Archive for the ‘Boxing’ Category

On Friday, August 12, Dannie Williams put his name on a bigger map, a national map.  Williams defeated Antonio Cervantes on ESPN Friday Night Fights with an impressive four-round performance ending with a resounding TKO.  The momentum and attention are both a little stronger after the victory, Williams’ seventh straight.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better week for Dannie”, said Williams’ trainer Jack Loew.  “Everything we did went well.  He had a very good press conference and gave impressive answers, he showed a lot of respect when he needed to, and most importantly, he fought one of his best fights ever, in front of a national television audience.”

Williams (19-1) is on the cusp of bigger things, very soon.  With his career taking shape in St. Louis, he formed an alliance with Steve Smith and Lights Out Productions to manage his business.  Smith is a good guy who I have met a couple of times and is really looking out for Williams.  Unfortunately, in this business, for Williams to take the next big step, change may be coming because of Smith’s lack of national prominence.

“Dannie is negotiating with [Lou] DiBella. Steve [Smith] has done great things for Dannie, but in order to move ahead, he needs to sign on with a major name and DiBella has shown interest”, said Loew.  “Steve [Smith] will remain involved in some capacity, we are just not sure to what extent right now.”

Williams plans on staying active in pursuit of a championship, he will probably fight again in November, but no deal has been signed as of this writing.

The first-ever Southside Boxing Club golf outing was held August 14th at Bedford Trails.  Jack Loew (above) was pleased with the outing and said that next year it will be even bigger and better than it was this time.

“It was a great day”, commented Loew.  “All of the golfers had a really good time, the food was outstanding, and I think when the word gets out about what a great time everyone had that spots will be much harder to get next year.”

There were continuous refreshment carts cruising around the fairways, yes I said carts, plural.  Usually at a bigger outing there is one cart and you dehydrate before you hit the turn.  Not this one.  The food table looked like an Italian wedding.

Kelly ‘The Ghost’ Pavlik was on one of the four-man teams and was having a good time.  Approaching Pavlik on the tenth hole, I was offered a chance to hit a ball with the champ’s driver.  He playfully joked with me because I passed on the opportunity and then proceeded to hit the first tree on the left with his drive.  Ultimately, I got blamed for being a jinx.  It was a fun moment.  I declined because if I break his $350 driver, I wished not to learn how hard he can really punch.

Many fun moments were had by all and if you missed it, you missed out.  Congratulations Jack for an outing that was really a first-class venture and a memorable day!

* Pavlik Photo courtesy of Trent Wazcop.

In the main event of the Lights Out Production boxing card, Campbell’s Jake ‘The Bull’ Giuriceo (left) squared off against Ramesis Gil.  Giuriceo had a slow first round but dictated the tempo for the duration of the bout and rode that momentum to his 13th victory against zero losses.

In the first round, Gil hit Giuriceo with a couple of solid shots in the early going.  Giuriceo showed no ill-effects of the shots he was taking and by the end of the round, he landed a nifty combination of his own.  However, I would award the first round to Gil.

Rounds two and three saw some serious leather exchanges between the two fighters.  It was an even round, one that makes me happy that I am not a judge.  I would say crowd reaction on the evenness was enough to give Giuriceo the rounds.

Giuriceo had his best round of the fight in the fourth when he staggered Gil with a combination.  Giuriceo caught fewer punches in the fourth than he had in any of the previous rounds and landed more than he probably had in the first three rounds combined.  Big round for The Bull.

In the fifth round, Giuriceo continued connecting and notched another round.  In the sixth, The Bull hurt Gil in a neutral corner with a spectacular flurry of punches.  Gil spent much of the sixth round running rather than engaging.  Giuriceo was ahead at least four rounds to two.

In the eighth and final round, Giuriceo was in a good position.  Gil’s corner had to be telling him he needed to knock Giuriceo out to win. Giuriceo showed good poise, knowing that he was fighting with a lead.  He was not hasty to get in and punch.  He did enough to maintain his lead in that final round.

The judges scored the fight 77-75, 78-74, and 78-74, for the winner by unanimous decision, Jake Giuriceo.

“I felt better than usual in the ring.  I thought I landed more punches even though I caught a few”, commented Giuriceo. “He did a lot of running in the late rounds, he went southpaw for a couple of rounds, and it was a great experience against a very tough opponent.”

