28 September 2008
WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val
Henning
"Heather will wear a title belt again", says
Jane McGowan
"We were fortunate", says Balio
"I'll beat that loser to pulp", says Diedre Dornan
"Stephanie should fight soeone else", says Marisol Kari
Devon Ling and Val Henning are in Devon's office in San Jose, looking at video of the fights from WEBA card.
Val: It's been a week for watching the WEBA newbies, Devon, with so many of the top boxers sidelined! .
Devon: Yeah, between the KO's and injuries on the main card and then the losers at Wu's sitting out after the grudge fights, there were a lot of boxers relegated to watching the fights this time, and only two title fights on the card this time.Val: And no surprises, huh?
Devon: Depends
what you expected! Russian big girl Nina Dmitrieva
used
to rule the middleweights, she was the longest-standing world champ
ever, but Mikee The Mauler Mulroney has found the answer to her in a
big way. Mikee came out firing, rocked Nina's socks early in
the
first round, knocked her down twice in that opening session, and the
former champion went to her corner wondering what hit her. She never
figured that out, every round after that followed the same
script, Mikee laying a tremendous thrashing on the big
Russian.
The
only question was how much punishment Nina would take before
Mikee knocked her out, and the answer was "a lot", as it went six full
rounds.
Val: It wasn't so much a fight as a mugging, with Nina on the receiving end and Mikee out of breath from her effort but pretty much unmarked when it was all over.
Devon: Nina Dmitrieva is hard to put away, even when she's taken a beating, but it didn't do her much good to keep getting back up as she was hardly able to lay a glove on the Boston Mauler! It was the most lop-sided title fight we've seen for a while, and I figure Mikee's gonna be hard to unseat as the world middleweight champ now. She's has a tendency to get cut like she did against Sharon Brown, but if she stays healthy she could keep this world title a long, long time!
Val: The other title fight was much closer, though! .Keiko Suzuki going against Balio Frez's "Desert Tulip".
Devon: Yeah,
Keiko "Kamikaze" Suzuki had stopped Baby Doll
Ramirez for the
world lightweight title just before the break, and she's
been the
top contender for that belt for a while, so I'd picked her as the
favorite in the WEBA title fight with Tulia Minez, who she'd KO'd their last time fighting each other. The Japanese boxer
looked confident coming
into this rematch, too, but
Tulia's edge in
this fight may have been her height. Balio's girl also got off to a fast start
that appeared to shake Keiko up. Keiko walked into a straight
right from Tulia soon after the opening bell, and the punch
opened
a cut under Keiko's left eye just a few seconds into the bout. Keiko seemed
to go into a funk for several rounds, while Tulia looked
increasingly confident, especially after she knocked Keiko down for a
short count in the fourth. Keiko started to turn things around in the
fifth when she landed some fast combinations and then scored a flash
knockdown with a nice right to Tulia's nose in the sixth.
After
that, Tulia went a little conservative and tried to box with Keiko, but
the Japanese girl blew it wide open in the final round when
she
came out throwing and flattened Tulia with a left to the
head. Tulia was back on her feet by the five count, but then
it
was all she could do just to hang on as Keiko hit her with everything
she had. Tulia was reeling around the ring for most of the
final
round and she went to the canvas several times, but that's where her size
may have saved her as Keiko couldn't find the KO put-away punch.
Tulia ended the fight still on her feet somehow and it went to the scorecards,where it was close after Keiko's strong
finish, but Tulia's early points lead just held up enough for her to
retain the title.
Val: The last round was practically a blowout for Suzuki, so Balio Frez has to be worried that Tulia's grip on the belt is a tad slippery!
Devon: Tulia's never been much of one for knocking her opponents out, she's more of a tactician who's going for the points wins, she's had a lot of close fights. She's good at frustrating her opponents, but I think she'd have been in big trouble if Keiko had gotten to her with her last round form a little earlier.
Val: The WEBA lightweight title is probably the most competitive one we have, so I don't think we'll have any trouble matchmaking for it in the next few weeks! How about the KO docket this time?
