[kenyan_cheena]

EL UNIVERSAL

Wednesday 6 December 2006

CARBAJAL CLAIMS
AMERICAS TITLE!

Story by Miguel Trelles

Last night Mexico City-born welterweight Bernabe Carbajal became the first of what will hopefully be a plethora of Mexican IBL champions crowned during the next five weeks when he ventured into hostile territory at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri and defeated hometown favourite Virgil Akins by unanimous decision to win the Americas Championship (115-111, 114-112, 115-113). In an intriguing contest Carbajal built what appeared to be an unassailable lead through the first eight rounds before having to withstand an admirable fightback from Akins over the final four. Cut on the right eyebrow in round two, Akins was sent to the canvas in rounds three and six by the talented 20 year-old and appeared out of the fight after an extended period of dominance that saw Carbajal sweep rounds five to eight on all three scorecards.

In a battle of the tournament's #1 and #2 seeds Akins came in as favourite by virtue of his faultless run through the event. By comparison Carbajal had scraped through with draws in both the quarters and semis, the two combatants stepping into the ring undefeated. They produced a worthy conclusion to the tournament and it would not disappoint this observer to see them go at it again some time in the future. Carbajal (10-0-2(6)) was the aggressor for most of the fight and landed 275 of 1,138 punches (24.2%), Akins (now 12-1-1(8)) 250 of 688 (36.3%). Despite the struggles he endured in his previous bouts Carbajal appears to have at least partially fulfilled the promise the IBL saw in him when they made his signing one of their top priorities back in February. It will be fascinating to follow the young man's quest to defend the Americas title during 2007 and perhaps earn himself a world title shot.

There was some drama prior to the main event when the co-feature bout between Carlos Alou of the Dominican Republic and Cuba's Jose Stable was judged a draw (94-94, 95-93 (Alou), 94-94). In a dramatic final two rounds Alou dropped Stable with a crunching uppercut one minute into the 9th before Stable returned the favour with a left-right salvo thirty seconds into the 10th. It was an elimination bout, with the winner to receive first crack at the newly crowned Americas Champion come late January. However, the league had stated that in the event of an elimination bout being a draw the competitor who was seeded higher in the tournament would be granted the title shot. Carlos Alou was the 3rd seed while Stable was #4, therefore Alou will be taking on Carbajal next month. The bout was the third consecutive draw that Alou has featured in and he'll now get a second shot at Carbajal after their semi-final stoush ended all even back in September.

Once the league's various tournaments reach their conclusion on January 7 the rules regarding regional title challenges will come into action. Under those rules any fighter who challenges for a regional title must have been victorious in his previous bout, meaning that if the Alou-Stable clash had taken place on January the 8th or later neither man would have received a title shot. The league wished to avoid this situation for the initial title defenses, which is why they used the tournament seedings as a tie-breaker in the case of an eliminator being scored a draw.

***

IBL Americas Welterweight Championship tournament final

(#2) Bernabe Carbajal (9-0-2(6)) UD12 (#1) Virgil Akins (12-0-1(8))

***