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Morales Has Enough To Beat Cano…WOODS

Published

13 years ago

September 18, 2011

MoralesMaidana_Hogan_2 After a few rounds of Erik Morales-Pablo Cesar Cano, one wondered what Lucas Matthysse might have done to Morales, who looked slow and stiff early on. But the legendary veteran got his blood flowing, and drew blood from Cano, who by no means looked out of his depth against Morales. Right hands from Morales found their target from the third on, a cut opened in the fourth, and by round ten, Cano’s face was a mask of violence absorbed. After the round, his trainer Rudy Perez, showing wisdom and ample heart, stopped the affair, advising Kenny Bayless to end the scrap.

Matthysse, healing up from a viral infection, must’ve been at home, cursing his luck, as Morales didn’t look like even 80% of himself at his peak. But what he had left was enough to beat Cano, who is likely no future star, but is by no means a bum with a record built on laydown artists.

With the win, Morales wins a vacant WBC strap.

Morales went 214-561 to Cano’s 201-652 in the stat war.

After, Morales said to Larry Merchant that Cano “became very scared” after he was cut. Morales said, regarding the title, that it was not his fault that Matthysse, regarded as a sterner foe and worthy title challenger, fell out.

Morales (age 35; 51-7 with 35 KOs entering; 5 time champion; from Tijuana, Mexico) was 140 pounds, while Cano (age 21; trained by ex Marco Antonio Barrera trainer Rudy Perez; 23-0-1 with 18 KOs entering; from Mexico) weighed 140.

Tom Miller, Dave Moretti and Pedro Acacio were the judges.

In the first, Cano looked more warmed up. Morales had a little flab edging over his belt, for the record. He popped some stiff jabs, but more so used the three minutes to see what he had in front of him.

In the second, Morales’ face looked a little scuffed. He ate a few clean rights. Cano moved a good deal, mostly to his left. He kept his balance well, and all in all, by no means looked out of his league. In the Morales corner, they worked on his left eye a bit.

In the third, Jim Lampley ridiculed the fact that a title was on the line in this fight. Morales stepped it up. He placed punches low and high, and one wondered if his body was finally warmed up, and he’d get into a groove.

In the fourth, Morales knocked Cano back with a right. Blood came from Cano’s left eye, and Morales liked the look of it. The eye swelled up a bit, as well.

In the fifth, the blood was still present, and hadn’t been staunched during the break. He still threw combos, and threw a solid uppercut with 50 seconds left. The two traded in the last minute. Harold Lederman had Cano up a point after five.

In the sixth, a sharp right snapped Cano’s head back a minute in. He answered with a combo on a stationary Morales. Morales is so smart, as he whacks the body, and gets his foe to drop his hands, to leave the head open.

In the seventh, we heard Larry Merchant say that Morales on his long hiatus was in therapy for alcohol. Lederman had it 57-57 to this point. Morales’ left eye was now bleeding. The vet was running by the round’s end. The slice was on the lid, for the record. “You want to win or what? You got to throw, dammit. The kid has nothing,” Morales’ corner told him.

In the eighth, Cano started off with a three punch combo. The round was another tight one. In the ninth, Morales’ punches looked to be a bit zipper. Lederman had to 5-4 Morales after nine. “Cano doesn’t seem to have much power in his shots anymore, badly swollen eyes have to wonder how much vision he has,” Lederman said. “Morales is backing him up, landing hard right hands.”

In the tenth, Morales landed two hard rights. His eyes were closing, blood covered his face, and it looked like the end could be near. Ref Kenny Bayless stopped the action to let the doc look Cano over, with a minute left. The round ended, and trainer Perez ended the fight.

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

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Michael Woods

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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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