Rinsing Off The Mouth
Piece By
GorDoom
Tonight I watched a Brinks heist ... In the past the Ol' Spit Bucket has felt that Oscar
was gifted with decisions against Sweet Pea & Ike. This time the Golden Boy, in my not
so humble opinion, was jobbed.
I will let the CBZ posse vent their opinions (at this point I don't know what
they are), but I had it 117-114 for Oscar. I thought Oscar took Tito to school for
the first 8 rounds. He lost focus over the last four, losing three
of them, but he cake walked through the first eight.
Biz wise, this sets up perfectly for a rematch - which is not neccesarily a
bad thang ... But, even Mrs. Bucket, who is hardly a hard core boxing fan couldn't believe
the decision.
But hey, that's just my opinion ... I'll let the CBZ crew voice their own.
Bucket
TRINIDAD DECISIONS DELAHOYA
Golden Boy gives away easy win by sitting on lead
By Chris Bushnell
Oscar DelaHoya's first professional loss was inevitable.
Despite a sterling record of 31-0/25 knockouts, even the Golden Boy must have known that
the streak would have to end eventually. All professional fighters lose at some
point in their careers...but who would have thought it would happen like this?
In a fight that he appeared to be winning easily, DelaHoya committed one of boxing's
cardinal sins: sitting on a lead. Trying to run out the clock, Oscar DelaHoya
gave away enough of the final rounds to sway the three judges to score a majority decision
for Puerto Rico's newest national hero: Felix Trinidad.
The night began very differently than it ended. Entering the ring, Felix Trinidad
and his entourage ran into trouble attempting to enter the ring. Security seemed
unable to clear a path to the ring, and Team Tito was stuck in the aisle for close to 5
minutes. Mired in traffic, Trinidad began looking around the arena. As he
scanned the crowd of celebrities, sports stars and DelaHoya groupies, the magnitude of the
circumstances sank in. Looking a bit overwhelmed and unsettled, Trinidad eventually
made it to the ring. By the time DelaHoya exited his dressing room, his aisle to the
ring was completely clear.
Further delays lurked after Michael Buffer's laundry list of introductions when,
immediately prior to the referee's final instructions, Trinidad's corner realized that
they did not have a mouthpiece for their fighter. Frantic searching of bags produced
nothing. Security raced between the dressing room and the ring. For several
long minutes, it looked as though the delay might throw off both fighters.
Eventually a mouthpiece was found and the match began. The tension was thick and
both men began by showing maximum respect. Very few punches were thrown in the first
round, and even fewer landed. Both men stared at each other, sizing up the
opposition, and circling. DelaHoya launched a brief flurry towards the end of the
opening frame, amounting to the entire offense of the first three minutes. It was a
round of deference. Neither man wanted to be the first to catch.
In the second round, DelaHoya established the rhythm of the fight by laying out his
gameplan: box, box and box some more. Although more respect and distance plagued
this round, DelaHoya fired off his first jabs of the night.
The stinging punch instantly bloodied Trinidad's nose, and by the end of the round had
stained Felix's white silk shorts with crimson polka-dots.
At the end of the second stanza, DelaHoya launched a crisp right hand that caught Trinidad
flush. Unlike his usual pushing and ineffective right hands, DelaHoya had worked
hard on his biggest weakness in camp and it showed. Throughout the night, DelaHoya
was able to land and do damage with the most effective right hand he has ever displayed.
It surprised Trinidad as much as the fans, and between rounds Tito's confusion was
apparent.
Having tasted success in brief flashes, DelaHoya now set out to put on a boxing clinic.
Firing the best jab of his career, DelaHoya fired the punch in rapid succession all
night into Trinidad's face. Always moving, Oscar was
setting a deadly, if dramaless, rhythm. On his toes and forcing Trinidad to give
chase, DelaHoya jabbed and flurried in bursts.
But it wasn't just his offense that was giving DelaHoya round after early round in the
books. His defense was superb, as he expertly ducked numerous Trinidad straight
rights, slipped Trinidad's own heavy jab with ease, and
blocked some of Trinidad's biggest haymakers with his gloves. Frustrated, Trinidad
attempted to pick up the pace in the fourth and fifth rounds, and began landing more.
But Felix was mostly headhunting, landing only one
significant body shot in the first half of the fight, and often missing. Although
Trinidad touched Oscar for the first time in the fifth, DelaHoya landed several big right
hands, including one at the bell that began to swell Trinidad's left eye badly.
