Watched a ton this weekend:
-Derric Rossy/Carl Davis Drummond: A better fighter than Rossy stops Drummond easily. He was landing practically at will. I'm not sure that it was Rossy having developed technically as much as it was Drummond not being any good. Speaks volumes of the Chagaev Wlad beat.
-Victor Cayo/Julio Diaz: Diaz looked like the bigger man here, and significantly so. That's no good for Cayo over the long term. Guys who can't punch and run a little are not gonna become fan favorites here and sad as that is to say for Cayo, he's definitely running uphill if he wants to get a title shot against someone like Bradley or Alexander. I don't think he can be really competitive with either too. Diaz is washed up, which we already knew. Too bad.
-Henry Buchanan/Andre Ward: Man, Ward just roasted this guy. Embarassing that he couldn't put him away, but total domination. Sugar Poo was never in the fight.
Brock is going to go down, historically, as part of a crop of prospects that basically sunk the division. You look at the guys who began to emerge at that time frame, and its stunning:
-Sam Peter: ate his way out of the division
-Sergei Lyakhovich: Showed up woefully in his first title defense, basically gone
-Sultan Ibragimov: Whatever happened in the leadup to that eliminator fight destroyed his interest in the sport and ultimately his career
-Ruslan Chagaev: Hep and ultimately total failure
-Joe Mesi: Brain damage
-JC Gomez: Like you hear so often on the streets of Amsterdam, "coke coke coke coke".
The odds were desperately against Fast Eddie Chambers to rise to where he is now, and yet he's arrived. Part of that, admittedly, is the failure of others.
That's a list of international guys. I don't consider Sultan a US Heavyweight. Those guys basically failed and providing a generational gap when there should have been one. What happened as a result was that guys like Rahman stuck around 2-3 years longer on the scene than they should have.
still mowing through these old cards on the DVR:
Leon Bobo/Ira Terry: This was chief support to Carlos Molina/Danny Perez earlier in the summer (6/5?), probably the worst ESPN card this summer. Bobo was a former prospect who had appeared a few times on ESPN2. and Terry was an former prospect appearing for the first time in memory. Both had two losses, and its not hard to imagine how they got them. Bobo lacked heart and interest in fighting, along with possessing no power. Terry is a younger fighter and has better speed, but is small, not a particularly hard hitter himself, and not terribly good coming forwards.
Bobo ends up running virtually the entire fight from Terry any time Terry jumps in. When he stays put, its with his hands up defending against the ropes, absorbing blows. Terry wins all but maybe the 5th in my book, but Teddy gives him more and one judge has it a draw. Doesn't really matter. Watched it more as busy work.
Bobo IS horrible. No doubt about it.
Also watched the main event last night; Carlos Molina vs. Danny Perez. I watched some of this fight from a flat screen in a casino while gambling, so I didn't pay much attention. Forgot who both men were, but the announcers helped that fast; Perez was on the undercard for that Casamayor/Marquez PPV last year and beat up on Julio Garcia. He followed it up with a win over Eric Mitchell; not too bad. Molina's an interesting story though - the draw with JCC Jr. and loss in the rematch, then some tough opponents added a few more Ls to his record. Recently, he has wins over Camarena, Ed Paredes, and Alexis Camacho. Basically, he's a guy who wasn't babied and now he's a tough guy capable of competing with at least middle of the road opposition. He came in as a late replacement in this fight for Carlos Quintana, as well.
Anyhow, the fight; Molina basically runs the table against Perez, giving up two rounds out of 12 on my card. He was inside, outside, jabbing, landing body shots. Perez was completely lost, and while Teddy Atlas warned that it would be likely for Molina to gas, Perez's mouth was open from about the 5th round forward. Total demolition.
Jesus, even more watched the last couple days:
-Leonildo Miranda/Orlando Cruz (Shobox, 1/15/09): Edison Miranda came over and suddenly promoters lined up to grab these new Columbians who had monster KO records. And since Edison, they've all been total frauds. No diss on Cruz, because he weathered the early storm that Miranda brought, but after about the 3rd round, Miranda was shocked to see Cruz and his brace face still hanging around, and never adjusted. Cruz then nearly decapitated him with a KO of the year candidate.