Devon:
Tulia
Minez may have got some inspiration from one of them, as her
Team Frez team-mate Maria Lozada came up with a huge KO win over
the dangerous junior champ Karen Kelly! Karen's always
looking
for a
slugfest and she started to get to Maria in fierce action in the second
round Maria went down twice from vicious body-head
combinations
that left Frez looking worried in the Bolivian corner, but Maria
charged
right back and dropped Karen for an eight count with a
big overhand right in the third. Maria got the better of the
action after
that and she had Karen off her game repeatedly. By the end of the
eighth
round Karen was bleeding heavily from her mouth and obviously in
deep trouble as
Maria kept the heat on her and finally put her down for the count with
a right to the jaw. This was a pretty huge win for Maria Lozada, who
was coming off
KO losses to Jenny Johnson and Sharon Brown! Karen Kelly has
to
be looking to the future as a WEBA title contender when her junior
eligibility runs out, so this
was a blow to her, too!
Val: Altogether this card was a big banner night for the Frez team, Devon! And we saw a possible shakeup south of the border, too, with Mexico's Esther Gonzalez taking down the impressive Chilean Tereza Delgado in a welterweight KO punchup.
Devon: Delgado
lived up to her ring name of "Dinamita" in her rookie year, Val,
winning twelve in a row with several spectacular KO's, but the Chilean
newbie ran into
a roadblock when she lost the junior welterweight title to Spain's
rising star Sandra Perez.
Since then Tereza's re-established herself as a threat with some
great wins against veteran boxers,
and she was coming off a huge KO win over Rose Mora,. She looked like
the strong favorite as Esther Gonzalez has been
struggling after surprising Carolina Kusmagk early in her career to win
the junior title, so this KO win by Esther was a shocker. Tereza came
out firing and
was all over Esther in the first two rounds, and the Mexican went to
the canvas from a left to the jaw near the end of the second. Tereza
looked confident at this point, but Esther boxed her way out of
trouble in the third and fourth rounds. Esther appeared to be in
trouble again at the start of the fifth but. some infighting at
close
quarters turned her way when she hurt Tereza with several
hard shots to the body, A quick combination to Tereza's face
stunned her and led to a standing eight called by the referee.
Tereza got a chance to recover during this standing count, but
Esther waded
as soon as the action resumed and showed ferocious finishing power
as she
knocked Tereza down three times with roundhouse shots to the
head on the way to a
stunning
KO victory.
Val: Tereza nearly made it back to one knee and might perhaps have survived to fight on if she's gotten back to her feet, but instead this turned out to be a KO that was a huge confidence booster for the Mexican! It certainly shows why we need to have the fights and not just study records and rankings!.
Devon: Two other KO's came in new boxers' debut fights! How about those, Val?
Val:
Team Corrigan must also be happy with their results this week as
Heather
turned her own three-fight losing streak around with a last-round KO of
Sweden's Frida Svensson,
while her gym's rookie boxer Jane McGowan scored a very impressive KO
over Argentina's Paola Salazar in the preliminary leg of the
junior lightweight tournament. Jane came out boxing to start
her
debut but
Paola found some big holes in the newbie's defense in the opening round
and Jane
had a bloody nose as she went back
to her corner. Paola looked confident and she started to take the fight
to
Jane early in the second round, but Jane showed good hand speed in
several fast paced exchanges and dropped Paola for a flash
knockdown. Both boxers were much more cautious in the third
round,
but Jane caught Paola with a big overhand right in the fourth and then
kept the heat on
her the rest of the round, sending Paola to her corner looking dazed at
the bell. The sixth and final round was all Jane McGowan,
as the newbie clearly went for the KO to prevent her debut fight going
to the
judges. Jane rocked Paola
repeatedly with shots to the head and the KO eventually came with just
a few seconds left in the fight. 
