Welcome to another special Tuesday edition of the "Weekend Recap". Last week's installment can be found here. I would have released this Monday (with one less card) but I was busy prepping interviews for Jamaal Davis and Todd Unthank-May. They fight on Feb. 23 at Bally's, Atlantic City against Patrick Majewski and Hamid Abdul-Mateen respectively. I'll be press row for the event and will release a story primarily devoted to Davis next week. But without further ado, lets recap some recent fights.
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2013-02-04 Khao Luk, Takua Pa, Thailand
Thailand TV 7
Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat KO3 Willem Marahina
After a fairly uneventful first round the action opened up in round 2 as Tabtimdaeng pounded Willem around both sides of the body and followed with uppercuts up the middle. In round 3 as Willem pulled straight back following another combination by Tabtimdaeng, he was caught by an overhand right that put him down for the count. Marahina appeared to have just barely beaten the count, but the referee reached 10 and waved it off.
Nonetheless Marahina didn't complain and did not appear to be fit to continue. With the victory Na Rachawat is now 30-1 in PABA bantamweight title fights. He should probably move on to the next level...
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2013-02-08 Amnuaysil Association, Prachachuen, Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand TV 7
Jomthong Chuwattana UD12 Ronald Pontillas (118-110, 117-111, 119-109)
Thanakorn Pawachart, aka Jomthong Chuwatana, in his 5th pro boxing fight proved too consistent and strong for the crafty Ronald Pontillas to overcome. If you didn't know Chuwattana had a kickboxing (Muaythai) record of 187-36-4 with multiple world championships, you'd look at this fight on paper and see an experience mismatch. But knowing all that, it's no surprise Chuwattana has already defended his OPBF super featherweight title twice after winning it in his 3rd fight.
And did I mention that Chuwattana is still an active Muay Thai fighter? Imagine what he could do if he devoted his full attention to boxing...
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2013-02-08 Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall, Queensland, Australia
This event was carried by Main Event Australia and Sky Arena New Zealand. Scott Christ previously recapped most of this card here, although undetailed aside from the main event.
Sonny Bill Williams UD10 Frans Botha (97-91, 97-91, 98-94)
After a stale opening round, Williams began to find success in round 2 when Botha laid on the ropes. Throughout the fight Williams had all of the athletic advantages but lacked craft. Botha on the other hand knew what to do but was too old and too fat to do it. Botha's most notable attacks were overhand rights that caught Williams falling in, and illegal double punches that landed around both of SBW's ears. Botha wasn't really able to hurt Williams until the 9th, but he also lost a point for taking a cheap shot after the referee called break.
But then, in a surprising turn of events, it was announced that the 10th would be the final round. Neither the commentary team nor Botha's camp were aware of this, but no protests were filed and the action resumed as normal. Botha dominated the 10th and "final" round and had Williams out on his feet. Williams even lost a point for holding as he was purely in survival mode. The ring announcer seemed to want to speed the fight up even further by calling the 30 second mark with 90 to go. Fortunately the official clock was used, but unfortunately the fight didn't go the final 2 rounds. Williams survived 10 rounds but clearly had no chance of surviving 12.
This may be the robbery of the year and the judges' scorecards had absolutely nothing to do with it. Things don't get much more shocking or corrupt than this. The fans booed the final verdict (Williams by unanimous decision) but Frans Botha was a class act in "defeat". Botha had no ill words toward Williams and hardly complained about not being informed of a shortened fight ahead of time. He however does want a rematch (and consequently another nice payday before retirement).
[Related: Investigation expected in Williams-Botha fight]
Quade Cooper KO1 Barry Dunnett
A devastating straight right hand finished Dunnett off, worthy of a highlight reel. It was the 2nd knockdown of the round, both via right hands. Dunnett was never the same after getting dropped the 1st time although he had Cooper in trouble earlier. This was an impressive pro debut for the rugby player, but Cooper needs to adjust his hands down, chin up fighting style for future fights.
Alex Leapai TKO1 Matt Hicks
Following a right uppercut that floored him, Hicks was on his knees waiting to get up at the count of 9 (using the maximum amount of time to recover). Unfortunately for Hicks the referee didn't feel like watching the fight anymore and gave him a fast count. The referee even sped up the already fast count when announcing 8-9-out (yes, he said "out" instead of 10). Counts don't get much more dubious than that. However, Hicks was clearly being out classed and flopped around the ring for much of the round.
Jarrod Fletcher TKO7 Kiatchai Singwancha
Singwancha was neither aggressive nor did he have good technical skills off the back foot. Quite frankly he was reluctant to engage from start to finish and got dominated. "Left Jab" Fletcher walked the Thai journeyman down with ease but was not clever enough to land truly devastating punches, although Singwancha was stunned in round 6. Apparently simply because Singwancha was hopelessly behind the referee decided to stop the fight in the 7th, but the Thai was far from knocked out in any capacity whatsoever.
