The Greatest Prize in Sports

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

YAY!

Ha, you made the 1,000th post in the 2k14 thread AND the 2,000th post in this thread.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Ha, you made the 1,000th post in the 2k14 thread AND the 2,000th post in this thread.

Ha, I didn't notice that at all. Cool.

[kenyan_cheena]

Gonna take a little diversion from the WCC with the next couple of posts to review the stage five heavyweight International Conference cards (those that involve our fictional dudes).

[kenyan_cheena]

ESPN

Boxing

Updated: November 11, 2008 11.15 AM ET

Johnson throws down gauntlet
after victory against Mason

By Larry Holman
ESPN.com
Archive

Los Angeles-based heavyweight Jack Johnson completed a perfect 5-0 run through the IBL's International Conference on Monday night in Las Vegas, scoring a majority decision win over the English veteran Gary Mason (97-93, 95-95, 97-94). Johnson controlled and dominated the bout with a persistent left jab, although Mason did come close to springing a major upset when he had the Athens Olympics gold medallist in all sorts of trouble in round three. Johnson ended up outlanding Mason 307-135, and improved his record to 23-2-1(13). In what was clearly a deliberate attempt to antagonise his critics, Johnson entered the ring accompanied by a trio of scantily-clad women, one of whom was Claudette James, the former fiancee of former heavyweight boxer and current Buffalo Bills running back Sam McVey.

Last month, Johnson had a verbal confrontation with now-former ESPN Los Angeles radio host Jeff Breslain, where he claimed that the media was only interested in seeing him "be the bad guy" and then went on to imply that he planned to give them what they want. Last night, Johnson behaved in a risque fashion while interacting with his female companions and presented a curt, arrogant attitude during the post-fight interview, where he sent out a message to all the top contenders in the World Championship Conference, including former champions Terone Haynes and Ken Norton, that he was "coming to get them in '09." There was none of the cheerful, cheeky Johnson we have seen in the past. This version of the talented Texas-born pugilist wore a permanent scowl and was mostly mean spirited for the duration of his appearance in the ring at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The card was the first of three this week that will conclude competiton in the heavyweight division's International Conference, and Johnson was joined at the top of the standings by Florida's Cheetah Brown, who recorded a scintillating 2nd round knockout of Italy's Francesco Damiani in the co-feature to conclude his own 5-0 run through 2008. In an exciting opening round, Brown rallied from an early onslaught to even the ledger by its end. Damiani was again in control to start the 2nd before a late left hook staggered him, and a follow-up left-right salvo dropped him, the count concluding just as the bell sounded to end the round. Damiani outlanded Brown 61-39, but did not land the punches that mattered in the end.

Brown improved his record to 18-2(12) and when he was asked about next year and the WCC, he made a point of mentioning that a clash with his fellow Florida native Romy Alvarez might finally come to fruition now. The two were close to squaring off on a number of occasions during the IBL's pre-WCC/IC days of '06 and '07, but each time a loss by one or the other scuttled the fight. If Alvarez defeats Russia's Igor Berezutskiy on Saturday night in Chicago, he'll retain his place in the WCC for '09, meaning the only thing standing between an Alvarez-Brown stoush will be the two men's managers. Brown was upset by Samuel Peter in the first stage of the WCC qualifying tournament in August '07. A victory in that fight would have seen him take on Alvarez for a berth in the inaugural WCC, but instead it was Alvarez who claimed the place with a 3rd round KO of the Nigerian.

Earlier on Monday night's card, there were wins for Scott Mundt and Ray Mercer in bouts that had vital importance as far as WCC qualification was concerned. Connecticut-born German Mundt made a slow start, but finished nicely as he knocked out Virginia's Ron E. Vincent with a single, crunching uppercut late in round seven. Vincent had earlier dominated rounds one, two and four to establish a lead on the scorecards, but Mundt got a foothold in the contest in the action-packed 5th and 6th stanzas. Two judges had him trailing going into round seven, and things didn't look to be going any better for him after Vincent buried a stinging left hook into his ribs and then rocked him with a head-snapping uppercut. However, it only took one moment for Mundt to cancel out all of Vincent's successes, as his own uppercut had "The Punching Preacher" out cold, and counted out at the 2:23 mark of the 7th.

