The Heavyweight Boxing Federation

[kenyan_cheena]

Well, that's the end of the Toronto card. What I've done for all of the 36 fighters featured on the three cards I lost is edit their records and put an entry in the bio section for each, documenting the missing bout. I've backed up my entire OOTP Developments folder, so everything is up to date and saved as of 5 June 2002, universe date.

My next few posts will feature a review of the first week of HBF auditions and the latest week of IBL selection trials plus HBF fight cards from Italy (6 June), Arkansas (7 June) and Tampa, Florida (8 June) (as detailed in post #821).

k_c

[kenyan_cheena]

I've just finalised the list of fighters who will be discovered at the HBF auditions. Every one of you who has signed up as a Heavyweight (16) is there plus a handful of real retired guys and some more fictional fighters I'll be making up. There's 36 in total, so I'm now 100% set with who I'll be introducing at each audition.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

I've just finalised the list of fighters who will be discovered at the HBF auditions. Every one of you who has signed up as a Heavyweight (16) is there plus a handful of real retired guys and some more fictional fighters I'll be making up. There's 36 in total, so I'm now 100% set with who I'll be introducing at each audition.

Hey, your favorite thing to write more selection trials. It'll be interesting to see who my I'll be going up against in the Quailfing tournment. Also, I saw that the articule on the Miami tryouts was only for the first day so are we going to see more of there or just moving on to the rest.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Hey, your favorite thing to write more selection trials. It'll be interesting to see who my I'll be going up against in the Quailfing tournment. Also, I saw that the articule on the Miami tryouts was only for the first day so are we going to see more of there or just moving on to the rest.

Actually, I'm going to enjoy these HBF ones more than the IBL, because most of the fighters I'll be writing about will be you and the other guys.

That previous article was just an appetizer, buddy. Still more on your fighter and Miami to come. The next post I do will be a summary of the Italian feeder league fight card, then the HBF auditions.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Actually, I'm going to enjoy these HBF ones more than the IBL, because most of the fighters I'll be writing about will be you and the other guys.

That previous article was just an appetizer, buddy. Still more on your fighter and Miami to come. The next post I do will be a summary of the Italian feeder league fight card, then the HBF auditions.

Cool, cause truthfully I was a bit disapointed with my intro I didn't even get to say anything but since there's going to be more then it's all cool. I'm looking forward to these auditions to get a feel for the fools I'm going to be embrassing.

[kenyan_cheena]

YANTCHEV HELD TO DRAW
BY LOCAL FAVOURITE

Thursday 6 June 2002

Russia's Genadi Yantchev has surrendered his hold on 1st place in Group A of the Southern Europe Boxing League after being held to a draw for a second consecutive time.

Fighting Italian Vittorio Campolo at Rome's Sports Palace, the league's #1 seed came back from a slow start to avoid falling to his first defeat, with the scorecards reading 57-57, 58-56 (Yantchev), 57-57.

Spurred on by a home crowd that has shown more enthusiasm for boxing in recent weeks than ever before, Campolo unleashed an astonishing assault in the opening round, hurting his Russian opponent with a series of punishing three and four punch combinations. He kept up the pace in round two and into round three before, with a minute left in the round, Yantchev commenced a fightback that saw him avert what would have been a considerable upset.

Even so, Yantchev was deeply disappointed afterwards. Considered a class above every other competitor in the SEBL, he's expected to qualify for a spot in the HBF's upcoming World Ranking tournament but today's result sees him sitting in 2nd behind 5th-seeded Bulgarian Alexander Dafouska, who remained undefeated with a unanimous decision victory against Slovenia's Drago Bencek earlier in the evening.

Tonight's other results have seen to it that Yantchev has already qualified for the league's tournament semi-finals, but this 22 year-old takes pride in his performances and being held winless for two consecutive bouts would most definitely not have been in his plans.

(Undercard to follow)

[kenyan_cheena]

UNDERCARD ACTION

* As if already dismissing his chances in the SEBL, eccentric Belgian Jean-Pierre Coopman had said yesterday that he was hoping the HBF offer him a contract to take part in their upcoming Qualifying League tournament.

Now, as federation president Michael Vincennes said back on Monday, "To stay employed by us, you'll need to be competitive." Unfortunately for Coopman, competitive is one thing that he has struggled to be and it only got worse for him tonight as 9th-seeded Italian Nini Perroni achieved his first professional victory, defeating Coopman by unanimous decision (58-55, 58-56, 58-55).

