Articles of 2010
It’s Rafael Marquez This Time; Yonnhy & Mares Draw
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LOS ANGELES-It wasn’t decisive but Rafael Marquez got his revenge with a third round stoppage over the cut and bleeding Israel Vazquez as he had predicted and IBF bantamweight titleholder held on to his title with a majority draw on Saturday at the Staples Center.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for almost 3 years,” said a jubilant Marquez (39-5, 35 KOs).
Marquez had predicted that their fourth encounter would not last long and he kept his promise in front of more than 3,500 fans. In the co-main event Perez and challenger Abner Mares fought to a majority draw.
In the fourth battle between Mexico City’s two rivals, Marquez looked better, fought quicker but cautiously against Vazquez (44-5, 33 KOs) who had won their last two collisions that were both voted Fight of the Year in 2007 and 2008.
Behind a stiff and accurate left jab Marquez kept the heavy hitting Vazquez from running in. At the end of the first round both unloaded with combinations but those jabs seemed to win the round for Marquez.
Vazquez’s right eye in the second round opened up from a punch and was later injured further when both fighters collided heads. Blood came streaming down Vazquez’s face. Marquez was able to land power shots through Vazquez guard but not enough to hurt the warrior. In the last five seconds both fighters collided heads with Marquez returning to his corner with blood on his forehead.
“He hit me with a good shot and my eye opened up. I could feel it was a punch. My eye couldn’t open up. I didn’t know I was cut until I saw the cut,” said Vazquez.
A more determined Marquez emerged in the third round and immediately worked on Vazquez’s cut. A right hand to that cut dropped Vazquez to his knee as the referee counted to eight. The fight resumed but Marquez jumped into action and fired combinations as Vazquez retreated to the ropes. A Marquez right hand connected and referee Raul Caiz Jr. jumped in to stop the fight at 1:33 of the third round.
“That was the plan to go directly to the eye,” Marquez said. “This fight plan was different than the other fights I had with my last corner.”
Vazquez said he lost to a great fighter and would not rule out a fifth. His manager Frank Espinoza Sr. said that is not going to happen.
“That’s it. His career is over he never has to fight again,” Espinoza said.
Marquez and Vazquez can end their rivalry with two wins apiece and call it a career.
“I’m happy because we gave the fans four great fights,” Vazquez said.
Marquez was surprised but happy with the outcome.
“Israel Vazquez is a hell of a fighter,” Marquez said.
Perez vs. Mares
Perez (20-0-1, 14 KOs) couldn’t seem to find the defensively proficient Mares (20-0-1, 13 KOs) who landed several left hooks. A big Mares right hand ended the first round on a solid note for the challenger.
Mares opened the second round just like the first. Left hooks continued to land but in this round Perez also connected on a few left hooks. A barrage of body shots followed by a overhand right landed for Mares.
Perez pressured Mares in the third round and began opening up with more punches. Mares turned things around by pinning Perez on the ropes and fighting inside. A left uppercut found the mark and both battered each other till the bell.
The Perez machine began to roll in the fourth round as the Colombian slipped into another gear with combo after combo. Several left hooks by Perez landed and gave him the round.
Both fighters slowed in the fifth round but Perez ended the frame with some body shots while Mares went into defensive mode. It could have been the Colombian’s round.
Back to boxing Mares turned things around as he caught Perez with quick one-twos and an occasional right hand. Mares moved side to side and easily captured the round as Perez struggled to keep up.
In the seventh Perez closed the distance and found Mares with several right hands, but Mares worked combinations and landed a right hand at the bell in a very close round.
Perez scored the best punch of the eighth round with a solid right hand that oohed the crowd. Mares landed blows but not with the same intensity.
Mares worked the ninth round inside as Perez seemed to take the round off for a respite. Though Mares didn’t land a big shot he was the fighter applying the pressure as the Colombian cruised.
Once again mares became the aggressor as he worked Perez up and down in the 10th. Both traded shots with Mares landing an overhand right that connected. Both fought furiously in the last 10 seconds.
Mares used his defense to offset Perez’s attack and then went to the body. Both fighters are visibly slowing down in the 11th round. Perez worked his left jab effectively jamming it on Mares. He was winning the round until a Mares right hand connected big time twice in the last seconds.
