Mares has too much Giddyup for Moreno

Mares has too much Giddyup for Morenoby Paul Strauss: Super bantamweight Abner Mares 25 (KO 13)-0-1 literally ran after southpaw Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno 33 (KO 12)-2-1 Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA . He was determined to keep, for the most part, Moreno from getting set and displaying his masterful boxing skills. It’s one thing for a boxer to say he’s going to pressure his opponent and get him out of his game plan. It’s another to actually carry it out, and to such an extent that one judge thought the fight was a shutout.

That judge, James Jen-Kin, was in the minority. Most, including ringside commentators Al Bernstein, Steve Farhood and guest Paulie Malignaggi, all thought Moreno, who hasn’t been beaten in ten years, had managed to keep the fight much closer, despite being knocked down in the fifth and penalized a point in the eleventh for pulling Mares’ head down. The usually calm Bernstein got a little frustrated with what he thought were unfair tactics by Mares. Specifically, he felt Mares was deliberately lowering his head, bull rushing Moreno, and letting go with low-blows. Others chimed in that Moreno was pulling Mares’ head down; hence, the low blows. In fact, as previously mentioned, Moreno was the one who got penalized for doing so.

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Martirosyan-Lara ruled a technical draw; Garcia stops Barros

Martirosyan-Lara ruled a technical draw; Garcia stops BarrosBy Rob Smith: Vanes Martirosyan (32-0-1, 20 KO’s) and Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KO’s) will have to do it again after fighting to 9 round technical draw in their WBC 154 pound eliminator bout on Saturday night at the Wynn Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The fight was stopped in the 9th round when Martirosyan suffered a nasty cut over his left eye when he banged heads with the 29-year-old Lara, causing the fight to be stopped and go to the judges cards.

The final scores were 86-85 for Martirosyan, 87-84 for Lara and 86-86 even. Without a winner in the fight there still isn’t a mandatory challenger to face WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez next year. Unless the World Boxing Council has another option, Lara and Martirosyan will have to fight again so that a mandatory can be determined to face Alvarez.

Martirosyan fought well and took the action to Lara. Had the fight continued to the finish it’s possible that Martirosyan might have been able to pull out a win. However, we’ll never know now.

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Mares Defeats Moreno in an Exciting Clash

Mares Defeats Moreno in an Exciting Clash(Photo: Showtime) By Michael Montero: The crowd at Staples Center was pumped for the main event, cheering local favorite Abner Mares as he faced off against Anselmo Moreno, the crafty veteran from Panama. Mares, originally of Mexico but now living in Hawaiian Gardens, California, was making the first defense of his WBC 122 pound title. Moreno, the former longtime bantamweight titlist, had moved up in weight for a crack at a title in a second division.

The match started with a lot of mauling, as both fighters tackled their opponent to the canvas at one point in the opening round. Some rough stuff was inevitable due to styles. Moreno, a southpaw, tried to use movement and stay on the outside, but Mares would charge forward and bull his opponent into the ropes, where he’d tee off. This was the pattern during the early rounds, as Mares appeared to land the harder punches.

In the fourth round, Mares landed a hard shot below the belt, prompting Moreno to hunch over and take a knee. The partisan Mexican-American crowd at the Staples Center didn’t like it, but it was a clear low blow. Undeterred, Mares continued to grind to the body, but Moreno would occasionally stand his ground and land his own thudding head shots. At the end of the fifth, Mares hurt and dropped the Panamanian with a vicious combination. He made it to his feet at the count of nine, but was in big trouble and appeared to be saved by the bell.

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Klitschko Outpoints Wach; Helenius Beats Williams

Klitschko Outpoints Wach; Helenius Beats WilliamsBy Michael Collins: In a fight that was somewhat interesting to watch during portions of the action, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (59-3, 50 KO’s) defeated a way out of his depth Mariusz Wach (27-1, 15 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany. The only round you could possibly give to the 32-year-old Wach was the 5th when he landed a good hand to the head of Wladimir after backing him up agaisnt the ropes.

Wach unloaded everything but the kitchen sink on Wladimir trying to get him out of there. Unfortunately for Wach, he missed on pretty much every punch he threw. Had he landed at least one of the dozen punches he threw he might have been able to drop Wladimir. After that brief moment in the fight, it was Wladimir from then as he upped his workrate and punished the Pole with jabs and right hands to the head.

The 8th round was one where you can argue that the referee should have stopped the fight because Wladimir smacked Wach around the ring at will and it was pretty hard to watch because of all the punishment that Wach absorbed.

