (Wednesday) was the 20th anniversary of the classic first bout between Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor. I think that this historic battle is overshadowed by the Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson bout that had taken place about a month before, in Japan. But it’s certainly one of the more memorable moments of my high school days.
I can vividly recall that evening; it was my senior year at Montebello High and Chavez was a boxer that was beloved in that community (which is largely Mexican/Latin/Hispanic) but I was a Taylor fan, having watched him the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and I loved his flashy, quick, fan-friendly style. It was the classic confrontation of speed versus strength and the fight more than exceeded the build-up.
To this day, it’s still one of the most exciting and controversial endings you will ever see. And the conclusion of that bout will be debated forever. Was Richard Steele wrong to stop that fight when he did (My opinion is, absolutely, he was)? Was that the last of the “great” Chavez we ever witnessed (Perhaps)? And just how badly did that punishing battle affect Taylor, not only physically, but psychologically (No doubt)?
I can remember being absolutely bummed as I went out later that night. One of my favorite fighters had come oh-so-excruciatingly-close to handing a great fighter his first professional loss. That loss is debated by my friends, even now. I recall going to baseball practice that next Monday and arguing about it with one of our coaches, Rich Montez, who was a huge Chavez guy. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get much accomplished that day, in the way of baseball.
But, yeah, it’s been 20 years.
TESTY SITUATION
Golden Boy Promotions has announced a Thursday conference call to outline the drug-testing procedures for the May 1st battle between Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley. Participating on this call will be Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and Mayweather advisor, Leonard “Smithers-be” and the CEO of USADA, Travis Tygart.
Here’s the thing, I love the concept of this, but why Tygart? This guy has milked this whole issue for all its worth in the recent months, but the bottom line is very simple- that organization isn’t all that effective in catching cheats.
Isn’t this like getting the police chief of Detroit and making him the national crime czar?
HDC
I was informed that there is a very good chance that the May 8th clash between Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron could take place at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. I hope it does; that is my favorite venue in Southern California, and has hosted some memorable nights.
The sight lines are great inside the tennis stadium and it provides an intimate atmosphere without a bad seat in the house. And afterward, there are plenty of establishments to hang out at in the adjacent area.
To me, this place is the modern-day, outdoor version of the Grand Olympic Auditorium.
SPRING FLURRIES
The official presser for Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez IV takes place on Thursday afternoon, so look for tickets to go on sale soon afterward...By the way, they are dubbing this fight, “Once and Four All.” It’s clever; I like it...Eric Lucas takes on Librado Andrade on May 28th in Quebec City at the Pepsi Coliseum...Was told that Tim Bradley’s HBO debut will take place on June 19th, not the 26th as previously reported. The Agua Caliente Resort in Rancho Mirage, California, is the front-runner to land his fight versus Luis Abregu...Another reader, “T,” points out to me that not only did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar star in “Airplane” but he was also in “Game of Death” with Bruce Lee. And y’ know what? Kareem was not only the effective aggressor, early on, he took some early rounds from “The Dragon” before being vanquished. Let’s see “Shaq-Fu” do that...Hearing that discussions have begun, in regard to a rematch between Nonito Donaire and Vic Darchinyan, between Top Rank and Gary Shaw. Let’s hope this gets done...Any questions or comments can be directed to me at k9kim@yahoo.com. You can also follow me at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. And we have a new Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing
