7 December 2008

WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning
"I didn't finish her when I had the chance", says Heather
"Plenty of hard woirk ahead of me", says Tulia
'I rose to her test', says Carmen

WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning

Val meets Devon at the reporter's fancy office at WEBA Towers in San Jose. Devon's looking a lot better this time after recovering from her run-in with Dangerous Diedre Dornan in Chicago..

Val: Hi, hon. How are you feeling now?   

Devon: Oh, I'll be fine, it only hurts a little when I bend over.  But there's no way I'm going back to Chicago to spar with her. If she wants another interview in her gym, it's your turn to hit the road, Val! 

Val: Well she's the world champion now, hon, so we may have to go to see her again.  She took the title away from Natalya Borozdina with a big time knockout, what did you make of that? 

Devon: It was a fierce fight all the way and they both took a beating as yet another world title changed hands. "Bomber" Borozdina had been riding a hot streak as she'd won 12 of her last 13 regular WEBA fights!  The only WEBA boxer to beat her in regular action in that stretch was Rose Mora, who'd KO'd her last March. So it was a top class match as the Russian champ had never been in the ring before with Diedre, who was the reigning WEBA champ.  Natalya's taller and heavier than Diedre, so the Russian had the physical advantage, but Diedre is one badass bitch fighter, as I found out in Chicago!  Borozdina started well and worked Diedre over against the ropes in the first round but they bloodied each others' faces in a more even second round.  Dornan got to the Russian with vicious body shots in the third. putting the bigger boxer down for a short count.  The fourth was more even with both opening cuts under the other boxer's eye but they both let it all hang out in the fifth and the Russian decked Diedre for a seven count at the very end of the round.  Natalya beat Diedre bloody in the sixth and the doctor was called to the Chicago corner between rounds.  But Diedre's tough and she came out firing in the seventh and dropped Natalya with more body punching.  The Bomber took an eight count on the canvas and got up for more but Diedre took the Russian apart after that and knocked her down several times before finally getting the KO.

Val:  Diedre knows how to win with body shots like the one she showed you in her gym!  She'd gotten a split decision over Lucille Perkins the first time she won the world title but this was a power packed performance that may have sent a message to the other welterweights. I thought this Russian champ would be hard to beat, but Dornan's on top of the world right now.

Devon: It was a tough week for the Russian boxers as their top lightweight Kira Karpova got KO'd in the tenth round after putting an early scare into defending world champion Baby Doll Ramirez. Karpova hasn't fought much recently, but when she does it's usually against the top lightweights and she's put on a good show every time. Kira actually held this world title for a while in 2004 and she also stopped Baby Doll once early in her career, so this was no gimme matchup for the reigning champ. Kira started fast and hard and it looked like Baby Doll might be in trouble for a while as the Russian had the Texan hurt a number of times in the early rounds. Kira was building a good points lead by the end of the fifth, despite a split lip that was dribbling blood down her chin, but Baby Doll has a history of giving up some early rounds then coming back strong, and that's what happened again in this fight. Carla got down and dirty in the sixth and roughed Kira up in some hard-nosed action that drew several warnings and a point deduction from the ref, but this stuff also pumped up the Texan's attitude. Carla began to take control in the seventh when she dropped Kira to the canvas with a well-timed uppercut. Kira got up quickly after that knockdown but her confidence was shaken while Carla's grew round by round. Carla dropped Kira with a body shot in the ninth and then turned up' the heat on the stunned Russian in the tenth, putting Kira down several times before she put her away with a swinging left to her head.  

Val:  Carla's shown she can box and she can brawl, she can be sweet or she can be sour.  This wasn't the first time Carla's given up a few early rounds and then come back to win by a KO, so I'm still very impressed by her. Carla's 68-14-3 record is amazing for someone who's fought so much of her career at the very top level, and it's gonna take an exceptional talent to separate her from the world title. Keiko Suzuki stopped her in a fight where Carla took too much damage around her eyes but that may have been a bit of a fluke as Baby Doll won the title back from her on her first try. How about the WEBA lightweight fight, Devon?

