Martinez Scared By Barker, But Gets TKO11 Win..LEVIN RINGSIDE

Published

14 years ago

October 2, 2011

While the main event between Argentine WBC middleweight champ Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez and contender “Dazzling” Darren Barker of England was not a “barnburner,” it was much better and certainly more competitive than most expected—at least on this side of the pond where most paid the Brit short shrift, including the oddsmakers who had him a 15-1 underdog. If you appreciate elite-level chess, this was a fight for you.

Barker made an excellent account of himself against one of the pound for pound best and the “real” middleweight champ but it was not enough. At 1:29 of round 11, a gorgeous right hook to the temple dropped him hard to the canvas. He had no chance of beating the ten-count. Scores at the time of stoppage were all in Martinez’s favor: 96-94, 99-91, 97-94. But don’t let the numbers fool you; this was a nip-and-tuck affair for most of the night.

Martinez ups his mark to 48-2-2, 27 KOs and Barker goes to 23-1, 14 KOs.

“Maravilla” struggled for large portions of the fight against the rangier, smart, technical, confident customer in front of him. But the way he turned up the heat late in the fight (with what has been announced as a broken nose) as his younger (29) foe tired, and then to uncork such a spectacular KO, he secured his greatness.

It didn’t take long into round one to see that Barker might have been one of the best boxers Martinez has ever faced. We weren’t sure if he had all the other qualities to hang in there to the end or possibly pull the upset. But the kid could box; he was hitting and not getting hit. And he was no runner.

In round two Barker was stepping to him. Martinez was trying to figure him out, dropping his hands and snapping jabs that mainly fell on his gloves. Barker had previously spoken of his high boxing IQ; he wasn’t lying. Some of the crowd booed but they shouldn’t have. These were two high level boxers trying to decode each other—a display of sweet science.

More cat and mouse action in the third. Sergio looked to counter, walk him into something. But this was a much more sophisticated boxer than a Paul Williams. A hard round to score, as were the others.

By round four, anyone had to be impressed with Barker. Martinez was bleeding from his nose with crimson all over his chest. Barker was winning the fight in the eyes of many sitting around me.

Round five, Barker continued to step to him without giving up is length. Martinez had both hands at his waist, looking to counter, but Barker not giving him much to work with.

In the next frame it was Barker’s jab versus Martinez’s reflexes. Barker wasn’t taking a backwards step and blocking most of the incoming fire. Martinez found his groove near the end of the round, but still hadn’t solved the Brit.

Sergio began to open up in the seventh. He went to the body a lot and was the busier of the two. But Barker was by no means out of it.

Sergio slipped in the eighth and took his time getting up. One wondered how much his broken nose was affecting him? And while he doesn’t act 36, that is his age. Martinez clearly did more than Barker this round.

The momentum was officially turning in the champ’s favor and Barker had to make a stand to make at this point. Nothing on this night or in his past suggested he had the type of power to change a fight on a single punch—at least not against this man. The fight was incrementally slipping away from.

There was a clash of heads in the ninth. Martinez seemed to lobbying ref Eddie Cotton a bit. There didn’t seem to be much on his punches, either. I thought he sort of stole the round, a la Ray Leonard, by just letting his hands go more than the other guy.

Martinez landed a good left in the tenth but was it a big left? But we quickly learned about Martinez had plenty of pop left. Barker was hurt with a looping right, and covered up for a while but also began to counter and even walk him back. He was hurt for a second but then possibly turned it into possum. Smart guy. Either way, big round for the champ.

In the eleventh, we learned why the handle “Maravilla” fits. He was pot-shotting well and had much more in the tank than Barker. Then came the right hook to the temple. And fast as that, it was over.

Andy Lee came up huge once again on HBO, got his long-awaited revenge against Brian Vera, and likely secured a title shot in 2012 in winning a clear UD by scores of 98-91 and 99-90 twice.

On March 21, 2008 Lee and Vera met for the first time and the undefeated, highly hyped Lee was stopped in the 7^th. It’s been an 11-fight rebuilding process since then. Vera has had his ups and downs since then but has been on the upswing lately, having decisioned Sergio Mora earlier this year. On paper this looked to be a can’t miss affair.

Southpaw Lee boxed well in the first, using his right to keep Vera a range and also did a good job staying off the ropes. Vera looked as fit as ever, having had the longest training camp of his career, and wore his customary smirk whenever Lee landed.

In the second, a focused Lee boxed continued to box well. His defense and footwork looked improved from his last outing on HBO against Craig McEwan. A nifty check hook was also working for him. With a few seconds left in the round, Lee floored Vera with a straight lead left.

Vera came out as aggressive as ever in the third, determined to make it a dogfight. Vera was getting close in the first half of the round but Lee regained control in latter part, landing a sharp lead left that stunned Vera, as well as a jolting right uppercut to Vera’s jaw at the end of the round.

Lee used his legs in the following round to avoid Vera’s winging blows. Vera was getting close. But Lee countered with a right hook that opened a cut on Vera’s left eye. Adding insult to injury, Lee landed a good one-two at end of round and a right hook upstairs at the bell. I had Lee up four rounds, and an extra point for the knockdown, but nothing suggested that Vera would go quietly.

In the fifth, Vera once again came out with a confidence that suggested short-term memory loss. But Lee would not fully relinquish what he had attained. This was an even round, and Lee’s face was showing the effects of punches and his energy was flagging a bit. Their heads clashed hard at the very end of round.

In the sixth, Lee caught him with a digging shot to the gut and crisp check hook moments later. For the first time in the fight, Andy was smiling back at Vera. But the Texan still had his moments and seemed utterly undeterred. This looked to be a battle of attrition, and Lee was showing the effects of his massive efforts.

