Barrera easily defeats Peden with a boxing clinic

Ringside reports by Victor Perea and Mike Sloan

Photos by Chris Cozzone

Barrera unifies, schools Peden
by Mike Sloan

Las Vegas, NV: Marco Antonio Barrera reinforced his claim as arguably the world's best junior lightweight tonight inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Barrera easily out-pointed Aussie Robbie Peden over twelve rounds in a fight that surprisingly wasn't close. Most figured that Peden would bring his trademark aggression into the fold, but he simply didn't; his ferocious style was nowhere to be found.

Barrera seized control of the action almost instantaneously and aside from a slight scare in the fourth round, it essentially was smooth sailing for the native of Mexico City. Peden continuously ran into counter right hands and stiff left jabs; punches that nullified virtually anything the Brisbane, Australia resident tried. As the rounds wore away it was obvious that Peden needed to score a miraculous knockout or at least several knockdowns along the way, two circumstances that were never close to occurring.

Barrera, who improved to 61-4 with 42 knockouts, almost stopped Peden late in the twelfth when his foe walked into a furious left hook. The punch badly wobbled the fiery warrior and Barrera tried everything he could to stop the stubborn Peden, but as luck would have it, the bell rang in time to prevent a stoppage. Once the fight had ended, it was as clear as glass as to who won the fight and the three ringside judges scored as such. Judge John Keane favored Barrera 118-109 and both Michael Pernick and Dave Moretti saw it 118-108 for the Mexican hero. Barrera lost a point in the tenth round for repeated low blows.

Many boxing insiders expected the fight to become a virtual back alley brawl, but for various reasons Peden simply didn't force the action as much as he normally does. Barrera took his time in picking apart Peden, who grew more and more frustrated as the rounds wore on. Watching Barrera systematically break apart Peden was like watching Roger Clemens mow down a team of little leaguers; it was that one-sided.

Everything that Peden tried, Barrera had at least two or three answers for. When Peden tried to muscle his way around and try to engage Barrera into a brawl, the savvy six-time champion simply clinched, punching and pushing along the way. Even when Peden opened up a slight laceration above Barrera's left eye in the fourth (the only round he won on all cards), the calm and collected "Baby Faced Assassin" was relaxed, seemingly knowing Peden's every move ahead of time.

In pre-fight interviews, Peden, now 25-3 with 14 KOs, boasted about how he was going to drag Barrera into a slugfest, but he was never allowed to. Peden also - for whatever reasons - constantly kept both of his gloves down around his waist, allowing Barrera to land his right hand virtually every time he threw it. It seemed as though Peden knew he couldn't score the victory, so he was instead content to just hang on for twelve rounds.

The crowd, while obviously pro-Barrera, actually booed the contest repeatedly late in the fight, but even that didn't stir either man to give it their all. But in the end, it was simply a showcase for Barrera as he manhandled the rugged Aussie from start to finish. He treated boxing purists to a dominant boxing clinic akin to one he laid upon Prince Naseem Hamed in 2001, a masterful display of magnificent pugilistic artistry and fistic wizardry. In essence, Peden never stood a chance.

Credit should be given, in part, to Peden for not folding when the heat became too great. He didn’t quit on his stool and there were scattered moments within the contest when Robbie’s aggressive nature was unveiled. But those sorts of moments were too few and far between, leaving diehard Peden fans mired in misery as to why he couldn’t get his engine going.

With the win, the possibilities are endless for Barrera, a surefire Hall of Famer once he hangs up his gloves for good. He covets a rematch with Filipino slugger Manny Pacquiao, but he is tied up with a possible showdown with Erik Morales, Barrera's fiercest rival. At 130, there are so many opponents out there for Barrera, but only time will tell as to whom he'll lock horns with next.

Mosley dominates Cruz, but looks ordinary in doing so

by Mike Sloan

It's a safe bet to claim that Sugar Shane Mosley is "back," but such a statement must have an asterisk attached to it. Sure, Mosley dominated the much slower Jose Luis Cruz over ten rounds of welterweight action, but the former world champion looked simply ordinary in the win. It's hard to gauge exactly how much Mosley has left in him, but after watching him struggle to unanimous decisions first to David Estrada and now Cruz, one must speculate if Mosley still has "it."

A win is win no matter how anybody cuts it, but it's how that win comes that truly counts. A few years back Mosley would have trounced Cruz much like he did to unheralded underdogs Shannon Taylor and Adrian Stone. But this Mosley, a Sugar Shane who hasn't looked sensational since the Stone fight, threw few combos, looked sluggish and had a busted up face once the final bell had ended.

Cruz entered the bout with a dazzling undefeated record with a ton of knockouts, but after watching him lose to what appeared to be a faded Mosley, it makes many wonder exactly who it was he has bowled over. Mosley controlled the pace of the fight from the opening bell, but he never had his opponent in any danger of being dropped or stopped. Mosley was content to sit back and allow Cruz to tie him up and when he made mistakes, Mosley rarely made him pay.

The final tallies for the fight heavily favored Mosley, who improved to 41-4 with 35 KOs, when the final bell sounded. Judge Duane Ford scored it 98-92, Chuck Giampa had it 96-94 and CJ Ross saw it 97-93, all for the former three division champion. Cruz dipped to 32-1-2 with 27 KOs.

While the scores were lopsided in Mosley's favor, the fight itself wasn't anything to write home about. Maybe Mosley is just stuck in a situation (with a new trainer and a in a new weight class again) and it will just take some time for him to readjust and regain that lost luster. Maybe Mosley truly is over the hill in boxing terms and will never be dominant again. One thing is certain, though; if Mosley is to even compete with the elite of the welterweights, he has a long, arduous journey ahead of him.

Chavez more bull than 'Matador' over Johnson

by Victor Perea

Newly crowned IBF Lightweight champion, Jesus “El Matador” Chavez 42-3 (29), climbed into the ring tonight hoping to redeem himself from a loss to Erik Morales in February of 2004; what he did was completely overpower and outperform his opponent. Leavander Johnson 34-5-2 (26). Johnson, who was taken to the University Medical Center, were he is now listed in critical condition after being diagnosed with a hematoma, and receiving surgery, had no answer in his arsenal for Chavez’ quick footed attack and firewall defenses.

Chavez came out fast and immediately began his relentless attack that would continue throughout the fight, until :38 seconds left in the 11th round when referee Tony Weeks stopped the bout, as Chavez landed a series of combinations that went unanswered.

Chavez, controlled the action in the fight from the very beginning, using the double jab to set up left hook, right uppercut combinations, many of which cleanly landed and were followed by an overhand left. Chavez was able to open up a cut under Johnson’s right eye; however the small cut did not seem like much of a distraction, as it was not bleeding very heavily during the rest of the fight

The 35 year old Johnson, who was making his first title defense, did not use his reach advantage and jab to keep Chavez at bay. It wasn’t until the third round that Johnson starting working at a more urgent pace; it seemed as though he changed his game plan between rounds, and throughout the next two rounds tried, but failed, to establish any kind of inside game against Chavez.

Chavez worked the inside against Johnson, adding hooks to the body while moving in and out effortlessly, he took complete control of the fight in the 5th round and was landing combinations in bunches, moving Johnson around the ring at will.

Johnson abandoned any effort to use his jab by the sixth round, allowing Jesus Chavez to land wailing overhand rights, and sweeping hooks to the head and body. Leavender went blow for blow with Chavez for a few shortlived seconds in the eighth, which turned out to be Johnsons last real stand; from that point on, there was seldom a moment when Johnson didn’t have one of Chavez’ gloves in his face. Jesus Chavez finished the bout landing flurries of combinations which lead to the stoppage

Johnson who came into the fight a favorite, moved as if he was wearing cement shoes, compared to the flash-dancing Jesus Chavez did around him during the entire length of the bout. Chavez showed no slowing down in this, his first fight at 135lbs, “I could feel a little difference, but I felt relaxed the whole fight,” said Chavez who has no doubt he made the right decision moving up to fight in the Lightweight division. “I’ll fight anybody at this weight or at super featherweight,” He added.

