[kenyan_cheena]

The New York Age

MONDAY, 7 AUGUST, 2006

WALKER ELIMINATES WILLIAMS
IN CONTROVERSIAL MAIN EVENT

Story by James Reynolds

New Jersey middleweight Mickey Walker scored an upset unanimous decision win over Florida Alliance member Holman Williams last night in the quarter-finals of the International Boxing League's Challenger's tournament. Fighting in the main event of a card at Miami's American Airlines Arena, Walker overcame an opening round cut, a hostile crowd and Williams' pin-point punches to secure a semi-final berth. Following an action-packed, dramatic affair the Elizabeth native was announced the victor by verdicts of 77-75 and 77-76 (twice), the decision greeted by a chorus of boos from the crowd. Williams and Walker have quite a history as it was the Pensacola-born Williams who ended Walker's dreams of representing the USA at the Athens Olympics. Williams defeated Walker in three of the four amateur bouts between the two but Walker gained a deal of revenge last night, although in controversial circumstances.

Fifty seconds into round one Williams opened a cut on Walker's right eyebrow with a hard left hook. Despite the injury Walker was more impressive in the stanza, showing a busier, aggressive disposition. Williams answered back strongly with a dominant 2nd, during which Walker's cut was reopened from an accidental headclash. The bout was stopped two minutes into the round, Walker led to the ringside physician who ruled that the fight should continue. Williams was able to land his punches with impressive accuracy in the round and continued to control the contest in the 3rd. Not only was he finding the mark with most of his shots, he was also making Walker miss with many of his. The action slowed in the 4th, neither man producing anything particulalry memorable.

Walker enjoyed his best stretch of the fight through the 5th and 6th, his efforts turning the contest in his favour. He hurt Williams with some powerful blows, his hard flurries a contrast to Williams' more selective punching. Midway through the 6th the referee stopped the fight again to allow the doctor to examine Walker's cut. He gave Walker the okay after an extended deliberation, Williams watching with an irritated expression from the other side of the ring. The Florida native took round seven with a more aggressive approach, maintaining his fantastic accuracy before Walker finished strongly in the 8th and final frame. A succession of power punches rocked the #2 seed and consequently won Walker the fight and a passage to the semi-finals.

Williams' trainer Roy Jones was ropeable when the verdict was announced. He was adamant that his charge had been the better fighter, claiming that Walker spent most of the contest flailing away and missing with a majority of his shots, an opinion that the punch totals backed up. Williams connected with 245 of 350 blows (70.0%), Walker 197 of 728 (27.1%). While Jones disputed the decision Walker celebrated with his corner crew, which included his good friend and fellow Jersey native, the heavyweight fighter Joe Jeannette. The win improved Walker's perfect record to 13-0(9), Williams falling to 15-2-1(10). The scene was akin to a morgue in Williams' corner, his stablemates Terone Haynes and James Ray trying to console him with little success. The defeat was the third suffered by an Alliance member since the IBL's tournaments entered the quarter-final stage following the losses of the Ray cousins James and Elmer two weeks ago.

"Startin' t' believe I might've done somethin' to rile the man upstairs," said a frustrated Roy Jones. "Hard to believe this be happenin' to my boys, y'all. This here tonight be jus' the worst o' the lot 'cause Holman schooled the dude, see? Outpunched him and made him look silly with his defense. Look at the swellin' on the dude's face, man? My boy ain't wearin' a mark on 'im. How they come up with that after the way my nephew fight that fight, y'all? Jus' unbelieveable. Ain't no way Walker can look hisself in the mirror, thinkin' he won that."

Earlier in the evening England's Nigel Benn defeated the more competitive than expected Brockton native Robbie Sims by unanimous decision (77-73, 76-74, 77-73). Benn was surprisingly floored a minute into round four but asserted himself in the bottom half of the contest, sweeping the scorecards in those final four rounds and dropping Sims midway through the 8th. He'll take on Walker in what shapes up as a must-see semi-final. Panama's gold medallist Joe Gans squares off against another New Jersey fighter in Paterson's Rubin Carter in the other semi-final. Gans outclassed the Canadian Donato Paduano before knocking him out at the end of round four with a crunching uppercut while Carter stopped a determined Jose Basora in round seven of an entertaining clash. Basora was floored at the end of round six and then on two further occasions in the 7th, the referee counting him out after the bell.

