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Football Heavyweight Stars Breazeale, Washington and De La Hoya Win

Published

11 years ago

April 4, 2014

Night-of-the-Heavyweigths f88b3

Heavyweights dominated the fight card with Dominic “Trouble” Breazeale leading the way with a decision win over heavyweight veteran Nagy Aguilera on Thursday.

Breazeale put a beating on Aguilera but couldn’t add another knockout to his record, in front of the fans at Fantasy Springs Casino. Most of the other heavyweights scored knockouts on the Golden Boy Promotion card called “Night of the Heavyweights.”

Despite losing his knockout string, Breazeale (10-0, 9 Kos) showed improvement against Aguilera (19-8, 13 Kos). It was a pretty decent heavyweight fight that former heavyweight great Gerry Cooney got to see. During Cooney’s days he was a giant of a heavyweight. Today that’s the norm.

“Poco a poco he’s learning,” said trainer John Bray. “He graduated today to another step.”

Breazeale used his jab to establish a proper hitting distance in the first round. Aguilera was content to allow the bigger man to fire away as he measured the distance himself. Body shots seemed to affect Aguilera, who countered with some stiff jabs.

Aguilera was having a good second round by pinning Breazeale against the ropes until he was caught with an overhand right hand from the bigger man. Breazeale then fired about a dozen punches up and down Aguilera’s body until the bell ended the round.

It was clear that Aguilera had better moments when he trapped Breazeale against the ropes. But once the taller heavyweight commanded the center of the ring he was able to blast away at the rather squat fighter. Several times Breazeale hurt Aguilera but the New York City boxer, now training in Texas, survived every tough encounter. All three judges scored it for Breazeale 79-73 twice and 80-72.

“It was the three and four punch combinations that won the fight for me,” said Breazeale, a former football quarterback in college. “We’ve been working on that for weeks.”

Other heavyweights

Former Cuban star Luis Ortiz (21-0, 18 Kos) needed one punch to knock out Monte Barrett (35-11-2, 20 Kos) at 38 seconds of round four for the win. Both heavyweights were looking for the knockout from the opening bell. But a single left to the nose crushed Barrett, who quickly grabbed his face and went down. After the fight was stopped Barrett looked fine but he must have felt like his face had caved in.

In the other heavyweight fight featuring a former football star, Gerald “El Gallo Negro” Washington (12-0, 9 Kos) fired a six punch combination to knock down Skipp Scott (16-2, 10 Kos) at 1:40 of round two. Houston’s Scott could not beat the count. Washington is a former defensive lineman for USC. After the fight the corner for Scott argued with the CSAC inspectors and officials about their fighter getting hit while on the ground. They were demanding a rematch.

De La Hoya

Diego “Golden Kid” De La Hoya (4-0, 3 Kos), the young cousin of former boxing super star Oscar De La Hoya, dominated his six-round battle against Puerto Rico’s Jaxel Marrero (1-2-1). The quick-fisted De La Hoya knocked down Marrero with the first punch he connected with in the first round. But after that, the Puerto Rican resorted to survival tactics by moving away after every De La Hoya attack. All three judges scored every round for De la Hoya. The win by decision snapped the knockout string for the youngster, but it was clear the Puerto Rican boxer was not trying to win. He merely wanted to stay on his feet.

Others

Lancaster’s Kevin Watts (5-0, 2 Kos) took a lot of solid blows from L.A.’s Joaquin Chavez (6-12-3) but managed to win the six-round junior welterweight fight. Two judges did not give Chavez a single round but it was clear he scored the cleaner blows in at least two rounds, maybe three. In two rounds Watts could not land a clean blow. The scores were 60-54 twice and 58-56 for Watts, who is signed with Al Haymon.

Ex US Olympian (2012) Michael Hunter (4-0) defeated Rodney Hernandez (5-2) by unanimous decision after six rounds of a heavyweight contest. Hunter had the quicker hands and was skilled but not enough power to take advantage. Hernandez had his moments but not enough. The scores were 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56 for Hunter.

Santiago Guevara (7-0, 3 Kos) powered his way through San Diego’s stubborn Erik Aguirre (2-4-1) to win by unanimous decision in a junior welterweight bout. Guevara switched from southpaw to orthodox and was able to snap Aguirre’s head back repeatedly for the win.

Palm Desert’s Neeco Macias (4-0) smiled his way to victory over Pasadena’s Elliott Seymour in a junior middleweight match. Macias has a penchant for smiling throughout the fight and did so for four rounds. All three judges scored it for Macias.

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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”.

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