The event that many of us thought would never happen finally did. Once again, Roy Jones, Jr. has defied the odds, refueling the fire that would have him a true and undisputed pound for pound champion. But before we expand on RJJ's performance, let's talk about the undercard.
Pay per view fans were forced to pass on the WBA super welterweight title bout between then champion Santiago Samaniego and Alex
'Terra' García, only to suffer through one of those bouts that gives women's boxing a bad name.
Long on protection and short on skills, Vonda Ward, with a 15-0, 14 KO record, and 13 straight KOs coming into this match, was fed a substitute opponent, Martha Salazar, with only 5 pro fights. Salazar had all the disadvantages in this fight: 9 inches shorter, 4 years older, 8" shorter reach, and 51 pounds heavier than her opponent, who -if nothing else- did exhibit a chiseled physique at 179 lbs. According to reports Salazar took this fight with one day's notice, but she still managed to do damage, denying Ward her 14th straight knockout, and adding a bloody nose and a bruised face to the equation.
Martha Salazar lost by way of a split decision, with judge Adelaide Byrd seeing it Salazar's way 39-37 while the other two officials scored the same numbers for Vonda Ward.
Next at bat Ronald 'Winky' Wright in a mandatory defense of his IBF Junior Middleweight title against Colombian Juan Carlos Candelo. Winky had predicted a blowout here in order to force promoter Bob Arum to a super bout against Oscar de la Hoya. The twelve rounds were action packed, with Winky putting on a boxing clinic.
Candelo did have his moments where he counter punched well and threw good combinations, but the southpaw from hell prevailed with lopsided scores of 117-111 twice and 118-110, improving his record to 45-3, 25 KOs. J.C. Candelo drops to 26-5-3, 18 KOs.
Winky retained his title but... did he do enough to sway Bob Arum and Oscar de la Hoya? Did he establish enough dominance to merit another 'go see' by the aforementioned? Only time... and Arum will tell...
The Puerto Rican flag and el gran campeón Félix 'Tito' Trinidad led the way for IBF #6 ranked Fres Oquendo, here to do battle against Kushner's Fistful of Dollars tournament winner Maurice 'Mo Bettah' Harris in a ten round eliminator for the #2 spot in the IBF rankings.
Fres Oquendo used to be trained and managed by Félix Trinidad, Sr. who had Oquendo looking very motivated and competitive. Yes, he did get knocked out by David Tua, but given the right opportunity Tua could knock out a horse. Oquendo simply got careless, opted to showboat against the Samoan in a fight he had all but won on points, and paid dearly for the infraction.
Last night Oquendo seemed to have forgotten 80% of what don Félix taught him. He seemed rusty and totally off with his delivery. He threw one punch at a time for the majority of the fight, did a lot of leaping and lunging, and overall looked horrible! In Oquendo's favor was the fact that Maurice Harris could not get motivated enough to make it a fight.
In spite of his newest claim to a new commitment to the sport, Harris seemed lazy and disinterested, allowing Oquendo to score and eventually put him down with a huge right in the 4th round. The fight continued in leaps and lunges, with loud boos from the crowd. Finally -and mercifully- Oquendo said no 'Mo; a hard left hook followed by a chopping right hand to the top of the head sealing Harris' fate 2:12 into the 10th round.
Harris drops to 19-13-2, 10 KOs, while Oquendo improves -if you can call it that- to 24-1, 15 KOs. It's been duly noted that Fres Oquendo can't seem to find a ring name that he can live with. He has been known as 'The Latin Assassin,' 'The Big O' and last nite sported 'Fast Fres' on his trunks. May I suggest getting back to the Trinidad basics, and letting the ringmanship and fists speak for themselves.
In other action, Tijuana's brave warrior Alex Terra Garcia scored an upset over Santiago Samaniego to become the new WBA super welterweight world champion. Garcia, now 21-0, 20 KOs, dropped the former champion in the first assault and finished him of with a huge right 1:46 into the third round. Samaniego drops to 36-7-1, 29 KOs.
Don King's new acquisition in the cruiserweight division, WBA champion Jean-Marc Mormeck stopped challenger Alexander Gurov 32 seconds into the 8th round. Mormeck boosts his record to 29-2, 21 KOs while Gurov falls to 32-4-1, 27 KOs.
