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Sharkie’s Machine
By Frank Gonzalez Jr.
April 4th 2009
“Randall Bailey’s KO's Frankie Figueroa
in Four”
"If
Beale Street
could talk…if
Beale Street
could talk…married men would have to take their beds and walk.
Except one or two, who never drink booze…and the blind man on
the corner who sings the Beale Street Blues."
That’s a lyric composed by W.C. Handy, who helped make
Beale Street,
in downtown
Memphis
Tennessee,
famous. And on a fair weather night, local fight fans were
treated to a free show of boxing in an outdoor venue at
Handy
Park.
The
main event on the fight card featured Jr. Welterweight Randall
Bailey (39-6, 35 KO’s) of
Miami
Florida against the young hot
prospect from
New York City,
Frankie Figueroa (20-3, 13 KO’s). This was an eliminator bout
for the top spot in the IBF’s rankings, where the winner would
get a shot at Juan Urango, the current IBF 140-pound titlist.
In
the first round, Figueroa opted to skip the feel out process
and go into brawling mode. Bailey fought tall, let Figueroa
come in where Bailey used his jab and followed up with a
thunderous right hand that put Figueroa down. But Frankie beat
the count and kept fighting, managing to land a few sneaky
shots that penetrated Bailey’s guard. Bailey fought at a
relaxed pace in spite of Figueroa’s aggression.
In
the second round, they boxed at center ring and Figueroa went
all out and caught Bailey with a combination right and left
that sent Bailey to the canvas and gave the young prospect a
level battle ground after being floored him self in the
previous round. Bailey got up off the canvas quick enough.
When action resumed, Bailey seemed a bit more respectful of
the smaller man with the big heart. They even touched gloves
after the bell in mutual respect.
The
third round started with a head butt, followed by Figueroa
pressuring Bailey, with confidence. Bailey tightened up his
defense against the busier man. Both men landed some shots and
it was a close round. Figueroa was very game but was making
one glaring mistake in not moving to Bailey’s left to avoid or
at least take some of the steam off of that bazooka right hand
should he land it. In the fourth round, that proved disastrous
for the young fighter from
New York City.
The
fourth round started with yet another head butt, followed by a
pause. When action resumed, Figueroa increased his intensity
in pressuring Bailey, looking to build on the momentum he
started in the second round. Bailey had an intense focus about
him that suggested he was looking to land that big right of
his and make it an early night. Sure enough, after a bit of
aggressive action, Bailey landed two jabs followed by another
clean right that dropped Figueroa like a sack of potatoes.
Figueroa not only didn’t beat the count, but gave the crowd a
bit of a scare when he didn’t get up for a couple of minutes.
Medics entered the ring to attend him and after a moment,
Figueroa got up. It was over; Bailey had won by KO in four.
The time was 1:46.
* *
Once Figueroa was finally up and walking, Bailey approached
him, hugged him, gave him some words of encouragement and then
led him around the ring to share in the glory of applause from
the happy fans that got a great show while the smell of
barbequed ribs wafted through the air. Figueroa was still
shaking off the cobwebs as they made their way around the
ring, with Bailey raising Figueroa’s hand to face the crowd.
It was a hell of a nice moment. That Randall Bailey’s a real
classy character!
Puerto Rican southpaw Frankie Figueroa has a lot of potential
and if he learns from the mistakes he made Friday night in
Memphis, he will make his mark in due time. All he needs are a
few technical adjustments, like remembering the correct
direction to move against power punching fighters.
The
IBF titlist Juan Urango is a strong fighter with some
limitations on defense that the much experienced Randall
Bailey can exploit if he can set the tone. Bailey has much
experience and a really great double jab, right combo. Bailey
probably has the finer boxing skills. Urango vs. Bailey should
be a very good fight.
Congratulations to Randall Bailey for the big win and Frankie
Figueroa for a game performance Friday night in
Memphis, where
both men did boxing proud.
* *
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Comments can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com
4-3-2009 |
