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01/24/2009 Archived Entry: "Popoca Uses Ring Science as Pitches Shutout in Step-Up Bout versus Garcia!"
Popoca Uses Ring Science as Pitches Shutout in Step-Up Bout versus Garcia!
Photos and report by Juan C. Ayllon at ringside
Referee John O'Brien looks on as Popoca (left) takes it to Garcia
CICERO, Ill., January 23, 2009 – The fight crowd at Cicero Stadium cheered as hometown hero Rey Ivan Popoca (140.5 lbs., 8-0-1, 7 KO’s) took his game up a new level, using ring science, a thudding body attack and a jab to prevail over Houston, Texas' more seasoned Daniel Edward Garcia (9-5-1, 7 KO’s).
Round one started out with more discipline that Popoca had shown in eons. “Stick and jab!” shouted his corner man Juan Bailon, and that’s what he did. Maintaining a tight guard, Popoca jabbed, banged the body and controlled the round.
Popoca continued pressuring, digging to the body at one juncture with lefts and rights in the second while Garcia fired a volley of hooks to his head.
“Don’t drop your hands!” Bailon shouted.
“Box, Ivan, box,” former World Boxing Council Lightweight Champion David Diaz instructed his friend and sometime sparring partner in the third, “Put it together, Boo!”
His training camp and corner's shouts of encouragement paid off, as the heavy-handed Popoca continued to systematically work over the retreating and circling Garcia one, two – and occasionally three – punches at a time.
The momentum grew as the rounds progressed. Garcia stumbled half a step along the ropes as he was being abused in the fourth round. Circling, his strategy seemed clear: Catch Popoca coming in with sharp counters. He began opening up more and landed a big uppercut in close at one juncture, but Popoca continued his disciplined jab and batter routine.
Ivan Popoca (left) stalks Daniel Garcia
The battering reached a new level in the sixth and final round, as Popoca ripped some heavy uppercuts in close and banged the body. For his part, Garcia speared with the jab occasionally and fired crisp rights and hooks in spots, catching Popoca with the odd punch, but not cleanly.
The scoring was dead on, as judges tallied the bout 60-54 all for Popoca.
Referee John O’Brien presided.
Cutman Jim Strickland offered some constructive criticism on Popoca’s performance afterwards, demonstrating with slow motion rights to my solar plexus and side: “He wouldn’t hit him with a left hook after a right. He’d hurt him to the body with the right – why not follow it up with a left hook to the other side?”
Asked how he felt about the fight, Popoca said, “Pretty good. He didn’t punch too hard. He just got on the bike and I couldn’t catch him very well.”
“I’m trying to control the fight with the jab, but I wasn’t throwing too many punches. I’ll have to go back to the gym and work on throwing more punches. I controlled the fight with the jab.”
“Next fight will be an eight rounder. No [I don’t know who], but we’ll be moving to eight rounds,” he said.
Fonfara (left) on the attack against Wilson
Warsaw, Poland’s by way of Chicago’s Andrzej Fonfara (168 lbs., 10-2, 3 KO’s) proved the superior boxer and more consistent worker in defeating Fort Smith, Arkansas’ awkward Terrence Lamar Wilson (166.5 lbs., 5-4, 3 KO’s) over six contentious rounds.
The second round featured some measured back and forth aggression, with Wilson popping Fonfara’s head up with a sharp right and surprising him with snapping returns when he landed crisp rights.
Part of Fonfara’s problem was that often after landing his shots, he didn’t move out of range or step to the side, as his corner exhorted him. Instead, he showed a tendency of planting his feet or move straight back. Nevertheless, Fonfara continued to press the action throughout.
Moments before the end of the fourth, Fonfara landed a crisp one-two, but was staggered with a counter left. Knocked back a few steps, Fonfara covered as Wilson attacked. The bell rang and Fonfara countered with a swarm of lefts and rights as the two traded for a few seconds after the bell.
