28 August In a somewhat dull 12 round WBC CA Featherweight bout, limited Edgar Barcenas got the decision win over equally limited Ubaldo Hernandez. The fight was competitive because both match up well skill wise, and neither packs a punch. But competitive doesn't = entertaining and the fight was a disappointment. These two late last year had a good tussle against each other - gaining honors for fight of the year award in Mexico City. Expectations were high for another barnburner but neither could produce tonight. Fortunately for Barcenas he wasn't trying to defend his title against some of the other feathers on the undercard. Impressive Cesar Figueroa showed excellent skills and a determined attitude (this was lacking in his earlier fights) to finaly stop tough Antonio Herrera at 1:48 of the 8th in a scheduled 10. Figueroa is very talented and has excellent control in the ring. What's missing is one-punch KO power and if he had that then he'd soon be a world champion. Even so, I think this fighter will rise to a high level in the featherweight ranks. A fighter that does have one-punch power is rising feather Ernesto Fuentes , who dropped Andres Tello with a perfectly timed uppercut in the 4th of a planned 8 round feather bout. Tello beat the count and should have been able to continue but the ref called a halt. Fuentes has quick hands and can deliver the KO punch but has to develope his footwork and defense. That said, Fuentes has now KO'd in impressive fashion his last 3 opponents and looks to make a US debut in the next 2 months. Tonight was his 1st 8 rounder and his record goes to 8-1-1(5). Also, an exciting female match with two talented young ladies had the crowd on their feet. Both Andrea Benitez and Adrianna Chamosa know how to box and they both ended the bloody 4 round mini-fly bout with cheers for the fans. Benitez, a left-hander, won the decision. And, 4 rounds bantam - Elias Luna W4 Mario Rodrigues. Throw out the main event and it was an excellent card tonight at the Arena Mexico.
28 August Reports out of CD. Juarez are that Jesus Chavez dominated Armando Bosques prior to stopping him in the 4th round last night. Also, Juan Carlos "Ranchero" Ramirez won the MX. Featherweight belt by decision over Hector Marquez. Ramirez is the tough fighter who gave a good effort against WBC Champ Erik Morales a few months back until getting stopped in the 9th. Flyweight Gerson Guerrero won via stoppage on cuts over Diego Andrade. An attractive matchup in the bantamweight class has been announced for Sept. 25th at the Arena Mexico featuring hard-punching Cuauhtemoc "Famosito" Gomez and Gerardo Martinez . Both are top ten world ranked bantams. Martinez better shore up his defensive skills quickly or he's going to be on the recieving end of Gomez' power shots. And in the past he hasn't taken too well a punch as evidenced by his KO loss to my favorite (below) .500 fighter Saul "Hard Luck" Briseno . And speaking of good .500 fighters, Emmanuel Burton goes against sometimes hot Antonio Diaz on Sept. 17 in Vegas. PS. A reminder that we've got a special price on BOXING GLOVES through Sept. 5th. See below.
26 August Tomorrow night at the Arena Mexico Edgar Barcenas and Ubaldo Hernandez battle for the WBC Continental Americas Feather Title, currently held by Barcenas. This will be the 3rd matchup for these two fighters. Their first ended in a draw, Hernandez got stopped on cuts in the 8th round of the second bout. Both fighters were on the canvas in the second clash and I expect tomorrows bout will be more of the same. On the undercard feather Ernesto Fuentes moves up to 8 rounds vs. left-handed Andres Tello , who had a nice win a few months back against house fighter Miguel Gaspar. Fuentes is now 7-1-1(5) and looks to have a promising future.
ONE WEEK ONLY (UNTIL SEPTEMBER 5TH) WE ARE PROMOTING A SPECIAL PRICE ON 16oz. TRAINING GLOVES OF $59/PAIR. REGULAR PRICE IS $74/PAIR. IF YOU NEED SOME QUALITY GLOVES THIS IS A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A PURCHASE. SEND ME AN EMAIL FOR YOUR SPECIAL ORDERING CODE. BOXING CLASSICS WORLDWIDE.
21 August "Hijo de tu puta madre" Translation: I just got the shit kicked out of me. Thats got to be what Miguel Angel Gonzalez is saying right now after being savagely beaten by Konstya Tszyu tonight. So much for my theory of Mago coming into the fight with a game plan and sticking to it. He did nothing except repeatedly take hard shots from Tszyu. Numerous fouls on Mago's part early (blatent headbutts, shoulder jabs, and low blows) aroused the bad karma of the Gods and Mago paid the price. Question: Did DK slip Mago a Mickey before the fight?? I don't think we'll ever see Miguel Angel Gonzalez in the ring again after tonights beating. The corner threw in the towel early in the 10th to stop massacre. As for Tszyu, he looked strong and confident. It was an easy fight for him tonight. Concerning the undercard, it wasn't much - Adan Vargas stopped an old Roldolpho Blanco with what is becoming his signature punch - a solid shot to the solerplexes. Joel Cassamayor had a gift opponent in Eduardo Valenzuela, stopping him in two.
21 August My favorite (below) .500 fighter, Saul "Hard Luck" Briseno come up on the short end of the stick once again tonight againt Francisco Mateos . Very competitive bantamweight bout with the shorter Mateos answering each charge by Briseno. Lots of give and take and both fighters landed solid throughout although there were no knockdowns. Mateos wins a 10 round split decision (and earned it). Briseno now 9-11-1(9) and Mateos improves to 14-2-2(10). Mateos has a knockout win over Forum poster boy Raul Marquez , younger brother of Juan Manuel Marquez . Also, Alejando Estrada continues to feed at the buffet of bums, tonight knocking out flyweight Julio Cesar Garcia. The fight was in Alejandro's natural weight of 118lbs. and scheduled (very optimistically) for 10 rounds. Female fighter Marianna Juarez looked very impressive in stopping tough Gloria Rios in the 3rd round of a 4 round flyweight clash. 6rds lightweight - Julio Gamez W6 Jorge Luis Lopez. 4rds featherweight - Isaac Chavarria Wtko2 Ricardo Martinez. Feather prospect Ernesto Fuentes has his first 8 round fight delayed until next Saturday.
21 August Tony "El Toro" Ayala Jr. successfully returned to the ring last night before an enthusiatic crowd of 10,500 in his hometown of San Antonio. Ayala stopped Manuel Esparza in the 3rd. James Leija won a 10 round decision over Verdell Smith in the S. Light division. And in a bloody middleweight clash, James Coker stopped Mx. middle champ Lalo Gutierrez in the 8th round.
Tonights long awaited clash between Miguel Angel Gonzalez and Konsta Tszyu will, I'm afraid, prove to be somthing of a bore and not the fireworks some are expecting. Mago has not fought since his draw with Chavez in '98. He'll be rusty, and he never has been an emotional fighter. Mago is an intellegent boxer who enters with a game plan and sticks to it - and that game plan is to box, use his jab, and avoid punishment. Tszyu can certainly dish out the punishment so I expect Mago will be on his bicycle. Prediction: Tszyu by decision and the efforts of both fighters will be roundly criticized. Fighters.com is reporting that Paulie Ayala's bout against #1 ranked WBA Sahoiu Sithchai, originally to take place on Sept. 25th, has now been pushed back to late October.
18 August Former wbo 140lbs. Champion Carlos "Bolillo" Gonzalez , who got whacked in one round last May by Randell Bailey , is to fight Sept. 25 vs Cosme Rivera in Las Vegas. Rivera is a well-conditioned, but light punching boxer from Sinoloa who recently had a big upset win over highly regarded Hector Quiroz . Also scheduled on the show is long time MX. Welter Champion Marco Antonio Lizarraga versus a revived David Kamau . He's revived because he was in danger of falling into "opponent-status", but had a recent win over Forum Boxing Tournament winner Edgar Ruiz . After his draw with Danny Romero , who posted a win last week over Chucky Gutierrez, Enrique Jupiter returns to action Monday night against Agapito Sanchez . Plus, brother of Juan Manuel Marquez - the man princess naseem fears - Rafeal Marquez will take on Adrian Ochoa 25-12-4(12) of Argentina. This is a Forum Boxing promotion shown on FOX. Be alert for the propaganda from the commentary team of Morrata and Kelly . They do a fine job but sometimes go over the top. Case in point Rafeal Marquez was knocked out with a body shot against Francisco Mateos last May in Mexico City. Oops!! Better return to LA where we have better control of our opponents. Speaking of Mateos, he is now headlining this Saturday's Arena Mexico card against hard-luck Saul Briseno. Briseno is the guy who KO'd #3 WBC bantam Gerardo Martinez and twice beat Jose Luis Bueno only to be robbed by the judges. And he recently schooled Oscar Larios for 8 out of 10 rounds but again got screwed by the judges. Briseno might be the best .500 out there next to Emmanual Burton .
