Boxing Weekend Wrap up

Alexander rises, Urango falls, Darchinyan rages and big time boxing finds its way back to the Bronx





Last Saturday boxing offered one of those nights that called for fans to use their TIVOs or choose to watch one of two fights that were being offered on competing cable giants HBO and Showtime, as HBO offered an excellent match up between title holders in the Jr. welterweight division, IBF Champ Juan Urango against WBC kingpin undefeated Devon Alexander while on Showtime there was a bout that featured fighters that definitely had the better nicknames, Vic 'the Raging Bull' Darchinyan vs Rodrigo 'El Gato' Guerrero for Darchinyan's WBC super flyweight title.

Devon Alexander (20-0, 13 KOs) is a good looking prospect that has now cemented for himself the vibe of rising star after doing to the Colombian banger what bigger names like Randall Baily, Andre Berto, and Ricky Hatton failed to do, stop Juan Urango. It was Alexander's first showing on HBO and based on this performance its sure not to be his last. Urango was his usual self applying pressure and trying to make a brawl of the contest but the young product of St. Louis used his superior footwork and hand speed to either maneuver his way out of trouble or blast his way out. The IBF champ was bleeding from the nose by the third round but was starting to find some success with his power shots and drew Alexander into a fire fight. Luckily for the young 23 year old WBA champ he was able to use his boxing skills to outland Urango who was still game until the end came in the eighth round after an Alexander uppercut put him down on the canvas. The soon to be former IBF champ rose at the count of ten only to be met with another series of uppercuts that put him back down again. By the time Urango got back up to beat the ten count referee Benji Estedes had seen enough and waved the contest over. Devon Alexander has unified the IBF and WBA junior welterweight championships and has set himself up as a top contender for the real junior welterweight champion of the world Manny Pacquiao. Urango's record falls to 22-3-1 and marks the third loss in three appearances on HBO although this is the only fight in which he was defeated so decisively. The bout took place at the Mohegun Sun in Uncassville, CT and the promoter of the event was Don King promotions.




While out on the west coast a real life Rocky Balboa story was being played out at the Agua Caliente Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California when underdog Rodrigo 'El Gato' Guerrero went the distance with knockout artist WBC super flyweight champion Vic 'the Raging Bull' Darchinyan. The Armenian born champion is always on a seek and destroy mission in the ring that doesn't end until his opponents are anesthetized and he approached this fight with that in mind from the opening bell. Darchinyan attacked El Gato with all out power shots but the Mexican was able to withstand the brunt of Darchinyan's attack. At times the Armenian seemed shocked at Guerrero's refusal to back down. Darchinyan nailed Guerrero with his trademark left crosses over and over again but the challenger would not retreat much to the crowd's delight. This led to a tougher than expected outing for the champ who is trying to look good to make a rematch with Nonito Donaire the only man to ever knock out the Raging Bull.

Guerrero gave as good as he got at times but simply lacked the power to make his punches count as they were not enough to discourage Darchinyan's attack. The champion hit the Mexican with his full arsenal and was not able to break through until the last round when a vicious combination of punches momentarily stunned the challenger. At that point it was Rocky Balboa going the distance stuff as the challenger buoyed by the crowd did what he could to finish the fight on his feet. At the sound of the final bell the Armenian destroyer gave his game rival a much deserved embrace in appreciation of his heroic efforts. The final tallies from the judges read 117-111, 118-110, and 120-108 all to the winner and still WBC super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan.

Weekend Notes

• Last Thursday night promoter Bob Arum told the associated press that a deal has been reached with the New York Yankees to host a defense of the WBA junior middleweight championship between champion Yuri Foreman and challenger Miguel Cotto on June 5th. The stadium would be configured to seat 30,000 people for the fight and is expected to attract a huge crowd. Cotto has a built in fan base in the Bronx as the borough is heavily populated by Puertoricans and he has also made New York a home base of sorts fighting frequently out of Madison Square Garden. Yuri Foreman is a practicing Rabbi and the first Israeli born world champion which will appeal to New York's large Jewish population.

• Don King may finally have the fighter he needs to become relevant again in the sport of boxing. For many years King has dedicated his efforts to collecting American heavyweights like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately the heavyweight division has putrefied worse than milk that has been left out in the sun for three weeks. While King dabbled in heavyweight flab rival promoters like Arum, Main Events, and Golden Boy focused on the lighter weights and that is eventually where all the big fights in the sport gravitated towards. The lighter weights offered more action, skill, charisma, and personality then the plodding land of the giants that are now dominated by eastern European fighters that fail to capture the imagination of the American fight public for various reasons. But all of that has the potential to change now because it appears that Don King is sitting on a gem. Devon Alexander is young, powerful, fast, rangy, has unified two belts and most importantly is within 5 pounds of Pacquiao/Mayweather/Mosley action. He is only 23 years old, I say after a few defenses against some serviceable but beatable contenders, mix in a few money fights with say an Amir Khan or Zab Judah. He certainly has a legitimate chance of beating them and if he does then throw him in with WBA champ Tim Bradley in another junior welterweight unification match and if he wins that fight he would certainly deserve a shot against the big names. That's if King realizes that boxing is no longer a big man's game alone.

• You got to love Vic Darchinyan. He wants to knockout every man he meets in the ring, there family and pets too. He goes into each fight with the single minded purpose of knocking out his opponent. I once saw him argue with the ref because the ref ruled that Vic won by TKO but Darchinyan wanted the ref to rule it a straight KO. If it were possible to put Darchinyan into the body of Wldamir Klitschko then our problems at heavyweight would be over.

• Got a chance to see Joshua Clottey work out at my old gym Kingsway Boxing gym in mid town Manhattan. The warrior from Accra, Ghana looked ripped as usual and had a purposeful approach to everything he did during the workout. I have always had an eye on his career and will never forget the beatdown he gave the late great Diego Corrales in his last fight ever. Clottey is no walk in the park for anyone and I suspect that Pacquiao will not be able to walk over him as easily as he went through Ricky Hatton.