DIAZ (left) outlasted Robb. / Photo: Tom Casino, for Showtime
New faces Joel Diaz and Guy Robb provided the most exciting fight of the weekend in the U.S., a sizzling junior lightweight contest that swayed first one way, then the other, before Diaz’s superior punching power prevailed in a seventh-round stoppage victory.
Diaz is what the boxing trade calls a “fun” fighter. His bouts are highly entertaining and his hit-or-be-hit style has been compared to that of John Molina, the lightweight contender who has produced some big-punching performances. I can see the similarity.
Hard Rock, LAS VEGAS, Jan. 13
MARTIN'S jab was effective. / Photo: Chris Farina, Top Rank
After the rather dull year-opener main event between Dyah Davis and Alfonso Lopez, Friday Night Fights served up a scorching 10-rounder in the junior featherweight division as Teon Kennedy battled to a spirited draw against Christopher Martin.
The two last-fight losers gave their all, and no one can ask for more. I love these fights of contrasting styles. Kennedy lived up to the gutsy, hard-fighting Philadelphia tradition. He was aggressive and he was the busier man. Martin, I thought, landed most of the really solid shots. The boxer from San Diego is what old-timers would have called a cutie. He is very good at slipping, blocking and rolling away from punches. Martin did some really classy scoring as he landed punches and then pulled out of range to have Kennedy missing. Kennedy wouldn’t be denied, though, and when he got Martin on the ropes his punch-volume had to be rewarded.
Boardwalk Hall, ATLANTIC CITY, Dec. 17
WARD landed some big hooks. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Two surprisingly close scores in Andre Ward’s dominant win over Carl Froch last weekend showed yet again that you can never be sure how a judge is seeing a fight.
British judge John Keane seemed closest to reality with his score of 118-110 in favour of Ward, while judges John Stewart of New Jersey and Craig Metcalfe of Canada each had Ward winning by 115-113 — one round from a draw on each card.
WASHINGTON DC, Dec. 10
POINTS taken cost Khan the fight. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Lucky winner? Possibly — but while Lamont Peterson got the breaks in his upset win over Amir Khan on Saturday night in Washington DC he fought his heart out and put himself into a position to make the most of those breaks.
I had Khan winning the fight and I have never in many years covering this sport seen a boxer deducted points for pushing his opponent. Yet I have to say Khan had himself to blame for the loss of his 140-pound titles.
TRABZON, Turkey, Nov. 26
AYDIN landed the bigger blows. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Sometimes one punch can change the outcome of a fight, and it doesn’t have to be a knockout blow. Selcuk Aydin clinched victory over Jo Jo Dan in Saturday’s welterweight rematch when he floored his opponent with a right hand in the 11th round.
At the end of 12 hard-fought rounds, Aydin got the unanimous decision to the delight of his hometown fans in Trabzon, Turkey.
MGM Grand, LAS VEGAS, Nov. 12
GIVE AND TAKE: Pacquiao barely won. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
One felt a sense of disappointment over Manny Pacquiao’s performance against Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday night, a feeling that the Filipino superstar should have done better.
In a fight where finality was expected, a sense of closure, Pacquiao once again had to settle for a decision that divided then judges and was open to debate.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, Oct. 29
SAME STORY BUT QUICKER: Concepcion paid for being careless. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Sometimes, when a fighter gets knocked out he can make an adjustment in strategy and come back to win the return bout.
Terry Norris did this when he boxed intelligently to outscore Simon Brown in their rematch; Chiquita Gonzalez switched to a smart-boxing style when, after Michael Carbajal knocked him out in a war, he twice outpointed Carbajal in subsequent meetings.
Staples Center, LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15
FIASCO: Hopkins grimaces, the fight's over. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
FRIDAY UPDATE: The term “firestorm of controversy” comes to mind. After the big-fight fiasco involving Chad Dawson and Bernard Hopkins in Los Angeles on Saturday night the boxing world seems to be talking about little else.
