By Derek Bonnett. The state of boxing has become a real shame in 2012.
In the wake of high profile performance enhancement test results
including Lamont Peterson, Andre Berto, and Antonio Tarver, just a few
of the myriad examples in recent history, boxing fans are full of doubt.
The prefight fight build-up and post-fight fall out all seems to
gravitate toward someone cheating the system because they looked too
good for their age, too strong, or filled out too quickly. In the past
several weeks, Brian Viloria, Robert Guerrero, and Juan Manuel Marquez
put in stellar performances and continued to turn back the odds on their
careers. Should we suspect that there is something more behind their
super human showings?
At 32, Viloria, a flyweight, has been looking like a pound for pound
gatecrasher at an age when most great flyweights are retired and waiting
on their hall of fame ballots to come in. Instead, he has been dropping
and stopping top-flight opposition in the most dominant run of his
career against the best opposition he’s faced. Is Viloria like fine wine
or is he the product of a dirty last ditch effort to capture the glory
the former Olympian could not attain in the first part of his career.
Guerrero’s family story dominates most of the press leading up to his
bouts, but in the wake of his welterweight victory over Andre Berto,
fight-fans have wondered just how the former featherweight champion, who
was known to be inconsistent in his efforts, has found his recent
stride. The lightweight and welterweight versions of Guerrero make one
wonder how he ever got outmuscled by the likes of Gamaliel Diaz and
Orlando Salido at featherweight regardless of the circumstances
surrounding each bout. Is Guerrero a cheat or has his plight allowed him
to elevate his game and transcend his former ceiling of potential as a
professional? Juan Manuel Marquez fought thirty-six rounds with Manny
Pacquiao and hit the canvas four times while only managing to buzz the
Filipino phenom on several occasions. However, in the fourth
installment, the thirty-nine year old Marquez rocked Pacquiao
consistently and put him down for two of the most emphatic knockdowns of
the year. The KO he recorded over Pacquiao will surely seal the KO of
the Year race tightly. But, where did this Marquez come from? Had he
been inching closer and closer to Pacquiao since they first hooked up in
2004 or are we to dwell on the fact that Marquez employs Angel
Hernandez, Ussain Bolt’s trainer, who is known to have supplied Victor
Conte’s clients with performance enhancing drugs?
Like many crimes, suspicion of guilt is often just as damning as hard
evidence. I want to believe in the insurmountable powers of the human
will, but the era we live in makes us skeptical of all our sports icons
who begin to look too good. This scenario reminds me of Larry Merchant’s
summation of Oscar De La Hoya’s use of a mariachi band to endear
himself to more Mexican fans: "It stinks."
On Monday, December 3, at North Bangkok University, Bangkok,
Thailand, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai stopped Safwan Lombok in four rounds of a
bantamweight bout. The stoppage came at the :44 mark and put three safe
bantamweight wins between Rungvisai and his March 115-pound title fight
loss to Yota Sato. Rungvisai elevated his ring credentials to 23-5-1
(9). Lombok fell to 1-18-1 and lost for the fourteenth consecutive
time.
For the moment, Rungvisai held onto his number six bantamweight
ranking, but he needs quality of wins to go along with quantity of wins
if he is to advance up the SecondsOut ladder in 2013.
On Tuesday, December 4, at Bodymaker Collosseum, Osaka, Osaka, Japan,
Koki Kameda won a controversial split decision over Hugo Ruiz in a
twelve round WBA bantamweight title bout. The three judges scoring saw
it 116-113 and 115-113 for the champion, but were contradicted by a
117-113 score for the challenger. Kameda raised his record to 29-1 (17).
Ruiz dipped to 31-2 (28).
Kameda kept his number four ranking among SecondsOut’s top
110-pounders. Due to the closeness of the bout, Ruiz climbed from eight
to five. The five through seven contenders each fell one ranking.
Also on the card, Tomoki Kameda stopped Ray Las Pinas in four rounds
of a super bantamweight bout. The end came at the 1:23 mark. Kameda
raised his ledger to 26-0 (17). Pinas dropped to 17-7-4 (11).
Kameda won for the third straight time outside of the bantamweight
division. Therefore he will no longer be ranked at bantamweight and will
be considered a 122-pounder where he waits to become ranked.
On Thursday, December 6, at Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas,
Nevada, USA, Ji Hoon Kim fell victim to the unlikely run of Raymundo
Beltran in a ten round lightweight bout. Both fighters hit the canvas in
the opening round, but Beltran prevailed by scores of 98-92 twice and
97-94. Beltran improved his dossier to 27-6 (17). Kim dropped to 24-8
(18).
Beltran entered the SecondsOut lightweight ranks at number eight. Kim exited for the time being.
On Friday, December 7, at Texas Station Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada,
USA, Jessie Vargas defeated Vito Gasparyan by unanimous decision in a
ten round welterweight bout. The three judges scored the bout 98-90 and
98-91 twice. Vargas won for the fourth time this year and elevated his
record to 21-0 (9). Gasparyan dropped to 14-3-5 (8).