With the exception of the opening round, Coopman was terribly average. He tasted the canvas early in round two and from that point on, Perroni was in control, spurred on by a vocal home crowd.

Coopman's record is now 1-2-1(1). Wins will be imperative in his upcoming bouts if he wants the dream of that Qualifying League contract to become a reality.

* 7th-seeded Croatian Lovro Alanovic wrapped up a spot in the tournament semi-finals with a unanimous decision victory (59-55, 58-56, 59-55) against Spain's Pablo Ramirez.

In command for most of the contest, Alanovic was particularly effective in rounds three and five and improved his record to a league-best 3-0-1. He'll be fighting 2nd seed Markus Stober in his next bout, with a win for Alanovic more than likely to spell the end of the German's semi-final chances.

(to be continued)

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

* Presented with a chance to solidify his hold on 2nd place in Group B, South Africa's Shakes Qoboza stumbled with Lithuania's Leonidas Jaskucionis holding him to a draw (57-57, 58-56 (Jaskucionis), 57-57).

It was the most action-packed bout of the evening, with the Lithuanian sweeping the final two rounds on each judge's card to bring about the draw.

Qoboza had sensationally KO'd #2 seed Markus Stober in round one in his last bout and will no doubt be disappointed that he was unable to consolidate his standing in the league. His record is now 2-1-1, while Jakucionis is 1-1-2.

* As mentioned earlier, Bulgaria's Alexander Dafouska scored a unanimous decision win against Slovenia's Drago Bencek. In a dominant display, Dafouska was victorious by scores of 59-54, 58-55 and 59-54 and improved to 3-0-1.

By the time the evening was over, that record was good enough to see him sitting in 1st place in Group A. He's already qualified for the semi-finals, but the final series of preliminary bouts will determine who his opponent will be.

* #2 seed Markus Stober rebounded from his surprising 1st round KO loss to Shakes Qoboza five weeks ago with a stoppage victory of his own, knocking out fellow German Hans Birkie at the 1:10 mark of round two.

A flurry of blows was concluded by a left and a right smashing off Birkie's forehead and he collapsed to the canvas, out cold.

Stober's win sees him move to 2nd place in Group B, capitalising on Shakes Qoboza's draw with Leonidas Jaskucionis earlier in the evening. He's now 3-1(1) and will clash with Lovro Alanovic in his final preliminary bout.

Not only is 1st place in the group on the line, but also Stober's chances of making the semi-finals, so it's a huge bout for the German.


SUMMARY OF RESULTS
HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING FEDERATION FIGHT CARD
THURSDAY 6 JUNE 2002
SPORTS PALACE, ROME, ITALY

THE SOUTHERN EUROPE BOXING LEAGUE


OPENING BOUT

(9) Nini Perroni UD6 (8) Jean-Pierre Coopman

PRELIMINARY 1

(7) Lovro Alanovic UD6 (10) Pablo Ramirez

PRELIMINARY 2

(6) Shakes Qoboza D6 (11) Leonidas Jaskucionis

SUPPORT BOUT

(5) Alexander Dafouska UD6 (12) Drago Bencek

CO-FEATURE

(2) Markus Stober KO2 (3) Hans Birkie

MAIN EVENT

(1) Genadi Yantchev D6 (4) Vittorio Campolo

[Romdawg88]

I have no prior memories of the SEBL, I don't remember these guys at all. Might be because trying to pronouce most of their names makes my brain bleed. Question, seeing that Coopman is trying to stay around the league what will be consisted competitive .500 or though around or can you get away with only one or two wins but the loses being close deicisions and such.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

I have no prior memories of the SEBL, I don't remember these guys at all. Might be because trying to pronouce most of their names makes my brain bleed. Question, seeing that Coopman is trying to stay around the league what will be consisted competitive .500 or though around or can you get away with only one or two wins but the loses being close deicisions and such.

Yeah, it's been somewhat difficult for me to stay enthusiastic about the SEBL. But it's a similar situation to with the IBL selection trials. They are a part of the story I've created, so I'll stick with them until they run their course. Fortunately, the feeder leagues will finish soon after stage one of the WC/1D tourneys.

There's gonna be 36 new fighters coming into the HBF, all of whom will be in the Qualifying League. The other 60 in the intial 96 man tournament will be made up of fighters from the eight feeder leagues, so that's probably four or five from each FL that will get the boot. So these feeder league cards are important for the "bottom dwellers". Each win can mean the difference between staying in and losing out.

