- 8 months ago
Dwight Qawi takes on Lee Roy Murphy to see who gets a title shot at Evander Holyfield in the future as the first fight of a Showtime Championship Boxing Doubleheader.
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00:00Saint-Tropez speaks of wealth and antiquity, freedom and full-heartedness, youth and beauty.
00:07In the warm waters, amid pink and yellow houses that cascade down from the surrounding mountains,
00:13scores of yachts and pleasure boats nod to the patrons of seaside cafes
00:17and await the return of 20th century sailors who've slipped away into 14th century cobblestone streets
00:23to taste the luxurious texture of Saint-Tropez.
00:26In late summer, Frenchmen from Paris and all the provinces gravitate southward for their holidays
00:31as much of the nation converges on the coastline below Lyon.
00:35To the eastern corner lies Monaco, richest jewel of the Riviera,
00:39and westward from Nice are the large port of Cannes and the tiny outpost called Saint-Tropez.
00:45It sits on a peninsula wrapped around a small bay, the place whose style defines the life of Le Cote d'Azur.
00:51On a typical summer day, the Mediterranean sun washes over the white beaches of the peninsula
00:56where sunbathers enjoy a freedom of expression unsurpassed in the leisure world.
01:02At night, tourists stroll amid street vans and outdoor cafes,
01:07while the privileged class crowds into Europe's hottest, loudest, and most expensive discotheques.
01:13But tonight, there is another seaside diversion here as thousands are gathered at an outdoor arena
01:22for action in the sport of boxing, which is becoming ever more prevalent on the Riviera.
01:27Tonight on Showtime's third major boxing telecast of 1987,
01:30it's a return to the cruiserweight division to pick up a story which began three months ago
01:36on May 15 in Las Vegas, where Puerto Rican former WBA junior heavyweight champion Asi Ocasio
01:42won a widely disputed decision over another former WBA champ, Dwight Mohamed Kawi,
01:47and with it, the right to meet rising star Evander Holyfield,
01:52holder of two versions of the 190-pound title
01:55after his devastating third-round knockout of then-IBF champ Ricky Parkey.
02:00Tonight, Holyfield will live up to his promise to defend against Ocasio,
02:03while Kawi will get a chance to recover from what he sees as past injustice.
02:11From Propay, France, it's Showtime Championship Boxing.
02:21WBA junior heavyweight IVF cruiserweight titleist Evander Holyfield
02:25against former WBA title holder, now challenger Asi Ocasio,
02:30and him in a preliminary bout, ten rounds, two former title holders,
02:34Leroy Murphy and Dwight Mohamed Kawi, the winner to get still another shot at a cruiserweight title.
02:40Hello, I'm Jim Lampley, welcoming you to the third major boxing telecast of the year on Showtime,
02:45a series which began in February with Mark Breland's knockout of South African Harold Volbrecht
02:50for the WBA world welterweight title,
02:53then continued to the two cruiserweight bouts I've just described in Las Vegas on May 15.
02:57Tonight, another show in the cruiserweight division.
03:01And here to watch both the Ocasio-Holyfield title match
03:04and the title elimination bout between Murphy and Kawi with me
03:07is the famous fight doctor, Ferdie Pacheco.
03:10Ferdie, how do you size up the evening?
03:11Well, the first bout between Murphy and Kawi is a blazing good, well-even match,
03:17and whoever punches first and hardest could win that match.
03:20As far as the title fight, that's in question.
03:22Depends on which Ocasio shows up.
03:24Is it Ocasio the track man or is it Ocasio the fighter?
03:26That we'll see in a few moments.
03:28All right, Ferdie, we'll talk a little bit more about it in a moment.
03:30Right now, let's, you hang in here as we check in with the third member of our commentary team
03:35whose role places him more in touch with the luxury of Saint-Tropez, Dave Diles.
03:41My dear, don't worry.
03:44I'm not speaking English. I'll teach you, okay?
03:47Well, Jim, as you well know, it's been a devilishly hot week,
03:50a sultry week here in Saint-Tropez.
03:52And so there are those among us who have escaped to the more civilized confines of the harbor.
04:00You'll have to admit, James, it's certainly a much nicer way to conduct one's affairs.
04:06But if I must, I will join you and Ferdie Anon.
04:11Until later, my dear.
04:13Good night.
04:14Good night.
04:15And Ferdie and I will point out that Dave's Farm in Ohio will be placed at public auction Monday,
04:25and his many dependents are advised to seek other means of support.
04:28Well, it's worth noting, Ferdie, that both of tonight's bouts are the direct result
04:32of the activities of May 15 in Las Vegas,
04:35and most specifically of the controversial decision in the Kawi-Ocasio bout that night.
04:41Here are the reflections of both of the fighters involved on that unusual affair.
