The Heavyweight Boxing Federation

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

TUESDAY 29/10/2002

HBF QUALIFYING LEAGUE, INITIAL RANKING TOURNAMENT
STAGE 1, SERIES 3: GROUPS 1 & 12
SURELERE STADIUM, LAGOS, NIGERIA

(G1): 4(48) Delbert Craw vs 5(60) Romy Alvarez
(G12): 4(37) Larry Gains vs 5(49) Kalolo Umaga
(G1): 3(36) Shakes Qoboza vs 6(72) Antonio Serioux
(G12): 3(25) Rex Layne vs 6(61) Scott Mundt
(G1): 2(24) Stanley Drexxon vs 7(84) Mike Hanson
(G12): 2(13) Jack Beckerman vs 7973) Hugh Phillips
(G12): 1(12) Jim Flynn vs 8(85) Lee Q. Murray
(G1): 1(1) Omovo Okocha 8(96) Sylvain Ribery

Can't wait for the card as all four of us are taking steps up in competition. It'll also be interesting to see how Okocha does against Ribery in comparison to Mike and myself.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Can't wait for the card as all four of us are taking steps up in competition. It'll also be interesting to see how Okocha does against Ribery in comparison to Mike and myself.

[/center]

I'm looking forward to it, also. I'm happy that there's a full schedule for the HBF this week, with most of the organisation's big names in action.

[kenyan_cheena]

VINCENNES ECSTATIC FOLLOWING
OPENING STAGE TWO FIGHT CARDS

Sunday 27 October 2002

Heavyweight Boxing Federation President Michael Vincennes has expressed his happiness about the opening weekend of fight cards in stage two of the organisation's World Championship and 1st Defense tournaments during a Sportscenter interview direct from Milan, Italy this afternoon.

"It's been a long time coming," Vincennes said. "I've always believed that when we reached stage two we would get a better idea of who the real contenders are in the federation. There were a few surprises, mainly in the 1st Defense tournament but fighters like Riddick Bowe, Larry Holmes and Sam McVey, they really showed that they'll be right there with a big chance when the semi-finals roll around."

Vincennes also spoke of how much he was looking forward to the coming week's action, which will be the busiest for the HBF since stage one of the WC/1D tournaments came to a conclusion at the end of August. Some of the federation's biggest names are scheduled to compete and Vincennes sees it as the beginning of their push to claim back the ground they lost to the International Boxing League during these last couple of months of relative inactivity.

"When you look at the quality of fights on offer, there's no comparison," Vincennes said. "They've got their Featherweights still trying to establish themselves while we've got guys who have already done that and are now on a course for glory. Just look at some of the talent we'll have on display: Liston, Marciano, Peter Jackson, Elmer Ray, Jacky Johnson, Joe Jeannette, Young Stribling. Not to mention some of the competitors in the Qualifying League, fighters like Romy Alvarez, Scott Mundt, Mike Hanson, Ingemar Johansson and Omovo Okocha. I don't need to tell you how big a week it'll be because just a look at the schedule speaks volumes. It sells itself, it really does."

All the excitement kicks off tomorrow night in Canton, Ohio when Groups Four and Nine in the Continental Americas Championship tournament take to the ring at the Memorial Civic Center, 4th-seeded Ohio-born slugger Michael Dokes headlining the event...

[Romdawg88]

I'm feeling the excitement just like Vincennes for the coming action. Can't wait to see if Mike will finally live up to the hype and knock someone out and of course the flood of Alliance stories that pop up during this part of the fight sequence.

[kenyan_cheena]

I haven't run any of the fight cards for the week yet, which I'll be trying to get done on Friday and Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to do some write-ups of the Monday 28/10 cards on Saturday, also.

[kenyan_cheena]

DOKES DOMINATES COONEY IN CANTON

Monday 28 October 2002

Akron native Michael Dokes made a convincing start to his Continental Americas Championship tournament campaign this evening, flooring New York's Gerry Cooney twice on the way to a unanimous decision victory (78-72, 79-71, 78-72). The card was held at the Canton Memorial Civic Center, just 23 miles south of Dokes' hometown. The 4th seed had said in recent days that, after his disappointing showing in the World Championship tournament, he was determined to redeem himself and become the inaugural American Champion. If tonight's performance was any indication he'll be right in there with a good chance when the tournament's business end rolls around.

