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Diaz, De La Hoya and China’s Taishan Win at Fantasy Springs

Published

10 years ago

November 14, 2014

INDIO, CALIF: Mix a bunch of featherweight prospects with a giant of a heavyweight, and a near sold-out crowd saw China’s Taishan and USA’s Jojo Diaz emerge with knockout victories on Thursday night.

Former U.S. Olympian Diaz (13-0, 9 Kos) walked into Fantasy Springs Casino knowing that Mexico’s Roberto Castaneda (21-7-1, 15 Kos) had knockout power and a sturdy chin. China’s heavyweight giant Taishan walked into the ring with massive shoulders that seemed to scare the life out of his opponent.

China’s near 6’10” tall Taishan (2-0, 2 Kos) needed just 2:35 to figure out the elusive Tommy Washington (3-7) before lowering the boom on the shorter fighter with a right hand anchor punch for the knockout win. Behind a steady stiff jab Taishan pressed the fight and cornered Washington and ended the fight emphatically. Is he the next Nicolai Valuev? Probably not. But he’s impressive to see walk in the ring.

In the super bantamweight showdown, Diaz’s speed proved a little difficult for Castaneda to adjust in the first round. Diaz attacked the body and sometimes the head with little return fire from the Mexican fighter.

Castaneda opened up round two on the attack. Some blasts to Diaz’s body seemed to fire him up and he returned with some blistering blows of his own. Castaneda withstood the attack.

Three successive lefts to the head by Diaz in round four seemed to spell the end of Castaneda but the Mexican withstood the blows and attempted to rally. He made it until the bell but his corner stopped the fight at the end of the round to give Diaz the win by technical knockout.

“He had to go beyond showing his skills because the guy was a little tougher,” said Ben Lira, trainer of Diaz. “He had to go beyond today.”

Diaz seems ready to attack the next tier of super bantamweights.

Other Bouts

East L.A.’s Julian “El Camaron” Ramirez was too much to handle for Mexico City’s Pedro Melo (11-6-2) , who failed to last past round four. Ramirez was the sharper fighter and was able to use his southpaw style to confuse Melo throughout.

Diego De La Hoya (8-0, 6 Kos), who hails from Mexicali, confronted Tijuana’s Ali Gonzalez (6-4) and matched wits with the rival for five rounds. He managed to floor Gonzalez in the second round with a right hand but it was indecisive if it really was a knockdown. No matter, in round five De La Hoya smartly went to the body with four single right hands before repositioning to the head. Gonzalez went down and though he beat the count he was pummeled. Referee Raul Caiz ended the fight at 1:40 of round five.

East L.A.’s Roy Tapia mauled his way past former contender Luis Maldonado to win by knockout at 2:19 of round four of a lightweight clash. Maldonado tried to keep Tapia away and was able to do it for the first three rounds until a Tapia left hook to the body sent Maldonado slumping to the floor. Another barrage of punches forced referee Ray Corona to stop the fight.

Carlos Morales (6-1-3, 2 Kos) found the antidote to Gabriel Tomaljyan’s southpaw style and won by unanimous decision after six rounds in a lightweight bout. It was a close and strategic match as Morales attacked the body and that seemed to open up things for the L.A.-based boxer. Tomaljyan (13-4-2) had some good moments when he used lead lefts but didn’t do enough. Two judges scored it 59-55 and one judge 58-56, all for Morales.

In a one-sided fight Nick Arce won his debut over Adalbert Valenzuela by fourth round knockout at 2:51 of the round. A left hook did the job in a contest that Tijuana’s Valenzuela did not seem interested in. Arce hails from Mexicali but lives in L.A.

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David A. Avila

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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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