Articles

Riverside’s Jose Reynoso Wins Big In Ontario

Published

13 years ago

February 26, 2011

Jose Reynoso Reynoso's jab tagged Pakau, who wasn't afraid to use chippy tactics on Friday. El Nino wouldn't be put off..he got the UD. (Katherine Rodriguez)ONTARIO-Riverside’s Jose “El Nino” Reynoso pummeled New Zealand’s Santos Pakau with body shots and won by unanimous decision on Friday in a junior welterweight bout that could possibly launch him to contender status.

Reynoso’s awkward southpaw ability to turn an opponent and hit from weird angles with snap, crackle and pop was on display once again at the Ontario Doubletree Hotel. Reynoso confused Pakau (27-7-2, 10 KOs) in the first two rounds and a body shot by the Riverside fighter opened up the firing lanes to Pakau’s head from the second round on.

“After the second round I knew he was weak to the body,” said Reynoso (14-3-1). “But he was a dirty fighter.”

After a clash of heads, a cut formed over Reynoso’s left eye. After that he attacked Pakau and floored the New Zealander with a straight left hand at the end of the third round.

Pakau took advantage of a slow fourth round to land a solid left hook. Though Reynoso was not hurt, neither boxer scored any more telling blows.

Both fighters exploded with punches in the fifth round. A right hook landed flush on Reynoso’s chin and he retaliated with several four-punch barrages. He also patted his body to motion Pakau to fire more body shots. Reynoso’s busier work was obvious.

Reynoso’s cut along his left eye opened up and the blood began dripping into it. Despite the blood he scored well with a pair of body shots followed by a sizzling left hand that snapped Pakau’s head back in the sixth round.

Two seemingly deliberate head butts and a low blow by Pakau ignited a charge from Reynoso who belted the New Zealand fighter around the ring with lefts and rights to the body and head. The Riverside boxer was scoring at will and wobbled Pakau with a left cross.

“I decided to jab and stay away from his head,” said Reynoso. “He was there to be hit.”

The last round saw both fighters exchange but a collision of heads slowed down the action. Reynoso scored heavy with some thudding body shots. The judges scored the fight 79-72, 80-71 twice for Reynoso.

Alex Camponovo, who matches the fights for Thompson Boxing Promotions, said Reynoso is ready for the next level.

“I think he’s ready for an ESPN television fight or something like that,” said Camponovo. “He was in against an experienced fighter and he wasn’t even tired.”

Other bouts

Carson’s Efrain Esquivias (12-0, 8 KOs) continues to systematically decimate opponents and proved it again against Colorado’s left-handed Shawn Nichol (5-3) with a technical knockout at 1:07 in round eight of a junior featherweight bout. Sitting comfortably in the pocket, he rocketed rights and lefts through Nichol’s guard in basically beating up the good southpaw boxer. Esquivias, who is trained by Freddie Roach, starts slowly then gains momentum for his wins. A pinpoint three-punch combination ended Nichol’s night. Esquivias could be launching himself toward another level soon.

Artemio “The King” Reyes (10-1, 9 KOs) scored another quick knockout with a perfect left hook to the liver in the first round against Mexico’s Francisco Gil (11-15, 7 KOs) at 1:36 of the first round. Colton’s Reyes is becoming pretty adept at knockouts via the body. The popular junior welterweight boxer trains in Riverside at Capital Punishment Boxing Gym.

In a fight between two super quick bantamweights Ontario’s Jonathan Arellano (7-0-1) showed he could fight outside and inside too and out-pointed Dominican Francis Ruiz (9-3, 4 KOs) after six rounds 60-54 twice and 59-55. Ruiz couldn’t stop Arellano’s inside combinations and that was the difference in the outcome. It was Arellano’s best fight yet.

Despite a unanimous decision victory Abraham Lopez (13-0, 10 KOs) showed a lot of rust in beating Colombia’s clever Felipe Almanza (19-22-3) in a six round featherweight bout. Lopez was the busier fighter but couldn’t zero in on Almanza’s defense. All three judges scored it 60-54 for Lopez who last fought in July 2010. Almanza, 35, has fought several world champions in his career including current junior featherweight titleholder Wilfredo Vazquez Jr.

Venezuela’s Jhon Ortega (3-0-1, 3 KOs), who trains in Indio with Joel Diaz and the other monster junior welterweights, floored Tucson’s Rudy Gamez (1-1) twice in winning by technical knockout at 1:19 of the third round. A counter right hand floored Gamez the first time, then, a right uppercut in the third round repeated another knockdown. Finally, referee Ray Corona stopped the fight after a barrage of Ortega blows continued to land.

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David A. Avila

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 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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Articles

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

Published

8 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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Articles

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

Published

8 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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