Val: Yeah,
Cate "The Welsh Dragon" Owen from Cardiff, Wales also got her career
off to a KO start, though it wasn't easy for her against Nicole Geiger
of France. who was coming off a win over Irish newbie Shannon
O'Sullivan. Nicole's record is a bit like Paola Salazar's at 13-22-3,
and 0-2 at Wu's, but she's hung tough against Aiko Miyakawa and Kristin
Zamora, and she had Cate in big trouble in the middle rounds of this
fight. Nicole got off to a fast start and welcomed Cate to the
WEBA by bloodying her face in the first round, sending Cate to her
corner looking shaken up, followed by the ring doctor. This was a
tough test early for the Welsh redhead, but she turned on the
action in the second round despite getting cut over her right eye, and
took the fight hard to Nicole. Cate kept good pressure on
Nicole in the third but was hurt by a one-two to her body in the fourth
and went to her knees for a short count. Cate was clearly back on her
heels for a while as Nicole tried to put her away, but the Welsh Dragon
survived again, and it went into the final round. Nicole started
strong and had Cate in trouble early in the session, but Cate erupted
with a ferocious comeback after Nicole had tagged her with several hard
shots to the head and body. Suddenly it was Nicole Geiger who was
in trouble as Cate dropped her to her knees with some payback shots to
her body. Cate came forward eagerly after that and dropped Nicole
again with another brutal body shot. This time Nicole didn't make
it back to her feet and the Welsh newbie got her first win by a KO!
Val: Jane
McGowan had punched her way into the next leg of the junior lightweight
tournament, but the other lightweight newbie, Australia's Rachel
Todd, came up short against Canada's Taylor Reynolds, Although
Rachel outboxed Taylor in the early rounds, the Northerner came on
strong late i the fight and had Rachel bloodied and reeling in the
fifth and sixth, to get a close but unanimous decision. The
junior bantamweight tourney also saw experience win out over newbie
enthusiasm when Aiko Miyakawa of Japan handed a points loss to new
Kentucky Wildcat Lisa Jackson. Aiko and Lisa had boxed to a draw
in Lisa's debut, but this time the Japanese boxer came on strong in the
fourth round to punish Lisa in the fourth, then hung on to frustrate
the American for a points win on the scorecards. BJ Fulton's protege Lisa is
still looking for her first win, but both her two fights have been close,
so she may just need to be patient and train well. The other
bantamweight prelim did see a newbie win her debut, though as Anika Hu
from San Francisco began her WEBA career with a hard-earned win over
India's Manju Devi, who's now lost five in a row and is eligible for
retraining. Manju held her own with Anika in the early going, and
fought a rather aggressive second round which I thought she won
clearly, but Anika thoroughly controlled the last two rounds to get the
points win. So we'll see Aiko face Diana Rancier and Anika go
against Penny Holt in the semifinal of this tournament for the
inaugural junior bantamweight title.Devon: How about the junior lightweights?
Val: It should be a war by the time we get to the final! Carmen Santos is back in the mix after losing the WEBA crown to Tulia Minez, but so's her nemesis Katelyn Kennedy, who's 2-0 over her now, and also Lilka Nowak who's been piling up training money with wins at Wu's. That's an exciting field already, and those three will be joined by the winner of Taylor Reynolds vs Jane McGowan, which looks like a great quarterfinal. The lightweights are already a very competitive group, and this hot field for the junior tourney is gonna add to that! Whoever wins this tournament, we'll have red hot competition at lightweight for a while!
Devon: It sure is good to see so many up-and-coming fighters coming along. Makes me want to lace my old gloves on, hon!
Heather Corrigan and Jane McGowan give a joint press conference after they both won by knockouts. Heather is happy even though she still has a swollen left eye from her slugfest with Frida Svensson. Jane is smiling after knocking out South American boxer Paola Salazar.
Reporter: How do you feel about your fight with Frida Svensson, Heather?
Heather: It was tougher than I expected but I finally got a win over a Swedish boxer! These Swedish girls can fight! I thought I had it in the bag in the fifth after I knocked her down twice but she landed a couple of hard shots to my eye then came after me while I was having trouble seeing .
Reporter: She almost KO'd you in the sixth, and again in the seventh!
Heather (frowning): I knew I was in trouble in those rounds. My Dad was trying to give me advice and I had cuts bleeding into my eye. I was looking at losing to yet another Swedish boxer so I decided there was no way I was going to let her beat me. I got up and went after her in the eighth, got a couple of good rights in, and she went down. After that I just kept throwing rights until she couldn't get up!
Reporter: There wasn't much time left, Heather!
Heather:
I
knew I had to go for it, with just one round left, and there was enough
time for me to knock her out! That's what it took, so that's what
I did!
