Lampley: “Time Has Come For Fans To Occupy Boxing”

Published

13 years ago

June 17, 2012

Fight Game round4 wht The second installment of Jim Lampley’s “The Fight Game” ran Saturday, after the Chavez Jr.-Lee fight, and the timing could not have been much better, coming so soon after the decision that blew up Twitter, and will force us to hear stale Duane Ford jokes into 2013.

Lampley called the Pacquiao-Bradley decision “the biggest boxing news story in years,” and termed the show “Anatomy of a Scoring Disaster.”

Lampley cited the Twitter blowup, and boycott petitions, and Bob Arum’s request to get the Nevada AG to look at the decision. He said Harold Lederman got it right when on June 9 he said that Duane Ford was solid, CJ Ross was “questionable,” and “mediocre,” and Jerry Roth was coming off a rough call on Abril-Rios, and maybe shouldn’t be in another big fight. “In my opinion, they should have brought in a judge or two,” Lederman said, presciently.

Lampley noted rounds in which Pacquiao had a large edge in punches landed were awarded to Bradley, and wondered how Bradley won if he didn’t land more or harder punches. Ford, to Lampley, said it was a very close fight. He noted the experience of the three judges in question, a questionable call, since even experienced people get it wrong, but I see his point. Ford said he saw the first six rounds Manny won, but that he let Bradley off the hook, and he tired in later rounds. Bradley was scoring later, particularly to the body, he said. Is he bothered that the public doesn’t see it his way? No, it doesn’t surprise or dis-hearten him? No..he said, chalking that up to Pacquiao’s stardom, not the acumen of fight fans. Hmm..another Ford misstep.

Ford said that judges see things that we don’t off of TV or what Lampley might be saying during the action. Ford was asked if judges are well trained, if the system is good in Nevada. He said the commission allows input from the promoters and the fighters, and he supports that. Because the state allows gambling, he said, the commission is stringent in choosing officials.

Cameron Dunkin, Bradley’s manager, appeared. He said Bradley won because he fought the whole of every round. He said Ford was right, that Pacquiao is a “world hero” and that’s why everyone leaned his way. Dunkin said some of the joy of winning was diminished, but now he and Bradley are extremely happy. A rematch? Dunkin said a rematch “has to happen” but isn’t sure if it will happen in November.

Top Rank’s Todd DuBoef appeared. Lampley asked about the request for the AG to look at the decision. He said he wants some trust restored, and that the commission should have made like the NBA, and had a leader come forward and deal with the furor. DuBoef said he thinks the judge pool should be made larger, and education should be improved. The consumers, he said, need to be told how rounds are judged. What about the rematch clause? Shady? No; they are common, he said. He said as of right now, the rematch is not proceeding for November, that his crew will wait to hear from Pacquiao before deciding anything, and that public needs to have their confidence restored.

Lampley then showed round seven, with no sound. After the three minutes, the host said that all three judges scored it for Bradley. “Smoking gun?” Lampley asked. Max Kellerman then came on. He said he had it 8-4 on fight night, and re-watched it, closer. He had it 7-1 and 4 swing rounds, much like I did upon re-watching, Pacquiao 5-2 with 5 even or swing rounds. Did Max think conspiracy or administrative failure? Usually he thinks conspiracy…but this whopper left him stumped. He couldn’t see reasons for conspiracy. “This was a statistically unlikely event,” he said. “Unlikely things happen all the time…It’s the best I got.”

Lampley then cited the scores offered by ringside watchers to back the case for robbery.

The host mentioned many recent robberies. He said the sport could do more to safeguard integrity. He said the big promoters and programmers need to fix the broken system. But it comes down to the promoters, he said. He mentioned the Boxing Promoters Association move to fix the judging problem. Lampley said the judges in many cases “demonstrably suck,” and are touched by cronyism. “You have to take control as fans. You see something you don’t like and don’t trust, boycott. A time has come for you fans to Occupy boxing. Be more discerning, learn more, educate yourselves, and trust only that which you believe you see with your own eyes. “

He ended with the Gatti List. He mentioned Jorge Arce, Mike Alvarado, Abner Mares, Cris Arreola, Orlando Salido, Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao, Leo Santa Cruz, Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch and Paul Williams.

Readers, what say you? What do you make about this call to arms, and this reference to the fall movement, the minor uprising, which forced the mainstream media, oh so grudgingly, to discuss the income inequlaity gap which has been growing for the last four decades in our nation? Courageous move on Lampley's part, no? Calling for a boycott is consummate “biting the hand that feeds” move, since quite likely, his bosses would be the ones to lose dough, as the carriers of most notable PPVs. You have to respect that “fight the power,” that “speak truth to power” gesture, in my opinion. In a big way. So many of us recede when we should speak up, for fear of being fired, of being silenced. Lampley spoke his truth, spoke his mind, spoke his heart…and should be congratulated, mightily. This is a rarity in a dangerous age, where the power of the corporation is, it can be argued, as great as it's ever been. (Not going to go into a Citizen's United or SuperPac digression, but do a little Wikipedia research if you're so inclined; this issue ties in with that, I think, a little bit.) Us peons, the workers, the 99% have had their power diminished steadily, as the top tier in the last 30 years plus has skillfully set us against each other, and demonized the collectives that exist so we can negotiate (or fight, if it comes to that) with the elites who enjoy a massive leverage gap, because they control the overwhelming bulk of the cash. I can't emphasize this enough…Jim Lampley's call to arms on Saturday's “The Fight Game” was tremendously bold, and is to be applauded. My three cents…

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Michael Woods

Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

Bombs-Away-in-Las-Vegas-where-Inoue-and-Espinoza-Scored-Smashing-Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Undercard-Results-and-Recaps-from-the-Inoue-Cardenas-Show-in-Las-Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.

The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.

The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.

Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.

Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.

A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.

In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.

Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.

In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.

Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.

Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Published

2 days ago

May 3, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.

In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.

Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.

Semi-wind-up

In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.

A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.

The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.

Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.

Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.

Heavyweights

In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.

Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.

The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.

In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions

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