Kirkland takes Julio’s heart, title of biggest puncher at 154

Kirkland takes Julio’s heart, title of biggest puncher at 154
Mark E. Ortega
Freelance
March 8, 2009


In an exceptionally well-matched card on paper, Golden Boy Promotions presented three equally intriguing bouts featuring some of their hottest young stars and seemingly had a can’t miss card. Unfortunately, anything can happen in the sport of boxing, and that includes three high-profile bouts being less than expected for reasons that were uncontrollable. The HP Pavilion lured HBO into their town of San Jose, California with a mission to prove that the city is a fight fan city, and the hometown crowd was successful in that mission as 6,765 people were reported in attendance. On this night, however, quite a few instances occurred that took some of the air out of the tires that was the three televised bouts.



Kirkland seeks and destroys Julio, puts 154 on notice 
In the evening’s featured bout, scalding-hot James Kirkland [25-0, 22 KOs] impressively forced former mega-prospect Joel Julio [34-3, 31 KOs] to quit after eight rounds of a scheduled ten in a bout between two of the division’s punchers. Early on, Kirkland made his mission clear that he was going to walk through anything Julio offered as well as respond with four or five punches of his own. It became clear early on that one fighter wanted to trade punches and one fighter was looking for spots to counter-punch in between the wreckage. Julio, to his credit, offered to engage in many evenly-matched exchanges with Kirkland throughout the bout, but was not able to finish the fight as he had suffered terrible swelling above his right eye.

Kirkland would control the first round, coming forward with pressure and heavy hands while Julio sprinkled in a few solid right counter punches and right uppercuts. The second round saw Julio put himself into the bout with a straight right followed by a wild right hook that stopped Kirkland for a second. Julio would occasionally land big punches that Kirkland would show no effect to, and that helped frustrate the more experienced Julio. In the third round, a heavy exchange of hooks would occur that saw Kirkland emerge on the more damaging side of it, stunning Julio with a wide arrange of straight rights up top and to the body. Kirkland would continue his assault to the body in round four, but would run into a few good right counters in the fifth round. Julio began to clinch more around the early rounds, and it was during this time that Kirkland dug big shots to the body to further slow him down.

Kirkland, the Austin, Texas native who is just 24 years old, already seems ready to challenge for a world title as early as this year. The determination of both he and trainer Ann Wolfe should put everyone near 154-pounds on alert that he has indeed arrived, and is not going to let anything get in his way of becoming a star.

Ortiz scores “Vicious” knockout of former title challenger Arnaoutis 
“Vicious” Victor Ortiz [24-1-1, 19 KOs] came away with his most impressive victory to date, stopping Mike Arnaoutis [21-3-2, 10 KOs] for the first time in his career in two rounds. After a first round that saw both fighters come out tentatively, Ortiz pressed the fight in the second and then staggered Arnaoutis badly with a huge left hand, following it up with a brutal combination that saw both uppercuts and hooks score until Arnaoutis’ gloves came down, forcing the referee to stop the bout.

Arnaoutis looked flat from the beginning, never throwing enough punches and when he finally did, they were slow and telegraphed.

Ortiz has a lot of options at this point, and his next bout that will probably take place on either the May 2nd Hatton-Pacquiao undercard or a June 27th HBO Boxing After Dark. An exciting evenly-matched bout with Ortiz would be one with undefeated Top Rank prospect, Mike Alvarado, who tonight also scored a 10th round stoppage of the tested Emmanuel Clottey. A more likely opponent would be someone like Juan Lazcano, who has a recognizable name as well as past dealings with Golden Boy that make it possible from a promotional point of view.

Guerrero suffers tough break, cut causes halt to bout with Yordan in second 
In the opening televised bout, local Bay Area favorite and Gilroy, California native Robert Guerrero [23-1-1, 16 KOs] was forced to a no contest by Daud Yordan [23-0, 17 KOs] of Indonesia when Yordan and Guerrero clashed heads, opening up a gash directly above the right eye of the hometown fighter. Guerrero immediately responded to the blood, pawing at it with his glove, illustrating clearly that it was affecting his vision. The referee called the doctor over to take a look and it was during this exchange that Guerrero made it known that he could not see at all and there was nothing that could be done other than stopping the bout, ruling it a no contest due to the accidental headbutt. It was unfortunate for Guerrero, who for the past few years has seemingly been just one step away from becoming a big star until one thing or another sidetracks him for a period of time.

