number1contender.net

Showtime Championship Boxing

July 7, 2007

Harbour Yard Arena-Bridge Port, Connecticut

Tonight's matches will be the first world championship boxing matches in Bridge Port, since 1927.

WBA Super Welterweight (154 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Travis Simms (25-0, 19 KO's, 152.5 pounds) (c) vs. Joachim Alcine (28-0, 18 KO's, 152.25 pounds)

Simms defeated Jose Antonio Rivera via round 9 TKO, on January 6, 2006 to reclaim the WBA Super Welterweight Championship he had never lost in the ring.

Simms turned pro at the very late age of 26-years-old. He first won this title in November 2003, by knocking out then champ Alejandro Garcia.  Then through some very convoluted politics Winky Wight also, became the WBA Super Welterweight Champion defeating Shane Mosley 4 months later. Simms went on to defend his portion of the WBA Super Welterweight Championship in October 2004 and defeat Bronco McKart. With the victory Simms demanded a contractually promised match at the "Super Champion" in Wright. Refusing to accept any other match the WBA stripped Simms of his portion of the championship in May of 2005, for refusing to face the mandatory challenger they required him to face. Things got very litigious after that, and there was a complicated series of lawsuits and filings that culminated in an out of court settlement, where in August 2006 Simms was reinstated as the WBA "Champion in Recess". He was to receive the next title shot to unify the belts, which Simms got the day after turning 36-years-old. That was the match with Rivera. In the entire time 27 months between his October 2004 match and January 2007 match, Simms did not step into the ring to compete a single time. Simms says he is a very young 36-year-old, and boxing the best he ever has. However, it would be unusual for a boxer to say anything different in his position. Acting as Simms manager and intermediary, negotiating all current and future contracts and matches with promoter Don King to prevent problems is the champion's wife, Sandra Stokes-Simms. The couples goal is to keep the champion very active, and against top level opponents to make the most money. Their current strategy may need some adjustment to achieve those goals.

The original title win in 2003 earned Simms the honor of having a street named after him in his hometown of nearby Norwalk, Connecticut. This venue has been chosen, because of Simms' strong local support and ability to draw a large crowd (though, not a quality crowd).

Simms is a counter-puncher with experience against good opponents as a pro. He has the ability to take a punch well and keep standing. In his last match against Rivera he scored two knockdowns, but that was over six months ago. Simms age and "ring rust" could be big problems for him in this match.

Simms is the number 8 ranked contender to the vacant Ring Magazine Championship at 154 pounds. At his age is going to need to get some big matches and make a lot of money quick to get out of the sport healthy and financially secure, having given up over two years of the prime of his career to legal battles.

Simms has harshly called Alcine, "A decent amateur fighter at best." Alcine is a live underdog, and if Simms takes the match that lightly there may be two new world champions leaving the arena tonight.

Alcine was born in Haiti, but now resides in Laval, Quebec. A win tonight, would make Alcine the first Haitian world champion in boxing history, and it is shocking there has not been one, yet. He was the WBA mandatory number 1 contender that got jumped by Simms' lawsuit to face Rivera. Instead his last match was a October 28, 2006 victory via disqualification over Jose Joaquin Rosa Gomez in round 10 of a 10 round match.

He is boxing for only the third time out of his adopted home of Canada. The last was a May 2003 win over a boxer coming off 4 straight losses in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (home of IWC). He is a boxer, whose knockouts come from an accumulation of punches, rather then a flashy one punch finish. This is Alcine's toughest opponent and first world championship match to date. In this match he will have to answer questions about how he holds up to nerves and if he is as good as his record.

Alcine is outside the Ring Magazine top ten rankings at 154 pounds, but ranked number 5 by boxrec.com.

Alcine is the younger boxer at only 31-years-old, while Simms is 36-years-old. The challenger, also holds the height at advantage, standing 5' 10.5" tall, while Simms stands 5' 9" tall. Alcine, who is very big for this weight class, has the wingspan advantage at 73" long, to 69" long, for the boxer defending this title for the first time.  Simms has never been knocked down. Alcine has been knocked down twice, but their perfect records show neither has ever been stopped. Like in the opening contest, the champion boxes out of the southpaw stance and the challenger will employ the orthodox stance.

Simms enters the ring with his two WBA Championship belts. The man who would like to one day be mayor of his hometown, uses the opportunity of just 3 days after the celebration of the birth of the United States, to enter in red, white, and blue to the song "America the Beautiful". There were some Canadian flags in the crowd a minute ago when Alcine entered, but now there are only American flags (including one worn as a bandanna by Simms) to be seen throughout the crowd. Don King is flashed on the screen waiving a mini-American flag in his right hand and mini-Canadian flag in his left hand and the crowd does not take kindly to the untimely intrusion of The Maple Leaf. Luckily, national anthems are not played for the crowd to be given a chance to boo, and in doing embarrass their country.

The unified rules of boxing are also in effect for this match. The judges keeping official score are from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey (two of them are consistently good and third I haven't seen enough of to know, but only two count). The referee working the match is the excellent, Michael Ortega. That means everything should run smoothly.

