www.cyberboxingzone.com
Sept. 24, 2000
News Item: Showtimes’ Fight card proves one prospect,
disapproves the other.
On Saturday night, Showtime showcased two
young fighters under contact to
them, who were basically unknown, except to the most fervent of
boxing
aficionados.
In the opening bout WBO jr. middle
champ Harry Simon retained his title
with a ho-hum twelve-round majority decision over Rodney Jones.
Two judges
had the fight 117-11 for Simon, while the other had it 114-114, a
draw, which
matched this reporter’s scorecard.
Simon sez he’s ready to fight Felix
Trinidad for the title. Simon sez he
will beat Fernando Vargas too. But in reality, it doesn't’
matter what Simon
sez, because Simon sucks. Bigtime.
Simon punched in bunches while charging
aimlessly forward. But most of
his blows landed on air, or were picked off by Jones’ gloves.
Jones, truly a
stinkeroo southpaw, dances like Fred Astaire, only Fred
Astaire hits harder,
much harder. And Old Fred’s been dead for more than a decade.
If Showtime puts Simon in with anyone who
can punch even a little, Simon
will go down like Madonna at a frat party.
After the fight, Simon said of Jones:
"He prepared very well for this
fight. That is why he was able to last. He is a very sharp
fighter. It was a
tough fight, much different than I expected."
After the fight, Jones said, “I
thought it was a robbery, he was
throwing a lot of punches, but I was blocking most of them. I will
be back.”
Who does Jones think he is? Arnold
Swartzenegger?
Jones comes back and fans will be put to
sleep.
Simon comes back against a puncher and he
will be put to sleep.
Next case.
WBO jr lightweight champion Acelino Freitas
from Brazil looked like the
real deal in stopping game Argentinean Carlo Rios in the ninth
round of their
scheduled 12-rounder. Freitas improved his record to 27-0, with 27
KO’s,
making him the only present champion with a 100% knockout rate.
For eight rounds, the undersized Rios stood
up under the hard-punching
Freitas’ blows. Freitas, in fact, looked like a middleweight
compared the the
fragile looking Rios. But Rios took everything Freitas could
muster, until a
Freitas right hand in the ninth round opened a nasty gash under
Rios’ left
eye. Rios staggered into a corner and a barrage of Freitas’
blows nailed Rios
into the canvas. The ref Joe Cortez tolled the mandatory
eight count and
waved for the fighters to continue.
Suddenly, one of Rios’ handlers threw a
towel into the ring, signaling
his fighter had had enough. No argument here. The time of the
stoppage was
1:18 of round nine.
The 130-pound division may be the most
talented division in boxing. All
four champions, Diego Corrales, Joel Casamayor, Floyd Mayweather
and Freitas are undefeated. Any of these fighters, fighting
one of the others would be a tossup. Not that it will ever happen
with the conflicts between the rival
promoters and pay networks who manipulate each of the fighter’s
careers.
To summarize: Acelino Freitas -- two thumbs up. Harry
Simon -- two thumbs
down.
Madonna -- head down, thumbs up. Or any
combination thereof.
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