Takeaways From Rios and Donaire Wins

Published

12 years ago

October 15, 2012

Lee Wylie

Rios Alvarado 121013 003a Rios tweaked his tactics and showed an edge in stamina on Saturday night against Alvarado. (Chris Farina-Top Rank)

Prior to his Saturday night fight against Brandon Rios, I felt that Mike Alvarado's edge in boxing ability would have been the deciding factor between the two “rough and ready” inside specialists. It almost was. After a closely contested first round at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, Alvarado began making things easier for himself by implementing his jab to keep Rios on the outside.Using his superior reach, Alvarado peppered the ever advancing Rios with crisp straight lefts and rights. Even at close quarters, as Rios managed to get himself in close, Alvarado seemed to be getting the better of the action there too by replicating the same defensive posture that Richard Abril had success with against Rios –chin tucked in behind a high left shoulder, with the right glove protecting the face from the left hook. Despite the oohs and aahs from the crowd as both were exchanging on the inside, it was Alvarado who was managing to tag Rios almost every time he threw, with his short hooks and uppercuts, whereas apart from the occasionally landed left hook up top and to the body, Rios was finding mostly elbows, shoulders and air. Approaching the midway point, Rios's money punch, his left hook, wasn't landing as much as he'd have liked and it was Alvarado, not Rios,that seemed to be on the verge of taking over the fight.

Then, two things happened that changed matters for good.

The first was Alvarado's early pace and high punch output took its toll. Because Alvarado lacked the foot speed to keep the fight at a distance, he had to rely on throwing punches, and lots of them, to keep Rios from getting in close.Undeterred by Alvarado's power, who himself was now throwing far less minus the earlier conviction, Rios's sustained pressure never wavered as he was now getting beyond the Alvarado jab every time he came forward. After five rounds, Rios was by far the fresher of the two fighters.

The second thing that changed the fight for Rios, and it's something I thought I'd never see from him, was a conscious tactical adjustment he made. With his left hook not landing as much as he'd have liked because of Alvarado's high right glove on the inside, Rios began throwing an overhand right from around the back of Alvarado's raised left shoulder. This is the difference between a fighter who's a natural at using a certain technique and a fighter who's adopted the technique for a certain opponent. When you look at Floyd Mayweather in the same defensive position, his hips are pushing into his opponent's abdomen, he's leaning back with his weight over on his back foot, his chin is tucked away behind his raised left shoulder, and he's constantly slipping, rolling and turning in conjunction with the punches that are being thrown. In this position, Mayweather's almost impossible to hit clean with overhand rights and left hooks. Mike Alvarado, in the same defensive position, had a deficiency to exploit. He did a decent job of protecting himself against the left hook {although Rios began landing it more too as Alvarado slowed down} but because he wasn't leaning back or rolling with the punches, Rios was able to find an opening for his overhand right, the shot that all but ended the fight. Alvarado was going through the defensive motions alright, but because of a flaw in his technique, Rios managed to penetrate his defensive shield.

Hurt by the right and with Alvarado up on the ropes taking too many unanswered blows, the fight was halted in the seventh round.

All in all, I thought it was a brilliant fight that fell just short of being a great. Many seem to think that the referee deprived us of something truly special but I disagree, wholeheartedly. Alvarado's arms weren't by his waist, but he was clearly defenseless against Rios's onslaught. The official, who's in there for safety precautions first and foremost, got it spot on in my mind.

I'm sure many out there would welcome a rematch between the two, but in all honesty, I see the same thing happening again. Alvarado is clearly the better boxer, but he lacks the power to keep Rios off of him, and the foot speed to outmaneuver him. At 140 pounds, Rios has a vibrancy and energy to him that was clearly wasn't there 135. Rios's physical strength at 140 was my biggest concern with him before the fight. Not any more.

However, while Rios will likely always get the better of Mike Alvarado, or possibly anyone else who remains right in front of him, talks of him being competitive with Manny Pacquiao are ridiculous to say the least. There's a gulf in hand and foot speed that would be too vast for Rios to overcome. Rios, who is a lineal attacker, would not be able to handle Manny's style of fighting –moving in and out at different angles. Pacquiao becomes an apex predator against those who take the fight to him. Rios would end up looking like David Diaz and Antonio Margarito in that one I'm afraid as unlike Alvarado, Pacquiao packs the punch to hurt Rios.

For now though, a win over a very tough opponent in Mike Alvarado, in a candidate for fight of the year honours will suffice.

