Articles

John Molina Wins By Last-Round KO, Over Mickey Bey

Published

11 years ago

July 20, 2013

IN STUNNING TURNABOUT, JOHN MOLINA RALLIES
TO KNOCK OUT PREVIOUSLY UNDEFEATED MICKEY BEY, UNBEATEN BADOU JACK OUTPOINTS FARAH ENNIS ON SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION

FROM HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO IN LAS VEGAS

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Catch the Replay on Tuesday, July 23,

On SHOWTIME EXTREME at 10 p.m. ET/PT

LAS VEGAS (July 20, 2013) – Power-punching John Molina (26-3, 21 KO’s), of Covina, Calif., stormed back from the brink of absolute defeat to dramatically knock out previously unbeaten Mickey Bey (18-1-1, 9 KO’s), of Las Vegas by way of Cleveland, Ohio, at 2:01 of the 10^th and final round of their lightweight fight Friday in the main event on ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME^® from The Joint At Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

In the co-feature, Sweden’s Badou Jack (15-0, 10 KO’s), of Las Vegas, remained undefeated by registering a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision over Farah Ennis (21-2, 12 KO’s), of Philadelphia, in a super middleweight scrap. Jack won by the scores of 100-90 and 98-92 twice,

Heading into the last round, Molina was trailing on the three judges’ scorecards by 90-81, 89-82 and 88-83. Bey dominated the first minute-plus of the 10^th and appeared poised to close the show. But Molina, as he has done in the past, rallied. With about 1:25 remaining, he connected with a left hook to the chin that stunned Bey. Sensing Bey was in serious trouble, Molina followed with a series of shots with both hands. Moments later, the referee, Vic Drakulich, stepped in and stopped it.

“This was certainly one of the most dramatic ends to a ShoBox fight in the history of the series,’’ said ShoBox expert analyst Steve Farhood afterward. “How many fighters can say that they have come back from a big points deficit to win by knockout even once in their career? Molina has now done it four times.

“I was virtually convinced that Bey was on his way to a stoppage win when he hurt Molina to the body in the 10^th. So what happens? Molina comes back to win. That’s why we love boxing and why we love punchers.’’

Molina knew the score entering the final session. “I knew I was fighting an uphill battle and that I was definitely behind on the scorecards, but I always felt I was in the fight,’’ he said. “This is how we do it. This is why we do boxing. I seized the moment and got the job done. When my back was up against the wall, I came back stronger.

“Bey was a strong-armed guy who was difficult to get inside against. But I knew I’d hurt him early with a body shot because he let out a moan. I wanted him to get a little confidence as the fight went on so he would stand more. I think he wanted to try and discourage me at times but it didn’t work. When I connected in the 10^th, I saw his eyes roll back. The beauty of boxing is possessing knockout power in both hands.’’

The event was presented by Mayweather Promotions. Boxing superstar and pound-for-pound kingpin, Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr., promotes both Bey and Jack. He also promoted four other boxers on Friday’s card. Mayweather, who was seated at ringside in time for the evening’s first bout at 5:30 p.m., got into the ring and congratulated Molina afterward.

“That meant a hell of a lot to me,’’ Molina said. “It says a lot about Floyd.’’

Molina doesn’t know what’s next for him in boxing. His immediate plans were to “go home and see my eight-month old daughter. I kept thinking about her and my family in there. This win was for them.’’

Bey, a four-time national amateur champion and a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team who was unable to complete in the Olympic Qualifiers or Olympic Games after he became ill with pneumonia, outboxed and outworked Molina for nine and a half rounds.

Afterward he praised Molina for his effort, but had major problems with the referee.

“I don’t want to take any credit away from Molina but I felt I was fighting two or three people in there,’’ Bey said. “The ref was warning me for one thing or another the whole fight. He nit-picked me for everything, pretty much took 80 percent of my arsenal away. It became a distraction, and then it took me out of my game plan. He definitely affected my performance.’’

According to ShoStats provided by CompuBox, Bey threw more punches (531-432) and landed more punches (253-145).

“This is a major disappointment,’’ Bey said. “I felt I did what I had to do. I knew I was way ahead on points. I wasn’t trying to finish him in the last round, I was just fighting my fight. I landed a lot of hard shots, too. We’ll have to see where we go from here.’’

Jack, a 2008 Olympian for Gambia, was in control throughout against Ennis, who seemed reluctant to let his fists go.

“Badou showed a new dimension in winning by boxing against a difficult fighter who gave him very little to work with,’’ Farhood said.

It was the first time Jack went 10 rounds. “Conditioning-wise, I felt great,’’ said Jack, who did three pushups in front of his corner after the ninth round. “I knew I had to fight smart. I wanted to fight more, but it takes two to tango.’’

Friday’s doubleheader will re-air this week as follows:

DAY CHANNEL

Tuesday, July 23, at 10 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME EXTREME

Friday’s fights will be available ON DEMAND beginning today, Saturday, July 20.

Mauro Ranallo called the ShoBox action from ringside with Farhood and former World Champion Raul Marquez serving as expert analysts. The executive producer is Gordon Hall with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.

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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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