-Jorge Barrios/Mike Anchondo (ESPN2, 2005): This was replayed on ESPN Classic, and since for whatever reason my original has disappeared, I recorded it. Mighty Mike was hot shit, but came in waaaaaay over the limit (by 5 lbs!) and then promptly was obliterated by Barrios. I can't say I feel bad that he got demolished by Darling Jimenez either. Barrios had all the reasons in the world to be the guy coming in at a different weight class with the death of his child and best friend, and instead he showed up 1 1/2 under. Barrios is one of the best action fighters of his generation. Shame he never got to be more than he turned out to be.
-Chris Byrd/Shaun George: (ESPN2, 2008): Finally got around to watching this, since I was out of town when it was originally on last year. A lot of people thought Byrd looked bad because he dropped. No, not at all. This is the Chris Byrd that's been at heavyweight for years, except with slower reflexes and handspeed. It was amazing to see George do what McCline and Oquendo had done in backing Byrd up in spite of massive size differences compared to those guys, but once he had, it was no shock that he took Chris out. What McCline lacked in talent and stamina, George had. Byrd needed to retire a very, very long time ago to "protect" himself and now with his divorce, that won't happen
Watched a terrible Telefutura show that's been languishing on my DVR for nearly a year (11/28/0
:
-Joaquin Zamora/Jose Luis Gonzalez: Gonzalez made a name for himself among the really, really hardcore fans by getting cheated out of a win against Jason Lehoullier and fighting competitively with Carson Jones. Zamora had, himself, done a shockingly good job destroying fraud Ray Sanchez on Telefutura's air a couple months prior. The 8 rounder they were booked in was a pretty decent war and actually featured technique and skill. Quite a solid little fight. While Zamora went down in the first and was hurt several times in the fight, he ended up getting the nod with some pretty questionable scores. I felt Gonzalez got screwed again. Oh well.
-Jesus Soto Karass/Hicklet Lau: Lau comes in at 20-17. Why on earth is this on TV? A joke: Lau is over powered from the 1:00 in mark and ends up stopped in the 2nd. Karass is a great fighter to watch with the right guys (Buendia, Estrada), and this wasn't that. Horrid.
-David Proa/Ricky Vasquez: Proa comes from the Valero school of fighting, which means he is all KOs, no defense, and probably not good. Vasquez tags him a few times but goes down 4 times in the first and still needs to be counted out by the ref. Ridiculous.
-Arturo Crespin/Daniel Gonzalez: Closing out the show, this, a 4 rounder with a very in shape 30 year old nobody and a soft 18 year old prospect. Crespin is wild and goes for it in 1 and 2, then tires and slows, but wins the fight because Gonzalez (who is larger and just all cut up) does nothing but bounce.
Another Telefutura show from the DVR's archives, this from 12/5/08:
-Rock Allen/Humberto Tapia: I cannot, for the life of me, remember a prospect like Rock Allen. A member of the 04 Olympic team, he was eliminated long before winning a medal, and has been a pro now for over 5 years. In that time frame, he has fought no one. Not a single mildly relevant opponent. Tapia proves no different, as Allen defeats the .667 fighter with an array of relatively nondamaging combination punching and avoids most, though not nearly all shots. He is so standard, so boring, so...there. And the lack of a test only hurts him more in my eyes. What would happen if Rock fought any halfway decent fighter? Supposedly he has had a litany of injuries that have only further hampered things.
-Mike Jones/Luciano Perez: Unlike Rock, Jones took his decent amateur record and immediately split for the pros. He's a big dude at welterweight and is physically cut up. Perez is small for the weight and not particularly good; most memorably ran close with Carlos Baldomir a couple years ago. Jones controls most of this fight with the jab but gets caught leaning back in the third by the soft Perez. Jones does recover and ends up smashing Perez in the same round, dropping him twice, and forcing a ref stoppage. This was by no means a perfect fight; you could see the flaws in terms of Jones' inside game (or lack thereof) and ability to be hit moving straight back. But he's got incredible KO power and does actually have some technique. I'm more impressed with him than many.
