Lessons should be learned – Broner stops DeMarco

Lessons should be learned - Broner stops DeMarcoBy Paul Strauss: By now you know, Adrien “The Problem” Broner 25 (KO 21)-0-0 destroyed Anthony DeMarco 28 (KO 21)-3-0 Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J. Over the course of the seven plus rounds the fight lasted, Tony maybe landed a handful of decent punches. The rest of the fight was all Broner. The Problem child shined in his domination of the WBC lightweight title holder, but it really was more of a gift than something earned.

Unfortunately for DeMarco, he fought a courageous but stupid fight. He gave up his height and reach advantage. He failed to establish his jab and punch in combinations. It wasn’t that Broner took it away, he simply gave it away. More over, when he moved (which wasn’t often), he moved to his left into Broner’s power. Most of the time he failed to establish any kind of range or distance beneficial to him.

He fought more like he was about 5ft tall, rather than 5″10″. He was bent over and immobile. He didn’t move from the waist, and didn’t move his head, and more often than not his gloves were not in the correct position to protect himself or to punch. He seemingly forgot a fighter must know what punching distance is for himself and that of his opponent. Tony would consistently go beyond the necessary distance he needed to land shots, and into the range of Broner’s shots.

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Froch Destroys Mack; Can “The Cobra” Get Revenge Over Kessler And Ward Next?

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by James Slater – Make no mistake, Carl Froch was widely, even unanimously expected to defeat Yusaf Mack last night. “The Cobra,” though, made even shorter work of his over-matched challenger than perhaps anyone predicted. Way too strong, way too powerful and way too accurate for the Philadelphian who had to drop down from light-heavyweight to get his shot at the IBF super-middleweight crown, Froch enjoyed his easiest fight in many a year.

After tough battles with the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward and Glen Johnson, Froch was perhaps entitled to a less than arduous evening. And Froch sure enjoyed himself last night, putting on a punch-perfect display before his adoring fans in Nottingham. Dropping Mack early on in the opening round, Froch, now 30-2(22) scored with a left hook. Already it looked like the approx 9,000 fans might go home early.

Froch also dominated the 2nd, although 32-year-old Mack, now 31-5-2(17) did try his best to get into the fight. Come the 2-minute 30 second mark of the 3rd it was all over. Froch, a fine body puncher, let loose downstairs, knocking the wind out of Mack’s sails with a combination. Froch did what a great fighter is supposed to do when matched with a fighter he is expected to beat: he closed the show quickly.

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Australian Boxing: Malvern Town Hall Results

By Srithar Visuasam: On Friday night, Melbourne fight fans were entertained by an eight fight card at the Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia hosted by Peter Maniatis Promotions. The card hosted three title bouts in front of a capacity crowd.

In the main event, unbeaten Michael Zerafa (8-0, 4 KOs) took on David Galvin (4-5-3, 1 KO) for the vacant WBC Asia Council Continental light middleweight title. The fight lived up to its main event billing with Zerafa entertaining the crowd with his thrilling flurries of quick punches, which always looked likely to stop the ever moving forward Galvin in his tracks.

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Jason Estrada Destroys Galen Brown

By James Stillerman – Jason “Big Six” Estrada scored a technical knockout over Galen “Bad Boy” Brown in the fifth round in this heavyweight main event, which was presented by Big Six Promotions, on the “Big Things” at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Estrada with his fourth consecutive victory upped his record to 20-4, 6KOs while Brown fell to 38-21-1, 23KOs.

“I was pleased with my performance tonight especially against a good 60 fight veteran,” said Estrada. “Brown was shifty and was doing a great deal of show boating and I was not in the mood for it, so I worked his body well, landed the powerful punches and finally everything came together for me in the fifth round when I ended the fight.”

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Tagoe beats Ashie to win WBA International title

Tagoe beats Ashie to win WBA International titleBy Prince Dornu-Leiku – Emmanuel Tagoe lived up to his word by claiming a majority decision victory over compatriot George Ashie as their much trumpeted ‘Clash of Kings’ headliner finally came to a head Saturday night in Accra.

Tagoe, famously called Game Boy had gone into the fight telling anyone who cared to listen that he was going to defeat his big local rival through a points decision and how true his words came alive as the verdict was read after twelve pulsating rounds in which neither boxer could break the foe.

In the end, 114-114, 115-113, 116-112 the three judges had their scorecards tallying in favour of Tagoe who claimed the vacant WBA International Lightweight belt as a result. The crafty GameBoy who entered the ring carried aloft in a palanquin amid carrying a sword like a king, was crowned king and improved his record to 19-1, 8 KOs whilst condemning the amiable Ashie to the fourth defeat of his 28 fight career.

“First of all, I thank God for giving me this victory. I also thank BabyJet Promotions because I’ve wanted this fight for more than six years to prove that I’m the best in the country but never got it. So we thank God that thanks to BabyJet, we have seen the best,” a very satisfied Tagoe told Ghanaian journalists at the unprecedented press conference immediately after the fight at the Accra Stadium Media Centre early hours of Sunday morning.

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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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