Nonito Donaire-Toshiaki Nishioka:

This fight was about as far away from the first fight as you could possibly get. From the opening bell, which saw very little thrown as both men were jockeying for position from the outside, the crowd immediately showed their disapproval, unfairly so in my book. Rios-Alvarado was far from an-all time classic, but it was always going to be very hard to top in terms of the ebb and flow of the action that took place earlier. A chess match was the last thing the blood hungry crowd wanted after what they had just witnessed.

It's what they got.

Nevertheless, I felt the fight was enjoyable from a technical perspective. Prior to the bout, the left hook of Nonito Donaire was well documented. From the opening bell, it was apparent that Nishioka had done his homework and believed its hype. The problem here though, was that he seemed to be thinking of nothing else BUT Donaire's left hook. By stepping to his left and away from Donaire's left hand, using a very unconventional guard which saw his lead hand higher than his rear {right glove up by his ear and his left under his chin} Nishioka actually did a good job of negating his opponent's best weapon. It was a very cerebral move from Nishioka, almost Bernard Hopkins-like in it's execution. However, unlike many of Hopkins's past opponents who only had a single weapon and were pretty much ineffective once it was taken away from them, Nishioka found himself in with an opponent in Donaire who's very versatile on offense. Because Donaire seemed to be too dependent on his left hook during his previous three outings, I feel Nishioka felt that if he could take it away, then everything else would fall into place for him –possibly by forcing Donaire into overloading with right hands as a substitute, which would allow for the Japanese southpaw to take a subtle step to his right and fire a straight left as just as Donaire's missing the target with his right. Unfortunately for him, this never happened. Instead, Donaire kept his composure, remained patient and stuck to boxing his man.

It must have been difficult for Donaire, who, with the crowd on his back demanding more action, and an opponent in front of him who was refusing to give him any, stayed focused and began to systematically break Nishioka down. Had Donaire began loading up with the left hook or any other punch for that matter, then he would have been playing directly into Nishioka's hands. Instead, Donaire attacked sporadically, throwing uppercuts, jabs and straight right hands, from different angles at different targets. With his thought process well and truly cemented on Donaire's left hook, Nishioka found himself losing every round because he wasn't doing anything BUT negate the left hook. I don't think, however, that Nishioka was set up to survive like Omar Narvaez was, as I believe there was always tactical intent behind Nishioka's negativity. As he fell further behind on the scorecards, Nishioka began to attack more, which, as has turned out to be the case with most of Donaire's opponents who opened up against him in the past, proved to be his undoing. Not long after being sent down by a lead hand uppercut,Nishioka uncharacteristically followed his man blind to the ropes where he lead off with a jab, only for Donaire to counter simultaneously and drop Nishioka again with a straight right hand. Not only is Donaire a superb athlete, he's also an astute tactician and knows how to set a trap in there. Moments later, Nishioka was saved from any further punishment when his corner intervened. With the ninth round TKO victory, Nonito Donaire became the new universally recognized super bantamweight champion of the world.

It's the same old scenario with Donaire. Against opponents who take chances on offense, he has the quick trigger punching ability to end a fight with a single punch. There aren't many true one punch knockout artists left in boxing. Nonito Donaire is among the last of a dying breed.

In terms of future opponents, Donaire has plenty of options. For the hardcore among us, two fighters come to mind. Guillermo Rigondeaux is an obvious choice, who, with his counterpunching ability and exquisite technique, wouldn't leave many openings for Donaire to expose, which could possibly lead to a fight with plenty of feinting and not enough punching. I'm not sure Donaire will want to go down that avenue again anytime soon. Likewise with Anselmo Moreno, a defensive specialist who I consider to be the best pure technician in boxing at the moment. That fight would surely please the aficionados, but I'm not sure it would quench the thirsts of those who prefer their action of the Mike Alvarado-Brandon Rios kind.

The most crowd pleasing fight for Donaire right now would be the high volume and exciting Abner Mares. But as we know, there are ongoing promotional issues that exist which could prevent it from taking place, as well as Mares's tough November date with Anselmo Moreno himself.

Whomever Nonito Donaire decides to fight next, I'll be watching.

Out of all the upper echelon fighters in boxing, you could say that Donaire is the most complete, who at the same time, doesn't jeopardize his offense to aid his defense or vice versa. Mayweather and Ward are tough to hit and are expert tacticians, but you're not going to see many knockouts from them. Pacquiao and Martinez are sensational on offense, but if they were to be marked on defense alone, they'd be nowhere near the top of the mythical pound for pound rankings.

