To Vegas and Back, For Pacquiao-Bradley

Published

12 years ago

June 18, 2012

Fighting-inside-2a photo by Katharine Rodriguez

The drive to Las Vegas from Riverside takes about three hours and if you have the right company or the right music it seems even shorter.

The June 9^th mega fight between Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao was motivation enough to attract large crowds to the casino capital but the annual Electric Daisy Carnival event bumped up the town 10 times more than usual.

Las Vegas was packed with teens and 20-something year olds roaming all over the desert city. Every single restaurant, every single casino and every street near the Las Vegas Strip was stacked and filled with carloads of youth driving up and down with written markings on their car windows like “EDC forever.”

I hadn’t seen Vegas this crowded since Ricky Hatton and his British followers hit the town back in December 2007. That was some bash too. The Brits drank Vegas dry and beer was hard to find. They were literally sleeping in the bar lounges of the MGM and nearby casinos.

By Thursday, the EDCers had arrived and were antsy for their party to begin. The boxing crowd would not begin arriving until Friday, yet, Vegas was already feeling the crunch of people. That was a good thing.

Usually it takes me a day to get things settled and arriving on a Thursday allows me to visit the local gyms in the area. This time however I arrived too late and only had time to do some writing.

Friday

Friday morning I woke up around 7 a.m. grabbed some coffee and checked out the schedules for the boxing events. Later, Kelly Pavlik would be fighting at the Hard Rock Hotel Casino along with several other Top Rank prospects.

My co-worker Katherine Rodriguez arrived the previous day and I picked her up around noon so we could visit Floyd Mayweather’s gym. She now writes for Uppercutmagazine.com and for La Prensa newspaper. Very few people know boxing as well as she does. Her brother would be fighting later on Friday night. Katherine is a former boxer who once fought current US Olympian Marlen Esparza and placed third in the U.S. as a junior flyweight in 2008. She knows boxing.

We were hoping to meet Costa Rica’s Bryan Vazquez who is ranked number one in the world as a junior lightweight. When we arrived we saw several boxers but the only one we recognize is Celestino Caballero who currently holds the WBA featherweight world title.

Caballero is a funny guy. The nearly six-feet tall Panamanian is going to be 36 next week but looks more like 23. It’s probably his humor that keeps him looking young. He will be defending the WBA title against Riverside’s Mikey Garcia.

He’s a chatty guy who doesn’t mind working out while talking. He expects to beat Garcia because he feels that the former Oxnard prizefighter is not as strong as himself. The fight was supposed to take place in July at Fantasy Springs Casino but it’s postponed and reset for Sept. 7 in Las Vegas. Expect an explosive title fight.

We leave after 30 minutes and head back to the Hard Rock where we meet Las Vegas boxing trainer James Pena. He works with Melinda Cooper who many consider one of the top female prizefighters pound for pound. We discuss women’s boxing and also talk about some of the events scheduled later in the evening and on Saturday’s big fight card. Everybody agrees that Timothy Bradley has a good shot at beating Pacman. While we’re sitting at the table eating, at a table nearby two girls in bikinis are enjoying their drinks and meals too. One of the girls facing us has her top literally pop off. Everybody feigns shock and laughs. She laughs too and apologizes for the eruption. We cover our eyes in mock terror and laugh some more.

After lunch I head toward the arena called the Joint to grab my press credential. Katherine heads back to her room to change. While getting my credential I notice that the Hard Rock is super packed. I expect the arena to be filled considering the amount of people milling around.

I arrived early because scheduled to fight in the first bout is Riverside prospect Saul “Dinamita” Rodriguez. So far he’s knocked out all four opponents and none survived into minute two of round one. On this day he’ll face a kid who is taller and just as sturdy. They battle toe-to-toe evenly but it’s evident that Rodriguez has the better skills and better power. The other kid, Kevin Davila, backs off and resorts to different measures. Nothing really works and Rodriguez out-hits his opponent all four rounds. His work to the body tells the story. Those punches sound like they’re coming from a middleweight. Rodriguez is only 19 so I can imagine how much harder he’s going to hit in a few years. He’s being taught the finer points of boxing by Eduardo Garcia who taught both Fernando Vargas and Robert Garcia everything they know. He also trains Mikey Garcia in Riverside. Don Garcia is one of the best trainers in the world but few know this. He doesn’t work the corner during his son Mikey’s fights or during Saul Rodriguez’s fights. Instead it is Robert Garcia who works the corner though he doesn’t really train them. But he knows their tendencies and what they can do. The system works for them.

