Punishment Inc.

[TonyR]

Thanks Tony, as far as the speed goes, with all the new fighters it slows down the progress a little.

Easily Understandable, but you do tend to leave a lot of cliffhangers.
Just waiting to post after the results.
Great job with Omar btw.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Ismael Gutierrez 2-0-0(1) #119 v. Artemio Hinojosa 5-2-3(1) #101

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

The round started with Ismael dictating the pace of the fight. He landed a great set of punches early and tailed off through the round. Both fighters were coming forward and there was some holding and puching inside. I felt that the round ended very close. Both fighters jabbed well, Hinojosa crept back in and made the round very even.

Round two did not go well at all. Hinojosa was accurate, and landed a number of combinations. Ismael stopped coming forward so much and looked to counter the attacking Hinojosa. The last :30 of the round were Ismael’s, but that was all. He lost that round in my eyes.

Round three was as hard a round as you will see anywhere. Both men took turns laying it out and getting his. The fight was back and forth and I still think that Ismael didn’t do enough to get the round. He just got hit by too many punches. Even the announcers ringside noticed that both men look worse for the wear after that round. Who knows what will happen in round four?

Hinojosa did a number on Ismael in this round. Punch after punch seemed to rain down upon Gutierrez. Now, Ismael did get some good punches in, and his punches hurt, but I would say that Artemio Hinojosa’s chin is highly underrated. He was quick and fluid, and really took this fight to the finish. Gutierrez looked winded at the end. He could have stolen the round with some offensive flurries, after I yelled that he was losing and that he needed the big punch now! I think I just heard them say that Hinojosa’s nose is broken. Well, if he won he deserves it. He fought a nice fight.

[PilotMan]

Here is the scoring.

J1: 39-38 Hinojosa

J2: 40-37 Hinojosa

J3: 39-39

So Ismael is no longer undefeated. I lost a quarter of a million betting. And the money that I was going to use to resign Omar to an extension is gone.

Time to get drunk. I am calling it a night.

[PilotMan]

Antonio Reyes still wants that fight with Drydon. I told you no once now FUCK OFF! I guess I am still a little pissy about last week’s fight. I feel like a fuckin’ retard. I don’t feel like I can get anything right. Now I have the Melvin Horne fight to worry about, and his fight is going to be tough as well.

Anthony Hardy had a tougher time that I expected, but still managed a win over Quincy Taylor. It was in 10 rounds and he won by a split decision.

Lawrence still is not healthy enough to train. Do you believe that?

My attitude is pretty sour right now. No fights to schedule, and none to prep for this week.

Here is what is on tap in the rest of the boxing world:

1) Former Lightweight Champion Jorge Reynoso 22-4-1(14) #2 v. Shaun Kilburn 22-9-0(13) #7

Reynoso is still one tough customer. He is not the champ, but he is not that far off. Kilburn has been very active over the last 2 years. He has only recently broken into the top 10 for the first time. He is in top shape and can match skills with Reynoso. One thing that Reynoso has going for him is that he has beaten the one man to beat Kilburn in the last 2 years, Takayuki Takayama. That alone makes him the favorite. The bookies really like Reynoso though. The odds on him are 1/4 while Kilburn is 10/3. A small wager on Kilburn might be worth the risk of losing it. The odds on Reynoso certainly are not good enough to warrant a bet there.

[PilotMan]

I was approached by Antonio Reyes people again! They want a fight in 2 weeks! Are they insane. This is the third time that I have told them to get bent.

Lawrence is finally cleared for training. Let’s see how fat he has gotten with all his time off.

The results aren’t as bad as they could have been, but it isn’t good. He has resumed his very expensive, very rigorous workout in preparation for his next fight. It probably won’t be determined for a while.

Lee Drydon is ready to get back into the ring. I think it has been really impressive what he has been able to do. Considering where his career was going when he signed on. He is going up and he has potential, but I don’t think that he has what it takes to get to the top. I am looking at a couple of prospective opponents for him. Neither would pay very much, but both should be beatable. Drydon currently has five fights remaining, so he isn’t at a critical stage yet.

The fighter that looks the most interesting is Toshihiro Nagai. Nagai, is 6-9-3(4), and is ranked #91. He is a power puncher to the max, but has also tasted the canvas just about as much. This is the highest that he has been ranked. His last fight he was knocked out in the fourth round. He has good skills, but appears to be down on himself. He struggles defensively and his resitance to punches low, and up high is questionable. He hits hard, but Drydon has a very good chin. The fight is booked for two months from now, Lee ought to be in good shape by then.

[Tellistto]

Bummer on the loss for Ishmael and the loss of all that money. Hopefully Horne can turn things around for you when he fights again, and for himself.


Tell

[TonyR]

Tough batch of losses, but you'll turn 'em around.

[PilotMan]

Third week of December, 2006

Merry Chrismas.

Fight Night-

All of my skills and abilities are going to be put to the test this week. Melvin Horne is making his debut. He needs a little work, and could be better, but he represents the single greatest challenge. He has chosen to work with me. A former title holder, and he thinks that I may be able to guide him back to the top. I hope that I am up to the challenge. He hasn’t fought since the whipping by Pernell Whitaker. This fight will be different.

His opponent is Edwin Rosario, a top-20 fighter who drew with Barney Ross in his last fight. He is best known for being an aggressive power puncher, many believe his biggest weakness to be his accuracy and defense. He is not weak in any area, but is less strong in some. I would like to see a defensive fight plan in play, until I get a feeling of where Horne is going to take this fight. His power may overwhelm Rosario, but I would hate to really see his bell get rung. His chin is not the best in the business. I think that he can be more accurate, and perhaps counter punching is the soup de jour. Round one will have more answers.

This is going to be the most important of his fights. If he doesn’t win here, I am really going to have my hands full.

Oddsmakers are leaning heavily in Horne’s favor. They like him as a fighter and like him better under my tutelage. He is the favorite at 1/4, while Rosario is 7/2. Personally, those are not bad odds for Rosario, and if I wasn’t totally convinced in my fighter I would bet that way. The odds on Horne are terrible. No big payday looming here.



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There is one fight of note. Jeff Ellery, a former light-heavyweight champion, is trying to break his 3 loss steak with a fight against Martin Kinnear. Ellery, 20-11-1(12) #13, lost his last fight in a first round KO to Cliff Harris. His chin is his weakness, look for Kinnear to push the action and force his way inside. Kinnear, 26-14-0(18) #10, lost his last fight by getting TKOed in the 8<SUP>th</SUP> round against Bob Foster. He had won three fights in a row prior to that loss, and was ranked as high as 6<SUP>th</SUP> in the world. The big news here is that a loss would pretty much kill any hope that Jeff Ellery had of returning to the world stage. Oddsmakers like Kinnear in this one. Odds on him are 8/11, while Ellery is 7/6. Personally, I think that Ellery is in for another big fall.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Melvin Horne 9-8-0(8) #6 v. Edwin Rosario 39-7-1(33) #20

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Round one was good for feeling out the opposition. Rosario pushed forward and tied up Horne a number of times. Both fighters appeared content to jab and move from the outside, with Horne doing a nice job of counterpunching. It was an even round on the scoring.

Horne seemed more winded than he should have been after that round. I told him to lay back a little more and wait for the counter. Rosario started off by charging from his corner, his openness to attack did exactly what I was hoping for. Horne started a barrage of counterpunches and pressured Rosario with defense and accurate punching. Toward the middle of the round Rosario got hurt with a combination and an overhead right put him on the canvas. Not to happy about that he was up at three and took the eight count. Horne maintained his composure and kept to the gameplan, instead of going in for the kill. A good round for Horne, that he won by two.

Round three was marked by a more defensive Rosario. Both fighters jabbed a lot and neither wanted to be the aggressor. It was back and forth and toward the end of the round Horne looked to make another mark, a good combination and Rosario was sent back to the corner looking winded.

Round four went well for Horne and it is clear that he is outclassing his opponent. Rosario cannot seem to do anything right. If he lays back it is an even round, and if he comes forward he gets destroyed. Rosario tried to attack in this round and ate a lot of punches. Horne put together another good flurry at the end of the round and almost got the TKO. The ref let it continue and Melvin came back to the corner feeling more pumped up. I think he can sense the prospective TKO, KO or just the win.

With Melvin chomping at the bit, he started the round a bit more aggressive than any of the previous rounds. Still maintaining his move first philosophy he openness to attack opened the door more for Rosario. The first minute was one of the busiest that you will ever see, and Melvin was on the delivering end for it. Rosario came back a little, but was stunned with a series that started with a jab and hook combo. Horne pursued the dazed fighter across the ring and shoved him in the corner. The round was winding down, and this ref had already shown that he likes the guys to fight, but this was too much for even him. With only a few seconds left he called off Melvin and awarded him the TKO!



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Martin Kinnear continued to make Jeff Ellery’s life horrible by winning a 10-round majority decision.

