This writer recently did a Q&A on Philadelphia Super Middleweight Jesse “Hollywood” Hart, 25-1 (21). A year ago he challenged for the WBO title against champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, then 35-0. He lost on points by 115-112 twice and 114-113 having been knocked down in the second round that may have cost him the fight or even a draw.
Hart said that Webster agreed to go to camp at $1,000/wk being a southpaw to ready him for southpaw Ramirez. Webster never showed up per Hart. Top Rank promotes Hart and when they have contacted Webster and his camp to fight Hart they “never get a reply”. Hart defeated Webster twice in the amateurs. I did a story on Webster years ago and he claimed to be 38-2 in the amateurs. I witnessed one of those loses and the decision was a fair one.
In looking over Webster’s opponents some things stand out such as having never fought a ranking contender though fighting since 2009 and now having 29 fights. The only possible contender was his loss to then 15-0 Russian Arif Magomedov, for the vacant WBO NABO Middleweight Title back in July of 2015. Philadelphia boxer Dhafir “No Fear” Smith told this writer prior to the fight “they should have never taken the Russian. He is going to knock out Webster”. After the fight Smith called and said “I lost $50 on that fight since Webster went the distance”. Upon telling Webster this he told me “don’t call or email me anymore!” Talk about killing the messenger. We have had conversation since but not on a friendly basis on his part.
Webster is 6:04 and at 168 lbs. He has fought middleweight in 4 of those 29 bouts at 160 with one in his fourth fight and one prior to the loss which was against hapless William Johnson 10-40-2, in of all things a 6 round bout stopping Johnson in the 5th round.
On paper Webster’s biggest win based on an opponent’s record he KO’d in one round Obodai Sal, of Ghana, and we all know boxers from Ghana and Dominican Republic have record builders in their couintries or in other words stiffs to build up their records and Sal was one of them. In his 23 wins 15 of those opponents never won a fight.
Quite a few of Webster’s opponents have been brought in from outside of the country in places such as in his last 4 opponents like Colombia, Australia, Mexico and again Colombia. Others were from Ghana twice, Puerto Rico twice and Cuba via FL.
Webster is a very good boxer. He is not a crowd pleaser and that isn’t just my opinion. In covering his fight with Sherrington who had lost 4 of his previous 6 fights Webster boxed his ears off for 7 rounds before opening up and stopping him in the eighth. It seems to be a pattern for Webster not to take a chance until his opponent is near out on his feet before going for the knockout. It’s nothing to have the fans boo him up until that point.
Webster hasn’t knocked an opponent out since Sal back in November of 2014. He had 5 technical stoppages after that. Of his 14 stoppages in 28 wins he only has 3 knockouts and two of them were in his seventh and eighth fights back in 2011. One was over Jose Medina who was 15-20 having been knocked out 15 times and the other Louis Robinson 2-3-1. Like with Sherrington he opens up with a flurry and the referee steps in to stop a fight having 11 technical wins by stoppage.
In Webster’s 29 fights 16 of his opponents had winning records, 9 losing records and 4 even records. He has gone from 46 to 36 in the IBO rankings since his next to last victory. He is ranked No. 4 in the USBA but 6 of the US boxers ranked in their higher IBF rankings are not in the USBA rankings. Otherwise Webster might be No. 10. Hart is No. 4 in the WBC, No. 1 in the WBO and ranked No. 8 in the IBF but not the WBA for some reason. He even knocked out the USBA’s No. 6 ranked boxer in his last fight in August and is still not ranked in the USBA.
Hart and Webster this time last year were managed by the same people at D&D Management Doc Nowicki and Dave Price. Knowing that years ago I said Webster and Hart were on a collision course but it never developed and at the time being with D&D I wrote now they don’t have to fight one another. Both are no longer under the management to D&D.
Last Friday in Philadelphia near-by Upper Darby boxer Brandon Robinson, 11-1 won his eleventh straight fight and announced after his win “I want to fight Derrick Webster for the No. 5 spot in the IBF. It is nothing personal just business. I know I can beat him”. Neither boxer is ranked in the IBF so maybe Robinson meant the USBA since Webster is No.4 there and Robinson No. 15.
A knowledgeable boxing person recently said “Webster is 36 years old and still fighting club fighters so what’s his point?” Prior to Webster’s loss he had six straight 6 round bouts. He still had a 4 round bout in his ninth bout. After his one loss he fought Lenwood Dozier, 9-10-2 winning a 6 round decision. Prior to this Dozier was 0-5-1 and 1-9 since losing to Webster and now 10-20-2 being stopped 7 times. Five fights ago Webster defeated Lamar Harris 9-13-4 in 2 rounds in an 8 round bout.
This writer wasn’t able to witness Webster’s last bout though being the only writer to attend the Dee Lee Press Conference last Wednesday and the only writer at the event until Webster made a false accusation toward me and had me thrown out before the event started. They say “innocent until proven guilty in America” but this writer never had a chance to face my accuser, Webster. Last year he complained to this writer at a press conference “you never write anything good about me”. So, I did this piece to see “just how good is Derrick Webster?”