28 February 2009

WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning

Valerie Henning meets Devon Ling at the WEBA Towers in San Jose, California, where the two former champions get together in Devon's plush office to swap notes about last week's WEBA fights.      

Devon: What did you see as the big stories from the fights this week, Val?

Val:  Some hot newbies, a winning junior champ who's got to move on to the big time to make her mark again, a bloody brawl between two big fan faves and a triple header for all of the welterweight titles on one card!  This turned out pretty interesting ... although two of the veterans are holding the top welterweight belts now so it's a little bi of deja vu there, they are both only doing that by their fingernails, they were both in close, hard fights while a rising newbie took the junior title for the first time in her career. It's like we saw the past and the future of the welterweights winning alongside each other on the same card. so let's start there.  

Devon: OK, in the world title fight current champ Cyan Locklear, who first won the belt six years ago, faced Carolina Kusmagk who's never held a title at all. Carolina was also on a five-fight losing streak so she looked like the longest of long shots, except for one detail ... Carolina had never been in the ring with Cyan before and you never quite know how two fighters styles will match up until you actually see them fight. It seemed nobody ever told Kusmagk she wasn't supposed to have a chance in this fight because she held her own for all but a couple of rounds out of the fifteen.  Cyan had put Carolina on the canvas near the end of the fourth and the seventh rounds, but Carolina had returned that favor early in the eighth and then kept heat on Cyan the rest of the way. It was a tough fight for both boxers by the final bell, and nothing like a breeze for Cyan.  I was impressed that Kusmagk held on so well despite this being a fifteen-rounder that was almost twice as long as most of her previous fights had been,  Also she was bleeding badly from her nose and her mouth, and she got her nose broken in the fourteenth!  Carolina showed a whole lot of toughness to hang in with the world champ all the way to the end. Even though the judges were unanimous for Cyan, it was only by a razor-thin one-point margin, way closer than I had expected before the fight! 

Val: I wasn't totally surprised because Carolina's had close fights with Heather Corrigan who was one of Cyan's main rivals for the world title, but on the other hand she had  lost only recently to Australian newbie Mia Campbell.  Of course Mia is the tallest boxer in the whole WEBA, but Carolina's struggled in fights I'd have expected her to win.  She's come on strong in some big fights like this one but she's lost some that I expected her to win, too, which makes her something of a wild card in this weight class.   How about the welterweight tournament final between Hellcat Heather Corrigan and Dangerous Diedre Dornan?  That was a grudge rematch in everything but name, it made some of the actual grudge fights at Wu's.look like sparring sessions!   

Devon: Diedre took the WEBA welterweight belt away from Heather in 2006 and had brutally knocked her out at Wu's so the Hellcat came into the ring for this rematch looking for payback. Diedre started well and opened a cut under Heather's right eye in the first round but Corrigan went to the body in the second and dropped Diedre to her knees for a short count, Diedre shook that off and roared back to dominate Heather for the next four rounds. I thought the fight was getting way out of hand when Diedre put Heather down several times in the fifth then Heather continued to get hammered in the sixth with two more knockdowns and blood pouring from a gash on her right cheek. Heather's shown she can come back from taking punishment before but the doc wanted to stop the fight, Heather pleaded for it to go on then made her case with her fists by dropping Diedre with a one-two to the head in the seventh. Heather got the better of the next two rounds and opened an ugly cut over Diedre's right eye but Diedre rallied and dropped Heather again in the tenth. Both fighters were getting beaten up now but the eleventh round was a two-way slugfest that had the crowd on its feet. It all came down to the final round and that went Heather's way when she dropped Diedre for four with a left to the jaw. Heather went all out for the KO after that and Diedre survived a second knockdown, but then an uppercut followed by a huge right to the jaw finally put the tough girl from Chicago down for the count.   

Val:  Neither boxer held anything back in that fight and both had to go straight to the infirmary when it was over! I'm amazed that Corrigan's got enough left to get through a brutal fight like this!  She's been beaten up a lot recently but she's still tough as nails and one of the most exciting fighters in the WEBA!  I was surprised she could come back to KO Dornan so late in a twelver for the title, but a bigger surprise for me was what happened in the junior welterweight title fight!   .

