RINGSIDE REPORT Golovkin Too Strong For Stevens

Published

10 years ago

November 3, 2013

The Theater at Madison Square Garden was filled with raucous boxing fans Saturday night, there to witness fistic fireworks from middleweights Gennady Golovkin and Curtis Stevens in a title showdown televised by HBO.

Sparks and then explosions were produced as champion Golovkin (28-0, 25 KO’s), of Kazakhstan, won an eighth round TKO when Brooklyns’ Stevens’ (25-4, 14 KOs) corner would not allow him off his stool after round eight ended.

In the first round the heavy handed Golovkin (159 lbs) quickly established his powerful jab and showed the poise of a relaxed fighter. Stevens (159 lbs), also known to land bombs of his own, displayed a gloves high defense as he settled in for the fight.

Golovkin’s power was quickly on display as he dropped Stevens with a left hook in the second. Stevens took time to gather himself but rose before the count of ten and continued. He appeared dazed but chose not to hold or clinch, but to fight his way to a clear head.

Perhaps still feeling the effects of Golovkin’s power, Stevens used the third frame to gather his wits and did not let his hands go.

In the fourth Stevens pressed the attack and good action followed. Stevens landed punches and was launching his left hook, a dangerous weapon in his arsenal. Golovkin answered back with combinations of his own, but Stevens seemed to have gained confidence after weathering the earlier storm.

The fifth round was Stevens’ best of the fight as he continued his attack and landed multiple combinations. Golovkin responded with punches of his own, but was aware of Stevens’ power.

Golovkin regained control of the fight in the sixth as he pressed the action and unloaded with punches. Stevens was not using his left hook and was not firing at the same level of rounds four and five.

There was more action in the seventh round as both fighters exchanged in give and take. Golovkin was effective spinning off the ropes and landing. Stevens let his hands go and landed combinations mixing in the left hook.

In the eighth round the tide turned in Golovkin’s favor. He began to walk Stevens down and landed a big left hand early in the round that might have taken some steam from Stevens. Although Stevens gamely tried to answer back, Golovkin’s pressure and power were taking their toll. Golovkin began to land unanswered punches and as the round drew to a close referee Harvey Dock seemed close to stopping the bout.

After the bell sounded to end the eighth round Dock went straight to Stevens’ corner and was informed by trainer Andre Rozier that Stevens would not continue.

Golovkin was comfortably ahead on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

In the televised co-feature heavyweights Mike Perez (20-0, 12 KOs) of Cuba met Russia’s Magomed Abdusalamov (18-0, 18 KOs) in a ten round bout for the USNBC Championship.

It was bombs away in the first round as both punchers went right to work. Even though he gave away several inches in height, Perez (235 lbs) was fearless and held nothing back as he took the fight to Abdusalamov (231 lbs). Perez’s power made a statement as he hurt the Russian.

The action evened out in round two as Abdusalamov landed punches of his own while Perez began to go to the body.

Perez continued to mix in the body work along with his upstairs combinations in rounds three and four, and Abdusalamov found a home for his uppercut. There were good exchanges between the boxers.

In the fifth round Perez’s solid body punching began to pay dividends as Abdusalamov began to visibly tire. The Russian was not throwing many punches and fatigue was etched across his face.

By round six Perez appeared to be gaining control of the fight as he landed multiple combinations and Abdusalamov did not have much of a response.

In the seventh frame Abdusalamov was bleeding from a cut on his left eye and the left side of his face began to swell after eating so many right hands from Perez.

Rounds eight and nine featured back and forth action from both fighters with Perez still in control. In the ninth Perez was deducted a point for a low blow and Abdusalamov found a home for his left hand and right uppercut.

In the tenth and final round Perez landed a big right hand that wobbled Abdusalamov. Perez continued his attack but was unable to put the tired but durable Abdusalamov away.

Perez won a unanimous decision, and the USNBC belt, with scores of 97-92, 95-94, and 97-92.

A twelve round snooze fest unfolded when Ola Afolabi (20-3-4, 9 KO’s) of London, England met Lukasz Janik (26-1, 14 KO’s) of Jelenia Gora, Poland for the IBO cruiserweight title.

Janik was the aggressor when the bell sounded for round one. After the first three minutes the fight continued in a dull methodical fashion until its conclusion.

Afolabi won a majority decision with scores of 114-114, 117-111, 115-113.

Up and coming prospect Dusty Harrison (18-0, 10 KO’s), of Washington, DC, was put to the test in a ten round welterweight bout with tough Josh Torres (12-3-1, 5 KO’s) of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A polished boxer, Harrison would have to contend with the rough and tumble Torres.

Harrison (146 lbs) remained poised and threw combinations through the first three rounds of the fight even though he sustained a cut over his right eye in the third.

In rounds four through six Harrison continued to box and counter while Torres (146) moved inside and slugged away. Harrison appeared rattled by Torres during a few of moments of the action, but quickly regained his composure and continued to box.

Rounds seven and eight saw each boxer using their different skills to gain the advantage.

In the ninth round Harrison stepped on the gas increasing the volume of his punches and bloodying Torres in the process.

In the final round a left hand by Torres stunned Harrison early, but he settled down and both fighters went at it until the final bell.

Harrison won a unanimous decision, and the WBC youth title, with scores of 100-90, 98-92, and 98-92.

In the second bout of the evening junior lightweight prospect Joel Diaz, Jr. (13-0, 11 KO’S), of Palmdale, Ca faced Bryne Green (7-7-1, 3 KO’s), of Vineland, NJ, in a six round contest.

Diaz Jr. overcame some rough moments in the early going as Green came on strong in rounds one and two.

In the third round Diaz Jr. put together a right hand, left hook combination to the body that dropped Green. Green beat the count and finished the round.

Diaz Jr. controlled the action the rest of the way and put Green, who had run out of gas, down again in the fifth with a right hand.

Green was still standing when the final bell sounded, but Diaz Jr. won a unanimous decision with scores of 60-52 across the board.

The evening kicked off with a four round cruiserweight bout between Isa Akbarbayev (11-0, 7 KO’s) of Kazahkstan taking on Brian Clookey (4-1-2, 2 KO’s) of Chase Mills, NY.

Akbarbayev won a unanimous decision with scores of 40-36 across the board, but the game Clookey came to fight.

The announced attendance for the evening was 4,618, two seats short of a sellout.

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The Sweet Science

Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Published

5 hours ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Zhilei-Zhang-KOs-Joe-Joyce-Calls-Out-Tyson-Fury

Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.

In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.

In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.

Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”

He meant it as a rhetorical question.

Semi-Windup

Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.

A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.

Also

Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.

In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.

The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.

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An Ode to the Polo Grounds on the (Belated) 100th Anniversary of Dempsey-Firpo

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2023

Arne K. Lang

An-Ods-to-the-Polo-Grouns-on-the-Belated-100th-Anniversary-of-Dempsey-Firpo

If you happen to be up in Harlem this Saturday, they are holding a little shindig at the Polo Grounds Towers Community Center in honor of the 100^th anniversary of the Dempsey-Firpo fight.

Better late than never, as they say. The centennial of this storied fight was actually September 14, a week ago Thursday. But that rubbed up against Mexican Independence Day which prompted little shindigs that would take precedence in a neighborhood where many of the inhabitants speak Spanish.

The Sept. 14, 1923 bout between heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler, and his Argentine challenger Luis Angel Firpo, the Wild Bull of the Pampas, was staged at the Polo Grounds. The match was slated for 15 rounds, but no one expected it would go that far. “The styles of both,” said a Brooklyn Times Union scribe in his pre-fight report, “eliminate the possibility of the affair becoming tedious.”

That proved to be an understatement. Dempsey vs. Firpo consumed only three minutes and 57 seconds of actual fighting, but the action was breathtakingly intense and the crowd, estimated at 80,000, was on its feet the whole while.

There were so many knockdowns and they came so fast that there was disagreement among ringside reporters as to the exact number. In the first round alone, Dempsey put Firpo on the canvas at least five times, if not seven, and Firpo returned the favor twice. However, it was the Argentine that scored the most memorable knockdown. With one mighty swing of his vaunted right hand, Firpo knocked Dempsey clear out of the ring, the Mauler landing head first on a table of ringside reporters and their telegraphers with his feet up in the air. The moment inspired one of the most famous paintings in sports, George Bellows “Dempsey and Firpo,” on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York since the museum opened in 1931.

Dempsey was reeling and almost out before the first round ended, but he gathered his senses and ended the contest in the next frame. His final punch, with Firpo bleeding heavily from his mouth, “lifted the Argentine giant from his feet and hurled him headlong to the floor with the crash of a mighty oak falling from great heights.” So wrote Grantland Rice.

The Polo Grounds sat in a hollow in the northern reaches of Harlem across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium. It was the home of the New York Giants of the National League from 1891 until the franchise left for San Francisco at the end of the 1957 season. It also housed the New York Giants football team from its inception in 1925 through 1955 and in its end days, served as the temporary home of New York’s two expansion teams, the Mets and the Jets.

Professional boxing was first served up at the Polo Grounds in 1922. There were four boxing shows there in 1923 preceding Dempsey-Firpo, but these were small potatoes by comparison, notwithstanding the fact that each of the four shows included a title fight. Dempsey-Firpo was the first collaboration between Tex Rickard and Charles Stoneham who owned the controlling interest in the baseball team.

Rickard and Stoneham had a lot in common. Rickard ran gambling saloons in mining camps in Alaska and Nevada before making his mark as a boxing promoter and settling in New York where he headed up the boxing department at Madison Square Garden. Charles Stoneham was a gambler too. He made his fortune operating bucket shops, funneling his winnings into a string of thoroughbred race horses and a horse track and casino in Havana. His silent partner in many of his business ventures was purportedly the infamous Arnold Rothstein. (A so-called bucket shop was a business where people could bet on the rise and fall of stocks and other commodities like wheat and oil without taking an ownership stake in any of the companies that comprised the marketplace.)

Rickard died in 1929, opening the door to Broadway ticket scalper Mike Jacobs who supplanted Rickard as New York’s most powerful boxing promoter. Jacobs acquired the exclusive rights to stage boxing shows at both the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium. Charles Stoneham and his counterpart with the Yankees both profited when a card was held at either property.

Yankee Stadium was more modern and could accommodate a larger crowd, so Jacobs tended to pot his biggest promotions there. Joe Louis had 12 fights at Yankee Stadium, but only two at the Polo Grounds, namely his famous 1941 fight with Billy Conn and his fight later that year with Lou Nova. However, important matches continued to land at the Polo Grounds. Thirty-four boxers who would go on to be enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame had one or more fights at the Polo Grounds.

—

I’m dating myself, but this reporter is among an ever-shrinking cadre of people who once sat in the grandstand of the Polo Grounds. The allurement was baseball. Although born in Brooklyn, I was a Giants fan.

I vaguely remember descending the steep iron staircase that led from the 155^th Street subway station to the ticket booths. When one exited the subway, he was on Coogan’s Bluff, named for the former Manhattan borough president who owned the land on which the stadium sat. Coogan’s Bluff became a euphemism for the Polo Grounds itself, as Chavez Ravine would become a euphemism for Dodger Stadium.

Coogan’s Bluff

The Polo Grounds had an odd, triangular-shaped configuration. The distance to both foul poles was short whereas centerfield was cavernous, the perfect playland for the wonderful Willie Mays whose range was unsurpassed. In the words of the late, great Jim Murray, Willie’s glove was where triples went to die.

When Charles Stoneham died in 1936, the ballclub passed to his son Horace Stoneham who moved the team in San Francisco and eventually sold it to local interests. Stoneham was vilified in New York for abandoning the city, but the park and surrounding neighborhood had deteriorated. The stadium was torn down in 1964 and became the site of a giant, low-income housing project, Polo Grounds Towers, a complex consisting of four 30-story buildings run by the New York City Housing Authority. The Polo Grounds Community Center is housed in Tower #2.

The Dempsey-Firpo fight was an incandescent moment in America’s Golden Era of Sports. It was a big deal in South America too. In Buenos Aires, tens of thousands of people reportedly jammed the streets around the newspaper offices to follow the progress of the fight on bulletin boards. The last boxing show at the Polo Grounds was staged on June 20, 1960. Floyd Patterson avenged his loss to Ingemar Johannson with a fifth-round stoppage. The predicted crowd of 40,000 failed to materialize. The official attendance was 31,892.

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—

Arne K. Lang is a recognized authority on the history of prizefighting and the history of American sports gambling. His latest book, titled Clash of the Little Giants: George Dixon, Terry McGovern, and the Culture of Boxing in America, 1890-1910, was released by McFarland in September, 2022.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 253: Oscar De La Hoya Reloading in LA and More

Published

2 days ago

September 21, 2023

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-253-Oscar-De-La-Hoya-Reloading-in-LA-and-More

Oscar De La Hoya sat with a satisfied look inside his glittering building on Wilshire Boulevard, unveiling plans to stage a welterweight showdown between southpaw contenders next month.

Lately, the six-division world champion turned promoter from nearby East Los Angeles has attended every boxing show produced by his company Golden Boy Promotions. Big or small, the former fighter who acquired millions as a prizefighter has put full attention on expanding his boxing empire.

Golden Boy Promotions has reloaded.

On Tuesday, De La Hoya discussed plans to match Alexis Rocha with Top Rank’s Giovanni Santillan on Saturday, October 21, at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. DAZN will stream the show.

Rocha (23-1, 15 KOs) seems to have gained his man strength. Five out of seven of his past foes have not heard the final bell. The Orange County fighter’s seek and destroy style has made him a crowd favorite throughout Southern California.

Santillan (31-0, 16 KOs) is a different kind of cat. The San Diego-based welterweight was groomed by Thompson Boxing Promotions and then aided by Top Rank. With the loss of promoter Ken Thompson who passed away earlier this year, Top Rank has taken over the reins of the crafty fighter.

Both Rocha (pictured with Oscar) and Santillan are familiar with each other through sparring.

“I feel that I’ve grown so much over time and now’s my moment, and I want to keep just banging on the door for a world title. I know that Giovani is going to be a good opponent,” said Rocha who is based in Santa Ana.

San Diego’s Santillan expressed excitement about fighting in Los Angeles.

“This isn’t the first time that I go into enemy territory,” Santillan said. “I think that I will gain the LA fan base after this fight.”

It’s the kind of fight that would have sold out the Olympic Auditorium down the street. Battles between fighters from rival towns in Southern California resulted in fights like Bobby Chacon versus Danny “Lil Red” Lopez, or East L.A.’s Ruben Navarro versus South L.A.’s Raul Rojas.

Crosstown rivalries made the Olympic Auditorium a legendary venue for decades. And the Los Angeles area has always been a hotbed for boxing talent. Always.

De La Hoya knows that and has lived it.

“As Golden Boy, we know our position, we know exactly what we have to do in order to position that fighter to get them to that world title. Alexis Rocha is knocking on the door. Giovani has an amazing opportunity. So, this is what boxing is all about,” said De La Hoya.

MarvNation

Welterweights Eduard Skavynskyi (14-0) of Ukraine and Mexico’s Alejandro Frias (14-9-2) headline the main event at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California on Saturday Sept. 23.

This is Skavynskyi’s first time fighting in the U.S. All his previous fights were in Russia and Ukraine.

Also, co-headlining are female minimumweights Yadira Bustillos (7-1) and Katherine Lindenmuth (5-1) in a rematch set for eight rounds.

Bustillos fights out of Las Vegas and Lindenmuth is based in New Mexico and looking to avenge her loss a year ago.

For tickets and information go to: https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/marvnation/6815/event/1344994?fbclid=paaabuvxlnjny1dafchk0wwkftjganfmww6bayhkj7autu-mhjyz8ll__ycga

Heavyweight Rematch in England

Once again, the United Kingdom presents a heavyweight show and this time a rematch between China’s Zhilei Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs) and England’s Joe Joyce (15-1, 14 KOs) on Saturday, Sept 23. ESPN will stream the Frank Warren boxing card from London.

Zhang stopped Joyce in the sixth round this past April. Can he do it again?

Welterweight showdown in Florida

Jessica McCaskill (12-3) and Sandy Ryan (6-1) meet for several welterweight world titles on Saturday, Sept. 23, in Orlando, Florida. DAZN will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.

Super lightweight Richardson Hitchins (16-0, 7 KOs) test top contender Jose “Chon” Zepeda (37-3, 28 KOs) in the co-main event. Conor Benn is also on the card.

Fights to Watch

Sat. ESPN+ 2 p.m. Zhilei Zhang (25-1-1) vs Joe Joyce (15-1).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Jessica McCaskill (12-3) vs Sandy Ryan (6-1); Richardson Hitchins (16-0) vs Jose Zepeda (37-3).

Alexis Rocha photo credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda

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