PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012
PAGE 43
WBA champ, Balzsay, leaves it late, as Traux thwarts Taylor’s return bid
Mares wins superbantam belt
A
K
aroly Balzsay retained his WBA super-middleweight title when he beat Dimitri Sartison in the twelfth round in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,Germany over the weekend. Though the fight in was stopped five seconds before the scheduled end of the bout, it was a more or less even fight until the champion dropped Sartison in the final round. The challenger beat the count but Balzsay kept up the pressure. When Sartison stopped fighting back the referee stepped in. Balzsay improved his record to 25-2, including 18 stoppages. Sartison dropped to 29-2; 18. On the same bumper bill, former WBO light-heavyweight champion Jürgen Brähmer improved to 38-2, with 30 knockouts, when he beat Vikapita Meroro (21-4; 9) by unanimous decision over ten rounds. Meroro was down for a count in the fourth round. Rakhim Chakhkiev, a former Olympic Games gold medallist, remained undefeated and moved to 13-0; 10 by stopping Jaidon Codrington (20-3; 16) after one minute and 56 seconds of the first round of a cruiserweight bout. In a heavyweight fight, former WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev knocked out Billy Zumbrun in the third round. Chagaev’s record now stands at 29-2-1; 18. Zumbrun’s dropped to 25-13-1; 15. Veteran heavyweight Juan Carlos Gomez recorded his 50th victory in professional boxing when he stopped Darnell Wilson in the fourth round of a rematch. Gomez has lost only three times and won 38 of his fights on stoppages. Wilson now stands at 24-15-3; 20. Middleweight Ante Bilic improved to 26-2; 13 when he outpointed Rafael Bejaran (14-1; 6) to claim the WBO European middleweight title. And in San Juan, Puerto Rico, WBO super-flyweight champion Omar Narvaez improved to 36-1-2; 19 when he beat Jose Cabrera (20-3-2; 8) on points over 12 rounds. Jermain Taylor, a former middleweight champion, was knocked down in the ninth round but beat Caled Truax on points in a tenround fight in Biloxi, Mississippi. The scores were 98-91, 97-92 and 97-94. Taylor improved his record to 30-4-1, with 18 knockouts. Truax lost for the first time in dropping to 18-1-1; 10. Junior middleweight Erislandy Lara, ranked third by the WBC, improved to 16-1-1; 11 when he knocked out Ronald Hearns (26-3; 20) after only 1 minute and 34 seconds. In Oldham, England, Derry Matthews caused an upset when he stopped Anthony Crolla in the sixth round to take over the British lightweight title. Matthews, who improved his professional record to 30-6-1, including 16 knockouts, knocked the champion down in the third round. Crolla who dropped to 23-3; 9, never recovered completely and the referee had to intervene in the sixth. James DeGale, a former Olympian, improved his professional record to 12-1; 9 and retained his European super-middleweight title by knocking out veteran Cristian Sanavia in the fourth round in their fight in Frederikshavn, Denmark. Sanavia, who dropped to 45-6-1; 13, Sanavia was down four times in the fourth round before the referee stopped the fight at 2:58. Patrick Nielsen remained unbeaten at 14-0; 8 when he knocked out Gaston Vega (17-5; 6) in the tenth round to win the WBA Intercontinental middleweight title. Morelia, Mexico: Cristian Mijares, a former super-flyweight champion, knocked out Eddy Julio after 2 minutes 47 seconds of the fourth round. Mijares now stands at 45-6-2; 21 and Julio at 13-4-1; 11. Lightweight Marvin Quintero (25-3; 20) dealt Al Sabaupan his first defeat when he stopped him in the ninth round of an IBF title eliminator. Sabaupan now stands at 18-1-1; 13. Fort Worth, Texas: Middleweight Brian Vera (20-6; 12) beat Taronze Washington (14-17; 7) on points over eight round – 79-73 on two cards and 80-72. Montreal, Canada: Adonis Stevenson (18-1; 14) stopped Noe Gonzalez (28-2; 20) in the second round to take the WBC silver super-middleweight title. Tokyo: Former WBA super-bantamweight champion Akifumi Shimoda moved his record to 25-3-1; 11 by stopping Mexicoan Alberto Gonzalez (16-10; 6) one minute into the tenth round. Shimoda, a southpaw, was well ahead at the time of the stoppage. Welterweight Yoshihiro Kamegai remained unbeaten and moved to 21-0; 18 when he stopped Mexican Alfredo Chavez (10-4; 8) in the ninth round. Caguas, Puerto Rico: Jose Miguel Cotto (33-3-1; 24) beat Eric Cruz on points over ten rounds in a super-lightweight bout – 99-89, 98-90 and 97-87.
Karoly Balzsay
bner Mares beat Eric Morel on points on Saturday to claim the vacant WBC super bantamweight title. The unbeaten Mares won the battle of former champions bout in El Paso, Texas, 119-109 on two cards and 120-107 on the third. Mares, 26, had moved up in weight after winning the IBF bantamweight title in a fight against Joseph Agbeko last August; a title he retained in a rematch in December. The Mexican’s speed and work rate wore down Puerto Rico’s Morel, a 36-year-old who once held the WBA super-flyweight title. Mares improved his record to to 24-0-1, with 13 knockouts. Morel fell to 46-3, with 23 knockouts. They were fighting for title vacated by Japan’s Toshiaki Nishioka after he failed to get a fight with Filipino star Nonito Donaire. On the undercard, WBA bantamweight “super champion” Anselmo Moreno of Panama made the tenth successful defence of his title as he stopped David de la Mora in the the ninth round of a lopsided bout. Moreno improved to 33-1-1 with 12 knockouts. He knocxked De la Mora down in the second and sixth rounds. The challenger indicated he was unable to continue ten seconds into the ninth and the referee stopped the fight. De la Mora, a Mexican dropped to 24-2 with 17 knockouts.
FCE Kano wins 17th NICEGA in Omoku
Cristian Mijares
Derry Matthews
Omar Narvaez
F
ederal College of Education, FCE, Kano has emerged the winner of the 17th edition of the Nigerian College of Education Games, NICEGA, hosted by Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Rivers state. FCE Kano, hauled 13 gold, four bronze medals to emerge first while FCE Zaria, which won nine gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals were second, leaving FCE Okene third with five gold, one silver, and five bronze medals. The closing ceremony held at the newly built ultra-modern FCET Omoku Stadium, Omoku, Rivers state, was climaxed with the final of the male football event won by College of Education, COE Minna, 4 - 3 on penalties after the match had ended in a 1 - 1 draw in normal regulation time. NICEGA President, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, commended the host college, FCET Omoku , for hosting a hitch-free competition and urged them to make maximum use of their newly acquired sports facilities by creating a Physical and Health Education Department in the school. “We must commend the host college for a job well done, because when we came during the inspection of facilities, we were skeptical because a thick forest was shown to us as the site of the proposed Games Village. “But what we saw today is marvelous, they have provided good facilities. However, it is easier to provide good facilities than to maintain them. So, I will advise that they create a Physical and Health Department that can consistently use the facilities,” he said. In response, the host Provost, Sir (Dr.) Nkasiobi Oguzor, said hosting of the 2012 NICEGA has provided the town of Omoku world class sports facilities which can be used to hosting sports events in future.