BY CROWN BOXING
Caleb Plant picks apart his sparring partner weeks before he takes on Andrew Hernandez on September 8 in Las Vegas live on Showtime.
Photography courtesy of Sean Michael Ham / Premier Boxing Champions
Boxing Scene - By Cliff Rold
MGM National Harbor in Maryland - It was hard hitting throughout, with both men on the deck, and in the end the crowd was booing. That didn’t make the crowd right.
Cuban 30-year old former 130 and 135 lb. titlist Rances Barthelemy (26-0, 13 KO), 139 ½, of Las Vegas, Nevada, appeared to win most of the rounds en route to a unanimous decision over 27-year old Kiryl Relikh (21-2, 19 KO), 139 ½, of Belarus. The referee was Kenny Chevalier.
Relikh looked on the verge of a career best win halfway through the fight. A knockdown in round five had Barthelemy reeling but the former titlist made the bell. He returned the knockdown favor in the eighth with a vicious body shot that Relikh tried to play off as low. Another shot did stray low in the ninth and Relikh took ample time to recover. Neither came close to stopping the other again, even as they continued to land blasting, hard shots.
In the end, Barthelemy simply landed more. The unanimous scores came in at 116-110, 115-111, and 117-109. Barthelemy earns a mandatory position with the WBA. Julius Indongo is the current WBA, IBO and IBF titlist.
A Cuban amateur national champion, 30-year-old Barthelemy turned pro in 2009. Born in Cuba but now fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev. he won a super featherweight world title in July 2014 by defeating Argenis Mendez in impressive fashion, and followed that up with a second round TKO victory over Angino Perez.
After dominating former champion Antonio DeMarco in June, he won a world title in a second division when he impressively defeated Denis Shafikov in December. Most recently, Barthelemy made the lone defense of his lightweight belt with a decision over former champion Mickey Bey last June.
Fighting out of Minsk, Belarus, Relikh returned to the ring after challenging the former champion Burns for the WBA title in October 2016.
The 27-year-old was undefeated after turning pro in 2011 leading up to his world title shot. Relikh owns wins over veteran contenders Christian Ariel Lope, Joaquim Carneiro and Lazaro Santos de Jesus.
Boxing Scene - By Boxing Clever
Three fighters advised by boxing power broker Al Haymon secured victories on Saturday night.
At the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona - BJ Flores (33-3-1, 21 KOs) made his official debut as a heavyweight, and demolished Jeremy Bates (26-19-1, 22 KOs) in the first round. Bates went down twice before the fight was waved off.
Flores, who weighed a solid 223-pounds for the fight, was having issues with making the cruiserweight limit. Last October, he squeezed down one final time to challenger WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew. After started well in the first round, Flores was caught by a punch that he never saw coming and was eventually stopped in the third round.
After Deontay Wilder retained the WBC heavyweight crown with a knockout of Gerald Washington, there were two fights which were televised on Fox Sports 1 from the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
In a super middleweight fight, unbeaten Caleb Plant (15-0, 10 KOs) continued his impress run with a ten round unanimous decision over durable Thomas Awimbono (25-7-1, 21 KOs). Plant dropped Awimbono in the first round, and then got the better of the action with hard shots for the rest of the way. The scores were 100-89, 99-90, 100-89.
Also on the card, junior lightweight prospect Tugstsogt Nyambayar (8-0, 8 KOs), who won a silver medal in the 2012 Olympic games, stopped Jhon Gemino (15-8-1, 7 KO) in the tenth and final round. Tug sent Gemino down in the third, twice in the sixth, and again in the tenth before the fight was waved off.
CALEB PLANT
"Tonight was about staying controlled. I didn't want to go out there and force anything. I just wanted to relax and settle in behind my jab, use my faints, and just take the shots that were there for me.
"I'm hoping that a win like this opens up some doors for me. The 168 lbs division is in my back pocket. I'm just taking it one fight at a time and we'll reach our goal.
"Going the distance to get a win over an experienced fighter like Awimbono shows a lot about my potential. He's been in there with some great fighters, but I fought my fight and got the win.
"I dropped him early with a flurry, but it's hard against a guy who didn't want to engage. You've got to take what they give you. Otherwise I risk going in too aggressive and getting caught off guard, which I can't allow. I have to remain patient and find my spots.
