number1contender.net

HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

 

October 4, 2008

Pechanga Resort and Casino-Temecula, California

 

First, I need to thank the great man that is Mike Sempervive for providing me with the information on both the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao gate revenue and the article from the Wall Street Journal on Ricardo Mayorga's 3-pack a day smoking habit. Furthermore, my thoughts and prayers go to Mike and his family as he deals with his difficult medical condition. No one has been a bigger supporter of my boxing recaps from the very start then Mike, and I owe him a lot. Mike got me my position with Bryan and has been instrumental in my success as a writer. There would have been no E3 or continuing video game event coverage without Mike.

 

1. WBC Interim Super Welterweight (154 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Sergio Martinez (43-1-1, 23 KO's, 154 pounds) vs. Alex Bunema (30-5-2, 16 KO's, 152.5 pounds)

The actual version of this title is now held by Vernon Forrest. Forrest won the title invoking a rematch clause in his contract after he lost the title to Sergio Mora in June. Martinez was due the mandatory title shot in June, but was paid a fee to step aside and let Forrest-Mora I happen. However, with Mora, a perceived weaker champion, holding the title Martinez did not want to take another step-aside fee, but instead cash in his money in the bank briefcase for the title shot. Not only would it have been a potential breech of contract for Mora to not have given Forrest his immediate rematch, but there was a lot less money in a Mora-Martinez match. That meant the only person who wanted that match was Martinez. Therefore, the WBC created this interim title to allow Mora to fulfill his contractually obligated rematch with Forrest and make Martinez happy, because he got a shot at the belt.

Martinez is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, who now resides in Madrid, Spain. Those countries are not known for their strong boxing. This has allowed Martinez to build up an impressive record against very uneven competition. Martinez came to the United States to win his number 1 contender's match against the 27-2, Saul Roman via knockout at 2:25 of round 4 of a scheduled 12-round match on April 27, 2007 at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Houston, Texas. Martinez then returned to the ring to stop the 3-34-2, Pavel Florin Madalin, in a scheduled 6-round match on October 6, 2007 at Polideportivo Sage 2000 in Madrid.

However, the only loss on Martinez' record game against a great opponent. Martinez entered the match against against a 3-loss boxer from Tijuana, Mexico the solid betting favorite. Las Vegas was proven to not be omniscient that night, as on February 19, 2000, Martinez was defeated via technical knockout at 2:57 of round 7 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. His opponent that night is the current top boxer at 147 pounds, "The Tijuana Tornado" Antonio Margarito.

Martinez' last match was a technical knockout victory at 2:14 of round 7 over Archak TerMeliksetian on June 7, 2008 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Martinez is unranked by The Ring magazine, but the number 10 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

Bunema is a grizzled veteran who has had matches with some of the elite boxers at 154 pounds. The 2 names that stick out most are Jermain Taylor and a very young Kassim Ouma. On May 4, 2000, a then 9-1, Ouma defeated Bunema by technical knockout when Bunema's corner threw in the towel following round 4 in Dallas, Texas. Bunema boxed Taylor as the Arkansas native was nearing his peak. Therefore on May 27, 2004, Taylor stopped Bunema via technical knockout at 2:17 of round 7, and took the Memphis, Tennessee resident's WBC Continental Americas Middleweight Championship at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Bunema's last match was a knockout victory at 3:00 of round 6 over Walter Matthysse on July 11, 2008 at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Quebec.

Bunema is The Ring's number 6 contender at 154 pounds to their vacant championship in the weight class.

Both boxers are 33-years-old. Martinez has the height advantage standing 5' 10" tall, while Bunema stands 5' 9" tall. Bunema has the reach advantage with a 24.5" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to Martinez who has a 24" arm length. Both boxers have unofficially rehydrated to 165 pounds approaching match time. Martinez will employ the southpaw stance, and Bunema will employ the orthodox stance.

