Boxing news, insights, and opinions
thoughts and opinions on some classic boxing matches
Emanuel pictured with, from L to R, (Ricky Womack, Roderick Moore, and Frank Tate. 📸 via The Detroit Free Press Archive
Emanuel Steward shares his thoughts on heavyweight boxing history in this 2010 interview with Geoffery Ciani of “Rummy’s Corner”.
WBC World Lightweight Title
February 13, 2022
Beaumont Civic Center
Beaumont, Texas, USA
Televised on CBS
Busceme was a decorated amateur, winning multiple regional, state, and national golden gloves titles, as well as a 1972 USA Boxing Olympic representative.
His Olympic loss was widely considered to have been a result of politics more than anything and he followed his amateur career with a solid professional career, winning all but three of his bouts coming into the Arguello match.
Arguello was already the 135 pound champion and was considered to be one of the best boxers in the world at the time. A tremendous boxer with power in both hands, he not only held the technical advantage over most of his opponents, but also could take a guy out at any time.
Busceme boxed well, displaying great footwork, movement, and straight punches, but Arguello was fighting at his pace, didn’t get hurt with anything, and was calmly walking down Busceme until he began to find his range and get in his rhythm.
Once Arguello was able to start landing clean shots it was only a matter of time until he closed the show, which he emphatically did in the sixth round.
Busceme fought well and displayed great boxing skill as far as punching technique, movement , and footwork, but he came up short because he didn’t have the power to keep Arguello from walking him down, and didn’t have the mid and short range game to keep Arguello from setting his feet.
All in all it was still a pretty good effort from Busceme when you consider the fact that Arguello was a beast at that time and no one had been able to handle him at that time.
July 21, 2021
Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
WBC Featherweight Title
Weights: Sanchez 126, Nelson 124
Don King Productions
Salvador Sanchez was coming off of a 15 round unanimous decision win against Rocky Garcia only nine weeks before in Dallas, Texas, and Azumah Nelson had fought only three weeks before in Ghana, winning by 6th round TKO.
Sanchez, who was defending his WBC World Featherweight Title, brought a (43-1-1, with 32 KO’s) record into the bout.
Nelson was (13-0, with 10 KO’s) and was the Ghanan, African Boxing Union, and British Commonwealth Featherweight Champion.
A tough bout for both men that went back and forth for most of the almost 15 rounds of action.
Nelson started off fast and appeared to have had the edge through most of the early rounds, coming in behind a high guard, punching in combination, and scoring well to the body of Sanchez.
Sanchez, a patient fighter that broke down his opponents with surgical precision, seemed to have had a tough time getting his rhythm and timing going, but did land heavy punches and was savvy enough to keep going back to boxing and jabbing through those tough early rounds.
In the seventh round Sanchez dropped Nelson with a left hook that hurt Nelson and turned the tide of the bout, with Sanchez now having the edge, in what were still very competitive rounds.
In the 13th and 14th rounds Nelson was still trying hard and fighting relatively well, but it was apparent he no longer had his legs under him and he was wobbled several times.
In the 15th Sanchez dropped Nelson again, and after Nelson got up and the action resumed, Sanchez began landing monster shots until the referee stepped in and stopped the bout, giving him the win by TKO in 15.
Sanchez, in the prime of his life and career, would leave the earth three weeks later, after crashing his vehicle and dying while in training camp for a rematch with Juan Laporte.
“The Professor” Nelson would go on to establish himself as a featherweight and super-featherweight world champion, terrorizing the divisions until finally losing by decision to Hall of Famer Pernell Whitaker in 1990.
After the loss to Whitaker, Nelson would still go on to fight at the world championship level until 1998, beating Juan Laporte, Jeff Fenech, Calvin Grove, and Gabriel Ruelas in the process.
Date: February 2, 2022
Site: Veteran's Memorial Coliseum
City/State: Phoenix,Arizona
Winner: Sanchez by TKO(rd)13
Sanchez wins WBC Featherweight World Title.
This was an action-packed fight, as were many of Danny “Little Red” Lopez’ fights. The headline for this fight was: “Little Red vs. Little Known.” Before the fight, many ringside observers said “Salvador ‘who’?”
They would for sure know “who” Salvador was afterwards. Many experts said that Lopez would KO Sanchez by the 4th round, saying that Sanchez’s big jaw would be an easy target to find for Lopez.
Sanchez put on a devastating show of power, and gave Lopez one of the most terrible beatings he’s ever had. Lopez was staggered many times throughout the fight, especially in the 1st round. Angelo Dundee repeatedly acknowledged Salvador’s punching power. By the time that the middle rounds came around, Sanchez was willing to stand toe-to-toe with Lopez, and he got the better of the exchanges without much problem.
In the later rounds, Salvador showed that he had a ton of energy left as he repeatedly went in for the finish. Lopez showed great tenacity in trying to hang in there with Sanchez, but he still continually got staggered in the process. By the 13nth round, Lopez’s face was a mess. He was bleeding from somewhere in the face, and/or possibly several places …… it was hard to know for sure, and the left side of his face was completely bruised along with his left eye, almost sealed shut. Sanchez landed a hard right hand-left hook combo that staggered Lopez, Sanchez went after him, following him with short one-twos. The referee moved in to stop the fight while Sanchez was pounding Lopez into the ropes and landing vicious uppercuts and hard right hands. Sanchez jumped for joy, and Lopez showed great sportsmanship in congratulating the new champion.
Kingston, New York, USA. July 15, 2021 . Top trainer Ronnie Shields challenges Billy Costello for the WBC light-welterweight championship. Willie Savannah and Creed Fountain work Shields’ corner.
I was able to get a quick interview with Mikey Garcia the morning after his valiant effort at beating 147 pound Champion Errol Spence Jr, and here a few quotes from that interview:
On his feelings about the fight and what went right/wrong: “I just wasn’t able to hurt him”
On the difference the size and weight made: “Obviously it was gonna make a difference but I made adjustments to overcome those things. He had an answer in return for all my adjustments. “
On whether Spence had a good game plan: “Like I said he had answers for everything and fought very well. He boxed effectively, used the distance, and his height and reach to his advantage”
The full interview is posted below and we would just like to state that Mikey Garcia fought very well and displayed championship skills, conditioning, courage, and guile. The reason Mikey lost had more to do with everything Errol Spence Jr did right than it did with anything Mikey or Team Garcia did wrong. As Mikey said, Errol Spence performed very well and he’s a great champion, as is Mikey Garcia.
Photos by: Top Rank
Top Rank Boxing’s show on Saturday, February 2, 2019, was a great night of boxing that featured three world title bouts, along with several regional bouts, and was an all action affair.
Held at The Ford Center at The Star, practice area and headquarters of The Dallas Cowboys, the event featured fun for the whole family and quality boxing for boxing purists.
Top Rank used the occasion to showcase their young talent, getting them some seasoning and experience, while Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, was able to get his WBO Light Heavyweight Title back from Eleider “Storm” Alvarez, in a beautiful boxing display.
Results and ringside notes as follows:
Enriko Gogokhiia (10-0, 5 KO’s) Zugdidi, Georgia vs Vitor Freitas (15-4, 9 KO’s) Salvador, Brazil
Gogokhiia has an aggressive style and constantly comes forward, while Freitas appears to be trying to use his movement and footwork, but seems off balance, especially when throwing his punches. Gogokhiia drops Freitas with a right to the body in first round, Freitas was off balance while retreating when he got hit, but it was a clean knockdown. Gogokhiia takes over the bout and mostly batters Freitas around the ring for all of the second and third rounds.
Winner: Gogo by 3rd round TKO after the referee saves Freitas from further punishment.
Bakhraim Murtazaliev (15-0-1, 12 KO’s) Chelyabinsk, Russia vs Elvin Ayala (29-13-1, 13 KO’s) New Haven, CT
Bakhraim has a strong and classic boxing style while Ayala is looking to use movement. Ayala is bobbing and weaving, landing left hooks at times, but being controlled and kept on the defensive by Bakhraim’s controlled aggression. Ayala stunned and down in the second round, receives a standing eight count. The fight takes a pattern of
bakhraim winning every round, he’s just too young, fast, and strong and although Ayala is occasionally landing sneaky left hooks, it’s not enough to keep Bakhraim off of him.
Winner: Bakhraim by 9th round TKO after knocking Ayala down again and referee stops the bout. Good stoppage.
Ismail Iliev (11-1-1, 3 KO’s) Kara-Bulak,Russia vs Patrick Day (17-2-1, 6 KO’s) Freeport, NY
Day boxing, Iliev stalking, Russian/Mexican style, good evenly matched bout.
Both fighters having success with their respective styles, Pat Day boxing in the Daniel Jacobs style but with less strength and power, but still strong enough to keep Iliev honest.
Iliev is relentless, he just keeps coming and his defense isn’t too bad, while Day is also determined and holding his own.
Great bout, both boxers landing hard punches and both fighting hard, Day stopping and popping while boxing, Iliev moving forward the whole time while fighting aggressively.
At the end of 10 briskly fought rounds Iliev seemed to have slightly edged Day but the judges see it differently, scoring the bout as a unanimous decision for Patrick Day.
Winner: Patrick Day by unanimous decision, and he is the new IBF Intercontinental Super Welterweight Champion.
Jason Sanchez (14-0, 7 KO’s) Albuquerque,NM vs Daniel Olea (13-7-2,5 KO’s) Ixtapa, MX
Sanchez boxes with great technique, very aggressive, without being reckless, and he seemes in full control.
Sanchez sharp with his punches and moes very well in the ring, Olea trying his best but he’s not as well schooled as Sanchez.
Midway thyrough the second round Sanchez knocks down Olea with a perfectly times and thrown, straight right from the guard.
Olea beats the count but is unsteady on his feet, forcing the referee to stop the bout.
Winner: Jason Sanchez by 2nd round TKO.
Janibek Alimkhanuly (5-0, 2 KO’s) Almaty, Kaz vs Steven Martinez (18-5, 13 KO’s) Bronx, NY
Alimkhanuly drops Martinez with shots to head and body in 3rd round, his southpaw style and strength too much for Martinez.
Alimkhanuly is aggressive while technically sound, seems to have a solid boxing foundation.
Alimkhanuly dominates Martinez for four rounds, hurting him several times, and Martinez’s corner asks the referee to stop the bout in the 5th round.
Referee stops the bout in the 5th round at the request of the corner of Martinez.
Winner: Janibek Alimkhanuly by 5th round stoppage.
Isa Chaniev (13-2, 6 KO’s) Nazran,Russia vs Richard Commey (28-2, 25 KO’s) Accra, Ghana
Both fighters come out in the 1st round throwing hard punches, getting right to the point of trying to knock each other out.
Commey drops Chaniev with a solid right hand near the end of the 1st round, Chaniev lucky to last the round, wobbling back to his corner at the end of the round.
The second round commences and Commey quickly knocks Chaniev down again, this time with a left hook.
Chaniev beats the count but is in no condition to continue and Referee Laurence Cole waves the fight off at 39 seconds of the 2nd round
Winner: Commey by 2nd round TKO after blowing Chaniev out in a slugfest, earning him the IBF Lightweight Title
Carmine Tommasone (19-1-5 KO’s)
vs Oscar Valdez (25-0, 20 KO’s) Nogales, Mexico
Valdez fighting in his usual style but seems a little rusty as his timing and punch selection seems a little off through the first three rounds. Tommasone moves reasonably well and has a nice jab, but seems to be struggling to keep Valdez from walking him down.
Valdez starts to land hard body punches in the 3rd round but Tommasone still trying to box his way into the fight.
Valdez drops Tommasone with a nice right hand reaction punch in round 4th and again with a left hook to the body, Tommasone looks to be in trouble.
Valdez stalking while landing hard shots through the 5th and 6th rounds,knocking Tommasone down again in the 6th round. Tommasone still game but getting tagged.
Early in the 7th Valdez touches Tommasone with a jab then lands a beautiful right uppercut that was perfectly thrown. The referee immediately waves off the fight as Tommasone fought bravely, but got beat up for the most part.
Valdez seems to be taking well to having Eddy Reynoso as his new trainer.
Winner: Oscar Valdez by 7th round TKO, as he successfully defends his WBO Featherweight Title.
Diego Magdaleno (31-3, 13 KO’s) Las Vegas, NV
vs Teofimo Lopez (12-0-10 KO’s) Brooklyn, New York
In about that pitted the youth, strength, speed, and aggression of Lopez versus the experience and savvy of Magdaleno, Lopez came out a big winner.
Both fighters boxed well for the first couple of rounds but the speed and strength of Lopez was evident.
After about the third round or so Lopez was in full control and began administering a beat down to Magdaleno.
Magdaleno is in no way a soft touch, but Lopez is too strong, fast, and fresh for him and a stoppage seems imminent at the end of the sixth.
In the 7th Lopez lands two monster left hooks, dropping Magdaleno down hard and forcing the referee to stop the fight.
Winner: Teofimo Lopez by 7th round TKO, as he retains his NABF, NABA, and USBA Lightweight Titles.
Sergey Kovalev (33-3-2, 28 KO’s) Fort Lauderdale, FL vs Eleider Alvarez (24-1, 12 KO’s) Montreal, Canada
Kovalev gets his title back by out-boxing Alvarez for the entire 12 rounds. Kovalev was on point with his footwork, movement, jab, and combinations, easily outpointing Alvarez and staying out of harms way in the process. Alvarez looked frustrated by his inability to land many clean shots, and resorted to throwing one or two punches at a time, looking for the knockout, while Kovalev nicely mixed his straight lefts and rights, with multi-speed and power combinations to the head and body of Alvarez. Clutch City boxing had the bout scored nine rounds to three for Kovalev and all three judges seemed to agree, scoring the bout as a unanimous decision for Kovalev.
Winner: Sergey Kovalev by 12 round unanimous decision, gaining the WBO Light Heavyweight Title in the process.
Photos by Stacey Verbeek
Frisco, Texas
Ford Center at The Star
Every boxer on the Eleider “Storm” Alvarez vs Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev 2 card, made weight yesterday and are ready for a fantastic night of boxing tonight.
The final press conference on Thursday and the weigh-ins on yesterday were held at The Ford Center at The Star, which is part of the newly built ‘megaplaza’ that serves as the headquarters and practice facility for The Dallas Cowboys, that will also host the impressive, Alvarez vs Kovalev 2 fight card.
The card is a stacked one featuring three world title bouts, a regional championship bout and an intercontinental championship bout, with a total of nine bouts of professional boxing for the boxing fans in the Dallas and Frisco, Texas areas to enjoy.
Sergey Kovalev is looking to get back on the winning track after being knocked down three times and stopped in his last fight with Alvarez. If you figure his two loses to Andre Ward into the equation, he’s a man with a lot to prove and it showed in his actions and facial expressions throughout the week. While the WBO Champion Alvarez looked focused and determined, Kovalev has looked distracted and worried, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
Official weights for tonight’s Top Rank Boxing supercard, that will be be shown on ESPN and ESPN+ are as follows:
WBO WORLD LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE(Champion) Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (24-0,12 KO’s) Montreal, Quebec - 174.8 lbs
(Challenger) Sergey Kovalev (32-3-1, 28 KO’s) Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - 174 lbs
WBO WORLD FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE(Champion) Oscar Valdez (24-0,19 KO’s) Nogales, Mexico - 125.8 lbs
(Challenger) Carmine Tommasone (19-0, 5 KO’s) Avelino, Italy - 125.4 lbs
VACANT IBF WORLD LIGHTWEIGHT TITLERichard Commey (27-2, 24 KO’s) Accra, Ghana - 134.3 lbs
Isa Chaniev (13-1, 6 KO’s) Nazran, Russia - 134.6 lbs
NABA/NABF/USBA LIGHTWEIGHT TITLES(Champion) Teofimo Lopez (11-0, 9 KO’s) Brooklyn, New York - 134.8 lbs
(Challenger) Diego Magdaleno (31-2, 13 KO’s) Las Vegas, Nevada - 134.4 lbs
Vacant IBF Super Welterweight
Intercontinental TitlePatrick Day (16-2-1, 13 KO’s) Freeport, New York - 153.7 lbs
Ismail Illiev (11-0-1, 3 KO’s) Nazran, Russia - 154 lbs
