TalkingBoxing News
N'Dou Challenges Gatti
MON March 19 - Reigning IBF super lightweight world champion Lovemore “Black Panther” Ndou is issuing the challenge and putting the boxing world on notice that he is ready to face Arturo “Thunder” Gatti.
“I understand that HBO, Gatti’s promoter Main Events and his manager are meeting this week to decide on his next opponent,” he said. “The only name they have to consider is Lovemore Ndou.”
Born in Transvaal, South Africa and now a citizen of Australia, 35 year-old Ndou (45 wins, 8 losses, 1 draw, 30 knockouts) is currently rated No.4 by THE RING magazine at super lightweight.
“This fight will be about two warriors going toe to toe,” he said. “It will be a hell of a battle and all the fans live in the arena and watching at home on HBO will get their monies worth. Our styles suit each other perfectly. The fans will be asking for more. This fight will be such a great battle that this will end up being a trilogy.
“I have great respect for Arturo Gatti and what he has achieved. He is the people’s champion to the fans because of what he gives in the ring. If there were more fighters like him, boxing would be in much better health. You only have to look at the crowds he attracts to show what he means to his fans.”
Ndou says that HBO can do the sport of boxing a favor by making Gatti v Ndou.
“If the decision were solely up to Gatti, I know he would take the fight like a man,” said Ndou. “If HBO want to give the fans what they love to see, make this fight. I’m not a runner. I love to go toe to toe. We are very similar in that we enter the ring with only one goal in mind – victory.”
Mormeck Regains WBC/WBA Titles from Bell
MON March 19 - If cruiserweight titans Jean-Marc Mormeck and
O’Neil “Supernova” Bell have taught us anything in their two meetings
in
just over 14 months, it’s probably that they would exchange power shots
toe
to toe from bell to bell if they fought each other 10 times in a row.
The difference on Saturday was Mormeck was able to weather Bell’s late surge to finish the fight and win a close, unanimous decision in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 4,000 at the Palais des Sports Marcel Cerdan in Levallois-Perret, France. The Frenchman won back the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association cruiserweight titles he surrendered to Bell in their first fight.
Mormeck (33-3, 22 KOs), from Point-a-Pitre, Guadalupe, France, now residing in Rosny-sous-Bois, had been the first French fighter to become a unified world champion, and he said he felt tremendous pressure attempting to regain the titles in his home country.
“I felt the whole country of France on my shoulders going into this fight,” Mormeck said, “but it helped me. I was fighting for them tonight. We were in it together. I couldn’t let them down.”
Saturday’s match resembled the first fight in many ways as Mormeck built an early lead by staying busy and landing power shots. While he faded at Madison Square Garden in what became a “Fight of the Year” (and “Round of the Year”) nominee that took place on Jan. 7, 2006, Mormeck was able to box his way to a win in the later rounds when Bell asserted himself most strongly.
Bell had commented at the weigh in on Friday that Mormeck looked like he had trained harder for the rematch by the looks of his physique, and Mormeck came out aggressively from the opening bell.
Bell tried to establish his jab and often followed with one-two combinations while Mormeck—just as he had done in the first fight—landed power shots, including four tremendous right hands in the opening stanza.
Mormeck added an uppercut, some left hooks and body shots in the second round. Bell tried to answer but Mormeck landed the harder shots.
Bell landed an uppercut of his own in the third round before Mormeck fell to the canvas at 2:15 into the round from a low blow. When the action resumed after a one minute break, Mormeck showered a vicious assault on Bell that, ironically, may be best remembered for the fact that Bell didn’t go down.
The non-stop action continued in round four as Bell attempted to counter Mormeck’s power shots, but the Frenchman seemed unwilling to lose exchanges in the early going of this seesaw battle.
The brisk pace slowed a bit in the beginning of the fifth round before the staggering blows returned. Seeking ways to break Mormeck down, Bell even acted like he was hurt near the end of the round to only try to gain an advantage by exploding with combinations.
Bell had his best round of the fight in the sixth. The referee warned Mormeck for punching in the back of the head at 1:40 into the round. Bell then deployed a rope-a-dope strategy in an attempt to get Mormeck to exhaust his seemingly boundless energy.
The tactic worked wonders for Bell, who appeared to have Mormeck on the verge of a knockdown before the bell sounded ending the round.
Bell tried to keep his momentum rolling into the seventh, and a referee’s warning to Mormeck for hitting behind the head seemed to encourage him. Bell used more rope-a-dope before returning to the center of the ring for more brawling.
Bell responded to a belt-line shot in the eighth round with a delayed-response pratfall, apparently mocking Mormeck’s low-blow fall to the canvas in the third round.
Mormeck sensed or learned from the open scoring announcements spoken in French on the public address system that he had built a sizeable lead going into the ninth round.
Bell knocked a fading Mormeck out in the 10th round in their first fight, and Mormeck made a deft decision to box more and conserve energy for the championship rounds.
Mormeck lowered his punch output and displayed boxing skills in the closing rounds while Bell wanted to continue brawling to pick up some desperately needed rounds from the judges.
In the end, Bell’s rally came a few rounds too late. All three judges scored the fight for Mormeck by scores of 116-112 and 115-113, twice.
Bell (26-2-1, 24 KOs), from Jamaica now fighting out of Atlanta, did not agree with the decision.
“Mormeck is a monster in the ring,” Bell said. “I spared him the knockout this time but I think I did enough to win.