When asked if there are conflicts between Frank Duarte and Keith Burnside as co-trainers, Giuriceo gave a good answer.  “There are obviously conflicts sometimes.  It is the best of both worlds though, and I am blessed to have two great guys helping me.  They can disagree, but it works itself out.  We stick to what works best.”

Giuriceo improved to 13-0-1 with 3 KO’s.  Gil fell to 6-3-4 and has nothing to be ashamed of, he took all Giuriceo had to offer tonight.

*Photos Courtesy of Ron Stevens

Miguel ‘Silky Smooth’ Gonzalez (right) and Tyrone ‘Fists of Fury’ Harris (left) hooked it up at Cene Park in a 135-pound scheduled eight rounder.  Gonzalez brought quite a following from Cleveland and was the fan favorite from the onset.  He did little to hurt his popularity in this fight

In the opening round, the 135-pounders brought a much faster pace than the heavyweight dominated card provided to this point.  Harris did more catching than throwing and Gonzalez was the more active fighter landing a fair percentage of his punches.  Give Gonzalez round one.

In the second round, Gonzalez continued to pressure Harris with a pesky jab.  Harris threw more punches than he had in the first round, but unfortunately, he still caught more than he threw, two rounds to none, Gonzalez.  The third and fourth rounds saw Gonzalez connect several jabs on Harris.  Harris was able to land some shots and the southpaw was hitting Gonzalez, but Silky Smooth was putting together some nifty three and four-punch combinations to hold an edge.

Silky Smooth kept the pressure on through the middle rounds.  Harris was catching shots to the head and then shaking his head like the punches had no effect, which the welts and swelling on his face, proved that they must have some impact.  Harris started scoring big in the seventh round.  While the two fighters were clinched, Gonzalez punched as the ref was separating the fighters.  harris took exception and started swinging wildly and angrily.  One of his haymakers connected sending Gonzalez to his left knee.  The referee scored it a knockdown, and suddenly, this fight was close.

Gonzalez poured it on in the eighth round trying to make up for the points he lost one round earlier on the knockdown.  The judges thought Gonzalez was more dominant than I did.  One judge scored it 78-73, and the other two were at 77-74, in a unanimous decision for the winer, Miguel ‘Silky Smooth’ Gonzalez, who improved to 19-2 with the hard fought win.

*Photos by Ron Stevens

Austintown’s own Chris Koval (right) got back into a boxing ring for the first time in over a year.  Koval faced James Porter of Terre Haute, Indiana in a scheduled four-round heavyweight contest.

Koval came away with the decision.  One judge scored it a 38-38 draw, the other two scored it 39-37 for Koval.  “It was a tough fight, and I am glad I got the work”, remarked Koval.  “It wasn’t pretty, but it is what it is – a win.  I have been off for over a year and shook some cobwebs off, I am a lot lighter than I was a year ago.  That helped me in one sense, but I only had three days of sparring.”

Koval, donning ‘Bill’s Place’ trunks came in looking physically fit compared to his last couple of fights.  The first round was pretty even as both fighters had their moments on offense.  Porter started strong and ended strong, and Koval dominated the middle.

In the second round, Koval, aka Special K, established a jab and took control of the pace.  Porter put together a couple of nice flurries but Koval did a little more to win the round.

Koval displayed good ring generalship in the third as he worked from the middle-out.  Porter spent a lot of the round circling Koval.  Both fighters landed good punches in the round with Koval’s biggest shot of the fight, a short left hook landing, but not hurting Porter.  Give the close round to Koval.

In the fourth and final round,  Koval landed some shots and to Porter’s credit, he kept throwing as well.  It was a good pace for two heavyweights and both fighters maintained it.

* Photos Courtesy of Ron Stevens

The boxing card at Cene Park got off to a thunderous start.  Aaron Dufour squared off against Derrick Evans in a scheduled four-round 175-pound match.  Unfortunately, Evans only needed one round to make quick work of Dufour.

The fighters exchanged for the first minute of the first round and then Evans caught Dufour knocking him down.  Dufour got back up fairly quick.  As soon as the ref said ‘fight’, Dufour was floored with a hook and stayed down for six seconds of the ref’s count.  At that point, Dufour’s eyes were woozy and the ref really should have considered stopping this one.  He let it go.  (See above picture).

