27 April 2009

WEBA Roundup with Devon Ling and Val Henning

Valerie and Devon meet up at Devon's office in the WEBA Towers in San Jose to talk about the WEBA fights. Devon looks businesslike in a neat suit while Val is casual in a tank top and jeans.

Val:  You;re looking very official today, hon ... 

Devon:  I had an interview with a TV station that's looking for a sportscaster. 

Val: .Adding some more strings to your bow, or just trying to get out of interviewing Frez and Dornan?

Devon:  Nah, they were looking for a blonde bimbo to cover UFC and MMA, not my style at all.  I like fighting where you stay on your feet! 

Val: The WEBA saw some who couldn't do that this time, there were some big KO endings!  How about those middleweights?    

Devon: It'll be a total slugfest any time Boston's Mikee "The Mauler" Mulroney and Canada's Karen "Kickass" Kelly are in the same ring! Karen was going for Mikee's WEBA middleweight title and she's always ready to take a few punches to land her own bombs. They both came out throwing from the opening bell! The champ got cut over her left eye in the first round but she stormed back in the second to do the same to Karen with a legal punch and then an elbow that drew a warning from the referee. Mikee put Karen on the canvas for a short count in the third and scored a standing eight in the fourth, but Karen still wasn't going to concede anything and the Canadian held her own in the fifth and sixth. The seventh was a different story as Mikee corralled Karen in a corner early and put her down for a nine count with a barrage to her head.  Karen got back to her feet and battled on gamely but Mikee let rip with both fists and used two devastating uppercuts to put Karen away.  Mikee almost had a lock on the world title until Sharon Brown got hot, and this fight was a reminder of how big a power puncher the Boston basher can be!  Karen's tougher than nails but the shots Mikee finished her off with in this fight would have stopped an elephant.

Val:  The big middleweights can really unload when they get an opponent hurt, and this was a tough fight from start to finish.  We seem to have the  #1 and #2 middleweight slots pretty well established now and Sharon and Mikee may be hard to beat until the current top juniors move up.  Karen's a threat to them as she can pull out a KO punch almost any time but this wasn't her night!   It wasn't Rose Mora's night in the WEBA welterweight clash either ...

Devon: That was a rugged battle between two of the most experienced fighters in the WEBA!  Heather Corrigan and Rose Mora have been in our ring pretty much since the league got going. they've both shown they can grind it out through punishing fights and they both try to wear their opponents down so their fights become a war of attrition in the late rounds. They're also both former world champs who are running out of gas a little as their bodies have taken a beating over the years but they are still battling for pride and legacy. They both showed power out of the gate, dropping the other for short counts with body shots early in the fight, but the action started to go Heather's way when she badly bloodied Rose's nose and mouth in the sixth round. The ring doctor was called to the Italian corner between the rounds but Rose has always been tough as nails and she held her own in the seventh. The wheels finally came off for Rose in the eighth round when Heather dropped her to the canvas again and then piled on the pressure. It took three more knockdowns to finish Rose off though, and the gutsy Italian almost made it back to her feet after the last one ... you could see that Rose wanted to continue but her legs just wouldn't do what her head wanted them to!  Rose was finally counted out as Heather celebrated another win.

Val: Ya know, this was Rose Mora's 201st WEBA fight and Heather's 207th!  They've had phenomenal careers and they both deserve huge respect from all the other fighters. This was a great fight with a lot of guts shown by both of them, but maybe we saw a hint of the old Heather Corrigan at the end when she got the KO to settle it. It was a totally different style of fight for the WEBA lightweight title, though, huh? 

