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Team Lundy Has Reached Out To Team Broner; Will Lundy Get Past Beltran Tonight?

Published

12 years ago

July 27, 2012

403926 491483524199258 1632284293 n I like Hank Lundy. As a fight fan, I can be assured, by and large, that when I tune in to one of his fights, someone's going down to the mat. Might be his foe, might be Hank, but someone is going to have their gloves dusted off by the ref. So he has that going for him. Add to that, the kid is a solid smack talker. Now, I don't always go for this. There's a fine line in trash talking that often, to me, gets stepped over. And too often in this day and age, I hear ferocious yapping pre-fight, and then on fight night, I see a bewildering timidity from the man who a month prior was threatening severe mayhem infliction upon his foe. That leaves me feeling screwed over as a consumer. (I know, I guess I am a bit gullible, naive, too susceptible to “marketing.”) Then factor in that boxing saved Hank's life, that he freely admits he would have been dead, or in jail for the duration if he followed the sure path laid out for him, by fate, and geography, and his role models…Yeah, I like Lundy.

The Philadelphian Lundy (21-1-1 with 11 KOs) gloves up tonight in Atlantic City, on ESPN's Friday Night Fights (10 PM ET start), and it looked iffy yesterday, when he stepped on the weigh-in scale and was over, that his scrap against Ray Beltran (25-6 with 17 KOs; age 31; from Mexico, lives in Arizona) was in peril. On his fourth attempt, Lundy, who last scrapped in March (UD10 win over Dannie Williams on FNF), made the lightweight limit, so his NABF 135 pound title defense will proceed. It is a fight Lundy should win; the challenger comes in off a loss (UD10) to Luis Ramos in January, and he's 3-3 in his last six.

Lundy, skillfully promoted by the earnest and diligent Jimmy Burchfield, one of the game's unsung lifers, talked some of his usual top grade smack leading in to this bout. He and his crew want a crack against Adrien Broner, so he made sure to stir the Broner pot following Broner's weight woes last week.

“I’m a professional,” he said. He continued, “I worked to lose the weight,” before calling Broner “unprofessional” and questioning the legitimacy of his 24-0 record. “I run this weight class. If you think you can just move up and jump over me, it ain’t happening. Don’t run. You could’ve mentioned my name on HBO. Instead, you took the easy way out. Just go on and keep fighting who you’re fighting. If he fought half the competition I’ve faced, he’d be dead in his tracks. Until I unify these titles, I rule this division, and I’m going to be here for a long time.”

Now, Lundy had a little hiccup at the Thursday weigh in. He was about a pound over the 135 pound limit, at 5:30 PM. He used the sauna, was 135.8, and it was decided he had til 7:30 to make the weight. He went on the treadmill, and was 135.2. Near the cutoff time, he made 134.8.
Promoter Burchfield told TSS he was surprised, as he recalls Lundy having a weight issue just once before, and certainly never after goofing on another pug for missing his mark. (Though, let's make clear, we aren't lumping Lundy in with Broner, who wasn't just over, he was OVER, and he didn't make an attempt to sweat it off after his weigh-in. Still, you do have to chuckle at the irony, don't you Alanis?)

Now, presuming Lundy wins, would it not make sense for Hank to take on fellow scale-buster Broner? These are two cats with fast hands, no end of confidence and it will be Fight of the Year, in the trash-talking department, I can nearly guarantee. I asked Burchfield if he has reached out to Team Broner about a showdown. “Lundy deserves a megafight, the whole team deserves a mega fight,” he said. “Maybe we can get the networks to understand Hank is one of the most exciting young fighters out there. I don't want to hear that he doesn't belong at that level. I sent Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer a letter yesterday, he's traveling, he answered me back that he's out of the country. But he said he's going to send it to Eric his matchmaker. We're hoping with Bernard Hopkins knowing Hank, Hank giving him that award at the Boxing Writers Dinner, maybe we can get Bernard to lobby a bit.” Of course, the promoter said, no one is looking past Beltran, who can crack. The promoter also said he asked people from HBO and Showtime to tune in to FNF, and see what Lundy brings to the table, and as evidence of Lundy's skills and star quality, said that ratings for Lundy fights always spike.

I think he brings a good deal to the table, and yes, I think a Broner-Lundy fight makes a ton of sense. Readers, do you agree?

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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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