Reporter: What
did you think of Heather's fight, Jane?
Jane:
She was awesome! The Swedish girl had almost knocked her out,
but Heather came back to win it. She's so tough, fellas, she's an
inspiration to me.
Reporter: How
about your own debut?
Jane
grins.
Jane:
I was nervous at first, it took me a while to get over it and get going, but after I
hurt the girl in the fourth round I knew I would win the fight. When
I was able to knock her out, that was icing on the cake!
Reporter: Paola Salazar does not have the best record!
Jane: She's had over thirty fights and this was my first, so I feel good about knocking her out!
Reporter: What did you think of Jane's performance, Heather?
Heather: Jane did very well after some early jitters. She wasn't ever in any danger of losing her fight and she sent a message to the other girls in the lightweight tournament! There's a future champion sitting next to me, fellas!
Jane: And next to me! I am confident Heather will wear a title belt again!
Reporter: How about Carolina Kusmagk?
Heather: I want a rematch with her. That tart's got a beating coming to her for that stunt she pulled when I was down on the canvas at Wu's. She's disappeared, but when she comes out from wherever she's hiding, I'm going to whup her Swedish ass. Just watch me, fellas.
Devon Ling has finished an early meal. Because it's gonna be a long day, she muses. Frez keeps pulling 'em outta her big hat. It's gotta end soon.
Devon: Hello Balio. Hello Tulia. Hello Maria.
Frez/Minez/Lozada (in unison): Hello Miss Devon.
Devon: Well Frez. Your Desert Tulip hung onto to her title in the final seconds of the final round.
Balio (smiling): We were fortunate, Miss Devon. Tulia is fairly inexperienced at these twelve rounds. I thought we had the fight in the bag early. And then it nearly slipped right through our fingers.
Devon (laughing): Yeah. You woulda dropped it ya'self I'm betting.
Balio (laughing also): Well, maybe Miss Devon. But Miss Tulia had done enough early in the fight to have the judges see in our favor.
Tulia (reminiscing): If I hadn't got that sweet cross on Keiko at the start of the twelfth. To put her down for a five count. Then I may well have let it slip from my grasp. That 11th & 12th round sure find your legs out Devon. I was wobbly through them both.
Balio (studious): We can work on that, Miss Tulia. (smiling) Remember, Miss Devon used to get wobbly too.
Devon (indignant): That's why I liked to end my fights real early, Frez. Something you could never do.
Maria (laughing): I know exactly what you mean, Devon. If you can do it, then the early finish is best. Karen gave me a rip roaring fight. But it could have gone either way also. We beat her first to the big finishing punch. But I'd have to be real careful in any follow up match.
Devon (laughing): It sure helps to have a whack, Maria, believe me. So, Balio, were you nervous about letting Tulia go in against the more experienced Suzuki?
Balio: I was, Miss Devon. To be honest I was hoping to receive another challenge during the week. But with the current Lightweight Tournament taking Miss Carmen out of the picture. And with the training and huge injury sit out arrangements, we were left with only the one single challenge.
Devon: What about you, Tulia. Were you confident you could beat Suzuki?
Tulia: Not really, Devon. Keiko has had our number before. And she has been fighting recently at the highest level. So we could only hope in the end that our recent switch of training would see us through. (laughing) But it nearly didn't though.
Balio: That is true, Miss Tulia. The last round went one way and then the other. But it has helped us all understand our future trainings again.
Tulia: And also that the many fighters in our division are all competitive at this level. It will make for a terrific year of WEBA boxing for sure.
Balio: As gran'mama would say the "hyena laughs not just to announce its presence."
Devon (grimacing): Enough already, Frez. My head's hurting. And it's only two weeks into the new WEBA season. Have mercy please.
Balio (roaring): Of course, Miss Devon. Let's eat some larger prey together.
We're in the Windy City Gym, where Chicago's own Dangerous Diedre Dornan is sparring with a mean-looking guy with a flat nose and a hard right hook. Trainer Tony Smith sees Devon Ling coming and yells to Diedre.
Tony: Hey Diedre, finish it up, the Chinese chick's here again!