Betting went respectable as I won 75k on the two fights. Nice when 75k is respectable. ;)

[PilotMan]

Final week of 2006

No fights for us this week, in fact, no fights for the next few weeks. A time for training and getting healthy. Also a time to decide if a couple of fighters are going to stay in the folds of my trust.

Lawrence McFarlane is not healing well at all. His health is still questionable, I am beginning to wonder if/when he will be fit again. At this rate it is going to be at least 6 months. The rest of the group is in a tweener time. Besides the two scheduled fights, the rest of the guys should be getting ready to fight in a few weeks time.

One big fight this week and that is a rematch for the former Welterweight champion Manuel Castillo. Castillo, 25-2-1(8), #3 is fighting Charles Norris. The two fought at the end of last year, with the fight ending in a draw. Norris is 37-2-1(19), and is ranked #11. Following his fight with Castillo he lost to De la Hoya, and won a TKO over Donovan Order. For Castillo, this fight was the springboard that he used to defeat Sugar Ray Leonard, only to lose the title to Wilfredo Benitez four months later. The bookies are favoring Castillo in the rematch. Odds on him to win are 4/6, while odds on Norris are 5/4. Castillo is in better shape and should get the win.

[Tellistto]

Woo, now that's the way to dominate that fight. Great job by Melvin and by his management!


Tell

[PilotMan]

Woo, now that's the way to dominate that fight. Great job by Melvin and by his management!


Tell
Thanks! I was pleasantly surprised.

[PilotMan]

Manuel Castillo did get his revenge with a 10 round unanimous decision over Charles Norris, to keep his hopes of another title shot alive.

Coming up...

Fighter of the Year Awards

End of the year rankings

Stable Finances

[PilotMan]

Fighter of the Year Awards, 2006

Flyweight - Rocky Cubillas 20-1-1(15)

Cubillas has made sure that last year’s FOY does not repeat in getting the award. Not that Mauro Martinez did anything wrong, he finished the year undefeated, but Cubillas had a good year too. Cubillas was undefeated with victories over Pancho Villa, a knockout of Hironobu Horiguchi, and a TKO over Yul-Woo Lee. He fought to a draw with Randy Mercado early in the year. He currently is not scheduled to fight again.

Bantamweight - Job Reyes 21-0-2(13)

Reyes repeats as the fighter of the year for good reason. He went on to beat Xavier Firth to grab the Bantamweight Title. He fought four times winning two of them by TKO. He is at the top of his game. His first title defense is a rematch from last year. He will face Fernando Ramirez, a fighter that he beat with a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO.

Featherweight - Calvin Calvert 21-3-0(16)

Calvert repeats as the Featherweight FOY. We won three fights, all on points, and still waits for a title shot. His wins were over Willie Pep, Eric Doughty, and Juan Zamora. He is currently ranked #2 in his division, and would love to get a fight with Peter Badillo for the title. His first fight of the new year is going to be against youngster Armando Medina, a man who is undefeated since getting knocked out by Badillo in his title shot.

Lightweight - Pernell Whitaker 45-1-1(19)

Whitaker is the one of the best lightweights in the business, and besides the champ, Damien Essett, he may be the best. He was a very busy fighter this year, winning five fights. His victories were against Yasushi Nitta, Julio Cesar Chavez, Melvin Horne, Luis Valdez, and Raul Jimenez. He has a rematch with Julio Cesar Chavez in two weeks.

Welterweight - Derrell Guyver 28-1-0(14)

Guyver did have a good year, and had one huge fight that put him toward the top of short list for the welterweight division. He won three fights, two by TKO. Ike Quartey lost, but still took him the distance. He TKOed Dennis Duran, and grabbed the biggest win of the year with a win over Oscar de la Hoya. He is ranked #4, and has no fight scheduled.

Middleweight - Leavander Nolan 20-0-0(6)

Nolan has been the Middlweight title holder now for over a year. He successfully defended his title against last years FOY Anthony Hardy and an all-time great in Carlos Monzon. Both fights were close, but Nolan was the winner both times. He is scheduled to defend his title against Ewan Veal this week.

[PilotMan]

Light Heavyweight - James Singleton 15-8-0(14)

Singleton came out of nowhere in the light-heavyweight division. In fact, he finished last year ranked #30 in the world, and how did it end you ask? It ended in the 12<SUP>th</SUP> round, when his hands of stone finally put an end to the reign of last years FOY as champ, Virgil Hill. Singlton fought three times, with two wins coming by way of KO. A cinderella story, who knows how long he will reign as the Champ? He has no fight scheduled.

Heavyweight - Joe Louis 72-3-0(58)

I am not really sure that Louis should be the fighter of the year, except that he took advantage of the opportunity given to him. He fought one time, for the title, and won with an 8<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Peter O’ Connell. He has no fights scheduled, who knows when he will even fight again?



And.....

The overall WCBM Fighter of the Year is.......



Derrell Guyver!



Guyver had a good run, but you have to believe that win against an undefeated Oscar De la Hoya was a thing of beauty. That was a real surprise, as I had thought that Oscar would keep killing guys until he took the title. But maybe now, time is running our for him.

[PilotMan]

End of the Year, 2006 Rankings

Heavyweight

CHAMP Joe Louis 72-3-0(58)

#1 Peter O’Connell 36-4-1(20)

#2 Evander Holyfield 40-4-1(25)

#3 Max Watt 17-0-4(10)

#4 Anthony Wood 17-0-2(6)

#5 Muhammad Ali 60-6-0(38)

#6 Michael Moorer 44-3-1(34)

#7 Ralph Weymouth 18-7-1(14)

#8 Scott Jarrold 19-0-0(12)

#9 Larry Holmes 70-8-0(43)

#10 Colin Dibble 25-4-0(13)

Light Heavyweight

CHAMP James Singleton 15-8-0(14)

#1 Virgil Hill 49-4-1(25)

#2 Will Cripps 18-3-2(11)

#3 Bob Foster 63-8-1(50)

#4 Julio Perez 17-2-0(6)

#5 Roy Jones 43-1-1(35)

#6 Les Grant 40-4-0(16)

#7 Carl Wilks 23-1-0(18)

#8 Roger Stewart 32-7-0(17)

#9 Cliff Harris 23-7-0(12)

#10 Martin Kinnear 27-14-0(18)

Middleweight

CHAMP Leavander Nolan 20-0-0(6)

#1 Wayne Wells 30-1-0(21)

#2 Ewan Veal 39-0-1(27)

#3 Anthony Hardy 47-3-0(15)

#4 Bill Neville 28-0-0(21)

#5 George Kings 23-2-0(9)

#6 Carlos Monzon 97-8-11(66)

#7 Mike McCallum 51-7-3(36)

#8 Jeff Larkin 21-4-0(21)

#9 Sandy McGrath 30-1-1(19)

#10 Guy Usher 37-6-0(6)

[PilotMan]

Welterweight

CHAMP Jose Napoles 83-8-0(58)

#1 Wilfredo Benitez 58-9-1(32)

#2 Manuel Castillo 26-2-1(8)

#3 Derrell Guyver 28-1-0(14)

#4 Oscar De la Hoya 37-1-0(26)

#5 Jose Victor Lopez 22-1-0(15)

#6 Sugar Ray Leonard 37-4-1(25)

#7 Javier Quirino 42-4-0(32)

#8 Shawn McKeag 21-1-0(1)

#9 Ed Roper 31-1-2(13)

#10 Tommy Ryan 89-5-9(50)

Lightweight

CHAMP Damien Essett 22-1-0(22)

#1 Pernell Whitaker 45-1-1(19)

#2 Jorge Reynoso 22-4-2(14)

#3 Julio Cesar Chavez 103-4-2(82)

#4 Paul Kench 41-0-1(8)

#5 Melvin Horne 10-8-0(9)

#6 Shaun Kilburn 22-9-1(13)

#7 Benny Leonard 86-7-1(69)

#8 Luis Valdez 35-4-0(15)

#9 Augustin Garza 23-6-0(13)

#10 Makoto Yahara 19-6-0(7)

Featherweight

CHAMP Peter Badillo 24-5-0(17)

#1 Calvin Calvert 21-3-0(16)

#2 Armando Medina 20-1-1(5)

#3 Wilfredo Gomez 47-4-2(43)

#4 Juan Zamora 23-1-1(14)

#5 Gary Jakeman 18-6-1(8)

#6 Azumah Nelson 45-5-3(29)

#7 Eusebio Pedroza 50-7-1(29)

#8 Kevin Kelley 53-4-2(35)

#9 Manuel Garcia 45-9-0(12)

#10 Nolito Filisilda 37-2-0(12)

[PilotMan]

Bantamweight

CHAMP Job Reyes 21-0-2(13)

#1 Xavier Firth 22-7-0(9)

#2 Sandro Macias 20-5-2(14)

#3 Joselito Pana 33-2-1(13)

#4 Estaban Lopez 15-10-1(5)

#5 Carlos Zarate 66-5-1(60)

