17 February 2008
WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val
Henning
'What's the problem?', asks Heather Corrigan
'She's prepared to do big things', says Monica's trainer
'We're a come forward boxer', says Maria
'Bring it on if you dare', says Frida
Val Henning has joined Devon Ling in Devon's luxurious office at the famous WEBA Towers to go over the previous week's WEBA action.
Val: Hey Devon, nice new outfit!
Devon: I picked it up in Bolivia while visiting Balio Frez. I loved the colors and the price was right!
Val: And it's always fun to have something new to wear. And WEBA got some new champions!
Devon: Not exactly, Val, but three former champions ... Frida, Fiona and Raquel ... won back titles they'd had before. It's like deja vu all over again.
Val: .Just means competition's good, hon, so nobody's got it totally made over all the others. Which fights did ya like best?
Devon:
The best back-and-forth action may have been the scrap for the WEBA
welterweight title. Chicago's Dangerous Diedre Dornan gave
Canada's Lucky Lucille
Perkins all she could handle for ten rounds but the champ came up
with a
rip-roaring eleventh to win that fight by TKO. Diedre came out
aggressive as usual but Lucille used her skills to work her
against the ropes and opened cuts under both her eyes in the second
round. Lucille got kinda rough in the third, threw an elbow, opened a
cut over Diedre's right eye then started to work on that.
Diedre's right eye was closing and that made her even more
aggressive in the fourth, mixing it up with Lucille against the ropes
and sending Lucille to her corner shaken up. Diedre
kept
up the pressure in the fifth and set the champ back on her
heels for a standing eight. Lucille took a beating in the
sixth, went to the canvas twice and Diedre began to taunt
her. At this point Dangerous Diedre looked confident she was taking the
WEBA title away from the
baby-faced Canadian and it got worse for Lucille in the seventh as
Diedre broke her nose with a vicious one-two.
Lucille
looked dazed going back to her corner and I don't think anyone woulda
laid down good money on her chances right then but she began to work
her way
back into it in the eighth. They
traded hard shots in the ninth, Lucille in obvious pain at times
from
her
broken nose. It got ugly in the tenth as Diedre showed her
frustration by head-butting Lucille's broken nose, but Lucille was
working on the damage around Diedre's eyes which were both closing
up. Lucille was merciless as she exploited Diedre's vision problems in
the eleventh, ripping
hard
shots to the challenger's face. Diedre was able to trade with
Lucille for a while but then a big flurry put the
Chicagoan down
for an eight count on the canvas. After that Lucille began
landing almost at will. The referee watched the carnage at
first but eventually stepped in with Lucille landing
heavily on the defenseless Diedre, so the
fight ended with a TKO for Lucille.
Val: Dornan fights tough and talks tough but Lucille has shown a mean streak too, and she matched the Chicago fighter all the way in a very rough title defense. Perkins can come to box but she can mix it up in a brawl too! How about the WEBA lightweight title fight. Swedish star Frida Svensson defeated Japan's Keiko Suzuki ... was that a big upset or what?
Devon:
You
know, some WEBA boxers can do better in Wu's grudge ring and some can
do better in
the regular fights. Frida Svensson's gotten her head handed to her a
few times
at Wu's now and that makes her record look kinda ordinary, but this is
a fighter who's fought to some close decisions in title fights with
Mindy Li, Billy-Jo Fulton, Karin Bauer and in her last title match with
Keiko Suzuki. . She's a boxer who can compete well in a boxing
match but get then turn around and get KO'd in a punch-up brawl at
Wu's. And Keiko Suzuki's been a contender since Day 1 but she's
never been
a real KO specialist like some of the others, she's another one who's
good at winning fights on the scorecards after they have gone the
distance.
So I'd reckoned on this going the whole way and coming down
to who'd put the best rounds together and impressed the judges more.
Frida started well
and she won the first two rounds but it nearly came apart on her at the
end
of the third when Keiko decked her twice in quick succession with
picture perfect lefts to her jaw. Frida needed a good chin just
to
survive that round but she came back to win the middle rounds and she
put
Keiko down several times with good rights to the head. After that both
fought more cautiously and most rounds were close, so it
was anybody's call going down the stretch. Frida appeared to have the
upper hand in the final
round until just before the final bell, when Keiko pulled out all the
stops
and knocked Frida down with a roundhouse left to the head. That almost
settled it with a KO, but the Swedish fighter made it back onto to her
feet somehow and
then was saved by the bell. It was a tough loss for Suzuki who
had two
big chances to put Frida away and she had won the biggest rounds, but
the Swedish boxer showed good skills
and movement winning close rounds through the rest of the fight.
