Boxing And The Mob

A BBC Panorama Documentary

  • I do not own the rights to the YouTube video shared. As far as I can tell, it is a BBC documentary with rights owned by The BBC and IFL TV

I came across this interesting documentary on YouTube, telling the story of alleged gangster Daniel Kinahan and his involvement in the current state of boxing.

With ties to Tyson Fury, MTK Global, DAZN, and many European boxers, Kinahan has established himself as a major player in boxing, despite allegations of involvement in money laundering, drug trafficking, and organized crime.

Why I Turn The Sound Off When I’m Watching The Fights

And Why You Should Probably Do The Same

* This piece was finished before the main event/upset of the year 2021 where Kambosos was able to outpoint Lopez over 12 rounds. I’m still not sold on Kambosos, as I am of the opinion that Lopez lost the fight by underestimating Kambosos and only going for the knockout, more than anything extraordinary Kambosos did, but fair-play to the new champ on a job well done.*

This is a subject that I’ve discussed privately on many occasions with people involved in boxing as well as general boxing fans and enthusiasts.

And it boils down to the fact that watching fights with the volume turned up is annoying because of the biased commentating that the broadcast teams do on every platform.

The examples are infinite but they usually go like this: Regardless of what broadcast team it is, and what credentials they may or may not have, they will call the fights in such a way that makes the “A-Side” fighter appear as if he or she is doing more than they are actually doing, while simultaneously ignoring most of what the “B-Side” is doing.

They also push the names of the fighters that are associated with whatever platform they also work for, and/or whatever promoter is associated with that platform, which is tremendously annoying and unprofessional, because people actually believe these broadcast teams are giving an objective and non-biased assessment of the in ring action.

I’m currently watching the DAZN broadcast of the Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr card and the DAZN announcing team of AK and Barak just gave a little spell of why Teofimo should fight a Matchroom Boxing/DAZN fighter, who’s not even worth mentioning, rather than undisputed 140 pound champion Josh Taylor in his next fight, should he get passed Kambosos tonight, to prove who is the “real” undisputed 135 pound champ.

Now I don’t know any universe based in reality that doesn’t acknowledge Teofimo Lopez as the undisputed 135 pound champion except for the DAZN universe, yet those two guys fed fans a big load of BS while keeping a straight face.

Not to mention the fact that if Lopez were to be able to take out Taylor after already beating Lomachenko, he would cement himself as a great of the current generation, and a throw back to the days of Hagler, Leonard, Duran, Hearns, and Benetiz!

These reasons and many more are why I don’t watch the fights with the sound on, and why you probably shouldn’t either.

ANGLIA HOMES FIGHT SERIES 9/18/21

EL TIGRE PROMOTIONS

Photos: IRULL FOTOS / El Tigre Promotions

Saturday, September 18, 2021
Galveston Island Convention Center, Galveston, Texas USA
Texas Combative Sports Commission
El Tigre Promotions

Fight Of The Night: Jose Acosta vs Marc Perales

Fighter Of The Night: Jose Acosta

Fighter Of The Night: Jose Acosta

Results:

Lightweight: Da Von Mims W/SD vs Czyz Harrison

Bantamweight: John Ramirez W/TKO vs Jose Flores Chanez

Super-Middle: Shawn McCalman W/TKO vs Jaime Barboza

Lightweight: Miranda Reyes W /TKO vs Erica Donnelly

Bantamweight: Jose Acosta W/MD vs Marc Perales

Lightweight: Carlos Nava W/TKO vs Desean Parker

Super-Light: Joseph Rivera L /UD vs Antonio Wattell

Super-Welter: Ivan Vasquez W/UD vs Quincy Brown

Featherweight: Carmen Vargas W/ UD vs Rebecca Light

Lightweight: Julio Sanchez DRAW vs Juan Antonio Velazquez

Oscar Valdez Gets Hometown Decision Robson Conceicao Gets Shafted

Punch-stats and fighter’s faces tell a different story than the judges decision

Whether in the “good old days” of boxing or the current “social media” era of boxing, one thing has been consistent, money and making money is the ultimate objective. And last night’s main event was a perfect example of that.

On one side you had Valdez, who despite failing pre-fight drug testing, was allowed to follow through with his homecoming “showcase” against a former amateur rival, who despite his amateur pedigree, hadn’t done anything in the pro ranks to give any indication that he might upset Valdez’s hometown love-fest.

On the other side you had Conceicao, an Olympian and gold medal winner, who had largely under-achieved up until last night, and had struggled with B level competition fairly recently.

The actors were all in place and the table was set for “Valdez’s Homecoming”. The sanctioning body of the night (WBC), the referee, the judges, and DAZN broadcast commentators, all knew the script for the night. Conceicao was brought in to provide some resistance but ultimately play his part in making Valdez look strong and set up a future fight between Valdez and the winner of the upcoming Herring vs Stevenson bout.

And although Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley spoke out against Valdez apparently using a banned performance enhancement drug and testing positive for it, they still played along with the narrative as soon as the bout started, largely ignoring Conceicao’s work in controlling Valdez from the start, peppering him with jabs to the head and body, and following through with laser like straight right hands, while making sure to mention anything Valdez was able to do, which wasn’t much.

Conceicao’s dominance was Valdez was soo evident through the first six or seven rounds, that all the on air commentators could do was to criticize Conceicao’s “clowning” of Valdez, stating that he was not endearing himself to the crowd, or judges.

And just to be clear, Valdez did try to turn it up in the last half of the bout, but he still wasn’t very effective, and Conceicao still controlled the ring, and landed punches in return whenever he did get touched.

The on-air narrative that Conceicao gave up the match because he didn’t dominate as thoroughly as he did in the first seven rounds, in the last five, was a weak attempt to salvage the reputation and record of Valdez in order to set up the big money unification with the winner of Herring vs Stevenson.

Also little to no mention was made of the fact that the referee unjustly took a point away from Conceicao for tapping the back of Valdez’s head during a clinch, while Valdez landed legitimate, full power, shots to the back of Conceicao’s head during the bout, not to mention several low blows.

The WBC, DAZN, and boxing in general know that Valdez is part of the most powerful team in boxing at the moment, The Reynoso Team, of whom the biggest money maker in boxing, Canelo Alvarez is a member of, and they did everything they could to make sure the money train keeps rolling.

The punch-stats along with the faces of Valdez and Conceicao told the story much better than the biased commentary and judges decision did. And even the punch-stats were favorable to Valdez because I know my eyes weren’t lying to me when I saw Conceicao land more body shots than he was given credit for.

As is always the case in the stage of life, fact is always more powerful than fiction, and the fact of the matter of the Valdez vs Conceicao bout is/was, that an underdog came into a known PED drug cheat’s hometown, and still out-performed, out-boxed, and out-fought him, regardless of what the biased judges decision and on-air commentators said.

Garcia Wins NABF Super Featherweight Title By 10 Round Decision

NEXT FIGHT UP BRINGS THURSDAY NIGHT FIGHTS BACK

photos courtesy of IRULL Photos/ Forcetrain Promotions

Although Eridson Garcia wasn’t as effective as the UFC Fight Pass commentators made it sound like, he still cruised to a ten round unanimous decision over local 125 pound scrapper Armando Frausto to win the NABF Super Featherweight Title.

Garcia used a combination of fast footwork and quick combinations to consistently beat Frausto to the punch, while quickly clinching and leaning on Frausto whenever Frausto did manage to get inside on Garcia.

After referee James Green took a point away from Garcia for constant clinching and holding late in the bout, Frausto was able to mount somewhat of a rally, but it was too little too late.

With over 300 amateur fights to his credit, Garcia was able to easily out-maneuver Frausto for most of the ten round bout, but his constant clowning was a bit much, considering that he was fighting a guy that usually fights anywhere between 121 and 125 pounds, and he wasn’t able to hurt him or stop him.

With that said, all credit goes to Garcia for being able to make the best of his advantages in experience and size, and earning the NABF title, which is known as a gateway to world title contendership.

Houston Golden Gloves Champions Take Two National Golden Gloves Titles

Texas Golden Gloves Team Brings Home Seven National Golden Gloves Titles In Total

August 15, 2021

USA Boxing 2021 National Golden Gloves Champions, Giovanni Marquez (152 lbs) and J’Khory Gibson (201 lbs), represented The Houston Golden Gloves/Gulf LBC in fine fashion this week, winning their respective weight divisions after a week of elite boxing competition.

The Texas Golden Gloves Team brings home seven National Golden Gloves Champions in total, winning five men’s and two women’s divisions, proving once again that Texas is home to some of the best talent and teachers of the sweet science in the nation.

2021 USA Boxing, National Golden Gloves Champions representing Texas are as follows:

Alexis Araiza-Mones (119 lbs)
Lizbeth Retiz (125 lbs)
Andres Perez (108 lbs)
Figo Ramirez (114 lbs)
German Lopez (125 lbs)
Giovanni Marquez (152 lbs)
J’Khory Gibson (201 lbs)

Zurdo De Oro Wins ABF Super Bantamweight Title, Dedicates It To His Father

Morales Serrano picks up ABF Title on July 2, plans to return to the ring on August 6 at Club Nuestra Raza

  • July 2, 2021
  • Club Nuestra Raza
  • Houston, Texas
  • Leland D Promotions, 4X4 Promotions

Perennial “B Side” contender Josue “Zurdo De Oro” Morales Serrano (12-12-4), beat Miguel Angel Rebullosa (4-11-0) in the main event of a six bout card at Club Nuestra Raza in Houston, Texas, picking up the American Boxing Federation (ABF) Super Bantamweight Championship in the process.

Morales is known by the local, hardcore boxing community as one of the handful of boxers in town that aren’t afraid to fight on the “B” side, often in the hometown or state of the big promoter’s prospects. This of course, has lead to him losing a few legitimate decisions, and a few bad decisions along the way, but the kid has managed to give a good account of himself more often than not and he’s yet to be stopped in a professional boxing match.

Morales and Rebullosa fought a spirited six rounds in the main event, with Morales winning all six rounds on all three judges scorecards, although Rebullosa was game and fought hard until the final bell.

After winning his first professional title on that 4th of July weekend, Morales immediately dedicated his win to his father and praised him for the many life lessons given that have served him well in life.

The rest of the card saw some pretty evenly matched bouts, with three of the six total bouts ending in draws.

Results were as follows:

Tyrone Selders and Marcos Gomez fought to a draw in a four round super-middleweight bout

Jesus Gonzales and Antonio Wattell fought to a draw in a four round welterweight bout

Luis Miguel Valera and Dionardo Minor fought to a draw in a four round cruiserweight bout

Miranda Lorena Reyes beat Ruth Garcia by unanimous decision in a four round welterweight bout

Cesar Ochoa beat Henry Hernandez by stoppage in the second round of a four round super lightweight bout