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DiBella: “Galarza Truly Has the Talent, Personality To Become a Major Star in Boxing”

Published

10 years ago

September 23, 2014

The Sweet Science

UNDEFEATED JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT PROSPECT “NOTORIOUS” FRANK GALARZA REFLECTS ON PAST WEEKEND’S IMPRESSIVE VICTORY

REMAINS UNDEFEATED

AT RESORTS WORLD CASINO, IN JAMAICA, QUEENS

ALANTEZ FOX AND DANNY AQUINO ALSO SCORE THRILLING WINS ON THE UNDERCARD

New York, NY (9/23/14) – On Saturday, September 20, Brooklyn fan favorite junior middleweight Frank Galarza remained unbeaten while headlining an exciting night of action promoted by New Legend Boxing, at Resorts World Casino, in Jamaica, NY. Both junior middleweight Alantez Fox and featherweight Danny Aquino were also successful in comeback fights on the undercard. All three dynamic prospects are co-promoted by DiBella Entertainment and New Legend Boxing.

Facing the awkward Jonathan Batista, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in an eight-round contest, Galarza, 153¾, started off by patiently stalking his foe over the first two frames. In the third, the Brooklynite picked up the pace, digging to the body. Trapping Batista, 152¾, in his own corner, Galarza landed a powerful left hook downstairs to drop him to a knee. From then on, the hometowner was in complete control, while Batista grew increasingly frustrated, resorting to dirty tactics. Referee Harvey Dock deducted a point from Batista in round four for hitting behind the head and ultimately had to disqualify him at 0:45 of the fifth frame for repeated infractions. With the loss, Batista’s record fell to 14-4 (7 KOs). World ranked by the World Boxing Council (WBC) and now 15-0-2 (9 KOs), the charismatic and talented Galarza is on the rise and poised for stardom.

“It felt great to fight in front of my hometown fans again,” said Galarza. “This was my sixth fight at Resorts in Queens, and my fan base continues to grow. I have people coming to see me from all over, Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, wherever. I must be doing something right. I felt good in there against Batista, but I was a little too anxious to knock him out. I was looking for that one big punch, but then I adjusted and began to break him down. Batista started getting a little dirty, but I kept my composure. Whether he was disqualified or not, it didn’t matter. He was going to get knocked out eventually. I got the win and that’s what matters. Now, it’s back to training and I’m just looking forward to the next fight.”

Former Galarza rival and now promotional stable mate Alantez Fox, 157, of Forestville, MD, returned to the ring following a 53-week absence while sorting out managerial issues. Shaking off the ring rust against the upset-minded Jonathan Garcia, 156½, of Cerro Gordo, Puerto Rico, the 6’5″ Fox established a distance early on with his long jab and superior reach. Garcia did his best to close the gap, winging hooks to the midsection. By the middle rounds, Fox did fight in close quarters to Garcia’s advantage on occasion. However, he wisely switched tactics to focus on straight punches to ward off his opponent’s advances. As Garcia tired down the stretch, Fox used right hook pot shots to keep him at bay. Punctuating the fight by pinning Garcia against the ropes with flurries, Fox earned a unanimous six-round decision on tallies of 60-54, and 59-55 twice, to improve to 13-0-1 (4 KOs).

“Having been off for so long, I was kind of nervous excited going into the fight,” said Fox. “Garcia was a real durable, tough guy and he landed some good shots on me. I was working on my patience and picking my shots in there. I did feel a bit rusty, but once I got into my groove, the fight wasn’t too challenging. I’ll be back in the gym by next week and would love to stay active and fight again in the next few months.”

Mexican featherweight Danny Aquino, from Meriden, Conn., ended an 18-month layoff to secure a six-round majority decision victory in what was a wild shootout against the very game local Dominican Jhovanny Collado, of Jamaica, Queens. From the opening bell, Aquino, 122, displayed relentless pressure and pure aggression as he swarmed Collado, 124, who was more than willing to return fire. Working his way inside with combinations to the body and landing his overhand right upstairs, Aquino dominated much of the action. However, he survived a scare in round four when Collado caught him coming in to drop him twice. Fighting on instinct, Aquino managed to hurt his adversary by round’s end. The pair never let up for the remainder of the contest, often bringing the raucous crowd to their feet. Scorecards read 57-55 twice, and 56-56, to award Aquino the verdict. At 16-2 (10 KOs), Aquino is an all-action brawler looking to work his way back into the world rankings.

“It felt good to come back,” said Aquino, “but I never expected to end up on the floor like that in the fourth round. I just dropped my hands a little bit, got careless and he caught me with one of his wild hooks, but I got up and did what I had to do to win. I boxed a little bit in the fifth to clear my head and was fine by the last round. Other than that one round, I knew I was in control and winning the fight. Whatever DiBella Entertainment and New Legend Boxing think is good for me next, I’ll take. I will fight anybody.”

“It was great to see Fox and Aquino back in the ring after such a long layoff,” said Felipe Gomez, of New Legend Boxing. “I think both fighters demonstrated that they are ready to step it up and take on bigger fights. Galarza’s fan base turned out in full force to watch him break down a tough veteran in Batista with body shots. I believe Galarza has what it takes to be in the mix for a title fight in the near future. All three of these fighters are exciting to watch and worthy of televised fights.”

“Galarza is definitely ready to take the next step toward becoming a contender. He truly has the talent and the personality to become a major star in boxing,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. “I’m happy that Fox and Aquino were able to get back into the ring and shake off the cobwebs with impressive victories. Both fighters have a lot of potential and we will work hard to get them the best possible opportunities.”

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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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