The Weekend That Was: Some Good Fights, Some Big Upsets and a lot of Junk

Published

5 years ago

January 29, 2019

There were no mega-fights on the final weekend of January, but there were several interesting fights and several potentially uninteresting fights that played out in an interesting fashion.

Keith Thurman was a massive favorite over Josesito Lopez, notwithstanding the fact that Thurman has been out of action for 22 months while rehabbing injuries to his right shoulder and right hand. The odds suggested a one-sided and potentially humdrum fight, but there was a moment of high drama in the seventh round when the spunky Lopez staggered Thurman and chased him all over the ring. For a moment, it appeared that the fight would be stopped.

Thurman re-grouped and won a majority decision that should have been unanimous, but Lopez came to fight and put on a good show.

In the co-feature, pudgy Adam Kownacki improved his stock enormously while delighting his partisans with a quick demolition of Gerald Washington. Kownacki’s nickname is Baby Face and it fits. As someone commented on another web site, he looks like he came off the screen of one of those “Nutty Professor” movies where an addled chemist stumbles on the formula for turning a baby into a giant.

Kownacki is rough around the edges but he’s fun to watch. He has now eliminated two of Deontay Wilder’s former opponents – Artur Szpilka and Washington – in half the time that it took Wilder. But it doesn’t bode well for him that one of the few punches that Washington landed opened a cut over his left eye. Fighters with his pale hue are thought to be especially prone to cut.

There was an upset on the undercard that attracted considerable buzz although few people actually witnessed it live as it came early on a deep card while the arena was still mostly empty. Marsellos Wilder, the younger brother of Deontay Wilder, was handily winning his 4-round bout with Nebraska journeyman William Deets when, out of the blue, Deets landed a clean three-punch combination that put Wilder on the mat. He beat the count but had trouble keeping his balance and the fight was stopped.

Marsellos can take solace in the fact that his older brother was knocked out in his amateur days and went on to make a ton of money. But there was always the nagging suspicion that the younger Wilder brother, a former Jackson State and semi-pro wide receiver, would have been better served if he had put more effort into football.

The defeat knocked Wilder off the Feb. 23 DeGale-Eubank card in London. By rule in New York, a fighter who suffers a knockout receives an indefinite suspension. Eddie Hearn, the promoter, has indicated that he will honor it.

– – –

By all indications, the fight in Houston between defending WBO 154-pound champion Jaime Munguia and challenger Takeshi Inoue was a very good fight.

The scorecards said otherwise. Munguia won every round on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. However, the theme of every ringside report, including that of TSS correspondent Kelsey McCarson, was that the perspicacious Inoue made Munguia dig deep for his bone.

We have a seen a few fights like that; competitive fights that yielded lopsided scores that were not off the mark. If a fighter wins each round by a razor-thin margin he rightfully gets credit for pitching a shutout even if the overall impression is different. We didn’t see the fight so we have no quibble with the judges, but we’re compelled to ask how the Texas Athletic Commission could have assigned three judges with Hispanic surnames to a fight in which one of the combatants was Mexican.

The co-main produced a big upset when obscure Xu Can wrested the WBA featherweight title from Jesus Rojas. Can entered the contest with a 15-2 record that included only two wins by knockout. In his lone previous engagement on U.S. soil he labored to win a split decision in an 8-round fight with a journeyman.

The presumption was that Can had no business in the same ring with Puerto Rico’s Rojas. But he out-fought the champion, winning by margins of 4, 6, and 8 points. In so doing, Can, the son of pastry chefs, became the third fighter from China to win a world title following former WBO flyweight champion Zou Shiming and former WBC minimumweight champion Xiong Chaozhong.

– – –

No details have emerged in English language papers regarding Saturday’s all-Canada showdown in Montreal between Calgary’s Steve Claggett (27-5-1) and Montreal’s Mathieu Germain (16-0). On paper the 10-round bout, contested at 140 pounds, was an evenly matched fight and it played out that way, ending in a draw (95-95, 96-94, 94-96).

On the undercard, mammoth Russian heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov, who carries 260 pounds on a 6’5 ½” frame, knocked out journeyman Jason Bergman in the opening round.

Makhmudov entered the pro ranks well-touted. “(He has) enormous size, prodigious strength, and frightening power,” wrote Matt McGrain. This was his sixth pro fight and sixth knockout. In total, he has answered the bell for only seven rounds.

When Makhmodov turned pro he relocated to Toronto to be near his friend and former amateur teammate Artur Beterbiev. As for Bergman, who also tips the scales in the 260 pound range, he brought a 27-14-2 record but had come up the ladder on the grungy West Virginia circuit.

– – –

At the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, welterweight Cletus Seldin, the Hebrew Hammer, blew away Adam Mate, knocking him down twice before the bout was halted after 48 seconds.

Mate entered the contest with a record of 28-13, but a closer inspection of his record showed that all of his wins had come in his native Hungary and that outside this pod he had been stopped nine times, five times in the very first round.

The resourceful Hungarian found an uncommon way to see the world on someone else’s dime. His itinerary has taken him to London, Edinburgh, Madrid, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, and Washington, DC, among other places. Perhaps someday he will write a book about his adventures.

