Battle at the Boat 67
August 2, 2008
Brian Halquist, Gary Shaw, and Showtime at the
Emerald Queen
Casino
For a crowd much more used to seeing bigger men fight for titles, there was certainly an element of curiosity surrounding the IBF Junior Bantamweight title fight. fight fans had to first try to get their tongue around the principle's names. Kirilov. Darchinyan. It took a bit of practice to get them right, and when it came to fight time, those choosing sides found it easier to chant Dimitri or Vic. Despite the weight of the competitors, and the fact that many of the groups of people in attendance would consume the fighter's weight in beer, fight fans were treated to an exciting, though admittedly one sided affair.
Vic Darchinyan seemed to be singular in strategy. He would rely on what he does best, and that would be throwing heavy punches. It was difficult to see Kirilov's strategy, and that was because what he probably planned to do, which was outbox his opponent, simply could not be accomplished. Darchinyan barely gave him time to stand and throw a punch.
Darchinyan established his ground behind a straight left hand. He used his right, and there were times the right caught Kirilov coming in, but it was the left hand that did most of the damage. At one point a steady stream of left hands backed Kirilov across the ring and in to a corner.
In the third round Kirilov began to show the effects of Darchinyan's power. Darchinyan staggered the Russian twice in the third round. Kirilov continued to look for an answer for the Armenian's powerful left, and he seemed to find it about midway through the fourth round. Kirilov stepped toward Darchinyan and fired two hard fast rights to Darchinyan's body. The blows certainly made Darchinyan take notice, but Kirilov did not reload and return to that weapon.
The fight ended in the fifth round. About thirty seconds in to the round Darchinyan caught Kirilov on the ropes and dropped him. Kirilov arose. The referee counted. The fight continued. Now Darchinyan's eyes showed how the fight would end. He focussed on the target, and thirty seconds later he dropped Kirilov again. Kirilov rolled to his hands and knees and grabbed the rope an an attempt to get up. the rest of his body would not cooperate and the referee reached ten. The fight was over at 1:05 of the fifth. Darchinyan wore the belt.
Darchinyan's right was effective, but the damage came at the end of a left
The fight ended at 1:05 of the fifth
Early Dirrell had to reach to catch Paschall...
but when he caught him with a left, the fight ended
The initial discussion regarding the co-main event focussed on which of the undefeated super middleweights would face their first loss. After that the question was whether Andre Dirrell would press the action of the fight, or dance around the ring keeping out of trouble and jumping in occasionally to throw punches. The result of the initial discussion was inevitable. One person had to lose. the result of the second, was pleasantly surprising.
Though the first round started rather slowly, the round was nearly over before either Andre Dirrell or Mike Paschall confronted each other with any type of meaningful exchange, Dirrell did stand in close and snap his right at Paschall. The second round too was rather slow, but there were moments when Paschall threw counter punches thus alerting Dirrell that the path to wining was not coming too easily.
Dirrell landed a quick and powerful right left combination early in the third round, and later, when he threw it again he ended with a shot to Paschall's head. It looked at that point as though the direction of the fight had been established and that the quicker Dirrell would out work Paschall. Then, as the third was drawing to a close Paschall threw a left right combination that landed flush to Dirrell's body and head. He signaled that he was not going to be dispatched so easily.
But in the fourth bad fortune wheeled its way toward Paschall. First Dirrell returned to the right left combination and he dropped Paschall. When Paschall stood, blood poured from his forehead. The referee called for time to be halted while the doctor looked at the cut. After a minute of wiping blood, looking at the cut, wiping more blood and gauging the depth and length of the gash, the doctor and referee decided that Paschall should not continue.
Andre Dirrell scored the TKO win at 1:32 of the fourth round to remain undefeated. Paschall suffered his first loss, and before he left the ring, he said that was the first time he had been down.
A few weeks ago Darren Darby fought Dario Castillo and lost in a fight that was closer than the scores indicated. On this night he would face brother Daniel Castillo. Darby's plan was to beat this Castillo, then get a shot at the other.