California's modified version of the unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. The official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from the United States, Venezuela and Mexico. The referee is Raul Caiz, Sr. Harold Lederman will be HBO's unofficial scorekeeper for this event.

Behind a solid right jab, Martinez wins round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Martinez, 10-9. Martinez easily wins round 2, 10-9. The native Argentinean boxed most of round 2 with his hands completely down around his waist. The resident of Madrid, Spain wins round 2 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. According to CompuBox, Bunema landed 3 total punches in round 1, and 3 total punches in round 2. A lunging left hand from Martinez sends Bunema to the canvas with 1:27 to go in round 3. Bunema is up quickly and successfully answers the referee's count for the match to continue with 1:17 to go in the round. Martinez is dominating this match and wins round 3, 10-8. Lederman scores round 3 the same. Everyone watching has Martinez ahead in the match after 3 rounds, 30-26. In round 3, Martinez landed 28 total punches. Like rounds 1 and 2, in round 3 Bunema only landed 3 total punches. Martinez was smiling and laughing in the corner after round 3.

Martinez is in complete control winning round 4, 10-9. The commentators on HBO are pointing out that based on Martinez' performance so far, the much more interesting match for Martinez is not the mandated match with Forrest, but the rematch with Margarito. Lederman scores round 4 for Martinez, 10-9. Martinez who does some work as a male model has been hit so little in this match, he should be in perfect condition to go to a photo shoot after this contest. The native of Buenos Aires cruises to easily win round 5 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Martinez must have had harder sparring sessions then this match. He easily wins round 6 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Both of us have Martinez ahead after 6 rounds, 60-53. Jim Lampley, who is doing play-by-play of this event for HBO, believes the last boxers he has seen show this much speed at 154 pounds were Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley. That was when those 2 future Hall-of-Famers were at their peak several years ago, today they are substantially slower then Martinez

There is severe swelling around both of Bunema's eyes and in the corner before round 7 Bunema's corner told him he needed to do something quickly. With about 1 minute to go in round 7, the referee warned Bunema to do something or he was going to stop it based on the accumulation of punches. Bunema got pinned against the ropes with 10 seconds to go, and the referee was a few seconds away from moving in to stop the contest when the bell sounded. The resident of Memphis, Tennessee is running out of time to score a come from behind knockout. Martinez takes round 7 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. The referee follows Bunema back to his corner after round 7 to examine the boxer with the doctor. Bunema is allowed to continue, but told this is his last round. Martinez dominates round 8 to take it, 10-9. The referee thought about stopping the match while Bunema was taking a combination of punches at the end of the round, but Bunema was able to hold on and stay the referee's hand. The match is being stopped. Bunema was given the finger movement test in the corner by the doctor and said he was feeling fine. However, the referee said Bunema had 1 more round and true to his word this match is over. Good call on the stoppage. The doctor told the referee to stop the match, and apparently it was his final call. That is part of California's modifications to the unified rules of boxing in that both the doctor and referee could stop the match. Nothing was going to get better for Bunema in the next 3 minutes despite his corner's protests. Bunema's corner said Martinez was getting tired, which was completely untrue. Martinez was so fresh he was able to periodically dance during the match.

The official outcome from tonight's ring announcer Jake Gutierrez: at 3:00 of round 8 the referee has stopped this contest on the advice of the doctor, making the winner by technical knockout, and new WBC Interim Super Welterweight Champion of the World, Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez. The win moves Martinez to 44-1-1 with 24 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers show a completely one-sided win by Martinez. Martinez landed 212 of the 518 total punches he threw, for a 41% total connect percentage. The new champion landed 111 of the 232 power punches he threw, for an excellent 48% power connect percentage. Bunema landed 31 of the 216 total punches he threw, for a 14% total connect percentage. That works out to Bunema averaging less then 4 total punches landed per round, compared to the more then 26 total punches per round Martinez was landing. Bunema landed 19 of the 90 power punches he threw, for a 21% power connect percentage. That means Bunema was averaging less then 2.5 power punches landed per round, while Martinez was landing nearly 14 power punches per round.

Martinez was great in this match. Based on this performance he instantly becomes a boxer to watch. Following this match The Ring has named Martinez the number 6 contender at 154 pounds. It appears Matinez' next match will be against Forrest. However, with a strong performance in that match he would make a very good candidate to headline a PPV with Margarito in the fall of 2009. Margarito is reportedly in the building at this event and look for HBO to run an impromptu angle later in the show based on this match.

Bunema's performance in this match was abysmal. The only positive coming out of this match for Bunema is that his corner did a great job. Bunema's corner said the perfect things and gave the exact instructions the boxer needed to hear for a game plan that could have defeated Martinez. Unfortunately, at no time did Bunema appear able to execute those instructions or look like he was close to the same caliber of boxer as Martinez. Bunema is going to need a substantial amount of rebuilding matches on ESPN to get considered for a title match, again. He would have been better off getting knocked out in 14 seconds Kimbo Slice style then being completely dominated and apparently exposed for 24 minutes. Following this loss Bunema has dropped out of The Ring's rankings at 154 pounds.

 

2. Junior Middleweight (154 pounds) 10-Round Match:

Alfredo Angulo (13-0, 10 KO's, 154 pounds) vs. Andrey Tsurkan (26-3, 17 KO's, 153.75 pounds)

Angulo had a strong amateur boxing career that culminated when he represented his native Mexico at 165 pounds at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.

The Mexican Olympian is currently the sparring partner of 147-pound title holder Antonio Margarito. The work is reportedly forcing him to be an all action boxer in competition. This is also where you can expect the angle. Assuming Angulo wins, Margarito should be interviewed after the match about Martinez.

The Coachella, California resident's last match was a technical knockout victory at 2:48 of round 5 over Richard Gutierrez on May 17, 2008 at Buffalo Bill's Star Arena in Primm, Nevada.

Angulo is unranked by The Ring, and the number 12 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

Tsurkan was born in Lugansk, Ukraine and could have represented Ukraine in boxing at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. However, the Ukrainian Olympic team was so poor after they left the Soviet Union when the empire collapsed that it was unable to afford to send him to the Olympics. Vitali Klitschko took home a gold medal in boxing at the Atlanta Olympiad for Ukraine, but he had to find a sponsor to pay all of his expenses for the games.

Now residing in the Bronx, New York,Tsurkan's last 5 matches have all been against solid competition within driving distance of New York. The short road trips have netted Tsurkan a record a 5-1 record during that stretch with 4 knockout victories and a narrow 10-round split decision loss to the highly touted Yuri Foreman on December 6, 2007 at the Paradise Theatre in the Bronx.

Tsurkan's last match a technical knockout victory at 1:17 of round 8 over Jesse Feliciano on April 25, 2008 at the renamed Utopia Paradise Theatre. 

Tsurkan is unranked by The Ring, and the number 20 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 26-years-old, Angulo is 4 years younger then the 30-year-old Tsurkan. Angulo has the height advantage standing 5' 10.5" tall, while Tsurkan stands 5' 8" tall. The 2004 Olympian has the reach advantage with a 23.5" arm length compared to the 22.5" arm length of Tsurkan. Angulo will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 165 pounds. Tsurkan has unofficially rehydrated to 164 pounds approaching match time. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

All of the official judges for this match scoring at ringside are from California. The referee is Tony Crebs.

Margarito did not come out with Angulo, which ends the idea of HBO being able to run the angle. Going back and countering, Angulo wins round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Angulo, 10-9. Angulo wins round 2 easily, 10-9. The Mexican Olympian keeps pouring on the offense in the last 30 seconds of rounds to clearly win rounds that had been somewhat close. Lennox Lewis, who is doing color commentary of this event for HBO, has pointed out the Angulo has terrible footwork backing up. Angulo can be knocked down with a mediocre punch backing up, if it catches him at the right time, because the boxer's feet are too close together. The Mexican Olympian would not necessarily be hurt by the punch, but would lose the points on the judges' scorecards from a knockdown. During round 2, Tsurkan developed heavy swelling under his right eye. It is not a problem now and he has an excellent cut man, therefore it should not be a significant problem in this match. Apparently, Angulo was cut in round 2 and the referee is ruling that cut was caused by an unintentional clash of heads. Lederman scores round 2 for Angulo, 10-9. The cut on Angulo is outside his right eye. Angulo brutalized Tsurkan in round 3 winning the round so decisively it was a borderline, 10-8. However, Tsurkan landed enough punches that Angulo will only win round 3, 10-9. After round 3, Tsurkan has severe swelling around both eyes. The punches Tsurkan landed in round 3 all seemed to target the cut near the right eye of Angulo and it is bleeding heavily. After 3 rounds Angulo leads on my scorecard, 30-27. In round 3 according to CompuBox, Angulo brutalized Tsurkan landing an astonishing 65 of the 138 total punches he threw in the round. Lederman scores round 3 for Angulo, 10-9 and has him ahead in the match after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Angulo dominates round 4 taking it, 10-9. At this point Tsurkan looks very bad. Tsurkan's legs do not seem to be moving properly. He is walking very straight legged and moving very stiff. His corner needs to be thinking about stopping this soon and the referee has to also have just about seen enough. Lederman scores round 4 for Angulo, 10-9. Angulo wins round 5 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Tsurkan is not answering his corner man back well after round 5. They should really think about stopping this. Angulo has never been past 6 rounds, but Tsurkan looks awful. The Mexican Olympian dominates round 6 to take it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. The cut above Angulo's right eye has pretty much stopped bleeding. Tsurkan has bad swelling around both of his eyes to the level he may have problems seeing at this point. Angulo leads on Lederman and my scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54.

Angulo has Tsurkan wobbling on the walk back to his corner following round 7. This match needs to be stopped. Angulo wins round 7 on everyone's scorecard, 10-9. Angulo deals out a disturbing amount of damage to Tsurkan in winning round 8, 10-9. This match has gone on way too long, and after round 8 the doctor steps into the ring on his own volition to check on Tsurkan. This match has become hard to watch. The doctor is apparently going to let this continue, but Tsurkan's corner is now warning their charge they may stop it. Round 9 ended with Tsurkan eating a prolonged combination from Angulo that had the boxer, again walking awkwardly back to his corner. The referee should have waved it off there. This is getting really sickening to watch, and the commentators on HBO are openly talking about this being the type of beating that gets a boxer killed. Angulo wins round 9, 10-9. The inhumane qualities in Tsurkan's corner has them sending their boxer out for the final round despite what they said earlier. The doctor took a look at Tsurkan in the corner after round 9 and ignoring everything he had seen in the ring said the boxer was good to continue. Through the first 9 rounds, Angulo has averaged throwing more then 120 total punches per round and landing more then 40 total connects per round. Angulo passed up the number of punches that caused the doctor to end Martinez' night after 8 rounds, before the end of round 6. Lederman figures in the savagery of the beating to his scoring of round 9 and gives it to Angulo, 10-8. Finally, after Tsurkan ate practically 1 full minute of unanswered punches with Lampley yelling repeatedly at Tsurkan from the broadcast position to "Go Down!" Tsurkan's corner threw in the towel. The referee should have moved in 45 seconds before Tsurkan's corner decided to throw in the towel and with Tsurkan being beaten helplessly against the ropes the referee was not even taking a closer look with the inclination to stop the match. In addition, Tsurkan's corner threw in the towel about 7 seconds and 7 landed punches before the referee stopped the match. This match was disgusting to watch knowing what can happen in matches like this. The announcers are literally predicting Tsurkan's death at this point. Saying letting Tsurkan be brave enough to get beat to death is not good for Tsurkan and that boxers who have beaten their opponents to death are never the same afterwards. This match was a complete failure on the part of everyone who was in charge of protecting Tsurkan. The HBO announcers are rightfully incensed at the abomination they have just watched.*

The official outcome from Jake Gutierrez: at the request of the blue corner the referee has stopped the contest at 2:27 (really more like 2:20) of round 10 making the winner by technical knockout and still undefeated, Alfredo "El Perro" Angulo. The win moves Angulo to 14-0 with 11 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Angulo landing 400 of the 1211 total punches he threw, for a 33% total connect percentage. That works out to Angulo landing on average exactly 40 punches per round which is borderline inhuman. Angulo landed 296 of the 607 power punches he threw, for an amazing 49% power connect percentage. That means Angulo was hitting Tsurkan with a sadistic (in that he was allowed to) 30 power punches per round on average. Tsurkan landed 143 of the 729 total punches he threw, for a 20% total connect percentage. The Bronx resident landed 76 of the 360 power punches he threw, for a 21% power connect percentage.

Angulo was great in this match. Tsurkan is not an average opponent that is brought in to lose, but a quality boxer. Angulo is probably 1 or 2 matches away from a title shot. The 154-pound division is bereft of big names and big match-ups. Therefore, finding quality opponents for an action boxer that will stand in front of opponents should not be the hardest thing. His people say they want Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., next. However, Chavez is being too well protected to ever be matched up with Angulo.

Tsurkan showed he was too durable for his own good in this match. For his own safety he needs to be held out of competition for at least a year. Beatings like this stay with a boxer for the rest of their life. After a prolonged break from the sport, when he recovers Tsurkan will need to reassess what he wants to do. Tsurkan is not a championship caliber boxer and putting him in against top 10 boxers appears to be dangerous to his health. If Tsurkan can accept boxing that next tier of boxers on ESPN, he can probably have a successful career when he resumes boxing.

 

3. Featherweight (126 pounds) 10-Round Match:

Yuriorkis Gamboa (11-0, 9 KO's, 126 pounds) vs. Marcos Ramirez (25-0, 1 ND, 16 KO's, 126.5 pounds)

Gamboa had a stellar amateur boxing career. Competing for Cuba, Gamboa won numerous championships. His amateur career was highlighted by taking home a gold medal for the island nation at 112 pounds at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad. Following the Olympics, without the opportunity to turn professional, Gamboa began winning world amateur boxing championships at 126 pounds and had he not defected would have been the gold medal favorite at 126 pounds in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (The 126- pound division ended up being 1 of the 3 weight classes that Cuba did not medal at in the Olympics this year, and the only weight class under 178 pounds where Cuba did not take home a medal.)

It took 2 different doctor visits and EKG's to clear Gamboa for this match. The first doctor became alarmed when he checked Gamboa and found out the boxer had an extremely low resting heart beat. After a second doctor's visit on Friday it was determined that Gamboa is in fact a phenomenal athlete who has trained so much that his body functions on a very low resting heart beat. If a normal person showed up with that heart rate, they would be hospitalized and found to have severe heart problems. Normal people cannot live on that few heart palpitations. Unfortunately for Gamboa's opponents, that condition means the boxer is essentially a hummingbird and nearly impossible to fatigue during a match.

Gamboa captured the vacant WBO NABO championship at 126 pounds in his last match. On July 18, 2008, Gamboa defeated Al Seeger via technical knockout at 2:30 of round 1 at Buffalo Bill's Star Arena. That title is not on the line in this match.

Gamboa is unranked by The Ring, and the number 7 ranked boxer in the world at 126 pounds by boxrec.com.

Ramirez has built his record facing very soft opposition. The Midwestern United States is known for being bereft of quality boxing competition. The Kansas City, Kansas resident's last 6 matches and 15 of his last 17 matches have been in Kansas City, Missouri. (Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas are connected with the state line artificially dividing what is in reality a larger city.) That friendly geography has allowed Ramirez to build an undefeated record competing in 26 matches, while only facing 2 opponents with a winning record of at least 7 wins, and who were not coming off a loss.

The Kansas City resident's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Adailton De Jesus to capture the vacant IBF Latino Championship at 126 pounds on May 30, 2007 at Barney Allis Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. (De Jesus was knocked out by Gamboa at 35 seconds of round 6 on October 30, 2007 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel Casino in Hollywood, Florida.)

Ramirez is unranked by The Ring, and unranked by boxrec.com, because he has not boxed in official competition in over a year. The long absence from the ring is due to a string of personal tragedies.

At 26-years-old, Gamboa is 1 year younger then the 27-year-old Ramirez. Ramirez has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Gamboa stands 5' 5" tall. The Kansas City resident has the reach advantage with a 23.5" arm length compared to the 22" arm length of Gamboa. Ramirez will be the larger boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 139 pounds. Gamboa has unofficially rehydrated to 137 pounds approaching match time. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

All of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from California. The referee is Jerry Cantu.

A right hand from Ramirez sends Gamboa following onto his knees and into the ropes with 1:34 to go in round 1. Gamboa springs up and wants to continue without the referee counting. However, the referee stops Gamboa from chasing Ramirez to the neutral corner and forces the gold medalist to take the mandatory 8-count. With 1:23 to go in the round, Gamboa is allowed to go charging back into action. Ramirez easily wins round 1 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-8. The knockdown Ramirez scored was not a flash knockdown as Gamboa tried to sell. It was the result of the Cuban taking a hard left hand with about 1:46 to go in round 1 that hurt Gamboa. Ramirez then followed that up with a combination capped by that right hand that sent Gamboa to the mat. Correction, on replay it was not the right hand that finished the combination that knocked Gamboa down. Ramirez' right hand missed completely, but Ramirez followed through with the punch and delivered an elbow smash to the jaw of Gamboa. The illegal elbow was what knocked Gamboa down. It does not appear to have been an intentional elbow. With 2:05 to go in round 2, Gamboa lands a combination that drops Ramirez to a knee on the canvas. Ramirez takes the full 8-count and is breathing heavy when the referee asks the boxer to walk towards him. Ramirez never saw the combination that put him down and is in bad shape. The referee properly allows Ramirez to continue with 1:51 to go in the round. However, Gamboa will likely put an end to this match in the next 30 seconds. Rather then hold on to recover, both boxers began trading power shots in the center of the ring when the action resumed. Ramirez had never been knocked down in his career as a pro or amateur prior to taking that combination from Gamboa. However, a right hand from Gamboa sends Ramirez to the ground for the second time in his competitive boxing career with 1:33 to go in the round. Ramirez started to stand up at 9 and the referee fast-counted from 9 to 10, while Ramirez was beginning to stand. It was a good stoppage by the referee. Ramirez is protesting, but not that vigorously. The boxer should know that if he stays down too long, the referee may stop it. The HBO commentators are a little upset by the fast-count. However, knowing the skill disparity between the 2 boxers and having seen the last 2 matches, the stoppage cannot be argued. Gamboa was going to knock Ramirez down in another 20 seconds.

The official outcome from Jake Gutierrez is that: at 1:41 of round 2, the referee has reached a count of 10 making the winner by knockout and still undefeated, Yuriorkis "El Cicion de Guantanamo" Gamboa. The win moves Gamboa to 12-0 with 10 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Gamboa landing 28 of the 104 total punches he threw, for a 27% total connect percentage. The victor landed 27 of the 89 power punches he threw, for a 30% power connect percentage. Ramirez landed 20 of the 82 total punches he threw for a 24% total connect percentage. The vanquished Ramirez landed 17 of the 51 power punches he threw, for a 33% power connect percentage.

Gamboa said in his post match interview that he knew he was hit by an elbow but it did not hurt him much. He said the knockdown made him be more aggressive. Gamboa was asked if he was going to continue to box as aggressively, since he keeps getting knocked down. He said he was, because he always scores the knockout in the end.

The Cuban Olympian came into this match with a lot of hype, against an opponent designed to be knocked out quickly, and knocked that opponent out quickly. However, Gamboa looked horrifically flawed for someone who is being billed as elite. His defense was awful at times and he boxed in a reckless manner that will get him quickly knocked out against decent opposition. Gamboa has amazing physical tools and athleticism. His amateur track record shows he knows how to box. However, the fact he became so much better then everyone else on the amateur level allowed him to become a technical nightmare. It will take years of work in the gym to turn him into the professional boxer people want him to be. He definitely has the potential to be great. However, it will probably be several years before he unlearns the bad habits he picked up from too many years of dominating amateur boxing and approaches being the elite boxer people want him to be. Additionally, in his interview Gamboa did not express the desire to become the type of boxer he needs to become to be elite. He is now living in Miami, Florida, which has been arguably the worst place for young Cuban boxers to live and progress as professional boxers after they defect. The perception is that in Miami star Cuban defectors are allowed to live in excess, while they lived in near prison conditions training in Cuba. The people behind Gamboa seem to know the right things to do, the question is if they can get the boxer to accept them.

 

The first part of the first match was good. After seeing that Martinez could be a star at 154 pounds, it would probably be best to shut off the show. The remainder is Martinez dealing so much damage to his opponent that the doctor has to stop it. The second match is a sickening beating. The state should look into how that was allowed to go so long and look into the referee and doctor. The third match was a competitor who came in with a lot of hype and under performed. There was a much shorter version of that on tonight. In an aside, this event was promoted opposite EliteXC by Gary Shaw.

 

*The HBO announcers should be outraged when they see a boxer taking a beating in a match like Tsurkan did in the second match. Part of being a sports announcer/journalist should not be watching competitors die in front of you. There are other areas of journalism where watching people die is part of the job, primarily war correspondent. Despite its frequent hyperbolic use to describe wrestling, boxing, and other combat sporting type events these are not real wars. People are not supposed to die here. This is a boxing match, not a battle or a war. Battles and wars are not entertaining affairs to be televised for the masses. In the early 1990's, Sports Illustrated had a policy that banned its writers from using the term war or battle or making any overt reference to war terminology. For example, writers in SI were not allowed to describe a good match up between offensive and defensive lines in a football game as a "battle in the trenches" as it is frequently called.  It was SI's theory that there are real battles and real wars in the world and to trivialize them by comparing them to something as silly as offensive line play in a college football game is insensitive. Additionally, when people think about the analogy it makes no sense and is inaccurate. What part of 5 people trying to block 4 people, so a man carrying a ball can go forward resembles actual trench warfare? They believed war analogies were used hyperbolically by writers who did not bother to come up with more accurate descriptive terms.

UFC has gotten itself in a lot of trouble with their similar loose use of terminology and it has probably contributed to their problems getting the sport sanctioned. By calling their competitors fighters, instead of mixed martial artists and their matches fights, instead of mixed martial arts contests, they have allowed people to label them as a barbaric sport. The gladiator intro on every show only plays into that. Despite UFC's frequent love of comparing their competitors to modern day gladiators, there is a huge difference. No one in the history of UFC ever died during a match. To my understanding, the only point of gladiator matches was to see someone die. This creates an easy image to someone who does not know better that the UFC is largely bloodsport. Fighters fighting in a cage does not sound gentlemanly to most politicians. If it were described as mixed martial artists competing in a mixed martial arts contest, it would not make every person who does not know about it think of a drunken street brawl. By calling competitors mixed martial artists politicians would not instantly be alarmed. It would give promoters the chance to explain that the cage is a safety measure, before a politician had already decided on the issue. These are the reasons that in these recaps the term boxer and boxing match/match are consistently used over fight and fighter.

 

News and Notes: Cuba ended up taking home medals in 8 of the 11 boxing weight classes 4 bronze medals and 4 silver medals. That does not count as a successful Olympics for the Cuban boxing team.

Andre Ward received clearance to begin training this week. The United States' boxing gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad required knee surgery after a pickup basketball game earlier this year, and was expected to be out until early 2009. Now Ward hopes to make his return in December 2008 at the Oakland Arena.

Some boxing analysts are starting to hedge that PPV and ticket sales will be down for boxing in the near future, because of the slumping economy. However, that does not appear to be the case at the top end shows. Ticket sales for the major events is as strong or stronger then it was at this time last year. Golden Boy Promotions has made a deal to offer $30 rebates to people who purchase Tecate beer or Cazadores tequila and De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao to ensure revenue for that event is strong and potentially record breaking. If ticket sales or PPV numbers are down for an event, it shows there is an issue with the event, not the economy. Boxing was doing $1 million gates during the height of the depression behind good promotion. Blaming a failing economy for a failed event is a failure of an excuse. (Once again, thanks to the great Mike Sempervive for help with this research.)

The WBA is imposing no penalty on Joan Guzman for failing to make weight for his title match with Nate Campbell. Guzman's transgression was amplified, because Campbell offered to face Guzman with no title at stake at the catch weight the scheduled title challenger he weighed-in at officially in his only try at the scales. Then, with the deal in place and Showtime about an hour from going live with their broadcast with Campbell-Guzman in a non-title match as the main event, Guzman pulled out of the match completely. It gets worse see below.

Campbell was scheduled to make $300,000 for the match. However, with Don King promoting the event, no match, no paycheck. Therefore, Thursday Campbell was forced to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. He owes $110,000 in back taxes to the federal government, and his house is about to be foreclosed on by the bank. In addition to $300,000 purse Campbell did not receive when the match with Guzman was canceled, Campbell was scheduled to receive an additional $100,000 for the match as part of a signing bonus for a new promotional contract with King. Some promoters have been known to help out the people they have under contract, and advance them money as a sign of good faith. Vince McMahon and Dana White have done this numerous times. They have also not spent time in prison for killing people. Under Chapter 7, Campbell and his lawyers are voiding the boxer's contract with King and declaring the boxer a free agent. They believe Campbell can sign with any promoter and he would be a natural fit with Golden Boy Promotions. However, King is considering legally challenging Campbell's free agent status. A legal challenge from King would put the 36-year-old Campbell's career in limbo. The case would leave Campbell tied up in court for months and unable to compete. King would have then not paid Campbell the full amount on his contract and forced a bankrupt boxer into court so he could not box to make money to pay his debts. King's people say they tried to work out a "fair" settlement with Campbell. Based on King's track record of success the definition of "fair" is suspect and probably involved his soul. With money and Don King involved history suggests that this seems unlikely to end well for the boxer.

The WBC has decided there should be a mini-tournament to determine their new champion at 130 pounds, since the belt has been vacated by Manny Pacquiao. Francisco Lorenzo defeated Humberto Soto via controversial disqualification to win the title. However, the WBC, the most corrupt major sanctioning body in boxing, refused to accept the decision and ruled that the championship was to remain vacant. Therefore, they have ordered that Humberto Soto will have to face Gamaliel Diaz on October 11 in Torreon, Mexico to determine an interim-Champion. The winner of that match will then face Francisco Lorenzo to determine the full champion at some point in the future.

It appears Paul Williams finally has an opponent for his November 29 title defense on HBO. He will defend his 147-pound title against mandatory challenger Delvin Rodriguez ahead of schedule, because no other willing opponent could be found.

 

The next recap will come out October 12 covering part 1 of the previous night's Showtime broadcast that will either be Antonio Tarver vs. Chad Dawson or Vitali Klitschko vs. Samuel Peter.