"I'm hoping for bigger fights every time. We don't want any soft touches. I've been trying to get fights with some top prospects, guys with some minor titles, but they won't take the fight. I can't let that bother me though, because I know I'm a high risk for these guys. It might be early in my career, but I can make the adjustments and do it all."
TUGSTSOGT NYAMBAYAR
"It meant a lot to get a win like that against a rugged fighter on short notice.
"We were looking for a knockout much earlier, but Gemino was really tough tonight. He showed a lot of heart, but thankfully we got the win.
"Even though this was a heavier weight than I'm used to fighting at, I had no problem handling his size.
"Fighting on a card like this on FS1 and FOX Deportes means the world to me. This was a big opportunity to showcase my skills.
"I want anyone they put in front of me next. I'll face whoever."
JHON GEMINO
"I'm not trying to make excuses, but we took this fight on very short notice. I'm very frustrated with my performance tonight.
"I'll do everything I can to get another fight in the U.S. and I promise to always give it my all. I hope the fans enjoyed our fight tonight.
"I'm willing to fight anyone, I just wish I had more time to prepare for Nyambayar."
Boxing Scene - By Jake Donovan
Welcome to the contender level, Sergey Lipinets.
The unbeaten rising super lightweight continues his rapid ascension through the ranks. His latest effort was a true breakout performance, battering veteran contender Walter Castillo en route to a 7th round stoppage win in the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on ESPN-televised headliner Friday evening at Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.
True to form, Lipinets all but gave away the opening round versus Castillo, who was fighting for the first time since a highly questionable draw verdict he was gifted versus Keita Obara in their title eliminator last November. An ordered rematch was scratched when the Nicaraguan's team decided to take his career in a different direction.
It led to a dead end, at least once the bell rang to begin round two.
By then, Lipinets - born in Kazakhstan but who has lived in Russia before relocating to California - was warmed up and dialed in with his offensive-minded attack. All but ignoring the instructions from trainer and former two-division champ James 'Buddy' McGirt to double up on his jab, the unbeaten 27-year old - who boasts a rich background in various forms of combat sports, including kickboxing - plowed forward with overhand rights and occasional body work, breaking down Castillo with each passing round.
A potential bullet was dodged in two ways when Lipinets suffered a cut at the end of what was otherwise a dominant round four. The official ruling from referee Bill Clancy was that it was caused by a clash of heads, but superior work by the tech team in the ESPN truck unearthed proof that it came courtesy of a straight right hand from Castillo in what turned out to be his last hurrah.
Had the bout been stopped because of the cut at any point beyond round four, it would have landed in the hands of the judges thanks to the official ruling. It never came to that, thanks to incredible corner work put in by cutman Mike Rodriguez, who disallowed the wound to become a factor.
From there, Lipinets took care of the rest. A strong round five was followed up by a power-punching surge in the sixth, landing 23 punches in the three-minute frame - as many as Devis Boschiero landed in 12 rounds versus Mario Barrios in last Saturday's miserable PBC on ESPN headliner.
More pain was on its way in round seven, but Castillo was spared a prolonged beating. Lipinets had knockout on his mind - again, going for the kill in spite of McGirt's insistence to hang back and box - with Clancy jumping in to rescue Castillo from additional punishment.
The official time was 2:45 of round seven.
Lipinets picks up his second straight televised knockout of 2016, improving overall to 10-0 (8KOs). The win comes on the heels of a FS1-aired stoppage win this past March over Levan Ghavimichava, who recently bounced back with a 7th round knockout victory of his own versus Breidis Prescott earlier this week.
Castillo is winless in his last two starts as he falls to 26-4-1 (19KOs). The loss marked the first time he's been stopped in 31 career fights.
UNDERCARD
Tugstsogt Nyambayar remains a knockout every time out. The 2012 Olympic Silver medalist from Mongolia tore through Brooklyn-based featherweight Rafael Vasquez, scoring three knockdowns in a 1st round stoppage in their televised co-feature.
Little was learned of Nyambayar, other than he boasts a potent right hand against which Vazquez simply could not defend. It was the weapon of choice for all three knockdowns, the first of which came just 30 seconds into the bout. A straight right hand upstairs deposited Vazquez on the canvas for a mandatory eight count.
Soon thereafter came the second knockdown of the night, when a combination to the body and head floored Vazquez hard. The end was near, with Nyambayar going all in to close the show. A series of right hands upstairs produced the fight-ending third knockdown, with referee Keith Hughes waving off the bout without issuing a count.