Devon:  Two boxers who might try to unseat Carla one day went head-to-head as Balio's champ Tulia "The Desrt Tulip" Minez defended the WEBA title against the always-dangerous Rikku Hui from Strongarm's House of Pain. Rikku came out smoking hot and put a ton of pressure on the Desert Tulip in the first two rounds. Rikku's often a dynamo in the early rounds of all her fights, and Tulia looked dazed after taking a lot of punches to her head in the first two rounds. Tulia took more punishment in the third and fourth but she was slowly finding her composure better and starting to get into the fight. The action turned Tulia's way in the fifth after she got Rikku backed into the ropes and pounded her to a standing eight count, but neither of them was able to mount much offense in the sixth. They traded on fairly even terms in the seventh and eighth rounds but Rikku got the upper hand again in the ninth with a mix of shots to the body and head that had Tulia confused and in enough trouble for a standing eight. After a low-key tenth round it was clear that Balio's boxer needed a strong finish to keep her title.  The difference in the fight may have been a flash knockdown in the eleventh when Rikku briefly dropped to her knees from a body shot. This was a hard clean fight that went to the scorecards with both fighters uninjured but weary from twelve rounds of great effort.  Two of the judges saw it narrowly for Tulia, while one had it as a draw, so Tulia hung on to her title, but it was a squeaker.,

Val: It looks like Balio's prepared Tulia well for close fights that go the distance, and she hung on to her title despite the big rush that Rikku put on her in the early going. Still, I gotta say this WEBA lightweight crown's the most up for grabs of any in the whole league. Rikku Hui's knocking on Tulia's door for sure but so are Keiko Suzuki, Greta Bergstrom, Frida Svensson, Mindy Li, BJ Fulton, Margene Arcenaux and Crystal Ortiz, not to mention the contenders in the juniors like Katelyn Kennedy, Carmen Santos and maybe even Jane McGowan. It's the league biggest list of fighters who look like they might all be lining up for one single title belt!

Devon:  What stood out for you on the undercard, Val?

Val: One matchup that stood out for me was a long-awaited showdown between two of the lightweight contenders, Greta "Iceberg" Bergstrom from the Amazonia club in Uppsala and Frida "Lady KO" Svensson from Viking BK in Stockholm. The two Swedish rivals had been working up to this for a long time, and on paper Greta brought the better record into the showdown at 44-26-10, while Frida was at 27-29-11. The Uppsala Iceberg was also riding a fourteen-fight unbeaten streak since being KO'd by Keiko Suzuki, while Lady KO had been struggling a bit against the other top fighters and even had a surprising draw recently with Marina Galieva. Greta may have been the favorite but the end result showed why we actually fight the fights and don't just look at the records! Frida fought one of her better fights and bloodied Greta's left eye and mouth in back abd forth action. Greta had a huge fourth round in which she knocked Frida down twice and left her dazed against the ropes at the bell, but Frida recovered in the fifth and sixth and it went into the final two rounds up for grabs again. Greta got the better of the action in the seventh and rocked Frida with a great head-body combination that dropped the Viking BK girl for five. Frida was hurt but she showed some ring savvy by tying Greta up in clinches and the Uppsala boxer was simply too weary to press the action for the KO. The final stanza quickly showed that Bergstrom had run out of gas as Svensson punished her throughout the round, further bloodying the Iceberg's face. The final bell sounded with Svensson obviously in charge again, and one judge scored the fight narrowly for her while the others still saw it as a draw, so it went into the record books as a majority draw.

Devon: It was a much closer fight than many might have expected before the leather started to fly, and a rematch is certainly in order as it clearly didn;t settle who's the Swedish lightweight queen!. Any more highlights, Val?

Val:  Chilean bad girl Tereza Delgado has found wins harder to come by recently after a great start in which she won 16 straight after a debut loss to Katelyn Kennedy. But "Dinamita" faced an opponent who's been on a roll of her own in Brazilian-born Gina Silva, who's boxing out of Gleason's in New York. This first showdown between the two Latina welterweights was close for the first five rounds as they ttraded leather on even terms in the early going. Tereza began to get the upper hand in the sixth as she started to outwork Gina, and the trend continued through the seventh, in which Tereza dropped Gina for five with a tough head-body combination. Gina needed a big eighth round to turn the fight her way but instead it was Tereza who got the upper hand again and put Gina down for a three count early in the stanza. Gina survived the knockdown but she was on her back foot the rest of the way with Tereza aggressively going for the KO. Gina came close to making it to the final bell despite several more knockdowns, but a right to the jaw put her away with a few seconds left in the fight.  Overall, it was an impressive win by the feisty Chilean but I have a fgeeling we could be seeing the future of the welterweight division with these two, hon!

Devon: They are both up-and-comers for sure but there was a pretty good fight from the welterweight veterans as well this week!  

