Inside the Ropes 02.01.10: Donaire Entertains, Campillo is Robbed, Arce Wins and a 'Finito' Resurfaces

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 02.01.2010

Another highway robbery forces us to ask the question: when is enough, enough? Plus, Nonito Donaire's public workout, thoughts on ShoBox, Top Rank Live! and what's up with Mosley vs. Mayweather?


A winner only on paper - Shumenov receives a gift

Shumenov photo by Gene Blevins-Hoganphotos / GBP
Donaire photo by Laura De la Torre
Brinkley photo by Marty Rosengarten / Star Boxing

As a life long fan of the sport and now a boxing journalist, there's been a lot to enjoy and brag about over the years. Classic fights, entertaining personalities, heart and soul – all great characteristics of the sport. We to have experienced our fair share of negatives but the one that keeps creeping up over and over again are mind-numbing decisions. A few particular fights that stand out from last year that suffered this sort of injustice is Sergio Martinez getting a 10-foot shaft against Kermit Cintron – escaping with an atrocious draw decision when he thoroughly dominated and nearly kayoed the former welterweight titlist. Paulie Malignaggi's laughable loss to Juan Diaz in Diaz' hometown of San Antonio was another head scratcher and perhaps more migraine-inducing was Ali Funeka's "WTF" draw against Joan Guzman in a fight that was so lopsided that one has to wonder just what in the hell two out of the three judges were watching.

That was 2009 in a nutshell (though I'm sure there was more). With 2010 now a month old, we had high hopes that we'd see less of these types of atrocities but as we've come to expect, honest to God judging is apparently too much to ask for. I was excited to have so much boxing to watch over the weekend, and I'll touch on some of those cards later but the Gabriel Campillo vs. Beibut Shuminov fight for the WBA light heavyweight belt had particularly piked my interest. As advertised, the fight was a good one. Shuminov tried his damnedest to make it a slugfest, while Campillo impressed us with a superb defense, a cool demeanor and beautiful counter punches. A competitive fight early on turned into more of a entertaining, one-sided fight with Campillo peppering Shuminov with blows upstairs. Sure, Shuminov kept coming forward throwing punches with knockout intentions but they looked prettier than they really were; simply put Campillo was deflecting, rolling and blocking most of the big shots. At the end of the fight, we all pretty much expected a clear cut unanimous decision win for Campillo but as we feared, Shuminov walked away with an absolutely ridiculous, gift split decision win that could've convinced just about anyone that it was still Christmas.. We hear Campillo's team is in the process of protesting the fight and they have every reason to.

Patricia Morse Jarman's 117-110 score for Shuminov is a disgrace and she should be forced Monday morning to explain her card to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. How she only gave Campillo three rounds is a joke and alarming. I'm not going to accuse her of doing someone a favor but that scorecard needs to be under a magnifying glass. I hope Jarman never gets another assignment – she should stay at home and stay as far away from boxing as she possibly can. Same goes for the judges involved in last year's biggest robberies as well. I plan on following up on this with the NSAC and I'll keep you all posted. Jarman should be ashamed of herself and I can only imagine that the commission is just as embarrassed for having this happen under their watch.

Nonito Donaire Has A Little Fun

On Saturday afternoon, myself, along with our photographer Laura De la Torre and videographer Jesse 'JayPea' Gonzalez made our way to San Carlos, Calif. To see former flyweight champ Nonito Donaire host a public workout at the Undisputed Gym, only a day before heading out to Las Vegas. Donaire (22-1, 15 KOs) is prepping for a Feb. 13 clash with Gerson Guerrero at the LV Hilton in the main event of Top Rank's Pinoy Power 3 – which is a pretty solid card by the way. During the workout which went from about 1-3 p.m., Donaire got in a little work on the mitts, before showing the fans his intense leg workout that would make most grown men cry. To make things more entertaining, Donaire provided color commentary for his own workout during his speed bag session and some sweat-inducing ab workouts that made me cringe. Seeing Donaire in camp is good enough but apparently not for the Filipino Flash as he turned the whole thing into quite an event, including a DJ (Qbert), Filipino food, a raffle and a long time out to sit down and sign autographs, take pictures and basically chit chat with those who made the trip to the gym. It was quite a turnout too as the gym was packed with fans of all ages, sex and creed. That they also streamed the workout goes to show juts how much Donaire and his wife Rachel care about the fans.