Before the match the crowd is chanting that something I cannot make out sucks (it may not have even been Alcine, this crowd is not well mannered). Simms wins round 1, 10-9. The crowd begins to boo the match, with 1 minute to go in round 2, and it was out of respect for the local boxer that they were that patient. With 19 seconds to go in round 2, the referee pauses the action to give a detailed warning to Alcine about not using the veteran trick of stepping on the opponents lead foot, making him unable to move out of the way of a punch. That takes an elite referee to catch and a crafty boxer to try. It casually looks like the two boxers are getting their lead legs crossed, and is very hard to spot as intentional being close to the action without looking down repeatedly with intent to notice that one foot is always landing on top, when the legs are tangling. The warning, is also the most entertaining thing to happen in this match, so far. Simms wins round 2 for doing slightly less of nothing, 10-9. Alcine was also, warned for a clash of heads in round 2. The two boxers lead feet came together 21 times in round 2, which is very hard to do accidentally. Alcine may have generously won round 3 on good body punching, 10-9. Through 3 rounds Simms is ahead on my scorecard, 29-28.

Simms possibly wins round 4 by a whisker shy of not doing anything, 10-9. Watching this match is more unpleasant, then if the time had been spent by a creepy doctor doing the turn your head and cough test for the last 12 minutes. Alcine may actually be stepping on Simms' lead foot accidentally as part of bad footwork, because the challenger is standing on the foot too long and getting hit himself, by being stuck in range standing on Simms' foot. The other possibility, is Alcine could be really bad at the trick and experimenting with it at a poor time, which is what I am inclined to believe with the referee's warning. The boxers' lead feet touched 39 times in round 3 and 25 more times in round 4. Before round 4 begins, the referee calls both boxers to the center of the ring to admonish them about rough tactics. Simms wins round 5, 10-9. The crowd is still being exceedingly patient with this match for the most part, after being brutal to everything else before the bell rang. With 2:24 to go in round 6, Alcine is deducted 1 point for hitting as the referee was breaking up the boxers from a clinch. The call is correct, because Alcine did throw a punch late on the break. It was a weak left hand that was very hard to see in real time, and did no damage. Taking the point away might be a little extreme, but the referee has issued numerous warning for rough tactics, and is trying to get this match back under control, makes the deduction understandable. Anything that would turn this into a clean boxing match, with any action, would be a welcome change. This round is difficult to score, but with the point deduction it may scored even, 9-9. Through 6 rounds, Simms is ahead on my scorecard, 58-55. Press row scoring through 6 rounds has it all for Simms: 58-55, 59-54, 59-54. Bernstein has it for Simms, 60-53, after 6 rounds. Both boxers have only scored 2 knockouts after round 6, meaning this match is probably going the distance at this point.

Round 7 is actually good, and Simms wins it, 10-9. Simms is holding almost every time the bigger Alcine gets close, and is very close to losing a point for it. Finally, after the holding by Simms had gotten ridiculously out of control in round 8, with 1:14 to go in round 8, Simms is penalized 1 point for holding. Simms' holding was so out of hand that the announcers were starting to call for a point deduction during the round a minute earlier. Simms is angry and protests the call, which the announcers point out he has absolutely no grounds to do. A boxer cannot be completely unaware they are grabbing their opponent, frequently. Simms manages to hold 5 times in the last minute of the round after the action is restarted from the first point deduction and escapes without another point being deducted, but more warnings. Alcine wins round 8, 10-8. It is very good they have a top referee in the ring tonight, because this match is getting out of control, and with a less capable referee, very bad things could happen. After round 8, all three unofficial scores at press row and my scorecard have Simms ahead, 76-74.

With 1:54 to go in round 9, Simms right glove goes down to the canvas from what appears to be the rebound effect of Simms' own straight left hand punch connecting with Alcine's face. On a replay, it shows that there was a left jab landed by Alcine, then Simms' began the turn to throw his left hand after being hit. Simms then continued through with the shoulder turn until his glove stopped him from hitting the mat. In real time it looked like the knockdown was a follow through of the left, but on replay it is clear he is actually going down from Alcine's left jab. The referee with the help of some people with very good vision at ringside correctly rule it a knockdown. This took several minutes of DVR slow motion replays to figure out and accurately describe what happened, but the officials in Connecticut had it figured out in 7 seconds. The announcers on Showtime were incredulous that this was ruled a knockdown on first viewing, but the officials in Connecticut are great. Simms is telling the referee that he is not hurt, but went down from a slip, which is half true. That is the first time Simms has been knocked down in his career either as a pro or amateur. Alcine has now gotten more aggressive, believing Simms is hurt.  Round 9 goes to Alcine, 10-8. After 9 rounds, my scorecard has the match even, 84-84. On replay, from multiple view points it is clear the knockdown call was correct. Simms may have tripped slightly falling down, but that was caused by a punch, making it a knockdown.

