Scorecard: Pac Man nothing short of spectacular
Dan Rafael recaps last week's notable boxing results from around the world.
A roundup of last week's notable boxing results from around the world:
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Manny Pacquiao KO3 Erik Morales |
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Records: Pacquiao, 43-3-2, 33 KOs; Morales, 48-5 |
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Rafael's remark: Pacquiao might be the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound, but even if you're like us and still have Floyd Mayweather Jr. hanging on to the top spot, one thing is clear: Pacquiao is, hands down, the world's most exciting fighter.
His rubber match with Morales was a spectacular action fight for three rounds -- almost Hagler-Hearns-like. And the atmosphere, with 18,276 deliriously wild fans, was absolutely electrifying and unforgettable. Stick some casual sports fans in the middle of that kind of scene and they will become boxing fans for life. Pacquiao, 27, was the younger, stronger, fresher and hungrier fighter. He was simply too much for Morales, an old 30 after so many brutal wars and so many years of struggling to make weight. Pacquiao walked through whatever Morales could land and destroyed him, scoring three knockdowns to win their glorious trilogy 2-1. The final knockdown in the third round resulted in a sight we never thought we would see: Morales conceding a fight. He sat with his arms wrapped around his knees, looked to his corner and shook his head "no" to indicate that he wasn't going to get up as he allowed referee Vic Drakulich to count him out. He knew he was a beaten man and said so afterward. The scene reminded us of the way Alexis Arguello conceded his 1983 rematch with Aaron Pryor -- sitting in the middle of the canvas knowing he just couldn't beat that guy, so why get up just to get pummeled again? Morales is probably at the end of the road, but what a road it has been. He won titles in three divisions and he's a lock for first-ballot Hall of Famer. He was also one of the never-say-die fighters of this era, one of the reasons he was so popular and generated big money on pay-per-view. He might have lost his epic trilogies with Pacquiao and fierce rival Marco Antonio Barrera, but he's one of the few fighters with the heart to fight them a combined six times. Pacquiao sealed our vote for fighter of the year honors with the impressive victory. But when he'll fight next is a mystery because of the outside-the-ring storm in which he is at the center. Top Rank and Golden Boy both claim promotional rights to him, and the matter seems headed for a courtroom. If Top Rank prevails, Pacquiao is headed for the Chinese territory of Macau to fight in March, possibly against 130-pound titlist Edwin Valero. If Golden Boy wins, the fighter could face division champion Barrera in March in a rematch of Pacquiao's crushing 11th-round knockout in a 2003 featherweight championship fight. |
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Ricardo Torres W12 Mike Arnaoutis Wins a vacant junior welterweight title. Scores: 116-111, 114-113 Torres, 114-113 Arnaoutis |
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Records: Torres, 30-1; Arnaoutis, 17-1-1 |
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Rafael's remark: The fight didn't turn out to be the sort of exciting match we envisioned it being before the opening bell, but it was still an entertaining scrap, even if both guys were a wee bit too cautious for our taste.
We thought Arnaoutis deserved the decision in a close fight, but Torres probably got the nod because he was more aggressive, even if he wasn't all that effective. He said he hurt his right hand early in the fight, the same one he damaged against Miguel Cotto in their fabulous September 2005 slugfest. That injury cost Torres nine months on the shelf, and he might have been a little reluctant to use the hand. Arnaoutis, clearly the better-skilled boxer, did score a seventh-round knockdown but couldn't close the show. For some reason, Arnaoutis refused to go after Torres -- who won the belt Cotto vacated to move up in weight -- in the eighth round to see whether he could get him out of there. Rule of thumb: When you have your opponent hurt, especially in a close fight, go for it. Arnaoutis didn't, and it cost him. We hope Torres' hand is OK because we're looking forward to seeing him back soon. And despite the loss, we're also anxious to see Arnaoutis get another crack against a top opponent. |
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Omar Nino D12 Brian Viloria Retains a junior flyweight title. |
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Records: Nino, 24-2-2; Viloria, 19-1-1 |
| Rafael's remark: Nino was lucky to get a draw and retain his 108-pound title. The crowd and media overwhelmingly favored Viloria, who scored two knockdowns and seemed to do more than enough to win. The fight was much more exciting than their initial meeting in August. In that fight, heavily favored Viloria sleepwalked his way to a lopsided decision loss as Nino won the title in surprising fashion. Viloria again was favored in the immediate rematch and looked to be on his way to reclaiming his belt when he scored a debatable knockdown in the fifth round (referee ruled that Nino's glove touched the mat) and a clean knockdown in the ninth. |
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Juan Carlos Salgado W6 Marcos Licona Scores: 60-54 (twice), 59-54 |
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Records: Salgado, 17-0-1; Licona, 23-9-1 |
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Rafael's remark: Top Rank recently signed 21-year-old Salgado, whom many regard as the best prospect in Mexico. His agent, Cameron Dunkin, who has been involved with numerous world champions, believes Salgado has the potential to be the best fighter he has ever worked with.
