HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley has a real gift for brevity: He can tell you everything you need to know about a boxer in just a couple of sentences. And I think a comment he made before Saturday night's Chad Dawson-Antonio Tarver fight demonstrates that beautifully."Zsolt Erdei has held a title belt for quite some time," Lampley said. "At 30-0, he is probably the least respected, most ignored unbeaten longtime title holder in the history of the sport."
That's quite a distinction, isn't it? And I think Lampley is absolutely right: Erdei, the WBO light heavyweight champion, is unknown even to serious boxing fans in the United States. Erdei has been on Ring Magazine's list of the Top 10 light heavyweights in boxing for more than five years, but I would bet that if he attended Saturday night's Dawson-Tarver fight, he could have strolled through the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas without anyone asking him for an autograph.
It's a bad thing for boxing that a guy like Erdei can make it this far in his career without taking on the likes of a Dawson or a Tarver, or Joe Calzaghe or Bernard Hopkins or Glen Johnson, but that's the way boxing works. The best win on Erdei's record is his 2005 split decision over Hugo Garay. Erdei's record is thin, and because of that Lampley is right: Erdei is an undefeated champion who is easy to ignore.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-11-2009 @ 9:46PM
Tibor Nagy said...
None of the "great names" wants to fight with him...big risk and little money.
His only fault he is European and difficult to beat.
Come on, prove the opposite or stop saying unclever things.
Furthermore, he can't pick his opponents himself. His promoter decides in everything.
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5-12-2009 @ 4:39AM
Dogmeat said...
"easy to ignore". Aye. Until his fist is in your face.. Pretty lame article. Get more information before you write stupidity mate.
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5-13-2009 @ 1:39PM
o0soul said...
MDS, is it the fault of boxing for the fault of Eridei's promoters? They guy has no name, Calzaghe, Hopkins, Mosley, Taylor anyone that could give the guy a run or beat him isn't interested cause there's no money in it. This is the fault of his promoter, if he biggest fight was against a guy that is equally as unknown to the general public then his management is to blame. Guy needs to talk more trash and call people out, stand up and be heard. Hell, Tarver just lost, this would be his chance to get a belt he'd probably be game. Erdei's management needs to make that fight happen. Yeah, Tarver isn't exactly what he was but at least Erdei could pretend to be relevant with that fight.
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