Test out your skills - pick
the winner of the June 22nd fight that pits Marco
Antonio Barrera (54-3) vs. Erik
Morales (41-0) and win a free lv-boxing.com t-shirt. It's
that easy and completely free to play. We'll even pay for
shipping. Enter
here.
5/29/02
Knock
Down Drag Out at the Stratosphere
This
Saturday June 1st, The
Stratosphere Casino will be hosting a fight featuring
Michael
Grant (32-2) against Anthony
Willis . Grant has shown some serious potential against
strong opponents, but injuries seem keep holding him back.
He was a former NABF Heavyweight Champion, and is making his
second appearance since he was sidelined with ankle and knee
injuries. His opponent is Anthony "Big Hand" Willis,
who has a mixed record, but he has shared the ring with some
tough competition including "Razor" Ruddock, Vitali
Klitschko, and Larry Holmes. The Stratosphere puts on good
shows in their outdoor arena, and tickets are affordably priced
at $58, $36, $24.
Heavyweight
fights are a mixed bag - sometimes they're tough fighters
with punching power, other times they're modified bar brawls.
Tonight's action at the Hilton had a little of both.
The
first fight of the evening was a female fight, pitting Las
Vegas fighter Mandy Lynn La Pointe vs. Stephanie Dobbs. The
fight started and I reached down to get my beer - when I looked
up again the fight was over. Apparently, La Point gave Dobbs
a beating in under a half a minute that was enough for Referee
Robert Byrd to stop the bout - the official time was 25 seconds
in the first round. It
only took 45 minutes to get the next fight started. Hypothetically,
this would be enough time to watch replays of the LaPointe/Dobbs
fight over 90 times. Fortunately, this second bout turned
out to be pretty interesting. It featured Anthony Thompson,
a relatively new pro with an impressive amateur record, going
against the Ruben Munoz. Thompson has only had a few professional
bouts, but he has won over 100 amateur bouts, and actually
won 3 national titles in one year. The first round started
off with each fighter throwing cautious, uncommitted blows.
In the second round, Thompson came alive and started throwing
some impressive four punch combos that were passing through
Munoz' defenses. He continued picking Munoz apart for the
remainder of the fight, while Munoz took the punishment and
kept driving forward. This is exactly what Munoz was supposed
to do - take a beating while giving Thompson some much need
professional experience and a winning record. After found
rounds, the referees scored the bout 39-37, 39-37, and 40-36
in favor of Thompson.
Next
came DaVarryl "Touch of Sleep" Williamson vs. Dale
Crowe. We thought this fight would e a real war, since both
competitors looked pretty impressive. Williamson has an amazing
record - he has KOed 14 of his 16 opponents, all before the
6th round. He's also an extraorindarily busy fighter - participating
in with 9 bouts in 2001. Crowe also has a fairly solid record,
and has fought against some tough opponents. He also outweighed
Williamson by 15 pounds, and it looked like it was 15 pounds
of pure muscle. However, this turned out to be anything but
a battle. Williamson went after Crowe and knocked him to the
canvas 3 times in the first round. Miraculously, Crowe managed
to rise each time, but he was not so lucky in the second round.
Williamson sent him stumbling to the mat again, but this time
referee Tony Gibson stopped the bout. The official time was
2:36.
The
main event was up next, which placed Terrance Lewis against
Robert Davis. This fight turned out to be a battle of opposing
strategies. Lewis attempted to lure Davis in and then clobber
him with huge looping haymakers. Often these blows would miss
by miles, but when they connected, they did some damage. Davis
chose to stay on the outside, using his jab and some basic
combos to wear down Lewis. This was effective strategy, and
it kept Lewis from doing much real harm on the inside. The
crowd got frustrated fairly early with this element of this
Davis' strategy, because he gained numerous opportunities
follow up and finish off Lewis, but he chose to back up and
let Lewis regain his composure. After four rounds, the fight
was even, but in the fifth Davis took over and kept control
of the match until the 10th and final round. Judges score
the bout 97-93, 96-94, and 97-93 all in favor of Davis.
The
remaining three fights were fairly uneventful - up and comer
Ray Sanchez pummeled Elvesto Mills (6-18) and KOed him in
the first round. Then came Zuri Lawrence and David Vedder.
Lawrence was definitely a more skilled boxer - he effectively
used his jab to pick at Vedder and win the first few rounds.
Vedder made a slight come back in round three and four, where
he managed to get close and do some damage to Lawrence. This
damage included some classic cheap shots, like locking Lawrence's
head under his arm and then reaching behind himself with his
other arm to bash Lawrence in the face. This was so well done
that it went completely unnoticed by referee Robert Byrd.
Unfortunately, even these cheap shots were not enough to give
Vedder an advantage, and Lawrence went on to take the last
two rounds, giving him a unanimous decision. The last fight
was Byron Polley against Billey Zumbrun. Polley appeared angry
but drastically out of shape - Zumbrun was able to avoid his
attacks and pepper his face with blows - in round three a
cut opened up over Polley's eye which bled heavily - after
that Zumbrun just aimed his left hand at the cut and effectively
controlled the fight. Zumbrun won by unanimous decision.
5/25/02
Jones
Jr.: Cable controls boxing -
Fighter tells Senate panel that sanctioning bodies lack power
Take
a look at this article in the Las
Vegas Review Journal - It details Roy Jones' appearence
in front of the Senate, where he makes the case that "Cable
television networks control boxing and are hurting the sport
by preventing worthy fighters from getting high-profile bouts."
Pretty
impressive.
Cedrick
Kushner Productions
Tonight
(5/25) Cedrick Kushner Productions presents an evening of
heavyweight boxing at the Las Vegas Hilton - the card is as
follows:
If
you're into heavyweight boxing, these CKP fights are worth
watching - expect a lot of KOs.
5/23/02
Richard
Steele's Boxing Gym
As
part of developing the area of this site devoted to local
gyms, I dropped by Richard Steele's Boxing gym today and spoke
with Gabriel, who trains some of their fighters and helps
manage the gym. Steele's gym differs from many of the commercial
gyms in that their mission is to offer boxing to kids and
young adults who could use the traits that boxing helps develop
- traits like devotion, courage, and mental strength. To this
end, amateurs train with minimal expenses, and are offered
the chance to compete in regular matches. To see a few pictures,
take a look at the gyms section.
5/22/02
Las
Vegas Boxing Gyms.
We're
working on gathering up information and pictures from all
the local boxing gyms - Today we visited Absoloot
Boxing, a gym that is the home of several impressive fighters,
most notably the owner Laila
Ali, but also Jessica
Rakoczy (10-0) (pictured
left),
Kevin Kelly, and more.
You can take a look at the gyms section
to see the list so far.
5/21/02
Winner!
Corry
from Salinas is now the proud owner of an lv-boxing.com t-shirt.
Corry was actually one of only 3 entries that new that the
fight would go all the way. Of these three that answered correctly,
Corry was the one name choosen from a hat. Keep watching for
June's contest.
More
pictures available from the 5/18 fight at Mandaly bay, these
pictures were taken by German Villaseñor and they appear
here courtesy of boxingladiators.com. Check
out the gallery.
Everyone
left before the final fight of 5/18 but it was the one fight
I was able to get some close pictures of...
WBC,
WBA, IBF Super Lightweight Championship Kostya Tszyu vs Ben Tackie.
German,
the photographer who is sitting next to me, leans over says
his money for this fight is on Tackie. It turns out to be
a bad bet. Tszyu fought 12 rounds with a precision and accuracy
that was (for lack of a better word) beautiful. Essentially,
Tszyu fought with the same exact strategy each round: When
Tackie threw a punch, Tszyu would dodge his blows and counter
them with a barrage of combos. In between counter-punching,
Tszyu peppered Tackie with jabs that frustrated Tackie and
kept him from launching a serious offensive. Tackie was able
to land a few hard shots, but it was never enough to give
him even momentary control of the fight and while Tackie looked
like he was ready to kill anything that got in his way, Tszyu
looked like this was just another day on the job. After 12
rounds the judges scored the bout 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109.
Read the entire fight
report...
The
first fight of the evening was local boxer Ishe Smith versus
Michael Soberanis. Soberanis surprised us a few weeks ago
by destroying a 4-0 Ruben Fuchu. Although Ishe was favored
in this fight, I thought Soberanis might be able to pull through
again. This was not the case. Smith outboxed and outpowered
him with effective combinations for four rounds. Soberanis
showed that he could take some hard hits and give back a few
of his own, but at the end of four rounds, all the judges
scored the bout 40-36 for Smith.
Next
came the co-main event featuring Humberto "Zorrita"
Soto and Marco Perez. In the first round, Soto took control
early and was clearly the more aggressive of the two. Perez
was able to land a few solid power punches, but it was not
enough to take the round. Round two followed suit, with Soto
dominating and Perez landing the occasional shot. Near the
end of round two Perez slipped and twisted his ankle, forcing
Referee Jay Nady to stop the fight and award Soto the TKO.
After the fight, Soto told me that after he felt what Perez
could do in the first round, he new he had the fight won.
Las
Vegas local Melinda Cooper was up next, in a fight against
Mexican fighter Elizabeth Cervantes. Those who had seen Cooper's
first fight new that Cervantes was in serious trouble. Cooper
is a clean fighter that hits hard, and even though she is
a new professional, she has extensive amateur experience.
Despite the frequent criticism that women's boxing seems to
get, this fight got the crowd just as excited as main event
did. Cooper went
at Cervantes aggressively, dominating the first round and
landing several punishing combos. In the second round Cervantes
fired back with her own power shots, and proved that she could
take some hard blows, but she had taken some hits to the face
that proved to be too much. She refused to answer the bell
for round three, giving Cooper her second professional win.
Adam
Carrera and Jaime Orranta then entered the ring. The fight
went back and forth a bit, with the first few rounds going
to Orranta. However in round three Carrera came alive and
started landing more telling blows. He continued to pummel
Orranta over the next three rounds, and even though Orranta
proved he could take a punch, it wasn't enough to give him
the fight. Carrera won by unanimous decision, with the judges
scoring the bout 58-56, 59-55, and 59-55.
The
main event was the NABA middleweight championship, and pitted
Kinsley Ikeke against Marlin Hayes. Both fighters hit hard
enough to make your stomach clinch when they land a punch
to the body. The more experienced Hayes came out strong in
the first two rounds, landing more blows even as Ikeke proved
an illusive target. Ikeke came back more aggressively in the
3nd round, and the crowd started to get into it as his punches
connected. Hayes responded in the fourth by landing some big
blows early in the round and it looked like Ikeke was in some
trouble, but then Ikeke came out with a devastating jab-straight-left
hook combo that sent Hayes flying to the mat. Referee Tony
Weeks counted Hayes out, giving Ikeke his 15th professional
win.
The
last fight of the evening may be etched in my memory forever
as the strangest professional bout that I have ever seen.
It featured Robert Green fighting against Las Vegas fighter
Isaac "the Psychotic Grasshopper" Broussard. When
you heard Broussard's nickname, see the writing all over his
clothes, and see the look in his eyes, it doesn't take much
to realize that he is certifiably f***ing crazy. In the ring
the Psychotic Grasshopper jumped around, feigned injury only
to come back with looping hooks and uppercuts, and waved his
arms around in what appeared to a form of Shoalin Kung Fu.
Green was clearly befuddled by al of this, as we all were,
but did his best to box in standard form. After four rounds
that certainly held our attention, the fight was declared
a draw. One judge scored the bout 40-36 for Broussard, another
scored it 39-37 for Green, and the final judge scored it 38-38.
5/17/02
Weigh
in at the Orleans
Kinsley
Ikeke 160 vs Marlin Hayes 160
Humberto "Zorrita" Soto 130 vs Marco Perez 130.5
Ishe Smith 149.5 vs Michael Soberanis 153
Melinda Cooper 116 vs. Elizabeth Cervantes 115
Adam Carrera 127 vs Jaime Orrantia 126.5
Robert Green 186 vs. Isaac Brousard 180
Humerto
"Zorrita" Soto, who
was good enough to grant us a small interview, said he was
ready for anything his oppenent Perez had to offer. Soto fights
out of Los Mochis Mexico, and joins another Los Mochis fighter
this evening: Jaime Orrantia. Click on the image to
enlarge it. To view his interview, take a look at the interview
section.
Also
appearing on the Orleans card will be Melinda Cooper,
pictured here on the right with her cousin, professional fighter
Elena Reid. Melinda won 5 national amateur titles,
and has great expectations as a pro. Elena was good enough
to give up a little of her time to speak to me about her career
and the state of women's boxing. For
a full transcript of this take a look in the interview
section.
Kostya
Tszyu / Ben Tackie Press Conference
***click
to enlarge***
Both
fighters we're pretty quiet today at the press
conference at mandalay bay. Tackie stated that he has nothing
but respect for Tszyu, but when it comes down to the fight,
"it will be war." Tszyu responded by telling the
crowd: "What happens in the future will happen. I will
not make a prediction other than to say this will be a great,
entertaining fight, one that will be exciting and one that
you will remember. Don't blink."
Local
Boxers added to Friday's Card at the Orleans Casino
Come
to the Orleans this Friday to catch two rising Las Vegas stars.
The first is Melinda
Cooper (1-0),
who laid waste to her competition in the amateurs and had
her pro debut a few months ago at the Paris Casino at only
17 years old. The
next fighter
isIshe
Smith (4-0) who
has taken out all four of his opponents here in Vegas. He
will be working on increasing his record to 5-0 against Juan
Carlos Santiago
(1-1) The main event of this evening will
beKinsley
"Sharp Knuckle" Ikeke (14-1) taking on Marlin
"Rumblin' Man" Hayes (21-1). Ikeke is fighting
out of Canada with a near perfect record, losing only once
to Anthony Handshaw. Hayes is also fighting with a near perfect
record, so this fight promises to be a battle. The co-main
event features Humberto
"Zorrita" Soto (20-4-2) vs Marco
Perez (16-2).
Soto won the WBC Youth Super Featherweight
championship in 2001 and has fought mostly in Mexico, whereas
Perez has had his last two fights here in town, winning one
against a strongDustin
Kim(17-2).
Tickets at the Orleans are really affordable, with $45 getting
you ringside tickets, so come out and support the fighters.
5/14/02
Two
confident training camps are finally pulling up stakes as
two-time heavyweight champ Tim Witherspoon and contender "Relentless"
Ahmad Abdin of Houston make final preparations for their showdown
Saturday night at the Silver Star Casino in Choctaw, Miss.
"I'm knocking him out," said
Witherspoon (54-11-1, 38 KOs) from his camp in Pennsylvania.
"(Abdin) is a young guy in good shape, but I'm a seasoned
pro. I know the old tricks. I know what's going to work. I'm
going to prove that in the latter part of my career, I can
still knock guys out credible guys. I want to hurt this guy.
I have not felt this way in a long time, I'm very motivated."
Witherspoon, 44, who has stopped his
last three opponents inside two rounds, said he feels better
than he has in years.
"I'm feeling real good,"
he said. "I feel strong and I know what my goal is. I've
watched tape of Abdin and he looks pretty determined. But
I'm prepared and confident."
Abdin
(30-2-4, 14 KOs) who has been in camp in Houston for two months,
said fighting Witherspoon on national TV (tape delayed on
Sunday on Fox Sports Net's "Sunday Night Fights"
) is a great opportunity.
"This
is a big fight for me," he said after a workout this
past weekend. I think he's going to come out and throw right
hands at me. He's got experience and he's a good fighter.
But I'm ready.
5/13/02
Straightjab
is featuring an interview with Ron
Lyle, who had fought an amazing array of top fighters,
including George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Use the link on
the right to listen to the archived recording.
It's
official now that Kuvanych
Toygonbayev (17-1) has
replaced Hercules Kyvelos for the co-main event on the 18th
at Mandalay Bay. Toygonbayev (17-1, 12 KOs), of Andizhan,
Uzbekistan, started boxing at age 15, and compiled an impressive
185-15 amateur record. The Brighton Beach, N.Y., native turned
pro at age 21 on Sept. 3, 1997, and scored a first-round TKO
over Alfred Cervantes in Rosemont, Ill. Currently riding a
five-fight winning streak, Toygonbayev opened his career with
12 straight victories before suffering his only loss in October
2000. In his lone 2002 effort, Toygonbayev registered an eighth-round
TKO over Ron Weaver on April 5 in Phoenix. The 26-year-old
will make his eighth United States start, and third in Las
Vegas.
