HBO World Championship Boxing Recap

 

November 22, 2008

MGM Grand-Las Vegas, Nevada

 

The official attendance for this event is 9,053. Of those around 6,000 are people who flew from Great Britain to cheer for Ricky Hatton. His match with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. last year did 1.4 million PPV buys in Great Britain at 4 AM local time. That shattered the previous record of 750,000 for Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis. In the United States, which has 5-times the population of Great Britain the PPV did roughly 800,000 buys. Hatton had worked out a ridiculous deal where he got half of the total money on every buy over 800,000 in the UK, which since that would mean shattering the PPV record no one figured he would collect. Mayweather made $25 million from the US portion of the event and Hatton made $15 million. Once the buys from the UK were worked in Hatton ended up taking in over $30 million for the event and making more then Mayweather.

 

 

1. Catch-Weight (157.5 pounds) 10-Round Match:

James Kirkland (23-0, 20 KO's, 156 pounds) vs. Brian Vera (16-1, 10 KO's, 157 pounds)

 

Kirkland had a solid amateur boxing career in the United States where he compiled a record of 134-12. He had a strong chance to make the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic boxing team, but decided to turn pro in 2001 rather then wait around for the Olympics.

 

A resident of Austin, Texas, Kirkland is being pushed as one of Golden Boy Promotions top young prospects. He is here to get a highlight reel victory on a high profile show.

 

Kirkland's last match was a technical knockout victory at 1:59 of round 2 over Ricardo Cortes on September 5, 2008 at Music Hall in Austin, Texas. Cortes was the fourth straight opponent Kirkland had stopped before the end of round 2.

 

Kirkland is unranked by The Ring magazine, but the number 8 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

Vera came to prominence as a cast member on season 3 of "The Contender" reality series. He lost his first match on that show via knockout at 1:32 of round 2 to Jaidon Codrington on September 8, 2007 at the Contender Arena in Los Angeles, California. Vera was knocked down twice in the second round of that match. That seems to make Vera tailor made for highlight reel knockouts by young prospects.

 

Golden Boy Promotions tried to get that result out of Vera in his last match. Vera faced a top Golden Boy Promotions prospect in the undefeated 2004 Irish Olympian Andy Lee on March 21, 2008 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The match started out according to plan as Lee knocked down Vera in round 1. However, Vera eventually turned the tide of the match when Lee ran out of gas in the middle rounds of a scheduled 10-round match. Vera had Lee in real trouble when the referee stepped in to stop the contest 2:17 into round 7. There was some controversy at the time, because Lee had begun to punch back when the referee stepped in to stop the match. However, Lee's Hall-of-Fame trainer Emanuel Steward said the stoppage was fine and had the match continued Lee could have been seriously injured. That ended the controversy.

 

Vera is unranked by The Ring and the number 58 ranked boxer in the world at 160 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

At 24-years-old, Kirkland is 2 years younger then the 26-year-old Vera. Vera has the height advantage standing 5' 10.5" tall, while Kirkland stands 5' 9" tall. Kirkland has the reach advantage with a 23.5" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to the 23" arm length of Vera. Vera, who competed at 168 pounds on "The Contender", will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 171 pounds approaching match time. Kirkland has only unofficially rehydrated to 165 pounds approaching match time. Kirkland will employ the southpaw stance and Vera will box out of the orthodox stance.

 

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Nevada. The referee is Vic Drakulich. Harold Lederman will be HBO's unofficial scorekeeper for this event.

 

Kirkland comes out very aggressive and takes round 1 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. A left to the body has Vera stumbling and his glove nearly touches the mat with 2:47 to go in round 2. Kirkland follows up the damaging left to the body, and a combination that is capped by a left uppercut drops Vera with 2:40 to go in round 2. Vera is up and has successfully answered the referee's count with 2:32 to go in the round. The referee then pauses the action, because it appears Vera has been cut on his left ear. The boxer is claiming it is from illegal punches. HBO is reporting that the cut is above Vera's right ear and was caused by an unintentional clash of heads right before Vera went down. The action is resumed with 2:28 to go in the round. Vera appears only slightly hurt when he continues. With less then 5 seconds to go in round 2, Vera is hit with a right hand that deflects off his left shoulder and into his chin. That sends Vera spinning down into the ropes for the second knockdown this round. Vera is claiming he was off balance and it was a slip. However, the fall was caused by a punch and the referee got the call right. Vera is fine to continue and the bell sounds to end the round before anymore punches can be thrown. Kirkland wins round 2 on everyone's scorecard, 10-7. On replay it does not appear the headbutt factored in the first knockdown. Vera seems eager to deliver the highlight reel knockout for Kirkland that he was unwilling to give Lee. Kirkland wins round 3 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. After 3 rounds, Lederman and I both have Kirkland ahead in this contest that is so bereft of skill it has become a glorified tough man contest, 30-25.