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Fans Witness Woefully Premature 2nd-Round Stoppage As Ovill McKenzie Stops Enzo Maccarinelli

Fans Witness Woefully Premature 2nd-Round Stoppage As Ovill McKenzie Stops Enzo MaccarinelliBy James Slater: Tonight in Liverpool, fans were settling into a fight that might well have developed into a most memorable slugfest. Instead, after the wholly unsatisfactory stoppage that took place in the 2nd-round, fans were left with an unforgettable TKO – one of the most shockingly premature you could wish to name.

Big-hitting Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli, he of the notoriously shaky chin, the recent failed drugs test and the run of bad luck as far as impressive performances go, was “saved from further punishment” by the usually more than capable Ian John-Lewis when he was pulled out in the 2nd of his battle with reigning Commonwealth light-heavy champ Ovill McKenzie. Stuck on the ropes “Big Macc” may have been at the time of the most controversial stoppage you will likely see all year, yet the former WBO cruiser king had just landed a right uppercut, was anticipating the blows coming from “The Upsetter,” and was, as he later stated in no uncertain terms, “riding the storm.”

McKenzie, the same age at 32, had got through with a notable right hand upstairs, followed by an even more noticeable left hand to the head, but John-Lewis’ decision to dive in was immediately judged to have been a result of “panic” (commentator John Rawling’s apt description). The fans instantly booed, Maccarinelli was outraged and the potential cracker was reduced to another black eye for boxing.

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Gary Russell Jr. annihilates Roberto Castaneda in 3 rounds

Gary Russell Jr. annihilates Roberto Castaneda in 3 roundsBy Joseph Herron: If we learned anything tonight at the Fantasy Springs Resort & Casino in Indio, California, Gary Russell Jr. (21-0, 13 KOs) is one bad dude and will more than likely become a world champion at either 126 or 130 pounds in 2013.

The talented Mr. Russell capped off a very special Olympic edition of “ShoBox: The Next Generation”, which featured the pro debut of five members of the 2012 American Olympic squad of the London Summer Games.

In an obvious “KO of the Year” candidate, the Featherweight sensation destroyed the valiant but outclassed Roberto Castaneda (20-3-1, 15 KOs) in just three rounds with a perfectly timed right hook to the jaw of the scheduled ten round main event of the evening.

The 2008 Olympian took his time breaking down his man, while dominating the action with sharp, crisp punches. Gary showed his class by frustrating Castaneda with speed and precision. He threw lightning fast combinations which scored to the body and head, and ultimately set up the finishing blow that landed in the third and final round.

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Grachev: I only lost three or four rounds against Bute

Grachev: I only lost three or four rounds against ButeBy Michael Collins: Former NABF light heavyweight champion Denis Grachev (12-1-1, 8 KO’s) was having a hard time coming to terms with his 12 round unanimous decision loss to former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (31-1, 24 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Candada. Grachev, 30, felt that he lost no more than four rounds at the most despite the fact that he was getting hit with the better shots and not doing enough against the defensive-minded Bute to win.

Grachev said after the fight as quoted by the Montrealgazette.com “The judges were unfair. Maybe I lost three or four rounds.”

I had Grachev winning three to four rounds, but I couldn’t give him 8 or 9 rounds without ignoring all the jabs and left uppercuts that Bute was nailing him with all throughout the fight. If you ignore Bute’s nice shots then you can give Grachev 9 rounds easy. However, that’s not how boxing is. It’s natural that Grachev isn’t happy about losing the fight, but he needs to sit down and watch the fight again to see how he failed to do the things he needed to do in order to win.

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Froch sees Bute’s win against Grachev as a so-so performance

Froch sees Bute's win against Grachev as a so-so performanceBy Michael Collins: Carl Froch thinks that Lucian Bute didn’t look great in beating Denis Grachev by a 12 round unanimous decision last night in Bute’s win in Montreal, Canada. But Froch believes that it was a situation where Bute needed any kind of win to get over the hump of his knockout loss to Froch last May.

Froch said to Sky Sports News: “Let’s be honest, it wasn’t the most impressive performance from Lucian Bute that I’ve ever seen. Bute didn’t really impress, but it was a comeback fight from a devastating defeat against myself, so what did people expect? He needed to find his feet again, find his confidence. I’m sure he’s done that. I think mentally he needed to get that fight in the bag.”

Bute actually didn’t look that bad. What was missing from the performance was of course a knockout for Bute. However, he was fighting a guy in Grachev that even Froch likely wouldn’t be able to KO. Grachev has a great chin and he doesn’t stand in one place and let you punch on him. He moves around and he’s a solid guy.

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