It was Vincent's first loss in the International Conference, and only the second of his career as he fell to 17-2(9), while Mundt improved to 21-4(13). Mundt also finished the IC with a 4-1 record. Jacksonville's Olympic gold medallist and former WBO champion Ray Mercer joined them in compiling a 4-1 mark in '08, finishing the year with a comfortable unanimous decision win over Samuel Peter (97-91, 100-88, 98-90). Mercer floored Peter three times, with two of those knockdowns coming in the final round, and landed almost twice as many punches as him (281-151). The veteran 37-year-old is now 39-9-2(25), and after looking washed up when Vladimir Virchis defeated him with a WCC spot on the line in October '07, it now appears that he'll be competing there in 2009.

Larry Holman is ESPN.com's boxing writer.

[kenyan_cheena]

Will get back to this over the weekend.

[kenyan_cheena]

~ THE TENNESSEAN ~

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Brooks clinches WCC berth

Story by Michael Ford

Loudon-born heavyweight boxer Adam Brooks secured a berth in the International Boxing League's 2009 World Championship Conference with a 5th round knockout of the New Zealander Neemia Sivivatu last night in Portland. Brooks came into the fight with a 3-1 record in the '08 International Conference and needed the victory to confirm his place in the WCC. He dominated the opening two rounds of the bout, peppering and punishing his tough Maori opponent at will. Sivivatu was unable to handle the southpaw's penetrating lead right, which had already brought up some alarming swelling under his left eye before the end of the 2nd. Sivivatu had some success in round three, but it was merely an intermission as Brooks regained control in the 4th. A crunching uppercut dropped Sivivatu for an eight count midway through round five, and a right hook finished him off later in the frame. He was counted out at the 2:41 mark.

Brooks outlanded Sivivatu 192-53 in improving his overall record to 13-5-1(6). 2008 has been a breakthrough year for Brooks after enduring a tough start to his professional career. Like so many others, the 24-year-old signed with the IBL back in 2006 and brought a promising 4-0(3) record with him. That promise was quickly diminished as he went up against a series of oppnents who, in hindsight, he was simply not ready to face. Brooks lost three of his first five IBL bouts and four of his first nine, and ended 2007 with an unflattering 9-4-1(5) mark. It might have been enough to destroy the confidence and self-belief of this extroverted young man, but he put those disappointments behind him in 2008. The highlight of his year was a majority decision win over the veteran Englishman Gary Mason in July, a victory that, as it turns out, has now seen him reach the "Big Time" of the WCC.

[kenyan_cheena]

TheSweetScience.com

SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2008

Final WCC heavyweight berths
captured in Orlando

Story by Michael Broughton

Competition in the heavyweight division of the IBL's International Conference reached its conclusion in Orlando last night, with a trio of fighters confirming their place in next year's World Championship Conference. San Francisco's John Fehner completed an outstanding year, finishing as one of only three heavyweights to go 5-0 in the IC (the others being Cheetah Brown and Jack Johnson). Fehner recorded an 8th round TKO of the South African Johnny Arthur, his fourth stoppage victory of the year. After building a solid lead through the opening seven frames, the southpaw floored Arthur with a sizzling uppercut midway through the 8th and then poured on the pressure, leading to the referee waving the contest over at the 2:36 mark. Fehner improved his record to an impressive 16-2(13), and certainly looks capable of making some noise next year.

Chile's Arturo Godoy also went through 2008 undefeated, his 9th round stoppage of Stevie Williams securing an outright 4th place finish in the IC for him with a 4-0-1 record. Godoy had a much tougher time than Fehner in achieving his victory, as two of the judges actually favoured Williams by two points going into round nine. As if sensing the danger, Godoy came out firing in the 9th and as a consequence he did further damage to a cut on Williams's forehead that had been opened in the 7th. The gash was partially over his left eye, and the fight was stopped midway through round nine. Godoy, who is now 22-6-2(17), was perhaps one of the least likely candidates to earn a WCC berth back at the beginning of the year after struggling through his first eighteen months in the IBL, where he was a woeful 3-5-1. It will be interesting to see if he can make believers of his critics in 2009.