That's why I like Donaire. He's got good defense, great offense, speed, power, ring intelligence and he can press the attack or can lay back and counter –he's the complete fighter. If Donaire managed to not only secure fights with the likes of Mares, Moreno and Rigondeaux, but actually beat them too, then Mayweather, Ward, Pacquiao and co. would have some serious competition on their hands.

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Lee Wylie

Canelo Alvarez Turns Away Jaime Munguia to Remain Undisputed King at 168

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2024

David A. Avila

Canelo-Alvarez-Turns-Away-Jaime-Munguia-to-Remain-Undisputed-King-at-168

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez remains Mexico’s top fighter and the undisputed super middleweight world champion with a resounding victory by unanimous decision over the hard-charging Jaime Munguia on Saturday.

If Mexico had a monarchy Alvarez would be king.

“I am the best Mexican fighter,” said Alvarez.

An announced crowd of 17,492 saw Guadalajara’s Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) patiently analyze the battle plan of Tijuana’s Munguia’s (43-1, 34 KOs) and then unravel it methodically every round at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

It was a battle for Mexico that pitted two dangerous fighters with Munguia entering the prize ring undefeated and hungry to establish himself as Mexico’s new power. He just wasn’t ready.

After Munguia opened up quickly behind a solid jab and combinations, Alvarez calmly blocked and parried the Tijuana fighter’s attacks for three rounds and then it happened.

After success in the first three rounds Munguia opened up with another attack in the fourth that Alvarez calmly timed and snapped a right uppercut to the chin that floored the Tijuana fighter for the first time in his career. He got up from the knockdown and was able to stave off a further Canelo attack.

The momentum suddenly changed and for good.

Alvarez stalked Munguia every round with a more aggressive approach and sometimes set traps for counters. Though the Mexican redhead found success he was unable to floor the taller Munguia again. But he did come close including the seventh when a left hook to the body visibly hurt Munguia. He survived.

It must have been frustrating for Munguia whose improvement in his boxing skills have been noticeable in his last three fights. Even in this fight his ability to defend and return fire against Canelo’s clever moves was a vast improvement over his career three years ago. But its not enough when battling one of the best fighters pound-for- pound in the world.

Four-division world champion Alvarez strategically proved his skills are another level that only a few today possess. It was a valuable lesson for Munguia to learn the same lesson Canelo received against Floyd Mayweather a decade ago.

Experience counts.

“He’s a fighter with a lot of experience,” said Munguia who had hoped his youth and stamina would help against the 33-year-old Alvarez.

Canelo said Munguia was a great fighter and very strong.

“I take my time,” said Alvarez “He’s strong but a little slow I saw every punch.”

Though it was the fifth consecutive fight without a knockout, Alvarez was satisfied with the unanimous decision to keep the WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF super middleweight titles. It was the first time two Mexican super middleweights fought for all the titles.

Alvarez said this win again proves he can fight whoever he chooses after fighting boxing greats like Miguel Cotto, Mayweather and other champions.

“I can do whatever I want to do,” said Alvarez.

Other Bouts

Mario Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) floored Fabian Maidana (22-3, 16 KOs) in the third round but found the hard-punching Argentine too tough to finish off. Instead, he used a steady stream of jabs to win by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

A touch left followed by a rifle right cross dropped Maidana. Instead of giving up, the younger brother of the great Marcos Maidana unleashed his own big blows to force Barrios into a more careful strategic fight mode. Especially after one or two blows caused a swelling on his right eye.

But Maidana never could find the antidote for Barrios’s jab that won the majority of the rounds for the San Antonio, Texas fighter. After 12 rounds all three judges scored it 116-111 for Barrios who keeps the interim welterweight title.

After a sluggish start, Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) found his footing midway through the super bantamweight match against Jesse Magdaleno (29-3, 18 KOs) and ended the match with a one-punch belt to the body to win the battle of former champions.

Magdaleno took the lead in the fight with clever boxing but slowly Figueroa cranked up his punch out-put and while during a furious exchange the fighter from Weslaco, Texas connected with a left to the body. Magdaleno could not beat the count at 2:59 of the ninth round.

Figueroa retains the interim super bantamweight title.

Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs) used a power jab to separate from Venezuela’s Gabriel Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KOs) to retain the WBA welterweight world title by unanimous decision.

Despite two years from a ring appearance, Stanionis was able to out-work Maestre, a 37-year-old who was fighting for his first world title. Both had faced each other years ago as amateurs.

