Youri Kalenga – Denton Daley: A Canadian Boxing War
By Lou Eisen (At ringside)
The undercard bouts at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario were indeed a fine lead-in to the main event between Canada’s Denton Daley and France’s Youri Kalenga, the interim WBA world cruiserweight champion. The four fights prior to the title match went a long way to satiating the fans desires for all out action.
The first fight of the evening was a six round bout in the junior-middleweight division, featuring Hamilton, Ontario’s hard-hitting Kevin Higson (4-0) against Mexico’s Erick Mireles (8-5). Hamilton is a hotbed of boxing development in Canada. In fact, the former featherweight champion of the world, Jackie Callura also hailed from Hamilton. The fight was fought at a very fast clip. Both men exchanged hard blows from the opening bell. Higson likes to work at a quick pace in order to keep his opponents backing up and on the defensive. However, Mireles was not allowing him to do so by constantly trying to crowd Higson on the ropes while ripping him to the body with hard left hooks to the liver.
Higson made the mistake of backing away from Mireles while standing straight up several times in the first round, which is why he was getting caught with left hooks to the head. Mireles threw a vicious and resounding left hook to the liver midway through the round that would have felled a lesser fighter. Higson came storming back to take the last half of the round.
Higson began to relax and find his range with short, jolting hooks to the body with both hands. Higson was able to back Mireles to the ropes with about 40 seconds left in the round where he unleashed a savage six-punch combination to Mireles’ head. To his credit, Mireles took those shots flush on the chin and still fired back a volley of his own just before the bell sounded to end the opening round.
In the second round Mireles found a permanent home for his counter left hook, as he scored frequently with it to the head every time Higson pulled back straight up, which gave Mireles an open target to shoot at. Higson is a well-schooled fighter and a well-trained fighter. He should not have made such brazen mistakes. He is better than that. About a minute into round two, something clicked inside Higson and he came on like gangbusters, forcing Mireles to cover up on the ropes in order to survive the Hamiltonian’s withering two-fisted attack. Higson was landing some brutal body shots that bent Mireles in half along with right hand counters to the head. Higson had also begun to establish his ramrod jab.
The third round was all Higson. He teed off on his Mexican foe, hitting him with every punch in his impressive arsenal, including left hooks to the body, uppercuts upstairs and whipping counter right hooks to the head. Mireles staged a short rally, tagging Higson with some incredibly hard head shots that the Ontario fighter took very well because his balance allowed him to absorb the blows well. Higson also has a chin made of pure granite.
In round four Higson threw some of the most beautiful combinations that this scribe has seen in a long time. In particular, Higson kept throwing a picture perfect two-punch combo consisting of a right hook to the head followed by a right uppercut inside. He threw that same combo throughout the round and managed to hurt his Mexican foe with it every time he landed it. Mireles was bleeding from a cut over his left eye. The cut may have come when the two fighters clashed heads midway through the round. Higson used his deceptive speed to score heavily in this round.
In round five, Higson had smartly shortened up his shots considerably, which allowed him to land more brutal shots on the inside. Higson also threw every punch off of his jab, making his task easier on himself. The fifth round turned out to be an old-fashioned slugfest. Higson is some kind of tough. He took some titanic head shots from Mireles without so much as flinching. Every time Mireles tagged him, Higson would fire back and connect solidly with his own multi-punch combinations. Higson started to go back to his right hook to the head followed by a right uppercut on the inside combo. He had Mireles ready to go several times but the Mexican warrior fought back hard with some resounding shots of his own.
In the sixth and final round both men went at each other like a couple of caged lions with a grudge to settle. Higson added a new wrinkle to his arsenal by capping off his favorite right hook to the head and right uppercut upstairs combos with bone crunching left hooks to the jaw, which always landed flush. How Mireles took those shots is anyone’s guess. Mireles did his best to trap Higson on the ropes and let his hands go but the kid from Hamilton kept spinning off the ropes well, while at the same time continuing to get maximum leverage on his power shots. Higson got hit with some sledgehammer punches to the head, which he took exceptionally well, without blinking. All three judges awarded Higson a unanimous decision victory by identical scores of 59-54. It was a fast paced, action packed fight that the crowd thoroughly enjoyed.
