Weekend Wrap-up in Boxing (November 23-24)

In the UK on Saturday, Ricky Hatton failed in his comeback attempt after a 3½ year layoff. Hatton managed to keep the fight close and was slightly ahead on all three scorecards in the welterweight bout going into the ninth round when he was knocked out with a body shot by Ukraine's Vyacheslav Senchenko. Hatton announced his second retirement following the fight, saying he will go back to training and promoting other fighters. In Ontario, California, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero and Andre “The Beast” Berto fought 12 grueling rounds in a bout that had the audience on their feet for a standing ovation after the final bell sounded. HBO commentators were suggesting the bout as a candidate for fight of the year. Much of the fight was fought in the love-it-or-hate-it inside fighting style, with both fighter’s bodies clinched to each other against the ropes and either of them swinging to the other man's head or body whatever loose hand they had available, very much appearing as if a street fight that could have easily taken place inside a telephone booth. Toward the end, both boxer’s right eyes were swollen and completely shut and Berto’s left eye was rapidly closing as well, nearly making him a blind fighter. Guerrero had apparently inflicted the most damage and was awarded the decision. Someone to watch closely is an up-and-comer quickly rising to the ranks of today’s best junior middleweight fighters. The undefeated Keith Thurman has fought 19 times and won all but one by knockout. That includes his destruction of the veteran Carlos Quintana in the Guerrero-Berto undercard. Quintana had fought throughout his career some of the greatest fighters in boxing and is known for the stunning upsets of several of them. He was knocked out by Thurman in the 4th round.

P. Rivera, GAR1680 Boxing Talk
Twitter: @GAR1680

Charlotte Region Boxing Report

As the year comes to a close I wonder if anything will be happening around here in 2013. For a while in 2012 it was starting to look like boxing was forcefully nudging its way back into the Charlotte region market. A total of eight pro events took place in the Epi Center, Music Factory, Convention Center, and Silver Hammer venues from February until last month. A number of them hosted by World of Champions, a promotional company operated by Bellonora McCallum. All indications seemed that Ms. McCallum was striving to bring together talented fighters from around the country here to The Queen City and to focus, especially, on local boxers from in the Carolinas, giving them an opportunity to compete as well. The promoter had also expressed her intentions to present amateur boxing events.

While trying to research upcoming events around Charlotte I checked the Twitter accounts for Bellonora McCallum and WOC (World of Champions). Ms. McCallum last Tweeted from her personal account on July 14 (not about boxing). WOC has a Tweet on July 30. Hopefully we’ll be hearing from them soon.

As I review the latest Schedule of Events spreadsheet from North Carolina’s Boxing Commission, it appears that five applications to feature events have been submitted for the coming year. All of them MMA; no boxing.

The closest to Charlotte pro boxing event coming up next will take place at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem (about 78 miles from Charlotte). Those bouts are scheduled to occur on December 8th (the same night Manny Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez on a pay-per-view showing). The Winston-Salem boxing event hosted by Ring of Dreams follows MMA that evening at the same venue. I haven’t been able to sort out the cards, because the Boxing Rec site is showing one lineup, and the Ring of Dreams site another.

If anyone is aware of any amateur or professional boxing (male or female) events coming soon to the Charlotte area, please contact me at GAR1680@gmail.com or post info here. No MMA please.

P. Rivera, GAR1680 Boxing Talk
Twitter: @GAR1680

Weekend Wrap-up in Boxing (November 16-17)

Moving up from the junior lightweight division as champion, Adrien Broner faced on Saturday night what was expected to be his toughest challenge to date against lightweight champ Antonio DeMarco. Broner, however, easily dominated and took the WBC belt from DeMarco with a TKO win in the 8th round. His performance has many in the boxing circuit talking about moving him up the list of best fighters in the world pound for pound amongst Andre Ward, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Sergio Martinez, and Manny Pacquiao. In a fight that preceded the Broner-DeMarco matchup, what appeared to be America’s best hope for an American to recapture the heavyweight crown turned sour when Seth Mitchell was knocked out by Johnathon Banks in the 2nd round. Banks is also American, but wasn’t considered to have the skills it would take to dethrone either of the Klitschko brothers. In an exciting flyweight championship unification bout, Brian Viloria and Hernan Marquez battled for 10 rounds until Marquez succumbed and his corner threw in the towel. In the United Kingdom, super middleweight Carl Froch easily destroyed Yusaf Mack of Philadelphia by KO in the 3rd round to retain his IBF title. Froch is now eyeing a rematch with Andre Ward, who he lost to in December 2011, and his promoters want the fight to take place in Europe. An enraged Ward appeared to be ranting on Twitter when he wrote: “Why do I have to rematch Froch in the UK? Talk to me UK!”

P. Rivera, GAR1680 Boxing Talk
Twitter: @GAR1680