Boxing results and recaps, Feb. 25 - Mar. 2: knockouts, upsets, and world titles galore

Welcome to a Thursday edition of my weekly recaps, which have been a bit late recently due to other responsibilities. Nonetheless, see what you missed last week here and get caught up on the most recent results below.

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2013-02-25 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Camcorder

Shoji Kawase TKO9 Shuhei Tsuchiya

Kawase had to get off the canvas at the end of round 1 to come back and take Tsuchiya out in round 9. Seemingly every punch both fighters threw had bad intentions, jabs included. Overall Kawase was able to land the cleaner punches and he consequently slowly broke Tsuchiya down. Tsuchiya, however, kept firing bombs back until the very end. Round 7 was as good as any and basically saw Tsuchiya make his last stand. Tsuchiya remained game for the remainder of the bout, even having his moments, but was clearly spent. The referee promptly stepped in as Kawase unloaded while Tsuchiya laid on the ropes without throwing back in round 9.

Thus another Japanese Hall classic was added to the history books.

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2013-02-26 Banduanyai School, Wang Hin, Thailand

Thailand TV 3

Petch Kokietgym RTD8 Albert Alcoy

A straight left hand put Alcoy down at the end of round 5 and a volley of punches overwhelmed and downed him twice more in round 6 (flop not included). The shorter Alcoy found himself mostly in retreat and had no prayer of landing anything significant against Kokietgym from the outside. So after a few more rounds of being out classed, Alcoy retired in his corner. Petch easily defended his PABA bantamweight title.

Norasing Kokietgym TKO2 Unknown

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2013-02-27 Todoroki Arena, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

TyC Sports (Argentina) / Japanese TV

Juan Carlos Reveco UD12 Masayuki Kuroda (116-112, 117-111, 117-111)

It was a bit odd for Kuroda to come off 2 draws at domestic level and land a world title shot. How could he be expected to do any better against one of the best flyweights in the world? Biased judges can only do so much, really. Reveco did have a little trouble with Kuroda's height and reach but his skills were on another level. Kuroda was simply too basic, slow, and predictable.

Kuroda tried to set up his offense behind his jab, which would have been fine if it wasn't a lazy jab that lacked snap and dropped after it was thrown. Ultimately Reveco timed Kuroda and picked him off. The amount of punches Reveco was able to slip and duck was ridiculous. Kuroda was clearly looking him in the eyes and not at his chest, where he also should have been aiming.

But I suppose the former Japanese light flyweight champion could only have been expected to do so much. Reveco easily retained his WBA regular flyweight title and is now 30-1. At this point, being a 2 time world champion and all, I think it's about time Reveco takes on some of the more serious players in the division. Fighting WBA super champion Brian Viloria could be a bit much, but everyone else should be fair game...

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2013-02-27 Bangkok University, Thonburi Campus, Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand TV 9

Samson Tor Buamas TKO3 Aisah Alico

Samson walked Aisah down and pretty much beat the hell out of her. A left hook to the body stopped Alico in her tracks. She then walked away and collapsed in her corner. I was about to write her off as a quitter, but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt due to the collapse. It was not a flop.

With the victory Samson regained her WIBA minimumweight title (apparently vacated by Gretchen Abaniel, who won the vacant title when Samson challenged for the flyweight crown) and is now 28-3.

Tiger Tor Buamas TKO1 Nongbeer Sor Bangkru

Pharanpetch Tor Buamas TKO3 Rafael Naros

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2013-02-28 Greek Club, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Fox Sports Australia

Daniel MacKinnon SD12 Mark Flanagan (116-111, 112-115, 116-111)

MacKinnon was on wobbly legs at the end of round 5 and on the canvas in round 6, but managed to out box Flanagan for the majority of the bout. Thus MacKinnon improved to 21-6-1 and picked up the WBO Oriental light heavyweight title. Flanagan fell to 11-4, ending his championship reign and 5 fight winning streak. The Fox Sports commentators suspected that Flanagan broke his right hand during the bout.

Shannon King TKO9 David Galvin

Yoann Portailler TKO4 Brett William Smith

Jezze Carrasco MD4 Steve Wijangco

Shane Parry UD4 Leon James

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2013-02-28 Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Ayma, San Juan de Tibas, San Jose, Costa Rica

Teletica Deportes

Oxandia Castillo TKO2 Hanna Gabriel

Gabriel, previously considered among the best female fighters in the world, showed that while she has the body of a goddess she lacks the chin. Castillo walked through whatever Gabriel offered and just kept applying pressure. By late in round 2 Gabriel was visibly gassed and it only took a single 1-2 combination put her flat on her back. The jab fell short but the right hand was right on the money. Gabriel beat the count but did not have the legs to continue.

