14 September 2008

WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning
"Meet the new girl at our gym", says Heather Corrigan
Katelyn Kennedy 2-0, Carmen Santos 0-2
"I apologise to my fans", says Carmen Santos

WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning

Former WEBA champions Devon Ling and Val Henning are back in Pattaya, Thailand, enjoying the sunshine on the beach before getting ready for the next grudge night at Mister Wu's club.

Val:  It's always good to get a little extra R&R here before the fights.  How nice of Mister Wu to book us extra nights at the hotel.

Val: Yeah, it was an extra hard night on the fighters, even some of the winners got sidelined and one title changed hands. We oughta talk about that first.

Devon: Yes, another long WEBA winning streak came to an end as Chicago's Dangerous Diedre Dornan wrested the WEBA welterweight crown away from Canada's Lucky Lucille Perkin.  The tall Canadian had gone undefeated in eleven straight fights, but Diedre brought a little too much for her in the early going.

Val: Diedre was the last boxer to defeat Lucille before this fight, so the result wasn't a total stunner even though Lucille had won four bouts with Diedre after that loss, all those fights had been pretty close with Dornan showing she's a tough challenger.  

Devon: This was a very rugged fight where Diedre got a good start and hammered Lucille for the first five rounds, but Lucille showed why she's been a champ so long by storming back and scoring a couple of knockdowns in the sixth despite being badly cut over her left eye. Diedre also had a bad gash under her right eye and the rest of the fight turned very bloody as both boxers landed hard to each other's faces.  Lucille clearly got the better of this action as the fight went on and Diedre tired, so it went to the scorecards with both fighters still on their feet after twelve hard fought round but badly battered. The crowd was cheering them on as It had been a grueling slugfest.  Overall it was much more Diedre's slam-bang style of fight but the defending champ had shown good hustle and tenacity in the late rounds to keep the fight close. Still, it came out as a unanimous decision for Dornan, who'd built a big points lead in the early rounds that was enough for her to take home the WEBA title belt.

Val:   The loss ended almost a year of championship reign by Lucille Perkins, who'd won a lot of fights without blowing her opponents away, but this time Dornan got off to a great start that made it hard for Lucille to come back.  I can see Perkins going for a rematch of this one!  How about the other title fights?

Devon: World champion Mikee Mulroney and WEBA champion Sharon Brown beat each other bloody in a war for Mikee's middleweight title.  This was a total slugfest from bell to bell, with both losing their cool early on and defense going out the window.    Sharon was bleeding from her nose and a cut under her right eye after the first round, while Mikee was cut over her right eye.  Mikee dominated the second round and the doctor was called to Sharon's corner to check her over, but the USMC boxer dug in and opened the cut over Mikee's eye wide in the third, sending the doctor to Mikee's corner before the fourth.  The fourth saw fewer punches land, but Mikee's right eye was in bad shape  and both cutmen were busy between the rounds.  Sharon continued to target Mikee's injured eye through the fifth, and Mikee was furious, still throwing leather at Sharon after the bell.  Mikee started to get the upper hand in the sixth but was knocked down by a haymaker right early in the seventh.  Sharon tried to put the fight away but was tagged by two left uppercuts that ut her on the canvas twice and gave Mikee the upper hand again.  Mikee made no mistake about it after that and hammered Sharon to the canvas twice more, using another uppercut to end it late in the seventh.

Val: This was an all-out brawl, no holding back by either of these big women, and that seems to be the sort of fight that Mikee Mulroney loves.  If Telisha Cooper hadn't knocked her out in her last fight ever, Mikee would be on a twenty-fight unbeaten streak!

Devon:  That's a woulda-coulda thing, Cooper knocked Mikee out, but yeah the fighters who are left at middleweight all have their hands plenty full with Mikee, who gets hit a lot but hits back even harder!  

Val:  Carla "Baby Doll" Ramirez had to fight hard to keep her world lightweight title this time ...