Devon: The struggle for this junior belt is turning into a merry-go-round like the WEBA lightweights!  Mexico's Esther "La Loba" Gonzalez was making her first title defense against the Brazilian-born dark horse Gina "The Tigress" Silva from New York. The Mexican "she-wolf" and the Brazilian tigress went at it tooth and claw from the opening bell. Gina soon showed she could blast uppercuts through Esther's defense and both lost their cool a little and fought angry after getting tagged hard. Gina got the better of the first two rounds but Esther came on stringer in the third. Gina regrouped in the fourth and had her best round of the fight in the fifth when she knocked Esther down twice. The Brazilian seemed to be within moments of knocking La Loba out but the Mexican caught a break when Gina hurt her right hand landing a hard combination to her body. This injury late in the fifth took some of the sting out of Gina's attack for the rest of the fight, but even so, Esther's face was a total mess by the end of the ninth. Esther was cut above and below both eyes and was also bleeding from her mouth and the challenger looked confident going into the final stanza. That all changed when Esther scored a knockdown with a good flurry against the ropes. Gina ended the fight using clinches to tie Esther up and to preserve the win.  When the final bell came it was still a clear decision for Gina Silva on all the scorecards.  

Val:  This was a great win for Gina Silva who has obviously improved since a string of knockout losses late last year. Of course, Gina had never gone against Esther before so this was another case where we had to see a matchup to see how close it might be. While this was an impressive showing and a first title for the ex-pat Brazilian it was a big setback for Esther who'd defended this same title successfully several times in 2007.  We now have at least five strong contenders for the junior title ... Gina, Esther, Tereza Delgado, Sandra Perez and Irena Hrbkova. So we got a new junior welterweight champ this time but we also saw the end of a long reign by the junior middleweight champ, Karen "Kickass" Kelly.

Devon: When Karen debuted in 2005 she was KO'd three times in a row ... by Sharon Brown, Sarah McConnell and Carolina Kusmagk!  Some boxers might have hung up their gloves after a start like that but she's a fighter's fighter who picked herself up and just a few bouts later she'd stopped all three of them!  You know it's gonna be a war when Karen Kelly steps in the ring and somebody's likely gonna get KO'd. Whatever happened in this fight with Irish star Hannah Riley, it would be Karen's last defense of the junior title she'd held since December '07. Hannah had begun her career with seven straight KO wins, including one of Karen, so this matchup figured to be a total slugfest, and it was. Hannah went down at the end of the first round and looked shaky so the ref called the doc to her corner but she came out firing in the second and they went toe to toe for several rounds. Hannah got the upper hand at the end of the fourth and put Karen down for four, then took it to the defending champ big time at the start of the fifth. Karen's not called "Kickass" for nothing, though, she fought back hard and a little dirty to show the Irish girl she wasn't going to be pushed around.  By the end of the seventh round Hannah had a bloody nose and had been knocked down twice as Karen took charge again. The ref went to Hannah's corner between the rounds and Hannah begged to go on, but the eighth and ninth rounds were slower paced as Karen apparently decided to box her way to the end of the bout for a change. Hannah took a run at Karen in the middle of the tenth and put her on the canvas with a ferocious uppercut, but the Canadian held on to the final bell and collected a comfortable unanimous decision to close out her junior career still holding the coveted title.

Val: Hannah Riley has to be frustrated that she couldn't close the deal by knocking Karen out in the final round of this fight, but overall Karen Kelly had the upper hand so it was a fair decision. It will be interesting to see what happens in the tournament to fill the vacant title now.  Hannah will be the front runner but there are some big girls with big punches coming along to challenge her.  Any time we get the 150-pounders and six-footers in the ring, there's gonna be some big time leather landing, hon! 

Devon: That's gonna be good to watch, but how about some highlights from last week's undercard?

Val: Venezuelan newbie Ana "La Nina" Sanchez made it two wins in a row with a hard fought points decision over Australian "Rockin" Rachel Todd, The featherweight from Caracas had won her debut by KO and it looked like she might repeat the same knockout ways again when she put the lightweight from Perth down twice in the second round, But Barry McGee's tough Aussie battler got herself back together and boxed well for the rest of the fight.  Rachel was slightly cut over her left eye but she used precise shots to bloody Ana';s lip and keep herself in the fight despite taking another trip to the canvas at the end of the fourth. Ana Sanchez clearly had the two best rounds of the fight and did enough to deserve the unanimous points win, but Rachel Todd boxed well despite facing some adversity. Rachel showed she can take a big punch and still keep her cool.