#6 Fernando Ramirez 15-7-1(12)

#7 Edel Milanes 21-5-2(12)

#8 Enrique Grimaldo 41-1-0(30)

#9 Bimbo Melchor 20-1-1(12)

#10 Claudio Ojeda 28-2-1(10)

Flyweight

CHAMP Gerardo Ramirez 27-1-0(12)

#1 Adam Napier 27-2-0(25)

#2 Mauro Martinez 32-0-0(20)

#3 Ernesto Bantillan 15-5-0(11)

#4 Masayuki Kabayashi 27-4-1(12)

#5 Rocky Cubillas 20-1-1(15)

#6 Lito Jamili 18-7-0(16)

#7 Zosimo Diaz 21-2-0(12)

#8 Buddy Bionas 20-2-0(5)

#9 Randy Mercado 14-3-2(11)

#10 Geronimo Solorio 31-2-0(21)

[PilotMan]

Stable Finances

Cash on Hand 3,428,039

Assets

Melvin Horne 290,688 x 4 = 1,162,752

Lawrence McFarlane 392,453 = 1,962,265

Omar Acevedo 600,389 x 2 = 1,200,778

Lee Drydon 234,385 x 5 = 1,171,925

Niall Beaumont 468,552 x 1 = 468,552

Ismael Gutierrez 361,000 x 4 = 1,444,024

Total Contract Value 7,410,296

Total Assets 10,838,335

I am up about 800k since August, but the recent losses have taken their toll. It is expensive to train the fighters who have a shot at the title. That means that I need to find some good value fighters who can make me some money, at the same time won’t break the bank. I am still quite frustrated with Niall Beaumont. He has one fight left, and I am not sure if it is worth it to pay that much for him. I will need to decide how to proceed with Omar soon too. He has a fight in a few weeks that could place him toward the top of the lightweight division. He is very expensive to resign right now too.

Here is where they are currently ranked.

Melvin Horne (L) #6

Lawrence McFarlane (M) #25

Omar Acevedo (L) #53

Lee Drydon (FY) #106

Niall Beaumont (H) #120

Ismael Gutierrez (LH) #125

[PilotMan]

What to do? What to do? Niall has one fight left. I could try and sign him after the fight, but he would have no obligation to do so. It is time to for him to test his meddle against another up and coming, young heavyweight. This will give me a good benchmark for where he is at and where he is going. There is another fighter, who is ranked just a bit lower than he is, but who is fighting as well as Niall is. Hideyuki Ito is currently ranked #127, but has a record of 3-0-1(0). A win would give me a nice payday too. A loss would show me just where Niall is, and either situation would probably lead me not to resign him for Punishment Inc. I am ok with that. It is time to bring some new blood in anyway.

It is going to be a few weeks before there are any new fights for the fighters of Punishment Inc. We are going to be focusing on training quite a bit until then.

Speaking of bringing in some new blood into Punishment Inc, that is what I intend to do. I have talked about getting some good value fighters. Guys who may never fight for the title, but who can put together a good run, and bring some money into the stable. Journeymen. Now I am not one to use these guys. Each fighter that I bring in, I have their best interests at heart. I want them to do well. I am not, I repeat not, intentionally going to tank on these guys.

The signings of these fighters pretty much signal to Niall that he is training for his last fight for Punishment Inc. He can’t be happy, but I always want to leave the door open for him to return, should the right set of circumstance arise.

Andreas Ruelas is a middleweight fighter who reminds me a lot of Lawrence McFarlane. He fits the profile for fighters in Punishment Inc. He is ranked #107 and has a record of 10-9-3-(8). It has been almost a year since he won a fight. He was very active in 2006 fighting 6 times, winning once, losing three times and drawing twice. He, like Lawrence when he started is not feeling very confident and could be in better shape. He was signed for a six fight contract.

Punishment Inc has added two welterweight fights for its ever growing stable. The first is Glenn Leeds. Leeds, 3-8-1(1), is currently ranked #140. His most recent fight was last week where he got his draw. His opponent was Tomoaki Watanabe. Watanabe was also signed by Punishment Inc. Both men are heavy puncher and fight in a similar style. Watanabe is 0-1-2(0), and is ranked #142. Lees was signed to a six fight contract and Watanabe a nine fight contract.

The middleweight title is on the line to start the new year. Current champ, Leavander Nolan, 20-0-0(6), will defend his title for the third time during his reign that so far, has lasted just over a year. His opponent is #3 ranked Ewan Veal. Veal, 39-0-1(27), is I believe, the winningest fighter without a loss in all of boxing. His one draw was against Mike McCallum last year. Nolan, has a lot at stake since he is considered the best middleweight fighter, cham, and fighter of the year. Veal could give Nolan the toughest fight yet. He has good stamina, a good punch, and a great chin. I can almost guarentee you that this fight will go the distance. Odds are favoring Nolan at 4/6, while Veal is 5/4. I can see betting on Veal. Forty fights without a loss is good for something, right?

[PilotMan]

Leavander Nolan is still the undefeated, middleweight champion of the world. He won with a unanimous decision over Ewan Veal. Veal suffers his first loss ever. I lost 30k, but I could afford to make a bet like that.

No fighters are healthy to sign for fights so here is a look at this weeks featured fights:

Lightweight FOY Pernell Whitaker 45-1-1(19) #2 v. Julio Cesar Chavez 103-4-2(82) #4

An exciting rematch. Whitaker won the first go round, and Chavez has not lost since the loss. Bettors are favoring Whitaker, naturally, at 2/5, while Chavez is 11/5. Pernell did it once, he should be able to do it again. Still, the odds are worth laying some money on Chavez, just in case.

[PilotMan]

The improbable has happened. Like Oscar De la Hoya last year, now Pernell Whitaker has been knocked off in dramatic fashion. Julio Cesar Chavez came up big in the 9<SUP>th</SUP> round and knocked out Whitaker. He paid for some training, but what this will do for Whitaker’s chances for a fight against Damien Essett. Chavez now is in the drivers seat for a title fight in the lightweight division.

Watanbe, just fought but is in fighting condition again. He is struggling mentally the same way that Drydon did when he got here. I am also having the same problem getting fights for him. Two fighters turned him down for fights. I have a feeling that I will need to wait for someone else to offer him a fight. And hope that he is up to the challenge.

Rueles, Gutierrez, and Leeds all should be healthy enough to schedule soon. Gutierrez is doing well with his training. He is focused on being in good physical shape. I am not going to let him lose again. What a waste that would be.

Here is the featured fight of the week:

Bantamweight Champ and FOY Job Reyes 21-0-2(13) #1 v. Fernando Ramirez 15-7-1(12) #7

A rematch and a lucky fight for Ramirez. I would rather have seen a Reyes-Firth rematch, but this will have to do. Reyes is still undefeated and is a top draw. Ramirez won two fights in a row since his TKO loss to Reyes. I gotta think that Reyes is the favorite. It will be hard repeating his first showing. Reyes is the heavy favorite at 2/5, while Ramirez is at 11/5. I would never bet against Reyes. He is way too tough right now.

[PilotMan]

Job Reyes has defended his title for the first time. He destroyed Ramirez with a 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round KO. Ramirez should have seen his last title fight for a while. I won a little, like 40k. Funny when 40k is a little.

Former Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard, 37-4-1(25) #7 v. Ed Roper 31-1-2(13) #10

Leonard has lost two fights in a row and is looking for a win to move back up the ladder to the top. Roper has been moving up the rankings and was ranked as low as 35<SUP>th</SUP> last year. His only loss was in 2005 to Jose Victor Lopez. Odds favor Leonard at 1/4, and Roper is 15/4. Leonard has to win this fight, otherwise he will find it impossible to go for a title fight anytime soon.

Zosimo Diaz is the challenger for the flyweight title. Gerardo Ramirez is making his first defense since winning the title back from Adam Napier that he lost. Diaz, 21-2-0(12), is ranked #12, and has been on the margins of a legit title contender. Ramirez, 27-1-0(12) is the real deal. He is the favored fighter.

[PilotMan]

Gerardo Ramirez defended his flyweight title with a 12 round majority decision over Zosimo Diaz.

Ed Roper stunned Sugar Ray Leonard with a 10 round unanimous decision win. That should move him up in the world.

Most of my fighters will be ready to fight or are already ready. I am still looking for opponents for my newest fighters in the stable. I am having the same problem that noone is interested in fighting a guy who his ranked near the bottom of the list in his weight class.

I am looking for an opponent for Andreas. He is responding to the training, but his progress is slow. He has some really good ability, but picking fights for him in the early going is going to be critical. The first fighter that I am looking at is Job Ruelas. I don’t think that there is any relation, but it should make the announcers job a little bit harder. Job is ranked #116, has a good chin and is a pretty accurate puncher. Andreas is aggressive, but has good defense, and hits very hard. Job’s record is 1-7-1(0), and his only win was almost two years ago. Andreas just needs a win, and he should get it here.

