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07/23/2005 Archived Entry: "Sanchez Stops Simonyan; Duddy Halts Coleman at the Allstate Arena!"
Sanchez Stops Simonyan; Duddy Halts Coleman at the Allstate Arena!
By Juan C. Ayllon at Ringside
Sanchez (right) walks to a neutral corner as Simonyan (left) struggles in vain (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
ROSEMONT, IL, July 22, 2005 – At 35 years of age, ex-champion Agapito Sanchez, 34-11-3 with 18 KO’s, was expected to be an opponent, a foil for Artyom Simonyan, 14-1-2, 7 KO’s as he defended his USBA Super Bantamweight Title. After all, 35 years is considered very old for a fighter in the lower weight classes. At 5’ 4” and 122 lbs., he spotted three inches to his taller and younger opponent, who at 5’ 7”, 122 lbs. and 29 years age, appeared to have youth and physics on his side.
Simonyan (right) lands a jarring straight left on Sanchez
However, the wily old pro had a few things stacked in his favor.
For one thing, he had a long 64” reach, which is very respectable for someone 5’ 4”. For another, he had championship experience. Highlights from his prolific career included: knocking down the great Marco Antonio Barrera in August 1995 in losing a bid for the WBO Title; stopping current WBC Super Bantamweight Champion Oscar Larios for the WBO Intercontinental Super Bantamweight Title in October 1998; stopping Gerardo Martinez to win the WBC Fecarbox Super Bantamweight Title in June 2000; winning the Vacant WBO Super Bantamweight Title over Jorge Monsalvo in June 2001; and drawing with Manny Pacquiao in November 2001 in a bid to unify WBO and IBF Super Bantamweight Titles.
A jubilant Sanchez celebrates on the turnbuckles
Regardless, Sanchez lost his WBO Super Bantamweight Title by TKO to Joan Guzman in February 2004; in December 2004, Carlos Navarro stopped him for the Vacant WBC Continental Americas Super Featherweight Title. Clearly, his time had passed, or so it would seem.
And thus, against these odds, Sanchez snatched one more great performance from the jaws of Father Time, electrifying the crowd and stopping Simonyan with startling finality in the fifth round.
Rounds one and two were tightly contested affairs. In round one, Simonyan sustained a cut over his left eye apparently from a clash of heads and/or a follow-up right hand. Whereas Simonyan appeared to box better in the early going, he was open to a peculiar overhand right that Sanchez threw with the exaggerated forward motion of a baseball pitch. This proved to be his undoing.
In round three Sanchez rocked Simonyan with a huge right, forcing him to hold on for dear life. Later, Sanchez leapt in with a left hook that landed crisply. The two fought hard, but it was Sanchez who had the momentum.
In round five, as Simonyan sought desperately to gain the upper hand, Sanchez kept landing jarring rights. A wicked left jab-right hand combination dropped Simonyan hard. He was clearly very hurt. Wisely, the referee intervened, waving the bout off at 1:30 into round five.
An exuberant Sanchez leapt up onto the turnbuckles and raised waved his hands overhead in a gesture of sweet vindication.
Duddy (rear) stalks Coleman
In the co-main event, Irish John Duddy, 157 lbs., 10-0-0, 9 KO’s entertained the locals and a small band of faithful that had traveled from Ireland in stopping rugged, but ultimately outgunned Pat Coleman, 155 lbs., 29-11-0, 20 KO’s in stopping him in the eighth and final round.
Duddy landed well in the first round, mixing his punches well. He hurt Coleman to the body with a left to the lower abdomen and followed later with some well-placed rights.
In round two, Coleman established his jab and stung Duddy with a straight right and an uppercut, gaining him momentary respect from his younger adversary. Yet, Duddy appeared to dominate this round as well.
Duddy (right) attacks Coleman
After an exchange of jabs at the beginning of round three, Duddy pressed and systematically beat Coleman to head and body, rocking him with a chopping left and increasing his output over the course of the round. At one point, he momentarily knocked Coleman off balance, forcing his left glove to touch the canvas.
Just as Coleman was coming on with crisp jabs and rights in round four, Duddy banged back hard with his own walloping left hook and right. Coleman kept things interesting, no doubt, as he was able to land stiff punches, especially the right hand. However, Duddy maintained the upper hand.
Apparently tiring in round five, Duddy let Coleman back in, who landed four lead rights in a row before Duddy came back hard. A firefight broke out, after which Duddy hurt Coleman with a left hook. The two exchanged blows.
Rounds six and seven were difficult, give and take affairs, with Duddy dominating, but Coleman staying in the mix with sneaky solid rights and a crisp jab.
