The Avila Perspective Chap. 34: Boxing Crowds Braved Bad Weather in Cali

Published

2 months ago

February 13, 2019

It was a remarkable weekend in February as two massive fight cards scarcely 130 miles apart drew large crowds on the same night despite television and streaming. And one more thing; it was raining and that’s enough to shut down anyone’s plans in California.

Wake up newspaper editors. You are losing readers by the hundreds every day. Boxing can save you. I’ll explain later.

Rival promotion giants Premier Boxing Champions and Golden Boy Promotions slugged it out in Southern California with shows near the ocean at Carson and in the desert town of Indio. Fans by the thousands showed up at both venues despite the threat of bad weather.

Fantasy Springs Casino hosted the Golden Boy show that featured its strongest fight card in years. WBC super bantamweight titlist Rey Vargas was floored by virtually unknown Venezuelan slugger Franklin Manzanilla in a frustrating fight for fans. Vargas turned MMA fighter and clinched his way to victory with the aid of point deductions against Manzanilla. In the other world title fight Andrew “Chango” Cancio upset Puerto Rico’s Alberto “Explosivo” Machado for the WBA super featherweight world title.

Cancio floored Machado three times after first hitting the deck himself. The crowd erupted in hysteria after his surprise win.

“I don’t know why people underestimate me,” said Cancio calmly with a shrug.

I met Cancio around 2005. His trainer called up the sports editor and asked if there was any interest in a story about his gym located in remote Blythe, California. Decades earlier I had passed by the small town in the 80s with my family on our way to Arizona. I also met twin brothers from Blythe while attending UCLA. It caught my interest so I told the trainer over the phone to expect us.

My photographer at the time had just bought a PT Cruiser and we packed up and drove the 180 miles to the small agricultural town that borders Arizona and the Colorado River. It was not just hot, it was flaming hot like one of those commercials about canned chili beans.

In the center of town was the gymnasium where basketball along with boxing took place. Kids were venturing into the sweltering heat and didn’t seem to mind the 100 degree heat at all. The trainer introduced us to a number of youth but seemed extremely high on one teen and that was Andrew Cancio.

Cancio was either nervous or a very serious-minded teen at the time. He spoke one sentence at a time and had that steely-eyed look of determination. Of course he had the odds stacked against him because small towns don’t offer much competition for sparring. He would soon depart for bigger desert towns like Coachella and Indio.

Over the years whenever Cancio would fight I’d make it a point to cover his fights. Some fighters just have that certain something you need to get to the elite level; whether it’s speed, power, height, stamina or just plain grit. You have to have one of these ingredients to make it through that championship doorway.

It took 14 years but Cancio finally burst that door open like one of those L.A.P.D. Crash vehicles and snatched the world title from a worthy champion like Machado.

After the fight Cancio was rather numb for words.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do next,” he said while in deep thought.

What a journey it’s been for the fighter from Blythe after all these years.

Tank

Despite the threat of rain more than 7800 fans showed up last Saturday at the formerly named StubHub Center now called the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. a small suburban city that serves as the temporary home of the LA (formerly San Diego) Chargers and the home of LA Galaxy.

Gervonta “Tank” Davis defended a version of the WBA super featherweight world title and demolished Mexico’s Hugo “Cuatito” Ruiz in a mere round.

Davis, a southpaw with power, was scheduled to face multi-division world champ Abner Mares in a match between an upstart youth and veteran champion. That was an intriguing matchup that disappeared when Mares suffered another eye injury and was forced to pull out.

Kudos to Mares’ wife who forced the Huntington Beach resident to get his eye checked when he complained of not being able to see in certain directions. When a prizefighter can’t see properly that’s a recipe for doom.

Boxing doesn’t need another champion fighting for his life like Adonis Stevenson who was moved from Quebec City to Montreal on Tuesday according to his spokesperson Meg Sethi.

Mares pulled out and Ruiz signed in and was roughhoused by a wicked right hook from the lefty Davis around the Mexican’s guard.

“I wanted to go more rounds, but I knew if I got him out of there early I could fight again sooner,” said Davis who is a former IBF titlist and now owner of one of the WBA super featherweight belts. The other WBA version is now possessed by Cancio. A fight between Davis, who is with Mayweather Promotions, and Cancio who is backed by Golden Boy would be a long shot. The companies do not do business with each other.

Davis has an electric punch and an aggressive style that most boxing fans love. Plus he just doesn’t care who he fights and where, though the Baltimore native’s next fight will probably be close to his residence.