***

Last night had been billed as an International Boxing League ESPN-broadcasted double-header, with the Miami card being preceeded by an event in Mexico City that featured one of the most eagerly awaited matchups in Mexican boxing for some time. It was the featherweight clash of Athens gold medallists Salvador Sanchez and Vicente Saldivar. These bitter rivals have a mutual hatred for each other and last night they finally stepped into the ring in combat for the first time. Sanchez was regarded as a slight favourite and he lived up to that billing, winning a thrilling contest by unanimous decision (77-74, 76-75, 77-74). The bout was a quarter-final in the featherweight division's Challenger's tournament, Sanchez the #4 seed and Saldivar #5. Both brought identical 16-0 records into the clash.

Sanchez held the upperhand through the first four rounds, beating Saldivar to the punch more often than not and appearing to be on his way to a comfortable win. This was especially apparent after a dominant 4th, during which he staggered Saldivar with a big right hand and punished him with some terrific body punching. But Saldivar clawed his way back, amazingly sweeping rounds five, six and seven on two scorecards to give himself a chance at what had seemed an unlikely victory. His work in the 6th and 7th was fantastic as he caught Sanchez with a variety of hard shots, the best amongst them a jolting right hand midway through the 7th. Sanchez showed champion qualities in the 8th, though, putting the result beyond doubt when he sent Saldivar to the canvas with a flurry of flush blows midway through the stanza. He tried to finish him off, connecting with a vicious right cross and a nice left-right salvo before the round ended.

There was no sign of respect or admiration from either man afterwards: no handshakes or conversations with each other's corners. If anything, the fact that they've now traded punches in an official bout may have only stoked the fires of hatred further. Sanchez wore a smile from ear to ear as he celebrated an exciting win while Saldivar appeared deeply disappointed and frustrated by his failure. Saldivar actually outlanded Sanchez 172-162 but it mattered little, the post-fight appearances of both men telling the story of who the victor was. There's no doubt that the two will clash down the road and after last night's thriller the rematch is something to really look forward to.

Sanchez's semi-final opponent is the Dominican Republic #1 seed Miguel Bautista, who defeated Mexico's Orlando Salido via hard-earned unanimous decision (78-75, 77-75, 78-75). Much like in the Sanchez-Saldivar clash, Bautista dominated the opening exchanges before Salido rallied strongly in rounds four, five and six. Bautista produced a convincing finish to wrap it up and improve to 27-3(16). He'll certainly be the biggest challenge of Sanchez's career to date but there are many who believe so surely in the talent of the young Mexican that they think he'll win with ease. The other semi sees the 2nd-seeded Filipino Jet Bally take on Mexico's Daniel Zaragoza. Bally sent Venezuela's Antonio Esparragoza to his first professional defeat, producing a fantastic fightback to win by majority decision. Zaragoza's win was just as dramatic as, trailing on all three cards entering the final round, he knocked out the Irishman Barry McGuigan ten seconds from the bell. It was a victory that had the crowd in raptures of delight and triumph, Zaragoza scoring his 20th career win and keeping alive his dream of a world title shot.

***

Results,
Mexico City featherweight fight card

(#2) Bally MD8 (#7) Esparragoza
(#1) Bautista UD8 (#9) Salido
(#3) Zaragoza KO8 (#6) McGuigan
(#4) Sanchez UD8 (#5) Saldivar

Semi-finals

(#2) Jet Bally (19-1-3(12)) vs (#3) Daniel Zaragoza (20-2-1(14))
(#1) Miguel Bautista (27-3(16)) vs (#4) Salvador Sanchez (17-0(13))

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Results,
Miami middleweight fight card

(#8) Carter KO7 (#16) Basora
(#4) Gans KO4 (#12) Paduano
(#3) Benn UD8 (#6) Sims
(#10) Walker UD8 (#2) Williams

Semi-finals

(#4) Joe Gans (14-0(9)) vs (#8) Rubin Carter (20-3-1(16))
(#3) Nigel Benn (15-0(12)) vs (#10) Mickey Walker (13-0(9))

***