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Written by The Sweet Science
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Sunday, 05 February 2012 23:02
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 Ruben Garcia should be the president of the Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. fanclub. (Chris Farina). I don’t know Ruben Garcia. He might be a very nice man. I do know that Garcia was in the wrong place at the wrong time on Saturday night. More specifically, Garcia was sitting in a judge’s chair scoring the fight between Nonito Donaire and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. It wasn’t a hard fight to score. Donaire outlanded Vazquez in eleven of twelve rounds en route to a 231 to 163 show of superiority. Donaire also landed more power punches in every single round for a 147 to 56 advantage. Judges Levi Martinez and Don Trella scored the fight 117-110 for Donaire. Every ringside report of the fight that I’ve read had Donaire winning by a comfortable margin. For the record, watching at home, I scored the fight 117-110 for Donaire. Garcia scored the fight 115-112 for Vazquez.... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Sunday, 05 February 2012 13:41
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 Marco Antonio Rubio, in an exclusive interview on the Boxing Channel, insinuated that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. used an illegal supplement or supplements, which gave him an advantage in their bout which took place on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. View the video, in which Rubio, who lost by unanimous decision, said he was surprised at how big Junior was--he was 181 pounds, to Rubio's 171 on fightnight--and took issue with what he deemed favoritism towards Junior by the Texas commission. He said Texas didn't do drug testing for the fight. “I feel he recouped exceptionally fast," Rubio said in Spanish to interviewer Marcos Villegas on TBC. "This really took us by surprise. There was no testing done, and in a championship fight, testing needs to be done. There was no weigh ins done the days or weeks before the fight and I feel that he was very well protected.” var... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Sunday, 05 February 2012 00:10
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 The fans at the Alamodome did the wave midway through the main event in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night, and that wasn't in homage to the thrilling spectacle in the ring. The tussle really didn't generate any buzz till round 11, when Julio Cesar Chavez Jr really upped the ante, and tried to smoke Marco Antonio Rubio. He didn't manage to take him out but he did dominate the underdog, who fought at the level he usually does against B+ and above-level boxers. The judges confirmed the obvious, seeing it 118-110, 116-112, 115-113 for Chavez Junior. Fans wondered with Chavez' weigh-in woes and the news of his Jan. 22 bust for drinking and driving if Rubio would take his O, but the underdog didn't look like he thought he had an opening what with the weight woes and possible mental drain of the arrest.Then again, he was a super middleweight in against a light heavyweight,... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Saturday, 04 February 2012 22:55
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 He's saddled with a bit of a rep after his hardcore KO of Fernando Montiel last year. So much is expected of Nonito Donaire among a segment of the fight fans who have picked up on his talent recently. One hopes they won't be disappointed that the 29 year-old Donaire wasn't able to stop Wilfredo Vazquez Jr at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas in the HBO Championship Boxing TV opener on Saturday night. Because Donaire showed himself to be a rock-solid pugilist in taking a split decision from Vazquez, who concentrated a good deal on defense, by scores of 115-112 (for Vazquez by Garcia), 117-110 (for Nonito by Martinez) and 117-110 (for Nonito by Trella). The card for Vazquez is basically ludicrous, considering he scored a knockdown in the ninth, and enjoyed an edge 231-556 to 163-548 edge in punchstats. Add Martinez to your list of iffy judges, please. Donaire... Read more...
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Written by David A. Avila
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Saturday, 04 February 2012 12:50
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 With Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. ready to fight fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio for a portion of the middleweight title, it’s ironic and sad that two former boxing trainers with ties to the 160-pound weight division passed away this week. Angelo Dundee, who guided Sugar Ray Leonard through the middleweight division among others, died at age 90. We spent many an hour talking about professional prizefighting and his outlook on the sport. Dundee was an amazing man whose patience with boxing writers was nearly as legendary as his work with many of the greats of the sport. The other legendary trainer Goody Petronelli passed away at 88 and guided the great Marvin Hagler, including during that fighter’s final professional match against Leonard back in 1987. Some things can’t be explained such as both Petronelli and Dundee taking their... Read more...
