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Donaire Wants To Build Buzz in NYC…BORGES

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Donaire_Narvaez_PC_111020_001aDonaire doesn't have an easy target to take down in Narvaez (right). The young bomber will need to work annd think hard to take out the crafty, slick Argentine.

Nonito Donaire knows why he’ll be in Madison Square Garden Saturday night and it’s not simply to defend the WBC and WBO bantamweight titles he unified in February by knocking Fernando Montiel cold. He’s here to knock New York cold because if he does he’ll be hot.

Boxing is more than the manly art of self-defense. It’s more than A.J. Liebling’s Sweet Science or the dark craft of hitting without being hit. Boxing at the level in which Donaire plies the trade is a business and the business of boxing is to become a phenomenon, which is what promoter Bob Arum hopes to turn Donaire into.

Arum did the same for another Filipino fighter named Manny Pacquiao, who difficult though it may be to believe today only a few years ago was having trouble even finding someone willing to train him. He came to Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and asked if he’d work with him and the rest is boxing and business history because together with Roach Pacquiao has become the biggest fiscal phenomenon in the fistic arts.

Donaire seems to have many of the same assets – a winning smile, crushing power and a willingness to wing punches with exceedingly bad intentions. That didn’t take long to cause Montiel to fall to the floor despite being a fine professional and no soft touch. He lasted less than two rounds and it probably won’t take much longer Saturday night against Omar Narvaez. At least that is Arum’s hope because he has brought Donaire nearly 3,000 miles from his California home not simply to have New Yorkers watch him box. He’s brought him here to excite an untapped group of potential pay-per-view customers because nothing sells like concussive power and Donaire has it.

Despite the fact there are far more Filipinos on the West Coast, Arum put Donaire in The Theatre at Madison Square Garden (aka the small room) in the hope he will dispose of Narvaez in the kind of spectacular way that will leave New Yorkers abuzz knowing if he does, the next step has been taken in transforming him from simply another boxer into, perhaps, a boxing phenomenon.

“A lot of people ask me why am I bringing Nonito Donaire to Madison Square Garden and they point out there are over two million Filipinos that live in the Los Angeles area and I tell them Filipinos live all over the United States,’’ Arum explained recently. “There are about 400,000 Filipinos living in the New York metropolitan area and besides there are a lot of great fight fans in New York and this gives them the opportunity to see this phenomenal fighter up close and personal.

“For Nonito’s future, he is being exposed to the Big Apple, fighting an undefeated fighter. Everyone that follows boxing knows he is a top pound-for-pound fighter but our goal is to make him a superstar.  To compare that with Manny misses the point.  With Nonito, we have to do it Nonito’s way, dealing with who he is and what he represents.  Nonito is as much American as he is Filipino because he has lived in this country for so long. I think he was a candidate for the US Olympic team.  Manny spends his life in the Philippines. There is a difference there.

“We think that Nonito is such a great, exciting fighter and such a pleasing personality that as he rises in weight to 122 and 126 and maybe above that he will become a major superstar in the sport.  The goal, as in any fighter, is to make him a pay-per-view attraction. How long that will take?  It is sort of silly to make a projection. It will come when it comes.
“When it comes it will launch him into the elite superstar category where he will make his money based on how many people follow him on pay-per-view.  I wouldn’t say 2012 or ’13.  We’ll know when it is time to make the move. We can’t put artificial projections in the way of getting to the goal we want to get to.’’

To reach such popularity requires you be more than a local hero. To make a living on pay-per-view requires that portion of the world focused on boxing becomes focused on you. To accomplish that, Donaire figures he has to leave Narvaez out of focus, as he did Montiel.

Donaire (26-1, 18 KO) comes to New York off a startling second round knockout that stunned even veteran fight followers. Not that Donaire won but that he so overwhelmed Montiel that the fight shouldn’t have lasted as long as it did and it barely lasted five minutes.

As he proved again that night in Las Vegas, Donaire is an explosive puncher for a little man, the kind of guy Pacquiao was before he began moving up from one weight class to another, sprawling opponents on the floor as he went. Donaire’s allies figure he has the same kind of potential.

“The cannon that Nonito has, not even all of the elite fighters have it,’’ insists his trainer, Robert Garcia. “You can be an elite fighter and not have that cannon.  He sees the punches.  He studies the opponents inside the ring and feels what’s coming and he already knows what he’s going to come back with.

“Montiel was landing a few body shots but Nonito was doing that on purpose to time that moment and it landed but not every fighter has that talent.  You can be called the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and not have that talent.  Few fighters have it but Nonito is one of them.  He is blessed to have it and takes advantage of it and he called it before the fight.  He said that was the way it was going to end and two rounds later, we saw it.’’

Now Donaire is hoping to follow Pacquiao’s blueprint to pay-per-view stardom, a simply plan that demands not only victory but spectacularly dominating victories.