His oppponent, Oba
Carr (54-5-2), of
Detroit, is a former North American Boxing Federation (NABF)
147-pound champion who has made three world title appearances.
Three of his losses came against former world champions Felix
Trinidad, Ike Quartey and then-WBC welterweight kingpin Oscar
De La Hoya. Carr, who won his first 32 starts after turning
pro in December 1989, outpointed Derrell Coley across 12 rounds
to win the NABF crown on Aug. 12, 1995. A talented boxer-puncher,
Carr was a shocking upset victim in his last start when he
lost by second-round TKO to Luther Smith on Feb. 10, 2002.
Top
Rank Reports that they are loading up their June 21st
card, which is on the eve of their 'For Honor & Pride'
Barrera vs. Morales pay per view. This evening will feature
Kelly
Pavlik, a 12-0, 8 KO middleweight from Youngstown, Ohio.
Pavlik has crunching power and has stopped his last 10 in
a row. Other fights that night include the headliner, #1 rated
featherweight Juan Manuel Marquez, Auturo Morales, an 8-0
super lightweight from Pittsburg, California and Steve Luevano,
a 11-0 featherweight from LaPuente, California.
5/10/02
Some
excellent cards are shaping up for the next few weeks:
There is of course the Kostya
Tszyu vs. Ben
Tackie fight on the 18th, but there's also a good night
of fights scheduled at the Orleans Casino the night before,
which will feature Kinsley
"Sharp Knuckle" Ikeke vs Marlin
Hayes and Humberto
"Zorrita" Soto vs Marco
Perez.
There's also a Cedrick Kushner "Heavyweight Explosion"
lined up for May 25th at the Las Vegas Hilton - these cards
feature all heavyweight fighters, and there are generally
a lot of KOs. You can take a look at the schedules
area for the complete card.
We
be out of town until
Sunday May 12th, so check back on Monday for more news. Until
then, make some decisions about the May 18th Title Bout and
win
yourself a free lv-boxing.com t-shirt.
5/9/02
Some news from Top
Rank:
Fernando Vargas said "I'm younger, bigger, stronger and
I don't
think he (Oscar De La Hoya) has the heart for this anymore."
That's
what Vargas told Las Vegas sports anchor Dave McCann of KLAS-TV
8 last Friday eve at The Orleans Hotel-Casino.
Also -- This past Sunday there were thousands of fans crowding
the
stage area when Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales were
at
during a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Whittier, Calif. Barrera
told Mike Rosenthal of the L.A. Daily News: ".....this
reminds me
of the days when Julio (Cesar Chavez) was at his peak."...........
Rosenthal
reported Barrera has "backed off the trash talk to some
extent" in regards to Morales. Morales
said "....I don't need anyone to tell me how great I
am...especially from someone who I don't respect."
Barrera
vs. Morales: June 22, at the Las Vegas MGM Grand.
Guilty
just launched it's new
site - and it's pretty impressive. Guilty is the production
company reponsible for Friday night fights at the Orleans
casino, as well as a line of clothing, a racing sponsorship,
and more.
5/8/02
Here's
the deal: We've got a few shirts to give away. All you have
to do is pick
the winners of the two main events at Mandaly Bay
Casino on May 18th. If you're the only one to get it right,
the shirt is yours. If more than one person answers correctly,
the winner will be randomly selected from the group that answered
correctly. It's that easy and it's completely free. Give
it a try.
Toughman
The
big event this weekend is the Toughman
contest at the Orleans. Toughman bouts consist of three
one minute rounds with a 45 second rest in between. No professional
fighters or amateurs with more than 5 wins in the last 5 years
can compete. It looks a whole lot like boxing until the two
guys go in and start clobbering each other with flurries of
wild punches. Bad for the sport? Probably. Fun to watch with
a generous supply of booze? Oh yes.
This
week on Straightjab,
you can listen to an interview of IBF Lightweight Champ Paul
Spadafora - who is looking for his shot against Mayweather.
The shows are set up so you listen with Real Player.
5/4/02
We had some technical problems
with the contact us area, but it is corrected now.
