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Avila Perspective, Chap. 75: Oscar Valdez, Carl Frampton and Heavyweights
Two former featherweight champions — Oscar Valdez and Carl Frampton — dip their toes into the world of the 130-pound super featherweights, prizefighting’s deepest division.
Don’t get bit.
While Valdez (26-0, 20 KOs) meddles with Andres Gutierrez (38-2-1, 25 KOs) in a 10 round test, Northern Ireland’s Frampton (26-2, 15 KOs) tries out Tyler McCreary (16-0-1, 7 KOs) in another 10 rounder, both at the Cosmopolitan on Saturday in Las Vegas. It’s a roll of the dice that will be shown on ESPN+.
Frampton looks to become the first from his country to win world titles in three weight divisions. Not even the great Barry McGuigan could accomplish the feat.
Super featherweights have long been the litmus tests for those seeking greatness as multi-division winners. It’s a division where the men are separated from the boys and a single punch can wreck a career.
More than a few former greats passed through the super featherweight division to achieve greatness like Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Even today the weight class has one of the deepest rosters of fighters that have a 50-50 chance of usurping any champion at any time.
Valdez, who is moving up after spending three years and six defenses as the WBO featherweight king, feels confident in delving into the talent-rich super featherweight division. He also has a new trainer in Eddy Reynoso who helped Saul “Canelo” Alvarez jump into the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.
“Eddy has shown me a few things that will help me in the next weight division,” said Valdez while in L.A. “I know my opponent is tough, but I plan on putting on a show for the fans. This is my third camp with Eddy Reynoso, and it’s going great. This is an important first step towards another world title.”
Frampton stands as the other half of the super featherweight equation. Should he defeat the undefeated McCreary, it could more than likely lead to a showdown with Valdez early next year.
It’s a dream fight for the Irish fighter who’s very familiar with Mexican fighters. He had two classic battles with Los Angeles-based Leo Santa Cruz who won a version of the WBA super featherweight title last weekend in Las Vegas. On the same day, Nicaragua’s Rene Alvarado took the other WBA version away from Andrew “Chango” Cancio by knockout in Indio, Calif. Those are just two with titles. Several others hold super featherweight belts and all of them are equally talented and pose different obstacles like lanky southpaw Jamel Herring the WBO titlist, or Tevin Farmer the speedy IBF titlist. And then there’s Mexico’s Miguel Berchelt who many argue might be the best of them all.
It’s a loaded weight division and even the contenders pose danger like Mexico’s Andres Gutierrez who has almost as many knockouts as Valdez has wins. And he’s only 26 years old.
“I hope Valdez is prepared for a super featherweight war,” said Gutierrez who hails from Guadalajara. “I’m now training in Las Vegas with the professor, Ismael Salas, and ‘Memo’ Heredia. Boxing fans, get ready for a true Mexican-style battle.”
Frampton has no concerns about Valdez or Gutierrez. Not yet. He has his own dilemma with Toledo, Ohio’s McCreary.
McCreary knows all about Frampton.
“It’s an opportunity I couldn’t turn down, and I feel that every fight is a risk. This is one where, if anything, I would love to risk my undefeated record against a fighter like Frampton,” said McCreary. “A win here means a world title shot next.”
Frampton has world titles in the super bantamweight and featherweight divisions and seeks to be the first Irish fighter to claim three weight division world titles.
“It means the world to me to become the first,” said Frampton, 32, a native of Northern Ireland. “Nobody from my country has ever done it.”
The ultra-aggressive Irish fighter who handed Santa Cruz his first defeat, then was handed his first loss by Santa Cruz, confesses that the sport of boxing saved his life.
“I had many close friends that are dead or in prison,” said Frampton. “Boxing kept me from getting involved in the wrong direction.”
Weight has become an issue and Frampton believes this new weight class, though dangerous, presents an opportunity to not only win another world title but help him make history.
“It would give me a legacy as a three division world champion,” said Frampton.
It’s worth the risk.
“Carl Frampton and Oscar Valdez are great fighters moving into the next weight category,” said Top Rank’s Bob Arum. “Either fighter can be a great match with Shakur (Stevenson).”
