Articles

Jolene Blackshear Defeats Sindy Amador & Reyes Kos Perez

Published

11 years ago

July 27, 2013

jolene lands right ONTARIO, CALIF.-San Diego’s Jolene Blackshear knocked down Riverside’s Sindy Amador twice to win by split decision and grab the interim WIBA junior flyweight title on Friday.

Behind a ramrod right hand, Blackshear (8-3, 4 Kos) kept at bay the fast pressure of Amador (10-1) over eight rounds before 1,000 fans at the Doubletree Hotel on the Thompson Boxing Promotions fight card. It was hometown favorite Amador’s first loss.

Amador began the fight behind a good jab as Blackshear seemed to gauge what she had in front of her in the first round. The busier Amador used a lot of head movement and moved around skillfully in the first two minute round.

“Our game plan was to keep moving and give her different angles to offset her forward momentum and pressure,” said Blackshear.

Blackshear ( landing right cross, above, in Al Applerose photo)began catching Amador with a lead right hand that popped back the head of the hometown favorite. Amador walked through them but right after right kept landing on the button. It became the theme of the fight.

“We planned to drive her back with power shots in order to make her fight backwards and to control the fight and control the pace,” Blackshear said. “I did not feel I was behind on the scorecards, although there were some competitive rounds that I would give her, especially given it was her home town.”

Amador had a good round in the fifth but was still catching rights from Blackshear. The Riverside fighter increased the pressure and found success. Blackshear rallied a bit but was caught with a combination.

Blackshear returned to form with her crisp right hands as Amador tried to retaliate with more and more pressure. In the seventh round Blackshear fired a right cross and left hook combination that dropped Amador on her seat. She got up before the count of eight.

Amador opened up aggressively in the eighth and final round and was caught with a Blackshear left hook and down she went again. The Riverside boxer beat the count but couldn’t mount a rally.

After eight rounds judges Marty Denkin and Pat Connolly had the fight scored 76-74 for Blackshear. Judge Gwen Adair saw it 76-74 for Amador, giving Blackshear a win by split decision and the interim WIBA junior flyweight title.

“I felt I was doing my job and keeping her in check during some competitive rounds,” Blackshear said. “The concern going into the fight was the element of the unknown.”

After tonight Blackshear’s abilities will not be unknown.

Reyes

San Bernardino’s Artemio Reyes (20-2, 16 Kos) won by knockout against Mexico’s Sergio Perez (28-15, 19 Kos) in a welterweight clash.

Reyes boxed carefully for two rounds against Tijuana veteran Perez who was firing some tricky bombs. But he kept the pressure on and also remained composed on the slick southpaw.

Perez maneuvered around looking for weaknesses in Reyes’ guard and occasionally fired lefts from a right hand stance. Reyes didn’t fall for any of deceptions and kept his guard tight.

The third round saw Reyes maneuver Perez into a corner and fire a left hook to the Tijuana fighter’s exposed body. Down he went for a count. After a count of six Perez got up and Reyes feinted on top and landed another hook to the body. Perez did not beat the count this time at 1:39 of round three.

Other bouts

Colombia’s Alex “El Principe” Theran (14-0, 8 Kos) overcome a sluggish start against Mexico’s Juan “El Chiflado” Rojas to win by unanimous decision after six rounds of a middleweight matchup. Rojas jumped on the southpaw Theran early with some solid right hands but once the Colombian got his rhythm he was able to control the fight. All three judges gave Theran the win, 60-54.

San Diego’s Jorge Ruiz (3-0) had a difficult time with Houston’s Alex Ruiz (0-3) but won a majority decision after four rounds. The taller San Diego junior welterweight fought with a shoulder roll but wasn’t allowed time to counter against Houston’s Ruiz. They battled all four rounds with one judge scoring it a draw and the other two giving it to San Diego’s Ruiz. Houston’s Ruiz was a busy fighter and had a good chin to go with his constant punching.

Riverside’s Ralph Lopez (7-1, 6 Kos) knocked out Mexico’s German Valdez (2-2) with a flurry of blows in the second round of a middleweight fight. Lopez, the younger brother of welterweight contender Josesito Lopez, had knocked down Valdez in the first round with a counter right after getting hit with a left to the body. Valdez didn’t learn that lesson and fired another left to Lopez’s body and immediately caught a right counter that snapped his head back. Lopez did not hesitate and forced referee Raul Caiz Jr. to end the match in 29 seconds of round two.

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David A. Avila

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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