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Galarza Steals The Show on “ShoBox”

Published

10 years ago

January 18, 2014

UNBEATEN IVAN REDKACH WINS HARD-FOUGHT, UNANIMOUS DECISION OVER TONY LUIS; FRANK GALARZA SCORES VICIOUS SECOND-ROUND KNOCKOUT OVER JOHN THOMPSON ON SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION

Antoine Douglas Takes Easy Decision Over Marquis Davis, Maurice Hooker and Abel Ramos Battle To Exciting Draw In Other Televised Results; Replay Is Tuesday on SHOWTIME EXTREME

MEMPHIS (Jan. 18, 2014) – Promising, world-ranked southpaw Ivan Redkach (16-0, 13 KO’s), of Los Angeles, by way of Ukraine, passed the toughest challenge of his career, scoring one knockdown en route to a unanimous 10-round decision over Canada’s Tony Luis (17-2, 7 KO’s), but the night belonged to “The Brooklyn Rocky” Frank “Notorious” Galarza (12-0-2, 8 KO’s), of Brooklyn, N.Y., who registered an exciting second-round knockout over John “Apollo Kidd’’ Thompson (14-1, 5 KO’s), of Newark, N.J., Friday on ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME^® from Cook ConventionCenter.

In other ShoBox results on a four-fight card, Antoine Douglas (12-0, 7 KO’s), of Burke, Va., by way of Washington D.C., won a lopsided eight-round decision over Marquis Davis (8-1-2, 5 KO’s), of Tampa, Fla., in a matchup of unbeaten middleweights and undefeated junior welterweights Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (12-0-2, 9 KO’s), of Dallas, Texas, and Abel Ramos (8-0-1, 4 KO’s), of Casa Grande, Ariz., by way of Gettysburg, Pa., boxed to an eight-round draw in an exciting scrap that opened the telecast.

“Tonight was our first ShoBox telecast of the year and it was a smorgasbord,’’ ShoBox expert analyst and boxing historian Steve Farhood said afterward. “We got a little bit of everything. The fights we thought would go long went short and the fights we thought would go short went long.

“Redkach was legitimately tested for the first time and while he didn’t get the knockout, he showed the fans why he’s considered such an exciting fighter to watch. Galarza, who had limited credentials coming in, absolutely stole the show with a savage, stunning and sudden knockout.’’

Redkach dropped Luis late in the first round, but never could relax despite winning by the seemingly one-sided scores of 99-90, 97-92 and 97-93.

“I won the fight clearly,’’ said Redkach, the WBC’s No. 13-ranked contender. “I learned a lot. Tony is a true warrior. He made the fight a dirty fight and I got sucked into that game.

“I will take this as a lesson learned into my next training camp and improve on it.’’

Luis was livid with the scoring. “There’s always room for improvement and I didn’t fight the perfect fight, but I thought this was a much, much closer fight,’’ he said. “I felt I was hurting him, and he was getting tired. I felt I’d knocked him down in the first, but the referee didn’t call it even though his gloves hit the canvas. The ref was breaking us up too soon. He wouldn’t let me work.

“This is very disappointing to say the least.’’

Galarza stopped Thompson with a devastating left hook at 0:16 in the second round. “This is the way to start the year,’’ a beaming Galarza said. “People are going to have to think twice about me now. What they saw tonight is who I am.

“Considering this was on a national stage, it has to be one of the very best wins in my career.’’

After starting slowly and losing the first round on all the scorecards, Galarza came out strongly in the second, threw a couple of right hands and then delivered the hook that sent Thompson crashing to the mat.

“Our game plan was to feel him out in the first and then step it up,’’ Galarza said. “The key was to get to him first, to not let him get off.’’

Douglas won by the scores of 80-72 twice and 79-73, but he wasn’t thrilled with his performance. “I am happy to get the win, but I’m not happy that the fight didn’t play out the way I thought it would. I expected more from myself; I expected to knock him out. I know I wasn’t 100 percent because I had a touch of the flu, so maybe I overestimated what I could do. Still, I expected more.''

To make matters worse for Davis, Douglas knocked out one of Davis’ teeth midway through the fight. To continue throwing punches – and perhaps save the tooth – Davis kicked it out of the ring without giving it a second thought.

The Hooker-Ramos was an excellent eight-round fight with give-and-take, two-way action from start to finish. In the end, one judge had it for Hooker, 77-75, but the other two scored it 76-76.

The event was promoted by DiBella Entertainment, in association with GH3 Promotions, Greg Cohen Promotions and Prize Fight Boxing.

The ShoBox quadrupleheader will re-air for first time this week as follows:

DAY CHANNEL

Tuesday, Jan. 21, 10 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME EXTREME

Friday’s four-fight telecast will be available ON DEMAND beginning today, Saturday, Jan. 18.

Barry Tompkins 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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