Roy Jones Jr. Decisions Pawel Glazewski

Roy Jones Jr. Decisions Pawel Glazewski
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 30, 2012


Twenty years ago, a Roy Jones Jr. fight happening in the afternoon American time would likely be taking place on a major network with a fairly good buzz going. Sadly that was not the case on this day in 2012.

Saturday afternoon U,S. Pacific Time, 43-year old Roy Jones Jr. won a controversial ten-round split decision over previously unbeaten yet unheralded Pawel Glazewski in his native Poland. Jones was a solid 3-to-1 favorite, but fought much like former rival Antonio Tarver did against Lateef Kayode earlier this month. One problem was Jones Jr. didn't turn it up in the second half and it looked as though he was thoroughly outworked. Jones Jr. also suffered a 6th round knockdown off a punch that wasn't quite devastating.

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Nonito Donaire Wraps Up San Carlos Camp

Nonito Donaire Wraps Up San Carlos Camp
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 29, 2012


SAN CARLOS, Calif.--Thursday afternoon in San Carlos, Calif., multi-division titlist Nonito Donaire concluded his sparring in preparation for his fight with South African beltholder Jeffrey Mathebula, which takes place in southern California at the Home Depot Center in Carson on July 7, televised by HBO.

Working with Donaire in sparring at Undisputed were a pair of much larger fighters in veteran Gilberto Sanchez Leon and Robert Rodriguez, whom Donaire trainer Robert Garcia brought with him from Oxnard.

“We have good sparring partners. We couldn't find guys that tall at 122 so we had to look for guys that fight at 135,” Garcia told TQBR on Thursday afternoon.

“These guys are well over 140 but that is the best we can do. Gilberto Sanchez Leon is very experienced and has been in there against great names and the experience he brings, the style that he brings is similar to what we will see in our opponent. We also have Robert Rodriguez from Colorado who is also very tall and gives us a lot of pressure and good work.”

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Josesito Lopez and the Eight-Year Plan

Josesito Lopez and the Eight-Year Plan
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 28, 2012


Though many memorable moments remain from last Saturday's shocking result at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, one of those moments that stuck with me late into the following week about Josesito Lopez was simply him making his ringwalk. Emblazoned on the right breast of his jacket was a large logo: Thompson Boxing.

Josesito Lopez was the first fighter Thompson Boxing signed to a contract in 2004. Though they cut the opening day ribbon on their company in 2000, Lopez was the first fighter to sign an exclusive deal to be promoted by the Orange County-based outfit.

Both promoter and fighter have ridden through their fair share of bumps in the road, but Lopez's upset win this past Saturday over Victor Ortiz was an unquestionable high point.

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Miguel Acosta-Art Hovhannisyan Tops ShoBox Tripleheader

Miguel Acosta-Art Hovhannisyan Tops ShoBox Card
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 27, 2012

On July 20, Gary Shaw Promotions will bring a doubleheader to the esteemed prospect series ShoBox: The New Generation from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif. as confirmed by matchmaker John Beninati. The card was initially going to air three bouts but one bout fell out, as detailed below.

As has been previously reported, the card will be headlined by a 10-round lightweight bout between unbeaten Artyom Hovhannisyan of Glendale, Calif. by way of Armenia against former titleholder Miguel Acosta of Venezuela. The two televised undercard bouts have not been previously reported anywhere.

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Rico Ramos Beats Efrain Esquivias in Vicious Encounter

Rico Ramos Beats Efrain Esquivias in Vicious Encounter
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 24, 2012


Just a few miles down the way from a big time boxing show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, former junior featherweight beltholder Rico Ramos of Pico Rivera, Calif. got back into the win column with a hard-fought eight-round majority decision win over previously unbeaten Gardena, Calif. resident Efrain Esquivias. It was an an entertaining main event at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City in front of a capacity crowd. The bout topped a bill promoted by Goossen-Tutor Promotions and was televised on Telefutura's Solo Boxeo.

The more intimate 1,000 seat venue housed a raucous crowd that was on their feet for nearly the duration of Ramos-Esquivias, which turned out to be a unanticpated barnburner. Though the majority agreed it was a well-matched fight, it was hard to gauge how action-packed the bout would be based on a combination Ramos' poor showing in January against Guillermo Rigondeaux as well as Esquivias' lack of name recognition.

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Family Drama at the Center of Ortiz-Lopez Tonight

Family Drama at the Center of Ortiz-Lopez Tonight
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 23, 2012


At Friday's weigh-in for the Victor Ortiz-Josesito Lopez card taking place at Staples Center later Saturday, TQBR had a chance to catch up with Ortiz trainer Danny Garcia afterwards.

In an article posted at TQBR on June 19, Josesito Lopez and his trainer Henry Ramirez were quoted as saying that Garcia's father Eduardo had giving them insight on how to beat Ortiz. Eduardo started out Victor as a fighter.