Glenn Leeds is going to get his first shot at the road back to respectability against Kenny Malone. Malone is ranked #136 and has a record of 3-6-3(0). He has a good chin so he will likely take the fight the distance. The highest that he has ever been ranked is #117. The fight will be in a little under two months.

Ismael Gutierrez is going to fight Leslie Downey. Downey is 2-3-1(1), and has won his last two fights. Still, he should be no match for Gutierrez. Downey is ranked #113, which is just above where Ismael is ranked. He has so-so power, but he is a hard charging fighter with a great chin. He has yet to be knocked down. I would like to see Ismael win this one easy.

[PilotMan]

Second week of February, 2007

There are some really good fights in the world of boxing coming up. I am getting ready as two of my fighters are getting ready to go next week. Omar and Lee are both up for fights. And as I continue after that it is going to be a steady stream of fights for Punishment Inc. Wins are going to be very important in order to try and sustain the needs of my upper echelon fighters.

Featherweight FOY Calvin Calvert 21-3-0(16) #2 v. Armando Medina 20-1-1(5) #3

Here is one good fight. Both men are in their prime, and both men would like a crack at Peter Badillo for the crown. Well, in Medina’s case, another crack. You see, Medina’s only loss was a second round KO loss to Badillo. Though you may remember. Since he has rattled off five straight wins. His chin, and defense are going to be tested by Calvert. He has been dominant and has stayed ranked in the top 5 for over two years. Bettors are actually favoring Medina in this match, and it is wider than you would think. Odds on Medina are 2/5, while the odds on Calvert are 2/1. I am betting on Calvert all the way, and why not at 2/1 a good bit of money is there to be made.

Former Heavyweight Champion Peter O’Connell 36-4-1(20) #2 v. Evander Holyfield 40-4-1(25) #3

Another good fight between the top ranked fighters in the heavyweight division. Both men have beaten some tough opponents with O’Connell beating Lennox Lewis recently and Holyfield beating Muhammad Ali, and Michael Moorer. If not for Louis holding the title, Holyfield should have been the FOY last year. O’Connell is the favorite at 3/5, while Holyfield is 11/8. If Holyfield can beat "The Greatest", he can beat anyone.

Former Flyweight Champion Adam Napier 27-2-0(25) #2 v. Mauro Martinez 32-0-0(20) #3

Martinez should still be the FOY, but he lost that distinction this year. He also would like it if Napier was still the champ. But he lost his title in his rematch with Gerardo Ramirez. These two make an impressive pair, with almost 60 wins and two losses. Their skills mirror each other with the exception being that Martinez is in better fighting shape and has much higher confidence than Napier. Martinez is the favorite at 4/7 and he should be, Napier could steal this, but at 6/4, the odds aren’t good enough and I don’t think that he is either.

[PilotMan]

This week marks a big losing week in the world of betting and Punishment Inc. I lost in the range of 125k [shiver].

Peter O’Connell scored a split decision win over Evander Holyfield to remain the top contender to the title.

Armando Medina shocked me senseless by winning in style over Calvin Calvert. A unanimous decision win for him. I have a feeling now that Calvert won’t be the Featherweight FOY this year.

Mauro Martinez stayed undefeated by winning a split decision over Adam Napier. Martinez has to be at the top of the list now for a title fight.

[PilotMan]

Third week of February, 2007

Fight Night-

I am starting to scout for opponents for Melvin Horne’s next fight. My only concern is that he is ranked so much higher than he really should be right now, and there are a lot of fighters at this level that will be more difficult for him than I would like.

Lawrence McFarlane is still recovering although I do expect that in 2-3 weeks he will be back up to full steam and ready for his next fight. He is back in the top 25 and itching to move back up the list.

There are two challenging fights this week for us. I told Lee that I intend for him to test the chin of his opponent and take advantage of his weak defense. It will also give me the opportunity to see how he holds up against a figher who will hit hard, and press the action. Drydon has had some easy fights since he signed and he as done very well. Tonight will be the biggest challenge yet, and a chance to move a number of spots up in the rankings. My strategy for the fight is to have Drydon work behind the jab. I want him to win the rounds but not look for the KO. If he gets hit too much I may need to switch up, but so far, he has been very successful doing what I tell him too. Nagai is the favorite, but it is very close. 4/5 v. 11/10. Cash is dwindling at Punishment Inc, so I am not sure that maxing out the bet is good, but I do have a good feeling about this fight.

Omar. What can I say? He has developed into a very nice fighter. It seems like so long ago that he was knocked clean off his ass, and out. He has sure come a long way. The fighter he faces tonight has faced the best. He has lost, but he has faced them. Two years ago he was the #3 ranked lightweight. Now he has fallen to #38. He has lost two straight fights and seems ripe for the picking. Omar demolished two fighters who seemed like they were on their way down too. I think that he can do it again, but he will need to be careful. Milanes is an accurate, heavy puncher and has very good defense. His chin is much better than Omar’s and his punch is stronger. I wonder sometimes if this was the right match to make, since Omar has a weak chin. He will need to be very elusive, and fight the kind of fight that he did against Vargas. I don’t think that he will knock out Milanes, but I think that he can win. The bookies like Omar in this fight. The odds are 8/11 in his favor, while Milanes is 7/6.

Both fights can be good for Punishment Inc. A win for Omar would move him up a long way, and I think that he could get a fight with just about anyone. A win for Lee would also move him up, but also put him into a position where he could be a real, legit, pain in the ass for a lot of other fighters.

Fight of the week:

Lightweight Champ Damien Essett 22-1-0(22) v. Shaun Kilburn 22-9-1(13) #7

Essett is the heavy favorite as he has destroyed all others in his reign. Kilburn’s last fight was a draw with a fighter who Essett Koed in the first round. Kilburn has been pretty active, and is in good physical shape. At this point though I would say that he is far outclassed in this fight. It is almost 10 months since Essett’s last fight. Odds are 1/5 for Essett, and 4/1 for Kilburn. I think Essett should win easy.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Lee Drydon 4-2-1(1) v. Toshihiro Nagai 6-9-3(4)

Round one was exciting! Both men started off throwing punch after punch with Drydon doing a nice job with the jab and moving well behind it. Nagai unloaded a couple of combinations and the fight was even, but Drydon was doing well. 1:43 into the round Lee cracked him over the head with a hard right that sent Nagai sprawling on the canvas. Nagai got up by the five count, and took the mandatory eight. Lee decided that now was the time to go in for the kill, but he got sloppy and left himself wide open, and was unable to land any clean punches. Settling back into his Jab and Move strategy he again made Nagai pay for standing still. Drydon’s punches were effective. A wicked left to the body dropped Nagai to the canvas for a second time at 2:39 and this time he did not get back up.

Lee Drydon has come up big with a round one KO!

And here I was settled in for a long fight. Nagai didn’t stand a chance. Drydon looked freakin’ awesome. I have a feeling that there is a whole other world out there for him now. He is very, very excited, and we are both pleasantly surprised with the ease of this win.

[PilotMan]

Here we go again!

This fight is scheduled for eight rounds.

Omar Acevedo 7-1-0(2) v. Urbano Milanes 15-15-0(15)

Round one started off with a very sharp looking Milanes landing a number of combinations that had Omar moving back and trying to hold on through the first minute. The rate that he was landing punches the fight would never have made it through the first round. Omar stuck to his guns and tried to get back in to it, but he was just hit way to much. Milanes looks better than I thought that he would. I hope Omar can get his gameplan going.

Round two wasn’t any better. Omar, still trying to outbox Milanes is getting peppered with four and five punch combinations. He cannot seem to get out of the way fast enough. He only landed a handful of punches and didn’t do nearly enough to win this round.

Omar came out for round three looking to go on the offensive. He did well landing punches with equal fervor as Milanes. Milanes managed a couple of combinations and then slipped in an uppercut while Omar was coming forward. It caught Omar square on the chin, and I knew he was in trouble. Down he went. He struggled to get up by the nine count, the ref finished counting and looked at him. Omar was in a bad way and he didn’t like it. So ends the winning streak of Omar Acevedo.

I should have known better. Milanes was a fighter on the way down, but still packed way too much punch for Omar. Now he will need to regain some more momentum to get going again.

Overall I just about broke even on bets. I should have told Omar to be more patient and let his gameplan unfold. Milanes was a formidable opponent, and I underestimated him. Well, I may be able to resign Omar for a little bit longer, as his value should have come down a little from it’s high point.



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Damien Essett kept his streak going with an 11<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Shaun Kilburn. The man is a machine. That is all I need to say.

[PilotMan]

First week of March, 2007

Fight Night-

The swan song for Niall Beaumont and Punishment Inc. He will not be resigned, but we will continue to follow his progress afterward.