-Jason Cintron/Pascali Adorno: Cintron played the part of slick boxer puncher up until he knocked Adorno out cold in the second. I noticed that he kept dropping his right hand when he'd duck down and Adorno landed a couple of hooks; I wonder if it played into Cintron's defeat earlier in the year against Henry Lundy. I actually liked the kid too in terms of what he showed.
More spanish language boxing! Jesus, how wasn't I watching this? Oh, that's right. Most of it was terrible.
Telefutura 12/12/09:
Brian Viloria/Benjamin Garcia: The Brian Viloria story is something else. 2 years ago, he fights Omar Nino and loses on Versus at the peak of his career. The rematch is a NC after Nino wins again, thanks to a positive piss test for meth. Viloria still does not rebound, losing again to Edgar Sosa and starting his run at the top of the division. But from then on? Lots of nobodies to get him back together. This was the last of them. Garcia shows the lack of depth at this weight by being blown out of the water in every aspect and taken out in the 2nd. Viloria, of course, stuns everyone by beating longtime title holder Ulises Solis and is now a 2 time champ.
Urbano Antillion/Juan Ramon Cruz: Another total walkover; Cruz was down like 10 seconds in, eventually stopped in the 4th. Two things were apparent, though - Antillion has no defense (Cruz landed at will, just had no power) and was being bred to lose. He had total confidence that Cruz couldn't do anything to him, and his smile throughout the bout reflected it. No wonder he got demolished recently.
TELEMUNDO 12/5/08
Saul Alvarez/Raul Pinzon: Can't remember seeing Alvarez before, but his record reminds me of JCC Jr.; lots of great records, no one I recognize. Just demolishes his Colombian opponent with two knockdowns in the first. I see though that Pinzon went 10 with Ricardo Torres. Maybe there's something to this kid?
Leon Bobo/Orlando Gonzalez: SD, I had it for Gonzalez along with one judge. The other two picked Bobo. I say this first because the fight was by far the worst 6 rounder I've seen in a long time. Bobo either ran or hugged. Gonzalez was the only one throwing punches in most rounds. Not even counters or anything from Bobo. The worst.
Amaury Torres/Derrick Moon: I specifically mention this unlike all the other jobber fights I watched on these two cards because it was a strange jobber/tomato can fight. Torres was 4-6. Moon was 12-25. Moon was the best damn 12-25 I've seen in a long time though; His hands were by his waist but he was fast, looks like he knows how to defend blows, and catches Torres with a great combination in the third to end it. Torres is a jobber to the jobbers: I see a draw to another famed journeyman, Jean Petit Homme, on his record.
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TYC 12/19:
Cesar Cuenca/Pablo Godoy: Is there anyone in history with a record like Cuenca? 34-0 entering, 1 KO. One. He doesn't look like he can't punch either. Stocky body, fairly wide shoulders.
A couple things are obvious. One, he can punch a little. Two, he doesn't try to finish at all. If he stuns his opponent, he just backs off and waits again. His defense isn't necessarily impregnable, but its solid. Not a slickster, more of a Winky Wright type who you just can't seem to hit anywhere but the arms. Doesn't hold at all. I mean, those are typical things you expect with this kind of KO ratio. That said, he's not necessarily enthralling. The lack of killer instinct means you know the fight is going 10 once he starts to roll. And roll he does. He's briefly shook up in the 6th, but that's it. I ended up fast forwarding past the 10th.
Rodolfo Martinez/Sergio Benitez: Apparently a rematch between the regional contender and the nobody journeyman. Martinez has a glorious 36-2-1 record built against lots of nobodies. Benitez is horrible; slapping looping shots are all he throws. He lands on occasion (which is sad), but otherwise absorbs jabs. Martinez hurts him in the second and gets a 8 count as Benitez holds onto the ropes to stay up. Benitez survives awhile longer, but at the end of the round, he is hit with an uppercut and starts stumbling. Ref just stops it for the technico technico technico. The classic "nothing is learned" fight.