5/3/02
Outstanding night of Fights
at the Orleans
Click any photo for a larger view or check out the photo
gallery.
The
first fight of the evening pitted Ruben Fuchu against Michael
"Mad Dog" Soberanis. We thought this would be a
lazy four round opener, but it turned out it be an exciting
fight. In the first round both fighters were fairly timid,
with a slight advantage going to Somberanis. However, the
action picked up in the next round when Fuchu came back and
knocked Somberanis down solidly. It looked like Fuchu had
wrapped up the fight, almost knocking Somberanis down again
in the third, but then Somberanis came back in the fourth
with a sharp knockdown that evened up the fight. Our card
had the fight scored a draw, but two judges saw in favor of
Soberanis, giving him the win. The end scores were 37-37,
38-36, 38-36.
Television
coverage started after the first bout, and Miguel Cotto entered
the ring to fight Juan Macias. Cotto won. Surprised? Neither
was anyone else. The real bet was on how long Macias could
hold out. Fortunately he was able to stay in for almost 7
full rounds before finally deciding that he'd had enough.
Cotto lived up to all his expectations, fighting with excellent
form and clean hits. He controlled the fight against the more
experienced boxer and wasn;t concerned with landing a quick
KO. By the end of round two, Macias was bleeding from the
right eye. It was stopped, but then reopened in round 6. At
that point, Cotto had easily won every round and wasn't having
much trouble getting around Macias' defenses. After 1:54 of
the 7th Macias let his arms drop and let referee Robert Bird
know that he didn't wish to continue.
Next
up was Ivan Calderon, who trains with Cotto in Puerto Rico.
His opponent was Carlos Rey Lopez. If this were a contest
for the goofiest looking boxing shorts and robe ever, Carlos
would have won hands down. Unfortunately even Lopez' eye straining
attire was not enough to deter Calderon, who threw several
strong body shots and deflected all of Lopez' attacks. Calderon
continued dominating the fight, landing some strong head shots
late in the third and by the end of the fourth it was clear
to all in attendance that Calderon was a much stronger fighter.
The judges agreed, all scoring the bout 40-36 for Calderon.
The
main event featured James "Too Sweet" Crayton against
Ernesto "Baby" Zepeda. Crayton fights out of Vegas
so we were routing for him, but we knew this was a pretty
well matched fight. Zepeda came out aggressively, but Crayton
was able to slide away from his attacks and launch counters
which proved itself very effective when Zepeda went down with
55 seconds remaining in the first. The knockdown woke Zepeda
up a bit, and he came back much stronger, effectively controlling
the fight for the next 4 rounds. By the end of round 5 it
looked like Crayton was on his way out - he no longer had
the quick slips that he had used to avoid Zepeda's attacks.
Fortunately, he found the energy to step up his attacks in
the 6th round, and made a excellent comeback, taking (by our
card) rounds 6 and 7. At the end of the 7th he had opened
up a serious cut over Zepeda's eye, which the doctor judged
too serious to allow him to continue. The fight was stopped,
giving Crayton an important victory.
5/2/02
A few last minute remarks from
Top Rank
about tomorrow's fight:
"This
is a big fight for Cotto who takes on a very experienced,
tough pro in the 26-16-2 Macias. Cotto is 8-0 with six knockouts
and is very highly regarded by TR's matchmakers."
"This (Las Vegas) the boxing capital of the world and
it's
important to look good," Cotto told fight writer Dean
Juipe of the Las Vegas Sun. "It's very exciting for me."
He went on to say:"I need another five or six fights.
I need to continue training and facing fighters with different
styles. I'm improved but I have a lot to learn," Cotto
told Juipe.
Cotto/Macias will be the first fight on the Telefutura telecast
which will go out 9:00 pm eastern/6:00 pm pacific. Cotto's
stablemate, Ivan Calderon, will probably go second followed
by the main event, Baby Zepeda vs. James 'Too Sweet' Crayton.
Orleans boxing director Rich Niederman says "practically
all ringside tickets are gone" and he expects a complete
sellout.
Fernando Vargas will also be on hand, signing autographs in
a Miller Lite booth inside the Mardis Gras Ballroom where
the fights are being held.
