Former heavyweight boxing champ Fres Oquendo robbed in Paris
Perhaps no heavyweight in boxing defines the term “fringe contender” more than Fres Oquendo. Since dropping world title shots to Chris Byrd and John Ruiz in 2003 and 2004, “Fast Fres” has been attempting to work his way back up for another chance at a championship. However, every time he gets close, Oquendo can't seem to find a way to seal the deal and earn another title shot.
The Puerto Rican fighter saw another chance slip through his hands on May 6, although this one might not have been entirely his fault. He dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Jean-Marc Mormeck in Paris, falling short by one point on two cards and two points on the third. However, many independent observers felt that Oquendo was robbed by the judges decision and that he should have won by several points. It appears that Oquendo might have been the victim of a hometown decision favoring the 37-year-old Parisian.
The majority of the fight followed a familiar pattern – the just under 6' Mormeck would have to work hard to get inside to attempt to land telling shots while dealing with jabs and strafing outside punches from the 6'2” Oquendo, who enjoyed an eight-inch reach advantage over his opponent. Oquendo was also able to use his quick hands (a trademark of his) to fire off counter punches against Mormeck.
Mormeck had several high points in the fight, including landing some telling blows in the third round. However, Oquendo appeared to have the better of the action for much of the fight, particularly using his uppercuts to great advantage against the smaller Mormeck. The Frenchman appeared to tire noticeably in the later rounds and appeared close to being stopped on a few occasions before the final round ended. However, the judges were able to find enough rounds to give him a close and extremely questionable victory over Oquendo, who fell to 32-6 with 21 KOs.
Despite the scoring controversy, the bottom line is that Oquendo lacked the killer instinct and punching power to finish his opponent, something that has dogged him for large chunks of his career. While Oquendo's USBA heavyweight title wasn't at stake and the dodgy scoring will likely mitigate some of the damage to his career, the reality is that Oquendo is 37 and is having to rebound from other loss to an opponent he would have been expected (on paper) to handle.
The victory lifted Mormeck's record to 35-4 with 22 KOs and keeps the former cruiserweight champion alive for a heavyweight title shot in the future – perhaps against current WBA champion David Haye, who beat Mormeck for the WBA and WBC cruiserweight titles in November 2007. Mormeck took almost two years off after that fight before returning as a heavyweight in December 2009 to beat Vinny Maddalone in an eight rough decision. At the time, it seemed virtually impossible that a fighter at his age who had been a cruiserweight or light heavyweight for most of his life could win a heavyweight title; his win against Oquendo likely raised the chances from “impossible” to “implausible.”
The undercard to the fight featured a pair of silver medalist from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Frenchman Daouda Sow was never threatened in claiming a unanimous decision victory over journeyman Sebastian Corneau in a six round contest to run his record to 4-0 with 2 KOs. Meanwhile, featherweight Khedafi Djelkhir was even more impressive in his scheduled eight round fight against Osman Aktas, hurting the veteran several times before referee Jean-Louis Legland stopped the fight in the third round.
The co-featured bout of the night was ranked lightweight contender and former European champion Anthony Mezaache (18-5-3, 4 KOs), who treated Istvan Nagy like a sparring partner in claiming an easy eight round decision. Mezaache abandoned the European title in order to take on a higher level of competition and get into contention for a world title shot. However, Nagy certainly wasn't that, as this was a typical “stay busy” fight for Mezaache as he waits for bigger fish.
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