Less than a week since reports broke about the WBA possibly doing away with "Interim" titles, we saw a rematch between Panamanian Robert Vasquez (32-5-2, 22) and Filipino John Mark Apolinario (17-2-3, 4) for the WBA interim Bantamweight title. Rather surprisingly the title remained "vacant" as the two men fought to a draw, the second successive bout.
The two men, who fought for the first time just 4 months ago, drew when they first met in Argentina with neither man managing to get an upper hand for any stretch of time. This time however things looked different, things seemed to be flowing wonderfully for the Panamanian who had previously held titles at both Light Flyweight and Flyweight.
At the mid way point in the bout it was very easy to feel that Vasquez was in a clear lead. He wasn't beating the ever loving snot out of Apolinario but he was clearly winning more rounds than he was losing and he was at home with the fans getting well behind him. According to Argentinian television station "TYC Sports" Vasquez had bagged 5 of the first 6 rounds and was surely on his way to the title.
Vasquez continued to look a class better than his lesser known opponent in the second half of the fight as he showed his experience and seemed to sweep the second half of the fight to what appeared on paper to be a clear decision. Vasquez's domination of the bout had seen Argentinian TV score it 119-109 in his favour and seemingly saw him claiming the title by clear decision. The came the judges decision which rather oddly saw the bout much, much close than most scoring it 116-112 each way and 115-115 to leave us a majority draw.
Interestingly when the men first met it was viewed that Apolinario was robbed, this time however it seems that Vasquez was denied a clear victory in a shocking case of boxing karma.
Showing posts with label WBA Interim Bantamweight title. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WBA Interim Bantamweight title. Show all posts
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Monday, 5 November 2012
Roberto Vasquez v John Mark Apolinario
Panama's Roberto Vasquez (32-5-1, 22) failed in his attempt to claim the WBA "interim" Bantamweight title this past weekend as he could only score a draw with relatively unknown Filipino John Mark Apolinario (17-2-2, 4).
Vasquez, a former champion down at Light Flyweight and Flyweight, was expected to have the experience and know-how to defeat Apolinario who hadn't fought in close to a year, however the 22 year old co-challenger relished the opportunity of being in a title fight and refused to be intimidated by his experienced opponent.
Although neither man was fighting at home, as they went to Argentina, it was thought that the destination of the bout would favour Vasquez, who has fought through out the world (including his native Panama, Mexico, Dominican Republic, France and Japan) as opposed to Apolinario who was fighting for the first time outside of his homeland. Surprisingly however Apolinario didn't look like a fighter fighting out of his homeland for the first time and was thoroughly impressive in a very close battle.
The close and competitive nature of the bout was seen clearly in the scoring as two judges (Gustavo Estrella and Jesus Cova) scored it level at 114-114 whilst a third judge (Uriel Aguilera) could only see 1 clear round between them, scoring the bout 115-113 for Vasquez, leaving the "interim" belt vacant.
Vasquez, a former champion down at Light Flyweight and Flyweight, was expected to have the experience and know-how to defeat Apolinario who hadn't fought in close to a year, however the 22 year old co-challenger relished the opportunity of being in a title fight and refused to be intimidated by his experienced opponent.
Although neither man was fighting at home, as they went to Argentina, it was thought that the destination of the bout would favour Vasquez, who has fought through out the world (including his native Panama, Mexico, Dominican Republic, France and Japan) as opposed to Apolinario who was fighting for the first time outside of his homeland. Surprisingly however Apolinario didn't look like a fighter fighting out of his homeland for the first time and was thoroughly impressive in a very close battle.
The close and competitive nature of the bout was seen clearly in the scoring as two judges (Gustavo Estrella and Jesus Cova) scored it level at 114-114 whilst a third judge (Uriel Aguilera) could only see 1 clear round between them, scoring the bout 115-113 for Vasquez, leaving the "interim" belt vacant.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Hugo Ruiz v Jean Sampson
Exciting Mexican Hugo Ruiz (31-1, 28) successfully defended his "Interim" WBA Bantamweight title for the 4th time by knocking out undeserving Nicaraguan Jean Sampson (12-2, 7) in the 9th round. Ruiz, who won the title in January 2011 (by winning a technical decision over Alvaro Perez) is now on an impressive 22 fight winning streak since the solitary reverse on his record back in 2007 to Enrique Quevedo (LTKO4).
Whilst I love watching Hugo Ruiz (who is flawed but has that sort of must power) I must question quite what the WBA were thinking by having Jean Sampson fighting for their title.
Samspon, who made his debut back in 2009 had opened his career with 11 straight wins including 2 controversial ones over Nicaraguan journeyman Rafael Castillo (who currently has a record of 5-12-3, 3), all of those fights taking place Sampson's native Nicaragua. Sampson's first fight outside of Nicaragua was in Panama against Venazuelan Yonfrez Parejo and not only was it the first title bout of Sampson's career but it was actually his first bout scheduled for more than 6 rounds. Parejo dominated Sampson taking a clear decision over 11 rounds for the WBA Fedelatin Bantamweight title. Following this loss Samspon managed to score just a single win, a DQ over 42 year old former Minimumweight and Light Flyweight champion Rosendo Alvarez, a fighter who hadn't been active in over 6 years!
It was hardly surprising that Sampson who simply didn't deserve his title fight didn't manage to defeat the very exciting Ruiz who has been developed very well so far in his career. Hopefully Ruiz manages to get a notable fight in the US in the next year or two and gets the chance to be seen by a much bigger audience than regularly gets to see him as he is out and out fun!
Whilst I love watching Hugo Ruiz (who is flawed but has that sort of must power) I must question quite what the WBA were thinking by having Jean Sampson fighting for their title.
Samspon, who made his debut back in 2009 had opened his career with 11 straight wins including 2 controversial ones over Nicaraguan journeyman Rafael Castillo (who currently has a record of 5-12-3, 3), all of those fights taking place Sampson's native Nicaragua. Sampson's first fight outside of Nicaragua was in Panama against Venazuelan Yonfrez Parejo and not only was it the first title bout of Sampson's career but it was actually his first bout scheduled for more than 6 rounds. Parejo dominated Sampson taking a clear decision over 11 rounds for the WBA Fedelatin Bantamweight title. Following this loss Samspon managed to score just a single win, a DQ over 42 year old former Minimumweight and Light Flyweight champion Rosendo Alvarez, a fighter who hadn't been active in over 6 years!
It was hardly surprising that Sampson who simply didn't deserve his title fight didn't manage to defeat the very exciting Ruiz who has been developed very well so far in his career. Hopefully Ruiz manages to get a notable fight in the US in the next year or two and gets the chance to be seen by a much bigger audience than regularly gets to see him as he is out and out fun!
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