Telefutura: 8/29 & 9/5/08

Okay, I actually watched these last week, but I take notes, you know? One of these days, I'll sit with the laptop in front of the TV. I prefer to be as unencumbered as possible though when watching boxing these days.

8/29:

Latif Mundy vs. Rudy Cisneros: Rudy's only professional loss was to Norberto Bravo over 5, whereas Mundy is a guy who's gotten decent TV time this year out of Philly. Good even fight on paper, and it was that way in reality also. Each round was extremely close, and I was often scoring rounds on single blows that appeared to be the best of their respective rounds. Cisneros won the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th in the 8 rounder to win the fight on my card 76-75. The deciding factor was a point deduction in the 8th round against Mundy due to a low blow. Following that, Mundy sensed something was needed to secure a win, and he attacked Cisneros with everything he had. It simply wasn't enough. Cisneros won a unanimous decision, officially.

Pedro Martinez vs. Reshawn Scott: Two nondescript fighters at the cruiser limit.

Scott was taller and had slightly better skills than Martinez, but was hurt in the first round during an exchange. In round 2, he was dropped hard and the fight was waived off. Not a great TV debut for him.

-CALDERON/CAZARES HYPE TIME!-

WHO? Mike Jones vs. Juliano Ramos: Jones has been given a slew of pretty easy opponents thus far in his young career. His 14-0, 12KO record displays this. Its not at all outlandish to say that his prior two opponents were the best fighters that he had faced in his career (Germaine Sanders & Gilbert Venegas). Ramos, on the other hand, is a young 15-1 fighter from Brazil, hardly a hotbed of boxing. He lost to Jonathan Tubbs, which generally isn't a good sign.

The first 3 rounds were a pretty horrible sight: Jones treated this as a sparring session, merely doing just enough to win but nothing to try and bring the fight to an end. Ramos did nothing, on the other hand. Jones finally began to put the pedal down a little in the 4th, hurting Ramos and keeping him offbalance most of the last minute. Ramos went to try and win it in the 5th, landing a good right hand of his own on Jones' chin, and found that it had no effect whatsoever. Ruh-roh. Jones took it out on Ramos in round 6, hurting him early on and putting him away in brutal fashion as Ramos tried in desperation to hold on. A good one for a highlight reels, but what I'll remember most is Jones' workman like attitude early on. It reminded me of Jermain Taylor and his terminal inability to push the pace offensively in all the wrong ways.

9/5:

I was really excited for this card. It was headlined by a favorite prospect of mine and had an interesting collision on the undercard.

Ray Sanchez III vs. Joaquin Zamora: Sanchez is a huge fraud, with a glossy record, close calls against the Patrick Thompsons of the world, and a stoppage loss to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Zamora seems like a perfect Sanchez opponent, with a loss to a totally nondescript opponent, then a draw later to an equally noteworthy foe, and then a second loss to Elco Garcia, a fairly well known journeyman/tomato can. He has racked up most of his wins in New Mexico, like Zamora, and had built up a fairly decent 15-2-1 record. My crack research also tells me he was ranked by the WBC for a second or two prior to this bout.

The opening round was close and competitive, but went to Sanchez on my card. It was totally overshadowed by round 2, in which Sanchez was nearly stopped as Zamora began to use the jab to set up his right hand. Sanchez suffered a cut that would cause the fight to be stopped in the following round. A bit unfortunate, but Zamora's win was totally legit. Sanchez, hilariously for a guy who's been on Telefutura numerous times, has middle school level spanish skills. He looks paunchy however, and given his last few performances, he may want to find another career.

Marcos Acosta/Ricky Vasquez: Local boys with records that don't inspire in a 4 round fight. The two men fouled each other numerous times, especially with headbutts and use of the shoulders, as well as displaying little defense or significant offensive skill. Vasquez won the decision.

Daniel Attah vs. Urbano Antillon: Antillon really hit the scene when he bombed out Bobby Pacquiao in a mere round. He's a strong puncher with great offensive skills and tight defense. Attah is a product of Nigeria, and he's fought for a world title on Showtime many moons ago agaisnt Acelino Freitas. He's not done very well in recent years, and was coming back from a long layoff following his loss to Mario Santiago.

Antillon and Attah just go on offense against one another right away, and Attah pays the price. Antillon was true to his form in the Pacquiao fight, forcing Attah to a knee in the third and to a ref stoppage in round 4. Attah was just outgunned by the larger man, who used a full array of punches to put him down and out.

Robert Marroquin vs. Gino Escamilla: I think I've seen Marroquin before on Telefutura in a similar role of being the swing bout. He was on the undercard of two different events they've televised this year. Escamilla I know nothing about and his 5-3-1 record indicates I need to do no serious research.

Marroquin won every single round of the fight on my card and was a clean 59-54 sweep on the judges cards. Escamilla was down in round 3, but Marroquin couldn't take him out. He looked like a poor finisher, to be frank.