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Results From Thurs. Night DiBella Card in NY

Published

9 years ago

April 11, 2014

BROADWAY BOXING DELIVERS AGAIN!

(NEW YORK, NY) – New York, NY – DiBella Entertainment staged a thrilling eight-bout night of boxing at the famed BB King Blues Club and Grill, in New York City’s Times Square, showcasing highly talented up-and-coming prospects in front a packed house of feverish fans.

Headlining the card in his US debut was Ecuador’s world-ranked welterweight contender Erick Bone, 145¼, 14-1 (8 KOs), now living in New York. Facing him was New York staple and veteran trial horse Francisco “El Gato” Figueroa, 146¾, 20-7-1 (13 KOs), of Bronx, who did his best to show Bone a few old school tricks and counter shots. Bone took his time finding the best opportunities to land his leather, slowly breaking Figueroa down to the body. Bone moved his attack upstairs as the rounds went and in the fifth frame, Bone hurt Figueroa with a combination to the head and trapped him against the ropes. With Bone unloading a barrage, Figueroa was not throwing back, resulting in the referee stopping the bout at the 2:40 mark.

Bryant “PeeWee” Cruz, 132, 10-0 (6 KOs), Port Chester, NY, pounded on Willshaun Boxley, 132, 6-11-1 (4 KOs), Coon Rapids, MN, for three rounds. Pinning Boxley against the ropes, Cruz landed an impressive array of punches, circumventing his foe’s tight defense well to bang to the body. Just 34 seconds into round three, Boxley’s corner asked the referee to stop the fight, feeling their charge had taken too much punishment. It was Cruz’s official DBE and New Legend Boxing debut. and he did not disappoint, sending the packed house intro a frenzy upon the stoppage.

Louis Cruz, 138, 7-0 (4 KOs), Bronx, earned a dominate six-round unanimous decision over Tony Walker, 138, 5-5-1 (3 KOs), Cincinnati, OH. Cruz controlled the action throughout, scoring with hard shots from the outside. Nicknamed “Cruz Control”, Cruz sailed to a shut-out decision, winning by scores of 60-54 across the board.

Junior “Sugar Boy” Younan, 167¾, a nine-time National amateur champion, 4-0 (4 KOs), Brooklyn, obliterated Dustin Parrish, 165, 1-3 (1 KO), Tallassee, FL, just 28 seconds into the opening round. Parrish immediately rushed Younan in an attempt to surprise him, but the 18-year-old phenom remained poised and countered hard with a right that dropped his foe hard. The Floridian bravely rose to his feet and forced the action once again, only to be countered this time by a left hook that felled him a second time. Feeling that Parrish was in no condition to continue, referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight.

Brooklyn’s Shemuel “The Chosen One” Pagan, 140, the five-time New York Golden Gloves champion, came out against James Gooding, 139½, Tampa, FL, employing a stiff jab early on. In the second stanza, a left hook dropped Gooding for a count and once he arose, Pagan pounced on him banging away forcing referee Benji Esteves to jump in and stop the carnage at the 1:50 mark. Pagan improved to 5-0 (2 KOs), while Gooding’s record fell to 1-6-1 (1 KO).

Ryan Gamache, 145, the comebacking nephew of former world champion Joey Gamache, lost a spirited four-round contest to Ryan Picou, 147, of Las Vegas, now 1-2. Picou stung Gamache in round three with a right hook. Gamache also lost a point in this round for continually spitting out his mouthpiece. The scores were 39-36, 38-36, and 38-37, all for Picou via unanimous decision. Gamache, of Lewiston, ME, who had not fought in 10 years, fell to 2-1 (1 KO).

Ievgen “The Ukrainian Lion” Khytrov, 163, the 2012 Olympian and heavily-hyped middleweight prospect now living in Brooklyn, improved to 4-0 (4 KOs), by scoring a second-round TKO over Jas Phipps, 160, 4-3 (1 KO), Killeen, TX. A left hook dropped Phipps in round one. Khytrov, a veteran of over 500 amateur contests, continued to batter Phipps throughout the second frame until referee Harvey Dock mercifully halted the contest at the 2:07 mark.

Kiun Evans, 126½, 7-0-1 (5 KOs), Little Rock, AR, fought to a six-round draw in an evenly-matched affair against Las Vegas resident Pedro Toledo, 128, 2-1-1. While Toledo was the busier fighter, Evans seemed to land the harder shots. The undefeated featherweight prospect also showed adept ability in throwing counter shots. A scorecard of 58-56 in Evans’ favor was overruled by scores of 57-57. 57-57.

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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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