 

Kirkland wins an awful round 4, 10-9. Vera has decided he is only going to throw wild right hand power punches, while keeping his hands down to make sure he does not block any punches. Kirkland has countered that by throwing mainly hard left hand power punches and mixing in the occasional right hand with very little on it. The southpaw seems to like Vera's idea of not keeping his hands up, also. This match is looking very amateurish. If Vera were capable of mounting a sustained offense of more then just right hands, he would be able to knock Kirkland out quickly. Kirkland wins round 4 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. The southpaw wins round 5 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Vera has taken a lot of clean hard punches to the head and is not competitive in this match. Therefore, Vera's corner may want to start thinking about stopping this to protect their charge. Through 5 rounds, Vera has landed 47 of the 305 total punches he has thrown, for an awful 15% total connect percentage. Conversely through 5 rounds, Kirkland has landed 187 of the 366 total punches he has thrown, for an unhealthy 51% total connect percentage. Vera has a small cut under his right eye to start round 6. Kirkland appeared to take round 6 off, but still dominated it. He wins it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9, and is ahead in the match after 6 rounds, 60-52.

 

The southpaw easily wins round 7 on everyone's scorecard, 10-9. Kirkland catches Vera with a right hook behind the ear for a knockdown with 1:50 to go in round 8. Vera never saw that punch. Vera tells the referee he is not hurt and is allowed to continue with 1:37 to go in the round. With 1:17 to go in the round, Vera takes a few clean punches in the corner and the referee steps in to end the match. That was more of an accumulation of punches stoppage, rather then the referee stopping the match, because Vera was too hurt to intelligently defend himself. It was a good stoppage by the referee.

 

The official outcome from Michael Buffer is that: at 1:45 of round 8 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still undefeated, James "The Mandingo Warrior" Kirkland. (Apparently the Austin, Texas resident took his nickname from the name Ultimate Warrior wrestled under in Texas.) The win moves Kirkland to 24-0 with now 21 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

The final punchstat numbers help explain the stoppage, because Kirkland landed 283 of the 532 total punches he threw, for an inhuman 53% total connect percentage. Vera landed 64 of the 470 total punches he threw, for a terrible 14% total connect percentage.

 

Kirkland dominated this match, but did not look good in the performance. His defense was non-existent for most of the match and he appeared to get tired early. Kirkland showed very little offense besides his left hand, until the right hook for the third knockdown. The southpaw will probably be on the undercards of some HBO Boxing After Dark events, before he gets another high profile opportunity like this. Kirkland says he wants Alfredo Angulo next. However, his people are smart enough to not let that match happen for a while.

 

Vera is a mediocre boxer. He is a good opponent for young boxers. Vera is bereft of defense and showed little offensively except a big right hand that he telegraphs. Had Lee not run out of gas, Vera would have done what he was supposed to do in March. There is lots of work for this type of boxer in the sport.

 

 

2. Ring Junior Welterweight/IBO Light Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KO's, 140 pounds) (c) vs. Paulie Malignaggi (25-1, 5 KO's, 139 pounds)

 

Hatton won his Ring Championship from Kostya Tszyu via technical knockout at 3:00 of round 11 on June 4, 2005 at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England. Tszyu quit on his stool when he was still alive to win the match and physically able to continue safely to end his hall-of-fame career, after round 11. The relentless body punching and physical brawling style of Hatton had made Tszyu determine that he was done with this sport. That match has been named the greatest match in the history of Great Britain. That victory would lead The Ring to name Hatton its Fighter of the Year for 2005. Hatton is making his fifth defense of this title.

 

The resident of Manchester, England won his IBO Championship when it was vacant in a 12-round blowout decision over Juan Urango on January 20, 2007 at Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas. The previous champion was Stevie Johnston, who vacated this belt, because it is relatively worthless. Hatton is making his third defense of this title.