Consequently Gabriel falls to 13-1-1 while Castillo improves to 12-0-2, sporting a new WBO female light middleweight championship belt. The sky is the limit for the previously obscure 18 year old Castillo.

Bryan Vasquez KO1 Luis Ernesto Jose

Vazquez, coming off a valiant 8th round TKO loss to Takashi Uchiyama, showed no ill effects of that beating as he easily dispatched Ernesto Jose in 1 round. Body shots did the trick.

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2013-03-01 Foro Polanco, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Telemundo

Ulises Lara KO2 Omar Soto

Soto, a clear favorite, was rocked in round 1 and taken out altogether in round 2. Lara scored 3 knockdowns and that was that. Ironically there was no 3 knockdown rule but Soto simply couldn't get back to his feet in time. A left hook to the body took the wind out of him.

Consequently Lara, who still has more losses to his name than wins, is the new Mexico flyweight champion. Soto falls to 23-10-2 and has sandwiched his win over Glenn Donaire between 2nd round knockouts to Lara and Roman Gonzalez.

Pedro Melo UD6 Angel Rezago

Jose Zuniga SD4 Juan Pablo Arias

Omar Gonzalez TKO2 Oscar Gonzalez

This ending kind of confused me. Apparently they rang the bell to signal the referee to stop the fight. Other than that, the stoppage was fine. Gonzalez was taking a beating...from Gonzalez.

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2013-03-01 Hala Sportowa, ul. Zuzlowa 4, Czestochowa, Poland

Orange Sport

Lukasz Wawrzyczek UD8 Pavol Garaj (79-74, 80-73, 78-74)

Scorecards aside, this was a competitive fight with some thrilling exchanges. But Garaj faded as the fight went on and had to fight in spurts. Wawrzyczek's consistency won the fight.

Nonetheless, Wawrzyczek improved to 17-1-2. Considering the difficulty he had with a journeyman that hasn't won a fight since 2008, I suspect Wawrzyczek will remain a local level fighter.

Norbert Dabrowski TKO4 Ferenc Zold

The 27 year old Zold, once a lightweight, was no match physically or technically for the natural middleweight Dabrowski. Zold was down twice in round 2 and once more in round 3 before getting dropped a 4th and final time in round 4. The referee waved it off after the count of 8.

In any event the 24 year old Dabrowski is now 11-0 with 5 knockouts.

Dawid Kwiatkowski UD6 Maros Pacan

Michal Syrowatka KO2 Laszlo Robert Balogh

Balogh was out classed and chose to stay down. He was flopping beforehand, too.

Lukasz Gworek UD4 Samuel Hadzima

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2013-03-02 Moncton Lions Club, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

GFL.TV

Fitz Vanderpool UD10 Roberto McLellan (96-94, 97-93, 99-91)

McLellan may have been robbed of a knockdown in round 7 when Vanderpool sat on the lower middle rope, but he was not robbed of a decision. McLellan did too much waiting and too little pressing. The 45 year old Vanderpool out hustled a man 17 years his junior.

With the victory Vanderpool improved to 26-7-4 and picked up the vacant Canada - National Boxing Authority (NBA) middleweight title. This was Vanderpool's 2nd fight (and win) since returning from a 7 year retirement following a 1st round TKO loss to Marco Antonio Avendano.

Francesco Cotroni UD10 Rory Coveney (97-93, 99-91, 99-91)

Contoni improved to 7-1 and picked up the vacant Canada - National Boxing Authority (NBA) light middleweight title.

Frank White UD8 Sandy Robb

Marcel Maillet Jr SD8 Ron Savoie

This was a controversial decision.

Brandon Brewer TKO2 Glisandy Mejia

This was a highlight reel KO.

Marshall Norrad KO1 Denis Martin

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2013-03-02 MBS Arena, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Sport 1

Ramona Kuehne UD10 Halanna Dos Santos

Dos Santos was ill equipped to deal with Kuehne's explosive volleys aside from retreating or holding on to survive. It got Dos Santos to the finish line, but didn't win her rounds. Thus the reigning triple world super featherweight champion (WBF, WBF female, WBO female) emerged victorious.