Devon: Yeah, she's often had trouble against Rikku Hui, who always comes out firing with both fists and who looked really good in the early rounds of this fight.  Rikku's overall record isn't the greatest, but she's been all hustle in her title fights with Ramirez and she has often kept the champ back on her heels in the early rounds.  Rikku had Carla in trouble against the ropes in the first round of this fight, then Carla rallied in the second, but Rikku responded well and the champ was hanging on to her to slow her down by the end of the round.  Rikku tried to keep the pressure on Carla but as the fight wore on Carla seemed to get stronger and she had Rikku in trouble by the end of the fifth.  Both boxers got cut over their right eye in the sixth and their corners had to work furiously to patch them up and get them ready for the seventh.  Carla got the upper hand in the eighth round and knocked Rikku down twice, busting the cut over the Carolina girl's right eye wide open.  The doctor was concerned between the rounds but Rikku begged to be allowed to continue and the fight went on.  Baby Doll's fearsome when she gets her opponents in trouble, though, and the ninth round was very one-sided. Rikku went to the canvas four times before she was finally counted out sitting on the canvas, beaten but still defiant!  The crowd gave Hui a big hand as she'd made Carla Ramirez work hard to keep the belt.

Val:  Another game performance by Rikku Hui, but Carla still has the chops to outlast her and put her away.  If Rikku could keep going the way she starts, it might be a different story.  The WEBA featherweight title bout was a doozy, huh?

Devon:  WEBA champion Raquel "Rocky" Rivera has such great rivalries going with world champ Jordan Strongarm and former world champ Mónica Rodriguez that it's easy to forget that Scotland's Fiona "Killie Killer" Black is still very much in the picture.  For the first seven rounds of this fight, Fiona looked like she might be about to score an upset as she was giving Raquel everything the could handle and then some, and the scrappy Scot looked confident, controlling the action and almost unmarked while Raquel had taken damage around both eyes and was starting to look desperate.  That all changed in the eighth after Raquel opened a cut over Fiona's left eye and then focused in on that like a laser beam.  By the end of the round  Fiona had been dropped for a four count by a head-body combination and was bleeding badly from over the eye, bringing the doctor to her corner.  Fiona was in big trouble the rest of the way as Raquel's confidence returned and she consistently punished the Scot, who was exhausted and went to the canvas twice in the final round.  It went to the scorecards, where Fiona's strong start had kept it close, but there was no doubt that Raquel had pulled it out with a hard-hitting finish that left her challenger battered and groggy.

Val: Raquel looked cocky again at the end of the fight, sticking her chin out and daring an exhausted Fiona to hit it, but Fiona had given her a helluva battle and all she could handle in the early rounds.  Fiona Black's still a dangerous opponent for these featherweights, Devon.

Devon: She sure is.  What stood out for you on the undercard, Val?  There were several big knockouts, huh?

Val:   Yeah, perhaps the biggest was Tereza Delgado taking out Rose Mora in the sixth round of their non-title fight.  Delgado's a rising star who won the junior welterweight title in just her fourth fight, on her way to a twelve-ffight winning streak. That streak was ended when Sandra Perez outpointed her to take the junior title, and then knocked her out in their grudge rematch at Wu's. Rose Mora's a many-year veteran of WEBA, a recent world champion with two hundred WEBA fights under her belt to Delgado's eighteen.  Rose boxed well in the first two rounds but there were some signs of things to come as Tereza got several big shots through her defense.  Tereza began to bloody Rose's face in the fourth and fifth, forcing the former champion back on defense, and with the Chilean looking more and more confident.  Tereza put the hammer down in the sixth with Rose hurt against the ropes, and the KO came ate in the round with a ferocious uppercut that left Rose down on all fours on the canvas.   Another big turn-around was Frida Svensson's sixth-round KO of veteran Tammy Quinton.  Tammy and Frida had gone at it hard in the first round, with Tammy going back to her corner looking shaken up by the action, but then Tammy appeared to take control of the fight for several rounds despite a bad gash under her left eye.  That all changed in the sixth when Frida hurt Tammy with a series of shots to the head, then knocked her out in spectacular style.

Devon: Rose Mora and Tammy Quinton are two long-time WEBA stars whose best days may be behind them now, Val.

Val: They're both still tough opponents who can mix it up with the others at the top of their divisions, but the younger boxers are starting to show they can handle them, so it could be a rocky road ahead for them!   Tereza and Frida both looked very strong getting these KO's, and they've gotta be ones to watch out for now.

