by Kevin Blatt/Photo by Snappa Redley | Tue. July 2, 2013
Rabbit Punches – 31 Shots to the Back of the Head & 1 More to the Body!
2. Why am I starting with number 2 you ask? Well, I showed up far too late to catch number 1 by making the criminal mistake of using Apple Maps for directions. Upon arriving I noticed the mechanical Lion outside of the MGM Grand in Foxwoods was missing…he must have an iPhone as well.
3. Tardiness aside, by the time we got seated and ready, the first fight of the night began between top DiBella welterweight prospect, Dusty Harrison (14-0, 7KO) and Ben “The Congo Soldier” Ankrah (15-15, 6KO).
4. I feel fully confident in saying at least one of the ring card girls is also named Dusty Harrison. I have no proof of this, but I am tempted to walk back into the casino and see what the odds are on it. I’m guessing at least even money.
5. Right from the opening bell you could see why people have been high on the young Harrison…he is a long fighter with very quick hands and feet, finishes combinations strong and has a snapping jab he uses to control distance very well. Ankrah has shown what he has against many prospects on their way up - he’s a tough guy with a strong chin, but was outmatched and outgunned throughout the 6 round affair. When the cards were finally read, two of the judges scored it a shutout, while one must have fallen asleep during a round and defaulted it to Ankrah.
6. The second bout of the night began with the rapidly growing crowd coming alive at the mention of local Super Bantamweight prospect Luis “The KO King” Rosa (14-0 6KO) of nearby New Haven, Connecticut. Standing across the ring was by far Rosa’s most experienced opponent to date, Mexican veteran Jose Angel Beranza (36-27-2 28KO).
7. Beranza, whose resume reads like a “who’s who” of former and current prospects and stars, continuously tried to overwhelm his younger opponent with consistent pressure and combinations. Rosa however, proved he is surprisingly hard to hit at times and equally good at hitting back. Rosa stayed patient and used a terrific body attack, which almost immediately began to affect the older Beranza.
8. By the later rounds it was clear the persistent glove work down low was paying off as the pressure and combinations from the 37-year-old Mexican began to wane and fade. As the 8th round concluded all 3 judges saw it exactly as everyone else in attendance did, with Rosa walking away with the unanimous decision victory to the tune of 79 – 72…showing once again he is a prospect to watch who is improving and doesn’t know the meaning of a boring fight!
9. We have our first Paulie Mallignaggi sighting. And yes, he is still talking. We will check in later and see if he stops.
10. In the most touching moment of the night (not something you can always equate to the violent sport we love), Framingham, Massachusetts’s Danny O’Connor (21-1 7KO) dedicated his fight vs. Albuquerque’s Hector Munoz (21-11 14KO) to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and even came into the ring in a “Boston Strong” outfit with all of the victims names stitched into it. Coming from someone who has a friend whose name made up one of the stitchings, it was a fantastic gesture and the crowd loudly agreed.
11. As O’Connor walked to the ring his always-raucous fans, who arrived in droves, proudly sang his name in a number of chants to cheer their fighter on. O’Connor responded accordingly. Munoz did start strong, but found trouble breaking the guard of his much more accurate opponent.
12. I now convinced a giant Mohawk is not the best idea for a fighter. Each time O’Connor landed cleanly sweat shot from the tips of Munoz’s hair like a sprinkler.
13. The rounds seemed to follow that pattern to a tee until the 6th. The ever-busy Munoz was able to land a big hook that seemed to serve as an alarm clock to O’Connor, who had up to this point been either taking the round off or tiring. As soon as the punch landed O'connor responded. He swept the last two rounds of the bout in similar fashion to the first five leaving all three judges and OtG with the same 79 – 73 score.
14. Quick check…yep, Malignaggi is still talking. No wonder this guy has such a great chin. It is continuously getting exercised. Of course, that is also what has made him a solid announcer for Showtime.
15. In the first televised bout of the card Cleveland’s Willie “The Great” Nelson (21-1-1 12KO), who disappointingly was not the country star trying his hand a new gig, took on rugged Argentinean challenger, Luciano “El Principito” Cuello for the NABF Light Middleweight Title.
16. I don’t know what I was thinking anyway; there is no way the OTHER Nelson would pass the drug testing. As one of Cuello’s former opponents, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. recently showed us, weed isn't cheap in today’s boxing world.
17. For the first two rounds the noticeable size difference between the combatants looked to be synonymous with a clear difference in skill. Nelson used superior speed and pure boxing to dominate the first two rounds. Looks however, can be deceiving, as the heart of Cuello started to take over. He closed the distance in round 3 and finally made the Goliath to his David pay with a clean hook that wobbled the champion.