Daniel Baff TKO1 Peter Brennan
Brennan went down 3 times from head shots. The referee immediately waved it off upon the 3rd knockdown.
Bilal Akkawy TKO1 Paul Edwards
Right hands to the body put Edwards down twice.
Jezze Carrasco PTS4 Waylon Law
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2013-02-08 Chase Center, Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Dusty Harrison TKO3 Kelly Wright
Wright was dropped by a right hook to the body in round 3. Harrison followed up and pounded Wright until Wright's corner threw in the towel.
Melissa St Vil MD8 Natasha Spence (76-76, 79-73, 78-74)
"Little Tyson" St Vil had a body built like the Iron Mike of old, but clearly used a fighting style of her own. Nonetheless, that style still gave Spence "nightmares". Spence was out gunned for much of the bout and didn't really make a stand until the later rounds. However, the fight still provided many violent action scenes. This was probably the fight of the night.
Luis Hernandez SD4 Curtis Morton (39-37, 37-39, 39-37)
Morton more or less bull rushed Hernandez through much of the bout, clearly out landing and at times overwhelming Hernandez (who was making his pro debut). However, Hernandez remained composed and put together many quality shots, especially to the body. Hernandez pulled out the win, but the decision was legitimately debatable.
Joey Tiberi UD4 Moses Molina (39-37, 39-37, 39-37)
The scorecards took a long time to be read but the right man won. The fight was fairly uneventful.
Ryan Belasco SD6 Bryne Green (59-55, 56-58, 59-55)
Green hurt Belasco at the end of round 3 with a straight right hand and rocked him again in round 4. Belasco was tentative for the rest of the fight and arguably let it slip away. But, Belasco was landing some nice jabs throughout the bout even if they lacked conviction. They were apparently enough for Belasco to eke out a decision.
Ray Robinson UD10 Alberto Morales (99-91, 100-89, 98-91)
Terrific counter uppercut from Robinson dropped Morales at the end of the 1st round. After that Morales continued to be out classed and took a beating, at least up until round 5. From there onward Morales gave a decent account of himself but still lost most of the rounds. Robinson closed the fight strong.
This Ray Robinson is no Sugar, but we should expect to see him on live television again someday. His record is currently 15-2.
Frankie Filippone UD10 Kevin Engel (97-93, 98-92, 99-93)
It didn't take long for Filippone to "hot dog" in this fight. Unfortunately Filippone's willingness to dance didn't match his desire to throw punches. In fact, neither fighter was particularly active. It made for a very dull fight. Filippone picked up his work rate in the 2nd half of the fight but Engel did not. Thus Filippone easily won a lopsided decision. This event was "main" in name only and was the least entertaining bout of the card.
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2013-02-08 Club El Ciclon, Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
TyC
Daniela Romina Bermudez UD10 Romina Elizabeth Alcantra (99-89, 99-89, 100-88)
Right off the bat the orthodox Alcantra didn't appear concerned with keeping her right foot in the back and attacked Bermudez very squared up. Bermudez (also orthodox and a superior technician) fought off the back foot and punished Alcantra with right uppercuts. A series of rights put Alcantra down at the end of the 2nd round and another right uppercut had her hurt again at the end of the 4th round. Alcantra was floored once more in the 5th by more right hands and generally found herself getting backed up and broken down more often than she planned for (probably).
Nonetheless, Alcantra survived the remainder of rounds. I agreed with TyC and one of the official judges that the fight was a shutout. Alcantra was game for half of the fight but simply outclassed in every way.
With this impressive victory (in execution, not opposition) Bermudez improved her record to 12-2-2 and defended her interim WBA female super flyweight title for the 3rd time. The only unavenged loss of her career came against Bad Left Hook #4 female p4p Yesica "Tuti" Bopp in a very competitive fight. It's about time Bermudez was given a shot at the full WBA champion Naoko Yamaguchi.
Gustavo David Bermudez UD6 Oscar Alberto Mutuverria
Claudio Alberto Esperante D4 Arsovi Zapata Vazquez
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2013-02-09 Blue Water Dokken, Esbjerg, Denmark
UK BoxNation / Denmark 3+ & TV 3 Sport 2 / Sweden TV 10 / Norway Viasat Sport
Alexander Miskirtchian TKO12 Andreas Evensen
Evensen was down in round 3, badly hurt in round 7, hurt a little more in round 11, and knocked down for the last time in round 12. Other than that, he did very well in the fight and was arguably ahead... The stoppage was a bit controversial as it appeared the fight was nearly over and Evensen was clearly capable of continuing. However, the referee can't be reprimanded too much on the basis that Evensen was hurt so often and could have been worse off if the action resumed and Miskirtchian was able to get in one last big shot.
