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A Look at Brooklyn's Boxing Champs Ahead of Oct. 20 Barclays Show

Published

12 years ago

October 10, 2012

Goldenboy BROOKLYN, NY (October 10). When world championship boxing returns to Brooklyn, New York for the first time since 1931 at the brand new Barclays Center on Saturday, October 20, it will do so with one of its own. Reigning WBA World Welterweight Champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi, fresh off of a masterful championship capturing upset of undefeated Ukrainian Vyacheslav Senchenko in Senchenko's hometown of Donetsk, will attempt to defend his title for the first time in his home borough against rugged Mexican Pablo Cesar Cano.

Malignaggi, sure to be the hometown favorite, is part of a long legacy in the squared circle. Brooklyn has been the birthplace of some of the biggest and most storied names in the history of boxing. As Malignaggi prepares for Cano, a reflection on the shadows hovering over his homecoming reminds us just how much glory there is in the Brooklyn boxing tradition. No shadow extends farther than that of Brooklyn's most famous fistic son.

Kid Dynamite . . . Iron Mike . . . .Tyson.

The youngest heavyweight world champion of all time, defeating Trevor Berbick for the WBC title in 1986 at only 20 years of age, Tyson won a unification tournament with decision wins over James “Bonecrusher” Smith (WBA) and Tony Tucker (IBF) to become the undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1987. Any dispute to the claim was laid to rest with a legendary 91-second knockout of Michael Spinks the following year.

Tyson would win his first 37 bouts before being defeated in what many regard as the biggest upset in the history of boxing and perhaps all of sport, a tenth-round knockout at the hands of James “Buster” Douglas. Personal turbulence led to a prison term in 1992, but Tyson wasn't done with boxing yet. He returned to the ring in 1995 and went on to win two more heavyweight titles with knockout wins over Frank Bruno (WBC) and Bruce Seldon (WBA) in 1996. Tyson was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011.

Tyson is but one in the pantheon of Brooklyn's finest. See this video to give yourself a sense of what boxing in Brooklyn means for the boxers taking part. below for information on other Brooklyn champions, the neighborhoods they hailed from and briefs on their careers.

Brooklyn's Champions

Riddick Bowe (Brownsville): “Big Daddy” Bowe represented the United States at the 1988 Olympic Games, winning a super heavyweight silver medal. In 1992, Bowe defeated Evander Holyfield for the undisputed heavyweight crown, holding the title until a rematch with Holyfield the following year. Bowe would add the WBO Heavyweight title with a 1995 knockout of Herbie Hide and became the first man to stop Holyfield in their third and final fight later that year.

Mark Breland (Bed-Stuy): Breland won the gold medal at welterweight at the 1984 Olympic Games. In 1987, he stopped Harold Volbrecht in seven rounds to win the WBA Welterweight title and regained vacant WBA title in 1989 with a first round knockout of Seung-Soon Lee.

Shannon Briggs (Brownsville): The big punching Briggs defeated George Foreman for the 'linear' heavyweight crown in 1997 and won the WBO Heavyweight belt with a dramatic twelfth round knockout of Sergiy Lyakhovich in 2006.

Paddy DeMarco (Navy Yard): DeMarco won two out of three against the great Sandy Saddler in non-title affairs and won a decision over Jimmy Carter for the World Lightweight title in 1954.

Joey Giardello (Flatbush): While much of his fighting glory would come in Philadelphia, Giardello's toughness and guile were born on the streets of Brooklyn. Giardello won the World Middleweight title from Dick Tiger in 1963 and was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993.

Junior Jones (Bushwick): “Poison” got off the canvas to win a decision over Jorge Eliecer Julio in 1993 to win the WBA Bantamweight title. In 1996, he became the first man to defeat Marco Antonio Barrera and won the WBO Super Bantamweight crown in the process, dropping the Mexican great and forcing his corner to enter the ring for a forfeit/disqualification in the fifth round.

Zab Judah (Brownsville): Judah won the IBF Junior Welterweight title in 2000 with a fourth-round knockout of Jan Bergman. In 2003, a decision over DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley gave him the WBO Junior Welterweight crown. Judah's finest hour came in 2005 when he knocked out Cory Spinks to win the undisputed welterweight title. Since then Judah, added one more title belt to his collection in knocking out Kaizer Mabuza in seven rounds for the vacant IBF Junior Welterweight title in 2011.

Solly Krieger (Williamsburg): Born Danny Auerbach, Krieger claimed the National Boxing Association Middleweight crown with a majority decision win over Al Hostak in 1938. Krieger also had a huge rivalry with the great Billy Conn, dropping Conn en route to a decision win in their first of three bouts.

Paulie Malignaggi (Bensonhurst): When Malignaggi defends against Cano it will be as a two-division champion. Malignaggi won a decision over Lovemore N'Dou for the IBF Junior Welterweight title in 2007.

Eddie “Cannonball” Martin (Park Slope): Martin won recognition from the New York State Athletic Commission as the world bantamweight champion with a split-decision victory over Abe Goldstein in 1924. Martin would later lose a pair of 1928 Junior Lightweight title shots to Todd? Morgan, the second at the famed Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

Michael Moorer: Moorer was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Pennsylvania before coming under the tutelage of Emanuel Steward at the famed Kronk Gym in Detroit. Moorer stopped Ramzi Hassan in five for the vacant WBO Light Heavyweight title in 1988. Moving to Heavyweight, Moorer stopped Bert Cooper in 1992 to win the WBO Heavyweight belt. A decision over Evander Holyfield in 1994 made him the first southpaw universally recognized as heavyweight world champion. Moorer would later win a vacant IBF belt with a decision over Axel Schultz in 1996.

Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (Brownsville): Born Eddie Gregory, Muhammad knocked out Marvin Johnson in 1980 to win the WBA Light Heavyweight title. Muhammad is famed today as a trainer of multiple world champions.

Lou Salica (Bensonhurst): A Flyweight bronze medalist at the 1932 Olympics, Salica won the New York State Athletic Commission World title at bantamweight with a decision over Tony Olivera in 1939. He added the National Boxing Association title in 1940 with a decision over Georgie Pace to earn universal recognition as the champion.

World championship boxing returns to Brooklyn with an inaugural night of fights at the new Barclays Center on October 20 headlined by Unified Super Lightweight World Champion Danny Garcia against future Hall of Famer Erik Morales presented by Golden Boy Promotions and supported by Golden Boy Promotions sponsors Corona, DeWalt Tools and AT&T. In the co-featured attractions, Brooklyn's own Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi puts his WBA Welterweight World Championship on the line against hard-hitting Pablo Cesar “El Demoledor” Cano, number one rated WBO middleweight contender Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin of Manhattan takes on unbeaten Hassan N'Dam for N'Dam's WBO Middleweight World Championship and Devon Alexander faces Randall Bailey for Bailey's IBF Welterweight World Championship in a bout presented in association with DiBella Entertainment. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins live at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast). Preliminary fights will air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME® beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

The undercard is loaded with many of New York's top fighters, including Brooklyn's hot middleweight prospect Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobs, former World Champion Luis Collazo, the Bronx's rising star Eddie Gomez, former world title contender Dmitriy Salita and Brooklyn prospect Boyd Melson.

Tickets priced at $300, $200, $100 and $50 are available for purchase at www.barclayscenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations or by calling 800-745-3000.

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The Sweet Science

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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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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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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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