ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE LIVES UP TO ITS NAME
On paper, Don King’s “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” card looked like a great way to spice up the holiday with some quality boxing action when it was initially announced, but late substitutes, problems at the scales, questionable judging and poor officiating collectively cast a dark shadow over the night and left a bad taste in fans’ mouths by the end of the night.
To put it simply, what should have been a boxing showcase ended up a complete massacre.
CAMPBELL FAILS AT THE SCALES BUT WEIGHT BAILS HIM OUT AGAINST FUNEKA
When WBO and IBF Lightweight Champion Nate Campbell came in three pounds over the lightweight limit on Friday, he forfeited his titles on the spot. For mandatory contender Ali Funeka, the titles would be on the line, but Campbell could not remain champion regardless of whether he won or lost, taking a lot of the luster off of the main event.
A 6’1″ lightweight from South Africa, Funeka appeared to have the physical advantage coming into the fight until Campbell failed to make weight. The test for Funeka was upped even more by the fact that he was challenging a bigger and likely stronger Campbell than he previously expected. Never was that more evident than the second round when Campbell hurt Funeka with a big right hand, floored him with another, and looked to be on his way to an early knockout after a strong first two rounds.
From the third round on, however, it was Funeka’s fight as he managed to climb off the canvas and take clear control of the fight for eight straight rounds, doubling up with left hooks to the body and head, keeping Campbell in a defensive shell with his jab, and mixing in occasional right hands. He battered Campbell, bloodying the former unified champion’s eye, nose and mouth over the mid and late rounds of the fight.
By the championship rounds, Campbell needed a big time effort if he hoped to win on the cards, and his power again bailed him out once again. Campbell let his hands go, first scoring another knockdown in round eleven when he caught Funeka with a right hand that eventually led to the South African collapsing along the ropes, and then finishing strong in the twelfth by wearing Funeka out with a constant body attack.
When the final bell sounded, however, Funeka was still on his feet, and it appeared he had done enough to win, taking everything from round three to ten, aside from maybe a close fifth round.
But the judges saw it differently, awarding Campbell a majority decision by some questionable scores of 115-111 (Michael Pernick) and 114-112 (Benoit Roussel), while Deon Dwarter offered up a more reasonable 113-113. The fight was close, so it would be difficult to call it a robbery; however, the victory is anything but tainted as Campbell did fail to make the weight, which could be argued to have contributed to the knockdowns he scored.
When one fighter makes the weight and the other doesn’t, he who hasn’t put his body through the trouble of making weight is not as depleted as his opponent and thus has more to give; in this case, Campbell may have sacrificed some stamina but certainly brought more power into the ring with him because he didn’t have to get down to 135 the way Funeka, a 6’1″ fighter, did. Without the knockdowns, the fight is a majority draw, which still seems problematic considering Funeka controlled so many rounds.
In any event, Funeka should get more title opportunities based on his performance against Campbell, especially given that he was at a disadvantage regarding the weight situation. Campbell will now move to the 140-pound division, but, without a title, he’s not going to find many opportunities there and will have to work his way into contention. At age 36, he has likely cost himself a lot of money by not making weight for this fight.
MARTINEZ GETS DRAW AFTER STOPPING, OUT BOXING CINTRON
In the most bizarre match of the night, junior middleweight Sergio Martinez out boxed and even knocked out Kermit Cintron yet inexplicably left the ring with a draw on his record.
Cintron was making his debut at the junior middleweight limit after Daniel Santos refused to fight Martinez without more preparation time. Cintron and Martinez was a logical match to make considering the only man to beat either of them was Antonio Margarito, who may or may not have loaded his gloves for those fights; thus, one could argue that neither Cintron nor Martinez deserved to have a loss on his record at all.
By the end of the fight, when two of the judges somehow scored the fight a draw, both men could still make that claim.
After three close, feeling out rounds that could have gone either way and saw Referee Frank Santore twice warn Martinez for hitting behind the head, Cintron, perhaps irked by the booing of the crowd, dropped his gloves in round four and had some words for Martinez about not engaging him. Martinez just grinned in response, and the action finally picked up, though the first four rounds were almost impossible to score.
In the fifth round, Martinez landed a perfectly placed straight left hand on Cintron’s left eye, cutting him open, but Santore somehow decided it was the result of a headbutt, despite replays showing no collision of heads. Looking a far cry from the fighter who put on a show against Alex Bunema in his last outing, Martinez was hesitant to engage the heavy handed Cintron, resulting in a fight that was anything but pleasing and highly difficult to judge.
Then, in round seven, with the crowd chanting, “fight,” Martinez suddenly knocked Cintron out. He landed a terrific straight left hand that made Cintron cry out. Cintron then backed off and sank to his hands and knees after being drilled by a jab from Martinez. Cintron sat up and gestured to his head as he winced. Then, he tried to tell Santore he was down as the result of a headbutt, which he may have believed since he never saw the punch coming. In any event, Santore ignored Cintron and continued counting. The problem was Cintron ignored Santore’s count and allowed himself to be counted out, only reaching his feet as the referee reached ten.
