Luis Ramos, of Frank Espinoza’s “Espinoza Boxing Club”, is already looked upon as one of the hottest young prospects in boxing. After a decorated amateur career spanning more than 100 fights and 6 national championships, Ramos turned to the professional ranks in late 2007. Having already built an impressive record of 16 wins, 8 coming by way of knockout, Ramos’ following in the Southern California area is impressive, to say the least. Ramos is never in a dull fight, and fights with a crowd-pleasing style. Keep an eye on Ramos in the near future, as his next scheduled bout is set to be televised on Telefutura on September 17, 2010, from Los Angeles, California.
In the world of Boxing, there is one self proclaimed king of the box office and king of the fight game, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Self proclaimed to the point that it’s utterly irritating to watch (and listen) as he continues to run his comments unedited about his greatness in and out of the ring. Yet his skills are what ultimately got him to this position, and it’s his unparalleled skills that back him up. So the search continues to find the one man who could dethrone the ‘Pretty Boy’ from Grand Rapids. Manny Pacquiao perhaps? Maybe, it definitely seems like the obvious choice, but that fight is on hold for now until Mayweather can get past Shane Mosley this Saturday.
Shane Mosley is easily the best Welterweight not named Manny Pacquiao. Though he hasn’t fought in over a year, his last performance was a brilliant beatdown of formerly avoided Antonio Margarito, who tried to load his gloves with plaster heading into his fight with ‘Sugar’. To no avail, Margarito stepped inside the ring with Mosley and got the beating of his life. Shane won via a referee stoppage TKO in the ninth. After the fight, Margarito got his boxing license revoked and was suspended. Mosley’s shocking win shook up the division. Surprisingly, Mosley has never fought since then.
Much has been said about the use of Perforamance enhancement drugs. The Mayweather clan has been spewing allegations left and right against anyone and everyone dawning a pair of boxing gloves, more prominently Pacquiao who has slapped a lawsuit on them for defaming his name. But Mayweather has drug problems of his own. It is well documented that Mayweather has very brittle hands and injects a drug known as Xylocaine in his hands before fights to numb them – a drug that is illegal in all states but one, the state of Nevada. Though Mosley has been battling drug problems of his own, a legal tussle earlier in the decade regarding his use of steroids, he has been cleared of this and maintains that it was not to his knowledge what was going through his body at the time (surprisingly the same excuse Margarito used to clear his name).
And so the stage is set for what could potentially be the fight of the year. Mayweather’s style is so slick, so technically impressive that it is such a beauty to watch. But his style is only ‘exciting’ if he’s up against a guy who comes forward and brings it. Shane Mosely is that guy. Mosley brings with him the accumulated years of frustration in wanting to fight ‘Money May’. I can guarantee you that the kind of punches Shane will be throwing Saturday night, will be the kind that will want to hurt his opponent. If and when they land on Mayweather (which is oh so difficult to do), they will do some damage. The question here is, will it be enough? Only time will tell.
Saturday night, both fighter’s gloves will be loaded not with steroids, not with plaster and not with Xylocaine (ok, maybe Xylocaine), but with the pride to get the chance to represent the United States of America in a battle with the Philippines. If Mosley can land a big one on Mayweather, that will change the fight. If he can knock Mayweather down, even better. But let’s let the logical guess get the best of our bets this time around, easy ‘money’. I favor Floyd Mayweather Jr. by 12 round Unanimous Decision.
You have to believe that the winner of this fight will take on Manny Pacquiao next – and that fight, will be for all the marbles. Let the fight for the mythical Pound-for-Pound title begin.
Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig City – Just a few hours ago, I went with some friends to watch Drian “Gintong Kamao” Francisco live against a fighter from Panama named Ricardo “El Matimatico” Nunez for a chance to earn a WBA world super flyweight title shot. We went, as expectant as any ‘casual boxing’ fan that the undercards were going to be stinkers and the main card would be exciting, but with the remote doubt in the back of our minds on whether or not Francisco could pull off a convincing victory. After all, we’ve had our hearts broken one too many times before, recently by Marvin Sonsona, Ana Julaton and Brian Viloria. Little did we expect that by the end of the night, the only thing we’d be discussing over beer bottles and ‘pulutan’ was the sheer excitement of the third installment of “Boxing at the Bay”, subsequently the best that Solar Sports has put out so far.
The fight card was littered with local talent that, to the non hardcore fan, was a list of strangers. None of the names on the card came with back story, no one knew who was fighting who or why, but it didn’t matter. The fireworks produced last night made it seem like a night in December, in the hot summer nights of April.
Notable fighters included the hard hitting, undefeated fighter of the Sonsona bloodline, Lolito Sonsona who destroyed his opponent via referee stoppage TKO. Sonsona kept true to the family name of quickness and power, even having older brother Eden Sonsona, who has already fought on US PPV in his corner wearing a Tim Duncan Spurs jersey.
We also got to witness the tough and rugged Lightweight Alfred Sabaupan dismantle his Indonesian foe Heri Andriyanto also via knockout, dropping the visitor with a perfect right hook to the jaw. Drian Francisco’s brother, Lloyd, also displayed the distinctive Francisco style of awkwardness mixed with technical mastery – Lloyd was deadly accurate and though he did run into a stray uppercut that sent him reeling, he had the heart and skill to recover well and win unanimously. The co-main event also did not disappoint, featuring a full length, action-packed 12 rounds between rising local Filipino pugs Rey “Stingray” Las Pinas and Nino Magboo. Magboo won a hard fought UD to become the new WBO Asia Pacific Super Bantamweight Champion.
But the star of the night was definitely the man of the hour. Coming into the fight, the much higher ranked Ricardo Nunez of Panama was expected to really test Drian Francisco, to see if he would be ready for the world stage. A known knockout puncher, Nunez stepped into the ring with the supreme confidence from his supporters and his team, but little did they know what they had gotten themselves into. “Gintong Kamao” completely destroyed Nunez by the opening bell, dropping the Panamanian twice in the first round – and once again with a vicious overhand left in the fifth giving Francisco the TKO victory. The ‘KO’ was reminiscent of when Manny Pacquiao completely knocked Ricky Hatton out cold last year. It was that devastating! As expected, Francisco’s awkward style and unpredictability proved to be a riddle Nunez would not be able to crack. They say the punches you don’t see coming are the ones that will knock you out, well, Francisco throws these types of punches a dozen times per round. And in each round, we would witness Nunez constantly rocked and staggered and ready to go – until the merciful fifth round when it all ended with a huge left by Drian.
Francisco was so impressive, that his handlers think he is ready to face the winner of the Nobuo Nashiro – Hugo Cazares fight. Some even opining that he could hold his own against Super Flyweight Super Champion Vic Darchinyan and newly ranked #5 on Ring Magazine’s mythical pound-for-pound list, fellow Filipino Nonito Donaire. While I do believe Francisco would make quick and easy work of both Nashiro and Cazares, I do also believe he will have a tough time beating Darchinyan even though I give Francisco a good chance of beating him. I do not however, think he is quite on the level of Nonito Donaire just yet, for one of the Philippine’s brightest rising young stars, Francisco has a long way to go before he can even theoretically challenge Donaire.
But he is on the right track, and with a few more world challenges under his belt we could be looking at another fighter that could really put the Philippines on the map. Francisco has the style, the attitude and the flair to shine in one the most unforgiving sports.
Philippine boxing fans flocked to the Ynares Sports Arena hoping to see an action packed fight.
What they saw was a new boxing hero being born.
Welcome to the limelight, Drian Francisco. What you do here, is more important than what you do in the shadows.
OfficialScoreCard would like to thank Solar Sports for not only accommodating us once again, but for also helping the sport of boxing in the Philippines skyrocket with its “Boxing at the Bay” series. We look forward to the next fight card.
Note: Elmer Anuran won the $1000 dollar bet against Panama boxing fan Carlos Costa, a bet they made during the pre-fight press conference.
Photos owned and copyrighted by Jan Marcel Narciso for OfficialScoreCard.com.
The Officialscorecard team of Carlos Cinco, Hanz Lustre and Archie Narciso were able to catch up with the fighters (Drian Francisco, Ricardo Nunez and interpreter Carlos Costa, and Francisco’s manager Elmer Anuran) in tomorrow night’s fight card dubbed “Boxing at the Bay 3: Young Guns – Francisco vs Nunez”. Here are the interviews:
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ortigas – Officialscorecard members Carlos Cinco, Hanz Lustre and Archie Narciso were on hand earlier today at the weigh in for the third installment of the increasingly popular “Boxing at the Bay” presented by Solar Sports. A few days ago at the official press conference, both teams had very bold predictions heading into the fight with Team Francisco declaring a knockout victory near midway of the fight and Team Nunez putting money on the line for a victory for Panama. Both fighters seemed very well prepared for their battle as they had no problems with the weight, and barring any unforeseen circumstances they should both be able to provide an action packed fight this Saturday night.
This is a very important fight for Drian Francisco and for the Philippines as the winner here gets a world title shot against the winner of the Nobuo Nashiro-Hugo Cazares fight. Both fighters are revved up and ready to rumble this Saturday. Francisco in particular looks to be in high spirits and is very confident that his speed will overcome Nunez’s hard hitting reputation. Nunez is perceived to be a puncher, but against the stylish Francisco he faces a very intelligent fighter that poses a hard style to beat. I give Nunez (who is actually ranked higher than Francisco) about 3-4 rounds before he figures out that Francisco is a riddle he can’t crack. By the middle of the fight, Francisco will have broken down his opponent’s body and his spirit and will get him out of there early. At this point I just think that Francisco is ready for the world stage. The Philippines just simply cannot afford another setback, after Brian Viloria lost to Carlos Tamara last January. I go with Drian Francisco via 7th round TKO.
“I think the advantage I have over him (Nunez) is my speed, we may be equal in power, but my speed will be the key to this fight.” said Francisco when asked about his advantages over Nunez.
Indeed it is speed that kills, we’ve all seen what speed does to even the most difficult of opponents. Styles make fights and given Francisco’s unpredictability and finesse, I expect that style to overcome Nunez’s hard punching.
With Philippine world champions recently losing their belts (Marvin Sonsona, Brian Viloria, Gerry Penalosa), it is up to “Gintong Kamao” to carry the burden.
Tomorrow night, Francisco has the chance to raise the Philippine flag once again.
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ortigas Center, Ortigas, Philippines – Officialscorecard was on hand at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for the press conference for “Boxing at the Bay: Young Guns” presented by Solar Sports. The fight card features unbeaten fight prospect Drian “Gintong Kamao” Francisco as he takes on Panamanian challenger, Ricardo “El Matimatico” Nunez. The bout is a WBA Super Flyweight Title Eliminator with the winner earning the right to challenge Japan’s Nobuo Nashiro for the championship.
Present from Team Francisco was his manager Elmer Anuran and Drian Francisco himself, across the table was Team Nunez consisting of long time visitor and huge Panamanian boxing supporter Carlos Costa (who also served as interpreter), trainer Francisco Arroyo (who once trained Celestino Caballero) and Ricardo Nunez.
Both fighters seemed very well prepared, in particular Francisco, who according to his manager Anuran, has been training for the past 3 months for this fight and is ready to go the distance. When asked what their fight prediction was, Francisco humbly stated that they were ready to go the full twelve rounds should the fight draw out the distance but would look for the knockout midway through the fight in and around the 6th round if it presents itself. In contrast, the Panamanian team gave a much stronger prediction of the fight.
“Last time I was here with El Torrito (Rafael Concepcion), not many people gave him a chance to win the fight (against AJ Banal), but I came here to win and that’s what we did. Now I’m back and I’m here to win. We will win by knockout.” said trainer Francisco Arroyo.