Devon: Yeah, the WEBA middleweight  and welterweight fights both saw the loser take serious damage and then get KO'd, but Sweden's Greta "The Iceberg" Bergstrom and Bolivia's Tulia "Desert Tulip" Minez put on a very evenly matched tactical boxing display for the lightweight belt. There wasn't much damage being done and there was only one knockdown for each boxer. I thought Greta had the edge over Tulia for the first half of the fight apart from a strong third round by Balio's girl. Greta looked like she might be about to win this belt back after she dropped Tulia to her knees with a body shot late in the sixth, but the Bolivian recovered and then boxed her way back into the fight. Greta eventually appeared to tire and began to leave holes in her defense while Tulia started to look cocky near the end of the fight, staying on her feet between the tenth and the eleventh to show Greta she was eager for more action. That show of confidence turned out to be a little premature as Greta finished well and landed good shots in the final round. It went to the scorecards where two judges had scored it a draw and one had seen a slight edge for Tulia.  Tulia Minez kept the WEBA title on the majority draw but I have to say she wasn't totally convincing against an opponent who has good ring skills of her own.

Val:  This title has to be the most competitive in the whole WEBA!  Keiko, Rikku, Tulia, Greta, Frida, Billy-Jo, Mindy and Carmen are all in the picture for it!  Greta had grabbed this lightweight belt earlier in her career and certainly showed she's still a contender for it  All of her fights with Minez have been close, and this one could have gone either way. I'd like to see rematch, but this is such a crowded field right now that Tulia Minez may be one of the most popular opponents in the whole of WEBA for a while  Hopw about the junior middleweight title fight, that was another nail-biter, huh? 

Devon: The junior middleweights have a great rivalry building now between current champ Hannah Riley of Ireland and British newbie Trish Rollins!  Rollins is a big woman at 6'0" and 155 lbs who clearly knows how to hit hard!  She may lay down the law as a cop in Birmingham but she's shown she's willing to bend the rules when she's inside a boxing ring! This fight might have turned out differently if Trish hadn't had two points deducted from her in the first round and a third taken off her scoresheets in the final round!  In between those rounds they took turns beating each other up legally in a fight that had the crowd on its feet a lot as the advantage see-sawed back and forth.  Both boxers ended up with cut and swollen eyes and also bleeding from their nose and mouth, but it was Rollins who finished stronger in the tenth, forcing Riley to hang on to survive after she'd been dropped twice. It ended up with both fighters on theur feet and the outcome in the judges laps!  Hannah had a clear margin on the final scorecards but that was only because three points had been taken away from Trish for her rough tactics. If Trish had fought a little cleaner this result would have been totally up for grabs    

Val: But maybe Rollins wouldn't be Rollins if she got her act cleaned up!  She's as aggressive as they come and she's obviously going to be a major handful for all the middleweights as she gets more experience. Hannah Riley's hanging on to this junior belt by the skin of her teeth right now and she could have her work cut out for her against Trish Rollins as Trish gets more training.  How about the junior featherweights? 

Devon: Belfast redhead Shannon "The Chameleon" O'Sullivan had challenged Arizona's Stephanie "Diamond" Page for the title this time despite her earlier KO loss to the more experienced champ.  Shannon's got a winning record, but only just, so she needs to keep wins coming to keep bringing training money home to her gym. Shannon looked sharp in the early rounds of this fight, working Stephanie over with good combinations with a few dirty tricks thrown in. Stephanie drew a line in the sand in the third round by forcing Shannon into the ropes and working her over at close quarters with body shots and uppercuts. Shannon looked stunned after losing this round and Stephanie piled more pressure on her in the fourth, with the Arizona fighter throwing in her own rough tactics to even up the score. Shannon held her ground better in the fifth and had Stephanie in trouble against the ropes at the end of the round, but Stephanie turned it back her way in the seventh when she hammered Shannon into the ropes and dropped her for eight on the canvas with another big uppercut.  Shannon showed toughness as she held her ground again in the eighth and the ninth but Stephanie got the upper hand again in the final round and eventually scored the knockout. 

Val: This fight had rough tactics by both boxers, who've clearly got under each others' skin a little!  But the result was the same as their first fight with Stephanie having a little too much pop for Shannon to be able to hang with her the whole way.  

Devon: Shannon may need to be a little more patient before she tries for this title again, as Stephanie seems to have her number at the moment. How about highlights from the undercard, Val?