Like Dokes, Cooney had failed to live up to expectations during his stay in the World Championship tournament. Some had regarded him as an outside chance of qualifying for its second stage but those hopes evaporated pretty quickly as Cooney lost his first five bouts. He was victorious in his last two, though hardly in impressive fashion. Even so, signs of promise were on display in the early rounds against Dokes, Cooney taking the opener on all three cards and then holding his own in an exciting 3rd round. But from round four onwards Dokes was in complete control. Cooney tasted the canvas midway through round six after absorbing a wicked shot to the ribs and was down again from a single right hand early in the final stanza.

Cooney wore a forlorn countenance as he mopped around the ring in the moments before the verdict was announced, the 22 year-old who so many had believed in looking like a beaten fighter with a nasty cut over his left eye. The loss saw him fall to 2-6 while Dokes improved to 5-2-1(2) with his second consecutive win.

***

In the Co-Feature Connecticut's Bernie Reynolds found much more difficulty in overcoming Idaho's James Ellis, although you wouldn't have known looking at the scorecards. The 9th seed took a 77-73, 78-72, 79-73 unanimous decision verdict, knockdowns in rounds six and eight helping his cause after Ellis had rattled him with some big shots earlier. To most is appeared that Ellis had been the better fighter through the opening half of the contest, especially in the 3rd and 4th. But going into the 5th he trailed on two cards and was level on the other and when Reynolds sent him to the canvas in the later rounds he had no chance of winning. Like Dokes, Reynolds is now 5-2-1(2) while Ellis falls to 2-5-1.

Earlier in the evening New Jersey slugger Tony Galento pulled off something of an upset when he defeated Buster Mathis by unanimous decision (77-75 on all three cards). Michigan-born Mathis had produced some admirable efforts in the World Championship tournament, including holding both Ken Norton and Gerald Griffith to draws. He brought a 3-1-3 record into tonight's contest and was expected to score his first win since March but was never able to control the contest for any extended period. Galento is now 4-4(3), the win ending a two-fight losing streak. Mathis falls to 3-2-3 and will take a disheartening five-fight winless streak into his next contest...

[kenyan_cheena]

OKOCHA STOPS RIBERY IN QL DEBUT

Tuesday 29 October 2002

Nigerian Omovo Okocha's first bout in the HBF's Qualifying League was a wild one as he climbed off the canvas in the opening round to knock the Frenchman Sylvain Ribery out cold in the 2nd. The card was held in Okocha's own backyard, at the Surelere Stadium in Lagos and the tournament's #1 seed had the entire crowd in his corner. Okocha accumulated a 6-1(3) record during his run in the African Boxing League, only losing in the tournament final to compatriot Ike Ibeabuchi. He's expected to live up to his status as the top seed in the QL and he commenced that task in explosive fashion tonight, although not before almost suffering a disasterous defeat.

With the bout just over a minute old Ribery caught Okocha with a three-punch salvo that put him on his backside, the Nigerian staring up at referee Fred Hernandez with wide-eyed bemusement. He made it to his feet at six but surprisingly Ribery didn't press home his advantage, content to fire off a handful of combinations and keep his opponent on the outside. Okocha then came out smoking to start round two, finding the target with a pair of hard right hands in the opening minute and then a crunching uppercut and smashing left hook in the second one. The decimation continued in the bottom third of the round, a solid cross and a four-punch combo rattling the Frenchman's cage before Okocha put an exclamation point on his efforts, a lightning bolt of a left hook that snapped Ribery's head around and dropped him as if lifeless. Ribery was counted out at the 2:44 mark and Okocha celebrated, mounting a couple of the corner posts and flexing his muscles for the excited crowd.

(to be continued)

[Romdawg88]

Not the most impressive debut by Okocha, sure he stopped Ribery but getting floored by a guy who barely won rounds off of Mike and myself isn't very good at all.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Not the most impressive debut by Okocha, sure he stopped Ribery but getting floored by a guy who barely won rounds off of Mike and myself isn't very good at all.

Yep, I was shocked for a few seconds as I watched the fight and saw him get knocked down. That was the third KD of his career so far which is a bit alarming for him. He'll have to be careful against Mike, no doubt.

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

***

Florida Alliance member Romy Alvarez kicked off the evening with a confident and polished performance in scoring a unanimous decision win over West Virginia's Delbert Craw (60-55, 59-56, 60-55). The 23 year-old impressed both offensively and defensively, showing that he's making great progress even though he was in against an opponent who was clearly overmatched. Alvarez's best work came in the opening two rounds where he peppered Craw with that textbook left jab and unloaded with an occasional flurry of shots.