With the likes of Frida Wallberg, Claudia Andrea Lopez, and Kina Malpartida in her division among others, there are several intriguing fights that Kuehne can make.

Dominic Boesel UD10 Harut Sahakyan (100-90, 100-90, 99-91)

In the male main event of the evening Boesel extended his unbeaten record to 11 wins and picked up the vacant WBO Youth light heavyweight title. Sahakyan, also unbeaten going into this bout, dropped to 5-1-1. From the very beginning the fight looked like a mismatch as Sahakyan was comparatively diminutive in size. A 1 sided affair followed as expected. Boesel did nothing fancy, but he kept Sahakyan at a comfortable range.

Moritz Stahl TKO1 Rastislav Kovac

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2013-03-02 MBS Arena, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

WochenSpiegel

Stefan Schroeder SD10 Mathias Zemski (92-97, 95-92, 95-92)

Maybe I was just tired of watching boxing when I got around to looking at this, but this was a hard fight to watch. It was a close, competitive, well matched battle between undefeated prospects. It however was anything but entertaining. Honestly I saw as much wrestling as I saw boxing, complete with takedowns. The breaks in "action" were so numerous it was really hard to separate a winner from a loser through most of the rounds. I expected to see a split decision and it came to past.

Ultimately Zemski, the dirtier fighter, lost a point for his antics and lost the fight. The deduction however did not affect the outcome. Schroeder picked up the vacant Germany GBA light middleweight title and is now 6-0.

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2013-03-02 Gimnasio de las Liebres, Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Televisa

Zulina Munoz UD10 Tenkai Tsunami (95-93, 95-93, 97-92)

In a bout set up as a measuring stick for a pending Munoz-Mariana Juarez clash, Tsunami clearly did better with Munoz than Juarez. Tsunami only came up short by 2 points on 2 of the scorecards even though she lost a point for a headbutt in the last round.

Nonetheless it was an enjoyable fight and there's probably not much point in delaying a Munoz-Juarez clash. I don't think Munoz would beat Juarez, but, "La Barbie" went life and death in most of her 2012 fights. So who knows? That's why fights are won in the ring and not on paper.

In any event, for now, Munoz remains the WBC female super flyweight champion with a 37-1-2 record. Not bad for a 25 year old.

Carlos Cuadras TKO7 Victor Zaleta

In the male main event of the evening Cuadras consistently applied pressure and broke Zaleta down until he folded in round 7. Zaleta made Cuadras walk through fire to pull it off, but he found a way. Cuadras, now 28-0, made the 2nd successful defense of his WBC Silver super flyweight title. How would he fair against WBC "Gold" champion Yota Sato? Well, he'd probably get taken to school... I'd still like to see it though, if Sato gets by Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

Oswaldo Novoa TKO4 Javier Martinez Resendiz

Classifying this as a TKO was questionable considering the cut that ended it appeared to be caused by a headbutt. Resendiz was ruled unfit to continue by a ringside physician.

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2013-03-02 Windhoek, Namibia

Nambia & Thai TV

Paulus Ambunda UD12 Pungluang Sor Singyu (115-113, 116-112, 116-112)

Unfortunately I've only found 3 rounds of this war (8, 11, and 12) which very much looks like it could be a fight of the year candidate. In rounds 8 and 11 there was back and forth action where Ambunda, who had the faster hands, gave as good as he got. But in round 12 Singyu practically had Ambunda out on his feet. It's a miracle that he didn't go down. Fortunately for Ambunda he was in great shape and could stick and move to survive the round, as only a knockout was going to deny him his dreams of becoming world champion.

Thus Ambunda is the new WBO bantamweight champion, a title captured on his 20th fight/win. He joins a short list of fighters to become world champion in 20 fights or less. And by short, I mean less than 150 guys...maybe less than 130. The list is shorter if you limit it to undefeated fighters...

Update: The other 9 rounds were pretty fantastic as well, particularly round 5.

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2013-03-02 Cebu City Waterfront Hotel & Casino, Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines

ABS-CBN (Philippines) / Azteca 7 (Mexico)

Donnie Nietes D12 Moises Fuentes

Nietes came on strong down the stretch to steal the 1st round and continued to land the biggest power shots in round 2. However, Fuentes began to roll and block Donnie's shots in round 3 and edged the round on overall work rate. A relentless body attack carried the 4th for Fuentes as well. Fuentes continued with the great body work in the 5th but it fell apart in the last minute of the round as Nietes dropped bombs on his head.

