Close Up and Personal: Faces in the Crowd, Pt. 2

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's a link to last night's interview with Jaime Sandoval, who'll be fighting at the UIC Pavilion on Friday:

Link to Jaime Sandoval Interview

I think you'll find it interesting. Check it out.

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's a link to my latest fight report from the UIC Pavilion. As you'll see, Jaime Sandoval lost!



Link to fight report

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hey,

I just rolled back into Chicago after a great weekend in New York. I'd flown out to see the Cotto-Clottey fight, as well as some relatives and friends. I'll have to post up a link to my report and additional pics later.

However, I think you'll get a kick out of this photo I shot of Mia St. John at the loft of my friend, Jill Diamond. I'd tagged along with Jill Diamond to an appearance of "WBC Cares" at a Russian-American festival on Coney Island and came back to her place, where she was about to head out for a workout with Mia. I asked if I could shoot a pic or two of Mia and Jill (who was exhausted from a long weekend, was hungry, and had to wait to eat until after their workout) said, "Okay, but you have five minutes."

I asked Mia and she said, "Okay, but let me put on a little makeup first."

Here's the resulting photo:



I'll try posting a link to more pics from my trip soon.

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hey,

I just returned to find two photos from Top Rank's photographer, Chris Farina, in my email to accompany my report on Cotto-Clottey. They are gorgeous! You can view them on the report at the link below:

Link to My Fight Report with Chris Farina Photos

Link to Cotto-Clottey Report with Chris Farina Photos

By the way, below is a quick photo I shot of referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. with my cellphone camera just outside of the elevator at Madison Square Garden. He was very friendly and encouraging with me.



Enjoy,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's a link to a recap of the Boxing Writer's dinner held on June 12th by Christy Cappillino, who also helped present some of the awards:

Link to Boxing Writer's Dinner



Christy Cappillino (right) with Mia St. John

Enjoy!

Funny, we were supposed to meet at MSG for the Cotto-Clottey fight, but found it nearly impossible. We must have sent over 20 text messages, had several aborted phone calls, and missed each other on the floor. We finally met before the main event began and got a chance to talk for a few minutes before I had to go back to my press box up in the nosebleed section in the South Press Box.



Christy's very sweet and serious about her photography, modeling, and boxing, as well as her Christian faith. I'm proud to count her as one of my boxing friends.

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hey,

I thought you'd get a kick out of photos Top Rank photographer Chris Farina emailed out on Juan Manuel Lopez. You can view them at the link below:

Link to Farina photos of Juan Manuel Lopez

He has a nice-looking family there! Hopefully, he can take good care of them long after his boxing career winds down.

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Fres Oquendo

Here's a link to my report on the fights at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago last Friday, featuring Fres Oquendo, the CBZ's Rita Figueroa and more:

Link to Fres Oquendo Fight Report

It's got oodles of photos!

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

I just received this political humor piece from a good friend of my friend and physical trainer, David Estrada. One of his buddies forwarded it to him.

The object of the game is to destroy American capitalism by having the government take over everything!

Tokens include a bus, a teleprompter, a sprig of arugula and a waffle iron.

Wanna play? No? Too bad, you're already playing... and quite frankly, in this game, nobody wins!

Say what you will, the U.S. is undergoing some big changes, some of which are a bit on the scary side. I won't get into THAT discussion, as it's a forbidden topic in these parts.

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

I just received this press release in my email, although I don't know why. Check it out:

TWITTER FOR SALE -- POPULARITY UP FOR GRABS

First it was popularity on social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon that was being sold and now Twitter is in the sights of those looking to have their fame and status artificially increased.

Web traffic and promotion company uSocial.net – who famously received and ignored a Cease & Desist order from Digg after selling votes on the site – have just launched a service allowing Twitter users to purchase packages of followers if they are having trouble attaining them on their own.

Starting in packages of 1,000 and going up to 100,000 followers, the company launched the service last week with what they say was a massive response.

