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The CyberBoxingZone News |
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Win for the Prince No Cinch
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JD Vena from Ringside |
MASHANTUCKET PEQOUT RESERVATION --"When you
see Prince Naseem Hamed fight, you see a man get hit. You see a
man go down. You excitement, drama, wicked ring entrance.
You see explosion, a phenomenon and you see a man get knocked out."
Those were the words from Prince Naseem Hamed
following his 15th successful title defense of the featherweight
title at a sold-out Foxwoods Casino Resort in Connecticut. A
Hamed fight, particularly last night's, could not be put in better
words. In spectacular fashion, Hamed, 126, destroyed a game
but overmatched Augie Sanchez, 126, but the win wasn't as easy as
Hamed or anyone else but perhaps Sanchez expected.
Midway though the second round, Sanchez sent
Hamed to the canvas with two quick right hands. As quickly
as the crowd rose to its feet, so too did Hamed. The
Yemenite who packs dynamite changed his fight plan from bouncing
to trouncing. The knockdown which referee, Michael Ortega
incorrectly ruled a slip, transformed the Prince from leopard to
tiger as he immediately roared back and stunned Sanchez moments
later with thunderous punches.
"When I get knocked down, I get up and
smile," said the champion. "I look over at my
opponent and say to myself, 'I'm going to knock you out!'
When you get hit by Prince Naseem, you get whacked."
And his opponent certainly got whacked.
Though Sanchez, a 22 - year old native of the city of sin (that's
Las Vegas, Nevada folks) was able to hit Hamed with many more
solid punches, they only seemed to anger Hamed, who walked through
Sanchez's blows to land his own.
"I don't like to get in there and just
pity-pat," said Hamed. "I just want to go out
there to fight and knock you out. That's a sign of a warrior
and you can see it in my heart. At 35-0 with 31 knockouts, no
matter what happens, I always prevail. If you put me down,
good for you, but better for me. It's a wake-up call for me
which says it's time for you to get knocked out."
That time came at 2:34 of the 4th round, a
moment after Hamed landed two picturesque left-right combinations
to the head of Sanchez. Sanchez collapsed in a heap and
Ortega immediately waved the fight over without issuing a
mandatory 8-count. Though Sanchez valiantly managed to his
feet, his handlers and ringside officials laid him down to examine
his condition.
"Augie was slurring his words, lethargic
and slow to respond to commands," said ringside physician,
Michael Schwartz.
Sanchez was carried out of the ring on the
stretcher and taken to Backus Hospital in Norwich, CT for
extensive tests. Fortunately, the reading of the CT scan
taken of Sanchez determined that Augie was okay.
Hopefully, the damage done to Sanchez' career
won't be as devastating as his knockout loss which dropped his
record to 26-2, with 23 knockouts.
"My heart goes out to Augie,"; said
the Prince. "He really came to fight. He had a
plan and he fought a great fight. He seemed to be very
strong and he must have trained very hard, but I train and fight
harder."
During the post-fight press conference, Hamed
continued to express interest in being matched with, Erik Morales,
the WBC Super-Bantamweight champion or Marco Antonio Barrera,
Morales' WBO counterpart.
"I';m still waiting for Barrera and
Morales to come out from hiding," said Hamed. "All
you fighters who think you're the best fighter in the world, step
up!"
Promoter - Prince Promotions
Network - HBO
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