Hideyuki Ito is his opponent. He has no power, and he has a marginal chin. He is a pretty accurate puncher and good defensive fighter. Beaumont will need to be an offensive monster and really take the fight to Ito. Look for him to press forward and throw hard on the inside. Ito is a good fighter and has yet to lose a fight. Niall will definately have his work cut out for him. Ito is a 3/5 favorite and the odds on Beaumont are 6/5. Those odds suck compared to how low the odds on Ito are. Beaumont has been very streaky. Watch, he is going to come out tonight and smoke Ito, give him his first loss, and generally kick his ass all over the ring. Like I have been expecting him to do all along. That would figure.

Look for Beaumont to jab. I don’t know if he will, but look for it all the same. He still seems to fight from a defensive stance so that me be the way that he ends up going. He will come forward and try and tie Ito up inside. Ito should be boxing him and trying to stay on the outside. He should be counterpunching and want to move to keep Niall from tagging him with a big punch.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Niall Beaumont 4-1-0(1) v. Hideyuki Ito 3-0-1(0)

Good round for Niall. He did very well behind the jab and it showed as Ito moved to tie Niall up a lot. Niall landed better combinations but was unable to press the action the way that the announcers would have liked. Defensively he did a nice job, and moved more than I though him capable.

What an offensive showing by both fighters in this round. I don’t think that there was much defense at all. Jab after jab, hooks, croses and uppercuts. They flew from both men. That was the mistake made by Ito. He tried to stand toe to toe with Niall. With both men in the center of the ring, Niall found his spot and siezed the moment. Punches flew and Ito backed into the corner. He tried to fight back but the round was winding down. In the midst of the battle it wasn’t looking good for Ito and the ref didn’t like it. He put an end to the fight and gave Niall his 5<SUP>th</SUP> straight win, and second win by knockout.

Round one was scored evenly split between the judges, but it didn’t matter.

I have mixed feelings about this fight. I am happy to see Niall go out in style and happy of the progress that he has made since he has been here. I wonder what is in store for this young man. He could have a very bright future. He was obviously the better fighter here. Anytime you hand a fighter his first loss it is good. Congrats to him, and maybe the door will open for him sometime down the road with Punishment Inc.

[PilotMan]

Melvin has been scheduled to fight in two months. He is in pretty good shape, but needs some more wins in order to get back to a possible title fight. In the past I had tried to get a fight with Benny Leonard, and it looked like that may happen again. Leonard has won his last two fights and is now ranked #7, one below Melvin. However, I am just not sure that he should go after him now.

Looking at some lower ranked fighters I see Fidel Garcia. Garcia is ranked #17, but his abilities are closer to Melvin’s. The thing that I really like is that his chin is in question. He was TKOed in his last fight and has only fought two times in over two years. This will be a challenge for him. I really hope that Melvin feels up to the task. His record is 33-1-0(21). Pretty darn good.

Lee’s last fight was so quick that he is still in good fighting form. I strike out in search of an opponent. I am looking for someone that is closer to his equal in the ring and someone who will payout nicely if Lee should snag a win. I find Roman Stokes. Stokes is 5-4-2(0), he is ranked a little lower than Lee at #101. He has good power, accuracy and defense. Three things that would normally make me back away from a fight, however, his chin is a big weak spot. The way that Lee has been hitting I am curious to see if he can keep it up. Stokes hasn’t won in his last 3 fights, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t going to be the favorite.

[Tellistto]

Nice win for Niall, good to see him go out on the high spot. Hopefully whoever picks him up can continue his devolopment.

Tell

[PilotMan]

Omar was offered a chance to fight Hilmer Kenty. I like the name and they want the fight for 8 weeks from now. I have no idea if he will even be healthy by then so it is really out of the question. Sorry.



Third week of March, 2007

Fight Night -

Ismael Gutierrez is back in the ring. How will he perform after losing his first pro fight? I don’t know but I do know that he is in pretty good shape. The only thing that he hasn’t been doing extra of in the gym is sparring. I want to see him in good shape and work on his ring skills first.

His opponent tonight is Leslie Downey. Downey was chosen because Ismael really needed a good win. Downey is 2-3-1(1), but he has won two in a row. He is aggressive and has a good chin. He is going to need it because Gutierrez hits like a freight train. Look for both men to go forward and do a lot of banging inside. It will probably get dirty and messy inside, but hopefully Ismael will use his power advantage and take this guy out. He needs too. Two losses would be very hard for both of us to handle.

Oddsmakers are favoring Ismael at 1/4, while Downey is 11/4.

The world is watching this week as Joe Louis, two time heavyweight FOY, and current heavyweight champion defends his title agianst #2 contender Max Watt. Watt is a boxer with not a lot of power, although he can take a good punch and has beaten the likes of Larry Holmes and Bob Fitzsimmons. He is undefeated in 21 pro fights and has been ranked in the top ten for almost two years. Louis has not been very active. This is his first defense since taking the title from O’Connell over a year ago. Not only is Louis strong, he is a very accurate puncher. His chin may be in question at times, but Watt is not likely to test it. The oddsmakers are favoring Louis all the way. Odds on him are 1/4, while Watt is 10/3. I don’t think that Louis will lose.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Ismael Gutierrez 2-1-0(1) v. Leslie Downey 2-3-1(1)

Ismael did what he needed to do in round one. Like an angry tiger that had been kept in a cage he came out swinging. Intent on getting revenge for his loss. Downey was going to pay. Charging forward with a big X on Downey’s chin to aim at Gutierrez rained blow after blow on him. Downey could only manage a jab here and there, and his aggressiveness was his downfall. He came forward and paid the price. At one minute into the round it was clear the Ismael was going to win the round. He was able to keep up the pace and as the round wound down a hurt and big hearted Downey reeled. Gutierrez pressed the action until the ref stepped between them and called the fight off. Ismael owned Downey all over the ring tonight. It was no contest.

At 2:26 of round one, Ismael Gutierrez wins by TKO.

That is just what the doctor ordered. Now get back in the gym.



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The heavyweight title fight was just what it was billed to be. Unfortunately for Max Watt is ended way too soon. Louis killed him with a second round TKO, and still remains the premiere heavyweight in the world. Peter O’Connell has put some good fights together and is knocking on the door again, though.

[PilotMan]

Ismael is drawing the attention of other managers as he was offered a fight for 3 weeks from now. What are they thinking. No way. I don’t even care who it is. This is not some kind of organization where we do that sort of thing to our fighters. End of story.

Last week of March, 2007

Fight Night -

Tonight marks the debut for Glenn Leeds in Punishment Inc. Leeds is trying to turn his career around and in him, I see the makings of another Lee Drydon. Drydon has been extremely profitable for our organization and I am hoping that Leeds will do the same thing. He needs to start with a win. His opponent is in the same position that he is. Kenny Malone is 3-6-3(0), and could easily grab a win. Leeds is going to jab, jab, and jab some more. I would also like to see him fight the style that he feels most comfortable fighting.

It may not seem like it, but this is a very important fight. I hope that Leeds feels up to it.

Former Bantamweight Champ Xavier Firth 22-7-0(9) #2 v. Sandro Macias 20-5-2(14) #3

A great matchup between a very underrated fighter and another who has moved up the ranks in the last year. Macias has won four fights in a row most recently over a talented Carlos Zarate. Firth is fighting for the first time since narrowly losing his title to #1 Bantamweight Job Reyes. Both men are near equals in the ring, Firth might be a better puncher, and if the fight goes a long time it might favor him as well. Macias seems to fade in the late rounds. Firth is the heavy favorite at 2/5, while Macias is 11/5. Firth doesn’t look like much but he is a damn good fighter. I like him.

[PilotMan]

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Glenn Leeds 3-8-1(1) v. Kenny Malone 3-6-3(0)

Tough, gritty, ugly inside fighting. Lots of pushing and clinching here. Leeds did quite well and controlled the action for most of the round. He did get hit some but his combinations were better and more effective. I think that the round is his.

More of the same in round two. This round was closer, but I still feel that the advantage was with Leeds. His punches seem to have more snap and his movement is forcing a lot of missed punches from Malone. I like his style. Even with the limited training I think that Leeds could be a very good fighter.

Very good round from Malone, but I think that the best that he did was make it a draw. Still lots of pushing inside and holding. Right now, this fight could go either way. Leeds has done well with the jab but has gotten hit more each successive round. He will need to be very convincing in the last round.

I think that Leeds did enough. He went out more defensive, but still looking to move forward. I don’t think that he liked that very much and he didn’t execute it very well. Malone was doing well and landing often before Leeds went back to his jab. He was able to land some heavy punches and may have hurt Malone. Malone has a good chin though as was able to finish the round. I think that he came up on the short end of the stick though.

[PilotMan]

Here is what the judges think:

J1: 38-38

J2: 39-37 Malone

J3: 39-38 Leeds

Over two years and there is a first. A draw. Noone is happy with one of those. I thought that Leeds had clearly won the fight, but I guess that I was wrong. This is not going to go over well at the gym. It certainly won’t go to improving Leeds standing or his confidence. He thought that he had won it as well.



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Xavier Firth and Sandro Macias also battled to a draw. I blame it all on the judges. Can’t win any money on a draw. What a shitty week.

