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Barthelemy-Saucedo Tops Saturday Showtime Card; Vanes Fights For Goossen

Published

10 years ago

October 4, 2014

The Sweet Science

RANCES BARTHELEMY vs. FERNANDO DAVID SAUCEDO

WILLIE NELSON vs. VANES MARTIROSYAN

CHAD DAWSON vs. TOMMY KARPENCY

FINAL WEIGHTS, QUOTES & PHOTOS

SHOWTIME Boxing Special Edition This Saturday, Oct. 4,

LIVE On SHOWTIME^® At 9 p.m. ET/PT

From Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn.

MASHANTUCKET, CONN. (Oct. 3, 2014) – Undefeated Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy and Fernando David “El Vasco” Saucedo both tipped the scale at the limit of 130 pounds during the official weigh-in for their world title showdown, tomorrow/Saturday, LIVE on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast.

Barthelemy (20-0-0, 12 KOs), of Las Vegas by way of Cuba, will defend his IBF junior lightweight title against former world title challenger and IBF No. 3-ranked challenger Saucedo (52-5-3, 8, KOs), of Florencio Varela, Argentina, in the main event of a SHOWTIME Boxing Special Edition tripleheader from the Fox Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Mashantucket, Conn.

Willie “The Great” Nelson (23-1-1, 13 KOs), of Cleveland, Ohio, and Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan (34-1-1, 21 KOs), of Glendale, Calif. by way of Armenia, both weighed-in at 153 pounds for their 10-round collision of once-beaten junior middleweights. Martirosyan will be stepping into the ring with a heavy heart just five days after the death of his promoter Dan Goossen, brother of his trainer, Joe Goossen.

Former light heavyweight world champion “Bad” Chad Dawson (32-3, 18 KOs), of Las Vegas by way of New Haven, Conn., measured 173 pounds for his first fight in his home state in five years. He’ll take on Tommy Karpency (23-4-1, 14 KOs), of Adah, Penn., who also weighed-in at 173 pounds, in a 10-round light heavyweight fight in the opening bout of Saturday’s tripleheader.

RANCES BARTHELEMY:

“I’m excited. This is a huge fight for me, fighting on national television, fighting on SHOWTIME. I’m excited and anxious to get in there and give the crowd and the fans a great fight.

“You’re going to see a solid, smart fighter that knows how to keep his distance and knows how to control the pace. And you’ll see a lot of my jab, my biggest weapon.

“I’m going to win any way possible. We’re ready to go the whole 12 rounds. We’re just going to take it round by round.

“He has over 60 fights so we have to respect him. But we’re going to let him know we’re the bigger man.”

FERNANDO DAVID SAUCEDO:

“I came here to win the world title and that’s what I’m going to do.

“This is the perfect matchup for me and my chance to show that I deserve to be a world champion.

“It’s a dream come true to fight here in the United States. It’s obvious that I can’t do what I did in my previous 60 fights. I need to bring a little more to go home with the title. I’m very well-prepared and I’m looking forward to getting in the ring.”

WILLIE NELSON:

“I believe the jab is the key to this fight. The person who establishes the jab is the one that is going to come out on top.

“I just need to follow the game plan and pick him apart.

“I’m going to win a unanimous decision.

“If I win this fight I should get a shot at a world title. But, you know, it’s boxing, so anything can happen.”

VANES MARTIROSYAN

“We have a good game plan put together with Joe [Goossen]. We’re ready to box or brawl if we need to. We’ll just take it from there. We’re ready for whatever he bring and we’re just going to be on top of him the whole fight.

“We’ve been heartbroken since we’ve heard the news [that Dan passed]. Especially because they kept it away from me the whole training camp. It was a big surprise to us. The second we heard it we all, my wife, my mother, we all started crying.

“But, in a way, we’re happy that we get to fight Saturday night and dedicate this victory to Dan Goossen.

“It gives me more motivation to fight and make him proud because I know he’s going to be looking down on us. On Saturday we get to thank him.

“I think this will make me stronger. The last thing, boxing-wise, that Dan said to Joe was, “make sure Vanes wins.’ I’m taking that in the ring with me. He’s going to be watching me from above so we’re going to put on a good performance for him.

“I’m going to win by knockout. I have too much happiness and too much strength going into the ring that I will win by knockout.”

CHAD DAWSON:

“As a fighter, the scale is a part of the fight, too. I beat the scale and tomorrow night we’ll go out and win the fight.

“I know that I have to go out tomorrow night and perform. I have to let the world know that I’m the same fighter, that I’m still one of the best fighters in the world. If anything, I think I’m wiser and that makes me a better fighter.

“I’m going to go out there and do what I do best, use my jab, use my hand speed. People underestimate my jab, but I have one of the best jabs out there. I just need to use my size and win the fight.

“Hopefully within the next two fights I’ll get a world title shot. We want to get another fight after this, hopefully in December, and then sometime early next year I’ll be fighting for another world title.

“I’ll probably put on about 10 pounds before the fight tomorrow. No more than that. We don’t want to go in the ring too blown up. Tonight we’ll eat light, eat a light breakfast a light lunch and get in the ring.

“I want to get some rounds in. Hopefully he has it in him and hopefully we can get in some rounds. I’m not the type of fighter to look for a knockout, but if it comes, it comes. We’re just looking for a great performance.

“You’ll see on Saturday night –I’m back to being ‘Bad’ Chad.”

TOMMY KARPENCY:

“His weight doesn’t impact me at all. I came here to win the fight no matter which Chad Dawson showed up and we prepared for the best Chad Dawson.

“I’m going to fight to win. I have nothing to lose. This is a great opportunity for me –it’s Chad Dawson’s backyard so all the pressure is on him. I have to take advantage of this opportunity.

“I’m going to try to impose my style; I try to fight in spurts. I’m just going to let my hands go and whatever happens, happens.

“I’m going to win, that’s all. It’s going to be a life changing victory and that’s how I’m approaching it. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I just need to take advantage of this opportunity.

“This is a fight we went after. We’re ready to go. I don’t think this is the tune-up he’s expecting. We’re ready for the best chad.”

JOE GOOSSEN:

“We trained very hard, even if it was under impossible circumstances. Dan brought it up, he said, ‘just make sure Vanes wins Saturday night.’ That was Dan. Always thinking about boxing and business up until the very end. Dan was concerned about Vanes like he would be at any other time.

“We didn’t miss a minute in the gym and that’s the way he would want it. If anything it motivates me. The gym is probably the only place where I can go to forget everything.”

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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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