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| Showtime Championship Boxing TV report |
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By Jereme Warneck
Showtime Championship Boxing September 13, 2008 Beau Rivage Resort & Casino-Biloxi, Mississippi This event was to be headlined by Nate Campbell defending his titles at 135 pounds against Joan Guzman. However, Guzman failed to make weight for the match. Guzman weighed 138.5 pounds in his first attempt to make weight and despite being allowed 2 hours to lose the extra weight, never returned to the scales. Campbell agreed to still hold the match as a non-title contest with Guzman being fined a percentage of his purse that would go to Campbell. Guzman is blaming the added weight on a new supplement he started taking when he got to the United States. (It does sound better then saying he swallowed too much ocean water.) However, it is being reported that Guzman entered training camp 36 pounds overweight and at no point was ever close to 135 pounds. Less then 2 hours before Showtime went on the air Guzman pulled out of the match completely, saying he was too dehydrated from cutting weight to compete. Campbell believes he will receive his full paycheck for this match, because he made weight and was ready to box. His next match will be a mandated title defense. WBC Super Lightweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match: Timothy Bradley (22-0, 11 KO's, 139.75 pounds) (c) vs. Edner Cherry (24-5-2, 12 KO's, 139.25 pounds) Bradley took this title from Junior Witter in his last match via split decision on May 10, 2008 at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England. Bradley dominated the match scoring a knockdown in round 6 with a Chuck Liddell overhand right, which is never supposed to work in boxing. Witter was The Ring magazine's number 1 contender at 140 pounds entering the match and this was Bradley first match outside of California. The win made Bradley only the fifth boxer born in the United States history to travel to England and win a world championship. This was such a huge upset of a dominant champion by a foreigner in a hostile environment that it is a near lock to win upset of the year. The recap of the original match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/9/20/recap-of-timothy-bradleys-championship-win.html Bradley is The Ring's number 2 contender at 140 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Ricky Hatton. Cherry was ESPN's 2006 Fighter of the Year and coming off of that was moved in to higher profile matches. His last high profile match was as the opening match on the televised portion of the HBO PPV that featured Hatton vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. That match was horrible and did not belong on television, let alone pay-per-view. Cherry won that match over Wes Ferguson via technical knockout at 2:59 of round 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 8, 2007. The native of the Bahamas caught Ferguson with a left hand while the boxer was off balance to score a knockdown in round 6. Cherry finished Ferguson by landing a counter left hand with 5 seconds to go in the round. It floored Ferguson for the second time in the round and it was clear Ferguson was not going to beat the referee's 10-count. Therefore, the official waived off the match. The original recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/9/20/recap-of-edner-cherry-vs-wes-ferguson-ii.html The challengers last match was a knockout victory over Stevie Johnston at 2:34 of round 10 to become the first WBC USNBC Champion at 135 pounds on May 21, 2008 at The Field House at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Cherry is unranked by The Ring, but the number 16 ranked boxer at 135 pounds by boxrec.com. At 26-years-old, Cherry is 1 year older then the 25-year-old Bradley. Cherry has the height advantage standing 5' 8" tall, while Bradley stands 5' 6" tall. Both boxers' have a 69" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. Bradley failed to make weight in his first official try at the scales, but came back 1 hour later under the weight limit. Therefore, Bradley is probably the heavier boxer in the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Cherry is a 3.5-to-1 underdog. The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Mississippi, and the other is from North Carolina. The Mississippi Athletic Commission appointed the judges for this match. Usually, the sanctioning body appoints the judges for title matches. The WBC, which is the most corrupt major sanctioning body in boxing, was going to refuse to recognize this panel of judges and their scoring. Therefore, if the match went to a decision the WBC would not recognize the outcome. That is a real threat, because the WBC has on at least 2 occasions refused to recognize the official result of a title match and changed the outcome behind closed doors. However, a last minute deal, probably involving a pay off, was reached to allow this panel of judges to be recognized. The referee is Gary Ritter. Cherry wins a close round 1, 10-9. Behind a strong jab, Bradley wins round 2, 10-9. Bradley wins a close round 3, 10-9. After round 3, a knot is forming around the left eye of Cherry. It was probably caused by a clash of heads. Cherry lands several big left hands to win round 4, 10-9. After 4 rounds, the match is even on my scorecard, 38-38. The three members of the press keeping unofficial score of the match for Showtime from ringside all have Bradley ahead in the match after 4 rounds: 39-37, 39-37, 39-37. All of the press at ringside scored round 4 for Cherry. Bradley's activity takes round 5, 10-9. With 49 seconds to go in round 6, Bradley hits Cherry with a flurry of borderline low blows that draws a warning from the referee. Cherry then turns around and walks away forcing the referee to call time to give the challenger 5 minutes to recover. The challenger appears to be working the referee a little bit here. None of the punches was actually to the groin, but more along pad on the belt line. Cherry was being overwhelmed with Bradley's offense and may be using this opportunity to get an undeserved break to regroup. The referee was wise to Cherry's acting and only gave the boxer a few seconds. The referee told Cherry, "It is not that bad. You ought to be okay." Then ordered a beleaguered Cherry to continue boxing after only a few second break. Bradley easily wins round 6, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Bradley leads on my scorecard, 58-56. All of the Showtime's unofficial scorers at press row have Bradley ahead after 6 rounds: 59-55, 59-55, 59-55. Bradley's greater activity takes round 7, 10-9. In round 7, Cherry hit Bradley on the break several times. With 1:18 to go in round 8, Bradley lands a hard straight right hand that sends Cherry falling on his right side on the canvas. That was a true one-punch knockdown. Bradley split Cherry's gloves with a quick power shot to the challengers face and Cherry's knees buckled. Cherry