“I don’t usually bet on fights and when I do, I don’t bet a lot, not unless I am one hundred percent sure that the fighter I bet on will win. I am sure Ricardo Nunez will win. I will bet $1000 dollars on him.” said Carlos Costa as he jokingly made a bet with Elmer Anuran on who will win.
Nunez has 17 victories, 15 by way of knockout with only 1 defeat. He is ranked #2 by the WBA and #1 by the WBC and seems to be a worthy challenger. Given his opponent’s high ranking however, Francisco is not fazed and remains confident that his speed will trump whatever Nunez brings to the table.
“We saw some tape of one of his (Nunez) fights back in 2007, I can say that though he may have changed since then, he may have gotten stronger and faster, his style may have changed but the fighter’s attitude always remains the same. And Drian has studied his opponent very well and is well prepared to fight on Saturday night.” said Elmer Anuran.
The Philippines and Panama have a storied past, with Panama coming out on top in the early years of the rivalry. Dodie Boy Penalosa lost to Hilario Zapata in a WBA World Flyweight Title fight back in 1986. Recently, AJ Banal lost to Rafael Concepcion in Cebu, and was later avenged by “The Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire at Pinoy Power 2 in Las Vegas, NV. This time, Francisco has the chance to score another notch in the win column for Filipinos. Much thanks to Solar Sports for accommodating us. Stay tuned this Friday for the weigh in, covered by OfficialScoreCard.com!
Photos owned and copyrighted by Jan Marcel Narciso for OfficialScoreCard.com.
Floyd Mayweather, along with many of his fans, considers himself to be the number one pound-for-pound best boxer in the world today and his claim does not come without reason. His skill level is unparalleled when it comes to the sweet science. Coupled with his natural abilities and extraordinary reflexes, his trademark defense makes him a difficult opponent for just about anyone. Coming off huge victories against his sport’s elite, Mayweather looks ahead to greater challenges in his revitalized career. After watching HBO’s Mayweather-Mosley 24/7, he also solidified what makes him the greatest villain in fight sports history – his cocky attitude and flashy boasting.
Anderson Silva, considered the pound-for-pound best MMA fighter in the world today is said to be the reincarnation of Bruce Lee. A fighter with amazing, cat-like reflexes moves like a snake inside the Octagon ready to explode and pounce on its prey. Fresh from totally dominating and even humiliating top ranked contender Demian Maia just a couple nights ago on UFC 112, Silva showed why he is leagues above everyone else they put him up against.
Though they have contrasting backgrounds with Mayweather originating from the streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan and Silva born and raised in his native Brazil, there are loads of similarities between these two great competitors. For starters, they both face equally challenging fights in the near future with Mayweather taking on Shane Mosley and Silva rumored to be facing Georges St. Pierre next. But the similarities don’t end there. They both keep themselves in very high self-regard, and epitomize trash-talking with no ounce of humility in their bones. While Mayweather prefers to do his ‘clowning’ outside the ring by degrading other fighters with false accusations and derogatory comments, Silva does it inside the Octagon often demoralizing his opponents by totally abandoning his defense and mocking his opponent in front of thousands of viewers. Needless to say, they both back it up.
For Mayweather, he next faces his toughest challenge to date, no question. Sugar Shane Mosley has been itching to fight him since earlier in the decade and definitely has the tools to hand Mayweather his first loss. Among those who Mayweather has fought in the past, there are only two men the world want to see him fight next, the first option being Manny Pacquiao and the next best thing would be Mosley. These two men also have the best chance of beating him. Mosley has fast hands and dynamite power but Mayweather has arguably the best defensive skill the sport has ever seen and is favored to win going into the fight.