The last round saw both looking to land the big punch. It didn’t come until the last 15 seconds when Mares landed two big blows that seemed to rock Perez. The Colombian kept his cool and fired back until the final bell.
Judge Marty Denkin had it 115-113 for Mares and judges Gwen Adair and Eugenia Williams had it 114-114 for a majority draw.
“I won this fight. It was not a draw. Im willing to fight a rematch but it’s up to my promoter,” said Mares. “He’s a good fighter but he never hurt me.”
Mares remains undefeated but does not win the title. It remains with Perez.
“I’m really sad I thought I won the fight. I fight for the crowd and for the people. And that crowd saw me won but the judges didn’t I want the rematch,” said Mares. “I showed him a high caliber fighter tonight. In the last round I thought I was going to KO him but I didn’t.”
Molina vs. Tapia
Carlos Molina (used his technique to win an eight round decision over Tijuana’s Humberto Tapia in a lightweight battle.
Molina landed three crackling left hooks in the first round against Tapia and it looked like it might be an easy fight. But in the second round the Tijuana fighter caught Molina with a right hand that bloodied the Norwalk fighter’s mouth.
In third round action Molina trapped the taller Tapia in the corner and rocked him with a left hook. That upset the Mexican boxer who erupted with his own punches. In the final 10 seconds a big right hand by Molina connected. He tried to follow up but ran out of clock.
Both fighters slowed down in the fourth round, but in the last minute Molina opened up again with that left hook that just could not miss.
In the next three rounds it was Molina’s tighter punches against Tapia’s wider punches with no telling blows. Molina’s right hand is beginning to sneak in more.
All three judges scored it for Molina 79-73 and 78-74 twice.
Rios vs. De Leon
Featherweight Ronny Rios (11-0, 5 KOs) seldom used a jab and found Texas boxer Lupe De Leon (8-11, 4 KOs) much tougher than his record showed.
Rios started fast as De Leon waited and waited to see what the youngster had to offer.
The first two rounds went to the busier Rios. In the next two rounds De Leon caught Rios in between exchanges with some heavy handed left hooks. From then on the fight was on.
De Leon didn’t throw many punches but when he unleashed them he moved Rios back with the force of the impact. In the fourth round Rios opened up quickly but ran into a sledgehammer left hook. Rios fired back with a right to the body that seemed to bother De Leon who moved out of the range until the last 10 seconds when he connected on yet another left hook.
Both fighters fought inside for the remaining two rounds and Rios seemed to understand the fight was still in doubt. Though he landed many combinations Rios could not stop that left hook counter.
After six rounds Rios won by unanimous decision
Rodrigo Garcia vs.T. Washington
Undefeated junior middleweight Rodrigo Garcia (7-0, 5 KOs) blitzed through veteran Taronze Washington (14-13, 7 KOs) in a six round bout. The Oscar De La Hoya look-alike had decent speed and power but couldn’t put away Washington despite some big bombs throughout the fight. All three judges scored it 60-54 for Garcia.
Articles of 2010
Judah To Fight Mbuza March 5 In NJ
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Totowa, NJ – Kathy Duva, Main Events CEO, announced their promotional firm won the purse bid held at IBF headquarters in East Orange, NJ, Thursday. The bid was for the right to hold the IBF's junior welterweight title fight between Zab Judah of Brooklyn, NY and Las Vegas, and South Africa's Kaizer Mabuza.
IBF Championships Chairman, Lindsay Tucker explained, “It is a 50-50 split of the earnings between the two fighters. Kaizer is ranked No. 1 by the IBF, and Judah is No. 2. Where the fight will be held is up to the winning bidder.”
Judah (39-6, 26 KOs) is promoted by Main Events and his own firm Super Judah Promotions, and Branco Milenkovic, of South Africa, promotes Mabuza (23-6-3, 14 KOs).
Kathy Duva confirmed the fight will take place at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, late February or early March this year as part of Main Events' Brick City Boxing Series. (Saturday Update: the fight is March 5th, in NJ at the Pru Center. The bout will be part of a PPV card.)
