15 February 2009

WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning

Former champions Devon Ling and Val Henning meet up in Devon's plush office at the WEBA Towers, where Devon has been watching the last week's fights on her big-screen TV.    

Devon: What did you make of the fights this week, Val?

Val:  Lots of close fights that were hard work for the judges as well as the fighters!  There weren't as many KO's as but there were several real nail-biters with fierce action that ended up in the judges' laps. Also several boxers scored upset wins that showed they may be about to make more waves.  The defending champs all kept their titles this time, but I wonder how much longer they'll be able to do that.  Shall we start with the title fights?   

Devon: We saw that the middleweights have a new boss for sure as Sharon Brown got her third KO win over Mikee Mulroney. Mikee won the junior title in November 2006 and for the next two years she had only one loss in twenty-two fights. That run moved her up to this world belt which she look set to defend for a long time except that in March 2007 Sharon Brown started a run of her own in which she dropped only three fights out of 25!  Of course, two of Sharon's losses were to Mikee so it's like these two were born to battle each other for this world title!  Mikee had the upper hand in their early scraps but that's turned around as their last three have all been KO wins for Sharon.  This rematch was a classic slugfest right from the start. Mikee got the better of it early as Sharon took a short count near the end of the first, but Sharon came back to drop Mikee twice in the third. Mikee returned the favor in the fourth, then got the better of the action for several more rounds. Both were bleeding from the nose and mouth but Sharon was taking damage around her eyes and appeared to be getting the worst of it until the tenth.  The doc was in her corner between rounds and Mikee started the tenth looking confident, but Sharon took after her big time after the Mauler taunted her after getting a flask knockdown  Two devastating rights to the head knocked Mikee down for a seven count, then Sharon hammered her relentlessly until she got the KO. It was another brutal loss for Mikee Mulroney, who'd once looked so invincible, Val!  

Val: Sharon seems to have Mikee's number now.  She was behind in this fight, badly bloodied and her right eye closing, but she showed her killer instinct after she knocked Mikee down with the two big rights.  Brown's taken damage in all of their title fights but she's the one who's glove's being raised!  Sharon's turned into an exciting world champion and Mikee may have to change some of her tactics to get this belt back!  The lightweight world title fight wasn't as close, though. 

Devon: Carla "Baby Doll" Ramirez may be the most dominant fighter in her division that WEBA's ever seen. She's only lost one fight of the 45 she's had since January 2006, and that was a questionable TKO to Keiko Suzuki.  The last WEBA boxer to actually knock Baby Doll out was Tammy Quinton all the way back in November 2005, in the fifteenth round of a world title tilt. By comparison, Keiko's had recent losses to other lightweights like Mindy Li and Tulia Minez so her WEBA title has been more up for grabs. But any time the reigning world and WEBA champs meet it's another best of the best for their group. Keiko's had more success against Baby Doll than any other lightweight but this wasn't her night once we were past the midway point of the fight. The action was close at the start of the fight, as Ramirez took a while to hit her stride. Carla was cut under both eyes and Keiko forced a standing eight count on her late in the fifth. After that the world champ's defense kicked in and she turned the fight around by the seventh as she began to land her combinations. Keiko took standing eights in the seventh and eighth and went to the canvas for a short count in the eighth. Carla kept the punishment coming at Keiko for several rounds then appeared to go for the knockout in the late going. Keiko was now bleeding profusely from under her badly swollen left eye but she ended the fight on her feet.  It was a huge points margin for the reigning world champ who again showed she's dominating the division.

Val:  I'm glad I wasn't fighting when Carla Ramirez got this hot, she's something else. She's still had less than a hundred fights so she's not slowing down at all and it's going to be hard for anyone to take her title away for keeps!  The featherweights and junior bantamweight races look much closer though.

Devon: The WEBA featherweight title fight saw reigning champ Jordan Strongarm, the "Carolina Cutie", challenged by Canada's Cathy "Slick" Simmons, who recently moved up from being the junior champ. This was an action packed fight with the more experienced Jordan getting an early jump on the taller Cathy. Jordan scored a standing eight count on Cathy in the second round and knocked her down for an eight count on the canvas in the third. Jordan looked confident after that great start but Cathy was able to use her defense to slow the action down while she got herself back together. The fight started to turn around when Cathy used her ring movement to trap Jordan against the ropes in the sixth and seventh. Jordan was reeling against the ropes in the seventh and began to look desperate as she lashed out at Cathy with her forearm. The eighth was another good round for Cathy but Jordan stormed back in the ninth and caught her for another standing eight followed by an eight count on the canvas. The last four rounds were more even as both landed solidly at times even though they were tired and hurt. Jordan had looked confident in the late going but when it went to the scorecards all three judges had scored it a draw.  

