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

Published

5 years ago

February 3, 2020

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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 Panama’s Jaime Arboleda (15-1, 13 KO’s) who takes on Puerto Rican veteran Jayson Velez (29-5-1, 21 KO’s) 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 5’11” 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.

Arboleda’s 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 Betancourt’s 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 Arboleda’s 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 didn’t 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 couldn’t rise to the occasion.

What I’d 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 KO’s) 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 isn’t 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 Andrade’s 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.

Charlo’s 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 can’t hurt him.

I just can’t 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, I’d 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. It’s 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 KO’s) returns to the ring after a 14-month absence to face Massachusetts invader Mark DeLuca (24-1, 13 KO’s) 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 KO’s) takes on Claudio Marrero (24-3, 17 KO’s) 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 opposition’s 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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Matt Andrzejewski

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Published

2 days ago

May 6, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.

In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.

Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.

CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.

****

Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.

Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”

And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.

Joey Archer

Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer

Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.

Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)

Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.

Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.

In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.

When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.

Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.

May he rest in peace.

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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

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Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.

The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.

The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.

Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.

Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.

A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.

In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.

Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.

In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.

Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.

Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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