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kenyan_cheena · 03-31-2009, 02:28 AM

THE LONDON TIMES

Monday 3 July 2006

LEWIS MAKES CONFIDENT START
TO IBL CAMPAIGN

Story by James Simpson

Back in action for the first time since February Olympic gold medallist Lennox Lewis made a successful International Boxing League debut last night in Poland, defeating the New Zealander Sam Leuluai by unanimous decision in stage one of the heavyweight challenger's tournament (58-55, 58-56, 58-55). After a cautious opening round Lewis opened up in the 2nd and went on to dominate the contest right through until the end of the 5th. He floored Leuluai with a hard right cross at the end of round five, having punished him with some smashing power shots earlier in the stanza. Lewis is the tournament's 5th seed and improved his perfect record to 15-0(10) with the win. Leuluai fell to 23-6-1(19). He was the most experienced opponent Lewis has faced to date in his professional career.

The card featured a number of young up-and-coming heavyweights that boxing experts are predicting will be amongst the top contenders in the division for many years to come. Lewis is considered part of that group and in his quarter-final bout he'll be up against another one of them in New Jersey's Joe Jeannette, who scored a dramatic, upset win by knocking out the Hungarian-born Englishman Joe Bugner in the 6th and final round. Bugner was seeded at #4 and despite the popular opinion that his best days are behind him he was expected to defeat the 23 year-old former amateur standout. Through five rounds that outcome looked to be in the bag, Bugner outfighting Jeannette to build leads of one, two and four points on the scorecards. He stunned and staggered the North Bergen native in the 4th and had the better of a competitive 5th. But with less than two minutes remaining in the fight he walked into a textbook uppercut that turned his lights out, Jeannette celebrating before the referee had even completed his ten-count.

Bugner did not move for some minutes after the bout ended. Jeannette showed concern for him but eventually he was more interested in reveling in his impressive victory with fellow New Jersey pugilists Ike Williams and Mickey Walker. The win upped his record to 14-1(10) while Bugner fell to 28-5-1(22) and missed a golden opportunity to take on Lewis, the man most think will achieve what he has been unable to and claim a heavyweight world championship for the UK. Bugner is 29 years old and quickly running out of time to make a permanent mark on the sport. Jeannette will most likely go into the clash with Lewis as an underdog, the bout to be the biggest challenge either man has faced since turning pro. Jeannette made it known that he possesses dangerous knockout power, something Lewis needs to be weary of when they go toe-to-toe in six weeks' time.

Lennox Lewis was only one of a quartet of Athens medallists to feature on the card. The others were Lewis' opponent in the championship match, New York's Riddick Bowe, heavyweight champion Jack Johnson and the man he beat to win gold, Australia's Peter Jackson. Bowe and Johnson are two fighters with an intense dislike for each other, the animosity stemming from the days in Athens when their egos collided constantly. Johnson holds a huge amount of disdain for the Brooklyn native, most of it based on his failure to back up his bragadocious behaviour with a gold medal. Last night was the first time as professionals that they appeared on the same card and if I had to choose which one produced the better performance, I'd favour Bowe.

In against an experienced, tough campaigner in Gary Mason, Bowe climbed off the canvas in the 2nd and went on to control the remaining rounds and take a unanimous decision verdict (58-56, 58-57, 58-56). Bowe came out of the gates with all guns blazing, pounding Mason with hard rights and lefts in round one. But when Mason dropped him with a single right cross thirty seconds into round two it appeared that Bowe was going to be in for an early night and suffer his first defeat as a professional. However, he beat the count, survived the Englishman's best attempts to finish him off and then turned the tables back in his favour in round three. By the end of the 5th Mason had been pretty much subdued, breathing heavy and looking exhausted on his stool during the intermission. It was a gutsy victory for Bowe, one that should go a long way to helping eliminate the perception many have of him as being soft and a quitter following his Athens defeat to Lewis. Bowe outlanded Mason 190-122 and is now 12-0(9), the London-born slugger 23-4-2(19).