The first such instance occurred when Guerrero, then undefeated, started to appear on everyone’s radar as a serious prospect. He fought a tough veteran named Gamaliel Diaz with one good performance left in him while at the same time possibly not giving Diaz the credit he deserved and was tagged with a split decision loss in an exciting contest. Guerrero would avenge his lone defeat two bouts later by scoring a sixth-round knockout of Diaz in emphatic fashion, putting him once again on the road to the top. Guerrero would earn a title shot against Eric Aiken on Showtime, ultimately forcing Aiken to retire on his stool after eight rounds to claim his first world title, the IBF 126-pound belt. Guerrero would again be knocked down a peg after losing a decision to Orlando Salido, which was later turned into a no contest when Salido failed the post-fight drug test. Guerrero would still lose his belt, but would earn a chance to reclaim it in his very next fight.

Guerrero would travel overseas to Denmark to do so, laying waste to Spend Abazi in the ninth round to again become the IBF 126-pound champion. After achieving such a high, Guerrero would suffer a rough patch in his personal life when his wife, Casey, was diagnosed with leukemia just two weeks before his November 2007 title defense against Martin Honorio. Guerrero wound up sticking with the fight, and many picked against him thinking he would not be mentally ready for a championship-level bout with all of this happening around him. Guerrero would prove those doubters wrong, knocking out Honorio in less than a round. Guerrero would later defend his belt successfully a second straight time when he knocked out Jason Litzau three months later. It was at this point that Guerrero decided his promoter at the time, Goossen-Tutor, had taken him as far as they could and that it was time to make a change.

This would cause a layoff of nearly a year that would lead up to Guerrero’s one-round destruction of capable veteran Edel Ruiz this January, his first bout under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. Yordan, an unknown commodity to all but those that attended the Casamayor-Marquez card last September, landed lots of good straight left hands in the opening round but was met with some wicked body shots courtesy of “The Ghost”, as well as a few left hands that wobbled Yordan if only for a second. Their heads were destined to come together as they fought in close quarters the entire time, and a headbutt from the lunging-forward Yordan caused the cut over Guerrero’s right eye midway through the second.

The fight with Yordan was expected to be Guerrero’s coming out party, and nobody felt that was the case more than he, who expressed lots of disappointment in how the bout came to an end, throwing his hands in the air as he made his way around the ring to the cheers of the local crowd.

“This sucks. I was cut and I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t see. I was here in front of my hometown fans, who turned out in great support, and this just sucks because I didn’t get to put a show on like I had wanted,” said Guerrero shortly afterwards.

Guerrero should be okay and is likely to appear on either the Hatton-Pacquiao undercard or the June 27th HBO date, either in a return bout with Yordan or against a new opponent.

Salinas native Perez finishes Garcia in four, eliminator with Salido in 2 weeks 
Salinas, California native and Garcia Boxing stable-mate Eloy Perez [13-0-2, 3 KOs] scored a fourth-round knockout of Gabe Garcia [4-6-1, KO] in a scheduled six-round super featherweight bout. Perez, whose March 21st bout with Orlando Salido in an IBF eliminator at the Playboy Mansion looms just two weeks away, got through the bout without incident and looked strong in dominating every second of the bout.

Although Perez was fighting a guy in Garcia that is more than a few classes below the caliber fighter that Salido is, his power was surprisingly overwhelming and led to some scary moments in a bout that probably should have been stopped sooner. Perez dominated the bout from bell to bell, slicing the much slower Garcia with huge left hooks and uppercuts. In the second round, Perez landed a fantastic triple left-hand combination that staggered Garcia. The third round saw Eloy land a huge left hook that bounced Garcia against the ropes like a yo-yo, where he took more punishment until the referee finally decided to call it a knockdown. Eloy would close the show in the fourth round with an onslaught that could do nothing but convince the referee to stop the bout at 2:23 in the fourth round.

Mayfield edges Lozano in a battle of undefeated welterweight prospects 
In a bout that had fans either booing or standing on their feet screaming, Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield [8-0-1, 5 KOs] of San Francisco, California overcame a slow start to win a unanimous decision over the formerly undefeated Mario Lozano [5-1, 4 KOs] of Chihuahua, Mexico in a rollercoaster six-round 147-pound bout. Mayfield, who seemed hesitant to throw any punches in the early goings, was consistently getting hit by straight and overhand rights of Lozano in the first two rounds. Lozano dropped Mayfield in the second round with a straight right, opening up a big early lead on the scorecards.

The third round saw a change in momentum as Mayfield, although not doing enough to win the round landed a few shots that moved his opponent for the first time in the fight. Mayfield still likely lost the round. Mayfield was able to keep it going into the next round, scoring a knockdown that caused much confusion to those at ringside.