In the evening's main event, power punching local favourite David Kane was unconvincing in scoring a 9th round knockout of South Africa's Nelson Ndungane. Although he was never really in danger of losing, there were three or four stanzas where he took his foot off the gas and was content to cruise. Strangely, he was not his usual aggressive self and as the bout stretched into the later rounds, Kane appeared to be labouring. But he dug deep in the last minute of the fight to drop Ndungane with a left hook, and he was counted out just 22 seconds from the final bell. Kane improved to 16-6-1(14). All six defeats have come under the IBL banner, where he is yet to string together more than two consecutive victories and is 8-6-1 in fifteen bouts since June '06. Even so, he is a powerful young man, and that power will make him a dangerous proposition in '09.

The league's rules in regards to the International Conference state that a combination of "strength of victory" statistics and performance reviews are to be employed as tiebreakers to determine the final standings and, by extension, the initial world rankings for those who qualify for the WCC. At heavyweight, they were facing the potentially embarrassing situation of having to inform one of the competitors who finished with a 4-1 record that they would be missing out on promotion to the WCC due to world junior-heavyweight champion Maurice Holmes's decision to relinquish his title and compete at heavyweight in '09. Luckily, Holmes has decided to remain at junior-heavyweight next year, so that problem has been avoided. The ten heavyweights who have qualified for the '09 World Championship Conference are listed below:

5-0

(3 tied) Cheetah Brown (USA), John Fehner (USA), Jack Johnson (USA)

4-0-1

Arturo Godoy (Chile)

4-1

(6 tied) Adam Brooks (USA), Leon Higgins (USA), David Kane (USA), Ray Mercer (USA), Scott Mundt (Germany), Ron E. Vincent (USA)

The league has yet to announce the official final standings, but amongst the three fighters tied for 1st, Johnson possessed the best strength of victory record while out of the six men tied for 5th, Higgins topped the list. It is interesting to note that as this, the inaugural edition of the International Conference draws to an end (it concludes next week with the bantamweights), the league has already announced that the format will be revised for 2009, with a 32-man double-elimination style tournament to be introduced. The idea was floated back in early August, and officially accepted by the league's competition committee last week. The new format will eliminate the possibility of fighters with a 4-1 record missing out on promotion, and will also make it easier to follow each competitor's progress throughout the season.

[Romdawg88]

Heavyweight looking like it's going to be stacked next year. No freebies there.

[kenyan_cheena]

Yep, plus the possibility of multiple matchups involving our forum fighters.

[kenyan_cheena]

Next up, back into the WCC...

15 November: Nottingham, England

(JHW) #6 Carl Thompson (England) vs #10 Nate Gibbs (USA)

(FW) #6 Charlie Beniston (England) vs #13 Juan Meza (Mexico)

15 November: Berlin, Germany

(JHW) #3 Torsten May (Germany) vs #9 Tom Sharkey (Ireland)

15 November: Lagos, Nigeria

(LW) #9 Obafemi Rotimi (Nigeria) vs #12 Vicente Santana (Brazil)

(LHW) #8 Taribo Keshi (Nigeria) vs #12 Melio Bettina (USA)

(HW) #7 Ike Ibeabuchi (Nigeria) vs #11 Alexander Zolkin (Russia)

(WW) #5 Ifeani Adamu (Nigeria) vs #6 Ademola Udeze (Nigeria)

15 November: Chicago, IL, USA

(MW) #5 Nigel Benn (England) vs #9 Montell Jackson (USA)

(JHW) #8 Lee Roy Murphy (USA) vs #12 Dale Brown (Canada)

(HW) #8 Romy Alvarez (USA) vs #10 Igor Berezutskiy (Russia)

(JHW) #4 Michael Vaughan (USA) vs #7 Carlos DeLeon (Puerto Rico)

16 November: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

(LW) #7 Jim Driscoll (Wales) vs #10 Teruki Nakata (Japan)

(BW) #3 Jeff Fenech (Australia) vs #7 Ricardo Bedic (Philippines)

(MW) #WC Les Darcy (Australia) vs #1 Koichi Wajima (Japan)
(*IBL World Championship bout*)

