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Randy Caballero Wins on “ShoBox”

Published

11 years ago

August 27, 2012

INDIO, Calif. (Aug. 25, 2012) – Popular undefeated hometown favorite Randy Caballero (16-0, 8 KOs), of Coachella, Calif., scored a knockdown in the second round en route to a 10-round decision over Manny Roman (15-2-3, 6 KOs), of Paramount, Calif. to retain his NABO Bantamweight Championship on Friday’s main event on ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME^®.

In the co-feature at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. Michael “The Artist” Perez (17-1-1, 10 KOs), of Newark, N.J., survived a knockdown in the bout’s closing seconds to take a hard-fought 10-round split decision over tough southpaw Fidel Maldonado (13-2, 11 KOs), of Albuquerque, N.M.

Caballero, the No. 6-rated 118-pound contender by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), won by the scores of 97-92 and 96-93 twice. Perez was triumphant by the scores of 97-92, 95-94 and 94-95.

Caballero vs. Roman and Perez vs. Maldonado were presented by Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona.

“This was a good ShoBox card featuring very young fighters who took another step to becoming hardened 10-round fighters,’’ ShoBox expert analyst Steve Farhood said afterward. “Caballero fought his fight, dictated the pace and outboxed Roman from a distance. After scoring that early knockdown, he was never in danger of losing.

“The first fight brought back memories of Montreal and the first fight between Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade because the guy trailing scored a knockdown in the last 10 seconds of the last round. And as was the case with Bute and Andrade, the knockdown punch was the last punch of the fight.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that in the general shape Perez was in as a result of the knockdown that Maldonado would have stopped him if he had another 30 seconds.’’

Caballero, 21, struggled in his ShoBox debut on March 16, but he had things his way Friday.

“I loved my performance,’’ Caballero said. “This was exactly the kind of fight I expected. I knew Roman had trained hard and would be tough. He gave me a challenge. I’ve never been hit like that, but I think I proved I have what it takes.”

Caballero continued, “This kind of fight can only help me down the road. The main thing I did well was continually work the jab. This was definitely a big improvement on my first fight on ShoBox.’’

The victory capped a huge night for Caballero and his brothers, Ryan, who won his pro debut in a non-televised fight, and Rommel, who won an amateur bout.

“All three of us had great performances,’’ Randy Caballero said, “and I am very happy about that. This is just the beginning for all of us.’’

After falling behind, Roman made it interesting in the later rounds by effectively working the body with both hands. It wasn’t enough, however, to overcome the early deficit.

“I just got outworked,’’ Roman said. “I just didn’t let my hands go enough and I really don’t know why. I am definitely very disappointed. I felt going in I was ready for a really good showing.’’

Perez, 22, won most of the early rounds against Maldonado, 21, who came on strongly in the hotly contested bout’s second half. Neither boxer was impressed by the judges’ scoring; Perez felt he had won clearly, Maldonado believed he was jobbed.

“Except for the last minute I thought I’d totally outboxed him and won every round even though I hurt my left hand in the third or fourth round and my right hand a little after that,’’ said Perez, who also outpointed Maldonado in the amateurs. “The knockdown was more of a flash knockdown than anything else. I was always aware of what was happening.’’

Said Maldonado, “I felt I’d done enough to win even without the knockdown. I know I hurt Perez throughout and he never hurt me once. His punches had nothing behind them. This decision was total bull. The only rounds I felt I lost were the ones I gave away when I was playing possum trying to get him to come in and exchange.’’

Those in attendance received a special treat Friday. Before the televised portion of the card, Future Hall of Famer, the legendary Bernard Hopkins, hosted a meet and greet with the fans where he signed autographs and posed for pictures with them.

The ShoBox doubleheader will re-air the first time this week as follows:

DAY CHANNEL

Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT SHO EXTREME

Friday’s fights will be available ON DEMAND beginning today/Saturday, Aug. 25.

Barry Tompkins called the ShoBox action from ringside alongside Farhood and special guest analyst, former Unified Lightweight World Champion Juan “The Baby Bull” Diaz. “It was an awesome experience for me,’’ Diaz said. “Barry and Steve are such professionals. They made it so easy on me.

I was a little nervous to be honest. It is a lot easier fighting.’’

Gordon Hall is the executive producer of ShoBox with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.

Upcoming Schedule: In the main event on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING (9 p.m. ET/PT) on Saturday, Sept. 8, Randall Bailey (43-7, 37 KOs) will defend his IBF welterweight title against former champion Devon Alexander (23-1, 13 KOs) at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. In the co-feature, Ajose Olusegun (30-0, 14 KOs) and Lucas Matthysse (31-2, 29 KOs) will clash for the Interim WBC Welterweight World Championship.

The following Saturday, Sept. 15, Mexico’s superstar Canelo Alvarez headlines a quadrupleheader live on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) from MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KOs) risks his WBC Super Welterweight Championship against upset-minded breakout star Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KOs) in the main event. Other fights on “Knockout Kings” feature WBC Featherweight Champion Jhonny Gonzalez (52-7, 45 KOs) as he defends his title against former champ Daniel Ponce De Leon (43-4, 35 KOs) and Marcos Maidana (31-3, 28 KOs) meets Jesus Soto- Karass (26-7-3, 17 KOs) in a 10-round welterweight battle.

ShoBox: The New Generation returns on Friday, Sept. 21 (11 p.m. ET/PT), with a doubleheader featuring four fighters with a combined record of 61-1 with 30 knockouts. In the main event at Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif., Jhonatan Romero (21-0, 12 KOs) will be opposed by Efrain Esquivas (16-1, 9 KOs) in a 10-round super bantamweight match. Unbeaten super bantamweights Roman Morales (11-0, 6 KOs) and. Jonathan Arrellano (13-0, 3 KOs) will collide in the co-feature.

On Saturday, Oct. 20, there will be two world title fights on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/PT) from the opening night of boxing at the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. In the main event on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, defending champion Danny Garcia (24-0, 15 KOs) faces former four division world champion Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) for the WBA Super, WBC and Ring Magazine 140-pound titles and WBA Welterweight Champion Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7 KOs) defends against tough Mexican star Pablo Cesar Cano (25-1-1, 19 KOs).

Note: Live undercard fights will be televised on SHOWTIME EXTREME before each SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP telecast on SHOWTIME.

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The Sweet Science

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

7 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

7 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

7 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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