Craw made it more of a fight during the later rounds, especially in the 4th and 5th which were both competitive and entertaining. Even so, he never looked like threatening Alvarez who cut quite a distinctive image with his long hair pulled back into a series of hair-ties and outfit in the now famous Alliance colours of red, black and white. His boots were black with red and white laces, his trunks black with red and white trim, ALVAREZ stencilled in white up the left thigh and the name of his hometown BELLE GLADE on the waistband.

It's a big week for the Alliance with Elmer Ray set to make his Continental Americas Championship tournament debut tomorrow night and Oliver McCall in action in stage two of the 1st Defense tournament on Friday in Japan. Alvarez spoke about the importance of it during the post-fight interview.

"Yeah, we're lookin' for 3-0, without a doubt," he said. "Jimmy Ray, he had a great win couple weeks ago 'gainst McGirt, prob'ly the best any of us has had. Rest of us gotta follow his lead and, I guess, live up to all the hype. Ain't no reason why Elmer can't take care o' bi'ness tomorrow, but it'll be pretty tough for O-Mack 'gainst Weaver. That's a big fight for him, goin' ten rounds for the first time. But he had a great preparation and we confident he can do it."

While the trio is looking to be perfect this week Alvarez himself improved to 3-0(1) with tonight's win, maintaining his position at the top of Group One. He faces tough contests against Okocha and Mike Hanson before the end of the tournament's first stage but based on the form he's shown so far it would not surprise if he takes an undefeated record into stage two.

***

Connecticut-born German Scott Mundt joined Alvarez at 3-0 with a surprisingly-dominant win against Utah's Rex Layne. Mundt won every round on all three scorecards for a shutout unanimous decision victory. Layne brought a 4-1-1(3) record into the evening but that meant little as Mundt went about the task of building a winning lead during the top half of the contest. In round one it was a series of punishing combinations, in round two an accumulation of single punches and in the 3rd Mundt unloaded with some heavy artillery, staggering Layne with a hard right early and a jolting uppercut late.

Layne showed some resistance in rounds four and five but it was not enough to stop the Mundt juggernaut and he produced his best work of the fight in the final stanza, catching Layne with some smashing blows. No doubt it was a disheartening loss for Layne who, after winning his first three bouts in fantastic fashion, has been victorious in just one of his last four. Mundt was happy with his performance, admitting that he'd been nervous in the days leading up to the event.

"You know, Rex is a quality fighter," said Mundt. "I watched some of his earlier bouts and the guy has some real power. He was just one win from the semis in the feeder leagues and was pretty unlucky not to make it so it felt a bit daunting for me stepping in with him. I came at him with aggression and I was surprised that he couldn't handle it. But I'm glad about that, also. No offense to him but I never expected it to be such a ... well, such an easy win."

(to be continued)

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Craw made it more of a fight during the later rounds, especially in the 4th and 5th which were both competitive and entertaining. Even so, he never looked like threatening Alvarez who cut quite a distinctive image with his long hair pulled back into a series of hair-ties and outfit in the now famous Alliance colours of red, black and white. His boots were black with red and white laces, his trunks black with red and white trim, ALVAREZ stencilled in white up the left thigh and the name of his hometown BELLE GLADE on the waistband.

Sigh, I miss my hair. Had to cut it off to be more presentable looking for job interviews. At least fictional me gets to still rock the hair. Nice win there, I'm looking forward to when I get to step up in competition and face someone who actually stands a decent chance of winning. I have no doubt that Elmer and McCall will hold up there end and the Alliance will be 3-0 at the end of the week.

Man, Chris is looking like he's going to be a monster. First the win over Hughand now pistolwhipping Layne hell of a start to his career. Now, let's see what Mike can do with Drexxon.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Sigh, I miss my hair. Had to cut it off to be more presentable looking for job interviews. At least fictional me gets to still rock the hair. Nice win there, I'm looking forward to when I get to step up in competition and face someone who actually stands a decent chance of winning. I have no doubt that Elmer and McCall will hold up there end and the Alliance will be 3-0 at the end of the week.

Man, Chris is looking like he's going to be a monster. First the win over Hughand now pistolwhipping Layne hell of a start to his career. Now, let's see what Mike can do with Drexxon.

I cut my hair for the first time in about six months last weekend. It wasn't real long but I had a fringe that was hanging down onto my eyebrows, which is pretty long for me.

Your guy has made a great start, Romy. He's fighting pretty much exactly how you wanted him to. Chris/Scott has been fantastic, also. He's well on his way to a 7-0 start.

