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RINGSIDE REPORT: Douglas Beats LaManna on Long Island

Published

10 years ago

March 19, 2015

The Space at Westbury 3/13

The Space at Westbury, in Westbury, NY, was packed this past Friday night as boxing fans were treated to an eight- bout card, with the final four fights featured on Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation.”

The main event featured two undefeated prospects looking to shine on the televised stage. Antoine Douglas (17-0-1, 11 KOs) of Burke, VA faced Thomas LaManna (16-1, 7 KOs) of Millville, NJ in a 10 round Middleweight bout.

Douglas proved to be ready to take the next step as he took control of the fight from the opening bell and began to dominate LaManna.

Douglas was busy and accurate with his punches, particularly with a counter right hand. LaManna only occasionally found a home for his left hook.

In the sixth round, a busy Douglas scored three knockdowns. The last knockdown, the result of a right hand, forced referee Harvey Dock to wave off the fight at 2 minutes and 44 seconds of the round.

A ten round Lightweight bout brought together Ismael Barroso (17-0-2, 16 KOs) from Venezuela, Argentina against Issouf Kinda (17-3, 7 KOs) from the Bronx, NY.

Barroso, making his American debut, initiated the action and was sharp with his jab. Kinda looked ready for the challenge as he answered back with a strong right hand.

The fighters moved into close quarters as the fight progressed and in the third round Barroso suffered a cut over his right eye that resulted from a clash of heads.

Another head butt in the fourth from Kinda opened a cut below Barroso’s left eye. Both head butts were ruled as accidental.

Feeling a sense of urgency because of the cuts Barroso turned up the intensity in round five and dropped Kinda early in the round with a straight left. He continued his onslaught throughout the remainder of the fifth.

Three seconds into the sixth round referee Pete Santiago stopped the fight after consulting with the ringside doctor because Kinda was having trouble seeing out of his right eye.

Super middleweight’s Jerry Odom (13-1, 12 KOs) and Andrew Hernandez (8-1-1, 1KO) met in an eight round match. The fighters had met before in January and Odom was disqualified from the contest for hitting Hernandez after he had been knocked down.

Odom, of Washington, D.C., was clearly the more polished and poised fighter of the two as the action began. Hernandez, of Phoenix, AZ, was able to land a few rushed, wild shots in the opening moments of the fight.

Odom jabbed patiently and found his openings. He landed a strong right hand that sent Hernandez into the ropes and continued with several unanswered punches that caused referee Harvey Dock to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 47 seconds of the opening round.

An old fashioned Texas shootout opened the Showtime broadcast when Junior featherweights Adam Lopez (10-0, 5 KOs) and Pablo Cruz (11-1, 3 KOs) squared off in an eight round contest.

The first round brought good action as Cruz, of Houston, used a good jab mixed in with some left hooks. Lopez, of San Antonio, remain unruffled as he responded with jabs and counter punches.

Lopez put his left hook to work in the second round and knocked Cruz down inside the first minute of the frame. When the action resumed Cruz gamely engaged, but a vicious left hook from Lopez put him down and out at 1 minute, 42 seconds of the round.

The first four bouts of the evening kicked off with a four round Junior lightweight contest between Dave Meloni (2-1, 1 KO) and Richard Bonds (0-3).

Meloni, a local favorite from Long Island, NY, pressed the action and a hard shot sent Bonds’, of Newburgh, NY, mouthpiece flying out. When the action resumed both fighters engaged in good back and forth action.

Although Bonds would lose his mouthpiece again in the second and third rounds he did not back down from Meloni’s aggression and answered back with punches of his own.

The fourth round featured furious action with Bonds losing his mouthpiece once again. Meloni’s sustained attack earned him the unanimous decision with scores of 39-36 from all three judges.

New York’s Richie Neves (8-2-1, 4 KOs) faced San Diego’s Joshua Marks (9-5-1, 8 KOs) in a six round Junior middleweight bout.

The first frame saw Neves probing with his jab while Marks flashed solid defensive skills and solid punching power.

A left to the body by Marks put Neves down in the second and Marks continued with an overwhelming volume of punches in the third.

The final three rounds saw Marks continuing with his body attack and Neves mounting limited rallies. Both fighters appeared to be tiring in the fifth.

The cross-country trip proved worthwhile for Marks as he won a unanimous decision with scores of 59-54 three times.

Patty Alcivar (8-3, 3 KOs; pictured above, in John Donnell photo) brought her faithful contingent of fans along with her as she faced Peggy Maerz (2-7-1, 0 KOs) in a six round Super flyweight bought.

Alcivar, of Queens, NY, last fought in July and was looking to rebound from a disappointing loss and shake off the ring rust against Maerz, of British Columbia, Canada.

Both boxers spent the first three minutes jabbing and clinching as neither one gained an advantage.

The referee warned Maerz about holding and hitting in the second round, while Alcivar stepped up the pace with her jab, but appeared to be missing with her combinations.

In rounds 3 through 5 Alcivar shook off her slow start and began to find her timing and range against the awkward Maerz.

The final frame saw Alcivar mount a busy attack with multiple punches to the head and body. Maerz was sturdy and game, but did not answer effectively.

Alcivar earned a majority decision with scores of 59-55 (twice) and 59-54. She will look to stay busy in 2015 and avoid long lapses between bouts as she continues on her quest to win a world title.

Local hero Tommy Rainone (23-6-1, 5 KOs) fighting out of the Westbury Boxing Club, squared off against Allen Litzau (14-9, 7 KOs), of St. Paul, MN, in a six round Welterweight clash.

Both fighters weighed in four pounds above the limit at 151 pounds each.

The contest began with both boxers feeling each other out with jabs.

In the second Litzau knocked Rainone down. Angered by what he considered a questionable ruling by the referee, Rainone came back with a fury and peppered Litzau with shots.

The third frame was marked by a good work rate from both fighters, with each landing punches.

Rainone stepped on the gas in the final three rounds.

In the fourth and fifth he began to pick his spots and land multiple combinations.

In the final frame he kept up the intensity and overwhelmed Litzau with a barrage of puches that knocked the game fighter down. Rainone got the TKO victory at 2minutes, 57 seconds of the round.

The evening’s event was promoted by GH3 Promotions and Greg Cohen promotions in association with David Schuster’s Winner Take All Productions.

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Chris Wheat

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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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