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Erik Morales A Winner, Even Though He Loses To Maidana…WOODS

Published

12 years ago

April 10, 2011

Folks hoped that future Hall of Famer Erik Morales wouldn’t get beat up too badly against Argentine Marcos Maidana in their clash at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The PPV attraction was seen by many pundits as an unseemly setup, with those people feeling the Mexican legend Morales, at 34, but older in boxing years, was too far past his prime for a young hammerfist like Maidana (29-2 entering; coming off UD12 loss to Amir Khan).

But when the Mexican got to the middle rounds, and landed some sharp combos, even with his right eye nearly totally shut, everyone had to admit that Morales deserved props, and an apology. No, he wasn’t a sad shell of himself, and in fact, gave Maidana all he could handle, most of the time doing it with one eye closed. After twelve rounds, the decision was in the judges hands, but all watching had Morales a winner in their book. Michael Buffer announced the scores as 114-114, 116-112, 116-112, for Maidana.

It was the right call, sentiment aside, in my eyes.

Morales (51-6 entering; first title won in 1997) was off for 2 1/2 years after losing to David Diaz, but had won three in a row on the comeback route.

Maidana came out banging. Morales’ right eye began swelling. He did better in the second, for awhile, but did get caught on the ropes. Morales slipped pretty well, but what if that eye got worse? In the third, the eye was nearly fully closed. Morales landed a few clean shots, but his power wasn’t going to bother the stronger man.

That we even got to the fourth round was a pleasant surprise for many. The crowd didn’t like Maidana’s cheap tactic when he rubbed his head on Morales’ bad eye. Why didn’t he go extra heavy on left hooks instead? In the fifth, Morales conjured a flurry and the crowd loved it. He had Maidana backing up a few times, and the crowd really got into the possibility of an upset. In the sixth, Maidana again used his head as a weapon. He should’ve won the round but maybe gave it away with his cheesy tactics.

In the seventh, that Morales eye was still closed 90%. But he still had more good time in the round than he had any right to. His defense was spot on, as he slipped like a man ten years younger, and this was another close round. In round eight, he wobbled Maidana, who got his head together and got some good work done. In the ninth, Maidana poured it on. After looking to be in precarious straits, a minute in, he had Maidana, who by now was simply arm punching quite often, backing up. That said, the Argentine was the busier boxer in this frame. In round ten, Morales looked as fresh as the younger man. Fresher, actually. In the 11th, Maidana started strong, then Morales gave him the business. Overall, Maidana told the judges the round was his with volume. In the 12th, Maidana came out looking to work against a pretty weary Morales. We’d go to the cards.

Check back for David Avila’s ringside report.

Follow Woods on Twitter here https://twitter.com/#!/Woodsy1069

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Michael Woods

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

7 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

7 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

7 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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