Lee wasn’t controlling the center in the seventh as he did early on, his back showing rope burns. This was Vera’s best round by far. He was fighting his fight—roughing Andy up when in close and pushing him back at all times. And also smiling at him as usual! Lee must’ve had flashbacks to the rough night back in March 2008 when Vera proved too much for him by the 7^th.

Vera looked even stronger in the eighth. Indeed, he is much physically stronger than Lee, but he was unable to capitalize on the moment. Lee looked worn but he showed great moxie in countering Vera and doing more than enough to prevent a recurrence of their first encounter in ’08. He has learned a few things since then. And one thing Lee has always demonstrated is toughness. Tonight was no different.

Andy played keep away in the penultimate round, knowing he was up on points and perhaps saving a little for the final frame. Vera, while chasing him, didn’t land anything of consequence. And a good short lead left caught Vera just before the bell.

In the final heat Lee looked to pot-shot and his legs were still spry to carry him around. Vera mauled him and got inside and Lee, taking a break, obliged him. They slugged on even terms and Lee found a home for his uppercuts. Lee took that last round and was sufficiently proud of his efforts that he dropped to his knees afterwards, his arms raised high. “Maravilla” may be next for him.

“This win was immeasurable,” Lee said. “If not for tonight, I would have been haunted for the rest of my life.”

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Adam Berlin

TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

Published

18 hours ago

April 16, 2025

TSS Press

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The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.

Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.

Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11^th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)

Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.

The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).

Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”

A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.

Other winners:

Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon

Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney

Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire

Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix

The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.

The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.

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Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday

Published

2 days ago

April 15, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.

He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.

Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.

“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.

“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)

Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.

During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”

He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.

He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.

On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.

Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.

If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.

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Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City

Published

4 days ago

April 12, 2025

David A. Avila

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In the showdown between undefeated welterweight champions Jaron “Boots Ennis walked away with the victory by technical knockout over Eamantis Stanionis and the WBA and IBF titles on Saturday.

No doubt. Ennis was the superior fighter.

“He’s a great fighter. He’s a good guy,” said Ennis.

Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) faced Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 10 KOs) at demonstrated an overpowering southpaw and orthodox attack in front of a sold-out crowd at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It might have been confusing but whether he was in a southpaw stance or not Ennis busted the body with power shots and jabbed away in a withering pace in the first two rounds.

Stanionis looked surprised when his counter shots seemed impotent.

In the third round the Lithuanian fighter who trains at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, began using a rocket jab to gain some semblance of control. Then he launched lead rights to the jaw of Ennis. Though Stanionis connected solidly, the Philly fighter was still standing and seemingly unfazed by the blows.

That was a bad sign for Stanionis.

Ennis returned to his lightning jabs and blows to the body and Stanionis continued his marauding style like a Sherman Tank looking to eventually run over his foe. He just couldn’t muster enough firepower.

In the fifth round Stanionis opened up with a powerful body attack and seemed to have Ennis in retreat. But the Philadelphia fighter opened up with a speedy combination that ended with blood dripping from the nose of Stanionis.

It was not looking optimistic for the Lithuanian fighter who had never lost.

Stanionis opened up the sixth round with a three-punch combination and Ennis met him with a combination of his own. Stanionis was suddenly in retreat and Ennis chased him like a leopard pouncing on prey. A lightning five-punch combination that included four consecutive uppercuts delivered Stanionis to the floor for the count. He got up and survived the rest of the round.

After returning shakily to his corner, the trainer whispered to him and then told the referee that they had surrendered.

Ennis jumped in happiness and now holds the WBA and IBF welterweight titles.

“I felt like I was getting in my groove. I had a dream I got a stoppage just like this,” said Ennis.

Stanionis looked like he could continue, but perhaps it was a wise move by his trainer. The Lithuanian fighter’s wife is expecting their first child at any moment.

Meanwhile, Ennis finally proved the expectations of greatness by experts. It was a thorough display of superiority over a very good champion.

“The biggest part was being myself and having a live body in front of me,” said Ennis. “I’m just getting started.”

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was jubilant over the performance of the Philadelphia fighter.

“What a wonderful humble man. This is one of the finest fighters today. By far the best fighter in the division,” said Hearn. “You are witnessing true greatness.”

Other Bouts

Former featherweight world champion Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) showed that moving up in weight would not be a problem even against the rugged and taller Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs) in winning by a convincing unanimous decision.

The quicksilver southpaw Ford ravaged Mattice in the first round then basically cruised the remaining nine rounds like a jackhammer set on automatic. Four-punch combinations pummeled Mattice but never put him down.

“He was a smart veteran. He could take a hit,” said Ford.

Still, there was no doubt on who won the super featherweight contest. After 10 rounds all three judges gave Ford every round and scored it 100-90 for the New Jersey fighter who formerly held the WBA featherweight title which was wrested from him by Nick Ball.

Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) made good on a promise to his departed daughter by knocking out Argentina’s Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs) in their welterweight battle.

Giyasov floored Ocampo in the first round with an overhand right but the Argentine fighter was able to recover and fight on for several more rounds.

In the fourth frame, Giyasov launched a lead right to the liver and collapsed Ocampo with the body shot for the count of 10 at 1:57 of the fourth round.

“I had a very hard camp because I lost my daughter,” Giyasov explained. “I promised I would be world champion.”

In his second pro fight Omari Jones (2-0) needed only seconds to disable William Jackson (13-6-2) with a counter right to the body for a knockout win. The former Olympic medalist was looking for rounds but reacted to his opponent’s actions.

“He was a veteran he came out strong,” said Jones who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “But I just stayed tight and I looked for the shot and I landed it.”

After a feint, Jackson attacked and was countered by a right to the rib cage and down he went for the count at 1:40 of the first round in the welterweight contest.

Photo credit: Matchroom

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