Stevenson currently holds the WBO featherweight title recently vacated by Oscar Valdez.
Though Stevenson just captured the title with a decisive victory over Joet Gonzalez last month, Arum sees the former Olympian moving up quickly to grab another division world title. He also envisions more co-promotions with Golden Boy Promotions who promoted Gonzalez and also Lamont Roach who was recently paired against Herring.
“The more we can do that stuff, the better,” said Arum.
Heavyweights
WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder’s electrifying knockout over Luis Ortiz last weekend in Las Vegas opens the door for a return showdown with Tyson Fury. It’s slated for February 2020.
Wilder is promoted by Premier Boxing Champions and will be facing Top Rank’s Fury early next year in Las Vegas.
Top Rank and PBC normally do not mix together, but in this instance, as proven a year ago, money talks, or better still Wilder wanted the match and Wilder will get the match again.
Wilder is the big wild card in the heavyweight division. He can be matched against any of the other heavyweights and a knockout will be expected – whether it is him or the other guy. Fans simply love knockouts. If you were to survey 100 boxing fans more than 90 percent would confess to liking wins decided by a knockout over a decision. That’s Wilder’s calling card.
“I’m a knock Fury out,” said Wilder following his knockout win of Ortiz. “I’m the hardest hitting man, most devastating puncher in the history of boxing.”
That’s impossible to prove but he very well could be today’s most powerful punching heavyweight. No doubt about it.
A match between Wilder and Fury could be the opening of a relationship between PBC and Top Rank. That could set the table for a future match between Terence Crawford and any of the many welterweights in the PBC kingdom like Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr. if he can recover from his recent injuries from a car accident. That indeed would make Wilder a man of influence.
Next week another heavyweight world title clash takes place when Chicano heavyweight Andy Ruiz puts the WBA, WBO and IBF titles up for grab when he faces former champion Anthony Joshua in a rematch. It happens next Saturday, Dec. 7, in Saudi Arabia.
If Ruiz wins again, then it’s almost guaranteed that he would fight the winner of Wilder-Fury later in 2020. Both fight under PBC. If Joshua wins, a fight could be made but it’s not a guarantee.
Wilder is holding all the cards now. He’s got a full house but is looking for the Royal Flush.
Fights to Watch
Sat. Nov. 30 DAZN 11 a.m. Cecilia Braekhus (35-0) vs Victoria Bustos (19-5); Radzhab Butaev (12-0) vs Alexander Besputin (13-0)
Sat. Nov.30 ESPN+ 7 p.m. Oscar Valdez (26-0) vs Andres Gutierrez (38-2-1); Carl Frampton (26-2) vs Tyler McCreary (16-0-1); Carlos Adames (18-0) vs Patrick Teixiera (30-1).
Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel
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Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
There’s not much happening on the boxing front this month. That’s consistent with the historical pattern.
Fight promoters of yesteryear tended to pull back after the Christmas and New Year holidays on the assumption that fight fans had less discretionary income at their disposal. Weather was a contributing factor. In olden days, more boxing cards were staged outdoors and the most attractive match-ups tended to be summertime events.
There were exceptions, of course. On Jan. 17, 1941, an SRO crowd of 23,180 filled Madison Square Garden to the rafters to witness the welterweight title fight between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. (This was the third Madison Square Garden, situated at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, roughly 17 blocks north of the current Garden which sits atop Pennsylvania Station. The first two arenas to take this name were situated farther south adjacent to Madison Square Park).
This was a rematch. They had fought here in October of the previous year. In a shocker, Zivic won a 15-round decision. The fight was close on the scorecards. Referee Arthur Donovan and one of the judges had it even after 14 rounds, but Zivic had won his rounds more decisively and he punctuated his well-earned triumph by knocking Armstrong face-first to the canvas as the final bell sounded.
This was a huge upset.
Armstrong had a rocky beginning to his pro career, but he came on like gangbusters after trainer/manager Eddie Mead acquired his contract with backing from Broadway and Hollywood star Al Jolson. Heading into his first match with Zivic – the nineteenth defense of the title he won from Barney Ross – Hammerin’ Henry had suffered only one defeat in his previous 60 fights, that coming in his second meeting with Lou Ambers, a controversial decision.
