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Welcome to the latest edition of the "Weekend Recap" where I try to cover as many relevant (yet previously unreported on BadLeftHook) fights as I can. Listed undercards can be elaborated upon if you ask about them in the comments section. You can also catch my previous recap here.
2012-11-16 Pang Mu School, Muang, Maehongson, Thailand
Thailand's TV 7 televised this card. I only caught the main event.
Patomsuk Pathompothong KO4 Edgar Gabejan
From the opening bell Pathompothong bullied Gabejan around the ring and had him in trouble as early as the 2nd round. Pathompothong was seemingly on the verge of a knockdown in every round but kept pushing his man down or stepping on his foot after he had him in trouble. Consequently the referee kept ruling them slips until the first and second official knockdowns came in the 3rd round. Body shots hurt and put Gabejan down a third time early in round 4 but the ref ruled another slip due to Pathompothong's foot stepping again. Honestly it was pretty comical at this point as Gabejan clearly couldn't stand up regardless of the illegal tactics or not. Pathompothong was just prolonging his agony. After Gabejan went down from a straight right hand to the head a little while later the referee FINALLY called the fight off. This was the 4th defense of Pathompothong's IBF Pan Pacific light welterweight title.
2012-11-16 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Fortunately someone who attended this card live recorded the main event via camcorder and put it on YouTube.
Andrzej Fonfara TKO7 Tommy Karpency
Fonfara, who most Americans will know from his recent tooth and nail victory over Glen Johnson, had a tougher than expected time picking up the vacant IBO light heavyweight title against Tommy Karpency (who was coming off a shutout loss to Nathan Cleverly). Fonfara had things his way in the 1st round by earning a standing 8 count and a knockdown after stunning Karpency with right hands. Although all this happened towards the end of the 1st round, by the 2nd Karpency had already regrouped and actually started off and finished strong. Karpency's combinations continually busted through Fonfara's guard while he defended against Fonfara's assaults admirably.
To be honest I was quite shocked with how smooth Karpency was able to box. Next to Fonfara he looked downright slick. Fonfara didn't have another good round until the 6th and he was downright dominated in the 7th before the match turned from boxing to MMA. Fonfara tossed Karpency to the canvas and Karpency pulled a Bernard Hopkins (ala the 1st Chad Dawson fight). People didn't really feel sorry for B-Hop because he had yet to really do anything in the fight, but watching Karpency beat the hell out of Fonfara right before the finish made me feel sympathetic. Maybe he really was unfit to continue.
But then it was reported that Karpency decided he would quit before the 7th round started if he couldn't finish his man off. He apparently felt ill. Fonfara claims the fall was just an excuse for Karpency to quit after Karpency saw he couldn't knock Fonfara out. Fonfara also claims he fell apart after the 1st round because he hurt his right hand (who's making excuses now?). The pro Fonfara crowd (likely filled with Polish-Americans) was still pleased with their man's victory and violently booed Karpency's post-fight celebration (an indication that he felt he was winning the fight before the finish). Karpency wasn't wrong though; he was winning the fight on two judge's scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Karpency's official story after the fight is that his injury was legit and he wants a rematch. Ironically the only injury that's been confirmed is the one to Fonfara's right hand.
2012-11-16 Auditorio Presidente Néstor Kirchner, Mercado Central, Tapiales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Argentina's TV Pública televised 3 bouts from the card.
Hugo Hernan Verchelli TKO3 Adrian Eduardo Mendoza
Through 2 rounds this was a highly competitive contest that could have been scored for either fighter. The third round started much the same way until a straight left hand stunned Mendoza and a follow up straight left put him down. Mendoza beat the count but Verchelli jumped on him immediately and put him down again with a combination that ended in a right uppercut. Mendoza beat the count yet again but Verchelli just kept pressing his advantage and pounded Mendoza into the ropes until the referee waved it off. Mendoza would have been dropped 3 times if he wasn't sitting on the ropes to support himself at the end. With the victory Verchelli picked up the vacant Argentina (FAB) minimumweight title and advanced his pro record to 8-1. Mendoza fell to 12-3-2. It was by no means a high profile main event, but it was well matched.
By the way, if you check BoxRec both these fighters are listed as orthodox. Off the top of my head I can't remember what stance they fought out of in the past but each boxer fought this fight as a southpaw.
Federico Jesus Benjamin Malaspina TKO4 Jacinto Jose Gorosito
Pablo Ariel Gomez UD4 Diego Luis Pichardo Liriano
BoxRec lists this as a split decision, but it was announced unanimous. The scores reflected a UD, but I can't be sure if they made a mistake or not.