(HW) #WC Peter Jackson (Australia) vs #1 Ken Norton (USA)
(*IBL World Championship bout*)

~~~~~

Busy weekend...

[kenyan_cheena]

ESPN

Boxing

Updated: November 15, 2008 5.30 PM ET

English duo victorious in Nottingham
while Sharkey blitzes May in Berlin

By Larry Holman
ESPN.com
Archive

The International Boxing League's jam-packed weekend schedule of World Championship Conference bouts kicked off in Germany this morning, with Irish junior-heavyweight Tom Sharkey scoring an explosive 11th round knockout of local favourite Torsten May at Berlin's Waldbuehne. It was a considerable upset, as Sharkey came into the bout ranked at #9 and May, who unsuccessfully challenged for the world title in his last outing back on the 3rd of May, ranked at #3. May made three trips to the canvas, all coming courtesy of the Irishman's lethal left hook. The first came midway through round eight, the second late in the 9th, and the third at the end of round eleven, where he was counted out at the 2:52 mark. Although the final outcome points to a comprehensive win for Sharkey, that was not quite the case, as May gave an excellent account of himself through the opening seven rounds and was right in the fight before the knockdowns started occurring.

Even when it was all over, Sharkey only held a 271-227 advantage in punches landed. In saying all of that, the reality is that this was May's second consecutive defeat (both of which have come by knockout) and fourth loss in his last seven bouts, meaning he will certainly drop out of the top five. 28-year-old May (35-7-1(24)) left the ring wearing a dispirited gaze, knowing that his chances of securing another title shot next year had gone up in smoke. By contrast, Sharkey (now 22-3-1(19)) is in line for a healthy rise up the world rankings, and could find himself challenging for the world championship within the next twelve months. The aggressive power puncher celebrates his 25th birthday at the end of the month, and one would think that he's the type of opponent world champion Maurice Holmes would prefer to steer clear of.

Manchester's Carl Thompson is another junior-heavyweight who was looking to end his year on a positive note after recent struggles. Back in January, he lost a split decision verdict to Torsten May in a world title eliminator, before being obliterated in two rounds by Holmes in July, a bout which was an eliminator in every way save for official status. A third consecutive defeat against the Philadelphian Nate Gibbs at the Nottingham Arena would have seen 6th-ranked Thompson fall into the relegation zone. As the fight entered its later rounds, it appeared Thompson was doomed to that fate, as Gibbs took a commanding lead into the 9th frame. He was dominating Thompson, and almost dropped him in the 5th, before punishing him and cutting him over the left eyebrow in round eight. It was desperation that fueled Thompson's furious 9th round rally, as he caught Gibbs with a succession of knee-buckling blows early in the frame before a right hand, an uppercut and a pulverising left-right-left salvo late led to the referee jumping in and waving the fight over at 2:52 of round nine.

The crowd greeted Thompson's remarkable fightback with a standing ovation as his corner crew flooded the ring to celebrate with him. Even with Thompson's efforts in the 9th, Gibbs still outlanded him 268-184. The former WBC cruiserweight champion came into the contest ranked at #10 after an unexpected loss to Lee Roy Murphy in August, and is now bound for the International Conference in 2009. Gibbs fell to 25-4(19) while Thompson improved to 32-6-1(21). It was his first victory since an 11th round knockout of the Frenchman Taoufik Belbouli back in August '07. Currently ranked at #6, it's quite likely that he'll stay there after this mostly unconvincing win, and that he'll probably need another couple of wins against quality opponents to warrant consideration for a title fight. Thompson's main problem is that he has lost to both the current world champion and a former world title challenger during the last twelve months, realities that make a title challenge in the short-term an impossibility.

In the Nottingham main event, local favourite Charlie Beniston completed a perfect 3-0 year with a 10th round stoppage of Mexico's former IBF junior-featherweight champion Juan Meza. Beniston inflicted such a vicious beating on Meza that the fight was stopped due to the severity of swelling around his left eye a minute into round ten. There were no knockdowns, but Beniston peppered and punished Meza at will, landing 345 of 778 punches (44.3%) while Meza could only connect with 83 of 438 (18.9%). Meza is the second consecutive alphabet titlist Beniston has defeated, following on from his three-round decimation of Argentina's Sergio Palma in Buenos Aires in July. Palma was the WBA's 122-pound champion before coming to the IBL. Beniston is now 16-1(7) and will take a six-fight, eighteen-month winning streak into the new year. His only career defeat came when he was defending the now defunct Inter-Continental championship against Thailand's Withaya Paholpat back in April '07.

