The most under the radar world title fight of this past weekend saw Costa Rican Bryan Vasquez (32-1, 17) becoming a 2-time WBA "interim" Super Featherweight champion.
The 26 year old Vasquez, known to some as "El Tequito", took on little known Nicaraguan visitor Rene Gonzalez (31-6-1-1, 23). Although Gonzalez isn't known to the wider boxing public he's a fighter who has been mixing on the fringes of world level for a while though often coming up short against the likes of Daniel Estrada, Humberto Mauro Gutierrez and Urbano Antillon.
Once again Gonzalez came up short, albeit in a controversial and somewhat confusing ending.
The fight started evenly with Gonzalez arguably fighting the better though Vasquez was clearly the crowd favourite fighting in front of his home fan. It was perhaps the crowds reaction to Vasquez's work that helped make the judges minds up in regards to the scoring, though it was certainly close. Vasquez was slightly the aggressor whilst Gonzalez was the more controlled man looking to fight off the defensive.
After 4 rounds it seemed like it was nip and tuck. Either guy could have been in the lead.
Sadly as the bout was beginning to really warm up an accidental clash of heads left Vasquez with a badly cut eye. Due to the accidental nature of the bout the judges score cards were called for. Of course due to the technical decision ruling the incomplete fifth round was also scored. This saw the judges coming back with scores that mostly reflected the close nature of the bout with a card of 48-48, 49.5-47.5 and 49-46.5 (yes using half point scoring!) with two of the 3 judges ruling Vasquez the winner.
Showing posts with label WBA Interim Super Featherweight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WBA Interim Super Featherweight. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Yuriorkis Gamboa v Michael Farenas
The long awaited return to the ring for Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa (22-0, 16) saw the talented Cuban claiming the interim WBA Super Featherweight title as he defeated the unheralded Filipino Michael Farenas (34-4-4-1, 26). Despite the fact Farenas was all but unknown prior to this fight he proved to be a genuinely worthy adversary for Gamboa's return to the ring after 14 months out.
The opening round saw Gamboa looking like he had never been away as the fast handed Cuban landed some wonderful combinations on Farenas who struggled to catch him before he got away. The hand speed was again evident in the following round as Gamboa dropped Farenas who immediately got up as if nothing had happened.
Sadly for Farenas head clashes in the third round saw him suffering two massive cuts that bled through out the remainder of the fight. Despite the cuts however Farenas refused to go away and refused to just roll over and instead he rocked Gamboa at the start of the fourth round as he proved he had the power to hurt the Cuban. Although Gamboa seemed to take the round off it was still interesting to see that Farenas had the power to rock him.
Farenas showed again in round 5 that he wasn't there just to collect the pay day he willingly traded with Gamboa and really brought the action to the Cuban. Whilst Gamboa showed he was a class above his Filipino opponent he also seemed to be slowing and this allowed Farenas chances to land to both the head and body of Gamboa. The battling between the two saw Gamboa rocked in the 6th and 8th however he dropped Farenas in the 7th to really open up the lead on the scorecards.
Due to how much Farenas' shots were hurting Gamboa it only made sense for Gamboa to start to use his boxing skills and box cautiously and that's what he started to do for long periods of rounds. In round 9 however Gamboa went for the finish and was surprisingly dropped by a beauty of a shot by Farenas that seemed to not only drop Gamboa but also scramble his legs for the rest of the round. Sadly for Farenas he couldn't capitalise and Gamboa eventually recovered and appeared to do enough to reestablish himself over the later rounds as he took a clear decision.
Whilst I feel the cards were wide, Gamboa was a clear winner, though he's a fighter who needed a fight like this, a grueling 12 rounds against a crude but tough and hurtful fighter to really shake off every bit of rust that he'll have acquired due to his long lay off.
For Farenas this was the sort of showing that shows he belongs in the ring with the top fighters, for Gamboa it was him saying "I'm back".
The opening round saw Gamboa looking like he had never been away as the fast handed Cuban landed some wonderful combinations on Farenas who struggled to catch him before he got away. The hand speed was again evident in the following round as Gamboa dropped Farenas who immediately got up as if nothing had happened.
Sadly for Farenas head clashes in the third round saw him suffering two massive cuts that bled through out the remainder of the fight. Despite the cuts however Farenas refused to go away and refused to just roll over and instead he rocked Gamboa at the start of the fourth round as he proved he had the power to hurt the Cuban. Although Gamboa seemed to take the round off it was still interesting to see that Farenas had the power to rock him.
