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kenyan_cheena · 03-27-2009, 09:47 PM

In the semi-finals Norton will face probably his most dangerous opponent to date in the Nigerian Ike Ibeabuchi. Fighting in the evening's opener Ibeabuchi stopped the tough South African Francois Botha on cuts 2:05 into the 8th round. This bout looked like being an absolute classic after the first two rounds as the two combatants traded some thunderous power punches. But Ibeabuchi took control in the 3rd, bringing some swelling to Botha's left eye with a succession of hard right hands. Ibeabuchi maintained his momentum through the 4th, although there was some concern at the end of the frame when a headbutt opened a cut on the Nigerian's forehead. Botha gave a better account of himself in the 5th and 6th, possibly because Ibeabuchi took his foot of the accelerator.

But the tide turned back the other way in the 7th, Ibeabuchi punishing Botha before opening up a nasty cut on the bridge of his nose. After a lengthy debate involving Botha, the referee and ringside physician the fight continued but with Ibeabuchi targeting the cut it got progressively worse in the 8th, to the point where blood was streaming down Botha's face. The fight was halted and called off soon after, Ibeabuchi improving his record to 27-1-1(24) with the TKO victory. Botha fell to 25-4(19).

Having lost the fifth fight of his pro career back in 2002 Ibeabuchi has since put together an undefeated streak of 24 bouts. The biggest name on that list would be Michael Dokes, who he knocked out in June '04. Before the IBL came into being it had been difficult for the Nigerian's management team to arrange fights against the top contenders, as they didn't want anything to do with him. But now he's set up what will be the biggest one of his career. No doubt Ken Norton will be in for a tough night come the 22nd of September.

Florida Alliance member and former WBO champion Terone Haynes booked his semi-final berth with a four-round decimation of Tyrell Biggs. As expected, Haynes was far too powerful and aggressive for the Sydney Olympics gold medallist and after three one-sided rounds referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight with Biggs defenseless, spent and taking a pummeling on the ropes 2:08 into the 4th. The intimidation factor was in full effect when Haynes made his way to the ring some twenty minutes earlier, the 6'4" 230-pounder accompanied by the audio assault of Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome", his corner crew and each of the other four members of the Pensacola stable. Decked out in solid black Haynes walked with his head bowed and concealed under an oversized hood. Once in the ring he flipped it off and glared at Biggs with a gaze that could have frozen the warmest of summer days.

June has been a busy month for the head of this talented group of fighters, their trainer Roy Jones. Starting out in Oklahoma City on the 8th for Elmer Ray's junior-heavyweight bout he was on a plane to Nigeria within 24 hours where Elmer's cousin James was in action. Back in the USA five days later, he's travelled from Atlantic City to Las Vegas and now to San Diego during the past week, working the corner in bouts for his other charges Holman Williams and Romy Alvarez. It would be true to say he looked a bit road-weary while talking to Haynes in the moments before the opening bell but the performance that the big Miami native produced helped him to forget that tiredness.

"Mission accomplish'd," Jones said with a smile during the post-fight interview. "Yeah, been a hectic month, y'all. But we all come out of it okay, no doubt. I be real glad for my boy T that he get through this fight wit' no problems. He right on the verge now, see? Right on the verge of somethin' real special."

Haynes is 22-0(18) while Biggs (27-5-1(18)) fell to his third defeat in four outings. Even though he was given next to no chance of overcoming Haynes it must be said that the Philadelphian's career is at a crossroads. The last eighteen months have been disasterous for him after being defeated by both James Anders and Leon Higgins in '05. He'll have to string some wins together in his next couple of bouts to show that he's still capable of contending at the highest level.

In the co-feature Russia's former WBA champion Sergey Anyukov set up a mouth watering semi-final clash with Haynes by dominating a surpisingly out of shape Ray Mercer on the way to a 99-90, 98-91, 99-90 unanimous decision win. Like Biggs, Mercer was a gold medallist at the 2000 Olympics but those days appear to be a distant memory now, Anyukov using a big reach advantage to dominate the Jacksonville slugger.

