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The Hauser Report: Felix Verdejo Shines and Other Fights
The recent deluge of fights on television has taken on the feel of an all-you-can-eat buffet. That means boxing fans are going to start making choices and become more selective in their viewing.
June 12 and 13 saw three telecasts of note. One on HBO, one on Showtime, and one on Spike. Let’s take a look at what viewers saw.
HBO featured four undefeated fighters in two match-ups from The Theater at Madison Square Garden: Felix Verdejo (17-0, 13 KOs) vs Ivan Najera (16-0, 8 KOs) and Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) vs. Miguel Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs).
Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler once noted, “There’s a difference between a learning-curve record and a padded record.”
Verdejo has the former. He’s a 22-year-old lightweight from San Juan, who Top Rank hopes will be its next Puerto Rican ring icon.
Felix has a sparkling personality, a flashy fighting style, and he’s good. He’s also f-a-s-t.
Najera was tough and game. He tried to turn the fight into a brawl. But Verdejo’s punches were too sharp and his defense too good.
Ivan got dropped by a left uppercut in round five and a left hook in round seven (lightning strikes that seemed to come out of nowhere). Each time, he got up fighting but his cause was hopeless.
Verdejo took the tenth round off and still won it on two of the judges’ scorecards en route to a 100-88, 100-88, 99-89 triumph. After the fight, he told his fans, “Continue to support me, and you will have Felix for a long time.”
That sounds like a good deal. Let’s see if his promise is fulfilled.
Nicholas Walters turned heads last October with a sixth-round knockout of Nonito Donaire, and was considered by some to be the best featherweight in the world. Miguel Marriaga was a largely unknown opponent from Colombia.
Walters-Marriaga disappointed.
For starters, Walters weighed in initially at 127.4 pounds, couldn’t get lower than 127, and was forced to vacate his 126-pound title.
Add to that the fact that a lot of the energy in the arena dissipated after Verdejo-Najera, giving Walters-Marriaga the feel of a walk-out bout.
Worse, Walters-Marriaga was a boring fight. Miguel fought cautiously, and Nicholas was content to outbox him. There were moments of heated engagement but certainly not enough. When it was done, Walters had outlanded Marriaga by a 279-to-165 margin and bested him 119-108, 118-109, 117-110 on the judges’ scorecards.
In the course of an hour, Walters went from must-see viewing to it all depends on what else is on TV tonight.
* * *
WBC heavyweight beltholder Deontay Wilder (now 34-0, with 33 KOs) stepped up in his last fight and answered some questions about his ring skills with a unanimous-decision triumph over Bermane Stiverne. But Wilder’s performance against Eric Molina in Showtime’s main event on Saturday night left a lot to be desired.
Soft touches aren’t unheard of in heavyweight title matches. But few fighters less qualified than Molina have fought for a heavyweight belt. Team Wilder hyped the fact that it was bringing a “championship” fight to Deontay’s home state of Alabama. But Molina had as much chance of winning as Charleston Southern does when it journeys to Tuscaloosa to face the Crimson Tide on the gridiron. Yes, Eric had a 23-2 record. But he’d never beaten a quality opponent and had been knocked out twice in the first round.
Wilder was an 35-to-1 favorite. The conventional wisdom was that Molina (who weighed in at a blubbery 239 pounds) wouldn’t make it past the first round. Wilder knocked him down once in round four, twice in round five, and delivered a finishing right hand in round nine. But he looked sloppy and failed to impress.
In the opening bout, Jose Pedraza (now 20-0, 12 KOs) outclassed Andrey Klimov (19-12, 9 KOs) in a super-featherweight match-up by scores of 120-108, 120-108, 119-109.
* * *
Spike’s June 12 telecast offered viewers one interesting fight and one awful one. Let’s start on the plus side.
Artur Beterbiev is a 30-year-old Russian now living in Canada, who’s making waves at 175 pounds. After a 300-fight amateur career, he turned pro in 2013 and scored eight knockouts in eight fights before facing Alexander Johnson on Friday night.
Johnson was a 50-to-1 underdog. Nothing on his record suggested that he would be competitive with Beterbiev, and he wasn’t. Artur put him on the canvas twice in round five; the first time with a short stiff jab that came from an awkward angle, and the second with a right uppercut. He also turned southpaw from time to time, which added to Alexander’s troubles.
Johnson fought largely to survive, which he did until round seven when a straight right to the temple ended matters.
Beterbiev is entertaining to watch and very good.
Beterbiev-Johnson was followed by Erislandy Lara (20-2-2, 12 KOs) vs Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-4, 16 KOs), which was a dreadful match-up.
Lara is a quality junior-middleweight. Rodriguez had won four of his last eleven fights dating back to 2008, which explained why Erislandy was a 40-to-1 favorite.
Lara-Rodriguez was a drab one-sided beating with no entertainment value. Lara had a 233-to-63 edge in punches landed and won 120-107 times 3 on the judges’ scorecards.
* * *
While other fighters were in the spotlight this past weekend, local fan favorite Seanie Monaghan scored his twenty-fifth victory in twenty-five fights with a ninth-round stoppage of Fulgencio Zuniga in an undercard bout at Madison Square Garden.
Monaghan didn’t turn pro until age twenty-eight. Five years later, he’s ranked in the top-ten at 175 pounds by each of the four major sanctioning bodies. His best assets are a Spartan work ethic, iron resolve, and a good chin. His most significant liability is that he’s slow for a boxer. Speed and quickness can’t be taught.
Zuniga, age 37, turned pro in 2001 and now has a 27-11 (24 KOs) record. In recent years, he has become an opponent, losing to Gilberto Ramirez, Hassan N’Dam, James DeGale, Tavoris Cloud, Lucian Bute, Kelly Pavlik, and others.
Monaghan got hit more than he should have against Zuniga, particularly with left hooks up top. But he scored well to the body, moved inexorably forward, and willingly engaged in trench warfare. The end came at 2:10 of round nine, when Zuniga took a knee after one final body shot, signaling to referee Danny Schiavone that he’d had enough.
“I’m not the most polished boxer in the world,” Monaghan acknowledged afterward. “But I come to fight, I fight hard, I win my fights, and the fans have a good time.”
“Right now, we’re waiting for a title shot,” trainer Joe Higgins added. “The guy we have our eye on is [WBA beltholder] Juergen Braehmer [of Germany]. Sooner or later, Seanie will get his chance. When it comes, he’ll be as ready as he can be.”
* * *
There’s a common-sense solution to the middleweight championship belt tangle that the WBC has created with its lust for sanctioning fees and multiple champions.
Miguel Cotto is the current WBC world middleweight champion by virtue of his having defeated Sergio Martinez last year. Gennady Golovkin is the organization’s “interim” world champion, taking that title from Marco Antonio Rubio on October 18, 2014.
The WBC keeps assuring Golovkin that, at some point, he’ll become Cotto’s mandatory challenger. The problem is that Miguel has no intention of fighting him. First, Cotto defended his title against Daniel Geale. Now a mega-fight against Canelo Alvarez is in the making.
Meanwhile, all sorts of nonsense is being bandied about. Golovkin, will (or will not) receive a step-aside payment to allow Cotto-Alvarez to proceed. The winner of that fight would agree to fight Gennady (or be stripped of his title).
Let’s get real. Alvarez is a junior-middleweight. So is Cotto. Miguel said as much the night he beat Geale, when he told a national television audience, “My weight yesterday was 153.6 pounds. I am not a middleweight.”
The solution is simple. Floyd Mayweather is the current WBC 154-pound champion. But Floyd and his opponent have both weighed under 147 pounds in his last three fights.
The WBC should relieve Mayweather of its 154-pound title. That would free up the bauble for Cotto and Alvarez, and make it palatable for Miguel to relinquish his 160-pound belt. That, in turn, would negate the need for any kind of step-aside payment to Golovkin and generate a large sanctioning fee for the WBC at 154-pounds.
The WBC might even make Mayweather some kind of special 154-pound champion, thus holding out the hope for an additional sanctioning fee the next time Floyd fights.
Thomas Hauser can be reached by email at thauser@rcn.com. His most recent book – Thomas Hauser on Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press.
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The IBHOF Unveils its Newest Inductees: Manny Pacquiao is the Icing on the Cake
The IBHOF Unveils its Newest Inductees: Manny Pacquiao is the Icing on the Cake
PRESS RELEASE — CANASTOTA, NY – DECEMBER 5, 2024 – The International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum is thrilled to announce the newest class of inductees to be honored during the Hall of Fame Induction Weekend June 5-8, 2025 in “Boxing’s Hometown” Canastota, NY.
The Class of 2025 includes Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao, “The Pazmanian Devil” Vinny Paz and Michael “Second To” Nunn in the Men’s Modern category; Yessica “Kika” Chavez, Anne Sophie Mathis and Mary Jo Sanders in the Women’s Modern category; Cathy “Cat” Davis in the Women’s Trailblazer category; referee Kenny Bayless, cut man Al Gavin (posthumous) and referee Harry Gibbs (posthumous) in the Non-Participant category; broadcaster / journalist Randy Gordon and television producer Ross Greenburg in the Observer category; Rodrigo Valdez (posthumous) in the Old Timer category and Owen Swift (posthumous) in the Pioneer category.
Inductees were voted in by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a panel of international boxing historians.
“We’re extremely excited about the Class of 2025 and are very much looking forward to honoring the newest class of inductees to earn boxing’s highest honor,” said Executive Director Edward Brophy.
The 2025 Hall of Fame Induction Weekend is scheduled for June 5-8th in “Boxing’s Hometown.” Many events will take place in Canastota and nearby Turning Stone Resort Casino throughout the four-day celebration including ringside talks, fist casting, fight night, 5K race / fun run, boxing autograph card show, banquet, parade and induction ceremony.
For more information on the 2025 Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, please call (315) 697-7095.
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Navarrete-Valdez and Espinoza-Ramirez Rematches Headline Phoenix Fight Fiesta
The annals of boxing abound with iconic rematches, and there’s a good chance that list will get longer after this Saturday in Phoenix’s Footprint Center with Top Rank’s ESPN card featuring Emanuel Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) versus Oscar Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs) and Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs, against Robeisy Ramirez (14-2, 9 KOs).
Valdez’s ties to the local area and multiple Arizona appearances give his bout against Navarrete top billing, but WBO featherweight titlist Espinoza’s initial encounter with Ramirez was the better bout the first time around, deemed Fight and Upset of the Year by many observers.
That’s not to say Navarrete-Valdez 1 didn’t hold plenty of drama as Navarrete captured the WBO junior lightweight belt with a relatively widespread unanimous decision. Valdez got himself into an immediate bind in the first fight by walking into Navarrete’s jab, enabling Navarrete to score early with looping right leads from his six-inch reach advantage. Valdez’s corner implored him to stay patient but it seemed there was no avoiding a firefight that played into Navarette’s always busy hands.
By round 3 Valdez’s face was heavily marked and often on the defensive, waiting to establish an offense that never fully arrived. Though he scored with some big shots down the stretch, his swollen right eye closed by the 9th frame and the eventual outcome seemed obvious.
“I know there’s a lot of pride at stake in a Mexico versus Mexico battle,” said Navarrete. “I believe this will be an even better fight than before because we’re familiar with each other. I know I have to push Valdez to his limits.”
“I made mistakes the first time, the biggest one was trying to knock him out,” reflected Valdez. “I still have a few fights left in me, not everyone gets a second chance. I know what I needed to train for (this time) and I’ll make the most of it.”
Offense was never a problem for either Espinoza or Ramirez, who traded knockdowns in a give-and-take affair that might have gone either way. It was the gloved-up version of mongoose versus cobra as two time Olympic gold medalist Ramirez charged in behind blurring punches up the middle while the much taller Espinoza fired shoulder level combinations. In this case, it was the underdog cobra who triumphed.
Three days from first bell an unofficial consensus of online odds listed the previous winners as favorites, Espinoza by a hair and Navarrete by a solid margin. While the initial winners may still have an edge, that all disappears after the bell, and previous action indicates a pair of pick-em contests isn’t unlikely.
Boxing history is also full of tie-breaking trilogies, too. It wouldn’t be a big surprise if that’s what we’re looking at again in both these cases.
Adding to the electric atmosphere in Phoenix are a solid batch of undercard extras featuring multiple first-rate performers that should get the audience more than ready for the night’s headliners.
Top Rank junior welterweight prospect Lindolfo Delgado, 21-0 (15) from Nuevo Leon, meets skilled Dominican Jackson Marinez, 22-3 (10) in a contest that could qualify as main event worthy in many locales.
Undefeated southpaw heavyweight Richard Torrez, Jr, who earned the silver medal in that division for the USA at the 2020 Olympics faces off against Mexican big boy Issac Munoz Gutierrez, 18-1-1 (15) who reportedly packs a respectable wallop. None of Torrez’s pro opponents have made it to the final bell.
San Diego’s highly ranked welterweight title challenger Giovani Santillan, 31-1 (17) faces Fredrick Lawson of Ghana, 30-5 (22). Lawson has dropped his last two outings but that was against good opposition and he won’t be an easy test.
21 year-old DJ Zamora, a hot prospect at 13-0 (9) from Las Vegas meets experienced Roman Reynoso, 22-5-2 (10), from Argentina and emerging new stablemate Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez, 11-0 (7), who recently signed a long term Top Rank contract faces Gerardo Antonio Perez, 12-6-1 (3).
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R.I.P Israel Vazquez who has Passed Away at age 46
Israel Vazquez, a three-time world champion at 122 pounds and one of the most crowd-pleasing prizefighters of any era, has passed away at the age of 46. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman revealed the bad news today (Dec. 3) on his social media platform.
Born on Christmas Day 1977, Vazquez began his pro career in his native Mexico City at age 17. He was 16 fights into his pro career when he made his U.S. debut in El Cajon, California, under the management of Frank Espinoza.
Vazquez is most remembered for his four-fight rivalry with fellow Mexico City native Rafael Marquez.
The first two meetings were contested before small crowds in Carson, California, and Hidalgo, Texas.
Marquez won the first meeting thanks to a left hook that broke Vazquez’s nose in the opening round. The nose swelled to the point that Vazquez, who was making the fourth defense of his WBC super bantamweight title, could no longer breathe and he was all done after seven rounds.
Vazquez won the rematch (TKO 6), setting the stage for a rubber match that would be a fight for the ages. The bout, contested on March 1, 2008 at the soccer stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, was a shoo-in for Fight of the Year, earning that accolade from the BWAA, The Ring magazine and others.
Vazquez pulled that fight out of the fire in the final round, knocking Marquez to the canvas to win a split decision. Ron Borges, writing for this publication, wrote, “they knocked pieces off each other that could never be fully reattached.”
That was true of the detached retina in Vazquez’s right eye. It would require multiple surgeries before Vazquez, nicknamed “El Magnifico,” fought again and the eye would eventually be replaced by a prosthetic.
Their fourth meeting, contested before a celebrity-studded crowd at LA’s Staples Center, was anticlimactic. Vazquez, damaged goods, was stopped in the third round and never fought again.
All four meetings were televised on Showtime which celebrated the rivalry in 2015, airing highlights from all four fights on March 7 of that year. TSS West Coast Bureau Chief David A. Avila, looking back at the series, wrote, “[It was] 28 rounds of the most scientifically brutal and awe-inspiring prizefighting at an elite level.” Avila would also call Israel Vazquez one of the sport’s greatest gentlemen, a class act, as evinced in his energetic handshake whenever meeting a new fan.
Vazquez used his ring earnings to open a boxing gym in the Greater Los Angeles City of South Gate.
Vazquez’s passing wasn’t unexpected. Mauricio Sulaiman announced last month that Vazquez had been diagnosed with Stage IV Sarcoma, a particularly virulent strain of cancer and along with Oscar Valdez and Top Rank, established a GoFundMe account to defray his medical expenses. Today, Sulaiman wrote, “Israel Vazquez is finally resting in peace. May God give strength and support to his wife Laura, their children, family and friends during these difficult times.”
We here at TSS share that sentiment and send our condolences.
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