Crunch time for Robin Reid...
Posted: 08 Dec 2003, 18:03
FORMER WBC super-middleweight champion Robin Reid challenges Sven Ottke for his IBF and WBA super-middleweight titles this Saturday in Nuremburg, Germany.
The prolific Ottke has won all 32 of his pro fights to date, but Reid, currently on a winning run of 10 believes he has the beating of a man who has hinted at retirement after five years as 'world' champion.
"I think he is a clever fighter," said Reid when the fight was announced. "I mean he's made 19 defences (of his IBF title). From what I've seen of him he is good at what he does but he's nothing too special. And I think he's had his run.
"I just think he's ready to be beat," Reid continues. "I saw his last two fights against Mads Larsen and David Starie. Starie was beating him up until the seventh round. And Larsen I thought won the fight by at least two rounds. He's happy to just sit back and defend in Germany. But I think that I have the power and the skills to adapt and beat him because I have never really seen him under any pressure. Obviously I'll have to study him over and over, but I just think he's there for the taking."
He continues: "Although I know its gonna be a hard job, doing it in Germany because they don't give anything away over there. But I've done it before when I went to Italy (to win the WBC title), so I'm looking forward to that fight.
"When I went out to Italy nobody thought I could do it but I am telling you I did it then and I'm going to do it again on December 13. Ottke's had a great career and has been an unbelievable champion but his time is past and my time is now."
The Runcorn man travelled to Milan in 1996 as a big outsider against WBC super-middleweight champion Vincenzo Nardiello, who had won the title from the classy Sugarboy Malinga (later to beat Reid), and had also mixed it with the likes of Nigel Benn, Victor Cordoba, Fidel Castro Smith and Mauro Galvano. Reid was unbeaten, but had been held to a draw by the unheralded Ghanaian Danny Juma and his best win was probably a seventh round stoppage of Tipton's Andy Flute. It was also his first crack at any title as a pro. Still, he had a chance if he could jump on the talented but temperamental champion and bully him into surrender. Easier said than done in Italy. But Robin did just that, punishing the local hero to the body, flooring him in the fifth and twice more in the seventh, and, indeed, forcing Nardiello to call it a day before the seventh was even over.
It was a champion performance if ever there was one.
But Reid has always been a fighter who travels well, and it will help his challenge tomorrow night that two of his last three fights have come in Germany, where he stopped Uruguay's Enrique Campos in eight rounds in April and Canada's former WBO title challenger Willard Lewis in six in October, Reid's promoter Jess Harding putting in some shrewd groundwork with German-TV and Ottke's manager, Wilfried Sauerland.
Reid followed the Lewis win with a fourth round knockout of Belarussian Dimitry Adamovich three weeks later at York Hall. "Adamovich was a tough kid, but I wanted to try out a few things and one of those things was to attack the body," said Reid, clearly planning the same approach against Ottke that won him the WBC title from Nardiello. "I have never seen anyone attack Ottke to the body so I hope he does not watch this fight.
"That was ideal for me. If I'd been in with someone who came to run away all night or was totally in my face, I wouldn't have had a chance to work on what I believe could be the key to beating Sven Ottke.
"In all honesty we were treating tonight more as a chance for some top class sparring. Don't get me wrong, I treated this as I do all my fights, but it was always about preparing for Ottke."
This is the biggest fight Reid has had for some time. He enjoyed several glory nights in the late 90's, but a disappointing points loss to Italy's Silvio Branco for the WBU super-middleweight title in 2000 (Branco is now WBA light-heavyweight champion) on the Tyson-Savarese bill in Glasgow led to a promotional switch from Sports Network to Jess Harding's UK Presents, with whom he picked up the vacant WBF super-middleweight title with a first round stoppage of Mike Gormley. Reid made five somewhat humdrum BBC-televised defences of the title and is overdue another shot at the big time.
It seems a lifetime ago he picked up an excellent bronze medal in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992, but the man known as "The Grim Reaper" is still only 32. He turned pro in February 1993 and was steered to 21 wins and a draw before the leash was loosened and the likeable, charismatic Cheshire man showed steel behind the smile with that resounding stoppage of the unpredictable Nardiello for the WBC title in Italy in October 1996 (in front of an approving Marvin Hagler). It remains one of the finest title-winning displays given by a British fighter abroad.
Reid proved it was no fluke with two dazzling defences against Giovanni Pretorius (w ko 7) and Henry Wharton (w pts 12), but the rugged Hacine Cherifi took him to a split decision and the canny Sugarboy Malinga took his title on a unanimous decision in December 1997.