Val: There was a rematch of the earlier savage slugfest between Venezuelan featherweight Ana Sanchez and Polish lightweight Lilka Nowak that had ended with Lilka being disqualified. This rematch was another vicious fight with both boxers ready to go toe to toe banging the body and throwing uppercuts that could take their opponent's head off.  There wasn't much to choose between them for the first three rounds as they both banged each other around in hard-nosed action at close quarters but Lilka had Ana in trouble against the ropes in the fourth and fifth and dropped the lighter fighter for a six count in the fifth. With just one round left I thought Lilka had the fight in hand, especially as Ana was bleeding from a nasty cut under her left eye. The Venezuelan newbie didn't back down though and she threw everything she had at Lilka in the sixth. Both fighters have fierce tempers so the action got hot and heavy again with Ana Sanchez getting the better of it late in the round. A key moment came when Lilka lost her cool and had a point deducted for thumbing Ana in her eye. When the dust settled with both on their feet and ready for more it was clear to me that it would take an eight rounder or even more to settle things between them, and the WEBA judges were split between Ana and Lilka for a draw.

Devon: The point deduction in the sixth cost Lilka a narrow win this time but it's clear that these two haven't settled their rivalry at all yet! Lilka called Ana out to fight her again in Pattaya, so we can get ready for Version 3.0 of this battle there, with the judges out of the picture next time. Some matchups are made for fireworks from the get-go and this seems to be one of those, so a showdown in Pattaya may be a total brawl!  There was another lightweight-featherweight bout this week, too ... 
 

Val: Yeah, smoking hot Brazilian lightweight Carmen "Leoparda" Santos matched up with Wu's featherweight scrapper Xiao-wei "The Fury" Zhang from Shanghai. Carmen's got a height and weight edge over the flashy Chinese fighter, but their previous fight had been close over eight rounds and Wu's boxers are always tough. So this would be no cakewalk for the Sao Paolo beauty!   Zhang used her speed and movement well in the early rounds and was able to rough Carmen up against the ropes in the third. The fourth was a big round for Zhang as she pounded Santos to a standing eight and then dropped her to her knees for and eight count with a vicious body shot, but the bad news was she hurt her right hand in that round and went back to her corner angry and frustrated. Carmen was able to control the action better after that and she badly bloodied Xiao-wei's mouth and kept big pressure on the fading featherweight through the seventh round. Xiao-wei looked spent by the start of the eighth and Carmen was able to keep her against the ropes where she let loose with a barrage that finally left Xiao-wei down on her knees unable to continue.  

Devon:  This was a gutsy effort by Xiao-wei Zhang against a talented bigger fighter, and I have to wonder if it might have turned out differently if Wu's girl hadn't hurt her right hand in the fourth.  Santos showed she has KO power again, though, and that could be a big factor for her when she goes for lightweight titles again.  We saw Susie Baxter making her WEBA debut, too, Val.  

Val: Yeah, Battling Susie's a new featherweight in BJ Fulton's Kentucky gym, and she made her WEBA debut against Argentinian beauty Paola Salazar, who's a tad taller and heavier than Susie but I'd have to say she's been struggling in the WEBA despite an upset KO over Gina Silva at Wu's last November.  Paola's a fan fave because of her good looks but she's not been able to make a lot of headway in a lightweight division that's got rising stars like Santos, Kennedy and McGowan. The early rounds of this sixer were hard fought with neither boxer having a big advantage for long, and Susie appeared to be getting the better of it in the fourth and the fifth, looking confident as she worked fast combinations to Paola's face despite taking some damage around both her eyes.  Paola was bleeding from her mouth and attracted a visit from the ring doctor between the fifth and sixth rounds but she fought her way out a corner early in the sixth and surprised Susie with a rip-roaring barrage that knocked the newbie into the ropes before Paola dropped her with a picture perfect uppercut. Susie took a seven count before getting back to her feet, then tried to stay out of trouble with Paola in hot pursuit. Susie's defense was good enough to get her to the final bell on her feet and it went to the scorecards, where all three judges agreed it was a draw  

Devon: Susie Baxter had looked pretty good until she got knocked down, Val, but there's nothing like an actual win to give a WEBA newbie some confidence!

