Stacked Japanese Cards Includes Late FOTY Contender

Published

8 years ago

December 31, 2015

An extraordinary day of boxing in Japan today produced a desperately late contender for the fight of the year as many of Japan’s best fighters gathered under two separate roofs to put on a show of boxing as good as anything seen in the west this year.

First up was the absurdly talented prospect Kosei Tanaka who moved to 6-0 versus Filipino warhorse Vic Saludar (now 11-2), fought for Tanaka’s strap, which had been annexed by the Japanese in just his fifth fight. Saludar, who is twenty-five and looks about forty, embodies the bloody-mindedness and durability of his countrymen as well as any of his more famed cousins and he came to win. Tanaka was fighting here in his last fight at 105lbs, such are the demands made upon his 5’5 inch frame in making minimumweight, and perhaps it showed. Overly-eager to get his less prestigious opponent out of there he walked through fire and has now been chin-checked by an able puncher (nine of Saludar’s eleven victories have come by way of stoppage). His offense-first strategy was not without risks however, and he was dropped by a ratcheting shot to the temple in the fifth; up quickly, he surged back into the attack, winning by stoppage with a shot to the body in the sixth.

It was an odd performance that will call into question both Tanaka’s ring smarts, perhaps understandably for a twenty-year old prospect who finds himself defending a “world” title, and his punch resistance. This would be harsh were it not for the fact that Tanaka is, like his lethal countryman Naoya Inoue, bound, at some stage for super-flyweight and bantamweight. My own guess is that fighting dumb was the real problem here and that this can be amended. The great thing about the fight game is we will get to find out, and it should be great fun.

—

Perhaps not as much as the next bout on offer, Katsunari Takayama versus Jose Argumedo, a fight of the year candidate fought on the very last day of the 2015. Takayama, a strapholder at 105lbs, is always entertaining; I’ve never see him in a bad fight. Fast, with wonderful footwork and a very limited punch, one would expect to see him box and move and stay away from his opponent, always a more dangerous puncher than he, but rather he flirts with disaster. Perhaps the best engine in boxing allows him to work, work, work for three minutes of every round and this he does, often in close, throwing two-handed and providing ample opportunity for his opponent to hit back.

This, Jose Argumedo did. Not a huge puncher, Argumedo is a good hitter and likely relished the openings the lighter punching Takayama gave; indeed, after losing the first round he banked the second punching through the target with a crackling right hand. Of more concern was the cut to the left eye the paper-skinned Japanese emerged with in this round.

Takayama, of course, began aggressively in the third but was labelled with some hard punches; for the first time I doubted the fight would go the distance, although I’ve been burned by such predictions before where Takayama is concerned – the pace he sets is incredible.

Argumedo, seemed, for the moment, equal to it and I thought he poached the round to take a lead into the fourth which saw the doctor called to the ring apron for the first time for a short look at Takayama’s cut. I thought the Japanese worked well in this round however, driving back his Mexican opponent with two right hands, boxing directly and with nerve.

The fifth was a round of the year candidate with toe-to-toe wars erupting all over the ring. The work was becoming sloppy but the pace was so absurd and the battle so heart-fuelled that it was impossible not to be moved. In the sixth, Argumedo took a flush right hand and nodded, “yes” to Takayama who barrelled forwards. My feeling was that the fight was turning firmly in favour of Takayama whose stamina seems limitless.

But it was not to be. Argumedo landed hard punches in the eighth and Takayama ended this round with not one but two cuts on his formerly good right eye; the doctor, this time, spent more than a minute examining him. He was allowed to complete the eighth, and a raucous ninth but it was clear the fight would not be allowed to see twelve rounds. Takayama was pulled at the end of the ninth and the fight went to the scorecard, the Mexican taking a split technical decision 87-84 twice and 85- 86 in what should register as a minor shock. My card had it the same as this last; I had Takayama taking the fight by a point, but certainly there is nothing wrong with the decision for all that the winning cards may be a little wide.

Those who have already picked a fight of the year can probably rest easy given how it ended, but make no mistake, had the fighters been allowed to complete twelve rounds we might have had a problem.