It was Frida at her best while Keiko couldn't close her out when
she had the chance, and that made the difference.
Val: The Japanese may look for a rematch soon as this was such a close fight! Frida's not been a dominant fighter, she's been a more technical fighter and she does just enough to win some close battles but she'll be working hard in the gym to try to hold onto this WEBA belt now she's got it back. This was a bit of a surprise perhaps but there was no surprise in the final of the WEBA featherweight tournament!
Devon: The main surprise may have been that Chilean bad girl Mónica "KO"
Rodriguez had made it all the way to the final showdown with Raquel "Rocky" Rivera!
Mónica knocked off veteran Diane McFee, tough Scot Fiona Black and former
world champion Tina "Tiger" Boppa just to get this shot at Raquel,
who's had a great winning streak going over everyone but
world champion Jordan Strongarm. After Mónica's strong performance in all
the prelim fights, I didn't know what to expect of her in
this final. She got off to a fast start against Raquel with a good
work rate in the early rounds, and a third-round knockdown that definitely had
Raquel flustered. Raquel was well behind on points by the end of
the fourth but came out fired up for the fifth and finally began to take
the fight to the Chilean, putting her down for a short count and then
scoring a standing eight later in the round. That round seemed to take some
of the steam out of Mónica's attack and the champion gradually took
over the fight from that point on, winning most of the toe to toe
exchanges and putting Mónica on the canvas several times. Mónica
had a good round in the ninth but by the end of the eleventh it was
clear that Raquel was back on track to regain the WEBA title and that the Arizona fighter had paced
herself better for the full twelve. The final round was just an
exclamation point in what had become an impressive win for Rivera as
she put the Chilean down on the canvas twice with
head-body combinations, Raquel came a way a clear winner despite
a gutsy performance and good start by Mónica, who had clearly been the big surprise
of the whole tournament up until this fight.
Val: Rodriguez has plenty of training chances ahead of her and she still has some eligibility left for a junior title belt ... so Manuel Soto may just need to show some more patience with his fighter as she gets experience and makes progress, Devon. Her fellow Chilean Tereza "Dinamita" Delgado seems to be living up to her nickname already though judging by the junior welterweight title fight!
Devon: The
other Chilean bombshell has literally exploded into the junior
welterweight division, winning the title in just her fourth WEBA
fight and continuing to wreck her rivals' junior title
hopes! This card saw Tereza's sixth
defense of the junior belt, and it was an
impressive one as she dominated Mexico's
Esther "La Loba" Gonzalez. Esther had stunned the WEBA fans by beating
the
much more experienced Carolina
Kusmagk when she won this belt, and she was also coming off an
impressive win over current world champion Rose Mora. So Gonzalez
looked like a good bet to at least hold her
own with the feisty Chilean... but apart from a couple of rounds
in the
middle of the fight Dinamita didn't buy into that idea one
bit. Tereza took it
right at Esther from
the opening bell and worked her over hard against the ropes in the
second round. Esther landed some good shots early in the third, only to
be
dropped by a blistering barrage against the ropes late in the round.
The shellacking continued in the fourth as Tereza's confidence grew but
then Tereza took a bit of a break that left Esther back into the fight
in the fifth, only to have the Chilean resume her
onslaught in the
later rounds. Esther bloodied Tereza's nose in the seventh but
the Chilean fighter paid Esther back with
interest in the eighth, pounding a series of power shots to the
Mexican's nose. Esther's nose soon began to bleed even worse than
Tereza'a, and Tereza added to the damage with dirty tactics in the
ninth. Esther ended up fighting the tenth with blood streaming
down her
front while
Tereza rocked her repeatedly with uppercuts and combinations.
Esther went down twice in that final round and there was no doubt
at all whose glove would be raised at the end ... a very
impressive win for the girl from Antofagasta!