Shirley Povich, the nationally-known sports columnist for the Washington Post, conducted an informal survey of boxing insiders and found only person who gave Zivic a chance. The dissident was Chris Dundee (then far more well-known than his younger brother Angelo). “Zivic knows all the tricks,” said Dundee. “He’ll butt Armstrong with his head, gouge him with his thumbs and hit him just as low as Armstrong [who had five points deducted for low blows in his bout with Ambers].”
Indeed, Pittsburgh’s Ferdinand “Fritzie” Zivic, the youngest and best of five fighting sons of a Croatian immigrant steelworker (Fritzie’s two oldest brothers represented the U.S. at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics) would attract a cult following because of his facility for bending the rules. It would be said that no one was more adept at using his thumbs to blind an opponent or using the laces of his gloves as an anti-coagulant, undoing the work of a fighter’s cut man.
Although it was generally understood that at age 28 his best days were behind him, Henry Armstrong was chalked the favorite in the rematch (albeit a very short favorite) a tribute to his body of work. Although he had mastered Armstrong in their first encounter, most boxing insiders considered Fritzie little more than a high-class journeyman and he hadn’t looked sharp in his most recent fight, a 10-round non-title affair with lightweight champion Lew Jenkins who had the best of it in the eyes of most observers although the match was declared a draw.
The Jan. 17 rematch was a one-sided affair. Veteran New York Times scribe James P. Dawson gave Armstrong only two rounds before referee Donovan pulled the plug at the 52-second mark of the twelfth round. Armstrong, boxing’s great perpetual motion machine, a world title-holder in three weight classes, repaired to his dressing room bleeding from his nose and his mouth and with both eyes swollen nearly shut. But his effort could not have been more courageous.
At the conclusion of the 10th frame, Donovan went to Armstrong’s corner and said something to the effect, “you will have to show me something, Henry, or I will have to stop it.” What followed was Armstrong’s best round.
“[Armstrong] pulled the crowd to its feet in as glorious a rally as this observer has seen in twenty-five years of attendance at these ring battles,” wrote Dawson. But Armstrong, who had been stopped only once previously, that coming in his pro debut, had punched himself out and had nothing left.
Armstrong retired after this fight, siting his worsening eyesight, but he returned in the summer of the following year, soldiering on for 46 more fights, winning 37 to finish 149-21-10. During this run, he was reacquainted with Fritzie Zivic. Their third encounter was fought in San Francisco before a near-capacity crowd of 8,000 at the Civic Auditorium and Armstrong got his revenge, setting the pace and working the body effectively to win a 10-round decision. By then the welterweight title had passed into the hands of Freddie Cochran.
Hammerin’ Henry (aka Homicide Hank) Armstrong was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990. Fritzie Zivic followed him into the Hall three years later.
Active from 1931 to 1949, Zivic lost 65 of his 231 fights – the most of anyone in the Hall of Fame, a dubious distinction – but there was yet little controversy when he was named to the Canastota shrine because one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who had fought a tougher schedule. Aside from Armstrong and Jenkins, he had four fights with Jake LaMotta, four with Kid Azteca, three with Charley Burley, two with Sugar Ray Robinson, two with Beau Jack, and singles with the likes of Billy Conn, Lou Ambers, and Bob Montgomery. Of the aforementioned, only Azteca, in their final meeting in Mexico City, and Sugar Ray, in their second encounter, were able to win inside the distance.
By the way, it has been written that no event of any kind at any of the four Madison Square Gardens ever drew a larger crowd than the crowd that turned out on Jan. 17, 1941, to see the rematch between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. Needless to say, prizefighting was big in those days.
A recognized authority on the history of prizefighting and the history of American sports gambling, TSS editor-in-chief Arne K. Lang is the author of five books including “Prizefighting: An American History,” released by McFarland in 2008 and re-released in a paperback edition in 2020.