04:46My punch was so effective, you know, even through the bodies and all that.
04:51Even them rounds there, you know, should have been given to me.
04:54And just by the nature of the way he was fighting, just surviving, you know,
04:57pitty-patting and grabbing.
04:59I mean, all he was hitting was a glove.
05:00I mean, I came out of marks, and I was hurt.
05:03You know, I'd hurt him a couple times.
05:05You begged him to fight.
05:06I begged him a couple occasions to fight, you know,
05:09besides the crowd begging them both of us, you know.
05:12But, I mean, I'm sure there was a direct and direct in that question to him mostly.
05:16And, you know, the crowd pretty much told a lot of it anyway, you know,
05:20their reaction after the decision, you know,
05:22which I believe they stomped and protested like 10 to 15 minutes when I heard.
05:28You wanted to fight.
05:29You tried to make a fight.
05:30Right.
05:31But you weren't totally in that fight mentally.
05:33Right.
05:33Tell me why.
05:35Well, the reason why is because a week before that,
05:38I had done a train all the way up to then, you know,
05:41but two weeks before the fight, rather.
05:43It was a tragic death in my fiancée's family.
05:47It was a murder, a double murder,
05:49where her mother and her sister was, you know, was murdered, you know,
05:52at night, you know, when a person came in their home, you know,
05:55an ex-boyfriend, and, you know, brutally killed him, brutally murdered him.
05:59And she was going through changes and all, you know.
06:04I had one friend of hers, you know, make an asinine statement as if though,
06:08well, that should have made you more up.
06:10I mean, I say, you know, if you don't understand that something that morbid,
06:16I mean, you know, you can't come to grips with nothing like that.
06:20You just can't, you know.
06:21I could understand it better if it was an accident.
06:22So half of you was in Las Vegas, and half of you was somewhere.
06:26Right, right.
06:26Half of me wasn't, wasn't right, you know.
06:29I don't even think, I think three quarters of me wasn't there, you know,
06:32but the one quarter of me there was enough to win the fight.
06:35Although I didn't hit hard, I hit more and moved faster than he did.
06:42I didn't give him the opportunity to hit me.
06:44I had prepared well to fight ten rounds,
06:49and I had to fight ten rounds so that I could get this opportunity here to fight Hollyfield.
06:58Nice translation, Ferdy.
06:59Nice to see your romance languages are still in order.
07:01Thank you very much.
07:02Now, that decision was met with such widespread disapproval
07:06that Nevada Athletic Commission Chairman Dwayne Ford expressed his own misgivings,
07:10asked the IBF not to drop Kawi from his number one ranking,
07:14and made the three judges score the bout again on videotape with the same results.
07:19He also said, Ferdy, in reference to a fight which had taken place in Vegas just a month before,
07:23that the judges may have been haunted by, quote,
07:26the ghost of Sugar Ray Leonard, unquote.
07:29Well, I don't believe in ghost stories,
07:30although the ghost of something must be hovering over the desert in Las Vegas recently.
07:33I think what they were alluding to is Sugar Ray Leonard's brilliant defense
07:38against Hagler, who was aggressive, coming on and punching hard.
07:41But I'm a pretty imaginative guy, and I hear you're a pretty imaginative guy,
07:44both our brains together could not possibly conceive of comparing the quality of fight
07:50that we saw Leonard Hagler with the track meet that we saw with Ocasio versus Kawi.
07:55I think the judges scored it on the tap-tap speed and defense,
08:00if you want to call it running defense, of Ocasio,
08:03versus the aggression, albeit non-effective aggression, of Kawi.
08:07I disagree.
08:08I think the guy that's trying to make the fight, trying to go toward him and punch hard,
08:11is the guy that should win the fight.
08:12I still think he won every round.
08:14Well, bad decision or not, the fact is that now Kawi must beat Leroy Murphy to get another shot at the title.
08:20How do you see this bout?
08:21Oh, I think this is a superb bout.
08:22They're both well-conditioned athletes, both hard punchers.
08:25But today, Kawi came in two pounds heavier, went out, lost a pound, refused to lose the other pound.
08:30I found it in my room, by the way.
08:32And I think that no effect on this fight.
08:35I think this fight will be one in the chest cavity.
08:37Whoever's got the biggest heart is going to walk away from here the winner of this fight.
08:43All right, Ferdy, and now we will soon find out which chest cavity, as you put it, packs the better good.
08:49There is Leroy Murphy, 29 years old, born and raised in the Robert Taylor Housing Project on South State Street in Chicago.
08:5825 wins, one loss, 22 knockouts.
09:02The number two contender in the IBF rankings, number six, WBC, number seven, WBA.
09:09And now, entering the ring to face Murphy, here comes 34-year-old Dwight Mohamed Kawi,
09:17once Dwight Braxton, out of Camden, New Jersey, number three WBA contender and number one ranked by the IBF
09:26at the behest of Dwayne Ford, the Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman,
09:30who asked, as we mentioned before, that the IBF not drop him from that ranking
09:34after the 10-round decision lost to Ocasio on May 15.
09:3927 wins, four losses, and one draw for Kawi.
09:44He has scored 16 knockouts.
09:50Earlier, Dave Dial spoke to Leroy Murphy about his motivation for this fight
09:56and what he will bring into the ring against Kawi.
09:58Well, at night I'd sit down and I wonder about the way I'm going to fight him
10:07and the type of attitude I'm going to have going in the ring.
10:09It sort of, it bothers me because I never fought a fighter who used to be a world champion
10:18and, you know, and plus the age difference is just the experience.
10:23And then I don't think he had more experience than I do because I've been around longer.
10:27So it's just, he's just another punch to me.
10:31But he is a bit of a nightmare, though.
10:33True, he is.
10:34No mystery about what he's going to do.
10:36No way.
10:37It's like riding piggyback on a buzzsaw, isn't it?
10:41You know that you've got to get him off you.
10:43That's right.
10:44So how do you do it?
10:45Well, in several ways.
10:48Either I fight him like Ocasio fought him,
10:52or I go to move and hit him run
10:54and stay away from his left hook and right hooks.
10:57And what do you, how do you punch him?
11:01Well, he's open.
11:02He'll give you the head.
11:04So if I get my two or three shots and get out of there,
11:07you know, I'll be safe for at least five or six rounds.
11:10You know, my, the object of it to try to attack Ocasio out in the earlier rounds.
11:16If I get him tied out the earlier round,
11:18I swear I can have more control of the fight going into the later rounds.
11:22I don't want to be an amateur psychologist with you,
11:24but all during this interview, I look at you
11:26and I hear you saying to me,
11:28this is my make or break fight.
11:31This is it.
11:32Everything.
11:33It determines whether I go on and fight
11:35or whether I go back to Chicago and take care of my family
11:38and work as a sheriff.
11:39Is that what you're saying?
11:41Well, in a way it is because, you know,
11:44like I say, boxing takes a lot.
11:46It takes a lot to sacrifice in your job and your home life.
11:51And I feel that if I don't make it this last chance,
11:56you know, I might as well give it a lost out after the fight if I lose.
12:01Think about it.
12:01See, do I really want to continue this
12:03or do I want to put another year in this or not?
12:05Now the fighters meet in the middle of the ring
12:09to receive instructions from referee René Barre of France.
12:14The onus, Ferdi, really on Leroy Murphy.
12:17Cahui brings the same thing every time.
12:18Relentless pressure and a resolute determination to move forward.
12:22Tail of the tape.
12:24Cahui at five feet, six and three quarter inches.
12:27Very short for a fighter in this weight class.
12:30Murphy has the height and reach advantage.
12:33And as Ferdi Pacheco mentioned earlier,
12:36Cahui had difficulty making the 195-pound weight limit earlier today.
12:40WBA rules.
12:41There is a mandatory eight count.
12:43And the three knockdown rule is in effect.
12:45No standing eight counts.
12:46The bell saves the fighter only at the end of the last round.
12:49Three judges scoring on the ten-point must system.
12:52And the referee does not score.
12:54This is going to be very interesting at the very outset
12:58because Leroy Murphy has got to get strong
13:00and keep Cahui from dominating him with his game plan,
13:05which is, as we both know, straight ahead, just like Joe Frazier.
13:09French crowd tends to be very quiet at the beginning of the first round.
13:14This is scheduled for ten rounds.
13:15On the outset.
13:21Murphy staggered by a left hand that was not that hard a punch.
13:25He does not appear to have good balance as he sets up the fight inside,
13:28which should benefit Cahui.
13:30Definitely.
13:31Cahui's motion, his head, and the referee said keep fighting.
13:35I don't think that was a punch as much as it was a trip,
13:39but the thing to look forward to is a strength lift of Leroy Murphy.
13:43Leroy Murphy's punches are very hard,
13:45but he doesn't seem to be throwing them with a great deal of authority right now,
13:48whereas Cahui loves to fight inside.
13:51He's getting in there with a short little punch.
13:53And as you pointed out, Ferdy, the free fight talk by Murphy,
13:57as exposed in that interview with Dave Diles,
13:59sounded defeatist in tone.
14:01It sounded like a loser.
14:02It sounded like a guy who's ready to lose and go home and be a sheriff.
14:06This is a guy unusual for this man who has had most of his career going his way,
14:11knockouts all over the place.
14:1325 wins, one loss, the only loss, a 10-round knockout by Ricky Parkey in October of 1986.
14:22Parkey later lost that IVF cruiserweight crown.
14:26Just, Cahui just landed a very hard, hammering right hand,
14:30which staggered Leroy Murphy.
14:33And in the first round, this looks like the kind of fight that Dwight Mohamed Cahui would like for it to be.
14:38Murphy standing in front of him, more or less a stationary target for Cahui,
14:43who is the least subtle cruiserweight fighters in his approach.
14:48Cahui is doing all the leading.
14:49He's doing all the fighting.
14:50It's his fight.
14:50It's the way he wants.
14:51He's already got Murphy in trouble.
14:54There's another right hand that drove back.
14:57Murphy to the ropes.
14:59This is just the way Ricky Parkey knocked him out.
15:01He just went to the ropes, covered up, and let the other man punch.
15:03If he does that with Cahui, we may have a short night tonight.
15:07Murphy trying but unable to get off.
15:09Blinking his eyes now as the first round comes toward a close.
15:12Cahui landing all of the effective punches so far in the first round.
15:18Another right hand.
15:19Cahui couldn't have this round more his way.
15:43He's planned a fight, and he's carrying it out.
15:45Every little strategy has worked, and what I see in Leroy Murphy is what I saw in the lobby.
15:51A great deal of lethargy and disinterest.
15:54He just doesn't seem to be in it this first round, and Cahui has dominated this first round.
16:00Leroy Murphy has been housed at the same hotel which we occupied.
16:04We'll go back now to his corner between rounds one and two
16:07where manager and trainer Jim Strickland will step in directly in front of Leroy Murphy
16:13and try to make an impact on the fighter who was lethargic, to say the least, in the first stand.
16:18Not only lethargic, but disinterested.
16:20He just, his mind doesn't seem to be here.
16:22It didn't seem to be for the last three or four days.
16:24I've been talking to him in the lobby for three or four days.
16:26He has not moved from the same chair for three or four days,
16:29and I just found it very unusual.
16:31He has no mental stamina.
16:34He has no mental strength.
16:35He's not looking forward to this.
16:36He was just sort of saying, well, when the day comes, I'll fight it, and we'll see.
16:40And certainly fought the first round that way, and certainly lost the first round that way.
16:44I gave it 10-9 to Cowie.
16:46And a very comfortable Dwight Mohamed Cowie in his corner with longtime trainer Wesley Muzon.
16:52He's wide.
16:53Push him off.
16:53Push him off.
16:54Push him off.
16:55Push him off.
16:56Push him back.
16:56Now the between-round period's set to come to a close, and they'll begin round two.
17:01We'll see if Murphy can muster a little more energy in the second round
17:05after a first round, which was, as Bertie has pointed out, all's white Mohamed Cowie.
17:10There's a history of bangers.
17:13You go on a long spree of knockouts like Leroy Murphy's had,
17:17and then all of a sudden you lose one by a knockout.
17:19And then you're never the same fighter again.
17:20After a sudden, you listen to have many of the big bangers
17:23who are used to having everything go their way.
17:25I don't know what's happened to Leroy Murphy as far as his stamina,
17:30and as far as his intention is concerned,
17:32he certainly has put himself in harm's way when he stands directly in front of Cowie
17:37and lets Cowie come in hooking, as he just did then, and missed.
17:42The whole first round couldn't be better for Cowie.
17:46Since being knocked out by Parkey,
17:50Murphy has had two fights in 1987 against lesser opponents,
17:54Steve Mormino and Bobby Crabtree.
17:56Both fights went the distance, Murphy winning by decision.
17:59Both fights, which should have been knockouts.
18:02The quality of Leroy Murphy before that, he was a champion,
18:05and can certainly bang, should have knocked out both those opponents,
18:08not taken anything away from them,
18:10but such was Leroy Murphy's punching power and quality.
18:14He should have taken care of those two.
18:15Indicating a lack of interest and a lack of ambition and dedication.
18:20But here he is against Cowie,
18:22and he better start to get interested and dedicated.
18:24Dwight Mohamed Cowie, 34 years old,
18:28won't have many chances left.
18:29Through most of his career, he was called the Camden Buzzsaw
18:32because of the relentless style.
18:34The question now is, does the Buzzsaw buzz anymore?
18:38Murphy is making it possible for him
18:40to release that kind of relentless pressure tonight.
18:44This is the kind of fight.
18:45You're looking at right here that Dwight Cowie loves.
18:48Just put your head in there and get the other guy exhausted.
18:51Working away, just as if you were chopping down a tree.
18:54His legs spread for traction and just going at it.
18:57Murphy, on the other hand, has got to whip himself away from there.
19:01He's got to spin out, get some punching room,
19:04and start landing hard, punishing punches.
19:08Because of Cowie's stature or lack of it,
19:11because he's trained through much of his career in Philadelphia,
19:14and because of the style,
19:15the comparison is often made to Joe Frazier.
19:18It's not a bad one at all.
19:19Not a bad one and not a bad fighter.
19:21Again, the right hand hammering Murphy.
19:24Murphy just seems to blink and go back further toward the ropes,
19:28where, of course, there awaits that trap that Cowie likes to set.
19:34Murphy now trying to body Cowie off of him and follow with punches,
19:38and he's begun to land punches now using that technique.
19:42It'll allow Cowie to lean on the shoulder,
19:44try to push him off, and then deliver.
19:46Because of the extreme shortness of Cowie,
19:51many punches go south of the border.
19:53Unintentionally low punches, but nonetheless low.
19:56Pretty soon, the referee should start to wise up
19:58and begin to warn Leroy Murphy
20:00about the sweeping hooks which land way below that white belt line.
20:05Most of the first rounds dominated by Dwight Mohamed Cowie,
20:09Murphy began to show a little light in the last minute of that round.
20:12Throughout the evening, as the clean-round situations
20:15make it possible to be bringing you brief vignettes
20:17to try to underline the color of this particular experience
20:21in Saint-Tropez.
20:22Here now the first of those vignettes
20:25in the Saint-Tropez Bay,
20:28littered with some of the largest, most beautiful,
20:31most sumptuous pleasure boats in the world,
20:34and all of them suitably adorned with objects of beauty.
20:38Coming up later on, the WBA and IBF cruiserweight championship bout.
20:46Of course, the WBA technically calls the division junior heavyweight title holder
20:50Evander Holyfield against Ocasio, himself, a one-time cruiserweight champion.
20:57I was just commenting that I thought some of those boats were certainly in your class,
21:00and you would have one of that type in your backyard.
21:04Yes, and I'll keep it in my backyard,
21:06since I wouldn't know what to do with it if I put it in the water, Purdy.
21:09The backyard would be the best place for any boat that I ever own.
21:14Round three begins.
21:15Ten-round bout.
21:16The winner to get a shot against the title holder,
21:20the winner of tonight's Evander Holyfield-Ocasio bout.
21:24Motion for the first time from Leroy Murphy.
21:27In his corner, he's been told,
21:28listen, don't just stand there.
21:29Start walking around.
21:30Start moving, man.
21:31He certainly has started to do an Ocasio-like trot to one side.
21:37But you question how effective Murphy can be backing up like this.
21:41It's not his style.
21:42Not his style.
21:43You're quite correct.
21:43Once you start getting out of what got you here, you're in big trouble.
21:47If you start bouncing around like if you were Sugar Ray Leonard and you're not,
21:50then you have some difficulty.
21:52Could be that Jim Strickland just wants his fighter to buy a little time
21:55and get some movement to try to get life into his legs.
21:58He's shown none in the first two rounds.
22:00And not only that, but remember, everybody attributes to Kawi a fading stamina
22:05that's to get him older, to get him tired.
22:08And, you know, I can't remember how many fighters have gone down waiting for Kawi to get tired.
22:13Indeed, that's what Murphy spoke about in the hotel several times,
22:15staying away from Kawi and trying to tire him out.
22:18What he isn't doing is staying away.
22:20He started to run and he quit running.
22:22And that was his unfortunate undoing so far.
22:27Kawi now hammering away as Murphy stands near the ropes.
22:32Not a good place to be against the Camden buzzsaw.
22:35Very low punch.
22:36That one's very hard by Leroy.
22:38But every time he sweeps under with an uppercut,
22:41he lands under that pony designation at the mid-belt that Kawi has.
22:48Not intentional again.
22:49It's just that he's so short you can hardly help hitting him low.
22:53It has not been an easy life for the former Dwight Braxton,
22:57now Dwight Mohamed Kawi,
22:58who started professional boxing in 1978
23:00after five and a half years of hard time
23:03in New Jersey's Rawway State Prison on an armed robbery rap.
23:09In 1981, he won the WBC Light Heavyweight Championship over Saad Mohamed.
23:15He's looking for another title shot against Evander Holyfield,
23:17who took away his cruiserweight crown last year.
23:20And he is getting pounded by combinations.
23:22It's Leroy Murphy, who cannot seem to understand
23:26that he's got to get out of that corner.
23:27Four or five excellent shots went in from Dwight Kawi,
23:31and no motion from Leroy Murphy.
23:34He's just content to sit there and take him in.
23:36That's exactly how he got knocked out with Ricky Parkey.
23:40He better get his mind into Saint-Tropez here
23:42because he has not fought a thinking fight at all.
23:48Murphy taking long, deep breaths
23:50at those moments when the fighters clinch.
23:53Look at the difference right there as that set of punches.
