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Khan Gets Stoppage Win Over Underwhelming Judah…WOODS

Published

13 years ago

July 24, 2011

KhanJudahFinalLVPC_Hogan19 You can be a changed man, a better man, outside the ring. You can be aided by the structure of the church, of a support system. You are the support system in the ring. In the ring, you are on an island, surround by snakes and spiders, and if the fangs and venom creeped you out before, chances are, that won't change. Usually, you are what you were.

He was supposed to be a changed man, a person who had found God, and found himself. Zab Judah, at 33, had matured and left his bad boy antics in Brooklyn, we've been told. That may all be so, but it can be argued that it's easier to change your stripes in the real world, than it is in the boxing ring.

At 2:47 of round five, Judah, who fired off a paltry 25 or so punches a round, was counted out from a borderline body shot from Amir Kahn in the main event which unfolded at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and on HBO, on Saturday evening. The low-ish blow was a right uppercut, on the belt, for the record.

Judah looked to be trying to play the punch off as a low blow, but the ref would have none of it, and counted to ten. Judah had looked like the old Judah, the one who didn't win the big ones, as Khan piled up a 61-20 edge in punches landed.

Khan said he got caught with a couple hard shots when talking to Max Kellerman after. He said if he took more risks, he maybe could've kayoed Zab early. Khan also said he thinks Tim Bradley is scared of him. Judah said he started slowly, but was getting untracked. He cited the head butt, said the fans around the world saw that the blow was clearly low, and thought the ref was giving him time to recover, not counting him out. “It's self explanatory baby,” he said, indicating that the punch was obviously low, before remembering to be Godly.

Indeed it is self explanatory, sir…

The WBA junior welterweight champion Khan (from England; age 24; 25-1; 5-7) weighed 140 pounds on Friday, while the IBF champ Judah (from Brooklyn, lives in Las Vegas; age 33; 41-6 entering; 5-10) was also 140 on Friday. Vic Drakulich was the ref in a fight in which Khan came in a 4-1 favorite.

In the first, both men looked to establish the jab. There was a clash of heads, but no cut. Judah sought to land a counter left and hook. Khan was the busier man.

In the second, Amir was the aggressor. He pushed the action, though Judah did slip effectively much of the time. Judah had landed six punches in total after two, according to CompuBox.

In the third, Judah still wasn't being busy enough. Was he not able to figure out the timing to counter Khan? Trainer Pernell Whitaker told Zab to get busier, put some combos together, after the round.

In the fourth, we saw Zab duck and slip smartly, but neglect to come back with his own offense. Khan was in total control, and looked to be in prime form.

In the fifth, Judah picked it up some. He wanted to land uppercuts. Didn't happen. Zab's nose was bleeding. Judah went down, from what he indicated was a low blow, and was counted out.

Check back for David Avila's ringside report.

Follow Woods on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/#!/Woodsy1069

SPEEDBAG Michael Buffer paid respect to promoter Butch Lewis, who helped guide Michael and Leon Spinks to professional prominence, and ex MGM executive Terry Lanni, who died on Saturday morning, and Thursday, respectively.

—Joe Calzaghe was present in the Khan entourage in the ring before the first bell.

—Viewers saw a snippet of 23-year-old featherweight Gary Russell's win over (Not The) Eric Estrada, and from what I saw, good golly, I'd very much like to see him fight a whole fight on HBO.

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Michael Woods

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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