12 April 2008
WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning
'I love the ring' says Carmen Santos
'One step at a time', says Heather
Devon Ling is in her gym, working on the heavy bag, as Val Henning walks in.
Val: Hey Devon! You're getting serious about getting in shape again, huh? How's it going?
Devon: I'm going to make sure I'm ready in case some of the WEBA boxers challenge me, Val!
Devon peels off her bag gloves and Val hands her a towel.
Val: Well good for you, it'll keep ya healthy even if you don't fight anyone, grrl! What did you think about the title fights this week?
Devon: No
surprises, I guess, 'cos all the champions kept their titles and the favorite won the middleweight tournament.
Unfortunately for Jenny Johnson, the middleweight final went
pretty much true to
form, so there won't be any celebrating up in Winnipeg.
Jenny held her own with Mikee the Mauler Mulroney for a few
rounds but then the
Boston brawler took over the fight and knocked the big Canadian girl
out.
Val: Mikee's
won 15 of her last 16 fights, and Telisha Cooper was the only middleweight who could stop
her consistently, so the Mauler's got the upper hand in this middleweight group for
sure now that Telisha's gone. Jenny had lost all three of their previous
fights she and had been KO'd every time, so this one would have been a shocker if she'd pulled it off.
Devon: Jenny started out ok and bloodied up Mikee's face in the first round but that only got the Boston girl fired up and she started to pound Jenny's nose, which was soon bleeding badly. By the end of the fourth Jenny had a major nosebleed that had the doc in her corner checking her over, but it was a world title fight and she didn't want to quit. Maybe she shoulda, though, because it went downhill from there. Jenny's defense was shot and she got her nose busted up even more by the time it was all over. Mikee was relentless as she hammered the big Canadian around the ring for several rounds before knocking her out in the seventh.
Val: Jenny Johnson has size on her side if she can keep a fight on the outside and box but against an aggressive inside fighter like Mikee it seems to be Jenny's chin that lets her down, as she's been KO'd in a lot of fights where she started well. Mikee got the upper hand after she did all the damage to Jenny's nose, as it's hard for anyone to fight well breathing through their mouth and literally covered in blood! Mikee may be carving out a title niche for herself like Baby Doll Ramirez has done in the lightweights, while Jenny keeps taking it on the chin in crucial fights. How about the world welterweight title fight?
Devon: The
reigning champ Lumbee
Princess Cyan Locklear faced a challenge from Chicago's Dangerous
Diedre Dornan, They've both held the world title but Cyan's had an edge
on Diedre in their last few fights, They wasted no time
getting down to business as both landed well in the opening round.
Both got nailed by big punches in the early rounds and went at it
hard with
the fans on their feet cheering them both on! Cyan
pounded Diedre against the corner pads in the third but
then the Princess let Diedre off the hook when she started to showboat
by sticking her
chin out and daring Diedre to hit her! The fans may have enjoyed
the show of
attitude from the champion, but it got Diedre all fired up and she came
back to win the fourth by working Cyan over against the corner
pads.
That script started to play out again in the fifth but Cyan came out of
a standing eight count with a big flurry that had Diedre hanging
on and in trouble. Cyan kept the pressure on Diedre in the sixth and
went to her corner looking confident again. Diedre was in trouble
with
bad swelling around both of her eyes and Cyan really cut loose in the
seventh to work her over against the ropes. Diedre took two trips to
the canvas and then a standing eight before the ref finally stepped in
to stop the
fight with the Chicago girl unable to see well enough to defend herself.
Val: An impressive win for the top girl at Strongarm's Gym, and another great battle for the welterweight crown. Dornan usually brings a ton of attitude into the ring with her, but thi time Cyan Locklear was plenty ready for her! This was a banner card for the Strongarm team as Cyan's gym-mate Jordan Strongarm took on Raquel Rivera again for the world featherweight title!
Devon: Cyan
and Jordan
are the terrible twins of WEBA right now - they fight out of the same
Carolina gym but they have two
different trainers, and both are at the top of their weight class.
Jordan vs Raquel is turning into one of the great rivalries in WEBA,
with the veteran
Carolina Cutie still able to hold her own in their regular
WEBA fights while the hard-hitting newbie from Arizona has ruled in the
grudge ring at Wu's. They were coming off a dust-up at Wu's where
Raquel had KO'd Jordan in the ninth, and the Arizona girl was hoping
for a repeat win that would take the world title away from the Cutie.
Raquel
started all-out from the opening bell, going for a repeat of her KO
victory in Pattaya, and
she had Jordan in trouble against the ropes in several rounds.