The official time was 1:24 of round one.
Nyambayar - who is now based out of Carson, Calif. - improves to 6-0 (6KOs), excluding his time spent in the World Series of Boxing. The 38-year old Vazquez, who was competitive in a loss to Ryan Kielczewski last October, falls to 16-3 (13KOs).
With plenty of time to kill, unproven "prospects" David Perez and Adan Ortiz (9-2, 8KOs) saw their six-round bout make it to the screen. It turned out to be an unexpected treat, with Perez (7-0, 3KOs) scoring an opening round knockdown en route to a unanimous decision win by scores were 60-53, 59-54 and 58-55.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2
Photo courtesy of Sean Michael Ham / Premier Boxing Champions
Boxing Scene - By Thomas Gerbasi
When Mongolia’s Tugstsogt Nyambayar wanted to turn pro following an amateur career highlighted by his Silver medal-winning performance in the 2012 Olympics, he wanted only one man in his corner.
Joe Goossen.
The reason was simple.
“To the best of my knowledge, he had – like so many other fighters – seen the (Diego) Corrales-(Jose Luis) Castillo fight,” Goossen recalled. “And I guess it was his goal to find me in America when he came here. And through a few inquiries, his sponsor in California was able to track me down and bring the kid to my gym. So it was a mission of his, unbeknownst to me of course.”
Today, Nyambayar, affectionately known around the Ten Goose Boxing Gym in Van Nuys, California as “King Tug,” is 4-0 with four knockouts as a pro. The 23-year-old junior featherweight was scheduled to face New York veteran Rafael Vazquez on March 15, but that bout was postponed, sending the Ulan-Bator native back to work until he gets the call again.
Goossen will be there, as he has been, not just teaching, but watching. It’s what he’s done throughout his career as a trainer, and at 62, working with fighters has been more than a job. It’s been his life, and when you’re in charge of a boxer’s well-being in the gym and on fight night, it’s a responsibility not to be taken lightly. So when Nyambayar wanted to work with Goossen based on his corner work in the classic first battle between his fighter, Corrales, and Castillo, he knew he was getting a certain kind of fighter.
“His style is naturally aggressive, to attack,” he said. “And I think he saw a style in Corrales that was an aggressive and pressure style. Maybe because of those similarities, he thought that I might be the guy for him. He’s a devastating puncher and he climbs all over you right from the beginning. So he’s a very aggressive guy, like Diego was in that fight. So that might be the rationale. I didn’t probe too deeply on all of that.”
What Goossen does think about though, is what happened on the night of May 7, 2005 in the ring at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. For nearly ten rounds, Corrales and Castillo engaged in a war that could easily be described as the greatest prizefight of all-time. Filled with high-level action from start to finish, the bout also had drama worthy of an Oscar-winning film, with Corrales rising from two knockdowns in the 10th round to stop Castillo later in that same frame. For those watching, it was the beauty and brutality of the sport wrapped up in one night.
Goossen remembers the aftermath of the bout. It was the night after the annual Boxing Writers Association of America awards dinner, and several notable fighters were in town to watch the fight.
“Each and every one of them that came up to me after the fight, they all said ‘man, that’s the type of fight we want to be in. The fight I always dreamed of,’” he said. “And I would always say to myself ‘that’s not the fight you want to dream of. That’s not the fight you want to be in.’ And if those guys were thinking it, a competitor like ‘Tug’ would probably be thinking the same thing. That’s an attractive proposition to some of those guys – on paper. But be careful what you wish for. This is not the type of fight you want to be in. We happened to be in it, but I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. That type of fight is a career-killer, to tell you the truth.”
Goossen didn’t want an immediate rematch for his man against Castillo, but Corrales took the bout five months later. He was knocked out in four rounds and lost his last two fights before losing his life in a motorcycle accident, two years to the day after his greatest victory.
“Everyone dreamed of having the technique, the courage, the tenacity, the determination that was shown that night in the ring,” Goossen muses. “And I guess it’s something good to aspire to. So I’m not gonna deny anybody that. But deep down inside, I dread for a fighter to have to be in a fight like that because they both ended up in the hospital and they were both severely damaged from that fight. But you’re not gonna see many fights like that. That was a marathon inside fight and a grueling match and both of them refused to lose that fight.”