[PilotMan]

Last week of March, 2007

A note of exciting news this week. Lawrence McFarlane is closing in on his return to the ring. He is almost back to full strength and may have a fight scheduled in the next few weeks.

Fight Night -

Middleweight journeyman Andreas Ruelas makes his Punishment Inc debut. His opponent this week is Job Ruelas (no relation). Andreas is a fighter with a significant amount of potential. He has big power and can put down an opponent with one punch. He has not been successful on his own and hopefully with some better guidance can turn into another Lawrence McFarlane. He has been doing a lot of physical conditioning for the fight, and I hope that it shows. Job is an accurate puncher with a solid chin. He has lost 6 straight fights 3 of those by KO or TKO. However, that does not mean that Andreas is in the clear. I intend to work inside, and work the body. If Andreas can sufficiently slow Job down then he should be a sitting duck for Andreas’ hard punches upstairs. Four rounds probably isn’t sufficient to really work this strategy, so I hope that rounds one and two are big for Andreas. Andreas is the favorite at 8/11, while Job is 7/6.

Tomoyaki Wantanabe is not getting any lovin’ from any boxers anywhere. Noone wants to fight him. It is really a case of his value being so low that no boxer sees any benefit from beating him.

All of the guys are back in the gym. Lee Drydon, who has a fight in 5 weeks looks very good. His next fight will likely decide how he will fit in, long term, in the flyweight division. A win would be very good for him.

Omar is still training well, but is having difficulty dealing with the loss. It is going to be some time before he is ready to fight again.

Ismael Gutierrez is already chomping at the bit. His devastating win fired him up. He wants more.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Andreas Ruelas 10-9-3(8) #105 v. Job Reulas 1-7-1(0) #115

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

A busy round for both fighters and it is evident that Job is a very effective with his jab. He landed a lot. He landed a lot of combos and kept Andreas at bay and off balance with it. Andreas changed up his style many times and it is clear that he is going to have to be wary of Job’s accuracy. Round to Job.

With more movement and a better stance Andreas was able to control more of this round. He didn’t get nearly as many times and his punches are certainly having an effect on Job. Job was still solid with the jab, and his defense was better than advertised as well. Andreas took the round. He needs to be solid the last two to keep it going.

Round three was as even as they come with both men landing often. Andreas became frustrated in the middle of the round and really went after Job. He landed a good flurry or two, but was still peppered with jabs, and hooks. I really think that Job took round three.

I sent Andreas out with one mission - to win the fight. No matter what he had to do, he had to win the fight. Rarely do I tell a man that, because it is usually the words of a desperate man. I was concerned with Job’s jab, but once the bell sounded I knew it was going to be all right. Andreas went ballistic. One minute into the round he had inflicted almost as much damage as he did the entire last round. At the end of the second minute it was almost all over. He was destroying Job. Hooks and crosses were landing with laser like accuracy and Job was reeling. The ref saw the way this was going to end and halted it at 2:13 seconds of the fourth round.

It should never have been that close. I am happy to see that it didn’t turn out bad. Too many bad things have been happening lately.

[PilotMan]

Omar and Melvin have fights coming up in about a months time. Both of them are in very good shape and should be ready go for fight time.

World FOY Derrell Guyver 28-1-0(14) #4 v. Former Welterweight Champion Manuel Castillo 26-2-1(8) #3

Classic boxer/puncher matchup. Guyver, who is best known for ending the perfect record of Oscar De la Hoya takes on a former champ in Castillo. Castillo ended the reign of Sugar Ray Leonard and then lost in his first defense against Wilfredo Benitez. Castillo will need to use his superior defense and rely on a good chin to beat Guyver. Guyver has very high confidence and will press the action. He needs to be careful not to punch himself out though, as his style could lead to that. Bettors like Guyver at 1/4, while Castillo is 7/2.

A fight has been arranged between Ismael Gutierrez, 3-1-0(2), and Benny Wilson, 4-6-2(0). The fight is going to be in a couple of months and is not really going to be a test for the young Gutierrez. He should be the heavy favorite and should tear Wilson in two. Wilson is aggressive and possesses good accuracy and good defense. His chin is his weakness and should be exploited. I look forward to the fight. I really don’t need Ismael to lose anymore fights that he should win. And win easy.

[PilotMan]

I got a call today from the management team of Hilmer Kenty. They want to fight Omar in six weeks time. Kenty is a good fighter who has never been a top contender, but has made a living at the next level down. His record is a respectable 33-6-0(20), but the best that he has been ranked is #47. He has good skills and is a well rounded fighter, however, I don’t think that this is the fight for Omar, nor is he ready to be scheduled for a fight. I tell them no.



Manuel Castillo put some good money in my pocket and proved that World FOY doesn’t mean unbeatable. He forced the fight to go the distance and grabbed a spit decision win over Derrell Guyver. I guess he won’t repeat as the FOY this year.

Niall Beaumont 5-1-0(2) #115 v. Mike Ferdinand 1-5-3(0) #122

Niall is continuing his career with a fight against a tomato can. He should win this with ease. 4/11 Beaumont - 12/5 Ferdinand

Former Welterweight Champion Wilfredo Benitez 58-9-1(32) #2 v. Ed Roper 32-1-2(13) #7

Benitez is fighting for the first time since losing the title. He is fighting a man who just beat Sugar Ray Leonard, and is trying to make a big move up the welterweight rankings. Benitez is the much better fighter on paper and should make easy work of Roper. But with Roper, an upset could be possible. This will be Roper’s first fight since making it into the top 10 in the division. Bookies are favoring Benitez at 3/5, while Roper is 11/8. Close odds but the better money might be on Roper, just for the better potential payout.

[PilotMan]

Niall Beaumont won a four round unanimous decision over Mike Ferdinand.

Wilfredo Benitez scored a 7<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Ed Roper, dashing his hopes of a dark horse title shot

[PilotMan]

And the man is back.....And the man is in demand. Lawrence McFarlane, who has been our for over six months is back in fighting form and ready to fight. I was approached for a fight between him and Paul Dickens, on two weeks notice. Dickens, 20-1-0(14) is a solid, young fighter who is on his way up. He has good fighting technique and good confidence. Winning his last four fights. I am going to pass on this because Lawrence is not in fighting shape, and could use some more fine tuning before trying his hand at a fight like this.

Glenn Leeds is going to fight again. I had really considered a fight that would be a rematch of the last fight, that I thought that he had won, however, it is not to be. I now have my eye on Gato Zamuido, 2-7-3(0), who is ranked #147. Leeds has to win if he is to start the road back to the top. This could be the place. Zamuido is aggressive with a good chin, a gamer is what you would call him. His punch is weak, and his defense is poor, but he should make the fight go the distance.

[PilotMan]

First week of May, 2007

Fight Night -

I turned down Enoch Nelson’s team. The young power punching Lightweight would have had a fight with Omar in eight weeks, but I just couldn’t send him to certain slaughter like that. He will just train.



Two important fights for Punishment Inc this week and two more that are important to boxing the world over. The first is Lee Drydon, who is now ranked #83 in the world, taking on his most difficult challenger yet. Roman Stokes is a good fighter who has to be favored over what some would have called the worst fighter in the flyweight division. Stokes is still quite young, and he doesn’t have a perfect record, and he probably will never be a world champion, but he does have some talent. He is ranked lower than Drydon now, and the highest that he has ever been ranked is #99. He has power, a good chin, and he has never been knocked down. He is very aggressive so look for Drydon to be a counterpuncher, and get him while he is coming in. Either figher has the power to end fights early, but both are very resilient. Lee is going to need to be patient, and stay focused in what may be the longest fight of his career. He hasn’t had a real tough fight for over a year now, I hope that mentally he is up for the fight. Physically, he is in the best shape of his life. Mucho dollars have been spent on his behalf, and I want to see the finished product perform in the ring. Stokes is a narrow favorite at 4/5, while the odds on Drydon are 11/10. Write it down, this is going to be a close fight.

The other, more important fight for the stable is lightweight contender, Melvin Horne, fighting Fidel Garcia. Garcia has not fought in almost a year and lost his last fight to Takayuki Takayama, via a 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round TKO. It has been the only loss in his 34 fight career. The men that he has faced have not been top caliber fighters though, as you can tell by his #17 ranking. Horne stands to lose some immediate credibility if he makes this fight look easy. He is still ranked #6. It will be the second time that he has fought with me in his corner. I see so much potential in him, he will need a win here, to keep his climb back to the top going. Garcia is a resilient fighter, with good power, defense, and an ok chin. Horne will be the aggressor so he needs to get off first and do his damage before getting tagged with any counterpunches. If he can do that he should be able to win. If he gets sloppy, it could be a tough ten rounds. Garcia is actually the favorite here. Horne is not getting any respect, and like I have said all along, I think that he is overrated for being a top 10 contender right now. The odds are 3/5 for Garcia and 11/8 for Horne.


