DURANT, OKLAHOMA – The ancient Greek philosopher “Big” George Foreman liked to say “Fights should answer questions, not raise them.”
As Friday night turned into Saturday morning at the popular Sports City Cafe next to Choctaw Gaming Center in Durant, OK, 26 – year- old heavyweight contender Chauncy Welliver faced this dilemma as never before over a plate of chicken wings.
Earlier Friday night Welliver, 41-5-5 (15 KO’s), of Spokane, WA, earned the World Boxing Council’s Continental Americas heavyweight title as he outpointed spirited journeyman boxer /world kickboxing champion Mike Sheppard over 10 rounds by 9, 8, and 7 rounds respectively by the three judges.
Coming into the fight, which was on the untelevised undercard of the ESPN Friday Nights Fights headlined by the war between Sechew Powell MD -12 Deandre Latimore, Welliver was ranked a “why bother” 40th by the WBC. However the victory should catapult him to somewhere between 12th and 20th when the next ratings come out.
Per standard contractual agreement, Welliver must defend the new title within 90 days which leads to his first dilemma.
He is already ranked No. 13 by the rival World Boxing Organization and already owes them a title defense of his WBO Asia-Pacific title. Another committment is to defend his New Zealand heavyweight title. Usually with a note from a parent or guardian a fighter can ask and get a reasonable delay to take care of outstanding business.
Eventually he is going to have to pick between the more prestigious WBC title and the proven loyal to him WBO though.
Welliver has an excellent business manager in Seattle, WA – based Roland Jankelson to sort through all of this. Jankelson managed former heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas, heavyweight contender Joe Hipp, and junior middleweight challenger Alex Bunema. And he knows a little about putting together huge real estate deals in his spare time.
While we continued to dine at Nick Mehmeti’s Sports City Cafe, a credible promoter involved in the night’s promotion was talking terms regarding Welliver joining his company. A big promoter in Europe also has an offer on the table.
However, Welliver’s bigger dilemma is that while he won the fight Friday night, he didn’t look sharp. He didn’t have his usual zip or pep. He was lethargic. Welliver doesn’t know why and he’s about to enter into the most difficult part of his career as a contender where one bad night could set back your career years.
What I hope was just a joke from Welliver was “I’d be an underdog against Rocky Balboa.”
Was his confidence shot also?
Getting to the bottom of all this wasn’t difficult. Over the last three weeks Welliver dropped 15 lbs to a jiggly but manageable 256 lbs. He claims mostly by dieting and overall better eating while in training. But he needs to see a nutritionist and a conditioning coach by Monday morning. Not long ago he was juggling over 300 lbs.
If Welliver is serious about his career in future tense, he has to change his ways. He can go on being the happy-go-lucky half Native – American, half American boxer and impress people with eye-popping won – loss record while living a decent lifestyle. But the even more eye-popping 15 KO’s is a big question mark.
Does he have the killer instinct? I doubt 15 KO’s in 51 pro fights will instill much fear in the contenders that await him if he wants to take it to the next level.
His obvious “sparring partner” mentality must be replaced with one of getting opponents out of there and then actually doing it.
For any of this to happen Welliver must make the biggest lifestyle change of all. He has to become selfish. He has to become selfish first personally and then professionally. At least for the short term he has to run off the fans, friends, and life’s drama’s that drag him down and sap his strength that he doesn’t even realize yet.
He maybe has a three – year window to possibly pull an upset or two and land a voluntary title shot while the title is splintered three ways as it is today. There is a lot of money to be made in confusion.
He’s 6-2. He can probably trim down to 235 and would have the youth, size, skill and maturity to hang with almost anyone in the division other than the Klitschko brothers. He was stopped once by WBC No. 2 contender Odlanier Solis. He went nine rounds with the Cuban which is more than anyone else. so far. Financial backing, creativity and brains are not a problem with Jankelson running that end of it.
In this “hurt” business I believe Welliver has the heart to give his best effort. To get up if he falls down. But it’s the desire that will make the difference. All indications are yes, he has that desire.
Boxing could only be better for it.
Stacey Verbeek assisted with this story.