2012-11-16 Maritim Hotel, Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
This appeared to be a locally televised card. All I can tell you is the videos I watched said "Live Boxen 4" in the upper right hand corner. I caught the main event and co-feature.
Robin Krasniqi TKO3 Max Heyman
Krasniqi may never actually become a world champion someday (although I wouldn't count him out), but you've got to be impressed with how far he's come since starting his career with 1 win and 2 losses. Since then Krasniqi is unbeaten and has picked up the WBO European light heavyweight title and the WBO International light heavyweight title. He defended the latter against Heyman in a dominant performance which saw Heyman down at the end of the 1st round and taken out by the 3rd. Krasniqi kept loading up his right hand in the 3rd but Heyman had the straight shots scouted well enough to deflect most of the damage. Krasniqi threw Heyman off by mixing in a right uppercut that caught Heyman flush and put him down for the last time. Heyman beat the count and wanted to continue but the referee said no. It was a good stoppage.
Francesco Pianeta TKO1 Nelson Dario Dominguez
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2012-11-16 Centro Sportivo Tordiquinto, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Italy's Sportitalia2 televised 2 bouts from this card.
Vincenzo Rossitto MD12 Ivica Bacurin (114-115, 113-115, 114-114)
Rossitto, the shorter and fatter man, applied pressure throughout the fight and did his best work when Bacurin's back was against the ropes. When the two were in the center of the ring Bacurin easily out boxed Rossitto but wasn't landing truly damaging shots. It shouldn't have mattered to the judges but apparently Bacurin's lack of power combined with his constant retreating influenced them to give it to the man trying to make the fight, even if he was getting out landed 2 or 3 to 1. At the very least I was impressed by Rossitto's conditioning despite his physical appearance. He probably didn't deserve to retain his WBC International cruiserweight title, but Bacurin got what he should have expected in Italy. Had the fight been in Croatia, this probably would have gone the other way. Bacurin graciously smiled at the decision and congratulated his opponent.
Daniele Petrucci PTS8 Orlando Membreno
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2012-11-16 Andrychow, Poland
Eurosport televised the 17th edition of the Bigger's Better 8-man heavyweight tournament. At the time this was written none of these fights were on BoxRec.
Quarter-Final 1: Sergej Maslobojev UD3 Alex Mogylewski
Quarter-Final 2: Konstantin Airich TKO2 Ionel Osvat
Quarter-Final 3: Wojciech Jastrzebski UD3 Vladimir Tokstasynov
Quarter-Final 4: Tomasz Szczepkowski UD3 Porcoi Tiberius
Semi-Final 1: Sergej Maslobojev SD3 Konstantin Airich
Semi-Final 2: Wojciech Jastrzebski UD3 Tomasz Szczepkowski
Final: Sergej Maslobojev UD3 Wojciech Jastrzebski
Maslobojev had an athleticism advantage but Jastrzebski had better technique. I felt the 1st round could have gone either way and slightly favored Jastrzebski. The Eurosport commentators felt Jastrzebski won it more convincingly. Jastrzebski continued to dominate the first half of the 2nd round but Maslobojev came back to stole the backend. The 2nd was another round that could have gone either way but I favored Maslobojev. Things rapidly changed after referee Steve Smoger took a time out to dry the canvas with a mop. To no surprise the Eurosport commentators thought Maslobojev won the round clearly. The 3rd and final round was a nip and tuck affair until Jastrzebski ran out of gas in the last minute. The last round was the only clear round of the fight in my eyes and winning it got Maslobojev a hard earned victory. It's rather shocking that Maslobojev had never won a pro boxing fight before entering this tournament and ended up winning the whole thing, even beating the massively experienced favorite Konstantin Airich in the process.
2012-11-17 Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, USA
WealthTV televised the best card I've seen all year and I recapped it on fight night. Check it out here. Results only below:
Brian Viloria TKO10 Hernan Marquez
Roman Gonzalez UD12 Juan Francisco Estrada
Drian Francisco TKO5 Javier Gallo
Rodrigo Garcia KO2 Octavio Narvaez
Andrew Ruiz UD4 Rufino Flores
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2012-11-17 Hotel Hilton, ul. Grzybowska 63, Warsaw, Poland
Poland's Canal+ Sport televised this card.
