Top of Utah heavyweight Gary Cobia to fight former world champ Oliver McCall

 

Despite turning 51, Top of Utah heavyweight boxer Gary Cobia has stayed fit. He's 6 foor 4 inches tall and weights 260 pounds. His last professional fight was in 2015; that same year he scored a win on the undercard of the Mitt Romney versus Evander Holyfield exhibition "boxing match." 

Gary earned a decision win that night, knocking his durable opponent, Fred Spitzenberg, down. After his next fight, a loss to fellow Utahn Jesse West, Cobia retired. He'd enjoyed an extended amateur and pro career. But the fight game never left him and, as mentioned, he was looking for another chance.

And got an extraordinary opportunity. On Tuesday, February 4, in Nashville, Tenn, at the Texas Troubadour Theater, Cobia, who lives in Clearfield, meets former world heavyweight champion Oliver McCall. Thirty years ago, McCall shocked the world by scoring a second-round TKO over Lennox Lewis. He defended the title once before losing it to Frank Bruno. McCall stayed in the heavyweight picture for a couple of decades before retiring. Now, at the age of 59, he is attempting his own comeback. A few months ago he stopped veteran heavyweight Stacy Frazier.

I recently interviewed Cobia, (Seen above, at left, with his trainer, Denys Chernei, a former Ukrainian amateur boxer.) We talked about about his upcoming bout with McCall.  

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How did this opportunity to fight Oliver McCall come about?

Cobia: The opportunity came up when I reached out to his manager, Jimmy Adams, to see if Oliver had opponents. I watched his last fight with Stacy Frazier and after the fight Oliver stated he was going to fight regularly.

When did you start thinking, I'd like to start boxing again?

Cobia: I went through a rough divorce and was dealing with raising my children and I always wanted to redeem myself from my last fight in Wendover. My children are older and in a better place, so that provided a better opportunity now!

Tell  us about your training, and your trainer? Where are you training? 

Cobia: My training consists of alternating days endurance and strength, and then boxing techniques and boxing stamina! A lot of times we just train at VASA in the aerobics room or ar my house in the garage! (I have seen live footage of Gary training with Denys, and the photo above was taken at another gym, Junction City Boxing, in Riverdale.)

Do you have a particular strategy against McCall?

Cobia: Yes, we do have a strategy for McCall. It's' to let him be the aggressor in the first three rounds, I need to move and counter off his punches and just win by (scoring) more points. We're hoping him being (near) 60 years old, after three rounds he may start to tire and then start making mistakes. I'm hoping to capitalize on those mistakes. But, at the end of the day, anything can happen. (The bout is scheduled for six rounds)

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Despite being the younger fighter in the upcoming bout, Cobia acknowledges 51 is a late age for boxing. But the LDS Church Sunday School teacher is in shape, and boasts an impressive physical appearance.

"But I look like I'm 30 because I keep the Word of Wisdom," he said with a smile.

Johansson boxing biography hearkens back to a different culture

 

Review by Doug Gibson

It’s probably a safe bet that if you’re not a pretty strong boxing fan, the name Ingemar Johansson will escape you. He’s mostly forgotten today, but nearly 60 years ago he was more than a sports star. He was a cultural icon. A husky, 200-pound Swede who swooped into staid America for a couple of years with an estranged wife in Sweden and a girlfriend, Birgit Lundgren, on his arm … and in his bedroom suite.

And, of course, he had a strong right cross punch, one he used to KO Floyd Patterson in the third round and briefly hold the world heavyweight boxing championship. Ingemar was extremely likeable, and America warmed to him. He was on TV often, on “What’s My Line,” Jackie Gleason’s show, and more; he even had substantial roles in a couple of motion pictures. 

As author Ken Brooks reminds readers in “Ingemar Johansson: Swedish Heavyweight Boxing Champion” (McFarland), 1959, the year Ingemar KOd Patterson, was an era where a heavyweight boxing championship fight was the biggest event in sports. It was global, bigger than an NFL championship. There was an electricity of excitement that moved through crowds, radio broadcasts, closed-circuit telecasts, newsrooms and wire services. As Brooks notes, for older sports fans, the night Ingemar won his title was the first time Howard Cosell was a broadcaster for a fight. Forget Ingemar for a moment; who remembers Cosell?

Continue reading this review at the Standard-Examiner StandardNET website. 

Utah heavyweight Olguin scores win on Top Rank TV card

In Las Vegas tonight, (June 23, 2020) South Jordan, Utah heavyweight Helaman Olguin (above right) scored a six-round majority decision win over Adam Stewart in a bout that was televised on ESPN, and promoted by Top Rank.

It was a good win for Olguin, 8-3, who has resurrected a career -- that started 2-3 -- with six wins in 15 months, including a promotional Utah heavyweight title belt. I suspect Top Rank thought that the tall Arizona boxer, 231-pound Stewart, 8-1-1, would get the win over Olguin, 290 pounds.

But Olguin, frankly, was more ring smart in the bout against his opponent, who hadn't fought in more than 400 days. Stewart had the edge in the first round, but Olguin controlled the majority of rounds two through five. In the earlier middle rounds he got inside Stewart's reach and pounded away. Later, as he tired, Olguin calmly outboxed Stewart, catching him with counters. The South Jordan southpaw often nailed Stewart with a looping left hand.

Stewart rallied in the final round as Olguin tired but he never was able to use his jab to effectively land hard shots against Olguin.

I scored the bout 58-57 for Olguin, giving him rounds 2, 4 and 5. I scored the third even. One judge scored the bout 57-57; the other two scores were 58-56 Olguin.

The bout was competitive and would make a good rematch, perhaps in Utah for the state heavyweight championship.

Fight highlights are here.