Val: . I thought that was a slightly surprising decision as Jordan had never been off her feet and she had put Cathy down twice. They judges must have thought Cathy stole enough of the other rounds to make up for the knockdowns. Jordan kept her title with the draw but it was close enough to says the Canadian's establishing herself as a real contender. This rivalry could tighten up as Cathy gets more training and she may be in the thick of it with Raquel Rivera and Monica Rodriguez. The junior bantamweight title fight was another close one, too.

Devon: Yes, Trinidad's Diana "Pearl: Rancier was defending against San Francisco's Anika Hu. This was very close early with Anika using her hand speed to control the second round but Diana came back with body shots and combinations in the third. Anika dropped Diana with body shots after cornering her in the fourth but Diana stormed back and put Anika down twice in the fifth. Both boxers were working the body well and both looked shaken up between the rounds, but Anika connected with fast combinations to Diana's head early in the seventh and put the champion down on her hands and knees for a short count. Diana upped her work rate in the eighth and continued to punish Anika to the body through that round and the ninth. Diana started the final round well but Anika exploded out of a clinch with a great combination to put Diana down for a five count, then she kept the heat on the champion until the final bell. This was a draw by anyone's standards, with one judge scoring it narrowly for Diana, one for Anika and the other scoring it dead even.

Val: .This was definitely Anika Hu's best fight so far. It puts her record at 3-5-1 so she's not up to .500 yet but she was clearly a strong challenge to the junior champ who's now 7-5-5, with a lot of close fights like this on her record. These two and Britain's Penny Holt seem to be emerging as the top junior contenders in this new weight class. How about highlights from the undercard, Val? 

Val: The WEBA welterweight tournament boxoff between Amber Taltos and Heather Corrigan was the barn burner I expected after their first fight that ended in a draw.They went at it from the opening bell trading hard shots against the ropes. Amber got the better of their body banging exchanges at first and Heather was visibly shaken up at the bell. Both fought cautiously in the second round but Heather knocked Amber down for a short count then kept pressure on her in the third. Amber defended better in the fourth and she opened an ugly cut over Heather's right eye in the fifth.  The sixth was Amber's best round, although Heather landed hard to her face early the Puerto Rican beauty dropped  Heather for a three count with a right to the head. Amber turned up the heat big time and Heather took two more trips to the canvas and went to her corner with blood pouring from a cut over her right eye, forcing the doctor to check her over. Amber stayed aggressive in the seventh but Heather landed a hook to the body that dropped Amber to her knees for a short count. Heather put Amber down for seven later in the round but Amber came out on fire to start the eighth, cornered Heather, then almost took her head off with an uppercut. Heather went down for seven but got up and they went toe to toe!  Heather clobbered Amber with an uppercut of her own and Amber needed help from the ring ropes to beat the count!  They went at it hammer and tongs and Amber took another short count but she was punishing Heather in a corner at the final bell. This was a heckuva fight, maybe  the best on the whole card, and when the dust settled one judge saw it as a draw while two had it narrowly for Heather. 

Devon: Heather Corrigan's past her peak and then some but I gotta admit this was another classic battle. So Heather goes on to fight  Diedre Dornan for the title while Amber Taltos showed she really belongs in the top welterweight ranks!  If these two meet again it'll pack the house!   What else impressed you, Val?

Val: British big girl Trish Rollins made it seven fights in a row without a loss when she knocked out Maria Lozada in the final round of their scheduled six-rounder  Maria's had 64 fights and has contended for the WEBA title, so she was a very tough assignment for the British newbie but Trish doesn't seem intimidated by anyone's reputation or experience!  The first two rounds of this fight were action packed and evenly fought with both boxers landing solidly and showing a short fuse as well whenever they took a big one. Trish began to connect with the harder shots in the third round and Maria went to the canvas for a short count at the end of the fourth. Trish looked confident at this point but Maria bounced back at the start of the fifth, only to be dropped twice near the end of the round by fierce shots to her body. Trish's relentless body attack undid Maria in the sixth, as the big newbie dropped the veteran repeatedly.  Finally a one-two to the face put Maria down for the count with a few ticks left on the clock, to Balio Frez's obvious dismay.

