Geale Latest Aussie To Seek Greater Fame, Fortune In The U.S.

Published

11 years ago

August 15, 2013

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale is the about to become the latest Australian celebrity to attempt to increase his American visibility – and, by extension, his worldwide fame and fortune – by coming to the United States to do his thing.

Hey, it’s a tactic that worked pretty well for actors Errol Flynn, Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman and Paul Hogan, singers Olivia Newton John and Keith Urban, golfer Greg Norman and tennis superstars Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

“I feel very hungry. It’s one thing that I haven’t conquered yet, coming to the U.S. to fight,” said Geale (29-1, 15 KOs), who will be making his American debut Saturday night when he puts his title on the line for the fifth time against England’s Darren Barker (25-1, 16 KOs) at The Revel in Atlantic City, N.J. The fight will be televised live by HBO, as will the taped showing of a defense by WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12 KOs), of Wales, against Russian-born knockout artist Sergey Kovalev (21-0-1, 19 KOs) from Cardiff, Wales.

If the 32-year-old Geale can win convincingly enough, and excitingly enough, in his HBO-televised introduction to American fight fans to whom he remains mostly a rumor, he could be ticketed for high-paying return engagements on these shores. But if it doesn’t work out quite as he and his American promoter, Gary Shaw, are hoping, it wouldn’t be the first time an iconic Australian boxer went home disappointed.

Consider the cautionary tale of Jeff Fenech, a three-time world champion who arrived for his own American premiere with considerably more fanfare than is accompanying Geale’s first working trip to a place where it once was said the streets were lined with gold.

Fenech, whom many Australian boxing experts believe is the finest fighter that country has ever produced, was a 27-year-old sensation, at least in his homeland, when he was brought to Las Vegas for a June 28, 1991, bout with WBC super featherweight champ Azumah Nelson, of Ghana, at The Mirage. It was the primary undercard attraction of a show headlined by the rematch between heavyweight bombers Mike Tyson and Razor Ruddock.

Promoter Don King had signed Fenech, whose attacking, aggressive style had been likened to that of Tyson and Roberto Duran, to a four-fight, $5 million contract. The most Fenech ever had been paid for a night’s work in Australia, where all of his previous 25 bouts had been staged, was around $500,000.

“Americans don’ really know Jeff Fenech,” Fenech said a few days before his ballyhooed showdown with Nelson. “But after this fight, maybe they’ll sit up and take notice.

“I kind of feel like I’m the victim of circumstances. I’ve fought in Australia throughout my career because I wanted to. I would have been perfectly content to have had all the rest of my fights in Australia. But I also recognize that the money’s here in the States. I don’t think I would be paid as much as I am to fight Azumah Nelson in Australia. I’m not sure Australia could afford this fight in any case. I guess I always knew that until I came here, I’d never get the recognition I deserve.”

Unfortunately for Fenech, who went off as a 2-1 favorite, the great Nelson – who, like Fenech, is enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame – retained his title on a draw. The Fenech Victory Tour in the U.S. never materialized; he fought only once more in America in his remaining seven bouts until his retirement in 2008, an eighth-round stoppage of Tialano Tover on Nov. 18, 1995, in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. Two of those final seven fights were rematches with Nelson, both in Australia, with each winning once to leave their series deadlocked at 1-1-1.

It has been much the same story for most if not all of the best native-born Australian boxers. Lionel Rose, Jimmy Carruthers, Les Darcy, Johnny Famechon, Anthony Mundine and Jeff Harding all held world titles at one point or another, but they fought seldom, if ever, in the U.S. and were known here only by hardcore American fans. What about Kostya Tszyu and Vic Darchinyan, you say? Tszyu was based in Australia throughout his pro career but he came from Russia, and the same can be said of Darchinyan, who was Armenian. Even the sainted Fenech, born in Sydney, had Maltese parents.

At 32, Geale is rightly considered to be one of the best 160-pounders on the planet. But he is less known here, and everywhere, than WBC champion Sergio Martinez, of Argentina, and WBA titlist Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KOs), who is from Kazakhstan but lives in Germany. Martinez also has the advantage of having fought 14 times in the U.S. and Golovkin three times, a good many of Martinez’s appearances here and all of Golovkin’s getting prime-time television exposure.

Golovkin also has the advantage of being a lights-out puncher whose explosive finishing power presumably puts him in the same must-watch category as Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 34 KOs), emerging American heavyweight Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29 KOs) and, yes, Kovalev, whose scrap with Cleverly – which, if he wins, could lead to a subsequent matchup with ageless legend Bernard Hopkins – probably is regarded by most HBO viewers as the more compelling reason to watch Saturday’s split-site doubleheader.

Geale is a good offensive fighter and an effective counter-puncher, but his knockout ratio is not so high that it suggests he is some sort of absurdly destructive Thunder from Down Under. And Barker, who gave Martinez a problem or two before he was TKO’ed in the 11th round on Oct. 1, 2011, in Boardwalk Hall, is capable in his own right and hardly disposed to help make Geale’s initial turn in the U.S. spotlight a smashing success.

Unlike Fenech, however, Geale has one thing to his advantage as he unveils himself to hard-to-sway American spectators who do not give their hearts readily to some other country’s hero. He has fought outside of Australia twice, both in Germany, defeating Sebastian Sylvester and avenging his only loss, to 38-year-old countryman and former world champ Anthony Mundine.

“People forget that Daniel went overseas and fought two different fighters and came out on top,” Shaw pointed out. “Daniel Geale doesn’t fight scared. ”

It remains to be seen whether Geale is what he claims to be – the No. 1 middleweight in the world – or merely well back in third place, behind Martinez and Golovkin, each of whom has already established his U.S. bona fides.

And if Geale reveals himself to not be at that level, hey, Aussies can always content themselves with watching the DVD of “Cinderella Man,” in which Russell Crowe portrays James J. Braddock as he wrests the heavyweight title from the hugelyfavored Max Baer. Except, of course, that Crowe is playing the role of an American.

Picture: Tim Carrafa Source: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

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Bernard Fernandez

Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

23 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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