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Three Punch Combo: Notes on Thailand’s Little Dynamo, IBHOF Oversights and More
THREE PUNCH COMBO: Last week was a very busy week in boxing, both inside and outside the ring. Here are a couple of random observations:
Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (47-4-1, 41 KO’s) returned in his native Thailand and successfully defended his 115-pound title belt with a wide unanimous decision over tough Iran Diaz (14-3-3, 6 KO’s). Sor Rungvisai’s performance showed what makes him so good as well as what makes him so vulnerable.
Sor Rungvisai (pictured in the yellow trunks) is an aggressive power punching machine and once again overwhelmed his opponent with this style. Against Diaz, he committed to working the body from the opening bell and took a lot of the fight from Diaz with this committed body assault. I think Sor Rungvisai is the most effective body puncher in boxing today.
But this style can have vulnerabilities. For one, I did not see one jab from Sor Rungvisai in this fight against Diaz. It was just plain and simple aggression. And going to the body so much can leave him open for counter rights. Sor Rungvisai was clocked by a few and even appeared to be stunned in round nine by a counter right from Diaz after attacking the body.
Sor Rungvisai is certainly fun to watch and his ultra-aggressive offensively minded style makes him a tough out for anyone. But those vulnerabilities, while making him all the more entertaining, will likely one day come back to haunt him.
On Friday, it was announced that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KO’s) would return to the ring on December 15th at Madison Square Garden to face Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KO’s) in a 168-pound title bout. A lot of fans took to social media to announce their displeasure at the choice of opponent for Canelo following the announcement. My feelings are different.
We want our stars in this sport to be active. It helps to grow and promote the sport. In order to be active, they can’t always fight top level opposition. That would be terrible management.
I like that Canelo is returning so quick after the Golovkin fight and not just sitting back until May to fight again. There was a lot of positive momentum gained from that fight for boxing and the fact that Canelo is not waiting until May to fight again is a boost for the sport. Let’s appreciate the fact that he wants to fight again three months after a bruising war with Golovkin regardless of the opponent. Canelo will fight better opposition down the road. He has proven that he is willing to step up to any challenge. But let’s not beat him up for taking a step down in class from time to time in order to be more active.
HBO Do The Right Thing, Part Two
Last week, I wrote that HBO needed to do the right thing and add the female featherweight title fight between Heather Hardy and Shelly Vincent to its October 27th broadcast. The cable giant did in fact do the right thing, announcing mid-week that they would make the October 27th broadcast a tripleheader by adding the Hardy-Vincent fight to the telecast.
Also, fight writer Mike Coppinger reported that HBO is considering at least one more card before saying so long to televising live boxing. The report stated that they are considering a card on December 8th that will be headlined by 154-pound champion Jaime Munguia.
I am all for live boxing but get concerned when networks have their respective boxing cards compete with one another. Ultimately, everyone loses as eyeballs become split. Previously, Top Rank announced that on December 8th Vasyl Lomachenko will return to face Jose Pedraza in a lightweight unification fight on ESPN.
Lomachenko vs. Pedraza is a big fight and now risks losing eyeballs if HBO goes ahead with a competing card. Further to my concern, if this is the last HBO card, then many may flip to the network away from the ESPN card for nostalgia purposes. My hope is if HBO is planning another card in December that they will take this event on ESPN under consideration when planning their own card so the two do not directly compete. Why hurt the sport of boxing by splitting eyeballs if your brand will no longer be covering the sport in future?
Hall Of Fame Ballot Omissions
The International Boxing Hall of Fame & Museum in Canastota, NY has mailed out the ballots for the class of 2019. I am not a voter but the ballots have been posted on social media. Though debate has begun as to whom belongs in the Hall of Fame class of 2019, I want to focus on fighters who 100% assuredly won’t be inducted because their names did not even make it on the ballot.
Here are three fighters with Hall of Fame credentials not on the 2019 ballot:
KEVIN KELLEY (60-10-2, 39 KO’s)
Those who know me know that I have been beating the drum for Kelley for years. In my mind, the fact that he is not even on the ballot is borderline criminal. Kelley is a former featherweight champion and one of the great action fighters of his era. He had many memorable all-out wars including his fights against Troy Dorsey, Ricardo Rivera, Derrick Gainer and Naseem Hamed, just to name a few. There is a fighter with similar credentials from Kelley’s era, Arturo Gatti, who made the Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible. Kelley belongs in the Hall and at the very least should be on the ballot for voters to consider.