Devon: This was a big setback for Maria, who's shown plenty of KO power of her own in recent fights. Maria had made it to the WEBA middleweight title fight with an impressive KO of Canada's Jenny Johnson, but the other side of this is it shows that Trish Rollins could be a major threat in this weight group. Any other surprises, Val?  

Val: Yeah, I was very surprised by the catchweight bout between Chilean welterweight Tereza "Dinamita" Delgado and Irish middleweight Hannah Riley. They are both former junior champs who started off in the WEBA with a long string of impressive wins but then weren't able to hang on to their junior belts. Hannah had started her WEBA career with a run of KO wins but then hit a roadblock in Canadian Karen Kelly while Tereza's nemesis has been Sandra Perez. After a feeling out round in the first, Tereza's speed and agility began to dominate and the bigger and heavier Hannah was knocked down for a short count at the end of the second. Hannah's raw power showed as she bloodied Tereza's nose, but the smaller Chilean didn't seemed at all fazed by this and kept up a steady barrage of leather while using her boxing skills to move in and out. Tereza's skills kept Hannah off balance and in the end this was a surprisingly easy win for her as none of the judges gave Hannah Riley even one round.

Devon: I was shocked by this result too, and I was expecting Riley to mount a comeback in the later rounds especially with Tereza bleeding heavily from her nose at the end of the fight. Hannah couldn't put enough shots together to overcome Tereza's speed and movement and kept falling further behind. Like you said, Sandra Perez has been a big problem for Tereza Delgado, but Hannah Riley simply couldn't find the same way to solve Tereza's busy style.  Any more, Val?  How about the smaller fighters?

Val: Venezuelan featherweight Ana "La Nina" Sanchez made her WEBA debut this week with a fifth-round KO of France's Nicole "Sweet Dreams" Geiger. Ana showed she means business from the very first bell, working Nicole's body and shaking the French boxer up with a backfist to the face that drew a warning from the referee. Nicole looked flustered from the Venezuelan's rough tactics but she rallied in the second round. Nicole kept some heat on the newbie at the start of the third, but Ana landed the more effective punches later in the round and then had Nicole in trouble against the ropes in the fourth. Ana opened up the fifth round with hard combinations to Nicole's head and body and then began to work inside. Ana dropped Nicole for a four count with a well-timed uppercut then she never let Nicole back into the fight. The French boxer took three more counts and was bleeding badly from under her left eye when Ana finally put her away with a roundhouse left to the head. 

Devon:  This was a strong start for Ana Sanchez, as Geiger's improved since her WEBA debut when she lost ten of her first thirteen fights.  Nicole's only 14-25-5 and doesn't look like a big title threat but Ana showed she has the aggression and killer instinct to put an opponent away in her first outing. It  will be interesting to see how Ana's  fighting style develops from this start.  

Val: There could be some other featherweights joining the WEBA soon, as the league is looking to expand this group, but Ana's already showed she'll be dangerous with this KO win.

Devon: Stephanie Page and Xiao-wei Zhang look like they have the inside track on the junior title right now but they won't have it all to themselves if some of the other managers can get new featherweights prepped soon!
       

"I'm going to beat Diedre's butt",
says Heather Corrigan

The reporters are gathered at Heather Corrigan's gym for a press conference with the Hellcat and Jane McGowan, who are stoked up after their wins over Amber Taltos and Marina Galieva. Heather's father Mike beams as the two boxers answer their questions. .

Reporter: How did you feel after your fight with Amber Taltos, Heather?

Heather:  I was hurting, fellas!  Amber hits hard and she busted up my right eye so it was a rough fight. She's good but I've taken worse and I won the fight in the end. .

Reporter: You were almost KO'd in the sixth round.  Did you have any doubts after that?

Heather: Lots of doubts!  I was all fuzzy and I just tried to stay away from her for a while. Amber fought really well and I'm glad it was just an eight rounder. I'd like to fight her again for a title some day, but now I get another shot at that bitch Dornan with a real referee and judges. 

Reporter:  Do you feel ready for Dornan after your two close fights with Taltos and Kusmagk? 

Heather: Taltos is much better than Dornan, fellas!  I'm looking forward to this. I'm going to beat Diedre's butt!