In the sixth, DelaHoya was boxing beautifully. Although the crowd thirsted for more
exchanges, DelaHoya's gameplan was working beautifully. Trinidad was looking
increasingly desperate, his chasing of DelaHoya was becoming more frantic, and he was
missing wildly. DelaHoya made him pay when he missed, and showed wonderful self
discipline by getting out of harm's way before Trinidad could return. Although the
first round could have been scored even, and the fourth and fifth were close, Boxing
Chronicle.com had DelaHoya up 6
rounds to nothing halfway through the fight. So complete was DelaHoya's performance
that Trinidad was beginning to look outclassed.
DelaHoya's ring generalship was on display, and continued into the seventh and eighth
rounds, as his lateral movement and flurries were racking up points. In the eighth,
Oscar dug hard to Trinidad's body, the first
effective shots thrown downstairs all night. He repeated the feat early in the ninth
by four times reaching down and landing a four punch combination to Trinidad's sides and
capping off with an uppercut or right hand. Trinidad looked to be softening up at
this point, and a DelaHoya knockout seemed imminent.
And then, Oscar DelaHoya made a mistake that will haunt him. Inexplicably, he began
to sit on his lead. With Trinidad's desperation growing (fueled by his nervous
father in between rounds), the chase sped up. DelaHoya's lateral movement turned
into running, as he avoided the incoming, but offered nothing in return. The crowd
booed.
In the tenth and eleventh, DelaHoya took a page from Ray Leonard's book, hopping on his
bike, and running from Trinidad for most of the round, and then attempting to steal the
frame with flurries in the final 15 seconds of
the round. Although these combinations led to the only toe to toe exchanges of the
fight, they were not enough to thieve the round. Trinidad's deficit was shrinking,
and the fight was getting closer on the cards.
Going into the twelfth and final round, the expectations on DelaHoya were high. In a
fight devoid of much action, and getting tighter in scoring, everyone felt Oscar would now
duplicate the exciting finishes that have defined his usual final-round style. After
all, he had been saving himself up in the tenth and eleventh....right?
But instead of making a final definitive statement, Oscar again got on the racing track
and ran out the clock. As Trinidad chased, DelaHoya threw no punches. It was
startling. Trinidad was encouraged by this inactivity, and
landed his best shots of the night: three consecutive right crosses that swiveled
DelaHoya's head and once and for all established the strength of Oscar's chin.
At the final bell, DelaHoya immediately raised his arms, confident that he had beaten
Trinidad despite sacrificing the final four rounds by running. Certainly the crowd,
if not Trinidad himself, assumed the same thing. DelaHoya losing a decision in Vegas
seemed like an impossibility. And then the scores were read.
The first score had the fight 114-114. The deciding cards read 115-114 and 115-113
for the new WBC and IBF welterweight champion.....FELIX TRINIDAD. It was shocking.
Boxing Chronicle.com scored the fight 116-112 for DelaHoya...giving Oscar the first eight
rounds and Trinidad the final four. But with the first round a likely 10-10 snoozer
and rounds four and five very close, the fight was
certainly close enough to swing either way. But who would have guessed it would
swing to Tito?
Upon hearing the announcement, Trinidad (now 36-0/31) was overtaken by emotion.
Crying tears of joy, he jubilantly screamed out for his fans in Puerto Rico.
DelaHoya, surprisingly, was all smiles...insisting he had won,
but seeming to realize that he had no one to blame but himself for his first professional
defeat. In a fight that DelaHoya seemed to be on his way to winning away, he played
safe in the unsafest sport of all...and paid the
price. Tempting fate with the judges scorecards can be more dangerous than dropping
your hands. Oscar should have known better.
And so what now? While "rematch" is the word on everyone's lips, I
wouldn't expect it to happen too soon.
If Trinidad stays at 147, he will almost certainly fight fellow Don King stablemate James
Page for his WBA welterweight title before stepping back in the ring with DelaHoya.
Trinidad would be heavily favored against Page and three belts would only stoke the pot
for the lucrative rematch. Another option for Trinidad is to move up to 154...a move
he had planned as much as two years ago. Such a move would not only be ripe with
enticing matchups, but would force DelaHoya to chase Trinidad for redemption.
DelaHoya (31-1/25) may himself move up to 154 first, and pick up a title to have while
waiting for Trinidad. Or he may stay at 147, a weight he made easily, and face Shane
Mosley in a pound for pound megafight. Or he may retire altogether. With over
$100 million in career earnings (including $21 million plus percentage of sales for this
fight), his looks still intact, DelaHoya may choose to retire to the easy life.
