James Adderley has pound for pound boxing stats on Sports Monday
james adderley
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday.
Amateur Boxing returned to Belize with a bang Friday night inside the Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel which housed a monster matchup between Leopold Smart’s Gym and an official contingent from Chetumal, Mexico. Things got off to a roaring start as 2 under 16 fighters from Mexico opened in an exhibition bout to encourage the Belizean youth to start early in the sport and we thank Carlos de Jesus Ortiz and Jose Alfredo Rodriguez Diaz for this endeavor. In the meantime, the first Belize versus Mexico bout saw 115 pounder Kalin lamb get knocked down in the 2nd round of a 3 rounder by Luis Selaya who would go on to claim the big W on a TKO in the 3rd round.
Folks, Zane Ruden at 132 lbs had the unfortunate opportunity to face the national amateur fly weight champion of Mexico, Jesus Tomas Cardena and indeed Ruden had very little chance against this buzz saw of a fighter forcing Coach Smart to throw in the towel. Cardona gets his hands raised in victory. Meanwhile Harold Mariano of Belize proved to be a fame fighter in his lightweight fight against Erick Herrera and for a while he was in the contest. However in the 3rd round, Herrera unleashes this onslaught that forces the Belizean to concede before things descended any further. Minister of Sports, Patrick Faber, delivers the trophy to the winner, Herrera.
Down 0 & 3, the many fans inside the Biltmore turn to Alex Neal for the first big W and Neal looked quite capable in the opening round against Jesus Pichales. By the 3rd round, Neal had run out of gas so Pichales turns on the pressure . We must tell you that Alex Neal was a late addition to the card and his laclk of shape became painfully evident as he tries to hang on. Fortunately referee Ordonez stopped the proceedings before Neal got real hurt.
The other exhibition fight on the card found Maria Guadalupe Garcia and Guadalupe Pacheco mixing it up at the middleweight class, providing us with the painful reminder that we have no female boxers in Belize. And if you look good, Guadalupe Pacheco is also a referee and judge and we thank both for this display.
At this juncture, an air of resignation has begun to creep in among the standing room of fans that we wouldn’t pick up a win. When Max “Pain” Williams steps out in the welter weight class against Pedro Zepeda and jumps off to a fast start. Zepeda, the Mexican, appears to be pushed down by max which is illegal. However, when the action resumes, max delivers real pain to the abdomen and the head of Zepeda for the real knock down. Zepeda promptly goes to his corner and decides he wants no more of Max Williams. Belize gets the W on the Max’s TKO. Max celebrates in acrobatic fashion while the fans could not disguise their glee. It had been a long time coming and this walk back to the locker room by Max “Pain” proves our point. Empowered by the “Pain” win, Anderson Portillo comes out fast against his opponent Yael Martinez, the bronze medalist at the light heavy weight division and that strategy would not work against the better conditioned fighter. The 3rd and decisive round bring total domination by the visitor who dealt out real punishment to Portillo to win this one.
This brings us to the welter weight clash between Sherman Galvez, Belize’s amateur fighter and Alberto Mex, who finished 5th as the weight class in the Mexican Nationals and right away Galvez lives up to his top notch billing. In the second round, Galvez launches this vicious attack on Mex that tags him with straight rights which sends the Mexican into the ropes and the onslaught continues until referee Ordonez steps in. Galvez continues with bruising blows to Mex who tries to fight back but realizes Galvez was getting the better of the exchanges and guess what, mex’s corner concedes the fight as Sherman Galvez picks up the second win for Belize in impressive fashion. The Mexican won 5-2 but the 2 big wins were enough to satisfy the Belizean fans.
sherman galvez
Sherman Galvez, Boxer
“I’ve been training eight months straight, three months preparations. Ina this fight, I feel like, dah mi wahn challenge and everything but I think my workout and everything weh I do pay off good mien.”
James Adderley
“When did you know that you were the man in command of the situation?”
