Articles

Andrade To Headline “Fight to Educate” Card

Published

13 years ago

September 13, 2011

MANCHESTER, N.H. (September 13, 2011) – World Boxing Council (“WBC”) No. 14-rated Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (14-0, 9 KOs) takes on two-time world title challenger Saul “Baby” Duran (38-18-2, 31 KOs), headlining the 10^th annual Fight To Educate, at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Andrade, fighting out of Providence, is coming off of an impressive victory by unanimous 10-round decision this past August 19^th against The Contender, Season 2 winner Grady Brewer, winning nine of 10 rounds on all three of the judges’ scorecards.

The 23-year-old Andrade, who was a member of the 2088 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team, as well as the AIBA world champion, is ready to get back in the ring a little more than a month after his last fight. “I need to stay active,” Andrade said. “Because I’m not sure about plans to fight the rest of the year with the holidays, I felt this fight was a good opportunity for me. I’m right where I wanted to be at this stage of my career, rated by the WBC, and the road has led me back to Manchester. The Fight To Educate is a great cause and another chance for me to fight locally and build-up my fan base.”

A year ago, the gifted light middleweight fought on the Fight To Educate card, stopping Dave Sanders in the second round. The experienced Duran has fought 340 rounds as a pro during his 18-year career, compared to 56 in three years, and the tough Mexican fighter has been in the ring with some great boxers. In 1997, Saul extended Stevie Johnston the full 12-rounds in their WBC lightweight title bout, and 1 ½ years later he fought in Japan to controversial draw versus World Boxing Association (“WBA”) champion Takanori Hatakeyama. Duran holds notable wins against Hector Camacho and Wilfredo Ruiz, and also fought a draw with Ener Julio.

“At this stage of my career,” Andrade explained, “each fight should be a learning experience for me. I didn’t want to fight somebody I’d just come in the ring and knock out quickly. Duran has fought a lot of great guys and I’m going to gain a lot of valuable experience fighting him.”

Another familiar figure in action next Wednesday will be 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Alternate Danny O’Connor (14-1, 3 KOs), who squares-off against dangerous light welterweight Jamal Del Cid (7-5, 3 KOs) in the six-round co-feature. The popular Irish-American O’Connor made his pro debut in the 2008 Fight To Educate card and the Framingham (Mass.) light welterweight has become a fixture in Manchester with this being his fourth straight year fighting in the charity fundraiser event.

Upset specialist Jose “Stinger” Medina (14-9-1, 6 KOs), from Tilton (NH), will also be in action versus an opponent to be determined in a six-round light middleweight bout. Medina, a native of Mexico, is coming off a controversial eight-round draw against former world champion Joachim Alcine, in which most observers felt Medina deserved a victory. In January, Medina scored a shocking fourth-round knockout of 17-1 Isaac Rodrigues.

Fighting on the undercard in four-round matches are Claremont (NH) lightweight Dan Powers (3-0, 2 KOs) vs. Luis Rosario, and Windsor (VT) welterweight Chris Gilbert (1-0, 1 KO) vs. Noel Garcia.

Fight To Educate is a unique charity event that combines a love of sports with the vision of assisting children and seniors in need, who with fundraisers like this could be ‘down for the count.’ During the past nine years, Fight To Educate has raised more than $500,000 in donations benefitting local New Hampshire non-profit organizations.

Proceeds from the 10^th annual Fight To Educate will benefit SEE Science Center (www.see-sciencecenter.org), The Bobby Stephens Fund for Education (www.stepheneducationfund.com), and St. Joseph Community Services/Meals on Wheels (www.mealsonwheelsnh.org).

Tickets, priced at $50.00 and $25.00 (general admission), are available to purchase by going online at www.ticketmaster.com, calling Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000, or at the Verizon Wireless Arena Box Office or any Ticketmaster location.

Table tickets for a night of professional boxing and Black Tie dinner, as well as an auction and meet-and-greet with special boxing legends such as former world heavyweight title challenger “Gentleman” Gerry Cooney, as well as world champions and three of New England’s all-time greatest boxers – Vinny “The Pazmanian Devil” Paz,“Irish” Micky Ward and John “The Quietman” Ruiz – are available by calling Stephen Singer at 603.669.4100.

The dinner starts at 5:30 PM/ET, doors for boxing open at 7:30 PM/RT with the first bout scheduled for 8 PM/ET.

Go online to www.fight2educate.com or www.verizonwirelessarena.com for additional information.

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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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