Articles

Salido Says JuanMa Is The Best Featherweight In The World

Published

13 years ago

April 13, 2011

12_abril_2011_Salido_Trains_in_Puerto_Rico_2 Former Featherweight World Title Challenger Martin Honorio
To Face Undefeated Prospect Luis Cruz In Co-Feature
After Roman Martinez Pulls Out Of Fight With An Injury

PUERTO RICO (April 12, 2011) – Former world champion Orlando “Siri” Salido arrived late Monday evening in Puerto Rico and held a Media Workout on Tuesday at the Wilfredo Gomez Gym in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, where he was welcome by two-time world champion Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderon.

Salido will challenge unbeaten World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champion Juan Manuel “Juanma’’ Lopez this Saturday, April 16 in the main event of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING live on SHOWTIME® (10:30 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

Salido and his team, Jose Santos, Victor Barron and Armando Castro, met the media and worked out for one hour, hitting the mitts, speed bag and shadow boxing. Salido stated that he was almost on weight for the 126-pound clash at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseo in Bayamon, Puerto Rico

In the co-feature, undefeated Luis Cruz will now face former world title challenger Martin Honorio, of Mexico City, Mexico, in a 10-round super featherweight bout after Roman “Rocky” Martinez suffered a back injury while training and was forced to pull out of the fight.

Cruz (17-0, 14 KOs), of Philadelphia by way of Las Piedras, P.R., is ranked No. 11 by the IBF at 130 pounds and has won six in a row by knockout, including a TKO 2 over Wilfredo Acuna in his most recent start last Dec. 4, and 11 of his last 12 inside the distance. Cruz has gone the route only three times since turning professional in March 2007. The furthest he’s gone is 10 rounds.

A former world title challenger at 126 pounds, Honorio (29-5-1, 15 KOs) owns wins over previously undefeated prospect John Molina, junior featherweight contender Rogers Mtagwa, and former world champs Steven Luevano and Cristobal Cruz. Honorio challenged Robert Guerrero for the IBF featherweight world title in November, 2007, losing via a devastating one-punch knockout at 0:56 of the first round. Honorio has lost just once since moving up to 130 pounds.

Salido (34-11-2, 1 ND, 22 KOs), 30, of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, is more dangerous than his record would indicate. In his last start, he scored a knockdown and went the distance against power-punching WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa on Sept. 11, 2010. The points loss came one start after he registered two knockdowns en route to winning a decision and the then-vacant IBF title over Cristobal Cruz.

The exciting, hard-hitting Lopez (30-0, 27 KOs), of San Juan, P.R., is a two-division world champion who’ll be making his third WBO title defense. The talented southpaw is coming off an excellent eighth-round TKO over Mexico’s boxing legend and future Hall of Famer, Rafael Marquez, in a tense give-and-take slugfest last Nov. 6 on SHOWTIME. Lopez, 27, has knocked out 90 percent of his opponents.

Below is what Salido had to say at Tuesday’s workout:

ON FIGHTING IN PUERTO RICO:
“I have everything to gain and nothing to lose, all the pressure is on him. He is the champion. He’s fighting at home and everyone expects him to win. Let’s see if he can deliver. I did not come all this way to lay down for him”

ON JUANMA LOPEZ:
“I do believe that he is the best featherweight in the world and a great champion, but he also likes to fight and that will be to my advantage. We both have power and will test each other all night”

ON FIGHTING FOR A WORLD TITLE AGAIN:
“This is a great opportunity for me. I worked very hard for nearly two and half months and just feel great. My confidence is sky high for this fight. I know this could be my last chance and I want to take advantage of it”

ON WHAT KIND OF FIGHT HE EXPECTS
“I know it will be a war and that it will be tough for both us. I know Juanma comes with everything in the first few rounds and I will have to be smart and stay focused at all times. I believe that the longer the fight goes it will be to my advantage. I know that he is not the same fighter in the end that he is in the beginning”

ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAMBOA AND LOPEZ:
“From fighting Gamboa and from what I seen of Lopez, I believe that Lopez is the more well-rounded boxer. Gamboa still fights like an amateur at times and he is very fast, but Juanma looks like he has more power. I guess I find out more on Saturday night”

ON THIS CAMP AND THE ONE FOR GAMBOA:
“I did not have a very good camp for the Gamboa fight because I went to Mexico City to train and I just never got comfortable. This time I trained in Nogales and Ciudad Obregon and feel a lot better about my preparation. That’s what I did for the Cristobal Cruz fight when I won the title and that’s what I should have done for the Gamboa fight”

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The Sweet Science

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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