 

Hatton's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Juan Lazcano on May 24, 2008 at City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Hatton dominated the match on the judges' scorecards with 2 judges giving Hatton the maximum 120 points for the match. However, Hatton showed signs of decline in the match for the first time in his career. Hatton was badly hurt by a left hook with 1:12 to go in round 10 and looked on the verge of being knocked out. Luckily for Hatton, the referee for that match was terrible and seemed to be working to protect Hatton. Hatton began to hold on to recover. Then, with 54 seconds to go in the round and Hatton still badly hurt, the referee stopped the action to admonish Lazcano for pushing down on Hatton's head as the champion clinched. That bought Hatton valuable time to recover. Then as the referee was about to restart the action, he noticed Hatton's shoe was untied. It then took about a minute for Hatton's corner to retie his shoe. Therefore when the action resumed, Hatton had fully recovered and was back on offense. Somehow Hatton won that round on 1 of the judge's scorecards, 10-9, while another scored it even, 10-10. The full recap of that match, which includes a recap of Malignaggi's last match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/11/23/recap-of-ricky-hatton-and-paulie-maignaggis-last-match.html

 

The Manchester resident's longtime trainer was forced into retirement following that match. As well documented in the HBO mini-series Mayweather/Hatton 24/7, continuing to train Hatton was causing him extreme pain. Therefore, it was arguably the right time for him to step aside to make sure he still had a quality life for the rest of his years. Replacing Hatton's previous trainer is Floyd, Mayweather, Sr. Senior was shown sending tips to Hatton through Oscar De La Hoya on how the Englishman could defeat his son, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. during the 24/7 series. With Hatton signed to Golden Boy Promotions and the Englishman already having a tangential relationship with Senior the move to him as trainer made a lot of sense. Hatton said the move is going to make him box more. That means Hatton intends to use his jab more and work to stay out of the way of punches, rather then brawl. Hatton has said this same thing before almost all of his matches for the last several years and by the end of the match he is brawling. Senior is a good trainer, but being a brawler is what has made Hatton an exciting crowd pleasing boxer. Hatton has occasionally started out matches by boxing well for several rounds, but usually gets frustrated by round 7 and returns to brawling. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

 

Hatton is The Ring Champion at 140 pounds and had been ranked in The Ring's top 10 pound-for-pound list for months prior to his victory over Lazcano. Hatton's showing was so poor in that match that he dropped out of the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings, which he had stayed in despite his high profile technical knockout loss to Junior on December 8, 2007 at the MGM Grand.

 

Malignaggi had to forfeit his IBF 140 pound championship to take this match with Hatton. The IBF had ordered Malignaggi to take a rematch with Herman Ngoudjo. The Brooklyn, New York native beat Ngoudjo in a controversial 12-round unanimous decision on January 5, 2008 at Ballys Park Place Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That made the decision to bypass the mandatory defense for the higher paying match with Hatton easy. Now, both Malignaggi and Hatton have lost the IBF title at 140 pounds without being defeated for it in the ring.

 

Malignaggi's last match was another controversial 12-round unanimous decision victory. On the same card that featured Hatton-Lazcano, Malignaggi rematched Lovemore N'dou, who Malignaggi had originally beaten to win his championship. In their first meeting, Malignaggi was dominant scoring a knockdown and easily taking the unanimous decision. Malignaggi was coming back from 3 surgeries to repair 9 broken bones and several ligament tears in his right hand to take the title from N'dou. The win was so impressive that The Ring named Malignaggi as their Comeback of the Year for 2007. A recap of Malignaggi-N'dou I can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/11/23/recap-of-paulie-malinaggi-vs-lovemore-ndou-i.html

 

In the rematch, almost everything went wrong for Malignaggi. Malignaggi knew that his job was to play the arrogant heel in Manchester. Therefore, he danced to the ring in a luchador's mask. Once he reached the ring, Malignaggi removed the mask to reveal a whacky set of braids he had put in his hair that Kevin Federline would have thought no white guy should try and pull off. Malignaggi had the braids pulled back in a ponytail, but had never tried out the new look in sparring. That meant Malignaggi was shocked when his hair came lose in round 1 and was impeding his vision. Malignaggi probably lost 2 rounds, because he could not see with the hair in his eyes. Therefore, Malignaggi got an impromptu haircut from his trainer in the break following round 8. To complicate matters, Malignaggi broke his right hand, again in round 2. This forced Malignaggi to box an ugly left jab and run style that became uglier as the match went on and the pain in his right hand got worse. Malignaggi was still able to win the match in a controversial 12-round split decision. The Brooklyn native had to have a fourth surgery on his right hand after the match and had the hand casted for a few months. However, Malignaggi says everything is finally fully healed.

