Articles

Crawford Fishing For Pacman Bout, Impresses In Demo Job on Jean

Published

9 years ago

October 25, 2015

No subterfuge, this one was presented as an exhibition.

Terence Crawford was supposed to win, and look good, make people start to think of him as a top five pound for pounder, when he gloved up against Dierry Jean in Nebraska on Saturday, Oct. 24, and on HBO.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Crawford was in control, a boss of his domain, smart and smooth and patient, a la Golovkin. He admitted after that he’d been irked by trash talk from Jean and company, and even held on to the ire, asking Jean if it’d been worth it. He also said he’s ready for Pacman, and asked promoter Bob Arum to make it happen.

An early knockdown signaled maybe an early end, but Jean held on. Until round ten, when Bud went into full nasty mode. The ref saw enough and stepped in to halt the event.

If a fight with Manny Pacquiao was in his cross hairs, well, we wonder if he may have been too effective; would Pacman really want that?

Jean earned his keep, landed a few stiff rights on the way, but was in over his head.

Crawford’s WBO 140 pound crown was up for the taking.

In the first, the 28-year-old Crawford (5-8; 140-156 fight night) was smart. Jean wasn’t out of depth, but he went down, off a right hook, at the end of the first. Crawford went lefty with 25 seconds to go, and yes, it worked. In the second, the 33-year-old Jean (from Haiti; 5-6 1/2; 140-155 on fight night), who lost his step up fight, to Lamont Peterson, looked at a lefty to start the round. The snappy jab was hated by Jean, and he was hesitant to throw. He got wobbled off a right hook, again, right before the round ended.

In the third, we saw lefty TC so in control. Same for fourth; Jean was befuddled by the hand speed. He moved right, into the power left, ouch. TC pressed on the gas late in the fourth. Jean did exit the round.

To the fifth, we saw Jean, as his pal David Lemieux watched from the stands, paw a jab, find it hard to think of useful offense. TC’s accelerated combos excited the crowd. In round six, after hearing his trainer ask for more jabs, and to get lower, Jean didn’t have better luck. Crawford snapped a most annoying jab, and Jean hated that, and feared throwing with everything behind it because he knew the counter would be fierce. A righty, he flurried and the crowd adored it. Jean was mugging some, smiling, trying to, what, lighten the mood?

In the seventh, we saw Jean snap a jab, short arming it. TC’s threat of offense was great defense for the Nebraskan. To round eight…Bud kept the distance he wanted, and would he close the distance, after Brian Mcintyre asked for that? A right by Jean landed clean…then Bud ate another. The right was a wide shot, Bud thought he’d be slipping it.

In the ninth, Bud came out irked. He closed the distance, but Jean had adapted some, and was looking out for the right hook. A straight left slipped in, though. Then down went Jean, with eight seconds left. He ate a behind the head shot as he was going down. In round ten, we saw TC in hunter mode, finisher mode. He was landing lots and the ref looked hard. Then he landed a sharp right! Then Jean was eating, and running, and the ref said no mas.

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Michael Woods

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 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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Articles

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

Published

8 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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Articles

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

Published

8 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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