I'll be posting the rest of the write-up at home tonight (in about four hours from now).

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

I cut my hair for the first time in about six months last weekend. It wasn't real long but I had a fringe that was hanging down onto my eyebrows, which is pretty long for me.

Your guy has made a great start, Romy. He's fighting pretty much exactly how you wanted him to. Chris/Scott has been fantastic, also. He's well on his way to a 7-0 start.

I'll be posting the rest of the write-up at home tonight (in about four hours from now).

This was my first real haircut in around 5 years. Hell, since I started college 6 years ago I had one haircut, not counting some trims, before this one. Oh well, at least the hair is being put to good use by the Locks of Love people.

Yeah, my guy is fighting pretty much how I wanted him to and I'm pretty happy about that. It's funny if had started signups a little bit later I would of gone in a completely different direction with my guy then I did. Now, I would go with a Jose Medel type high aggression swarmer with little punching power. I based most of the new Muckboys off that model pretty much because of how successful Medel has been in the UTBA. Yeah, Chris is looking nasty and I could easily see him rolling along undefeated with little trouble until the second part of the QL starts up.

Sweet, now I have something to look forward to reading when I get up in the morning/afternoon.

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

***

After displaying his knockout power at the HBF's Indianapolis Qualifying League auditions Mexican-born local Mike "Hector" Hanson was being spoken of as a puncher on par with the devastating Sonny Liston and Rocky Marciano. However, in the opinion of some the loud, extroverted 28 year-old failed to live up to the hype in unanimous decision victories over Sylvain Ribery and Antonio Serioux in his opening QL bouts. Sure, he won both fights, but the ability he showed in Indianapolis and his own outrageous boasts meant that anything short of smashing knockouts would be considered an underachievement.

Tonight Hanson stepped into the ring for his third professional bout, his opponent the New Yorker Stanley Drexxon who had lost to Omovo Okocha in the semi-finals of the African Boxing League and brought a 3-3 record into the contest. After his win against Serioux Hanson had given the impression that he was going to let his actions speak for him in the future and that appeared to have been the case in the lead-up to tonight as the brash claims of KO victories were completely absent from his media interviews.

After a non-descript start to the first Hanson exploded late in the frame, hurting Drexxon with a crunching uppercut, a jolting left hook and a hard right cross all in the final sixty seconds. Round two was even through its top half before Drexxon unloaded with a flurry of shots that put Hanson on the back foot. It led to the New York native controlling the rest of the round. But the bout swung back heavily in Hanson's favour in the 3rd as he punished Drexxon with some pile-driving shots. Surprisingly the 24th seed stayed on his feet and Hanson looked a little frustrated as he returned to his corner.

That frustration multiplied when Drexxon outworked him in the 4th, despite looking the more tired fighter. Drexxon kept himself out of harm's way but moved in and struck quickly before retreating again, taking advantage of Hanson's poor ring movement. But once again the momentum shifted and Hanson took an action-packed 5th, catching Drexxon with some shots that should have dropped him but didn't. The big Nigerian crowd loved every moment of it, most of them supporting Hanson but all of them very vocal with their encouragement for both fighters.

It was anyone's to win as the final round arrived and Drexxon dug deep. Starting it with a bang he found the mark with some heavy punches that seemed to take a lot out of an already gassed Hanson, enough so that Drexxon was able to take the round on all three cards and force the final result: a draw. One judge favoured Hanson 58-57 but the other two had it all tied up at 57-57.

The disappointment was clear to see on Hanson's face in the moments after the announcement. By comparison Drexxon was over the moon, ecstatic that he's managed to avoid defeat at the hands of one of the federation's biggest punchers. The fact that he's seeded much higher than him appeared insignificant. Hanson was more or less speechless, saying that he gave it everything he had but "the guy just kept on comin'." He briefly focused on the positive, that he's still undefeated but conceeded that he'll need to improve "a bunch" when he fights Okocha in five weeks.

***

West Virginia's Hugh Phillips bounced back from last month's defeat against Scott Mundt to record a solid unanimous decision win against the Australian Jack Beckerman (58-55, 57-56, 58-55). After going undefeated through his first four fights this was Beckerman's second loss in a row, having been stopped by Terone Haynes in early August. He was never really in the contest, his only glimmer of hope coming when he sent Phillips to the canvas with a left-right salvo from out of nowhere two minutes into round three. He finished the stanza strongly but it proved to be nothing more than a brief interruption as Phillips went straight back to work in the 4th and controlled the rest of the fight.

