THE RASKIES: Raskin's Rants, From A. Ward to Awards

Published

13 years ago

December 26, 2011

02 Weigh-in As you may have noticed, I haven’t had a byline here within the TSS universe in about three weeks. Time to come clean: I did 21 days in county for beating up one of Floyd Mayweather’s ex-girlfriends. For what it’s worth, she had her hands up and wasn’t looking at Joe Cortez at the time. I feel good about that part, at least.

Anyway, I’m back now, finding time for a final “Rants” column of 2011, except it doesn’t feature the usual bullet-pointed random Rants. Instead, I’ll do a one-email mailbag and then bust out a few year-end awards, since that’s what us boxing writers do in late-December. (And since Editor Mike specifically asked all of his contributors to do something awardsy.)

But first, the mini-mailbag, which in this case functions as an excuse for me to comment on the Andre Ward-Carl Froch fight that I haven’t yet written about:

Hey Eric,

What did you think of the Ward-Froch fight? I ask, because I have a theory regarding the scoring:

1. First, I did think the fight was a little closer than what the broadcasters were telling me. 8-4 really seemed right to me. I thought Froch did win the first round, and, if that fight was in England, he would have. So when I heard 115-113, which I agree seems closer than reality, I wasn’t that put off by it, because I just didn’t see what Gus Johnson was screaming about most of the time. I mean, Froch has a world class chin, so that was going to keep him upright all night, but didn’t Ward look tired down the stretch? He even got his mouthpiece knocked out, which may indicate it was a little harder in there than the Showtime guys were telling me it was. The 10-point system is incredibly flawed; either a close round or a dominant round minus a knockdown are still 10-9, so until that changes, we could have seen a very clear, “close” win for Ward, even if Andre Ward’s rounds were much more dominant and clear.

2. Just saw that it was the English judge who had Ward up the most, 118-110, while the American actually had it 115-113 for Ward (along with the Canadian’s card). I think we saw this because of what have been perceived as “hometown” decisions recently, particularly with such an international focus on this fight (I’m using international loosely, just referencing the Europeans in this tournament, not that the world was watching, lol). Favoritism in this tournament would wreck any chance at doing another one of these types of tournaments again, and I think the American judge gave Froch every possible close call, while the Englishman went the other direction, whereas of course it’s usually the other way around. Not that we should expect another one of these tournaments in the future. It’s a little too drawn out, and let’s face it, why would these Euros come over to fight in front of empty arenas where they lose their hometown advantage, especially after seeing the tournament winner, Ward, get unbelievable preferential treatment? (It’s okay, he was probably going to win this thing if it was on the moon.)

Anyway, now we can all turn our attention to not seeing Pac-May later next year.

–Nathan Branson

Nathan,

First off, thank you for writing half my column for me.

I didn’t see as close a fight as you did. I gave the first round to Ward—and didn’t hesitate at all on the scoring of that one—and ended up with a score of 118-110, though I could easily see 117-111. At 116-112, I think you were stretching a bit, but not beyond the bounds of reason. 115-113, however, was not an acceptable scorecard to me. And the interesting thing to note here is that not all 115-113 cards are created equal. Canadian judge Craig Metcalfe got there by having Froch rally to win three of the last five rounds and make it close—an only slightly ridiculous premise. American judge John Stewart apparently removed the “h” from his first name and thought he was working for Comedy Central, as he scored FOUR OF THE FIRST FIVE ROUNDS FOR FROCH. Then he had Ward dominating the rest of the way, winning six of the last seven to eke out the decision with an inspired rally. That is, simply put, as bad a scorecard as you will ever see, even if it ultimately tabbed the correct winner.

Your theory about judges bending over backward not to hand in regionally biased scorecards is a theory I’ve tossed out there from time to time myself, and there might be some truth to it. I remember thinking before the Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield rematch that, with the way the Madison Square Garden judges screwed Lewis the first time and created a full-on taxpayer-dollar-wasting “investigation,” the judges for the second fight could be expected to give anything close to Lennox just in case. Sure enough, in a fight I scored 114-114 from ringside at the Thomas & Mack Center, all three judges had Lewis winning. I don’t mean to imply any of them did a bad job scoring the fight; their tallies of 117-111, 116-112, and 115-113 were all reasonable reflections of reality. But the truth is that boxing judges, like anyone else, can either consciously or subconsciously try not to look biased and thereby end up presenting a reverse-bias. It’s possible that happened with the two judges who gave Froch five rounds.

