CHICAGO – Through the magic of television, Randy Suico’s fight at the Lyons Center inside the campus of the University of Southern California (USC) was beamed live in the comfort of my Windy City living room last night.
Unfortunately, Telefutura carried the telecast and its play-by-play exclusively in Spanish. Naturally, I was lost. I felt like a tourist asking for directions in the middle of traffic in Tel Aviv.
But hey, after pressing the mute in my remote control, holding a pen in my left hand, and bending my right elbow with a tall glass of rum and Coke, I did just fine. After all, this was TV where a picture paints a thousand words.
As it turned out, though, the language barrier was the least of my inconveniences. Watching Randy Suico, a good kid and good friend, go down in defeat was hard on the eyes, difficult to the emotions.
I covered Suico’s US debut last Sept. 13, 2002 at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where he KO’d Juan Carlos Garcia in four violent rounds. While cheering for him last night, I had expected Randy to showcase the same deadly power that had skyrocketed him to semi-stardom on that beautiful Friday night three years ago.
But unlike Garcia, who kept moving forward like a battered wife, Suico’s foe last night wasn’t willing to dance with danger by going toe-to-toe. Javier Jauregui is a different animal. He wasn’t just smart, the 32-year-old veteran from Guadalajara was slippery as oil, and more elusive than a tax evader.
Suico chased Jauregui all night, and it all went for naught.
There were times when the Mexican looked older than dirt, but Suico couldn’t capitalize. Every time he charged forward, the wily Javier deftly slipped to the side. And every time Suico swung to the side, Jauregui lurked at the curve, darting Randy with wicked lefts and razor sharp upper cuts.
In short, Jauregui was a 10-round puzzle Randy just couldn’t solve.
It wasn’t that Randy was slow. By golly, he was at times faster than lightning. But Suico was tentative, especially in the first five rounds, and when the Mandauehanon pumped up the volume late in the bout, it was already a little late.
By then, the Mexican had piled up the points and all he needed to do was to backpedal and safely slap his way to an easy majority decision.
NEAT BOXING LESSON. The good thing for Suico is that he wasn’t really beat, he was just outfought. He wasn’t hurt, but was taught a neat lesson in boxing.
The bad thing here is that regardless of the manner of losing, Suico did lose and would likely fall down from the rankings, where he is currently ranked No.5 among WBC’s super-featherweights.
Coming into the fight, Suico, 26, was deemed by many as a threat to Marco Antonio Barrera. I still think “Kumo’ng Bato” belongs up there with the big boys in his division. He just needs more quality opponents and some fine-tuning on defense. Most importantly, Randy Suico needs to be more versatile and not rely exclusively on his might. In boxing, fists of stone don’t always seal the deal. Sometimes, some smarts and a little cunning will do just fine.
E-MAILS ON TABUSE, KAREEM AND PHIL. From Ramon Pepito ([email protected]): “Just curious to know you’re commentaries on the BAP, POC and newly-formed PBF. By the way, what happened to Yuta Tabuse?”
Outside of the hope that we field a team in the Seag, I don’t really care about the BAP-PBF mess.
Anyway, the 5-foot-9, 165-pound Tabuse was waived by the Suns. The 24-year-old Japanese played only a total of four regular season games in the NBA, and in his 17-minute stint he normed 1.8 points and .08 asists per.
Charles Benedict Go (charlesbenedictgo @yahoo.com): “Will Michael Finley make an impact with the Spurs?”
To remove bone chips in his right ankle, Finley had arthroscopic surgery last July. If healthy, this 10-year vet, who averaged 15.7 points and shot 40.7 percent beyond the arc last season as a Mav, will be huge for the Spurs.
Jason Jay Velez ([email protected]): “Can the Kareem-Phil combo work for the purple-and-gold? Can Kwame Brown play against the big men in the West?”
Having Jabbar and Jackson never hurts, it only helps. But for the Lakers to seriously contend, they need help beyond Kobe Bryant.
The 6-11, 243lb Brown belongs in the NBA, and he proved that by scoring 30 points against the Kings last March 7, 2004. Now 23, Kwame just needs to show more maturity and consistency to excel in a world-class setting.