The 192 fighters currently in the WC/1D tourneys will be distributed as follows in subsequent tourneys:

48 will qualify for stage two
72 will be in the Continental Americas tournament
12 will be in the European tournament
36 will be in the World Ranking tournament

That's a total of 168, so the other 24 will also get the boot.

As for competitiveness, Vincennes and his associates will be assessing all the fighters who are near the cut off point. The ones who have clearly put in the best effort will be offered new contracts.

[kenyan_cheena]

Also, there will be cut off points for those in the CA, Euro and WR tourneys. Half of the 36 in the WR tourney will be gone after it's over, as will a third of those in the CA.

Where will they end up? That's something I'm still contemplating. Some will voluntarily retire from the sport, while others will probably go on a "waiting list".

[Romdawg88]

Thats understand as the SEBL isn't actually pack with major talent, it must be hard to really care about them. I'm going to have to start paying better attention to the mid and low level guys in the Feeder leagues it seems I'll probably be running into a few in the Qualifying League. I can't wait to see who makes up the new group of 36 should be fun.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Thats understand as the SEBL isn't actually pack with major talent, it must be hard to really care about them. I'm going to have to start paying better attention to the mid and low level guys in the Feeder leagues it seems I'll probably be running into a few in the Qualifying League. I can't wait to see who makes up the new group of 36 should be fun.

There's 16 of you guys who will be amongst them, so I'm tempted to put one of you into each of the 16 QL tourney groups.......however, I'm also tempted to put take eight of the groups and put two of you in each one, so that we'll have board members matching up during the first stage of the tournament. That will be much more fun, I think.

I don't mind the African feeder league, as it has a trio of guys who are all good enough to win it (Ibeabuchi, Eldren, Okocha). Two of them are going to be pi$$ed off, missing a chance at a place in the World Ranking tourney. I also like the Asian one with Terone Haynes.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

There's 16 of you guys who will be amongst them, so I'm tempted to put one of you into each of the 16 QL tourney groups.......however, I'm also tempted to put take eight of the groups and put two of you in each one, so that we'll have board members matching up during the first stage of the tournament. That will be much more fun, I think.

I don't mind the African feeder league, as it has a trio of guys who are all good enough to win it (Ibeabuchi, Eldren, Okocha). Two of them are going to be pi$$ed off, missing a chance at a place in the World Ranking tourney. I also like the Asian one with Terone Haynes.

Yeah, matching up two of us in a group would be more fun if you go that route I have feeling that somehow Hanson and I will end up in the same group as it always seem that him and I end up facing off against each other.

Most of the other feeder leagues are fine mainly because they have pretty good fighters in them that I actually care about but the SEBL doesn't have any. Once that league is done with all those guys are probably just going to fade away and never really mean anything again in the HBF.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Yeah, matching up two of us in a group would be more fun if you go that route I have feeling that somehow Hanson and I will end up in the same group as it always seem that him and I end up facing off against each other.

Most of the other feeder leagues are fine mainly because they have pretty good fighters in them that I actually care about but the SEBL doesn't have any. Once that league is done with all those guys are probably just going to fade away and never really mean anything again in the HBF.

Bold 1: A distinct possibility...
Bold 2: Very likely, I'd say.

[kenyan_cheena]

Been looking at my scheduling charts for after the tourneys are over. Just to give you an idea of how long it takes to get to the top of the HBF...

A fighter who starts his career as the #96 ranked fighter in the Qualifying League would achieve a World Ranking if he wins his first 12 fights. If he wins his next 13 fights, he would be ranked in the top 12 of the World rankings. These 25 fights would take approximately 2.5 years of universe time, which I think is a pretty reasonable amount of time for a fighter to take to reach the top.

Of course, if the fighter loses, that makes it a longer process, as his ranking will drop following any loss.

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Been looking at my scheduling charts for after the tourneys are over. Just to give you an idea of how long it takes to get to the top of the HBF...

A fighter who starts his career as the #96 ranked fighter in the Qualifying League would achieve a World Ranking if he wins his first 12 fights. If he wins his next 13 fights, he would be ranked in the top 12 of the World rankings. These 25 fights would take approximately 2.5 years of universe time, which I think is a pretty reasonable amount of time for a fighter to take to reach the top.

Of course, if the fighter loses, that makes it a longer process, as his ranking will drop following any loss.