Val: Rose Mora and Heather Corrigan showed just what they are both still capable of in this fight, which was one of the hardest fought battles on this card.  They are both former world and WEBA champions and they beat the bejeezers out of each other for most of an eight-rounder even though there was no title at stake, just two veteran boxers' with their pride and reputations on the line. Corrigan started fast and confident and dropped Mora twice in the opening round. Rose fought back hard in the second but she was bleeding from her mouth and from a cut under her left eye and the Hellcat looked confident at this point. The third round was a slugfest with both boxers dishing out punishment but the fourth topped it with non stop slam bang action that sent both fighters to the canvas and had the crowd cheering for more!  Heather got the worst of the late action that round and was badly cut over her left eye while Rose was bleeding profusely from her mouth.  The fifth saw Heather almost end it with a double knockdown early in the round but Rose brought the crod to its feet by coming off the canvas to put Heather on her knees with a body shot moments later! The pace slowed in the sixth and seventh with both fighters battered and weary but the eighth round was a classic. Heather got Rose in trouble against the ropes early in the round and dropped her with a ferocious hook to her stomach, but Rose got back to her feet after a six count. Rose took some more punishment before she was able to tie Heather up in a wrestling match, then she stunned Heather with a tremendous uppercut and dropped the Hellcat against the ropes with a huge left to her jaw. The rest of the fight was all Rose trying to put Heather away while the stunned Hellcat hung on grimly. Another uppercut almost knocked Heather out but she survived somehow and the fans gave them both a standing ovation at the final bell.  All three judges had scored it as a narrow win for Rose Mora in another thriller between two of the best we;ve eber had in the WEBA 

Devon: They can both still get a crowd excited and Rose showed amazing toughness coming off the canvas several times, but there wasn't a whole lot of defense in evidence in that fight!  How about the junior featherweight tournament, Val? 

Val: Both tournament fights went pretty much to form and ended in knockouts, setting up a title showdown between Xiao-wei Zhang from China and Stephanie Page from Arizona. Zhang needed only three rounds to take care of business against Nicole Geiger of France, who's been struggling to find her feet in the WEBA since she joined the league in 2006. Nicole's had some recent wins against newbies but she's taken it on the chin and been knocked out a lot so this loss wasn't very surprising. Stephanie took longer to get the upper hand against Irish newbie Shannon O'Sullivan. Shannon showed some good skills and hand speed in the early going but she was overwhelmed by Stephanie;s relentless pressure in the seventh and went to the canvas three times in the eighth. I thought Shannon might make it to the final bell of this fight as she bravely kept getting back up after being knocked down, but a vicious body shot finished her off with just a few seconds left in the fight.  So we;ll see the expected matchup in the final with the hard-charging Zhang taking on the more experienced Page for the junior title that was vacated by Cathy Summons.  

Devon:  That should be a good one as Zhang and Page have already met several times before and both have scored wins and stoppages. It'll be another edition of a good rivalry that usually makes for great action.   

Val: Yes and there are more tournaments coming soon as most of the WEBA titles are vacant.  So many of the WEBA champs have been beating the world champs that there's a lot going down in WEBA these days!

Devon: Never a dull moment ...

Val: Not even on the interviews, hon!  

"I didn't finish her when i had the chance",
says Heather

Heather Corrigan is exhausted and frustrated after losing to Rose Mora. The reporters are all in the Italian Assassin's corner after the judges awarded Rose the win. Mora's right eye is closed and her outfit is splattered with blood but it's her glove, not Heather's, that has been raised in victory. Jane McGowan wipes blood and sweat from her disappointed mentor's face.

Jane: Are you ok?

Heather: I'll be ok in a while. I should have knocked her out.

Jane: You damn nearly did knock her out. She was wobbly after you dropped her in the eighth. I didn't think she was going to get up again.

Heather: That's Boxing Lesson Number One. 'Damn nearly' doesn't count! Mora's been around, she's been hit hard before, she'll get up if she's got anything left at all. She's tough and I still needed to put her away, but she nailed me with a left I never saw. She put me on the canvas and that cost me the fight! You've got to knock the girl out, finish her, put her lights out whenever you get the chance, Jane! Never hold back at all, I had this fight in my hands, it was mine to win, but I let it slip.

Jane: You fought your heart out, Heather, you were great!

Heather (firmly): Did you hear me? You've got to learn from this. I didn't finish her when I had the chance. You've got knockout power, you've got to use it.  Show them no mercy, put them away, so this doesn't happen to you.

Jane: I will, Heather. I'll knock these suckers out.

Heather: Now I've got to go over there to show Mora and the photogs I'm ok and a good sport.

Heather pushes past the reporters to Rose Mora's corner. She gives Rose a quick hug then grins as she raises Rose's glove.  Flashes go off and pictures are taken while Heather whispers in Rose's ear.

Heather: Let's do it again.  I bet you can't take me twice like that ... 

"Plenty of hard work ahead for me",
says Tulia

Well ya gotta think one thing about a Frez interview, Devon Ling muses. That she's not ... never was ... and never will be ... a dangerous puncher like Diedre Dornan. Devon's jaw is still aching after her "spar" at the Windy City Gym. And now I gotta "jaw" some more ... with Frez!