Jim Borzell (left)celebrates with John Duddy
In the eighth and final round, Duddy came out with a flourish, only to settle down when it became apparent that Coleman wasn’t going anywhere at the moment. It wasn’t long, however, before he resumed his task at hand, trying to dispatch this cagey veteran, who landed his fair share of rights over the top. Hurting Coleman with a left hook, he was unable to finish him as Coleman fought with a tenacity. Finally, a right hand, left hook combination knocked Coleman flat on his back. The referee immediately halted the bout, stopping it in the waning moments of the bout.
One of Duddy’s corner men said afterwards, “He’s a tough bugger, that Coleman.”
Jim Borzell, Matchmaker for Duddy said, “Everything went as planned; what we needed was a lot of rounds, hopefully ending in a knockout. We got what we anticipated. John will probably learn a lot from this. He was against a crafty veteran who had not been KO’ed before. Coleman used all his skills that he had learned over his 40 fights before this. As a matchmaker I couldn’t be happier!”
Farrell (left) pummels Boldridge in a corner
Irish heavyweight Malachy Farrell, 244 lbs., 9-0-0, 8 KO’s, dominated and stopped Clinton Boldridge, 222 lbs., 3-3-0, 3 KO’s, in the second round.
In round one, Farrell essentially pounded Boldridge from pillar to post, knocking him down once and the second time, the ropes held him up, earning him up a standing eight count.
In round two, Boldridge landed a couple of right hands, but other than that, it was more of the same. Farrell dropped him with a big right punctuating a preponderance of blows. Boldridge grabbed his ACL at the back of his knee as he lay on the canvas. The ref stopped the bout at 1:19 into round two.
Cisneros (left) tears into Pearson
Rudy Cisneros, 157 lbs., 4-1-0, 4 KO’s, continued to grow and demonstrated his technical proficiency in winning a unanimous decision over hard swinging and ever-dangerous Leon Pearson, 160 lbs., 11-13-3, 1 KO. Mixing his punches well, covering when he had to and banging well at other times. Dominating all rounds, but getting game and—at times—dangerous return fire, he gave a good account of himself. In round three, Cisneros was on the cusp of a stoppage victory on at least two occasions. In the fourth, he stunned Pearson a time or two, but could not finish him, as Pearson fought back hard. The judges scored the bout 40-36 thrice for Cisneros.
King (left) weathers Stephens early onslaught and sets to counter
Short and stout Demitrice King, 264 lbs., 7-8-0, 5 KO’s, pulled a minor upset in stopping Lamar Stephens, 235 lbs., 6-1-1, 3 KO’s who, at 6’ 4”, towered over him, in the fourth and final round.
As Stephens found out, looks and records can be deceiving. After all, this was the same King that knocked down rugged Chicago slugger Art Binkowski for the first time in his career in May and purportedly decked contender Shannon Briggs several times en route to getting stopped himself in March of this year.
The bout proved to be a slugfest for both fighters, with Stephens faring much better in round one, storming out and looking as if he was going to take King out early. However, King survived the onslaught and reengaged with conviction.
As early as round two—or perhaps even the latter stages of round one—King got Stephen’s attention with a strong right hand and a pattern emerged: whereas Stephens had heavy hands, was the busier and more accurate puncher, King’s punches were jarring, hurtful blows that eventually had Stephens holding repeatedly in the fourth round. In that round, Demitrice eventually knocked Stephens down twice, the second one finishing matters, as the ref halted matters at 2:25 into round four.
Theobald (left) swarms over Davis
Bearing some resemblance to Hillary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby,” Lois Theobald, 141 lbs., 1-3-1, 1 KO, showed some talent and flash in pummeling Brandi Davis, 146 lbs., 0-1-0, with a blistering two fisted attack, winning by stoppage victory at 1:01 into round one when Davis inexplicably turned her back and refused to fight.
Popular Chicago fighter Rita Figueroa said to this writer, “Remember that time I said I was going out your way to spar? That’s who I was going to spar with!”
Lois said afterwards, “I look forward to fighting again in Chicago before I retire, and hopefully with an opponent that helps me showcase my skills.”
And thus, just several miles outside of Chicago, Art Pelullo/Banner Promotions and Hitz Boxing Promotions joined ESPN2 in providing a fascinating blend of age versus experience, talent versus grit and power, and beauty versus drama. What more can you ask for on a great summer's night in the “City of the Big Shoulders”?
Lois Theobald celebrates with friends at ringside
Rudy Cisneros enjoys his victory
A couple of famous, ex-Chicago Bears football players at ringside
Demitrice King celebrates his win
Agapito Sanchez shares his joy of victory over his cell phone
Juan C. Ayllon (left) with ESPN2 Announcer Teddy Atlas. All photos by Juan C. Ayllon, Copyright 2005