17 August Reported news from the local papers: Ricardo Lopez vs Will Grisby is no longer happening. Lopez has been replaced by Rosendo Alvarez of Nicaragua. Lopez is now rumored to be fighting Michael Carbajol , which puts the Arci-Carbajol rematch on the back burner for now. Also reports that Goyo Vargas has secured a date with IBF 130lbs. Champion Roberto Garcia to challenge for his belt. If this is true then Garcia was foolish not to take the $400,000 he was to get for fighting Derrick "Smoke" Gainer a few months back. I'm sure he won't be getting that kind of money to defend against Goyo, and I think he'll also lose his title as well. This Saturday's scheduled matchup at the Arena Mexico has run into difficulties as the main event of Eduardo "Vampiro" Gomez vs Fili Balderas has to be changed because Vampiro is suffering from a head cold. Vampiro also suffers from an extremely fragile chin, but at least this weekend it won't be put to the test. No replacement as of yet. Friday in San Antonio, TX. Tony "El Torito" Ayala Jr. makes his comeback after 16+ years being locked up. Designated fall guy is non-entity Manuel Esparza of Oklahoma. The venue, Freeman Coliseum, can hold a maximum of 7,500 for a boxing event and is reportedly sold out. Pedro at fighters.com erroniously put capacity at 14,000. Nope.
14 August Jorge Lacierva made a nice run at Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson's IBF SuperFly Title last night on ESPN2 but ultimately came up short as the fight was stopped in the 9th due to an earlier cut Lacierva received. With this showing, as predicted in my earlier posts, Lacierva's stock is sure to rise and he'll be looking forward to another title shot in the near future.
Reports are that Jesus "El Matador" Chavez has inked a 3 fight deal with Promociones Del Pueblo of Cd. Juarez and will make his first appearance August 27 against Armando Bosques . Chavez is the #1 ranked WBC S. Featherweight who cannot enter the US dues to Visa problems to fight Champion Floyd Mayweather . Bosques is listed at 13-5-2(11) with decision loses to Arnulfo Castillo and Antonio Hernandez . So he's gone the distance with some quality fighters and I expect the fight will not be a cakewalk for the always well conditioned Chavez.
Results 14 August - Boxing returned to the Arena Mexico after a few weeks absence and IT almost happened again. IT is when a young, undefeated prospect from another part of Mexico arrives in the capital with a perfect record and leaves with a loss. In tonights case it was Omar Bernal of Sinaloa who escaped with a draw vs. Mexico City lightweight Vincente Silva . Silva fed Bernal a steady diet of jabs, mixed with solid defense, to put the blemish on Bernal's perfect record (announced as 15-0). A late rally in the 9th and 10th evened up the scores for Bernal. Also, an ugly 10 round flyweight main event was stopped in the 5th after Augustin Luna , badly cut by two headbutts, was deemed unable to continue. As is the tradition in Mexico, Luna gets the DQ victory over the aggressive and dirty Armando Correa . 4rds feather - Martin Honorio W4 Marco Antonio Monroy. 4rds feather - Ramundo Rojas Wtko4 Adrian Pacheco. 4rds fly - Mario Perez Wmaj4 Johnny Gonzalez.
10 August WBA Bantamweight Champ Paulie Ayala is to make his first defense of the title he won from Johnny Tapia against the #1 ranked, but unknown, WBA Contender Sahoiu Sithchai Condo of Thailand on Sept. 25th. Thai fighters are impossible to beat in Thailand, but when they travel things even out. A nice turnout (6000+) will be on-hand in Ayala's hometown of Ft. Worth to see a successfull first defence. Also appearing will be light-hitting jr. Welter Cory Spinks against an opponent to be named.
Surprised to see Danny Romero returns against a southpaw in Martin Felix this Saturday night as Romero had tons of trouble in his last fight with Enrique Jupiter when Jupiter was fighting left. Maybe Romero is thinking about a possible matchup with another left-hander: Paulie Ayala. Felix, who normally fights at 108-112 will have to put on alot of weight for this fight. Don't see Romero having too many problems.
Jesse James Leija rounds out the fraud on August 20 going against Verdell Smith of Oklahoma. The headline fraud is the return of Tony Ayala Jr. against non-entity Manuel Esparza , also of Oklahoma. Texas vs Oklahoma? Unlike the early '90's when I was at UT, I think Texas actually has a chance to win this little event. Maybe James Coker can save the show vs decent Eduardo Gutierrez , the only real fight on the card. Rest assured the best fights of the night will come from the stands, which were a trademark of Tony's early career.
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9 August This Friday the 13th on ESPN2 Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson is featured in what is expected to be an easy showcase fight to get him some much need exposure. But in facing the talented Mexican SuperFly Jorge Lacierva 14-2-3(11), someone needs to tell Johnson he's in for a real fight. Lacierva has very good instincts in the ring and possesses a decent punch. Had Lacierva followed my advice and not traveled to the US 3 weeks ago for training (thus disrupting his regular schedule and working-out in unfamiliar surroundings) I was going to give him a 40% chance of pulling off the upset. As it now stands, I'll give him a less than 10% chance. But you will get to see a solid fight between two solid fighters that know their craft. Prediction: Johnson by decision over Lacierva.
