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J’Leon Love Gets Kayoed on “ShoBox”

Published

10 years ago

August 31, 2014

The Sweet Science

ROGELIO MEDINA SCORES SHOCKING THIRD-ROUND KNOCKOUT

OVER PREVIOUSLY UNDEFEATED SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT J’LEON LOVE ON SPECIAL SATURDAY EDITION OF SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION

Once-Beaten Badou Jack, Unbeaten Ronald Gavril Triumph In Co-Featured Bouts at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas; Floyd “Money” Mayweather Interviewed During SHOWTIME^® Telecast

Catch Replay Monday, Sept. 1, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHO EXTREME^®

LAS VEGAS (Aug. 31, 2014) – Hard-hitting super middleweight Rogelio “Porky” Medina (33-6, 27 KOs), of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, registered one of the upsets of the year, knocking out previously unbeaten, world-ranked J’Leon Love (18-1, 10 KOs), of Inkster, Mich., in the third round of a Special Saturday presentation of ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME.

After Love missed with a left land, the unheralded Medina countered with a vicious combination of punches to the chin and head that dropped Love face-first to the canvas. Love attempted to get up but referee Tony Weeks stepped in and stopped the fight at 39 seconds into the third round. It was the 123^rd time since the series began 13 years ago that an unbeaten fighter suffered his first loss on ShoBox.

Both of Love’s Mayweather Promotions’ “Money Team” teammates were triumphant in their ShoBox fights. Once-beaten Badou Jack (17-1-1, 11 KOs), of Stockholm, Sweden, bounced back from a first-round KO defeat to pitch a near 10-round shutout against Jason Escalera (15-3-1, 12 KOs) of Union City, N.J., and talented Romanian168-pounder Ronald “Thrill” Gavril (10-0, 8 KOs) scored one knockdown en route to an impressive seventh-round TKO over hard-trying Thomas Falowo (12-3, 8 KOs) of Pawtucket, R.I.

“I knew in the beginning that he was going to box so I was focused on cutting off the ring and applying pressure at all time,’’ a jubilant Medina said afterward. “I was very surprised the fight ended like it did when it did. I expected to win but not in this kind of explosive fashion this early in the fight.

“I would love to fight next for the WBC title against champion Anthony Dirrell.’’

Offered ShoBox expert analyst Steve Farhood afterward: “This was a classic case of the fact that no tuneup is ever a fully safe tuneup. Love was on the verge of securing a shot at the world title and, on paper, Medina was the kind of opponent who figured to suit him well style-wise.

“But in a split second, Love hooked with the hooker and when he went down face-first you knew he wasn’t getting up. It was an incredible and unlikely win for Medina and an incredible and severely damaging loss for Love.”

Leon was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for observation. He left on his own recognizance.

Boxing superstar and 11-Time World Champion Floyd Mayweather, whofaces Marcos “El Chino” Maidana in the main event of “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” on Saturday, Sept. 13 live on SHOWTIME PPV^® from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, watched the nine-bout Mayweather Promotions fight card from ringside. He was interviewed by Farhood after the Gavril-Falowa fight.

“I was impressed with [Ronald] Gavril”, Mayweather said. “He should’ve gone to the body a bit more, but he’s still in the learning stages of his career. I believe that he is a future world champion. Eddie [Mustafa] Muhammad is his trainer, who is one of the best trainers out there. Gavril is still working very hard in the gym so in the future there should be some very good results.

“I think I have gotten much stronger in this training camp [for Maidana rematch]. I’m making sure that my body is stretched the right way. Every camp is different, but I feel comfortable and I’m pretty sure my opponent is ready to fight because I am. All I try to do is to stay positive and get good work in.

“I am able to make adjustments and adapt very, very easily. I’ve made adjustments before, even with my last rematch almost 12 years ago against [Jose Luis] Castillo. I’m in tip top shape and am a lot stronger this fight than when I first fought Maidana. My conditioning is also exactly where it needs to be.

“If you look back at the fight, I think it was very exciting for the first three or four rounds and out of 12 rounds I would say he won three rounds, but I dominated for nine rounds. The fans, critics and people are so used to me winning 11, 12 rounds or knocking a guy out. To have an opponent actually put up a good fight for four rounds [is something that is unusual in a fight of mine]. All throughout the fight I was boxing and being sharp and Maidana was constantly being dirty.

“All I can do is go out there and win and be the best that I can be. I can’t look for any help from the referee. I strictly believe that there will be an even playing field. I want the referee to do his jobs on both ends.

“I feel good, every time I go to training camp I feel good. I think this time I am going to display something totally different from the first fight. I don’t think that age plays a factor. All I have to do is keep my composure, be smart and be the same Floyd Mayweather.

Saturday’s Special ShoBox aired on SHOWTIME immediately following the premiere of “ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” Episode 1 and was screened for Floyd and the fans in attendance inside The Pearl to watch before the televised fights began.

Jack won by the scores 100-90 twice and 99-91. “I didn’t have any nerves going into this fight based off of what happened in my last fight,” he said. “I had a long training camp and we worked on all my mistakes from my last fight. I told everyone that it was just a lucky punch after my lazy jab and I was just caught, stuff happens it’s boxing.

“My defense was the best it has ever been in a fight and that’s a credit to my assistant trainer [former WBA Light Heavyweight Lou De Valle]. He’s like my brother and after the last fight I called him and told him that I needed his help and I know that Leonard [Ellerbe] and Floyd [Mayweather] really like him.

“I love SHOWTIME and I am very blessed and thankful to them for giving me this opportunity. It’s great to fight in my new hometown of Las Vegas.’’

Gavril was pleased after a fine performance in which he turned back a determined bid from Falowo to remain perfect. The fight was stopped by the referee as Gavril was landing one flurry after another of unanswered punches.

“I was very happy with my performance,’’ Gavril said. “I worked very hard for this, and I’m glad it showed. I am especially pleased because I knew I had some Romanian fans in the house. He was very tough and came to win. After I knocked him down in the third, he came back and won the fourth.

“I expected a tough fight and I got it. As always the key for me was patience. I felt I was getting stronger as we went on. I’m absolutely ready for 10 rounds, if the time is right.’’

Falowo was visibly disappointed afterward. “I can’t argue with the stoppage,’’ he said. “I knew I was a little behind but I thought I was doing OK. He caught me with a good shot in the third and buzzed me again in the seventh. I tried to hold on but couldn’t. I’m very disappointed in myself because I definitely felt I was going to win this fight.’’

Saturday’s three-fight telecast will be available at SHOWTIME ON DEMAND^®beginning Monday, Sept. 1 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

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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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