Frankel decisions older Pacquiao!
Mark Ortega
November 21, 2008
Thursday night saw Robert Frankel [26-9-2, 4 KOs] of Denver, Colorado deliver a tremendous effort en route to a unanimous decision victory over Bobby Pacquiao [29-15-3, 14 KOs] of the Philippines at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
The fight turned out to be a worthy, although one-sided main event, with lots of back and forth action throughout. The final scores read 98-91 unanimously in favor of Frankel, who has now won his fifth straight fight in a row after dropping his first two of 2008.Yes, this was Frankel’s seventh fight of 2008, and it may have been the best year of his career.
Although Frankel entered this fight with only four knockouts in thirty-five professional bouts, it was apparent very early on that he was the stronger fighter. Frankel was able to snap Pacquiao’s head back on plenty of occasions, and he seemed to do more damage. Pacquiao had moments where he landed well behind the jab, but he left himself too open to straight right hands from Frankel to warrant being awarded very many rounds. Pacquiao has now lost three straight but looked better in this fight than in his last two defeats and can still deliver a watchable fight.
Following the bout, Frankel had this to say when asked what it as like to add a big name like Pacquiao to his ledger. “I take every fight like it is a big fight, no matter who it is,” explains Frankel. “That is Pacquiao’s brother, it is a good name to have [on my record,] but it is not Pacquiao. Not the big man. But I am ready for him.”
In the co-featured bout, Chika Nakamura [8-0, 3 KOs] of New York, New York scored a controversial unanimous decision over Tiffany Junot [4-2, 3 KOs] of New Orleans, Louisiana in an exciting six round female lightweight bout. Although Nakamura was coming forward, many felt that Junot was landing the more effective blows. Junot seemed to be throwing more in combinations and got stronger as the bout progressed, while Nakamura was throwing one to two punches at a time.
The difference may have been Nakamura started and ended strongly. The first and last rounds were here best, while Junot did better in the middle part of the fight. Although the scorecards of 58-56 across the board drew the jeers of the crowd, it would be incorrect to classify this as a robbery as each round was razor-thin close. UBR scored the bout 58-56 in favor of Junot.
The only complaint could be that nobody officially scoring the bout was able to find the fight either a draw or for Junot. This was a fight that drew lots of attention from the crowd and may have been the best fight of the night, and could possibly lead to a rematch. Following the fight, Junot mentioned that she wished that it was an eight round fight because she was ready to keep going, so potentially they could fight down the line.
Also featured on the card was a thrilling four-round super middleweight contest that saw Roberto Florentino [3-3, 3 KOs] of Indianapolis, Indiana knock out Jason “J.P.” Peterson [2-2, KO] of San Francisco, California in the third round. Both fighters came out quickly with Florentino setting the pace for this fight by throwing lots of punches, all with bad intentions on them. Peterson was happy to oblige Florentino and willingly entered into a slugfest. Florentino was the quicker fighter and landed at will for the most part. Florentino also did not fail to offer openings to Peterson who dropped some good right hands on the southpaw that Florentino took very well. Peterson did not take the punches quite as well and got hit by a huge shot that staggered him against the ropes and prompted the referee to issue a count. Peterson boldly rose to his feet but when he arose the referee asked him vital questions that Peterson did not respond to. The time of the stoppage was 1:48 in the third round. This will be Peterson’s last fight before he goes to prison for five years stemming from a drug charge from years ago.
In a circus-like attraction, five-foot-six Karim Mayfield [7-0-1, 5 KOs] of Daly City, California shut out the six-foot-fight Trenton Titsworth [2-6-1, 2 KOs] of Omaha, Nebraska in a four round welterweight bout. Although the fight was not very pleasing to watch, much of it can be hung on the huge size disparage between the two fighters and the fact that one fighter did not come to fight. Titsworth held for much of the fight, and at one point failed to launch a punch for over three and a half minutes. Mayfield had to try and land punches and his nearly foot taller opponent, which would give anyone some trouble. When Mayfield was able to land, he was effective and had Titsworth in trouble multiple times. Mayfield was originally slated to take on Abel Perry [9-2] in a six rounder, but an injury forced a new opponent and for the fight to only be a four rounder. This was Mayfield’s first bout back since his exciting March victory over Francisco Santana at a Fight Night at the Tank. The official scores of the bout were 40-36 across the board. UBR also scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Mayfield.
Welterweight Eric Garcia [3-0-1, KO] of Salinas, California scored a four round unanimous decision over Pueblo, Colorado’s Geoffrey Spruiell [7-7, 2 KOs]. The first round was fought pretty evenly with Garcia pressing the action. In the second, Garcia threw an accurate right hand that dropped Spruiell brutally. Spruiell somehow recovered from the shot and made it out of the round despite his opponent going for the kill. Garcia was not able to finish his opponent and had to settle for a unanimous decision victory in which all the judges scored the bout 39-36. UBR scored it a shutout, 40-35, for Garcia.
In a heavyweight four rounder, Yohan Banks [2-1-1, KO] of San Jose, California scored a brutal knockout over San Francisco, California’s Bernard Gray [2-3] in the second round. A pretty uneventful fight took a sharp turn when Banks threw a wild right hand uppercut that dropped Gray and prompted the referee to not even issue a count.
In the card’s opening bout, hometown girl Melissa McCorrow scored a four round unanimous decision over Gloria Salas of Cathedral City, California. McCorrow was very well received and had her own cheering section, but the rest of the crowd joined in when they saw what was happening in the ring. There was a lot of back and forth action over the course of all four rounds, with McCorrow throwing a great jab and landing good shots to the body that slowed her opponent down. Salas had her moments, backing McCorrow up a few times, but she was not the busier fighter. The official scoring of the bout was 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37.
This was the first Fight Night at the Tank promoted by Sycuan Ringside Promotions and 3,453 people attended the show. The Fight Night at the Tank will return to San Jose in 2009.
