[kenyan_cheena]

THE GUARDIAN
LAGOS - NIGERIA

Monday 25 September 2006

LATE RALLY SEES AMAKOCHI
TRIUMPH OVER MINA

Story by Sani Yobo

Fighting last night in front of a fiercely parochial home crowd at Surelere Stadium here in Lagos, light-heavyweight boxer Celestine Amakochi produced a stirring fightback to overcome previously undefeated Olympic silver medallist Mauro Mina and secure a place in the final of the International Boxing League's Challenger's tournament. After struggling through the first four rounds Amakochi sprung into action in the 5th and then floored the Peruvian in round nine before claiming a unanimous decision victory (95-93, 96-92, 95-93). He gained a deal of revenge over Mina, who had defeated him in each of the three clashes between the two in the amateur ranks, the most important of which was at the world championships in '03. Early on it looked like Mina would stretch his winning streak over Amakochi to four, as he unleashed an opening round assault that had the local favourite in a bunch of trouble.

Amakochi responded well in round two but struggled through the 3rd and 4th, the crowd given little reason to believe he could win the fight. But he came out swinging in the 5th and the result was spectacular, Mina eating a number of flush power punches and looking closer to defeat than at any time during his brief pro career to date. However, when Mina immediately fired back by taking the 6th convincingly and being just a bit better in an uneventful 7th Amakochi's fate appeared to be sealed. He had some nasty swelling around his right eye and looked very tired. He dug deep, though, and after holding his own through most of the 8th he landed a crunching uppercut late in the frame that staggered Mina and gave Amakochi renewed hope. He then brought the crowd to their feet thirty seconds into the 9th, dropping Mina on his back with a flurry of punches. It was the first time in his career that Mina had tasted the canvas and he appeared stunned.

Unable to finish the job in the 9th, Amakochi outhustled Mina in the final stanza, blowing the round open with a succession of power shots through its last two minutes. Mina appeared exhausted at the final bell and when the verdict was announced he bowed his head, distraught. The crowd erupted and Amakochi was hoisted up onto the shoulders of his corner crew and paraded around the ring like he'd just been crowned world champion. He shouted and thumped his chest, arms raised high and acknowledging the crowd's thunderous applause. Mina actually outlanded him 188-183 but Amakochi was by far the busier fighter, throwing more than 1,000 punches compared to just over 600 from Mina. Amakochi improved to 22-1(14) while Mina fell to 14-1(8) with his first defeat as a professional.

Amakochi will fight the American Jack Chase for the right to challenge for the IBL's world title. Chase booked his spot in the decider by taking a split decision over his compatriot Tommy Harrison (96-94, 94-96, 96-94). Both men had recorded unexpected victories in the quarter-finals with Chase eliminating Iran Barkley and Harrison upsetting the top seed Michael King. 8th-seeded Harrison appeared to be on his way to another big win as he held a handy lead through the first six rounds. But like Amakochi would do in the main event that followed, Chase rallied brilliantly in the final four rounds, sweeping them on two scorecards to secure the victory. He had to overcome the nuisance of a cut that opened above his right eye in the round two and was re-opened by Harrison on three further occasions. The ringside doctor examined it in both the 7th and 10th rounds and allowed Chase to continue. He's now 20-1-1(13), Harrison falling to 17-3(11).

Earlier in the evening Iran Barkley and Michael King fought to a draw over eight rounds in a clash that was supposed to have been one of the tournament semi-finals, at least as far as seedings were concerned. As already mentioned both men had been eliminated from the challenger's tournament in the quarters and last night they were fighting to improve their initial world ranking. It was a close contest but most ringside observers felt that Barkley had done enough to win it. King finished strongly to avoid defeat, one judge favouring Barkley 77-75 while the other two had it even at 76-76. The New Yorker was clearly unimpressed by the result. After winning his first nineteen career fights Barkley's gone winless in his last two and will be desperate to get back on track in his next outing.

Results

(#5) CHASE SD10 (#8) HARRISON
(#3) AMAKOCHI UD10 (#10) MINA

Tournament final, 17 December

(#3) CELESTINE AMAKOCHI (22-1(14)) vs (#5) JACK CHASE (20-1-1(13))

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THE OHIO EXPRESS

Monday, 25 September, 2006

Mason dominates Dokes in Akron

Story by Jerry Anderson

Fighting in his hometown of Akron for the first time in five years former heavyweight contender Michael Dokes fell to his fourth consecutive defeat last night, being outfought and floored three times by the Englishman Gary Mason on the way to a unanimous decision defeat. Each judge favoured Mason by an identical 79-69 scoreline, Dokes fading in the later rounds to bring about the disappointing result. Following a defeat at the hands of Poland's Andrew Golota back in December '04 it appeared that Dokes' career was over. He'd gone winless in six consecutive fights, losing four of them. But earlier this year International Boxing League president James Molk offered him a chance to make a comeback, inviting Dokes to take part in his organisation's tournament to crown a world heavyweight champion. Dokes accepted and was matched up against former WBC champion Ken Norton in the tournament's quarter-finals.

After a brave effort, which included sending Norton to the canvas with a crunching uppercut in round four, Dokes was stopped in the 7th. He was not disappointed, though, as the fact that he was simply back in the ring fighting and competing was enough for him. The IBL had not just resurrected his career but also his life and so losing the bout was not a big deal. The story of his comeback had made national headlines and led many to hope that he could pull off a miracle upset against Norton. While it didn't eventuate Dokes had shown enough to make the experts believe that he still had something to offer. After last night's contest those opinions might change. Despite his best efforts Dokes simply couldn't keep up with Mason, who is eight years younger than him. Mason dominated and punished Dokes in round one and was just a little bit too good, too aggressive and too powerful in each of the next three frames. Dokes was competitive in each round, but Mason was better.

Dokes won what ended up being his only round of the fight in the 5th, the 34 year-old keeping Mason at bay with volume rather than power. But late in round six Mason connected with a left hook that floored Dokes. He only just beat the count and after being pummeled throughout the 7th he was dropped two more times in the final minute of the fight. To rub salt into the wound the referee deducted a point from him in the 8th for a low blow, meaning the round was scored 10-6 to Mason. Even after such a disheartening loss Dokes remained upbeat, optimistic. He said that at this stage of his career "one more loss doesn't matter" a great deal to him and that he's still trying to get back into shape and erase the damage that "eighteen months of bad habits" did to his body. He went on to say that he was confident his first victory since 2002 was not far away.

In a spirited effort Mason was defeated by Riddick Bowe in stage one of the IBL's Challenger's tournament and with some luck and further dedication could possibly become a title contender in the future. He's now 24-4-2(19) and it will be interesting to see how he peforms in his upcoming fights. Dokes meanwhile is now 33-8-2(24), but a terrible-looking 0-6-2 in his last eight. I'm prepared to wait and see if he can come up with what has been an elusive 34th win before writing him off altogether. He's a man you can't help but cheer for, especially when one considers the injustices that befell him earlier in his career. There's nothing I'd like to see more than for him to record some victories here at what is clearly the tail-end of his time in the sport.

The card featured three other heavyweight world ranking bouts. LA's Mike Hunter opened the evening with a split decision win over the Englishman Joe Bugner before Leon Higgins knocked out the veteran Frankie Goddard with a flush left hook thirty seconds into round one. In the co-feature former WBO champion Ray Mercer rebounded from a dreadful performance against Sergey Anyukov in the world championship quarters to take a majority decision verdict over the South African Gerrie Coetzee. It was a thrilling contest between two men desperate for a victory, Mercer controlling the bottom half of the fight to take the decision by scores of 77-76, 76-76 and 77-75.