Devon: Rachel Todd's going to need that as she's in with a group of very capable junior lightweights including Katelyn Kennedy, Carmen Santos and Jane McGowan, so the Aussie may made need the good chin she showed in this fight to hang in with them.  It sure looks like "La Nina" packs a wallop for a featherweight, she's quick with the uppercuts and combinations. Marisol Kari's champion Stephanie Page and Wu's challenger Xiao-wei Zhang may find they have some extra competition from this Venezuelan girl soon.  We had another featherweight newbie make her debut this time, too.

Val: Yes, Sarah "Sweetie" Cameron from Little Rock, Arkansas stepped into our ring for the first time to face Shannon "The Chameleon" O'Sullivan from Belfast, Ireland, who brought a solid 5-3-3 record into the bout. The angelic looking "Sweetie" had a couple of inches in height advantage over the more experienced O'Sullivan, and she clearly hoped to outbox the Irish girl with speed and combinations. Compared to some of the blood-and-guts rock'em sock'em slugfests we saw elsewhere on this card, this bout was an exhibition of the sweet science except near the end where a frustrated but aggressive Shannon O'Sullivan grabbed the American girl's hair while punching her in the face!  Sara's speedy strategy worked well in the second round where she used fast combinations to work Shannon around the ropes and control the action, but the newbie appeared to run out of gas towards the end of the fight. Sara looked winded after the fifth round and Shannon was able to find her range and shook her up with hooks and uppercuts in the sixth round. Shannon ended up with a slightly split lip while an unmarked Sara went to her corner looking confident after her first WEBA outing, only to hear that the judges had called the bout narrowly for the Irish fighter!

Devon: It's disheartening to lose your debut, especially after you thought you had won it in the early rounds, but Sara Cameron will have to learn to keep on top of her opponent and not try to coast to a win based on a good start. She may need to work on her conditioning too as Shannon O'Sullivan finished this fight more aggressively and that was where her narrow margin of victory came from. Not a bad debut for the Arkansas girl considering that Shannon's got a fair head start on her, though. How about the undercard for the heavier fighters, Val?  

Val: I have my eye on new British middleweight bruiser Trish "Trasher" Rollins, the cop from Birmingham who's now gone undefeated in her first eight fights. She had an impressive KO win over Balio Frez's big girl Maria Lozada in her last outing and she picked up more prize money this week by knocking out struggling German middleweight Heidi "The Hammer" Wulf.  Heidi had a promising start in the WEBA by winning six of her first seven, but she's had major trouble keeping up that hast pace now that several fighters she defeated early have dropped out. Heidi gave Trish problems with her hand speed in the early rounds of this fight but Trish's body attack wore her down in the third and Heidi was knocked down for an eight count by a swinging left to her head. After that Trish Rollins totally took over the fight and never looked back. The British six-footer punished the smaller German mercilessly against the ropes and opened an ugly cut under her right eye before she knocked her out with a vicious hook to the head,   

Devon:  This cop looks like she might bring her own sort of law and order to our middleweights!  I thought British police were supposed to be nice but this one may be a threat to Hannah Riley in the upcoming junior tournament!   She's already fought Hannah to a draw. So what's Heidi Wulf got to do to get her boxing career back on track, Val 

Val:  Train in the gym every chance she;'s got!  It takes a lot of training to stay a winner in the WEBA and you gotta build yourself up early to keep prize money coming in. ,Heidi's got speed and a good chin, as it took Trish a while to finish her off even with the fight going her way big time. Heidi's gotta get in her gym whenever she gets the chance and build on what's working for her.   

Devon: .How about a lightweight highlight?

Val: I'd pick the eight-rounder between Brazil's Carmen "Leoparda" Santos and Kentucky's Billy-Jo "BJ" Fulton. Billy-Jo has never beaten Carmen but they have had several close fights. Carmen's still a junior with 35 fights while BJ's has 80 and should be a contender for the WEBA title but the difference in ring experience seems to evaporate the moment the bell sounds with these two bombshells in our ring! This rematch was another doozy with Carmen taking it to Billy-Jo early but the American worked the Brazilian  into a corner and knocked her down for a short count in the fourth. Carmen came off the canvas with fire in her eyes but Billy-Jo laid into her for the rest of that round with everything she had. Billy-Jo knocked Carmen down for an eight count late in the round and as the Brazilian was cut over her right eye and bleeding from her mouth I thought Billy-Jo might finally be about to get the better of her. Billy-Jo kept the pressure on Carmen in the sixth but Carmen turned the tables in the seventh with a ferocious comeback that brought her fans to their feet chanting her name,  Billy-Jo took a nine count late in the round, then got up groggy and zig-zagged back to her corner at the bell with blood pouring from her left cheek . The doc had to check Billy-Jo over before letting her go on, which they did, but that was a questionable call as Carmen Santos pounded her to a vicious three-knockdown KO in the final round. .

