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01/25/2004 Archived Entry: "Beauty and Harshness: The Rumble at the Ramada"

Beauty and Harshness: The Rumble at the Ramada
By Juan C. Ayllon
Photos by John Karl Breun
www.classicphoto.com

Chicago, Illinois - The hunter green carpeted foyer of the Ramada O’Hare teemed with vibrant activity, as foreboding snows swirled outside, snarling traffic and chilling bundled bodies walked briskly inside. Scads of sleek girls in blue jeans—grade school ages on up through high school—primped, chatted and paced about with wheeled baggage and pretty, doting mothers in tow. A weekend regional dance competition was being held on the premises.

Amidst the backdrop of suburban eccentricities, periodically, hardened looking, chiseled men in sweats or jeans, red passes slung from their necks, passed quickly through their midst. Increasingly, a predominantly blue collar, sporting crowd comprised largely of men, as well as the occasional wife, girlfriend or showgirl, shuffled through to the tan, marbled entrance of a chic sports bar. On Friday night, a large, garish red sign suspended over its entrance announced that “Hitz Boxing Promotions” promised an exciting boxing card within.

ACT I

The juxtaposition of beauty against harshness was not lost on the night’s events. Jimmy “Superfly” Sandoval was making his professional debut. Standing 5’-11” at 129.5 pounds, Jimmy bore the look of a handsome and slender 17 year-old altar boy, better suited for chess than combat. However, he was the kid brother and sometime sparring partner of WBC 130 lb. Champion, Jesus Chavez. He also sported long arms and height, which translated to better reach and, perhaps, good leverage.

Sandoval-CokesI (664k image)Sandoval (right) debuts

By contrast, African American Henry Cokes (5-13-2), who looked to be a good six inches shorter, appeared more sinewy and had that street hardened look about him.

Once the bell rang, their strategies became readily apparent. Cokes, who opened the fight with a big, looping right, fought awkwardly and tried to throw his opponent off balance by rushing him and throwing looping head shots. Sandoval, on the other hand, sought to establish the jab and focused more on the body early on.

Sandoval appeared a little over anxious and perhaps dry in round one. His timing appeared a bit off, perhaps in part due to his opponent’s awkward style. He began dropping in lead rights occasionally, eschewing the jab. For his part, Cokes managed to land some head shots, including a snappy right hook, on Sandoval. His punches, while they caught Sandoval’s attention, lacked much telling effect.

Round two initially appeared to be a repeat of round one, with Sandoval trying to systematically break Cokes down and Cokes seeking to disrupt his timing and land looping shots. Suddenly, Jimmy knocked Cokes’ mouthpiece out with a right uppercut.

Moments later, Sandoval landed two jabs, followed by a straight right and knocked Cokes to his haunches. Sitting upright, legs splayed out in front of him and his gloved fists on the mat supporting him at his sides, Cokes appeared lucid as he sported a silly grin and watched the referee count in front of him. It appeared that he was getting ready to rise. However, the moment never came. The fight ended one minute into round two.

After the fight, Jimmy Sandoval shared his insights with the Cyber Boxing Zone.

Juan Ayllon: What did you think about Henry Cokes as your first opponent?

Jimmy Sandoval: He [Henry Cokes] was a tough fighter. I’ve seen him fight before.

JA: How did you feel about your performance?

JS: It wasn’t great. It went according to what I wanted to do. I was prepared to knock him out or go the distance.

JA: It was my impression that you were a little over-anxious and tight when the bout began. Is that accurate?

JS: I was relaxed. He’s an awkward fighter he try and make an opponent miss…he try to come in with an overhand right.

JA: How would you rate your performance on a one to 10 scale?

JS: Five and a half. It’s my first fight; I have a lot to do. I got hit with shots that I shouldn’t have got hit with. I’m ready for another fight soon—hopefully by the sixth [of February].

I was trying to time him. He was throwing overhand rights; I was trying to time him with straight rights. I was wearing his body down trying to get him to drop his hands.

ACT II

In a battle of the “ Very White Large Bodies,” two stocky and very beefy heavyweights who each stood just under six feet, James “Bam Bam” Barber (250 lbs.) and Evan “The Hitman” Henderson (247 lbs.) fought a mauling, bruising and free-swinging four round affair next.

Barber-HendersonIII (709k image)Barber (left) catches an uppercut

Barber (4-0-1), a former City of Chicago Police Champion, started off the more aggressively. Jabs, straight rights and multiple hooks were the order of the day. It became clear early on that his was the smoother boxing style. He sported a tighter defense, mixed his body and head punches well, remained the busier of the two and generally landed the cleaner, more effectual blows. Henderson was effective in spots. Although he was walked back towards the ropes time and again, he occasionally traded places and capitalized with clubbing, overhand rights, hooks and a sneaky uppercut in close.

