[kenyan_cheena]

The San Diego
Union-Tribune

FRIDAY 8 DECEMBER 2006

Norris completes title charge,
wins Americas Championship

Story by Geoff Klein

Last night San Diego's Orlin Norris capped off an incredible start to his time in the International Boxing League by claiming the Americas Junior-Heavyweight Championship with a 12-round unanimous decision win over New York's Louis Del Valle. Norris came into the title tournament as an unfancied, 11th-seeded afterthought but fought his way through to the semi-finals with majority decision wins over Dale Brown and Gary Gomez before knocking out Guyana's Wayne Braithwaite in the 2nd round of their September semi-final bout to qualify for the championship bout. As a reward for his admirable run Norris fought the final in front of a parochial home crowd at the San Diego Coliseum, claiming the title after a close, competitive affair. One judge scored it 116-113 but the other two had it even closer, giving the verdict to Norris by a single point, 115-114.

It was reported in recent weeks that Norris had struck up a friendship with fellow San Diego slugger Ken Norton. The former WBC heavyweight champion and current IBL contender had apparently been keeping an eye on Norris as he progressed through the tournament and gave him some invaluable advice in addition to training with him during the last month. Showing his support, Norton made the walk to the ring last night with Norris, an action that drew thunderous applause from the audience. The fight itself was an entertaining stoush. Del Valle was the aggressor for most of the duration but Norris was clearly more effective and accurate with his punches. By the time it was over he had outlanded the Long Island native 315-196, despite throwing just over half as many punches as him.

While the momentum swung back and forth it was the stretch from round seven through nine that was vital for Norris. All three rounds were hard fought but Norris took two of them on two cards and all three on the other. When the verdict was announced the undefeated 21 year-old fell to his knees and shouted jubilantly, his family and friends including Norton celebrating with him in a group embrace. It's been said that the junior-heavyweight/cruiserweight division is perhaps the most talentless in all of boxing but in Norris it appears to have a young, passionate fighter who could bring about some exciting times. He's already captured the imagination of California and if he can string together a series of wins could very well become a national celebrity. Norris is now 12-0(8) while Del Valle fell to 17-4-1(13).

As mentioned earlier, Wayne Braithwaite was knocked out by Norris in the tournament semi-finals. Next month the Caribbean slugger will attempt to gain revenge when he challenges for the Americas title in Norris' first defense of it. Braithwaite scored a ten-round unanimous decision win over Oklahoma's Eric Fields to earn the title shot. Fields had been the tournament's #1 seed but after making it to the semi-finals with two impressive stoppage wins has now suffered back-to-back unanimous decision defeats. Braithwaite started strongly and Fields was never able to get a foothold in the contest, the Guyanan dropping him in the 7th and going on to take the verdict by scores of 97-92 on all three cards.

Earlier in the evening two of the more promising fighters in the junior-heavyweight division continued what has been a disasterous start to their time in the IBL. Florida Alliance member Elmer Ray stole defeat from the jaws of victory for a second time in his last three fights before Nebraska's Mark Elwood saw his streak of consecutive losses stretch to three. As was the case in his July defeat to Johnathon Banks, Ray made a fantastic start against Panama's Luis Andres Pineda. He was within a couple of punches of finishing the South American off in the opening round. Pineda then put himself in the contest in the 2nd and 3rd but when Ray dominated rounds four and five it looked all but over. Incredibly, Pineda floored the Olympic bronze medallist twice in the final two minutes of the fight to steal a majority decision win (56-55, 56-56, 56-55). In his loss to Banks Ray had also tasted the canvas twice in the final round and it now appears that the young man has a major problem with concentrating for the entire duration of a fight.

As for Elwood, a career that looked so exciting heading into these IBL tournaments is rapidly descending to ruin. After being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Braithwaite he's now dropped back-to-back decision verdicts in world ranking bouts to Gary Gomez and Dan Harvison. Apparently the September loss to Gomez affected his confidence and he struggled to maintain his focus while training for the Harvison bout. As a result he came into the evening underdone and looking softer than usual. Despite that he appeared to be heading towards victory after the opening three rounds. But an absolutely disasterous 4th swung the contest to Harvison. A right cross deposited Elwood on his backside a minute in before the referee deducted him a point for a low blow shortly before the bell, making it a 10-7 round for the Pennsylvanian. Elwood never recovered and Harvison was the better man through the final two rounds, leading to a 57-55, 59-54, 57-55 unanimous decision win.