Val:  We saw that Susie has some speed and boxing skills and also that she can take a big punch and get up, but that's about it, hon Paola Salazar's no pushover as an opponent for a beginner, and I'll bet she's annoyed she couldn't finish Susie off after she landed a  corker of an uppercut flush on the new girl's jaw in the sixth.  They'll both look back at this fight and see missed opportunities, so maybe we'll see a rematch soon enough. 

Devon:  It's always nice to see some new faces in the WEBA, so we'll keep an eye on Battling Susie see some good fights ahead, for sure.       as she goes hunting for that big first win, huh?

Val:  New boxers always bring a little extra excitement as we wait to see what they've got!

"The KO felt good",
says Heather

Heather Corrigan is cheerful as the reporters question her at the press conference after she has knocked out Rose Mora.

Reporter: Any comments on your win over Rose Mora?

Heather:  It felt great to go into the ring with my Dad carrying my championship belt behind me again. It also felt great to defend the belt against a great opponent. Rose fought well and she made sure that I earned the belt again. This was a big win for me, fellas. Rose is very tough. she took all of my best shots and kept fighting until the end, when I knocked her out.

Reporter: You got several warnings for your rough tactics this time, Heather, and that was unusual for you  What happened? . 

Heather: Rose has been around, fellas, she's really good in the clinches and at fighting in close. I knew I had to use a little extra at times to keep her off balance. I'm not playing Miss Goody TwoShoes any more when there are fighters like Dornan and Kusmagk out there who play rough with me. I knew I was in a real fight against Rose so I came prepared!    

Reporter: Were you ever worried that you could lose the fight?    

Heather: She knocked the wind right out of me in the fifth round, so I took a knee to get my breath back,  That was a dangerous moment for me and I knew I had to be careful, I knew that she could hurt me.  Rose has knocked out some good fighters.  I gave her a bit of body work in the sixth, then I was able to go after her in the eighth. The KO felt good, I had her in a corner and she was hurting, her nose was bleeding and I heard little gasps coming from her whenever I hit her body hard.  I knew she was ready to fold and it was time for me to let a big punch go. I got her with my best left and that was it!  She went down and couldn't beat the count.

Reporter: You and Jane McGowan were called out to fight in Pattaya, by Diedre Dornan and Frida Svensson, but you both chickened out!  Are you scared to fight in Pattaya after you got your asses kicked there last time?

Heather: WTF???!!!!!   Who asked me that?  

Devon Ling (hands on hips):  I did!  Are you hiding form Dornan and Svensson now? 

Heather (angry): I've already said I'll fight Dornan for my title with proper rules and a referee!  And I want to build Jane's confidence up before she fights in Pattaya again.  Carmen Santos knocked Jane out and that set Jane's training back. Jane already beat Svensson once we haven;t got anything to prove with her. Jane hasn't lost since we went to Pattaya, so I'm pleased with her progress and I don;t want her to be distracted by another grudge fight. 

Devon:  You don't want your new friend to get knocked out in Pattaya again? Something sounds like a yellow-bellied warbler to me!

Heather: Get that bitch out of here!  I said no more Devon Ling in any of my press conferences!  She's not a real reporter.

Devon is escorted from the room by two burly guys!
   

"There ain't no way I'm going down to La Paz this week", thinks a rattled Devon Ling. And just as her temperature rises (its nowhere near her fertile moment) her cell phone begins to ring. It's Frez.

Balio (warm): Hello, Miss Devon.

Devon (icy): Yeah, Frez. What is it. I ain't traveling down to Bolivia this week.

Balio (laughs): We have thought this very thought also, Miss Devon. And with Miss Tulia's Title Fight being a drawn result, we wish to meet you halfway. In good spirits.

Devon: HALFWAY, Frez. Now where the hell might that be? Somewhere in the Gulf Of Mexico?

Balio: In Jamaica, Miss Devon. We have a growing popularity there I am told. And the food is top class.

