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THE AVILAS! Fighter of the Year, and More!
With only a few weeks left, the year 2014 has not been a good year for boxing. Sure there were some formerly dominant boxers dethroned like Nonito Donaire, Yuri Gamboa and Bernard Hopkins. But otherwise, it was a lackluster year with no major confrontations like the years before. But here’s what I have for 2014:
Fighter of the Year
Roman Gonzalez – The Nicaraguan blaster known as “Chocolatito” can also box as he proved against Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada, who rules the junior flyweight division. Gonzalez now dominates the flyweight division and won three fights in Japan and one in Mexico, all by knockout. He’s one of the best fighters Pound for Pound that very few people know about. He is as dominating as Ricardo “Finito” Lopez was, and that’s saying a lot.
Runner up – Sergey Kovalev – The Russian bomber was the only fighter to actually defeat Bernard Hopkins. Yes, Hopkins lost other fights but he never felt he lost. Against Kovalev, that didn’t happen. The Russian light heavyweight also defeated two undefeated fighters in 2014. That was pretty good work.
Fight of the Year
Lucas Matthysse and John Molina – Few gave Molina much of a chance against the hard hitting Argentine last April at the StubHub Center, but the Mexican-American slugger exchanged blow for blow with multiple knockdowns on both sides. It was scientific brutality at its best with Matthysse out-lasting Molina to win in the 11th round.
Terance Crawford’s win over Yuri Gamboa was pretty exciting stuff. Once he figured out the slick Cuban fighter’s style it was all over. His tremendous win gave the fight fans notice that there’s a new player in the game and his name is Crawford.
Carl Froch’s pitched battle with rival George Groves last May in London was a gritty display until the eighth round when a right hand ended the fight of their battle. It was a rematch that saw Froch win again but this time it was much more difficult.
Knockout of the Year
Gennady Golovkin knocks out everybody, but back in late July, the Kazakhstani fought former champion Daniel Geale at Madison Square Garden. In one of the most spectacular exchange of blows, Geale landed a right cross and GGG responded almost simultaneously with a left hook for the sizzling knockout.
Round of the Year
Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Mike Alvarado – It was round nine and Marquez had knocked down Alvarado in the previous round. He was looking for the finishing blow when Alvarado caught Mexico’s Marquez flush and down he went. Both fighters fought on even terms from there on and in the end the motto was: “Never underestimate anyone.”
Biggest Upset
On paper Miguel Cotto’s knockout win over Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez could be seen as the biggest upset. But, considering Martinez’s problems with injuries, it was not as big an upset as it could have been. Still, Cotto dominated and forced Martinez to exchange. The real upset was Cotto stopping Martinez to win the middleweight title.
Best Pure Boxer
All of the Cubans can be put on this list, and a few others like Floyd Mayweather and Ray Beltran can as well. But Guillermo Rigondeax seems to be the sweetest boxer of them all. He does not strike often but strikes quickly and emphatically.
Best Knockout Puncher
Gennady Golovkin has power in both fists and knows how to set up the knockout. Currently “GGG” has an 18-fight knockout string that dates back to 2008. He’s quick, agile and most importantly has a good chin. The one question remaining is the stamina. Golovkin has never passed 10 rounds and that was against former junior middleweight Kassim Ouma who he knocked out in the 10th.
Most exciting fighter
Leo Santa Cruz – This East L.A. native has never been in a boring fight. Never. I’ve watched him since his fourth pro fight and his 50s style of engagement always provides an intense and action-packed fight. You can pick any fight and none lacked action.
Least Exciting Fighter
Erislandy Lara can’t help himself. He’s a safety first fighter who doesn’t understand that it’s not just about winning, but entertaining. He has great tools but I guess he figures if Floyd Mayweather could do it, so can he. But Mayweather beat Oscar De La Hoya to gain an audience. Plus, Mayweather was an American boxer. Lara needs to engage more to gain fans and sell tickets.
Best Prospect
Saul Rodriguez the junior lightweight from Riverside gets my vote. He seems to have all of the tools, including a very good trainer in Eduardo Garcia and a very good sparring partner in Mikey Garcia. Rodriguez has speed, agility, a good chin and power in both fists.
