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Three Punch Combo: Arboleda-Velez, a Road Map for Demetrius Andrade and More

THREE PUNCH COMBO — Young power punching prospects carry a lot of intrigue in this sport. Not only are they exciting to watch but many seemingly carry raw talent that sometimes turns into greatness. On Saturday as part of the Showtime televised tripleheader from the PPL Center in Allentown, PA, we get to see such a power punching prospect in Panamaâs Jaime Arboleda (15-1, 13 KOâs) who takes on Puerto Rican veteran Jayson Velez (29-5-1, 21 KOâs) in a scheduled twelve round 130-pound contest.
Arboleda, 25, not only possesses natural raw power but has quite a bit of athleticism. He stands 5â11â which often gives him a big height advantage. As such, he has developed a very strong left jab which he likes to work behind to set up his power shots. When he does let the combinations flow, he shows off his quick hands and can let go of several shots in a row before his opponent can react.
Arboledaâs best punch is his left hook and he looks to work that punch to both the head and body. In his last fight against then 26-2 Victor Betancourt, Arboleda landed a crunching left hook to Betancourtâs body in the first round that put Betancourt down in pain and led to an early win by stoppage.
But there are also questions about him, in particular his chin. In Arboledaâs only career defeat, he suffered a devastating one punch knockout loss to journeyman Recky Dulay.
In that fight, Arboleda weighed north of 140 pounds which was easily his career high. So maybe Arboleda didnât take the fight serious and as such was lackadaisical in his preparation. We have seen prospects suffer early knockout defeats in fights in which they were ill-prepared, only to bounce back and show what they can do when properly motivated. Will this be the case for Arboleda or is he in fact chinny?
I think we will find out the answer when he faces Velez, a durable veteran who has never been stopped. Velez has heavy handed power in both fists and will be willing to press forward and take a few punches to get the opportunity to land his own clean counter shots.
Personally, I have high expectations for Arboleda and think that performance against Dulay was an aberration. On Saturday night we will almost certainly know if he is in fact the real deal or just another promising prospect who couldnât rise to the occasion.
What Iâd Like To See Next For Demetrius Andrade
Making the third defense of his WBO middleweight title, Demetrius Andrade made easy work of an overmatched Luke Keeler, stopping Keeler in the ninth round last Thursday in Miami. Many in boxing have faulted Andrade for building his undefeated record (29-0, 17 KOâs) against suspect opposition and want to see the soon-to-be 32-year-old boxer in a big fight.
Of course, not having had a big fight is not necessarily his fault. He is a slick southpaw with quick hands. He isnât easy to hit clean and he can be very quick to counter any swings and misses from his opponents. For big name fighters such as Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, he represents too high a risk with too little a reward.
During the DAZN telecast of Andradeâs defense against Keeler, Jermall Charlo was mentioned as a possible future opponent. Like Andrade, Charlo also holds a middleweight title belt. Also, like Andrade, Charlo is undefeated and seeking a big fight. Sounds like a natural match, but this is not a fight I personally want to see.
As we all know, styles make fights and frankly the styles of Andrade and Charlo would make for one extremely tactical fight. As a matter of fact, I would go as far as saying it would resemble the recent lightweight title fight between Robert Easter Jr. and Rances Barthelemy. That fight offered a cure for insomnia.
Andrade employs a cautious tactical style. He is a natural counter puncher and only takes calculated risks. I am not saying that is a bad thing but that is his style and he is not going to change what has got him to this point in his career. For example, he had Keeler hurt and down in both the first and second rounds but did not get overly aggressive seeking an early stoppage.
Charloâs style is very similar. He too is a natural counter puncher and can be content to just take what an opponent gives him. He is perhaps a little more aggressive than Andrade but only when the situation presents itself and he is confident his opponent canât hurt him.
I just canât see Andrade-Charlo playing out any way other than two cautious safety-first fighters poking and prodding at each for twelve rounds.