“I think it is a bunch of bull,” said Danny Garcia when asked what he thought about it. “I think that Josesito's trainer Henry is just trying to play mind games, and even if he did help there is no information that is going to help Josesito Lopez beat Victor tomorrow. Even if my dad was working in their corner, that wouldn't change the outcome of the fight.”

TQBR had a chance to relay Danny Garcia's thoughts to Ramirez earlier Saturday.

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[Mike] Dallas Does Soboba

[Mike] Dallas Does Soboba
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 23, 2012


SAN JACINTO, Calif. -- Friday night at the Soboba Casino, junior welterweight contender Mike Dallas, Jr. of Bakersfield, Calif. took another step up the rankings as he vanquished Javier Castro of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico in the 6th round in perhaps his most impressive performance to date.

Dallas (19-2-1, 8 KOs) edged the opening round of the ESPN2-televised main event as he landed his jab consistently, though Castro got in some solid shots of his own. Castro (27-5, 22 KOs) suffered a cut near his right eye, but things would even out in the round 3 when Dallas' right eye was cut as well. Both cuts were the result of accidental clashes of heads.

The difference in handspeed was eye-opening, as Dallas was able to get in with his punches before Castro had a chance to respond. Castro did his best work when he had Dallas trapped on the ropes, which didn't occur often enough to sway the opinion of the judges prior to the stoppage.

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Goossen-Tutor Brings Boxing Back to Upper Middle Class

Goossen-Tutor Brings Boxing Back to Upper Middle Class
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 22, 2012


It has been nearly 15 years since a live boxing card took place at the Reseda Country Club in the San Fernando Valley.

At its peak during the late 80s to early 90s, Dan Goossen's promotional company used the country club as the proving grounds to a number of future world champions, namely Michael Nunn and the Ruelas brothers, Gabriel and Rafael.

Cards were often offered as a midweek special, with many Tuesday and Wednesday dates that you just don't see in American boxing today.

Saturday, Goossen-Tutor Promotions is attempting to recreate the atmosphere from those Reseda club shows when they utilize Studio City's Sportsmen's Lodge as former 122-pound beltholder Rico Ramos (20-1, 11 KOs) meets fellow southern Californian Efrain Esquivias (16-0, 9 KOs) in a very intriguing Solo Boxeo headlining bout.

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Kazuto Ioka Decisions One-Eyed Akira Yaegashi in Minimumweight Title Tilt

Kazuto Ioka Decisions One-Eyed Akira Yaegashi in Minimumweight Title Tilt
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 20, 2012


At early morning American time, hardcore boxing fanatics set their alarms in anticipation of catching a stream of the rare minimumweight unification bout between Japanese compatriots Kazuto Ioka and Akira Yaegashi in Osaka, Japan on Wednesday evening.

It would be 23-year old emerging phenom Kazuto Ioka (10-0, 6 KOs) who would unify the two alphabet soup belts that were on the line, though a case could be made for a draw or even a close victory for Yaegashi. The final tally was a split decision verdict, with two 115-113 scores for Ioka overruling the 115-114 scorecard in favor of Yaegashi (15-3, 8 KOs).

The two beltholders fought a more tactical affair than expected, undoubtedly wary of each other's power. Though the consensus pick was Ioka by devastating knockout heading in, it was Yaegashi who showed early flashes of power, buckling Ioka a bit in the 5th round while landing numerous hard shots in the rounds preceding.

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Josesito Looks to Upset the Odds Against Victor Ortiz

Josesito Looks to Upset the Odds Against Victor Ortiz
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 19, 2012

There aren't many giving Riverside, Calif.'s Josesito Lopez much of a chance to overturn the already set table of his June 23 opponent Victor Ortiz at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in the Showtime Championship Boxing main event.

Among those is Ortiz's promoter Golden Boy Promotions, who has a tentative date set in September for Ortiz to move up to junior middleweight and take on one of boxing's few box-office beaus Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a pay-per-view attraction set for the weekend of Mexican Independence Day.

This isn't the first time Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) has been setup to win at the Staples Center. Almost three years to the day, featherweights Chris John and Rocky Juarez were set to rematch atop a bill that featured Ortiz against the largely unknown Marcos Maidana in the co-feature. John-Juarez II fell out and Ortiz found himself headlining at perhaps the biggest venue in California. Ortiz was being hailed as one of the sport's future stars by all the important outlets.

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Tomasz Adamek Beats Eddie Chambers, But Look, Another Interesting Scorecard

Tomasz Adamek Beats Eddie Chambers, But Look, Another Interesting Scorecard
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 17, 2012


Saturday night, an NBC Sports televised intriguing heavyweight crossroads bout between New Jersey based Pole Tomasz Adamek and Philadelphia's Eddie Chambers went head-to-head against the big league broadcast by HBO, with Adamek getting the unanimous decision.