“I am disappointed by this decision. I thought I won every round. I am appalled by the judges. He never hurt me.
“I’ve been off for 14 months and my promoter Warriors Boxing needs to answer for that.”
Bell prowled the dressing room hallways looking for Mormeck after the fight, and he stormed into the post-fight press conference with his anger festering while he waited for the Frenchman to arrive.
After Mormeck commented on the fight, he responded to a reporter’s question by saying, “I don’t like O’Neil Bell.” Before the translator could say, “but I do have tremendous respect for him as a fighter,” Bell rushed toward Mormeck and a brief melee broke out that promoter Don King would later characterize as “deplorable after such a great match took place.”
The victor was understandingly more positive in his comments.
“Bell was in good shape,” Mormeck said. “He always has surprises for me and tonight was no different. He was still standing after 12 rounds.
“I do not respect him as a person but I do have tremendous respect for him as a fighter.”
Jean-Marc Mormeck: “I am so happy for me and France to have won the titles back. I made a lot of sacrifices to make this happen. Thanks to my team, Don King and to my new trainer Richie Giachetti for helping me win this fight.
“I felt the whole country of France on my shoulders going into this fight but it helped me. I was fighting for them tonight. We were in it together. I couldn’t let them down.
“Bell was in good shape. He always has surprises for me and tonight was no different. He was still standing after 12 rounds. He is a heavy puncher.
“I do not respect him as a person but I do have tremendous respect him as a fighter. He was nothing before he fought me. His defeat of me was the biggest accomplishment of his career. I promised I would beat him in the rematch and I did.
“I knew I had a big lead by the middle rounds so I wanted to show Bell I could box too.
I need to fight more regularly like this, at the highest levels. Now I want to become the undisputed cruiserweight world champion. That means fighting for the IBF title.
I developed tightness in my chest during the middle rounds of the fight but I fought through it.
O’Neil Bell: “Mormeck’s a monster. I spared him a knockout but I did enough to win the fight. He never hurt me.
“I’ve been off for 14 months and my promoter Warriors Boxing needs to answer for that.
“I’m disappointed in this decision. I thought I won every round. I’m appalled at the judges. This is hogwash.
“I’d like to come back to France and do it again. I’d even do it with the same judges. It wouldn’t go three rounds before I’d knock Mormeck out again.
“I’ll fight Mormeck tomorrow, next week, next month or two months from now, I don’t care. When he’s ready, I’m ready.
“I’ve taken his best shots and he can’t knock me down. He said I was a dirty fighter. Let me tell you something. He hit me with more rabbit punches than any fighter I have ever faced.
“I want Mormeck to look me eye to eye and tell me he won that fight because he didn’t. That cat never hurt me.
Caballero Retains WBA Title via TKO
MON March 19 - Five-foot-11 1/2-inch Celestino “The Towering Inferno” Caballero successfully defended his World Boxing Association super bantamweight championship Friday, March 16, halting Ricardo Castillo by technical knockout in the ninth round of their main event on the nationally televised “Tribal Pride 2” card at the Hard Rock Resort & Casino in Hollywood , Fla.
The one-sided bout ended at 2:02 of the ninth round when the corner of the game but thoroughly beaten Castillo gauged he had sustained enough of a battering.
“I want to unify all the titles at 122 (pounds),” said Caballero, now with a record of 26-2 and 19 knockouts.
“As the rounds went on I became more aggressive,” said the lanky, hard-hitting southpaw from Panama . “I did not feel his punches, but I knew I was hurting him.”
“We believe Celestino can unify at 122 and then go on and be a champion at 126 and 130 pounds as well,” said Glenn Quiroga, president of Sycuan Ringside Promotions, of the lanky 122-pounder.
“Sycuan Ringside Promotions and Seminole Warriors Boxing Promotions have a unique champion in Celestino,” said Scott Woodworth, vice president of Sycuan Ringside Promotions. “Certainly, he’s big for 122 pounds; he’s big at 126 and 130 pounds, too. But more than that, he’s smart, powerful and determined. He will get the job done; he will finish the man in front of him.”
Caballero not only was aggressive, he was relentless and varied in his attack. He pummeled Castillo, the brother of former World Boxing Council lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, with a devastating mixture of rapier-like jabs, looping rights, straight rights, left hooks and body shots.
“I’d seen enough,” said Jose Luis Castillo, who stopped the bout. “My brother was hurt.”
Caballero was leading Castillo, now with a record of 27-4 and 17 knockouts, handily on all three judges’ scorecards when the bout was stopped.
Caballero is co-promoted by Sycuan Ringside Promotions and Seminole Warriors Boxing; his career is guided by veteran advisor Sampson Lewkowicz.
This was the second ‘Tribal Pride” card presented by Sycuan Ringside Promotions and Seminole Warriors Boxing Promotions; the inaugural card was during May of 2006 in Hollywood , Fla.
Two other Sycuan Ringside Promotions boxers also were on the card that was on Telefutura’s “Solo Boxeo.” Previously undefeated Jorge Paez Jr. was stopped by Ramon Guevara by technical knockout in the fourth and final round of their super lightweight fight while unbeaten, 200-pound Shawn Hawk suffered the first blemish on his record when he had an eight-round draw against Ed Perry.
Paez Jr. now has a record of 13-1 with eight knockouts while Hawk has a mark of 13-0-1 with 11 knockouts. Guevara, a journeyman, was in his 19th bout while Perry now has a record of 10-4-1 .
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