Instead of Charlo, Iâd like to see Andrade in with an aggressive pressure fighter. As such, the one name that makes the most sense to me is Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Derevyanchenko is, of course, coming off a hard-fought loss to Golovkin. As a matter of fact, some thought he should have gotten the decision. He is a hard-nosed pressure fighter who is not afraid to move his hands and has plenty of skill. He is going to ask questions of Andrade and force Andrade to fight. Itâs a perfect match in my opinion and I hope we see it put together later this year.
Under the Radar Fight
On Saturday at the Sheffield Arena in the United Kingdom, former welterweight champion Kell Brook (38-2, 26 KOâs) returns to the ring after a 14-month absence to face Massachusetts invader Mark DeLuca (24-1, 13 KOâs) in a contest to be broadcast in the United States on DAZN. While this intriguing contest should be fan friendly, at the very least, it is a fight on the undercard that really piques my interest.
Coming off his first career defeat when he dropped a close twelve round decision to featherweight champion Josh Warrington, Kid Galahad (26-1, 15 KOâs) takes on Claudio Marrero (24-3, 17 KOâs) in a crucial featherweight tilt. Given their respective styles, I think we see an all-action fight.
Galahad is an aggressive pressure fighter who is not afraid to mix it up. While he often starts off from a southpaw stance, he will often switch to the orthodox. Regardless, he will press forward behind the jab looking to set up power punching combinations. Galahad may not have the quickest hands but has enough power in both of his fists to garner his oppositionâs respect.
Marrero has had quite an up-and-down career but once again finds himself on the verge of a big fight after a mild upset of the up-and-coming Eduardo Ramirez in June. Similar to Galahad, Marrero is an aggressive pressure fighter by trade. He will press forward from the southpaw stance behind the right jab looking to set up his power shots. He possesses decent hand speed and heavy-handed power in both fists.
It should be noted that neither Galahad nor Marrero is noted for their defensive prowess. Given their aggressive styles with lack of attention to defense, I think this fight will end up stealing the show.
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Arneâs Almanac: The First Boxing Writers Assoc. of America Dinner Was Quite the Shindig

The first annual dinner of the Boxing Writers Association of America was staged on April 25, 1926 in the grand ballroom of New Yorkâs Hotel Astor, an edifice that rivaled the original Waldorf Astoria as the swankiest hotel in the city. Back then, the organization was known as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York.
The ballroom was configured to hold 1200 for the banquet which was reportedly oversubscribed. Among those listed as agreeing to attend were the governors of six states (New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland) and the mayors of 10 of Americaâs largest cities.
In 1926, radio was in its infancy and the digital age was decades away (and inconceivable). So, every journalist who regularly covered boxing was a newspaper and/or magazine writer, editor, or cartoonist. And at this juncture in American history, there were plenty of outlets for someone who wanted to pursue a career as a sportswriter and had the requisite skills to get hired.
The following papers were represented at the inaugural boxing writersâ dinner:
New York Times
New York News
New York World
New York Sun
New York Journal
New York Post
New York Mirror
New York Telegram
New York Graphic
New York Herald Tribune
Brooklyn Eagle
Brooklyn Times
Brooklyn Standard Union
Brooklyn Citizen
Bronx Home News
This isnât a complete list because a few of these papers, notably the New York World and the New York Journal, had strong afternoon editions that functioned as independent papers. Plus, scribes from both big national wire services (Associated Press and UPI) attended the banquet and there were undoubtedly a smattering of scribes from papers in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Back then, the eventâs organizer Nat Fleischer, sports editor of the New York Telegram and the driving force behind The Ring magazine, had little choice but to limit the journalistic component of the gathering to writers in the New York metropolitan area. There wasnât a ballroom big enough to accommodate a good-sized response if he had extended the welcome to every boxing writer in North America.
The keynote speaker at the inaugural dinner was New Yorkâs charismatic Jazz Age mayor James J. âJimmyâ Walker, architect of the transformative Walker Law of 1920 which ushered in a new era of boxing in the Empire State with a template that would guide reformers in many other jurisdictions.