5/1/02
Pictures from today's
press meeting.
***Click on any picture for a larger
view.***
Today
at the Orleans we had a chance to talk with some of the fighters
from the upcoming May 3rd bout. First was local ring veteran
James
Crayton, who is training at Absoloot Boxing. Crayton
said the last minute cancellation of Bezan and substitution
of Zepeda didn't bother him at all - his only thought is on
winning. He went on to say his experience with tough opponents
makes him "always ready." Both Crayton and Zepeda
have a good deal of experience and endurance, so this fight
will be a battle.
Next
was Ivan
"Iron Boy" Calderon, a flyweight fighting
out of Puerto Rico. Ivan talked about the pride and fighting
ability of Puerto Rican fighters, stating that because it's
a small country their boxers want to prove that they can take
on fighters from larger areas. He was as friendly and personable
as you could imagine, but something about him gave me the
feeling that nothing could hurt this guy. His opponent will
be the Mexican fighter Carlos Rey Lopez,
who seems like he can take some serious punishment as well.
Last
was the fighter that so many have been watching: Miguel
Cotto. Like Calderon, Cotto also spoke of something
inside Puerto Rican fighters that drives them to excel. When
asked about this fight, Cotto said that they'll need rounds
to tire out the very durable Juan
Macias,but he'll go for the KO if the opportunity
presents itself. So far, Cotto has been taking his opponents
out early, and has yet to go past 5 rounds. During our talk,
we got to see his arm, which had been badly damaged in a car
accident last year. All that's visible now is a long scar
on his shoulder, and he stated that the arm is back to 100%.
To read a little more about him, take a look at miguelcotto.com.
You'll also be able to see him fight the Ugandan boxer Justin
Juuko on the undercard of the Barreras vs. Morales fight
on June 22nd.
It
only took 45 minutes to get the next fight started. Hypothetically,
this would be enough time to watch replays of the LaPointe/Dobbs
fight over 90 times. Fortunately, this second bout turned
out to be pretty interesting. It featured Anthony Thompson,
a relatively new pro with an impressive amateur record, going
against the Ruben Munoz. Thompson has only had a few professional
bouts, but he has won over 100 amateur bouts, and actually
won 3 national titles in one year. The first round started
off with each fighter throwing cautious, uncommitted blows.
In the second round, Thompson came alive and started throwing
some impressive four punch combos that were passing through
Munoz' defenses. He continued picking Munoz apart for the
remainder of the fight, while Munoz took the punishment and
kept driving forward. This is exactly what Munoz was supposed
to do - take a beating while giving Thompson some much need
professional experience and a winning record. After found
rounds, the referees scored the bout 39-37, 39-37, and 40-36
in favor of Thompson. 
Next
came DaVarryl "Touch of Sleep" Williamson vs. Dale
Crowe. We thought this fight would e a real war, since both
competitors looked pretty impressive. Williamson has an amazing
record - he has KOed 14 of his 16 opponents, all before the
6th round. He's also an extraorindarily busy fighter - participating
in with 9 bouts in 2001. Crowe also has a fairly solid record,
and has fought against some tough opponents. He also outweighed
Williamson by 15 pounds, and it looked like it was 15 pounds
of pure muscle. However, this turned out to be anything but
a battle. Williamson went after Crowe and knocked him to the
canvas 3 times in the first round. Miraculously, Crowe managed
to rise each time, but he was not so lucky in the second round.
Williamson sent him stumbling to the mat again, but this time
referee Tony Gibson stopped the bout. The official time was
2:36. 
The
main event was up next, which placed Terrance Lewis against
Robert Davis. This fight turned out to be a battle of opposing
strategies. Lewis attempted to lure Davis in and then clobber
him with huge looping haymakers. Often these blows would miss
by miles, but when they connected, they did some damage. Davis
chose to stay on the outside, using his jab and some basic
combos to wear down Lewis. This was effective strategy, and
it kept Lewis from doing much real harm on the inside. The
crowd got frustrated fairly early with this element of this
Davis' strategy, because he gained numerous opportunities
follow up and finish off Lewis, but he chose to back up and
let Lewis regain his composure. After four rounds, the fight
was even, but in the fifth Davis took over and kept control
of the match until the 10th and final round. Judges score
the bout 97-93, 96-94, and 97-93 all in favor of Davis. 
