Posts Tagged ‘Jake Giuriceo’

Since early December, Jake Giuriceo has been inactive.  Giuriceo took a vicious head butt in his last fight that caused a detached retina and left an uncertain future in the sport he loves.

The butt came against Peter Oluoch on a December 1 card at Mountaineer.

Since December, “The Bull” has successfully undergone surgery to correct the retina, but will not be cleared until the second part of the process happens.

“I have to have cataract surgery now”, said Giuriceo.  “I go see the doctor on February 13, that is my next step.”

If Giuriceo gets clearance he said he is leaning toward continuing his career.

“I miss it.  I am jogging and shadow boxing to stay in shape, but I really love boxing and hope to be able to come back.  It’s in the Lord’s hands.”

Giuriceo will turn 28 on February 25th, an age too young to retire from boxing in his mind.

“Just about everyone is saying that it is enough and that I should probably retire.  My wife is on the same page with me and I really don’t feel like it is over”, said Giuriceo.

The Bull also touched on the recent retirement of Kelly Pavlik.

“I have been very happy to see a Youngstown guy do so well”, said Giuriceo.  “He can’t get the fights he wants, so basically he is walking away.  I wanted to see him fight for another title, but if nobody wants to give him a good shot at a big fight, he did the right thing by choosing to not beat himself up over smaller paydays.  He really did a lot for this area.”

Giuriceo (16-2-1) is still the same person he was, staying in great shape and currently tipping the scales at 154, and remaining a busy guy.  With his future in boxing in question, he hasn’t changed much in his daily routine.

“I still get up and go to work”, said Giuriceo.  “I come home and still work out.  My wife and I are looking to buy a house in the area and have been busy with that.  I also continue going to church and my Bible study on Sundays and Wednesdays.”

So for now, Giuriceo awaits some big decisions which he has no control of.  If he gets the green light from the medics, he would probably stop at the gym to spar on his way home.  The waiting game is in session and The Bull can almost see red again.

Jake Giuriceo has had a rough 2012 in the ring.  In his last fight, on December 1, at Mountaineer, “The Bull” lost a split decision to Peter Oluoch.  The two fighters butted heads, and the result was not only a loss in the record book, but perhaps a loss of a career as Giuriceo suffered a detached retina.

According to Giuriceo’s manager, Joe Corvino, the junior welterweight had successful surgery on Monday.  Unfortunately, as in the case of Sugar Ray Leonard, a detached retina is a tricky obstacle to overcome and Giuriceo has to be patient and follow the doctor’s orders before he will be cleared for in-ring action.

Giuriceo lost a unanimous decision on March 31 to Michael Clark in Columbus.  That was his first loss as a professional fighter.  With this most recent setback, his record now sits at 16-2-1.

Jake Giuriceo Is Meant For More, Courtesy of Alex Vo Films And Vimeo

Giuriceo is a very strong and spiritual individual and if anyone could come back from such an injury, my money would be on him pulling it off.  I have covered several boxers in this area and nobody works as hard as Giuriceo in the gym.

The video clip above is very telling of what Giuriceo has endured so far in his life.  He is now a married and responsible adult who has overcome adversity in every form.  He still has the potential to be a fresh breath of air in a sport filled with pollution and corruption.

I will pass along more details as I get them.

In the Winter of 2008, I had to have a hip replacement.  The down time I had to endure meant a lot of sitting around with nothing to do except watch reruns of Two And A Half Men and a bunch of game shows.

A friend of mine, Ethan Jaynes, who operated a blog called NESW sports, asked me to write a couple of posts.  When those stories did well, Jaynes hooked me up with the knowledge I would need to run my own site, Paneech.com.

In the time since, I have made a bunch of good friends and probably a few enemies too.

Fast forward to September of 2012.  I am working a 40-hour-a-week job, and still trying to keep up with this website.  Sometimes the posts seem scant, but that is because of the time constraints I have to deal with.

On of the biggest events I was lucky enough to cover was the dedication of Dave Grohl Boulevard in Warren.  I was interviewing Jen Campbell, the organizer of the event, in a side building as warm-up bands were wailing away outside.

Suddenly, on the third question of the interview, the door opens, and it is Dave Grohl.  He looks at us, the only two people in the room, and asks, “Am I early?”

Campbell had to run and gather some folks which left me solo with Grohl, who offered me a Budweiser.  We talked about everything from the steel industry to Wedgewood Pizza, to Kurt Cobain, to how often he sneaks back to this area to visit family.

It was the biggest, ‘right place at the right time’, moment in my life.

I have caught some good breaks to gain access.  My first real coverage was of the Youngstown Thunder Arena Football team.  Those games were a lot of fun and I was able to develop my first player profile interviews while I was there.  Thanks to Anthony Farris for a chance.