“It was obvious people had been looking for a service like this for some time as the day we launched we actually had to start turning people away before close of business,” said uSocial CEO Leon Hill. “It was a shock, but within a couple of days we revamped our systems to ensure we could handle the workload.”

uSocial themselves own three of their own Twitter accounts which have all been active for only seven weeks and each of them number between 8,000 and 14,000 followers, totaling over 30,000 people following their activities. It was the methods they used to create this large follower base in such a short amount of time that they now use on their clients accounts.

“We’ve had everyone from churches and automotive blogs, to Fortune 500 companies express interest and invest in our services,” said Hill. “And with the growing popularity of Twitter, we can only see an even larger variety of organizations and businesses jumping on the bandwagon.”

The service is the second offered by uSocial that works on unnaturally increasing rankings or popularity on a social site. Upon their launch in December of 2008 the only service the company offered was their paid social bookmarking services which allowed clients to purchase votes on sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. While they do now offer other services such as press release distribution, it seems their artificial popularity services are by far the most sought after.

“We have gotten some bad feedback about some of our services, though we do get a lot more positive than negative response,” said Hill.

uSocial no longer offer the paid social bookmarking services on their site as they state they have a large number of regularly contracted corporate clients who fill all their available slots. Despite this, Hill says they will be reopening this service for new clients very soon.

The company’s new Twitter services can be viewed by going to http://usocial.net/twitter_marketing, or for more information the company can be contacted via the form on their site.

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's the CBZ's Rita "La Guera" Figueroa at ringside with her manager, Rocky Martinez and the child of one of Rocky's friends following Rita's close decision loss to Tammie Johnson at the UIC Pavilion last Friday. It was a tough fight!

You can read about it at the same link to Fres Oquendo's last fight, which you can also access below:

Link to Fight Report with Rita Figueroa vs. Tammie Johnson

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hey,

Earlier today, I posted up an interview with Chicagoland heavyweight Fres Oquendo, who fights former champion Bruce Seldon at the UIC Pavilion this Friday night. Check it out:

Link to Fres Oquendo Interview

Cheers,



Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Greetings! Here's a link to my report on "King" David Estrada versus Chris Gray, as well as the undercard bouts, held at the UIC Pavilion last night. Check it out:

Link to Fight Report

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hey,

I just thought I'd drop in and say hello. It's been a crazy busy first quarter so far coming back and teaching again. Phew! I'm so spent. But, at the same time, I'm having fun.

Here's several photos of me last night at Peggy Kinnane's in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In the first one, you'll see me with a gal named Julee on our second date (what a sweetie! Isn't she beautiful? Wow!):



Photo with Julee

The second one is a shot Julee shot of me:



Me at Peggy Kinnane's

And here's a shot of the band we were listening to:

Band Pic

Anyways, I'll be at the David Diaz vs. Jesus Chavez bout tomorrow at ringside covering the fight for the CBZ.

Have a wonderful weekend,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hey,

I just posted up my report on Saturday's bout between David Diaz vs. Jesus Chavez at the UIC Pavilion last night. Here's a link to the report:

Link to Diaz-Chavez Fight Report

Enjoy!

-- Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

I tell you, I'm not used to this dating in the 21st century thing. Maybe I'm a relic, but I'm pretty used to dating one person at a time. However, this last gal has been into dating a number of people at the same time. It just feels strange to me and gives me mixed signals. In a way, it feels a little schizophrenic.

Whatever!

I want to settle down, not play games or date a bunch of people. That's so passe with me, it's not even funny. Been there, done that. To me, that kind of thing went out with the 80s.

But, until that time comes, I think I'll keep my dating life to myself, as it gets discouraging posting up something about a new flame, only to be disappointed. C'est la vie!

Anyways, life goes on. It's hectic, but you know what? It's good. I've got great opportunities, excellent friends, and a bright future ahead.

Cheers!

[Juan C Ayllon]

There will be services on Monday and Tuesday for Chicago boxer Francisco Rodriguez, who passed last Sunday following an unsuccessful brain operation and other efforts to revive him from traumatic injury suffered in his boxing match on Friday at the Blue Horizon.