Val: Tereza Delgado's fast establishing herself as one of the hottest prospects in WEBA, and this win over an opponent who recently outpointed the new world champion may be a hint of things to come, even though she now has to sit out a card for treatment for her nose. Tereza's won ten in a row, Devon, and even the top welterweights may have their hands full with her soon! How about the junior featherweight title fight, which was another tough one?
Devon: Two
featherweights came into this clash looking for redemption after
disappointing losses!
Scotland's "Killie Killer" Fiona Black was beaten by Mónica
Rodriguez in the WEBA featherweight
tournament, while defending
champion Cathy "Slick" Simmons from Canada was coming off a tough loss
to new Brazilian lightweight Carmen Santos. This ten-rounder was a
ding-dong
battle in which Cathy went down early in the first round but then
rallied for several rounds. Cathy put Fiona on the canvas with a
one-two
against the ropes in the fourth but she
had sustained a nasty cut under her right eye that would become a
serious problem for her later in the fight. Fiona battled her way back
into it
and in
the eighth she was able to capitalize on Cathy's closing right eye to
bombard the champion against the ropes. Cathy Simmons went back to
her corner with
blood running
down her face from several more cuts and the hard-charging Scot kept
the
heat on the
Canadian for the rest of the fight, punishing Cathy's face with
damaging shots that left the champion battered and bloody.
When the final score was tallied it was a convincing unanimous
decision for the
Scottish challenger, and a second straight disappointing loss for the
Canadian.
Val: This has been a good rivalry so far. as they've traded the junior title back and forth between them in exciting fights. Fiona Black has the upper hand at the moment but Cathy Simmons has more training possibilities ahead of her, so I would not count her out of it from just this loss.
Devon: No, it's way too early for that, Cathy's often had trouble in the late rounds of her fights and if she could figure out how to maintain control of a fight when she gets off to a good start, she'll be a stronger contender in this division. How about some other highlights, Val? The middleweight tournament produced some surprises, eh?
Val:
Maybe none bigger than Balio's girl Maria "The
Huntress" Lozada
winning a close decision over reigning WEBA champion Sharon
"Smashmouth" Brown! Sharon
had been the big surprise of the last middleweight title tournament,
with good wins
over Hannah Riley, Telisha Cooper and Jenny Johnson to take the WEBA
belt.
The ex-US Marine Corps boxer had been on a roll, knocking some top
class opponents out, including Maria in their last match, so I didn't
expect
Maria to go the distance with her, let alone to come away with a
win.
Devon: But Maria had started out well, she won three of her first five WEBA fights by stoppage and had become junior middleweight champ in her fifth fight. So she's always been an aggressive fighter with KO potential. She needs to get a good start in her fights, though!
Val: She did that here, throwing a lot of leather right away to keep Sharon backed up into the ropes and then not backing off. Maria kept Sharon on her back foot for several of the early rounds of this fight, and it took several rounds for Sharon to get herself together and start to land effective counters. The American began to settle down and find the way through Maria's defenses in the fourth and she put Maria down for a short count. That stopped the bout from getting away on Sharon although Maria had built a good points lead with her early activity. The rest of the bout was more closely fought with both landing solidly at times. I thought Maria was still getting the better of the action in the fifth and seventh but it was Sharon who came on strong in the final round, and she came close to knocking Maria out to snatch the win. But Maria survived Sharon's late rally and it went to the scorecards, where Maria still held on to a slim points lead. Much to the reigning WEBA champ's disgust, Maria's glove was raised in victory and "Smashmouth" had made an unexpectedly early exit from the world title tourney.
Devon: Balio's persevered with Maria's training and that's kept her in the title hunt in a division where they hit hard and fights can turn around on a few good punches. If Balio can bottle the energy that Maria came out with to start this fight, she'll be a threat at middleweight for sure! Sharon's still got the WEBA title and she'll be ready to rematch this one, you can be pretty sure of that! How about the other bouts, Val?