This fight, coming on such a high-profile card, was designed as his first American showcase. Although he easily defeated experienced Licona, including slicing open a cut on his left eyelid, it was not the kind of performance we expected after hearing all the hype. He didn't do anything to leave you drooling over his potential. But he's young and, at 5-foot-9, will tower over many opponents. We'll keep our eye on him and reserve our opinion for a couple of more fights. |
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Vanes Martirosyan TKO4 Edgar Reyes |
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Records: Martirosyan, 11-0, 7 KOs; Reyes, 10-6 |
| Rafael's remark: Top Rank keeps putting Martirosyan, the 21-year-old 2004 U.S. Olympian, on big shows, and he keeps winning and drawing hundreds of fans from the large Armenian community in his hometown of Glendale, Calif. He beat on Reyes at will until Reyes retired on his stool after four rounds. Martirosyan is still a raw prospect, but he's being matched smartly and gaining the experience he needs. |
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Bernabe Concepcion W10 Joksan Hernandez |
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Records: Concepcion, 19-1-1; Hernandez, 11-1 |
| Rafael's remark: There weren't too many people in the crowd for this first fight of the card, but those who were there early had to be pleased by this unexpected slugfest between 18-year-old Filipino Concepcion and Hernandez, 20, of Mexico. They brawled nonstop, but Concepcion was getting the better of the action throughout. They both hit and get hit, and that's fun to watch. We're looking forward to seeing both guys back in the ring. |
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Ruslan Chagaev W12 John Ruiz Title eliminator. Scores: 117-111, 116-112 Chagaev, 115-114 Ruiz |
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Records: Chagaev, 22-0-1; Ruiz, 41-7-1 |
| Rafael's remark: Chagaev earned a mandatory title shot against 7-foot, 325-pound Russian heavyweight titlist Nikolai Valuev by edging Ruiz, the former two-time heavyweight champion known more for his agonizing style than his title run. Valuev, who claimed his belt with a controversial decision against Ruiz in December 2005, was ringside to watch his future opponent. Valuev said he thought former world amateur champion Chagaev won "two or three rounds more than Ruiz. The win was earned." Although Chagaev, who is from Uzbekistan but based in Germany, won a split decision, there hasn't been much complaining from the Ruiz camp about it being an unfair decision. Chagaev, a southpaw, is another in a long line of up-and-coming heavyweights from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Maybe he can excite some people. Ruiz, on the other hand, has lost two in a row, and it would be three had his loss to James Toney not been changed to a no-decision because of Toney's positive steroid test. Maybe we have seen the last of Ruiz in an important fight. We can hope, can't we? |
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Sam Soliman W10 Enrique Ornelas Scores: 95-94 (twice); 95-95 |
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Records: Soliman, 33-8; Ornelas, 25-3 |
| Rafael's remark: Soliman, of Australia, returned from an eight-month layoff caused, in part by a back injury. In the "ShoBox" main event, he eked out a split decision against Ornelas to set up a possible showdown with countryman Anthony Mundine, which would be a rematch of Mundine's 2001 split-decision victory. Soliman, who pushed Winky Wright to the limit in a close 2005 loss, survived a fourth-round flash knockdown to pull out the victory. It was Soliman's 21st win in his last 22 bouts, with the only loss coming to Wright. |
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Travis Walker W8 Jason Estrada |
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Records: Walker, 22-0-1; Estrada, 7-1 |
| Rafael's remark: Walker lost three times in the amateur ranks to Estrada, who went on to represent the United States at the 2004 Olympics. Their pro meeting on "ShoBox" was a close fight that could have gone either way, but Estrada has no one to blame for the loss but himself because he came in far too heavy at 257 pounds and was dead tired after two rounds. Like most of his Olympic teammates, Estrada has been a big disappointment in the pro ranks. For Walker, the 2003 National Golden Gloves champion, the win wasn't pretty, but it surely erases some of the pain caused by those three amateur losses to Estrada. |
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Andre Dirrell TKO2 James Sundin |
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Records: Dirrell, 9-0, 6 KOs; Sundin, 6-5 |