For Silva, his next challenge would be up against Georges St. Pierre, the man they consider to be the toughest challenge at Welterweight. He will have to go down in weight (something that is questionable since Silva competes a good 20 pounds above Welter). In GSP, Silva faces a man with an over 75% shot success rate and is overwhelmingly strong on the ground but Silva is the most elusive fighter I have ever seen, reminiscent of a young Roy Jones Jr. and a prime Naseem Hamed. Silva’s unmatched stand up game is a nightmare for anyone including GSP.
Both Mayweather and Silva are at the pinnacle of their sports. Both have very interesting personalities. Who is the better champion? Will the outcomes of their upcoming fights change your opinion? What do you guys think?
Over the past few years, the sport of Boxing in the Philippines has taken center stage due largely in part of the one and only Manny Pacquiao. In this sudden spike of popularity, the sport has produced world class contenders that once again put the country on the map. One of these young up and comers is none other than Drian Francisco, a fighter from Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro. Nicknamed “Gintong Kamao” which translates into “Golden Fist” in English, Drian has 18 fights under his belt, all victories including 14 KO’s and is undefeated. Last year, he totally dominated popular Panamanian fighter and former world champion Roberto Vasquez en route to a 10th round TKO victory. Vasquez was the first real challenge for Francisco and one that (on paper) he was to lose, but Drian completely outclassed his more accomplished opponent. Francisco now currently holds the WBA International Super Flyweight title and is set to defend it against Ricardo Nunez next week.
If you’re wondering about Francisco’s fighting style, I’m here to tell you some good news. He’s got solid Boxing skills and while not exactly textbook (he is crazy off center most of the time), he does pose a very, very awkward style. He sort of reminds me of Prince Naseem Hamed in the way he moves around the ring, except with less grace and even more awkwardness (if that’s even possible). He’s got cat-like reflexes and if you’re not fast enough to catch him, you won’t. He also tends to really wind up on his punches and sometimes lunges over to throw a huge bomb. Highly unorthodox, he will throw jabs without looking, from all these crazy weird angles. One thing I like about Francisco is that he comes to his fights all relaxed and is very mature once he steps inside the ring. He takes time to measure his opponent first and doesn’t just go in there all wild and crazy throwing shots, and from what I saw, he can also take a solid shot to the chin. All these combined make him very very tough to figure out.
In his next fight, Francisco will be facing Ricardo Nunez who is currently on a 5-KO win streak right now and is a very big puncher. Ranked number 2 by the WBA, Nunez sports an 83% KO percentage. Like Francisco, he is also coming off a huge win against a good solid fighter in Juan Francisco Centeno, winning the WBA Fedelatin Super Flyweight title in the process. Nunez scored a total of 5 knockdowns in that fight until it all ended in the 3rd round.
All in all, this has the makings of a very fan friendly fight. Two young warriors on the cusp of stardom fight to make the big stage. Both are big punchers and both will come bring it on April 17th. This event marks the third installment of “Boxing at the Bay”. Come join the Officialscorecard crew over at Ynares Sports Arena next Saturday and let’s root for Francisco to bring another stellar victory for the Philippines!
Danny Perez not fast enough or strong enough to deal with the Cuban fighter Erislandy. From the start Erislandy out boxed Perez with great movement and throwing accurate combos straight rights, left hooks, to the body and a good jab. Danny Perez should get credit for not giving up and trying his best sometimes you’re best is just not good enough. Erislandy wins Lopsided 12 round unanimous decision. 99 to 91.
Carlos Velasquez: in his first real test passed with flying colors after the second round Velasquez connected his body shots hurting his opponent and was able to wobble Ira Terry at the end of the round. Velasquez at the start of the fourth round was able hurt Terry with an explosive straight right Velasquez went right after him and connected another straight right and Terry went down and was not able to continue.
Sanchez was able to get two knockdowns in first round and it looked like the Puerto Rican fighter were in for short night but Cleotis was able to survive. In the fifth round round, Cleotis landed a picture perfect left hook to the chin and Sanchez went down he was able to beat the count but was on wobbled legs and the fight was stopped. TKO win for Cleotis Pendarvis.