Just like his compatriot Thompson, Beniston is currently ranked at #6. This win against 13th-ranked Meza (now 34-5-2(26)) might not see him move into the top five, but it keeps him in the picture as a world title contender. The next step will be for his management to secure him a clash against one of the top fighters in the division to start 2009, such as Jose Molina or former world champion Gilberto Vasquez. As for Meza, 2008 has been a disastrous year for him. After accumulating a seven-fight winning streak from September '06 through to October '07, he now exits the WCC with three straight defeats. He did give a brave account of himself in August's KO loss to recent world title challenger Jesus Carrillo, but it appears that his time as a top contender may have come to an end, and at the age of just 26. A move to the lightweight division might be required to re-ignite his career.

Larry Holman is ESPN.com's boxing writer.

[Romdawg88]

Ooh, boy we're getting closed. Can't wait to see what I do to Igor.

[kenyan_cheena]

THE GUARDIAN
LAGOS - NIGERIA

Sunday 16 November 2008

UDEZE DOMINATES ADAMU
IN WCC REMATCH

Story by Sani Yobo

The much anticipated rematch between Nigeria's (and Africa's) two best welterweight boxers, Ademola Udeze and Ifeani Adamu, took place last night at the Surelere Stadium, with the man who entered the bout as the slim favourite, Udeze, scoring a convincing 9th round TKO. Their first clash was only three months ago, on August 9, and was won by Adamu via a 5th round TKO due to a cut above Udeze's right eye. The unsatisfactory ending led to the rematch, and Udeze gained comprehensive revenge, punishing and dominating Adamu before dropping him with a flush right cross early in round nine. Adamu was quickly to his feet, but Udeze was merciless, planting a succession of power punches on his face. Referee Pete Podgorski had earlier warned Adamu's corner that the fight would be stopped if they did not address the swelling that had grown steadily worse under his right eye, and he jumped in late in the round to allow the ringside doctor to examine the damage. It only took a couple of seconds for him to confirm the contest should be stopped, and Udeze was confirmed as the winner by TKO at 2:28 of round nine.

These two young men are good friends, but when they stepped between the ropes against each other that was not a factor. Udeze inflicted a brutal beating upon Adamu, outlanding him 347-131 and leaving no doubt as to who is currently the better fighter. They sat side-by-side in the world rankings coming into the fight, with Adamu at #5 and Udeze #6. That situation will, at the very least, be reversed when the updated rankings are released next weekend. Their records are almost identical following the bout, with Udeze improving to 27-5-1(20) and Adamu falling to 28-5-1(19), but it seems unlikely that we'll see a rubber match early in the new year. Udeze confirmed as much afterwards, saying it was now time for each of them to move on to other challenges within the division. He was soundly defeated by James Ray in a world title eliminator back in January, and said that he hopes to secure a clash with a top-five opponent to start the new year.

It was a good night for Nigerian boxing, with two of the other three bouts on the card won by local fighters. The opener was over before many of those arriving at ringside had even taken their seats, with lightweight Obafemi Rotimi confirming his place in the '09 WCC after knocking out Brazil's Vicente Santana with a flurry of blows late in round one. Rotimi came into the night ranked at #9, with Santana 12th, so they were fighting for survival. Rotimi came out firing and in the two minutes and fifty seconds the fight lasted, he outlanded Santana 43-15. It was Rotimi's second win this year after an 11th round TKO of Brian Mitchell back in April. He did not fair so well against former IBL champion Rafael Limon in August, where he was stopped in the 3rd round, but last night's win was a fine ending to the year for him. It was Santana's second 1st round KO loss of the year after Japan's Iwao Otomo defeated him in March and, strangely, his third loss in a row to end by knockout in round one. He is 3-3 in his last six fights, and fell to 15-5-1(10) overall. Rotimi improved to 24-5-1(19).