Another boxer performing that night was local hero Jesse Magdaleno. I had seen him fight a few times over the past few years but didn’t really take note of him. Not until I saw him fight on a boxing card in Pomona did I notice the improvement. He was sharper and more accurate, plus he was setting up opponents rather than overwhelming them. Against a kid named Nick Fast he was pinpoint and impressive. That fight prompted me to watch him again and against Puerto Rico’s Carlos Valcarcel he proved to be just as impressive again in a junior featherweight contest. Magdaleno ended the former Olympian’s night in 2:25 of the first round. He’s becoming a polished prospect.

Notre Dame football player Mike Lee fought on the card too against Mexico’s Eliseo Durazo. Lee has been refining his skills and has a good trainer in Ronnie Shields. The Mexican fighter Durazo has experience and used it in preventing Lee from overwhelming him throughout the fight. Lee won nearly every round and ended the fight with a barrage of punches. It was a little dangerous but he has the chin to take gambles like that every so often. His crowd arrived for the fight in force as usual and gave him great support.

The main event was Kelly Pavlik against Scott Sigmon in a super middleweight match. Pavlik has been training in Oxnard under Robert Garcia. It’s a good fit for the former middleweight champion and against Sigmon he was too powerful and too polished. Sigmon took a large amount of punishment. In my estimation, the fight should have been stopped around the fifth round. I’ve seen many fights in my experience including a dozen boxers die from punishment endured in the boxing ring. This was one of those moments where a fighter was just too tough for his own good. Pavlik was hitting the kid to the body and head with blows that would kill a steer. Sigmon took them all and returned very little. Finally the fight was stopped in round seven. Thankfully, the kid from Virginia was not hurt too bad.

After the long fight card I returned to my hotel to get some rest. Saturday would be a long day and every moment of rest is important.

Saturday

Early Saturday I had to check out and gather my stuff. There were breakfast press conferences planned for WBA champ Gennady Golovkin who is set to fight WBO champ Dmitry Pirog in a battle of undefeated middleweight world titleholders on August 25. I can’t make the press conference but I hope to make their fight if its held in the West Coast. Golovkin is training in Big Bear mountain and that’s about an hour away from Riverside. I’ll be visiting him.

By the time I check out of my hotel, pick up fellow writer Katherine Rodriguez, grab my credential and a few other things it’s noon. We race to one of the breakfast press conferences where Andre Ward and Chad Dawson talk about their September date in Oakland. We catch about 15 minutes of the talking.

It’s about 1:30 so we head toward the media center tent outside of the arena. Photographer Al Applerose who works with me and Katherine is already inside. He rode in with German Villasenor who shoots for Maxboxing.com. We all chat a bit about the fights from the previous night and what to expect from the big fight card.

The first bout begins around 3:15 and I go inside the arena that sits more than 16,000 and hear the introduction music to one of the fighters. There are probably only a few hundred people sitting at the moment. The first fight begins and ends very quickly.

Everyone knows what happened in the fights including the eruption of controversy regarding the decision in favor of Timothy Bradley. I’m tired of arguing about it especially when it really doesn’t matter any more. All I can say is that I felt it was a much closer fight than most people. Lots and lots of missed blows. Judge Jerry Roth is one of the best in the world and he had it a close fight in favor of Manny Pacquiao. He had it close and I agree it was close, but I think Bradley fought all three minutes of every round and Pacquiao only one minute of each round and paid for it. Bradley absolutely won more than a single round. Round two was definitely his as he battered Pacquiao with nearly a dozen blows while in a clinch. Whoever didn’t score that round for Bradley is definitely wrong. Another thing is CompuBox. They had Bradley with 21 connects in round nine. I easily counted 40 for Bradley in that round. Nobody is perfect, but using CompuBox for an argument is not scientific proof. It’s approximate proof.