Devon: How about the newbies, Val?

Val:  None of them won a fight this week, but British bantamweight Penny Holt and Kentucky's Lisa Jackson fought their opponents to draws and Belfast's Shannon O'Sullivan got her first loss.  Holt was up against a smaller but very capable boxer in Trinidad's Diana Rancier, and Diana gave her a hard time in the middle rounds, despite Penny's longer reach. By the end of the fourth I thought Diana Rancier had a slight edge over the tall British girl despite her amateur experience, but Penny kept her cool and boxed very steadily to come away with the draw.  These two could meet again in the junior bantamweight tournament, so we could see a rematch soon.  Billy-Jo Fulton's new protege Lisa Jackson made her WEBA debut on this card against Keiko Suzuki's gym-mate Aiko Miyakawa, and also came away with a draw. That was a busier fight in which Lisa jumped out to an early lead but Aiko cut loose with some hard hitting body punching to square things up in the fourth and sixth rounds.  Lisa had looked confident early on was clearly hurt in the late rounds as Aiko made sure she realized the WEBA would be no cakewalk! before it was over!    Shannon O'Sullivan got surprised by Nicole Geiger in the opening round, and she took a trip to the canvas and then a standing eight.  Shannon righted herself in the later rounds and did better as the fight went on, but when it went to the scorecards after six she was on the short end of  a unanimous decision to the French boxer.

Devon: Nobody should think it's easy to make a debut in the WEBA, Val, but we'll see a lot of new fighters doing just that in the next few cards.    

Val: Yeah this is time of year when we see new blood, and some of it gets left on the canvas! 

Devon: You're bad, Val!

"Meet the new girl at our gym",
says Heather Corrigan

A striking blonde sits next to Heather Corrigan at the Hellcat's press conference, causing a buzz from the reporters. Heather is smiling even though her face still bears some bruises after her KO loss to Greta Bergstrom. 

Reporter:  How are you recovering from the loss to Greta, Heather?

Heather:  I'm ok, fellas.  I'm getting ready to fight another Swedish boxer.

Reporter:  A rematch with Carolina Kusmagk? 

Heather (laughs):  No!  That loudmouth's gone MIA, but her team-mate Frida Svensson called me out, so she will be my next opponent.  I hope she can tell me where Carolina's gone! 

Reporter:  Isn't Frida just an easy tune-up for you, Heather?  She's only a lightweight!  

Heather:  I'm not taking anything for granted, fellas, and I don't think there are many easy fights.  I haven't won a fight with any of these Swedish boxers yet, so I will take Frida's challenge seriously.  But that's not why we called this press conference. My Dad and I want you to meet the new girl at our gym, Jane McGowan, who's going to be the future of the Hellcat Gym one day.  Stand up and say hello to everyone, Jane.

Jane blushes and stands up as she waves to the reporters.  She's as tall as Heather despite being lighter, and she has a great smile.

Jane: Hello!  It's a privilege to be here with the champion, and I am looking forward to my debut against Paola Salazar!

Reporter:  How long have you been boxing, Jane?  

Jane: I've boxed as an amateur for several years, and I have won several Florida titles and also the national Golden Gloves.  

Reporter: How did you get started in boxing? 

Jane: I started boxing workouts to get in shape, then I did a little friendly sparring for fun.  I fell in love with the contact and I started to go to watch pro fights. I saw Heather win the world title and I asked if I could go to her gym to spar with her. Heather was so cool about helping me but she gave me a hard time once we were in the ring, my ribs hurt for days! But after she saw I was serious about my boxing she agreed to coach me. Her Dad's been great to me, too, and I am looking forward to working with both of them. They have so much experience and I am eager to learn from them.

Devon Ling:  You've been KO'd in every fight since the Mora fight, Heather! Is someone bringing your gym bad luck now?

Heather (angry): Who let that cheap Chinese tramp in here again?  I said no more Devon Ling at my press conferences!  Get her out of here!

Devon Ling is escorted out of the room by two burly guys as Mike Corrigan looks on, grinning. 

Reporter: Jane, how does it feel to be trained by a world champion like Heather Corrrigan?