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Written by The Sweet Science
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Saturday, 04 February 2012 12:34
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 The sports world is paying tribute to Angelo Dundee, who died on February 1st at age ninety. But the boxing community suffered another loss that day. Referee Wayne Kelly died after a massive heart attack at age 63. Kelly served with the United States Army in Vietnam and fought professionally in the 1970’s. His career record was a modest four wins and three losses with two knockouts. The composite record of his opponents at the time he fought them was one win against eight losses and a draw. “I’d like to think that I’m a better referee than I was a fighter,” Wayne said years afterward. He was. Kelly began refereeing in 1988. He didn’t play the political game with the world sanctioning organizations to the extent that he might have. That cost him some high-profile assignments, but he had his share of big fights. Wayne was the third man in the ring for Arturo’s Gatti’s first championship... Read more...
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Written by The Sweet Science
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Friday, 03 February 2012 17:21
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 Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and #1 ranked Marco Antonio Rubio weigh in (Chavez 159.5 lbs., Rubio 159 lbs.) at the Alamodome in San Antonio,Texas, Friday for their upcoming world title fight, Saturday, Feb. 4. (Chris Farina) I do not envy Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. For a kid who was supposed to have it easy, things have gotten a bit complicated. When he started his professional career back in 2003, the blueprint appeared to be simply to cash in on his legendary namesake’s reputation and make a few bucks before the public realized they were being scammed. Even Junior seemed to be fine with the arrangement. Judging by the marked lack of craft and notoriously lazy work ethic that defined his early career, it didn’t look like Chavez the Younger had any intent of being a serious fighter. Then things took an unexpected... Read more...
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Written by Frank Lotierzo
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Friday, 03 February 2012 12:05
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 This week boxing lost another icon with the passing of legendary trainer Angelo Dundee. Dundee was 90 and it's doubtful that there's anyone around who could say they had a bad experience when they were in his presence or met him. Like the most famous champion he trained, Muhammad Ali, he had time for everybody and loved to talk boxing. There are so many great stories yet to be told that will be emerging in the next week or so detailing his great career as a boxing trainer and cut-man, and you can count on all of them being positive and to no ones surprise. The accomplishments of his distinguished career as a boxing guy are numerous and each and everyone of them is probably a story in of itself. However, the crowning achievement of Dundee's career is something that he didn't do when at the time he was pressured to, but instead followed his intuition and let nature and history... Read more...
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Written by David A. Avila
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Thursday, 02 February 2012 21:46
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 Things get heated as Nonito and Vazquez Jr. face off during Thursday presser. (Chris Farina) As written by many a boxing writer, a good big man beats a good smaller man should they meet in the ring. Recent exceptions have proven otherwise. Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire (27-1, 18 KOs) climbs up another weight division to meet former junior featherweight titleholder Wilfredo “Papito” Vazquez (21-1-1, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBO title. Though Donaire once grabbed a world title at 112 pounds, he is the favorite to win on Saturday, Feb. 4 in San Antonio. HBO will telecast. Lately, numerous and exceptionally talented prizefighters have strafed through several weight class divisions while gobbling up world titles along the way. Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez, Robert Guerrero and Bernard Hopkins are some of those... Read more...
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Written by The Sweet Science
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Thursday, 02 February 2012 15:54
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 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a tweet is worth … well, at 140 characters max, certainly a whole lot less than a thousand words. Maybe 32 or so, I’d guesstimate. Unless there’s a Twitpic attached, in which case it’s worth about 1,032 words. Nevertheless, this Twitpic-free tweet from Floyd Mayweather on Wednesday is certainly worth a thousand words of reaction: “I’m fighting Miguel Cotto on May 5th because Miss Pac Man is ducking me.” The tweet was just 14 little words long, but its emotional impact on this longtime boxing fan and writer is not so succinctly summed up. A list of some of the feelings stirred by “Money’s” loaded declaration: anticipation, excitement, depression, frustration, anger, bewilderment, revulsion, confusion, and maybe even a little guilt and self-loathing. Allow me to lie down on Dr. Melfi’s... Read more...
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