The second fight of the evening took place in the cruiserweight division and if you blinked you would have missed it. The bout featured John “The Tank” Mercante (4-2-1) from Brantford, Ontario (the home of Wayne Gretzky) going up against Shavar Henry (0-1) from Brampton, Ontario. The day before this fight at the weigh-in, Ringside Report interviewed Henry and his trainer Everton MacEwan. Henry said he was confident, relaxed and in shape thanks to his trainer MacEwan. MacEwan is one of the top trainers in all of Canada and is in great demand and yet, he never says no to any fighter. MacEwan learned how to train fighters from the master, the immortal Angelo Dundee, at the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach.
It should be noted that Mercante has been knocked out twice before in previous fights. History repeated itself on Saturday night. The bell clanged to start the opening round and both men came straight at each other. Henry was in a crouch, with his hands held high. Henry fired several hard blows to Mercante’s body. Mercante then made a fatal error. He tried to back off while standing up with his hands held low, one of the biggest mistakes a fighter can make in boxing. Henry fired a short but savage right hand to the chin that traveled maybe six inches if that, knocking Mercante out cold before his head bounced off the canvas with a very loud and sickening thud. It was a classic one-punch knockout. The ringside doctors quickly entered the ring to attend to the stricken fighter. Young fighters have to learn that backing away from a clinch or infighting while standing up is the best way to get knocked out in a hurry.
This was a particularly brutal knockout. Mercante was out cold and had to be helped out of the ring by his handlers as well as the ringside doctors. This was the kind of knockout that often ends a fighter’s career. Mercante should seriously consider retiring from the ring, as this was the third vicious early knockout of this variety that he has suffered in his short career.
Four years ago at Casino Rama, Milos Pantelic knocked Mercante out cold at the 1:15 mark of round one. Pantelic dropped him to the canvas three times. The third time he ht the canvas face first and did not rise for a long time. In 2011, in Calgary, Alberta, Kevin Frank stopped Mercante at the 2:14 mark of round two. Mercante also took ferocious punishment to the head in that fight too. Mercante needs to hang up his gloves for good before he becomes a career opponent, a stepping stone for young, up and coming fighters to beat up on just to add another win to their ledger. Mercante is not skilled enough to be a pro fighter. To have a guy like Henry, with only one fight to his credit, come into the ring stop and a guy like Mercante, who has had 8 pro bouts to his credit, pretty much says it all.
Now, this is not meant as a defamatory comment in any way, shape or form. Mercante is a good-looking young man with his whole life in front of him. He should begin to enjoy it. His desire is there but his defensive skill set is sorely lacking. One can only hope he makes the right decision for his sake.
The third fight was a four round light-heavyweight rematch between Belleville, Ontario’s Tim “The Irish” Cronin (2-1) and Shelbourne, Ontario’s Jay Alexander (0-1). Cronin won their first bout and Alexander demanded a rematch because he thought the decision should have gone to him. Alexander should be more careful in the future about getting what he asks for. His performance was lackluster at best. Cronin controlled this four round bout by staying on his toes and tagging Alexander with a multitude of jabs in every round.
Alexander was not in ring shape by any means. By the beginning of the second round he was exhausted. Cronin landed regular multi-punch combos on Alexander in every round, forcing the shorter man to cover up along the ropes. Cronin’s corner was urging their fighter to go for the knockout. Cronin played it safe and cruised to an easy victory. If Cronin had pressed matters, he most likely would have stopped Alexander. Cronin is still very young and just at the beginning of his fistic career but he definitely showed promise. He just needs to be more active while showing his foes a lot less respect in the ring. The three judges gave him a well-deserved unanimous decision by identical scores of 39-37.