Wilson appeared spent in the fifth. Truth is, both appeared tired. However, Fonfara forced the action behind a stiff jab, hooks and sharp rights.
Trying to close the show strong in the sixth, Fonfara wobbled Wilson with a snapping right, forcing him to hold. However, his follow-up attempts were stymied with Wilson’s incessant clutching.
Judges ruled the bout 58-56, 59-55, and 59-55 for Andrzej Fonfara, garnering him a unanimous decision win.
“I felt fine,” said Fonfara afterwards. “He didn’t hit hard. [Still,] I must work on [movement and] my defense. My conditioning was good!”
“He was nervous as he lost his last fight,” said a friend in his corner after the bout.
Referee John O’Brien served as referee.
Chicago’s popular welterweight Ryan “Red” Smedick (144.5 lbs., 2-0, 1 KO) showed some gumption, athleticism, and, at the same time, a certain rawness and vulnerability in a very rocky and entertaining battle versus Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s Tyson Schweiger (1144.5 lbs., 2-6-2, 2 KO’s).
It didn’t help that Schweiger landed a looping overhand right in the opening seconds. That seemed to discourage Smedick from unpacking his offense. With Smedick circling and boxing cautiously, Schweiger opened up with a relish in the middle of the round. However, Smedick kept it close as he elected to box carefully.
With his corner bellowing to let his hands go in the second, Smedick stepped up his offense. Smelling blood after jarring Schweiger with a hard right, he gritted his teeth and unloaded with both fists. Swinging for broke, he had his man covering on the ropes. However, his guard was down and he was wide open for a counter.
“Get your hands up!” shouted his corner. “GET YOUR HANDS UP!”
He didn’t adjust and moments later as if on cue, a right slammed into his jaw. A collective “ooh” resonated through the crowd.
Schweiger lunged off the ropes, knocking the dazed Smedick down as his body collided with Smedick’s. Referee John O’Brien ruled it a slip or a push, but Smedick was clearly hurt. Rising, he covered, grabbed and retreated as Schweiger battered him with follow-up rights and lefts. A red-faced Smedick barely survived the round. Trudging to his corner after the bell, he looked ill.
Schweiger chased and battered Smedick – who covered up and circled – for the first minute and a half of the third round while Smedick’s corner exhorted him to throw something, anything. Gathering himself up, he obliged. He jarred his antagonist with lefts and rights. Refusing to fold with his right by his chin, Schweiger fired back in spots, repeatedly stunning Smedick and bloodying his nose.
Ironically, it was Schweiger’s minimalist approach to punching that kept the hopes of Smedick – who punched in bunches – alive; his punch output by comparison was pedestrian.
“Keep your hands up!” Smedick’s corner yelled.
Holding one moment, circling on his toes the next, and firing back in another with short bursts, Smedick fought to keep alive.
In the fourth and final round, Schweiger bullied and threatened with his aggression. Gun shy, Smedick circled and gradually worked his way into another frenzy, only to get caught with a ponderous booming overhand right. Clearly stunned, he retreated. Following his corner’s lead though, he worked the jab, the cross and ripped the body, while Schweiger bombed with the right.
Had Smedick’s busier hands saved him, or had Scweigher’s more effective punching garnered him the victory? The crowd murmured as they awaited the decision.
Finally, it was announced that judges scored the fight 39-37, 38-38 and 38-38 for a majority draw. Loud boos echoed in Cicero Stadium. Smedick had escaped his first professional loss – barely.
“That wasn’t right,” yelled an upset Schweiger. “That wasn’t right.” He approached ringside judge Bulmaro Campuzano, tapped him on the shoulder at ringside and said, “That decision wasn’t right!” Campuzano face reddened and he looked very upset, but minutes later he shrugged and said, “He just didn’t agree with the decision.”
Chicago's Eric Estrada (122 lbs., 6-0, 3 KO’s) found himself in a pitched firefight with Halifax, Nova Scotia's shorter Stephen Michael Cannell (122.5 lbs., 2-1-3) before stopping him inside the distance on cuts.