Robin looked to bounce back in a WBO super-middleweight title challenge to Joe Calzaghe, but Calzaghe's better boxing edged him home, though it remains arguably the Welshman's toughest ever fight. Then came the drab, losing 12-rounder with Italian spoiler Silvio Branco in Glasgow for the WBU crown, and Robin's subsequent WBF title reign means very little in truth.
Already there is talk of a Calzaghe-Reid rematch if the Brit gets past Ottke. "I want to fight him on equal terms," admits Robin. "Last time around I fought him as the challenger. I think I beat him. I think I beat him by at least two rounds. So next time I want to fight him on a level par as IBF and WBA champion. That's what I would be looking for." Calzaghe only got home on a split decision in their tough 1999 encounter in Newcastle (the judge who scored for Reid had him ahead by 116-111) which saw the challenger winging right hands right up to the final bell.
But it really will be asking a lot of Robin to produce a similar performance in Germany. Despite his recent activity (two fights in October), Reid's only other outing this year came last April. Three fights in a year against knockover opposition - on top of a long spell of undemanding defences of his WBF title, is hardly ideal preparation for a double world title challenge. Ottke has also boxed only three times this year, but 12-round wins over Byron Mitchell (for the WBA title), David Starie and Mads Larsen are a world apart from Reid's recent opponents and will have kept the champion nice and sharp - and well used to the championship distance. Rightly or wrongly, all Ottke seemingly has to do to win in Germany is stay on his feet for the full 36 minutes. The German is a master at nicking rounds courtesy of a few unspectacular counters followed by plenty of movement and spoiling. Awkward and clever, fleet-footed and strong, Sven could actually dominate this fight on Saturday if the challenger doesn't go for it as promised.
If Reid can slow him down with body shots, his physical strength and dangerous hooks could really tell in the later rounds. But Robin has never been a busy fighter in terms of workrate. I just don't think his workrate will be high enough to sway the judges in Germany. More than that, Robin can be outboxed and frustrated (think of Malinga, Branco and Calzaghe) and gets pretty spiteful in there as a result. The Germans won't stand for any of that with Ottke. Anthony Mundine had TWO points taken away for reckless headwork as early as the second round against Ottke, with no prior warning.
At the end of the day, Reid is a bit too predictable for a man of Ottke's experience. What exactly does he have that Ottke hasn't already dealt with before?
No, "The phantom", as Ottke's nicknamed, has seen it all. He can ghost his way to another 12-round decision.
The prolific Ottke has won all 32 of his pro fights to date, but Reid, currently on a winning run of 10 believes he has the beating of a man who has hinted at retirement after five years as 'world' champion.
"I think he is a clever fighter," said Reid when the fight was announced. "I mean he's made 19 defences (of his IBF title). From what I've seen of him he is good at what he does but he's nothing too special. And I think he's had his run.
"I just think he's ready to be beat," Reid continues. "I saw his last two fights against Mads Larsen and David Starie. Starie was beating him up until the seventh round. And Larsen I thought won the fight by at least two rounds. He's happy to just sit back and defend in Germany. But I think that I have the power and the skills to adapt and beat him because I have never really seen him under any pressure. Obviously I'll have to study him over and over, but I just think he's there for the taking."
He continues: "Although I know its gonna be a hard job, doing it in Germany because they don't give anything away over there. But I've done it before when I went to Italy (to win the WBC title), so I'm looking forward to that fight.
"When I went out to Italy nobody thought I could do it but I am telling you I did it then and I'm going to do it again on December 13. Ottke's had a great career and has been an unbelievable champion but his time is past and my time is now."
The Runcorn man travelled to Milan in 1996 as a big outsider against WBC super-middleweight champion Vincenzo Nardiello, who had won the title from the classy Sugarboy Malinga (later to beat Reid), and had also mixed it with the likes of Nigel Benn, Victor Cordoba, Fidel Castro Smith and Mauro Galvano. Reid was unbeaten, but had been held to a draw by the unheralded Ghanaian Danny Juma and his best win was probably a seventh round stoppage of Tipton's Andy Flute. It was also his first crack at any title as a pro. Still, he had a chance if he could jump on the talented but temperamental champion and bully him into surrender. Easier said than done in Italy. But Robin did just that, punishing the local hero to the body, flooring him in the fifth and twice more in the seventh, and, indeed, forcing Nardiello to call it a day before the seventh was even over.
It was a champion performance if ever there was one.
But Reid has always been a fighter who travels well, and it will help his challenge tomorrow night that two of his last three fights have come in Germany, where he stopped Uruguay's Enrique Campos in eight rounds in April and Canada's former WBO title challenger Willard Lewis in six in October, Reid's promoter Jess Harding putting in some shrewd groundwork with German-TV and Ottke's manager, Wilfried Sauerland.
Reid followed the Lewis win with a fourth round knockout of Belarussian Dimitry Adamovich three weeks later at York Hall. "Adamovich was a tough kid, but I wanted to try out a few things and one of those things was to attack the body," said Reid, clearly planning the same approach against Ottke that won him the WBC title from Nardiello. "I have never seen anyone attack Ottke to the body so I hope he does not watch this fight.
"That was ideal for me. If I'd been in with someone who came to run away all night or was totally in my face, I wouldn't have had a chance to work on what I believe could be the key to beating Sven Ottke.
"In all honesty we were treating tonight more as a chance for some top class sparring. Don't get me wrong, I treated this as I do all my fights, but it was always about preparing for Ottke."
This is the biggest fight Reid has had for some time. He enjoyed several glory nights in the late 90's, but a disappointing points loss to Italy's Silvio Branco for the WBU super-middleweight title in 2000 (Branco is now WBA light-heavyweight champion) on the Tyson-Savarese bill in Glasgow led to a promotional switch from Sports Network to Jess Harding's UK Presents, with whom he picked up the vacant WBF super-middleweight title with a first round stoppage of Mike Gormley. Reid made five somewhat humdrum BBC-televised defences of the title and is overdue another shot at the big time.
It seems a lifetime ago he picked up an excellent bronze medal in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992, but the man known as "The Grim Reaper" is still only 32. He turned pro in February 1993 and was steered to 21 wins and a draw before the leash was loosened and the likeable, charismatic Cheshire man showed steel behind the smile with that resounding stoppage of the unpredictable Nardiello for the WBC title in Italy in October 1996 (in front of an approving Marvin Hagler). It remains one of the finest title-winning displays given by a British fighter abroad.
Reid proved it was no fluke with two dazzling defences against Giovanni Pretorius (w ko 7) and Henry Wharton (w pts 12), but the rugged Hacine Cherifi took him to a split decision and the canny Sugarboy Malinga took his title on a unanimous decision in December 1997.
Robin looked to bounce back in a WBO super-middleweight title challenge to Joe Calzaghe, but Calzaghe's better boxing edged him home, though it remains arguably the Welshman's toughest ever fight. Then came the drab, losing 12-rounder with Italian spoiler Silvio Branco in Glasgow for the WBU crown, and Robin's subsequent WBF title reign means very little in truth.
Already there is talk of a Calzaghe-Reid rematch if the Brit gets past Ottke. "I want to fight him on equal terms," admits Robin. "Last time around I fought him as the challenger. I think I beat him. I think I beat him by at least two rounds. So next time I want to fight him on a level par as IBF and WBA champion. That's what I would be looking for." Calzaghe only got home on a split decision in their tough 1999 encounter in Newcastle (the judge who scored for Reid had him ahead by 116-111) which saw the challenger winging right hands right up to the final bell.
But it really will be asking a lot of Robin to produce a similar performance in Germany. Despite his recent activity (two fights in October), Reid's only other outing this year came last April. Three fights in a year against knockover opposition - on top of a long spell of undemanding defences of his WBF title, is hardly ideal preparation for a double world title challenge. Ottke has also boxed only three times this year, but 12-round wins over Byron Mitchell (for the WBA title), David Starie and Mads Larsen are a world apart from Reid's recent opponents and will have kept the champion nice and sharp - and well used to the championship distance. Rightly or wrongly, all Ottke seemingly has to do to win in Germany is stay on his feet for the full 36 minutes. The German is a master at nicking rounds courtesy of a few unspectacular counters followed by plenty of movement and spoiling. Awkward and clever, fleet-footed and strong, Sven could actually dominate this fight on Saturday if the challenger doesn't go for it as promised.
If Reid can slow him down with body shots, his physical strength and dangerous hooks could really tell in the later rounds. But Robin has never been a busy fighter in terms of workrate. I just don't think his workrate will be high enough to sway the judges in Germany. More than that, Robin can be outboxed and frustrated (think of Malinga, Branco and Calzaghe) and gets pretty spiteful in there as a result. The Germans won't stand for any of that with Ottke. Anthony Mundine had TWO points taken away for reckless headwork as early as the second round against Ottke, with no prior warning.
At the end of the day, Reid is a bit too predictable for a man of Ottke's experience. What exactly does he have that Ottke hasn't already dealt with before?
No, "The phantom", as Ottke's nicknamed, has seen it all. He can ghost his way to another 12-round decision.