The fourth was almost a disaster for the champion as she got
caught against the ropes and two big straight lefts in a row
that sent her to the canvas. Jordan went to her corner looking
dazed, while Raquel Rivera looked like she
had the fight won despite a swollen right eye. Jordan had other ideas
about how this would go,
however, and she boxed her way out of trouble in the fifth then dropped
Raquel to her knees with a body shot after trapping her against the
ropes
in the sixth. Raquel looked shaky after this and took a standing eight
before the round was over. They traded back and forth for several
rounds then the eleventh turned into a pivotal round --- Raquel
hammered
Jordan against the corner pads early for a standing eight, only to have
Jordan return the favor and drop her against the ropes with another
vicious body shot later in the round. After that both boxers
appeared to run out of gas a little and Jordan was able to box Raquel
effectively the rest
of the way. It looked like the decision was up for grabs as it
went to the scorecards, but all three judges had called it for the
reigning champion by a
narrow margin..
Val: These two are very closely matched fighters, but Raquel's younger and still improving so the balance might tip her way. How about the WEBA title fights?
Devon: It
wasn't anything like that featherweight nail-biter in the WEBA
middleweight title clash, where veteran
Crazy Claire Freeman tried to unseat the new #2 contender Sharon
"Smashmouth" Brown. Sharon had been on an eleven-fight winning streak
before taking this WEBA title, and her points loss to Maria Lozada in
the
world title tournament was something of an upset, but Claire's career's
been going in the other direction. She had a ten-fight losing streak
before she KO'd Russian newbie Viktorya Malenkova in the last card at
Wu's. Once she got warmed up, Brown made very few mistakes in this
title defense. She jumped all over Claire in the opening round and
looked
confident throughout the fight. Claire couldn't find the answers
for Sharon's style at all during this fight, and US Marine Corps boxing
instructor was able to show off her boxing skills round after round as
Claire
got increasingly desperate and occasionally fought dirty to try
to even things up. Claire couldn't find ways to slow Sharon down, apart
from tying her up in clinches whenever she got the chance. Sharon
was never in serious trouble
in the later rounds as she wore Claire down to the point where the
referee stopped the one-sided affair
with the veteran dazed and groggy.
Val: The
former champions among the WEBA veterans are getting more and more into
trouble against the top contenders, these days. Claire's falling back
into the middleweight pack kinda like Heather Corrigan's done at
welterweight. And Tammy Quinton may be another one
on the skids, in the lightweights.
Devon: Yeah,
Tammy Q. went up against Frida Svensson for the WEBA lightweight belt and
she was able to keep it interesting for a while but then she got clobbered. The
early rounds were evenly matched but slow-paced as the two
boxers felt each other out cautiously, but Frida started to take
control and hammer Tammy against the ropes in the third round. Tammy
went back to her corner bleeding from her mouth and looking shaken up,
and the doc was called to her corner to check her over. Tammy knew she needed to
pick up the action and she went after Frida hard to start the fourth,
but the Swedish champion got the better of the action again later in the
round and had Tammy reeling around the ring in serious trouble. Frida
kept up the pressure in the fifth and earned two standing eights, doing
more damage to Tammy's face so the doc went to the Vegas girl's corner
again before letting the fight continue.
Val: Tammy's tough, but she was getting outworked and outhit by the younger fighter all through this fight.
Devon: Yeah,
and Frida took her apart in the sixth with combinations to the head and
body. Tammy didn't go easily, it took four knockdowns to put her
away, but she was counted out on her knees late in the round and
Frida's glove was raised in victory. This was an
impressive defense of
the title Frida had won from Keiko Suzuki on the previous WEBA
card, so she's off to a good start in this run as champion! How
about some undercard highlights, Val?
Val:
I'd go with the rematch between Mindy Li and Tulia Minez. They
had fought four nail-biters in a row for the junior lightweight title
about
a year ago, with Tulia narrowly getting the edge in all of them to keep
Mindy at bay and propel her own career forward. Everyone expected this
rematch to be another close
battle, and it was. Mindy started out strong and tagged Tulia with
several good shots in the opening round but Tulia cama back and
staggered Mindy
in the second. They traded rounds back and forth all the way through
the match, both becoming cautious as they have learned to
respect
each other's abilities now, but it started to heat up in the seventh
as Mindy, who may have felt she had fallen behind on the scorecards,
stepped up the action when she got Tulia pinned against the ropes.
Tulia fought back effectively late in the round, but it was a
different story in the eighth as Mindy got the upper hand and put Tulia
down on the canvas three times with a well-timed shots to the head.
Tulia was lucky to survive that round on her feet and get the fight
to the judges' scorecards, but Mindy's fast finish had given her the
edge
she needed for a unanimous decision.
Devon: Mister Wu's girls haven't been ruling the WEBA roost the way that his original fighter Pam Chai used to, but Mindy Li's gradually been improving and she looked a little sharper than Tulia Minez at the end of this fight, Val. Her Wu gym-mate Xiao-wei Zhang made a pretty good comeback against Canada's Cathy Simmons in their fight, too.
Val: Cathy
Simmons started her career looking like a strong contender in the
featherweight
group but she has slipped recently and she brought a five-fight winless
streak
into this fight with Xiao-wei Zhang. Cathy started
like she wanted to blow Xiao-wei out of the ring in both of the first
two rounds,
but Wu's girl dug her heels in and counterattacked in the later part of
both rounds.