No knockdowns were scored but the fast-paced fight was won by the busier Stanionis whose jab was his primary weapon. All three scores favored the Lithuanian fighter 117-111, 118-110, 119-109.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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Mielnicki, Ramos and Scull Victorious on Cinco de Mayo Weekend in Las Vegas

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Mielnicki-Ramos-and-Scull-Victorious-on-Cinco-de-Mayo-Weekend-in-Las-Vegas

Two 10-round junior middleweight prelims aired as teasers for tonight’s four-fight pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the opener; New Jersey’s Vito Mielnicki Jr (pictured) scored his tenth straight win, advancing to 18-1 (12) with a wide decision over SoCal’s Ronald Cruz. Mielnicki, 21, put Cruz on the canvas in round three and again in round four, but So Cal’s Cruz (19-4-1) stayed the course and maintained his distinction of never being stopped. The judges had it 99-89, 98-90, and 96-92 for “White Magic” who had the noted trainer Ronnie Shields in his corner.

In the second bout – the main go of the prelims, so to speak – 23-year-old Arizona southpaw Jesus Ramos rebounded from his first loss (a narrow defeat to Erickson Lubin in this same ring) with a ninth-round stoppage of Johan Gonzalez who was making his third start in the U.S., having fought mostly in Venezuela and Panama.

Gonzalez was rugged, but his record heading in (34-2 with 33 KOs) was deceptive as he was out-classed by Ramos (21-1, 17 KOs) who was credited with landing roughly twice as many punches before he brought the bout to a conclusion. A counter left hook put Gonzalez down hard. He beat the count, but Ramos swarmed after him, rocking him with punches. There were only 5 seconds remining in the ninth frame when referee Harvey Dock waived it off. Gonzalez protested, but it was the right call.

Also

Super middleweight William Scull made his U.S. debut in an 8-round fight. A native of Cuba who had been living in Germany and now hangs his hat in Argentina, Scull, 31, scored a knockdown in the fifth round en route to winning a unanimous decision over New Orleans’ Sean Hemphill (16-2).

Scull is ranked #1 by the IBF, but you won’t find his name in the Top 15 of the other three major sanctioning bodies. Does the obscure William Scull have Canelo Alvarez in his future?

In another undercard bout of note, Mexico City super bantamweight Alan Picasso improved to 28-0-1 (16 KOs) with a fifth-round stoppage of Colorado’s Damien Vazquez (17-4-1). Picasso, 23, is ranked #2 at 122 by the WBC.

Check back later as TSS West Coast bureau chief David Avila weighs in with a recap of the Canelo-Munguia fight and the three fights preceding it. The bouts are available for purchase on multiple pay-per-view platforms: e.g. Prime, DAZN, and PPV.com.

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Boxing Odds and Ends: The Ryan Garcia PED Rumple and More

Published

2 days ago

May 3, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Boxing-Odds-and-Ends-The-Ryan-Garcia-PED-Rumple-and-More

Canelo Alvarez returns to the ring on Saturday. His fight with Jaime Munguia marks his seventeenth appearance in a Las Vegas ring and his twelfth Las Vegas engagement on a Mexican holiday weekend. But the pre-fight pub has been beclouded by a more arresting news story involving Canelo’s stablemate Ryan Garcia.

Dan Rafael and his successor at ESPN, Mike Coppinger, were the first to report that the banned substance Ostarine showed up in two urine specimens collected from Garcia by agents of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). The specimens were collected on April 19 and April 20, the day prior and day of his conquest of heavily favored Devin Haney. The April 19 sample also showed traces of the banned drug 19-nonandrosterone, but apparently not a sufficient trace to express confidence in the finding.

A PED popular among bodybuilders, Ostarine helps build muscle mass and improve stamina. The substance, which has been found in dietary supplements, is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, an arm of the International Olympic Committee, and by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Upon leaning of this finding, “KingRy” took to social media to proclaim his innocence.

“Fake f***ing news…I never f***ing took a steroid in my f***ing life. I beat Devin Haney fair and square,” Garcia said in one of his many tweets. “I don’t even know where to get steroids at the end of the day…I barely take supplements,” he said in another. “I’m (going to) find out who paid to create this lie,” he said in a third.

Garcia’s promoter Golden Boy Promotions released a formal statement: “Ryan has put out multiple statements denying knowingly using any banned substances – and we believe him. We are working with his team to determine how this finding came to be and will address this further once we conclude the process.