The next break to fall into my lap was the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.  Marc Means and Dave Smith, the GM at the time, were instrumental in getting me the trial year of credentials.  The Scrappers, now functioning on the watch of Jordan Taylor, are fun because of the themes, the wrestling, the fireworks, and the personalities you meet who deal with baseball as a way of life every day.

Youngstown State University is something I never thought I would want to cover.  Too much stuff going on.  I wanted to give football a shot, so for the 2009 season, Jon Heacocks’s last,  Trevor Parks gave me that chance.  Call it good timing because nobody but WFMJ and Pete Mollica cared about the football program which seemed to be spiraling negatively.

I took a real liking to the way that the YSU people do things.  There were not too many media people who bet Jerry Slocum would still be around.  I got to know Slocum a little better than some and am glad he has found his niche here.

Covering Cindy Martin was tough because when a team goes 0-30, it is hard to ask many questions with positive answers.  Bob Boldon and his staff have picked up the slack in a big way and made that program fun.

When Ron Strollo hired Eric Wolford for the 2010 season, he made the best possible choice for the university to rekindle a program known for its strong tradition.  Strollo has been fantastic and has seemed to make all of the right moves in the past couple of years.

Wolford is destined for bigger things.  I do not know how long he will be here, hopefully until he retires, but he makes no bones about being an SEC guy and by getting all of the good experience as a head coach here, Wolford will make a jump to a D-I school within the next few years.

Kelly Pavlik was getting recognition for beating Jermain Taylor a couple of times when I got to sit with him and chat.  Still active and back on the rise, The Ghost has provided some huge moments for this site.  Everything from title defenses to a bitter separation with Jack Loew, and no mention of foul play or substance abuse here.  No reason to.

Jake Giuriceo seems to be the next thing to emerge as a televised boxer from Youngstown.  This kid is so laid back, so spiritual, and so focused, that anyone who talks with him would be hard-pressed not to root for him.

As the website continues to progress, I remain focused on trying to be entertaining and informative without the demise factor.  There is enough positive in the Youngstown area to avoid all of the negative.

So to Larry Holmes, the Youngstown Phantoms, 38 Special, Ron Stevens, and Pete Rose.  Thanks for the roles you have played here at Paneech.com!

Late word that Jake Giuriceo‘s scheduled ten-round championship match in Minnesota has been cancelled.  Giuriceo was to face Jason Litzau on September 29, for the interim WBA/NABC Lightweight Championship.

“When Floyd Mayweather Sr. pulled out of the card yesterday, it kind of set things in motion”, remarked Joe Corvino, Giuriceo’s manager.  “Billy Lyell was set to fight on the same card and it was shaping up to be a really good night of boxing, but as we all know, this is sometimes a weird sport to figure out.”

Giuriceo is training with Frank Duarte in California.  The Bull will stay put and keep training in hopes of Corvino patching another deal for him somewhere else.

The best option may be a Roy Jones Jr. card at Mountaineer on September 29.  Jones asked Giuriceo to be on the card when it was being originated.  Corvino and Jones talked about the opportunity that Giuriceo had to face Litzau in Minnesota on the same night.  Jones reportedly said that it was a better opportunity for Giuriceo and that he would take that fight too.

** Photo Courtesy of Ron Stevens

 

Jake Giuriceo has been training in California under the watchful eye of Frank Duarte for his upcoming fight on September 29 in Minnesota.  Giuriceo will Jason Litzau, who holds a record of 29-3 with 22 KO’s.  The fight is scheduled for ten rounds and is for the WBA/NABA Lightweight Championship.

“Litzau is a good boxer, a tall fighter at 5’10”, and has been on ESPN”, said Giuriceo.  “He can punch, but he does have a tendency to leave himself open sometimes.  It would be a great boost to my career if I can get the win against him.”

The normal procedure before a Giuriceo fight over the last five or so has been a trip to California for a couple of months and then a return to Keith Burnside in a unique dual training system.

“It is a longer camp than usual”, said Giuriceo.  “We are going ten weeks and Frankie and I worked very hard the first three weeks on the things we have never really had the time to do.  One of my better aspects is conditioning, so I am happy to have a ten-rounder.”

Giuriceo (16-1) lost a unanimous decision in Columbus to journeyman Michael Clark  his last time out.  He did not go to California to train for that fight, but said that Duarte offers him insight that Burnside does not, just as Burnside gives Giuriceo things that maybe Duarte cannot.

*Photo Courtesy of Ron Stevens

Although he would never make excuses or complain about losing a decision, the scores of the judges cards indicate that Jake Giuriceo (16-1) was dominated by Michael Clark (43-7) in Friday’s eight round fight in Columbus.