—

Next up in what was becoming one of the best day’s boxing I’ve ever seen, a rematch of the desperately close Kazuto Ioka-Juan Carlos Reveco meeting from April of this year, a majority decision win for Ioka not without controversy. A meeting between the #3 and #5 ranked flyweights respectively, it was attractive for reasons other than the alphabet trinket on the line. Both good boxing and hard punching were expected and both were delivered as Ioka wiped the slate clean of any uncertainty surrounding his victory in their first contest with a splendid, dominant performance over a game, brave fighter.

Ioka opened smartly behind his composed jab, looking for and landing a left hook to the body as Reveco circled to his left while awaiting opportunities to swarm in. A clear first round for Ioka did not mean a great deal given the pattern of their first fight but as the fight progressed it was clear that a new pattern was emerging.

Ioka looked every inch how he was supposed to during his short spell as the world’s best prospect in the time before Amnat Ruenroeng got to him and decisioned him over twelve torrid rounds in 2014. A triple left hand in the third was a highlight as Ioka found a hook, uppercut and another hook as he stepped up the rattling body-attack he began in round one. Boxing neatly behind the jab, he would happily abandon it on occasion and land a lead uppercut through the middle and as he countered the work Reveco used to do damage last time around something close to a technical mismatch began to emerge. The fourth round saw a stirring two-handed surge from Ioka who had his opponent rattled with his back to the ropes and giving little back; Reveco, who emerged with a cut below his left eye, fired his way out of danger when a stoppage seemed a possibility; nevertheless after six rounds I had Ioka 5-1 ahead.

Skill is often a substitute for experience but Reveco is tough and insistent and he began, for me, to creep into a fight he had looked like losing on a stoppage as early as the fourth. Ioka seemed aware of this and in the ninth he launched a hellacious attack to both body and head, pinning Reveco on the ropes again and savaging him. Reveco, all heart, came roaring back when once again on the brink, but Ioka appeared too big, too solid and brought his own more youthful insistence to the fore. An uppercut seemed to stagger Reveco with a minute remaining and his retaliation seemed exhausted. The fight began to take on the singular sense of the brutal.

Before the eleventh, Ioka was the very semblance of calm while Reveco looked a beaten man; when Ioka folded him with the latest in a long line of brutal bodyshots – a surgical left hook, his honey punch all night – I was surprised to see Reveco force himself to his feet before 10. His determination spoke for him. But when he remained bent as though by nausea, ring centre, unable to obey the referee’s instruction to walk to him, the contest was, rightly, ended.

It was an impressive display from Ioka, the type of display I once expected of him. It may yet be that he has plenty to offer at the sharpest end of this stacked division although his size at the weight was a factor today. Whether he moves north or stays put he won’t always be so much the bigger man.

—

The “main event”, featuring senior Japanese pugilist Takashi Uchiyama, was typically one-sided. One of the longest reigning strapholders in the world and clear divisional #1 at super-featherweight, Uchiyama dominated the over-matched Oliver Flores, stopping him in three rounds, not for the first time today, with a bodyshot.

Uchiyama is in desperate need of extension at this point in his career, having fought just five rounds in 2014. Aged 36, big money fights and pound-for-pound honours will not be within his grasp much longer and while he’s proven winning is easy boxing at this sort of level, hopefully the desire to do more than the minimum will move him to greater things in 2016. He did announce himself “ready for anyone” at the post-fight press conference, but this is not new rhetoric. He expects to be matched again in April.

Destructive body-punching seems, after today, as much a part of the Japanese fistic psyche as the murderous flavour of box-punching served up by Uchiyama, Tanaka, Ioka, and, earlier in the week, Naoya Inoue. Each is different but each bursts from the same culture of brilliant violence rendered with technical surety. They won’t all come west – but those that do should be welcomed with open arms by fight fans.

Based on today’s quality of entertainment we arguably have some catching up to do.

Check out our quick result video from Japan at The Boxing Channel.