gets up quickly and successfully answers the referee's count to continue with 1:05 to go in the round. That is only the fourth time Cherry has been knocked down in his career. Cherry has never been knocked out, but Bradley is loading up on his punches trying to change that in the last minute of this round. The challenger spent the last minute of the round running from Bradley and then holding the champion whenever he got close to last out the round. Bradley wins round 8 big, 10-8. After 8 rounds, Bradley leads on my scorecard, 78-73. Press row has Bradley leading the match unanimously after 8 rounds, 79-72. With 1:00 to go in round 9, Bradley demonstrates such superb defensive footwork that Cherry ends up diving half-way out of the ring attempting to hit the champion following a matador like Ole move. Bradley takes round 9, 10-9. The Palm Springs resident is no longer boxing only to defend his championship, but also to force a match with the winner of Paulie Malignaggi and Ricky Hatton. Bradley wins round 10 easily, 10-9. After 10 rounds, Bradley leads on my scorecard, 98-91. Showtime's unofficial scorekeepers at press row have the champion ahead in the match after 10 rounds, 99-90, 99-90, 99-90. With 2:08 to go in round 11, goes Cherry sliding face first across the canvas. The dive was caused by a push. The referee correctly rules that it was a slip, and the action is quickly restarted with 2:02 to go in the round. At this point, there is some swelling under the left eye of Bradley. It should play no part in the remainder of the match. Cherry landed one good punch in round 11. However, Bradley controlled the rest of the round behind his superior speed and defense to win it, 10-9. With 35 seconds to go in round 12, Bradley slips dangerously on the logo in the center of the ring and goes down. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is restarted with 30 seconds to go in the round. Cherry is more aggressive throughout round 12. That is probably good enough for Cherry to win round 12, 10-9. However, Bradley wins the match on my scorecard, 117-110. The official decision from the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 118-109, 117-110, 119-109 all for the winner by unanimous decision and still WBC Super Lightweight Champion of the World, Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley. The win moves Bradley to 23-0 with 11 of those wins coming by way of knockout. Cherry said in his post match interview that he was not hurt on the knockdown Bradley said in his post match interview that he will probably have to face a mandatory challenger next. Now for a post event interview with Don King. King says that Guzman should not be suspended for failing to make weight, then pulling out of the main event. Bradley looked very good in this match and looks like he will be a dominant force at 140 pounds for years to come. He may be the top threat to Hatton's reign as king of the 140-pound division. However, a match up between the 2 seems a long way off with Bradley forced to face a mandatory challenger and Hatton looking to face Manny Pacquiao after he faces Paulie Malignaggi. Cherry did his best in this match, however he is not in the class of Bradley. He may be best off returning to 135 pounds. This event is a fairly easy skip. News and Notes: Oscar Diaz, who Bryan incorrectly told Granny had died after collapsing during a match on ESPN 2 in July, has come out of his coma. Diaz is now breathing on his own and responsive. Cristian Mijares has signed to face Vic Darchinyan in a 115-pound title unification match on November 1 on Showtime. Antonio Margarito was going to main event a PPV on November 1 against Joshua Clottey. However, Margarito has decided to pass on that match. That opened up the November 1 date for the Darchinyan-Mijares match. There is still going to be a minor PPV on November 1 headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. However, it will not do enough business to effect the viewership of the Showtime event. Juan Manuel Marquez defeated Joel Casamayor via technical in round 11 on September 13 to capture The Ring Championship at 135 pounds. That should put Marquez in line to face Juan Diaz on the undercard of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao on December 6. The winner of that match would then presumably face Pacquiao, regardless of what happens to Pacquiao versus De La Hoya. Pacquiao has arrived in Los Angeles and will begin training to face De La Hoya this week with Freddie Roach away from the numerous distractions he faces in the Philippines. Vernon Forrest regained his belt at 154 pounds from Sergio Mora on September 13. Mora had to cut 2 pounds after his initial attempt to make weight failed and appeared dried out in the ring. Mora was trying to score the December match with De La Hoya that went to Pacquiao, if he won this match. Paulie Malignaggi has vacated his belt at 140 pounds and bypassed mandatory challenger Herman Ngoudjo, who Malignaggi barely defeated in January to face Ricky Hatton. Malignaggi has said neither he nor Hatton have any intention to face Ngoudjo any time in the near future. Ngoudjo will now face Juan Urango for the vacant title. The first of the Calzaghe/Hopkins 24/7 series airs October 26 on HBO. It is must watch television for anyone reading this recap. In other cannot miss television, ESPN is replaying Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez I tonight at 7:30 Pacific time. It is the weakest of their 3 matches. That means it is only really good, rather then one of the greatest matches of all time. The Bob Arum show from Macau, China is now set for December 13. It is currently not scheduled to be broadcast in the United States. Yankee Stadium in New York is closed Sunday without hosting a final boxing event. It is called the "House that Ruth built" because when Babe Ruth came to the Yankees they were playing at the Polo Grounds, the home of the New York Giants. Ruth was bringing in such large crowds that the Yankees were quickly outdrawing the Giants. Out of embarrassment the Giants forced the Yankees to get their own ballpark. At the height of the depression, Joe Louis was drawing $1 million gates to the stadium for boxing, 50 years before pro-wrestling and 70 years before MMA would do similar numbers in the United States. Yankee Stadium was the third oldest baseball stadium in use. That honor now falls to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, which was talking about hosting Antonio Margarito's next match. However, that match now appears set to be held at the Toyota Center in Anaheim, California. The next recap will come out September 26 covering the previous night's Versus show. Sincerely, Jereme Warneck number1contender.net Boxing and Video Game Correspondent for f4wonline.com Hidden Valley Lake, CA I can be reached for feedback and comments at
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or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything. {plug}
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