Xiao-wei found the ways through Cathy's defence in the third and fourth
and hammered Cathy to the canvas, then to a standing eight in the
fifth.
Simmons looked like she was in big trouble after this big round for
Zhang but now it was the tall Canadian's turn to pull
out a comeback as both boxers tired in the later going. Cathy
boxed well, held her ground and then some in the later rounds,
so this fight went to the scorecards where it came out as a draw in
every judge's tally. This made it six
fights in a row without a win for Simmons, and I have to figure that's
really a moral
victory for Xiao-wei Zhang. The newbie now has three draws on her
record against
boxers who might have been favored to beat her.
Devon: Now that Stephanie Page has taken over the junior featherweight belt, Cathy Simmons and Xiao-wei Zhang are probably going to be her top competition for that belt. They showed they are dead even with each other in this match, Simmons has more ring experience but Zhang's off to a strong start and already has a grudge win and a draw with Page. So this is gonna be a good junior group to watch as they start to sort things out!
Val: We've got lots of good matchup possibilities for the weeks ahead in all of the weight divisions, Devon!
Box Latino visits Carmen Santos training in her clean, modern gym in São Paulo, Brasil. The beautiful boxeadora is sparring with a man who is distracted sometimes by how Leoparda's skimpy satin shorts and sweaty white bikini top cling to her body but her trainer Ralph Riveros gives his attention entirely to Leoparda's footwork and punching form.
BL (to trainer Riveros): How are you satisfied with Carmen's progress?
RR: After a difficulty in her early fights with defending the uppercut which caused her loss to the American, she makes good progress and she will soon bring a title home to Brasil! . She has already defeated twice the Swedish who holds WEBA's title, and she fought well with the Chinese who holds the junior title.
BL: What does Leoparda need to make the championship set?
RR: We work on her skills so she will practice sweet science without wasting energy. You see how she watches the sparring partner to throw her punches quickly where he does not defend, how also she will use each punch to set up her next. Boxing well is choosing distance and timing for the punches, so we want Carmen to move and think better than her opponents and act quickly. She must beat the opponent with her brain before she beat her with her fist. .
Carmen lands a combination to the man's head as he stares at her breasts which are showing wet and brown through her white top. He grins and shakes his head as the sparring session ends.
BL: It is good that you pay such good attention to your training again, Carmen!
Carmen: I have had close fights so I must improve all my skills. I love the ring and also the beach but I must train well to keep my good record.
BL: You have two losses, to the American Kennedy and the Chinese Li. Will you fight them again soon?
Carmen: I want to fight the American, as she is telling that she did beat me to a "bloody pulp" but that is fiction like the Barbie who claimed she was Queen of Wu's so I beated her there too. I will show the American girl what is the truth, that she is not half the boxer I am. She has a win from me in only my second fight where she knocked me down with the lucky punch. I was onto my feet quickly and I was ready to do battle with her but the officials were concerned so they gave a standing count as well. I will teach this lying girl a lesson at Wu's, where I wilI beat her to the canvas and she will lie defeated at my feet.
BL: And the Swedish, Frida Svensson?
Carmen: She wears a hollow crown as I beated her twice already, but before that I will fight the German who was a difficult opponent for me once. She took my punches and did not go down, but she knocked me down in the last round of our fight. That is something I will do better before I again fight the Chinese and teach the Swedish champion her next lesson.
BL: All Brasil watches for your progress in the ring, your picture is in many magazines and on the internet. We look forward to when your glove is raised in a title fight!
Carmen: That will be soon! Then we can have the big party on the beach when I win the title and everyone will be invited!
The reporters are gathered at Hellcat Heather Corrigan's Dade County gym where the former world champion is giving an interview after her workout session.
Reporter: Heather, you have been knocked out three times in a row, by Lucille Perkins, Mikee Mulroney, and Rose Mora. What's wrong?
Heather: It's disappointing, but they are the current WEBA and world welterweight champions, and the world middleweight champion. I guess I am not in the top three in WEBA at the moment, fellas, is what it means.
Reporter: You appear to be getting KO'd in fights you might have won. There have been calls for you to step aside and retire, perhaps to train another, younger fighter. Is any of that in the cards?
Heather: No, it's not. It is arrogant talk by retired boxers and speculation by journalists What I want is a rematch with Lucille Perkins. .
Reporter: After what she did to you last time? You were in bad shape after that fight, Heather!
Heather: She got lucky. I almost knocked her out, but she caught with a couple of lucky punches. That's boxing, a few punches can turn a fight totally around and do you in. I'll show you, I'll beat her next time and get the WEBA title back. .
Reporter: You said you wanted the world title. Shouldn't you be fighting Cyan Locklear for that?
Heather: One step at a time. I want my revenge over Perkins, then I'll go after Cyan.
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