Month: December 2014

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez  -1 Terence “Bud” Crawford

On Friday night in San Antonio, Texas, Erislandy Lara (20-2-2 12 KO) dominated Ishe Smith (26-7 12 KO) with scores of 119- 109 X 2 and 117-111  to retain his WBA super welterweight title.

Smith had a decent opening round but it may have been by Lara’s design as he stated after the fight “The first round, I wanted to see exactly how he fought, what his moments were, I’ve never seen him before, after that, I dominated every single round”

Dominate he did,  like a painter, the ring his canvas. He paints a masterpiece utilizing his southpaw stance.

Lara used the right jab as his measuring stick while landing beautifully timed straight lefts to the body and head. Lara frustrated Smith and forced him to adjust his game plan and second guess his next move.  He confused Smith utilizing angles and alternating his level from low to high. When Smith did cut the ring off he was able to land body shots but Lara would parry away leaving Smith swinging at air.

Hit and don’t get hit, it’s the sweetest of sciences and the ring is his lab.  There are some that don’t care for Lara’s style and that’s ok, his style is unique to him and he makes no apologies nor should he.

After the fight Lara spoke about who he would like to face next.

“I want to fight the best, I want to fight Floyd Mayweather, that’s one of the best fighters in the world, that’s who I want too fight, I want to test myself against the best. I already beat Canelo and we beat everybody else in the division”

No matter who it is, they will have their hands full with one of the best in the game.

Austin Trout ( 28-2 15 KO ) defeated  Luis Grajeda (18-4-2 14 KO) by TKO after Grajeda’s corner stopped the fight at the conclusion of round seven. Good call, their fighter had been dominated and punch stats showed that he only landed on average, two punches a round.

After a close, slow, feel out round in the opening frame, Trout picked up the pace snapping his jab in Grajeda’s face, committing to the body, and landing power shots. Every round was a carbon copy of the next.  Trout was credited with a knockdown in round 5. As Trout landed a left hand to the body their feet got tangled as usually happens when a southpaw and orthodox fighter get togther and Grajeda went down, a knockdown nonetheless.

The journey back to elite status continues for Trout. This was a good performance and shades of the old Trout are beginning to show.

After the fight when asked how he would rate his performance, Trout stated, “It was good, it could be better, I was not the best, I would never give myself a ten. I know I can hit, the sooner I’m back, the better you’ll see me”

No Doubt.

Paying Homage  

This week’s first snippet is a big Standing-8 ovation to the 2015 International Boxing Hall of Fame class: Fighters, Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, “Prince” Naseem Hamed, Yoko “Fierce Eagle” Gushiken, manager Rafael Mendoza, referee Steve Smoger, journalist Nigel Collins, and broadcaster Jim Lampley. We simply couldn’t imagine the sport without you.

Making A Statement Eh?

Canadian David Lemieux (33-2 31 KO) defeated tough as nails Philadelphian Gabriel Rosado (21-9 13 KO) by tenth round TKO at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday night. Lemieux pummeled a game Rosado and looked sharp throughout the fight landing solid left hooks, crip body shots, and overhand rights. As with most Rosado fights, you get a gallant warrior who is usually at a disadvantage when his face swells due to the scar tissue from his history of battles. Rosado did have plenty of moments landing sneaky uppercuts and straight rights, but he abandoned his jab early which may have allowed him to keep Lemieux off balance and decrease the repeated power shots that he received.  

Rosado’s left eye was just about closed shut in this one which prevented him from seeing the punches. In the tenth round, the ringside doctor seemed to come up on the ring apron and motion for the referee to stop the fight. After the fight, Rosado stated “I kept seeing three of him, fighting with one eye, just seems to be my luck”

Lemieux, fighting for the first time out of his native Canada had a statement win in this one and feels he is ready for increased competition, “I’m ready for whomever at 160, Gennady Golovkin, Cotto, Quilin, I want to fight the best”

I Said Break

Jean Pascal (29-2-1 17 KO) won via no-contest when Roberto Bolonti (35-3 24 KO) was knocked out by a Pascal punch as Bolonti was pushed into the ropes. The punch didn’t appear to be so devastating that it would require Bolonti to be carried out of the ring on a stretcher but apparently it was as that is exactly what happened. The referee was attempting to break the fighters when Pascal landed the punch. Bolonti dropped to the canvas and was checked by medical staff who removed Bolonti from the ring on a stretcher. The shot by Pascal was determined to be unintentional thus the “no contest” rather a disqualification.

Said Pascal, “I’m not a dirty fighter. I’ve never done that in my life. It was just an accident”

In any event, it looks like Pascal is going to get his “golden ticket” as he is rumored to be facing WBO, IBF, 175 lb. champion Sergey Kovalev.

Hype Of The Century

Manny Pacquiao has thrown down the gauntlet to Floyd Mayweather, well sort of. This back and forth is getting tiring. Several months ago, Mayweather stated that he had a big announcement for May, which is still forthcoming.  If this fight is not made next for both fighters, let’s just call it good.

Big Week

Starting on Thursday and ending on Saturday, some of the biggest names in the sport will be entering the ring. Thursday will see Austin Trout, Antonio Tarver, Edwin Rodriguez, and Dominic Breazeale, just to name a few, Friday, Erislandy Lara, Ishe Smith, Badou Jack, and others, with Saturday showcasing Timothy Bradley v. Diego Chaves, Amir Khan v. Devon Alexander, Keith Thurman, the Charlo brothers, Victor Ortiz, Abner Mares, any many more in action.