Because I was in Indio, I watched the replay of the Davis fight on Showtime and saw the large crowd brave the cold weather in the outdoor stadium that can be cold even on a July summer night.

The emphatic knockout win by Davis over the veteran Ruiz was not as much as shock as it was pure theater, especially with his walk-in dance troupe performing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Fans are still talking about the walk-in production and Davis’s knockout.

Only boxing can bring that combination to life.

Fresno

On Sunday the final punch was thrown with Top Rank televising and streaming its very strong fight card that featured WBC super lightweight titlist Jose Carlos Ramirez making a second defense. More than 14,000 showed up at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno.

That’s an army of fans showing up on a Sunday afternoon.

A number of fights were shown and streamed on ESPN and ESPN+ but the one fight I wanted to watch aside from the world title fight was missing.

Saul “Neno” Rodriguez who recently re-signed with Top Rank after leaving another promotion company blazed his way to a fifth round obliteration over Brazil’s Aelio Mesquita. Both super featherweights boasted knockout ratios that would make any fighter proud.

Rodriguez charged to the forefront and dropped Mesquita several times before electrocuting the Brazilian with a right cross blast that ended the fight. One thing boxing fans like is knockouts. Heck, even MMA fans like knockouts, let’s be honest.

Dismissing Rodriguez to the unseen portion of the card was a crying sin.

Newspapers

Getting back to newspapers, the declining number of readers buying papers can be stopped. It’s been proven time and again that Latinos and Blacks like boxing. You can bring them back into the fold if you give them what they want to read and that’s boxing coverage.

Many Blacks and Latinos do not walk around looking at their phones and scouring the various boxing web sites. There are a large percentage of readers that still read newspapers and would buy them if they could read about boxing.

It’s been proven many times by yours truly.

I’ve actually owned a newspaper and know a lot about the advertisement portion of the business. Ads on the web don’t pay as much as ads in a newspaper. It’s worth a try. Don’t listen to the millennials with their stats; they can’t reach the real backbone of boxing who still read newspapers.

Look at the facts. Despite scant newspaper coverage we saw thousands flock to boxing events from Indio to Fresno in a two day span. That’s hard proof.

If you need more proof give me a call.

Photo credit: Alonzo Coston

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David A. Avila

Allen (KO 3) and Chisora (UD 10) Victorious in Heavyweight Action in London

Published

4 hours ago

April 20, 2019

Arne K. Lang

A pair of heavyweight battles topped the card at London’s 02 Arena. Both favorites won, but neither bout played out as expected.

Fan favorite David Allen, a 27-year-old Yorkshireman, continued his ascent from the lower depths of the boxing firmament with a one-punch knockout of Australia’s heavily-tattooed Lucas Browne. Allen caved in Browne with a body punch in the third round that brought a sudden end to a bout that the Aussie appeared to be winning.

Browne, who turned 40 this month, made history when he became the first Australian to win a world heavyweight title (WBA version) when he scored a 10^th round stoppage of Ruslan Chagaev in Russia. But, in hindsight, that win was a fluke. A gassed-out Chagaev was widely ahead on the cards when his roof fell in. Browne’s tenure was brief. He was stripped of the belt after testing positive for clenbuterol.

Allen, nicknamed the White Rhino, has now won four straight beginning with an upset of previously undefeated Nick Webb. His reputation is that of a common brawler, a fighter willing to take two punches to land one, but, regardless, he positioned himself for a nice payday or two going forward. Browne lost his second straight after opening his career 28-0.

The maddeningly inconsistent Dereck Chisora, who engaged in two barnburners with Dillian Whyte, snoozed his way to a 10-round unanimous decision over milquetoast Senad Gashi. The 35-year-old Chisora, a Zinbabwe-born Londoner, improved to 30-9 but did nothing to improve his stock. The well-traveled Gashi, born in Kosovo and now residing in Spain, declined to 17-3 while acquiring the patina of a trial horse.

Other Bouts

Welterweight Josh Kelly, a 2016 Olympian, won a lopsided 10-round decision over stubborn Przemysla Runowski. Kelly (9-0, 6 KOs) had Runowski on the canvas in rounds two, nine, and 10, but the previously undefeated Pole (now 17-1, 3 KOs) stayed the course. Kelly appeared to hurt his hand early in the fight. That may knock him off the Joshua-TBA card on June 1 at Madison Square Garden.