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Jai Opetaia Brutally KOs David Nyika, Cementing his Status as the World’s Top Cruiserweight
In his fifth title defense, lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) successfully defended his belt with a brutal fourth-round stoppage of former sparring partner David Nyika. The bout was contested in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia where Opetaia won the IBF title in 2022 with a hard-earned decision over Maris Briedis with Nyika on the undercard. Both fighters reside in the general area although Nyika, a former Olympic bronze medalist, hails from New Zealand.
The six-foot-six Nyika, who was undefeated in 10 pro fights with nine KOs, wasn’t afraid to mix it up with Opetaia although had never fought beyond five rounds and took the fight on three weeks’ notice when obscure German campaigner Huseyin Cinkara suffered an ankle injury in training and had to pull out. He wobbled Opetaia in the second round in a fight that was an entertaining slugfest for as long as it lasted.
In round four, the champion but Nyika on the canvas with his patented right uppercut and then finished matters moments later with a combination climaxed with an explosive left hand. Nyika was unconscious before he hit the mat.
Opetaia’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants Opetaia to unify the title and then pursue a match with Oleksandr Usyk. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter, holds the WBA and WBO versions of the title and is expected to be Opetaia’s next opponent. The WBC diadem is in the hands of grizzled Badou Jack.
Other Fights of Note
Brisbane heavyweight Justis Huni (12-0, 7 KOs) wacked out overmatched South African import Shaun Potgieter (10-2), ending the contest at the 33-second mark of the second round. The 25-year-old, six-foot-four Huni turned pro in 2020 after losing a 3-round decision to two-time Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov. There’s talk of matching him with England’s 20-year-old sensation Moses Itauma which would be a delicious pairing.
Eddie Hearn’s newest signee Teremoana Junior won his match even quicker, needing less than a minute to dismiss Osasu Otobo, a German heavyweight of Nigerian descent.
The six-foot-six Teremoana, who akin to Huni hails from Brisbane and turned pro after losing to the formidable Jalolov, has won all six of his pro fights by knockout while answering the bell for only eight rounds. He has an interesting lineage; his father is from the Cook Islands.
Rising 20-year-old Max “Money” McIntyre, a six-foot-three super middleweight, scored three knockdowns en route to a sixth-round stoppage of Abdulselam Saman, advancing his record to 7-0 (6 KOs). As one can surmise, McIntyre is a big fan of Floyd Mayweather.
The Opetaia-Nyika fight card aired on DAZN pay-per-view (39.99) in the Antipodes and just plain DAZN elsewhere.
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R.I.P. Paul Bamba (1989-2024): The Story Behind the Story
Paul Bamba, a cruiserweight, passed away at age 35 on Dec. 27 six days after defeating Rogelio Medina before a few hundred fans on a boxing card at a performing arts center in Carteret, New Jersey. No cause of death has been forthcoming, leading to rampant speculation. Was it suicide, or perhaps a brain injury, and if the latter was it triggered by a pre-existing condition?
Fuel for the latter comes in the form of a letter that surfaced after his death. Dated July 25, 2023, it was written by Dr. Alina Sharinn, a board-certified neurologist licensed in New York and Florida.
“Mr. Bamba has suffered a concussion and an episode of traumatic diplopia within the past year and now presents with increasing headaches. His MRI of the brain revealed white matter changes in both frontal lobes,” wrote Bamba’s doctor.
Her recommendation was that he stop boxing temporarily while also avoiding any other activity at which he was at risk of head trauma.
Dr. Sherinn’s letter was written three months after Bamba was defeated by Chris Avila in a 4-round contest in New Orleans. He lost all four rounds on all three scorecards, reducing his record to 5-3.
Bamba took a break from boxing after fighting Avila. Eight months would elapse before he returned to the ring. His next four fights were in Santa Marta, Colombia, against opponents who were collectively 4-23 at the time that he fought them. The most experienced of the quartet, Victor Coronado, was 38 years old.
He won all four inside the distance and ten more knockouts would follow, the last against Medina in a bout sanctioned by the World Boxing Association for the WBA Gold title. As widely reported, the stoppage, his 14th, broke Mike Tyson’s record for the most consecutive knockouts within a calendar year. That would have been a nice feather in his cap if only it were true.