Krzysztof Glowacki KO11 Matty Askin
Glowacki scored his 12th knockout in 18 wins and retained his WBO Inter-Continental cruiserweight title. From the onset Askin allowed the power punching southpaw to position his lead foot outside of his own and got walked down. Askin tried to land the straight right hand (the operative punch for an orthodox fighter to use against a southpaw) but usually couldn't find the mark due to his poor foot positioning. Glowacki slowly broke his man down by routinely going the body. In the 11th round Askin threw a lazy jab, fell in, and immediately tried to hold. Glowacki took a step back and countered with a left uppercut that took Askin to his knees and down for the count. Perfect timing.
Andrzej Soldra SD6 Julio Acosta
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2012-11-17 Parque Náutico, San Fernando, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Argentina's TyC Sports televised the full card.
Erica Anabella Farias UD10 Victoria Noelia Bustos (99-91, 97-93, 98-94)
In a battle of unbeatens, Farias successfully defended her WBC female lightweight title and advanced her record to 15-0 while Bustos fell to 6-1. You can question why Bustos was given a world title shot in only her 7th fight but Farias got her opportunity in her 8th. Although one of the official scorecards read 99-91, I felt Bustos gave a decent account of herself during the fight. If you're being honest you had to have seen a lot of close rounds that could have gone either way. Obviously they didn't go to Bustos, but if they did this would have been a close decision on the cards. I felt the superior technique of Bustos clearly won her the final rounds as a gassed Farias did as much holding as fighting. TyC scored the bout 97-94 Farias, somehow scoring the last round even.
As "La Pantera" Farias is now 8-0 in world title fights, it's about time she stepped up and fought someone fans expect to give her a run for her money. Unfortunately most of the real challenges in the division hold world titles (and since the WBC is against unifying this is a problem). However, a showdown with fellow Argentine Ana Laura Esteche should be easy enough to make. Esteche is fresh off a questionable loss and draw to reigning WBO champion Enis Pacheco. From my personal observations I think Esteche could give Farias all sorts of fits and even pull off the victory (or get robbed again). I hope the fight gets made.
Alejandro Emilio Valori KO2 Franco Raul Sanchez
Roman Ruben Reinoso MD6 Jorge Samuel Fredes
Cesar Hernan Reynoso MD6 Jorge Daniel Caraballo
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2012-11-17 Teatro del Pueblo, Cuautlancingo, Puebla, Mexico
Parts of this card were televised by Fox Deportes in the US and Televisa in Mexico.
Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez UD10 Marcus Upshaw (98-92, 99-90, 99-90)
Upshaw (who spent a lot of time covering up during the entire fight) still got staggered by the end of the 1st round. Sanchez came into the fight holding KOs over most of his victims and Upshaw made the decision early on that he'd rather hopelessly lose on points than let his hands go and risk winding up separated from his senses. A bloodied Upshaw lost his mouthpiece in the 4th. Upshaw then began to loosen up in the 5th and lead a few times with his right hand. Thirty seconds into the 5th Sanchez countered Upshaw's lead right with a left uppercut and put Upshaw on his butt.
Upshaw didn't significantly open up again until the 8th round where he actually had brief moments of success and even staggered Sanchez a bit (although this was mainly because he was off balance). Nonetheless, Sanchez coasted to a decision, easily retained his WBC Youth World middleweight title, and extended his undefeated record to 24-0.
Marco Antonio Periban MD10 Francisco Sierra
Jasset(h?) Noriega UD8 Maria del Refugio Jimenez
Listed names given were Jasset Noriega and Maria Jimenez.
2012-11-17 Coliseo Roger L. Mendoza, Caguas, Puerto Rico
Telefutura televised 2 bouts in another edition of Solo Boxeo Tecate.
Abner Cotto UD10 Alejandro Rodriguez
Undefeated lightweight prospect Abner Cotto (2nd cousin of the famous Miguel Cotto) extended his win streak to 15-0 against designated upstart tester Alejandro Rodriguez. As Rodriguez dropped Cotto in the very 1st round with an overhand right it didn't look like the young prospect would past the test. Cotto had a much better 2nd round but still arguably lost. Rodriguez continued to give Cotto all he could handle in most rounds in general, and should have clearly won at least a few more. Cotto was not at all difficult for Rodriguez to hit.
Rodriguez was practically guaranteed to land as long as he threw a few. He was the superior boxer but was content to win rounds (in my eyes) by feet rather than yards. Most of the rounds were close enough to take the decision from Rodriguez without people raising too many eyebrows. But as my Telefutura broadcast never came back after the last round I can't tell you the scorecards. BoxRec currently reports a UD victory for Cotto without scores. Guess I'll just have to take their word for it this time. In any event I know I saw a close fight where the undefeated prospect was obviously given the benefit of the doubt.
Edgar Lopez D6 Orlando Vazquez
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