Val: The
other big winner was Canada's "Brandon Bomber" Jenny Johnson, who put a
major hurting on Ireland's Hannah "Hot Stuff" Riley, who's now lost two
in a
row for the
first time in her career. Hannah won her first seven fights by KO, so
the sky seemed to be the limit for her, and with Jenny often
falling victim to late round KO's I would
not have
been at all surprised to see this fight go Hannah's way despite
Jenny's
height and experience. Jenny started well as she often does but she ran
into the Riley buzzsaw in
the third when
Hannah started to land hard to her head and body. Jenny took a
standing eight after a fierce exchange left her without her
mouthpiece, which Hannah had liberated with a vicious right to her
solar plexus. Jenny was in trouble but she survived this onslaught
somehow then used her boxing skills and ring experience to turn the
fight back her way in the
next few rounds. Hannah was bleeding heavily from her mouth by the end
of the fourth and her busted lip gradually become a distraction. Jenny
caught
Hannah hard with a right to the head
in the fifth and knocked her down for a four count but Hannah
got up and fought ferociously. Both were bleeding heavily from
their mouths by the end of the round but Hannah rallied in the
sixth and knocked Jenny down twice early in the seventh. This
began to
look like the all-too-familiar late-round ending for the big Canadian,
but she
suddenly put Hannah down with a booming right! Hannah barely beat
the
count and from then on Jenny made no mistakes ... she kept
throwing leather with bad intentions until she put Hannah down for the
full count.
Devon: That was a huge win for Jenny Johnson, even though it may have been expected from the standings. Riley's plenty dangerous, and her record shows she'll be a big threat in this group as she rounds out her boxing style and gains experience, but this time Johnson came through with the power punches when she needed them most. Thistournament looks like it may be heating up already, as Lozada and Johnson both eliminated very dangerous opponents from the mix early on, and may get to face each other later to decide who gets into the semifinal!
Val: And it was a week that showed us why we need to fight the fights to figure it out every time, you can't always tell what's going to happen from the records! Upsets happen and styles make fights, so you got to get them in the ring and let them go at it to figure it all out!
Hellcat Heather Corrigan pounds on a speed bag at her Dade County gym, where the reporters have gathered to watch the former world champion work out.
Reporter: You look like you're working hard again, Heather. No aftereffects from the beating you took from Rose Mora?
Heather: The worst of it has been people like you trying to beat up my ego, fellas. Am I finished? Can I keep going? I can't believe Cooper saying Rose and I should both get out of the sport, or Val Henning asking whether Rose still "had it in her". You'd think Rose and I were two grey-haired grannies in wheelchairs to listen to that crap! So you tell me, was my fight with Rose the best title fight ever, or what?
Reporter: You've been in so many ... but ... yes it may have been the best ever.
Heather (laughs): So what's the freakin' problem? Rose and I beat holy hell out of each other but we're both in top shape. We can both take it and come back for more, give you everything you ever wanted to see in a women's title fight and then some. What's the problem?
Reporter: Cooper said you are holding back the development of younger fighters, and you should let them have their turn.
Heather: "Their turn"? That's b.s. fellas. We should make it easier for the newbies by walking away? Look I'll know it's time to quit if some badass noob kicks my butt, but that hasn't happened yet. Younger fighters need to learn the same way Rose and I did, fighting opponents at their own level and training their butts off in the gym. I don't see how Rose and I hold them back, we show them what they can be one day if they work hard and train! How's it going to help them if Rose and I aren't there? I don't get it.
Reporter: So you won't listen to Telisha Cooper's call to step aside?
Heather; No way! Telisha may have felt like a tired old lady after she fought Mikee Mulroney... but me (throws a punch at the speed bag) I'm ready for more! Bring it on!
The Hellcat bangs her gloves together, then takes another swing at the speed bag, almost tearing it from its mount.
Devon tries to talk to Mónica Rodríguez but the beaten Chilean boxer leaves the ring in a rage as soon as the ref raises the glove of the victorious Raquel Rivera. Finally ... after some time waiting ... Devon manages to talk with Mónica's trainer Manuel Soto.
Devon: Mr Soto, how is Mónica?
Soto: She's very furious as she was beated in a title fight again by someone that she hates deeply. And to make it worse she deserved to lose again as Raquel was fairly superior to her. But this time she was really focused in this tournament and excited about to train properly. Maybe you have realized that she didn't make interviews or trash talking as she always does in a long time, so now is blaming everyone but specially me about this defeat. I hope that she realizes any time soon that she performed really well in this tournament, that we did anything to win and that she must be proud about her victories in this tournament and the way that she battled toe to toe with Raquel ... nothing to shame but a lot to be proud!
Devon: Yes, we noted that Mónica was the success story in this tournament, and that she won over tough fighters like Fiona Black, Diane McFee and Tina Boppa.