Jane: It's a great opportunity for me! Heather has seen it all, and she has so much she can teach me about what it means to be a successful pro boxer. I know she's lost some fights recently, but there's nobody who's won more, and I totally admire her toughness. She never quits. She's seen the highest highs and survived some of the lowest lows of boxing and she is still fighting! I hope I can live up her to her example and I also hope I can win titles as often as she did.

Reporter:  How would you describe Jane's fighting style, Heather? 

Heather:   She's a lot like me when I was younger, aggressive, tenacious, she hits hard and hits often. She works super hard but she'll make some mistakes.  I will make sure she learns from them. She's a natural, and I am sure she'll give 'em hell like I did, fellas.

Reporter: Does this mean you are closer to hanging up your own gloves, Heather?

Heather: I am not quite ready for that, fellas.  I have unfinished business with that tart Kusmagk, and I'd like to take the WEBA belt away from that piece of work Diedre Dornan.  She's got too big of an idea of herself and she is so disrespectful to everyone else.  I want Kusmagk and Dornan, then we'll see. Just watch me.

Katelyn Kennedy 2-0,
Carmen Santos 0-2
by Gotti Schwartz

Local reporter Gotti Schwartz caught up with the sexy redhead to ask her about her grudge rematch with Carmen Santos.

GS: WOW Katelyn! What a great match! You dominated Carmen Santos and beat her to a bloody pulp, literally!

Katelyn (laughing): I know! Gosh it was a great match! I enjoyed every minute of it! The sight of seeing Carmen Santos’ blood everywhere was exhilarating! I even knocked out her mouthpiece!

GS: It seems that you really enjoyed beating up Carmen?

Katelyn (smiling): I did!  Don’t get me wrong, though. She’s a tough fighter. But I just got fed up about her trash talking!

GS: It also seems that you destroyed her modeling career as well?

Katelyn: She should’ve stuck to modeling than boxing! Hopefully this experience will make her change her mind. Then again, she might not be model material anymore after that beating! (laughing) McDonalds is always hiring!

GS (laughing): You’re too much! So what’s next?

Katelyn (smiling): I’m going after the title! I’m sorry, sweetie, but I have to run. This was great!

GS: Thank you Katelyn for the interview! Good luck in the WEBA!

Katelyn: Thank you! And thank you to all of my fans!  I couldn’t have done it without you!

"I apologise to my fans"
says Carmen Santos

Box Latino found Carmen Santos in the airport in Bangkok, where she waits to fly home to São Paulo, Brasil. Her face is hidden behind enormous sunglasses and a large hat to disguise the damage she received from the American Kennedy.

BL: Miss Santos?

Carmen: Yes.

BL: Can you talk to us about your loss to the American?

Carmen: I am not happy to speak of this. It was horrible.

BL: Were you not confident you could defeat her at Wu's? 

Carmen: I did not think I would lose again to the skinny American. She is so white and thin, she does not look as she is healthy enough to hit me so hard to beat me. Perhaps she had more in her gloves than her fists!  There are not many rules in Wu's!

BL: Are you saying the American was cheating?

Carmen: She is like this lipstick pig they all talk about in America, but she did knock me out, so I am unhappy what happened. I was slow and she was fast, perhaps there was something bad added to my water. I did not feel right after the first round, and I got worse after each round.

BL: Perhaps it was because she beated you so thoroughly!  How do you feel now?

Carmen: I feel disappointed.  When I lost the title to the Bolivian Minez, I felt better. She is coached by Madame Frez, the great boxing teacher with the wise grandmama so I felt no dishonour or anger from the loss. I made a good fight with Minez but against the skinny American pig girl, I became confused and took the beating. I go home now to think what I must do.  

BL: They say it is not the winning that makes the champion, but how you lose.

Carmen: But now I am not the champion!

BL: Perhaps you do not behave properly to be still the champion. You were seen modelling swimsuits on the beach on the actual day of the grudge fight, surrounded by photographers, but now you must travel home incognito with the big hat and glasses from your beating. Perhaps you should train with strong hard girls and not your adoring fan boys?

Carmen: I had confidence in my training until now. I enjoy to fight very much, so I shall make amends and I apologise to my fans in Brasil for letting them down. I hear them calling the flight to São Paulo, it is time I must go.

 

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