Sherman Oaks, CA (July 16)- Cornelius “Da Beast” White more than lived up to his nickname Saturday night in the Pearl Theater at the Palms Casino & Resort in Las Vegas by battering former world title challenger Dmitry Sukhotsky for 12 rounds to capture the vacant IBF International Light Heavyweight Title in what most insiders viewed an upset of “Beastly Proportions.”
In the eyes of judge Richard Ocasio, the Houston native with a mere 13 amateur fights and now 20-1 (16 KOs) as a pro, pitched a 120-108 shutout, while Robert Hoyle scored the fight 119-109 and Patricia Jarman saw it 118-110.
“Using my jab and staying away from his right hand were the keys to the victory,” said White, who executed the game plan set by his trainer – former IBF middleweight champ Frank Tate. “I took the right hand away from him and I landed a lot of power punches. Both of his eyes were swollen shut and I opened a cut over his right eye and the referee almost stopped the fight in the ninth and tenth rounds.”
Since losing his first bout on the “Big Stage” to Don George in Atlantic City, after posting 16 straight wins to start his pro career, White has responded with four straight victories including a one-sided beating of former Cuban National champion Yordanis Despaigne on the Andre Ward-Carl Froch undercard and his domination of Sukhotsky (18-2, 13 KOs), who had gone the distance in a title bout against then-world champion Juergen Braehmer, and came into Saturday night ranked as the WBO #3, WBA #5 and IBF #12 world contender.
“I am trying to show that I am ready to be a player on the elite level,” stated “Da Beast”, who is managed by Ken Richardson and co-promoted by Dan Goossen and Antonio Leonard. “Tough challenges are what I want and I want Tavoris Cloud or Beibut Shumenov. I know I can beat them both!”
“Like many before him, a loss either destroys your career or takes you to higher levels,” Goossen pointed out.” “It was Cornelius’ loss that made him better, stronger and more determined to overcome everything in the ring moving forward, which he has proved with some mighty big punchers and world-class fighters.”
Leonard added: ” I’ve been saying for the past few years, Cornelius has the mindset and toughness to be a world champion, and he’s getting very close to achieving this goal, Saturday was just another example of his meanness.”
White and his team are targeting a September or October return to the ring.
Cobbs, Wiggins finally set to meet
After a year’s worth of brewing hostility, Cobbs, Wiggins are ready to settle the score
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (July 16, 2012) – What started as one fighter’s innocent plea for competition more than a year ago and exploded into a vicious, online war is about to reach its peak Thursday night at the Twin River Event Center.
“The Vermont Bully” Kevin Cobbs (4-0, 1 KO), one of New England’s rising stars in the light heavyweight division, will face the colorful Donte “Mr. Magic” Wiggins (1-0, 1 KO) of Queens, N.Y., in a four-round bout fight fans have been waiting for since last summer when Cobbs first included Wiggins on his now-infamous checklist of regional fighters he wanted to face.
“I’m not worried about him,” Cobbs said. “Whatever he comes with, I’m confident in my ability and what my coaches and trainers will provide for me. I’m ready for the next step, and the next step – I guess – is Donte Wiggins.”
The long-awaited showdown between Cobbs and Wiggins will be one of nine bouts on Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports’ “Built to Last” professional boxing card, scheduled for Thursday, July 19th, 2012 in Lincoln, R.I.
The feud started last summer when Cobbs, only 1-0 at the time, publicly posted a list of fighters in the 175-pound division he felt he needed to beat in order to get to the top of his weight class. The list included Reinaldo Graceski of Springfield, Mass., and Alex Amparo, but the initial target was Joey Gardner, who had recently won the New England light heavyweight title by beating Keith Kozlin.
According to Cobbs, Wiggins wasn’t even on the list until Cobbs’ manager at the time, Bobby Smead, told him the road to the title would ultimately have to go through Wiggins, so Cobbs made a revised list that included his soon-to-be opponent.
Wiggins caught wind of the list through Smead – who, coincidentally, is now managing him instead of Cobbs – and began challenging Cobbs with a viral onslaught of online videos and postings through the social networking giant Facebook, most of it not fit for print.
“[Wiggins] made it sound like I was calling him out specifically,” Cobbs said. “I was just letting people know these are the guys I have to go through. Then he stepped up and said, ‘I’ve never even heard of you!’ and so on and so forth.
“We kind of just ran with it.”
The two agreed to face one another in August of 2011, but the fight fell through. Wiggins, who trained in Providence with Jose Santos, grew tired of waiting for an opponent and ultimately moved back to Queens since he hadn’t fought since November – a first-round knockout win over Paul Gonsalves in his first and only professional fight.
“I stayed in Rhode Island, because those were the people I was comfortable training with, but without any fights, I wasn’t making any money,” Wiggins said. “I was so far in debt I had to get another job, and then I had no offers to fight because I wasn’t in the gym. I honestly though it was over for me.”
Wiggins soon linked up with Smead, who promised to get him back in the ring. Last month, shortly after the July 19th show was announced, Wiggins made Cobbs another offer to fight at 180 pounds, which Cobbs ultimately accepted, sparking another round of verbal assaults that haven’t stopped since the two signed their contracts.
Why, after a year, did Cobbs answer the bell?
“Because he called me out,” Cobbs said. “After everything with the first fight fell apart, we weren’t even looking at him. He was inactive. He was gone – nowhere to be found. He’d have to call me out. I’m 4-0. He’s only 1-0. It’s not helping me to call him out, but if he wants to fight me I’ll take the fight.
“The last thing I’ll do is duck somebody.”
The pre-fight hype includes a video interview in which Wiggins – surrounded by his entourage – questions Cobbs’ resume (Cobbs has won three fights since the two began feuding last summer) and predicts a win next Thursday.
“I wish the videos were done better. Then I’d probably like them,” Cobbs quipped. “They’re in a dark alley shooting dice – in dirty T-shirts. It just shows what kind of goons they are. That doesn’t hype me up at all. It’s not professional. It’s a joke to me.
“If anything, I got a great laugh out of it. All of that is just talk. He just constantly talks. The best thing he can do is try to get in my head. That’s the only way he can beat me, because there’s no way he can beat me in the ring.”
“Of course he doesn’t like [the videos], because he doesn’t want to get punched in the face,” Wiggins said. “He’s boring – very boring. Kevin Cobbs is an intermission fighter. CES puts him in the ring when they want people to go to the bathroom or get drinks. He’s a model, too; he’s got a six-pack so he can look good on posters.”
Come Thursday, Cobbs may have the edge in stamina; he’s remained active within the past year while Wiggins hasn’t fought since making his debut, but Wiggins has been working extensively with Mike Ocasio at former welterweight world title challenger Aaron Davis’ gym in the Bronx and promises a new look Thursday.
“I’ve been training for almost two months now; I feel good,” he said. “A lot of things came back to me rather quickly. This was more about weight and stamina than anything else. We’re doing lots of running and wind sprints, really building up my cardio so that I can take down the weight without being weak the night of the fight.”
The equalizer could be Wiggins’ power; he prefers to stand toe-to-toe and trade punches. He willingly exchanged with Gonsalves in their fight two years ago before catching his opponent with a right hand that sent Gonsalves tumbling to the canvas.
“Everyone says he’s a slugger. He likes for you to stand in front of him and bang with him,” Cobbs said. “He wants to close that distance and land that one big shot. He’ll have to do a lot of that because I’m not going to be standing in front of him. He’s been going online and telling me to just stand there and not run.
“Obviously, he doesn’t know boxing. In boxing, you have to do everything and anything to survive in the ring, whether it’s hold, move around the ring … play head games. The last thing I’m going to do is exactly what he told me to do.”
With the fight less than a week away, the talk has finally subsided. Cobbs and Wiggins are set to face one another in a long-awaited showdown that has grabbed most of the headlines leading up to this event, and could wind up stealing the show Thursday night.
“I’m not saying I’m the best in the world, but I have a lot of heart and I don’t mind getting in there as long as the people who buy tickets see that I give 100 percent,” Wiggins said. “I’m an action fighter, like an Arturo Gatti or Emanuel Augustus.
“That’s the style I’m trying to bring back. These other dudes want to pick and choose their fights. I want to make the crowd happy.”
Providence native and reigning New England super middleweight champion Vladine Biosse (13-1-1, 6 KOs) will star in the eight-round main event against face Saskatchewan, Canada naitve Mike Walchuk (9-5, 2 KOs) while Providence’s Matt “Too Smooth” Godfrey (20-3, 10 KOs) will face veteran Jesse Oltmans (10-3, 7 KOs) of Bartonsville, Pa., in the six-round co-feature. Super middleweights Keith Kozlin (6-3-1, 4 KOs) of West Warwick, R.I., and Reynaldo Rodriguez (6-4-1, 3 KOs) of Woonsocket, R.I., will look to settle the score in a rematch from their fight last July, which ended in a draw.
Attleboro, Mass., light heavyweight Rich Gingras (11-3, 7 KOs) will be featured in a special six-round attraction. Also on the undercard, Pawtucket, R.I., middleweight Thomas Falowo (6-1, 4 KOs) will look to bounce back from his first loss in May when he faces Rahman Yusebov (8-8, 6 KOs) of Dallas in a six-round bout. Benny Costantino (7-1, 4 KOs) of Warwick, R.I., will face Dennis Ogboo (6-5, 5 KOs) of Lexington, Ky., in a four-round middleweight bout.
Lightweight Zack Ramsey (1-0, 1 KO) of Springfield, Mass., and welterweight newcomer Jansy Rivera (0-0) of Providence (San Juan, Puerto Rico) will also be on the undercard in separate four-round bouts. All fights and fighters are subject to change.
(Twin River has waived its 18+ rule for “Built to Last.” Anybody under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult and must enter through the West entrance.)
Reid vs. Gare For WBF World Title
On July 2nd, World Boxing Federation President Howard Goldberg attended a press conference in Malta to announce a very interesting fight for the vacant WBF World Super Middleweight title, between two former champions, England’s Robin Reid and South African William Gare.
On the same card, Liverpool’s perennial contender Tony Dodson will take on an opponent to be announced for the vacant WBF Intercontinental Light Heavyweight crown.
The August 17 show is billed Rumble on the Rock, and will be promoted by Attard & Harding Promotions headed by Justin Attard and Fran Harding. Also present at the announcement was Alex Zamit from the Malta Boxing Commission, who has been instrumental in realizing what will be the biggest boxing event ever on the Mediterranean island.
Robin Reid, 42-7-1 (29), is a former three-time World Champion, having won the WBF, WBC and IBO titles and made eight successful defenses combined. He holds victories over former, reigning and future world champions Julio Cesar Vasquez, Brian Magee, Vincenzo Nardiello and Hacine Cherifi, and top-contenders such as Giovanni Pretorius and Henry Wharton.
Besides the world championships and impressive victories, the fact that his losses has come against opponents such as Joe Calzaghe, Carl Froch, Sven Ottke, Thulani Malinga, and Jeff Lacy is a testament that “The Grim Reaper” has operated at absolute top-class level for many years.
William “Dynamite” Gare, 27-15 (5), may have one of the most deceiving records in boxing today. For many years his talents were ignored and he was often send abroad to lose, always on points, to “the promoters man”, but in 2008 Gare turned the table by stopping former world champion Maselino Masoe in four rounds and scoring a decision over Australia’s Les Sherrington who would go on to pick up a world title himself the following year.
In 2009 Gare solidified his world-class status, and a number eleven BoxRec ranking, with a victory over Mexican undefeated future world champion Rigoberto Alvarez, older brother of the more famous “Canelo”, before he defended the WBF World title in 2010 by defeating fellow countryman Roland Francis.
In his most recent bout Gare lost a controversial decision to another South African, Thomas Oosthuizen, in an attempt to add the IBO title. The loss automatically made the WBF title vacant, and now Gare will get a chance to regain it against Reid on August 17.
Considering the fighting-styles of Reid and Gare, their clash is likely to be a real barnburner, and the second WBF title fight on the bill could also turn out to be a crowd-pleaser.
Tony Dodson (28-7-1, 14 KOs) has been a presence at top domestic level in Britain for many years. After fighting for various smaller championships at Super Middleweight, winning some and losing some, and duking it out with the likes of Carl Froch and Paul Smith, the 32-year-old Liverpudlian won four straight at Light Heavyweight, including an International title, before losing a challenge of Commonwealth king Ovill McKenzie earlier this year.
It remains to be seen who “The Warrior”, as he is nicknamed, will face on August 17, but Dodson is ready to return to the top, and winning the WBF Intercontinental title will make him a serious contender for the WBF World Champion at Light Heavyweight, Nadjib Mohammedi from France.
www.worldboxingfederation.net