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01/31/2004 Archived Entry: "Ray Oliveira, the Replacement Killer"
Ray Oliveira, the Replacement Killer
Smith quits after 5
By J.D. Vena
Photos by P.S. Vena
WORCESTER, MA – It was a fight that “Sucra” Ray Oliveira had been preparing for nearly three months. Oliveira of New Bedford, MA was supposed to headline Doug Pendarvis’ show in November and December to earn some Christmas money. Each time, the show was postponed. With Pendarvis unable to find a suitable opponent for the 35-year old, the promoter settled with Miami’s Elias Cruz. Cruz had been in with some top of the line welterweights like Worcester’s own Jose Antonio Rivera and former champ Ricardo Mayorga.
Unfortunately, the paid attendance didn’t get to see Oliveira with Cruz, who pulled out two days ago and instead was served up with the dependable replacement, Jerry Smith of Birmingham, AL last night at the National Guard Armory. This sort of thing has happened to Oliveira all the time but as long as he gets paid, he’s usually happy.
As most expected, Oliveira, who weighed in at a career high 152 pounds, wore down Smith, 156, until Oliveira’s heavy hooks to the head and body made Smith quit on his stool after the end of the 5th round. It wasn’t your typical Oliveira performance, the kind where he would average 100 punches thrown a round. It was the experienced Oliveira who took his time and the instructions of friend and trainer, Vinny Paz.
Paz works Sucra's corner
“Vinny and I go back,” said Oliveira. “We know each other so well and we’ve worked together for so long that we decided to do this.”
Like all veterans, Oliveira, who improved to 46-9-2 with 22 KO’s is in search of a money fight, the kind that has eluded him for 14 years in the business. Despite beating the likes of Charles “The Natural” Murray twice, WBA jr. welterweight champ, Vivian Harris and Vince Phillips, Oliveira has yet to make a decent payday.
“Boxing honestly hasn’t been good to Ray Oliveira,” said Ray of himself. “How come I can’t get paid? I can’t get a big money fight. I might as well try to melt myself back down to 140 and fight Harris again. He’s been doing a lot of talking and is probably willing to fight me.”
If that isn’t the case, then Oliveira could always call out Rivera, who despite being a Worcester resident, did not attend last nights’ fights. The WBA welterweight champ has been looking for a man to defend his title against for the last few months. He may not need to look beyond his back yard.
“I’d love to fight Jose,” said Oliveira. “Everyone would come out to see it and we’d get paid.”
In the co-feature, undefeated Letitia “Baby Girl” Robinson of Chicago defended her IWBF middleweight title with a 10-round unanimous decision over Yvonne Reis. Robinson, 160, clearly one of the more skilled fighters in women’s boxing used decent head and upper body movement and big round house punches to dominate Reis throughout the fight. Originally from Marlboro, MA, Reis, 159, constantly pressed Robinson but tended to eat a lot of good shots. Robinson, who had to shed three pounds at the weigh-in appeared sluggish, but was still too sharp for Reis, who proved if anything, that she can take a good wallop. Robinson, who would like to face the sport’s biggest star, Laila Ali improved to 10-0 with 8 KO’s, while Reis is now 3-2-1.
Beautiful vocal quartet, Jada knocks out crowd
The homecoming for Worcester’s Roy “House of” Payne wasn’t exactly a pleasant one, but at least he left with a victory. His opponent was 45 year old Robert Folley, son of 60’s heavyweight contender, Zora Folley. In an ugly bout, which saw more warnings from referee Bob Benoit than legal punches, Folley, 196, was disqualified at the close of the 2nd round for excessive fouling. Among the frequent fouls were rabbit punching, hitting on the break, wrestling to the floor and head butting. Looking back it’s amazing that Folley didn’t attempt a low blow. After hitting Payne, 201, after the bell ended the second round, Benoit tossed him like an umpire. Payne is now 16-12-4 with 6 KO’s, while Folley drops to 27-8-2 with 17 KO’s.
In other bouts, muscular Denise “Mighty” Moses, 125, made her Philadelphia opponent, Wanda Satterthwaite, 121, quit a second after the bell rang to begin the 2nd round. Moses, of Lawrence, MA is now 3-0 all by knockout. Alex Infante of Haverhill, MA proved once again that he should not be boxing professionally. Infante, 154, who debuted almost a year ago at 144 pounds, allowed Philadelphia’s Bilai Burns, 167, to go the full 4-round limit. Burns, now 0-5, had never been past the 2nd round and fought competitively with Infante despite losing by scores of 40-36 and 39-37 twice. In his debut in April of last year, Infante allowed Philly’s Angelo Smith, who had lost all of his 8 fights by knockout, to go the distance. Sorry to sound so harsh but Infante is now 4-2 and has never faced a fighter who owned a victory on his record.
Promoter – Doug Pendarvis