As was the case last month against Mundt, Phillips had another disrupted preparation. While it had been his own illness then, now it was that of his elderly mother. He dedicated his win to her afterwards, saying that he was "hoping she feels better tonight". The 40 year-old spoke of his relief in getting the fight "out of the way" because, understandably, he was more concerned about his mother's health and now he could get back to looking after her.

***

South Africa's Shakes Qoboza continued what has been an impressive start to his career, running his undefeated streak to five fights and improving his record to 4-1-2(1) with a majority decision victory over the Canadian Antonio Serioux (58-53, 56-56, 56-55). Looking badly underdone at yesterday's weigh-in Serioux was not expected to put up much of a fight and whe he was floored in both the 3rd and 5th rounds that belief looked to be holding true. But he almost pulled off a stunning win when he sent Qoboza to the canvas one minute from the final bell. Unfortunately for him the South African was up at eight and had little trouble surviving.

***

Connecticut's Lee Q. Murray gave Colorado native Jim Flynn a welcome to the Qualifying League he won't soon forget, knocking the 12th seed out just 54 seconds into the opening round. A left-right salvo staggered Flynn and a follow-up four-punch barrage dropped him for a full count. It was a stunning ending to the fight, one that extended a bizarre sequence of results in this particular Qualifying League group, as shown below:

13/08/2002: Scott Mundt KO2 Kalolo Umaga
17/09/2002: Kalolo Umaga KO1 Lee Q. Murray
29/10/2002: Lee Q. Murray KO1 Jim Flynn

After winning his first four bouts Flynn has now lost three in a row, two of which have come via KO inside of the 2nd round. He wasn't that far off upsetting Rosco Toles in the semi-finals of the Pacific Coast Boxing League, where he lost by split decision. Taking that into account tonight's defeat will be a difficult one for him to accept.

[Romdawg88]

Not good Mike not good at all, if he doesn't good out alot better for the next fight he'll get smashed by Okocha. I got Shakes Qoboza in the next round right? That should be my toughest fight so far but man going to a MD and getting dropped by Serioux doesn't make his chances of winning look that good.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Not good Mike not good at all, if he doesn't good out alot better for the next fight he'll get smashed by Okocha. I got Shakes Qoboza in the next round right? That should be my toughest fight so far but man going to a MD and getting dropped by Serioux doesn't make his chances of winning look that good.

The problem for Mike has been the same in all three fights: not throwing enough punches.

Here's a stats comparison for average punches landed and thrown per round for Hanson and Alvarez through the first three series:

Hanson: 23.3/34.3 (.679)
Alvarez: 25.4/60.1 (.409)

So he's more accurate than you but nowhere near as active. That's a legacy of his poor control factor, which is a result of him actually requested his fighter to be slow.

Here's your defensive numbers, which are impressive for both of you:

Hanson: 16.1/54.2 (.297)
Alvarez: 11.1/43.8 (.253)

As you can see, Mike's opponents are throwing on average 20 more punches per round than he is, while yours are throwing 17 less.

[kenyan_cheena]

Made another decision on the format for the HBF/IBL. I'm going to try and get it moving even more quickly by simming five weeks at a time and picking out the highlights from the bunch.

There's still a lot of fight cards to get through before the IBL tournaments get to their business end so I don't want to waste too much time arriving there. This format will work nicely with that because each series of the IBL regionals takes five weeks and series two is almost over.

I'll have to make up a calendar in Excel to chart out all the cards, which will make it easier for me.

Once the current week is done I'll be going to this new format.

k_c

[Romdawg88]

Cool, I'm down with anything that will make it easier for you and help the storyline move along faster.

[mh2365]

Ouch ... I think I worked on my speed the last two weeks LOL

[kenyan_cheena]

It was actually reading professordp's Stevenson thread that encouraged me to make the decision. It was exciting reading about the Ali-Stevenson title fight and it just made me wish that I could right about those types of fights in the HBF/IBL.

To be honest I'm growing tired of still being so far away from the point when the HBF and IBL finally crown their World Champions. I've been at this for almost four years now and the fact that I'm still not at that point is ridiculous. I'll have to be much more, well, ruthless, I guess, in what I choose to write stories about within the universe.

I know that what I've built here has been entertaining and that I've created some good storylines but I feel like it's all being wasted because none of the fighters have really "won" anything yet. It's kind of like making a big deal of the NFL pre-season, I guess.