Vargas held onto his number seven ranking among SecondsOut’s top welterweights.
On Saturday, December 8, at BOXEB, Herning, Denmark, Mikkel Kessler
scored a TKO over Brian Magee in three rounds of a WBA super
middleweight title bout. The end came at the :24 mark. Kessler raised
his record to 46-2 (35) and claimed the regular title. Magee dropped to
36-5-1 (25).
Kessler held onto his number two 168-pound ranking at SecondsOut and
positioned himself for high profile rematches with Andre Ward and Carl
Froch.
Also on this date, at Orient Theater, East London, Eastern Cape,
South Africa, Nkosinathi Joyi made a successful comeback with a TKO
against Walter Rojas in a minimumweight bout. Joyi ended the night at
2:13 of round number one. Joyi fought for the third time this year,
matching his busiest twelve months since 2006. He improved his record to
23-1 (16). Rojas fell to 19-3-1 (18).
Joyi held his number four ranking among SecondsOut’s top minimumweights.
At Olympia, Kensington, London, United Kingdom, Carson Jones fought
to an eight round draw with Lee Purdy substitute Dean Byrne in a
welterweight bout. The bout was determined by a single count of 76-76.
Jones fell to 34-9-3 (24). Byrne now stands at 16-2-1 (6).
Jones fell out of the SecondsOut welterweight rankings with the sub-par performance.
Also on this night, at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada,
USA, Manny Pacquiao suffered the likely KO of the Year winner against
Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth bout. Pacquiao hit the canvas in the
third and sixth rounds. Marquez hit the deck in the fifth. The end came
at the 2:59 mark of the sixth round. Pacquiao still leads the series
2-1-1, but Marquez owns the most emphatic win of the series. Marquez
raised his ledger to 55-6-1 (40). Pacquiao dropped to 54-5-2 (38).
Marquez jumped from number one at 140 pounds to SecondsOut’s top
welterweight. Pacquiao fell from first to fourth. Robert Guerrero moved
from fourth to third.
Also on the card, Javier Fortuna defeated Patrick Hyland in a twelve
round interim WBA featherweight title bout. The unanimous scores favored
Fortuna 118-110, 116-112, and 115-113. Fortuna raised his numbers to
21-0 (15). Hyland dipped to 27-1 (12).
Fortuna was previously ranked in SecondsOut’s 130-pound division. He
now stands at number nine at 126 pounds to fill a vacancy left by
Celestino Caballero who was removed for inactivity.
Also on the card, Miguel Vazquez outpointed Mercito Gesta in a twelve
round IBF lightweight title bout. Vazquez was in command of the action
throughout and lifted his ledger to 33-3 (13) while posting his fifth
title defense. It was his fourth victory in 2012. Gesta dipped to 26-1-1
(14).
Mazquez took back the number four spot among SecondsOut’s top lightweights and Antonio Demarco fell to fifth.
Also on the move, Yuriorkis claimed the number three ranking among
SecondsOut’s top 130-pounders after fifteen months off. His performance
was average at best and he was dropped for the sixth time in his career.
The three through six contenders each dropped one ranking.
Also on the move, Joseph Agbeko is out of the bantamweight division
after one year of inactivity. Re-entering the bantamweight ranks is
Julio Ceja at number nine. Re-entering the SecondsOut rankings as a
bantamweight for the first time is Rodrigo Guerrero at ten.
Also on the move, Giovanni Segura was removed from the SecondsOut
featherweight rankings for one year of inactivity. Replacing him is
former 108-pound champion Ulises Solis who returned from a medically
induced layoff last month.
SecondsOut ranked fighters in action through Sunday, December 16:
On Saturday, December 15:
At Hilton Garden Inn & Casino, San Miguel, Tucuman, Argentina:
Omar Andres Narvaez versus David Quijano in a twelve round WBO super
flyweight title bout
At Arena Nurnberger Versicherung, Nuremberg, Bayern, Germany: Arthur
Abraham versus Mehdi Bouadla in a twelve round WBO super middleweight
bout; Mateusz Masternak versus Juho Haapoja in a twelve round
cruiserweight bout
At ExCel Arena, Dockland, London, United Kingdom: Ricky Burns versus Jose Ocampo in a twelve round WBO lightweight title bout
At Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, USA: Amir Khan versus
Carlos Molina in a twelve round junior welterweight bout; Leo Santa Cruz
versus Alberto Guevara in a twelve round IBF bantamweight title bout
At Toyota Center, Houston, Texas, USA: Nonito Donaire versus Jorge
Arce in a twelve round WBO super bantamweight title bout; Guillermo
Rigondeaux versus Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym in a twelve round WBA super
bantamweight title bout
To check out Derek’s SecondsOut rankings click on the link below
http://www.digenie.net/sorankings/p_so_world.asp
For further boxing discussion, contact Derek DBO Bonnett on Facebook or at mabfan@comcast.net.
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