Jorge Ahumada … “Almost a Champion”

January 29, 2015Jim Amatoadmin

By Jim Amato / Senior Boxing Writer (contributed to “dmboxing” since 2008)

In the early 1970′s he was the hottest light heavyweight in the world. He would eventually garner three shots at recognition as champion. All three would travel the true champiomship distance of fifteen rounds. In all three Jorge would come up short.
Jorge turned pro in 1968 in his native Argentina. In his home country he would meet future champion Victor Galindez four times. Jorge would win one by decision. On three occasions he was stopped by the great Galindez. They would meet again.

He split a pair of fights with the highly respected Avenamer Peralta. He also drew with the highly regarded Raul Loyola. When he decided to invade the US in the summer of 1973 he sported a 31-5-1 record. Little did he know the impact he would make when he hit New York City.

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Rios “one-sided” win over Alvarado

January 26, 2015David Martinez, Recent FightsDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / dmboxing.com

In their third “rubber match” fight it wasn’t even close. Brandon Rios (33-2-1 / 23 by KO) stopped Mike Alvarado (34-3 / 23 by KO) in three rounds, at the 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, Colorado.

Rios started off quickly from the start and never looked back, punishing Alvarado almost at will in every round. Rios dropped Alvarado with a left hook in round three, which proved to be the beginning of the end. Alvarado survived the round (barely) but the fight was stopped after round three.

Rios claimed the vacant WBO International welterweight championship and he has certainly put himself in line for some big bouts at 147 pounds.

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Jose Legra … should he be in the Hall of Fame?

January 24, 2015Jim Amatoadmin

By Jim Amato / Senior Boxing Writer / contributed to dmboxing.com since 2008

He was a two time world champion and a perennial contender for the featherweight title for more then a decade. In a fifteen year career he amassed 150 fights. He won 134 of them. At one point in his career he reeled off over 50 straight wins. Are these the credentials for a future Hall of fame inductee?

Born in Cuba in 1943, Legra turned pro in 1960. Although active, most of his early fights took place in Cuba and Mexico. He made his first appearance in Spain in 1963. It is there that he decided to live and ply his trade. He was tall, lean and very fast. He would befuddle his opponents with his grace and boxing skills. He would emerge as a serious threat for world honors.

In 1965 Legra took a big step up meeting future champion Howard Winstone of Wales. The vastly talented Winstone defeated young Jose over ten rounds. Legra would not lose again until 1969. Some 50+ bouts later. On his march to a title fight Legra would defeat the likes of Love Allotey, Rafiu King, Don Johnson, Yves Desmarets (for the EBU title) and Joe Tetteh. This led to a 1968 title shot against the newly crowned WBC featherweight titleholder, Howard Winstone. The rugged Winstone had failed no less then three times to dethrone the great Vincente Saldivar. All three were great battles. Finally when Saldivar retired Winstone was matched with Japan’s worthy Mitsunori Seki for the WBC version of the vacated crown. Winstone finally cashed in halting the game Seki in round nine. Now it was Legra’s turn. It was sweet revenge for Jose as he dropped Winstone twice in the first round and damaged Howard’s eye badly enough to force a stoppage in round five.

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Hey Harold!

January 21, 2015Harold Lederman, Upcoming Fights, Videoadmin

Harold Lederman of HBO World Championship Boxing kindly provides this website with his short videos regarding upcoming fights. Here’s a look at Mike Alvarado vs. Brandon Rios “rubber match” 12 round welterweight bout – airing on HBO this Saturday night from Broomfield, Colorado. Thank you Harold and wishing you “Happy Birthday” on January 26 – to my friend and a most well respected figure in boxing!

(click onto link below for viewing video)

http://youtu.be/bWcI-Oiq4rk

Wilder wins WBC title

January 19, 2015Heavyweights, Recent Fights, Tom Donelsonadmin

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Deontay Wilder won a unanimous decision but what impressed me was not his victory but the ease that he dominated the fight and showed himself to be a vastly improved fighter. The first thing that was surprising was that the inexperienced Wilder showed more nuance in his fight game than the supposedly more experience Stiverne. (While Wilder had more pro fights; Stiverne had fought the tougher fighters and had already been in two big events against Chris Arreola.)

Wilder used his longer reach and jab to set the real estate between the two fighters. Stirvene, whose jab was an effective weapon against Arreola, fail to even effectively jab nor did he cut off the ring. Repeatedly Wilder was able to escape and move away from the on charging Stirvene. Stirvene attempted to walk Wilder down but he never attack the body of Wilder; which would have paid dividend in the later rounds against Wilder. Instead, he rarely jabbed his way nor did he attack the body with much conviction or consistently.

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WBA, WBC Reach Agreement to Use Same Names for All Divisions

January 17, 2015David Martinez, DMBoxing NewsDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / dmboxing.com

This week, the WBA and WBC have agreed to use the same names for all of the seventeen weight divisions in boxing.

This will eliminate the word “junior” which will be replaced with the word “super” in those weights. Also, the term “Strawweight” will be eliminated for the 105 lbs. category which will now be referred to as “Minimumweight” by both groups.

By uniting, this will clear up confusion with media, fans, and the sanctioning/governing bodies. The IBF and WBO are still pending with their confirmation at this moment, but are expected to follow suit soon.

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Bermane vs. Wilder … WBC heavyweight title

January 15, 2015Heavyweights, Tom Donelson, Upcoming Fightsadmin

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Deontay Wilder takes on Bermane Stiverne in an event that is totally unusual; an American in a heavyweight bout that means something. Stiverne’s WBC heavyweight title is on the line and the undefeated Wilder has the opportunity to win a heavyweight, something no Americans have done since Shannon Briggs defeated Siarhei Liakovich for Liakovich WBO title nearly nine years ago.

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Francisco “Chia” Santana by KNOCKOUT!

January 12, 2015David Martinez, Recent FightsDavid Martinez

By David Martinez / dmboxing.com

On January 9, 2015 at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California, Santa Barbara native Francisco Santana (22-3-1 / 11 by KO) won the vacant WBA International welterweight championship belt with a first round knockout over previously unbeaten Kendal Mena (20-1 / 11 by KO).

It didn’t last long, but it was a beauty with Chia scoring a first knockdown one minute and twelve seconds into the round. Thirty seconds later came the knockout, a picture perfect left hook as referee Jack Reiss didn’t even have to count with Mena flat on his back, out cold on the canvas.

The fight was shown on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights with a large viewing audience, and because of the spectacular knockout, it made the ESPN Sports Center “top ten” highlight reel that night of top sports events.

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Mayweather – Pacquiao … why they will fight $$$

January 9, 2015Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather, Tom Donelsonadmin

By Tom Donelson / Writer for dmboxing.com since 2008

Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Will he or won’t he? That is the question vexing boxing fans as they wonder if the fight that has been promised for the past five years will ever happen; Mayweather-Pacquiao. Certainly there is one reason that fight happens: money. There was a time that Pacquiao could attract big PPV numbers but against Algieri and Rios, those numbers dropped below 500,000 and Mayweather big numbers came when he fought big names just as Canelo Alvarez but his last bouts were south of million so while he attracted bigger PPV numbers than the PAC Man, he has not match the big numbers that Showtime was hoping when they signed him to a six fight contract.

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FIGHT CALENDAR for January 2015

January 6, 2015Fight Calendarsadmin

Stay posted every month to David Martinez Boxing for your complete boxing schedule

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