At the 1:37 mark of the first round, Dufour was knocked through the ropes and stayed down for a minute or so.

“I trained hard and didn’t come here to lose”, remarked Evans after the impressive win that hoists his record to 2-0 with both wins coming by knockout.  Dufour dropped to 2-2 with the loss.

The second fight of the evening was a Heavyweight contest pitting Jason Massie (left) of Cleveland against Mujaheed Moore (right) of Shaker Heights, geographic proximity.  Massie came in with a perfect 6-0 record and Moore came in with a losing record but a lot of heart.

Massie snuck away with a unanimous decision to run his record to 7-0.  With the loss, Moore fell to 4-6.  Massie did just enough to win a hard-fought contest where both heavyweights were gasping in the third round, typical of the weight class.

The first round was Moore’s best as he caught Massie with some big rights.  From the second round on, both fighters looked tire but Massie stayed busier.  Most of the third and fourth rounds were spent with the boxers heads on their opponents shoulder and punches thrown blindly.  Moore did bleed a little, but neither fighter was really hurt the entire fight.

After a one hour and fifteen minute delay, boxing resumed. Nicolai ‘The Mountain Man’ Firtha (above) of Akron faced off against Ross’The Boss’ Thompson.  Firtha is managed by local, Pat Nelson.

In the first round, Firtha didn’t land a punch until after the one minute mark.  Thompson landed a couple of shots to the head and one to the body.  By the end of the round, Firtha was throwing more and landing a couple, but Thompson won the round.

In the second round, there was more talking and jawing between the fighters than fighting.  Firtha opened it up a bit and hit some clean body shots when he had Thompson pinned on the ropes.  At the very end of the round, Firtha hit Thompson and sent him to the canvas.  Thompson argued it was a slip and a ten minute delay ensued with everything from protests to Bernie Profant to Thompson’s corner throwing in the towel, to the fight seemingly over, to starting again.

In the third and fourth rounds, Firtha , not Thompson, was the boss.  Firtha used about a six inch height advantage to bully Thompson around almost every clinch.  Firtha was the aggressor and Thompson was a little too choosy about when he should let his hands fly.  At this point, I had Firtha ahead three rounds to one.

The fifth and sixth rounds found Thompson resting with his back on the ropes for the majority of each round trying to counterpunch.  That did not go so well as ‘The Boss’ was having a rough day at the office.

When it went to the scorecards, Firtha was declared the winner by a unanimously lopsided decision and improved to 20-8.  Thompson fell to 27-16 with the loss.

*Photos Courtesy of Ron Stevens

Dannie Williams won his seventh straight fight in impressive fashion on ESPN Friday Night Fights.  Antonio Cervantes took a Williams right to his chin at the 1:05 mark of the fourth round.  Referee Steve Smoger stopped the fight immediately, and Williams continued his escalation in raising his record to 19-1.

Williams knocked  Cervantes down in the first round and seemed in control the entire fight.  “I need to get national exposure so people can see what I am all about”, exclaimed Williams.  He got some love from ESPN and with this good showing, expect bigger things for Jack Loew‘s fighter.

When Williams caught Cervantes with the knockout punch, he knew it.  Once Cervantes hit the canvas, Williams smiled, and immediately realized that he landed the big one, he knew this fight was over.  Williams showed concern for his fallen opponent for a bittersweet minute before Cervantes got to his feet in a display of good sportsmanship.

Williams, a National Golden Gloves Champion in 2004, has handled his moderate success and seems poised to be on bigger cards very soon.  Coming off of a mediocre decision over Oscar Cuero in July, Williams stayed active and kept training for Cervantes knowing that the television exposure to a national audience would bolster his career.  This performance will definitely enhance that notion.

On Saturday night, Ramesis Gil and Jake Giuriceo will lock horns at Cene Park.  Giuriceo, pictured above with Frank Duarte, will be looking to run his record to 13-0.  Gil is no putz. He has lost to two fighters with combined records of 29-0.  He also scored a first round KO over a 7-1 fighter and has been tough.

