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AXE FALLS on THE FLASH Walters Kayoes Donaire In Round Six

Published

10 years ago

October 19, 2014

—- Photo Credit : Chris Farina – Top Rank

In the HBO TV opener, Nonito Donaire took on younger gun Nicholas Walters, a Jamaican hitter who took a belt and a less impressive resume in with him against the Filipino Flash from the Stub Hub Center in Carson, CA.

Ah, that resume looks a heckuva lot better now; Walters aka “The Axe Man” dropped and stopped Donaire, a former champ at fly, super fly, bantam, super bantam and current WBA super world featherweight champ, in round six.

He sent Donaire down in the third, and the end came in round six, at 2:59, from a thudding right. Donaire looked out of his weight class, a notch weaker than the Jamaican. Walters went 85-284 to 40-169 for Donaire, who tasted the power in the third, big time, and seemed hesitant to truly mix it up with the obviously stronger man.

Walters afterwards thanked Donaire for the opp, and said Nonito is a strong boxer. He said he “invited Nonito into me” and likened it to fishing, when he landed the right high on the head, after Donaire missed a launch. The classy Donaire lauded the winner after. He called him “an amazing person,” and thanked the fans for coming out. He said he was at his best, and said Walters is the man. Classy Donaire, all the way. “The size that he had over me, I couldn’t move…he knocked the (crap) out of me,” he said. Max Kellerman hinted at asking if he would retire. Donaire said he will be thinking about it all, moving down, or hanging them up. ”

Nonito was 125 1/2 (133 on fight night) on Friday, while Walters scaled in at 125 1/2 (138).

The Filipino-born Donaire, who lives in Cali, came in with a 33-2 with 21 KOs record, while the WBA featherweight champ Walters entered at 24-0 with 20 Kos.

In the first, Nonito went down, but it was ruled a slip. Walters advanced and Nonito wanted to move and counter. Replay showed a right landed on the shoulder, but he did seem to lose his balance, slip. In the second, Walters jabbed, and ate a left hook ok. Nonito worked to the body, got busier, and did better than in the first. Walters ate a low blow and got a little break. Walters ate a left hook and didn’t like the taste at the end of the round.

In the third, Nonito didn’t really bother jabbing his way in. Walters’ jab worked so well when he hurled it. Nonito went down, off a right uppercut. They traded to end the round. In the fourth, we saw blood on Nonito’s left eye. Donaire used a jab more. He was cautious, felt that power, and respected the Jamaican.

In the fifth, Walters kept pressing. Nonito backed up, and ate power shots. Nonito traded on the ropes to end the round. In the sixth, the blood flowed on Nonito. Walters slipped smartly, and stayed busy, imposed his body on Donaire. Two rights sent Nonito down, and he was up at nine plus, but too woozy. The ref ended the scrap, with Donaire stumbling, battered, buzzed, beaten…

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Michael Woods

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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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