Joe Cordina, a Welshman, now holds the British and Commonwealth lightweight titles after scoring a 6^th round stoppage of Yorkshireman Andy Townend (22-5). Cordina started slowly but gradually picked up the pace and scored three knockdowns before the referee waived it off. A 2016 Olympian, Cordina (9-0, 7 KOs) was a heavy favorite despite a dearth of pro experience.

Conor Benn the 22-year-old son of Nigel Benn, was extended the distance for the third time in his last four fights but had little difficulty advancing his record to 14-0 (9) at the expense of Josef Zahradnik (10-3) of the Czech Republic. The referee awarded Benn every round in this 8-round welterweight affair.

Middleweight Nikita Ababiy, a hot prospect with a big upside, was extended into the second round for the first time in his young pro career but eliminated Dmitri Faltin after only 26 seconds of round two. A 20-year-old Brooklynite of Russian extraction, nicknamed White Chocolate, Ababiy (4-0) excelled in all manner of combat sports as teenager. In the ring he doesn’t pussyfoot around. He won his pro debut in 28 seconds. Faltin, a 37-year-old Finn, fell to 2-4-1.

John Harding Jr., a 34-year-old middleweight, improved to 7-0-1 with a one-sided 6-round decision over Miroslav Juna (1-2). A protégé of Dillian Whyte, Harding started his pro career late after serving several stints in prison.

Cruiserweight Sam Hyde (14-1-1, 7 KOs) rebounded from his first defeat in fine fashion, blowing out Slovakia’s Josef Jurko (5-2) in the opening round.

Super bantamweight Sam Cox (4-0) won a 4-round decision over Bulgaria’s Georgi Georgiev.

In a woman’s fight, British bantamweight Shannon Courtenay (2-0) outpointed Bulgaria’s Roz Mari Silyanova (1-5-1). The ref gave Courtenay all four rounds.

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BWAA Writing Awards Announced: The Sweet Science Earns Multiple Citations

Published

11 hours ago

April 20, 2019

TSS Press

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced their annual Bernie Awards which recognize excellence in boxing journalism. Five stories that ran on this web site earned commendations.

TSS editor-in-chief Arne K. Lang copped first place in the category “Boxing Feature Under 1,500 Words.” Springs Toledo and Thomas Hauser earned third place ribbons, Toledo in the category “Best Column” and Hauser in “Boxing Investigative Reporting,” a category in which he has excelled. In addition, TSS New England correspondent Jeffrey Freeman and Sean Nam earned Honorable Mentions, Freeman in “Boxing Feature Under 1,500 Words” and Nam for an investigative reporting piece.

Four TSS correspondents – Toledo, Hauser, Kelsey McCarson, and Nam – were honored for stories that appeared on other web sites.

Springs Toledo, who has had the most abundant haul of BWAA writing awards since 2010 was omnipresent once again, earning five citations overall including a first place finish for “Boxing Feature Over 1,500 Words.” The multi-decorated Thomas Hauser also achieved a first place finish, this in the category “Boxing News Story.” Kelsey McCarson tied for first in “Boxing Column” and Sean Nam came in third in “Boxing Feature Under 1500 Words.”

What follows is the full press release authored by Awards Chairman BERNARD FERNANDEZ. A TSS mainstay, Fernandez is a former five-term president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

PRESS RELEASE: Toledo, Kriegel, Boxing News Top BWAA Writing Contest

Springs Toledo and Mark Kriegel scored highest among individual entrants, while Boxing News/BoxingNewsOnline.com topped the overall sweepstakes in the 18th annual Boxing Writers Association of America writing contest. Those who placed in the contest, which drew a record 147 submissions from a record 49 media representatives who cover the sport, will be recognized at the 94th annual BWAA Awards Ceremony, to be held May 31 at the Copacabana in New York City.

Toledo, a Boston native and frequent honoree in the BWAA writing contest, led all entrants with 14 points on a scoring system of five points for a first place, three for second, two for third and one for an honorable mention. In the blind judging, in which all bylines and other identifying marks were removed beforehand before being forwarded to a distinguished panel of sports journalists and academics, Toledo took a first in Feature (Over 1,500 words), seconds in Investigative Reporting and a tie for Feature (Under 1,500 Words), a tie for third in Event Coverage and an honorable mention in Column. He spread the wealth around, too, with submissions for Boxing News, thesweetscience.com and City Journal.

Kriegel, who took first places in both Feature categories in the 2017 contest, was again a major factor in multiple categories, totaling 12 points. He took first place in Investigative Reporting, seconds in Feature (Under 1,500 Words) and Feature (Over 1,500 Words) and an HM in Column, all for ESPN.com.

