Boxing Results From Around the World

By Jeremiah “Griffo’s Handkerchief” Preisser

Côte D’Ivoire native and recent Glen Tapia conqueror, Michel Soro, 27-1, 17 KO’s, scored an eighth-round stoppage over Italian, Emanuele “Sioux” Blandamura, 23-2, 5 KO’s, in Italy. Soro, one of the best looking boxers fighting out of France in recent years, seemed wholly unfazed by the Italian’s power and countered off of his slaps frequently. Soro also threw a good number of fast jabs and combinations which offset Blandamura’s rhythm. Eventually, Soro found the sweet spot on his opponent’s chin with a beautiful one-two combination and a glancing left hook which put “Sioux” flat on his back. Amazingly Blandamura beat the count, but he was in no shape to continue. I would add that Soro did himself a big favor, seeing as the cards seemed stacked in Blandamura’s favor. The referee harassed Soro for little reason, the gloves were heavily padded, and Raiko Djajic, a Serbian judge, had ill intent with a scorecard that favored the Italian boxer.

Cristian “El Diamante” Mijares, 52-8-2, 25 KO’s, is still at it. He entered the ring against the “Pangasinense Superman”, Vergel Nebran, 13-9-1, 8 KO’s, of the Philippines. Mijares, now fighting at 126, managed to out-think and out-land the aggressive Nebran in all but two or three rounds, one in which the former 115-pound titlist hit the deck. Mijares scored a knockdown of his own in the 9th, though it was a formality. Mijares won by the scores of 97-91, 98-90, 98-90.

Randall “The Knock-Out King” Bailey, 45-8, 38 KO’s, maybe the hardest puncher in light-welterweight history, made his return when he took on journeyman, Gundrick “Sho-Gun” King, 18-15, 11 KO’s, in Riverdale, Georgia. In an effort to get rid of his ring rust, the result of being out of the squared circle for over a year and a half, one might be inclined to believe that Bailey wanted to go some rounds. It wasn’t the case here, as “The Knock-Out King” knocked out his man in the second go-round. Bailey’s right hand couldn’t miss the southpaw target and he dropped King at about the midway point of round two. King got up, but the power-punching veteran jumped on him and scored a volley of blows, prompting a stoppage by the referee at the 2:06 mark.

On a PBC card this Sunday, former American soldier, Sammy “The Who Can Mexican” Vazquez Jr., 19-0. 13 KO’s, made his biggest statement to date by outboxing Nigerian prospect, Wale Omotoso, 25-2, 21 KO’s. From the outset, the American southpaw worked his quick and accurate jab up and down. This set the pace and distance for most of the fight and Vazquez Jr. was continuously able to follow up with pot shots and out-fought the African banger on the inside on multiple occasions. Omotoso tried picking up the pace in a few rounds, but he was neither accurate, nor quick enough to catch the fleet-footed Vazquez Jr. most of the time. Omotoso had a few good instances, however, but it certainly wasn’t enough to plant any doubt about who the winner was. All three judges saw the bout the same: 98-92 in favor of another quality welterweight prospect, Sammy Vazquez Jr.

The headliner to the same card was Rances Barthelemy, 23-0, 13 KO’s, versus Antonio DeMarco, 31-5-1, 23 KO’s. Barthelemy, a former Cuban amateur standout, took the former lightweight champion to school, as he was able to land long, powerful straight punches from either stance and scored a knockdown with a left hand out of the southpaw position in the fourth. DeMarco was too tentative and inactive to put together any sort of credible offense, which was also a product of the traps Rances kept setting. The Cuban light-welterweight did receive a point deduction in the 9th for low blows. When all was said and done, Barthelemy was credited with every round but one. Rances Barthelemy adds more depth to 140 and may be one of the few men to give Crawford a run for his money.

Mayweather Promotion’s products, Ronald Gavril, Andrew Tabiti, J’Leon Love, and Kevin Newman II all scored victories on the undercard. Gavril, 13-1, 9 KO’s, managed a points verdict over American ring veteran, Jessie Nicklow, 24-7-3, 8 KO’s. Tabiti, 10-0, 10 K0’s, knocked out Thomas Hanshaw, 6-6, 4 KO’s, with a vicious straight right hand over a jab with flattened Hanshaw. Love, 20-1, 11 KO’s, took a while but finally got the job done in the 7th against Jason Escalera, 15-4-1, 12 KO’s.

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