In a battle of two former world title challengers, light-heavyweight Taribo Keshi was given a boxing lesson by the determined New Yorker Melio Bettina, who was victorious by knockout late in round eleven. After building a winning lead through the first half of the fight, Bettina floored Keshi four times in the space of three rounds. The first two knockdowns came in the 9th, from a left hook and then a crunching uppercut, before the final two both came in round eleven. Another uppercut dropped Keshi a minute into the round, and jolting right cross finished him off at its end, where he was counted out at the 2:54 mark. Despite it being Keshi's only loss of the year, he'll almost certainly fall into the relegation zone as he was ranked at #8 and Bettina was #12. Bettina's last two fights were against the last two men to have held the world championship, Ray Landis and Celestine Amakochi. He acquitted himself well in both clashes, and despite losing them, the win against Keshi should be enough to see him stay in the WCC for '09. Bettina is now 15-3(7), while Keshi fell to 28-5(21). It was his first loss since March '07.

Hard-hitting heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi (ranked 7th) was given all he could handle by Russia's Alexander Zolkin (#11), but prevailed by split decision: 116-111, 114-116, 114-113. Ibeabuchi floored Zolkin with a right cross late in round six and outlanded him 302-260. He wore a relieved expression in the moments after the verdict was announced, realising he had "dodged a bullet". Ibeabuchi (32-5-1(27)) started the year with a loss to former alphabet champion Marko Friedrich, but ended it with victories over Riddick Bowe in August and last night's win over Zolkin to retain his place in the WCC. After suffering a trio of KO losses from September '06 through to March '07, Ibeabuchi is now 5-1 in his last six fights since June '07, with a victory over Olympic gold medallist Jack Johnson numbered amongst those wins. He will be looking to re-establish himself as a world title contender in 2009. Zolkin (23-9-4(18)) is bound for the International Conference.

[kenyan_cheena]

TheSweetScience.com

SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2008

Vaughan moves into picture
for junior-heavyweight title

Story by Jonathan Gomez

Last night, Chicago's Michael Vaughan put his hand up to be the first man in 2009 to challenge Maurice Holmes for the IBL's junior-heavyweight belt when he recorded a 9th round TKO of former world champion Carlos DeLeon at the Chicago Stadium. Vaughan, himself a former IBF and IBO cruiserweight titlist, became the latest fighter to go through the 2008 World Championship Conference with a 3-0 record following knockout wins over Piet Crous in April and Richard Mason in August. The bout was stopped due to a cut on the inside of DeLeon's right eyebrow, which was opened a minute into round seven. The ringside doctor examined it soon after and allowed the fight to continue. Vaughan then dropped his Puerto Rican opponent with a left hook two minutes into the 8th, after being deducted a point earlier in the frame for repeatedly leaning on DeLeon's neck. Vaughan went back to work on DeLeon's gash in round nine, worsening the damage to the extent that the contest was halted at the 1:25 mark, with Vaughan declared the winner by TKO.

Vaughan held leads of four points on two scorecards and two points on the other through eight rounds, and had outlanded DeLeon 192-159 at the time of the stoppage. He improved his record to 25-3(15), while DeLeon lost for the third time in four fights to fall to 34-5-1(23). They were ranked 4th and 7th respectively coming into the fight, so it will be interesting to see if DeLeon falls into the relegation zone when the IBL releases the year-end rankings next weekend. His time in the IBL has not been a happy one as he has struggled to accumulate a 4-4-1 record in nine league bouts, which includes two upset losses to former world champion Jeff Lampkin. For a time, it was believed that Holmes would relinquish the world title at the end of the '08 WCC season and move to the heavyweight division, but the Brooklyn slugger decided against that move, opting instead to remain at junior-heavyweight next year. It's likely that, if he is victorious next weekend against South Africa's Piet Crous, #2-ranked Italian Angelo Rottoli will challenge Holmes for the title in February or March. But if Rottoli stumbles, Vaughan could be next in line.

In the evening's co-feature, Florida Alliance stable member Romy Alvarez survived two trips to the canvas to score a unanimous decision win over Russia's former IBF champion Igor Berezutskiy and retain his place in the World Championship Conference for 2009. Coming off a loss to Olympic gold medallist Lennox Lewis in August, Alvarez was fighting for his future in the WCC and made a bad start when he ate a smashing Berezutskiy uppercut two minutes into round one and dropped to the canvas like he'd been shot. For a second or two, it seemed that the big Russian had knocked him out cold, but Alvarez regained his senses and made it back to his feet at the five count. Berezutskiy caught him with another flush uppercut late in the frame, but Alvarez absorbed it and made it to the bell. He then showed that he has champion qualities, shaking off the early setback and going about the task of getting himself into the fight. The Belle Glade native controlled and dominated the next five frames, patiently building a lead behind a crisp left jab before opening up in the 6th, where he punished and hurt Berezutskiy with a succession of power punches.