23:55While Leroy Murphy punched more, they were ineffective, they were slow, they were low,
24:02while Dwight had punched three times but very sharply.
24:06That's the kind of thing that drives judges to distraction.
24:09Kawi has held two titles in his career.
24:12First a light heavyweight crown, later the cruiserweight crown, which he lost in July of last year
24:18to Evander Holyfield, a 15-round split decision in Atlanta.
24:22Earlier he talked to us about his desire to get back at Holyfield.
24:25I want to get back to Holyfield, and again, I don't see why I have to keep going through a whole lot of fighters
24:32to get to Holyfield, you know, but that's it, you know.
24:35I'm sure Holyfield don't want to see me again.
24:37I'm sure his people don't want to see me again.
24:38And that makes me even more, you know, proud, you know, in myself that, to know that they respect me, et cetera.
24:46You know, and I know that I'm a worthy opponent, and I know I believe in them more so that I am the champion.
24:51You know, and I'm more than welcome to prove it.
24:55You live for that.
24:56I do.
24:57Right now I do live for that.
24:57That's all that matters to you, isn't it?
24:58And the more they hold it off, the more they build my intensity.
25:01It's like them loading the gun against themselves.
25:06And Bertie Vacheco will look back at one of those Kaui flurries which have dominated the first three rounds.
25:12This is the one in the corner where Leroy Murphy simply could not get away.
25:16Now we are back live as round four begins in Saint-Tropez.
25:21Dwight Mohamed Kaui in the red trunks versus Leroy Murphy in the black.
25:25Fighting at 195 pounds, the winner to get a shot at the 190-pound title holder,
25:33the winner of tonight's later bout between Evander Holyfield, the champion, and Asio Casio, the challenger.
25:42We must also mention that it is a very hot and humid night.
25:47We have been here for five days, and the heat is oppressive and weakens you.
25:51Whereas Dwight Kaui has been out and active and moving around, Leroy Murphy has not.
25:58He's been just hanging around the lobby of a hotel.
26:00He's not walked around.
26:01He's not gotten himself used to that.
26:03So if anybody gets tired right now, it should be Leroy Murphy.
26:07Of course, the punches of Dwight Kaui are just having something to do with his getting tired.
26:11Yeah, good point, Kertie, because in our experience, the typical day in Saint-Tropez is about a million degrees with a thousand percent humidity.
26:19And it's a little cooler than we might have expected tonight, but still quite warm.
26:27Up to this point, quite unofficially, I have Kaui ahead, 30 to 27, meaning he's taken every round with crisper puncher.
26:34And this action no different from what we've seen most of the night.
26:39Leroy Murphy leaning back on the ropes there, as you saw, and taking punches from Dwight Mohamed Kaui.
26:45Relatively quiet French crowd.
27:02Those leaping hooks of Dwight Kaui keep catching him because he's so slow.
27:06We will never see him coming.
27:08He can't get out.
27:09It's like he's stepping around in molasses.
27:11I've never seen him this slow and lethargic.
27:14I mean, it's the only word I can think of to describe him.
27:16He's lazy.
27:17Hard to believe at this moment, isn't it, Fertie, that Leroy Murphy is five years younger than Kaui,
27:22brings in a record of 25 wins and one loss.
27:26Further illustration of how rapidly boxing skills can deteriorate when they do.
27:30Or the interest that your mind has.
27:33The mind is so important in boxing.
27:34I mean, you just have to have that burning desire.
27:36A man like Ali, you'd have to shoot with a gun to beat.
27:39This guy is obviously abdicated.
27:40He has not got the desire that Kaui has to step forward into the championship division.
27:47Plus, looking at him here, and looking at that little roll of fat around him, he should
27:52have been out walking.
27:53He should have been sweating.
27:54He should have been running.
27:55He should have been doing all of the things he did.
27:57Instead, he took a stationary position.
27:59It didn't move.
27:59And I think that the roll of fat and that layer of fat that you see there is what contributes
28:06a great deal to his list.
28:09Round four comes to a close.
28:12And a very groggy Leroy Murphy trundles back to his corner where Jim Strickland will step
28:17in once again and try to work a little magic.
28:19The action in the bout, still the same.
28:24Kaui pounding away at Leroy Murphy.
28:26These are the hooks that you see Dwight throws, whether he throws him to the body or over
28:32the top.
28:33They seem to land up.
28:34Murphy is doing a very good job there of avoiding one.
28:36He comes right up the middle and connects.
28:40There's a, that didn't connect, but that's a typical example of the kind of hooks and straight
28:45right hands which is driving Leroy Murphy into the ropes and winning round after round
28:49after round for Dwight Kaui.
28:51Empty seats on the carousel.
28:54Birdie and perhaps at this moment Leroy Murphy should board one of those horses and get right
29:00on out of here.