After I posted my story I had many people tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. Au contraire. I see more than 400 fights a year and I doubt if there are more than a dozen people in the world including judges that see that many fights live. The HBO crew definitely does not. I can tell you which judges like busy fighters, which like defense and which like actual scoring blows. I’ve seen them all judge fights for the past 20 years. Roth is one of the best. Roth, Pat Russell, and Max DeLuca are the three best judges in the world. They’re very consistent. Russell is absolutely the best referee in the world aside from being one of the best judges. There are several others including about three more from Nevada.

During the post fight press conference there were thousands of people milling around. I saw reporters from Mexico, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Philippines and from all over the U.S. One thing that always happens is whenever there is a decision in a big fight someone is going to get angry. Everyone thinks they’re correct.

All you hear is people crying and moaning “that’s what’s wrong about boxing.” It’s all become a cliché. Boxing has been this way for more than 100 years. The only time there is near satisfaction is a victory by knockout. MMA is the same thing. Knockouts and submissions are what only satisfy MMA fans too.

That’s just the way prizefighting is. A lot of people argue that it should be like basketball or soccer where there is a definite winner. Of course that would be great, but it’s impossible to do at the moment. Besides, NBA and soccer are filled with cheating. Every time you see a player flop that’s really cheating. Every time you see a guy double dribble or carry the ball that’s cheating. Soccer is horrible with its guys feigning injury near the goal so that they can get a free kick. Whenever I see a seven-foot NBA giant fall down when somebody touches him it makes me wince. I saw Derek Fisher just graze a center and he flopped as if he was hit by a Mack truck. It’s ridiculous. I can’t watch it. It’s become a sissy sport. So has soccer.

Well enough of that. I feel better now.

After about 45 minutes Katherine Rodriguez and her family joined me on the ride home around midnight. Three hours later we were back in Riverside. The roads were rather clear without the EDC minions riding about.

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David A. Avila

WBA Feather Champ Nick Ball Chops Down Rugged Ronny Rios in Liverpool

Published

2 days ago

October 5, 2024

Arne K. Lang

WBA-Feather-Champ-Nick-Ball-Chops-Down-Rugged-Ronny-Rios-in-Liverpool

In his first fight in his native Liverpool since February of 2020, Nick Ball successfully defended his WBA title with a 10^th-round stoppage of SoCal veteran Ronny Rios. The five-foot-two “Wrecking Ball” was making the first defense of a world featherweight strap he won in his second stab at it, taking the belt from Raymond Ford on a split decision after previously fighting Rey Vargas to a draw in a match that many thought Ball had won.

This fight looked like it was going to be over early. Ball strafed Rios with an assortment of punches in the first two rounds, and likely came within a punch or two of ending the match in the third when he put Rios on the canvas with a short left hook and then tore after him relentlessly. But Rios, a glutton for punishment, weathered the storm and actually had some good moments in round four and five.

The brother of welterweight contender Alexis Rocha and a two-time world title challenger at 122 pounds, Rios returned to the ring in April on a ProBox card in Florida and this was his second start after being out of the ring for 28 months. He would be on the canvas twice more before the bout was halted. The punch that knocked him off his pins in round seven wasn’t a clean shot, but he would be in dire straits three rounds later when he was hammered onto the ring apron with a barrage of punches. He managed to maneuver his way back into the ring, but his corner sensibly threw in the towel when it seemed as if referee Bob Williams would let the match continue.

The official time was 2:06 of round ten. Ball improved to 21-0-1 (12 KOs). Rios, 34, declined to 34-5.

Semi-wind-up

A bout contested for a multiplicity of regional 140-pound titles produced a mild upset when Jack Rafferty wore down and eventually stopped Henry Turner whose corner pulled him out after the ninth frame.

Both fighters were undefeated coming in. Turner, now 13-1, was the better boxer and had the best of the early rounds. However, he used up a lot of energy moving side-to-side as he fought off his back foot, and Rafferty, who improved to 24-0 (15 KOs), never wavered as he continued to press forward.

