Arizona Boxing News & Notes With Don Smith: Ward Win Questioned, Manny Makes List & Much More
By Don Smith
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 22 Nov 2016
Boxing Fans, Thanks, in part, to a highly controversial Q & A interview conducted and published in October by Rolling Stone Magazine, British Heavyweight Champion Tyson ?Gypsy King? Fury has decided to vacate his WBO and WBA heavyweight titles to concentrate on recovering from personal substance abuse and bouts with depression. Fury was stripped of his IBF Heavyweight title, won by Anthony Joshua (17-0-17 knockouts) earlier this year (April) and the hard punching 27 year old successfully defended his title by scoring a TKO victory over Dominic Breazeale (25-4) in June. He is signed to battle 6? 4? Eric Molina (25-3-19 knockouts) from Texas on December 10 in the UK. No word on what carrier will broadcast the event. Oh, by the way, the Fury article (Rolling Stone) is a must read for boxing junkies.
Ironically, the December 10th date for the IBF heavyweight clash coincides with a fight for the vacant WBO heavyweight crown between 27 year old Mexican American Andy Ruiz Jr (29-0-19 knockouts) and 24 year old New Zealander Joseph Parke (24-0-18 knockouts) listed on BoxRec for the same night. Both pugilists are dark horses in the heavyweight division and Arizona Boxing News & Notes will feature the pairing (tale of the tape) in our next column.
I talked to Top Rank recently and a spokesperson for TR told me to hold tight for a major announcement on the Parker/Ruiz tiff. I don?t like to speculate; but, a deal could be in the works to unite the two bouts on the same card and have the winner?s faceoff; just a hunch. The WBA belt remains vacant while the prohibitive heavyweight favorite Deontay Wilder (37-0-36 knockouts) hold a firm grip on the WBC Heavyweight Championship belt.
Wilder is expected to fight again in early 2017 and we would like to suggest he fight Cuban defector and former interim WBA Heavyweight Champion Luis ?King Kong? Ortiz (26-0-22 knockouts) )who was stripped of his title after testing positive for steroids. The southpaw power puncher will be eligible to fight again on May 11 when his 8 month suspension is lifted by the Nevada Boxing Commission. I would like to witness what Ortiz has in his arsenal of skills without the aid of steroids.
Boxing Jabs: Albert Alvarez (1-0) may head South of Tucson to Nogales for his next fight. It has become a growing trend for Arizona boxers to find bouts in Mexico considering a slowdown in Arizona Boxing action. Iron Boy doesn?t plan a Celebrity Theatre Show in Phoenix until February. A word of caution: some fighters in Mexico don?t always abide by Queensbury rules??. 19 year old Arizona Flyweight Adrian Servin (2-0) hopes to fight in Mexico on December 16, talks ongoing?. Arizona super bantamweight Paul ?Ziggy? Romero (7-0-1) is in California with his personal trainer George Garcia (Hammer Boxing). The 25 year old Ziggy is working out with interim World Champion Oscar Escandon at Roberto Guerra?s Boxing Gym. He is rumored to be fighting on the February Iron Boy card (Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix) for a WBU super bantamweight title. Unbeaten light heavyweight Phoenix MMA fighter James Nakashima (5-0) is tentatively slated to perform on the Iron Boy MMA card on December 18th at the Celebrity Theatre. James trains out of Hammer Boxing in North Phoenix?? Sorry to miss the Demond Brock vs. Reynaldo Blanco 10 round WBA-NABA USA lightweight Title bout at the Downtown Las Vegas Event Center on Friday November 18. The bout was carried by CBS Sports Network and produced by Roy Jones Promotions. RJJ promotions is always hospitable to boxing fans and working members of the press. I encourage everyone to visit their website and check out the next RJJ boxing show held at the DLEC in Las Vegas. Brock won the title tiff by a majority decision to up is record to 13-3-1. I had to skip the show in favor of my memoir which is a work in progress.
Rematch To Follow: Newly crowned IBF, WBO, WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Andre Ward won a controversial Unanimous decision over Sergey Kovalev in a mucho hyped HBO PPV aired event that was held on November 19 at the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It was an entertaining bout; but, not the epic ?Pound for Pound? battle it was billed to be by talking heads and paid advertisers. I am glad I saved the plane fare and hotel tab by watching the 12 rounder on a neighbor?s screen. The crowd seemed to agree by greeting the verdict with a loud chorus of boos. A local boxing manager called me and said anybody who thought Ward won ?doesn?t know boxing.?
In ?Winning?, the former Olympic Gold Medalist survived a dramatic right hand (to the head) knockdown in the second frame from the Russian to win by scores of 114-113 x 3 on the judge?s scorecards. I had Kovalev winning 7 rounds to 5; but, it was a tough fight to score from the 6th round on to the end. Ward won the 7th round decisively and possibly 3 of the last 4 rounds. I gave Kovalev the overall nod because of his dominance in the early rounds and I don?t believe Ward won the last 5 stanzas as written by some press accounts. And I thought Referee Robert Byrd was far too lenient in separating the fighters when it was clear to me that Ward was guilty of excessive holding and showboating. His early Christmas gift means there will be a 2017 rematch as prearranged. Let me guess, some public relations firm, paid mucho bucks, will presumably advertise the sequel as ?Pound for Pound 2.? Oh, how clever!