29:00Or at the very least get on his bicycle and try to put a little distance between himself
29:04and the so obviously dominant Dwight Mohamed Kaui.
29:07I tell you what, it would have been depressing to see Ocasio on the merry-go-round training
29:12for the next fight.
29:13We may see exactly that later tonight.
29:15Based on Ocasio's performance against Kaui in Las Vegas on May 15.
29:21Murphy again trying the little walk around and a punch from outside, which is what he
29:29should be doing.
29:30He should be punching from outside, establishing a jab.
29:32His eyes look a little swollen.
29:34He had a lot of conjunctivitis yesterday which cleared up.
29:37It's an irritation of the eye.
29:38But they look like they're getting swollen now.
29:41From the continuous pounding, he's blinking as if they're bothering him.
29:45Particularly the right eye which seems to be swelling above the eyelid.
29:49You do, of course, for that good left hook.
29:54Fascinating to note, Kaui never seems to look at his opponent's head.
29:57Keeps his eyes fixed on the midriff at all times.
29:59When you're that short, you find out early in life that you don't look up to people when
30:03you're boxing.
30:04You look down.
30:05Of course.
30:05You don't get hit real good.
30:06The old joke about him prior to his title fight with Matthew Saad Muhammad in 1981 was based
30:13on the Broadway play, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, which in boxing parlance became
30:18Arms Too Short to Box with Saad.
30:20But he proved on December 1981 that that wasn't indeed the case as he scored the 10-round TKO
30:26of Saad Muhammad to win the WBC light heavyweight title.
30:30Later lost it to Michael Spinks in a unification fight in March of 1983.
30:35It's interesting in both very close fights that he had with Spinks and again with Evander
30:41Hollyfield.
30:42At the end, you really didn't know who won.
30:43So it's another one of those who won that.
30:45And you look at each other and one guy says, I think one guy did.
30:47One guy says, I think the other guy did.
30:48It wasn't a clear-cut victory at all.
30:51So he has been in championship contention all along.
30:54He's a very dedicated man.
30:55And he wants that championship again once more before he has to retire.
30:59Dominated the first five or six rounds of the Holyfield fight last summer before Evander
31:04unexpectedly was able to muster the stamina and the will to come back and win the fight
31:09from behind.
31:09The will.
31:10You just said the word.
31:11The will.
31:12That young brain that tells you, I can do it.
31:14This guy's not got me yet.
31:15And, of course, Evander Hollyfield's got a whole bunch of that.
31:19And so has Dwight Cowie.
31:21Right now, the problem is for Leroy Murphy to get a little bit of it so that he can begin
31:26to make a battle of this rather than just get a pummeling, which he has been doing relentlessly
31:30through four rounds.
31:31We're in round five of a scheduled 10 in Saint-Tropez.
31:35Leroy Murphy so far taking a beating from Dwight Mohamed Cowie.
31:39Cowie intent on getting another shot at a cruiserweight title and perhaps a rematch with the man who
31:44took that crown away from him last summer, Evander Holyfield.
31:47Murphy goes down to one knee after a series of Cowie punches.
31:51Now, that's more a give-up than a knockdown.
31:54That's more a, listen, I'm not going to take too much of this.
31:59That was a perfectly timed right counter to Leroy Murphy's right.
32:03Leroy threw a hard right.
32:04Cowie threw a perfectly timed punch.
32:06And then two or three punches later, and it was more of a delayed effect.
32:09Well, the opportunity is certainly there now for Cowie if he can put a few punches together.
32:15Round five comes to a close.
32:17Murphy reaches out and pats Cowie on the stomach by way of congratulation, I assume,
32:22for so dominating the first five rounds.
32:25And, of course, that makes it a 10-8 round, which even further lengthens the lead of Cowie,
32:30who looks at this moment as if he has got a lock on, at the very least, winning the fight,
32:36if not stopping Leroy, who shows every sign of trying to resign.
32:40All right, let's take a look back, Freddie, at the punches which led to the knockdown
32:43or, if you prefer, the kneel down of Leroy Murphy.
32:47I want you to go to his left.
32:50I want you to go to his left.
32:51I want you to go to his left.
32:53This will be fine right here.
32:54That's neither a delayed effect nor anything.
32:55That's really just a sort of, oh, wait a minute.
32:58Give me a break here.
32:59Let me take this time.
32:59There's got to be a place here I can rest.
33:02Maybe this is it.
33:06You are watching Showtime Championship Boxing,
33:11and we are midway through the first of two bouts you'll see this evening
33:15in the cruiserweight class.
33:19Dwight Mohamed Cowie in the red trunks,
33:22formerly known as Dwight Braxton, the Camden buzzsaw,
33:25chasing Leroy Murphy of Chicago, Illinois,
33:28both of them former title holders in this weight class.
