The British in Boston

Published

10 years ago

May 26, 2015

Friday afternoon, at the weigh-in. “I love the Boston accent,” said a tourist behind me. We were standing on the sun-splashed cobblestones at Faneuil Hall as Mayor Marty Walsh officially welcomed big-time boxing back to the land of “Rocky Mahciano, Tony DeMahco, and Mahvelous Mahvin Haglah.”

A few minutes later, fighters competing on the undercard of Premier Boxing Champions’ “Dirrell vs. DeGale” show at Agganis Arena were herded out, stripped down, and stood like Adonises in their underwear. “This is so cool!” said a co-ed as she whipped out her Galaxy and starting snapping pictures. Beside her was someone I supposed was her beau, looking a little blanched. I wondered if she was secretly zooming-in.

About fifty English fans were on hand to support London’s James DeGale. They mixed with the curious foot-traffic that had stalled by the stage, under old Sam Adams’s statue. They were easy to spot. All of them wore T-shirts that said “Team Chunky” and almost all of them were wavering in the breeze. “My heads on ff****g fffire,” said one of them as he took a long drag from a cigarette. “Where’s our next pub?”

I looked around for a T-shirt that was standing steady and soon found one. I asked why DeGale, a broad-shouldered athlete and rising contender in the Transnational Boxing Rankings, happened to be called “Chunky.”

“Ask his sister,” he said and gestured toward a young woman standing nearby. Eloise DeGale has a gold complexion with features perfectly formed. Her eyes can melt a man’s heart, or drill a hole in it. I hadn’t finished asking her whether James was chunky when he was a boy when Andre Dirrell went wading past, followed by members of his entourage. “The champ is here!” said one of them. The drunk contingent grumbled at that. “DeGale” they said. Dirrell’s man turned around. “De Girl? De Girl?” he said, laughing. “De Chump!”

“—James was fat,” Eloise said, ignoring him.

“Is that the reason he got himself to a gym?” I asked again. It wasn’t. “He had a lot of energy,” she said, “and was headed down the wrong path. Boxing changed his direction, love.”

At my left, Dirrell changed his direction and was wading furiously back through the crowd. His voice rose above the din like a musket shot. “Who’s smoking?! Who’s smoking!?”

“Who do you think will win?” Eloise asked. “DeGale,” I admitted. “But let’s not spread that around. I don’t want to have to bop my way outta here—”

Only a stone’s throw away is State Street. It used to be called King Street before we changed it to emphasize a point. It was the site of an incident that united Boston against the British crown a few years before the American Revolution. When the smoke cleared one day in 1770, five colonists lay dead or dying after a small contingent of Redcoats opened fire. That incident is remembered as “The Boston Massacre” but that wasn’t what it was. It began as a series of bad interactions between soldiers and resentful locals and was provoked into something worse by drunken rowdies itching for a fight. Old Sam Adams recast a riot into an execution of innocents and shoved his country toward a war we were lucky to win.

The latest British invader called “Chunky” weighed in at 167.2 lbs. Angry Andre Dirrell, this afternoon’s Crispus Attucks, clenched his teeth and ripped off his shirt and his abdominals looked like the cobblestones we were standing on, like the cobblestones Attucks landed on when he fell backward in a heap with two holes in his chest. He weighed in at 167.8. The English heckled him and he provoked them further by pointing his finger and slowly scanning the crowd with it. Eloise laughed and did the same in mock-Disco. At the customary stare-down, he got a little too close and jawed a little too much. DeGale, more professional, wore the Union Jack around his bare shoulders.

While on my way to catch the D-Line at Park Street station, I overheard a local tour guide addressing a crowd at the entrance of Boston Common. “British soldiers camped only steps from where we stand. You can imagine the offense….”

Saturday afternoon, at the main event. In the second round, DeGale’s offense sent the angry American falling backwards in a heap. It was a perfectly-timed overhand that did it, and it was set up by a loitering jab that blinded Dirrell just long enough. Dirrell got up immediately and began jawing all over again though at whom and for what was anyone’s guess. He was knocked down a second time and when the bell finally ended the longest round of his life, he was on his knees. I don’t think he fully regained consciousness until about the fifth round.

Dirrell was fighting without a flexible mind; like an over-drilled soldier loading and reloading a musket. The Englishman did to him what we did to the Englishmen in 1776—he circled, bluffed, fired, and retreated, then fired again from treetops and from around corners. Every consonant in his attack was relaxed, his performance smoothed-out. While Dirrell marauded desperately and clunked about, DeGale flowed in and out like the easy tide.

Rodney “The Punisher” Toney, a top-ten middleweight exactly twenty years ago this month, sat beside me. He was watching the fight closely, musing to himself about what he would have done with DeGale. “He’s smooth. I woulda made it ugly,” he said. “That’s what I did.”

As Dirrell’s chances of winning ebbed away, the crowd starting chanting “USA! USA!”

Toney, a provocateur from the beginning, still sought to make it ugly. “USA gonna get whipped today!” he said.

But Dirrell roared back like a true patriot; I thought he won the fourth, seventh, ninth, and tenth rounds and had a few he didn’t win marked close. Credit is due his corner for making sure the USA didn’t get “whipped today.” Among them was cut man Scott Rehm.

Rehm, 46, has a Boston backstory that rivals Sam Adams’s. Already a combat-sport veteran before he inexplicably became an MMA fighter at the age of forty, he got himself billed as “Sweet Dreams” and began knocking out guys half his age in a minute or less on the New England circuit. He’ll tell you he was really a boxer who smoked too much to do ten rounds, so he brought his heavy hands to the cage, where he only had to do five. The losses on his record? He waves them off with a laugh. They only happened when he got “tangled up.” He has since become a formidable cut man in the UFC and boxing who studies the craft and the history of the craft like few others this side of Stitch Duran.

Dirrell ended up losing a unanimous decision, but blood and bumps had nothing to do with it and that means Rehm did his job. He found me in the cheap seats during the walkout bout. I told him it looked like he had eight arms wiping down Dirrell, slipping out his mouthpiece, stuffing the Q-tip up his bloody nose, applying Enswell to his forehead and ice to his chest, greasing him, slipping in the mouthpiece.

“Everything went smoothly,” he said.

I had, however, noticed something amiss in both corners. The arena had supplied them with flimsy aluminum stools that might have been swiped from a chemistry lab. “Everything went smoothly, except for that,” Rehm said again. “At the end of the ninth, I climbed into the ring and when they handed me the stool, I put it down and the damn top fell off.”

He said he shot his hand up to Dirrell’s back “—Don’t sit!”

Springs Toledo is the author of The Gods of War: Boxing Essays (Tora, 2014, $25).He can be reached at scalinatella@hotmail.com

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Bivol Evens the Score with Beterbiev; Parker and Stevenson Win Handily

Published

1 hour ago

February 22, 2025

David A. Avila

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It was labeled the best boxing card in history.

That’s up for debate.

And there was some debate as Dmitry Bivol avenged his loss to Artur Beterbiev to become the new undisputed light heavyweight world champion on Saturday by majority decision in a tactical battle.

“He gave me this chance and I appreciate it,” said Bivol of Beterbiev.

Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) rallied from behind to give Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) his first pro loss in their rematch at a sold out crowd in the Venue Riyadh Season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Like their first encounter the rematch was also very close.

Four months ago, these two faced each other as undefeated light heavyweights. Now, after two furious engagements, both have losses.

Beterbiev was making his first defense as undisputed light heavyweight champion and made adjustments from their first match. This time the Russian fighter who trains in Canada concentrated on a body attack and immediately saw dividends.

For most of the first six rounds it seemed Beterbiev would slowly grind down Bivol until he reached an unsurmountable lead. But despite the momentum he never could truly hurt Bivol or gain separation.

Things turned around in the seventh round as Bivol opened up with combinations to the head and body while slipping Beterbiev’s blows. It was a sudden swing of momentum. But how long could it last?

“It was hard to keep him at the distance. I had to be smarter and punch more clean punches,” said Bivol.

Beterbiev attempted to regain the momentum but Bivol was not allowing it to happen. In the final 10 seconds he opened up with a machine gun combination. Though few of the punches connected it became clear he was not going to allow unclarity.

Using strategic movement Bivol laced quick combinations and immediately departed. Betebiev seemed determined to counter the fleet fighter but was unsuccessful for much of the second half of the fight.

Around the 10^th round Beterbiev stepped on the gas with the same formula of working the body and head. It gave Bivol pause but he still unleashed quick combos to keep from being overrun.

Bivol connected with combinations and Beterbiev connected with single body and head shots. It was going to be tough for the referees to decide which attack they preferred. After 12 rounds with no knockdowns one judge saw it a draw at 114-114. But two others saw Bivol the winner 116-112, 115-113.

“I was better. I was pushing myself more, I was lighter. I just wanted to win so much today,” said Bivol.

Beterbiev was gracious in defeat.

“Congratulations to Bivol’s team” said Beterbiev. “I think this fight was better than the first fight.”

After the match it was discussed that an effort to make a third fight is a strong possibility.

Heavyweight KO by Parker

Joseph Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) once again proved he could be the best heavyweight without a world title in knocking out the feared Martin Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs) to retain his WBO interim title. It was quick and decisive.

“Catch him when he is coming in,” said Parker, 33, about his plan.

After original foe IBF heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois was forced to withdraw due to illness, Bakole willingly accepted the match with only two days’ notice. Many experts and fans around the world were surprised and excited Parker accepted the match.

Ever since Parker lost to Joe Joyce in 2022, the New Zealander has proven to be vastly improved with wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. Now you can add Bakole to the list of conquests.

Bakole, 33, was coming off an impressive knockout win last July and posed a serious threat if he connected with a punch. The quick-handed Bakole at 310 pounds and a two-inch height advantage is always dangerous.

In the first round Parker was wary of the fighter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He kept his range and moved around the ring looking to poke a jab and move. Bakole caught him twice with blows and Parker retaliated.

It proved to be a very important test.

Parker refrained from moving and instead moved inside range of the big African fighter. Both exchanged liberally with Bakole connecting with an uppercut and Parker an overhand right.

Bakole shook his head at the blow he absorbed.

Both re-engaged and fired simultaneously. Parker’s right connected to the top of the head of Bakole who shuddered and stumbled and down he went and could not beat the count. The referee stopped the heavyweight fight at 2:17 of the second round. Parker retains his interim title by knockout.

“I’m strong, I’m healthy, I’m sharp,” said Parker. “I had to be patient.”

Shakur Wins

Despite an injured left hand southpaw WBC lightweight titlist Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) won by stoppage over late replacement Josh Padley (15-1, 6 KOs). It was an impressive accomplishment.

Often criticized for his lack of action and safety-first style, Stevenson was supposed to fight undefeated Floyd Schofield who pulled out due to illness. In stepped British lightweight Padley who had nothing to lose.

Padley was never hesitant to engage with the super-quick Stevenson and despite the lightning-quick combos by the champion, the British challenger exchanged liberally. It just wasn’t enough.

Even when Stevenson injured his left hand during an exchange in the sixth round, Padley just couldn’t take advantage. The speedy southpaw kept shooting the right jabs and ripping off right hooks. At the end of the sixth Stevenson briefly switched to a right-handed fighting style.

Stevenson used his right jabs and hooks to perfection. Double right hooks to the head and body seemed to affect the British challenger. A clean left to the body of Padley sent him to the floor for the count in the ninth round. It was a surprising knockdown due to his injured left. Padley got up and the fight resumed. Stevenson unloaded with right hooks to the body and down went the British fighter once again. He got up and tried to fight his way out but was met with another left to the body and down he went a third time. Padley’s corner tossed in a white towel to signify surrender. The referee stopped the fight at the end of the round. Stevenson scored his 11^th knockout win.

Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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Early Results from Riyadh where Hamzah Sheeraz was Awarded a Gift Draw

Published

5 hours ago

February 22, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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After two 6-round appetizers, British light heavyweights Joshua Buatsi and Callum Smith got the show rolling with a lusty 12-round skirmish. Things went south in the middle of the seven-fight main card when WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames locked horns with challenger Hamzah Sheeraz. This was a drab fight owing to a milquetoast performance by the favored Sheeraz.

Heading in, the lanky six-foot-three Sheeraz, whose physique is mindful of a young Thomas Hearns, was undefeated in 21 fights. Having stopped five of his last six opponents in two rounds or less, the 25-year-old Englishman was touted as the next big thing in the middleweight division. However, he fought off his back foot the entire contest, reluctant to let his hands go, and Adames kept his title when the bout was scored a draw.

Sheeraz had the crowd in his corner and two of the judges scored the match with their ears. Their tallies were 115-114 for Sheeraz and 114-114. The third judge had it 118-110 for Adames, the 30-year old Dominican, now 24-1-1, who had Ismael Salas in his corner.

Ortiz-Madrimov

Super welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr, knocked out his first 21 opponents, begging the question of how he would react when he finally faced adversity. He showed his mettle in August of last year when he went a sizzling 12 rounds with fellow knockout artist Serhii Bohachuk, winning a hard-fought decision. Tonight he added another feather in his cap with a 12-round unanimous decision over Ismail Madrimov, prevailing on scores of 117-111 and 115-113 twice.

Ortiz won by adhering tight to Robert Garcia’s game plan. The elusive Madrimov, who bounces around the ring like the energizer bunny, won the early rounds. But eventually Ortiz was able to cut the ring off and turned the tide in his favor by landing the harder punches. It was the second straight loss for Madrimov (10-2-1), a decorated amateur who had lost a close but unanimous decision to Terence Crawford in his previous bout.

Kabayel-Zhang

No heavyweight has made greater gains in the last 15 months than Agit Kabayel. The German of Kurdish descent, whose specialty is body punching, made his third straight appearance in Riyadh tonight and, like in the previous two, fashioned a knockout. Today, although out-weighed by more than 40 pounds, he did away with Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang in the sixth round.

It didn’t start out well for Kabayel. The New Jersey-based, six-foot-six Zhang, a two-time Olympian for China, started fast and plainly won the opening round. Kabayel beat him to the punch from that point on, save for one moment when Zhang put him on the canvas with a straight left hand.

That happened in the fifth round, but by the end of the frame, the 41-year-old Zhang was conspicuously gassed. The end for the big fellow came at the 2:29 mark of round six when he couldn’t beat the count after crumbling to the canvas in a delayed reaction after taking a hard punch to his flabby midsection.

Kabayel remains undefeated at 26-0 (18 KOs). Zhang (27-3-1) hadn’t previously been stopped.

Smith-Buatsi

The all-British showdown between light heavyweights Joshua Buatsi and Callum Smith was a grueling, fan-friendly affair. A former 168-pound world title-holder, Smith, 34, won hard-earned unanimous decision, prevailing on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and a ludicrous 119-110.

There were no knockdowns, but Liverpool’s Smith, who advanced to 31-2 (22) finished the contest with a bad gash in the corner of his right eye. It was the first pro loss for Buatsi (19-1), an Olympic bronze medalist who entered the contest a small favorite and was the defending “interim” title-holder.

This contest was also a battle of wits between two of America’s most prominent trainers, Buddy McGirt (Smith) and Virgil Hunter (Buatsi).

Check back shortly for David Avila’s wrap-up of the last three fights.

Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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Cain Sandoval KOs Mark Bernaldez in the Featured Bout at Santa Ynez

Published

21 hours ago

February 21, 2025

David A. Avila

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Northern California’s Cain Sandoval remained undefeated with a knockout win over Mark Bernaldez in a super lightweight battle on Friday on a 360 Promotions card.

Sandoval (15-0, 13 KOs) of Sacramento needed four rounds to figure out tough Filipino fighter Bernaldez (25-7, 14 KOs) in front of a packed crowd at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez.

Bernaldez had gone eight rounds against Mexico’s very tough Oscar Duarte. He showed no fear for Sandoval’s reputed power and both fired bombs at each other from the second round on.

Things turned in favor of Sandoval when he targeted the body and soon had Bernaldez in retreat. It was apparent Sandoval had discovered a weakness.

In the beginning of the fourth Sandoval fired a stiff jab to the body that buckled Bernaldez but he did not go down. And when both resumed in firing position Sandoval connected with an overhand right and down went the Filipino fighter. He was counted out by referee Rudy Barragan at 34 seconds of the round.

“I’m surprised he took my jab to the body. I respect that. I have a knockout and I’m happy about that,” Sandoval said.

Other Bouts

Popular female fighter Lupe Medina (9-0) remained undefeated with a solid victory over the determined Agustina Vazquez (4-3-2) by unanimous decision after eight rounds in a minimumweight fight between Southern Californians.

Early on Vazquez gave Medina trouble disrupting her patter with solid jabs. And when Medina overloaded with combination punches, she was laced with counters from Vazquez during the first four rounds.

Things turned around in the fifth round as Medina used a jab to keep Vazquez at a preferred distance. And when she attacked it was no more than two-punch combination and maintaining a distance.

Vazquez proved determined but discovered clinching was not a good idea as Medina took advantage and overran her with blows. Still, Vazquez looked solid. All three judges saw it 79-73 for Medina.

A battle between Southern Californian’s saw Compton’s Christopher Rios (11-2) put on the pressure all eight rounds against Eastvale’s Daniel Barrera (8-1-1) and emerged the winner by majority decision in a flyweight battle.

It was Barrera’s first loss as a pro. He never could discover how to stay off the ropes and that proved his downfall. Neither fighter was knocked down but one judge saw it 76-76, and two others 79-73 for Rios.

In a welterweight fight Gor Yeritsyan (20-1,16 KOs) scorched Luis Ramos (23-7) with a 12-punch combination the sent him to the mat in the second round. After Ramos beat the count he was met with an eight punch volley and the fight was stopped at 2:11 of the second round by knockout.

Super feather prospect Abel Mejia (7-0, 5 KOs) floored Alfredo Diaz (9-12) in the fifth round but found the Mexican fighter to be very durable in their six-round fight. Mejia caught Diaz with a left hook in the fifth round for a knockdown. But the fight resumed with all three judges scoring it 60-53 for Mejia who fights out of El Modena, Calif.

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