We don’t begrudge him that; we wish that we had seen more of the world in our younger days. But as prizefighters go, Mate is an imposter and it’s time for him to come up with a new ruse to feed his wanderlust.

Promoters like Seldin’s promoter Joe DeGuardia are the lifeblood of the sport, but they don’t get a pass when they manufacture junk and this wasn’t the first time that DeGuardia arrived at the Mohegan Sun bearing junk. In June of last year he matched the top dog of his stable, Joe Smith Jr., against an unskilled 39-year-old Kentuckian, Melvin Russell, the self-styled Romantic Redneck. Smith took him out in the opening round.

– – –

On Saturday at a dance club in Managua, Nicaragua, Costa Rica’s Hannah Gabriels successfully defended her WBA world female super welterweight title with a unanimous 10-round decision over Australia’s Sarah Dwyer.

“Hannah lacked efficiency and precision on her punches (but) her experience allowed her to work her opponent’s body and wear her out,” wrote Laura Alvarado in the Costa Rica Star who noted that a movie about Gabriels’ life is in post-production with a scheduled release date of Feb. 28.

Gabriels improved to 19-2-1. Dwyer declined to 3-5-2 and that’s no typo.

We don’t want to belittle Gabriels accomplishments. The lady is dedicated to her craft, has paid her dues, and she can really fight. Back in June she gave young gun Claressa Shields her hardest test, knocking the two-time Olympic gold medalist down in the opening round before losing a unanimous decision. However, the fact remains that Gabriels was thrust against an opponent that had won only one-third of her nine pro fights and the shameless World Boxing Association saw fit to sanction it as a world title fight.

Sarah Dwyer wasn’t junk. You Tube snippets of her in training show a woman whose punches carry more authority than female boxers with much glossier records. But in our estimation, the belt for which she competed – indeed any item that bears the WBA logo – is just a piece of junk.

– – –

Finally, we have run out of patience awaiting results of Friday’s show in Bolivia so we will share them with you anyway although we can’t say for certain that the event actually took place.

The main go pitted Brockton, Massachusetts court officer Vinnie Carita (19-1-1, 18 KOs) against a local man, Eddy Salvatierra (21-6-2, 17 KOs). Salvatierra, like many of Carita’s former opponents, is a little long in the tooth. He is 43 years old.

In the co-main, Saul Farah (67-23-3) was pitted against a fellow Bolivian, Jorge Urquiza Anez (7-4). Farah, alias Saul Becerra Gil, weighed 264 ½ pounds in his most recent start. Although he has outgrown the division, Anez is still listed as a super welterweight on BoxRec.

By some coincidence, the promoter of this show was Carita’s father, Vincenzo Carita Sr. The matchmaker was none other than Saul Farah. Ergo, Carita and Farah were victorious. If not, we’re betting that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

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Arne K. Lang

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

3 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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Haney and Garcia: Bipolar Opposites

Published

4 days ago

April 20, 2024

TSS Press

Haney and Garcia: Bipolar Opposites

One young man flew halfway around the world to take on a world champion in his own living room; not once, but twice. The other young man quit prior to one fight, and then again during another one.

The first guy mentioned is an obedient son of an ultra-streetwise father. The type of parent where, if he doesn’t know the answer (and more times than not he most likely does), he will know where to find it. The second guy doesn’t appear to have that quality guidance scenario going on for him, which is probably for the best, because he believes he has all the answers.

The first guy is on record as saying he wants to go down in boxing history as an all-time great. The other guy? He decided not to continue in a fight while he was still sporting an undefeated record. You may think to yourself if there was ever a time to soldier through, right?

Then yesterday, that same guy missed making weight by 3.2 pounds, and seemed to be more than fine with it, to the point where he actually appeared to be quite pleased with himself.

If you haven’t heard, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia are going to share a boxing ring in a twelve round go for God knows what will be at stake by the time they actually punch off. The fact that no one from Garcia’s team has stepped in and rescued him from these unfolding events, his own personal well-being, and/or not to mention Devin Haney is, well, troubling in and of itself.

Back in the amateur days, the record shows they split six fights. They were boys back then, so it means zero. If anything, you’d want to be the older of the two, and Ryan had over a three-month age advantage. If you’ve only been on the planet for a total of 120 months or so, every extra month could be a big enough difference in strength and development. Now as world class professionals in their prime? That’s different. Younger is always better. Devin is that guy.

Haney and Garcia fought six times for free but will fight only once as professionals. Then one of them will continue with their march for historic greatness, while the other will head back to Kamp Krazy, where he’s the current Mayor.

It’s never smart to lay 8-1, 9-1 in boxing. And if you see taking Garcia as a value bet with +500 to +600 and beyond, you don’t understand value and you evidently don’t like money.

There is, however, a wagering opportunity here.

Total Rounds: Fight doesn’t go 10.5 rounds.

Take anything over +125. It’s worth a unit on a scale of 5. Logically, there are a lot of ways to cash this ticket: legitimate victory, meltdown, catching lightning in a bottle, etc. Or simply the exiting stage left of a guy who may be already plotting his next career move.

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