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AVILA RINGSIDE Pacman Runs Over Mosley; Mexico’s Arce Surprises Vazquez

Published

14 years ago

May 8, 2011

Pacquiao_Mosley_110507_004a LAS VEGAS-WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao blitzed through Pomona’s Sugar Shane Mosley despite leg cramps and scored a knockdown and fired a constant barrage of punches in winning by unanimous decision.

Mosley was never in the fight. Speed was overwhelmingly the difference.

“Manny is fast. As fast as I’ve ever fought,” said Mosley about Pacquiao.

Once again Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) dominated before 16, 412 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena made another great fighter look ordinary. But after the fight Pacquiao seemed disappointed that Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) could not keep up.

After two rounds of a high speed sparring match, Pacquiao caught Mosley with a sidewinder left hand the dropped him for the count in the third round. Mosley beat the count but looked stunned and wisely held on for the remainder of the round.

Mosley slipped into counter punch mode for rounds four and five as Pacquiao moved in for quick combos and overhand lefts. Both fighters butted heads with Mosley offering apologies.

A cramp in Pacquiao’s left leg slowed down the speedy champion.

“I couldn’t move cause my left leg got tight,” said Pacquiao.

As the Pacquiao avalanched seemed to continue, Mosley fired a lead right and left hand with some body shots mixed in to maybe win his first round.

After having his best round Mosley returned to counter punch mode as Pacquiao aggressively stalked him with lightning combinations. Though the Filipino slugger never hurt Mosley he put the thought in his mind in round seven.

A pair of right hand counters connected for Mosley but Pacquiao walked through them and attacked again. A left hook caught Pacquaio but not enough to stop the rush of punches in a close round eight.

Pacquiao stepped into another gear and moved in even quicker in round nine. Combinatons sliced Mosley who was moving back less but catching more. A left to the body and left to the head snapped Mosley’s head back violently.

Mosley was given a gift knock down against Pacquiao in the 10th round when a gentle push and trip of the feet sent the champion down to the mat. Referee Kenny Bayless erroneously scored it a knockdown to Pacquiao’s surprise.

Pacquiao kept the punches coming in the final two rounds and expected Mosley to return fire with guns blazing. It never happened. When the final bell rang a seemingly dejected Pacquiao just shrugged.

All three judges scored almost every round for Pacquiao. The scores were 120-108,120-107 and 119-108.

“He’s the best fighter I’ve ever fought,” said Mosley who’s fought in more than 20 world title fights. “Manny has speed and power.”

Fans wanted a knockout not a decision.

“I did my best,” Pacquiao said. “Shane is fast.”

Other bouts

Mexico’s Jorge “Travieso” Arce upset WBO junior featherweight titleholder Wilfredo Vazquez of Puerto Rico by stunning technical knockout in the final seconds of the final round to capture the title. It’s his third world title in three weight classes.

It was slow going at first for Arce who tried to figure out a way to reach inside the arm length of Vazquez. The speedy Puerto Rican was slippery and quick inside and used that to floor Arce in the fourth round with a perfect left hook. Arce continued with his bull rushes.

Around round 11 the Mexican fighter increased the pressure and unleashed a furious assault that seemed to stun the slowing Vazquez who was pinned against the ropes. At the end of the round it seemed Arce thought the fight was over. He still needed one more round and looked drained.

The bell for the final round rang and Arce immediately set out to attack like a hungry pit bull and pinned Vazquez against the ropes again. Punch after punch was fired by the Mexican as Vazquez head snapped back over and over. As referee Joe Cortez let the assault continue the Puerto Rican fighter’s corner waved a white towel and got no response. They then fired a bag of water and ice across the ring and Cortez finally ended the title fight at 55 seconds

Two judges had Arce and Vazquez even going into the final round.

Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs) moved up a weight division and found it tougher in beating Alfonso Lopez (21-1, 16 KOs) of Cut and Shoot, Texas by majority decision. Back and forth action between the two dominated the match until the final round when Pavlik’s right cross did serious damage to the valiant Lopez. Scores were 95-95 Adelaide Byrd, 98-92 Dick Houck and 99-91 by CJ Ross.

Denver’s Mike Alvarado (30-0, 22 KOs) won by technical knockout over New York’s Ray Narh (25-2, 21 KOs) who was unable to continue after the end of round three of a welterweight fight.

Former world champion Rodel Mayol (28-5-2, 21 KOs) of Philippines seemed to have more of everything in beating Mexico’s Javier Gallo (17-4-1, 9 KOs) by majority decision after 10 rounds. Mayol was taller, faster and more accurate in beating Gallo in a flyweight bout.

Junior welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez (11-0, 10 KOs) overwhelmed South Carolina’s James Hope (6-8-1) with speed and power. In the fifth round referee Vic Drakulich decided Hope was absorbing too many blows at stopped it at 1:43 of the frame.

Canada’s Pier Cote (16-0, 11 KOs) thoroughly battered Azusa’s Aris Ambriz (15-2-1, 8 KOs) through three rounds including a knock down in the second. Referee Tony Weeks stopped it at 46 seconds of the third round

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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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