Although deep inside he will
be desperate for revenge, DelaHoya was oddly at ease with his loss, satisfied in his own
head that he had won. Announcing that he would take a vacation and spend time with
his family, DelaHoya will likely not return to the ring until mid-2000.
And so now boxing has a new welterweight kingpin, a new pound for pound best, and a most
interesting future. With Don King now controlling the division titles, with DelaHoya
locked out of the 147 lb. title picture until Tito
decides otherwise, and with Felix Trinidad finally capturing mainstream attention....there
will be no shortage of intrigue in the months to come.
Hang on boxing fans, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
-On an excruciating undercard, Mia St. John continued her quest to make women's boxing a
laughing stock with her third round knockout of Kelley Downey. Downey was exhausted after
two rounds and was blinded by her own hairdo for most of the fight.
-Butterbean continued his own sideshow with a knockout of insurance salesman Ken Craven in
the second round. Combined with the St. John fiasco, these two boxing carnival acts had no
business being on the same card with DelaHoya-Trinidad. With a possible record number of
pay per view homes watching, wouldn't Top Rank have been better served featuring some of
their legitimate fighters?
-Russian cruiserweight champ Vassiliy Jirov scored a 10th round knockout on body blows
(his specialty) after proving that his defense is lacking. Previously undefeated
challenger Dale Brown was able to smack Jirov at will,
but didn't have the power to earn respect.
-Oscar exposed! Not in the fight...at the weigh in. When ESPN2 positioned it's live
cameras high in the rafters of the Mandalay Bay arena to cover DelaHoya's weigh-in, they
had no idea that they would have the perfect angle
to photograph a nude DelaHoya on the scale. Indeed, as both east and west coasts aired the
weigh-in live on Friday Night Fights, there was Oscar's manhood...available for all to
see. Someone is going to get fired over that
one.
.....Chris Bushnell
http://www.boxingchronicle.com
Throwing it All Away: De
La Hoya Gives His Title To Trinidad
By Thomas Gerbasi
Fight of the Millenium? This
wasnt even Fight of the Year. Before a sold out crowd at the Mandalay Bay Resort and
Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and millions of viewers on Pay-Per-View, Oscar De La Hoya
lost his WBC welterweight title to IBF boss Felix "Tito" Trinidad via a 12 round
majority decision. Notice that I didnt say Trinidad beat De La Hoya, because he
didnt. After a masterful eight rounds of boxing, in which De La Hoya boxed, moved,
jabbed, and did everything short of depositing Tito on the seat of his pants, Oscar
decided to get on his bicycle and ride away from his title and his unbeaten record.
The judges scorecards read
as follows: Glen Hamada 114-114, Bob Logist 115-114, and Jerry Roth 115-113. This reporter
scored it 115-114 in favor of De La Hoya. This score was arrived at after Oscar won six of
the first eight rounds. I scored round nine even, with Trinidad sweeping the final three
frames.
De La Hoya (31-1) fought the
perfect fight through the first eight rounds. Was it exciting? Not particularly. But to a
boxing fan, it was as dominating a performance as you will witness. "The Golden
Boy" used footwork which I didnt think he had in him, making Trinidad chase him
like the IRS on April 15. Unfortunately for Trinidad, the IRS always gets their man.
Trinidads nose was bloodied, his left eye was swollen, and at the end of eight
rounds, he looked worn and defeated. Crisp combinations from De La Hoya, though
infrequent, were enough to rock Tito back on his heels and steal rounds. A thought to be
non-existent right hand also found its mark with alarming frequency, and a crisp jab left
the blood thirsty disappointed, but Oscar in control.
The tide started to change in the
ninth round. Oscar started things off with a crisp four punch combination, but Trinidad
began to land more punches, though they were inconsequential in nature. De La Hoya then
began to move more and throw less. This pattern continued throughout the final three
rounds, with Oscar looking more like Carl Lewis than Joe Louis. Trinidads aggression
carried the championship rounds, and some solid right hands sealed the deal for the Puerto
Rican hero in round twelve.
But despite the boos directed
toward De La Hoya, I dont think anyone expected him to lose. Never have I seen such
an unimpressive victory than the one gained by Felix Trinidad tonight. And while a strong
finish by Oscar would have won him not only the fight, but the respect of the
non-believers in the boxing community, his performance in the final 12 minutes of the
biggest fight of his career will do nothing to dispel the "Chicken" De La Hoya
comments from his detractors.