Diedre smashes a left and a right into the guy's face, then pounds an uppercut into his nose. He falls back onto the ropes as Diedre turns away, spits out her mouthpiece, and walks to the edge of the ring..
Diedre: Hey China doll, are you ready to spar with me? I ain't done hitting people today, wanna show me what you got? Or ya just here to talk?
Devon: I want to interview you for the WEBA News. Corrigan called you out for a title fight, are you game?
Diedre: The hell she did! That sorry assed titless wonder flapped her big yap about me in one of her effing press conferences but she got so beat up fighting Frida Frickin' Svensson she's not fighting anyone. Corrigan's had her sorry ass whipped by Kusmagk, then she got KO'd by Bergstrom!! She's out there talking trash cuz she knows she's toast, sweet cheeks. If Corrigan ever fights me again I'll finish her career, they'll have to scrape what's left of her off the canvas and take it out of the ring in a trash bag. Her career's done, over, she's last year's news!
Devon: Okay never mind about Corrigan, you have a title defense coming up with Cyan Locklear, who's beat you three straight times. Can you win it this time?
Diedre: I'll beat the crap outta that snot-faced squaw, sweetie. I'll hurt her so bad she'll quit boxing after I'm done with her. I'm gonna knock her teeth out and smash her tits 'til they're black. Ain't no way I'm gonna lose my title to any over-rated over-the-hill Indian squaw!!
Devon: Locklear stopped you the last time by a TKO!
Diedre: That was bullshit, the referee was a scared little wuss with no balls to let a real fight happen. I'd of kicked her ass right outta the ring if they'd let me keep going. I'll beat that loser to pulp next time, you can bet your sweet little Chinese ass on that, dollface. How about it? I'd like to kick your ass around this ring right now, China girl! I got gloves and trunks you can wear. Think you could go a round with me without crying? Whatcha got? Wanna show me?
Devon (looks scared): I didn't come here to fight you! I came for an interview,
Diedre: So you got it, doll. Now get out of here, I'm all done talking, I wanna punch someone!
Devon leaves the Windy City Gym in a big hurry. Tony Smith laughs.
Tony: You're something else, Diedre!
Diedre: I'm the champ! I don't have to take any shit from her.
Devon makes another trip to Arizona. She heads into Apache gym looking to interview Stephanie Page and Lilka Nowak, but she is stopped by manager Marisol Kari.
Marisol: I don't think its a great time for an interview for both of them. Stephanie needs to get her focus and concentration back, and Lilka Nowak has a match against Katelyn Kennedy coming in the near future. Let's go to a cafe or something to talk.
(Heads to a Starbucks)
Devon: So I'm gonna get straight to it. What is wrong with Stephanie Page? She started the WEBA 0-2 and has been KO'ed in both fights.
Kari: The problem was just experience. Stephanie had many opportunities to put away Cathy, but Cathy held strong. I keep telling her to keep control and don't let her outbox you, but there were times when she backed off, and I think this is something I need to work with her on.
Devon: Though she has had some tough competition, she defeated Marina Galieva before at Wu's, but the rematch was a whole different story.
Kari: Yes, another problem I notice with Stephanie is that she relies on that one "big" punch, and when that punch doesn't come or there's no opening to land it, she was in trouble.
Devon: Those are some flaws you pointed out.
Kari: And I believe that she needs time from media and everything to focus on her training and whoever she faces her next fight. I think before she faces Cathy again, since she has two fights of elgibility left, that Stephanie should face someone else before she goes up against Cathy again.
Devon: So what about Lilka Nowak? I understand that she will face Katelyn Kennedy in the junior lightweight tournament after this event. Now Lilka is 0-2-1 against Katelyn, and she was KO'ed by Kennedy last fight. How is Lilka gonna contend against someone who is pretty much the best of the bunch, especially considering how she dominated Carmen Santos?
Kari: This I believe will be a challenge. Kennedy is probably the boxer Lilka has had most difficulty with, but she's not impossible to beat. I've noticed in those three fights that Lilka had a lead in scorecards early in each of the fights after the first 3-4 rounds, but like Stephanie in some of her fights, doesn't keep up the aggressiveness, so I'm working with Lilka to help get better also and I believe both of my fighters will get better and capture gold.
Devon: Thank you for your time, Marisol.