JUNIOR JONES (50-6, 28 KO’s)
Jones is a fighter whose Hall of Fame credentials I touched upon a few months ago and I think it is a crying shame that he did not even make it on this year’s ballot. He is a former two division champion with wins against some of the best fighters of his era. This includes two wins against Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera and a win against another Hall of Famer, Orlando Canizales. His resume also includes wins against former champions Jorge Eliecer Julio, Tom Johnson and Tracy Harris Patterson. All told, Jones was 10-4 against fighters who held a world title at some point in their career. His resume speaks for itself .
VEERAPHOL SAHAPROM (66-4-2, 46 KO’s)
How can this guy not be on the ballot? Just take a look at his credentials. In 1995, in just his fourth pro fight, Sahaprom won a bantamweight title. Though he lost that title in his next fight to the much more seasoned Nana Yaw Konadu, Sahaprom would recapture a bantamweight title against Joichiro Tatsuyoshi a few years later in 1998 and would hold that title for over six years before finally losing the belt to Hozumi Hasegawa. Granted, the opposition wasn’t always the best but there are some solid victories on his resume including two against the aforementioned Tatsuyoshi as well as two against Toshiaki Nishioka. The long title reign mixed in with some high quality wins at the very least should have earned Sahaprom a place on the ballot.
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Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza Shine in Phoenix
Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza Shine in Phoenix
PHOENIX – Saturday was a busy night on the global boxing scene, and it’s quite likely that the howling attendees in Phoenix’s Footprint Center witnessed the finest overall card of the international schedule. The many Mexican flags on display in the packed, scaled down arena signaled the event’s theme.
Co-main events featured rematches that arose from a pair of prior crowd-pleasing slugfests. Each of tonight’s headlining bouts ended at the halfway point, but that was their only similarity.
Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete, now 39-2-1 (32), defended his WBO Junior Lightweight belt with a dramatic stoppage of more-than-willing Oscar Valdez, 32-3 (24). The 29-year-old champion spoke of retirement wishes, but after dominating a blazing battle in which he scored three knockdowns, his only focus was relaxing during the holidays then getting back to what sounded like long-term business.
“Valdez was extremely tough in this fight,” said Navarrete. “I knew I had to push him back and I did. You are now witnessing the second phase of my career and you can expect great things from me in 2025.”
“I don’t really know about the future,” said the crestfallen, 33-year-old Valdez. “No excuses. He did what he wanted to and I couldn’t.”
Navarrete, a three-division titlist, came up one scorecard short of a fourth belt in his previous fight last May, a split decision loss to Denys Berinchyk. This was Navarrete’s fourth Arizona appearance so he was cheered like a homeboy, but Valdez was definitely the crowd favorite, evident from the cheers that erupted as both fighters were shown arriving in glistening, low rider automobiles.
Both men came out throwing huge shots, but it was Navarrete who scored a flash knockdown in the first round, setting the tone for the rest of the fight. There was fierce action in every frame, with Navarrete getting the best of most of it, but even when he was in trouble Valdez roared back and brought the crowd to their feet. He got dropped again at the very end of round four, and Navarrete sent his mouthpiece into orbit the round after that.
When Navarrette drove Valdez into the ropes during round six it looked like referee Raul Caiz, Jr was about to intervene, but before he could decide, Navarrete finished matters himself with a perfect left to the ribs that crumpled Valdez into a KO at 2:42.
“He talked about getting ready to retire soon so I told him we had to fight again right now,” said Valdez prior to the rematch. There were numerous “be careful what you wish for” type predictions of doom and he entered the ring at around a two to one underdog, understanding the contest’s make or break stakes. “Boxing penalizes you if you have a lot of losses,” observed Valdez. “It’s not like other sports where you can lose and do better next season. In boxing, most people don’t want to see you again after a couple of losses.”
What Valdez might decide remains to be seen, but even in defeat he proved to be a warrior worth watching.