In the eyes of many, that win by Corrales may be the crowning achievement of a career filled with them for Goossen. And while he’s won championships before and after, and led kids from nothing to the top of the game, to boxing fans, he is immortalized as the guy who told Corrales after the second knockdown against Castillo, “you gotta f***in’ get inside on him now.”
Corrales did as instructed and won. That’s what a young fighter like Nyambayar sees in Goossen, and it’s a bond that transcends the language barrier that has grown smaller since the two began working together.
“If it was left up to me to learn Mongolian, we’re all in trouble,” Goossen said. “‘Tug’ is a very smart kid. He speaks Russian, he speaks Mongolian and I think he speaks one other language. But he took to English very quickly and now there’s not a thing I can tell him that he does not understand. He speaks a modicum of English, but he understands a vast amount of it. The Mongolian language is a very difficult language, at least to my ear. So thank God he made the effort. It take a lot of heat off me.”
The rest of that heat? Goossen willingly takes it on, and while his fighters will go out there on the front lines, at least they know they have backup if they need it. So while Goossen won’t baby Nyambayar, he won’t throw him to the wolves either. It’s not an easy job, but few do it better than him.
“You’ve got to be protective, but not overly protective, because this guy’s got a pedigree,” he said. “He’s advanced and he fights like a 10-round fighter already. I’m not looking to win titles right now, but Tug is the type of guy that trains very hard and he works as if he’s fighting 10-rounders right now. Do I mind putting him in a 10-rounder? Not if I feel he’s gonna come out on top and look great doing it. But with a guy like Tug, you’re gonna take a few more chances. Then again, it’s a fine line. You’ve got make sure that you know what you’re looking at in terms of opponents. That being said, I feel very confident in putting him on a little bit more of a fast track than I normally would.”
Photo courtesy of Lucan Noonan / Premier Boxing Champions
Boxing Scene - By Rick Reeno
MGM Grand, Las Vegas - Ronald Gavril (13-1) won an eight round unanimous decision over Jessie Nicklow (24-7).
Cruiserweight prospect Andrew Tabiti (10-0, 10KOs) continued his destruction streak by knocking out Thomas Hanshaw (6-6) in two rounds.
Lanell Bellows won an eight round unanimous decision over Marcus Upshaw (17-14).
Super middleweight contender J'Leon Love (20-1, 11KOs) survived a first round knockdown and came back to stop Jason Escalera (15-4, 12KOs)in the seventh round.
It was all-out war in the first round, with both fighters trading hard punches at close range. Escalera appeared to get stunned, but then landed a hard counter hook that dropped Love. Once he beat the count, they resumed the back and forth war with Love getting the better of the action.
As the fight played out, Love was landed more and more punches, breaking Escalera down. By the sixth round Escalera was taking a beating. During the seventh, a Love combination practically turned Escalera's entire body and sent him flying backwards into the ropes. After taking a good look at him, the referee waved it off and Escalera's corner was ready to throw in the towel.
Junior welterweight Charvis Holifield (3-1, 2KOs) stopped Charles Dubray (2-3, 2KOs) in the third round. Dubray went down three times before the fight was waved off.
In a much tougher fight than he probably expected, Haskell Rhodes (23-0-1, 11KOs) barley held on to his undefeated record with an eight round split draw against Jared Robinson (15-2-1). Both fighters had their moments, but Robinson came on strong in the last three rounds with some very telling combinations that certainly caught Rhodes' attention. The scores were 77-75 for Rhodes, 77-75 for Robinson and 76-76.
Boxing Scene - By Rick Reeno
BoxingScene.com has been advised that 22-year-old Tugstsogt "King Tug" Nyambayar has signed a contract with powerful manager/adviser Al Haymon. Nyambayar is a successful amateur out of Mongolia. He won a silver medal at the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships held in Milan. He followed up that achievement a few years later by gaining a silver medal, as a flyweight, at the 2012 London Olympic games.
In the Olympics, he lost to Cuba's very talented Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana in the gold medal bout. Coincidently, Nyambayar beat Misha Aloian in the Olympic semi-finals, and Aloian beat Carrazana in the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships.
Nyambayar will officially turn pro in the near future and veteran coach Joe Goossen of Los Angeles has been retained to train him. BoxingScene was told that Nyambayar will be fast-tracked as a pro, as he wants to fight for a world title within ten fights.
