Berto Beats Collazo in Barnburner
With
his back against the wall, undefeated WBC champ Andre Berto (24-0, 19
KOs) dug deep to escape with a controversial decision win over tough
contender Luis Collazo (29-4, 14 KOs) this past Saturday (January 17).
A
feel out first round was broke wide open when Brooklyn’s Collazo
stunned Berto with a hammering straight left. The blow knocked the
champ clean across the ring, and the challenger immediately attempted
to pounce with short hooks on the inside. But Berto showed true poise
from the early test by surprising Collazo with a sneaky counter right
hand on the lunging Brooklynite.
Collazo, remembering past title chances that have escaped him, remained defiant and closed the round with two left hand shots.
In
the second stanza, Berto utilized his superior hand-speed advantage to
get off first with hook combinations. However, Collazo easily slipped
away from most of the punches and patiently countered with a straight
left and hook when Berto’s momentum put him off balance. When Berto
would step back and give himself space on the outside, his longer arms
proved successful to strafe Collazo with uppercuts and overhand rights.
Realizing
Berto’s mid and long range offensive strategy, Collazo came back in the
third by consistently pressuring the champ to the body on the inside.
Berto’s leaky in-close defense was exposed badly as the champ would
repeatedly square up and get clipped with short hooks to the head and
body. In the round’s second half, a Collazo left-right combo again
stunned Berto, causing the young champion to stumble into the ropes.
Although Berto would immediately fire back with quick albeit wild
combinations, it was Collazo who was landing the clean and more
effective punches. At the round’s conclusion, Andre Berto was warned
for excessive holding.
By
the fifth round Berto was still unwisely languishing on the inside and
allowing the shorter-armed Collazo to outwork him. Even with his
normally effective speed advantage, Collazo was finding success timing
his foe with rhythm-disrupting jabs and consistent body-punching in the
clinches. To compound Berto’s problems, an accidental headbutt opened a
cut above the champ’s right eye. Even though both men were guilty of
spells of mauling, the referee saw fit to deduct a point from Berto for
holding.
In
rounds six through eight, Collazo’s success pressuring Berto diminished
as the WBC champ began to finally circle and carry the fight at with
lateral movement, snappy jabs, and shoeshine combinations. Even though
Collazo would occasionally get inside, it was Berto who maintained his
fight in most of these rounds. By the end of the eighth, a slashing
Berto’s left hand opened a cut above Collazo’s left eye.
Perhaps
remembering his controversial loss to Ricky Hatton, Collazo stormed out
in the ninth and tenth rounds. Focusing on inside body work, Collazo
again put Berto on the defensive and took away the champ’s previous
punching advantages at long range. Here, Berto appeared to get
outworked, especially when Berto would attempt to clinch and slow down
the action.
After
impassioned speeches by each corner before the twelfth, it was Berto
who came out with guns blazing. The young champion kept busy with
flashy combinations throughout the round, while Collazo, perhaps due to
fatigue, seemed reluctant to let his offense hang out in this deciding
round. While Berto was not landing many clean shots, his activity was
allowing him to carry the round and possibly steal a close decision.
However, it turns out that at least one judge did not see a close fight.
Scorecards
for the bout read 116-111, and 114-113 twice, all for Berto by
unanimous decision. In a fight that could’ve gone either way, both men
were very gracious. And in a rare statement by a champion after a tough challenge, Berto wholeheartedly welcomed a rematch.
“Luis
Collazo is a monster. He caught me with some clean shots,” Berto stated
in the post-fight interview. “I’d love to give him a rematch. This was
two tough, young guys going at it in the toughest division in the
sport. It’s definitely a wonderful way to start the 2009 boxing season.”
Indeed
it was, and look for Berto’s management to further test their
undefeated charge against the Margarito-Mosley winner, Miguel Cotto, or
possibly Paul Williams.
Margarito-Molsey Is Must-See TV TonightJust
one month into 2009, the Fight of the Year has likely already been
decided. This Saturday, reigning welterweight champ Antonio Margarito
and former pound for pound #1 Shane Mosley will engage in a guaranteed
punishing slugfest with large implications for boxing’s best division.
Weighing
his options, Antonio Margarito has been dormant since his
career-defining TKO of Miguel Cotta last July. Despite potential fights
with Joshua Clottey and Paul Williams, the Tijuana Tornado’s promoter
Bob Arum has remained patient in looking for the best fight to raise Antonio’s profile and line his pockets.
On
the other hand, Shane Mosley has never been concerned with anything
other than fighting the best possible opponents out there, even when it
went against his financial best interests. When no one else would touch
them, Mosley sought out fights with dangerous contenders Vernon Forrest
and Winky Wright. And even after suffering decisive defeats, he jumped
at immediate rematches.
Now
in the twilight on his career at 37, Mosley hopes to topple a seemingly
impossible hurdle in the younger, pressure heavy Margarito. A win not
only allows Shane to reclaim the welterweight crown he lost seven years
ago, but leaves him as one of the last men standing from the 90s era of
boxing stars.
Conventional
wisdom has most experts advocating Mosley’s best strategy being an
attempt to blueprint Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey’s early round
successes against Margarito over twelve rounds. The problem is that
Mosley has never been a disciplined boxer. He can be easily dragged
into brawls, but most of the time he has been victorious due to his
hand-speed and solid power. And defensively, Mosley’s offense has always been his defense.
Against
Margarito, Mosley will be facing his strongest and toughest foe ever at
welterweight. And nine years removed from his welterweight prime, it’ll
be extremely difficult for the Mosley to keep up with the unrelenting
late round punch output Margarito rains on his opponents.