Jack Johnson looked fit enough when he removed his robe in the minutes leading up to his bout against South Africa's Gerrie Coetzee, but as the fight progressed it became apparent that all the reports of him "burning the candle at both ends" since relocating from his home state Texas to California were true. Johnson eeked out a majority decision win against the tough but limited Coetzee (58-56, 57-57, 58-57), the contest an at times ugly and messy spectacle. Johnson's walk to the ring was eye-catching, to say the least. A young attractive asian lady who is apparently his latest romantic conquest led him out, stunning the crowd. She wore a two-piece swimsuit, high-heels, a leather jacket and not much else, walking in a sexy, teasing fashion. Johnson was pumped up and loud, singing along to Curtis Mayfield's soul classic "Move On Up" and wearing a silk robe of sky blue with elaborate black, white and navy blue trim. That was all well and good but once the fight started Johnson failed to impress, at least in this observer's eyes. He's now 14-0(11) but will need to either show a vast improvement or be better prepared for his quarter-final bout.

Australian Peter Jackson was more outstanding than the majority decision verdict he received indicated. He outlanded Portland's Leon Higgins 197-91 on the way to a 58-56, 57-57, 58-56 victory. Jackson was in complete control through the first four rounds but Higgins fought back admirably in the 5th and 6th, to no avail. Higgins knocked out Sydney gold medallist Tyrell Biggs ten months ago but has not recorded a win since then, last night's loss his second in a row. It saw him fall to 22-5(16), Jackson improving to 14-0(9). While Jackson's efforts were good there was no doubt whom the performance of the night belonged to. It was the man everyone in the crowd had come to see, the home town favourite Andrew Golota. Fighting in the main event the #2 seed sent Russia's Vladimir Virchis to the canvas four times before the contest was stopped one minute from the final bell. It was an encouraging win for Golota after his career stalled somewhat in '05 with back-to-back losses in May and September to then WBA champion Sergey Anyukov. A third meeting between the two will eventuate if they both emerge victorious in their respective IBL tournaments.

The evening's co-feature ended as an upset as the veteran Kentucky native Frankie Goddard was stopped late in round six by the young Tongan Simione Paea. It had been an entertaining, competitive fight through five rounds but in the 6th Paea was able to floor Goddard twice, the referee stopping the fight at the 2:14 mark shortly after Goddard had risen from the second knockdown. IBL president James Molk had given the 32 year-old the #1 seeding out of respect more than because of his current status in the sport and for a while it appeared that he'd be good enough to make the quarter-finals but it was not to be. Goddard's last big fight was back in May 2003 when he was defeated by Donnie Bates in a challenge for the WBC title. He went on to be knocked out by Jack Johnson in only the seventh pro fight of the gold medallist's pro career last August and brought a pair of essentially meaningless victories into the IBL's tournaments. Now 36-8-2(24) it looks like the Louisville slugger's career is nearing its end. The victor Paea improved to 16-3-1(13) and was over the moon with his achievement. There's little doubt he'll give Jack Johnson all he can handle come the quarter-finals.

Goddard's defeat ended what was a terrible night for the veterans in the tournament with 3rd seed Mike Hunter losing a majority decision verdict to the Russian Alexander Zolkin on the card also. Hunter fell to 31-7-2(23) while Zolkin improved to 21-4-2(17). In a couple of years from now boxing observers might look back at this event and pinpoint it as a changing of the guard. Then again, we might have to wait and see if, and just how quickly, this new wave sweeps the likes of Norton, Haynes and Ibeabuchi out of the way.

***

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

(#8) Jack Johnson MD6 (#9) Gerrie Coetzee
(#10) Riddick Bowe UD6 (#7) Gary Mason
(#11) Peter Jackson MD6 (#6) Leon Higgins
(#5) Lennox Lewis UD6 (#12) Sam Leuluai
(#13) Joe Jeannette KO6 (#4) Joe Bugner
(#14) Alexander Zolkin MD6 (#3) Mike Hunter
(#16) Simione Paea TKO6 (#1) Frankie Goddard
(#2) Andrew Golota TKO6 (#15) Vladimir Virchis

QUARTER-FINAL MATCHUPS

(#11) Jackson (14-0(9)) vs (#14) Zolkin (21-4-2(17))
(#8) Johnson (14-0(11)) vs (#16) Paea (16-3-1(13))
(#5) Lewis (15-0(10)) vs (#13) Jeannette (14-1(10))
(#2) Golota (28-4(24)) vs (#10) Bowe (12-0(9))