Mayfield landed an overhand right that dropped Lozano, and then struck his opponent again while he was down on the canvas. Initially, many thought that a point had been taken away from Mayfield for hitting Lozano behind the head and that no knockdown was ruled, vastly changing the scoring on the round. It was cleared up by the commission that both a knockdown was ruled and a warning was issued to Mayfield, but no point was deducted. The fifth became a close round that saw both fighters open up more and therefore land at a higher rate.

The sixth round began with Mayfield trying to close the show big, and in the process he scored a knockdown that would ultimately determine the margin of victory in the bout. Judges at ringside had it 57-54, and 56-55 twice all for Mayfield by unanimous decision.

Huerta, Ramos bring So-Cal flavor to Nor-Cal card 
Entering the night’s action, both Charles Huerta and Luis Ramos had fought exclusively in Southern California en route to becoming two of the lower half of the state’s most talked about prospects. Both fighters emerged victorious, with Huerta scoring a six-round split-decision victory over veteran Andres Ledesma in a bout that was not close at all and Ramos pounding out a four-round unanimous decision over the also experienced Anthony Martinez.

Huerta [9-0, 5 KOs], of Paramount, California followed Ledesma [15-12-1, 10 KOs] around the ring, occasionally landing a big punch or two along the way while his opponent felt the desire only to run and not exchange any punches. Huerta could have done a better job at cutting off the ring, as he seemed too willing to accommodate Ledesma on moving to his opponent’s right rather than taking a step to the right and firing a right-hand. That being said, there is no way possible that Ledesma won anything close to four rounds, as this was a clear one-sided bout. The buzz on Huerta is heavy, and he would be much better served to be in the ring with someone who is willing to engage him in a fight next time.

Ramos [10-0, 5 KOs], who hails from Santa Ana, California, was very impressive in totally dismantling former belt challenger Anthony Martinez [21-29-3, 9 KOs] in four one-sided rounds. Ramos tagged Martinez often with both left hooks to the body and right hooks to the head, nearly stopping his opponent numerous times. In the third round, Martinez absorbed a frightening amount of damage and ultimately should have been saved by the referee, but somehow he made it through the round. During the flurry of shots, the referee initially stepped in to halt the bout and then quickly changed his mind, allowing it to continue. Martinez would occasionally land an overhand right that would effect Ramos slightly, but never mounted anything close to a worthy offense. Golden Boy Promotions made it clear that Ramos was someone they were taking a close look at, and it was also his first appearance in the Bay Area.

“It gave me a lot of excitement, being here,” said Ramos following his victory. “I was so happy competing here for the first time, and my family came here to support me, so it was exciting.”

Promising heavyweights Jordan, Mitchell score devastating knockouts 
Two heavyweights with a lot of weight behind them promotionally and managerially saw their stocks rise just a bit as both San Francisco, California’s Ashanti Jordan and Seth Mitchell of Brandywine, Maryland scored highlight-reel knockouts of overmatched opponents on the undercard.

Jordan [8-0, 7 KOs] ended a bout with battle-worn Willie Perryman [10-18, 7 KOs] of Clarksdale, Mississippi with a single left-hook to the chin that sent him down hard to the canvas. The bout was halted at 1:50 in the third round of a scheduled six-round heavyweight contest. Jordan is one of Golden Boy’s few young heavyweights, and they have put him on the undercard of many of these HBO cards.

Mitchell [10-0-1, 7 KOs] only needed 1:59 to dispatch his opponent, as he blasted Joseph Rabotte [3-5, KO] of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with an overhand right and followed it up with a devastating right hook to finish this bout much earlier than the scheduled six-rounds. Mitchell is managed by the well-known Shelly Finkel.

Dargan, no-contest round out Bay Area’s biggest card 
In the card’s prematurely started opening bout of the day, Nazim Richardson junior welterweight project Karl Dargan [3-0, KO] scored the first knockout of his young professional career as he stopped Sergio Orantes [0-1] in the second round of a scheduled four with an overhand right that required no count before the bout was declared over. Dargan employed the Philadelphia style of turning your shoulder away from oncoming offense, being very effective defensively and in the process landing heavy leather as well.

The second bout of the evening was one between Newark, New Jersey’s Michael Perez [2-0, 2 KOs] and Andres Reyes [1-1-1] of Los Angeles, California that was ruled a no-decision when the two clashed heads, causing a cut above the eye of Reyes. The scheduled four-round lightweight bout came to an end at the end of the first round when the doctor decidedly halted the bout.

Golden Boy sees a future in the Bay 
At the post-fight press conference all the figureheads of Golden Boy Promotions unanimously agreed that they would love to come back to the Bay Area after seeing the crowd of 6,765 people show up in full force. Even more surprising was that a lot of the crowd turned up in time to see many of the preliminary bouts, and that is something you don’t see on a lot of the big cards these days. It clearly points out that the average Bay Area fight fan is willing to show up early for boxing as long as the boxing is worth viewing, and the preliminary action certainly had a lot of intrigue to it.

