Saturday July 11, 2008 Boxing Results

Here are last night’s boxing results which involved Top Ten Ring Magazine fighters in the respective weight classes

Tomasz Adamek vs. Gary Gomez

Ring Magazine #3 cruiserweight Tomasz Adamek (35-1) def. Gary Gomez (18-10-1) when Gomez refuses to enter the ring in at the start of the seventh. Below is the third round of this one-sided beating. Not too much excitement here just a clinical dismantling by the Pole on a far inferior opponent.

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Alex Bunema vs. Walter Dario Matthysse

Ring Magazine #6 light middleweight Alex Bunema (30-5-2) def. Walter Dario Matthysse (26-4) by KO in the sixth to retain the WBA Inter-Continental light middleweight title. Below is a youtube of the Congolese light middleweight vicious six-round knockout at his unfortunate Argentine opponent. Please forgive the horrible song.

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Joachim Alcine vs. Daniel Santos

Daniel Santos (31-0) def. Ring Magazine #4 light middleweight Joachim Alcine (30-1) by KO in the sixth to win the WBA light middleweight title. Below is a video of the knockout. Below that is a boxingshow.tv interview of Santos post-victory.

Contender Season Number Four Contestants: The Favorites

Here’s our first set of Contender Season Four Contestant Info profiling the clear set of favorites in the best season ever (TM).

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Vadim Tokarev
boxrec.com ranking: #8
Record: 24-1-1 (17)
Age: 36
Nationality: Russian
Birthplace: Ekaterinaburg, Russia
Height: 5′10 1/2″
Stance: Orthodox
Fellow Contender’s Faced: Darnell Wilson, Win by 10-round Unanimous Decision, October 18, 2005
Notable Opponents: Marco Huck (L); Felix Cora, Jr. (W); Firat Arslan (D)
Titles Held: NABF Cruiserweight

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B.J. Flores
boxrec.com ranking: #9
Record: 21-0-1 (13)
Age: 29
Nationality: American
Birthplace: Chandler, Arizona
Nickname: El Peligroso
Height: 6′ 2″
Stance: Orthodox
Fellow Contender’s Faced: Darnell Wilson, Win by 12-round Unanimous Decision, February 8, 2008
Notable Opponents: None
Titles Held: USBA Cruiserweight

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O’Neill Bell
boxrec.com ranking: #10
Record: 21-0-1 (13)
Age: 33
Nationality: Jamaican
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Nickname: What The Hell
Height: 6′ 0″
Stance: Orthodox
Fellow Contender’s Faced: None
Notable Opponents: Tomasz Adamek (L); Jean-Marc Mormeck (L); Jean-Marc Mormeck (W)
Titles Held: IBF Cruiserweight, WBC Cruiserweight; WBA Cruiserweight; NABF Cruiserweight; USBA Cruiserweight

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Matt Godfrey
boxrec.com ranking: #14
Record: 16-1-0 (9)
Age: 27
Nationality: American
Hometown: Providence, Rhode Island
Nickname: Too Smooth
Height: 6′ 0″
Stance: Orthodox
Fellow Contender’s Faced: None
Notable Opponents: Rudolf Kraj (L); Felix Cora, Jr. (W); Shaun George (W)
Titles Held: NABF Cruiserweight; NABA Cruiserweight

Image details: Universum Champions Night served by picapp.com

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Johnathon Banks
boxrec.com ranking: #17
Record: 19-0-0 (14)
Age: 26
Nationality: American
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Height: 6′ 3″
Stance: Orthodox
Fellow Contender’s Faced: None
Notable Opponents: None
Titles Held: fighting for IBO Cruiserweight Title on 7/12/08

Image details: Tomasz Adamek v Paul Briggs served by picapp.com

Polish hero Tomasz Adamek got Saturday’s boxing night off to a cracking start with a surprisingly one-sided victory over Jamaican O’Neil Bell, Ring Magazine’s #3 ranked cruiserweight. After seven rounds of steady punishment Bell’s corner stopped the fight just before the eighth round’s start.

Bell’s body and face did not appear particularly damaged but his downhearted expression told a decidedly different story. He looked like a defeated man, head down, spirit removed, and his trainer responded by giving Adamek a premature TKO.

Adamek looked quick for a cruiserweight, knocking Bell down early, stymieing him throughout with skillful counterpunching, and easily triumphing while a sold out Katowice crowd serenaded their victor with chants of “Tomek, Tomek, Tomek.” Adamek will surely get some love now from Ring Magazine after failing to be ranked in their last cruiserweight compendium.

Up next for Adamek is a mandatory title fight against IBF champ and Ring Magazine #2 Steve Cunningham. After another sellout crowd at the Spodek Arena odds are that the mandatory fight will also take place in Katowice. Cunningham will not be as intimidated by the home crowd as Bell; he’s fought twice already on Polish soil losing to Krzysztof Włodarczyk in Warsaw on a controversial split decision and subsequently knocking Włodarczyk out at the Spodek in the fourth round.

Ring Magazine’s #3 ranked cruiserweight O’Neil Bell (26-2) faces a daunting task this Saturday as he travels to the industrial heart of Poland to face national hero Tomasz Adamek. The winner gets a shot at Philadelphian Steve Cunningham, the IBF title holder.

During Adamek’s last fight in the Katowice’s Spodek (Saucer) Arena during June of 2007 he tore apart Panamanian Luis Andres Pineda with a seventh round TKO. As you can tell in the embedded youtube video the Polish crowd was feverish and rowdy.

Bell isn’t that intimidated. He’s the higher ranked boxer, he’s already knocked out the #2 ranked Jean Marc Mormeck (before losing the rematch in a decision), and he’s the natural cruiserweight. This is only Adamek’s second fight at 200 since losing big to future light heavyweight superstar Chad Dawson.

Nevertheless in Adamek’s first cruiserweight bout, the Pineda match, he won the IBO belt. Bell’s stated aim for this fight is to re-unify the cruiserweight belts a feat he achieved with his 2006 defeat of Mormeck. When he lost the rematch “What the Hell” Bell surrendered the WBC and WBA title but maintained the IBF crown. Confusing enough?

What’s not confusing is Bell’s pre-fight interview (youtubed by poundforpound.com videos), also embedded here. He’s ready and he’s determined. Hopefully he’ll avoid Clinton Woods‘ supposed fate poisoning fate and stay away from suspect pierogi and bigos while in Katowice.