Mercer lost his WBO crown to Haynes in September 2004 and had only fought once since being knocked out by then WBC champion Norton in April '05. His record is now 31-6-1(22) and it would be true to say that, after last night's terrible showing, he has very little left to give. Considering the lifeline that the IBL gave him it's hard to believe that his preparation for the fight was so poor. This can be contrasted with the appearance of Dokes in the main event.

Mercer's attitude was a disappointing one, to say the least. It was a minor miracle that he survived to the final bell as Anyukov outlanded him by a remarkable 326-88. The punishment he dealt was particularly brutal in rounds four, five and six, and then again in the 9th. The Russian is now 36-1-1(26) and is excited at the prospect of taking on Haynes.

"Through my run as WBA champion I never fought anyone like him," he said. "It's going to be a huge test for me and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been waiting so long for a fight like this and I know he has been, too."

Last night's card was the first of the IBL's World Championship tournaments where the top four seeds all progressed to the semi-finals. In each of the previous six at least one of them was eliminated. While Norton, Anyukov, Haynes and Ibeabuchi all justified their standing in the tournament it will be a real challenge to accurately predict which of them ends up in the championship bout. A case can be made for each of the four possible matchups, meaning that the card on September 22 is going to be a can't-miss event.

***

Results

(4) Ike Ibeabuchi TKO8 (5) Francois Botha
(3) Terone Haynes TKO4 (6) Tyrell Biggs
(2) Sergey Anyukov UD10 (7) Ray Mercer
(1) Ken Norton TKO7 (8) Michael Dokes

Semi-finals

(2) Anyukov (36-1-1(26)) vs (3) Haynes (22-0(18))
(1) Norton (29-2-1(23)) vs (4) Ibeabuchi (27-1-1(24))