In any case, I’m glad you pointed out that Ward would have won the Super Six on any continent or any sphere within our solar system. Sure, he got to fight exclusively in the U.S. and primarily in Oakland. But that didn’t make a damned bit of difference in the outcome, except to prevent him from being robbed in the other guy’s hometown.

As for Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, I actually wrote a small blurb for Grantland.com that was supposed to run this week, predicting that the superfight was going to happen in 2012. I really felt the stars were beginning to align, that Mayweather now had the 99 percent confidence in winning required to make him sign any contract, and that Bob Arum might see Pacquiao’s career winding down and be willing to gamble (while banking countless millions for his company and his family). Then Floyd got 90 days in the slammer. My prediction blurb had to be yanked, and I honestly have no idea whether Pacquiao-Mayweather is a possibility for the fall of 2012. And frankly, I can think of few things I want to do less right now than speculate about that subject.

Now, let’s move along to my 2011 year-end awards picks. Some of these were discussed on last weekend’s season finale episode of Ring Theory (http://ringtheory.podbean.com), but I’m beefing it up with a few extra awards. For the last dozen years or so, I always compiled the “Unofficial Official” awards for a certain magazine that is now dead to me, so I’ll borrow a handful of categories that I used to acknowledge on that two-page spread and note them here:

Fighter Of The Year: Andre Ward. There were no spectacular candidates this year. The 2007 runner-up campaign from Kelly Pavlik would have gotten him named Fighter of the Year for 2011 in a landslide. Giving the award to Ward is a little bit of a by-default judgment, and also an acknowledgement of his body of work required since 2009 to win the Super Six. Even on their own, his wins over Arthur Abraham and Froch are enough to edge out my runner up Brandon Rios, who hurt his case by failing to make weight for this third and final fight of the year.

Fight Of The Year: Akira Yaegashi KO 10 Pornsawan Porpramook. I’ve already written about this YouTube gem plenty. If you haven’t watched it, then you have no right to vote on the Fight of the Year.

Round Of The Year: James Kirkland vs. Alfredo Angulo, Round One. You can find a lot of rounds from 2011 that featured thrilling two-way action. You can even find a few other rounds this year that featured both guys hitting the canvas. But there was no round this year as staggeringly unpredictable—while offering bone-crunching action and multiple knockdowns—as these three minutes in Cancun.

Knockout Of The Year: Nonito Donaire KO 2 Fernando Montiel. Left hook. Dented head. End of discussion. Sure, ref Russell Mora failing to stop the fight scuffed up the aesthetics, but balancing that out is the fact that Montiel was an elite fighter coming in and he got absolutely wrecked. No other fighter anywhere near Montiel’s quality got obliterated half as violently in 2011.

Upset Of The Year: Orlando Salido KO 8 Juan Manuel Lopez. Talk about a loaded category: Nobuhiro Ishida KO 1 James Kirkland, Lamont Peterson W 12 Amir Khan, Marco Antonio Rubio KO 7 David Lemieux, Jorge Arce KO 12 Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Antonio DeMarco KO 11 Jorge Linares, and Kirkland KO 6 Angulo all could have won this category in past years. But Salido outslugging Lopez in a thriller that saw the guy with 11 losses defeat the guy with zero losses stands above the rest.

Trainer Of The Year: Robert Garcia. Tragically, after the way Khan and Pacquiao finished their years, we are forced to deprive Freddie Roach of his 24th consecutive Trainer of the Year award. Garcia loses points for his work with the heinous Antonio Margarito, but no other cornerman comes close to what “Grandpa” did with Rios, Donaire, and Mikey Garcia this year.

Female Fighter Of The Year: Anne Sophie Mathis. Holly Holm is the Freddie Roach of this award from the “Unofficial Official Awards” pages, and Mathis went 5-0 this year including a knockout of Holm. Easy enough.

Robbery Of The Year: Paul Williams W 12 Erislandy Lara. It takes a lot to get punished as a boxing judge. All three of the judges for this fight got suspended for the scorecards they handed in. Hirings and firings at a certain boxing magazine aside, Williams over Lara was the most horrendous decision of the year in boxing.

Most Improved Fighter Of The Year: Carlos Molina. This is a tricky one, in that I don’t know if the Chicago-based junior middleweight has technically improved as a fighter—he was pretty good to begin with and had won nine straight coming into 2011. But in terms of recognition and opposition, Molina made the leap. He fought to an impressive draw against Lara, knocked out Allen Conyers, and then upset Kermit Cintron on Showtime. Next up is James Kirkland, which means Molina had better keep improving if he wants this winning streak to continue in 2012.

