Those
Aren't Raindrops Falling On Rainman
Ray Austin's Head
By TROY
ONDRIZEK - Staff Writer
FightNightNews
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In the
back-asswards world of the
heavyweight division that makes the
Twilight Zone look more like
Mayberry, there is one constant that
every fight fan should expect, that
Ray Austin will always get lost in
the alphabet shuffle.
I know the last sentence was
somewhat confusing but so is the
fact that no matter what he does Ray
Austin can't get a championship
break. In the land of the
heavyweights, alphabet eliminators
reign supreme amongst the televised
heavyweight fights. |
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We just
watched Samuel Peter sneak out a
controversial victory over James
Toney for a WBC eliminator three
weeks ago. The WBC had an eliminator
in November of last year between
current champ Oleg Maskaev and
Turkish heavyweight Sinan Samil Sam.
This time last year we saw Wladimir
Klitschko defeat the previously
mentioned Peter in an IBF
eliminator; before that we saw Hasim
Rahman come into the title picture
by blowing out Kali Meehan.
I could go on and on, but the point
is that the winner of all these
little eliminator bouts went on to
fight for the titles. Well, all the
winners except for Austin, who is
the king of hard-luck draws and
sheer indifference by promoters.
Austin is a notorious street-fighter
turned pugilist from the hard luck
city of Cleveland Ohio. His career
started with a loss to relative
unknown Charles Hatcher; afterwards
Austin started putting together some
wins, including victories over the
likes of hard-headed and
heavy-fisted Cisse Salif and
perennial punching bag, but not at
the time, Ron Guerrero. Austin would
go on to lose during a ThunderBox
tournament and would soon follow
that up with a big loss to Swedish
heavyweight Atilla Levin.
Detractors of Austin's still point
to the Levin loss as a reason he is
not championship material, but at
the time Levin was a very
accomplished amateur that was being
touted as part of the bright future
of the division. He was being
trained by the immortal Angelo
Dundee. Austin capitalized on that
loss with his first of four career
draws when he stood equal with Lance
Whitaker in a fight that Whitaker
was supposed to walk away with.
Austin needed to regroup and the
best way for him was to fight. He
fought the immensely feather-fisted
Zuri Lawrence, who couldn't lay out
my grandmother even if he
sucker-punched her. Austin walked
threw whatever Lawrence had to
offer, but forgot to punch back and
he earned yet another draw.
Austin for the next two years would
take the easy route to winning, and
after a scant five wins he found
himself in the ring with another
light puncher in Larry Donald.
Donald was coming off his career
defining victory over ancient
Evander Holyfield. Donald was
looking to use Austin as a
springboard to a title shot with the
name that shall never be spoken
after this moment, John Ruiz.
Well, once again in the role as
underdog, Austin came out and
brought the fight to Donald. Larry
being the much more skilled fighter
kept Austin from stopping him and
was able to steal rounds, but in the
end Austin heard the familiar
declaration of a draw, number three
in the career of Austin and almost
every notable fight of his up to
that point had ended up a
disappointment. Instead of trying to
take time off and come back at his
career at a different angle, Austin
took on Owen Beck in an eliminator
for the IBF number two spot. Ffor
once Austin won a meaningful bout by
pulling out a split decision over
Beck. With that well earned victory
Ray Austin got a fight with Jeremy
“The Insurance Man” Bates and Beck
was given a title fight with Nikolai
Valuev. Yeah, that seems fair.
Austin used Bates as a way to keep
the rust off and to keep sharp
because, as with most Don King
promoted fighters who don't
currently hold a title, Austin was
put on the backburner career-wise.
Then the IBF declared that Austin
and Sultan Ibragimov would fight for
the number one spot in their
rankings. The fight went to purse
bid and Don King (Austin's promoter)
put in a bid of $125,000 while
Warriors promotions (Ibragimov's
promoters) bid over $800,000. Austin
with being the higher ranked fighter
received a 75/25 split of the purse
and after the King deductions,
Austin still got over $400,000, by
far and away the most money Austin
made for a fight.
Austin traveled down to south
Florida and trained with Jeff
Mayweather in the pimp facilities of
Hirsch-based WCBMI. Austin was able
to spar, train and dedicate himself
for the first time. Still the
underdog for his fight with the
southpaw Ibragimov, Austin came in
with a game plan perfect for the
pressure style that Ibragimov
brought into the ring. After the two
swapped knockdowns and a crucial no
call of another knockdown for
Austin, Ibragimov and Austin fought
to another draw.
Granted this fight was very exciting
and the largest audience ESPN had
for a Friday Night Fights, Austin
still lacked the definitive victory
of his career. It could be argued
that Austin won the fight and was
robbed by the referee because of the
no call of a knockdown, Austin finds
himself in a very familiar place,
limbo. Once again Austin was
overlooked for a title shot.
Ibragimov was granted the mandatory
position in the WBO rankings and is
set to face the winner of Liakhovich-Briggs.
Austin, on the other hand, has no
fight in the near future and is
seemingly simmering on King's back
stove. Austin just can't get a
break. With a man he defeated in an
eliminator bout getting a title shot
and another he put a beating on
getting a title shot before him,
Austin can just sit back and wonder
when he is going to get his chance.
Well, boys and girls, with Austin
being 35 and not much on the
horizon, it may be never. So the
moral of the story is to just sign
to fight Ray Austin in an eliminator
bout, and no matter the outcome, you
will get a title shot.
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