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Palm Beach Post

Wednesday 5 July 2006

Palm Springs boxer scores
upset win in Puerto Rico

Story by Jimmy Hughes

Palm Springs-born bantamweight boxer Carmelo Aleman sprung a considerable upset when he defeated New Bedford's Manny Elias in an International Boxing League Americas Championship tournament bout last night at the Coliseo Pedrin Zorrilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Having only started his professional career in February the 19 year-old brought a perfect 4-0(4) record into the event. While many boxing observers have spoken of him in glowing terms not so many of them expected Aleman to defeat Elias, who is a much-more experienced campaigner. Aleman shrugged off the doubters and defeated the Massachusetts native by unanimous decision (58-57, 59-56, 58-57), employing an aggressive, busy disposition throughout the contest and outlanding Elias 177-102. The 14th seed threw over 550 punches in the fight, his heavy workrate earning him the admiration of those at ringside.

Aleman is of Cuban descent and grew up knowing nothing but poverty. It was a reality he escaped from by spending countless hours at the beach with friends, the pier at Lake Worth Beach one of their favourite hangouts. Unable or unwilling to find adequate employment, some of Aleman's acquaintences became petty criminals as they moved into the latter half of their teens. It was a path Aleman was determined to avoid and when he was fifteen he took up boxing, training at a local gym. He fought as an amateur for almost four years, during which he became friends with Belle Glade heavyweight Romy Alvarez. He also came to the attention of the fantastic Pensacola-based trainer Roy Jones, who has offered to work with him on more than one occasion. Aleman has turned Jones down each time, claiming that he'd feel too homesick if he had to relocate to the Panhandle.

Aleman celebrates his 20th birthday on the 22nd of July and looks capable of being one of the finest bantamweights America has produced in quite some time. There has been some talk during the past couple of years claiming that the division is our nation's weakest but based on last night's card that assessment seems somewhat inaccurate. Philadelphia's Jeff Chandler and Texas native Orlando Canizales both appear to be promising young fighters. Chandler scored a comfortable unanimous decision victory over the Canadian Carl Tremaine to improve to 14-1-1(9) while Canizales had a tougher time in taking a majority decision verdict over Mexico's Raul Macias. Ohio's Greg Richardson was also impressive in sending the highly-regarded Puerto Rican Sixto Escobar to his first pro defeat, Richardson winning by majority decision.

While the trio joined Aleman in the quarter-finals Athens Olympian Paulie Ayala was not so fortunate. He was on the receiving end of a terrible judging performance and was eliminated from the tournament as a result. Ayala dominated the Mexican Roberto Rubaldino, outlanding him 194-100 and appearing to win the fight with ease. But the judges didn't agree and scored the fight a draw (59-56, 57-57, 57-58), Rubaldino progressing to the quarter-finals by virtue of his higher tournament seeding. Ayala brought a 14-0(10) record into the evening but has been criticized due to the poor quality of his opposition throughout his pro career. Rubaldino was a step above any of the opponents he's faced to date and the Fort Worth native appeared to pass the test with flying colours. He'll have to put aside the disappointment and string together some good wins to ensure he has as high a starting world ranking as possible when the IBL's tournaments reach their conclusion.