| Rafael's remark: Dirrell, a U.S. Olympic bronze medalist, was the only American fighter besides gold winner Andre Ward to medal in 2004. Dirrell ended a five-month layoff caused by a fractured ankle. |
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Anthony Dirrell TKO4 James North |
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Records: Dirrell, 11-0, 10 KOs; North, 8-15-2 |
| Rafael's remark: Anthony Dirrell, the younger brother of Andre Dirrell, returned to the knockout column after being taken the six-round distance in his last bout, Sept. 2. Although Andre was an Olympian and has received more attention that his brother, Anthony could turn out to be the better professional. It's already quite clear Anthony is a bigger puncher than his brother. |
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Pongsaklek Wonjongkam W2 Monelisi Myekeni Retains a flyweight title. 119-108, 118-110, 117-111 |
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Records: Wonjongkam, 63-2; Myekeni, 21-3 |
| Rafael's remark: Making a long-overdue mandatory title defense -- his first in three years thanks to the WBC ignoring its rules -- Wonjongkam extended his flyweight division record to 16 successful defenses. The 29-year-old Thai southpaw scored a knockdown against his South African challenger just 10 seconds into the fight and cruised to the points win. This fight featured the WBC's terrible new rule of open scoring, in which the judges' scores were announced after the fourth and eighth rounds. Although Wonjongkam's list of opponents during his five-year-plus title reign is extremely unimpressive, he hasn't lost a fight in a decade. Those familiar with Myekeni thought he might pose problems for Wonjongkam, but he obviously didn't. |
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David Haye TKO9 Giacobbe Fragomeni Retains European cruiserweight title/title eliminator. |
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Records: Haye, 18-1, 17 KOs; Fragomeni, 21-1 |
| Rafael's remark: Haye, the power-punching Brit, accomplished a lot with this victory. Besides retaining his European title, he also earned a world title shot at the winner of the mandatory fight between world champion O'Neil Bell and former champion Jean-Marc Mormeck. Bell-Mormeck should happen in early 2007 and Haye will get a crack at the winner. Haye also exacted revenge on Fragomeni, the Italian who defeated him in an amateur fight, costing Haye a shot at the 2000 Olympics. After Haye opened an early lead, Fragomeni cut Haye in the seventh round. In the ninth, Haye, bleeding badly and leading on all three scorecards, knocked Fragomeni down. Fragomeni got up, but he was hurt and his corner asked for the fight to be stopped. |
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Cristian Mijares W12 Reynaldo Lopez Retains an interim junior bantamweight title. Scores: 118-109, 117-110, 116-111 |
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Records: Mijares, 29-3-2; Lopez, 28-4-2 |
| Rafael's remark: Mijares, a Mexican southpaw, squeezed in the first defense of the interim belt against his Colombian opponent with bigger business already scheduled. Mijares won the interim belt Sept. 18 in Japan on a split decision against Katsushige Kawashima, and they are set for a Jan. 3 rematch in Japan. The winner will loom as the mandatory challenger for full titleholder Masamori Tokuyama, but Tokuyama is expected to retire. If that happens, the interim tag would be dropped. |
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Julio Gonzalez TKO3 Vitali Kopitko |
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Records: Gonzalez, 41-3, 25 KOs; Kopitko, 24-9 |
| Rafael's remark: Gonzalez, a former world champion, won his third bout in a row since losing a decision to Clinton Woods in a September 2005 title challenge. Gonzalez dropped Kopitko four times before the fight finally was called off. He knocked Kopitko down twice in the first round and twice more in the third -- all on body blows. Gonzalez probably will get another title shot, possibly in a rematch with Woods. |
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Andre Ward W6 Derrick Findley Scores: 60-54 (three times) |
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Records: Ward, 10-0; Findley, 6-2 |
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Rafael's remark: Ward was the only U.S. Olympic boxing gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Games and was viewed as the fighter on the team with the greatest pro potential. Two years and 10 fights into his pro career, Ward has been somewhat of a disappointment and has not advanced as quickly as many thought he would, although he is still only 22.
