New York, NY (January 22, 2012) – Captain Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson kept his perfect record in tact following a one-sided six round unanimous decision over brawny veteran Shawn Rawley Wilson Saturday evening at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom.
With a standing-room-only crowd backing him, Melson was in complete control of the junior middleweight bout from bell to bell, putting together stinging multi-punch combinations to both the body and head of his experienced foe. Wilson, who has 59 pro fights as a boxer and mixed martial artist, occasionally landed left hooks, but spent most of the match absorbing Melson’s furious two-fisted attack.
During the final two rounds, Wilson’s incredible ability to absorb head shots took its toll on both of Melson’s hands. Melson had to adjust from going forward as the aggressor in the first four rounds to a stick-and-move type of offense in the final two frames to preserve his sore hands.
In the end, Melson landed many hard shots, leaving the Nebraskan with a cut underneath his right eye and noticeable bruising, but Wilson displayed exceptional toughness and finished the bout on his feet.
Melson improves to 8-0 with 4 knockouts after defeating Wilson, 6-6 (1 KO), 60-54 on all three scorecards.
“Our game plan was to attack his body,” Melson said shortly after the victory. “I think I headhunted a little bit too much because he was there to be hit, but I realized that he had a great chin and wasn’t going down. Shawn is the physically toughest guy I’ve ever fought and he earned my respect tonight for sure.”
To support America’s first Clinical Stem Cell Trial using umbilical cords, Melson donated his entire purse to Justadollarplease.org. His next bout takes place Thursday, March 8 at B.B. King’s in Times Square.
In association with Justadollarplease, Melson created Team Fight to Walk, whose mission is to raise awareness within the boxing community about the importance of stem cell research for spinal cord injuries. Team Fight to Walk is comprised of Melson, former two-time cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, title contender DeAndre “The Bull” Latimore, Edgar “El Chamaco” Santana, Hector Camacho Jr., 2008 US Olympian Shawn Estrada, and prospects Sid “The Messenger” El Harrak, Denis “Da Momma’s Boy” Douglin, Frank Galarza, Vinny “The Lion” O’Brien, Ahmed “Prince of Egypt” Samir and Delen “Sniper” Parsley.
For more information or to make a donation, go to teamfighttowalk.com or Justadollarplease.org.
MEGA FIGHT: SIMPLE STEPS TO GET THERE
By Reni M. Valenzuela: The complexity of a negotiation or “negotiation” is in getting one’s self too much into the details, while overlooking how simple it is from the outermost stretch by the simplicity of common sense to reject self-indulgence. Treating major angles with thorough care to understand the other side is equal to bringing in the best out of a deal for all concerned.
Discussions about the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight have been enormous and eternal. But lest we get lost again in the current development of “talks” or bickering between the two “childish” camps of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, here’s a simple take on the matter from a simple boxing fan like yours truly.
Two major roadblocks have been solved already and that brings the mega bout to its closest moment. Pacquiao yielded to Mayweather’s style of drug testing on level paths and Mayweather got out of his shell with a bold initiative to publicly challenge or “challenge” the “punk little fella” in his tweet and phone call recently, trying to prove or “prove” he has not been ducking the Pacman. But let’s see.
Here thus far is the 5 surest way to finally get there – the Pacquiao-Mayweather:
1. Mayweather will start his extended-date jail term on June 1 of this year. Therefore the fight must take place in May, though Floyd should be open and flexible that it could be moved from May 5, as he dictated, to a later better date of the same month but not in the last week of May so he could have some space to celebrate, should he win or recuperate, should he lose.
2. It does not make sense to bring the fight to an “ideal” new and bigger place if it is not possible to finish its construction until third week of May. Therefore Bob Arum should “step aside” if he insists on the idea. Great feats don’t wait until all conditions are perfect, or nothing can be done.
3. The camps of Pacquiao and Mayweather ought to be discreet in their announcement or pronouncement of the progress in the negotiation. They should refrain from making provocative remarks from this day forward, but instead ought to be in the race reaching out to each other to formally get the ball rolling.
4. Pacquiao should be willing to come to terms with concessions regarding his pending “steroid” legal battle against Floyd. Doing the fight between them will prove their case best and most convincing inside the ring.
5. Mayweather must agree to a 50/50 fair split in the purse with Pacquiao because in this situation, he is both very much beholden and answerable to a bigger world, and not to his own egoistic, indulgent pocket in the event he stubbornly asks for a bigger pay. Using Arum’s signature word to describe Mayweather’s demand in the sharing of purse, “That’s crazy!” Indeed.
Pacquiao might have said in the past that he was willing to take a money cut to fight him, but Floyd should realize that it was merely out of Pacman’s eagerness to make things happen that led him to carelessly utter the challenging word in the same way that the “unbeaten” boxer contradicted himself many times over on several occasions.
“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” – Frederic Chopin
“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” – Thomas Kempis
renimvalenzuela@yahoo.com
Gunn Furthers Interest In Super Fight With Jones Jr.
This past week there has been much discussion about a potential cruiserweight fight between former IBA World Cruiserweight champion Bobby Gunn and former world champion in multiple weight classes Roy Jones Jr.
Gunn spoke out yesterday in response to Jones Jr’s statement earlier this week:
“Thank you Roy for the response that you gave to me. You are such a classy champion, and that’s why you are loved by the world—not just boxing fans, but the world in general. Everybody knows the name and loves Roy Jones Jr. I truly hope from the bottom of my heart that you get the fight with David Haye or Krzsztof Wlodarczyk, but if you don’t I will give you the fight that the boxing world needs. You and I can be the Arturo Gatti/Mickey Ward cruiserweight super fight. We will be the fight that nobody puts a lot of weight into, but we will put on a show that goes through the roof. We will give the boxing world what they want by giving them the super fight of the year. Styles make a fight, and quite honestly my brother, me and you is a perfect matchup.
Roy, you are a champion in and out of the ring, and it would be my honor and dream to step in the ring with you. Everything I have done and accomplished throughout my life wouldn’t hold a candle to having the chance to step between the ropes with you and go to battle. You are a great man, and I believe you will bring the greatness out of me. God Bless champ, and again, I hope you get what you want, but if you don’t, the Gunn is at your door knocking…it’s not complicated, this is an easy deal. Let’s make it happen.”
In coming weeks the boxing world will find out if this fight will happen or not. With the ongoing drama of the top welterweights in the world, boxing fans could certainly get into looking forward to a matchup between Jones Jr. and Gunn.