Month: August 2017

By Raymundo Dioses

Terence Crawford is the new IBF junior-welterweight champion.

The Omaha, Nebraska native started early and scored a dominant knockout win via body-shot against Joseph Indongo in their unification bout that took place at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska in front of a crowd of 12,121. 

Crawford, (32-0, 23KO) knocked down Indongo in the second frame and while the defending champion was a game opponent, it was simply too much Crawford in the title bout, who was bolstered by the hometown crowd and an offensive weaponry that has the 29 year old in the sports pound for pound rankings. 

“I’m just blessed to be in this position,” said Crawford.

“I have to thank Bob Arum and Top Rank. I’m blessed and humbled to be the undisputed champion of the world. It means everything.”

Indongo, (22-1, 11KO) was felled in the third with a left-hand body shot followed up by a stiff right hand to the midsection.  Referee Jack Reiss counted to ten for the traditional knockout win at 1:38 of round three. 

Indongo was making the third defense of the IBF’s 140 title.  The Namibia, Africa native won the IBF title via 1^st round knockout over Eduard Troyanovsky in December 2016 and defended the title in April 2017 against Ricky Burns over 12 rounds with a unanimous decision. 

“We knew the body would be open, being that he swings so wild, and we could catch him in the middle of his punches,” Crawford said. “I had tall guys in the training camp, so I was used to it and adapted to it. I feel great. I feel like I hadn’t even fought.”  

The Midwest favorite fights in and out of a traditional stance, also throwing effectively in a southpaw position; Crawford was fighting left-handed at the time of the final blows thrown in the fight.  His skillset has him ranked No. 6 on ESPN’s pound for pound list. 

Crawford unified all four sanctioning body titles (IBF, WBC, WBA, WBO) at junior-welterweight with the dominant win over Indongo and holds an International Boxing Federation title for the first time in a career that began in 2008.  Crawford is just the second fighter to become the undisputed champion in a division in the four-belt era; the first was former IBF titleholder and future Hall of Fame inductee Bernard Hopkins.  

By: Raymundo Dioses

“I worked real hard in the gym, I trained, I ate right, I went to sleep on time, I was real focused… I blocked all negativity. Getting the knockout gave me joy,” said Claressa Shields following her TKO win over Nikki Adler for the International Boxing Federation’s vacant super middleweight title.

Shields, (4-0, 2KO) dominated throughout the contest and displayed dominance in the speed and power departments, finally stopping Adler at 1:34 of round five via referee stoppage. 

“In the first round, I didn’t have any nerves or was nervous. I was ready for a war, and dominate, and knock her out,” said the Detroit native of her opponent.  Shields landed 136 total punches, while Adler reportedly landed only six punches the entire fight. 

“She wouldn’t punch,” Shields said. “I thought she’d be tougher. I thought after I knocked her back, she’d be more aggressive, but she just came in and I must have hurt her real bad because she stopped punching and I was able to dominate after I hurt her in the first round.”

Shields now finds herself the unified super middleweight champion (IBF, WBC) after only four professional fights in a career that started on the undercard of the first Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev fight card for the IBF’s light heavyweight title on November 19, 2016.  Shields is a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner in the middleweight division and is 22 years of age.

Dallas, TX: Cuban heavyweight and 2008 Olympian Robert Alfonso winds down camp at Maple Avenue Boxing Gym for his upcoming IBF USBA Southern Region title fight vs southpaw Jason Bergman (26-14-2, 17 KOs) of Birmingham. Alabama on August 11th at the Belk Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Alfonso was previously scheduled to to face 2004 USA Olympian Devin Vargas of Toledo, Ohio who withdrew with an injury.

Formerly of Havana, Cuba and now residing in Dallas, TX, Alfonso (12-0, 5KOs) is a 2 time 2007 and 2008 National Cuban champion and the 2007 gold medalist at the Pan American Games champion in Rio. He was eliminated in the first round of the 2008 Olympic games by Ukrainian Vyacheslav Glazkov. Alfonso is managed by Jay Deas and is a frequent sparring partner to world champion Deontay Wilder.