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Marquez Dominating,Then Dropped, But Finishes to Get UD12 Over Alvarado

Published

7 years ago

May 18, 2014

Mexican ultra-vet Juan Manuel Marquez met Mike Alvarado, in a 143 pounds or less scrap, which unfolded at the fabulous Forum on Saturday night, and on HBO.

In a faceoff of two men coming off losses, with a winner maybe getting a crack at a Pacquiao payday, it was all Marquez early, but then each man hit the deck, Alvie in the eighth, Marquez in the ninth, and a full-fledged rumble broke out. Marquez got buzzed badly in the 11th, but he stayed focused from then on, and made it to the cards. The judges had it for Marquez, by scores of 117-109, 117-109, 119-108.

Precision sniper Marquez went 278-627 to 178-510 for the loser.

Alvie lost to Ruslan Provodnikov in his last outing. Pre-fight, he said it hurt him to his heart. He admitted he was thinking past Provo in training, and did soul searching after the loss. The Coloradan admitted he has trouble around home, being distracted too easily, so he trained in CA. Marquez, pre-fight, said that he was pumped to be back in the building where he started. He lived with his parents then, and had a day job. Now, he has a big house and lots of cars. He came in off a loss, to Tim Bradley.

The 40-year-old JMM and the 33-year-old Alvie got to cracking in the first. Or rather, JMM did; Alvie wanted the Mexican to lead, not counter. Marquez’ jab and right, which thudded a few times, gave him the round.

In round two, Alvie came out hurling more. Then he backed off, and JMM activated action a couple times.

In the third, Alvie took the advice of the corner, which told him to throw punches. Alvie switched stances, but Marquez didn’t care, and blasted him a few times. The jab from JMM was crisp, good for a 30-something. Marquez was the busier man and our guy Harold Lederman saw it 3-0 after three. JMM timed Alvie, when he led and when he worked off an opening. The body shots looked sharp from JMM, and the crowd dug his combos in another round he won, the fourth. “I need you to get busy, hands up, move your head as you come in, the body shots and the uppercuts are there, maul him, bully him,” said Alvie’s cornerman after.

In the fifth, the left high and low looked hurtful from JMM. Marquez landed 48 tossed in that round.

In the sixth, Marquez backed up, landed, backed up, and the crowd was digging the effort from the older man. In the seventh, Marquez’ legs looked fresh and he slid deftly. A right snapped Alvie’s head, and he shook his head no. An Alvie right, with JMM on the ropes, was solid but that was too rare. His trainer asked Alvie to “beat this old man up.”

In the eighth, a left from Alvie told me maybe JMM was slowing down a bit. Then he knocked Alvie to the matt. He was up at eight, off a right hand, and then the bell rang. A jab blinded him and the right follow was damaging as heck.

In the ninth, down went Marquez. He was up quickly, off that clipping right. JMM came back with a filthy combo. They traded bombs at 1:20. The cut under Alvie’s left eye didn’t put him off. Marquez’ precision bombs were vicious at the end of the round.

In the 10th, both men took a break, but then Alvie landed hard rights and JMM went with a left hook. Alvie ran to close the round, one he lost. In the 11th, JMM and Alvie traded power shots. JMM was still slipping, seeing shots, his reflexes amazing for a man his age. Alvie almost dropped JMM again, with a right hand, however. Nacho Beristain told him he was too slow, because he pulled out and left his chin open for business.

In the 12th, Alvie waited, and went lefty, and watched too much. He did press late some but Marquez stayed smart and focused, and defensively aware. We went to the cards.

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Michael Woods

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

5 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

5 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

5 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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