Fres Oquendo-Doomed to get screwed

[BoztheMadman]

In the newer history of boxing, there are few guys who have been robbed by the judges as many times as Fres Oquendo. This is a fact. This talented Puerto Rican heavyweight, along with John Ruiz the only notable of the PR heavyweights and one of the very few notable Latin American heavyweights in history, has lost 8 times officially, but half of those losses were due to bad decisions. He is currently inactive and it is likely that the fight in 2014 against Ruslan Chagaev was his last. With 319 rounds, he is the second most experienced heavyweight after Wladimir Klitschko, of the ranked heavyweights in history.

 

Fres Oquendo, also known as Fast Fres and Big O, was born 1 April 1973 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but lives in Chicago, Illinois, where he relocated before he started boxing. He started his boxing career in 1989, winning the Chicago Park District super middleweight title. Next year he won the light heavyweight Springfield Golden Gloves and in 1992 the Chicago City Golden Gloves, also as a light heavyweight. However, next year he became the super heavyweight champion at the same tournament and also the national Golden Gloves heavyweight champion. He again won the GG at super heavyweight in 1995. His amateur record is 105-5. He turned professional on 10 May 1997 and beat his first opponent by TKO 3. He posted a record of 10-0 with 7 knockouts before facing his first true test in form of Duncan Dokiwari. Dokiwari was 12-0 and as the 1996 bronze medallist in Atlanta was highly touted, but Oquendo the underdog surprised everyone when he put him down once in the 5th round and cruised to a unanimous 6-round decision, on 16 January 1999. It was considered an upset. He then beat the durable trialhorse Everett Martin by UD6 and former Lennox Lewis-challenger Phil Jackson by UD10, as well as Bert Cooper by the same result. All fights took place in 1999, a good year for the Fast Fres. At 6'2 and never weighing much above 220, he was considered a rather small heavyweight for the era, but he was equipped with excellent boxing skills, a good chin and decent punching power. In June 2000 he faced the Cuban Ramon Garbey, a decorated amateur, in a fight where both guys were down once, but Oquendo prevailed by a clear decision.

 

But his first true upset and triumph came in March 2001 against then-undefeated Clifford Etienne, a highly-touted puncher who had defeated Lamon Brewster and then-undefeated Lawrence Clay Bey. Once again, the underdog from Puerto Rico surprised everyone when he turned the beefy but slow Etienne into a canvas bag, putting him down no less than seven times and stopping him in the 8th round. All the knockdowns came from overhand rights. In his next fight in September, Oquendo beat Obed Sullivan, a decent contender, by TKO 11 to capture the NABF title. Sullivan had previously gone 9 rounds against Vitali Klitschko, so it was a rather big accomplishment. But in December, he achieved an even bigger triumph when he stopped the dangerous and tough David Izon in only 3 rounds, giving him a one-sided beating before the fight was over at the end of the 3rd. Oquendo landed 60 punches to Izon's 9. This victory and the NABF belt gave him his first great fight against David "Tuaman" Tua, a Samoan bulldozer of a fighter, on 13 April 2002. Even though Oquendo was taller by about 4 inches, Tua was very good at overcoming and reducing height disadvantages and he gradually wore Oquendo down, stopping him by TKO in the 9th round after a brave fight. Oquendo was given 2 rounds by two of the judges. He then didn't fight for 8 months before returning in December and beating the Brazilian George Arias by TKO 11, after Arias got a bad eye cut. With that he won the WBA Fedelatin title, which made him a mandatory for the WBA title. But first, he scored a sensational knockout against underrated Maurice Harris, after first knocking him down in the 4th. He nailed him with the same combination that first put him down, a left hook to the head and overhand right, in the 10th. He had been slightly behind on the scorecards before that. The fight was aired on HBO.

