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09/16/2006 Archived Entry: "Mayhem the Order of the Day, as Andrade KO’s Grant, Mares Batters Hudgins!"
Mayhem the Order of the Day, as Andrade KO’s Grant, Mares Batters Hudgins!
By Juan C. Ayllon at ringside
Photos by Jorge Bravo*
Andrade (right) stalks Grant en route to a first round blowout win
CHICAGO – They say if you love someone, set them free. Prior to announcements, the number one World Boxing Council super middleweight contender Librado Andrade extended a genuinely warm smile and a playful glove tap to his opponent Richard Grant. And then, moments later, Andrade liberated him from his senses with a stunning knockout in the first round.
The clang of the opening bell still lingered when a ponderous left nearly floored Grant. Pummeled along the ropes, Grant twisted, turned and punched his way free to rings center. Another lead right stung Grant and a left rocked him. To his credit, Grant speared him with a potent right uppercut and spun free from the ropes. Following, Andrade banged away to the body and was warned to keep his punches up.
Andrade (left) attacks Grant
Nonplussed, Andrade resumed, with a right hand to the head sending spit mixed with blood spewing from Grants mouth. Andrade dug another borderline left, and rocked with a couple rights. He repeatedly jarred with a two fisted assault to the head mixed with occasional ripping blows to the body. A frightening crescendo of walloping lefts and rights tossed and twisted Grants head scarily, dropping him hard on the seat of his pants, where he was counted out at 2:49 into round one.
Afterwards, Andrade said, “That’s what I wanted—finish quick!”
With this win, Adrade, 170 lbs., advanced to 24-0 with 18 knockouts, while Richard Grant, 169 lbs, slipped to 19-14-1 with five knockouts.
In the combative co-main event, bantamweight prospect Abner Mares (8-0, five knockouts) systematically battered and defeated obstinate Kevin Hudgins (5-5-0, two knockouts)—who generally handled the abuse well and gave a good account of himself—for a unanimous decision over eight rounds.
And like that, Grant is finished
Hudgins speared with the jab early in round one and landed a left as Mares walked in. However, he caught some heavy lefts and rights to the head moments later. Hudgins seemed tense as he tried catching Mares walking in with jabs and rights to the head. Meanwhile, Mares worked head and body sparingly. Patiently stalking, Mares jarred with the right.
In the second, Hudgins landed a crisp right hook to the head and circled out. He bounced another sharp lead right off Mares’ heads, and then a left hook. A flurry followed. Mares rocked him with a heavy right hook to the head. Another right rocked him again. A clubbing left to the rear of the head had Hudgins wobbly and drew a warming from the ref. Mares dug wicked hooks to the liver and stunned to the head. Another left stunned Hudgins, who mounted a crisp counter attack. A sharp right snapped Mares’ head back. Yet Mares pressed on, mixing heavy blows to body and head.
Mares (right) bounces a right off of Hudgins
In the third, Hudgins darted side to side and tried avoiding Mares’ pressuring. A left jarred Hudgins. A heavy right to the side of Hodgins’ head jarred. However, he escaped, although absorbing a hard beating up and down in the process. Hudgins speared with lead rights and jabs and ran where he could to avoid the incoming. At rounds end, he caught a late punch from Mares for good measure.
Early in round four, a right left jarred Hudgins, who fired back furiously while retreating. Hudgins jarred with two crisp right of his own while being pressured to the body. A couple rights caromed off Hudgins head, but he took them well. A left to the body, right to the body and left to the head combination by Mares typified his game plan at this juncture.
In the fiery fifth, a heavy left knocked Hudgins back a few steps. Hudgins landed a hard right to the head, Mares countered with heavy lefts and rights and the two traded heavy blows. A huge left rocked Hudgins and a right had him holding on. Another bludgeoning right stupefied, a left really rocked him and had Hudgins on what appeared to be a stoppage. However, it was a very low right that crumpled Hudgins to the canvas.
After a short break, the two resumed, where they traded and Hudgins held. The two swapped punishing rights to the head. Cut high on his scalp, Mares continued pressing. A sweeping left hook to the head drove Hudgins sideways just before the bell.
