The Greatest Prize in Sports

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

I think it works well, lets be honest do we really need even a blurb about Dokes/Rocco. If it's a really big non-IBL, a forum guy, or just turns out to be an amazing fight sure write it up but otherwise eh it saves you a bit of time.

Yeah, I'm thinking of changing how I cover the non-IBL action, where I'll just summarise results like for July and do an occasional small article on someone who is prominent (such as Trinidad), or a fictional fighter like bob bask's dude.

[Romdawg88]

Can we skip all these fights that don't matter and get straight to me punching Lennox in his dumb face.

[kenyan_cheena]

Be careful what you wish for...

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Be careful what you wish for...

I don't actually expect to win but as long as I get to do some face punching to Lennox I'm good. I'm just hoping that I can pick up a win in stage three to avoid dropping to the IC.

[kenyan_cheena]

ESPN

Boxing

Updated: August 2, 2008 6.30 PM ET

Retirement likely for Golota
following loss to Friedrich

By Larry Holman
ESPN.com
Archive

Poland's Andrew Golota conceded he has almost certainly fought his last professional bout after a 6th round TKO loss to Germany's Marko Friedrich in Warsaw this evening. The winner of the contest between 4th-ranked Golota and Friedrich, the WCC #6 and former IBF and IBO champion, was being spoken of in the lead-in as the likely next opponent for former world champion Terone Haynes, who is currently positioned at #2 in the rankings and defeated New Jersey's Joe Jeannette in his stage two WCC contest on the 12th of July. Golota had already earned himself something like a stay of execution when he came back from a pair of knockdowns to stop Indiana's Mike Hanson in round six of their March clash. A loss there would have been Golota's third in a row following defeats to Ken Norton and Lennox Lewis to end 2007. Though still young at 28, Golota's has been a career of excessive miles, especially during the last three years.

Friedrich made a successful start to his IBL campaign with a unanimous decision win over Nigeria's Ike Ibeabuchi in April. He consolidated on it with a ruthless dissection of Golota, dropping him with a stinging body shot late in round one and a smashing left hook in the 5th. Golota was rarely in the fight, with Friedrich dominating all but an evenly contested 4th and the earlier stages of round five. When it was all over Friedrich had outlanded the hometown hero 218-104, and connected with his puches at an outstanding strike rate of 68.6%, a number that will further convince Golota's backers that it is time for him to hang up the gloves. Friedrich improved his record to 31-1-1(24) while Golota fell to 32-8(28), the loss his fourth in IBL competition against five wins. The courageous slugger has been in some real wars over the years, and has probably faced a tougher level of opposition in the IBL than any other heavyweight.

In the evening's earlier bout, Russia's Alexander Zolkin rebounded from his April loss to Romy Alvarez to score a split decision win over Vladimir Virchis of the Ukraine. With Zolkin ranked 12th and Virchis at #15, the win won't do much to help Zolkin stay in the WCC for 2009. Zolkin climbed off the canvas in round two after taking a crunching uppercut right on the chin. He cut Virchis above the left eyebrow in round four and then floored him with a right cross early in round eleven. Not long after the Ukranian returned to his feet, referee Sergey Krupenich halted the action and asked the ringside official to examine the wound. Zolkin took the verdict by scores of 116-111, 113-114 and 115-112. He outlanded Virchis 269-173 and is now 23-8-4(18). Virchis fell to 17-5-3(11) and with two losses already in the WCC, his chances of avoiding relegation are extremely slim.

Larry Holman is ESPN.com's boxing writer.

[bob_bask]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Yeah, I'm thinking of changing how I cover the non-IBL action, where I'll just summarise results like for July and do an occasional small article on someone who is prominent (such as Trinidad), or a fictional fighter like bob bask's dude.

That be much appreciated, always keeping an eye out for Briceno.

[kenyan_cheena]

Will try to get back to this during the next 48 hours. The next article will most likely focus on the Rubin Carter vs. Holman Williams fight (coz of the Jersey vs. Florida stables angle), rather than the main event between Gibbs and Murphy. There's so many WCC fights in this three-Saturday period (2, 9 and 16 August) and I simply can't write about every one of them.

[kenyan_cheena]

PENSACOLA
News
Journal

Sunday 3 August 2008

Williams upsets Carter in WCC bout

Story by Jeff Brown

Pensacola middleweight boxer Holman Williams scored a dominant unanimous decision win over New Jersey's Rubin Carter in an International Boxing League World Championship Conference bout last night. The fight was held on the undercard of an event at Philadelphia's Wachovia Spectrum and, at least according to the world rankings, the victory was a considerable upset for Williams. He came into the contest placed at #14 while Carter was ranked 4th and looking for his second WCC win, following a March 2nd round TKO of Davey Moore. Williams had lost a slim split decision verdict to Cuba's Jose Napoles, also in March, so it was a huge clash for both men. Williams ended up producing the performance of his career to take the verdict by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 117-111. It seemed more one-sided than those scorecards indicated, as Williams landed a fantastic 442 of 669 punches (66%), while Carter could only connect with 175 of 1,021 blows (16.7%).