Donaire’s problem, if he has one, is that unlike Montiel Narvaez is more a boxer who scores with movement and an understanding of ring geometry rather than someone who wades in looking for trouble. That creates a different and potentially more difficult problem than Montiel offered, one that could make his East Coast arrival more challenging in some ways than Montiel was.
Though he is young and confident, Donaire seems to understand this.  Yet while he recognizes the problem and the opportunity in front of him in the end his faith is in one thing above all else – his gift.

“It’s like a chess match with me,’’ Donaire insisted. “If you make a false move, or an error in trying to hit me, make sure you get your hands where they are supposed to be or I will make you pay.  That’s the bottom line with me right now – my power has increased tremendously. The fight can end in one punch.

“I always believe my power is enough to change the fight regardless of how many rounds it is.  I have said it over and over. The most satisfying victory is a knockout victory.’’

Especially when you are on your first business trip to New York and your business is concussions but not neurology.

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Boots and Bam Win in Philly

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Boots and Bam Win in Philly

Second time arounds can be difficult.

Hometown hero Jaron “Boots” Ennis squeezed by familiar foe Karen Chukhadzhian and Philadelphia discovered why all the buzz about Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez with his blazing knockout victory on Saturday.

Two for one Philly. Two for one.

IBF welterweight titlist Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) found Chukhadzhian (24-3) more difficult the second time around but emerged the winner again in front of more than 10,000 fans at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

The Philly fighter Ennis looked ready to knock the stuffing out of Chukhadzhian in the rematch. Instead, the Ukrainian fighter made good on his promise to show a different approach and a different result from their first encounter dominated by Ennis 11 months ago.

It was a blast this time.

Chukhadzhian came out blazing with left hooks and shifty angles that caught Ennis by surprise from the first round. A good thing the champion can take a good punch.

Ennis, 27, seemed more frustrated than confused by the more offensive approach of the Ukrainian. Instead of running away from the action the Ukrainian was countering and punching in-between the champion’s combos. Both got hit and both kept punching.

In the fifth round Ennis erupted with a lethal combination including a right uppercut and down went Chukhadzhian. It was only Ennis’ incredible reflexes that helped refrain from unloaded a rocket right while the Ukrainian was on one knee.

It seemed the end was near but instead of folding like an old banana the Ukrainian fighter cranked it up and the fight resumed.

Though the Ukrainian fighter resorted to hitting and holding and was deducted a point for excessive grappling in the 10th round, he kept firing while Ennis seemed to wane in the last three rounds.

It was a tremendous showing for Chukhadzhian but fell short of winning as three judges saw Ennis the winner 119-107, 117-109, 116-110.

“I was prepared for anything coming,” said Ennis. “I wanted to get the knockout.”

Bam Wins

In the co-main boxing’s youngest world champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs) became the first to knock out Mexico’s Pedro Guevara (43-5-1, 22 KOs) and retained the WBC super fly title.

Rodriguez, 24, pressured the veteran contender Guevara immediately and fired from various angles that forced the challenger to exchange. That was the first sign that the Mexican fighter was not going to be able to hit and move.

In the third round it seemed Rodriguez had figured out Guevara and moved in for the kill. He had promised to be the first to knock out the Mexican fighter and then opened up with a withering attack that saw both exchange with Rodriguez’s left cross connecting. It took Guevara two seconds later to collapse from the effect of the blow. He got up, and Rodriguez moved in with a feint and two blows then unleashing a hidden right uppercut that Guevara never saw.

Down went Guevara and he wasn’t getting up at 2:47 of the third round.

“I kind of already knew it was going to happen that way,” said Rodriguez of the knockout win. “I thought he was going to stand in there.”

Other Bouts

Former featherweight world titlist Raymond Ford (16-1-1, 8 KOs) rebooted as a super featherweight with a one-sided unanimous decision over Puerto Rico’s Orlando Gonzalez (23-3, 13 KOs) after 10 rounds at super featherweight.

Ford looks stronger at 130 pounds.

Ford floored Gonzalez twice with sizzling right hooks in the battle between southpaws. After dominating most of the first eight rounds Ford was forced to chase Gonzalez who refused to engage the last two rounds. After 10 rounds all three judges favored Ford 100-98 twice and 99-89.

Mexican light heavyweight Manuel Gallegos (21-2-1, 18 KOs) upset undefeated Khalil Coe (9-1-1, 7 KOs) dropping the American prospect four times before ending it in the ninth round.

Body shots by Gallegos broke down Coe’s defense who was a 20-1 favorite going into the fight. The taller Mexican fighter absorbed big shots to target Coe’s body and that proved the difference.

“I felt good, I felt strong at 175 pounds,” said Gallegos whose last fight was a loss to Diego Pacheco.