***

03-27-2009, 09:47 PM	#246 (permalink)
kenyan_cheena Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia Posts: 7,598 Thanks: 81 Thanked 143x in 125 posts	In the semi-finals Norton will face probably his most dangerous opponent to date in the Nigerian Ike Ibeabuchi. Fighting in the evening's opener Ibeabuchi stopped the tough South African Francois Botha on cuts 2:05 into the 8th round. This bout looked like being an absolute classic after the first two rounds as the two combatants traded some thunderous power punches. But Ibeabuchi took control in the 3rd, bringing some swelling to Botha's left eye with a succession of hard right hands. Ibeabuchi maintained his momentum through the 4th, although there was some concern at the end of the frame when a headbutt opened a cut on the Nigerian's forehead. Botha gave a better account of himself in the 5th and 6th, possibly because Ibeabuchi took his foot of the accelerator. But the tide turned back the other way in the 7th, Ibeabuchi punishing Botha before opening up a nasty cut on the bridge of his nose. After a lengthy debate involving Botha, the referee and ringside physician the fight continued but with Ibeabuchi targeting the cut it got progressively worse in the 8th, to the point where blood was streaming down Botha's face. The fight was halted and called off soon after, Ibeabuchi improving his record to 27-1-1(24) with the TKO victory. Botha fell to 25-4(19). Having lost the fifth fight of his pro career back in 2002 Ibeabuchi has since put together an undefeated streak of 24 bouts. The biggest name on that list would be Michael Dokes, who he knocked out in June '04. Before the IBL came into being it had been difficult for the Nigerian's management team to arrange fights against the top contenders, as they didn't want anything to do with him. But now he's set up what will be the biggest one of his career. No doubt Ken Norton will be in for a tough night come the 22nd of September. Florida Alliance member and former WBO champion Terone Haynes booked his semi-final berth with a four-round decimation of Tyrell Biggs. As expected, Haynes was far too powerful and aggressive for the Sydney Olympics gold medallist and after three one-sided rounds referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight with Biggs defenseless, spent and taking a pummeling on the ropes 2:08 into the 4th. The intimidation factor was in full effect when Haynes made his way to the ring some twenty minutes earlier, the 6'4" 230-pounder accompanied by the audio assault of Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome", his corner crew and each of the other four members of the Pensacola stable. Decked out in solid black Haynes walked with his head bowed and concealed under an oversized hood. Once in the ring he flipped it off and glared at Biggs with a gaze that could have frozen the warmest of summer days. June has been a busy month for the head of this talented group of fighters, their trainer Roy Jones. Starting out in Oklahoma City on the 8th for Elmer Ray's junior-heavyweight bout he was on a plane to Nigeria within 24 hours where Elmer's cousin James was in action. Back in the USA five days later, he's travelled from Atlantic City to Las Vegas and now to San Diego during the past week, working the corner in bouts for his other charges Holman Williams and Romy Alvarez. It would be true to say he looked a bit road-weary while talking to Haynes in the moments before the opening bell but the performance that the big Miami native produced helped him to forget that tiredness. "Mission accomplish'd," Jones said with a smile during the post-fight interview. "Yeah, been a hectic month, y'all. But we all come out of it okay, no doubt. I be real glad for my boy T that he get through this fight wit' no problems. He right on the verge now, see? Right on the verge of somethin' real special." Haynes is 22-0(18) while Biggs (27-5-1(18)) fell to his third defeat in four outings. Even though he was given next to no chance of overcoming Haynes it must be said that the Philadelphian's career is at a crossroads. The last eighteen months have been disasterous for him after being defeated by both James Anders and Leon Higgins in '05. He'll have to string some wins together in his next couple of bouts to show that he's still capable of contending at the highest level. In the co-feature Russia's former WBA champion Sergey Anyukov set up a mouth watering semi-final clash with Haynes by dominating a surpisingly out of shape Ray Mercer on the way to a 99-90, 98-91, 99-90 unanimous decision win. Like Biggs, Mercer was a gold medallist at the 2000 Olympics but those days appear to be a distant memory now, Anyukov using a big reach advantage to dominate the Jacksonville slugger. Mercer lost his WBO crown to Haynes in September 2004 and had only fought once since being knocked out by then WBC champion Norton in April '05. His record is now 31-6-1(22) and it would be true to say that, after last night's terrible showing, he has very little left to give. Considering the lifeline that the IBL gave him it's hard to believe that his preparation for the fight was so poor. This can be contrasted with the appearance of Dokes in the main event. Mercer's attitude was a disappointing one, to say the least. It was a minor miracle that he survived to the final bell as Anyukov outlanded him by a remarkable 326-88. The punishment he dealt was particularly brutal in rounds four, five and six, and then again in the 9th. The Russian is now 36-1-1(26) and is excited at the prospect of taking on Haynes. "Through my run as WBA champion I never fought anyone like him," he said. "It's going to be a huge test for me and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been waiting so long for a fight like this and I know he has been, too." Last night's card was the first of the IBL's World Championship tournaments where the top four seeds all progressed to the semi-finals. In each of the previous six at least one of them was eliminated. While Norton, Anyukov, Haynes and Ibeabuchi all justified their standing in the tournament it will be a real challenge to accurately predict which of them ends up in the championship bout. A case can be made for each of the four possible matchups, meaning that the card on September 22 is going to be a can't-miss event. * Results (4) Ike Ibeabuchi TKO8 (5) Francois Botha (3) Terone Haynes TKO4 (6) Tyrell Biggs (2) Sergey Anyukov UD10 (7) Ray Mercer (1) Ken Norton TKO7 (8) Michael Dokes Semi-finals (2) Anyukov (36-1-1(26)) vs (3) Haynes (22-0(18)) (1) Norton (29-2-1(23)) vs (4) Ibeabuchi (27-1-1(24)) * __________________ The Greatest Prize in Sports (a TBCB Dynasty) The Greatest Prize in Sports: Almanac kenyan_cheena's NBA 2K11 Off Topic Dynasty Major League Baseball: 1990 and Beyond... (an OOTP11 Dynasty) Last edited by kenyan_cheena; 03-29-2009 at 09:57 PM.