While
Mosley is definitely a very live underdog, expect Margarito to take
over in the second half after absorbing Mosley’s bombs in the early
rounds. If Mosley’s wilts down in the stretch, there’s a strong
possibility Margarito could possibly score a stoppage.
Whatever the outcome, make sure you catch this fight.
Jermain Taylor vs. Carl Froch or Glen Johnson?
Promoter Lou DiBella is currently working on securing Jermain Taylor a March 28 date against 168 pound contender Carl Froch.
According
to various reports and rumors this past week, Taylor is seeking to
immediately capitalize on his win over Jeff Lacy this past November. If
finalized, the fight will mark Taylor’s first ever appearance on
Showtime and provide a solid test for Taylor’s place in the 168 pound
division.
Unfortunately,
there is a strong possibility of the fight falling through due to Carl
Froch not having much name recognition in America. If so, DiBella may
surprisingly put “Bad Intentions” against another one of his fighters,
the rugged Glen Johnson.
“I
thought he won the last fight with Chad Dawson and frankly it was close
enough that I’m not going to argue about it,” DiBella told
maxboxing.com. “But it was such a tremendous performance by him. Like
Bernard Hopkins, he is not a normal guy pushing 40. He’s quite bit
younger than Bernard but this guy does not fight like a 39-year old.”
Taylor
would likely not last with Johnson, so expect DiBella to steer the
younger, more marketable former champ to an easier matchup to kick off
’09.
Miguel Cotto Welcomes Margarito Rematch and Pacquiao Fight
Rican star Miguel Cotta returns to the ring on February 21 for a PPV
card against Michael Jennings with stablemate Kelly Pavlik facing Marco
Antonio Rubio.
Even
though this is Cotto’s comeback fight for the vacant WBO welterweight
title, he’s already looking ahead to possible rematch with Antonio
Margarito, the man that knocked him out last July.
“I
would like to get the rematch right away with Margarito, but I have to
wait for the company to decide then we will see,” Cotto stated at a
recent press conference for the card. “It is a rematch that I want. Not
badly [laughs], but I want it. When I fight him again, I will try to be
a better boxer. I never watched the fight. I’ve been there, so I don’t
get to see it [laughs]. If Manny Pacquiao wants to stay at 147 and
fight one of the biggest names in boxing, I am available.”
Calzaghe Bored With Division Challenges
Basking
in the aftermath of his lopsided beating of faded legend Roy Jones, Jr,
current light-heavyweight champ Joe Calzaghe wishes he was lighter or
heavier to challenge rising stars in other weight classes.
In a self-penned piece for southwalesargus.co.uk, Calzaghe revealed his wish list of potential megafights.
“To
be honest, I wish I was in a different weight category. If I weighed
the same as Ricky Hatton or David Haye, you can bet I would fight on,”
Calzaghe explained. “If I had a shot at a Klitschko or even at Haye
himself to look forward to, that’s the kind of occasion that would get
me excited. But sadly I am just too small….I would love to fight a
Manny Pacquiao or Antonio Margarito, or even better than that, Floyd
Mayweather.”
Regarding
the challengers that remain in his weight class, Calzaghe remains
dismissive and may be close to fulfilling his vow to retire.
“Unfortunately
for me, the best three fight out there: Hopkins, Jones and Mikkel
Kessler, would all be rematches,” Calzaghe argued. “It only really
leaves Chad Dawson, who is totally untested at the highest level.”
If
the Welshman decides to fight on, the final challenge he faces is
Dawson. Bad Chad has more than proved himself with wins over Antonio
Tarver and Glen Johnson. Whether this fight happens depends on how good
Dawson looks in his March rematch with Tarver.
Throwback Fighter of the Week: “The Old Mongoose” Archie Moore
The
original ageless wonder Archie Moore had only of the most illustrious
careers in boxing: spanning three decades, three weight classes, and
legendary opponents like Ezzard Charles, Floyd Patterson, Rocky
Marciano, and Muhammad Ali.
Moore
began his career in 1935 and endured nearly 20 years of being frozen
out of a title shot due to racial politics. Finally, Moore received his
first shot against Joey Maxim in 1952. Making good on his word, Moore
easily defeated Maxim and went on to make 4 successful defenses and
post 13 non-title wins before moving up to face undefeated world
champion Rocky Marciano in 1955.
In
a classic encounter, Moore seemed on the verge of an upset after
dropping Marciano in the second with a counter right. But Rocky came
back with relentless pressure, bullying Moore against the ropes and
taking Moore’s best shots. Eventually, the Rock’s assault secured five
knockdowns before the bout was stopped with a ninth round KO.
Moore
regained the light-heavy crown the following year, but returned to try
his luck at heavyweight against newcomer Floyd Patterson for the vacant
heavyweight strap. This time, Patterson’s fast hands were too much for
Moore, who was KO’d in five rounds.
Back
at light-heavy, Moore would engage in two classic fights with contender
Yvon Durelle in 1958 and 1959. In the first bout, Moore overcame four
knockdowns (three in the first), to TKO Durelle in the eleventh round.
Moore’s last hurrah came in 1962, when he was KO’d in four by a young Muhammad Ali, his former pupil.
In 1998, Moore passed away died due to heart failure.
He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and has more knockouts than any other boxer in history.
Archie Moore’s final record stands at 185-23-11 (131 KOs).
Moore vs. Durelle I
Moore vs. Durelle II
Moore vs. Marciano
