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Alcivar Beats Olszewski, Wins NY State Title

Published

12 years ago

March 28, 2013

The Five Star banquet hall in Long Island City was packed on Wednesday night with fans that were treated to an exciting night of boxing that saw local favorite Patty Alcivar win a NY State title.

In the main event of the Uprising Promotions card, Alcivar (7-1, 3KO) faced the experienced Eileen Olszewski (7-5-2) in an eight round bout for the vacant NY State women’s flyweight championship.

Both fighters had vocal cheering sections in the audience as the bell sounded for round one.

In something of a “feel out” round Alcivar (in Chris Wheat photo, at left) initiated the action as Olszewski seemed content to wait for opportunities to counter.

The second frame started at the same pace but a head butt from Olszewski opened a cut at the top of Alcivar’s forehead. With blood trickling down the front of her face, Alcivar continued her attack. The action was halted as the referee called time to have the ringside doctor check the cut. The fighting continued with Olszewski trying to seize the moment by connecting with several significant punches. Alcivar answered back with her jab and combinations.

In the third and fourth Olszewski continued to connect with crisp punches. Alcivar found her range, connecting with combinations and staying busy as the aggressor.

The fifth round found Alcivar stepping on the gas. She increased the pace, landed multiple combinations, and began to build momentum.

Olszewski opened the 6^th with a big left, right combination that had her supporters roaring, but did little to dent the determination of Alcivar. With blood still flowing from her cut, the former two time NYC Golden Gloves champion let her hands go and continued to press the action.

Alcivar announced her intention to take the title with a big left hand to open the 7^th round. The tough Olzewski stood her ground and fired back. Alcivar’s foot was still on the pedal though as she continued to build momentum.

The final round brought increased urgency from both fighters as they exchanged punches at a fierce pace. At one point Alcivar backed Olzewski against the ropes and landed jarring left, right combinations. With the crowd cheering their approval, the furious action continued right up until the final bell.

With scores of 78-74, 77-75, and 79-73 Alcivar won the unanimous decision and the NYS women’s flyweight title.

After the fight an emotional and elated Alcivar stated that while winning a world title is her ultimate dream, “you can’t get any better than winning a title in your home town.”

Ex champ Junior Jones, in attendance, seemed to enjoy the action.

Ronson Frank (17-0 8 KOs), Uprising Promotions’ founder, was featured in a six round cruiserweight bout. The Brooklyn native faced Sharif Kemp (8-6, 6KO) of Atlanta, Ga.

The skilled Frank used patience, precision, and a good jab in the first round to get to Kemp.

In the second, Frank landed a solid shot to the body that left Kemp’s upstairs open to a barrage of punches that put Kemp down. He survived the count and gamely pressed on. Frank continued his onslaught and the referee waved it off at 1:08 of the round for a TKO stoppage for Frank.

Representing Honduras and the Bronx, Juan Zapata (2-5-1, 1KO) faced New Yorker Valdrin Muriqi (3-2) in a 4 round super middleweight scrap.

The chiseled Zapata began the fight by stalking Muriqi and lunging with his punches. Muriqi stayed calm and used his boxing skill to avoid the incoming bombs.

In the second round Zapata opened a small cut under Muriqi’s right eye. Perhaps to answer back, Muriqi hit Zapata behind the head in an ensuing clinch. The referee warned Muiriqi instantly.

The third frame opened with Zapata continuing his head hunting mission and Muriqi doing his best to avoid the punches while offering little in the form of a counter attack. Zapata was throwing his punches with such force that, whenever he missed, he was out of position and lacking balance.

It was bombs away from Zapata in the final round as he gestured for Muriqi to come forward and fight. Zapata landed some powerful punches as his gas tank neared empty when the bell sounded to end the fight.

Zapata captured a unanimous decision victory with scores of 39-37 from all three judges.

Women were back under the spotlight in a 4 round flyweight bout that pitted New Yorker Susan Reno (1-1) against Canadian Jacqueline Park (1-2).

With a distinct height and reach advantage, Park began by using her jab to set up combinations that found their mark. Reno’s challenge would be to find a way inside to land punches of her own.

The action continued in that fashion through the second and third frames. The sparkplug Reno would occasionally get inside to land punches. Park’s effectiveness with her jab and combinations was proven when a welt began to rise over Reno’s right eye.

With the audience urging her on in the fourth, Reno let it all hang out and landed two big right hands. She continued to press the action and try to force her way inside.

The Canadian walked away with a majority decision victory from scores of 39-37, 38-38, and 39-37.

Brooklyn was in the house as cruiserweight Michael Ocasio (4-2) faced Niagara Falls’ Eric George (0-2) in a four round bout.

The big guys spent a lot of time clinching and fighting on the inside. Both tried to land uppercuts and in the second round Ocasio snapped George’s head back with a short one on the button.

Conditioning appeared to be an issue as both fighters tired in the third. George proved to be a formidable opponent as he landed punches of his own.

In the end Ocasio was the busier fighter and earned a unanimous decision with the judges tallying 39-37, 40-36, 39-37.

The evening’s first bout was a rousing junior lightweight battle between Far Rockaway’s Trevis Hall (2-1-1) and the Bronx’s Frank Garriga (0-0-2). The fan favorite’s fought to a majority draw, which left supporter’s of each jeering in disbelief.

Uprising Promotions hit a home run in their first time up at the plate. Matchmaker Diana Rodriguez did an excellent job in making exciting, competitive fights. New York fight fans have good reason to look forward to their next card.

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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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