The contest was the second between fighters trained by Pensacola's Roy Jones and North Bergen's Jimmy Floyd during the last month, following the heavyweight stoush between Terone Haynes and Joe Jeannette on July 12. Like in that bout, Jones's charge emerged victorious, and in convincing fashion. Williams improved his record to 21-3-2(10) while Carter fell to 23-7-1(18). The light-hitting Williams has now taken part in ten IBL fights, and each one has gone the distance. Not only that, just a single knockdown has occurred in those bouts, coming in his win against Ted Wright last October. The Olympic silver medallist, who is Jones's nephew and was born and raised in Pensacola, is now 7-2-1 in league outings. The win over Carter should see him make a significant jump in the WCC world rankings and move out of the relegation zone.

[Romdawg88]

Nice win for Williams and some good news for the Alliance. Now, just have to see what he does in the third stage and maybe he can keep marching towards the title.

[kenyan_cheena]

EL UNIVERSAL

Sunday 3 August 2008

ROMAN BEATS MABUZA,
SECURES TITLE SHOT

Story by Miguel Trelles

Former world bantamweight champion Gilberto Roman recorded a unanimous decision win over South Africa's Silence Mabuza at the Azteca Stadium last night. It was Roman's first outing since his loss to Carlos Zarate in a February world title fight, the second of two consecutive defeats to his compatriot. Zarate successfully defended the title against Jeff Fenech on July 26 and afterwards made the surprise announcement that he would be relinquishing the belt in order to move up to the featherweight division in 2009. As a consequence, the International Boxing League confirmed during the week that a bout to determine the new champion will take place on November 22, with the division's two top-ranked fighters at the end of stage two of the World Championship Conference to contest it. Roman went into last night's fight against Mabuza ranked at #2, and will at the very least stay there following his convincing victory.

Roman was in fantastic touch, dominating the early rounds before flooring Mabuza in the 10th and 12th frames before being declared the winner by scores of 117-108, 117-109 and 117-108. The last three rounds of the fight were quite eventful. In round ten, after dropping Mabuza two minutes in, Roman then worsened a cut on his left eyebrow that had been opened in the 7th. It led to an inspection by the ringside doctor. During a 90-second period in round eleven, Roman was warned for a low blow, did further damage to Mabuza's cut left eyebrow, and was then deducted a point for another low blow. The second knockdown then came just thirty seconds into the 12th, after which Roman finished strong but couldn't put Mabuza away. When it was all over, Roman had outlanded his opponent by a wide, wide margin, 428-158. Roman improved to 28-3(20) while Mabuza, who came in ranked at #10, fell to 19-4-3(11).

Another former world champion was in action in the evening's co-feature. Two-time IBL lightweight champion Rafael Limon returned to the ring for the first time since losing the championship by split decision to the Filipino Ben Villaflor in January. In an action-packed slugfest, Limon stopped Nigeria's Obafemi Rotimi late in round three. It was an abrupt stoppage, as Limon had been hurt by a right hand literally fifteen seconds earlier. However, it was revealed afterwards that Rotimi had suffered a broken rib from a Limon left to the body at the 2:52 mark. Rotimi had reeled away in pain, leaving referee Lupe Garcia with little choice but to end the fight. The fight was exciting while it lasted, with both combatants unloading some real haymakers, to the point where Rotimi was already wearing some serious swelling under his right eye in round three. Limon outlanded him 133-80, with more than half of the punches he connected with being left hooks or right crosses, all thrown with bad intentions.

It was an impressive stoppage for Limon, who is now 34-3(23). Rotimi lost for the first time since suffering a 1st round knockout to compatriot Ray Adigun in September '06, an undefeated run that included six wins and a draw. He is now 23-5-1(18). The fiery, extroverted Limon continued his campaign to set up a clash with former world champion Joe Brown during the post-fight interview. Limon had approached Brown in the ring after his April victory over Jim Driscoll and challenged him to a WCC stage two clash, which Brown showed little interest in. The Louisiana native is scheduled to fight 13th-ranked Greg Haugen on August 16, and actually derided Limon for calling him out. Brown has not questioned Limon's courage, but his intelligence in pursuing a bout that would presently do little to further either man's chances of a world championship bid.

[kenyan_cheena]

Here is what we have on tap for the 9th of August...