 Those that stuck with the network in their third hour saw a spirited scrap, as well as an interesting decision; though it wasn't an action-packed affair, it was as competitive as advertised, despite judges seeing it one way. Scores of 116-112 twice and 119-109 in favor of Adamek was the verdict reached.

 Chambers showed impressive movement and precise punching in the opening round as Adamek allowed his opponent landed the only meaningful punches of the round.

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Larry Merchant's Thoughts on Pacquiao-Bradley

Larry Merchant's Thoughts on Pacquiao-Bradley
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 12, 2012

 Saturday night, Timothy Bradley earned an extremely controversial split decision victory over Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Noticeably missing from the HBO broadcast was the venerable Larry Merchant, who TQBR had a chance to speak to early Monday evening and learn his thoughts. It must be noted that this writer saw the fight 114-114, a very unpopular verdict.

Thanks for talking to us, Larry. Obviously, we had a very controversial result this weekend in Las Vegas where Timothy Bradley got a decision over Manny Pacquiao. First, your thoughts on how you saw the fight?   

I thought Pacquiao clearly won, I had it around nine rounds to three. It is not unusual that judges don't agree, it is unusual that they get it as wrong as that. Pacquiao landed more punches and more hard punches. I'm sure you could do a slow motion to any fight and find where somebody did or didn't get credit or discredit for something. I'm not prepared to do that. I don't know what I would have said if I did, I'll have something to say about it after this weekend. To me, it is about who puts more hurt on the other guy.

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Former Foes Shane Mosley, Winky Wright Say Goodbye

Former Foes Shane Mosley, Winky Wright Say Goodbye
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 12, 2012


The sweet science has always been known as a sport where headlines are made as much outside of the ring as they are between the ropes, and leading up to June's big ticket bout between Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley, boxing lived up to that reputation.

 In a span of mere days, there was a landslide of some of boxing's biggest names of the past decade or more departing the sport, including Shane Mosley (at left) and Winky Wright (at right).

 First, the once great Winky Wright returned to the ring following a near 38-month sabbatical, losing a wide unanimous decision to emerging American middleweight Peter Quillin.

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Andre Ward-Chad Dawson Oakland Official

Andre Ward-Chad Dawson Oakland Official
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 9, 2012


Friday afternoon, multiple sources close to the promotion confirmed to TQBR the site of the Sept. 8 super middleweight showdown between Andre Ward and Chad Dawson.

Ward-Dawson will take place at Oakland, Calif.'s Oracle Arena, which has hosted four of the last seven Andre Ward bouts. Over 10,000 were in attendance for Ward's title victory over Mikkel Kessler in the first stage of the Showtime Super Six World Boxing Classic in November 2009, but subsequent bouts against Allan Green and Sakio Bika drew much smaller crowds.

The fight will be formally announced in Las Vegas this weekend amidst the major attraction that is Manny Pacquiao against Timothy Bradley.

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Gabriel Rosado Starches Sechew Powell

Gabriel Rosado Starches Sechew Powell
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 2, 2012


Friday night on NBC Sports, Gabriel Rosado (20-5, 12 KOs) kept career momentum moving in the right direction as he notched an impressive 9th round stoppage over former title challenger Sechew Powell (26-5, 15 KOs) in their headlining 12 round junior middleweight bout from the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Penn.

The action started out slowly as both fighters felt each other out for the first few rounds. Things heated up around the midway point as they traded power shots at a higher clip. Powell's southpaw stance bothered Rosado early on.

“I fought kind of technical in the beginning because his southpaw style gave me some issues, but once I warmed up I was able to get inside,” confirmed Rosado to Chris Mannix in the postfight interview.

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Billy Joe Saunders Rolls Against Bradley Pryce

Billy Joe Saunders Rolls Against Bradley Pryce
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 2, 2012

Friday night from York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, Billy Joe Saunders scored the biggest win of his career as he lopsidedly dominated Bradley Pryce to successfully retain his Commonwealth middleweight title by scores of 120-108, 120-109 twice in the main event of a full card televised by BoxNation.

The former British Olympian Saunders (14-0, 9 KOs) had no trouble piling up the points against his most skilled and experienced opponent to date, getting extended the 12 round distance for the first time in his young professional career.

Pryce, to his credit, never kept trying but was just outclassed on many levels. Saunders caught Pryce in the 3rd with a big combination that began swelling around the left, which only worsened as the fight wore on thanks to the constant popping of Saunders' jab.

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Taking Care of Business

In the June 2012 issue of British boxing publication Boxing Monthly, I had a four-page spread on Timothy Bradley ahead of his challenge of Manny Pacquiao. I interviewed Bradley for the piece, and we discussed a number of topics. My second BM spread.