So in other words none of us should be expecting a title shot anytime soon. Well, the climb to the top is half the fun anyway so it's all good.

[kenyan_cheena]

THE ICEMAN COMETH

Thursday 6 June 2002

Back on Monday, the first of what will be four weeks of Heavyweight Boxing Federation "auditions" commenced in Florida, California and London. Interviewed on SportsCenter that evening, federation president Michael Vincennes had spoken positively about a 22 year-old from Belle Glade, Florida named Romy Alvarez who had been in attendance at the Miami Arena auditions. Vincennes had called Alvarez "A really impressive boxer", with "quick hands" and "a solid defense", and had gone on to say he'd be hoping to "get a better look at him" before flying out to California on Thursday.

Well, three days have now passed since then and to say that Vincennes and his scouting team are impressed with Alvarez would be quite an understatement.

"The guy is the genuine article," said HBF scout Gil Roberts. "You know, we saw the promise in him immediately, but what he's shown since has us thinking he could really go all the way to the top. He's that talented. Those hands, they're just about the quickest I seen of any of our guys, 'cept maybe Larry Holmes, I guess. His defense is just excellent, also. The way he blocks punches and uses his feet to create difficult angles for his opponent, I ain't seen that in many fighters. He's also one of the fittest guys that have auditioned, I have to say."

Considering the talent that the scouts believe Alvarez possesses, it led them to wonder why he didn't attend the HBF's initial auditions last October. The young man himself explained the situation.

"I really wanted to," said Alvarez. "But I just had no way to make it up to New York, you know? I was working long hours to help support my family, like sometimes 60 hours a week. I've been following the federation the whole time, though, 'specially those Florida boys. I just held onto the hope that another opportunity would present itself, that I'd get a chance to show my abilities. This has just been a great week and I'm, really happy that the federation has such a high opinion of me. It's sweet, and it makes me really excited about the future."

Belle Glade is one of the poorer communities in Florida, "a black hole of suck", as Alvarez himself called it. The 22 year-old sees the HBF as his ticket, a ticket to a better life for himself and his family, which includes his two older sisters and parents.

"It's strange," said Alvarez. "My parents were always telling us about how wonderful life was when they were young and living in Cuba. They came to the USA when Castro took over. He left them with nothing, but what they've found in Belle Glade hasn't been much better. Lord knows, it's my dream to make the future just as wonderful for them as their childhood was and I know that if I'm successful in the HBF, I'll be able to achieve that."

Alvarez has earned the nickname "The Iceman" during the past four days, due to his controlled, seemingly emotionless demeanour during his audition bouts. It's something which he's not quite comfortable with, as he explained that he feels he is at his best when he doesn't let his emotions dictate his actions.

"I'm not going to step into the ring hating my opponent," he said. "I'll be respecting every guy I go up against, no matter what. I've seen it happen in the HBF, that every guy is only one big punch from disaster. Just look at what happened to Jack Johnson and Floyd Patterson. Those fights really drove the point home to me, reinforced it even more. If people take that as being cold or icy, that's their problem, man."

Besides his obvious boxing skills, Alvarez also attracted attention with the way he wore his hair during his bouts. He has long, brown hair which was pulled back in a ponytail, covered by a hair tie in the colours of his beloved Florida State University, garnet and gold. Alvarez explained that he was wearing a gold chain with a Virgin Mary charm on it, wrapped around his hair underneath, a gift from his parents that he wears everywhere as a good luck charm.

"There was no way I was going to step into the ring without it," said Alvarez.

HBF President Michael Vincennes flew out of Florida for California and the Los Angeles auditions this morning, but left knowing that the federation had found a new, exciting talent in Miami.

"I was confident that we'd unearth some great talent when we arranged these auditions," said Vincennes. "Romy Alvarez is hopefully just the first of many that we'll discover during the next four weeks."

(to be continued)

[Romdawg88]

Thats great, I'm loving that you manage to get the "Black Hole of Suck" in there. I like the way that you explained my nickname as well I wasn't really thinking of anything along those lines when I picked it but it works real well I like it. Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of forum cats.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Thats great, I'm loving that you manage to get the "Black Hole of Suck" in there. I like the way that you explained my nickname as well I wasn't really thinking of anything along those lines when I picked it but it works real well I like it. Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of forum cats.

Glad you liked it, Romy. I really enjoyed writing it because it seems more real to be writing about someone who has followed the story with so much interest. I enjoyed it a lot, as I'm sure I will when I write about Mike, Chris and the others.