BOXING DIGEST:Mytical Welterweight Matchups

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MYTHICAL WELTERWEIGHT SHOWDOWNS

I found Philip H. Anselmo’s artlicle in the September 2008 Edition of Boxing Digest on “MYTICAL WELTERWEIGHT SHOWDOWNS” to be intriguing. I thought I would attempt to lend some tangibility to the matchups and predictions by Mr. Anselmo and his two Boxing experts: Matchmaker Johnny Bos and expert Mark “Scoop” Malinowski by executing the match on a computer utilizing the best Boxing simulation on the market: Title Bout Championship Boxing 2.5. Here are the results:

(1) Ramon “Yori Boy” Campos 92-12 (74) vs. Carlos Baldomir 44-11-6 (13)
August 16, 2008
Alladin Resort & Casino
Las Vegas, NV


As author Anselmo pointed out Baldomir had underrated boxing skills. Baldomir and his braintrust evidently elected to use those boxing skills to take advantage of the cumbersome Campos. Baldomir evidenced this strategy in the first round by exhibiting more movement than we’re accustomed to seeing from “Tata”. Campos managed to pirece Baldomir’s defense in the last minute of the opening stanza with a smashing uppercut that bent Baldomir’s knees.

Baldomir opted to stay at long range and use angles as much as possible and counterpunch throughout the contest. The tactics paid off as long as he could adroitly negate Campos power.

Baldomir displayed superior hand speed that allowed him to shade Campos in the early rounds. While Baldomir’s angles and counterpunching were doing the job for the most part….here and there Campos would put together a series of effective blows that were not enough to win rounds but did begin to take its toll on Tata’s face as his left eye began to puff up. In round five Yori Boy finally found the range on Tata and landed a plethora of hard punches to the head and body that not only hurt Baldomir but slowed him down as well.

In round 6 it appeared Campos took off the round to catch his breath from all the energy he spent in round five. Baldomir landed the majority of the few punches landed by both fighters in the frame. In the 7th Campos came out of his corner with a sense of urgency. Campos targeted Baldomir’s swollen left eye and found the target with hard counters throughout the heat. Campos added insult to injury by opening a hairline cut on Baldomir’s forehead near the end of the round.

Baldomir’s trainer Amilar Brusa felt the momentum changing rapidly in the bout and urged Baldomir to step up his activity while cutman Val Sindro worked on his charge’s facial issues. Sindro was able to stem the bleeding and proceeded to follow Brusa’s instructions to avoid Campos blows by increasing his side to side movement in effort to throw off his adversary’s timing. Baldomir’s efforts were effective in the 9th resulting in a slow and uneventful session. In the 10th round Baldomir was boxing nicely but a hard left hook reopened the cut on his forehead that then flowed heavily down across his face. With the blood flowing freely and Baldomir obviously effected badly by sustaining a high volume of power shots, Referee Earl Morton stopped the fight in order for the ringside physician to examine Baldomir’s wound. On the doctor’s recommendation Morton halted the proceedings at 1:34 of Round 10 while raising Yori Boy Campos hand in victory.

Absent from the battle was the prediction of this being a head on collision of two stubborn warriors. On the contrary, Baldomir tried to exploit Campos lack of boxing finesse by utilizing his superior boxing skills from the perimeter with a defensive counterpunching strategy. Baldomir’s skills in this area led him to being ahead on two of the three scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Dalby Shirley (USA) and Ramon Cerdan (ARG) had Tata ahead on their cards 86-85 & 87-84 respectively, while Omar Mintun (MEX) had Ramon Campos ahead 86-85. It was clear to this observer that Campos was taking over the battle at the time of the stoppage and victory in some form for Campos was inevitable.

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(2)Donald Curry 34-6 (25) v. Zab Judah 36-6 (25)

August 23, 2008
Philadelphia Municipal Stadium
Philadelphia, PA

Anselmo believed Curry would be able to overcome Judah’s slight advantage in foot and hand speed by being able to cut off the ring with his boxing skill and superior punching power. While Mr. Anselmo’s predicted that Judah would certainly get in some good punches, the majority would be out of range, or deflected by the even tempered Curry. In the end the ring generalmanship and overall excellent tactical and deliberate boxing abilities would win the day with a mid-to-late round KO.
Curry gets in the first blow of the bout with a nice short hook. Judah quickly retaliates with straight right hand that clearly hurts Curry. Curry re-cooperates quickly and fires a solid hook to Judah’s head. Judah slightly wobbles into a clinch. Curry rapidly and vicious bangs Judah’s body while Judah holds on for survival. Referee Pat Russell pries Judah from Curry and wasting no time, Curry lands a rattling uppercut. Judah resorts to retreating tactics that succeed in frustrating Curry. Suddenly Judah stops and surprises Curry with a quick hook that bloodies Curry’s mouth. The fighter’s exchange a flurry at the bell ending a hard fought opening round that for the most part went Donald Curry’s way.