Here is a link to further information:

Info on upcoming services for Francisco Rodriguez

For those of you who didn't know, the late Mr. Rodriguez was lauded in the Chicago media for designating his organs for donation, allowing his uncle and seven other people to live on because of his generosity.

Rest in peace, our valiant fallen warrior,


Juan

[Punchdrunk]

Jaun, don't be so hard on yourself! No one knows how this stuff works with women. Pesonally, I enjoy checking out the babes you date, keep posting them.
Gary

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hi Gary,

Thanks, man. As I've found out the hard way, these days, girls often do Google searches on guys they're considering dating, and some find the candor I've expressed on these pages less than impressive. So, I'm guessing that the old addage that "less is more" is a good way to go.

Anyways, happy holidays,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

I went to Barnaby's, a favorite pizza place dating back to grade school, with a friend on Saturday night. Some things, like good thin crust pizza, never change and are best enjoyed with good company.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

My friend and fellow photographer Tom Glunz went all-out and rented a 300 mm lens and shot an amazing array of photos of Diaz-Malignaggi II, which I think you'll enjoy. Check them out at the link below:

Link to Tom Glunz's photos and my report

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's a photo of a friend who went sledding and toboganing with me earlier this evening. What a blast!

Funny thing was, my first time up, I took the tobogan (while she rode this plastic sled) down the hill, and it made a beeline for a jump made up of snow. Wow! Did I fly and land HARD on my butt! And, then I rolled the tobogan.

Still, it was a blast, as we took turns with the tobogan. And, when we were done, we grabbed tea at a nearby Barnes 'n' Noble.

What a great way to spend an evening just before Christmas!

[Juan C Ayllon]

I just posted this up on the CBZ Newswire page. Check it out!

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/blog/?p=3604

I think that's awesome!

[Juan C Ayllon]

Check out the highly emotive guitar playing through the synthesizer that Metheny plays on this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pGA33HxieY&NR=1

I absolutely love it!

I hope the shots of the seaside warm your bones on this cold winter's night!

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's a link to my latest fight report, covering Donovan George's and Ivan Popoca's fights in Chicago's UIC Pavilion on Friday, January 29, 2010:

Link to my report

By the way, I had the funniest experience at ringside. I was sitting there at my laptop, when I heard a female voice say, "Mr. Ayllon?" It was a former student of mine that I'd taught Word Processing about six years ago. She'd remembered I'd talked about reporting on boxing matches in Chicago, and since she was there to support her friend who was a ringcard girl that night, she thought she'd look for me at ringside. What a small world! A photo of her appears at the end of my report.

Anyways, enjoy!

[PeterD]

Excellent photos, Juan. You are a very talented photographer.

[Juan C Ayllon]

Thanks, Peter! I appreciate that.

I'll be at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana at ringside tomorrow night reporting on Fres Oquendo's fight versus Demetrice King for the NABO title for the Carol Stream Examiner. It should be a fun show. I'm also planning on posting up some results on the CBZ Newswire page as I get the chance.

No doubt, I'll have a couple good pics. We'll see!

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Hey,

I thought you'd enjoy my report:

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/blog/?p=4399#more-4399

My friend and assistant for this fight, Belle, joined me for the show. Here she is with "King" David Estrada:



This was her first show, and she had a blast!

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's a link to some pics and my report on last Friday's fights at the Hammond Civic Center:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...5&l=8ac03c7f15

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/blog/?p=4516#more-4516

Check them out when you get the chance!

Cheers,


Juan

[Juan C Ayllon]

Here's a link to a review I wrote of a fairly recent performance by recent Grammy winner Kurt Elling:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us

Just scroll down to the article entitled, "GEL REVIEW: Jazz Singer Kurt Elling Shines, Speaks Candidly at the MAC Center."

Enjoy!

[Juan C Ayllon]

Kurt Elling's website picked up my article, which you can view at the link below:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...26tbs%3Disch:1