***

03-31-2009, 02:28 AM	#253 (permalink)
kenyan_cheena Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia Posts: 7,598 Thanks: 81 Thanked 143x in 125 posts	THE LONDON TIMES Monday 3 July 2006 LEWIS MAKES CONFIDENT START TO IBL CAMPAIGN Story by James Simpson Back in action for the first time since February Olympic gold medallist Lennox Lewis made a successful International Boxing League debut last night in Poland, defeating the New Zealander Sam Leuluai by unanimous decision in stage one of the heavyweight challenger's tournament (58-55, 58-56, 58-55). After a cautious opening round Lewis opened up in the 2nd and went on to dominate the contest right through until the end of the 5th. He floored Leuluai with a hard right cross at the end of round five, having punished him with some smashing power shots earlier in the stanza. Lewis is the tournament's 5th seed and improved his perfect record to 15-0(10) with the win. Leuluai fell to 23-6-1(19). He was the most experienced opponent Lewis has faced to date in his professional career. The card featured a number of young up-and-coming heavyweights that boxing experts are predicting will be amongst the top contenders in the division for many years to come. Lewis is considered part of that group and in his quarter-final bout he'll be up against another one of them in New Jersey's Joe Jeannette, who scored a dramatic, upset win by knocking out the Hungarian-born Englishman Joe Bugner in the 6th and final round. Bugner was seeded at #4 and despite the popular opinion that his best days are behind him he was expected to defeat the 23 year-old former amateur standout. Through five rounds that outcome looked to be in the bag, Bugner outfighting Jeannette to build leads of one, two and four points on the scorecards. He stunned and staggered the North Bergen native in the 4th and had the better of a competitive 5th. But with less than two minutes remaining in the fight he walked into a textbook uppercut that turned his lights out, Jeannette celebrating before the referee had even completed his ten-count. Bugner did not move for some minutes after the bout ended. Jeannette showed concern for him but eventually he was more interested in reveling in his impressive victory with fellow New Jersey pugilists Ike Williams and Mickey Walker. The win upped his record to 14-1(10) while Bugner fell to 28-5-1(22) and missed a golden opportunity to take on Lewis, the man most think will achieve what he has been unable to and claim a heavyweight world championship for the UK. Bugner is 29 years old and quickly running out of time to make a permanent mark on the sport. Jeannette will most likely go into the clash with Lewis as an underdog, the bout to be the biggest challenge either man has faced since turning pro. Jeannette made it known that he possesses dangerous knockout power, something Lewis needs to be weary of when they go toe-to-toe in six weeks' time. Lennox Lewis was only one of a quartet of Athens medallists to feature on the card. The others were Lewis' opponent in the championship match, New York's Riddick Bowe, heavyweight champion Jack Johnson and the man he beat to win gold, Australia's Peter Jackson. Bowe and Johnson are two fighters with an intense dislike for each other, the animosity stemming from the days in Athens when their egos collided constantly. Johnson holds a huge amount of disdain for the Brooklyn native, most of it based on his failure to back up his bragadocious behaviour with a gold medal. Last night was the first time as professionals that they appeared on the same card and if I had to choose which one produced the better performance, I'd favour Bowe. In against an experienced, tough campaigner in Gary Mason, Bowe climbed off the canvas in the 2nd and went on to control the remaining rounds and take a unanimous decision verdict (58-56, 58-57, 58-56). Bowe came out of the gates with all guns blazing, pounding Mason with hard rights and lefts in round one. But when Mason dropped him with a single right cross thirty seconds into round two it appeared that Bowe was going to be in for an early night and suffer his first defeat as a professional. However, he beat the count, survived the Englishman's best attempts to finish him off and then turned the tables back in his favour in round three. By the end of the 5th Mason had been pretty much subdued, breathing heavy and looking exhausted on his stool during the intermission. It was a gutsy victory for Bowe, one that should go a long way to helping eliminate the perception many have of him as being soft and a quitter following his Athens defeat to Lewis. Bowe outlanded Mason 190-122 and is now 12-0(9), the London-born slugger 