Big George Mitchell stems the bleeding from Curry’s lip between rounds. Judah spends the 2nd round backpedaling and picking his spots to fight. While the strategy mitigates Curry’s ability to hurt Judah, Curry still is getting the edge in the exchanges in the early going with fine combination punching. In the beginning of the 2nd minute Judah lands a left hook flush to the jaw. Curry attempts to hide behind a highly held tight guard in order to gather himself. Judah’s big shot slows Curry down enough for Judah to shade the round.

In the 3rd heat Judah tries to potshot and succeeds in getting the blood to flow again from Curry’s mouth. Judah is tiring to use the ring and clinching when Curry moves him toward the ropes. Russell warns Judah for rabbit punching in the clinches. Curry manages to land a couple of power shots and pushes Judah around when in close displaying his superior strength.

Judah utilizes his jab early in the 4th. His jab is fast and accurate but when he relies on it a bit too much he gets walloped by a hard right cross counter. Judah stumbles into his own corner and manages to stymie Curry’s attack with a clinch. Judah then changes up his attack with some well placed body shots while continuing to tie up Curry making Pat Russell work hard to pry apart the clinches. Donald Curry also displays his defensive abilities picking off several of Judah blows.

Curry attempts to step up the pressure causing Judah to go on the retreat. Curry lands a sweet uppercut that sends Judah reeling into the ropes. With Curry on the pursuit Judah slides across the ropes trying to find sanctuary in the corners. Curry lands an uppercut to the groin that sends Judah to the floor grimacing in pain. Russell deducts a point from Curry for the brutal foul and let’s Judah take his time to re-cooperate. Once the fight commences Curry again begins his pursuit chasing Judah and throwing power punches that miss mostly. Curry appears winded near the end of the round and Judah uses Curry’s fatigue to his advantage trying to lean on Curry’s back and neck in the clinches. These tactics eventually generate a warning from the ref. In large part it was a round that saw little to no offense from Judah.

Between rounds Yoel Judah implores his son to pick up his attack and at the bell Zab shows his father he’s an attentive son. For the first time in the bout Judah sustains a prolonged attack once a gain bloodying Curry to the extent that the blood was being sprayed like sweat when Curry was hit causing Russell to summon the ringside physician to examine him. After the medical interlude Judah picked up where he left off landing a cracking right hand. Judah’s enjoys his best round of the contest.

Yoel Judah was delighted that his son followed his instructions and enjoyed success in doing so. In Curry’s corner Big George was busily working on Curry’s wound and nicely sent him out in the 7th with no bleeding. Curry now was paying more attention to the defensive side of his game as his trainer, Pop Anderson advised him that more bleeding might result in a TKO. Curry now was moving his head and bobbing and weaving. With more defensive emphasis Judah was able to dodge and block more blows with success. Judah was targeting Curry’s mouth throwing the jab like a machine gun. Curry adroitly took a couple ducked under one and brought a big uppercut right down main street. Judah’s defensive skills were still sharp enough to quickly get him out of harm’s way, preventing Curry from following up on his big punch. Judah once again returned to the jab with more caution.

In the 8th Judah came out of his corner flying pinning Curry against the far ropes landing a hard three-punch combo. Curry was now surprised and hurt. Judah continued his assault connecting with sharp left hook to the cheek. This time it was Judah who landed the low blow, which saved Curry from possibly being knocked down or even, out. Once they engaged again Judah was back on the attack with emphasis on body blows. Then Judah landed a well-timed uppercut that dumped Curry into the ropes. In his excitement Judah began to miss power punches evidently designed to end the proceeding. Curry fought his way out of danger with a tremendous right just above Judah’s waistband. Judah was forced to hold on. Curry now went on the counterattack stunning Judah with a solid hook. Judah dug deep and began to fight back in some spirited infighting. At the bell swelling was evident under Curry’s left eye.

Curry opened the 9th with a blistering body attack. Judah got on his horse and began to run for cover. Curry was landing hooks and crosses with a liver shot buckling Judah’s knees. Judah tried to fire back but his punches lacked any juice. Midway through the stanza Curry unleashed a crippling right hand to the head. Curry chased Judah into a neutral corner and landed a combination followed by a chopping right flush to the face. Judah somehow managed to escape and staggered backwards towards his corner. The crowd rose to its feet sensing a KO. Curry chased and Judah engaged him in a furious exchange on the ropes stunning Curry and the jumping into a clinch that drove him across the ring. Russell broke it up at the sound of the bell.