Part of the reason for the slow development was a torn ligament in his left hand, which he suffered in an April fight. This was Ward's first fight in seven months, so it came as no surprise to hear that although he won via shutout, he was a bit rusty. Let's hope he can stay healthy and put together a big 2007. |
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Hector Velazquez W-DQ11 (low blows) Bobby Pacquiao |
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Records: Velazquez, 46-11-2; Pacquiao, 27-12-3 |
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Rafael's remark: In September 2005, Manny Pacquiao knocked out Velazquez in the sixth round. Velazquez exacted revenge against the family by beating Manny's younger brother when Bobby Pacquiao was disqualified for excessive low blows in a fight he was leading 95-93 and 94-93 on two of the scorecards; the third judge had Velazquez ahead 94-93 in the high-contact fight.
Pacquiao, who came in three pounds over the contract limit, threw this fight away because he couldn't stop himself from going to the body even after he was sternly warned by referee Kenny Bayless, who did the right thing by disqualifying him after a brutal low punch sent Velazquez to the canvas in agony. Bayless had deducted two points and repeatedly warned Pacquiao for fouls, but to no avail. Pacquiao scored a third-round knockdown and appeared on his way to a victory until his Andrew Golota impersonation cost him points in the third and fifth rounds, and finally the fight in the 11th. |
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Jose Luis Cruz W8 Archak Ter-Meliksetian Scores: 78-74 (twice), 77-75 |
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Records: Cruz, 34-2-2; Ter-Meliksetian, 16-5 |
| Rafael's remark: Cruz, of Mexico, beat back a strong effort from Armenia's Ter-Meliksetian, who took the fight on only a few days' notice after Anthony Thompson pulled out. It was a hard-hitting scrap between fighters who only know how to come forward. Cruz appeared to break Ter-Meliksetian's nose with an uppercut in the final round. Cruz, who has a 2002 draw with former welterweight champ Carlos Baldomir, got back in the win column after back-to-back losses to Shane Mosley and Sharmba Mitchell. Ter-Meliksetian has dropped four of his last five fights. |
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Edgar Santana TKO3 Meacher Major |
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Records: Santana, 20-2, 13 KOs; Major, 11-3-1 |
| Rafael's remark: Santana, a rising prospect from New York, won his 15th consecutive fight in the main event of promoter Lou DiBella's "Broadway Boxing" series to set up a potential Feb. 17 appearance on HBO's "Boxing After Dark." DiBella hopes to match Santana with fellow prospect Dmitriy Salita, another New Yorker, on the undercard of the Paulie Malignaggi main event. |
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Curtis Stevens W8 Marcos Primera Scores: 80-72, 79-73, 79-72 |
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Records: Stevens, 14-1; Primera, 20-16-2 |
| Rafael's remark: In July, Primera was trailing on all three scorecards when he scored a shocking TKO in the eighth (and final) round against Stevens, derailing one of New York's hottest prospects. In the immediate rematch, Stevens rebounded to win an easy decision. |
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Jaidon Codrington TKO2 Johnny Brooks |
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Records: Codrington, 13-1, 11 KOs; Brooks, 5-5-1 |
| Rafael's remark: Codrington easily won his fourth consecutive fight since his devastating first-round destruction at the hands of Allan Green in November 2005. That was a knockout so destructive it was named knockout of the year. Codrington still is being fed an steady diet of low-level opponents as he tries to restore himself, and this was no different. Codrington was dominating when Brooks' corner threw in the towel late in the second round. |
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Anthony Mundine KO4 Ruben Acosta |
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Records: Mundine, 27-3, 21 KOs; Acosta, 12-2-4 |
| Rafael's remark: Returning six months after his emotional decision victory against Australian countryman Danny Green in one of the biggest fights in the nation's history, Mundine took it down a notch by easily dispatching Acosta. Mundine dominated the action before knocking him out with a left hand to the body. Mundine, a mandatory challenger for unified champion Mikkel Kessler, might next face countryman Sam Soliman in a rematch. Mundine edged him on a split decision in 2001. |
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
