Articles

Gamboa Tops Pacquiao-Marquez 4 Undercard

Published

11 years ago

November 27, 2012

LAS VEGAS, NEV. (November 26, 2012) — The Manny Pacquiao-Juan Mánuel Márquez 4 pay-per-view undercard will feature three world championship battles, the professional debut of the gem of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, and a little Snooki on the side.

Promoted by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who will be making his promotional debut, undefeated former World Featherweight Champion YURIORKIS GAMBOA, of Cuba, will take on Top-10 contender MICHAEL FARENAS, of the Philippines, for the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim super featherweight title; JAVIER FORTUNA of the Dominican Republic will rumble with Snooki-promoted PATRICK HYLAND of Ireland, in a battle of undefeated contenders, with the WBA interim featherweight title at stake; International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight champion MIGUEL VAZQUEZ of México will defend his crown against undefeated Top-Five contender MERCITO GESTA of the Philippines; and the highly-decorated Méxican-American amateur sensation and 2012 U.S. Olympian JOSE RAMÍREZ, of Avenal, Calif, will be making his professional debut in a four-round lightweight bout.

The six professional warriors boast a combined record of 159-6-5 (95 KOs) – a winning percentage of 94%.

Gamboa (21-0, 16 KO), the former world featherweight champion who won Olympic gold in 2004 for his native Cuba and now resides in Miami, Fla., will make his 2012 debut having won eight of his previous 11 fights by stoppage. He boasts world title victories over Orlando Salido, Jonathan Barros, Jorge Solis and Rogers Mtagwa. Farenas (33-3-4, 25 KOs), of Paranque City, Philippines, is managed by former two-division world champion and Filipino icon Gerry Peñalosa, trained by Pacquiao’s assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez and promoted by Pacquiao’s MP Promotions. With only one loss in his previous 29 bouts, 17 of his last 24 victories have come by way of knockout. Farena enters this fight after challenging undefeated WBA super featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama, on July 16, in a hotly-contested fight was stopped in the third round when the defending champion suffered a bad cut over his right eye due to a head butt. This was declared a technical draw.

Fortuna (20-0, 15 KOs), of La Romana, Dominican Republic, has won five of his last seven bouts by knockout. The former WBC Youth featherweight champion, who is promoted by Sampson Boxing, enters his first world championship fight rated No. 2 by the WBA.

Hyland (27-0, 12 KOs), of Dublin, Ireland, is promoted by MTV “Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and her company Team Snooki Boxing. A former Irish and IBF International featherweight champion, The Pride of Ireland has won all three of his fights this year en route to his career-high No. 6 rating in the WBA.

Vazquez (32-3, 13 KOs), of Guadalajara, México, captured the vacant IBF lightweight title in 2010 winning a unanimous decision over Ji-Hoon Kim. He has successfully defended his crown four times during his two-year reign, most recently against Marvin Quintero on October 27. Gesta (26-0-1, 14 KOs), of Cebu, Philippines, has been touted as the boxing heir-apparent to Pacquiao. He hasn’t gone the distance in a fight in over a year having won all his 2012 bouts by knockout. He is currently world-rated No. 5 by the IBF.

Ramírez, 20, who began boxing when he was 8, surpassed Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Shane Mosley to become USA Boxing’s all-time lightweight record holder. The No. 1-rated amateur lightweight in the U.S., Ramírez’s resume boasts 145 victories and 11 National titles. His trophy case glistens with gold including: U.S. Olympic Team Trials Champion (2012), National Champion (2010-2011), Junior Olympic National Champion (2010-2011) and USA Boxing National Champion (2011.)

All-new editions of HBO’s all-access reality series 24/7 PACQUIAO/MARQUEZ 4 debut on Saturday, December 1 (9:30-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) – while the finale debuts Friday, December 7 (8:00-8:30 p.m. ET/PT), the night before the high-stakes welterweight showdown. All four episodes will have multiple replay dates on HBO, and the series will also be available on HBO On Demand and HBO GO^®.

Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs), of the Philippines, and Márquez (54-6-1, 39 KOs), of México, who have won world titles in 12 weight divisions between them, will go mano a mano and toe-to-toe, for the fourth time, in a 12-round welterweight battle, Saturday, December 8, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions, Zanfer Promotions, Márquez Boxing, Tecate, Wonderful Pistachios, Cinemax ‘Banshee,’ Smart Communications, Universal Pictures ‘Django Unchained’ and MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, remaining tickets to Pacquiao-Márquez 4 are priced at $1,200, $900, $600, $400, and $200. Ticket sales at $1,200, $900, $600 and $400 are limited to 10 per person and ticket sales at $200 are limited to two (2) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

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The Sweet Science

Articles

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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Articles

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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Articles

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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