Facial Monstrosity Of The Year: Pawel Wolak. Since I’m the one who invented this “Unofficial Official” award, I’m going to keep handing it out. And as long as I’m handing it out, how do I not give it to the guy who inspired the Joe Tessitore call, “a left hook to the hematoma”? We didn’t get everything we wanted out of boxing in 2011. But you can’t deny that Wolak and Delvin Rodriguez did their part to make the year as swell as possible.

Eric Raskin can be contacted at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com. You can follow him on Twitter @EricRaskin and listen to new episodes of his podcast, Ring Theory, at http://ringtheory.podbean.com.

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Floyd Schofield Wins a Banger and Gabriela Fundora Wins by KO

Published

2 days ago

November 3, 2024

David A. Avila

Floyd-Schofield-Wins-a-Banger-and Gabriella-Fundora-Wins-by-KO

Floyd Schofield Wins a Banger and Gabriela Fundora Wins by KO

LAS VEGAS-Shades of Henry Armstrong and Baby Arizmendi. If you don’t know those names, look them up.

Floyd Schofield battled his way past Mexico’s super tough Rene Tellez Giron who walked through every blow the Texan could fire but lost by decision on Saturday.

It was a severe test and perfect matchmaking for Schofield who yearns for the big bouts against the lightweight giants roaming the world.

Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) remains undefeated and won the war over thick-necked Mexican Tellez Giron (20-4, 13 KOs) who has never been knocked out and proved to be immune to big punches.

In the opening rounds, the Texas fighter came out firing rapid combinations from the southpaw and orthodox stances. Meanwhile the shorter Tellez Giron studied and fired back an occasional counter for two rounds.

Tellez Giron had seen enough and took his stand in the third stanza. Both unleashed blazing bombs with Schofield turning his back to the Mexican. At that moment referee Tom Taylor could have waved the fight over.

You never turn your back.

The fight resumed and Schofield was damaged. He tried to open up with even more deadly fire but was rebuked by the strong chin of Tellez Giron who fired back in the mad frenzy.

For the remainder of the fight Schofield tried every trick in his arsenal to inflict damage on the thick-necked Mexican. He could not be wobbled. In the 11^th round both opened up with serious swing-from-the-heels combinations and suddenly Schofield was looking up. He beat the count easily and the two remained slugging it out.

“He hit me with a good shot,” Schofield said of the knockdown. “I just had to get up. I’m not going to quit.”

In the final round Schofield moved around looking for the proper moment to engage. The Mexican looked like a cat ready to pounce and the two fired furious blows. Neither was hit with the big bombs in the last seconds.

There was Tellez Giron standing defiantly like Baby Arizmendi must have stood in those five ferocious meetings against the incomparable Henry Armstrong. Three of their wars took place in Los Angeles, two at the Olympic Auditorium in the late 1930s as the U.S. was emerging from the Great Depression.

In this fight, Schofield took the win by unanimous decision by scores 118-109 twice and 116-111. It was well-deserved.

“I tried to bang it out,” said Schofield. “Today I learned you can’t always get the knockout.”

Fundora

IBF flyweight titlist Gabriela Fundora needed seven rounds to figure out the darting style of Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz before firing a laser left cross down the middle to end the battle and become the undisputed flyweight world champion.

Fundora now holds all four titles including the WBO, WBA and WBC titles that Alaniz brought in the ring.

Fundora knocked down Alaniz midway through the seventh round. She complained it was due to a tangle of the legs. Several seconds later Fundora blasted the Argentine to the floor again with a single left blast. This time there was no doubt. Her corner wisely waved a white towel to stop the fight at 1:40 of the seventh round.

No one argued the stoppage.

Other Bouts

Bektemir Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) didn’t make weight in a title bout but managed to out-fight David Stevens (14-2, 10 KOs) in a super middleweight fight held at 12 rounds.

Melikuziev used his movement and southpaw stance to keep Pennsylvania’s Stevens from being able to connect with combinations. But Stevens did show he could handle “The Bully’s” punching power over the 12-round fight.

After 12 rounds one judge favored Stevens 116-112, while two others saw Melikuziev the winner by split decision 118-110 and 117-111.

Super middleweight WBA titlist Darius Fulghum (13-0, 11 KOs) pummeled his way to a technical knockout win over southpaw veteran Chris Pearson (17-5-1, 12 KOs) who attempted the rope-a-dope strategy to no avail.

Fulghum floored Pearson in the first round with a four-punch combination and after that just belted Pearson who covered up and fired an occasional blow. Referee Mike Perez stopped the fight at 1:02 of the third round when Pearson did not fire back after a blazing combination.