The tide turned dramatically in round eight. One could see Turner’s legs getting loggy and the confidence draining from his face. The ninth round was all Rafferty. Turner was a cooked goose when Rafferty collapsed him with four unanswered body punches, but he made it to the final bell before his corner wisely pulled him out. Through the completed rounds, two of the judges had it even and the third had the vanquished Turner up by 4 points.

Other Bouts of Note

In a lightweight affair, Jadier Herrera, a highly-touted 22-year-old Cuban who had been campaigning in Dubai, advanced to 16-0 (14 KOs) with a third-round stoppage of Oliver Flores (31-6-2) a Nicaraguan southpaw making his UK debut. After two even rounds, Herrera put Flores on the deck with a left to the solar plexus. Flores spit out his mouthpiece as he lay there in obvious distress and referee Steve Gray waived the fight off as he was attempting to rise. The end came 30 seconds into round three.

In a bantamweight contest slated for 10, Liverpool’s Andrew Cain (13-1, 12 KOs) dismissed Colombia’s Lazaro Casseres at the 1:48 mark of the second round.

A stablemate and sparring partner of Nick Ball, Cain knocked Casseres to the canvas in the second round with a short uppercut and forced the stoppage later in the round when he knocked the Colombian into the ropes with a double left hook. Casseres. 27, brought an 11-1 record but had defeated only two opponents with winning records.

In a contest between super welterweights, Walter Fury pitched a 4-round shutout over Dale Arrowsmith. This was the second pro fight for the 27-year-old Fury who had his famous cousin Tyson Fury rooting him on from ringside. Stylistically, Walter resembles Tyson, but his defense is hardly as tight; he was clipped a few times.

Arrowsmith is a weekend warrior and a professional loser, a species indigenous to the British Isles. This was his twenty-fourth fight this year and his 186^th pro fight overall! His record is “illuminated” by nine wins and 10 draws.

A Queensberry Promotion, the Ball vs Rios card aired in the UK on TNT Sports and in the US on ESPN+.

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Alimkhanuly TKOs Mikhailovich and Motu TKOs O’Connell in Sydney

Published

3 days ago

October 4, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Alimkhanuly-TKOs-Mikhailovich-and-Motu-TKOs-O'Connell-in-Sydney

IBF/WBO world middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, generally regarded as the best of the current crop of middleweights, retained his IBF title today in Sydney, Australia, with a ninth-round stoppage of game but overmatched Andrei Mikhailovich. The end came at the 2:45 mark of round nine.

Favored in the 8/1 range although he was in a hostile environment, Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KOs) beat Mikhailovich to a pulp in the second round and knocked him down with one second remaining in the frame, but Mikhailovich survived the onslaught and had several good moments in the ensuing rounds as he pressed the action. However, Alimkhanuly’s punches were cleaner and one could sense that it was only a matter of time before the referee would rescue Mikhailovich from further punishment. When a short left deposited Mikhailovich on the seat of his pants on the lower strand of rope, the ref had seen enough.

Alimkhanuly, a 2016 Olympian for Kazakhstan, was making his first start since October of last year. He and Mikhailovich were slated to fight in Las Vegas in July, but the bout fell apart after the weigh-in when the Kazakh fainted from dehydration.

Owing to a technicality, Alimkhanuly’s WBO belt wasn’t at stake today. Although he has expressed an interest in unifying the title –Eislandy Lara (WBA) and Carlos Adames (WBC) are the other middleweight belt-holders — Alimkhanuly is big for the weight class and it’s a fair assumption that this was his final fight at 160.

The brave Mikhailovich, who was born in Russia but grew up in New Zealand after he and his twin brother were adopted, suffered his first pro loss, declining to 21-1.

Semi-wind-up

Topping the flimsy undercard was a scheduled 8-rounder between Mikhailovich’s stablemate Mea Motu, a 34-year-old Maori, and veteran Australian campaigner Shannon O’Connell, 41. The ladies share eight children between them (Motu, trained by her mother in her amateur days, has five).

A clash of heads in the opening round left O’Connell with a bad gash on her forehead. She had a big lump developing over her right eye when her corner threw in the towel at the 1:06 mark of round four.