Devon (musing): Hmmm, and the male livestock is a good crop also. Okay Frez. You win .... or draw ... whatever the case may be, Jamaica it is.

Balio: Our drawn verdict was quite fitting, Miss Devon. Miss Tulia and Miss Greta have had many torrid bouts. And this one was no different. The pendulum swung from Round One until Round Twelve, with no clear result.

Devon: And Tulia gets to keep her belt for another week, Frez. That's something you had difficulty doing.

Balio (taking the jibe in good fun): As you keep reminding me, Miss Devon. But it will actually be two weeks now.

Devon: Huh!

Balio: I am sending Miss Tulia for a needed weeks training, Miss Devon. And then we would take a rematch from Miss Greta, should she desire. If not, we will look at all the challenges from this dangerous division.

Devon (getting rattled again): Well the fights ain't gonna get any easier, Frez.

Balio: We understand that, Miss Devon. And we will do our best to be prepared. As gran'mama would say "the horned owl takes nests from the crows."

Devon (purple with rage): Wha!!! Are you calling me an old crow now, Frez?!? Or are you suggesting I'm too horny????

Balio (roaring): Settle down Miss Devon, please. And save all your big energies now for Jamaica.

"Boxing is my way of life",
says Mónica

Mónica Rodríguez lands a massive left uppercut that leaves Stephanie Page face down in the canvas. . "Now I own your red ass, whore!"  she yells as she stands over her beated foe and she tries to pose for pictures until the paramedics ask her room for work and a bit or respect for her contender. The Chilean former champ curses but she poses for pictures and blows kisses for her fans ... she really looks very happy and Mr. Wu gives a her a good check.

Just ten minutes later Mónica agrees an interview with Devon Ling in her dress room, still with her all black boxing wear, including gloves, what makes Devon a bit suspicious!

Devon: Hey Mónica! Congratulations on your victory!

Mónica: Thank you, I know that many people - including yourself - were bidding for my third KO loss in a row, but I always knew that I'm far superior to that poor whore!  Sorry for make you lose money people ...

Devon: Just tell me: was it necessary to humiliate Stephanie Page like that? Why that hate?

Mónica: Believe it or not I was not the one that started this,but she disrespected me before our first fight here in Pattaya..

Devon: When she KO'd you in 6 rounds by the way...

Mónica: Beating me cheaply in my pussy, what a tricky bitch!

Devon: Perfectly legal here you know!  Then she took the junior title from you ...

Mónica: Even if I was the real winner in that fight! The proof was that I took WEBA and World titles right after that fight! Then she challenged me here, and I pleased her and show her who is the real deal in this division.

Devon: But you lost your title in a 13 rd KO to Jordan Strongarm, and you had hard losses to Cathy Simmons, Raquel Rivera and Carla Ramírez..Cathy even owns you 6 fights to 4. .

Mónica: That means nothing! You know, everybody likes Cathy looks .. that's why she took three decisions in a row over me. Now I know she's hot like hell, and I owned her ass sometimes you know (Devon glares) but this is boxing not a beauty contest! It's not fair to anybody, even for Cathy herself, giving to her decisions just because she sleeps with the judges and the ref, because she will believe that she is a better boxer than actually she is, and she can get really hurt taking fights over her real level.

Devon: What about you? You never feel fear or any kind of feeling?

Mónica: Out of ring, yeah but inside NEVER!  I'm fighting in the streets since I was 12 and boxing properly since I was 17, so I'm used to beat and be beated, to hurt and get hurt. Boxing is my way of life, what saved my life and what defines me as a person besides to be my career, you know...I'm so used to the boxing wear that I feel that the gloves are part of my body; sometimes when I leave training I wear my boxing boots instead my other shoes.

Devon: So that's why you are still gloved!

Mónica: Besides it fits better for photographers and journalists that will came after you. Who can believe that I'm a boxer rather than a model after I take my shower and looks at me wearing my Diesel jeans and leather boots?

Devon: Well, I'll never doubt that and I doubt that many people can get confused! Thanks Mónica. 

Devon laughs shamelessly as Mónica glares.

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