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The previous edition of the "Weekend Recap" can be found here.
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2013-01-11 City Hall, Chachoengsao, Thailand
Thailand TV 7
Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym TKO4 Noli Morales
OnesongchaiGym, formerly known as 13 Rien Express, dispatched Noli Morales in 4 rounds to retain his WBO Oriental flyweight title. After pretty much giving Kwanpichit all he could handle for nearly 4 full rounds, Noli quit at the end of the 4th after Kwanpichit connected with a right uppercut. First he turned away and took a knee, but after beating the 10 count he turned away again and clearly showed he didn't want to continue. Kwanpichit was the more thudding puncher of the 2, but Morales had the faster hands, flashier combinations, and better footwork. Most of Kwanpichit's best work was to the body.
With the victory Kwanpichit is now 20-0-1 and arguably the best Thai flyweight in the world in the wake of Kompayak Porpramook's diminished capacity and the retirement of Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. But at 31 years of age he probably needs to put his foot on the gas and step up soon... Kwanpichit is no lower than #3 in the WBO flyweight ratings behind Filipinos Froilan Saludar and Milan Melindo. But with Brian Viloria as the world champion anyone making himself mandatory may be a moot point.
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2013-01-11 Club El Ciclon, Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
TyC Sports
Sergio Eduardo Gonzalez TKO7 Pablo Martin Barboza
34 year old Gonzalez had not won a fight since 2007 but would not be denied on this night. Barboza did his best to out muscle and out hustle the older Gonzalez, but he was ultimately out boxed. Gonzalez slipped, ducked, countered, moved, and tied up when necessary. He landed practically all the clean, eye catching punches. A left uppercut signaled the beginning of the end for Barboza in round 7. Gonzalez, a southpaw, quickly followed it up with a left hand over the top to send Barboza crashing to the canvas. Barboza impressively beat the count but was unable to recover. Moments later a left uppercut / right hook combination put Barboza down for the last time. The referee immediately waved it off, though I doubt Barboza could have gotten up in time anyways.
Although Gonzalez had lost 7 of his last 8 (a NC in the other), somehow this bout was for the interim WBC Latino lightweight title. This was only the 2nd loss for Barboza, but he's hardly ever beat fighters with winning records. I don't imagine a bright future for either of these guys.
Victoria Noelia Bustos UD6 Maria Angelica Ruiz
Alan Luques Castillo SD4 Miguel Angel Correa
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2013-01-12 Club Social y Cultural El Cruce, Malvinas Argentinas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
TyC Sports
Hector Alfredo Avila RTD6/TKO7 Emilio Ezequiel Zarate
After a good start from the taller Zarate, which included a knockdown in round 4 by a looping right hand, Avila eventually wore him out in a sloppy, clinch filled contest. Zarate was dropped in the 6th round from a delayed reaction to an overhand right. Zarate got right up but his legs were weak. Avila continued to rally and even opened up a cut under Zarate's left eyebrow. Zarate made it out of the round but never came off his stool for the 7th. The cut was bad, but didn't appear bad enough to force a stoppage. Although the camera wasn't on the corner between rounds it seems Zarate must have quit. But maybe it was the referee's call; I'm not sure. But I am sure that I didn't see Zarate protest, at all.
In any event Avila is now the interim WBC Mundo Hispano heavyweight champion, whatever the hell that is. This former cruiserweight is 37 years old and has lost to every notable fighter on his resume (including world champions Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and Yoan Pablo Hernandez). I doubt this belt will help surge his career, but it might land him a decent pay day.
Alfredo Brigido Ruiz Diaz SD4 Icho Larenas
Matias Carlos Adrian Rueda RTD3/TKO4 Sergio Alejandro Blanco
Jonathan Brian Oliva KO1 Mauro Gabriel Escobar
Fernando Ezequiel Farias TKO2 Aldo Javier Villalba
Alberto Sebastian Guzman UD4 Cristian Jesus Mores
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2013-01-12 Sporthal Sint Pieter, Sint Truiden, Limburg, Belgium
BoxeTV
Delfine Persoon UD10 Anita Torti
Torti, despite being 8 years older than Persoon, did not have nearly the same kind of pro fight experience. It showed in the fight. Torti was reluctant to let her hands go and pretty much just let Persoon bum rush her. Persoon left plenty of openings for Torti to counter, but she didn't take advantage. To make matters worse Torti also constantly retreated. It's no surprise Persoon pitched a shutout on 2 of the official cards; Torti was in over her head from start to finish.
Persoon, the best female fighter in Belgium, made the 1st defense of her WIBF lightweight title that she won from Lucia Morelli in 2012. Persoon also picked up the vacant IBF female lightweight title later that year by besting Erin McGowan. She's now 22-1 as a pro and should probably look to step up her competition. So far Persoon has never fought outside of Belgium and quite frankly hasn't attracted any significant players to travel there besides WBO lightweight champion McGowan and perhaps veteran journeywoman Loli Munoz (who quite frankly has fought better competition than both Persoon and McGowan combined).
Looking at the list of top females who don't have their own world titles, Ana Laura Esteche may be interested in making the trip. Argentine Esteche has previously made 2 trips to Colombia to narrowly come up short against reigning WBO champion Enis Pacheco. However, former WBO light welterweight title challenger Chris Namus has recently moved down to lightweight and is now the #2 contender for Persoon's IBF title. Namus, from Uruguay, has also shown willingness to travel for world title opportunities when she met Fernanda Soledad Alegre in Argentina twice. What's unfortunate is that there's a strong case to be made that both Esteche and Namus deserve to be world champions right now. This might deter them from traveling again.