Assistant coach Robert Garcia was also on hand as the former junior lightweight champ talked about being glad to be a part of this camp. He sees a bright future for Nonito Donaire and he's hoping to remain a part of the team. Look out for some videos from the workout later this week.

Jorge Arce Is A Champion Again

Saturday night also featured some boxing from Mexico City as we saw quite a fun little card on Fox Sports Net in the form of Top Rank Live! Arce, who had promised to retire if he lost to Angy Angkota, kept his career alive with a technical decision win to claim the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title. From the start, Arce (53-6-1, 40 KOs) cornered his opponent while unleashing bombs upstairs and to the body. Angkota (18-4, 9 KOs), however landed a series of uppercuts and right hands that seemed to keep Arce off-balance. It was Angkota's best round but Arce found his rhythm and proceeded to dominate the rest of the fight. That the contest was pretty much fought at close range and in Angkota's corner was somewhat comical and gave new meaning to fighting in a phone booth. In the 7th round, with Arce in control, an accidental headbutt caused a bad gash over Angkota's right eye that forced a stoppage, forcing the fight to go to the cards. Arce is now a four-time champ and has been previously mentioned by Nonito Donaire as a prospective opponent.

With the fight being over before the allotted TV time, we got the opportunity to get a glimpse of the young and unbeaten Alonso "Finito" Lopez (3-0, 2 KOs). If the nickname and last name sound familiar it's because he's the son of the hall of famer Ricardo "Finito" Lopez, who ended his career undefeated and as a champion (51-0-1, 38 KOs). That he looks just like his dad is cool enough but he fights like him too which should get anyone who watched his father fight, excited. Using the same laser right hand and punishing uppercuts as his old man, Lopez finished off his opponent in the 3rd round when Sergio Cruz (0-1) simply gave up after receiving some brutal shots, highlighted by a powerful uppercut that left his nose in a bloody state. As a huge fan of Ricardo Lopez, I'll be eagerly following Alfonso's career. With only three fights under his wing, Lopez appears much more mature and polished than one would expect.

Brinkley Has The Last Laugh

On ESPN Friday Night Fights, the highly touted Curtis Stevens came in looking for a quick knockout over the hard-nosed Jesse Brinkley in Reno, Nevada. Coming in with a grossly overconfident demeanor was bad enough but to publicly state that he'd get Brinkley out of there in the first round to essentially embarrass him in front of his hometown was just classless. Nevertheless, Brinkley (35-5, 22 Kos) had the last laugh as he weathered the early storm and found himself bullying the bully about midway through the fight. Soon it was Stevens (21-3, 15 KOs) who would instead find himself on the canvas. Stevens survived and Brinkley could never quite get to that scenario again but he punished Stevens en route to a clear cut decision win. Good for Brinkley who's been quite an inspirational story since being on The Contender series and now working his way up to a potential showdown with Lucian Bute in April. Stevens will have to go back to the drawing board and maybe next time he'll keep his mouth shut and do his talking in the ring.

Random Thoughts

• Over the weekend, former world champ Erik Morales announced his return to boxing. At 33, he's not that old but he's been in more than a handful of wars and has been a pro since he was 16. Can't say I agree with his decision but wishing him the best. He was one of the most exciting fighters of his era and a 2005 decision win over Manny Pacquiao may be the biggest highlight of his career.
  
  
• I hear Brian Viloria is doing much better now and I'm glad to hear that. He says he plans to continue fighting but I hope he takes a nice little break before he decides to do so.
  
  
• A Pavlik-Martinez fight is most certainly in the works and it's an excellent fight. Let's hope it comes off. That being said, where does this leave Paul Williams now, who is once again left without a marquee fight to kick off his 2010 campaign? I feel sorry for "The Punisher" who works hard and deserves the big paydays but is consistently shunned away from other top fighters.
  
  
• Robert Garcia tells me that he thinks Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. needs a new team and I agree. His corner has done a piss poor job of motivating him and instructing him properly in his fights. A true pro like Garcia would likely do wonders for the often lazy Chavez and I bet it would pay off.

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Till next time, see you at the fights!