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Sakio Bika-Anthony Dirrell Deemed A Split Draw

Published

11 years ago

December 8, 2013

Sakio Bika put his WBC super middle crown up against Anthony Dirrell at Barclays Center on Saturday evening at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and on Showtime.

It was a rugged rumble, with Bika going down once and having a point taken for an infraction. We went to the cards, with the Dirrell corner especially certain they’d hear…”the neeewww.” The cards read: 114-112 (Bika), 116-110 (Dirrell) and 113-113 (draw). Dirrell looked beyond irked, as, perhaps, he should have, and he left the ring ASAP.

Bika went 170-609, to 167-477, and we’ve seen many times before, volume spoke loudly to the arbiters. He said after that he felt like he had to fight the ref, and he accused Dirrell of milking sympathy. He said he was the busier man on the night. Dirrell before the decision said he gave himself an A, not an A plus, and expected to win. In the locker room, he used salty language understandably, to show his digust.

Bika looked to make it a scrum while Dirrell picked his spots to land a heavy one in the first. Bika looked amateurish, winging wide shots and missing in the second. Dirrell waited patiently to land his stuff, and liked it when Bika was waiting. Dirrell’s elusivity, with his legs especially, looked good to the judges in the third. A body shot made Bika dip and Dirrell landed a right cross to the head which buckled his knees, the best shot of the bout to that point.

Dirrell shifted to lefty after Bika had some luck landing rights to the top and to the body. The fourth was a better Bika round, for sure, as Dirrell was waiting too much.

Down went Bika off rights in the fifth, on his face. His legs were in bad shape and he might have been saved by the bell.

A right hurt Dirrell and he needed to grab but he got his senses and landed his own answer when he got some space, and hurt Bika in the sixth. Bika was the bull, and Dirrell looked to pick his spots, landed a hard counter or one in between in the seventh.

In the eighth, Bika was busier, and Dirrell needed a second wind. Bika was busier in the ninth, and landed a swell kidney shot to boot. In the tenth, they traded to end the round. A low blow, the left, felled Dirrell, at 1:12, and Bika had a point taken. Blood was seen on Dirrell’s left eye in that 11^th. In the 12^th, Bika shoved Dirrell down, and went low a few times. He whacked to the body and Dirrell did manage to land some counters. Bika, in fact, was on unsteady legs to close the round out. The corner didn’t like it as Dirrell raised his hands and celebrated twice in the waning seconds.

Julian Williams met Orlando Lora in a junior middleweight squareoff. The Philly fighter, coming in at 13-0-1, winged nasty left hooks and rights over the defense of the Mexican in the first. Lora was a sitting duck and a commissioner in his corner hopped up on the apron as he was eating clean shots in round two. Again, some in the crowd hooted, as they did when the ref halted the Ali-Selig contest. But we are living in the post Mago world in NYC boxing and I think it’s always better a tick too early than a tick too late.

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Michael Woods

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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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