Scorecard: Skilled Kessler schools Andrade
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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Mikkel Kessler W12 Librado Andrade Retains unified super middleweight title. Scores: 120-108 (three times) |
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Records: Kessler, 39-0; Andrade, 24-1 |
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Rafael's remark: At long last, American fight fans got an extended look at Kessler, Denmark's No. 1 fighter. Let's give major props to HBO for making its first trip to Denmark to bring us one of the sport's top champions in a major title defense against Andrade, a legitimate contender from Southern California by way of Mexico.
Those fans had to be impressed with what they saw from Kessler, who unified belts with an impressive third-round knockout of Markus Beyer in October. Kessler is fast, skilled and accurate with his punches. He put on a clinic, totally dominating Andrade to win every round on all three scorecards. None of the rounds was even all that close. Kessler's destruction of Andrade was reminiscent of fellow champion Joe Calzaghe's demolition of Jeff Lacy in his American coming-out party last year. How Andrade, a deserving mandatory challenger, never went down or appeared to suffer any visible facial damage will remain a mystery. Although he ate heavy leather for 12 rounds in as big a lopsided title fight as you will ever see, he was still trying desperately for a knockout in the final round. One of the things that is so wonderful about Kessler is that he was also going for a knockout in the last round even though he had to know he was in full command. Afterward, Kessler said he didn't want to sit on his lead because he was eager to impress the U.S. television audience. That says about a lot about the kind of fighter he is, and it should be appreciated. With Andrade dispatched in shockingly easy fashion, there is only one meaningful fight for Kessler -- a showdown with Calzaghe. If Calzaghe defeats Peter Manfredo Jr. on April 7, he and Kessler must fight each other. Any other match for either of them is simply unacceptable. There will be problems deciding where to stage the bout -- Denmark or Calzaghe's territory in the United Kingdom -- but let's hope all the money that can be made from the fight will convince promoters Mogens Palle and Frank Warren to make it happen. They'll have a huge live gate in either country, big money from Danish and UK TV, and a healthy infusion of cash from HBO, which would be insane not to pursue the fight. Behind the scenes, there is talk that if it does happens, it would be in July. It's a must-make, can't-miss fight. With both men free of mandatory defenses for the time being, there are no excuses.
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Thomas Damgaard KO2 Jean Louis Bryla |
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Records: Damgaard, 38-1, 28 KOs; Bryla, 4-9-3 |
| Rafael's remark: In January 2006, Damgaard was stopped in the 11th round by Arturo Gatti on HBO and retired. But 14 months later, Damgaard, 35, the former European welterweight and junior welterweight champion from Denmark, returned to action. Facing a journeyman -- putting it kindly -- Damgaard quickly knocked out Bryla, 35, of Belgium, with a solid left hand. |
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Koki Kameda W10 Everardo Morales Scores: 99-91, 97-93, 97-92 |
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Records: Kameda, 14-0; Morales, 28-12-3 |
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Rafael's remark: The 20-year-old Japanese southpaw sensation started his career as a flyweight, but moved down to junior flyweight, where he won a world title in 2006. He defended it once, then vacated it to move back up to 112 pounds. In his return to the flyweight division, Kameda scored a fifth-round knockdown against his Mexican opponent and cruised to a decision victory. Morales, who has come up short in three challenges for world titles, is in a 2-4 tailspin in his last six bouts. Kameda couldn't deliver on his prediction of a third-round knockout, but he got the win and eventually could challenge newly crowned titleholder Takefumi Sakata in an all-Japanese affair.