As for potential defenses of the WIBF title go, it beats the hell out of me. Apparently the WIBF has adopted the computerized ratings of the WBAN, which is a bit odd but does seem to suggest that title defenses can be made against any of the other world champions. The WBAN currently rates Persoon #9.
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2013-01-12 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Camcorder
Shin Ono SD12 Omari Kimweri (113-114, 114-113, 117-110)
Ono, the last man to defeat reigning WBC strawweight champion Xiong Zhao Zhong, was nearly beaten himself against the Australian based Tanzanian Kimweri. Ono may have been able to land more punches using his height and range, but he was not landing the most authoritative ones. I felt Kimweri clearly took about 3 of the opening rounds but started fading in the middle of the fight prior to decking Ono in the 8th with a trip/right hook combination. In the following round Kimweri beat Ono up some more but couldn't score another knockdown. With the fight slipping way Ono came back to hurt Kimweri in the 10th and continued to fight his ass off in the final 2 rounds. However, I thought Kimweri took the 12th regardless and consequently "should" have won the fight. But, since the 8th round knockdown should have been ruled a slip, a draw may be more appropriate.
Nonetheless, judge Young-Shik Choi should be ashamed of himself for awarding Ono this fight by a 7 point margin. This, a vacant OPBF light flyweight title fight, is the first fight Choi has judged in over a year (according to BoxRec). That title might not seem too important to many of you, but it's the biggest stakes on Choi's entire judging record. It just seems odd to be assigned that duty coming off a long layoff.
In any event Ono is now 15-5-2 and should be in good position to get a significant light flyweight opportunity. Fortunately for him there's a lot of local talent to fight. But he definitely has no business being in the same ring with the likes of Kazuto Ioka.
Akio Shibata TKO8 Takayuki Hosokawa [Japanese light middleweight title]
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2013-01-12 Foro Polanco, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Televisa
Dante Jardon DQ2 Adrian Verdugo
In round 1 Jardon was able to bully Verdugo around the ring and drop him with a left hook. In round 2 an accidental clash of heads caused a cut outside of Jardon's right eye. Per WBC rules Verdugo was automatically deducted a point, but strangely the referee also opted to disqualify Verdugo. The correct procedure here would seem to be declaring the bout a no contest as 4 rounds were not completed. But it also would have made sense to just continue the fight. I've seen plenty of fighters fight on with worse cuts.
Nevertheless, Jardon made the 1st successful defense of his WBC Continental Americas super featherweight title and is among the top rated Mexican super featherweights in the world. If Juan Carlos Burgos defeats Roman Martinez in the upcoming weekend, Mexico will have 3 of the 4 major world titles in this division (WBC, IBF, and WBO). Ironically, arguably the 2 most talented fighters in the division have different versions of the other major title (WBA).
Martin Casillas SD10 Juan Jose Montes
Mauricio Pintor KO5 Hassam Valenzuela
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2013-01-12 Deportivo Agustín Ramos Millan, Toluca, México, Mexico
Azteca America / Azteca 7 (Mexico)
Adrian Hernandez UD12 Dirceu Cabarca (117-110, 118-108, 119-112)
In a mismatch of epic proportions, the underdog easily exceeded my expectations by lasting the distance and arguably deserving to win a few rounds. Azteca America gave Cabarca rounds 6 and 11 (no scorecard shown for the 12th, which was close). It only took a few rounds before Cabarca's face looked like it was in a fight, but before all was said and done Hernandez clearly showed signs of wear and tear as well (though most of this came from head clashes). Nonetheless, he easily retained his WBC light flyweight title. But the real story here is why was the title on the line in the first place?
In what universe is Cabarca worthy of a world title shot? Going into the bout Cabarca had never been scheduled for anything beyond 8 rounds and his record was merely a modest 13-6. This, perhaps combined with being a former Panamanian super flyweight champion, somehow got Cabarca rated #21 at light flyweight (a division he had not fought in since 2010, or ever won a fight in). Not only has Carbarca never won a fight at light flyweight, it's the division where he has his only KO defeat.
Nevertheless, WBC president for life Jose Sulaiman defended the title defense stating that Hernandez "had problems with the speed" of Cabarca and "it was an entertaining and absolutely not a one-sided fight." It's only January, but Don Jose has already dropped a lie that will be hard to top.
Luis Antonio Arceo UD10 Ricardo Dominguez
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2013-01-12 BB&t Center, Sunrise, Florida, USA
Fox Sports Net
Johan Perez MD10 Steve Forbes (96-94, 95-95, 97-93)
Steve Forbes lost his 4th fight in a row (a career record for him) but fought better than he had in a long time. 2 Pound often feels he was robbed after a loss, but in this fight he really had a case. Judge Rocky Young, who scored the bout 97-93 Perez, did not have a good night. To be fair there were probably enough swing rounds to give a total of 7 to Perez, but it just shows a lack of skill in scoring clean punches. Then again, maybe Young had a bad view.
Forbes, now 35, has often lost fights on not letting his hands go. But this fight he was busy. In his post-fight interview Forbes acknowledged he wasn't the bigger puncher but said, "Busy wins fights." Being kind to Perez I thought Forbes should have at least walked away with a draw, which is how judge Mike Ross scored it.
Perez, a former interim WBA light welterweight champion, is now 16-1-1 and was rated #7 by the WBA prior to this bout. Forbes was unrated but given the delusional nature of the WBA ratings, with Souleymane M'baye still #4 and no one rated #1, Perez may advance anyway.
Thomas Williams Jr TKO3 Jason Smith
Yudel Jhonson UD8 Dashon Johnson
Tracy Rollins TKO1 Jose Angel Sanchez
Terrell Gausha TKO1 Kenneth Taylor Schmitz
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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.