Giuriceo is on the brink of national attention.  He won last month in a slugfest at the Covelli Centre and looks to be in line, results of this fight pending, for a step up the ladder and a potential championship match in October on another Lights Out Productions card.

Gil talked about his trip to Youngstown.  “I am here to fight ‘The Bull’. I am the bullfighter. I feel really good and have been training hard for a good fight, I want to make a statement and show the people what I can do.”

Giuriceo also feels good.  After intensive training and sparring in California under the watchful eye of Duarte, The Bull is ready to charge forward in his career.  Should be a good fight and a decent undercard to lead into this Main Event.

Cefalde spoke about potential weather hazards.  “If it rains, the entire ring will be covered by a giant tent and the perimeter will stay dry.  It is going to happen nd we might have a slight delay, but you can bet that everything is in place.  Two days ago, it was 70 percent, today I heard 40 percent and it wasn’t supposed to start until later Saturday night, who knows?  Either way, we are ready.”

Dannie Williams, who trains in Youngstown, will be fighting Friday, August 12, on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.  Williams (18-1, 14 KO’s) will face Antonio Cervantes (16-5-5)  in the nationally televised event.

There was concern that Williams injured his hand last time out and would not be able to fight with such short prep time.  Jack Loew, who trains Williams at Youngstown’s Southside Boxing Club addressed the hand issue.  “Dannie’s hand is fine.  He has been training very hard for this fight and we want to make a good showing on ESPN.”

In Williams’ last fight, a decision he won against Oscar Cuero in Youngstown, Williams struggled in the third to fifth rounds because his braided hair was laying in his eyes.  “We will cut his hair off between rounds this fight”, commented Loew.  “I will stop blacktopping driveways and learn how to be a barber real quick if that happens again.”

Before the Cuero fight, Williams said he was ready to take the next step and needed to get some television exposure.  ESPN Friday Night Fights is some good exposure.  If he wants to keep rising up in the rankings, he will have to perform better than he did against Cuero.  Currently, Williams is ranked ninth best in the United States (of 190 fighters) in the power rankings for lightweights according to Boxrec.com.

Lights Out Productions, a locally-run company, is unveiling a boxing card called “Destruction On The Diamond” this Saturday at Cene Park.  Jake Giuriceo will headline the card as he takes on Ramesis Gil in the main event.

Giuriceo was unsure who he would be fighting until Sunday when Gil was named his opponent.  Mike Cefalde and company have scoured the talent pool in finding a good foe for Giuriceo, who returned from California late Saturday night.

Giuriceo (12-0) has been working with Frank Duarte on the West Coast.  “It’s good that Jake is getting some work with Frank [Duarte]”, echoed Cefalde.  “He is sparring some of the best competition in the world while he is there and Frank is really working hard to sharpen him up.”

Gil, who is a Dominican fighting out of Puerto Rico is 6-2-4.  His only two losses came to a fighter who was 17-0 and a 12-round decision loss to an opponent with a record of 12-0.  He beat a fighter with a 7-1 record last time out with a first round barrage to earn a quality knockout over a quality opponent.

A co-feature on the card, pits popular Cleveland  native Miguel “Silky Smooth” Gonzalez (18-2, 4 KO’s) against Tyrone Harris (24-7).  These two light welterweights should have quite a battle.  Cefalde hinted that Gonzalez will bring quite a following from Cleveland and said landing him for this particular card was huge.

Chris Koval, of Austintown, gets back into the ring after 14 months of inactivity.  Koval returns in much better condition, down about 75 pounds, for his fight against James Porter.  Koval comes in with a record of 24-7 with 18 KO’s.

Besides the Koval – Porter heavyweight battle, there are two more matches scheduled for the big boys.  Nicolai Firtha squares off against Ross Thompson in a six-round match.  Jasson Massie will step in to face Mujaheed Moore in a four-round heavyweight fight.

Aaron Dufour and Paul Parker will meet in a light heavyweight match.

Also set to compete on the card are light middleweight, Dante Moore, and Nicole Woods, a female lightweight (not against each other).

Tickets are $15 for bleacher seats, $25 for general admission, and $50 for ringside.  You can get tickets at Patsy’s, Crickets, Dona Vito’s, and the Wine Cellar.

For more information, contact Mike Cefalde at (330) 787-4228.