Devon: Hello Balio. Hello Tulia.

Tulia (wincing from her left eye): Hello, Devon. That is you, isn't it? I can't see so good yet from my lead eye. I caught some beauties from a riled up Rikku Hui last night. Unfortunately.

Devon (laughing): Yeah, well some of us are still sporting pain too. From a week ago.

Tulia (laughing): Yep, your video was all over YouTube. Balio has been replaying your spar with Diedre all week. (beaming) Maybe Balio's looking for a weakness in your style, Devon.

Devon (enjoying Tulia's fun too): Yeah. Well Frez ain't got a punch to bother me. We did our own post-career fight a while back. I bet Balio don't look at that video too much anymore.

Tulia (roaring): Nope. It's consigned to the archives for sure.

Devon: Anyway. Well done, Tulia. You managed to get a couple of the judges to see the title fight your way again. But it wasn't unanimous.

Tulia: Fair call, Devon. The short kneel Rikku had to take in the eleventh gave us the final edge. We needed that on the cards in the end. We always try to take our best game into the ring. But Rikku's damn hard to corral you know. She's giving this division plenty to think about, don't you worry.

Devon: I ain't worried, Tulia. Maybe you and Frez should be. But you're cementing yourself better in the ring now. They'll all be coming for you though. With big gloves.

Tulia: That's only to be expected, Devon. And plenty of hard work ahead for me. In the gym.

Devon (smiling): Where's Balio? I ain't got all night you know.

Balio (beaming): Hello, Miss Devon. I notice your significant mouth got you into a bit of trouble last week.

Devon (getting angry now): If you mean Dornan, Frez. Stow it. That's done. Over and ...

Balio (laughing): Like gran'mama says, Miss Devon, the "old desert coyote is better to just play games of amusement with the younger coyote."

Devon (fuming): Desert coyote !!!!!!! Enough, Frez. Get your gloves out of the basement now.

Balio (roaring, and Tulia in fits): The food is already cooked out the back, Miss Devon. Let's only eat instead.

"I rose to her test",
says Carmen

Box Latino's reporter interviews beautiful Brasilian boxeadora Carmen Santos in the ring after her fight with the German Karin Bauer.

BL:  What is your message for your fans after this win?  

Carmen:   I am very pleased with this fight, the German did test me at the start but I rose to her test and won.

BL:  Do you wish to say anything about your losses to the American Kennedy who beated you in Pattaya and again for the junior title? You once called her the "pig", but she has beated you in the ring three times.  Is she still the pig?

Carmen:   I was disappointed to lose to her but she was gracious after my title loss and she did say that I am the tough chica!  I admit that this American is my current mistress and I do respect that she beated me these times. She has teached me that I must train harder and properly focus on growing my skills for success in the boxing ring.

BL:  You will no longer be the party girl and photo model?

Carmen:   I still expect to have have fun as I enjoy my whole life but until I can win the boxing titles I know I must spend more time in my gym and less time on our lovely Brasilian beaches.  I am determined that I shall earn my parties and photos with great new victories in boxing.  I do not enjoy to lose fights and I know I have disappointed all of Brasil with the recent losses.  There will be better times to come but I must do the hard work to make them happen.   

BL:  Who do you see as your most important rival?

Carmen:  Always it is she who is in the other corner of my fight!  I must focus on the beating of my opponent of today and not make the mistake to look too far into my future. When I won my first title I saw only the world title and Miss Ramirez ahead, but it was too soon. Now I have lost these titles I have nothing. So she who is in front of me with the gloves on is the important one now. 

BL:   To win a title you must expect again to fight Minez, Li, or Kennedy who all beated you already. What is your plan to defeat them?

Carmen:   I must face many opponents with famous and experienced trainers so my path is not easy.  The Bolivian Minez has Madame Frez, the Chinese Li has Mister Wu, and the new American McGowan has the great champion Miss Corrigan. So I will go to the ring confident in my own training as usual but these fighters bring the wisdom of their great trainers to my fights as well as their fists. I will take each round of each fight and each punch as it comes and not be concerned beyond the very moments of each fight. If I win the round the fights and titles will come if I am consistent and patient.  

BL:  You did not mention the training of Katelyn Kennedy! 

Carmen:  Of course she is my best rival!  I did not think a skinny white girl could be such a fighter, but I will not judge the boxer any more by her looks but by what she does to me with her fists. I will take more pleasure when I do beat Miss Kennedy because of the  three losses I have suffered to her so far. I still believe that everything is possible for me.

BL: Your fans in Brasil will eagerly await the day of the Leoparda's revenge!

Carmen: It will be a big day to party, and everyone will be invited!!

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