Devon: It's hard to know when a close fight should be stopped and with just one round left there's a case for letting the fighters settle it themselves.  We've seen some last round turnarounds but Carmen Santos had too much firepower left for Billy-Jo Fulton to make any kind of comeback this time. Carmen Santos seems to have picked up real KO power now so she may be more of a force among the junior lightweights.

Val:  The junior lightweight champ Katelyn Kennedy is back at her training camp in Albuquerque now so we could see things heating up in that group soon.  Carmen and Katelyn could be a major rivalry shaping up, hon!

Devon:  All of the junior groups are getting very competitive so it will be good to watch how they develop!. 

       

"The Hellcat's back!",
says Heather Corrigan

The reporters crowd into the ring after Heather has knocked out Diedre Dornan, who is slumped in her corner being attended to by her trainers. Heather is bleeding from a deep cut on her right cheek but she laughs with her father Mike and her protege Jane McGowan as the WEBA welterweight title belt is strapped around her waist.  .

Reporter: How does it feel to be a champion again, Heather?

Heather:  It's the greatest!  The only thing better than winning this title again is that I knocked that bitch out after I beat the crap out of her.

Reporter: You got hit hard too, Heather, that's a bad cut under your eye. 

Heather: I got this from her elbowing me in the face and holding me while she hit me in the clinches, but I knocked her ass out and I'm the champion and that's what counts for me. She got what she deserved and I gave it to her!  Right in the chops!  This is sweet, fellas!

Reporter:  Cyan Locklear is still world champion.  What lessons have you learned from the three close fights you had in this tournament, and will you challenge Cyan for her world title?  

Heather: I learned that Amber Taltos was the best of the three that I faced and yes I am ready to fight Cyan for the world title  That isn't her world title, fellas, it's on loan to her from me!  I hope Princess Cyan enjoys it while she can, because I am coming to her house to take it away from her. The Hellcat's back, fellas!

Mike:  You'll have to wait until that cut on your face has healed, kid. It's a bad one and you're lucky it wasn't over the eye.  You could have been in a lot more trouble than you were.

Reporter: Were you worried that the fight might be stopped because of the cut, Mike?  

Mike: I'm worried any time the doctor's in Heather's corner between the rounds, fellas. She's an experienced fighter but she is also still my girl and I don't want her to get hurt.  After the middle of the fight she was handling Dornan ok so I didn't think they would stop it. Some of that damage on Heather's face was done by Dornan fighting dirty and I thought Dornan might be disqualified. 

Reporter: Were you hoping for that?  

Heather (angry): No freaking way! I wanted to knock the cheating bitch out myself, Dad!  That right I nailed her with was the sweetest I ever landed!  That's why this feels so good, fellas.  

Jane McGowan gives Heather a high five and then snaps a picture of the happy Hellcat.

Reporter: What did you think of Heather's win, Jane?

Jane: She was awesome! I can't wait to train with her again!  She's the best, and it was cool to see her knock Dornan out!

Reporter: Laura Chartrand put you on the canvas in the third round of your fight. Were you surprised by her?  

Jane: .Laura's bigger than me and I knew she'd be tough when I took the fight, but Heather thought I was ready. It was a good fight.  I had knocked her down in the first round but she got up and fought well for a while so I had to work for the win.

Reporter:  You looked like you were trying to knock her out at the end.

Jane:  I was, and I did knock her down but she is strong and I couldn't quite do it.  It was a good learning fight for me. 

Reporter: What's next for you, Jane?

Jane:  I want to see if I can knock out Andreeva like Carmen Santos did!  

Heather:  I'll be in her corner for that! Jane's going to kick the Russian's butt, fellas, you just watch!

"We are the hottest boxers ever",
says Billy-Jo Fulton

BJ Fulton kneels on the canvas as the referee counts her out.

Seven. Eight. 

Her wet hair clings to her scalp and straggles over the bloody purple mound that has erupted under her left eye.  She tries to get up off the canvas but her legs are jelly and she drops back to her knees, her sport bra and boxing trunks spattered with blood.  