Ammo Williams (17-1, 12 KOs) returned to the win column with a blazing fifth round stoppage over Gian Garrido (11-2, 8 KOs) in a middleweight fight. In William’s last fight he lost to Hamzah Sheeraz last June in Riyadh.

Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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The Davis Brothers Hit the Trifecta in Their Norfolk Homecoming

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On March 12, 1997, Top Rank promoted a show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, featuring the Mayweather clan – brothers Roger and Jeff and their precocious nephew Floyd Jr, an Olympic silver medalist. Tonight, Top Rank dusted off the homecoming template for the Davis family – brothers Keyshawn, Kelvin, and Keon. The venue was Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, where Norfolk legend Pernell Whitaker scored some of his best wins. But “Sweet Pea’ was never as spectacular as Keyshawn was tonight with a sellout crowd of 10,568 looking on.

Keyshawn (12-0, 8 KOs) was matched against Argentina’s Gustavo Lemos who came in 6.4 pounds overweight. It was the second U.S. appearance for Lemos who brought a 29-1 record after losing an unpopular decision to Richardson Hitchins in his U.S. debut.

In the second round, Davis scored three knockdowns, closing the show. The first was the result of a counter left hook and the second, also a left hook, turned Lemos’s legs to jelly. He beat the count only to be crushed by a vicious tight uppercut. It was all over at the 1:08 mark of the second stanza.

Davis’s next fight is expected to come against Denys Berinchyk, the Ukrainian who holds the WBO version of the lightweight title. Down the road, there’s a potential mega-fight with Gervonta “Tank” Davis who Keyshawn called out in his post-fight interview. And then there’s Cuban amateur standout Andy Cruz, Keyshawn’s amateur nemesis and the last man to defeat him, that coming on a split decision in the semi-final round of the Tokyo Olympics.

Semi-wind-up

In a fight that didn’t heat up until the final round, Virginia middleweight Troy Isley, an amateur and pro stablemate of Keyshawn Davis, out-worked and out-classed Tyler Howard en route to winning a one-sided decision. The judges had it 98-92 and 99-91 twice.

Isley improved to 14-0 (5). It was the second loss in 22 pro starts for Tennessee’s Howard who had been staying busy on the Team Combat League circuit where he lost five 1-round bouts.

Abdullah Mason Overcomes adversity.

Twenty-year-old Cleveland southpaw Abdullah Mason, a lightweight, just may be the best boxer in his age group in the world. Tonight, he faced adversity for the first time in his career. Yohan Vasquez, a 30-year-old Dominican fighting out of the Bronx, had Abdullah on the canvas twice in a wild opening round. Between those two knockdowns, Mason scored a knockdown of his own.

In round two, Mason brought matters to a halt with a left to the solar plexus. Vasquez went down in obvious pain and while he beat the count, the expression of his face showed that he was in no mind to continue and the bout was stopped. The official time was 1:59 of round two.

It was the sixth straight knockout for Abdullah Mason who improved to 16-0. Vasquez declined to 26-6.

Other Bouts

In a welterweight battle of southpaws, Kelvin Davis (14-0, 7 KOs) exploited a 7-inch height advantage to win a one-sided decision over Yeis Solano who fought a survivors’ fight for the first six rounds, hoping to land a counterpunch that never appeared. The oldest of the Davis brothers punctuated his triumph with a knockdown in the final seconds of the 8-round fight, putting Solano on the canvas with a short right hand. It was the fourth straight loss for Colombia’s Solano who opened his career 15-0.

In an 8-round middleweight contest enlivened by trainer Scott Sigmon’s commentary, Sigmon’s fighter Austin DeAnda, a native Virginian, improved 16-0 (10) with a unanimous decision over South Carolina’s DeAundre Pettus (12-3). Neither fighter exhibited a lot of skill in a fight that, in the words of ringside pundit Tim Bradley, was both entertaining and boring (our sentiments exactly). The scores were 78-74 and 77-75 twice.

Lanky, 23-year-old super welterweight Keon Davis, the youngest of the Davis trio, won his pro debut with a 40-36 shutout of Jalen Moore (1-2). Keon had a big fourth round, but Moore, a willing mixer, survived the onslaught and made it to the final bell.

Robert Meriweather III, a 19-year-old super bantamweight, advanced to 8-0 (3) with a unanimous decision over 34-year-old St. Louis native Eric Howard (6-3). The judges had it 60-54 and 59-55 twice.

In the lid-lifter, Muskegon, Michigan native Ra’eese Aleem (21-1, 12 KOs) rebounded from his first pro defeat with a lopsided 10-round decision over hard-trying Derlyn Hernandez-Gerarldo (12-3-1). This was the first fight in 17 months for Aleem who lost a split decision to Naoya Inoue’s next foe Sam Goodman on Goodman’s turf in Australia. All three judges had it 100-89.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 303: East Coast Fight Cards Seize the Boxing Spotlight

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 303: East Coast Fight Cards Seize the Boxing Spotlight

Once upon a time Olympic gold medalists provided America’s next great wave of fighters.