To start round 10, Simms switches to boxing out of the orthodox stance. Alcine wins round 10, 10-9. The challenger is now leading on my scorecard despite only winning one of the first seven rounds of the match, 94-93. Press row scoring has Alcine ahead on two scorecards at this point, 94-93, and 94-93, with the other card having it even, 94-94. Bernstein, while not disclosing his exact score, stated he had Simms up by 2 points, after round 10. With 2:41 to go in round 11, Simms goes down to the mat in push-up position, because of a slip on the painted portion of the canvas, that has become wet from hours of boxers sweating on it. The fall is correctly ruled a slip, and the action is quickly restarted. Round 11 is very hard to score, and could go either way. Simms may win round 11, barely, 10-9. With the last round left my scorecard has the match even, 103-103. Press row scoring through 11 rounds has it with two scorecards for Alcine, 104-103, and 104-102. The final press row scorer has it even, 103-103.

Alcine has gone 12 rounds 3 times, before this match. Simms has gone a full 12 rounds, only once before this match. The champion begins round 12 boxing out of the orthodox stance, which worked very poorly for him, when he tried it in round 10. Alcine is able to score effectively with the left jab, against an orthodox Simms. Round 12 is very hard to score, again. Simms may have done enough to win round 12, 10-9 and the match on my scorecard, 113-112. Bernstein, also gave Simms a 1 point victory. Almost any score for this match can be reasonably justified with how even most of the rounds were. The crowd booed the end of the match, but a lot of it was directed in frustration at the hometown boxer for his poor performance. The crowd members who did not consider booing any portion of this match, should be given some strong coffee and told they do not have to go home, but they do have to leave the building, because the show is over.

The official decision as read by the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr., after a long wait to add up these very complex scorecards: 114-111, 115-110, 116-109, all for the winner by unanimous decision and new WBA Super Welterweight Champion, Joachim "Ti-Joa" Alcine. The win moves Alcine to 29-0, with 18 of those wins coming by way of knockout. The scores are a little wide, but the decision is not controversial. Simms boxed very poorly and had numerous mental lapses that gave away rounds and what turned out to be decisive points.

After the match, Simms said that he hurt his hand in round 2. Simms said he felt something crack after throwing an overhand right, and of course, that he would like a rematch. That is not going to be a rematch fans are demanding be put together immediately (or ever), though. Simms worked in all of these comments around, not making any excuses and that he does not regret calling Alcine, "nothing more really then a glorified sparring partner" in comments before the match. The former champion actually took audacity to a new level, and despite being knocked down for the first time in his career, stood by his previous comments. At that point, Jim Gray held an arm up to keep Alcine back, and one of Alcine's people also, put an arm in front of the new champion, before he did something unwise. Gray then asks the obvious question, including that he has all due respect for Simms, but if Alcine is just a glorified sparring partner, what does that make Simms? Simms says he is still a champion, but tonight was Alcine's night. He has no excuses and did not underestimate Alcine, but he was off tonight and he hurt his hand in round 2, so he could not land his punches effectively (that never hurt Alcine even early in the match). At this point its amazing anyone fits in the ring with Simms and his giant grapefruits, if he actually believes, or expects anyone to believe anything coming out of his mouth at this point. Simms disputes the knockout blaming it on moisture on the canvas and saying he was never hit with a punch. He said the referee needed to use better judgment, when pressed on the point that his glove hit the canvas.

In Alcine's post match interview he said he prepared poorly for this match. The new champion did not feel he sparred properly in preparation for the match and did not watch any videotapes of Simms in action, which contributed to the slow start. Alcine is classy in victory, being respectful of the former champion and saying for his part all of the harsh words are behind them and that he respects Simms. The first Haitian boxing world champion says the referee did a good job (Ortega did a great job). When asked about future plans, Don King found himself near the microphone. Alcine has an accurate assessment of his place in the division, not at the top, but able to compete with some of the best in the division. King suggested a possible title unification match with Cory Spinks, which is hype and not going to happen soon.

All three judges scored rounds 7 through 12 in favor of Alcine. The unofficial press row scoring had it: 113-113, 113-112 for Alcine, and 113-112 for Simms, which is how I scored it, much closer then the official scores.

Simms after this match needs to reassess a lot of things, before he competes again. His strategy throughout the match was inconsistent and showed a lack of focus and mental discipline. This may mean he needs to change trainers, or make some self modifications to not let future matches slip away. The post match promo sounded several steps along the road to Iron Sheik crazy. From a business standpoint Simms is a mess. Simms had a 27 month layoff, because he could not get the match that he wanted, not because he was banned from competing. When reinstated with his title in August to get the match he wanted, that match waited until January. Then in his attempt to stay very active and make as much money as possible, he had a 6 month layoff before his next match. Simms may need to remove his wife as manager, and replace her with someone more credentials. There are firms that may be better at negotiating directly with King and at least keep Simms more active. It is unclear what the exact force is controlling Simms' career, but it is not doing a very good job and has very little time to get it on track, before Simms' age catches up with him.

This was a really strange event. The crowd went from Philadelphia Eagle football game disrespectful, to in church respectful of the, at times unwatchable, main event. The winners were all huge upsets. Alcine has not shown that elite potential, but his upset over a reigning champion in his hometown is a big win, and very important historically. Whether the awful first 6 rounds of the main event are worth getting through for the better final six rounds and historic finish (with crazy promo bonus feature) is a judgment call.