Co-Feature
After their epic, razor-close encounter almost exactly a year ago, it was obvious Rafael Espinoza, and fellow 30-year-old Robeisy Ramirez should meet again for the WBO featherweight title belt Espinoza earned by an upset majority decision. Espinoza turned the trick again this time around, inside the distance, but it was more anti-climactic than anything like toe-to-toe.
The 6’1” Espinoza, now 26-0 (22), was the aggressor from the opening frame, but 5’6” Ramirez, 14-3 (9) employed his short stature well to stay out of immediate danger and countered to the body for a slight edge. The Cuban challenger avoided much of their previous firefight and initially controlled the tempo. The crowd jeered him for staying away but it was an effective strategy, at least at first.
Espinoza connected much better in the fifth round and looked fresher as Ramirez’s face rapidly reddened. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere in round six, Ramirez took a punch then raised a glove in surrender. Whatever the reason, even looking at Ramirez’s swollen right eye, it looked like a “No Mas” moment. Replays showed a straight right to the eye socket, but that didn’t stop the crowd from hooting their disgust after ref Chris Flores signaled the end at 0:12.
***
Richard Torrez, Jr, now 12-0 (11), displayed his Olympic silver medal pedigree in a heavyweight bout against Issac Munoz, 18-2-1 (15). Torrez, 236.6, found his punching range quickly with southpaw leads as Munoz, 252, tried to stand his ground but looked hurt by early body work that forced him into the ropes. He was gasping for breath as Torrez peppered him in the second, and Munoz went back to his corner on unsteady legs.
Munoz’s team should have thought about saving him for another day in the third as he ate big shots. Luckily, referee Raul Caiz, Jr. was wiser and had seen enough, waving it off for a TKO at 0:59.
“I don’t train for the opponent,” reflected Torrez, who isn’t far from true contender status. “Every time I train, I train for a world championship fight.”
***
Super-lightweight Lindolfo Delgado, 139.9, improved to 22-0 (16), and took another step into the world title picture against Jackson Marinez, now 22-4 (10), 139.2.
On paper this junior welterweight matchup appeared fairly even, and Marinez managed to keep it that way for almost half the scheduled ten rounds against a solid prospect but Delgado kept upping the ante until Marinez was out of chips. The assembled swarm was whistling for more action after three tentative opening frames, as Delgado loaded up but couldn’t put much offense together.
That changed in the 4th when Delgado connected with solid crosses. In the fifth, a fine combination dropped Marinez into a delayed knockdown and a wicked follow-up right to the guts finished the wobbly Marinez, who had nothing to be ashamed of, off in the arms of ref Wes Melton. Official TKO time was 2:13.
In a matter of concurrent programming, Saturday also held a lot of highly publicized college football and basketball games which likely detracted from the larger mainstream audience and media coverage this fight card deserved. That’s a shame but you can’t fault boxing, Top Rank, or any of the fighters for that because, once again, they all came through big time in Phoenix.
Photos credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Brooklyn’s Richardson Hitchins Wins IBF 140-Pound Title in Puerto Rico
A change of champions took place as Richardson Hitchins rallied from a lethargic start to wrest the IBF super lightweight title from Australia’s Liam Paro by split decision on Saturday in Puerto Rico at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan.
Brooklyn has another world champion.
“I’m just happy to be a world champion,” Hitchins said.
Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) proved that his style of fighting could prevail over Paro (25-1, 15 KOs) who had previously knocked off another Puerto Rican champion, Subriel Matias.
Both fighters expected a different kind of encounter as Paro immediately started the fight with constant pressure and short, precise combinations. Hitchins had expected a different attack and seemed hesitant to pull the trigger.
“I couldn’t get my timing,” said Hitchins. “I thought he was going to put the pressure on me.”
Soon Hitchins ramped up his attack.
After Paro had jumped ahead with a constant strategic attack, Hitchins slipped into second gear behind a sharp right counter that found the target repeatedly.
Things began to swing in the Brooklyn fighter’s favor.
Those long arms came in handy for Hitchins who snapped off deadeye rights through Paro’s guard repeatedly. Soon the southpaw Aussie’s eye began to show signs of damage.
But Paro never quit.