As for Felix Trinidad, hopefully
he will not allow Don King to put the WBC/IBF titles under wraps with fights against the
various pretenders in the welterweight division. Like De La Hoya, Trinidads
reputation has suffered a hit with his immensely disappointing performance. He showed poor
balance, an inability to cut off the ring , and traces of a weak chin, as he was rocked on
a number of occasions. Only a rematch will restore the luster to both fighters
reputations. My early pick...De La Hoya by KO within five rounds.
The pre-fight hype compared De La
Hoya-Trinidad to 1981s Leonard-Hearns I. Late in the fight, with his charge losing
on points, and with his eye swelling shut, Angelo Dundee told Sugar Ray Leonard
"Youre blowing it son."
Oscar De La Hoya blew it tonight.
Trinidad Out-Hussles A Cocky De La Hoya
By Francis Walker
As expected, last Saturday in Las Vegas, undefeated IBF welterweight champion, Felix
"Tito" Trinidad (36-0, 31KOs), took the WBC 147-pound title from an arrogant
"Golden Boy," Oscar De La Hoya (30-1, 25KOs), via 12-round majority decision.
Though a surprise to many, "The Fight of the Millennium" was an excellent
display of tactical boxing skills by a pair of 26-year-old, Latino titlists entering the
primes of their careers. A cocky De La Hoya, who easily had Trinidad on the losing-end,
ran out of gas and courage during the bout's
most crucial period - The last four rounds.
"The Fight of the Millennium," which was perhaps the most anticipated
welterweight title fight since Sugar Ray Leonard's dramatic come-from-behind stoppage of
Thomas Hearns (TKO 14), was promoted by Bob Arum of Top Rank, Inc., and televised on
"TVKO Pay-Per-View" from HBO at a suggested retail of $49.95.
Trinidad, who entered the contest wearing all-white slacks and wide-collared shirt
with a straw hat, danced down the isle to the sounds of Fat Joe and Big Pun, was very calm
and quite relaxed. De La Hoya on the
other hand, wore an all blue robe, with white trimming. He was all-business.
As a stalling tactic, Trinidad's camp, wearing all white with Puerto Rican colors, left
the dressing room without their champion's mouth piece, which also had Puerto Rican
colors.
By the time both fighters locked-horns, it was about 12:30 am - Well over 45 minutes from
the start of a usual Pay-Per-View main event.
From jump, it was clear that Trinidad's left jab was stronger that that of De La Hoya's.
De La Hoya danced behind his left-jab looking to keep close in the fight, but away from
Trinidad's double-fistic power. However,
round-by-round, things would slowly begin to pick up.
De La Hoya, whose game plan was to box Trinidad and capitalize on his mistakes, danced
around in circles the whole night. Trinidad, who is not as smooth as De La Hoya, tried to
cut the ring off and force De La Hoya's back across the ropes and just hammer away. But De
La Hoya was fast enough to use his shoulders and gloves to block and switch his body
towards the opposite direction.
De La Hoya's boxing ability frustrated Trinidad, who was looking to land that one-big left
hook that would send De La Hoya sprawling in pain onto the canvas.
De La Hoya managed to stun Trinidad with double-hooks and uppercuts, but Trinidad kept up
with De La Hoya and manged to plant straight-shots right on "The Golden Boy's"
pretty kisser.
For the most part, fans were silent, but they started to boo and holler when it became
clear that De La Hoya was running away from Trinidad.
Although De La Hoya was clearly sprinting in circles, he was winning the fight. From the
fifth round on, De La Hoya continuously used his hand-speed to land sharp left-jabs and
quick flurries. However, De La Hoya's blows did not have the same impact as Trinidad's.
"Tito's" power was indeed a decisive factor in the tide of the battle.
De La Hoya was on the verge of pulling-off what looked to be his most impressive
performance as a professional. Disappointingly enough, De La Hoya, who knew he was
winning, became cocky and arrogant by dancing around the ring in circles while hardly
throwing any punches in the closing rounds.
As is his custom, Trinidad became stronger in the latter rounds. Trinidad's hard
right-hands to De La Hoya's body forced the soon-to-be ex-WBC kingpin to back-pedal and
wince in pain. Trinidad's single left-jabs found their mark, as De La Hoya did not have
enough gas to counter. Nor did he have the courage to even attempt to stop Trinidad dead
in his tracks as before.
