Month: July 2020

Houston native Josue “El Zurdo De Oro” Morales (11-11-4) will face Golden Boy Promotions prospect Hector Valdez (12-0) on the undercard of the Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Samuel Vargas bout tonight on DAZN at 7 pm.

One of my favorite local boxers, Morales represents the throw-back fighter prototype, willing to fight whoever is presented to him, often times in their hometown. And although his record may not be as pretty as many of the protected, big promoter signed boxers he often faces, his skill-set, professionalism, and pride in his craft are of championship caliber.

In fact, loses against Nico Hernandez, Joannys Argilagos, and Jose Balderas could have easily been called wins for Morales, had he been the promoter backed boxer, as his opponents were. A draw against Damien Vasquez in Edinburg, Texas is another bout that could have easily been called a win for Morales, but the draw decision was fair nonetheless, as opposed to matches in Vegas and California that went down as unanimous decision losses despite the fact that the bouts were close.

Tune in tonight on DAZN and show some support for up and comer prospect Valdez, and one of the most underrated talents in the game, Josue “El Zurdo de Oro” Morales.

📸’s by Hosanna Rull/IRULL FOTOS/Forcetrain Promotions

According to Genc “The Sexy Albanian” Pllana, his rematch with Raphael “Trouble” Igbokwe has been canceled after Igbokwe tested positive for Covid-19.
Approximately one hour ago, one of his social media pages Pllana wrote:

“Hopefully I’ll be back in the ring sooner than later.”

“My opponent tested positive on his second test for covid so my fight is off. I was excited to fight and put on a good show,but unfortunately it’s off for now.”

This was a bout many were looking forward to, that was sure to bring excitement.

Between Igbokwe’s explosive combination punching and Pllana’s unorthodox but powerful attacks, an electrifying return bout was almost a sure thing. Hopefully this rematch can be rescheduled for a later date.

Best wishes to Igbokwe for a speedy recovery and to both boxers for a quick return to the ring.

First bout between the two resulted in a close, majority decision for Igbokwe

📸’s by Hosanna Rull/IRULL FOTOS/Forcetrain Promotions

Raphael “Trouble” Igbokwe and Genc “The Sexy Albanian” Pllana last fought in August of 2019, in an eight round bout that ended in a close, majority decision for Igbokwe, in Houston, Texas.

The bout, promoted by Forcetrain Promotions, saw both fighters have their moments and after eight rounds of action one of the judges had it scored evenly for a draw, while the other two judges had it scored 78-74 and 79-73 for Igbokwe.

Watching the bout live, I felt Igbokwe eeked out a close decision but could also see how someone could have scored it as a one or two point decision for Pllana. The draw scorecard was definitely a better reflection of the bout than the other two scorecards, which is why I believe they are re-matching tonight.

Both fighters made weight yesterday at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Igbokwe coming in at 165 and Pllana weighing in at 167. 3 for their eight round, super-middleweight rematch.

This should prove to be a very entertaining bout between two boxers with lots of potential, skill, and determination, and both teams deserve props for being willing to run it back.

The Top Rank promoted card will be televised live on ESPN tonight with first televised bout starting at 7 PM.

It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I pass along the news that our dear friend Dickie Cole has passed today July 18, 2020.

Dickie devoted his life to boxing and, in so doing, touched countless lives. Dickie shared his father’s deep love of boxing and attended North Texas University on a boxing scholarship. After working as a referee and judge for 29 years, Dickie became the Executive Director of the Combative Sports Division of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, a role in which he served for 21 years and for which he was revered.

Dickie also proudly served as the President of the North American Boxing Federation along with serving as an Executive Board member of the NABF along with serving as a member of the Board of Governors for the World Boxing Council.

Like so many of you, I owe a debt of gratitude to Dickie that I could never truly express with mortal words. The NABF has always been like a family to me, and that is due in large part to the leadership of “Uncle Dickie” and his partner-in-crime, Sammy Macias. As I reflect today, I can’t help but think of countless GREAT times and memories that we shared over the years, but also that Dickie and Sammy are together again along with their dear friends Spider Bynum and Gale Van Hoy.  One can only imagine the joy and laughter of these four together again on the other side.

Rest in Peace, our dear friend. I do not have the words to express how much you will be missed however your fingerprints are all over the sport of Boxing.

Our love and sympathy to Dickies dear wife, Jo Ann and his entire family.

Duane Ford

President NABF

Biased scores and punch-stats take away from what was otherwise a great Tuesday night fight

📷 ‘s by: Mikey Williams/ Top Rank

Coming into last night’s bout, San Antonio’s Kendo “Tremendo ” Castaneda and team knew they had the odds stacked against them. Not only would Castaneda be fighting with only seven days notice, but he would be doing it against Jose Zepeda, a fighter associated with Top Rank Boxing, promoters of last night’s six bout card on ESPN.

Also with roughly half the experience of Zepeda, it seemed as though Castaneda was being brought in as more of a sacrificial lamb than a viable opponent with a genuine opportunity to win.

But Castaneda and team knew a win was a good possibility because they knew several things that apparently Top Rank and Zepeda didn’t.

For one, Castaneda is a well schooled fighter, from the same tough, local fight scene that has produced current world champions Joshua Franco and Mario Barrios, as well as top prospects “Bam” Rodriguez, and Hector Tanajara.

Secondly, Castaneda is a supremely confident person and fighter, who is not easily discouraged or intimidated.

Third and most importantly, the kid can fight.

And for all ten of the rounds scheduled last night, Kendo “Tremendo ” proved all of the above.

The first two rounds were “feel around” rounds in which both fighters looked to be finding their range and rhythm.

I gave Zepeda the edge in the first round by nature of his jab and a few hard shots thrown, with some landing and some missing.
Round 1, Zepeda

Round two was close,but Castaneda landed more punches as well as controlling the ring and the action by nature of his affective aggression.
Round 2, Castaneda

In the third round Castaneda found his range and began landing quality combinations to the head and body of Zepeda.
Round 3, Castaneda

Fourth round was evenly fought until Zepeda landed some good body shots that affected Castaneda.
Round 4, Zepeda

In rounds five, six, seven, and eight, Castaneda got his jab going as well as getting the better of the exchanges, while Zepeda looked to be only looking for a hard straight left, with not much success.
Rounds 5,6,7,8 Castaneda

Zepeda had a second wind of sorts, and took the ninth round, but not by much.
Round 9, Zepeda

The tenth was another close round as both fighters looked to be tired, but Castaneda took the round by throwing quick, three and four punch combinations to Zepeda’s body every time the fighters got close to each other.
Round 10, Castaneda

Overall I had Castaneda winning seven out of ten rounds, with the tenth round being the only round that a decent argument could have been made for Zepeda, if one tried hard enough.
And even if a judge were to give the tenth to Zepeda, Castaneda would still have won six rounds to only four for Zepeda.

Zepeda’s body language after the tenth round, as well as his swollen and marked up face told the story of the bout as the judge’s scorecards were added up.

A sign of what was to come was given though when the punch stats were shown and the numbers seemed to have been mistakenly been reversed.

According to the punch stats, Zepeda out-punched Castaneda by a substantial margin, and that was already strange. But even more peculiarly, whichever blind persons that were supposedly counting the punches landed, only gave Castaneda credit for landing ten body punches for the entire ten rounds!!

When the decision was announced as a unanimous decision for Zepeda with the judges only giving Castaneda two rounds and three rounds on the scorecards, it became clear that the decision was decided even before the bout ended.

Great fight by both fighters, with Castaneda doing the better work overall, that was marred by very suspect scorecards.

I understand that although certain things are looked at while judging a round, scoring is still subjective, and opinions will vary.

At least half of the rounds were close, so for that reason I could have even accepted a split decision for Zepeda or a draw.

However, when the scores are off by as much as they were last night, the only two conclusions that can be made are that the judges are either incompetent, or corrupt.

BOUTS START AT 7 PM CENTRAL TIME ON ESPN

Tuesday, July 7, 2021
MGM Grand
Las Vegas, Nevada
Top Rank Boxing
7 PM Texas time on ESPN

Kendo “Tremendo” Castaneda 143.9 lbs VS
Jose Zepeda 143.9 lbs

Andy Vences 129.5 lbs
VS
Luis Alberto Lopez 128.2 lbs

Andres Cortes 132 lbs
VS
Alejandro Salinas 132 lbs

Gabriel Muratalla 118 lbs
VS
Sergio Lopez 119 lbs

Genaro Gamez 146 lbs
VS
Reymond Yanong 141 lbs

Eric Puente 135 lbs
VS
Diego Elizondo 135.9 lbs