BoxRec

stujones wrote:He might be the only fighter who might be able to beat Hopkins. Hope he comes back well.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Depends on the after effects of the injury. He was a very good fighter in his prime, but he'll have been out 3 years and god knows what kind of shape he's in now. He sounds like a right mad bastard as well.

stujones wrote:He might be the only fighter who might be able to beat Hopkins. Hope he comes back well.

knockout wrote:Simon was better than most of those guys at LM, him and Winky was very close... but time has shown that Winky his a step ahead of De La Hoya and MOsley et al.

I have met Simon on several occasions and he comes across as a really nice guy, but ANYONE i speak to from Namibia says he is a real ass hole..... I guess over there he is a big fish in a small pond and behaves differently... like he is untouchable

stujones wrote:

knockout wrote:Simon was better than most of those guys at LM, him and Winky was very close... but time has shown that Winky his a step ahead of De La Hoya and MOsley et al.

I have met Simon on several occasions and he comes across as a really nice guy, but ANYONE i speak to from Namibia says he is a real ass hole..... I guess over there he is a big fish in a small pond and behaves differently... like he is untouchable

Not sure if Winky is a step ahead of DLH, I think styles makes fights and I think DLH has the style to beat Winky. I think DLH beat Moseley more convincingly (on my card) than Winky did in the rematch.

Although, he didn't make an excuses I truly believe that Winky wasn't at 100% the night he faced Simon. I don't know, something was missing. I didn't think the fight was overly close, I thought Simon won by 3 rounds. Although, the MC originally announced Winky as the winner and the steward had to come in to Wrights dressing room and say about the scoring mistake (christ, I wouldn't have like to have been in his position).

Even with my theory of Winky not being at 100%, I still don't know if he would have ever beaten Simon - who was a damn excellent fighter (with a great workrate).

jamesmcdonnell wrote:
I also think Winky was cruising through quite a bit of his rematch with Mosley. I think Winky beats DLh though.

Zhuge wrote:There's not many challenges out there at the moment for Hopkins, so if Simon could get back early next year and have a few tune-ups, he'd be a legitimate contendor for the title. Eastman is about to get his shot (and I don't think he'll win) and after him, there's not much. Sam Soliman and Felix Sturm deserve shots I suppose, but Jermain Taylor is far from ready; Kinsley Ikeke probably needs a few more fights; Macelino Masoe is about as old as Hopkins and David Lopez needs some matches against top 10 middleweights to prove he's no fluke.

Friday, March 12, 2004 - Web posted at 7:36:25 GMT

Harry Simon caught up in another fracas

MAGGI BARNARD at SWAKOPMUND
FORMER world champion boxer Harry Simon and a man who owns a security business at Swakopmund have pressed charges against each other following an alleged fight in a night club recently.




Police at Swakopmund confirmed on Wednesday that Simon had charged William Basson with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and malicious damage to property.

Basson in turn charged Simon with common assault and malicious damage to property.

The incident is said to have taken place on February 28 at Club Oxygen at Swakopmund's Tamariskia suburb.

An investigating officer said the two men had not yet been charged, but said this would probably take place this week.

The investigating officer explained that the delay in charging the two was as a result of Simon's request to first consult with Basson.

Simon told The Namibian that he had no intention of withdrawing charges.

"I want to go to court with this.

This negative story in the newspaper charges that I have been moered (severely beaten), so the truth has to come out."

The two men related different versions of what happened.

Basson told The Namibian he had had an encounter with Simon a week earlier.

At the time he was acting as bodyguard for rap artist and 'Flight of the Phoenix' actor Sticky Fingaz.

"After the concert Sticky and Tyrese gave at Swakopmund, we went to the Bohemia club where Sticky introduced me to Simon."

Sticky Fingaz and Simon had apparently met in the US before, where they partied together.

According to Basson, he and Simon started arguing when the boxer insulted the Namibian Police.

"Simon's bodyguards asked me to hold back, and we made peace," said Basson.

