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Fighting Magdalenos Score KOs in Hawaiian Gardens

Published

11 years ago

February 16, 2014

HAWAIIAN GARDENS-The brothers Magdaleno had a good night in California.

Diego Magdaleno out-boxed, then out-slugged Jorge Pazos in winning by knockout on Saturday. And younger brother Jessie Magdaleno used the same formula in his knockout win over Mexico’s Roberto Castaneda at the Robert Lee Activity Center.

The elder Magdaleno used his quickness and movement to out-maneuver Pazos during the first two rounds. It was the usual flourish of punches and defense for Magdaleno, who fought for a world title less than a year ago.

Pazos seemed to gain confidence in the first two rounds against the careful Magdaleno, but when he decided to turn it into a rumble, he was met with a blinding four-punch combination that sent him to his knees. Pazos beat the count and held on tightly to survive the round.

In round four Magdaleno slipped into attack mode as Pazos circled away quickly from one side to the other. Finally, a left hook to the mid-section followed by another left hook to the liver sent Pazos down once again. Referee Jack Reiss counted out Pazos at 2:27 of the round.

“I really felt I was able to do the things we worked on with Joel Diaz,” said Diego Magdaleno, 27, who had Diaz in the corner for the second time. “I felt like a professional and I didn’t lunge in.”

Magdaleno not only feels comfortable with his new training headquarters, but feels comfortable enough to head back to a world title fight.

“I know Top Rank has something for this year,” he said.

Jessie Magdaleno (18-0, 14 Kos) was ordered to box and maneuver by his new trainer Diaz despite his reputation as a pure slugger. The slight change in tactics proved deadly efficient against Castaneda (20-6-1, 15 Kos).

Magdaleno moved deftly in and out while delivering speedy combinations that rarely missed the mark. In the second round, the impish looking Magdaleno floored the taller Castaneda twice with lightning right hooks.

“My corner told me to take my time and box him and that he’s a big banger,” said Magdaleno, 22. “I’m not trying to disrespect him, but I never felt any power from him.”

Castaneda seemed almost embarrassed that he was knocked down twice in two rounds. The Mexicali native pressed on with a devil-may-care attack. Each and every engagement resulted in Magdaleno retaliating with pinpoint right hooks or five-punch combinations.

“People have been saying that I take opponents out too fast, so I was happy to box him,” said Magdaleno. “I like to hear the people say ‘ooh and ahhh.’ It makes me feel good.”

After dominating the first four rounds, Magdaleno was told by his corner to end the fight. The Las Vegas boxer, who now trains in Indio, Ca. responded by forcing Castaneda to open up his attack. After a dozen punches were unleashed by the lanky Mexican boxer, Magdaleno timed one of the blows and snapped a counter right hook to the jaw and down went Castaneda. Referee Jack Reiss immediately stopped the fight at 2:48 of round five for the knockout.

“This was my favorite win,” said Magdaleno. “They told me to take him out in the fifth and I did.”

Frank Espinoza, who manages Magdaleno, said a world title fight is within sight for Jessie Magdaleno.

“He’ll be fighting in April then we might see him in a world title fight this year,” Espinoza said.

Other bouts

Riverside junior lightweight prospect Saul “Dinamita” Rodriguez (12-0-1, 9 Kos) knocked out Mexico’s Jose Iniguez (7-17) in two rounds. The first round saw the much taller Rodriguez use quick left hooks to send Iniguez to the floor twice. In round two, a crackling double left hook to the body and head sent Iniguez down for good at 45 seconds of the round. Rodriguez, 20, has become more patient and deadly in his ability to set up opponents. When Iniguez opened up just slightly Rodriguez rushed in with precision and deadly impact. He’s WBO junior lightweight titlist Mikey Garcia’s stable mate in Riverside.

Brazilian Olympian Esquivia Florentino (1-0) won his pro debut with bludgeoning attack against Virginia’s Joshua Robertson (5-5) that resulted in a stoppage at 2: 36 of round four. There were no knockdowns in the super middleweight match.

Sukhrab Shidaev (11-0, 7 Kos) tried hard to knock out Moises Alvizo (3-8-1) but just couldn’t find the mark. It didn’t help that most of his punches were very wide and seldom hit the mark. But they looked impressive. Shidaev won by unanimous decision in the junior middleweight fight.

Trevor McCumby (14-0, 11 Kos) walks into the ring with the familiar Johnny Cash tune blaring “Folsom Prison Blues” and walked out with a knockout over St. Louis cruncher Chris Eppley (10-4, 9 Kos). The light heavyweight fight ended at 1:59 of round one when McCumby walloped Eppley with lefts and rights. Though the St. Louis tough guy never went down, he was taking some big time shots from McCumby.

Adam Fiel (2-0) scored a knockdown in the first round against debuting Luis Pelayo (0-1) but couldn’t figure out the taller and awkward junior lightweight. Fiel won by decision after four rounds.

Former amateur star Gary Salazar (2-0) knocked out Carlos Gonzalez (1-5) with a flick of a left hook at 1:40 of the first round. The 11-time national champion from Fresno barely worked up a sweat.

Downey’s Pedro Duran (5-0, 3 Kos) and Tijuana’s Erick Aguirre (2-3-1) brought a ton load of fans with them. Despite competing in the final bout, several hundred fans remained to see the two featherweights fire away. Duran had the longer reach and used it by sending jabs against the quick-handed Aguirre. The fans loved the action that saw Duran win by unanimous decision.

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David A. Avila

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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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