The judges scores at the end of the fight were 80-70, 76-76, and 79-72, a wide discrepancy.  Before the fight, Giuriceo said he feels comfortable fighting close to home and this result will do nothing to inspire him to fight away from home.

Clark and Giuriceo bumped heads early in the first round opening a cut under The Bull’s right eye.  Later in the round, Giuriceo was hit with a borderline rabbit punch between his ear and the back of his head.

“It was scored a knockdown, but I clearly remember everything and wasn’t hurt”, said Giuriceo.  “Give him [Clark] credit though, he won the fight.  I knew before the eighth round started that I would probably need to score a knockout to win.”

Tasting defeat for the first time as a professional, Giuriceo remained spiritually focused and thankful for what he has.

“I’m all good”, said Giuriceo.  The Lords will was done.  I gave it my all and honored Him with my actions.  I’m honestly good.”

Giuriceo will keep his nose to the grindstone and continue competing.  The hunt for a promoter will also continue.  If Giuriceo can land a decent promoter, the opportunities should increase, despite the loss.  However, in our Catch 22 world, a promoter is less likely to pursue a fighter after a loss.

Giuriceo felt that he had Clark hurt in the third round.

“I caught him with some good shots and thought I scored well enough to win the second, third, and fourth rounds”, stated Giuriceo.  “With that many fights under his belt, he used his ring generalship and experience to escape.”

On Thursday, Jake Giuriceo (16-0) hovered around Keith Burnside‘s new gym trying to cut weight.  With a sweatsuit zipped up to the neck and covered in sweat, he smiled and said I could interview him while he jumped rope.  I waited.  Making 140 is no easy task for these fighters.

Burnside, getting ready to christen his new gym in Struthers, kept tinkering with the scale to ensure it would be reading accurately.  Meanwhile, a heavyweight named Brandon Winner, who also trains for Burnside started to rib Giuriceo about weight while he was doing all he could to sweat out the extra half of a pound that needed to go away.

“Man, you need top get serious about this.  If you can’t be serious about it, you might as well just stay home and quit wasting your time”, said Giuriceo.  “You need to decide whether or not you want to keep eating and drinking, or you want to lose weight and be committed to this sport, because you are a joke at that weight.”

A few moments later, typical good-hearted Giuriceo peeked through with, “I am just telling you that out of love, to help you get focused, you need to get serious, I made the choice to do away with the booze and the food to get serious.”

Late Friday, I received word that Giuriceo succeeded in making the weight, checking in at 140.  His opponent, Michael Clark (42-7) tipped the scales at 140.5.  This fight offers new challenges for Giuriceo.

For starters, he is fighting in Columbus, a market yet to be exposed to The Bull.  According to Giuriceo’s manager, Joe Corvino, the Campbell native needs to learn how to win outside of his own backyard and the fight will serve as a good experience in that regard.

Giuriceo, who recently got married, said that the marriage has been another in a long string of blessings in his life that spiritually motivates him.

“I am married now, so I have another reason to fight for something”, said Giuriceo.  “I could not be happier or more motivated than I am right now.”

“I expect a tough fight”, said Giuriceo.  “You don’t win 42 fights by not being a good boxer, and he is going to be a good challenge.  I worked hard this camp on my power, the way I throw my punches. I was unhappy my last fight even though I was blessed to come away with a win, but my punches did not feel right.”

Results will be posted here once I get them.  Good Luck Jake!

Jake Giuriceo faced  his toughest competition to date Saturday and stepped up to the plate in a big way.  Juan “Chago” Santiago (14-9-1) had plenty of big-fight experience under his belt, including capturing, and losing, the WBC Latino Super Lightweight title.  Giuriceo scored a unanimous eight-round decision over Santiago proving his escalation to a higher level was warranted.  It was by far, Giuriceo’s most complete fight in a long time.

“I felt awesome tonight.  I felt like everything we ever worked on in all of my training camps came out tonight”, said Giuriceo.  “I felt like I threw great punches.  It is awesome that we can move up in competition .  The boxing part was there, I was blocking punches and moving good.  What me and Keith [Burnside] worked on coming into this fight was throwing punches that count and not wasting any.”

In the first round, Giuriceo controlled the pace of the fight.  He showed the superior ring-general capabilities, and although he took a few shots, he landed many more, including a nice five-punch flurry on the ropes about two minutes into the round.

The second round featured Giuriceo mixing up his targets.  He would start out with a glove to each side of Santiago’s body and then hit him with a hook.  Santiago was taking and giving, but through two – Giuriceo, with slight blood showing in his mouth, was doing most of the giving.