Santore then waved his hands but didn’t indicate whether or not he was stopping the fight since the bell also rang to end the round as he reached his count. Martinez ran around the ring, celebrating an awkward win, and Cintron attempted to complain that he had been butted. Santore claimed he never saw a headbutt, which led to Cintron going berserk and adamantly standing by his statement that he was butted. Cintron’s corner men entered the ring and suggested their fighter act professional instead of continuing to make himself look like a fool because, whether or not he believed he was butted, he didn’t respond to the referee’s count and thus had no room to complain about the stoppage.
Then, something absolutely incomprehensible happened as Santore met with commission officials at ringside and decided he was going to allow the bout to continue. The referee actually stopped and restarted a bout after a knockout and two minute break, which may be a first in the sport. Martinez had every right to refuse to continue at that point as the Florida commission was literally making up rules on the spot.
A peeved Martinez started shouting at Cintron and challenging him to fight when the bout resumed. While drilling Cintron with power punches in round eight, Martinez also worked in some of his signature showboating by dropping his gloves and beckoning his opponent on. A stare down ensued after the bell, which saw Cintron gesture to his crotch while Martinez laughed him off. Round nine included some good exchanges, with Martinez landing more quality punches and starting to emerge as the leader.
Cintron had his best round of the fight in round ten, landing with some good power shots and counter punches. Martinez received another warning from Santore for hitting behind the head, which Santore assured him would be his last warning and that a point deduction was coming. Martinez bounced back with a terrific eleventh round, one of his best rounds all night.
Round twelve produced yet another shocker as Santore took a point from Martinez, as he had been threatening to do, for hitting behind the head. But the punch was grazing at best and only landed on the back of the head because Cintron was ducking at the time. It was a terrible call by Santore, who seemed to be doing everything he could to keep Cintron off his back. Martinez pointed out Cintron’s ducking to Santore the next time the instance occurred, and Santore didn’t take a point that time as though he agreed with Martinez’ reasoning. Martinez still won the round, and, while the first six rounds had been close and difficult to judge, Martinez clearly won five of the last six, which should have made him a clear winner. Almost as if he needed to convince himself he had won, Cintron performed an odd victory dance on the top rope in front of the crowd, who had spent most of the fight booing the lack of action.
But apparently not only the officiating is bad in Florida but also the judges, two of which shocked the crowd with their scores of 113-113, but Santore helped them get there with the point deduction and the fact that the bout, which should have ended in a knockout, even went to the cards. One judge, Tom Kaczmarek, who is a historically poor judge, actually produced a score more accurate of the bout that had taken place with 116-111, but he was overruled for the majority draw as the crowd booed in disgust.
Instead of celebrating the fact that he had escaped with a draw, despite being knocked out and out-hustled, Cintron resorted to complaining once again, which seems to have become his legacy in boxing. A rematch is unnecessary, and Martinez shouldn’t be expected to give Cintron one with the way he conducted himself and weaseled his way out of losing not only once but twice.
ANGULO HAMMERS LATE SUB RIVERA
The night started off well enough as Alfredo Angulo put on an exciting show with Cosme Rivera, who accepted the fight on only four days’ notice. Angulo was originally scheduled to face Ricardo Mayorga in the main event – a fight that would have guaranteed a brawl – but Mayorga cited money issues when pulling out. Another opponent, Danny Perez, was next brought in but also pulled out of the fight.
Angulo suffered a nasty cut over the right eye midway through the first round, allowing Rivera to get in his licks while he could and barely take the round. Replays showed the cut may have been caused by a clash of heads, but Referee Telis Assimenios ruled it the result of a punch. In his defense, it was hard to catch the headbutt when it occurred, but working against Assimenios is the fact that he committed one of the biggest referee botches ever back in 1998 when he officiated the first bout between Hasim Rahman and David Tua. In that fight, Tua got a knockout after hitting Rahman after the bell, and, if that wasn’t enough, Assimenios stopped the fight when Rahman was barely taking any punishment. Florida certainly hosts some of the worst officials in the boxing game.
Realizing he could have the bout stopped on him, Angulo turned up the pressure and pounded Rivera all over the ring with some vicious shots to end the second round – a round he was clearly losing up to that point. Round third was a horrific round for Rivera, who was almost out on his feet one on occasion and spent most of the round on wobbly legs. Backed by a great chin, Rivera kept punching back, and Assimenios, having learned from the blunder with Rahman, correctly allowed it to continue.
Angulo turned southpaw in round four to continue the massacre, pounding Rivera into a corner with heavy blows to the head. After taking a particularly hard right-left combination, Rivera staggered into a corner and dropped his hands, enabling Angulo to absolutely tear into him with hellacious shots in round five. Rivera was still on his feet and prematurely ducking to avoid more punishment when a commission member intervened on behalf of the corner and stopped the bout with seconds remaining in the round.
Rivera had made a good stand given the circumstances but wasn’t ready for the hailstorm of Angulo. With blood streaming out of his eye, Angulo impressed by remaining calm while dealing with a bad cut and scored the knockout.