Nine. Ten!

The crowd roars its approval as the winner comes over to where BJ kneels defeated at her feet. BJ stares at her conqueror's black boxing boots as Carmen Santos stands over her with her gloves on her hips. Blood oozes from Carmen's right eyelid and from her luscious swollen lips. Her shiny black boxing trunks and her long black hair glisten under the ring lights as BJ looks up at her from the canvas.

She's so smoking hot, thinks BJ.  

BJ spits her mouthguard onto the canvas then paws toward Carmen with a bloody boxing glove. 

Carmen grasps BJ's bloodstained glove in both of hers and pulls the groggy blonde to her feet.  They meet in a sweaty embrace that brings raucous cheers and whistles from the crowd.  Carmen hugs BJ, pressing the blonde's swollen breasts into her muscular body.  BJ winces, but steps back and grins, raising one of Carmen's boxing gloves high! The crowd roars again as Carmen pumps her other glove in the air, then blows them kisses.

Devon Ling climbs into the ring wearing a skimpy short-skirted dress, to wolf whistles from the crowd.   

Nice legs, thinks, BJ.  Nice tits, too. I wonder what she looks like when she's all wet and nekkid.

Devon: You and Carmen act like you are best friends after you beat each other bloody!  But no kissing this time?

BJ:  I hit her in the mouth so much I don't want to hurt her lips any more!  . 

Devon: This is the fourth time she's knocked you out!  Will you keep on fighting her?   

BJ:  I hope so, because we are the hottest boxers ever and our fans want to see us get it on together.. 

Devon: Aren't you upset that she took your title away from you and now beats you up every time you fight? 

BJ:  No, I love fighting her because she is so hot and she brings out my alpha female!  One day I will knock her out, then I will go back to her dressing room and make her feel better when she comes round!   

Devon: You are a silly girl, BJ, you're just the practice punching bag for a future champion in these fights!  

BJ (pouting): You are so mean to me, Devon.  Carmen likes me a lot.  She has invited me to her next beach party. 

Devon: She should invite you to her gym and show you and that loser Lisa how to fight.  What is wrong with Lisa?

BJ:  She likes to fight and she is lots of fun in the shower with me, but perhaps there are other hot girls who will want to come to my gym to train with me soon.

Devon: I hope they will watch your fights to see what not to do, BJ!

BJ:.  Eeew, you are such a meanie.  Why don't you interview Carmen instead of me?
     

"I can be one of the best",
says Gina Silva

The beautiful Gina Silva sits in front a crowd of reporters for a post fight Interview after winning the junior featherweight title from Esther Gonzalez. Her trainer Mike WIlliams sits next to her.

Reporter 1: Gina, you've dominated Gonzalez tonight winning handily, performing much better than you had been performing in previous fights. What do you attribute your success to in this fight?

Gina: Rest. (Gina chuckles)  Actually I've spent some time studying her ring movement and fighting style in the film room, something that I've been getting used to doing. I wanted to go out there and prove that I was more than just a pretty face.

Reporter 2: Many people noticed that you hurt your hand during the 5th round of the fight, where you knocked Esther down twice. Did that affect you much later in the fight; when you had many chances to knock her out?

Gina: I did hurt my hand, but as for the second part of the answer, maybe, maybe not. Esther's a tough fighter and she proved many times in the fight that she wasn't going down easy. It's a toss from here.

Reporter 3: You didn't do too well in the final round of the fight, where Esther knocked you down. Was there much of a cause for concern at that point in the fight?

Gina: I wouldn't say there was a cause for concern, but it was definitely a wake-up call as I was kinda taking it easy a bit on Esther because I had the fight in the bag and my right hand was in much pain.

Reporter 4: Who will you be looking to fight next?

Gina: I will look into a rematch against my friend and rival Tereza Delgado, or a match with Irena Hrbkova.

Reporter 5: Are there any other comments you would like to say?

Gina: There is one more thing. I can't believe I got to this point. It's almost unreal. Welterweight champion, even if it is at junior division, I always worried about if I could even make it in the WEBA.  (Tears of joy roll down Gina's eyes.)  But I see now that I can be one of the best WEBA fighters and that I'm proud to be representing Brazil. I'm so glad my family is here. All I have to say now is that, in time, let's go take WEBA and World belts.

Reporters applaud Gina Silva.