On Sat. the 14th HBO brings us a potentially great matchup between Angel Manfreddy and Stevie Johnston. I say potentially because if Manfreddy doesn't press the action and make it an entertaining fight there's no chance that Johnston will. He's always content to fight at the level of his opponent, for better or worse. I ran into former WBC Lightweight Champ Cesar Bazan (who's had two tussles with Johnston for the title 1 - 1) and he's predicting a Manfreddy victory. My prediction: Manfreddy will get off the canvas early and go on to victory by decision.
7 August Reports on fightnews.com (THE BEST SOURCE FOR GETTING RESULTS QUICK) are that Brazilian Acelino Frietas destroyed WBO Jr. Lightweight Champion Anatoly Alexandrov in the 1st round with a vicious Knockout. Frietas now 21-0(20). I had the chance to see Frietas fight three times back in '97 during the Boxino tournament promoted by Art Pelulo. Frietas was an impressive and very well built but sometimes looked off balance going for the homerun punch with each throw. I guess tonight he connected Mark McGuire style. Keep your eyes open for this action fighter with a big punch. He's handled by Ricardo Maldonado, who also guides Mexican S. Bantam Marco Antonio Barrera. Tonight Barrera won a decision over Pastor Maurin and hopefully things will soon be in place for the Barrera vs. Morales showdown. Probably the first part of '00.
In a wildly optimistic (and most likely unrealistic) press conference in Mexico City, a new promotions group - Bravadi - is planning an opening show in late October featuring Jesus "El Matador" Chavez vs Angel Vazquez of Puerto Rico. I say unrealistic because Vazquez doesn't have a solid history of being in the fights he's scheduled to be in and I doubt he'll want to travel to Mexico City. But even more sensational was the news of Hector Camacho Jr. fighting here against a tough Omar Duarte. I don't think Hector brain trust would take on Duarte in the US, much less travel to Mexico City to fight. Hopefully I'm wrong and there's more to the story than made the papers, but I think reality will soon set in. I do hope the Bravadi Group can get something going. Mexico City is a place with 20,000,000 people and if the Arena Coliseo promoter PROMEBOX can only draw 500 on a regular basis it's time to pass the torch on to a new promotions group. This place is crawling with talented young fighters and the more venues going the better for everyone involved.
5 August Number one ranked WBC Straw-weight Jose Antonio Aguirre stopped Rafeal Orosco in the 6th round on a show promoted by Raul Cruz. No fight card planned this weekend as the Arena Coliseo takes a break.
3 August OK, I've returned from a two week trip to Texas and I'll fill you in on some of the recent action. July 31 - Jesus "El Matador" Chavez pounded Bruno Rabanales into submission after getting knocked down in the 2nd round. Rabanales didn't answere the bell for the 4th round. Chavez is the #1 ranked WBC 130lbs. contender who can't enter the US due to some past trangressions that put him in jail when he was 15 years old. Also,Jose Luis Juarez successfully defended his Mexican lightweight title by technical knockout over Javier Valadez. July 21 -12 rounds bantamweights (Fecarbox) Gerardo Martinez Wtko8 Sergio Millan. Martinez was considered a top prospect (under promotional contract with Japanese promoter Honda) until last year when he got KO'd by hard luck Saul Briseno, 8-8 at the time. Now seems to be getting his rythm back - although Millan is at the end of his game. Now that he's got a couple of wins under his belt he might get that shot against the Thai WBC Bantam Cahmpion. If your betting, bet against Martinez - nice punch but no defensive skills and a weak chin. Also, 10 rounds feather - Aldo Valtierra Wtko8 Ericel Nucamendi. For my Australian readers you might remember Nucamendi when he lost to November Ntshingila back in May '96. 10rds light: - Juan Carlos Juarez Wsplit10 Mauricio Flores; 6rds bantam: - Jorge Luis Lopez Wko5 Cesar Soriano. July 31- I'm sure you all know the results: Morales Wtko6 Jamili; Carbajol Wtko11 Arci; Diego Morales Wtko7 Zamudio. If you want a complete rundown then check BoxingMania in the links section, they do a great job covering El Terrible's fights. In Mexico City Hugo Dianzo continued his winning ways stopping Sergio Aguila in the 10 round while defending his WBC CA Title. I've never been impressed with Dianzo's skill level, but I'll give him his due because he keeps beating whoever they put in front of him. And, the promoters don't look for easy fights for Dianzo. Also, 10rds minifly - Erik Ortiz W10 Ramon Euroza.
Lightweight Pedro Alonso Teran 10-2(9) returns to action in Laredo, Texas on August 12 in the Miller Lite Texas Boxing Series. If successful look for Teran to come back on Sept. 2 in Houston vs. Larry O'Shields.
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