Judah’s corner team worked furiously on him hoping to resuscitate him back into condition to last the next heat. Pop Anderson in the meantime in Curry’s corner issued the instructions to end the fight. At the gong Curry began to try and walk Judah down. Somehow Judah had enough of his wits and superlative physical skills to cause Curry to miss by the narrowest of margins. Judah then fired several flurries that winded up pinning Curry to the ropes. On the ropes Curry regrouped against the fatigued Judah managing to block his blows and catch punches with his arms while using a variety of angles to make Judah not only miss… but exhaust himself in the process. Judah moved to ring center and Judah walked into a wicked combination sending him to the deck. Russell reached a count of 6 when Judah pulled himself to his feet with great exertion. With the North American Boxing Federation rules in force Russell gave Judah the standing 8 count. Judah immediately was greeted with a hard left hook but then backpedaled and managed to duck away from an assortment of lefts and rights. Finally Curry found Judah’s head with a brutal hook putting Zab down for a 2nd time in the round…this time for a count of 8. The action then resumed with Judah utilizing subtle movement and a tight guard to frustrate Curry as he vainly tried to put Judah away. However, there was too much time on the clock and not enough gas in Judah’s tank to allow him to have the energy to evade Curry’s relentless pursuit. Judah revisited the canvass after Curry connected with a brutal hook to the nose that put him down for a 9 count. As Russell examined Judah his corner threw in the towel at the 2:55 mark ending matters before Zab needlessly absorbed further punishment.

Philip Anselmo to his credit called the outcome correctly with his prediction of a late round KO. It was an exciting battle featuring two talented ring warriors who definitely give the audience more than their monies worth. Both men can only be commended on their wealth of boxing talent.

[Mad Bomber]

Very well done, and this fight turned out pretty much as I expected it to, as I think Judah had as much chance of coming out on top, as I have of winning the lottery.LOL

I am looking forward to what fight comes next,as I think you are off to a flying start.

Greg

[Ric915]

great write ups so far. Great fight between Curry and Judah. I remeber when Curry just seemed unbeatable and would dominate for years then along came Lloyd Honeyghan and that was all she wrote for Curry he was never the same after that bout.

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(3)Mark Breland 35-3-1 (25) v. Ricardo Mayorga 29-6-1 (23)

August 30, 2008
Mountaineer Racetrack & Resort
Chester, West Virginia

The Boxing Digest panel of experts were split of thought on this encounter. Author Anselmo & The “King of the boxing biofiles” Scoop Malinowski see a Mayorga KO win. Malinowski emphatically believes that Mayorga in his prime was near unstoppable, & therefore he would brutally KO Breland. Anselmo see’s Breland building an early lead with his considerable boxing skills but unable to hold off the stronger and more durable Nicaraguan. Mayorga would press the issue by forcing his way inside where his superior strength and roughhousing would carry the day. Mayorga’s wild, but powerful shots would eventually shatter Breland’s chin en route to a 10th round KO. Matchmaker Bos saw this as a Breland victory with Anselmo picking Breland via a “quick KO”

Mayorga as Anselmo predicted, and anyone else with a minute knowledge of Mayorga’s style, was correct that he would carry the fight inside. Breland met him early on but found out quickly that victory would not be had playing the eccentric Nicaraguan’s style. Mayorga’s superior strength on the inside was clear. A couple of hard right hands had Breland trying to hide behind a high & tight guard. By the end of the opening round Breland was breathing heavy and easily persuaded that fighting from the outside would be the way to go.

In round two Mayorga controlled the early going by landing several vicious shots. Breland was landing an occasional jab that failed to keep Mayorga from applying a full court press. Breland was grateful to referee Brian Garry from preventing Mayorga from leaning on Breland’s back and neck, while trying to push him to the floor. In the beginning of the 2nd minute Breland finally landed a punch that hurt Mayorga when he sent a right cross right down the pipe that stopped Mayorga in his tracks. Mayorga went into a shell and successfully blocked a Breland flurry and then landed a wicked jab that abruptly terminated Breland’s attack. Both fighters took turns landing shots to the bell in a very tight round that featured ample leather being swapped.

Breland fought from the outside in a circling fashion moving away from his opponent’s power. While Mayorga was achieving pockets of success it was Breland who was landing the most punches causing Mayorga’s left eye to swell by the end of the 4th heat.
Mayorga must’ve been light on the cigarette butts as he appeared to be in excellent condition relentlessly pushing forward while launching blows at a relatively high volume. While both men landed several hard blows, each of them showed impressive resiliency by quickly countering. While Mayorga continued to charge inside he was effectively ducking and blocking blows while using his jab as both an offensive and defensive weapon.

