50 - year - old Mark "The Hammer" Weinman knows something about comebacks; both the sweet and the ugly. This past Sept.7th in Tampa, Fla, Weinman returned to the ring after a near 21-year absence - a record for the longest time between fights in boxing history, and scored a second round KO over 32- year- old Elvis Martinez in a middleweight contest.
But there is also the not so pretty side to an earlier Weinman comeback attempt, this taking place way back on Sept. 20th 1991. Weinman was then a highly touted Jr. middleweight prospect out of New York who racked up 11 straight victories with 9 ko's employing a vicious body attack on his opponents before suffering back-to-back defeats in 1987. Entering the ring after a four-year absence Weinman was stopped by Kevin Prather in the 4th round. "I know how Ricky Hatton feels, says Weinman. I made a mistake back then in picking Prather as my first fight on my comeback. Prather was no great shakes but he was an active boxer from Kevin Rooney's stable and came to fight. I got dropped in the first round, got up but was never able to get un-tracked in the bout. Four years out of the ring seemed like an eternity. My timing was way off and the pace I guess was too much for me.
"Ricky Hatton made a big mistake in picking Senchenko for his comeback. He was the absolute wrong opponent for a guy like Hatton.
"Hatton is a good little scrapper, but he's really not a true welterweight to begin with. He needed to pick a guy who couldn't punch and would fold when he got nailed. So who does he choose? A very durable Ukrainian who's never been stopped and can bang a little bit too. Hatton's team should have never allowed him to go ahead with Senchenko."
So how does Weinman explain his success this time around being out of the ring not 4 years, but 21 years?
"First of all I trained over a year for my this comeback and boxed some 600+ rounds. My manager, Steve Tannenbaum and I worked very closely and put a lot of thought into the right type of guy for me to fight.
"I didn't want to go in with a very busy fighter in my first bout. Luckily the fight went according to script and I banged Martinez out early. I feel bad for Hatton, he's got such a big fan base and the pressure fighting in front of 20,000 people doesn't always help you even if they are on your side. But the big mistake here again was picking Senchenko. After 3 1/2 years out of the ring, that's a lot of wood to chop for Hatton.
"Maybe down the road Hatton could have fought him but you don't go in there with a natural welterweight and such a well conditioned and durable guy like Senchenko.
"Hatton's come-forward style was made for Senchenko. If I were Hatton I would try it one more time because he was clearly winning the fight. But next time come back with a couple of easy bouts with guys that can't punch and then you can take on the big boys a little bit down the road."