23-4-2(19). Jack Johnson looked fit enough when he removed his robe in the minutes leading up to his bout against South Africa's Gerrie Coetzee, but as the fight progressed it became apparent that all the reports of him "burning the candle at both ends" since relocating from his home state Texas to California were true. Johnson eeked out a majority decision win against the tough but limited Coetzee (58-56, 57-57, 58-57), the contest an at times ugly and messy spectacle. Johnson's walk to the ring was eye-catching, to say the least. A young attractive asian lady who is apparently his latest romantic conquest led him out, stunning the crowd. She wore a two-piece swimsuit, high-heels, a leather jacket and not much else, walking in a sexy, teasing fashion. Johnson was pumped up and loud, singing along to Curtis Mayfield's soul classic "Move On Up" and wearing a silk robe of sky blue with elaborate black, white and navy blue trim. That was all well and good but once the fight started Johnson failed to impress, at least in this observer's eyes. He's now 14-0(11) but will need to either show a vast improvement or be better prepared for his quarter-final bout. Australian Peter Jackson was more outstanding than the majority decision verdict he received indicated. He outlanded Portland's Leon Higgins 197-91 on the way to a 58-56, 57-57, 58-56 victory. Jackson was in complete control through the first four rounds but Higgins fought back admirably in the 5th and 6th, to no avail. Higgins knocked out Sydney gold medallist Tyrell Biggs ten months ago but has not recorded a win since then, last night's loss his second in a row. It saw him fall to 22-5(16), Jackson improving to 14-0(9). While Jackson's efforts were good there was no doubt whom the performance of the night belonged to. It was the man everyone in the crowd had come to see, the home town favourite Andrew Golota. Fighting in the main event the #2 seed sent Russia's Vladimir Virchis to the canvas four times before the contest was stopped one minute from the final bell. It was an encouraging win for Golota after his career stalled somewhat in '05 with back-to-back losses in May and September to then WBA champion Sergey Anyukov. A third meeting between the two will eventuate if they both emerge victorious in their respective IBL tournaments. The evening's co-feature ended as an upset as the veteran Kentucky native Frankie Goddard was stopped late in round six by the young Tongan Simione Paea. It had been an entertaining, competitive fight through five rounds but in the 6th Paea was able to floor Goddard twice, the referee stopping the fight at the 2:14 mark shortly after Goddard had risen from the second knockdown. IBL president James Molk had given the 32 year-old the #1 seeding out of respect more than because of his current status in the sport and for a while it appeared that he'd be good enough to make the quarter-finals but it was not to be. Goddard's last big fight was back in May 2003 when he was defeated by Donnie Bates in a challenge for the WBC title. He went on to be knocked out by Jack Johnson in only the seventh pro fight of the gold medallist's pro career last August and brought a pair of essentially meaningless victories into the IBL's tournaments. Now 36-8-2(24) it looks like the Louisville slugger's career is nearing its end. The victor Paea improved to 16-3-1(13) and was over the moon with his achievement. There's little doubt he'll give Jack Johnson all he can handle come the quarter-finals. Goddard's defeat ended what was a terrible night for the veterans in the tournament with 3rd seed Mike Hunter losing a majority decision verdict to the Russian Alexander Zolkin on the card also. Hunter fell to 31-7-2(23) while Zolkin improved to 21-4-2(17). In a couple of years from now boxing observers might look back at this event and pinpoint it as a changing of the guard. Then again, we might have to wait and see if, and just how quickly, this new wave sweeps the likes of Norton, Haynes and Ibeabuchi out of the way. * SUMMARY OF RESULTS** (#8) Jack Johnson MD6 (#9) Gerrie Coetzee (#10) Riddick Bowe UD6 (#7) Gary Mason (#11) Peter Jackson MD6 (#6) Leon Higgins (#5) Lennox Lewis UD6 (#12) Sam Leuluai (#13) Joe Jeannette KO6 (#4) Joe Bugner (#14) Alexander Zolkin MD6 (#3) Mike Hunter (#16) Simione Paea TKO6 (#1) Frankie Goddard (#2) Andrew Golota TKO6 (#15) Vladimir Virchis QUARTER-FINAL MATCHUPS (#11) Jackson (14-0(9)) vs (#14) Zolkin (21-4-2(17)) (#8) Johnson (14-0(11)) vs (#16) Paea (16-3-1(13)) (#5) Lewis (15-0(10)) vs (#13) Jeannette (14-1(10)) (#2) Golota (28-4(24)) vs (#10) Bowe (12-0(9)) * __________________ 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; 03-31-2009 at 02:30 AM.