Anselmo Moreno Is A Top Ten Pound-for-Pounder

Published

13 years ago

April 10, 2012

Lee Wylie

Anselmo Moreno What is it about Panama that makes it such a hotbed of boxing talent?

Apart from producing numerous world champions, this small Central American country, with a population of 3.5 million people, has also delivered no fewer than four hall of fame members from it's talented breeding grounds – Ismael Laguna, Eusebio Pedroza, Panama Al Brown and most famously, Roberto Duran. They are considered the holy grail of Panamanian pugilism.

Later this month on Showtime we will have a chance to see yet another product of Panama's vast assembly line of super talent when Anselmo ” Chemito ” Moreno steps into the ring to defend his 118 pound title against Mexican challenger David De La Mora. Moreno had slipped under the radar somewhat by fighting mainly in his homeland and in Europe on obscure TV channels; it was difficult to catch a glimpse of him outside of grainy youtube clips. He was quite possibly boxing's best kept secret.

Hopefully, this will no longer be the case as a result of his sensational American debut in December of last year when he completely outboxed Vic Darchinyan over twelve one sided rounds. Moreno's performance against Darchinyan really was a dissertation on the finer points within the sweet science. Sure, Darchinyan had lost fights before [even losing on April 6 against Shinsuke Yamanaka] but he was never quite been beaten like this. Darchinyan carries a certain menace with him, hence his nickname ” The Raging Bull.” He is an ultra aggressive fighter who throws many punches. It takes alot for a defensive fighter like Moreno to thoroughly outbox him and win a decision.

In all honesty, Moreno may have put on the finest display of standing in range, making an opponent miss and making an opponent pay, since James Toney's systematic counterpunching deconstruction of Iran Barkley back in 1993. It really was THAT good. There will be those who disagree and point to some of Floyd Mayweather's recent performances as being a better display of counterpunching. Sure, I agree, Mayweather is a sensational counterpuncher, but I believe Mayweather's forte lies more within his counterattacking ability. Mayweather, at his best, is able to read his opponent's intentions and – because of his supreme speed and reflexes – land something quickly before he is attacked himself. Mayweather does not allow his opponent to complete their offensive technique. Moreno on the other hand, reacts after his opponent has finished their technique. Moreno allowed Darchinyan to complete his offensive technique, only to neutralise it through slipping, parrying and ducking, and then landing a counter. Every piece of Moreno's offense was a reaction to something Darchinyan threw, rather than what Darchinyan was about to throw. Moreno's defense is there to set up his offense.

Moreno, a southpaw, spent the majority of the fight staying in the pocket with Darchinyan, who is also a southpaw. If you take a look at the fight, you will notice only inches of space between Moreno's right foot and Darchinyan's right foot. This is a clear indication of what Moreno's intentions were – to stand in range and counter. Everything Darchinyan tried in the fight was shut down. Throughout the contest, Moreno was pivoting counter clockwise on his front foot, always moving but never running. As a result, Darchinyan could never set himself. There were occasions when Darchinyan managed to get into scoring positions in close, but Moreno quickly positioned himself – standing side on with his left glove by his chin and his right elbow covering his body – so that Darchinyan's attacks were ineffective.

As the fight progressed, Moreno's skills became even more apparent. Moreno mixed up the intentions of his jab superbly – sometimes it was used to disrupt Vic's rhythm, sometimes it was thrown as he slid off to the side and other times it was used as a range finder for his straight left hand. As Darchinyan became more frustrated and wreckless as a result of his elusive opponent, Moreno became more aggressive. He further imposed himself on Darchinyan by unleashing a ferocious body attack, a measure of Moreno's brilliance that he was able to land hard body punches while still making his opponent miss in close. By the later rounds Moreno really was putting on a clinic. There was more slipping and sliding but now we were seeing more in the way of combination punching. With Darchinyan not knowing what was coming next, Moreno was able to feint Darchinyan out of position and land clean shots at will.

While there were times during the fight when Darchinyan was outboxed and made to look silly through Moreno's superior skill, there were also times in the fight when Darchinyan was outfought and was left disheartened because of Moreno's superior will. Moreno displayed toughness and grit – showing that apart from being a superb boxer, he can also mix it up if he elects to do so.

It was not only the visual content of Moreno's work that stood out. The punchstat numbers at the end of the fight were startling to say the least. There was not much to separate them with regards to how busy both fighters were – Darchinyan threw 555 punches, to Moreno's 498. However, in terms punches landed, Moreno landed 216 total punches to Darchinyan's 101 – more than a 2-1 ratio. The mis-match continued in power punching. Darchinyan landed 68 of 304, while Moreno landed a mind blowing 113 of 172 for a 68% connect rate – 30% higher than the bantamweight average.

With the win, Moreno moved his record to 32-1-1 [11 kos]. The only blemishes on Moreno's record are a draw against Javier Tello and a split decision loss against Ricardo Molina. For the record, both of those fights occurred during Moreno's opening year as a pro and his only loss to Molina has been avenged twice since.

Even though Moreno is relatively unheard of outside of hardcore fans, he is from a scientific perspective, among the best technicians in boxing. Moreno is an extremely skilled fighter whose ability to analyse and dissect his opponent's strengths and weaknesses is first rate. Moreno is also one of boxing's most adaptive fighters. By taking in his opponents habits, he can adjust his own style in order to meet the requirements of any stylistic problems his opponent may present – his vast array of talent and ring intelligence go way beyond his 26 years.

With his slick southpaw style, Moreno will be a tough proposition for any bantamweight [and beyond] in the world. Personally, I'd love to see him in there with not only the likes of Guillermo Rigondeaux and Abner Mares, but also with the likes of Nonito Donaire. Moreno's talent deserves to be matched with boxing's best. It may not be too long before he finds himself in most peoples pound for pound top ten. [I already have him there at number ten].

Moreno may not be to everyone's taste. Boxing fans of the Tony Zale – Rocky Graziano or Arturo Gatti – Mickey Ward mould may look at his low knockout percentage and frown. Admittedly, Moreno does seem like a fighter who will likely be admired rather than adored.

But for those pure boxing connoisseurs and aficionados out there, it does not get much better than watching Anselmo Moreno.

Comment on this article

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Lee Wylie

TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2025

TSS Press

TSS-Salutes-Thomas-Hauser-and-his-Bernie-Award-Cohorts

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.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

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

Published

3 days ago

April 15, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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

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.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City

Published

6 days ago

April 12, 2025

David A. Avila

Jaron-'Boots'-Ennis-Wins-Welterweight-Showdown-in-Atlantic-City

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

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!