Chavez was about as dominant as you can be by CompuBox stats, landing 409 of 989 punches (43%); while Leavander barely managed to scrape the surface, landing only 148 of 577 (26%). This was only the 26th time in the history of boxing that a fighter has landed over 400 shots in a title fight, regardless of weight class. While we can’t wait to see what is next for Jesus Chavez our thoughts and prayers go out to Leavander and his family.

Rabah impressive over Morua

by Mike Sloan

Perth, Australia's Naoufel Rabah was impressive in his systematic beating of Arturo Morua. The fight began slowly as the two junior welterweights took their time in feeling each other out, but after a few rounds, Rabah seized control and never relented. Rabah picked his shots perfectly and gradually wore down the ultra tough Morua and as the rounds slipped away, it was apparent that the veteran from Guadalajara, Mexico needed a knockout to win. The knockout never came and Rabah wound up winning a lopsided twelve round unanimous decision. The official scores heavily favored the Aussie as the three official judges scored it 118-108, 119-107 and 116-110. Morua was dropped twice; once in the ninth from a straight left and once in the twelfth from a double right cross. The win allowed Rabah to improve to 24-1 (13) while Morua fell to 22-7-1 (13).

Mares gives Bozquez his first loss

by Victor Perea

In what was a scheduled 6 round featherweight battle, between two undefeated fighters, Abner Mares 6-0 (5), received little resistance from Oregon’s Selso Bozquez who drops to 3-1 (2). Mares dropped Bozquez just two minutes into the very first round. Bozquez was able to survive two more rounds, while Mares failed to capitalize on the hard shots he landed. Mares kept to his outside game, using a very obvious reach advantage to keep Bozquez from landing his combinations. Bozquez was receiving three punch combinations all throughout the third round, as he tried to respond in short but furious spurts, that did nothing more but buy him time. The bout was called to a stop 2:45 into the fourth round.

Escobedo KO's Piper

by Victor Perea

Former Heavyweight Champion Oliver "The Atomic Bull" McCall (45-8-32KOs) took Przemyslaw "Chemek" Saleta (42-7, 21 K

In a demoralizing one sided bout, Woodland California’s Vicente Escobedo made easy work of 28 year old Gregory Piper. Escobedo who Oscar de La Hoya describes as a future “Golden Boy”, improves to 7-0 (7), and seemed to have stunned Piper with the very first punch he landed, dropping Piper once in the first round. Heart seemed be the only thing that kept Piper standing for so long, as he was dropped twice in only first minute of the second round. Piper was viciously sent to the ground one more time, that’s when referee Robert Byrd did Piper a huge favor and stopped the punishment he was taking, at 1:49 into round number two.

Jantuah dominates Lau

by Victor Perea

In what was the closing fight of the night, Las Vegan Kofi Jantuah now 29-2 (18), outgunned Hicklet Lau 19-14-2 (9) of Florida; en-route to a unanimous decision.

Jantuah, hurt Lau several times throughout the 10 round fight, but did not follow through to finish Lau off. Jantuah fought for the first time since losing to Kassim Ouma in January of this year. On three occasions Lau was still sitting on the stool for several seconds after the bell rung. Lau was active but very ineffective, as his ability to stay on both feet proved more fascinating that his ability to box. Judges scorecards, 99-91, 99-91 and 100-90.

Saralegui decisions gutsy Castillo

by Mike Sloan

In what was the evening's opening bout, Los Mochis, Mexico's Andrik Saralegui won a unanimous six round decision over the tough but slightly out-gunned Abdias Castillo. While the bout itself wasn't the most exciting scrap of the evening, it certainly packed enough punch to keep the scattered crowd entertained. Saralegui won via tallies of 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56 but the fight appeared much closer than what those scored indicated. Neither fighter was truly hurt during the scuffle and there were no knockdowns. Saralegui won the fight hands down, but it wasn't a blowout like two of the three judges scored it. With the win, Saralegui improved to 17-1 (14) and remains a solid contender in the junior middleweight division. For his efforts, Castillo, a resident of Austin, TX, dropped to 9-12-1 (7).