 

He was then given a chance to win the IBF belt against the slick and small heavyweight Chris Byrd, on 20 September 2003. The fight was held at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut and the faster Byrd got off to a good start early and controlled the pace, but in the middle rounds Oquendo's counterpunching skills came to the fore and threw Byrd off his game. He stunned Byrd with several stinging jabs, but Byrd's defensive skills prevented him from getting Byrd into too much trouble. In the late rounds, Oquendo seemed to tire and Byrd closed strong, taking a unanimous decision with rather too-wide scores, mostly. Also, a knockdown in the last round was judged to be a slip, depriving Oquendo an extra point, even though the replay showed Byrd might have tripped over Big O's feet. "He hardly hit me," Oquendo later said, "I was the aggressor." Byrd gave him a lot credit but denied he was ever really hurt. Having failed in his first attempt to win a world title, some thought he might succee the second time when he signed to fight John "The Quietman" Ruiz. 17 April 2004 was the first and so far the only time in history two Puerto Ricans and Latinos fought in a heavyweight world title bout. It was a fight marked by Ruiz's ugly style with grabbing and clinching. Fast Fres was the better of the two for much of the fight, but in the late rounds Ruiz came on strong and stopped him in the 11th round. He then took 2 years off after having surgery to repair a torn labrum (a shoulder rubbery tissue) before returning in 2006. After beating Daniel Bispo by TKO 9 and Javier Mora by UD10, he signed to fight Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield on 10 November. Holyfield himself co-promoted the fight, which was unusual and hardly fair on Oquendo. Fast Fres opened best in the early seconds of the first round and surprised Holyfield with a quick right to the head. He seemed to be in control until he suddenly got caught with a big right hand on the temple and he went down, but got up and shook off the blow, obviously frustrated. In the 6th round, he was hit by a punch below the belt and again went down, but the referee scored it as a legit knockdown! In the end, Oquendo was the better man while Holyfield struggled to land many punches, while he got stunned late in the fight. In the end, the scorecards were 116-111 and 114-113 twice, all for Holyfield. "It was robbery," Fres said, "I thought it should have been unanimous. Unanimous in my favor. I beat him fair and square. I boxed his ears off but I didn't get it." CompuBox stats showed Oquendo landed 154 punches to only 92 for Holyfield, supporting his claim of robbery. But it didn't help get him the victory, of course.

 

Sadly, that was just the first of several robberies Oquendo would be a victim of. After beating Elieser Castillo and Dominique Alexander, in 2008 he fought against James Toney and it was another ugly fight, filled with clinches and shoving. Oquendo hurt Toney in the 11th but failed to finish off the iron-chinned former champion. Most boxing writers had Oquendo winning by 116-112, but of the judges, only Tony Crebs saw it similarly, 116-110 for Big O, while the other two gave the fight to Toney with 114-113 and 115-112. With that, Toney unjustly won the WBO NABO and IBA titles. Oquendo continued fighting and among others beat the aging former WBA champion Bruce Seldon on his comeback run, knocking him out in 9. In early 2010 he also won the minor USBA title by halting Demetrice King after 9 rounds, by corner retirement. It was then that perhaps his worst robbery would occur, while fighting the former unified cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormeck of France, in May same year. The fight was in Mormeck's homeland and there were no officials but the French ones there. According to reports, Oquendo won 8 rounds but was denied the victory which unanimously went to Mormeck, 96-94 and 95-94 twice. At the end of the year, he fought against the aging but still game Oliver "Atomic Bull" McCall and again was on the end of a disputed split decision after 12 rounds.

 

He would score a few minor victories after that, stopping Joey Abbell and tough journeyman Robert Hawkins and decisioning Derrick Rossy, before his last fight against Ruslan Chagaev on 6 July 2014. It was for the vacant WBA title and his final chance to win that big prize, but once again he was denied of it. Oquendo almost didn't fight after his wife and newborn sick child were put in intensive care unit, but he still flew to Grozny to fight. Sadly, after losing the fight by majority decision, he tested positive for two banned substances, which effectively spelled the end to his unsatisfying and long career. It was an unworthy farewell for a top class fighter and a class act. His record now stands at 37(24)-8-0.

Edited May 18, 2016 by BoztheMadman

[Javier Ortega Nieto]

Re: Fres Oquendo-Doomed to get screwed

 

It is true that it has not been lucky in some of the decisions of the judges, but Oquendo is also one of the boxers with more opportunities without merit to dispute some important titles.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Fres Oquendo-Doomed to get screwed

 

It is true that it has not been lucky in some of the decisions of the judges, but Oquendo is also one of the boxers with more opportunities without merit to dispute some important titles.

 

Not true. He didn't get enough opportunities I think. Or, he didn't get enough of those fights.