33:32And as so often happens, Jim,
33:37the interview before the fight becomes meaningful.
33:40Here's an interview with Dave Diles
33:41that Leroy Murphy sounded listless and uninspired
33:45and almost considering alternatives to boxing,
33:47saying, well, I can go back and be a sheriff.
33:49I can do this.
33:49I can do that.
33:50He didn't hear any of that,
33:52listen, I'm going to take this guy's head off,
33:53and I'm going to go fight for the title.
33:54And it's exactly what's happened in the ring.
33:56That is exactly.
33:57He is just here.
33:58His body is here.
33:59There's no intention.
34:00And all he's done is take a good beating.
34:03Tremendous punch from Dave Diles.
34:05And again, Murphy puts one knee on the canvas.
34:10French referee, Rene Barre,
34:12issuing the count.
34:16Mandatory eight count in effect.
34:18Cowie comes back in.
34:19A right hand.
34:20Another right hand.
34:22Competitively.
34:23It appears to be over at this point.
34:27Murphy offering very little in return.
34:30Again, Murphy goes down.
34:34Barre will count one more time.
34:36The three knockdown rule is in effect.
34:38Plenty of time still to go in round six.
34:41Cowie brandishing a fist at Murphy as the count continues.
34:45Barre.
34:48Besides, that's enough.
34:49A humane judge and a wonderful judgment because he really had no business to go out there and get knocked down for the third time.
34:57He went down twice.
34:58They were not culminating knockouts or knockdowns.
35:01They were sort of collapses of energy and willpower.
35:04But the referee correctly adjudged that there's no point in just doing that over and over again.
35:10He gave it to him.
35:10No question about way ahead of the fight and no reason to go over and over again.
35:14He gave it to him.
35:14No question about way ahead of the fight and no reason to continue.
35:17I fully agree with that kind of refereeing decision.
35:20So at age 34, birdie, Dwight Mohamed Cowie heads for another chance.
35:28A chance to win a title for the third time in his career.
35:32And if things go as expected in the second bout of the evening, perhaps, a shot at revenge against Evander Holyfield.
35:38He certainly looks motivated tonight.
35:41He also has a shot of revenge against Ocasio.
35:44If miracles should happen tonight and Ocasio win, don't count out, I mean, you do sprain your ankle and you do hurt your hand.
35:51If Ocasio should happen to win, he has good reason to get in with either one and seek revenge since he's lost to both.
35:57So he's in a wonderful position.
36:00Possibly the end of Leroy Murphy because Leroy has not shown any desire to fight since the Barkey fight.
36:07Possibly he will do, as he said in the interview, go and be a sheriff and let the aggression be on the streets and not in the ring.
36:14Murphy himself acknowledged in the interview with Dave Diles that it was a crossroads fight.
36:22No question which direction it appeared to lead.
36:26So drop Murphy's record to 25-2.
36:29He is KO'd for the second time in his career.
36:32Dwight Mohamed Cowie.
36:38Ring announcer Jean-René Goddard makes it official.
36:42Kowie's record goes to 28 wins, four losses on the draw, the 17th KO of his career.
36:53And now let's go into the ring to Dave Diles.
36:56All right, we're with Kowie, Dwight, you told me the other day, just outside your hotel room, you said you were taking it out of the hands of the judges.
37:08I know I was winning all around, but I know every time I was going to the corner, my man, Rusty Motown, who brought me from the beginning, the guy who went up to the end, he told me, he said, take it out of your hand, baby.
37:20Don't drop me.
37:20I had you, and I know your old spirit is back.
37:24I'm 34 going on 19, believe me.
37:27You know, remember when you hollered at Rudy Pacheco back in Atlantic City months and months ago, and you said the man is back?
37:35I'm back.
37:35I want to say I was sidetracked, and by the permission of God, and with the tragedy of my family, or my soon-to-be wife's side, Valerie Walden, and two weeks before the fight, and I couldn't keep it together.
37:46But I allowed that, you know, and God willing, it's been allowed.
37:51And I'm back, though.
37:52I know I'm back inside.
37:53I feel no loss, you know.
37:55A minute ago, you said to me, Holyfield is in trouble.
37:59You live for that.
38:01I want that.
38:02I want tanks.
38:03I want to tame the gorilla.
38:05He ain't no tank, he'll piece you, though.
38:07When he gets against me, I'll weigh him down and weigh him out.
38:10Watch me.
38:10I'm back.
38:11All right.
38:12He said he's hungry.
38:14Ferdy Pacheco of NBC, on loan here from NBC.
38:18Ferdy, he told you that this was going to happen.
38:21All right, thank you very much, Dave Diles.
38:27One bounce down, one to go on Showtime Championship Boxing, and coming up later will be Vander Holyfield defending his WBA junior heavyweight.
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