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James Toney Cruises Past Damon Reed At San Manuel Casino

Published

14 years ago

February 25, 2011

ToneyHolyfield4 Stubborn fella, that Toney. He weighed in at 257 pounds, the most of his career, for the Reed fight, yet still insists he is after the crowns of the Klitschkos and Haye.

HIGHLAND, CA.-IBA heavyweight titleholder James “Lights Out” Toney carried extra baggage but it didn’t slow him down in cruising past Damon Reed by unanimous decision after 10 rounds on Thursday.

After nearly two years away from the boxing ring Toney (73-6, 44 KOs) came in weighing the most of his career but still won every round against the constantly running Reed (45-15, 32 KOs) at San Manuel Casino. Fans were not pleased at Reed’s shyness toward combat.

Fans wanted a knockout but got a unanimous decision instead.

Reed might have figured that if he ran Toney would chase. He thought wrong. As the Kansas heavyweight moved quickly out of range, usually going as far away as possible, Toney ambled toward him nonchalantly then would fire a few body blows before Reed scootered away again.

Reed used the first three rounds to entice Toney to trail him as he scooted around the ring seldom firing punches. The champion scored with some blows to the body as Reed frantically moved away from getting too close. Toney motioned to Reed several times to engage as the crowd booed the lack of action.

The fight slipped into another gear in the fifth round as Reed stopped moving. Toney fired several combinations that landed through Reed’s gloves and four body blows that all connected.

Reed finally struck back with a strong counter right that connected flush in the seventh, but he absorbed several left hooks and overhand rights during a busier round. The eighth was a carbon copy of the seventh with Reed landing some rights in close and moving out of range.

Toney, who weighed in at plus-250, advanced forward in the ninth but Reed seemed unwilling to trade with the champion. Moving side to side and occasionally moving in for a jab was all the Kansas heavyweight seemed willing to do.

In the 10th and final round Reed opened up with some combinations with 10 seconds left in the fight and it was the only aggressive action he administered. Toney smiled at the effort but was disheartened at Reed’s lack of heat. All three judges scored it 100-90 for Toney.

“Thanks everybody for your support,” said Toney who was not surprised by Reed’s constant running.

Toney, who trained with Buddy McGirt for this fight, said it’s just the beginning for a run at winning the other heavyweight world titles.

“I want all of the titles,” Toney said.

Fans shouted their displeasure at Reed, a few at Toney, but most were there to see the legendary fighter ply his trade. He won easy.

Other bouts

In fight that looked lopsided on paper a fighter with no wins beat an undefeated fighter when Alfredo Rivera (1-7) took a majority decision from San Diego’s favored Angel Estrada (5-1) after four rounds of a see-saw junior welterweight clash. Right from the opening bell Rivera bored in with heavy blows that seemed to catch Estrada by surprise. He never could gain momentum against Rivera who never stopped winging big shots. One judge scored it 38-38 but the other judges had it 39-37 for Rivera. It was his first pro win after eight tries in five years.

Rivera had lost to several very talented fighters, including Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis.

Fresno’s Mike Ruiz (7-0-1) out-hustled Tijuana’s Daniel Modad (2-4) after four rounds of a featherweight bout between southpaws. Ruiz was shorter but quicker and fought most of the fight inside where Modad’s longer arms were not effective.

Heavyweight Enrique Lobatos (2-2-1) of Bell used two looping left hands to drop debuting Granson Clark (0-1) at 55 seconds of the second round. Lobatos and Clark exchanged feverishly in the first round but those left hands proved too much for the Fresno fighter who was counted out by referee Jack Reiss.

Despite dominating for three rounds Edther Arvizu (1-1) lost by disqualification after he and Shawn Wate (1-5) tangled up and Wate was tossed to the floor. Wate could not continue and referee Tony Crebs called the fight off at 27 seconds of the fourth round. The referee had warned Arvizu twice for holding. Wate was taken by stretcher for further evaluation.

New York City’s Jorge Teron (25-2-1, 17 KOs) scored a technical knockout win over Mexico’s Jose Soto Karass (19-16, 17 KOs) in a lightweight bout. Teron opened up a cut on Soto Karass’s left eye and it became worse by the second round. After a ringside physician evaluated the eye the fight was called off by referee Jack Reiss at the end of the second round. Soto Karass was unable to see out of the injured eye.

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David A. Avila

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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