But just when it seemed that Alvarez was in the driver's seat, Berezutskiy floored him for a second time at the one-minute mark of round seven. It was a clubbing left-right salvo that staggered Alvarez, before a follow-up overhand right sent him to his knees. Up at seven, Alvarez shook his head, angry with himself for losing his concentration. The round had started positively for him, but on the back of the knockdown Berezutskiy was able to take it and, despite being on the back foot for most of the contest, he was right back in it. Berezutskiy remained competitive during the next four rounds, but Alvarez did just enough to win three of them on each scorecard. He also cut Berezutskiy under the right eye late in the 10th. The Russian needed a strong finish but had nothing left, and Alvarez took the final round comfortably.

All three judges favoured Alvarez with identical verdicts of 115-110, scoring only rounds one, seven and nine for Berezutskiy. Alvarez landed almost twice as many punches as his more experienced opponent (310-156), and connected with a healthy 45% of the punches he threw. Alvarez improved to 13-4(7) while, like Carlos DeLeon in the main event, Berezutskiy suffered his third defeat in four fights and is now 26-4(20). Alvarez, who came into the fight ranked at #8, celebrated his win with trainer Roy Jones and fellow Florida Alliance members Elford Coles, Holman Williams and Elmer Ray. Unsurprisingly absent was the biggest star of Jones's stable, former world heavyweight champion Terone Haynes, who had made the flight down to Sydney, Australia on Thursday to be at ringside for the Peter Jackson-Ken Norton world title fight.

English middleweight Nigel Benn recorded his fifth consecutive victory in the opening bout on the card, scoring a scorching 2nd round TKO of local favourite Montell Jackson. After an aggressive start in round one, Benn dropped Jackson less than a minute into the 2nd with a left-right salvo, and his follow-up assault forced referee Mark Green to step in and save the helpless Jackson from further punishment at the 2:11 mark. After winning his first 21 professional bouts, Jackson has ended 2008 with two losses in the space of three months after former world champion Koichi Wajima stopped him in ten rounds in August. Ranked 9th, Jackson (21-2(14)) will almost certainly slip into the relegation zone and, to be honest, a year in the International Conference might be exactly what he needs. As for Benn (21-2-1(16)), he has positioned himself for a possible world title bid in early '09. Following this scintillating victory, coming on the heels of wins over Randy Turpin (August) and Mike McCallum (May), he'll surely make a move from his current standing at #5.

[Romdawg88]

Woot, could of done with the knockdowns but still nice win I'll take it. Now can just sit back see what the rankings are and start planning who to take out next.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Woot, could of done with the knockdowns but still nice win I'll take it. Now can just sit back see what the rankings are and start planning who to take out next.

I was very happy when he won that fight. Probably won't move more than a place or two, but he's nicely positioned for next year, with a bunch of possible opponents to choose from (many of them new ones).

[kenyan_cheena]

I started working on the review of the big Sydney card featuring the MW and HW world title fights last night, so hopefully it will be done and posted during the next three or four days.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

I started working on the review of the big Sydney card featuring the MW and HW world title fights last night, so hopefully it will be done and posted during the next three or four days.

Eh, was not happy with the way I wrote it, so will be starting again. Sorry for the delay.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Eh, was not happy with the way I wrote it, so will be starting again. Sorry for the delay.

No problem, take as long as needed to make sure it comes out the way you like. No need to rush anything.

[kenyan_cheena]

Just to let you guys know (if it wasn't obvious already), this thread is back on hiatus. Honestly don't have much enthusiasm for it at the moment, and anyone who has been following my NBA thread in Off Topic would see that I am presently a lot more interested in it.