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Matt McGrain

In a Massive Upset, Dakota Linger TKOs Kurt Scoby on a Friday Night in Atlanta

Published

4 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Arne K. Lang

In-a-Massive-Upset-Dakota-Linger-TKOs-Kurt-Scoby-on-a-Friday-Night-in-Atlanta

Although it was an 8-rounder on a show with two “tens,” Kurt Scoby’s match with Dakota Linger was accorded main event status on tonight’s card at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. This had everything to do with Scoby (pronounced Scooby), a former record-setting college running back who was considered one of the brightest prospects in the 140-pound weight class. “[Scoby] works harder than almost anyone I’ve ever seen,” said veteran New York promoter Lou DIBella in a conversation with Keith Idec. “But he’s literally getting better after every fight and he’s got the hammer of Thor, man. He can punch through walls.”

The Duarte, California product who has relocated to Brooklyn and trains at Gleason’s Gym, was undefeated (13-0) heading in and was expected to make Linger his ninth straight knockout victim. But Linger, a 29-year-old Buckhannon, West Virginia policemen whose first ring engagements were in Toughman competitions, wasn’t intimidated by Scoby’s press clippings or by Scoby’s bodybuilder physique.

Linger, who improved to 14-6-3 with his tenth win inside the distance, took the fight right to Scoby and repeatedly found a home for his overhand right. In the sixth round, after Linger strafed the ever-retreating Scoby with a barrage of punches, referee Malik Walid determined that he had seen enough and waived it off. The decision seemed a tad premature, but neither Scoby nor his cornermen offered anything in the way of a protest.

Tournament results

In the first installment of an 8-man super welterweight tournament, Brandon Adams returned to boxing after his second three-year layoff and showed no ring rust whatsoever. Adams, a 34-year-old family-man who grew up in the Watts district of LA, dismissed Ismael Villareal with a wicked punch to the liver in the waning seconds of round three. The official time was 2:59.

A former wold title challenger, Adams who improved to 23-3 (16 KOs), has become the king of boxing tournaments. He first attracted notice in 2018 when he won the fifth edition of “The Contender” series, scoring a wide 10-round decision over Shane Mosley Jr in the championship round.

Villareal, a second-generation prizefighter from the Bronx whose dad fought the likes of Hector Camacho, declined to 13-3.

Adams next opponent will be Francisco Veron who will bring a record of 14-0-1 (10).

In an energetic 10-rounder, Veron, a Florida-based Argentine with a strong amateur pedigree, scored a unanimous decision over Mexico-born, LA southpaw Angel Ruiz (18-3-1). The judges had it 100-90, 99-91, and 96-94.

Ruiz certainly had his moments, but Veron launched and landed many more punches despite fighting the last six rounds with a damaged eye.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 281: The Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia Show

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-281-The-Devin-Haney-and-Ryan-Garcia-Show

Over the years bouts between old foes such as Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia tend to be surprising.

Yes, both are only 25 but have known each other for many years.

When undisputed super lightweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) steps into the prize ring at Barclays Center to meet challenger Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday, April 20, fans will be witnessing the continuation of a feud that began more than a decade ago.

And though the champion is a heavy favorite, familiarity is Garcia’s best weapon heading into their fight on the Golden Boy Promotions card that will be shown on PPV.COM with Jim Lampley and friends. DAZN pay-per-view is also streaming the card.

In many ways Haney and Garcia have ventured down the same path. From amateur sensations to fighting in Mexico while teens to asking for the biggest challenges available.

“Whichever version of Ryan shows up on April 20, I will be ready for him. Ryan Garcia is just another opponent to me,” said Haney who holds the WBC super lightweight title after his win over Regis Prograis.

The first time I saw Haney as a pro he battled the dangerous Mexican contender Juan Carlos Burgos at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula. It was an impressive performance against a fighter who fought three times for a world title.

Haney was 19 at the time.

My first look at Garcia as a pro was in his first bout in the U.S. when he met Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Cruz at the Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. The Boricua looked at Garcia and tried intimidating him with stares, taunts and the usual patter. During the fight both swung and missed until the second round when Garcia zeroed in and took him out.

Garcia had just turned 18, the legal age to fight in California.

Both fighters did not have the Olympics credentials that lead to fame. But their talent has allowed them to fight through the dense smoke that is professional boxing.

Haney has defeated numerous world champions such as Prograis, Vasyl Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr., while Garcia has stopped champions Javier Fortuna and Luke Campbell.

As amateurs, Garcia and Haney battled six times with each winning three.