Sherman Galvez
“Well in the end of the first round.”
James Adderley
“Which was the best round for you?”
Sherman Galvez
“The second round cause ih done deh.”
Max “Pain” Williams, Boxer
max "pain" williams
“I just come out and give my best. I believe ina god. And once you pray to god, god wah give you the strength fi do anything. So that dah weh I do, I pray to god fi give me the strength and god did give me the strength today ina the ring.”
Leonard Ysaguirre
“I know it was the most overwhelming fight of the night. It was two minutes twelve seconds
Max “Pain” Williams
“No, one minute twelve seconds.”
Leonard Ysaguirre
“A first round knock out. I am going by the time the time keeper gave me, but I want to say congratulations to you. I’m hoping this is the first of many and I hope you keep it up.”
anderson portillo
Anderson Portillo, Boxer
“I’m gonna build up my stamina because I noticed that was one of my weaknesses. I got to let go more shots. I did survive my three rounds, I promised my three rounds. I used both my guards, I used my strategies but you know obviously the man had some good shots.”
James Adderley
“In the third round, you took a lot of unnecessary shots. Were you hurt?”
Anderson Portillo
“I have a dislocated shoulder that is half way healing. I guess he paralyzed me for a moment so I used different guard but I guess that’s how strategy.”
James Adderley
“But Anderson we’ll see you again?”
Anderson Portillo
“Definitely, you wahn see me yah, Mexico, wherever. I am going to fight anybody, anytime, anywhere.”
Meanwhile folks, it was our MC Jose Sanchez that gave Max Williams the nickname “Pain” and apparently he knew what he was talking about. The boxing community takes this opportunity to thank all who supported this fight including the National Sports Council, Channel 5, Dion Leslie, Tony Habet and all other sponsors. We promise to do it again shortly.
Turning to the volleyball scene, Arnid Arnold and Germaine Audinett turned back a strong challenge for Ernest Broaster and Raul Arnold to win the Tropigas 2 on 2 Beach Tournament: 21-13, 23-2. In the ladies side Jasmin Anderson and Karina Martinez combined their efforts to grab the title from Tisha Solis and Yishel Solis and we say congratulations.
In football news, BPFL play on the weekend saw Belmopan Blaze and San Felipe Barcelona battle to a 1-all stalemate. Toledo Ambassadors and FC Belize settled for a scoreless stalemate. While the defending champion, B.D.F. blanked Griga United 2-zip.
In the table tennis scene, Team Ace crushed No Mercy 5 to 1 over the weekend in the Brothers Habet Team League to pull up to 3rd place in the 1st division. In the 2nd division play, Hurricane blew away Garage 5-3, Phoenix blanked Cobra 5-sip and Young Stars handled Team L in a 5-3 finish. This Saturday, October 23rd, 1st Division play finds ACE facing Racqueteers, No Mercy takes on Suga City and Bombers takes aim at Rivero Welders. In 2nd Division action, Hurricane faces Team L, Garage goes up against Young Stars and Cobra goes to work against Phoenix.
In basketball news, the national U-15 basketball selection looked to even its 3 game series against the CODICADER silver medalist Sacred Heart College Friday night in game II inside the City Center as it prepared to compete in CENTROBASKET in Chiapas, Mexico from the 1st to the 6th November. Again, the young stars were out gunned by the High school team. There is Kashif Thomas with 2 of his game high 26 points to lead Sacred Heart to a 63-50 big W. Edar Mitchell helped in the W with 14 points score. For the U-15 team, Kyle Middleton led the way with 14 points while Brian White threw up 13 points. The U-15 team plays against the older guys in preparation for show time inside COCABA and we say good luck.
Finally in cycling news, Darnell Barrow of Sarteneja took the BCA 42 mile race on Saturday with Jesus Cassasola 2nd and Glen O’Brien 3rd in a race that averaged 23.24 miles per hour.
Jah Over all, I’m James Adderley.