In the sixth, a couple left jabs knocked Hudgins back off balance, and then a couple power shots rocked him momentarily. A right to the head drew shouts form the crowd, as Mares forced Hudgins to hold. Hudgins kept him honest with a series of peppering lefts and rights. The two swapped heavy leather on the ropes, but Hudgins held and escaped. Mares closed the round bouncing a left and right off Hudgins head.
Hudgins (left) digs a left to the belly of Mares
A hard right knocked Hudgins into the ropes in the seventh, prompting Hudgins to fire back with crisp rights and lefts of his own, temporarily repelling the attack. Hudgins complained of a head butt following another brief salvo. A right caught Hudgins attention, who countered with a hard right of his own. Hudgins landed another stiff right to the head. Mares dug a couple hooks to the beltline near rounds end.
In the eighth and final round, Hudgins initiated with a hard right to the head. The two swapped heavy head blows in a frenzied exchange. A left drove Hudgins back. Mares dug a left to the side for good measure. Mares caught his share of the abuse coming in, as Hudgins got off quick spearing lefts and rights to the head.
A right to the head, followed by a heavy right rocked Hudgins, but Mares was warned inexplicably for something. Mares dug heavy smacking shots to the midsection. A right, a left and another right had Hudgins holding on. Seeking to close out the fight definitively, Mares surged forward.
Another explosive right, followed by two more had Hudgins holding on. A walloping left hook drove him to the ropes. A thudding right caromed off his head near rounds end.
Abner Mares, 118 lbs., won a unanimous decision with scores of 80-72 all. Hudgins weighed in at 119 lbs.
Cloud (right) puts everything into his whistling right hand
Heavy-handed cruiserweight prospect Tavoris Cloud (11-0, 10 KO’s) handled a big step up in competition quite well, thank you very much, as he stopped Tim Shocks (26-23-4, 15 KO’s) inside four rounds.
In the first, Shocks backpedaled and jabbed, while Tavoris maintained a high guard. The two traded flashing rights over the top. Then, Shocks resumed playing matador to Cloud’s cerebral bull, with Cloud jabbing his way in.
A crackling right hand bounced off Shocks’ head, but he shook his head emphatically, “No!” Another thudding right split Shocks’ guard. However, Shocks stuck his arms out to his sides defiantly and spun his way free of the ropes. Cloud followed, digging heavy hooks to both sides as Shocks covered. Teeing off with both fists, Cloud worked him up the middle. Shocks fired back, and then shimmied in mockery as Cloud advanced towards the end of the first.
In the second, Cloud resumed the battering with smashing hooks and heavy rights, while Shocks covered, then shimmied in mockery. Shocks looped a right over the top, then pressed Cloud into the ropes. Like Muhammad Ali versus a young George Foreman, Shocks’ strategy appeared to try and get Cloud to punch himself, spear him now and again with single hard shots and mug his wearied tormentor in the later rounds.
Cloud battered the body and landed another heavy right up top before Shocks backed to the ropes and mocked again.
Cloud seemed to rock Shocks with single shots to the head near rounds end, but it was hard to tell, as Shocks may have been playing possum and trying to lull Cloud into a false sense of security.
In the third, Cloud once again opened with ripping shots to head and body. However, Shocks began opening up with counters in close. Maintaining a high guard, Cloud pumped the jab and picked his spots.
Shocks is waved off by the ref
Intensifying his attack, Cloud ripped the body with hard hooks and dropped Shocks with an overhand right. Down briefly, Shocks lunged at Cloud after rising and began trading in earnest.
The beating was on.
Cloud rocked him with a right and left hook to the head. He hurt him to the body with a left and right in a corner. A stiff right drove Shocks to the ropes and a hard hook swayed Shocks violently at the bell.
In the fourth, following a withering assault, Cloud dropped Shocks to the mat with a left hook to the temple. Referee Pete Podgorski waved off the bout without a count at 15 seconds into the fourth round for a TKO victory for Tavoris Cloud.
Afterwards, Cloud said, “All thanks to God…with a good trainer, Al Bonani!”
Cloud weighed 181 lbs., while Shocks weighed 181.5 lbs. at the weigh-in.