18. The fight from that point became like a tale of two rounds. Nelson would control one with movement and speed and Cuello would answer in the next three minutes with determination and clean, hard rockets. In the rounds which Cuello won he hurt Nelson, but to Nelson’s credit he stayed upright and kept sneaking those lesser eventful rounds into the bank.
19. The best example of this being the final two rounds, where in the 9th, Nelson came out like his corner hit the select button and Cuello appeared to be dead on his feet. After the bell tolled putting an end to the round, it looked clear that the Argentinean fighter needed a knockout to win…and when they came out and met in the middle of the ring for the final 90 seconds, Cuello fought like he agreed. He hurt Nelson on multiple occasions with his corner screaming to jab his way in and make it harder for Nelson to escape, but that jab never came and Nelson survived the onslaught.
20. Boos rained down from the fans in attendance as the scores were read off as 97-93 twice and 96–94 (the same score as OtG), proving once again in boxing a fighter like Nelson can clearly lose the war, but still claim enough rounds to win the fight. To his credit, Cuello showed that one could lose a fight and still gain every fan in attendance as your own. What a war!
21. The next fight of the night apparently looked to prove that I know nothing of size differences as the 6-foot-4-inch Super Middleweight Thomas “Tommy Gun” Oosthuizen (21-0-13KO) dwarfed his “normally considered tall” opponent, 6-foot-tall American and former amateur standout Brandon “Flawless” Gonzales (17-0-1 10KO).
22. Oosthuizen, who earned his nickname by being a fighter who is known to throw punches almost non-stop, seemed to be trying out a different approach early by actually boxing with the more technical Gonzales. This turned out to be the wrong strategy. For the first 4-and-a-half rounds, Gonzales intelligently walked inside on the taller man and continuously snapped his head back with huge right hand after huge right hand. The difference in height only exaggerated the effect the blows had.
23. Towards the end of the 5th round, Oosthuizen finally decided to go back to what got him his reputation. He really opened up the attack, making a round that Gonzales had controlled with clean punching extremely close and tough to score.
24. Over the last half of the fight, Oosthuizen stayed busy and controlled the real estate and pace of the action, with Gonzales occasionally landing crowd-awing shots up top that would bend the lanky giant backwards and send the crowd into a frenzy. As the scores were announced the crowd again was left jeering at the perceived incompetence of the scoring when the tallies of 96 – 94 to Oosthuizen, (the laughable) 98 – 92 to Gonzales and an even 95 – 95 made it a majority draw. This was the second straight fight where a fighter was beaten in the war, but did not lose the fight.
(OtG had it scored 96 – 94 with Gonzales winning, but with both extremely close rounds going his way.)
25. In stark contrast to the disappointment of the last bouts decision, the elation from the fans of the challenger Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin (29-5 20KO) was deafening. Macklin entered the ring with a scowl on his face that the crowd ate up as he bounced from rope to rope awaiting the entrance of the champion, the devastating puncher Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin (27-0 24KO).
26. Golovkin stood almost stoic in his corner, glaring towards his opponent with a calm that would later prove to be the eye of the storm.
27. As the bell rang, Macklin, looking to show he did not fear the animal in front of him, began the action by trying to establish his jab and work off it - tipping his cap that his plan was to try to tame the beast with movement and distance.
28. What was that saying about plans and getting hit in the face again?
29. With the first few shots you could see and feel why Golovkin’s power is so revered. Even standing at a distance from the action, each clean punch put a cringe into the body of everyone in attendance. At one point it seemed even when Macklin would block the punches, he would get sent sprawling backwards.
30. As for Golovkin, one thing that stands out quickly is how well he is able to move his feet and use his power to cut off the ring and trap his opponents. It seemed every time Macklin attempted to escape his pressure, Triple G would bully him to whatever spot in the ring he wanted and continue the punishment.
31. By the end of the 1st round, it was clear that despite how tough Macklin was, this fight was going to end early and spectacularly. Less than six minutes later it did just that as Golovkin again trapped his man in a place where he did not want to be and unleashed a shot to the ribcage crumbling the Irishman into a heap - prompting the referee to stop the fight almost immediately, as there was no way Macklin was making it to his feet by the end of the 10 count. Even as Golovkin started his interview with HBO, Macklin still writhed in pain on the canvas.
32. The talk after the fight centered on one subject, who the victor would fight next (despite obstacles in the way of most of his options), and whoever that may be let’s hope he has a chin of stone, body of stone and mind of stone…because in less than nine minutes we all witnessed him take someone who was always considered a rugged opponent, and leave him in a destroyed pile of himself.
Truly, a beautiful display of brutality.