No longer.

Keyshawn Davis represents the new breed of American fighters that fell short of gold in the Olympics, but command respect as a professional.

The undefeated Davis (11-0, 7 KOs) meets Argentina’s rugged Gustavo Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs) on Friday, Nov. 8, at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. ESPN+ will show the lightweight battle set for 10 rounds on the Top Rank card.

The brash lightweight from Norfolk managed to win a silver medal in the 2021 Olympics but for many, he looked like the winner. Since then, he’s blazed his way through whoever Top Rank put in front of him.

Not winning gold in the Olympics is not a blemish, especially with the East European dominated judging. Unless an American wins by knockout they are not going to be awarded a decision.

It’s a major reason why boxing may not be a sport in the L.A. Olympics.

The pro fight world offers a true glimpse of a boxer’s talent. Capricious judging can be eliminated by a knockout with smaller gloves and no head gear. The hurting game is ruthless and no amount of biased judging can stop a deadly left hook.

Davis has a non-apologetic thirst for ripping through easy trials and sipping success against top tier talent. He wants success and wants it now even against dangerous opponents like Lemos.

“It’s not going to be beautiful. There’s going to be blood everywhere. His nose might be a little lopsided after,” said Davis. “But, I respect you, Gustavo. You are an amazing fighter. I appreciate you for taking the fight in my hometown, but I’m going to f**k you up.”

Lemos, who recently lost a very close and much debated decision to another East Coast American fighter, is happy to be offered another opportunity to showcase his Argentine style.

“I have a strong opponent, and I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Lemos who lost a spirited battle to Richardson Hitchins in Las Vegas last April. ““I’ve always said that he (Davis) is a good opponent and that we’re going to have a beautiful fight.”

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Davis will be joined on the fight card by his brothers Keon Davis who makes his pro debut and Kelvin Davis who fights Yeis Solano in a welterweight bout.

Also on the same card will be elite fighters in featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem and hot lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason.

Saturday in Philly

Two world champions Jaron Ennis and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez headline an impressive fight card in Philadelphia.

IBF welterweight titlist “Boots” Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) once again meets Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) but this time with a world title at stake on Saturday, Nov. 9, at Wells Fargo Center in Philly. DAZN will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.

Their first encounter was not easy for either and resulted in a decision win for Ennis. But that was back in January.  Whoever adjusts quicker will be the winner in this competitive-on-paper world title fight.

Chukhadzhian, 28, can take a punch and has a deceptive style of counters and attacks that seem simple but is effective. In their first match 11 months ago Ennis quickly discovered the Ukrainian fighter’s durability and slipped into a boxing mode to utilize speed and mobility. It proved effective but will it be enough this time?

Ennis, 27, has a world title and seeks more lucrative fights but could stumble if not prepared for another tough clash. But he’s confident that his skills can help him evade any kind of slip.

The Philly fighter filled the arena last time when he defeated David Avanesyan by knockout in the fifth. This time he’s joined by another young gun in Bam Rodriguez, a fellow world titlist.

“He’s going crazy right now. Going up and down in weight divisions. I’m blessed to have him on this card,” said Ennis. “I’m here to steal his fans and he’s here to steal mine.”

Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) 24, meets former world titlist Pedro Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) a Mexican veteran who wants to take away Bam’s WBC super fly title.

“I’m trying to go undisputed at 115 and then go on from there,” said Rodriguez. “I’m only 24 so I still have some strength to gain.”

Both will be joined by another hot prospect from Pomona, California named Tito Mercado, an undefeated lightweight.

Mercado (16-0, 15 KOs) is a tall and fast lightweight with power who recently signed with Matchroom Boxing. He has a knockout streak of five and meets Mexican banger Jesus Saracho (14-2-1, 11 KOs) in a 10-round fight. At 23, he’s fought impressive competition and handled it easily.

Puerto Rico

Former super welterweight world titlist Subriel Matias (20-2, 20 KOs) meets Mexico’s Roberto Ramirez (26-3-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday. Nov. 9, at Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Ramirez is jumping up three weight classes for this fight. PPV.COM will stream the fight card live.

Fights to Watch

Thurs. ESPN+ 3:30 p.m. Osleys Iglesias (12-0) vs Petro Ivanov (18-0-2).

Fri. ESPN + 3:20 p.m. Keyshawn Davis (11-0) vs Gustavo Lemos (29-1);

Sat. PPV.COM 3 p.m. Subriel Matias (20-2) vs Roberto Ramirez (26-3-1).

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