<HR align=left width="0%" SIZE=1><HR SIZE=1>
The other big fights that are happening this week are:

Flyweight FOY #5 Rocky Cubillas 20-1-1(15) v. # 9 Pancho Villa 80-8-5(25)

This is a rematch from a fight between these two almost a year ago when Cubillas won in a unanimous decision over Villa. Villa has lost two of his last three fights and is getting on in age. He is still a great fighter, but it appears that he won’t regain his old glory, unless he wins here. For Cubillas, Mauro Martinez is the only fighter that he has ever lost too, and he has been handily winning his most recent fights. He should pull off another win against Villa. Obviously, the fans wanted this one, they love rematches. Cubillas is the heavy favorite at 4/9, while Villa is at 15/8. Age and determination should see Cubillas to another win over the ageing legend.

Former Lightweight Champion #3 Jorge Reynoso 22-4-2(14) v. #2 Julio Cesar Chavez 104-4-2(83)

Chavez is left at the door to the lightweight title after his stunning KO over Pernell Whitaker. Reynoso is the next best thing as he hasn’t lost since his beating against Damien Essett. Whitaker has to be salivating at the prospects here, unless it is a draw he will undoubtedly move up in the rankings. Even though Chavez is getting old, he appears to be in better shape, and looks motivated to get his title shot. Reynoso is no slouch, and could be more than the old man can handle. However, I don’t think that Reynoso is as good as Whitaker. But if Chavez is off his game, he won’t need to be. Chavez is the favorite at 8/11, while Reynoso is 7/6. Very close.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Lee Drydon 5-2-1(2) v. Roman Stokes 5-4-2(0)

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Round one did not go so well. Stokes came out very aggressively and landed a big series of combinations and Lee did not look well prepared. He stayed on his feet but was never able to get any momentum in the round. A dissapointing start to the fight. He will need to be much better defensively in order to be more effective. One thing that I did notice was that his puches were strong and crisp. That could be important later on.

Stokes still grabbed the round with a pressing attack and laser quick punches. The first half of the round was a non event as both fighters were very defensive. Stokes got the first flurry, but Drydon landed some good shots as well, just not many of them. Now that he is down two, he is going to have to be much more aggressive, and really test his ability to withstand punishment.

Round three should be Lee’s round. He launched an all out attack and seemed to grab control of the round. He landed more than the other rounds, but still got his a fair amount. He needs another big round to stay in this fight.

Round four was even as they come, neither fighter seemed to gain an advantage and both men showed good defense. Overall, Drydon had the best overall performance, he was better defensively, but he still needs to be better on the frontside. Two more rounds to go as Drydon goes where he has never gone before. Round 5.

Another round that was to close to call. Both men are looking very tired, and both are getting really sloppy. Not to much damage doled out be either man. I still feel like Lee is behind, but with both guys tiring maybe he needs to go back to a more counterpunching approach. One more to go.

Well round six didn’t go the way that I expected. Stokes took advantage early and took an early lead. That forced Lee into the attacking postition again, where he did land some good shots, but was on the receiving end of the biggest blows of the fight. He fought for all he was worth, but the toll showed as he staggered back to the corner at the end of the fight. I wish that I felt better about the outcome of this fight. Here are the judges scores.

[Tellistto]

Mmm, the suspense of the moment stretches...

Doesn't sound too good for Lee, but then again, you've hoodwinked us before on such things. Hoping this is one of those times!

Tell

[PilotMan]

You know the funny thing is that I write as I am going through each round. So that is truly how I see the fight. I am as suprised by the ending as you are each time. I think that it would be too hard to write in this style otherwise. The writing would get drab.

[PilotMan]

J1: 58-58

J2: 58-56 Drydon

J3: 59-56 Drydon

F**K N A! I really don’t believe it! What an upset. I thought for sure that he was going to be on the short end here. This is going to be good for the pocketbook I can tell you that. With this win Lee is going to move up another step in the rankings. Granted Roman isn’t top quality, and Lee may never be top quality, but he is already way better than I ever imagined him being.

[Tellistto]

Woot! Glad my wish came true in this case. While Lee might not be the greatest flyweight ever to live, he's still one who can make the stable money.


Tell

[TonyR]

Nice set of wins here. Good Luck in the Horne fight.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Melvin Horne 10-8-0(9) v. Fidel Garcia 33-1-0(21)

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

A feeling out for both men. Horne was hit with some good combinations but they really didn’t seem to be affecting him. He also did well landing with some flurries, but Garcia seemed to be more in control as the the fight was going on. I really don’t think that either man won the round. There is a long way to go here.

Round two was full of surprises. First was that Horne continued to look good, it was more of the same between the two men until the halfway mark when Melvin landed a hook to the ribs that saw Garcia hit the canvas. He was up quickly, and showed little aftereffects as the round progressed. A good round for Melvin.

I am a little worried about Melvin’s ability to finish the fight without completely tiring out the way that Lawrence did. He took control of round three from the opening bell and landed a nice combination set up by the jab. He landed another good punch at the :55 mark that really hurt Garcia. Garcia landed on the canvas with a thud, as the crowd rose to their feet. Melvin looked very strong as he loomed over the fallen fighter. Garcia got to his feet by the eight count, and after the ref finished counting and had looked at him it was over. He was in a bad way.

Horne has won by a KO in the third round!

WoW! That was impressive. This man is a good fighter. He handled Garcia, and sent him back from under the hole that he came out of.

The judges had him winning both early rounds, and he was on his way to a big win either way. This is just the better way to go about it, and with minimal damage sustained.

A good one for the pocketbook.

What will be his next challenge?

[PilotMan]

Julio Cesar Chavez dominated Jorge Reynoso by knocking him out in the 4<SUP>th</SUP> round. A dominating performance against the former champ.

Rocky Cubillas also dominated in his rematch with Pancho Villa. Villa was knocked out in the 8<SUP>th</SUP> round bu Cubillas.

Lee Drydon has been approached by Toshihiro Nagai for a rematch. Drydon Koed him in the first round in the last fight. They are offering a small compensation, but Nagai clearly isn’t going to help further Drydon’s career. No.

[PilotMan]

Lawrence McFarlane has been signed for his return to the ring. He will return to the ring for the second week of July. He will face #15 Shinji Takehara. Takehara is a fighter who last fought last year, and lost to Calvin Lewsey. He has been ranked as high as #10. He is a tough fighter who is solid all around. He is in so-so shape, but I will not take him lightly. He will be a challenge for Lawrence and he will need to train hard if he wants to get the win.

The biggest fight of the year is on tap for tonight. The world will be watching as the Heavyweight title will be on the line.

Heavyweight Champ #1 Joe Louis 73-3-0(59) v. Former Heavyweight Champ #2 Peter O’Connell 37-4-1(20)

Louis ended the fight in the sixth round last time, and he has not slowed down since. While O’Connell is undefeated in 3 fights since losing the title. Louis is in better shape, and is the harder puncher. O’Connell has beaten everyone at the top since losing, proving he is the best of the rest. Louis is the heavy favorite at ½ while O’Connell is 7/4. I like Louis, he is the dominant force of the heavyweight division right now.

[TonyR]

Awesome win by Horne and looking forward to McFarlane's return to the ring!

[Tellistto]

Agree with Tony, keep up the great work, PM!


Tell

[PilotMan]

Peter O’Connell did not win in his bit to get the heavyweight title back, last week. Joe Louis scored a split decision win over O’Connell to retain the title.

There really is no interest for welterweight Tomoaki Wantanabe. He has had no fights and no offers since signing with us. I am going to give him another couple of weeks and then sell his contract. The money is nothing, but why keep a fighter around who is not going to fight?

[PilotMan]

Punishment Inc is quiet this week and I am getting ready for next week’s fight for Ismael Gutierrez. There are some good fights this week though.

Former LH Champ Julio Perez #5 17-2-0(6) v. Roy Jones #7 43-2-1(35)

A battle between two fighters who have something to prove. Jones is trying to recover from his first round KO loss to Bob Foster. He had been looking for a title shot until the setback, and now he needs the win to stay in the top 10. For Perez, a fighter who lost his first fight to Virgil Hill, and then lost his second to Will Cripps in 10, he needs to win for his confidence. If he fails it will be his 3<SUP>rd</SUP> in a row. Neither fighter can afford a loss, and both should be healthy. Jones is the heavy favorite, because of his experience as well as his power. Odds on him are 1/4, while the odds on Perez are 11/4.

Former Welterweight Champ Sugar Ray Leonard #9 37-5-1(25) v. Javier Quirino #7 43-4-0(32)

Leonard is in a bad way as he has lost three straight fights. His star is fading fast and his next opponent would like to put it out alltogther. Quirino is no slouch. He has not lost in over three years and has been in the top 10 for over a year. He hasn’t faced the champs or the top contenders, but he is still a skilled fighter. Both fighters are skilled, and are mirror images of each other. Leonard has dropped a long way off of the fighter that he once was, while Quirino could be a top contender. Odds are actually favoring Leonard, however, it has to be sentimental, because Quirino should dominate. Odds for Leonard are 1/4, while Quirino is 11/4. My money will be on Quirino. He is at the top of his game, while Leonard seems to be on the way out.