“They know each other very well,” said Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions. “Ryan is going to beat Devin Haney.”

Haney has a buttery-smooth style with one of the best jabs in boxing. He’s very adept at keeping distance and not allowing anyone to fight him inside. His reflexes are outstanding, yet he seldom fights inside. That’s his weakness.

Garcia fights tall and has superb hand speed and a lightning quick left hook. Though his defense lacks tightness his ability to rip off three-punch combinations in a blink of an eye pauses opponents from bullying their way inside.

“These guys always just look at me and look at me like I don’t know how to box,” said Garcia on social media. “Why was I one of the best fighters in the amateurs. Why was I a 15-time National champion…why did I beat everyone I came across.”

Haney is a strong favorite by oddsmakers to defeat Garcia. But you can never tell when it comes to fighters that know each other well and are athletically gifted.

When Sergio Mora challenged Vernon Forrest he was a big underdog. When Tim Bradley fought Manny Pacquiao the first time, he was also the underdog. And when Andy Ruiz met Anthony Joshua few gave him a chance.

Haney and Garcia have history in the ring. It should be an interesting battle.

PPV.COM

Jim Lampley will be leading the broadcast on PPV.COM for the Haney-Garcia card at Barclays and texting with fans on the card live. He will be accompanied by journalists Lance Pugmire, Dan Conobbio and former champion Chris Algieri.

The PPV.COM broadcast begins at 5 p.m. PT. and is available in Canada and the USA.

Other News

MMA stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal will be holding a media day event on Friday, April 19, at NOVO at L.A. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Diaz and Masvidal will be boxing against each other in a grudge match on June 1 at the KIA Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The two MMA stars met five years at UFC 244 with Masvidal winning by TKO over Diaz due to cuts.

This is a grudge match, but under boxing rules.

Fight card in Commerce, Calif.

360 Promotions returns to Commerce Casino on Saturday April 20 with undefeated super lightweight Cain Sandoval leading the charge.

Sandoval (12-0) faces Angel Rebollar (8-3) in the main event that will be shown live on UFC Fight Pass. Also on the card are two female events including hot prospect Lupe Medina (5-0) versus Sabrina Persona (3-1) in a minimumweight clash.

Doors open at 4 p.m.

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Boxing Odds and Ends: The Heavyweight Merry-Go-Round

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Boxing Odds and Ends: The Heavyweight Merry-Go-Round

There were few surprises when co-promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren and their benefactor HE Turki Alalshikh held a press conference in London this past Monday to unveil the undercard for the Beterbiev-Bivol show at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 1. Most of the match-ups had already been leaked.

For die-hard boxing fans, Beterbiev-Bivol is such an enticing fight that it really doesn’t need an attractive undercard. Two undefeated light heavyweights will meet with all four relevant belts on the line in a contest where the oddsmakers straddled the fence. It’s a genuine “pick-‘em” fight based on the only barometer that matters, the prevailing odds.

But Beterbiev-Bivol has been noosed to a splendid undercard, a striking contrast to Saturday’s Haney-Garcia $69.99 (U.S.) pay-per-view in Brooklyn, an event where the undercard, in the words of pseudonymous boxing writer Chris Williams, is an absolute dumpster fire.

The two heavyweight fights that will bleed into Beterbiev-Bivol, Hrgovic vs. Dubois and Wilder vs. Zhang, would have been stand-alone main events before the incursion of Saudi money.

Hrgovic-Dubois

Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 13 KOs) and Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) fought on the same card in Riyadh this past December. Hrgovic, the Croatian, was fed a softie in the form of Australia’s Mark De Mori who he dismissed in the opening round. Dubois, a Londoner, rebounded from his loss to Oleksandr Usyk with a 10^th-round stoppage of corpulent Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller.

There’s an outside chance that Hrgovic vs. Dubois may be sanctioned by the IBF for the world heavyweight title.

The May 18 showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury has a rematch clause. The IBF is next in line in the rotation system for a unified heavyweight champion and the organization has made it plain that the winner of Usyk-Fury must fulfill his IBF mandatory before an intervening bout.

The best guess is that the Usyk-Fury winner will relinquish the IBF belt. If so, Hrgovic and Dubois may fight for the vacant title although a more likely scenario is that the organization will keep the title vacant so that the winner can fight Anthony Joshua.

