I find the career trajectory/tragedy of Kassim Ouma as fascinating as I do puzzling and tough to get my mind around. I am curious to know what the rest of you make of his unlikely successes and even more unlikely failures as a fighter... After a childhood as a traumatized and grossly neglected boy soldier in Uganda, Ouma ends up finding refuge in Florida and starts off his career with a bang, rattling off a streak of ko victories until the pedestrian augustin silva stops him in the first round after flooring him three times (three knockdown rule, but he was in bad shape). Then he goes right on to tear through Alex Bunema, then undefeated Kuvanych Toygonbaev, Verno Philips (twice), Angel Hernandez, Carlos Bojorquez and Kofi Jantuah...all good figthers, at least...picking up the ibf 154-pound strap and defending it along the way. The only interruption was a late tko victory changed to a no decision because Ouma tested positive for marijuana after the fight. What did you make of The Dream at this point? Looking like he is going to stay at the top of the division for a while, Ouma goes right out and gets beaten from parcel to post by a tough, unusually determined, seemingly refreshed Roman Karmazin. After the fight Ouma says he was feeling flu-ish and under the weather on fight night. But no rematch ever comes of it. What do you make of it? After the loss to Karmazin, Ouma came back, battling tooth and nail to get by Marco Antonio Rubio and getting another tough decision over then undefeated Sechew Powell along the way. Then he moves up to middleweight to challenge Jermain Taylor for two titles and gives Jermain a surprisingly competitive fight, giving as good as he got on the inside and throwing off Taylor's timing. Taylor was the clear winner, but Ouma gave a heck of a show for a former welterweight who gave away so much reach and height. What did you think Ouma's future looked like at this point? Then it all came unraveled. Ouma dropped his next two fights, fought at junior-middleweight, to the okay, at best, Saul Roman and the hideously pedestrian Cornelius Bundrage, respectively. Including his last fight, a win over the quickly becoming a professional loser Martinus Clay, Ouma only fought three times in two years plus. He is scheduled to fight Troy Browning, another barely-capable opponent with a padded record in the middle of April...what do you see Ouma doing from this point onward in his career? Is he finished? Or is there hope for The Dream to stay alive, so to speak, and get back into the world title picture?
Like most boxer who come from rags to riches they lose there motivation. I doubt he'll ever be the same as he was in his hay day. Think it was holyfield who coined the phrase.....its hard to train when you wake up in silk pyjamas (something like that but cant remember the exact phrase)
I was really surprised also at how his career unfolded. When I saw him fight Karmazin I was shocked as hell. He had looked unbeatable, had an 80-100 punches a round workrate, a rock hard chin, extreme stamina. Then Karmazin kicked his ass. I was surprised at the Taylor fight, he gave Taylor a hard night, and I figured he was back to his old self, would move back down to 154. I wrote him off after the loss to K9.
