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The CyberBoxingZone News |
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New England Chatta
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JD Vena |
When I attended the Evander Holyfield-John Ruiz battle for the
vacant WBA heavyweight title in Las Vegas over a month ago, there
was a tremendous negative reaction among the fans and the media
moments after the decision was announced. Though I felt that
Holyfield deserved at least two points deducted from his tally for
excessive fouling, I still had the Real Deal winning slightly more
rounds and by a score of 114-113. After the fight, many that I had
talked to felt that I was crazier for scoring for Holyfield than I
was predicting a Ruiz upset. NY Post scribe, Wally Matthews was
one of the people who strongly opposed my pre-fight forecast and
scorecard. Favoring Holyfield might have had to do with the
fact that I predicted Ruiz to win.
"RUIZ ROBBED" and "SHAM"
were just some of the titles gracing the covers of Sport sections
the day after the fight. After watching the fight I had
taped, I felt the same way. During Showtime's broadcast on
August 12th, on-line scorers had Ruiz winning 8 rounds to four
while Showtime boxing analyst and former two-time world champion
Bobby Czyz had Ruiz winning 9 rounds to three.
This Sunday afternoon (Sept. 17) TV viewers who
don't subscribe to Showtime will have the opportunity to catch the
rebroadcast on CBS at 4:30 PM (check your local listings).
Ruiz, who was recently named the Massachusetts Athlete of the Year
will be watching and commenting on the national rebroadcast from
the Good Time Emporium (a cool place to drink cervezas and shoot
pool) in Somerville, Ma. Ruiz' comments will be posted
between rounds on the Internet at www.sho.com.
Wally Matthews among others will be a guest on the CBS broadcast
to offer his opinion on the controversial bout. If your
favorite football team isn't playing, be your own judge and watch
it for yourself.
If your favorite college football team isn't
playing this Saturday evening (Sept. 16) and you live in the New
England area, you might want to attend the live, 7-bout boxing
card at the Worcester Centrum. The Centrum was the venue for
a handful of Marvin Hagler title fights and the 1992 Olympic
Trials. Headlining the card will be New Bedford's "Sucra"
Ray Oliveira against Denver's Steve Valdez. The fight is a
tune up bout for Oliveira, who may receive a potential title shot
against IBF jr. welterweight belt holder, Zab "Supah"
Judah later this year. Oliveira, a former NABF jr.
welterweight champion is ranked 8th by the IBF. Also
featured on the card will be an interesting all-Massachusetts jr.
middleweight bout between Worcester's Jose Rivera and Southie's
Tommy Attardo. For ticket information, call the Worcester
Centrum at (508) 755-6800.
Jimmy Birchfield, Classic Entertainment &
Sports will run an exciting 10-bout card next Friday (September
22) at the glamorous Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet in Cranston, RI.
In the main event, Oliveira's stablemate and pal, Scott "The
Sandman" Pemberton will set his sights on Levan Easley and
the vacant NABF Super Middleweight title at stake.
Pemberton, ranked 15th by WBA, 14th by the IBF and 20th by the WBC
is coming off an impressive 9th round knockout victory over
Glenwood Brown this past June.
Hartford's Israel "Pito" Cardona will battle Guyana's
Keith Thomas in a ten-round co-feature. Cardona, a former
USBA and NABF lightweight champion is coming back from two
devastating losses: a 12 round decision loss for the vacant IBF
lightweight title to Paul Spadafora and a knockout defeat to Julio
Alvarez. Over the past year Cardona has been suffering from
both managerial and marital problems during this streak.
Should Cardona be successful, the fearless Boy Scout leader may
earn a TV bout in late Autumn. Also featured at the mansion
will be Kathy "Hollywood" Rivers, Arthur "The
Armenian Assassin" Sarabekian, Brian "Drop 'em"
Dumas, Dan "TNT" Constantino and the debut of New
England amateur star, Peter Manfredo, Jr. For more
information, visit www.cesboxing.com
or call (401) 724-2253.
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