Cannell landed quick and sneaky rights over the top with some regularity in the first round, while Estrada appeared to have a slight edge in effective aggression with rights and uppercuts.
A lone female voice in the crowd shrieked as Cannell lit into Estrada. No doubt, this was no walkover for the hometown favorite.
Cannell continued to impose his inside game on Estrada, repeatedly cornering him into the ropes and dug to the body and slung rights and lefts overhead. The taller and rangier Estrada was forced him to throw punches in close, preventing him from getting full leverage and extension on his punches. Still, Estrada made the best of it, experiencing success clubbing over and under.
This success became more pronounced in the third, where he administered a head beating of sorts. Cannell preferred to focus on raking the body when he trapped Estrada on the ropes. The fireworks continued, with Cannell throwing the weight of his body behind his zippy, looping blows.
Estrada showed an alarming penchant for sticking his chin out now and again as a target to bait his opponent before turning his shoulders into a flurry of crosses and uppercuts. However, this night, his opponent didn’t have the firepower or timing to make him pay for the dangerous machismo.
Suddenly, Cannell was bleeding from a gash on his right cheekbone! The severity of the gash suggested a head butt might have caused it.
Referee Genaro Rodriguez called time and had a doctor examine the cut. Resuming, Estrada unleashed a flurry. Caught with his hands down, he staggered from a left hook to the jaw, but jumped back in the fray and continued to systematically batter Cannell. The two traded furiously in close.
Prior to the fifth round, referee Geno Rodriguez waved off the bout. Estrada had won by technical knockout.
“I feel good,” Estrada said. “It was good they had stopped it. [The cut] was from an overhand right. He never hurt me. One time, I was off balance, but he never hurt me.’
Cannell was clearly upset and claimed he’d been unfairly stopped on a head butt.
Referee Geno Rodriguez offered his take: “The cut [on the cheek] was caused by an elbow. However, the cut on the [eyebrow] was caused by a punch. [Cannell] was cut in two places; [the cut on the eyebrow] was the more dangerous one.”
In his pro debut, Chicago's William Hernandez (122.5 lbs.) pitched an entertaining four round brawl versus Cincinati, Ohio's scrappy Quincy Allen Johnson (124.5 lbs., 0-2-1).
Round one was a wild shootout as Johnson jumped all over Hernandez for the better portion of the round, trying to smother the punches of his taller opponent. Hernandez began finding the range in the latter portion of the round and into the second, landing piercing rights and lefts. However, a hook jarred Hernandez, who shook his head “no” after receiving the blow. This lit a fire under Hernandez, who took extra efforts to bludgeon his shorter foe.
Johnson lurched off the ropes, ducking under, grabbing hold and doing what he could to survive the onslaught. His fervor depleting, nervous energy was no longer sufficient to keep things in close like he preferred. He was battered, jarred and staggered on several occasions, courtesy of a variety popping crosses and hooks that turned his head this way and that. This fact was not lost on the crowd, which cheered lustily throughout.
Johnson came alive again in the fourth and final round, lashing out and countering with slashing blows of his own. Well, he did enough to prevent being overrun. However, after a particularly effective volley of blows in a corner, Hernandez let loose with a flourish for the final 30 seconds of the round. Johnson swung back with all his might. The two traded blows in a feverish frenzy.
Judges scored the bout 37-39 and 40-36 twice for William Hernandez, kicking off his pro debut with a unanimous decision win. Referee Genaro Rodriguez oversaw the fireworks.
Throughout the evening, an estimated crowd of 1,100 remained animated and loud, which wasn’t bad for a non-televised boxing event showcasing – and not coddling – local heroes on a cold, recession’s night the evening before the televised Margarito-Mosley mega-showdown. Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions and his fighters did well, indeed.
To see more photos, click on the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58439&l=9ad11&id=600612725