De La Hoya referred to Guerrero, Ortiz, and Kirkland as their young hot prospects when in reality, one of the fighters has already claimed a world title and the other two are not close behind that pace. When posed a question on whether it would be in Golden Boy’s future interest to participate in small-scale shows around the Bay Area, De La Hoya seemed open to the possibility.

“We don’t just want to try and bring HBO here, we would love to be involved with some smaller-scale shows in the Bay Area now that we have seen the response to what we brought here today,” said De La Hoya.

It would make sense for Golden Boy to, at the very least, establish a working relationship with some of the club and regional promoters along the Bay Area so that they could have a heavier handful of scheduled dates to put their truly young fighters that have yet to establish themselves as anything more than young professionals.

Kirkland-Angulo, desired but not quite marinated 
The one fight at junior middleweight that everyone has been clamoring for is one between Kirkland and fellow young undefeated 154-pounder, Alfredo Angulo. Angulo was in attendance for the night’s action, and has a close eye on Kirkland as a future opponent. Kirkland noted in the post-fight press conference that he knows Angulo very well and what he offers, and if they were to ever fight he imagines he would stop him. A fight between the two now would stir a lot of response from the die-hard boxing fans, but it is likely that if this bout ever happens it would be down the road when one or both of the fighters have titles.

The only potential roadblock in negotiations for this fight lies at the feet of Gary Shaw, who used to promote Kirkland and has made it clear in the past that he does not like to work with people who have burned him. Take, for instance, his comments following the Darchinyan-Mijares bout when Vic was pressed about a potential Darchinyan-Donaire rematch. He immediately broke into the conversation with the answer of “No way” and the fact that he doesn’t “reward unloyalty” as he put it. If that is just an excuse to keep Vic out of harms way or the actual truth, nobody knows. Kirkland has made it known that he doesn’t feel Shaw would get in the way of negotiations for a future bout, which is good news for those that believe that.

Ringside guests Jack Mosley and Andre Ward make note of current plans 
The first big Bay Area fight card in years also brought out quite the array of those famous within the boxing circle. Along with Angulo, Jack Mosley was in attendance, as well as Oakland, California native and Olympic Gold-medal winner Andre Ward. Mosley assisted in the corner of Eloy Perez, as both he and son Shane Mosley have a long-time relationship with the Garcia family that manages Eloy.

Along with working with two heavyweights right now, Jack trains Shane, Jr., the 17-year old son of Shane who wishes to continue the family legacy of boxing. Jack also noted that his grandson would like to do something his father didn’t even do, and that is win an Olympic gold-medal. The eldest son of the Mosley children also plans on attending college.

Andre Ward said he will likely be fighting somewhere during the first or second week of May, possibly at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. Ward seemed enthusiastic in response to the turnout for this big local card on HBO, saying that it looks good for the future of boxing in the Bay.

Final thoughts 
Although the main portion of the card was a slight let-down due to unforeseeable occurrences, I am fairly certain that the hometown crowd will turn out again in heaps for another boxing card that promises to deliver at this level. This may be wishful thinking, and many other local boxing staples who have many more years of experience than I have convinced me that it is, but maybe this is the spark that the Bay Area needed to start churning out fun, guaranteed action-packed cards with recognizable names and high intrigue. The fact that many followed the few So-Cal fighters that competed on Saturday night up to the Bay also helps convince you that people will come out to support fighters from California both north and south.

It is interesting to note that when Golden Boy first started up, one of the first places they promoted regularly was in San Jose, and they were the first behind the “Fight Night at the Tank” series that is still running. Even if Golden Boy isn’t interested in devoting the time to organizing these smaller scale cards anymore, there are a slew of promoters who haven’t been putting on their regular shows over the past few years that would be willing to basically do the work for them.

Northern California longs for the past days that saw many fighters on the way up make stops in the area on their way to greatness. Just the other day, I saw a clip from an old card of longtime Santa Cruz and Monterey promoter Jerry Hoffman from 1994 that featured a young “Sugar” Shane Mosley, an at-the-time world-ranked Hector Lizarraga, and a rematch between Maui Diaz and Felipe Garcia all on one card. More recently Hoffman was promoting shows that featured talent like Eloy Perez, Jose Celaya and female minimumweight champion Carina Moreno until he lost his sponsors following his last show in October of 2007.

In order for boxing to thrive in the Bay it needs more than just the big cards to do that, it needs the regional cards to make fans remember why they enjoy boxing and to also help develop the next era’s local stars.