Scott’s On the Spot WBR: Bradley-Alexander; Arreola-Abell; Chavez Jr. & More
Published Jan 30 2011 by: Scott Levinson | Follow us on Facebook & on Twitter
Weekly Boxing Report: News, Results & Fight Coverage:
Finally boxing’s unofficial offseason is over. From late December to mid-January, bouts are scant. This weekend saw a full schedule of bouts from around the world. Of course, fans were eager to see the first really big fight of the year: the Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander title unification bout.
On Friday, I had the pleasure of making the short 18-mile jaunt up to Temecula to see Chris Arreola up at Pechanga Casino. The drive took 90 minutes. Welcome to So Cal. It might not have been a must-miss card, but the evening delivered with plenty of action, confirming Pechanga’s status as the leader in boxing action in this area. They have come a long way since I saw Shane Mosley knock out Wilfredo Rivera in his first welterweight fight here over a decade ago.
The night began with a look at a kid who might be a factor at 140-147—Joseph Elegele. After he effortlessly blew out fellow undefeated Manuel Aguilar, ringside observers looked at each other with expressions that seemed to indicate, “This kid could become somebody.” I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this young fighter, who works in Winter Haven with Andre Berto.
In a minor upset, Riverside’s Josesito Lopez took out undefeated Mike Dallas, Jr. Lopez, looking focused and committed to the task at hand seemed to mentally take Dallas, Jr. out of the fight with his pressure. Dallas, Jr. wasn’t doing what he normally is capable of, with Lopez staying on him, until some shots left him dilapidated in the 7th.
Though it was no fault of Lopez, a few body shots snuck quite a far distance around the back of Dallas, smacking him hard on his rear flanks. These shots visibly took a lot out Dallas, Jr. One such punch landed during the finishing salvo. It is questionable if the shots were legal, though they certainly weren’t thrown with illegal intent. In either event, the whacks took a lot out of Dallas, Jr.
Great win for Lopez, who might be able to secure a big fight on the heels of this win.
Credit: Scott Levinson / ProBoxing-Fans.com
Also appearing on the card were prospects Shawn Estrada and Matt Villanueva. The super middleweight Estrada is the more developed of the two up-and-comers, with an impressive amateur career in his background, including an Olympic appearance. He ripped through Jon Schmidt, who was in over his head. Estrada is a big, strapping super middleweight, who could probably stand to fight a slightly better caliber of opponent, even during these early stages of his career. The Olympics were in 2008 and we’re in 2011. Time to fight someone with a pulse. Villanueva, a powerful-looking bantamweight, brushed aside Jose Luis Cardenas. He is more the long-range prospect, who in 4-5 years could develop a more all-around skill set to compete with the best.
The crowd was there to see popular heavyweight contender Chris Arreola....
They didn’t get to see much of him, as he wasted no time in blowing out poor Joey Abell in the first round. Still flabby, Arreola at least weighed in under 250, showing he will approach 2011 with a little more professionalism than he did 2010. He looked good letting his hands ago, and the kiss on the cheek as the referee intervened confirmed his status as the most comical heavyweight contender in the world.
Abell was not as good as his record indicated, but this should give Arreola some wind in his sails as he tries to get back to his old ways this year. With his robust fan support and a heavyweight division that remains barren, now is really the time for Arreola.
On Saturday, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. registered another win ...
...as he decisioned Billy Lyell over ten rounds in his hometown of Culiacan. Chavez, Jr. is carving out an interesting, if not overly compelling career. He is afforded the spoils of a world champion, while only being a contender. He gets the big checks and plays in front of the big crowds. It’s as if he’s already champion.
But he’s not. He hasn’t even beaten anybody, not counting a faded John Duddy. His name power, glossy 42-0-1 record, and cagey promotion and matchmaking has allowed him to reap the rewards normally only given to high-profile champions. It seems overdue for him to face one of top middleweights in the world. Let’s hope that happens in 2011.
Now on to the big event of the weekend—the highly anticipated Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander fight...
Credit: Carlos Baeza/ Thompson Boxing Promotions
This battle of undefeated titleholders had boxing fans crackling with anticipation. Some people were even saying this could be another Hagler-Hearns type war. Well, can we talk?
It didn’t quite work out that way, did it? Bradley scored a 10-round unanimous technical decision, after Alexander was deemed unable to continue after receiving another head butt. These two just didn’t seem made for each other. There is no real explanation for it, but sometimes styles clash in such a way that makes the action unpleasing.
The battle lines were drawn clearly enough—with Bradley applying pressure, as Alexander looked to move and lash out with his fast hands. Both had some success in employing their styles, with Bradley holding a small edge in overall effectiveness. With a southpaw fighting an orthodox fighter, sometimes you get a good fight. Their bodies are both open to each other and the offensive opportunities seemed plentiful.
But it just didn’t work out that way. Holding, head butts, and a certain tightness on the part of both men led to a situation where the good fight couldn’t get out of the starting blocks. Bradley won the technical decision, but no man shined on this night. It’s an unfortunate part of boxing, but certainly not the first or last time a highly anticipated bout falls flat.
Just a little side note about a potentially damaging trend occurring in boxing rings:
Referees should detect fouls free of input from the fighters. It seems there is an alarming increase in cases where a fighter is essentially able to call a time out. If a referee is going to rely on the reaction of fighters to determine whether a foul took place, that can lead to a lot of bad situations.
How many times in the past did you see a fighter call a time out? Almost never. Nowadays, referees jump in to call time whenever a fighter winces and gestures that there might have been a foul. Sometimes a fighter takes a body shot and is able to get a reprieve by motioning to the ref that it was low, even though it was a legal punch. It’s happening more and more.
Memo to referees: You are the arbiter in the ring. If you do not see a foul, you have no business calling a time out. Stop deferring to the least objective people in the arena for guidance on whether or not there was a foul.
We are approaching a point where fighters will begin to exploit this new way of doing things. Say a fighter is winning convincingly after 7-8 rounds, but has run out of gas. With his opponent surging, a fighter can now manufacture an easy ending to a fight. Claim a head butt, say you can’t see, and you get an early night’s work. Is this what we’re coming to? I’m afraid so. Let’s get back to letting the ref do their job rather than let fighters determine the presence and gravity of fouls.
Bring on Bradley Khan. Let’s go boxing, fill the Ring vacancy for champ of the 140 lb division and the unofficial playoff for rights to fight Pac or Mayweather. Pac and Mayweather seem content with talking shit and not fighting so maybe they’ll fight one of these young up and comers instead of the faded names that they’ve been dangling in front of us.
Devon Alexander proved to lack the fire and heart of a champion and his corner proved once again that they are unprofessional in both their approach leading up to a fight and game plan during a fight. There has not been one shred of decent advise that Kevin Cunningham has given over the course of the last three fights that I’ve seen him corner. He’s just abysmal. Cursing like a longshoreman and saying the referee is “Full of shit” is no way to act during any fight at any level. As a corner man you have to stay calm, and collected and get crazy and emotional when your fighter seems sluggish and out of it. Cunningham has one mode, panic. Kevin Cunningham should really use Manny Steward or Nasim Richardson as an example of modern trainers who keep their fighter focused and act like professionals and motivate when needed. A fight is a crazy, unrehearsed, spontaneous mix of pain and emotion a trainer is there to harness all of that and make sure their pupil stays focused throughout those distractions. Cunningham becomes a huge distraction himself and leaves his fighter naked in the ring.
In other sports you play until you hear a whistle, you can’t stop when you feel like it. There is one minute to take a time out in between every three minutes of action in boxing. If one can’t get through any of those three minutes of action then they lose. Why is this sport catering to this behavior? Referee’s should be graded on their performance like they are in the other major sports and either promoted or demoted based on performance. There is also one minute of time in between each round to inspect questionable fouls and the like. Also, it’s a fight. What happened to if a guy fouls you, you foul him back and keep him honest? Imagine if this sort of thing happened in other sports? “Aaron Rodgers drops back throws a pass Donald Driver catches it and he’s in the open field, the 20, the 10 the 5… oh wait stop the action the cornerback says that Driver pushed off outside of the five yard rule and they have to do the play over. OK bring it back and we’ll do it again.” People would riot!!!!! This sort of thing has to be corralled. The sport is suffering because of it.
At the same time lets not forget that bradley DID head butt alexander and more than once. also he does it to many of his opponents. So are we saying let the head butts continue?
Let me start by saying that both Bradley and Alexander were both guilty of headbutts. This is common when there is an orthodox fighter and a southpaw facing one another. I understand that Bradley has a reputation for using his head however in this case Alexander was an offender as well. The point is not the headbutting it’s the fact that the fighter was calling timeout when butted, the fighter should wait for the referee to break the action and allow the referee to arbitrate the foul. Take a recent fight between Brandon Rios and Anthony Peterson as an example. Peterson was fouling Rios by hitting him low, Rios only stopped fighting when the referee took notice to the low blows and stopped the action. When asked why he continued to fight he responded by explaining that it is a fight and the fighter has to keep fighting until the referee breaks the action. In Alexanders case, he may or may not have been getting fouled but since the ref did not see it he quit. A fighter can not quit because he is being fouled, let your corner talk to the referee in between rounds or appeal the commission after the fight. Don’t appeal in the middle of the action.
Brendan, really great points. I like how you compare boxing to other sports in regards to the participants deciding when the action stops. Seems like a bad precedent where its only a matter of time before a major fight is decided on this practice.
Sure, Bradley has had a series of consecutive fights where head butts were a determining factor. But when watching this fight, I didn’t really see Bradley slinging his head in there with any impunity. It was mere happenstance, as Hardcore Bee pointed out, an unfortunate byproduct of southpaws and righties fighting each other.
Either way, this practice of fighters cuing refs as to when to halt the action to address fouls has to go.