Wilder-Zhang

The match between Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) and Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) is a true crossroads fight as both Wilder, 38, and Zhang, who turns 41 in May, are nearing the end of the road and the loser (unless it’s a close and entertaining fight) will be relegated to the rank of a has-been. In fact, Wilder has hinted that this may be his final rodeo.

Both are coming off a loss to Joseph Parker.

Wilder last fought on the card that included Hrgovic and Dubois and was roundly out-pointed by a man he was expected to beat. It’s a quick turnaround for Zhang who opposed Parker on March 8 and lost a majority decision.

Other Fights

Either of two other fights may steal the show on the June 1 event.

Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) meets Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) in a 12-round featherweight contest. New Jersey’s Ford will be defending the WBA world title he won with a come-from-behind, 12th-round stoppage of Otabek Kholmatov in an early contender for Fight of the Year. Liverpool’s “Wrecking” Ball, a relentless five-foot-two sparkplug, had to settle for a draw in his title fight with Rey Vargas despite winning the late rounds and scoring two knockdowns.

Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KOs) meets fellow unbeaten Austin “Ammo” Williams (16-0, 11 KOs) in a 12-round middleweight match. East London’s Sheeraz, the son of a former professional cricket player, is unknown in the U.S. although he trained for his recent fights at the Ten Goose Boxing Gym in California. Riding a skein of 13 straight knockouts, he has a date with WBO title-holder Janibek Alimkhanuly if he can get over this hurdle.

The Forgotten Heavyweight

“Unbeaten for seven years, the man nobody wants to fight,” intoned ring announcer Michael Buffer by way of introduction. Buffer was referencing Michael Hunter who stood across the ring from his opponent Artem Suslenkov.

This scene played out this past Saturday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It was Hunter’s second fight in three weeks. On March 23, he scored a fifth-round stoppage of a 46-year-old meatball at a show in Zapopan, Mexico.

The second-generation “Bounty Hunter,” whose only defeat prior to last weekend came in a 12-rounder with Oleksandr Usyk, has been spinning his wheels since TKOing the otherwise undefeated Martin Bakole on the road in London in 2018. Two fights against hapless opponents on low-budget cards in Mexico and a couple of one-round bouts for the Las Vegas Hustle, an entry in the fledgling and largely invisible Professional Combat League, are the sum total of his activity, aside from sparring, in the last two-and-a-half years.

Hunter’s chances of getting another big-money fight took a tumble in Tashkent where he lost a unanimous decision in a dull affair to the unexceptional Suslenkov who was appearing in his first 10-round fight. The scores of the judges were not announced.

You won’t find this fight listed on boxrec. As Jake Donovan notes, the popular website will not recognize a fight conducted under the auspices of a rogue commission. (Another fight you won’t find on boxrec for the same reason is Nico Ali Walsh’s 6-round split decision over the 9-2-1 Frenchman, Noel Lafargue, in the African nation of Guinea on Dec. 16, 2023. You can find it on YouTube, but according to boxrec, boxing’s official record-keeper, it never happened.)

Anderson-Merhy Redux

The only thing missing from this past Saturday’s match in Corpus Christi, Texas, between Jared Anderson and Ryad Merhy was the ghost of Robert Valsberg.

Valsberg, aka Roger Vaisburg, was the French referee who disqualified Ingemar Johansson for not trying in his match with LA’s Ed Sanders in the finals of the heavyweight competition at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Valsberg tossed Johansson out of the ring after two rounds and Johansson was denied the silver medal. The Swede redeemed himself after turning pro, needless to say, when he demolished Floyd Patterson in the first of their three meetings.

Merhy was credited with throwing only 144 punches, landing 34, over the course of the 10 rounds. Those dismal figures yet struck many onlookers as too high. (This reporter has always insisted that the widely-quoted CompuBox numbers should be considered approximations.)

Whatever the true number, it was a disgraceful performance by Merhy who actually showed himself to have very fast hands on the few occasions when he did throw a punch. With apologies to Delfine Persoon, a spunky lightweight, U.S. boxing promoters should think twice before inviting another Belgian boxer to our shores.

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