Motu (20-0, 8 KOs) was set to challenge IBF/WBO world featherweight champion Ellie Scotney later this month in Manchester, England, underneath Catterall-Prograis, but that match was postponed when Scotney suffered an injury in training. Motu took this fight, which was contested at the catchweight of 125 pounds, to stay busy. O’Connell, 29-8-1, previously had a cup of coffee as a WBA world champion (haven’t we all).

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 299: Golden Boy in Saudi Arabia and More

Published

4 days ago

October 3, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 299: Golden Boy in Saudi Arabia and More

A small brigade of Mexican and Latino-American fighters gathered at the beautiful Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Their mission: to export Mexican style fighting to the Saudi Arabia desert.

Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez defends the WBA cruiserweight title against WBO cruiserweight titlist Chris Billam-Smith and they will be joined by several other top Golden Boy Promotion fighters on Nov. 16 at the Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

DAZN will stream the Golden Boy and BOXXER promotions card called “The Venue Riyadh Season.”

Mexican fighters are known worldwide for their ferocity and durability. Ramirez, a former super middleweight champion, surprised many with his convincing win over former champion Arsen Goulamirian last March.

Now Ramirez seeks to unify the cruiserweight titles against United Kingdom’s Smith who has never fought outside of his native country.

“I will become the first Mexican cruiserweight unified champion. It’s exciting because my dream will come true this November 16,” said Ramirez.

Smith has a similar goal.

“This opportunity for me is huge,” said Smith. “I’ve been written off many times before.”

The cruiserweights will be joined by two top super lightweight warriors who’ve been itching to face each other like a pair of fighting roosters.

Arnold Barboza, an undefeated super lightweight contender from Los Angeles, has been chasing top contenders and world champions for the past six years. Former super lightweight champion Jose Ramirez simply wants action and a return to elite status.

“I’ve been wanting this fight since 2019 for whatever reason it never happened,” said Barboza. “I want to give credit and thanks to Oscar, he’s a man of his word. When I signed to Golden Boy, he said he was going to give me this fight.”

“It’s honorable Barboza saying he’s been chasing the fight since 2019. Now that he stands in the way for me to reclaim my titles it’s time to get that fight on,” said Ramirez.

Others on the Riyadh fight card include Puerto Rico’s WBO minimumweight world titlist Oscar Collazo defending against Thailand’s Thammanoon Niyomtrong, along with Oscar Duarte and lightweight contenders William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer.

One fighter missing from the card is Charles Conwell, the super welterweight contender they recently signed earlier in the year. He last performed on the Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Serhii Bohachuk clash in Las Vegas.

Conwell has similar talent to those two.

And what about the women fighters”

Yokasta Valle recently re-signed with Golden Boy Promotions. What is her next scheduled fight? She was spotted facing up against Australia’s Lulu “Bang, Bang” Hawton at a fight card. Is that on the horizon?

West Coast venues

Speaking of the Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles, its just a few buildings north of the Belasco Theater where Golden Boy was staging its club shows for several years.

A majority of the boxing media favored that location for its cozy atmosphere and proximity to LA Live. A number of prospects that developed into contenders and world champions fought there including Vergil Ortiz Jr., Ryan Garcia, Joshua Franco, and Oscar Duarte.

On any given fight night celebrities like Mario Lopez, George Lopez and others would show up in the small venue that held several hundred fans in its ornate theater setting.

The Mayan Theater and Belasco Theater are still open for business. According to one source, LA Laker owner Jeannie Buss stages a pro wrestling show at one of those theaters.

World title fight

England’s Nick Ball (20-0-1, 11 KOs) defends the WBA featherweight world title against Southern California’s Ronny Rios (34-4, 17 KOs) on Saturday Oct. 5, at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. Starting time for the Queensberry and Top Rank promotion card is 11 a.m. PT.

Ball was last seen nearly toppling WBC featherweight titlist Rey Vargas but lost last March. He then defeated Ray Ford for the WBA title

Fights to Watch

Fri. ESPN+ 2 a.m. PT Janibek Alimkhanuly (15-0) vs Andrei Mikhailovich (21-0)

Sat. ESPN+ 11 a.m. PT Nick Ball (20-0-1) vs Ronny Rios (34-4)

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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