But Fuentes got it back together in round 6 and mixed it up well to the body and the head. Near the end of the round an accidental clash of heads opened a cut outside of Donnie's right eye. In round 7 Nietes mostly stayed on his bicycle. Fuentes followed that up with an even more dominant round 8 where he walked Nietes down and beat him up. Nietes appeared to be fading under the pressure.

Then, just as I was ready to count Nietes out, he came back to battle Fuentes on even terms in round 9. The following round showcased Moises's will against Donnie's skill. It was a close round, but I felt Moises edged it. Round 11 was similarly close but Nietes stayed out of range and rendered the offense of Fuentes ineffective.

Thus the only really clean effective punches of the round, albeit few, were landed by Nietes. Nietes kept up his clever, frustrating boxing clinic in the final round and may have edged that as well (although Fuentes was able to touch him a bit more).

Both fighters raised their arms to claim victory when the final bell rang. A case could be made for both, but I felt Fuentes won a narrow decision. He wanted it more. But at the end of the day both walked away with the world title they came into the fight with. Nietes remains the WBO light flyweight champion while Fuentes is the WBO strawweight champ.

Genesis Servania TKO7 Angky Angkotta

Halfway through the round Angkotta did an Ali shuffle. Then he got his ass whooped and quit moments before the bell. Muhammad Ali would have been ashamed to see this.

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2013-03-02 Sandton Convention Center, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

BoxNation / South African TV

Chris van Heerden UD12 Matthew Hatton

Hatton, simply put, was out fought. He neither had the power nor the craft to keep Heerden off him. Hatton was hurt multiple times and clinched often. It was neither a pretty nor an entertaining fight to watch.

Nonetheless Heerden successfully defended his IBO welterweight title and improved to 19-1-1. Hatton falls to 43-7-2 and his chances of finally becoming a world champion are likely over.

Kaizer Mabuza UD8 Isaac Hlatshwayo

Matty Clarkson TKO7 Tshepang Mohale

Osborne Machimana D6 Elvis Moyo

Mthobisi Buthelezi KO2 Lobanda Batale

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2013-03-02 Our Lady of the Lake University Gym, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Fox Sports Net / Premier Sports / Fight Network

Omar Figueroa TKO1 Henry Aurad

A series of hooks immediately had Aurad stunned in the opening round and an overhand right put him down for the "count" moments later. The referee didn't actually bother counting to 10, though I'm fairly sure he could have counted higher. Thus Figueroa improved to 20-0-1, 16 wins by way of KO.

Jermall Charlo KO3 Gilbert Venegas

An overhand right put Venegas down for the count, barely. He tried to get up at 10 but was a tad slow. It's best the fight was stopped anyways; he was just going to go get hurt otherwise.

Emanuel Ledezma UD6 Felix Piedra

Jario Castaneda UD4 Christian Santibanez

Errol Spence UD4 Luis Torres

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#QuitCounter2013 was "only" bumped up 3 notches this week and now totals to 36. New entries are highlighted in bold.

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
2013-02-16 Brandon Cook RTD3 Raul Saiz
2013-02-16 Demetrius Hopkins RTD6 Charles Whittaker
2013-02-16 Jamel Herring RTD3 Carlos Lopez
2013-02-16 Joel Tambwe Djeko TKO6 Bassam Belkhir
2013-02-21 Czar Amonsot RTD6 Addisu Tebebu
2013-02-21 Patrick Day RTD1 Dominique Foster
2013-02-22 Ariel Vega TKO4 Jose Rodriquez
2013-02-22 Christian Hammer RTD6 Oleksiy Mazikin
2013-02-22 Manuel Charr RTD2 Yakup Saglam
2013-02-22 Simona Galassi RTD2 Gabriella Vicze
2013-02-22 Yunier Dorticos RTD3 Willie Herring
2013-02-23 Chris Avalos RTD4 Jose Luis Araiza
2013-02-26 Petch Kokietgym RTD8 Albert Alcoy
2013-03-01 Michal Syrowatka KO2 Laszlo Robert Balogh
2013-03-02 Genesis Servania TKO7 Angky Angkotta

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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, Tuesdays, 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.