Darby knows how to start fights, his problem has been in how to finish them. He opened this fight using a strong armed body attack that forced Castillo to cover up and protect his ribs. That stance also limited what Castillo could throw back. His most effective weapon was a looping overhand right, an effective punch against a taller opponent.
Darby's body work and movement allowed him to control most of the first three rounds. Then as Darby faded a bit in the fourth, Castillo gained an edge. Castillo, in the fourth round, threw more punches and backed Darby across the ring. Darby spent a bit too much time watching and not returning punches.
At the end of four rounds one judge saw the fight even, the other two leaned in favor of Darby 39-37. Darby notched his fourth win with the majority decision.
Darby lands the right
Banks won the inside battle
Kenny Ellis has been in the gym working hard and keeping his weight down as he tried to find a way back in to boxing headlines. David Banks also has issues with his weight, but bigger than that was getting back in to the ring after suffering a devastating knockout at the hands of Edison Miranda in January.
Banks went on the offensive from the opening bell, and Ellis, as he has been known to do, went in to a defensive mode that while it makes him difficult to hit, does not do much in terms of winning rounds. That meant that before Ellis started to loosen his right hand and throw it a bit, Banks had two rounds in his win column.
The third and fourth rounds were close. Ellis scored behind his right, but banks won the fight inside in the third. Split the fourth round in half; Ellis takes the first half, Banks the second.
In the fifth and sixth rounds Banks returned to throwing more punches and he therefore landed more. The frustration showed on Ellis face as there were times when he knew he should let his hands go and throw a punch but the message from brain to hand would not arrive in time.
At the end of six the judges scored the fight 60-54; 59-55 and 58-56 in favor of David Banks.
Quick, when was the last time you saw an Irishman that could not fight? Dean Byrne weighed in at 140 pounds, looks like he weighs 126, and fights like he weighs 154. Daniel Gonzalez is a tough fighter, and he will take a punch, but in this battle he was going to have to throw a big something big and loud to counter the number of punches thrown at him.
Byrne threw combinations at Gonzalez's body early and often. The came so quickly that Gonzalez could not react other than to back away. Byrne's tenacity kept Gonzalez off balance until the later stages of the round when Gonzalez finally threw punches back. In the second and third round Gonzalez tried to fight inside, a tactic which can be productive when facing a taller man, but Byrne's quick jab and stinging right would not let Gonzalez close the gap.
Byrne tired a bit after the fourth round, but Gonzalez could not close the gap. By that time, in order to win he would have to have scored a knockout, and Byrne had already shown that he has a pretty good chin
At the end of six rounds two judges scored the fight 60-53, the third had it 60-52 for a unanimous decision victory for Dean 'Irish Lightning' Byrne.
Byrne's quickness and accuracy proved too much for Gonzalez
The final fight of the evening was also one of the strangest in a couple of respects. First it proved difficult to score because neither Fred Tukes nor Max Skayzer created moments when they established any dominance. Second, the entire pace of the fight was slow, thus there were moments when the spectator's mind wandered off, and when it returned, it seemed to have missed nothing of significance.
Those two things could have changed had either fighter made small adjustments. First, Skayzer was not going to adjust to fighting the left handed Tukes, choosing to stand right in front of him. Thus, had Tukes consistently fired his jab and followed it with his left, he might have dismantled Skayzer early. Second, had Skayzer moved to his left to avoid Tukes' power, he could have moved in such a way that would have allowed his power hand to come over the top and perhaps he could have remained unbeaten. Alas, neither happened.
In the end, the scores came down to what a judge prefers to see: controlling most of the action or effective defense. One judge saw enough of both to score the fight even at 38; another scored it 29-27 in favor of Tukes; the third had it 39-37 in favor of Skayzer. A draw.
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Brian Halquist was a co promoter of the fights
at the Playboy mansion on June 25. Click here
to see the story.