The fourth fight of the evening was also the co-main event of the card. It was an eight round bout in the light-heavyweight division. It featured one of Canada’s most promising young fighter’s, “Silent” Steve Franjic (12-0-1, KO7), taking on Mexico’s Alvaro Gaona (14-4, KO8). Standing 6’3”, Franjic towered over the shorter Gaona. Franjic is one of one Canada’s most promising young fighters. He has all the necessary tools to go far in this sport. He has very educated feet, great hand speed, moves his head well and possesses good power in both hands. He also adeptly uses the whole ring to his advantage.
As the first round began Franjic got up on toes and began to circle Gaona while touching him up with his jab. Franjic had the better of it in the first frame. He was relaxed and midway through the round he began to touch up Gaona with a flurry of right hands off of his jab. Gaona showed a good chin and although he was getting caught, seemed unperturbed and relaxed. Gaona only managed to land two measly shots of any significance in round one. All three judges gave the opening round to Franjic as he was the busier and more accurate fighter.
However, an ominous trend was developing. Franjic was looping his shots instead of throwing them straight down the pike. This allowed Gaona to catch Franjic with counter left hands. It was an odd bout in a way because Franjic very rarely if ever makes many mistakes in the ring. He is a very well schooled and technically sound fighter.
In Round two, Franjic started to come down off of his toes and catch Gaona frequently with right hands over the top, which, were set up perfectly by his long stinging jab. Franjic was stopping Gaona’s forward momentum by landing a plethora of overhand rights on the button. Gaona took them well and pressed on.
Franjic seemed at that point to be finding his rhythm while controlling Gaona with his jab. At about the one-minute mark of the second round, Gaona landed a very heavy right hand to Franjic’s body. He followed it up with an even more ferocious left hook to the liver. Franjic took the shots well but got immediately back on his bicycle and out of harm’s way, but not before he launched a torrid body attack of his own. Franjic’s speed was overwhelming and it was turning the fight in his favor even though it was early on in the bout.
Franjic’s flurries were just too quick for Gaona to block. With just under a minute left in the second stanza, Franjic unleashed a dazzling array of body shots and then switched his attack to Gaona’s head, landing dozens of quick, hard shots that forced Gaona to cover up along the ropes. Although Gaona was getting tagged often, he was doing a superb job of riding out the storm along the ropes, although he looked a bit winded when the round ended.
The third round followed the pattern of the first two frames with Franjic in control, landing short, fast four-punch combos on Gaona. Gaona took them well. Gaona was not firing back at this point. Franjic was unloading his entire arsenal of weapons on the seemingly hapless Gaona. Then with one short right hand shot to the chin, that traveled no more than 4 inches, things went horribly awry for Franjic. What had happened? This was not supposed to happen to a fighter of Franjic’s quality. That is why it was considered such an upset. Franjic had entered the ring 15 only minutes earlier as a heavy favorite. Whatever happened to him, happened so quickly that even some people sitting at ringside missed the knockout blow.
Franjic was in a crouch battering Gaona’s body with a slew of hard, jolting body shots. Franjic landed a left hook to the body and before he could get his left hand back in time, Gaona fired a powerful but very short right hand that caught Franjic flush on the chin. The entire crowd was stunned into mute silence as Franjic paused for a brief moment before toppling face first to the canvas. He struggled mightily to get to his feet and somehow beat the count. He then immediately fell back to the mat again. He valiantly tried to rise once more but it was not to be. The official time of the knockout was 1:55 of the third round. Boxing is the theatre of the unexpected and sometimes, a talented guy like Franjic does everything right and still loses. It is a tough way to make a living.
Franjic had won the first three rounds rather handily on all three judges scorecards. Unfortunately he was caught by a shot he did not see coming. Those are the kinds of punches that get a guy out of there in a hurry. It was a clean knockout. If there is a silver lining in this dark cloud it is that Franjic did not take much punishment at all during the fight. Still it was a bitter pill to swallow for Canadian fight fans. The great trainer Ray Arcel once said, “In every defeat, are sewn the seeds of victory.” In other words, if a pugilist can learn from a loss, it will make him a much better fighter down the road. Franjic can take heart even in defeat. Some of the greatest fighters ever were knocked out early in their careers. Even the mighty Henry Armstrong lost a fight by way of knockout. It was his first pro bout and he didn’t turn out too badly after all.