He said the next time he saw Simon was at Club Oxygen at a farewell party for a Police officer.

He walked into the private bar where Simon was with his girlfriend and Sticky Fingaz.

"I saw Simon dancing in front of a Police officer as if he was in the boxing ring.

The next moment I saw the officer lying on the floor.

I rushed over with my drink in my hand to stop him from kicking the officer."

Basson said he hit Simon in the face with a glass.

According to him Simon, retaliated by grabbing his T-shirt and trying to suffocate him.

The two were restrained by bystanders.

Basson charged Simon with malicious damage to property for the T-shirt, which he allegedly tore.

"The t-shirt was given to me by Sticky with signatures of Sticky, Tyrese, Dennis Quaid and the producer of the movie."

Simon insisted that the two did not fight, but just quarrelled.

"He was insulting my mother and I started walking towards him to ask him to stop it.

A man came from behind and hit me with a glass on my head above my ear," he said.

Simon said that although he felt like fighting, especially when he saw he was bleeding, he was held back by people who had accompanied him to the club.

"I never hit Basson," he claimed.

But Basson claimed his jaw was still hurting from where Simon had punched him.

The boxer further charged that he immediately went to the Police station to press charges, but was not allowed to by a female officer on duty.

"I don't know what she had against me."

According to the investigating officer, charges are not accepted if the person laying them is believed not to be sober.

007 wrote:

Zhuge wrote:There's not many challenges out there at the moment for Hopkins, so if Simon could get back early next year and have a few tune-ups, he'd be a legitimate contendor for the title. Eastman is about to get his shot (and I don't think he'll win) and after him, there's not much. Sam Soliman and Felix Sturm deserve shots I suppose, but Jermain Taylor is far from ready; Kinsley Ikeke probably needs a few more fights; Macelino Masoe is about as old as Hopkins and David Lopez needs some matches against top 10 middleweights to prove he's no fluke.

Good post but what top 10 middleweights has Eastman beaten? Likewise Sturm....

Zhuge wrote:

007 wrote:

Zhuge wrote:There's not many challenges out there at the moment for Hopkins, so if Simon could get back early next year and have a few tune-ups, he'd be a legitimate contendor for the title. Eastman is about to get his shot (and I don't think he'll win) and after him, there's not much. Sam Soliman and Felix Sturm deserve shots I suppose, but Jermain Taylor is far from ready; Kinsley Ikeke probably needs a few more fights; Macelino Masoe is about as old as Hopkins and David Lopez needs some matches against top 10 middleweights to prove he's no fluke.

Good post but what top 10 middleweights has Eastman beaten? Likewise Sturm....

With regard to Sturm, he was somewhat jobbed out of his WBO belt even though he probably should've gotten the nod over DLH. Had he won, however, the Hopkins-DLH clash wouldn't have happened. Based on what looked to be a bad decision, I'd say Sturm should get a shot. He's not really done any more than the other guys I mention, but he should get credit for his performance against DLH -- although, admittedly, that was against a welterweight.

Eastman is arguably undefeated in his career (the Joppy loss was questionable), and while he hasn't fought the best competition either, he at least owns victories over Sam Soliman, Jerry Elliot, and Sergey Tatevosian. In all, that's not much, but compare it to the other guys I mention:

-Taylor has faced only two true middleweights
-Lopez's major wins are over a faded Lonnie Bradley, a journeyman in Fernando Zuniga, and an unproven prospect in Jerson Ravelo
-Soliman has a good record and some solid wins, but he has lost to Eastman and his best win at 160 may be against a 34 year old Raymond Joval
-Masoe has some decent wins against Lopez and Sam Hill earlier, but in the last 4 years, the only decent fighter he's faced is the unproven Ashira
-Ikeke's last 4 wins are all solid, but I don't think they are as solid as Eastman's last 4 (and that's just personal opinion).

So overall, I'm tabbing Eastman and Sturm based upon their recent activity as well as their recent records as compared to the other guys I'm listing as legitimate contendors at 160.