Prizefighting was then associated with hooligans. In his speech, Mayor Walker promised to rid the sport of their ilk. âBoxing, as you know, is closest to my heart,â said hizzoner. âSo I tell you the police force is behind you against those who would besmirch or injure boxing. Rowdyism doesnât belong in this town or in your game.â (In 1945, Walker would be the recipient of the Edward J. Neil Memorial Award given for meritorious service to the sport. The oldest of the BWAA awards, the previous recipients were all active or former boxers. The award, no longer issued under that title, was named for an Associated Press sportswriter and war correspondent who died from shrapnel wounds covering the Spanish Civil War.)
Another speaker was well-traveled sportswriter Wilbur Wood, then affiliated with the Brooklyn Citizen. He told the assembly that the aim of the organization was two-fold: to help defend the game against its detractors and to promote harmony among the various factions.
Of course, the 1926 dinner wouldnât have been as well-attended without the entertainment. According to press dispatches, Broadway stars and performers from some of the cityâs top nightclubs would be there to regale the attendees. Among the names bandied about were vaudeville superstars Sophie Tucker and Jimmy Durante, the latter of whom would appear with his trio, Durante, (Lou) Clayton, and (Eddie) Jackson.
There was a contraction of New York newspapers during the Great Depression. Although empirical evidence is lacking, the inaugural boxing writers dinner was likely the largest of its kind. Fifteen years later, in 1941, the event drew âmore than 200â according to a news report. There was no mention of entertainment.
In 1950, for the first time, the annual dinner was opened to the public. For $25, a civilian could get a meal and mingle with some of his favorite fighters. Sugar Ray Robinson was the Edward J. Neil Award winner that year, honored for his ring exploits and for donating his purse from the Charlie Fusari fight to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.
There was no formal announcement when the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York was re-christened the Boxing Writers Association of America, but by the late 1940s reporters were referencing the annual event as simply the boxing writers dinner. By then, it had become traditional to hold the annual affair in January, a practice discontinued after 1971.
The winnowing of New Yorkâs newspaper herd plus competing banquets in other parts of the country forced Nat Fleischerâs baby to adapt. And more adaptations will be necessary in the immediate future as the future of the BWAA, as it currently exists, is threatened by new technologies. If the forthcoming BWAA dinner (April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in mid-Manhattan) were restricted to wordsmiths from the traditional print media, the gathering would be too small to cover the nut and the congregants would be drawn disproportionately from the geriatric class.
Some of those adaptations have already started. Last year, Las Vegas resident Sean Zittel, a recent UNLV graduate, had the distinction of becoming the first videographer welcomed into the BWAA. With more and more people getting their news from sound bites, rather than the written word, the videographer serves an important function.
The reporters who conducted interviews with pen and paper have gone the way of the dodo bird and that isnât necessarily a bad thing. A taped interview for a âtalkieâ has more integrity than a story culled from a paper and pen interview because it is unfiltered. Many years ago, some reporters, after interviewing the great Joe Louis, put  words in his mouth that made him seem like a dullard, words consistent with the Sambo stereotype. In other instances, the language of some athletes was reconstructed to the point where the reader would think the athlete had a second job as an English professor.
The content created by videographers is free from that bias. More of them will inevitably join the BWAA and similar organizations in the future.
Photo: Nat Fleischer is flanked by Sugar Ray Robinson and Tony Zale at the 1947 boxing writers dinner.
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Gabriela Fundora KOs Marilyn Badillo and Perez Upsets Conwell in Oceanside

It was just a numbers game for Gabriela Fundora and despite Mexicoâs Marilyn Badilloâs elusive tactics it took the champion one punch to end the fight and retain her undisputed flyweight world title by knockout on Saturday.
Will it be her last flyweight defense?