The
remaining three fights were fairly uneventful - up and comer
Ray Sanchez pummeled Elvesto Mills (6-18) and KOed him in
the first round. Then came Zuri Lawrence and David Vedder.
Lawrence was definitely a more skilled boxer - he effectively
used his jab to pick at Vedder and win the first few rounds.
Vedder made a slight come back in round three and four, where
he managed to get close and do some damage to Lawrence. This
damage included some classic cheap shots, like locking Lawrence's
head under his arm and then reaching behind himself with his
other arm to bash Lawrence in the face. This was so well done
that it went completely unnoticed by referee Robert Byrd.
Unfortunately, even these cheap shots were not enough to give
Vedder an advantage, and Lawrence went on to take the last
two rounds, giving him a unanimous decision. The last fight
was Byron Polley against Billey Zumbrun. Polley appeared angry
but drastically out of shape - Zumbrun was able to avoid his
attacks and pepper his face with blows - in round three a
cut opened up over Polley's eye which bled heavily - after
that Zumbrun just aimed his left hand at the cut and effectively
controlled the fight. Zumbrun won by unanimous decision. 
We're
working on gathering up information and pictures from all
the local boxing gyms - Today we visited 
Next
came the co-main event featuring Humberto "Zorrita"
Soto and Marco Perez. In the first round, Soto took control
early and was clearly the more aggressive of the two. Perez
was able to land a few solid power punches, but it was not
enough to take the round. Round two followed suit, with Soto
dominating and Perez landing the occasional shot. Near the
end of round two Perez slipped and twisted his ankle, forcing
Referee Jay Nady to stop the fight and award Soto the TKO.
After the fight, Soto told me that after he felt what Perez
could do in the first round, he new he had the fight won.
Las
Vegas local Melinda Cooper was up next, in a fight against
Mexican fighter Elizabeth Cervantes. Those who had seen Cooper's
first fight new that Cervantes was in serious trouble. Cooper
is a clean fighter that hits hard, and even though she is
a new professional, she has extensive amateur experience.
Despite the frequent criticism that women's boxing seems to
get, this fight got the crowd just as excited as main event
did. Cooper 
went
at Cervantes aggressively, dominating the first round and
landing several punishing combos. In the second round Cervantes
fired back with her own power shots, and proved that she could
take some hard blows, but she had taken some hits to the face
that proved to be too much. She refused to answer the bell
for round three, giving Cooper her second professional win.
The
main event was the NABA middleweight championship, and pitted
Kinsley Ikeke against Marlin Hayes. Both fighters hit hard
enough to make your stomach clinch when they land a punch
to the body. The more experienced Hayes came out strong in
the first two rounds, landing more blows even as Ikeke proved
an illusive target. Ikeke came back more aggressively in the
3nd round, and the crowd started to get into it as his punches
connected. Hayes responded in the fourth by landing some big
blows early in the round and it looked like Ikeke was in some
trouble, but then Ikeke came out with a devastating jab-straight-left
hook combo that sent Hayes flying to the mat. Referee Tony
Weeks counted Hayes out, giving Ikeke his 15th professional
win.
The
last fight of the evening may be etched in my memory forever
as the strangest professional bout that I have ever seen.
It featured Robert Green fighting against Las Vegas fighter
Isaac "the Psychotic Grasshopper" Broussard. When
you heard Broussard's nickname, see the writing all over his
clothes, and see the look in his eyes, it doesn't take much
to realize that he is certifiably f***ing crazy. In the ring
the Psychotic Grasshopper jumped around, feigned injury only
to come back with looping hooks and uppercuts, and waved his
arms around in what appeared to a form of Shoalin Kung Fu.
Green was clearly befuddled by al of this, as we all were,
but did his best to box in standard form. After four rounds
that certainly held our attention, the fight was declared
a draw. One judge scored the bout 40-36 for Broussard, another
scored it 39-37 for Green, and the final judge scored it 38-38.
Come
to the Orleans this Friday to catch two rising Las Vegas stars.
The first is 
Some
excellent cards are shaping up for the next few weeks:
