number1contender.net

HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

April 25, 2009

Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez-Bayamon, Puerto Rico

1. Interim WBO Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Lamont Peterson (26-0, 12 KO's, 140 pounds) vs. Willy Blain (20-0, 3 KO's, 138.25 pounds)

This title is being created in this match for no apparent reason. The actual WBO Champion at 140 pounds is Timothy Bradley who just won the belt from Kendall Holt on April 4, 2009.

Peterson had a good amateur boxing career that peaked when he won the 2001 National Golden Gloves Championship at 132 pounds.

The Washington, D.C. native came to prominence boxing on ESPN2 and was named the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Prospect of the Year for 2007. He main evented their season finale that year defeating Frankie Santos when Santos' corner threw in the towel after round 6. Peterson won the vacant WBO NABO Junior Welterweight Championship with his domination of Santos on September 7, 2007 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Washingtonian dominated Santos through relentless body punching mixed in with hard uppercuts. That is Peterson's only previous experience in 12-round matches. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/22/recap-of-lamont-peterson-vs-frankie-santos.html

Peterson's last match was a blowout 10-round unanimous decision over Lanardo Tyner to capture another fringe title at 140 pounds on November 1, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Washingtonian was so dominant in that match that one of the judges scored it for him, 99-87.

Peterson is unranked by The Ring magazine and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 21 boxer in the world at 140 pounds.

Blain had a stellar amateur boxing career that included a trip to the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics and 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. However, the highlight of Blain's amateur career was probably when he took home the gold medal for his native France in the 141-pound weight class at the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships.

The Frenchman has boxed exclusively out of Europe as a pro. However, boxed around the world as an amateur. Blain has had to travel to face boxers throughout the world in very hostile conditions. In fact in 2003 as an amateur, Blain faced Peterson as an amateur in Reno, Nevada. (Peterson won that match on points, 8-5.) Therefore, making his professional debut outside of Europe in essentially a neutral site should be no problem.

Blain's last match that earned him the title shot was an 8-round unanimous decision victory over Laszlo Komjathi on December 9, 2008 at Freizeit Arena in Soelden, Austria. Prior to facing Blain, Komjathi had gone 10-19 with 8 knockout losses in his last 29 matches.

Blain is unranked by The Ring and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 29 boxer in the world at 140 pounds.

At 25-years-old, Peterson is 6-years-younger then the 31-year-old Blain. Peterson has the height advantage standing 5' 9" tall, while Blain stands 5' 8" tall. The Washingtonian has the reach advantage with a 24" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to Blain's 22.5" arm length. Peterson will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 152 pounds approaching match time. The Frenchman has only unofficially rehydrated to 147 pounds approaching match time. Blain will box out of the orthodox stance and Peterson will employ the southpaw stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Puerto Rico and the other is from the United States. The referee is Roberto Ramirez. Harold Lederman will be keeping HBO's unofficial scorecard for this event.

With 2:34 to go in round 1, the referee calls timeout because of an accidental head butt. That has caused a cut over Blain's left eye. The cut does not seem to be very severe and the referee is not having the doctor check it. That is a really odd timeout call by the referee. If a referee is going to call timeout in that situation, they should have the doctor check the cut. After about a brief pause where the referee warns both boxers to be more careful with their heads, and the action is resumed. They use a whistle to signal 10 seconds left in the round here, instead of a banging sound. That confused Peterson. Therefore, when he heard the whistle he dropped his guard, and headed back to his corner. Blain was very sportsmanlike and did not take advantage of his confused opponent. The referee took a few seconds to explain to Peterson that the boxer needed to turn around, because the round was still going. In the end, Peterson wins a slow paced round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Peterson, 10-9. Blain is busier then Peterson in round 2, but Peterson lands many more clean punches. That earns Peterson round 2, 10-9. Peterson wins round 2 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Round 3 features a lot more action then the previous 2 rounds and Peterson wins it, 10-9. Peterson leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Lederman scores round 3 for Peterson, 10-9, and has him ahead after 3 rounds, 30-27. Through 3 rounds, Peterson has landed 50 of the 113 power punches he has thrown, for a very good 44% power connect percentage. Through 3 rounds, Blain has only landed 15 of the 78 power punches he has thrown, for a 19% power connect percentage.

Peterson lands the harder punches to win round 4, 10-9. The Washingtonian wins round 4 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Peterson wins round 5 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. The Washingtonian is dominating this match, but in an unentertaining fashion. Blain has no power. However, Peterson is walking forward in somewhat of a shell defense clearly not looking to punch. Then Peterson will throw a few punches, and go back into his shell. Peterson is telegraphing everything he is doing. However, Blain does not have the ability to do anything about it. Peterson is not throwing combinations or looking to do anything that would make this match remotely interesting. Through 5 rounds, Peterson has landed 106 of the 333 total punches he has thrown, for a 32% total connect percentage. Through 5 rounds, Blain has only landed 47 of the 340 total punches he has thrown. That works out to less then 10 total connects per round, which is abysmal. Blain has a miserable 14% total connect percentage through the first 5 rounds. With 13 seconds to go in round 6, Blain steps away from Peterson and starts shaking out his right hand. The referee moves in between the boxers to check on Blain. Blain threw a right hand that was partially blocked before signaling that his hand is hurt. The referee is going to call timeout with 7 seconds to go in round 6 and Blain appears to be badly hurt. According to the rules, the referee cannot stop the match for an injury like this. Blain went over to his corner saying his hand is broken and the referee is stopping the match. Peterson is going to win by technical knockout due to injury. Blain is protesting, but he cannot stop boxing. The referee is changing his mind. The clock is remaining stopped with 7 seconds to go in round 6 and Blain is being brought over to have the doctor examine him. This is completely against the rules. Blain either has to continue boxing in spite of the injury or lose via technical knockout. When he turned his back and walked away from Peterson, Blain could have taken a knee. Otherwise that could have been interpreted as he no longer wanted to continue. A boxer does not have the ability to call timeout in a boxing match. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. suffered the only knockdown of his career when he took a knee after breaking his hand. However, he continued and won the match. Mayweather did not get a timeout and had to continue or lose. Blain now says he can continue and will continue. The referee and doctor are apparently going to allow that. The match is resumed after a prolonged break for Blain to recover. This is bizarre. Blain calling timeout should be scored as a knockdown. Therefore, Peterson wins round 6, 10-8, and is ahead in the match on my scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-53. Blain tells his corner after round 6 that something is wrong with his thumb. It appears that when Blain threw the right hand, the only part of the punch that got blocked was his thumb. Blain probably just jammed his thumb when the punch was blocked. Lederman, too believes that the match should have been stopped when the referee signaled it was over. This seems very similar to the Kermit Cintron-Sergio Martinez match a few months ago where the referee stopped the match, then changed his mind. Lederman scores round 6 for Peterson, 10-9, and has him ahead in the match after 6 rounds, 60-54. Max Kellerman, who is doing color commentary of this event for HBO, believes Blain should have lost in round 6 via technical knockout.

With 1:51 to go in round 6, Blain turns away from Peterson. Apparently, Blain is experiencing more pain in his hand. This time the referee waves off the match, for real. Blain starts yelling about this. However, he has no reason to complain. The HBO commentators start joking that Peterson has scored his second technical knockout of the night. Unfortunately, he will only get credit for 1.

The official outcome courtesy of the legendary Michael Buffer is that at: 1:11 of round 7 the referee has stopped the contest, because Blain is unable to continue making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated, and the new Interim WBO Junior Welterweight Champion of the World, Lamont Peterson. The win moves Peterson to 27-0 with now 13 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Peterson landing 126 of the 406 total punches he threw, for a 31% total connect percentage. Peterson landed 116 of the 270 power punches he threw, for a very good 43% total connect percentage. Blain only landed 53 of the 394 total punches he threw, for a terrible 13% total connect percentage. That works out to a horrific total of less then 9 total connects per round. Blain landed just 39 of the 207 power punches he threw, for a 19% power connect percentage.

Peterson did win by knockout in this match. However, his performance was uninspiring. Peterson telegraphed what he was going to do throughout the match, but was facing an opponent that could not do anything about it. The champion is still going to need a lot of refinement to be an elite boxer. This win makes Peterson a mandatory challenger to Bradley. That is a terrible stylistic match up for Peterson at this time. Peterson is going to need to spend a lot of time smoothing out his transition game to be prepared for Bradley. It may be advisable for Peterson to take a match before facing Bradley to refine his skills and let Devon Alexander have the next shot at Bradley.

Blain was bad in this match. He displayed no power and generally nothing positive. After whatever time Blain needs to recover, he will likely go back to defeating weak opposition in boring matches in Europe.

2. WBO Junior Featherweight (122 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Juan Manuel Lopez (24-0, 22 KO's, 121.5 pounds) (c) vs. Gerry Penalosa (54-6-2, 36 KO's, 121.75 pounds)

Lopez won this title by upsetting Daniel Ponce de Leon on June 7, 2008. The Puerto Rican shockingly took the title from Ponce de Leon that night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey via technical at 2:25 of round 1. Ponce de Leon had never been knocked down in his amateur or professional boxing career, but Lopez landed a right hook that sent Ponce de Leon to the mat only 1:30 into the match. Another right hook put Ponce de Leon down with 47 seconds to go in the round. Ponce de Leon began to stumble when getting up from that knockdown and the referee stopped the match. The full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-juan-manuel-lopez-vs-daniel-ponce-de-leon.html Lopez is making his third defense of this title.

The champion had a solid amateur boxing career that peaked when he represented his native Puerto Rico in the 119-pound division at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad.

Lopez is one of Top Rank Promotions top prospects. The champion has won his last 13 matches by knockout, all against opponents with a winning record. He scored 8 of those knockouts within the first 3 rounds. Lopez has won his last 3 matches by first round knockout. If Lopez wins by first round knockout in this match, he will be the first boxer in history to have won 4-straight title matches by first round knockout. Only 2 other boxers in history have won 3 straight title matches by first round knockout. One of those boxers is the legendary heavyweight champion Joe Louis.

Lopez' last match was an odd technical knockout victory of Sergio Medina at 1:38 of round 1 as part of the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao undercard on December 6, 2008 from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Lopez completely dominated scoring 3 knockdowns, while Medina only landed 1 of the 6 total punches he threw in the match. However, after the match Medina told people that he was told to lose by various scary people in his native Argentina. Medina later recanted the story when he arrived back in Argentina, which would be the logical thing to do if the scary people ordered Medina to do that so there was no investigation. Except, Medina's story of working the match seems plausible. Medina appeared terrified in the ring. In fact, Medina was not hit on the second knockdown. Medina appeared to go down the second time from the wind of the combination that completely missed him. A full recap of that bizarre match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/24/recap-of-juan-manuel-lopez-vs-sergio-medina.html

Lopez is The Ring's number 3 contender at 122 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Israel Vazquez.

Penalosa turned pro very young. He made his pro debut at 16-years-old with a round 5 knockout win over Fidel Jubay on May 20, 1989 in the Philippines. (At that time, the champion was 5-years-old and finishing kindergarten.)

To say the challenger is a grizzled ring veteran is an understatement. This is Penalosa's seventh challenge for a world title in his nearly 20 year professional career. He began his career as a teenager in the 112-pound division. Penalosa has gone on to hold titles at 115 and 118 pounds. In all of these years, as an amateur and as a pro he has never been knocked out or even knocked down.

Penalosa won his title at 118 pounds from Jhonny Gonzalez via knockout at 2:45 of round 7 on August 11, 2007 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. The Filipino won the title in exciting fashion with a come-from-behind 1-punch knockout. Penalosa landed a perfect left hook to the liver that had Gonzalez gasping for air on his knees. Gonzalez did not beat the referee's count and was in fact down for several minutes in agony from a punch that would have Bas Rutten beaming with glee. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/24/recap-of-gerry-penalosa-vs-jhonny-gonzalez.html

Penalosa's last match was a non-title 10-round unanimous decision victory at 122 pounds over German Meraz on February 21, 2009 at the Cebu Coliseum in Cebu City, Philippines.

Penalosa is The Ring's number 6 contender to their vacant championship at 118 pounds.

Lopez has the age advantage at 25-years-old, compared to the 36-year-old Penalosa. Lopez has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Penalosa stands 5' 4" tall. Both boxers have a 21.5" arm length. The champion will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 131 pounds approaching match time. Penalosa has only unofficially rehydrated to 128 pounds approaching match time. Lopez is naturally right-handed, but both boxers will employ the southpaw stance.

Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from the United States and the other is from Puerto Rico. The referee is Jose Rivera.

Lopez wins round 1 easily, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Lopez, 10-9. Lopez lands a plethora of power punches to win round 2 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Even the seemingly iron chinned Penalosa will not be able to last long taking these many hard power punches from Lopez. Lopez does some great body punching to win round 3, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. In round 3, some swelling started to form on the left side of Penalosa's face. It was caused by repeated right hooks from Lopez. Lederman scores round 3 for Lopez, 10-9, and has the champion leading after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Round 4 is contested at a relatively slower pace. However, Lopez still dominates it and takes round 4, 10-9. Lopez is huge compared to Penalosa, who probably belongs back at 118 pounds. Through 4 rounds, Lopez has landed 125 of the 405 total punches he has thrown, for a 31% total connect percentage. Through 4 rounds, Penalosa has landed only 43 of the 167 total punches he has thrown, for a 26% total connect percentage. Penalosa is throwing fewer punches on average then a heavyweight throws in a round. This is because the Filipino is constantly being pressured by Lopez. Lopez wins round 4 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. The Puerto Rican continues to dominate winning round 5 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In round 5, Lopez threw 100 power punches and landed 46 of them. In round 5, Penalosa only threw 46 total punches. A few more rounds like that is going to cause Penalosa's trainer, Freddie Roach who has left Manny Pacquiao to attend this match, to throw in the towel. Lopez battered Penalosa in round 6 to the point it was a borderline, 10-8 round. The referee was looking closely at stopping the match during round 6. There is no way Roach will let Penalosa endure another round like that. Pacquiao told Roach to go with Penalosa to this match, because Penalosa would need him. Rarely may a boxer have needed a Hall-of-Fame trainer more then this. Lopez wins round 6, 10-9, and is ahead on my scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54. After round 6, Roach tells Penalosa that he has to do better then he did in round 6 or the trainer will stop the match. In round 6, Lopez landed an inhuman 71 of the 133 total punches he threw, for an astounding 53% total connect percentage. Lopez landed 70 of the 123 power punches he threw in round 6. Both of those are new records for a 122-pound match tracked by CompuBox. Conversely in round 6, Penalosa only landed 9 of the 37 total punches he threw, for a 24% total connect percentage. Penalosa is superhuman to be standing after taking this many punches. Lederman scores round 6 for Lopez, 10-9, and has the champion leading after 6 rounds, 60-54.

Somehow, Penalosa comes back to have one of his best offensive rounds of the match in round 7. However, Lopez still landed a tremendous amount of power punches to win round 7, 10-9. Penalosa probably earned himself another round, but Roach has to be getting very close to stopping this match. Through round 7, Lopez has landed 303 of the 770 total punches he has thrown, for a 39% total connect percentage. Lopez has a lot of punching power, but Penalosa appears in no danger of going down to the mat. Penalosa may be a robot. His chances for a comeback appear slim, though. Penalosa has only landed 78 of the 306 total punches he has thrown, for a 25% total connect percentage. In round 7, Lopez landed 54 of the 97 power punches he threw, for an insane 57% power connect percentage. After that effort, Lopez went back to his corner and asked if he is winning. Lopez has never faced a boxer that has stood up to his power like Penalosa and it is shaking the champion's confidence. The Puerto Rican wins round 7 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. In round 8, Lopez shattered both of the records he had just set for power punches in a round by a boxer at 122 pounds. Lopez landed 84 power punches in round 8. The record he had just set in round 6 was 70. Lopez broke the 7 minute old record for power connects by 14. However, it appears that Lopez is as likely to get knocked out at this point at as Penalosa. Penalosa is landing hard counter-right hands and Lopez is not taking those punches well. Lopez is continuing to work at a record pace, but if the inhuman Penalosa catches Lopez cleanly with 1 of those right hooks, Lopez will go to sleep. The referee checked on Penalosa after round 8. Roach also asked the Filipino how he feels. The boxer replies that he feels, "Good." The scary thing is Penalosa appears to be telling the truth. Roach told Penalosa that round 9 will be his last round. Penalosa is too tough for his own good and has taken too many punches. Lederman scores round 8 for Lopez, 10-9. Round 9 is a relatively slower round and Lopez wins it, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Lopez leads on my scorecard, 90-81. Roach has stopped the match in the corner after round 9. It appeared Penalosa said that was okay with him. That was absolutely the right thing to do and Penalosa knew he had lost at that point. The boxer was unable to rally in round 9. That made it the perfect time for the stoppage.

The official outcome courtesy of Michael Buffer is that at: 3:00 of round 9, after a magnificent effort Gerry Penalosa is unable to continue making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated and still the WBO Junior Featherweight Champion of the World, Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez. The win moves Lopez to 25-0 with now 23 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Lopez landing 444 of the 1020 total punches he threw, for a 44% total connect percentage. Lopez landed 421 of the 863 power punches he threw, for an outstanding 49% power connect percentage. Penalosa landed 99 of the 392 total punches he threw, for a 25% total connect percentage. That is fewer punches then the average heavyweight throws in a round. Penalosa landed 73 of the 287 power punches he threw, for a 25% power connect percentage.

Lopez said in his post match interview that he wants Israel Vazquez or Rafael Marquez. The champion said he plans to move up to 126 pounds in either December of this year or January 2010.

Now Kellerman is going to interview Roach. Roach said that he gave Penalosa a little longer in this match then he would give most other boxers. The trainer knew Penalosa could take punches well and come back in the match. However, Lopez never got tired and had too much power so Roach had to stop the match. Roach concluded by saying Pacquiao just finished his last day of sparring and is in better shape then when he retired Oscar De La Hoya. If that is true, it is a scary thought. Roach then wished Floyd Mayweather, Sr., Ricky Hatton's trainer, good luck, because he is going to need it.

Lopez was great in this match. He dominated and was forced to go late into a match against a durable opponent. This was Lopez' toughest test so far and he passed with flying colors. Vazquez and Marquez will not face him by Lopez' December deadline, nor should they. Those 2 boxers brutalized each other to the point that stepping into to the ring with a power puncher like Lopez could literally get either of them killed. A more logical match would be for Lopez to face the other large 122-pound title holder Celestino Caballero. If that match does not happen, there are several second tier level boxers at 122 pounds that should be willing to face him.

Penalosa showed an inhuman ability to be hit and stay standing in this match. After the match, Penalosa went around the ring and was cheered for his effort by the excellent crowd in attendance. Penalosa will be best off going back to 118 pounds and defending his title there. It seems logical for him to face the winner of the July 11 match between Vic Darchinyan and Joseph Agbeko

The first match on this show was boring. The second featured good action, albeit completely one-sided. The first match is something to completely avoid. The main event is non-competitive, but somewhat entertaining. If people have to pick which boxing replay to catch from this weekend, it should be the Showtime Championship Boxing event featuring Carl Froch vs. Jermain Taylor at the expense of seeing this show.

News and Notes, Legal Edition: James Kirkland was arrested on April 19 in Texas on a felony charge of illegal weapons possession. Kirkland was apparently stopped for a traffic violation when the police found a gun in his car. The boxer is still on probation after serving 2.5 years from a 2003 armed robbery conviction. Kirkland was supposed to be in a featured 10-round undercard match on the May 2 PPV against Michael Walker. The Texan is coming off an impressive knockout of Joel Julio on March 7. Assuming Kirkland scored a quick knockout on the PPV, he was going to headline an HBO BAD card in August challenging for Sergiy Dzinziruk's 154-pound title. Kirkland's co-manager Cameron Dunkin says Kirkland is a victim of circumstance in this case. It is unclear what that means or how that is even possible. Golden Boy Promotions tried to work out a deal with the judge to let Kirkland compete at the PPV. However, the judge ruled that Kirkland is to remain in jail for the time being. Kirkland is off the PPV and his title shot is probably gone. It is very possible that Kirkland's boxing career may gone, as well. A conviction on the weapons charge and probation violation could have him in jail for several years ending any chance he has to be a world champion.

Kendall Holt pleaded guilty on Friday to several counts of money laundering involving drug deals with his manager, Henry Cortes. Holt is going to cooperate with police and enter a pretrial intervention program. It is unclear what sort of intervention program there is for money laundering. However, the police will then drop the charges against Holt and send Cortes and his associates to jail for the rest of their lives. This means Holt's boxing career should be able to continue unaffected.

On April 1, Senator John McCain and Representative Peter King re-introduced a bill into the United States Congress asking for President Obama to issue Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion, a posthumous pardon. Johnson was convicted in 1913 for violating the Mann Act (transporting women across state lines for immoral acts), and would eventually serve 1 year at the Federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas as punishment. The government had failed to convict Johnson for violating the Mann Act on 1 previous occasion, because the white woman in that case would eventually become his wife. However, the government found a second white woman to testify that Johnson had violated the Mann Act and gain the conviction. A similar bill was introduced into Congress last September, but failed to pass either chamber. If President Obama pardons Johnson it would be only the third posthumous pardon in history. (The Mann Act is rarely used today. However, it is being used in one very high profile case, that of disgraced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer was indicted for violation of the Mann Act among a host of other charges for having his prostitute brought by train from New York to the conference he was attending in Washington, D.C. The irony of this charge after he pushed for unconstitutional laws to block the sale of video games that depicted prostitution in New York literally caused celebrations to break out around the world.)

The next recap will be of the May 2 HBO PPV featuring Pacquiao vs. Hatton. Dave Meltzer may be keeping a live scorecard of the main event up on f4wonline.com. I am also scheduled to publish a prediction of the main event sometime this week on fightgameblog.com.

Sincerely,

Jereme Warneck

number1contender.net

Boxing and Video Game Correspondent for f4wonline.com

Hidden Valley Lake, CA

I can be reached for feedback and comments at ZurRoadie@aol.com or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything.