Recap Windy City Fight Night 22

The air outside the UIC Pavilion rumbled with thunder and lightning as the building on the outskirts of downtown Chicago played host to Windy City Fight Nights 22, an 8 Count Productions event cosponsored by ESP, INC. The big draw for the night’s fights was undoubtedly Andrezj Fonfara, the Polish titleholder with the large fan base.

Let’s take a look at how the fights went.

Raeese Aleem (1-0-0, 1 KO) vs. DeWayne Wisdom (2-2-0, 1 KO)

The opening match of the night featured a couple of featherweights who didn’t mind mixing it up a bit. Aleem, in his second pro fight, was the aggressor during the entire match often landing three punches to everyone that Wisdom did.  “The Beast” also dominated the ring, spending most of the match pushing Wisdom (who took the match on only two days notice) against the ropes and into the corner. 

It wasn’t close on the scorecards as Aleem won by unanimous decision with all three judges’ scorecards reading 40-36. Personally I had Wisdom winning the third round when Aleem seemed to take a break and Wisdom was able to land three lunging power rights.  In the end the decision went to the boxer who landed more punches rather than the one who landed bigger punches.

Clifford McPherson (2-7-1, 1 KO) vs. Chad McKinney (Debut)

McKinney, a Chicago-based fighter, was making his debut in this contest, and he made it a memorable one.  For four rounds he beguiled his opponent by switching from a southpaw to an orthodox stance. Throughout the four rounds, McPherson’s corner exhorted their fighter to use his right hook more to and to pressure the less-experienced fighter.  Even though the opening for the right hook was there (McKinney kept his left low no matter what style he was fighting in) McPherson never threw it and wasn’t really able to mount any offense at all.

Chad McKinney lands a jab on Clifford McPherson as Ref Dave Smith looks on

By the fourth round McKinney was landing punches at will and walked away with a unanimous decision in his debut by sweeping all founds on the judges’ scorecards.

Adan Ortiz (Debut) vs. Ricky Lacefield (0-3-0)

Another Chicago fighter fighting in his first professional fight, Ortiz didn’t need four rounds to pick up his first win. Lacefield had shook off a couple of big punches earlier in the round, indicating that Ortiz couldn’t hurt him, however the fighter out of Lincoln, Nebraska ended up taking a knee at the 2:44 mark of the first and wasn’t able to answer referee Dave Smith’s ten-count and Ortiz had his knockout.

The punch that did the damage was a left hand that staggered Lacefield who dropped to his knees after Ortiz followed up with a glancing right hand.

Paul Littleton (2-0-0, 2 KOs) vs. Guy Packer (4-35-2, 1KO)

Following a 10-minute intermission the boxing resumed with up-and-coming Paul Littleton faced off against the experienced Guy Packer.  Packer had more than 40 professional fights coming into Friday night. Unfortunately for his career he lost 35 of them.

Littleton, coming off a first-round knock out last month, is building a fan base in Chicago and was clearly the better fighter. He won the first round by patiently waiting for his chances and landing solid punches when they presented themselves.  In the second round he would land a solid left to Packer’s gut that would end the fight at the 1:17 mark.  With cheers of “Paulie, Paulie” reigning down from the crowd the ref stopped the it and Littleton had the third win of his career.

Andrzej Fonfara (20-2-1, 11 Kos) vs. Byron Mitchell (29-9-1, (22 KOs)

For the USBO Light Heavyweight Championship

This was the main event of the evening, even if it wasn’t the last fight of the night.  Fonfara has a tremendously vocal following in Chicago, especially among its Polish population.  Mitchell, although on the downside of his career at the age of 38 was no slouch as he could claim two WBA Super Middleweight titles on his resume.

The crowd was in full voice during the playing of the Polish national anthem and during the introductions.  Rhythmic cries of “An-DRE FON-FAR-A” reigned down as the fighters were announced.

Once the bell rang, Fonfara didn’t disappoint his faithful followers.  He overwhelmed his elder opponent early and often. After the first three minute were up Mitchell would find himself on the canvas twice courtesy of powerful combinations from The Polish Prince.

Fonfara lands one of the numerous powershots he threw against Byron Mitchell

The second round was more of the same as Fonfara proved to be the quicker and stronger fighter.  He was able to work the body and the head, landing his punches at will against Mitchell.  The former champ tried to mount a bit of a rally and was able to land a few shots against Fonfara, but it wasn’t enough. With two rounds finished the only question remaining was how quickly Fonfara could finish his business.

In the end it would be Mitchell’s corner that decided their fighter had had enough.  After Mitchell weathered a minute of Fonfara’s combinations to start the third round they would throw the towel in.  When referee Celestino Ruiz didn’t see it (he was watching Mitchell hit the canvas) the downed fighter’s trainer would actually step into the ring to make his intentions known.  At the 1:03 mark Ruiz called a halt to the fight and Fonfara had his ninth straight victory, all of them by TKO or KO.

It’s an important time in 24-year-old’s career. He has won those 9 fights since having to forfeit a TKO against Skyler Thompson in 2009. However, his competition hasn’t been the top of the class. Nor has he traveled to take on opponent as 8 of the 9 fight have been at the UIC Pavillan.

If he wants to contend against the top light heavyweights like Antonio Tarver, Chad Dawson or the ageless Bernard Hopkins he’s going to have leave the Windy City and fight in hostile territory.  Does he have the talent to complete on that level?  That’s to be determined, but he has displayed the hand-speed and the power to be competitive.

His defense is still a little shaky.  Despite being outclassed for the entire fight, Mitchell was still able to find holes in the Polish fighter’s armor.  He just couldn’t take advantage of it.  Fonfara does look a more comfortable fighting at 175lbs then he did at the 160lb. weight that he fought at earlier in his career.  The added weight does let him absorb big punches easier.

It’s no secret that the Mitchell fight was a test.  If Fonfara had struggled against the former champ his chances of finding the big paydays on ESPN or on HBO and Showtime undercards would have dried up. Now that he has done what he has had to do it will be interesting to see who his next opponent (and where the location) will be.

Viktor Polyakov (11-0-0, 6 KOs) vs. Derrick Findley (18-7-0, 11 KO’s)

For the USBO Middleweight Championship

The final fight of the night (and billed as the co-main event) featured another fighter rebuilding his career in Polyakov and the last man to beat Fonfara in the ring in Findley.  After the raucous event that was the prior fight the Polyakov/Findley contest was a rather tame affair.

With the subdued crowd seemingly mildly interested in the outcome the two boxers traded punches for 10 rounds.  Polyakov was a hair faster on the exchanges allowing him to frustrate his more experienced opponent.  Findley, known for his power left hook never found the chance to land it and experienced his only success when he doubled up his right hook.

Unfortunately, Findley did not discover that combination until late in the 10^th round and by then Polyakov was well on his way to a unanimous decision. Both fighters were evenly matched and despite landing fairly solid punches throughout the match neither showed signs of being hurt. Two judges scored the fight 99-91 for Polyakov while the third had it a bit closer at 96-94. I had the Ukrainian winning 97-93 on my unofficial card.  According to Findley’s promoter there was a rematch clause in the fight contract and it will be interesting to see if Findley invokes it as he was visibly upset with the decision after the fight.

It was another entertaining night of fighting for Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions.  Check into their website to see when their next event will be held.

A Recap of Windy City Fight Night 21 in Chicago

With snow swirling outside the UIC Pavallian west of Chicago’s downtown, some of Chicago’s best professional fighters were getting ready to meet up for Windy City Fight Night 21. Put on by 8 Count Production and sponsored by Jack Daniel’s, el Jimador Tequila and X-sport Fitness the line-up featured several up-and-coming fighters taking on their best competition to date.

Here is a quick review of the fights.

Match 1: Curtis Tate (3-3-0, 3 KO’s) vs. Alejandro Otero (3-11-2)

The first matchup of the night pitted the two biggest men on the fight card against each other.  Otero, a 42-year-old Cuban, weighed in at 211lbs while Tate was a very soft 258lbs.  Both fighters were game from the first bell as they came together in the middle of the ring like two bulls crashing together, winging wild haymakers at each other. 

Otero went down early in the first more from exhaustion then one shot.  Both fighters were winded by the 2:00 minute mark and the activity slowed a bit.  Tate, while not in the best of shape, did show a little form and kept the pressure on the Cuban.  The fighter from Tennessee did get caught towards the end of the round as a wild left from Otero knocked his mouth guard out.

The second was a carbon copy of the first with Otero under siege from Tate.  Otero went down again early, again not a clean knockout, more of a stumble aided by a glancing blow from Tate.  He’d make it back up and last until the 1:49 mark when he was dropped by Tate again and referee Gerald Scott had seen enough and put Otero (and the crowd) out of his misery by calling a halt to the fight.

Match 2:  Juan Bustamante (2-0-0, 1 KO) vs. Ryan Strickland (1-3-0, 1 KO)

Barely after the ring was cleared for the first match, the next competitors were announced and heading down the ring.  The super flyweights looked like teenagers, well maybe soccer players, in the ring. I doubt there combined weight was much more than Tate’s.

Once the bell sounding it was apparent that what the two lacked in weight they made up for in talent.  Both fighters had solid exchanges with Strickland getting the better of the action early.  That wouldn’t last.  Bustamante quickly discovered that his hand speed was better than Strickland and started to dominate the action. 

At the 2:29 mark he would land a perfect right hand on Strickland’s chin.  The fight was over before Strickland hit the canvas. The referee could have counted to 100 and it wouldn’t have mattered, Kirkland was out. There is a certain sound from the crowd when a clean shot leads to a knockout no matter what level of competition it is, a noise that is repeated with each replay on the video screen. The crowd made that noise when Kirkland went down.

Match 3:

Junior Wright (2-0-0, 2 KO’s) vs. Rogelio Saldana (1-1-0, 1KO)

Wright, a Chicago native, is an up-and-comer with an extensive amateur background (3-time Golden Gloves winner) who dominated his first two fights scoring knockouts in the first round.  Saldana came out looking to make this a competitive junior lightweight fight.  It was – for about 45 seconds.

Wright weathered a few jabs from his opponent without difficulty.  He spent the first minute snapping off the occasional jab of his own before working Saldana into the corner and unleashing a delicious left hook to his midsection.  Saldana took a knee and wasn’t able to meet the ref’s count and Wright had his third 1^st-round knockout of his young career.  After the fight, Wright admitted that he had hoped Saldana could have lasted a little longer because he knew that he needed to get some rounds under his belt as he continues his pro career.

Match 4:

Dimar Ortiz (2-0-0 2 KO’s) vs. Francois Russell (0-1-0)

Ortiz, another Chicago based fighter, brought a boisterous cheering section with him and he didn’t disappoint them. He clearly outclassed Russell throughout the first three rounds of the fight as he muscled the timid fighter around the ring. 

Ortiz would get him into a corner and unleash several combinations while Russell could only hold on until the ref broke them up. Russell offered almost no resistance through the four rounds as he only fired an occasional left jab despite his corner’s fervent pleading to “let your hands go!”

As Ortiz stalked Russell around the ring with a slightly crazed look in his eye it was apparent that it was only a matter of time before he would drop his opponent.  It did in the 4^th round as a thunderous right hand brought the crowd out of their seats and the ref stopped the fight at the 2:59 mark.

Ortiz dominated much of the fight and could have ended it sooner, but continued to make the young fighter’s mistake of smothering his punches by getting in too close when he had him along the ring.  Finally during the flurry that ended the match, Ortiz took a half-step back and found the room to land his victorious right hook.

Match 5:

Paul Littleton (1-0-0, 1 KO) vs. Cesar Martinez (1-4-1)

The last of the undercard matches featured another promising fighter in Littleton as he took on the 36-year-old Mexican fighter Martinez.  The Chicago-based Littleton was able to land his jab repeatedly from the beginning of the fight as Martinez kept walking into it.  The older fighter’s primary means of defense was to lunch forward and duck at the waist to avoid Littleton’s power shots.

It took Littleton a round to time the weaving Martinez, but when he did he was able to land 4 crushing right hands that knocked Martinez out at the 2:33 mark of the second round. Littleton did look solid when he was pressing the fight, but a better class fighter might be able to take advantage of some of the holes in his defense.  Martinez landed the occasional shot, but couldn’t hurt the younger man.

Match 6:

Edner Cherry (28-6-2, 16 KO’s) vs. Guillermo Sanchez (13-4-1, 5 KO’s)

The first of the co-main events saw former title contender Edner “The Cherry Bomb” Cherry take on Guillermo Sanchez, a Puerto Rican fighter with thirteen wins to his name. This match, featuring the two most experienced fighters on the card, promised to be a good contest.  And it lived up to the anticipation.

Cherry, a member of the 8 Count stable, is rebuilding his career after losing to the WBC Light Welterweight Champion Timothy Bradley (aka Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent) in 2008. A native of the Bahamas currently residing in Wauchula, FL, he had helped his family pick oranges as a child.

The first round didn’t get off as well as he would have hoped as Sanchez was able to land four huge left hands.  The fourth one send Cherry stumbling to the mat.  He was able to easily beat the count and remained wary of the lethal left for the rest of the match.

And a grueling eight-round match it turned out to be.  Cherry was able to get inside and bully Sanchez around the ring, stifling the younger fighter’s big punch.  By the end of the second it became apparent that Sanchez’s game plan was based entirely on that one punch and Cherry was wise to take it out of play.

Still, Sanchez’s defense was rather tight and Cherry was only able to land a few of his famous “Cherry Bomb” power rights.  His most effective punch was a left hook that he was able to land consistently when the two brawled along the ropes.  In the end, Cherry’s ability to control the ring and land the more effective punches won him an unanimous decision.

Match 7:

Adrian Granados (6-1-1, 3 KO’s) vs. Jamie Herrera (7-1-0, 4 KO’s)

The final match pitted Granados, one of the most exciting sluggers in the 8 Count roster, against a brawler in Herrera.  The two fighters provided the UIC Pavilion with an exciting eight rounds of almost non-stop action.  The handspeed of the two welterweight fighters was head-and-shoulders above any of the other boxers on the card with maybe the exception of Junior Wright.

For most of the eight rounds both fighters stood toe-to-toe in the ring and hit each other with the best that they had.  Very few jabs were thrown with any real intention as both gentlemen decided it would be better to fight in tight and wing power shots at each other.

As the fight wore on, Granados realized his best course of action was to fight in close and then dance away before Herrera could counter his shots.  Frustrated a bit with that tactic, Herrera illicited a few boos from the audience as he continually clinched Granados before he could dance away.

That was the only thing that displeased the crowd as they rose to their feet several times during the match as the action rose in the ring. The fourth round featured an epic exchange along the ropes as Herrera landed a solid left to the body and a follow-up right landed flush on Granados’ face.  Adrian wasn’t deterred as he countered with a solid left of his own that drove Herrera back.

Granados emerged the unanimous victor on points as he dominated a tired Herrera in the last round. After the fight he admitted that he knew he had to outbox Herrera as he couldn’t outbrawl him and Herrera was gracious in his defeat, admitting that the better boxer won the fight.

Windy City Fights 21 was an excellent night of boxing.  8 Count Productions provided an exciting card that featured knockouts, toe-to-toe exchanges, and hard-fought victories.  With another night of fighting already scheduled for March 16^th, it’s easy to see why they put on some of the best boxing events in the Chicago area.

Friday Night Light - As in Light-Heavyweight

There are a few things left on my Sports Bucket list to accomplish, attend a Super Bowl, watch a football game at Notre Dame, play Scotland Yards, etc, but on Friday night I was able to check one off my list.  Attend a boxing match as a credentialed member of the press.  There is a part of me that wants to turn this lonely piece of internet real estate into something of a career, you know get paid to write about sports I like.  Boxing is one of those sports.

Last week I contacted Bernie Bahrmasel at 8 Count Productions to see if I could secure a media pass for Windy City Fight Night 21 which they were promoting.  I sent him a couple of links from this site and he said that I would be added to the list.  Awesome, my first press pass since my college days.

So last Friday, I braved the snowstorm (OK a few lonely flakes were falling), left the Duchess to her own devices, jumped on the Red Line, switched to the Blue Line downtown and an hour later I was standing outside the UIC Pavilion waiting for the doors to open. As usual I overestimated the time it would take me to get there and had a half-hour to kill.

It went by pretty quick as I started talking to another gentleman who was there to cover the fight. He had started a blog, got picked up by a boxing website and was looking at possibly working for Ring Magazine.  See dreams can come true!

Finally, the doors opened and I met Bernie to pick up my pass.  He looked busy so I didn't chat too long, just headed down to the ring where there was literally a seat with my name on it.  I was stationed at the end of the row of folding chairs ringside and directly behind the blue corner.  Not a bad place to watch a fight if you don't mind doing some ducking and weaving yourself.

I was pretty much alone in my section so I sat down and prepared some notes, got my fight cards lined up so I could score the fights as they progressed. Then I waited, and waited, and waited some more.  I got the distinct impression that I should have been somewhere else, but this being my first time I really had no idea where to go.

There was some action in the ring as one of the refs was testing the ropes and the floor to make sure there weren't any bad spots.  Oh, and the ring girls were practicing.  Holding a sign card and walking around the ring in 4-inch, spiked heels isn't the easiest thing in the world.  Especially getting in and out of the ring.  I'm glad I can say that there were no incidents and they performed their duties admirably.

Eventually the ringside personal showed up, judges, doctors, officials, a nattily-attired ring announcer and the photographers.  The crowd was slowly making its way in as well.  When the first fight started I would say that the blocked off seating was about half full and by the end of the night pretty much filled.  There was a security guard next to me that I chatted up throughout the fight and he said that they draw pretty well for most of their fights, especially when the "the Polish kid fights".  Alas, Andrezej Fonfara was not on the card for Friday's contest so I'll have to wait to see that in the future.

The first match got under way around the scheduled 8:00pm start time and steamrolled through right up until about 11:00pm.  I have a full review of the seven matches following this post if you want the details, but for now here are some observations of attending a live boxing match.

- TV does a decent job of mic'ing up the ring, but there is no way it can capture the sound of a perfect punch landing on the face or body of a person.  I was lucky enough to see examples of both types of punches and the collective gasps/screams from the audience when they landed.

- If there are more than two people working a fighter's corner, the time between rounds is complete chaos.  Only one member of the crew is allowed in the ring, but the rest still get up on the apron.  When it's time to leave the ring there's people leaping off, stools being dragged away, ice bags and water bottles getting knocked over and people streaming through the ropes and trying to navigate extremely steep stairs.  It's like a NASCAR pit crew without the air wrenches.

- Each corner seems to have one guy who shouts the same advice to the fighter through the whole match. It's usually something along the lines of "Don't get on the ropes!" or "Let your hands go!" or "Set the trap!". There was a lot of Spanish too, I can assume it's pretty much the same but can't be sure because the only words I understood were "mano derecha" and "la cabeza".

- Guillermo Sanchez has a very excitable trainer who talks with his hands a lot.  Which wouldn't be bad if he didn't have huge globs of Vaseline on them that went flying over his shoulder when his boxer was doing well. Remember that ducking and weaving I mentioned earlier?

- Watching a fight without having to listen to commentators or having access to replays definitely changes the way you feel about a fight.  You miss some of the insight, but also the subtle bias toward a particular fighter.

- Two things that will instantly get the crowd against you - entering to religious music and not being from Chicago. However, putting on a good show will win them back as Edner Cherry proved.

- That being said, the crowd was really pretty good.  It was extremely diverse and supported most of the boxers. They seemed to have a good time without getting out of control. The guard next to me said that the boxing crowd is generally well behaved and he would "rather work 12 boxing matches in a row than one rock concert".

- One thing they don't show a lot on TV is the aftermath of a knockout.  When Ryan Franklin (spoiler alert) was KO'd he was down on the canvas for a solid 10 minutes and when he did finally leave the ring it was on wobbly legs.  For a second I thought he was going to be tumbling down the ring steps even with assistance.  Yet, an hour later he was in the crowd, enjoying a beer and seemingly no worse for wear.

Franklin not doing so well at that moment.

- Junior Wright is a name to keep an eye on. As is Adrian Granados.  Wright had an extensive amateur career and was probably the most polished boxer on the card. He actually reminds me of a young Sugar Shane Moseley.  Granados is a bit more of a brawler, but definitely a crowd-pleaser. His night-closing bout with Jamie Herrera would have fit right in on any Pay-Per-View undercard.

- Taking pictures and trying to follow a round does not work.

It doesn't help when you don't bring the right lens, either.

- A crowd's reaction to a big punch is awesome live.  I'm not sure there is anything like it in sports.  There is a mix of yelling with some "oh man'ing" and some "damn that had to hurt" all thrown together in a two-second yelp.  And when a fighter is on the ropes, the word "frenzy" is the only one that can describe the crowd.

- The 10-bell count is one of the most spine-tingling traditions in all of sports.

- My favorite note that I took was "crazy-eyed son of a bitch".  Which was in reference to the look Dimar Ortiz had in the ring when he was looking to finish off Francois Russell.

- The poor ring girls didn't get much action early on as there were two 1st-round stoppages and two 2nd-round stoppages in the first four fights.  So there was a brief intermission where they got to do their thing in the ring (walking around in high heels and bikini's) while tossing t-shirts to the crowd.

For once - not a shirtless hockey player.

Overall it was a very entertaining night.  I would like to thank Bernie and promoter Dominic Pesoli of 8 Count Productions for allowing me to attend. I would also like to thank all of the fighters for putting on a good show.  If you're in town on March 16th I highly recommend picking up some tickets for Windy City Fight Night 22 - that Polish kid will be fighting so it should be a great night of fighting!