In any event Miskirtchian retained his EBU featherweight title and will likely fight again in May.
Patrick Nielsen UD12 Patrick Mendy (117-110, 117-111, 117-110)
In a bout which I felt could be argued for either fighter, Nielsen's superior work rate and aggressiveness proved to be the difference. Mendy went down twice in round 5, but only 1 was official (and rightfully so). After that, Mendy switched to southpaw in round 6 and out boxed the Dane. This pattern continued for a few more rounds until Mendy's output dropped again. But Mendy still may have done enough to sweep the last 3 rounds. Although the wide scorecards seem to contradict what I've written, you have to take into the large number of swing rounds in the bout.
In any event Nielsen improves to 18-0 while Mendy falls to 14-6. Both are in their early 20s and very well may meet again in a bigger fight down the line.
Puriya Haidari SD4 Said Rahimi
The referee controversial chose not to call a few knockdowns in the last round, which otherwise would have resulted in a Rahimi victory.
Micki Nielsen KO1 Josef Krivka
Krivka takes a knee and stays down after the very first punch lands... It was a left hook to the ribs that honestly didn't look very strong.
Josef Obeslo TKO1 Ismail Oezen
Oezen, fighting a scheduled 4 rounder cut down from 6 after Szymon Boniecki pulled out, found himself caught by a straight right hand and stuck in a corner against the late replacement Obeslo. Oezen would have been better served to go down considering the barrage Obeslo was able to follow up with. Eventually the referee just went and gave Oezen a standing 8 count but by then the damage had already been done. As soon as the action resumed Obeslo jumped right back on Oezen and finished him off while he used the ropes to support himself. The referee waved the fight off without Obeslo ever touching the canvas.
Oezen, previously 6-0 with 6 KOs, was shocked by the stoppage.
Dennis Ceylan KO1 Marco Scalia
This was an easy farcical win for the 2012 Olympian.
Erik Skoglund KO2 Attila Baran
This was a fun KO to watch. Right hooks out of the orthodox stance don't get much better than this.
Deion Jumah UD4 Igor Pylypenko
Jumah struggled against his more experienced opponent, but still pitched a shutout.
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2013-02-09 Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina
TyC
Javier Francisco Maciel TKO5 Emilio Julio Julio
After feeling Julio out for a few rounds Maciel turned it up on him in the 3rd and increasingly made Julio gun shy. Following a long and extensive pounding in round 5 the referee gave Julio a standing 8 count. While the count was administered Julio just walked away and refused to respond when the referee got to 8 (and he even repeated 8 a few times just to make sure Julio could hear him). It was an odd way of quitting but it wasn't too surprising. Julio had mentally resigned a while ago.
Consequently Maciel improved his record to 25-2 and retained his WBO Latino light middleweight title while Julio fell to 26-10-2. However, more importantly, Maciel now moves on to a WBO eliminator with #1 ranked Vanes Martirosyan. That bout is scheduled to take place in Macao, China on the Brian Viloria-Juan Francisco Estrada / Roman Martinez-Diego Magdaleno undercard, April 6. Maciel has previously proven tough and capable against the semi-retired former WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog so I'm confident he will give Martirosyan a good fight.
Carlos Gabriel Ozan KO1 Modesto Rodriguez
Rodriguez didn't try to get up and even shook his head halfway through the count as if to tell the referee to stop wasting his time. Ozan dropped Rodriguez twice in this fight but Rodriguez really sold how "devastating" the punches actually were. If Nate Campbell quit against Kevin Bizier, then Rodriguez quit against Ozan.
Ana Laura Esteche UD6 Maria Angelica Ruiz
Maria Eugenia Lopez UD4 Maria Eugenia Quiroga
Carlos Daniel Aquino UD4 Alfredo Rodolfo Blanco
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2013-02-09 Foro Polanco, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Camcorder / Time Warner Cable Deportes
Saul Juarez KO10 Armando Torres
Juarez's fluid combinations proved to be the difference in the fight. In comparison Torres was stiff and reluctant to let his hands go. Apart from that however both demonstrated good defense and sound ring intelligence. Eventually the punches of "Baby" Juarez began to take their toll on Torres, whose effective offense dwindled as the fight got into the later rounds. In the 10th round Juarez dropped Torres to his knees with a 1-2-3 combination. Although this appeared to be the first time Torres was hurt in the fight, he waited until the 10 seconds were counted before he easily got up. He knew he was losing and didn't think he could comeback, so he quit.
Torres, a former WBC Silver light flyweight champion, now has back to back KO defeats in the final round. He was previously stopped by Odilon Zaleta in round 12. His valiance in defeat to Zaleta earned him a vacant WBC United States (USNBC) light flyweight title fight with Juarez but I doubt he'll so lucky when he attempts to come back again. Meanwhile the 22 year old Juarez will look to bigger and better things following his first championship win.