By the midway point it was evident Breland was trying to pace himself for a strong ending. Mayorga continued to press the issue landing more blows but taking some punishment in the process. Midway through the 6th round Mayorga fell for a trap set by Breland when he cornered Breland in the right neutral corner. Breland adroitly slipped a Mayorga cross and buzzed him with a lightening combo and topping off the series of punches with a sweep uppercut that snapped Mayorga’s head back and staggering him. Breland tried to target the swollen eye but Mayorga repaid the favor by snapping back Breland’s head with a jolting uppercut.

Breland’s inactivity in round 7 cost him the stanza as Mayorga landed the majority of the few blows landed while applying all of the aggression. In round 8, however, Breland unleashed the arsenal early on by scoring with a hard combination. Mayorga wasn’t about to just take as he quickly responded with a fine combination of his own. Both boxers than focused on some body blows. A couple of quick left hooks just under the ribcage had Mayorga holding on to stem the assault. Mayorga’s punches were getting wider and wilder as the round progressed. His eye began to balloon as the result of a high quantity of Breland right hands. Suddenly now Breland was appearing on par in the pushing and shoving during the inside fighting…a sure sign of the ebbing of Mayorga’s strength.

By the 9th Mayorga’s face was swollen and red with his eye evolving into a slit. The torrent of blows Mayorga has had to absorb in order to get inside were clearly taking their toll. Twelve seconds into the round Mayorga was staggered by a windmill right hand that landed flush on the chin staggering him. Working out of a tight and low crouch Mayorga retaliated with a hard right hand that landed as Mayorga sprung from his crouch. Breland was hurt badly by the blow and had to hold on. Adding insult to injury the blow also opened Breland up a nasty cut smack in the middle of his right eyebrow. The wound soon had the right side of Breland’s face crimson. When Breland attempted to defend the wound Mayorga smartly shifted to a body attack driving home a wicked hook to the midsection. Mayorga shifted into a southpaw stance doing anything he could to step up the attack throwing caution to the wind. Breland took advantage of Mayorga’s disregard for defense and landed a pounding body shot that sent Mayorga to the canvass for a 3 count. Breland now went on the offensive but Mayorga was game and a rapid and vicious exchange took place that was hell bent for leather. Mayorga was hurt and for the first time was forced to retreat but not just retreat but to run from Breland’s blistering blows. Breland caught him on the ropes with a hard cross. Mayorga looked ready to go, but the one thing that Mayorga has in ample quanties is guts, and his sheer courage and determination kept Mayorga upright. In the meantime it looked like the referee was getting ready to jump in and end the bout.

In Mayorga’s corner Clemente Medina asked Mayorga if he wanted to stop but the prideful warrior refused. His balls probably weigh more than his brain. Mayorga’s cut man Jimmy Montoya vainly applied the cold compress and end swell to no avail as Mayorga’s face was at the hideous stage. At the bell both men met in ring center and traded leather. A roundhouse right spun Mayorga’s head around as if it were on a swivel. He left eye was shut and now very susceptible to right hand shots. Now Breland was utilizing the jab…just whacking the swollen eye in an effort to burst the mouse. Mayorga just ate the jabs and continued to bore in causing Breland to tie him up. Breland was landing punches from all angles…over the top..from the sides…and from underneath. Mayorga…though was relentless in his efforts landing a hard left hook that backed up Breland. Despite being hurt Breland now displayed his courage as he countered with a hard cross of his own. Breland began a series of blows that pounded Mayorga into his corner. Brian Garry halted the proceeding at the 1:57 mark when it was clear that Mayorga had sustained more than enough punishment in an effort that was extremely unlikely to bear any fruits of victory.

Mayorga was a brave warrior who is limited in skill. Breland out boxed his determined foe and effectively dishing out the necessary punishment in the process that led to victory. Of all boxers that I have personally observed in my many years as an avid boxing fan, none are more despicable than Mayorga. The only finish I would have enjoyed more is Mayorga getting the ten count. Breland on the other hand is the All American boy. He is a well-mannered respectable man who can be held up to any child as a role model. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Breland in Shutzen Park in North Bergen, NJ at a local boxing show. He is a gentlemen who treats all with respect. More than being a great champion in boxing…he’s a real champion in life…the kind of guy you hope your son can grow up to be like in demeanor, or your daughter would marry, because more than anything else in this world there is nothing more important than treating your fellow human beings with kindness and respect by extending goodwill to each other. Just think…if everyone did that we’d have Peace on earth due to Good will to men (& Women).