Farenas showed again in round 5 that he wasn't there just to collect the pay day he willingly traded with Gamboa and really brought the action to the Cuban. Whilst Gamboa showed he was a class above his Filipino opponent he also seemed to be slowing and this allowed Farenas chances to land to both the head and body of Gamboa. The battling between the two saw Gamboa rocked in the 6th and 8th however he dropped Farenas in the 7th to really open up the lead on the scorecards.
Due to how much Farenas' shots were hurting Gamboa it only made sense for Gamboa to start to use his boxing skills and box cautiously and that's what he started to do for long periods of rounds. In round 9 however Gamboa went for the finish and was surprisingly dropped by a beauty of a shot by Farenas that seemed to not only drop Gamboa but also scramble his legs for the rest of the round. Sadly for Farenas he couldn't capitalise and Gamboa eventually recovered and appeared to do enough to reestablish himself over the later rounds as he took a clear decision.
Whilst I feel the cards were wide, Gamboa was a clear winner, though he's a fighter who needed a fight like this, a grueling 12 rounds against a crude but tough and hurtful fighter to really shake off every bit of rust that he'll have acquired due to his long lay off.
For Farenas this was the sort of showing that shows he belongs in the ring with the top fighters, for Gamboa it was him saying "I'm back".
Monday, 23 July 2012
Bryan Vasquez v Jorge Lacierva
Personally I find the whole "world title" scene a bit of a joke and the "interim" WBA Super Featherweight title is a perfect example of what is wrong with the sport. Just days after WBA Super Featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama scored a 3 round technical draw with Filipino challenger Michael Farenas, the WBA "interim" Super Featherweight Champion Bryan Vazquez (29-0, 15) successfully defneded his title against Jorge Lacierva (41-9-6, 27).
The 24 year old Vazquez, of Costa Rica is one of the more under-rated fighters in world boxing and arguably the most deserving contender out there to currently be fighting for a world title. Sadly however Vazquez holds the "interim" title that he won last November by decisioning Nicaraguan Santos Benavide. Against Lacierva we saw Vazquez making his first defense, sadly however the bout told us little we didn't already know about either guy.
The challenger, Lacierva, a Mexican veteran has been around the block a few times and debuted way back in 1994 when Vazquez himself was only 7 years old. Lecierva's first title was won at Flyweight (112lbs) back in 1997 and since then he has lost at world level at Super Flyweight (technical decision loss to Marc Johnson back in 1999), Super Bantamweight (a 12 round decision loss to Celestino Caballero in 2007) and at Featherweight (a 12 round decision loss to Billy Dib in 2011). Quite what he did to deserve a "world title" fight up at Super Featherweight since losing to Dib is a real mystery to me.
Whilst I'm not a fan of the fight, or the title that was on the line I will admit I'm proud of the way Vazquez did the job at hand. Lacierva tried all the dirty veteran tricks in the book but Vazquez adapted to them and broke down the Mexican with solid counter shots. Lacierva was eventually stopped in round 9 following a body shot having been put down once earlier in the same round. It was only the second time in Lacierva's long career that he'd been stopped.
Now, if the WBA are reading this, can we please stop this nonsense of having interim titles and "regular" titles defended on the same week? If I can't have Uchiyama v Ao later this year how about Uchiyama v Vazquez, if only to get rid of this stupid interim title!
The 24 year old Vazquez, of Costa Rica is one of the more under-rated fighters in world boxing and arguably the most deserving contender out there to currently be fighting for a world title. Sadly however Vazquez holds the "interim" title that he won last November by decisioning Nicaraguan Santos Benavide. Against Lacierva we saw Vazquez making his first defense, sadly however the bout told us little we didn't already know about either guy.
The challenger, Lacierva, a Mexican veteran has been around the block a few times and debuted way back in 1994 when Vazquez himself was only 7 years old. Lecierva's first title was won at Flyweight (112lbs) back in 1997 and since then he has lost at world level at Super Flyweight (technical decision loss to Marc Johnson back in 1999), Super Bantamweight (a 12 round decision loss to Celestino Caballero in 2007) and at Featherweight (a 12 round decision loss to Billy Dib in 2011). Quite what he did to deserve a "world title" fight up at Super Featherweight since losing to Dib is a real mystery to me.
Whilst I'm not a fan of the fight, or the title that was on the line I will admit I'm proud of the way Vazquez did the job at hand. Lacierva tried all the dirty veteran tricks in the book but Vazquez adapted to them and broke down the Mexican with solid counter shots. Lacierva was eventually stopped in round 9 following a body shot having been put down once earlier in the same round. It was only the second time in Lacierva's long career that he'd been stopped.
Now, if the WBA are reading this, can we please stop this nonsense of having interim titles and "regular" titles defended on the same week? If I can't have Uchiyama v Ao later this year how about Uchiyama v Vazquez, if only to get rid of this stupid interim title!
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