Other first places went to Arne K. Lang, editor of thesweetscience.com in Feature (Under 1,500 Words); Paul Wheeler of Boxing News in Event Coverage and Kelsey McCarson of NYFights.com (tie) in Column.

Boxing News and BoxingNewsOnline.com, based in the United Kingdom, stormed the BWAA contest like the Beatles coming to America in 1964, totaling 27 points on two firsts, three seconds, a third and five HMs. ESPN.com was next with 16 points, followed by thesweetscience.com and BoxingScene.com with 11 apiece.

The entire list of placing entrants:

2018 BERNIE WINNERS

BOXING EVENT COVERAGE

First Place

PAUL WHEELER, “Win-Win for Usyk and Bellew,” Boxing News, November 11, 2018

Second Place

MATTHEW AGUILAR, “Vargas, Dulorme Draw is WBC Silver Welterweight,” The Associated Press, October 7, 2018

Third Place (Tie)

LANCE PUGMIRE, “Wilder – Fury Embodied the Greatness of Heavyweight Boxing of Yesteryear,” Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2018,

SPRINGS TOLEDO, “Art and Heroism in a Corrupted Sport,” thesweetscience.com, December 3, 2018

Honorable Mention: Tris Dixon, BoxingScene.com; Lee Groves,CompuBoxTV.com; Gordon Marino, TheDailyBeast.com; Kieran Mulvaney, InsideHBOBoxing.com; Cliff Rold, BoxingScene.com; Don Stradley, Ringside Seat; Chris Walker, BoxingNewsOnline.net.

BOXING COLUMN

First Place (Tie)

THOMAS GERBASI, “Beyond the Ring, The Next Fight,” BoxingScene.com, December 26, 2018

KELSEY McCARSON, “Tyson Fury, Mental Health and Vunerability,” NYFights.com, June 8, 2018

Second Place (Tie)

DON STRADLEY, “Goodbye to All That,” donstradley.blogspot.com, December 29, 2018

ELLIOT WORSELL, “Joe Fournier is the 11th Best Light-Heavyweight in the World – Apparently,” Boxing News, March 29, 2018

Third Place

GREG BISHOP, “In Search of a Happy Ending to Boxing Career, Manny Pacquiao is Following a Familiar, Sad Trajectory Instead,” Sports Illustrated, January 12, 2018

Honorable Mention: Tris Dixon, Boxingscene.com; Mark Kriegel, ESPN.com; Kieran Mulvaney, Boxing News; Springs Toledo, Boxing News

BOXING NEWS STORY

First Place

THOMAS HAUSER, “Curtis Harper Goes Viral,” The Sporting News, August 29, 2018

Second Place

NORM FRAUENHEIM, “Bob Arum on the Passing of ‘The Boxing Senator’ John McCain: ‘He Was a Great American,’” RingTV.net, August 25, 2018

Third Place (Tie)

DON STRADLEY, “DeMarco is In!,” donstradley.blogspot.com; December 31, 2018

LEE GROVES, “Farewell to a Boxing Lifer, Don Chargin, the Last Gentleman Promoter,” CompuBoxTV.com, September 29, 2018

Honorable Mention: Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times; Dan Rafael, ESPN.com.

BOXING FEATURE (Under 1,500 words)

First Place

ARNE K. LANG, “Christmas Day in Germany with Sugar Ray Robinson,” thesweetscience.com, December 24, 2018

Second Place (Tie)

JOHN DENNEN, “Thank God I’m Not a World Champion,” Boxing News, September 16, 20128

MARK KRIEGEL, “The Old Man and the Kid: Alex Saucedo Fighting for a Title and His Mentor’s Legacy,” ESPN.com, November 13, 2018

CLIFF ROLD, “Golovkin, Hopkins, Monzon: The Record at Middleweight,” BoxingScene.com, May 2, 2018

SPRINGS TOLEDO, “The Quiet Man,” Boxing News, October 25, 2018

Third Place

SEAN NAM, “Eleider Alvarez Stuns Sergey Kovalev,” UCNLive.com, August 10, 2018

Honorable Mention: Ron Borges, Boxing Monthly; Thomas Gerbasi, The Ring; David Weinberg, Press of Atlantic City; Jeffrey Freeman, thesweetscience.com; Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times

BOXING FEATURE (Over 1,500 words)

First Place

SPRINGS TOLEDO, “The Historian: Mike Tyson and the Ghost of Boxing’s Past,” Boxing News, March 22, 2018

Second Place

MARK KRIEGEL, “The Education of Terence Crawford,” ESPN.com, June 9, 2018

Third Place

TRIS DIXON, “A Warrior’s Brain,” Boxing News, August 2, 2018

Honorable Mention: Matthew Aguilar, El Paso Times; Thomas Gerbasi, Boxing News; Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times; Dan Rafael, ESPN.com; Don Stradley, The Ring

BOXING INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

First Place

MARK KRIEGEL, “A Unique Family Dynamic and the Shooting Nobody Wants to Talk About: The Jose Benavidez Jr. Story,” ESPN.com, October 13, 2018

Second Place

SPRINGS TOLEDO, “191 Edgecombe,” City Journal, Summer 2018

Third Place

THOMAS HAUSER, “1,501 Tests, One Reported Positive? What’s Going on with the USADA and Boxing?,” thesweetscience.com, September 7, 2018 and December 7, 2018

Honorable Mention: Ron Borges, Boxing Monthly; Matt Christie, Boxing News; Jack Hirsch, Boxing News; Sean Nam, thesweetscience.com; Adam Pollack,Boxinginsider.com; Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times; Joseph Santoliquito, PremierBoxingChampions.com

News Outlets

Boxing News/BoxingNewsOnline.net (27 points)
ESPN.com (16)
THESWEETSCIENCE.COM(11); BoxingScene.com (11)
NYFights.com (7)
Los Angeles Times (6)
The Ring/RingTV.com (5)
The Sporting News (5)
The Associated Press (3); CompuBox.com (3); City Journal (3); DonStradley.blogspot.com (3)
Sports Illustrated (2); Boxing Monthly (2); UCNLLive.com (2)
El Paso Times (1); PremierBoxingChampions.com (1); Ringside Seat (1); The Press of Atlantic City (1); Boxinginsider.com (1); The Daily Beast (1); InsideHBOBoxing.com (1); BoxingNews (1)

2018 BERNIES JUDGES:

MICHAEL HIRSLEY, Chicago Tribune (Retired)

FRANZ LIDZ, Sports Illustrated (Retired)

THOMAS MACDONALD, Novelist and Boston College Writing Instructor

JOHN SCHULIAN, Chicago Sun-Times (Retired)

JOHN WHISLER, San Antonio Express News (Retired)

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Erick Ituarte Wins Featherweight Battle in Ontario, CA

Published

14 hours ago

April 20, 2019

David A. Avila

ONTARIO, CA.-Looking to make waves as a featherweight, Santa Ana’s Erick Ituarte battled Tijuana’s Jose Estrella evenly before pulling away in the last third of the fight to win by decision on Friday.

Ituarte (21-1-1, 3 KOs) lacks the big punch but has the long arms that enabled him to keep distance and out-point the shorter Estrella (20-16-1, 14 KOs) in their 10-round bout at the Doubletree Hotel. Thompson Boxing Promotions staged the fight card that saw about 500 fans at the event.

Estrella used his guts and guile to keep the fight close in the first four rounds of the fight. Back and forth they went trading momentum, Ituarte was effective attacking the body and Estrella was good at connecting with big blows to the head.

It wasn’t until the seventh round that Ituarte began utilizing his reach and mobility to make Estrella chase and run into pot shots. From that moment on Ituarte was in control of the fight. No knockdowns were scored with one judge scoring it 98-92 and two others 100-89 for Ituarte. Each round was very competitive.

Other bouts

Corona’s Luis Lopez (5-0, 3 KOs) powered his way to victory by unanimous decision over Mexico’s Daniel Perales (10-17-2, 5 KOs) after four rounds in a welterweight match. Though Lopez won every round with sharper punches he was never able to hurt the super tough Mexican fighter from Monterrey. He recognized that early and used crisp combinations to win each round though Perales had his moments too. All three judges scored it 40-36 for Lopez.

A heavyweight fight saw local fighter Oscar Torres (5-0, 2 KOs) run his record to five wins with a fourth round stoppage over Houston’s Thomas Hawkins (4-4) after a barrage of punches. The fight was stopped twice in the fourth round and a final barrage of blows prompted referee Tony Crebs to halt the fight at 1:20 of the round. Torres fights out of Rialto, California and is trained by Henry Ramirez.

Lightweights Davonte McCowen (0-0-1) and Chris Crowley (0-0-1) fought to a majority draw after four torrid rounds. Both were making their pro debuts. McCowen started faster and slowed in the last two rounds that allowed Britain’s Crowley to mount a rally in the last two rounds. It was a spirited fight between the two newcomers.

Photo credit: Alonzo Coston

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

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