Caught the HBO Saturday After Dark late show from
Sunrise, Florida - travel few miles further south to Hollywood, and this
comedy of errors would have found a more fitting venue - with
Moe-Curly-Larry working the triple header instead of house stooges Telis
ASS-oblivious- imenios, Frank Santore, and to a lesser degree hapless Tommy
Kimmons in the feature attraction.
Curtain opens with jr. middleweight prospect Alfredo
Angulo in with veteran on 4-days notice Cosme Rivera that had showcase
scribbled over it. Angulo enters at 14-0 with eleven arriving short of
distance - Rivera at age 32 with job application of 31-11-2, 23 KOs.
No surprises it’s all Angulo from the opening bell - cut
right eye from inadvertent meeting of the minds in opening candle never once
stops the hard punching aggressive Mexican.
Angulo then picks up the tempo with big stanza two - then
round three Rivera is wobbled and ready to go courtesy of Angulo two fisted
onslaught - then candle four with Rivera without a prayer and third clown in
charge Teli the ass darting about in animated fashion without a clue.
Not only misses the round one billygoat inadvertent, but
worse yet, this unqualified fool shows a complete lack of feel or instinct
for the job - finally, in candle five at 2:38 mark, the Rivera corner hunts
down Florida Fight Commission official at ringside asking the one-sided
affair be stopped. Only then the with corner and official in ring does
Ass-oblivious-imenios wave it off.
Post Scripts:
-
Angulo ( 15-0, 12 KOs) ~ age 26 - the original Mayorga
fight fell through - thus, short notice Rivera went for the pay check.
Mayorga no longer the version that took Vernon Forrest out, but would
likely have been valid test for the aggressive Mexican bomb thrower. Guess
here is Angulo still needs some fine tuning before stepping up in company.
-
Rivera (31-12-2, 23 KOs) ~ age 32 and short on punching
power - if not more careful in choosing opponents is surely an accident
waiting to happen among a tough field at jr. middle.
……………………………….............................................................................................
Next on tap the semi-final twelve round jr. middleweight
duel between past welter champion Kermit Cintron facing Sergio Martinez of
Argentina - expectations were Cintron of Reading, Pennsylvania with career
welter resumé sporting 30 wins, 2 losses to Antonio Margarito, and 27 wins
arriving by stoppage would assume the role of aggressive puncher. Martinez a
southpaw veteran of age 33 with questionable clout, although home grown
cooking saw him entering at 44-1-1, 24 KOs would use the port side,
unorthodox approach.
Surprise here was seeing Cintron over most stanzas unable
to generate an offense - thus the stranger from south of the border had it
all his way via quicker hands and moves that mesmerized the bigger banger -
goes the full twelve.
The only knockdown came during stanza seven - a Martinez
slingshot straight left hand caught Cintron flatfooted - stumbles backward
before dropping to his knees at the ropes - gathers himself just before the
Santore shout of “ten” and then the bell.
Cintron argued the damage was done from head butt -
replays clearly showed he had walked into a straight left hand - still,
Santore failed to hear the bell and everyone in the joint thought it a KO
win for the Argentine.
For reasons only known to clown Santore he sees fit in
stanza twelve to debit Martinez a point for rabbit punches - even the most
novice of fight fans could see it was Cintron trying to avoid the close
quarters punches by turning his head - thus some of the punches were created
by his reaction - but not the stooge in charge of the action.
Then the final bell and the official scoring: Martinez
116-110; 113-113; 113-113 for a majority draw. My unofficial had it all
Martinez 117-109 in points and 9-2-1 under round by round scoring.
Post Scripts:
-
Sergio Martinez (44-1-2, 34 KOs) ~ age 33 - young body
- good defense and hard to read with unorthodox moves coupled with quick
accurate combinations. Good chin and well conditioned. Worth another peek.
-
Kermit Cintron (30-2-1, 27 KOs) - age 29 - off this
first step up to 155 pounds it looks he left the KO power behind at
welter. Wailed over and over about Martinez infractions of rabbit punching
and head butting. Cintron more a front runner than valid contender at now
jr. middleweight.
……………………………….............................................................................................
Main event saw veteran Nate Campbell besting tough South
African Ali Funeka via majority decision that went 115-111; 114-112; 113-113
- in a spirited twelve round battle.
The Campbell power was the difference with Campbell
scoring knockdowns in stanzas two and again in numero eleven - but my rap
sheet saw Campbell needing them closing stanzas of eleven and twelve to seal
the win - my unofficial went Campbell 115-111 in points and 7-5 under round
by round method.
Campbell now moves up to jr. welter - at age 36 the
future not all that bright - tough and can punch but future is now
yesterday.
Funeka earned another look among the lightweight field -
well schooled with decent power and big heart as he survived ugly round two
knockdown and in big trouble to recover with strong stanza three.
The WBA-WBO-IBF belts are now up for grabs with Campbell
moving up in weight.
Closing comments: If Kimmons, Santore, Ass-oblivious-imenios
is best that Florida commission can come up with, the once hot bed of
Florida boxing at Miami is in trouble.
Only answer I have is gift the 21st century clones of original 3-stooges
with pencil and seat at ringside. New faces badly needed.
