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3 Punch Combo: Truax’s Improbable Upset, a Winky Wright Flashback and More
THREE PUNCH COMBO — Caleb Truax (29-3-2, 18 KO’s) stunned the boxing world this past Saturday scoring a majority decision win against the heavily favored James DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KO’s) to win a 168-pound belt. Truax is a great story of perseverance and seizing the moment in this sport. Ironically, nearly 20 years ago to the day another major upset also took place with a fighter in a very similar spot to that of Truax.
In 1997, Top Rank was seeking opponents for their cash cow Oscar De La Hoya. That year, they signed Terry Norris with the idea of matching Norris with De La Hoya sometime in 1998 in a big pay-per-view event. With the fight essentially signed, Top Rank wanted to build that event by placing Norris and De La Hoya together on a big card. De La Hoya would headline on December 6th, 1997 in Atlantic City, NJ against Wilfredo Rivera while Norris would have his showcase bout as the chief support against journeyman Keith Mullings.
Mullings entered the ring that night with a pedestrian record of 14-4-1 and was coming off a hard fought loss to Raul Marquez three months earlier. Known as a durable guy with limited skills and not much of a punch, Mullings seemed to be the perfect safe opponent to showcase the abilities of Norris and help build toward a super fight with De La Hoya.
In the early going, the fight went to script. Norris controlled the early rounds and seemed to be on his way to an easy victory. But midway through the scheduled 12-round fight, Mullings began bouncy castle with pool to slowly turn the tide. After scoring a knockdown of Norris in round eight, the realization began to seep in that we could be in store for a mega upset. In the ninth, Mullings hurt Norris and pounced on him, throwing a barrage of punches which eventually forced the referee to stop the contest.
Similar to Norris, DeGale seemingly had a big fight lined up himself with a unification bout with David Benavidez on the horizon. Much like Mullings, Truax was hand-picked to showcase the skills of DeGale prior to him going on to bigger things. And similar to Mullings, Truax refused to read that script. Instead, Truax had a plan of his own and executed that plan to perfection to pull the stunning upset. Now it is Truax who is on the brink of much bigger things as we head into 2018.
Remembering Winky Wright’s First Attempt at a World Title
The International Boxing Hall of Fame announced its class of 2018 this past week and one of the inductees in the Modern category was Ronald “Winky” Wright. Wright had an amazing career and is well deserving of being enshrined in Canastota. It was a career of patience and perseverance as he is remembered most for the bouts that took place toward the tail end of his career. What has been forgotten about Wright are some of his earlier fights and the long journey he took to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
One of Wright’s most memorable fights from the early part of his career was his first attempt at a world title against Julio Cesar Vasquez on August 21, 1994 in France. Wright (25-0, 18 KO’s) was still relatively green at this point in his career and was facing a very seasoned champion in Vasquez (50-1, 35 KO’s) who had held the title for nearly two years, having already made eight successful defenses.
Wright set a blistering pace in the first round, beating Vasquez to the punch working fast combinations behind a stiff right jab. The second round saw a little controversy as a counter right hand from Wright put Vasquez on the canvas but was not counted as an official knockdown. Later in that round, Vasquez would land his first significant punch of the fight with a counter left uppercut that put Wright on the canvas. This was counted as a knockdown and Wright arose willing to go toe to toe with Vasquez as the round came to a close.
The next three rounds saw Wright work combinations behind the jab and out-box Vasquez. Wright’s speed and boxing ability were giving the aggressive Vasquez all sorts of issues.
In round six, Wright appeared to be getting a little tired. Vasquez’s pressure seemed to be getting to him and Vasquez enjoyed his best round since the second, landing with consistency a hard left to Wright’s head.
Wright was dropped for the second time in the fight in the seventh. But he would get up again and after surviving the initial onslaught go to war with Vasquez for the remainder of the round. The eighth saw Wright turn the tables and hurt Vasquez with a sweeping right hook. It would be the best round for Wright since the fifth.
But again in round nine, Wright would get deposited on the canvas, this time from an overhand left. Wright was visibly hurt but resilient, not only in getting to his feet but surviving the remainder of the round.
Looking fatigued, Wright’s punch output slowed the next two rounds as Vasquez stepped up the pressure, raking Wright with hard shots to the head and body. In the twelfth and final round, Vasquez would put a totally gassed Wright down two more times. Wright did well just to hear the bell.
The decision would be unanimous for Vasquez. But this was one tremendous fight and a learning experience for Wright who showed incredible courage and fortitude. He fought his heart out and though he came up short this night set the foundation for what would later become a Hall of Fame career.
Under The Radar Fights
Well the last big boxing weekend of 2017 is upon us. There is plenty of action in store before a bit of a reprieve. With so many bouts, there are bound to be some that are flying severely under the radar.
On Friday as part of the PBC on FS1 broadcast, Jamal James (21-1, 9 KO’s) battles Diego Chaves (26-2-1, 22 KO’s) in an evenly matched 147-pound crossroads fight. James was once a highly-thought-of prospect but a 2016 loss to Yordenis Ugas knocked James back a rung on the ladder. He rebounded earlier this year with a solid win against former world title challenger Ionut Dan Ion and looks to build on that performance against Chaves.
James has solid skills and is a well-rounded fighter. A boxer-puncher by trade, he will look to work behind the jab using his legs to set up angles to fire off combinations. James has a bit of slickness to him and will need that against Chaves. Chaves knows only one way to fight and that is to bring pressure from the opening bell. He will look to make this a rough and tumble fight on the inside. And Chaves will not be afraid to bend the rules some to lure James out of his game plan into a firefight. It is an interesting clash of styles and should be a solid entertaining scrap.
On Saturday as part of HBO’s tripleheader, once-beaten 160 pound prospect Antoine Douglas (22-1-1, 16 KO’s) takes on rugged veteran Gary O’Sullivan (26-2, 18 KO’s) in a scheduled 10-round contest. Douglas is a skilled prospect who seemed to be on the verge of a title shot before getting derailed by Avtandil Khurtsidze in March of 2016. Since that loss, Douglas has scored three straight knockout wins, albeit against less than formidable opposition. Douglas is athletically gifted and possesses very fast hands. He is a natural boxer puncher and will work combinations with his quick hands behind a sharp left jab.
In O’Sullivan, Douglas is facing an opponent in a similar mode to Khurtsidze. O’Sullivan will apply constant pressure. He may not be a one punch knockout guy but has relatively heavy hands and will try to overwhelm opponents with volume. O’Sullivan is not known for his defense and opponents usually find him to be a very easy target. He can be out-boxed by more skilled fighters as evidenced in his two losses to Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr. The question here is whether or not Douglas can get the respect of O’Sullivan early to discourage him from unloading a high volume of punches. If Douglas can, it could be easy work for him. If he can’t, we may see a replay of the Khurtsidze fight.
It has been quite a year in boxing in 2017. And we are going out with a bang with one last big week of action. Though the above fights may not be getting the press of some of the other bouts taking place this coming week, these should be entertaining fights and should not be missed.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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