Giovanni Andrade TKO1 Edgar Ramirez
Carlos Ruiz TKO1 Cesar Baltazar
Francisco Pozo UD4 Julio Cesar Juarez
Jesus Faro KO1 Irving Ordaz
Victor Manuel Juarez TKO2 Jorge Cortez
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2013-02-09 Deportivo del Sindicato del Metro , Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Azteca America / Mexico
Jonathan Lecona Ramos UD10 Enrique Bernache (98-92, 97-93, 96-95)
Ramos, a southpaw, defeated orthodox Bernache in a game of chess marred by head clashes. The fight was pretty even halfway through but eventually Bernache began to fade as a hematoma like bump on his forehead grew. Consequently Bernache, originally scheduled to face Cristian Mijares, was upset by the much less regarded Ramos (now 12-12-5).
I don't mean to take anything away from this career best win by Ramos. Bernache was equally responsible for the head clashes. It's was just the typical southpaw / orthodox awkward situation. Bernache is used to counter punching and Ramos was out performing him at it. Thus Bernache was forced to be more aggressive and his recklessness cost him.
Daniel Sandoval TKO2 Martin Avila
Avila went down three times in the 1st round and twice more in the 2nd before the referee finally waved it off.
Ramses Agaton TKO1 Oscar Leonardo Ventura
Ventura was being out classed but why did the referee wait until the round was over to call it off? He might as well have let Ventura see round 2. Ventura was never dropped or badly hurt.
Edson Ramirez TKO4 Christian Lira
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2013-02-09 Arena Itson, Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico
Televisa
Humberto Soto UD12 Silverio Ortiz (118-108, 117-110, 117-111)
After a fun cross between boxing and pro wrestling, Soto retained his WBF welterweight title and picked up the vacant WBC International Silver light welterweight title. Both fighters weighed in at 63.5 kg (140 lbs). Ortiz was game throughout and made a war out of it in the championship rounds, but he ultimately got out boxed. In the 11th round a head clash opened a cut on Soto and Ortiz consequently lost a point in accordance to WBC rules.
Soto, 32 years old with 71 fights to his name, still has enough left in the tank to be a gatekeeper at junior welterweight. Or, he can keep headlining against journeymen on Televisa. They seem to love having him.
Julio Ceja KO5 Henry Maldonado [WBC FECARBOX bantamweight title]
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#QuitCounter2013 was increased by 5 (displayed in bold) the past weekend and now totals to 21. Even I had no idea fighters quit this much before I started paying attention to it... And you should keep in mind that even though I may watch more boxing than anyone else, I still don't see most of the fights that happen (or anywhere close to that).
2013-01-05 Reyes Sanchez RTD5/TKO6 Ramiro Alcaraz
2013-01-11 Brandon Holmes TKO4 Javier Esparza
2013-01-11 Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym TKO4 Noli Morales
2013-01-12 Hector Alfredo Avila RTD6/TKO7 Emilio Ezequiel Zarate
2013-01-12 Matias Carlos Adrian Rueda RTD3/TKO4 Sergio Alejandro Blanco
2013-01-18 Brandon Riddell TKO1 Eric McNorris
2013-01-19 Khalid Yafai RTD4 Gonzalo Garcia
2013-01-19 Roberto Feliciano Bolonti RTD7/TKO8 Franco Raul Sanchez
2013-01-23 Delen Parsley RTD2 Tyrone Selders
2013-01-23 Eugene Russell KO1 Granson Clark
2013-01-25 Brian Vera TKO10 Serhiy Dzinziruk
2013-01-25 Edgar Santana TKO3 Eddie Soto
2013-01-25 Franklin Lawrence RTD2 Mark Brown
2013-01-25 Omar Douglas RTD2 David Warren Huffman
2013-01-30 Erick Martinez TKO2 Miguel Angel Garcia Nava
2013-02-01 Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo RTD4 Arief Blader
2013-02-08 Kevin Bizier RTD8 Nate Campbell
2013-02-09 Carlos Gabriel Ozan KO1 Modesto Rodriguez
2013-02-09 Javier Francisco Maciel TKO5 Emilio Julio Julio
2013-02-09 Micki Nielsen KO1 Josef Krivka
2013-02-09 Saul Juarez KO10 Armando Torres
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If a bout is not mentioned which took place on one of the above cards it’s most likely because I haven’t got around to watching it yet. In the event that I do watch such a bout at a later time it’s still unlikely I will update this recap. My recaps will be posted on Mondays and/or Wednesdays, devoted to cards that most casual American boxing fans haven’t seen or heard of. For available footage of the previously reported bouts follow @sweetboxing on twitter. You may also email the author of this piece at rgbivins@gmail.com.