Mormeck breaks down the Big Truck
By "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr. (April 3, 2005)  
Photo © HoganPhotos.com
The fists flew with the fighting Frenchman and WBA Cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormeck 31-2 (21) dominating and dismantling the undefeated record of the WBC champion Wayne Braithwaite 21-1 (17) in a twelve round all out brawl in front of the Centrum Center crowd in Worcester, MA that was featured on Showtime. It was years in the making for both fighters with one coming out the victor and unifying the cruiserweight titles, last accomplished by Evander Holyfield on May 15th 1987 when he knocked out Ricky Parkey for his IBF Cruiserweight title to add to his WBA belt. With the two finally meeting after the fight being moved back just about six months because of a foot injury Mormeck sustained and with two hard-hitting hungry fighters in the ring, it was assuredly going to be a barnburner of an event.

Round one witnessed Bratihwaite landing solid body shots to a slow starting Mormeck, switching from orthodox to southpaw Wayne tried to foil his opponent but in the second round was backed on the ropes with Mormeck landing at will. The two steadily traded as both scored with beautiful body shots but by the fifth Mormeck poured on the punishment landing his vicious right hand establishing his dominance with his unrelenting power that prompted Braithwaite to hold. Round six was more of the same with Mormeck stalking Braithwaite who decided to continue to fight out of the southpaw position, but even with Wayne ending the round with a strong showing it wasn’t enough to stop the massive right hand by Mormeck that sent Braithwaite to the canvas in number seven for the first time in his eight year career and his hundred and nine rounds of fighting.

In round eight after being warned numerous times from referee Dick Flaherty for excessive holding Wayne Braithwaite was penalized for his nonstop transgression, but came back in the closing seconds to finish up big. Nine and ten was again more of the same with the pace slowing down a bit for Mormeck but in the championship rounds he established his jab beating Wayne to the punch and even with the fight out of reach in round twelve Braithwaite clowned around in his losing effort for the win. In the end the judges seen it as many did in Mormeck’s favor with the score of 116-110, 115-111 and 114-112 giving a well deserved win via Unanimous Decision to the new WBC and reigning WBA cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormeck.

This win not only marks its second unified champion in the twenty-five year history of the cruiserweight division, but it establishes a dominant fighter in Mormeck who has now went 5-0 (3) in title fights and has banged out twenty-eight consecutive wins. The forgotten division, a stepping stone for the big guys with twenty-eight moving up to heavyweight with one out of that number becoming a heavyweight champion, ala Evander Holyfield. Mormeck who could eventually get the winner out of the IBF cruiserweight match-up between O’Neil Bell and Dale Brown in May could possibly get a shot at becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champ, but if not, with the young guns making their mark on the division there are some solid fights out there that could be in the mix and heat the division up, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Also on the fight card, the hometown hero Jose Antonio Rivera 37-4-1 (24) lost his WBA Welterweight title to Luis Collazo 25-1 (11) via split decision. And one of the Big Dog’s prospects undefeated cruiserweight Steve Cunningham 17-0 (9) stepped up against the hard hitting fight veteran Guillermo Jones 31-3-2 (24) and continued his winning ways with a Split Decision win over the seasoned vet
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