The light heavyweight division has suddenly become interesting. WBC Light heavyweight Champion Adonis Stevenson has an upcoming confrontation with Eleider Alvarez (20-0) and Oleksandr Gvozdyk (12-0-10 knockouts) was impressive in beating veteran warhorse Isaac Chilemba on the Ward vs. Kovalev T Mobile Arena card. 2017 could be an interesting year in the Light Heavyweight ranks. And there is an intriguing possibility that GGG might be monetarily seduced into facing Ward, Kovalev or Stevenson. He has suggested slimming down to fight Canelo or adding 4-5 pounds to fight as a light heavyweight?.stay tuned!
In Undercard action: Darleys Perez and Maurice Hooker fought to a draw in their 10 round super lightweight fight. Middleweight Curtis Stevens won a unanimous 10 round decision over rival James De La Rosa and featherweight Tyler McCreary was the victor over Vincent Jennings via Majority decision.
Manny Makes List: When Manny Pacquiao captured two world title belts from Jessie Vargas, on November 5, he became one of the oldest professional boxers to win a world title at age 37 years, 10 months and 19 days old. Bernard Hopkins remains atop the prestigious list by winning the WBA Super Light Heavy weight title at age 49 in 2014. 47 year old Evander Holyfield triumphed over Frans Botha in 2010 to win WBF Heavyweight Championship earning him second place on the ?mature? list. Ageless George Foreman holds down third place with his IBF heavyweight title upset KO win in 1994 over Michael Moorer at age 45 Here is a rundown of others on the list researched by one of our unpaid interns.
Bob Fitzsimmons: won world heavyweight title at age 40 in 1903 before current boxing associations were formed.
Azuma Nelson: Described as a tough journeyman, Nelson was 39 when he knocked out Gabe Ruelas to win the WBC super welterweight title in 1995.
Roberto Duran: fought until he was 50; but won his last world title shortly before he turned 38 as a middleweight.
Jersey Joe Walcott: defeated Ezzard Charles at age 37 in 1951. Critics believed he was older.
Corrie Sanders: The South African southpaw was 37 when he knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in Germany to win the WBO Heavyweight Crown. Klitschko returned the favor by knocking out Sanders in a 2004 rematch win back the title. Sadly, Sanders was shot and killed at a Capetown South Africa in 2012 while eating with family. He was 46 years old at the time of his senseless death.
Muhammad Ali: ?The Greatest? was 4 months shy of reaching his 37th Birthday when he defeated Leon Spinks to reclaim the WBA Heavyweight Title in a 1978 rematch.
Tourney Results: In our last column we apologized for not being able to announce winners of the 11/5 Silver Gloves Tourney held at Sonny?s Gym in Goodyear, Arizona. We printed the Master results which were typed neatly and easy to read. However, the SG results were handwritten and the majority of names were extremely difficult to decipher. Here are the majority of names our forensic specialist was able to sign-off on: Automatic Champs-Zeus Pinder 100 lbs.), Andrew Corona (65 lbs.), Ray Maldonado (60 lbs.), John Hernandez (147 lbs.), Fabian Montes (106 lbs.), Steven Degveaugh (112 lbs.), Jacob Girardot (106 lbs.), Oscar Ponce De Leon (95 lbs.), Bryan Miranda (90 lbs.), Jose Escarcega ((80 lbs.), Mariah Martinez (70.), Doran Khan Jr ((100 lbs.), Erin Williams (90 lbs.), Luis Peralda (132 lbs.), Moises Rosales (147 lbs.), Rollin Williams Jr (70 lbs.), Aaron Garcia (137 lbs.), Angel Young (201 lbs.), Santiago Renteria (165 lbs.) and Jesus Bojorquez (wt. not listed).Williams is the son of Rollin Williams Sr. who fought in the valley until he neared 50 years of age. Senior is now working at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix and we wish him the best.
Second List: Marquez Silva (75 lbs.), Adrian Rodriguez (95 lbs.), Markos Camacho (125 lbs.), Adam Lopez (114 lbs.), David Vera (75 lbs.), Juan Montes (60 lbs.), Mickey Scala (106 lbs.), Ronaldo Plata (106 lbs.), J Maldonado (70 lbs.), Brando Lobatos (119 lbs.), Maximus Castro (112 lbs.) Brando Mojica (125 lbs.), Esteban Inzunza (85 lbs.) and congratulation to all of the kids, fans, family members and USA Boxing Arizona officials who made this community event happen???Until Next Time!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Don Smith.
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