Reporter:  But she KO'd you brutally at Wu's and you've taken a beating in both of your tournament fights. You're getting knocked around a lot these days, Heather, and some people are saying your career is almost finished. Won't you need a little luck to handle a heavy hitter like Dornan?

Heather (angrily): No, I won't need luck at all!  I was beating the crap out of Dornan at Wu's before she hit me low. I'm going to beat that bitch to pulp and win the title, you just watch me.  I've KO'd Dornan before, I'll KO her again. I'm going to mess her up so bad you can ask her if she's finished. Then I'll go for Cyan Locklear's world title!  (Mike smiles at his daughter's confidence.)  

Reporter:  Were you happy with your win over Marina Galieva, Jane?

Jane:  Marina was tougher than I expected!  She knocked me on my butt in the third round and I had to work hard to be sure I got the win, just like Heather did. Marina knows what she's doing and I'm not surprised she's pulled some upsets. She's no pushover and she made me work hard for the win. .  

Reporter: Carmen Santos knocked out another Russian, Angelica Andreeva. You said you wanted to keep pace with Carmen, so will you fight Andreeva soon?

Jane (grins):  Andreeva will be next on my list when she recovers from that fight!

Reporter: Mike, do you have any comments?  Were you happy with your girls' performance?

Mike: They both had tough fights against good opponents. Marina Galieva kept Jane against the ropes a lot and if she'd hit Jane harder it could have been a long night. Jane had to box her especially after she was knocked down, but she came through well. I saw plenty that  we will have to work on with Jane but there's plenty of time to do it, too. As for Heather's win, we expected a tough fight with Taltos and that's exactly what it was.  I'll admit I was worried when Heather got hurt in the sixth but she pulled through and now we need to prepare her for the title fight with Dornan.

Reporter: Will you make any special preparations for Dornan after what happened at Wu's?

Mike:  Heather may wear extra protection under her boxing trunks but I am sure Heather can beat Dornan if the ref controls the fight properly. Dornan always fights rough but Heather will give as good as she gets. This fight's not going to be a thing of beauty but it's a big deal if Heather can get a title back at this stage of her career. She'll give it everything she's got because she always does.

"I love boxing!",
says Jenny Johnson

Jenny Johnson's warming up in her gym in Winnipeg, Manitoba when her cell phone rings.

DL:: Hi Jenny, this is Devon Ling!  Do you have time to talk?

JJ:  Hi Devon!  Sure, I have time. It's been a while ...  

DL: How's the weather up there?,.

JJ: It's cold, even for here, so I'm doing my roadwork on an indoor track at the University. 

DL: What's next for you?  Do you want another fight with Maria Lozada?

JJ: Not yet.  My last fight with her didn't go well. I was bleeding too much from my mouth and she hurt me with her body punches, It was disappointing for me as I used to be able to beat her.   

DL: If you'd beaten Maria you would have faced Mikee Mulroney for the WEBA title. She's knocked you out every time you've fought her and Sharon Brown has knocked you out twice. Can you win a pro title with either of those two?  

JJ:  I've worked hard in the gym but so have they and I know this will be hard. I've had good rounds against Sharon or Mikee but then something bad always happens. I am better than my record shows but I have made bad mistakes in my big fights and been knocked out.

DL: What can you do to change that?  

JJ: If I knew the answer I would have done it!  I need to do something to get an extra edge.   

DL: You've had a height advantage in most fights but other big girls like Mia Campbell and Trish Rollins are in the ring now.  Does that worry you? 

JJ: I'm not sure my height has been such a factor. My toughest fights have been with smaller fighters so I hope my ring experience will help me if I fight these new big girls. .     

DL: It must be frustrating to lose so many big fights, but you keep boxing anyway!  What keeps you going?

JJ (smiling): I love boxing! There's nothing like the thrill when I first get into the ring. I get so pumped with adrenaline at the start of all my fights!  Of course my trainer thinks I may get too fired up and then let-down later, so he wants me to stay calmer, fight steadier. But the adrenaline rush is what keeps me coming back for more. I hope one day I will win a title and that will be even a bigger thrill, so we can have a big party!  I hope you'll help me celebrate when I do!

DL: Sure, so long as it's in the summer, I don't like the sound of your winters.

JJ (smiling):  Nice talking to you again!

DL: Good luck, Jenny!, Stay warm in the gym and I hope you'll get hot in the ring soon!