Both fighters took punches well. However, Henderson took them to the head much more frequently. Barber thrived on throwing crisp one-twos and combinations to the head and body; when thrown off, he took a deep breath, reestablished his high guard and dove back in. Henderson occasionally landed some good, single shots, appearing to stun Barber momentarily on an occasion or two.

The big difference was that Barber landed the greater preponderance clean punches, landed the bigger and more frequent power punches, snapping Henderson’s head back on several occasions. Barber's was a solid, unanimous 40-36 decision.

ACT III

Chicagoland’s very own Elizabeth Kerin provided an entertaining, but brief third fight. Kerin is unique in that she hails from the plush and wealthy suburb, Hinsdale, where she lettered in track and basketball in high school. Tall and ruggedly attractive, Kerin combines a sweet disposition with a very aggressive and disciplined ring style.

Interestingly enough, while seeking Jimmy Sandoval for a post-fight interview, this writer accidentally walked into Kerins preparation room. Her response? A friendly wave and cheery “hello.”

Apparently, prior to the beginning of a bout held just before this Christmas past, Kerin told her opponent, “Good luck with the fight and if I don’t see you afterwards, have a merry Christmas.” It’s no wonder she was featured in a full-page Chicago Sun Times piece, a large spread in the Chicago Tribune and an informative television piece last year.

A two time winner at the amateur nationals, Kerin combines her charm with startling aggression in the gym, knocking men out now and again in sparring sessions. She makes no bones about her aspirations to fight 6’-5” heavyweight Vonda Ward—whom it is said Laila Ali wants no part of due to her sheer size—and then fight Ali for a mega-fight.

In tonight's bout, Elizabeth Kerin (170) started out very fast against her opponent, Indianan, Ebony Teague (173). Clearly the more skillful of the two, Kerin landed a fusillade of heavy jabs, straight lefts and rights, backing Teague violently up to the ropes. When Teague retaliated with some looping blows of her own, Kerin pulled her guard up and reestablished her jab. In short order, she backed Teague up. Then Kerin landed a hard straight right that rolled Teague’s head back violently and an incidental, glancing blow to her stomach. That was it! Teague was counted out one minute and 50 seconds into Round One.

ACT IV

Moreno-Yell1 (682k image)Moreno (right) and Yell

In perhaps the fight of the night, busier Jose Moreno (148) won a unanimous decision over hard-hitting William Yell. Utilizing a far superior work rate—easily five punches to one or better—scads of body shots to both sides mixed in with punches up and down, a reasonably tight defense and a practice of consistently walking down his opponent and pinning him onto the ropes, Moreno smothered most of Yell’s offensive techniques and reduced his offense to virtually single digit efforts. This is not to say that the bout was not entertaining. Occasionally, Yell turned the tables on Moreno and landed heavy rights and lefts, the right being the heavier of the two. There was the continuous tension and anticipation of the systematic beating Moreno inflicted versus the occasional shots or volleys that the heavier handed Yell unleashed when he broke free now and again.

In the end, the Jose Moreno won by UD.

ACT V

The main event pitting “Crazy” Eddie Pireh versus Pat “The Cat” Coleman for the Illinois State Junior Middleweight Championship was somewhat anticlimactic. There was action and suspense, but somehow the magic of the previous fight was absent.

Pireh-ColemanI (817k image)Coleman(left) tries to evade Pireh

Coleman (153.5), fresh off his shutout UD loss to Kopytko [who was originally scheduled to fight this evening, but was scratched] last month fought with good effect in spots, but not nearly enough in his losing effort versus Youshia Ed Pireh (152).

Pireh, physically resembled a hybrid of Oscar De La Hoya and Raul Marquez. However, the similarity ended there. The more conventional—and better—boxer of the two, Pireh was far busier than Coleman. Pireh maintained a high guard, while Coleman kept his right hand back and his left in front of his left hip.

It was evident early on that Coleman possessed a solid chin and Pireh was no knockout artist.

To his credit, Coleman stunned Pireh occasionally, trapping him on the ropes several times. At a point or two, it appeared that Coleman was on the cusp of a stoppage victory as he trapped Pireh in corners and landed very effectively with very little in return.

Pireh, whose face swelled and reddened as the fight progressed, was respectful of his opponent’s power. At the same time, he used a superior work rate, pressure and decent boxing skills to overcome Coleman’s movement, power and potshots. Hence, although Pireh’s face looked the worse for the wear after 10 rounds while Coleman’s was virtually unmarked, Pireh prevailed via UD with scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 99-91.

EPILOGUE

All in all, the evening provided an intriguing blend of beauty and brawn, drama with science and technique with old-fashioned moxy for a very successful night of boxing. Did the bout feature marquee players as such? No, at least not yet. However, it wasn’t necessary. Bottom line, the entertainment was solid. On a cold, snowy Friday night in the Midwest, what more can one ask for?

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