Any sanctions imposed on Ryan Garcia will have to await the findings of his “B” samples. Reversals are extremely rare so the best guess is that the VADA finding will stand. The big question then becomes whether the New York State Athletic Commission will take away Garcia’s “W” and declare the match a no-contest. According to a bulletin published by the NYSAC in 2016 and updated in 2017, a boxer found to have used an unapproved drug, medication, or supplement is subject to various disciplinary actions including “modification of the official bout result.”

If the NYSAC changes the result to a no-contest, boxrec, the sport’s official record-keeper, would follow suit and Devin Haney would remain undefeated. Haney was 31-0 heading into his date with Garcia and considering his tender age – he doesn’t turn 26 until November – was accorded a reasonable shot of breaking Floyd Mayweather Jr’s 50-0 mark.

R.I.P. – Dingaan Thobela

Boxing fans in South Africa are mourning loss of Dingaan Thobela who passed away of an undisclosed illness on Monday, April 29, at his flat in Johannesburg at age 57.

Thobela won world titles at 135 and 168 pounds. He captured the WBO world lightweight belt at age 25, out-pointing Mexico’s Mauricio Aceves in Brownsville, Texas, and, 10 years later, in the twilight of his career, won the WBC super middleweight title with a 10^th-round stoppage of England’s Glen Catley in Johannesburg.

The WBO, founded in 1988, was a new organization with little cachet. Thobela abandoned the belt after two successful defenses to compete for the more prestigious WBA diadem. That led to two lightweight title fights with Tony Lopez, the first in Lopez’s hometown of Sacramento and the rematch four months later in South Africa at the Sun City resort in Bopthuthatswana.

Both fights went the distance. Lopez won the first meeting. Although all three judges (they were from Panama, Puerto Rico, and California) had the hometown fighter winning by 2 points, the verdict was highly controversial. At the finish, Tony the Tiger was all marked-up. “It looked, for all the world, that Lopez got his head handed to him,” wrote Sacramento Bee ringside reporter Mark Kreidler.

Thobela was nicknamed “The Rose of Soweto,” the reference to the ramshackle, all-black township in Johannesburg where he was born and raised. Although apartheid hadn’t yet been officially abolished, Soweto was well-represented in the inter-racial audience at the rematch in June of 1993 and there was dancing in the aisles when Thobela avenged his loss to Lopez with a well-earned unanimous decision.

Back in those days, flamboyant ring entrances were virtually unheard-of. Thobela may have started a trend with his outlandish procession. A tumbling acrobat led the way, followed by eight ring girls in colorful costumes and an African chief in full regalia. Thobela threw roses to the crowd as he made his way to the squared circle.

Thobela lost his last seven fights, finishing 40-14-2 (26 KOs) in a career in which he answered the bell for 418 rounds. At the time of his death, he was separated from his wife and living alone. Heavyweight contender Kevin Lerena was among those paying tribute. “Rest in peace to South African boxing legend Dingaan Thobela,” he wrote on Instagram. “Your talent and determination in the ring will never be forgotten. You always supported me and believed in my abilities, pushing me to reach my fullest potential. Thank you for your inspiration and motivation, Champ.”

Bazinyan

In case you missed it, Erik Bazinyan (32-0-1, 23 KOs) kept his unbeaten record intact last night (Thursday, May 2) when his match with former sparring partner Shakeel Phinn (26-3-2, 17 KOs) at the Montreal Casino was ruled a draw.

Although both reside in Quebec, the Armenia-born Bazinyan was the house fighter. This was his sixth straight appearance at the Casino and his 11^th appearance at this venue overall. And as the house fighter, he got a little help from the judges against his Jamaican-Canadian adversary.

Veteran judge Pasquale Procopio had it 97-93 for Phinn who was the aggressor, constantly backing Bazinyan into the ropes. That tally jibed with those in attendance and those looking on at home on ESPN+, but both fighters got their hand raised at the finish.

Bazinyan is ranked #3 by the WBC and the WBA, a notch behind his French-Cameroonian stablemate Christian Mbilli. The WBO ranks Bazinyan a notch above Mbilli (26-0, 22 KOs), which on the face of it is absurd considering their respective abilities.

Mbilli returns to the ring on May 25 in Shawinigan, Quebec with England’s Mark Heffron in the opposite corner. Mbilli is currently a 25/1 favorite. That sounds about right. His promoter Camille Estephan is notorious for matching his fighters soft.

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