One thing is becoming clear. The original verdict of a second-round TKO win for Dawson is not going stand for much longer. It seems inevitable that the California commission will shortly declare the bout to have been a “no decision”.
MGM Grand, LAS VEGAS, Oct. 1
NISHIOKA finished strongly. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
After a worryingly slow start, Japan’s Toshiaki Nishioka showed his class in winning a unanimous decision over Rafael Marquez in an excellent main event on Fox Deportes from Las Vegas on Saturday night. It was the first time a Japanese boxer has successfully defended a world title in the U.S. as Nishioka retained his 122-pound belt.
I enjoyed this fight. Marquez put up a gritty, competent challenge but Nishioka was just a bit too fast for him. Marquez’s punch-anticipation at 36 isn’t what it used to be, and he just didn’t seem to see the punches coming as Nishioka fired in sharp left hands from his southpaw stance. Marquez stood up to Nishioka’s best shots, though.
LAS VEGAS/LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17
ALVAREZ opened up in the sixth. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Referees came under fire in two big fights this weekend, Joe Cortez for his confused officiating in the bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz, of course, but also, to a lesser extent, Wayne Hedgepeth for his stoppage of the Saul Alvarez-Alfonso Gomez fight in Los Angeles.
To a lesser degree, Tony Weeks received a bit of criticism for docking Jessie Vargas a point for a low blow in the fight with Josesito Lopez.
WROCLAW, Poland, Sept. 10
KLITSCHKO'S 10th-round onslaught ended the fight. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Say what you will about the Klitschko brothers but they have faced all comers in their dominance of the heavyweight division. Although Tomasz Adamek stood no chance in Saturday’s title fight in Poland he had earned the right to be there — it was just that Vitali Klitschko was too big, too strong and too good.
I don’t know quite why Jim Lampley brought Rocky Marciano into the commentary with his suggestion that Marciano somehow fought inferior opposition, mentioning the name of Roland LaStarza.
ERFURT, Germany, Aug. 27
HELENIUS wore down a game opponent. / Photo: Team Sauerland
After the disappointment of Klitschko against Haye it was good to be reminded that the heavyweights can provide entertaining fights, with Alexander Povetkin outpointing Ruslan Chagaev and Robert Helenius stopping Siarhei Liakhovich on Saturday’s big show in Germany.
Although Povetkin won a world title, he was workmanlike rather than exciting. Helenius provided the big hitting as the 6ft 6ins “Nordic Nightmare” hammered a very tough and game Liakhovich into defeat in the ninth round.
Hard Rock hotel and casino, LAS VEGAS, Aug. 13
MARES fought well, but refereeing controversy spoiled the show. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Great fight, pity about the refereeing. Russell Mora, normally a sound official, had a bad night last night in his handling of the thrilling bantamweight title bout on Showtime that saw Abner Mares, aided by what appeared to be benevolent refereeing, defeat Joseph Agbeko by majority decision.
There was no real argument about who had scored the greater number of points. The computer statistics showed that Mares had thrown and landed more punches and landed more power punches — a “power” punch being anything other than a jab.
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico, July 30
The big hits of last weekend’s boxing, for me anyway, were Mexican female superstars Ana Maria Torres and Jackie Nava, who staged their second thrilling fight in three months. The first fight ended in a draw, but Torres won Saturday’s rematch by unanimous decision, coming on strongly in the last two rounds to put the issue beyond doubt.
Torres, 31, moved up in weight from the 115-pound division to take on the very popular 122-pounder Nava, also 31, in these much anticipated bouts.
Mandalay Bay, LAS VEGAS, July 23
KHAN ran right over Judah. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
Fans had a winner and loser in Saturday’s big fights on each side of the pond— a rousing battle for the British heavyweight title that saw underdog Tyson Fury defeat Dereck Chisora and a big-fight flop in Las Vegas as Amir Khan ran right over a confused and intimidated Zab Judah in five rounds.
As we now say, I’m taking nothing away from Khan, but Judah was a major disappointment: This was a fighter who declared himself “150% ready”; the “new” Zab Judah, he said, was a “monster”.