Born in Puerto Rico, Paul Bamba was a former U.S. Marine who spent time in Iraq as an infantry machine gunner. In interviews on social media platforms, he is well-spoken and introspective without a trace of the boastfulness that many prizefighters exhibit when talking to an outsider. Interviewed in a corridor of the arena after stopping Medina, he was almost apologetic, acknowledging that he still had a lot to learn.
His life story is inspirational.
His early years were spent in foster homes. He was homeless for a time after returning to civilian life. Speaking with Boxing Scene’s Lucas Ketelle, Bamba said, “I didn’t have any direction after leaving the Marine corps. I hit rock bottom, couldn’t afford a place to stay…I was renting a mattress that was shoved behind someone’s sofa.”
He turned his life around when he ventured into the Morris Park Boxing Gym in the Bronx where he learned the rudiments of boxing under the tutelage of former WBA welterweight champion Aaron “Superman” Davis. “I love boxing,” he would say. “The confidence it gives you permeates into other aspects of your life.”
Bamba’s newfound confidence allowed him to carve out a successful career as a personal trainer. His most famous client was the Grammy Award winning R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo who signed Bamba to his new sports management company late in the boxer’s Knockout skein. Bamba was with Ne-Yo in Atlanta when he passed away. Ne-Yo broke the news on his Instagram platform.
Paul Bamba had been pursuing a fight with Jake Paul. Winning the WBA Gold belt opened up other potentially lucrative options. In theory, the holder of the belt is one step removed from a world title fight. Next comes an eliminator and, if he wins that one, a true title fight attached to a hefty purse will follow…in theory.
Rogelio “Porky” Medina, who brought a 42-10 record, had competed against some top-shelf guys, e.g., Zurdo Ramirez, Badou Jack, James DeGale, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant; going the distance with DeGale and Plant. However, only two of his 42 wins had come in fights outside Mexico, at age 36 he was over the hill, and his best work had come as a super middleweight.
Thirteen months ago, Medina carried 168 ½ pounds for a match in New Zealand in which he was knocked out in the first round. He came in more than 30 pounds heavier, specifically 202 ¼, for his match with Paul Bamba. In between, he knocked out a 54-year-old man in Guadalajara to infuse his ledger with a little brighter sheen.
Why did the WBA see fit to sanction the Bamba-Medina match as a title fight? That’s a rhetorical question. And for the record, the record for the most consecutive knockouts within a calendar year wasn’t previously held by Mike Tyson. LaMar Clark, a heavyweight from Cedar City, Utah, scored 29 consecutive knockouts in 1958 after opening the year by winning a 6-round decision. (If you are inclined to believe that all or most of those knockouts were legitimate, then perhaps I can interest you in buying the Brooklyn Bridge.)
Clark was being primped for a fight with a good purse which came when he was dispatched to Louisville to fight a fellow who was fairly new to the professional boxing scene, a former U.S. Olympian then known as Cassius Clay who knocked him out in the second round in what proved to be Clark’s final fight.
Paul Bamba was a much better fighter than LaMar Clark, of that I am quite certain. However, if Paul Bamba had gone on to meet one of the world’s elite cruiserweights, a similar outcome would have undoubtedly ensued.
One can summon up the Bamba-Medina fight on the internet although the video isn’t great – it was obviously filmed on a smart phone – and pieces of it are missing. Bamba was winning with his higher workrate when Medina took his unexpected leave, but one doesn’t have to be a boxing savant to see that Paul’s hand and foot speed were slow and that there were big holes in his defense.
This isn’t meant to be a knock on the decedent. Being able to box even four rounds at a fast clip and still be fresh is one of the most underrated achievements in all of human endurance sports. Bamba’s life story is indeed inspirational. When he talked about the importance of “giving back,” he was sincere. In an early interview, he mentioned having helped out at a Harlem food pantry.
Paul Bamba had to die to become well-known within the fight fraternity, let alone in the larger society. One hopes that his death will inspire the sport’s regulators to be more vigilant in assaying a boxer’s medical history and, if somehow his untimely death leads to the dissolution of the fetid World Boxing Association, his legacy would be even greater.
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