Young welterweight prospect Joel Iriarte (5-0, 5 KOs) blasted away at the three-inch shorter Xavier Madrid (5-6, 2 KOs) who hung tough for as long as possible. At 2:50 of the first round a one-two delivered Madrid to the floor and referee Thomas Taylor called off the beating.

Iriarte, from Bakersfield, Calif., could not miss with left uppercuts and short rights as New Mexico’s Madrid absorbed every blow but would not quit. It was just too much firepower from Iriarte that forced the stoppage.

Photos credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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Results and Recaps from Turning Stone where O’Shaquie Foster Nipped Robson Conceicao

Published

2 days ago

November 2, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Results-and-Recaps-from-Turning-Stone-where-O'Shaquie-Foster-Nipped-Robson-Conceicao

Top Rank was at the Turning Stone casino-resort in Verona, New York, tonight with an 8-bout card topped by a rematch between Robson Conceicao and O’Shaquie Foster with the victor retaining or recapturing his IBF world junior lightweight title. When the smoke cleared, the operative word was “recapturing” as Foster became a two-time title-holder, avenging his controversial setback to the Brazilian in Newark on July 6.

This was a somewhat better fight than their initial encounter and once again the verdict was split. Foster prevailed by 115-113 on two of the cards with the dissenting judge favoring Conceicao by the same margin. Conceicao seemingly had the edge after nine frames, but Foster, a 4/1 favorite, landed the harder shots in the championship rounds.

It was the thirteenth victory in the last 14 starts for Foster who fights out of Houston. A two-time Olympian and 2016 gold medalist, the 36-year-old Conceicao is 19-3-1 overall and 1-3-1 in world title fights.

Semi-wind-up

SoCal lightweight Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) made a big jump in public esteem and moved one step closer to a world title fight with a second-round blast-out of Jose Antonio Perez who was on the canvas twice but on his feet when the fight was stopped at the 1:24 mark of round two. Muratalla, a product of Robert Garcia’s boxing academy, is ranked #2 by the WBC and WBO. A Tijuana native, Perez (25-6) earned this assignment with an upset of former Olympian and former 130-pound world titlist Jojo Diaz,

Other Bouts

Syracuse junior welterweight Bryce Mills, a high-pressure fighter with a strong local following, stopped scrawny Mike O’Han Jr whose trainer Mark DeLuca pulled him out after five one-sided rounds. Mills improved to 17-1 (6 KOs). It was another rough day at the office for Massachusetts house painting contractor O’’Han (19-4) who had the misfortune of meeting Abdullah Mason in his previous bout.

In a junior lightweight fight that didn’t heat up until late in the final round, Albany’s Abraham Nova (23-3-1) and Tijuana native Humberto Galindo (14-3-3) fought to a 10-round draw. It was another close-but-no- cigar for the likeable Nova who at least stemmed a two-fight losing streak. The judges had it 97-93 (Galindo), 96-94 (Nova) and 95-95.

Twenty-one-year-old Long Island middleweight Jahi Tucker advanced to 13-1-1 (6 KOs) with an eighth-round stoppage of Stockton’s teak-tough but outclassed Quilisto Madera (14-6). Madera was on a short leash after five rounds, but almost took it to the final bell with the referee intervening with barely a minute remaining in the contest. Madera was on his feet when the match was halted. Earlier in the round, Tucker had a point deducted for hitting on the break.

Danbury, Connecticut heavyweight Ali Feliz, one of two fighting sons of journeyman heavyweight Fernely Feliz, improved to 4-0 (3) with a second-round stoppage of beefy Rashad Coulter (5-5). Feliz had Coulter pinned against the ropes and was flailing away when the bout was halted at the 1:34 mark. The 42-year-old Coulter, a competitor in all manner of combat sports, hadn’t previously been stopped when competing as a boxer.

Featherweight Yan Santana dominated and stopped Mexico’s Eduardo Baez who was rescued by referee Charlie Fitch at the 1:57 mark of round four. It was the 12^th knockout in 13 starts for Santana, a 24-year-old Dominican father of three A former world title challenger, Mexicali’s Baez declines to 23-7-2 but has lost six of his last eight.

In his most impressive showing to date, Damian Knyba, a six-foot-seven Pole, knocked out paunchy Richard Lartey at the 2:10 mark of round three. A right-left combination knocked Lartey into dreamland, but it was the right did the damage and this was of the nature of a one-punch knockout. Referee Ricky Gonzalez waived the fight off without starting a count.

