Articles

With One Arm, Chambers Does Well, But Loses To Adamek

Published

9 years ago

June 17, 2012

Eddie Chambers is not the great heavyweight hope to restore the stars and stripes’ luster in that realm, but if the guy’s left arm is hurt like I suspect it is, he deserves heavy duty props for his effort in the main event against Tomasz Adamek on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. NBC cable televised the Main Events promotion. Chambers threw a left hook that missed, with 34 seconds left in the first round. He looked at his left bicep, then again…and then didn’t use the left again the rest of the way. I thought he did quite well with one arm, but the judges didn’t. Adamek took a UD12, by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and an out of whack, to me, 119-109. I would have been quite content with Chambers getting the nod, even without knowing the specifics of his arm injury, but as we all know by know, the subjective whims of boxing judges is on par with the wind for stability and reliability.

In the first, Chambers (age 30; from PA; 36-2 entering; 202 pounds) pumped the jab on Adamek (age 35; from Poland, living in NJ; ex 175 pound titlist; 225 pounds; 45-2 entering), who wanted to also establish that table setter. Chambers held his left low, and he looked sharp. We heard that he sat out about a year after he lost to Wladimir Klitschko, and was hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. His hand speed edge looked immense. In the second, Chambers looked confident that his physical skills would carry him to a win. The Pole chipped away, but was eating right hands. In round three, we saw Chambers go lefty then back to righty. Adamek was in his face, and landed a couple rights, but Chambers slips well, and wasn’t seriously touched. In the fourth, Adamek launched two jabs and the right, with Eddie slipping away from harm. Chambers said he hurt his left arm, a tear of some sort, early on in the fight, we heard from Chris Mannix during the round. That explained why he kept switching and wasn’t pumping the jab anymore. He led with the right, then went lefty and finished up with a right jab.

In the fifth, the one-armed boxer did everything with the right. If the Pole knew that the left was hurt, we didn’t know, but it didn’t seem like he was trying to exploit it if he knew. In the sixth, Eddie came forward,incredibly, as he showed a good deal of heart in dealing with the injury. Adamek was just busier in this frame. In the seventh, Chambers kept mugging, maybe a smart move, to show he wasn’t shaken. Chambers kept on pulling off the one-armed bandit thing; Adamek had some luck in the eighth, and the cards had to be tightening up. Chambers scored with two clean blows in the tenth, and his stamina, fighting in pain, with one good arm, was to be marveled at. The Pole still didn’t target the busted wing. Did his corner not pick up on it? In the 11^th, Adamek tried to finish strong. Both corners told their guy they needed the last two rounds, we heard. In the 12^th, Eddie’s D was strong to start. He dipped his head to avoid contact, and he was letting the Pole be busier. We went to the cards.

Heavyweight Bryant Jennings got in some good work against Steve Collins and won a UD8. Collins proved to have a better chin than many expected, and while some would say Jennings should have got him out of there, we must recall he’s only been a pro a couple years. He is still learning.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel.

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Michael Woods

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

5 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

5 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

5 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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