“We are very happy that Zab has the opportunity to fight for the IBF Junior Welterweight title right here in New Jersey. Winning this fight will put Zab right in the mix with the winner of Bradley-Alexander and Amir Khan.” Duva elaborated, ” Zab will work very hard to win this fight so that he will be one step closer to his ultimate goal of unifying all of the Junior Welterweight titles by the end of 2011!”
Articles of 2010
UFC 125 Preview: Frankie Edgar Vs. Gray Maynard
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Few predicted Frankie Edgar would grab the UFC lightweight championship last year but he did. Most felt he would eventually win it but Edgar not only took the title, he beat one of the best mixed martial artists in history to do it.
Edgar (13-1) has emerged from the milieu of nondescript MMA fighters to become one of the more brilliant performers for Ultimate Fighting Championship. Next comes a rematch with Gray “The Bully” Maynard (11-0) tomorrow at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas. UFC 125 will be televised on pay-per-view.
All it took was not one, but two victories over BJ Penn.
If you’re not familiar with Penn, he’s one of the most versatile fighters in MMA history and had been nearly unbeatable in the 155-pound lightweight division. That is until he clashed with Edgar. Until he met New Jersey’s Edgar, the Hawaiian fighter chopped down lightweight opponents with ease. It was only the heavier welterweights he had problems against. Namely: Canada’s Georges St. Pierre.
Edgar showed poise, speed and grit in defeating Penn in back-to-back fights. The world took notice.
“You know, if I keep winning fights, the respect will come eventually,” said Edgar during a conference call.
Now Edgar will find out if he can avenge the only loss on his record.
“I just think I grew as a fighter. You know, mentally, you know, physically I, you know, possess differently skills, increased – you know, I think I boxed and got better, my Jiu-Jitsu got better and, you know, just have much more experience now,” Edgar says.
Maynard seeks to find out if Edgar has added any more fighting tools to his repertoire. Back in April 2008, the artillery shelled out was not enough to beat the Las Vegas fighter.
“It’s a perfect time. He had the chance and, you know, he took it and the time is now for me and I’m prepared,” said Maynard (11-0). “Any time you’re going up against the top in the world, you evolve and change and so I’m prepared for a new fight, so it will be good. I’m pumped for it.”
Though Maynard’s record indicates he is unbeaten that’s not entirely true. He did suffer a defeat to Nate Diaz during The Ultimate Fighter series and subsequently avenged that loss last January.
The UFC lightweight title is in Maynard’s bull’s eye.
“Looking to take the belt for sure,” said Maynard. “We’ll see on January 1.”
Edgar versus Maynard should be a good one.
Other bouts:
Nate Diaz (13-5) faces Dong Hyun Kim (13-0-1) in another welterweight tussle. Diaz is the only fighter with a win over Maynard. Anyone watching TUF remembers Maynard tapping out from a Diaz guillotine choke. The Modesto fighter has a tough fight against South Korea’s Kim.
Chris Leben (21-6) fights Brian Stann (9-3) in a middleweight fight. Leben is a veteran of MMA and if an opponent is not ready for a rough and tumble fight, well, that fighter is not going to win. Stann dropped down from light heavyweight and we’ll see if the cut in weight benefits the Marine.
Brandon Vera (11-5) meets Thiago Silva (14-2) in a light heavyweight match up. Vera is trying to rally back to the promising fighter he was tabbed several years back. Silva is a very tough customer and eager to crash the elite. A victory by either fighter could mean a ticket to the big time.
Clay Guida (27-8) versus Takanori Gomi (32-6) in a lightweight bout. Guida has become one of the most feared fighters without a title. No one has an easy time with the long-haired fighter. Gomi lost to Kenny Florian but knocked out Tyson Griffin. Can he survive Guida?
Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis (22-8) clashes with Jeremy Stephens (18-6) in another lightweight fight. Davis is a go-for-broke kind of fighter and is looking to get back in the win column after a tumultuous battle with Nate Diaz last August. Stephens needs a win too. In his last bout he lost to Melvin Guillard.
Articles of 2010
Borges Looks Back, And Forward With Hope
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As the end of another year approaches, there’s no need to invoke Charles Dickens to describe what went on in boxing. It was neither the best of times nor the worst of times. It was just too much time spent on The Fight That Never Took Place.