Matchmaker of the Year
Alex Camponovo of Thompson Boxing Promotions has the keenest eye of talent and matching. No matchmaker gets it right 100 percent but Camponovo rarely misses in matching opponents. Plus, he discovered Tim Bradley, Josesito Lopez, Mauricio Herrera, Yohnny Perez and Sindy Amador. That’s a pretty good collection.
Promoter of the Year
Tom Loeffler of K-2 Promotions again wins Promoter of the Year. He made Golovkin big enough to fight in Madison Square Garden and when he fought at the StubHub Center he sold it out. They added extra bleachers to accommodate the fans. That’s promoting.
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Najee Lopez Steps up in Class and Wins Impressively at Plant City
Garry Jonas’ ProBox series returned to its regular home in Plant City, Florida, tonight with a card topped by a 10-round light heavyweight match between fast-rising Najee Lopez and former world title challenger Lenin Castillo. This was considered a step-up fight for the 25-year-old Lopez, an Atlanta-born-fighter of Puerto Rican heritage. Although the 36-year-old Castillo had lost two of his least three heading in, he had gone the distance with Dimitry Bivol and Marcus Browne and been stopped only once (by Callum Smith).
Lopez landed the cleaner punches throughout. Although Castillo seemed unfazed during the first half of the fight, he returned to his corner at the end of round five exhibiting signs of a fractured jaw.
In the next round, Lopez cornered him against the ropes and knocked him through the ropes with a left-right combination. Referee Emil Lombardo could have stopped the fight right there, but he allowed the courageous Castillo to carry on for a bit longer, finally stopping the fight as Castillo’s corner and a Florida commissioner were signaling that it was over.
The official time was 2:36 of round six. Bigger fights await the talented Lopez who improved to 13-0 with his tenth win inside the distance. Castillo declined to 25-7-1.
Co-Feature
In a stinker of a heavyweight fight, Stanley Wright, a paunchy, 34-year-old North Carolina journeyman, scored a big upset with a 10-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Jeremiah Milton.
Wright carried 280 pounds, 100 pounds more than in his pro debut 11 years ago. Although he was undefeated (13-0, 11 KOs), he had never defeated an opponent with a winning record and his last four opponents were a miserable 19-48-2. Moreover, he took the fight on short notice.
What Wright had going for him was fast hands and, in the opening round, he put Milton on the canvas with a straight right hand. From that point, Milton fought tentatively and Wright, looking fatigued as early as the fourth round, fought only in spurts. It seemed doubtful that he could last the distance, but Milton, the subject of a 2021 profile in these pages, was wary of Wright’s power and unable to capitalize. “It’s almost as if Milton is afraid to win,” said ringside commentator Chris Algieri during the ninth stanza when the bout had devolved into a hugfest.
The judges had it 96-93 and 97-92 twice for the victorious Wright who boosted his record to 14-0 without improving his stature.
Also
In the TV opener, a 10-round contest in the junior middleweight division, Najee Lopez stablemate Darrelle Valsaint (12-0, 10 KOs) scored his career-best win with a second-round knockout of 35-year-old Dutch globetrotter Stephen Danyo (23-7-3).
A native Floridian of Haitian descent, the 22-year-old Valsaint was making his eighth start in Plant City. He rocked Danyo with a chopping right hand high on the temple and then, as Danyo slumped forward, delivered the coup-de-gras, a short left uppercut. The official time was 2:17 of round two.
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Japanese Superstar Naoya Inoue is Headed to Vegas after KOing Ye Joon Kim
Japan’s magnificent Naoya Inoue, appearing in his twenty-fourth title fight, scored his 11th straight stoppage tonight while successfully defending his unified super bantamweight title, advancing his record to 29-0 (26 KOs) at the expense of Ye Joon Kim. The match at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena came to an end at the 2:25 mark of round four when U.S. referee Mark Nelson tolled “10” over the brave but overmatched Korean.
Kim, raised in a Seoul orphanage, had a few good moments, but the “Monster” found his rhythm in the third round, leaving Kim with a purplish welt under his left eye. In the next frame, he brought the match to a conclusion, staggering the Korean with a left and then finishing matters with an overhand right that put Kim on the seat of his pants, dazed and wincing in pain.
Kim, who brought a 21-2-2 record, took the fight on 10 days’ notice, replacing Australia’s Sam Goodman who suffered an eye injury in sparring that never healed properly, forcing him to withdraw twice.
Co-promoter Bob Arum, who was in the building, announced that Inoue’s next fight would happen in Las Vegas in the Spring. Speculation centers on Mexico City’s Alan Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) who is ranked #1 by the WBC. However, there’s also speculation that the 31-year-old Inoue may move up to featherweight and seek to win a title in a fifth weight class, in which case a potential opponent is the winner of the Feb. 2 match between Brandon Figueroa and Stephen Fulton. In “olden days,” this notion would have been dismissed as the Japanese superstar and Figueroa/Fulton have different promoters, but the arrival of Turki Alalshikh, the sport’s Daddy Warbucks, has changed the dynamic. Tonight, Naoya Inoue made his first start as a brand ambassador for Riyadh Season.
Simmering on the backburner is a megafight with countryman Junto Nakatani, an easy fight to make as Arum has ties to both. However, the powers-that-be would prefer more “marination.”
Inoue has appeared twice in Las Vegas, scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney in October of 2020 at the MGM Bubble and a third-round stoppage of Michael Dasmarinas at the Virgin Hotels in June of 2021.
Semi-wind-up
In a 12-round bout for a regional welterweight title, Jin Sasaki improved to 19-1-1 (17) with a unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai (29-15-3). The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.
Also
In a bout in which both contestants were on the canvas, Toshiki Shimomachi (20-1-3) edged out Misaki Hirano (11-2), winning a majority decision. A 28-year-old Osaka southpaw with a fan-friendly style, the lanky Shimomachi, unbeaten in his last 22 starts, competes as a super bantamweight. A match with Inoue may be in his future.
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Eric Priest Wins Handily on Thursday’s Golden Boy card at the Commerce Casino
Model turned fighter Eric Priest jabbed and jolted his way into the super middleweight rankings with a shutout decision win over veteran Tyler Howard on Thursday.
In his first main event Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) proved ready for contender status by defusing every attack Tennessee’s Howard (20-3, 11 KOs) could muster at Commerce Casino, the second fight in six days at the LA County venue.
All ticket monies collected on the Folden Boy Promotions card were contributed to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation as they battle wildfires sprouting all over Los Angeles County due to high winds.
Priest, 26, had never fought anyone near Howard’s caliber but used a ramrod jab to keep the veteran off-balance and unable to muster a forceful counter-attack. Round after round the Korean-American fighter pumped left jabs while circling his opposition.
Though hit with power shots, none seemed to faze Howard but his own blows were unable to put a dent in Priest. After 10 rounds of the same repetitive action all three judges scored the fight 100-90 for Priest who now wins a regional super middleweight title.
Priest also joins the top 15 rankings of the WBA organization.
In a fight between evenly matched middleweights, Jordan Panthen (11-0, 9 KOs) remained undefeated after 10 rounds versus DeAundre Pettus (12-4, 7 KOs). Though equally skilled, Panthen simply out-worked the South Caroliina fighter to win by unanimous decision. No knockdowns were scored.
Other Bouts
Grant Flores (8-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Costa Rica’s David Lobo Ramirez (17-4, 12 KOs) with two successive right uppercuts at 2:59 of the second round of the super welterweight fight.
Cayden Griffith (3-0, 3 KOs) used a left hook to the body to stop Mark Misiura at 1:43 of the second round in a super welterweight bout.
Jordan Fuentes (3-0) floored Brandon Badillo (0-3-1) in the third round and proceeded to win by decision after four rounds in a super bantamweight fight.
A super featherweight match saw Leonardo Sanchez (8-0) win by decision over Joseph Cruz Brown (10-12) after six rounds.
Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy
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