Two Fascinating Tussles Gird Saturday’s Lomachenko-Haney Showdown

Published

12 months ago

May 15, 2023

Two Fascinating Tussles Gird Saturday’s Lomachenko-Haney Showdown

For all that the big fights are the ones that anchor the sport, for me it is a good undercard that makes it breathe.

It is possible to spend the early hours of the morning here in the UK waiting for Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia to appear in the ring with only a series of mismatches and minor attractions for company. Not so this weekend when two genuinely attractive undercard matches will play out while we wait for Vasyl Lomachenko and Devin Haney to reach the squared circle.

First among these is the Andrew Moloney-Junto Nakatani match at 115lbs, a contest that infers bravery in the fighters who made it happen, a genuinely fascinating fight that will be sure to tug at the thinking of Sweet Science readers. Moloney’s twin brother Jason won himself a strap in a close, strange fight this past weekend against Vincent Astrolabio, an awkward puncher from the Philippines and a difficult assignment for anyone up at bantamweight. At superfly, Andrew (25-2), out of Australia, seems to have hunted down a similarly awkward opponent in the form of a tall, Japanese southpaw puncher with a 24-0 record, for his own pursuit of alphabet riches.

Nakatani has been a joy to behold as he’s moved into the 115lb top ten (currently ranked number nine to Moloney’s eight). Boxing out of a deep stance he forgoes what is generally a height advantage at five feet seven inches and instead positions himself for maximum return on his power-punches. That aggressive gamble has bought him a knockout in 75% of his fights, including a six-fight streak that stretched from 2022 back into the last decade.

Selecting a favourite from among these is difficult, but his stoppage of Filipino tough Giemel Magramo in 2020 was perhaps the most impressive. Magramo (now 28-3) has been beaten before and since, but never has he been stopped; Nakatani lashed him apart with long straights in eight rounds. Magramo crowded him until almost the last though and Nakatani, who is perhaps hampered a little by an absence of elite handspeed, used footwork to make room for himself and balance to take advantage of punching opportunities, hitting round the corner to the body and with uppercuts to Magramo’s dipping head. Not a technician in the most meaningful sense of the word, Nakatani is technically sure and can improvise.

He impressed, too, in what was his only fight outside Japan to this date, stopping Angel Costa, once a beltholder down at 108lbs, in four rounds at the Casino Del Sol, Tucson. After that victory in defence of the 112lbs strap he won against Magramo, Nakatani boxed once more at 112lbs then left for 115lbs, running into the first man to go the distance with him in years: teak tough Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr. Amongst the most durable fighters on earth, Rodriguez provided for Nakatani something of a final engine check. The Japanese stood toe-to-toe with his opponent in the tenth and final round, all but outfighting the Mexican on the inside where Rodriguez was meant to dominate. He won every other round on my card.

There is absolutely no shame in failing to break a chin or will like that of Rodriguez, but it does bring us to the edge of Nakatani’s limitations. Rodriguez is not big at 115lbs and has a lot of wear on him and a fighter of Nakatani’s freshness and offensive capabilities may have been expected to make a dent – now we know where the outer limit lies.

What this means for Andrew Moloney is now the question to hand. Andrew is durable, without question, but has been dropped several times in his career, most notably against another tough Filipino, Richard Claveras. Claveras bothered Andrew with a volume of long uppercuts and improvised punches from that family and although Andrew won the fight clean, Nakatani is a different machine – but one who can improvise with the same sort of punch to fine effect. It was improvised straight left hands, too, that saw Andrew decked by Joshua Franco in their June 2020 contest. This was also something of a flash knockdown, but it cost Andrew a majority draw. These small vulnerabilities matter and it seems that sudden, runaway attacks might be the key to getting Andrew off his feet.

That single point difference on two scorecards earned him a rematch with Franco, resulting in 2020s most controversial result. The woeful Russell Mora decreed a phantom “accidental headbutt” early in the fight as the cause of swelling to Franco’s right eye when repeated viewings of the fight film reveal no such thing. What should have been ruled a technical knockout victory was instead rendered a No Contest despite the use of replays to aid in these decisions being in play in Nevada at the time. Andrew, rightly, was furious and the irony could not have been lost upon him when an instant replay in the third fight of this unexpected trilogy corrected a badly called knockdown in his favour. He dropped a unanimous decision.

Most notable for me in that fight was Andrew’s late collapse. While his brother Jason demonstrates elite conditioning in every fight, Andrew dropped five of the six rounds in the second half of the third Franco fight by my card and the last four rounds all went to Franco on the official scorecards. Essentially, Franco outwaited him with a compact, economic style while Andrew burned through energy moving and hitting. More recently in dominating Norbelto Jimenez, Andrew boxed in a compact, jab-heavy, aggressive style possibly designed to address these shortcomings, but such a style will also have risks against Nakatani. Likely though it is a better bet than trying to outfight the version of Nakatani that turned up in the ninth and tenth rounds of his fight with Rodriguez.

Still, I favour Nakatani. Andrew Moloney will be the best technician the Japanese has faced, but he did wreck Milan Melindo back in 2019; even a past-prime Melindo presents some of the technical challenges Moloney will muster. I look for Nakatani to take over late after a rough start and win a decision in a more violent re-run of the third Franco fight.

Of secondary interest is the rematch between the world’s number two at 130lbs, Mexican Oscar Valdez (30-1), and unranked American featherweight Adam Lopez (16-4). Normally this is not a confrontation to whet the appetite but the circumstances surrounding the first fight fascinates. Originally scheduled to fight different opponents on the 2019 undercard for the Carlos Adames-Patrick Teixeira match, both seemed to have lost out on paydays when their respective fights fell through the day before the contest – boxing’s chaotic organisation for once paid off as the two were matched against one another instead and produced fireworks.

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In a chance of a lifetime, Lopez found himself unexpectedly fighting in an alphabet eliminator and he came within seconds of winning. In the second, a technically loose Valdez put his head where it probably should not have been, and Lopez chased him with a right then lashed against his movement with a hook going the other way. Valdez was down and this was not a flash; he seemed tangled in his own limbs as he fought his way to his feet. Lopez went after his man but in a controlled fashion that I suspect he may now regret, and Valdez boxed his way steadily back into the contest over the following two rounds, before our friend Russell Mora stepped in for yet another inappropriate intervention in stopping the fight with seconds remaining in the seventh.

Lopez deserves his rematch and although Valdez will be a favourite almost as prohibitive as he was in their first fight, I will be glued to this one. Valdez hasn’t boxed a round since his April 2022 thrashing at the hands of Shakur Stevenson and hasn’t won a fight since September of 2021. If winning is a habit, Valdez is not in it, and while he has boxed with mixed fortunes, Valdez has contested eighteen rounds in that time.

These two fascinating tussles will precede the Haney-Lomachenko showdown on a night of boxing which is not to be missed.

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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

3 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

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

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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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