For the second straight year the sport could not deliver The Fight, the only one fans universally wanted and even casual fans craved – the mix between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. No one has to be singled out for blame for that failure because this time there’s plenty to go around on both sides. The larger issue is what does it say about a sport when it cannot deliver its top event?
What would the NFL be without the Super Bowl? Where would major league baseball be without the World Series? Golf without the Masters? College basketball without March Madness?
They would all be less than they could be and so it was with boxing this year. Having said that, the sport was not without its signature moments. It was not bereft of nights that left those of us with an abiding (and often unrequited) love for prize fighting with good reason to hope for the future.
Three times promoter Bob Arum took the sport into massive stadium venues just like the good (very) old days and each time boxing drew a far larger crowd than its many critics expected. Twice those fights involved the sport’s leading ambassador, Pacquiao, who brought in crowds of 40,000 to 50,000 fans into Cowboys Stadium against inferior opponents Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito. Imagine what he might have done had Mayweather been in the opposite corner?
While both fights were, as expected, lopsided affairs, they showcased the one boxer who has transcended his sport’s confining walls to become a cultural icon and world celebrity. Pacquiao alone put boxing (or at least one boxer) on the cover of TIME and into the pages of such varied publications as Esquire, GQ, The Wall Street Journal, the American Airlines in-flight magazine and even Atlantic Monthly.
As history has proven time and again, that is what happens when boxing has a compelling personality to sell it and Pacquiao is that. Mayweather is such a person as well, but for different reasons.
The one night he appeared in a boxing ring, he set the year’s pay-per-view standard against Shane Mosley while also leaving a first hint of dark mystery when he was staggered by two stinging right hands in the second round.
Mayweather was momentarily in trouble for the first time in his career but the moment passed quickly and Mosley never had another. By the end he had been made to look old and futile, a faded athlete who’d had his chance and was unable to do anything with it. So it goes in this harsh sport when the sands are running out of the hour glass.
As always there were some surprising upsets, most notably Jason Litzau’s domination of an uninterested and out of shape Celestino Caballero and Sergio Martinez’s one-punch demolishment of Paul Williams. The latter was not so much an upset as it was a stunning reminder that when someone makes a mistake against a highly skilled opponent in this sport they don’t end up embarrassed. They end up unconscious.
SHOWTIME did all it could to further the future of the sport, offering up a continuation of its interminably long but still bold Super Six super middleweight tournament as well as the launching of a short form bantamweight tournament which already gave fans to two stirring and surprising finishes with Joseph Agbeko decisioning Jhonny Perez and Abner Mares upsetting Victor Darchinyan in a battle of contusions.
While the Super Six has had its problems – including several of the original six pulling out – it also lifted the profile of former Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward from nearly unknown to the cusp of universal recognized as the best super middleweight in the world this side of Lucian Bute. If Ward continues winning he’ll get to Bute soon enough because that’s why SHOWTIME signed a TV deal with the Canadian and America may get its next boxing star if Ward proves to be what I think he is – which is still underrated and underappreciated.
HBO and HBO pay-per-view put on 23 shows, few of them compelling and many of them paying big money to the wrong people while doing little or nothing to grow the sport that has helped make their network rich. But they did have the knockout of the year – Martinez’s second round destruction of Williams – and some fights in the lower weight classes that were left you wanting more.
Two new names popped up who are causing the kind of fan reaction that also gives us hope for 2011 – American Brandon Rios and Mexican Saul Alvarez. They are two of the sport’s brightest young prospects because each comes to the arena the old-fashioned way – carrying nothing but bad intentions.
Aggression and knockouts still sell boxing faster than anything else and each exhibited plenty of both this year and left fans wanting to see more. Alvarez is already a star in Mexico without having yet won a world title and Rios is the definition of “promise.’’ Whether the star will continue to shine and promise will be fulfilled may be answered next year and so we wait anxiously to find out.
Backed by Golden Boy Promotions, there is no reason 2011 shouldn’t be Alvarez’s year and if it is people will notice and remember him because he has a crowd-pleasing style that is all about what sells most.
That is what boxing needs more of – fresh faces and new stars… so as fans we should root for guys like Alvarez, Ward, Rios and young Brit Amir Khan, who is a star in England but still a question mark with a questionable chin but a fighter’s heart here in the U.S.