The third was an even toe-to-toe slugfest that neither fighter backed away from the other’s punches.  Santiago landed a couple of uppercuts and used a good jab throughout the round.  Giuriceo continued to pound the body and throw the big hooks. It was a round that may have went Santiago’s way.

Giuriceo hurt Santiago in the fourth with a strong left hook knocking the former champion into the ropes.  The Bull definitely scored well throughout the round, maybe his best of the fight.

The pace of the fight slowed slightly in the fifth as both fighters were starting to show signs of fatigue.  Giuriceo finished the round strong enough to claim it.   Giuriceo nailed Santiago with a good combination in the sixth round that stopped Santiago in his tracks.  Santiago’s corner kept screaming for their fighter to attack claiming that Giuriceo was hurt.  Santiago listened and paid a price each time he came forward.

In the seventh round, Giuriceo finished strong.  Give Santiago credit, he was still fighting too.  Giuriceo earned the round though, as ‘The Bull’, was fighting his style of fight, and winning, convincingly.

In the eighth and final round, the two fighters used about all they had left in the tank.  Giuriceo looked fresher than Santiago did, and his punches were still crisp.

“”When I was working with Frankie [Duarte], we were focusing on getting more boxing skills”, admitted Giuriceo.  “The boxing figured in tonight, but it all really came together.  The Bull showed up tonight.”

The judges scored the fight 79-73, 80-72, 79-73, all in favor of Giuriceo (16-0-1), who cleared his biggest hurdle to date in front of Roy Jones Jr., who may extend the olive branch to some potential promoters.

“I was trying to move a little out there tonight hoping that he [Jones] would see me and hoping that maybe he will give me a call”, said Giuriceo.  “The Lord has blessed me with opportunities.”

“Jake fought a great fight, we didn’t waste punches in there tonight”, claimed Keith Burnside, Giuriceo’s trainer.  “This kid [Santiago] was tough.  His losses are to very good fighters.  Jake stepped it up, but there is still work to do.  He is getting better each fight and we are going to come back stronger.”

The Bull is headed to the chapel to get married in a few weeks, that is his next step.  After the honeymoon, he will get back to business and Joe Corvino, his manager, will carefully plan his next step with the whole team.

*All photos, Courtesy of Ron Stevens

Jake Giuriceo won a unanimous six-round decision in California on Saturday night.  The Bull (15-0-1) got by Jaime Orrantia(26-25-5) by winning all six rounds of the contest.  The fight in Orange County is the first step to national recognition for Giuriceo who is poised to make a jump in class.

“He was pretty unorthodox”, said Giuruceo via telephone.  “Really hard style to fight, but I did win every round of the fight and I feel great.  It was a good win for me and I was satisfied with my performance.”

Giuriceo will be waiting to hear from a couple of promoters who were in attendance Saturday.  Joe Corvino stated a couple of weeks ago that this was a fight to allow Giuriceo to showcase his growing library of skills.  Gary Shaw and Kenny Thompson were a couple of the promoters checking out “The Bull”.

“I hope they like what they saw”, remarked Giuriceo.  “We will be waiting to her something soon from them.”

Jake Giuriceo isn’t far along in his professional boxing career yet, but he is ready to adapt.  In a phone conversation with Giuriceo, he was emphatic about returning to his old ways, reinventing “The Bull” style of fighting.  Giuriceo will face Jaime Orrantia (26-24-5) on Saturday in a bout that says a lot about where the Campbell, Ohio natives career goes next.

The fight, which will take place at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange County, is a rare event outside of this area for The Bull.  Joe Corvino, Giuriceo’s manager, said that this fight will have potential promoters in the audience and hopes that Giuriceo can look sharp and land a good deal.  Corvino also noted that it is time for Giuriceo to fight on the road to help broaden his fan base.

“This guy has had 50 fights”, remarked Giuriceo.  “He is not going to be a pushover by any means.  Anyone with that many fights and has more wins than losses can present problems, so we are really working hard in the gym to get ready.”

Giuriceo (14-0-1, 3 KO’s) talked about what he needs to accomplish fighting a weight class higher than his last fight.

“I need to get back to being ‘The Bull’.  That means I will be be moving forward and throwing more punches, just really being more aggressive.  I think Frankie [Duarte] is excited about training me to be more aggressive, he loves it.”

Giuriceo will hope that promoters Gary Shaw and Kenny Thompson will like what they see so he can land the del that could springboard his career to the next step.

Either way, Giuriceo will be getting married after this fight and said his fiance, Jackie Mazias, will be flying out to California for this fight and to support her future husband.

Results will be posted here once I get them from Giuriceo or his camp.