Though Fundora (16-0, 8 KOs) fired dozens of misses, a single punch found Badillo (19-1-1, 3 KOs) and ended her undefeated career and first attempt at a world title at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.
Fundora, however, proves unbeatable at flyweight.
The champion entered the arena as the headliner for the Golden Boy Promotion show and stepped through the ropes with every physical advantage possible, including power.
Mexicoâs Badillo was a midget compared to Fundora but proved to be as elusive as a butterfly in a menagerie for the first six rounds. As the six-inch taller Fundora connected on one punch for every dozen thrown, that single punch was a deadly reminder.
Badillo tried ducking low and slipping to the left while countering with slashing uppercuts, she found little success. She did find the body a solid target but the blows proved to be useless. And when Badillo clinched, that proved more erroneous as Fundora belted her rapidly during the tie-ups.
âShe was kind of doing her ducking thing,â said Fundora describing Badilloâs defensive tactics. âI just put the pressure on. It was just like a train. We didnât give her that break.â
The Mexican fighter tried valiantly with various maneuvers. None proved even slightly successful. Fundora remained poised and under control as she stalked the challenger.
In the seventh round Badillo seemed to take a stand and try to slug it out with Fundora. She quickly was lit up by rapid left crosses and down she went at 1:44 of the seventh round. The Mexican fighterâs corner wisely waved off the fight and referee Rudy Barragan stopped the fight and held the dazed Badillo upright.
Once again Fundora remained champion by knockout. The only question now is will she move up to super flyweight or bantamweight to challenge the bigger girls.
Perez Beats Conwell.
Mexicoâs Jorge âChinoâ Perez (33-4, 26 KOs) upset Charles Conwell (21-1, 15 KOs) to win by split decision after 12 rounds in their super welterweight showdown.
It was a match that paired two hard-hitting fighters whose ledgers brimmed with knockouts, but neither was able to score a knockdown against each other.
Neither fighter moved backward. It was full steam ahead with Conwell proving successful to the body and head with left hooks and Perez connecting with rights to the head and body. It was difficult to differentiate the winner.
Though Conwell seemed to be the superior defensive fighter and more accurate, two judges preferred Perezâs busier style. They gave the fight to Perez by 115-113 scores with the dissenter favoring Conwell by the same margin.
It was Conwellâs first pro loss. Maybe it will open doors for more opportunities.
Other Bouts
Tristan Kalkreuth (15-1) managed to pass a serious heat check by unanimous decision against former contender Felix Valera (24-8) after a 10-round back-and-forth heavyweight fight.
It was very close.
Kalkreuth is one of those fighters that possess all the physical tools including youth and size but never seems to be able to show it. Once again he edged past another foe but at least this time he faced an experienced fighter in Valera.
Valera had his moments especially in the middle of the 10-round fight but slowed down during the last three rounds.
One major asset for Kalkreuth was his chin. He got caught but still motored past the clever Valera. After 10 rounds two judges saw it 99-91 and one other judge 97-93 all for Kalkreuth.
Highly-rated prospect Ruslan Abdullaev (2-0) blasted past dangerous Jino Rodrigo (13- 5-2) in an eight round super lightweight fight. He nearly stopped the very tough Rodrigo in the last two rounds and won by unanimous decision.
Abdullaev is trained by Joel and Antonio Diaz in Indio.
Bakersfield prospect Joel Iriarte (7-0, 7 KOs) needed only 1:44 to knock out Puerto Ricoâs Marcos Jimenez (25-12) in a welterweight bout.
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âKrusherâ Kovalev Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his âFarewell Fightâ

At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey âKrusherâ Kovalev ranked high on everyoneâs pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old â he turned 42 earlier this month â Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.
Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.
Kovalevâs stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.
The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.
Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.
Kovalevâs days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.
That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.
Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last nightâs presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Artur Mann, a former world title challenger â he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world â was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasnât chopped liver either, and Kovalevâs stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.
In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.
Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sportâs most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.
Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey âKrusherâ Kovalev? We woudnât bet on it.
The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.
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