Articles

Julius Jackson Whips Up Win Over Jonathan Nelson

Published

6 years ago

December 21, 2014

Hot Super Middleweight prospect Julius Jackson (18-0, 14 KOs) opened Showtime Extreme’s televised boxing coverage tonight by scoring a 9^th round TKO victory over Jonathan Nelson (19-1, 9 KOs). Jackson, the son of former junior middleweight and middleweight titleholder Julian Jackson dominated nearly every round, save the 6^th, scoring two knockdowns along the way. For the fight, Jackson out landed Nelson by a 186-68 margin and connected on 51% (120-236) of his power punches.

The undefeated Jackson had taken his last eight victories by KO and had only once gone past the 6^th round, when he scored a 9^th round TKO over previously undefeated Nicolas Dario Lopez on December 7of last year. He followed that victory with a 2^nd round TKO over Crispulo Javier Andino in August of this year. Jackson is ranked just outside of the top ten by all the major sanctioning bodies and was looking to continue his move from prospect to full on contender against Nelson, a step up in competition. Nelson’s only career blemish came in a unanimous decision defeat in a ten rounder against Brandon Gonzalez in November of last year. This was only Nelson’s 2^nd fight this year. Both fighters entered the ring with a lot on the line tonight.

On to the rounds:

Round One: Jackson is ready to get going. Throwing hard and fast early. Nelson comes out busy too. Jackson drops Nelson to one knee within the first minute with a flurry of punches. It’s the first time Nelson has ever gone down. Nelson barely beats the count. Nelson is still trying to find his legs after the knockdown. He is being active though and lands a couple decent shots late in the round, including a solid left at the end of the round. Easy 10-8 round for Jackson.

Round Two: Nelson seems to have cleared the cobwebs, but Jackson is landing the harder straighter punches. Nelson continues to be a bit wide. Jackson is content to box. It’s a competitive round with Jackson landing more blows and the most meaningful ones.

Round Three: The fighters trade good jabs at the beginning of the round. Jackson lands a solid right that knocks Nelson off balance. He does not appear to be hurt though. Jackson doing a good job of going to the body and the head. At times, both fighters seem to land solid blows, but Jackson’s punches move Nelson. Jackson leaves himself open at times. Hard to say if this is a defensive flaw or a lack of respect for Nelson’s power. Whatever the case, Jackson remains much busier and first to land.

Round Four: Nelson lands a solid right cross early. Jackson responds in kind and with more. You can really hear Jackson’s hands land. Nelson is trying, but his mouth is open and he does not look confident. Jackson couldn’t be more comfortable if he were sitting on his couch at home. Nelson picks up the pace, but Jackson lands a hard left that briefly leaves Nelson off balance.

Round Five: Jackson backs Nelson against the ropes. Nelson does a solid job of fighting off and backing Jackson up for a moment. Jackson pushed Nelson back to the ropes. Jackson is clearly the physically stronger guy in the ring. Hard straight right sends Nelson backwards. Jackson seems largely unconcerned with defense. So far, it has not hurt him. Jackson switches to southpaw. He is doing work on Nelson. Through 5, Jackson has 3 times as many blows and is connecting on 50% of his power shots.

Round Six: Jackson’s left jab is sharp and consistent. Nelson gets Jackson against the ropes and loses the exchange. Nelson lands a hard right that appears to have stung Jackson, but he quickly bounces back. Nelson lands a couple of good counter shots. He’s having his best round. Nelson lands a solid right against the ropes and Jackson backs up for what might be the first time in the fight. Nelson gets Jackson back against the ropes and finally wins an exchange. Nelson’s right hand has consistently found a home this round. I don’t think Jackson was hurt, but Nelson should be able to say he won his first round of the fight.

Round Seven: Nelson seems to have found some confidence now. While he looks worse than Jackson by far, he is starting to hold his own consistently. Jackson is now showing some respect and being more cautious. When Jackson sticks with this jab, he controls the fight. A big right backs Nelson against the ropes and his facial expression changes. Good bounce back round for Jackson. He dominated the second half of the 7^th.

Round Eight: Jackson walked into and through a right hand from Jackson. Jackson coming forward, putting together combinations. Looking smooth and strong. It’s starting to look like Nelson emptied his tank in the 6^th. He’s just not throwing enough to discourage Jackson at all. Jackson drops Nelson again with a straight right that clearly has him hurt. Nelson once again barely beats the count and is saved from further punishment by the bell.

Round Nine: Jack Reiss the fight at 2:33 when a combination by Jackson sends Nelson wobbling backwards. Excellent stoppage by Reiss.

Jackson looked good tonight throughout. He has good hand speed and is very strong. He doesn’t always sit down on his punches and his defense could definitely use some work, but he can both box and punch with some skill. I would expect Jackson to continue to move up in class. A possible title fight is in his future, but his camp would do well to pace him through another 3-4 fights against better competition.

Post Views: 355

David Phillips

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

5 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.

Post Views: 773

Articles

Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

5 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.

Post Views: 441

Articles

2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

5 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

Post Views: 1,954