9 August: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

(LHW) #6 Mark Somogyi (Australia) vs #12 Taribo Keshi (Nigeria)

9 August: London, England

(MW) #6 Nigel Benn (England) vs #11 Randy Turpin (England)

(BW) #3 Owen Moran (England) vs #8 Orlando Canizales (USA)

(LHW) #2 Len Harvey (England) vs #4 Michael King (USA)

(HW) #3 Lennox Lewis (England) vs #7 Romy Alvarez (USA)

9 August: Lagos, Nigeria

(WW) #3 Ademola Udeze (Nigeria) vs #9 Ifeani Adamu (Nigeria)

9 August: New York, NY, USA

(JHW) #8 Dale Brown (Canada) vs #15 Piet Crous (South Africa) (^)

(HW) #8 Riddick Bowe (USA) vs #14 Ike Ibeabuchi (Nigeria) (^)

(LHW) #3 Ray Landis (USA) vs #11 Melio Bettina (USA)

9 August: Chicago, IL, USA

(WW) #11 Jimmy Doyle (USA) vs #15 Benedict Khumalo (South Africa) (^)

(JHW) #7 Michael Vaughan (USA) vs #11 Richard Mason (USA)

[Romdawg88]

On the verge, can't wait. Fingers crossed for some good news.

[kenyan_cheena]

Sorry, everyone. Due to some personal issues I need to take care of, I'll be on hiatus for a little while. Not sure how long.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Sorry, everyone. Due to some personal issues I need to take care of, I'll be on hiatus for a little while. Not sure how long.

Man, hope everything turns out ok.

[SAL]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Sorry, everyone. Due to some personal issues I need to take care of, I'll be on hiatus for a little while. Not sure how long.

Take care of what you need to and we'll see you here when you get back.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Man, hope everything turns out ok.

Originally Posted by SAL

Take care of what you need to and we'll see you here when you get back.

Thanks, guys. It's not a health issue. It's a relationship one (which could also be a health issue, I guess. )

[Lee]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Thanks, guys. It's not a health issue. It's a relationship one (which could also be a health issue, I guess. )

Sorry to hear KC, wishing you the best buddy.

[kenyan_cheena]

Melbourne Herald-Sun

SUNDAY 10 AUGUST 2008

Somogyi knocked out
in return to ring

Story by Les Hayes

Melbourne light-heavyweight boxer Mark Somogyi suffered a setback in his quest to earn a rematch with world champion Celestine Amakochi when he was stopped in the 9th round of his clash with Amakochi's compatriot Taribo Keshi last night in front of a parochial crowd at the Crown Casino. In his first outing since being knocked out in the 6th round by Amakochi in a January world title bid, Somogyi was the better fighter for much of the clash and appeared to be on the way to a solid victory. But Keshi's raw power abruptly ended the contest in round nine. He floored Somogyi with a left-right salvo one minute into the frame and then finished him off in stunning fashion moments after the former IBL Inter-Continental champion made it back to his feet. A right cross had Somogyi flat on his back, and he was counted out at the 1:33 mark.

The audience sat in stunned silence for several moments afterwards, shocked at the sight of their hero and champion laying unconscious on the canvas. It was difficult to comprehend after the impressive start he made to the fight. Somogyi peppered Keshi with pinpoint lefts and rights throughout the opening round. The Nigerian gave a better account of himself in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th frames, but when Somogyi dominated round five and then punished Keshi throughout the 6th, it seemed to be only a matter of time until he finished the job. But it never happened. Keshi stayed out of trouble through rounds seven and eight, and still had enough petrol in the tank and determination to launch his devastating rally in the 9th. Somogyi landed 225 of 473 punches (47.6%), Keshi 158 of 520 (30.4%). The Melbournian led on all three scorecards at the conclusion of round eight (78-75, 77-76, 78-74).

Keshi was always going to be a dangerous proposition for Somogyi, as he has also previously challenged for the world championship. He fought fellow Nigerian Dick Tiger for the IBF belt back in April '06 and went the distance with Harold Johnson in the inaugural IBL title fight eight months later. Keshi had defeated Tiger in a September rematch en route to the clash with Johnson. Last night's win was Keshi's fifth in a row and improved his record to 28-4(21). Somogyi fell to 18-2(13) and faces the likelihood of a considerable drop in the IBL's World Championship Conference rankings. He came into the bout placed at #6 while Keshi was ranked 12th, so one would think a move of perhaps four places in either direction is in store for each fighter. Keshi defeated the Argentinian Miguel Angel Cuello in his first WCC bout, while Somogyi was making his WCC debut.

[Gunsmoke]

That went well....

[Romdawg88]

Good to see you back KC, hope everything turned okay.