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Jesse Feliciano TKO8 Delvin Rodriguez |
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Records: Feliciano, 15-5-3, 9 KOs; Rodriguez, 20-2-1 |
| Rafael's remark: You have to love Feliciano's never-say-die attitude. It has served him well in his career and especially well in this "Friday Night Fights" main event. Rodriguez, the Connecticut-based prospect who was supposed to win in front of his fans, was dominating Feliciano through seven rounds. He was easily beating Feliciano to the punch and generally having his way. But Feliciano, who knows no other way than to come forward, had weathered the storm while Rodriguez was dead tired from expending so much energy trying to knock him out. In the eighth, Feliciano finally broke through, dropping Rodriguez, 26, with a flurry of left hooks and rights. Although he made it to his feet, Rodriguez was in big trouble. Feliciano dropped him twice more before the fight finally was stopped. This is a major upset, considering Feliciano, 24, was just 2-4-2 since 2004 and considered a safe opponent. This loss is debilitating to Rodriguez's career. Future champions are supposed to beat opponents like Feliciano. |
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Daniel Reyes W12 Nelson Dieppa Scores: 115-113 (twice) Reyes, 115-113 Dieppa |
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Records: Reyes, 38-4-1; Dieppa, 24-4-2 |
| Rafael's remark: In the Telefutura main event, Colombia's Reyes, a former strawweight titlist, pulled the minor upset by edging Dieppa, a former junior flyweight belt holder, on a tight split decision in a good scrap. Dieppa, of Puerto Rico, lost his second in a row. He was knocked out in nine rounds in September challenging 108-pound world champ Hugo Cazares. Reyes won his third in a row since losing a title fight to strawweight champ Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon in December 2005 and moving up in weight from 105 pounds to 108. This fight was contested using the generally horrible open scoring system the Puerto Rican commission is fond of. However, this might have been that rare case when open scoring made the fight more interesting. Both fighters knew the outcome was on the table in the late rounds, which clearly caused them to raise the level of their intensity and trade down the stretch. How about a rematch? |
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Carl Froch TKO2 Sergey Tatevosyan |
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Records: Froch, 21-0, 17 KOs; Tatevosyan, 26-8 |
| Rafael's remark: This is a terrific victory for Froch, Britain's rising contender who is on the verge of a significant fight. Although Tatevosyan, of Russia, has lost three of four and has a pedestrian record, no one had ever stopped him before. That includes Canadian contender Lucian Bute, who is typically just ahead of Froch in the discussion of rising super middleweight contenders. Froch dropped Tatevosyan with a right hand in the second round, then immediately attacked him after he got up, forcing the referee to call it off. Froch is calling for a fight with world champion Joe Calzaghe of Wales, but he probably will have to be content fighting some sort of title eliminator first. Calzaghe has his plate full with Peter Manfredo Jr. on April 7, then hopefully a showdown with Mikkel Kessler. |
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Dmitriy Salita W10 Grover Wiley Scores: 99-90 (twice), 99-91 |
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Records: Salita, 27-0-1; Wiley, 30-9-1 |
| Rafael's remark: This was a critical win for Salita, who dominated Wiley to remain in the hunt to land a July 14 HBO fight against action star Arturo Gatti. With HBO's Kery Davis ringside to scout him for the fight, Salita won easily against Wiley, who lost his third in a row since scoring the one win he will always be known for -- a fifth-round TKO of the great Julio Cesar Chavez in what almost certainly was the final fight of the Mexican icon's career. Although Salita dominated Wiley, it wasn't the sort of explosive performance he and his handlers were hoping for to help seal the deal on a Gatti fight. |
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Curtis Stevens W10 Darnell Boone Scores: 100-89 (three times) |
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Records: Stevens, 17-1; Boone, 14-9-2 |
| Rafael's remark: Stevens did what was expected, win easily against Boone, who has lost to a slew of other prospects, including Andre Ward, Jesus Gonzales, Jean Pascal and Anthony Thompson. The only negative here for Stevens, who is supposedly a big puncher, is that he couldn't stop Boone, who had a knockdown ruled against him in the seventh round after he ate an uppercut but was held up by the ropes. |
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Jaidon Codrington W10 Marlon Hayes Scores: 99-89, 98-90, 97-91 |
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Records: Codrington, 15-1; Hayes, 23-6 |
| Rafael's remark: Codrington moved to 6-0 A.G., as in "After Green." He's been perfect since being utterly smashed in 18 seconds on Showtime by Allan Green in the 2005 knockout of the year. Codrington scored a first-round knockdown with a right hand for the fight's only explosive moment. From there, it was Codrington's superior talent holding up until the final bell. There has been discussion about Codrington facing 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward later this year. That would be a heck of a lot more interesting than this fight. |
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