Aside from using quick counters, Paro began firing lead lefts and the occasional right hook and uppercut. But seldom did he target the body. Slowly, the rounds began mounting in favor of the Brooklyn fighter.
Perhaps the best blow of the fight took place in the ninth round as Hitchins connected flush with a one-two combination. Though stunned, Paro trudged forward looking to immediately counter.
He mostly failed.
Still, Paro knew the rounds were not one-sided and he could close the distance. The Aussie fighter did well in the 11th and 12th round but could not land a significant blow. After 12 rounds one judge saw Paro the winner 117-11, while two others saw Hitchins the winner 116-112 for the new IBF titlist.
“He’s a hell of a boxer,” said Paro who loses the title in his first defense. “It’s not a loss, it’s a lesson.”
Other Bouts
A battle between Puerto Rican featherweights saw Henry Lebron (20-0) out-battle Christopher Diaz-Velez by decision after 10 action-packed rounds.
In a lightweight fight Agustin Quintana (21-2-1) gave Marc Castro (13-1) his first loss to win by split decision after 10 rounds.
Welterweight Jose Roman Vazquez (14-1) defeated Jalil Hackett (9-1) by split decision after 10 rounds.
Photo credit: Melina Pizano / Matchroom
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A Six-Pack of Undercard Action from the Top Rank Card in Phoenix
A Six-Pack of Undercard Action from the Top Rank Card in Phoenix
Top Rank promoted a 10-fight card tonight at the NBA arena in Phoenix. The undercard included welterweight standout Giovani Santillan and a bevy of young prospects.
Based on his showing tonight, Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez is a prospect on the cusp of being a contender. A high-octane fighter with ring smarts that bely his tender age, the 22-year-old Gonzalez pitched a near 8-round shutout over Argentina’s Gerardo Antonio Perez, advancing his record to 12-0 (7). Although Gonzalez was forced to go the distance after five straight wins by stoppage, Perez, an Argentine who had never been stopped and was better than his 12-6-1 record, had a granite chin.
LA junior bantamweight Steven Navarro improved to 5-0 (4 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Gabriel Bernardi (7-2). Navarro had Bernardi, a Puerto Rican, on the canvas twice before referee Raul Caiz Jr waived it off.
In a welterweight contest slated for “10,” Giovani Santillan improved to 33-1 (18 KOs) at the expense of Fredrick Lawson who retired on his stool after only one round. It was a nice confidence-booster for Santillan who took a lot of punishment in his last fight vs. Brian Norman Jr, a fight that Santillan was expected to win. However, tonight’s win should come with an asterisk as Lawson, a Chicago-based Ghanaian, is damaged goods and ought not be permitted to fight again, notwithstanding his 30-6 record. (All six of his losses, including the last three, came inside the distance.)
In a welterweight contest slated for six rounds, 19-year-old SoCal prospect Art Berrera Jr advanced to 7-0 (5 KOs) with a second-round TKO over Juan Carlos Campos (4-2) who fights out of Sioux City, Iowa. Referee Wes Melton lost his balance as he stepped in to stop the one-sided affair with a nano-second remaining in round two and went flying into the ropes, but was seemingly unhurt.
In a major surprise, Cesar Morales, a former Mexican national amateur champion, lost his pro debut to unheralded Kevin Mosquera, a 23-year-old Ecuadorian. A flash knockdown in the opening minute of final round factored into the result. The judges had it 39-36 and 38-37 for Mosquera (3-0-1) and 38-38.
The night did not start well for Morales’ trainer Robert Garcia who had five fighters in action tonight.
In the lid-lifter, 21-year-old Las Vegas lightweight DJ Zamora, a protege of the late Roger Mayweather, improved to 15-0 (10 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Argentine import Roman Ruben Reynoso (22-6-2). Zamora put Reynoso on the canvas in the opening round with a left to the solar plexus and knocked him down in the second round with a counter left to the chin. Reynoso made it to his feet, but had no beef when the fight was waived off. The official time was 1:56 of round two.
Bouts involving former Olympians Lindolfo Delgado and Richard Torres Jr plus two compelling world title rematches round out the 10-fight card. TSS correspondent Phil Woolever is ringside. Check back later for his post-fight reports.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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