 

Malignaggi is The Ring's number 1 contender at 140 pounds.

 

At 27-years-old, Malignaggi is actually about 2 years younger then the 30-year-old Hatton. Malignaggi's turns 28-years-old on Sunday, which depending on how you adjust for the time change is about an hour after they hit will hit the ring in Brooklyn. The birthday boy has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Hatton stands 5' 6" tall. Malignaggi has the reach advantage with a 23" arm length, compared to Hatton's 20" arm length. Hatton will be the larger boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 152 pounds approaching match time. Malignaggi has only unofficially rehydrated to 149 pounds approaching match time. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Hatton is a 2-to-1 betting favorite. However, Hatton's loyal fan base that always travel to Las Vegas for his matches heavily slant the betting lines in his favor. In a vacuum, the line on this match would be much closer. probably around 3-to-2 for Hatton.

 

All of the official judges scoring this match from ringside are from Nevada. The referee is Kenny Bayless.

 

Malignaggi's jab wins a close round 1, 10-9. After round 1, Hatton has some swelling developing under his left eye. Lederman scores round 1 for Malignaggi, 10-9. Hatton charged in a few times in the latter half of round 2 and caught Malignaggi with good punches that hurt the American. This is the same old Hatton that wins round 2, 10-9. In the last 30 seconds of round 2, Malignaggi was cut below his left eye. It may have been caused by a punch. However, blood from headbutts in Hatton matches are more the norm then the exception. Lederman scores round 2 for Hatton, 10-9. The brawler wins round 3, 10-9, and is ahead on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28. Hatton tried to box round 1 and come in behind his jab. That failed. When Hatton abandoned that game-plan in the second half of round 2 and reverted to being the usual Hatton, he has been in control of this match. Lederman scores round 3 for Hatton, 10-9, and has the Englishman ahead on his scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28.

 

There is a few second delay to start round 4 for Hatton's corner to be cleared. Hatton wins round 4, 10-9. The Englishman is notorious for holding. However, in the early rounds Malignaggi has been doing the majority of the holding. Lederman scores round 4 for Hatton, 10-9. Hatton wins an ugly brawling round 5, 10-9. Malignaggi is completely unable to deal with the brawling style match Hatton has forced him into, so far. The champion takes round 5 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Malignaggi out-lands Hatton in round 6. However, Hatton is more aggressive in the round and takes it, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Hatton leads on my scorecard, 59-55. Lederman scored round 6 for Hatton, 10-9, and has the champion ahead after 6 rounds, 59-55.

 

Hatton dominates round 7 and wins it, 10-9. The champion is showing no signs of conditioning problems in this match. He appears fresher after 7 rounds then he did when the bell rang to start the match and he has gone hard the entire match. Lederman has Hatton winning round 7, 10-9. Hatton wins round 8 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In the last few rounds Malignaggi's body language has started looking bad. It appears that the American no longer thinks he can win this match. With 2:22 to go in round 9, the referee calls timeout to have some lose tape on the right glove of Hatton re-taped. Hatton sensing he has Malignaggi hurt rushes to have his glove fixed so he can get back to the action. This is in stark contrast to when he was hurt versus Lazcano and it seemingly took an eternity for the Englishman's shoe to be retied. It still takes about 15 seconds for them to tend to the glove and they do a terrible job re-taping it, because they are rushing. Malignaggi's face is a mess with swelling around both eyes and the cut below his left eye. Hatton takes round 9, 10-9. The champion leads on my scorecard after 9 rounds, 89-82. Hatton has won every round since this match was turned into the traditional Hatton brawl. Lederman scores round 9 for Hatton, 10-9, and has the Manchester resident ahead after 9 rounds, 89-82.

 

Hatton wins round 10 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In the corner after round 10, Malignaggi's trainer warned the boxer that he may stop the match if Malignaggi continued to take unprotected punches. With 2:14 to go in round 11, Malignaggi's corner has thrown in the towel. Malignaggi had just taken several clean punches and then tied up Hatton by grabbing the Englishman's leg. Malignaggi has no punching power, and appeared to be mentally beat. Therefore, the corner stoppage seems justified. However, Malignaggi is unhappy with it.