Instead, De La Hoya tried to coast home with a victory he had in his back pocket, which he
then let a smart thief take it from him. Better yet, why not just give Trinidad the
wallet? It's not like De La Hoya can't get another one. How cocky a man, a world-class
fighter, can become during a time of clear, but unpromised victory?
At the end of twelve, one judge scored the bout 114-114 even. Whereas the other two scores
of 115-114, 115-113 went to Trinidad.
So what is next? Rematch? Well if Trinidad's promoter Don King is willing to work with De
La Hoya's promoter Arum again, of course there will be a rematch. As of press time,
Trinidad seeks to unify the world welterweight
title with WBA champ, James Page.
Meanwhile, De La Hoya has a possible showdown with WBC junior middleweight titlst,
Francisco Castillejo of Spain scheduled for December 11, in Los Angeles.
In addition: The undercard featured four other bouts. IBF cruiserweight champ, Vassily
Jirov (22-0, 20KOs) stopped Dale Brown (18-1-1, 13KOs) in the tenth.
Top-10, super flyweight contender, Eric Morel (23-0, 16KOs) won a unanimous decision over
Miguel Angel Granadas (19-9-1, 8KOs) through 12-rounds.
Playboy model, Mia St. John (13-0, 8KOs) remained undefeated by stopping Kelley Downey
(3-2, 3KOs) in the fourth and final round.
Last, but certainly not least, "Butterbean" Eric Esch (47-1-2, 36KOs) knocked
out Kenny Craven (12-6).in a "King of the Four-Rounders" heavyweight
attraction.
FELIX "TITO"
TRINIDAD RALLIES LATE TO GET THE NOD IN A DISAPPOINTING FIGHT
By Jim Trunzo, Courtesy
of Electronic Boxing Weekly (www.boxmag.com)
A little more
shine came off the Golden Boy when, after apparently dominating the pride of Puerto Rico,
Felix "Tito" Trinidad, Oscar de la Hoya dropped the last four rounds and, in the
process, the victory.
De la Hoya
absolutely dominated the early going. Sharper and quicker than at any time in recent
memory, De la Hoya looked like he was executing the perfect fight plan. He was on
his toes, moving laterally but fighting as he did so, stinging Trinidad with a snakelike
jab and then going flatfooted long enough to rattle Tito with three punch combinations
before moving out of harm's way.
After eight rounds,
a frustrated Trinidad looked bewildered by Oscar's tactics. He fully expected a war
but instead found himself faced with guerilla hit-and-run tactics. Trinidad was
seldom able to get set and unleash his power punches, and instead, simply chased Oscar
around the ring, eating jabs as he did so.
But then, in what
has to be considered one of the biggest bludders since Custer's underestimating Sitting
Bull at Little Big Horn, De la Hoya's "brain trust" in the form of - Robert
Alcazar - told Oscar to stay away from Trinidad in the last two rounds, that the fight was
his. At least Gil Clancy, who also was working the corner, advised De la Hoya to
". . . fight enough to make him respect you."
Only a half-step up
from an amateur trainer, Alcazar, who must have some type of blackmail material hanging
over Oscar's father's head, has no business being in De la Hoya's corner. He's
always been an overrated part of De la Hoya's camp, the quintessential survivor.
Rumors persist that Alcazar's paranoia and insecurity have been the true motivation behind
the removal of legitimate cornermen like Manny Steward or Jesus Rivero.
At any rate, Oscar
listened, perhaps too well, and became overcautious. Trinidad, who had never stopped
applying pressure and coming forward, began to discover that his punches were landing with
more and more frequency and were, by this time, the harder blows.
Encouraged by a good
ninth and an excellent tenth, Tito went into the last two rounds bent on closing strong -
at the same time Oscar was being told to avoid Trinidad at all cost.
Offensively (in more
ways than one), Oscar did absolutely nothing in the eleventh round and the crowd, which
had been booing sporadically from the seventh round on really
started to let Oscar know what
they thought of his tactics. The truth is that De la Hoya has justifiably earned a
reputation as a fighter who knows how to close the show. Fresh in everyone's mind
was his twelfth round gut check against Ike Quartey which produced a fight-winning
knockdown. And he didn't even have to do that; Oscar just had to fight the last two
rounds the way he did the first five rounds to win the fight . . . but he didn't.