Those guys and others not yet as well known are the future of boxing, a sport that for too long has been recycling the likes of Mosley (as it will again in May for one last beating against Pacquiao in a fight that's a joke), Bernard Hopkins (who can still fight although it is unclear why he bothers or where it’s all headed), Roy Jones and, sadly, even 48-year-old Evander Holyfield, who continues to delude himself but not many other people into believing he will soon unify the heavyweight title again.
If fighters like Ward, Alvarez, Rios, Khan, WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto and middleweight king Sergio Martinez continue their rise they could be the antidote for the art of the retread that Arum and Golden Boy have been forcing fans to buy the past few years at the expense of what boxing needs most – fresh faces.
The heavyweight division, which many believe determines the relevancy of boxing to the larger world, remains a vast desert of disinterest here in the US. The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, hold 75 per cent of the title belts but few peoples’ imaginations in the US, although to be fair they are European superstars and don’t really need U.S. cable TV money to thrive economically.
Each defended their titles twice this year, Vitali against lame competition (Albert Sosnowski and Shannon Briggs) and Wladimir against better fighters (Sam Peter and Eddie Chambers) but not competitive ones. Sadly, there is no American on the horizon to challenge them, a comment on the division and on our country, where the athletes who used to be Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali now opt for the easier and frankly safer road of the NFL or the NBA. Who can blame them considering all the nonsense a fighter has to go through to just make a living these days?
The one heavyweight match that would be compelling and might lift the sport up for at least a night would be either of the Klitschkos facing lippy WBA champion David Haye. The fast-talking Brit claims to not be ducking them but he’s had more maladies befall him after shouting from the rooftops how much he wants to challenge them that you have to wonder if Haye is simply a case of big hat no cattle syndrome.
For the sake of the sport, we should all be lighting candles each night in hopes our prayers will be answered and Haye will finally agree to meet one of them. It may not prove to be much of a fight but at least it will give us something to talk about for a few months.
Whatever Haye and the Klitschkos decide the fighter with the most upside at the moment however seems to be Sergio Martinez. He has matinee idol looks, a big enough punch to put Paul Williams to sleep with one shot and a work ethic second to none. The Argentine fighter had a year for himself, starting with a drubbing of Kelly Pavlik followed by his demolishment of Williams. Those kinds of victories, coupled with his Oscar De La Hoya-like looks, are the type of things that if HBO or SHOWTIME would get behind him could allow Martinez to capture the attention of both fight fans and more casual ones.
In general, Hispanics fighters continued to dominate much of the sport’s front pages with Juan Manuel Marquez’s two victories in lightweight title fights leading that storyline. His war with Michael Katsidis is a strong candidate for Fight of the Year and his technical skill and calm demeanor make him the uncrowned challenger to Pacquiao. The two have unfinished business that should be settled this year if Arum stops standing in the way.
Two other fighters who gave us moments to remember in 2010 were Juan Manuel Lopez, who knocked out three solid opponents including highly respected Mexican warrior Rafael Marquez, and Giovani Segura, who won four times (that’s three years work for Mayweather) in 2010, all by knockout. Along the way, Segura defeated one of the great minimum weight fighters in history, slick Ivan Calderon, to win the belt on Aug. 28.
Lastly, boxing gave us another magical cinematic moment as well with the release of “The Fighter,’’ a film based on the life and hard times of junior welterweight scrapper Micky Ward. The film has won rave reviews and many awards and seems likely to have several of its actors nominated for Academy Awards, most notable Christian Bale for his sadly humorous portrayal of Ward’s troubled half brother, former fighter Dickie Ecklund.
Boxing has a long history of providing the framework for memorable movies and it did it again with “The Fighter,’’ a film that did more for boxing than any promoter did all year.
All in all, it wasn’t the best of years for boxing but it was a good year that picked up speed in the final months and, like that great golf shot you finally hit out of the rough on the 18th, left us with reasons to hope for a better year in 2011. If somehow it gives us Mayweather-Pacquiao, the emergence of Alvarez and Rios, the ascension of Martinez and Haye vs. the best available Klitschko in addition to the kind of solid performances that always come along, it could be a year to remember.
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