Knyba, 28, improved to 14-0 (8 KOs). A native of Ghana coming off his career-best win, a fourth-round stoppage of Polish veteran Andrzej Wawrzyk, Lartey declined to 16-7 with his sixth loss inside the distance.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 303: Spotlights on Lightweights and More

Published

3 days ago

November 1, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-303-Spotlights-on-Lightweights-and-More

Those lightweights.

Whether junior lights, super lights or lightweights, it’s the 130-140 divisions where most of boxing’s young stars are found now or in the past.

Think Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather.

Floyd Schofield (17-0, 12 KOs) a Texas product, hungers to be a star and takes on Mexico’s Rene Tellez Giron (20-3, 13 KOs) in a 12-round lightweight bout on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.

DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotion card that includes a female undisputed flyweight championship match pitting Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz and Gabriela Fundora.

Like a young lion looking to flex, Schofield (pictured on the left) is eager to meet all the other young lions and prove they’re not equal.

“I’ve been in the room with Shakur, Tank. I want to give everyone a good fight. I feel like my preparation is getting better, I work hard, I’ve dedicated my whole life to this sport,” said Schofield naming fellow lightweights Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta “Tank” Davis.

Now he meets Mexico’s Tellez who has never been stopped.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” said Tellez.

Even in Las Vegas.

Verona, New York

Meanwhile, in upstate New York, a WBC junior lightweight title rematch finds Robson Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) looking to prove superior to former titlist O’Shaquie Foster (22-3, 12 KOs) on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y. ESPN+ will stream the Top Rank fight card.

Last July, Conceicao and Foster clashed and after 12 rounds the title changed hands from Foster to the Brazilian by split decision.

“I feel that a champion is a fighter who goes out there and doesn’t run around, who looks for the fight, who tries to win, and doesn’t just throw one or two punches and then moves away,” said Conceicao.

Foster disagrees.

“I hope he knows the name of the game is to hit and not get hit. That’s the name of the game,” said Foster.

Also on the same card is lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla (21-0, 16 KOs) who fights Mexico’s Jesus Perez Campos (25-5, 18 KOs).

Perez recently defeated former world champion Jojo Diaz last February in California.

“We’re made for challenges. I like challenges,” said Perez.

Muratalla likes challenges too.

“I think these fights are the types of fights I need to show my skills and to prove I deserve those title fights,” said Fontana’s Muratalla.

Female Undisputed Flyweight Championship

WBA, WBC and WBO flyweight titlist Gabriela “La Chucky” Alaniz (15-1, 6 KOs meets IBF titlist Gabriela Fundora (14-0, 6 KOs) on Saturday Nov. 2, at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. DAZN will stream the clash for the undisputed flyweight championship.

Argentina’s Alaniz clashed twice against former WBA, WBC champ Marlen Esparza with their first encounter ending in a dubious win for the Texas fighter. In fact, three of Esparza’s last title fights were scored controversially.

But against Alaniz, though they fought on equal terms, Esparza was given a 99-91 score by one of the judges though the world saw a much closer contest. So, they fought again, but the rematch took place in California. Two judges deemed Alaniz the winner and one Esparza for a split-decision win.

“I’m really happy to be here representing Argentina. We are ready to fight. Nothing about this fight has to do with Marlen. So, I hope she (Fundora) is ready. I am ready to prepare myself for the great fight of my life,” said Alaniz.

In the case of Fundora, the extremely tall American fighter at 5’9” in height defeated decent competition including Maria Santizo. She was awarded a match with IBF flyweight titlist Arely Mucino who opted for the tall youngster over the dangerous Kenia Enriquez of Mexico.

Bad choice for Mucino.

Fundora pummeled the champion incessantly for five rounds at the Inglewood Forum a year ago. Twice she battered her down and the fight was mercifully stopped. Fundora’s arm was raised as the new champion.

Since that win Fundora has defeated Christina Cruz and Chile’s Daniela Asenjo in defense of the IBF title. In an interesting side bit: Asenjo was ranked as a flyweight contender though she had not fought in that weight class for seven years.

Still, Fundora used her reach and power to easily handle the rugged fighter from Chile.

Immediately after the fight she clamored for a chance to become undisputed.

“It doesn’t get better than this, especially being in Las Vegas. This is the greatest opportunity that we can have,” said Fundora.

It should be exciting.

Fights to Watch

Sat. ESPN+ 2:50 p.m. Robson Conceicao (19-2-1) vs O’Shaquie Foster (22-3).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Floyd Schofield (17-0) vs Rene Tellez Giron (20-3); Gabriela Alaniz (15-1) vs Gabriela Fundora (14-0).

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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