Trinidad, to his credit, stayed
cool and stuck to his game plan. He pressured De la Hoya without getting careless
and allowing Oscar to nail him with a defining blow. It was Trinidad, especially in
the tenth and final rounds, who scored with the biggest shots. As has been the case
in his last several fights, De la Hoya's eye was puffy and swollen heading into the final
bell, mainly as a result of Trinidad's overhand rights. The crowd and the momentum
had gradually been swinging Felix's way and when Trinidad did all the work in the eleventh
and clearly won the twelfth, the feeling was that the Puerto Rican welter had
significantly closed the gap that the Golden Boy had opened during the first two thirds of
the fight.
Still, EBW had the fight scored
in favor of Oscar 115-114, having given Trinidad only the fourth round 10-9 and scoring
the opening frame even at 10-10 before scoring in favor of Felix in the last four
frames. In rounds, I had De la Hoya winning 6-5-1.
When the official scoring was
announced, EBW felt confident that the decision was going to be in favor of De la Hoya, in
no small part due to the fact that the fight had taken place in Las Vegas, De la Hoya's
backyard. Judge Hamada had it at 114-114. Judge Logist saw the fight at
115-114 and Judge Roth called it 115-114 and it seemed clear that it had to be Oscar
because it was impossible to figure out how Trinidad could have gained a two point
edge. And then Felix Trinidad's name sounded out over the screams of the crowd.
Did Oscar get robbed? Well,
no. It wasn't anything like the Holyfield-Lewis debacle, for example. But EBW
felt much like De La Hoya did in the post-fight interview, that he'd put enough rounds in
the bank by clearly out boxing Trinidad over the first eight rounds. However, just
as clearly, Oscar's near retreat over rounds 9 through 12 and his borderline running in
several of the first eight not only swayed the crowd but also the judges.
The fight has to be seen as a
disappointment, falling far short of the Leonard-Hearns comparison. And while we
never believed that it could live up to the excessive hype that it had received, we also
never believed that De la Hoya vs. Trinidad would result in twelve rounds of tactical
maneuvering, with not only no knockdowns being scored but very few solid punches
landing. Neither fighter ever appeared shaken by a punch. No knees buckled, no
heads were rocked sideways. It wasn't a horrible fight, it just wasn't an exciting
one, considering the two men who were in the ring.
Odds and Ends: Another
major surprise was the effectiveness of Oscar de la Hoya's right hand. Trinidad
neutralized Oscar's left hook for the most part but De la Hoya's straight right landed
with frequency and did damage. Oscar was extremely gracious after the loss, although
you could see that he was hurting inside. This wasn't the case of a fighter claiming
that he thought that he'd won but not believing it. Oscar truly felt that he'd
fought the perfect fight, that he'd exhibited incredible boxing skills against a dangerous
opponent, and earned the win. And, he did - for eight rounds.
EBW had picked Trinidad by
decision prior to the fight but as stated, we felt that Oscar should have gotten the nod
in actuality. When the two men fight the rematch - and it's "when" not
"if" - we'll take De la Hoya by a knockout.
THE UNDERCARD
Eric Morel, in the red trunks,
managed to score a one-sided win against fringe contender Miguel Angel Granados but lose
respect in the process. Hoping to make a statement, Morel knocked down Granados in
the second but never was able to hurt him again. Morel claimed bruised knuckles on
both hands were the reason for his lack of fire power. Morel, who had hoped for a
shot against Johnny Tapia, has been calling for Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson.
Morel better lower his voice, lest Johnson hear him! Morel, at junior featherweight,
is a talent but he's not ready for the very talented champion Mark Johnson.
In the only other
"real" fight on the card, cruiserweight king Vassily "Tiger" Jirov
(pictured landing a big right hand)proved once again that his much vaunted body attack was
for real, landing a perfect power shot to the solar plexus region of previously undefeated
Dale Brown and dropping Brown for the count. Brown had more than held his own up to
that point, in spite of being knocked down by Jirov in the 5th. Actually, Brown took
a knee to escape a bombardment of power punches at the hands of Jirov. Then in the
tenth, Jirov unleashed the blow to the body that ended the contest.
In two almost demeaning
exhibitions, Mia St. John strutted her considerable stuff (and I don't mean her boxing
ability) in scoring a stoppage win over Kelly Downey; and Butterbean did his usually dog
and pony show, losing the first round as he gets boxed silly, then catching a
china-chinned opponent with no endurance and stopping him. This week's sacrificial
lamb was some last minute scrub named Ken Craven.
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