 

The final outcome from Michael Buffer is that: at 48 seconds of round 11 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still the IBO Light Welterweight and Ring Junior Welterweight Champion of the World, Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton. The win moves Hatton to 45-1 with now 32 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

The final punchstat numbers have Hatton landing 124 of the 516 total punches he threw, for a 24% total connect percentage. Hatton landed 99 of the 377 power punches he threw, for a 26% power connect percentage. Malignaggi landed 91 of the 342 total punches he threw for a 27% total connect percentage. The vanquished challenger landed only 25 of the 133 power punches he threw, for a 19% power connect percentage.

 

Hatton in his post match interview said he wants the winner of De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao. He finished by saying that no one will ever beat him at 140 pounds. Therefore he will continue to move to 147 pounds to face bigger challenges.

 

Malignaggi said in his post match interview that he knew he was behind on the scorecard and probably needed a knockout to win. However, Malignaggi felt he deserved better then a stoppage loss and was not that hurt.

 

Hatton was as good as he has ever been in this match. He was never winded in the entire match and none of the flaws he showed against Lazcano appeared in this match. However, he still appears to be the same old Hatton, which is a good thing. His next match will probably be against Pacquiao at 140 pounds sometime in the March-May window. Hatton has probably missed his chance to face De La Hoya. The Englishman was offered he opportunity to fill in for Mayweather when Junior pulled out of the scheduled match with De La Hoya in September. However, Hatton said the 4 month turn around time between matches was too short. That meant Hatton had gotten too out of shape to be ready to compete on roughly 3 months notice. He showed up for this training camp in the neighborhood of 183 pounds. ESPN.com ran a story a few months ago on active boxers that are going to be in the hall-of-fame. Hatton was listed as a borderline case, but that he would probably make it. They said he needed to beat Malignaggi and maybe make 1 or 2 more defenses of his Ring Championship at 140 pounds to secure his place in the hall-of-fame. His dominant performance here did a lot to help his case. A win over De La Hoya could have done a lot to help cement his legacy among the casual boxing fans in the United States and helped his resume. If Hatton can beat Pacquiao there will be no denying Hatton as one of the great boxers of this generation.

 

 

Malignaggi was bad in this match. However, that probably had a lot more to do with Hatton then him being an overrated boxer. Malignaggi has not beaten the quality opposition Hatton has, but he has beaten good opponents. Hatton is simply the best 140-pounder in the world and Malignaggi was unable to match the brawler's strength. It is unlikely Malignaggi will drop much in the new 140-pound rankings that come out this week. He is still a solid technical boxer. However, like every other 140-pounder in boxing he has failed to defeat Hatton.

 

 

The first match was awful and should be avoided like that Lions-Titans game on Thanksgiving. The Hatton match is something that should be watched, because it is involving a probable future hall-of-famer. However, judging the match purely on its boxing action, it is not pretty and would otherwise be a skip.

 

 

News and Notes: The return dates for Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Cotto have been announced. They are both going to return on February 21 as part of a split-site pay-per-view. Cotto will headline the first half competing for Paul Williams freshly vacated title at 147 pounds against either Michael Jennings, Kermit Cintron or Jesus Soto Karass at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The sanctioning body's rankings make Michael Jennings the likely opponent. Pavlik will then headline the second half of the card at the Chevy Center in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio in a mandatory title defense against Marco Antonio Rubio. The reason for this being a PPV is that both HBO and Showtime did not want to air this event.

 

An agreement is close to being signed for Vic Darchinyan to face Jorge Arce to unify 4 belts at 115 pounds. The match will be February 7 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and be carried on Showtime.

 

 

Evander Holyfield is being forced to undergo extensive medical testing in Germany before he is allowed to challenge for Nikolai Valuev's heavyweight belt on December 20 in Zurich, Switzerland. This may put the match in doubt. Holyfield is a known long time abuser of performance-enhancing drugs and was placed on permanent medical suspension in New York, because of "diminishing skills". Any legitimate medical exam will disqualify him from competing in that match.

 

It appears David Haye's next match will be in America on HBO. Golden Boy Promotions is looking to have Haye box on the undercard of the January 24 Shane Mosley card. The likely opponents for Haye are Eddie Chambers and Oleg Maskaev. Haye would then not box again until the summer when he would face a Klitschko brother for their heavyweight belt(s).

 

The whole first episode of De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7 can be seen on the boxing home page of ESPN.com and it is a must watch for everyone reading this recap: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/index They are probably going to post the rest of the episodes there and they are going to be great.

 

 

 

The next recap will come out November 30 covering the previous night's HBO event featuring Paul Williams vs. Verno Philips.