Aggressive 5’ 4” Waukegan slugger Ivan Rodriguez (5-3-1, 3 KO’s) took the action to Vineash Rungea (1-1-1), but had to settle for a draw in their six round battle.
Rodriguez (right) and Rungea square off
Rodriguez initiated round one with a looping hard left hook to Rungea’s head. Rushing in on his taller opponent, Rodriguez bounced a heavy right to the head. Slipping past a side-stepping Rungea, an off balance Rodriguez caught a couple looping blows to the head. Resetting, he bounced a left to the head and Rungea shimmied in mockery, drawing boos from the crowd. Charging in, Rodriguez banged head and body and continued to throw blows long after the bell had rung, drawing a stern warning from Referee Pete Podgorski.
In the second, Rodriguez continued to bull his way in on his taller opponent, who tried to potshot him coming in. However, his stint with acclaimed trainer Jesse Reid in the Las Vegas showed, as Rodriguez covered and boxed smartly in spots. He continued to pressure, while Rungea jabbed and punched from longer range. A hard right caught Rungea high on the head near rounds end.
As his wife yelled out from ringside, “Come on baby,” Rodriguez continued slugging with wanton abandon in close one moment, then circling for the next explosion. A big right snapped Rungea’s head to the side. Boxing free, Rungea took it to rings enter, where he again tried to spear as Rodriguez circled. Another hard right of Rodriguez’ landed at rounds end.
Rungea (right) lands a right to Rodriguez' head
In the fourth, a big right snapped Rungea’s heads back. A late Rodriguez right when told to break from a clinch drew Podgorski’s consternation. No matter. Rungea speared with sharp jabs and occasional counters, while Rodriguez slugged away with heavier aggression, landing heavy looping blows in close.
In the fifth, the two mixed in scattered skirmishes, with Rodriguez landing a series of looping blows to the head and ripping lefts and rights to the abdomen in close.
“Come on Ivan,” shouted his wife.
Rungea bounced a heavy left off the jaw, catching Rodriguez coming in. Rungea ripped a heavy left to the ribs and peppered with both fists as Rodriguez circled. A pair of rights and a big left hook to the head by Rodriguez had the crowd roaring lustily at the close of the round.
In the sixth and final round, Rodriguez unleashed a furious two fisted assault capped with a very heavy right on the ropes. Following a break, Rungea baited Rodriguez and stuck his chin out while Rodriguez sought to time another attack. A pair of lunging left hooks thumped on Rungea and a resounding right high off Rungea’s head sent spray sailing into the crowd. A heavy right-left-right combination batted Rungea’s head to and fro as the fight closed, leaving the crowd cheering. Judges scored the bout an unpopular draw, scoring it 57-56 for Rungea, 55-59 for Rodriguez and 57-57.
After the fight, Podgorski declined comment, except to say, “I did a good job in a tough fight.”
Rodriguez weighed 125 lbs., while Rungea weighed in at 125.5 lbs.
Jonathan Oquendo (left) has his hands full versus Paulino Villalobos (photo by Juan C. Ayllon)
In a classic bout pitting a Mexican versus a Puerto Rican, Mexican native Paulino Villalobos (26-34-2, 16 KO’s) got the large Mexican contingency in the crowd behind him and gave Jonathan Oquendo (10-0, 6 KO’s) all he wanted and more, suffering a lot of facial abuse and ultimately losing by an unpopular decision.
To the displeasure of many in the crowd, Oquendo won by scores of 77-75 twice and 78-74. And, unfortunately, some took it upon themselves to throw beer into the ring. Hey, who needs stinkin’ cologne, anyways? Viva Miller Beer! Idiots.
Oquendo weighed 122.5 lbs., while Villalobos weighed 122.
In the first bout of the evening, Mateusz Masternak (2-0-0, 2 KO’s) defeated Jason Medina (1-7, 1 KO) by TKO at 1:48 into round one. Masternak weighed 174 lbs., while Medina weighed in at 170.
And thus, Dominic Pesoli/8 Count Production’s “Independence Brawl” proved brutally entertaining for one and all.
WBC Interim Lightweight Champion David Diaz with a young fan at ringside
Jorge Bravo (left) with Tavoris Cloud at ringside
*Unless stipulated otherwise