Soto: Yes, I managed to train her not also in boxing, but to make her psychologically stronger, as anybody noted that to her to be tough was to talk! But I focused in her concentration and about to not under-rate her contenders, specially to ignore her bad feelings to them. And it was impressive the way that she improved ... now I'm really proud about her!
Devon: What's next for her?
Soto: I hope that she leaves her deception soon, because I believe so deeply in her that I want that she fights Fiona for her title as soon as possible..That would be quite of a fight as their previous one in tournament was explosive, and Mónica was very close to knock the Scot out. Anyway now I believe that she's prepared enough to do big things.
Devon: Thank you Mr. Soto.
Devon Ling looks hard at the old picture in front of her. Same hair, same eyes, but is it really Maria Lozada?
Devon: Hello Balio, hello Maria.
Balio: Hello, Miss Devon. Nice outfit.
Devon (blushing): Huh. Just a little something I picked up at ... hey. I'm doing the talking here.
Maria (roaring): She gets me every now and then too, Devon. Don't sweat it. Anyway, I'm feeling very fortunate at the moment.
Devon: Well, so you should Maria. Sharon Brown found that sweet spot on your chin a couple of times. And had you groggy.
Maria: We're a come forward boxer, Devon. You gotta take some chances to get your own shots in. We landed plenty of our own early.
Balio (feeling left out): You're first three rounds were terrific, Miss Maria. And set you up with plenty of points in the bag. That formula has much going for it. If you can just stay on your feet till the very end.
Devon (laughing): That didn't always work for you, Frez.
Maria (roaring): Or me for that matter.
Balio: There is still plenty of work to do in the gym yet, Miss Maria. And Miss Devon, the formula can still be successful. We gave away the fourth going down on a knee. But came right back in the fifth to take the points again.
Maria: The sixth and seventh were probably even rounds for Sharon and me.
Balio: And then Miss Sharon tagged you good in the last. A standing count. Then a knock down. We thought the judges could have gone either way then. But there were enough points from early on in our favor to take a close decision.
Devon (laughing): You can both count your lucky stars the fight wasn't a draw. And you had to do it all over again. I used to ensure no draws, with the big kayo.
Balio: Yes, Miss Devon. As gran'mama would say "the angry bear ... "
Devon (in flight): Bear ... I can't bear it, Balio. See you later in the season , no doubt. Good luck to you, Maria.
Maria (in flight also): Yep, see ya, Devon.
Frida Svensson smiles as the ref raises her glove in victory over Keiko Suzuki, which also makes her the new WEBA lightweight champ.
It was a tough fight, and Svensson looks a bit shaken as she survived a knockdown in last round, so the Jap fighter leaves the ring disappointed and furious!
Devon: Hi Frida, congratulations for your new belt!
Frida: Thank you, it was tough but I really deserved to win as I beat her with all that I had...
Devon: And Keiko never gave up as she knocked you down for a count..
Frida: But it wasn't enough to beat me, so here I am the champ...thank you so much dear fans for your support, as the press don't give me any chance to win (she smiles as jumps over the ropes)
Devon: Well honestly you struggled a lot in your last fights so this was a bit of an upset really but..
Frida: But nothing, YOUUU and so many people pictured me as a beaten boxer that Keiko was 10 to 1 ahead of me in Vegas!.I know coz I bet 20 K euros to myself, so this fight really wuz all or nothing to me and I WON IN YER FACE.
Devon (a bit scared): Anyway you won, so now you must think in the future. What are your plans?
Frida: Right now celebrate and to humble with my third title a tall blondie loser bitch that I know (Carolina Kusmagk is enraged as she leaves her seat and glares at Frida)then to collect my money and to train very hard. Some loser bitches laugh that I lost my previous titles too soon, and just coz of that I want to spend much more time now in training. You and all the bad press had reason in something: I eated too much leather from some newbies, specially a couple of hard talking Latinas \ Mónica and Carmen and they just have too much reasons to scare about me. It's rematch time and I want payback babe, first the brazuca in Pattaya then and specially that mouthy Chilean bitch.
Devon: Something else beside vengeance?
Frida: Yeah, that I'm open to any challenge to my title. As always! Bring it on if you dare, bitches! (she looks ferocious to scare Devon)