[PilotMan]

Javier Quirino lived up the the hype with a 10 round unanimous decison. He made me over 600k on this fight. That is the best winning bet that we have ever had. That is great. I am much happier with my situation now.

In the other fight Roy Jones scored a unianmous decision over Julio Perez. That win should keep him on the upward mover, while it will force Perez back to the drawing board in his title quest.

[PilotMan]

Rankings as of the first week of June, 2007

Heavyweight

CHAMP Joe Louis 74-3-0(59)

#1 Peter O’Connell 37-5-1(20)

#2 Michael Moorer 45-3-1(35)

#3 Evander Holyfield 40-5-1(25)

#4 Muhammad Ali 60-6-0(38)

#5 Scott Jarrold 21-1-0(12)

#6 Max Watt 17-1-4(10)

#7 Larry Holmes 70-8-0(43)

#8 Ralph Weymouth 18-7-2(14)

#9 Colin Dibble 26-4-1(13)

#10 Anthony Wood 17-1-2(6)

Light-Heavyweight

CHAMP James Singleton 15-8-0(14)

#1 Virgil Hill 49-4-1(25)

#2 Will Cripps 19-3-2(11)

#3 Bob Foster 65-8-1(52)

#4 Julio Perez 17-3-0(6)

#5 Martin Kinnear 29-14-0(20)

#6 Roy Jones 44-2-1(35)

#7 Pat Olver 23-2-0(5)

#8 Derrick Scoulding 42-3-1(29)

#9 Javier Madrid 17-8-0(14)

#10 Brendan Lawe 13-8-0(11)

Middleweight

CHAMP Leavander Nolan 21-0-0(6)

#1 Anthony Hardy 48-3-0(16)

#2 Bill Neville 29-1-0(21)

#3 Mike McCallum 52-7-3(37)

#4 Wayne Wells 30-2-0(21)

#5 George Kings 27-2-0(9)

#6 Ewan Veal 39-1-1(27)

#7 Roger Jennings 38-3-0(27)

#8 Calvin Lewsey 19-1-0(15)

#9 Mark Cannon 40-1-1(28)

#10 Scott Steel 20-0-0(3)

[PilotMan]

Welterweight

CHAMP Jose Napoles 83-8-0(58)

#1 Wilfredo Benitez 59-9-1(33)

#2 Manuel Castillo 27-2-1(8)

#3 Derrell Guyver 28-2-0(14)

#4 Oscar De la Hoya 37-1-0(26)

#5 Javier Quirino 44-4-0(32)

#6 Ed Roper 32-2-2(13)

#7 Sugar Ray Leonard 37-6-1(25)

#8 Shawn McKeag 21-2-0(1)

#9 Yoshiaki Kabayashi 33-3-0(20)

#10 Andrey Romero 38-2-0(31)

Lightweight

CHAMP Damien Essett 23-1-0(23)

#1 Julio Cesar Chavez 105-4-2(84)

#2 Jorge Reynoso 22-5-2(14)

#3 Pernell Whitaker 45-2-1(19)

#4 Benny Leonard 88-7-1(69)

#5 Melvin Horne 11-8-0(10)

#6 Makoto Yahara 20-6-0(8)

#7 Augustin Garza 24-6-0(13)

#8 Yasushi Nitta 29-9-0(17)

#9 Luis Valdez 36-5-0(15)

#10 Sam Hughes 44-7-0(25)

Featherweight

CHAMP Peter Badillo 24-5-0(17)

#1 Gary Jakeman 19-7-1(9)

#2 Armando Medina 21-2-1(5)

#3 Ricardo Sanchez 30-2-0(19)

#4 Calvin Calvert 21-4-0(16)

#5 Satoshi Ohba 27-1-0(16)

#6 Azumah Nelson 46-5-3(30)

#7 Eusebio Pedroza 51-7-1(29)

#8 Kevin Kelley 55-4-2(36)

#9 Ray O’Regan 34-6-0(16)

#10 Derrick Abercrombie 28-5-0(19)

[PilotMan]

Bantamweight

CHAMP Job Reyes 22-0-2(14)

#1 Xavier Firth 22-7-1(9)

#2 Sandro Macias 20-5-3(14)

#3 Enrique Grimaldo 43-1-0(30)

#4 Joselito Pana 34-2-1(14)

#5 Carlos Zarate 66-5-1(60)

#6 Bimbo Melchor 21-1-1(12)

#7 Eder Jofre 75-4-4(51)

#8 Victor Luna 20-2-1(11)

#9 Esteban Lopez 16-11-1(6)

#10 German Tiznado 46-2-2(12)

Flyweight

CHAMP Gerardo Ramirez 28-1-0(12)

#1 Mauro Martinez 34-0-0(20)

#2 Adam Napier 27-3-0(25)

#3 Rocky Cubillas 21-1-1(16)

#4 Lito Jamili 20-7-0(17)

#5 Ernesto Bantillan 16-6-0(11)

#6 Geronimo Solorio 32-2-0(21)

#7 Masayuki Kabayashi 27-5-1(12)

#8 Colin Jolmers 19-3-1(12)

#9 Edel Gomez 26-1-1(14)

#10 Zosimo Diaz 21-3-0(12)

[PilotMan]

First week of June, 2007

Fight Night-

Ismael has a fight tonight and he should be ready for it. He is coming off of his first round TKO win a few weeks ago and looks to win tonight as well. His opponent is Benny Wilson. Wilson isn’t anything to write home about and he hasn’t won a fight in over a year. Hard to believe that he is ranked higher than Ismael right now. His best feature is his accuracy with his punches. He isn’t going to scare anyone with his power, but could be a solid boxer. It is going to be another four rounder, so what damage that can be done is going to have to be done quickly. Ismael is going to press the action and press his advantage and his skills around the ring. I think that he has a good shot to win this one. The oddsmakers like Isamel at 1/3 while his opponent is 5/2. Even if I max out my bet, which I will do, there won’t be a lot of money to be had here.

I have been really struggling to find opponents who are willing to face young welterweight Tomoaki Watanabe. Watanabe, I think, could be a good fighter in the same build as Omar or Lee, but he has to grab a win. I finally found a fighter who was willing to make a go in the ring. His name is Faustino Virgen. Virgen is 0-2 and is aggressive and hit plenty hard. He has solid skills, but like Watanabe hasn’t grabbed that first win yet. Think of this fight as a Maiden horserace where, unless there is a draw, one of these two may actually have a chance to make something out of his career. The fight is going to be in six weeks. If he doesn’t win he will be sold, as noone will ever want to fight him.

A lot of the guys have been coming to me and telling me that they are ready to fight. Drydon, for one, is in the middle of a six fight win streak. He is ranked in the top 100, and has a couple of fights left on his contract. I have make a killing on his contract, and I firmly believe that he could become a top 10 fighter with time. However, I am not sure that I have the finances to be able to take him on a run.

Andreas Rueles is also ready, however, I want him to spend more time in the gym. I don’t feel comfortable with him until he is in better shape.

Melvin is also ready to go again, but like Andreas he really should be allowed build up in some of his weak areas. It may be time for him to face a bigger opponent, than beating up second class contenders in the lightweight divison.

Omar is in the same predicament. He still needs to train up in a couple of areas, but otherwise is in good shape.

I should have fights for everyone shortly.

Lawrence is back in top form, his fight is coming in a little over a month.

Title Fight-

Light Heavyweight Champ James Singleton 15-8-0(14) v. Bob Foster #3 65-8-1(52)

Singleton is making his first title defense, and he didn’t pick an easy one right away. If he manages to win this, he just may gain some respect. Foster has been a top ten conteder for over 2 years. He has beated a former champ, and won his last nine fights. This fight will not go the distance. Both men hit hard, and have good chins. Foster may be in better shape. Foster is the favorite, at ½, while Singleton is 7/4. Since no light-heavy weight champ has ever defended the title successfully, I gotta believe that Foster is going to win this handily.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Ismael Gutierrez 3-1-0(2) #110 v. Benny Wilson 4-6-2(0) #108

Round one started and Ismael showed Wilson no respect at all. Charging hard as if Wilson were already hurt he flailed away with huge punches. Wilson did well moving and trying to get out of the way, however he held on when ever he had the chance too. At the halfway point it was about even, Ismael was clearly landing the harder shots while Wilson landed more jabs. With :49 seconds remaining Gutierrez did what he set out to do. He tagged Wilson with a right cross right on the chin, and he went down. He managed to get up at the 6 count, and took the eight count. Gutierrez dominated the rest of the round and Wilson was happy to survive.

Round two was like round one without the knockdown. Ismael controlled the round and landed a lot, but couldn’t put together a good flurry to end it. Ismael should be on the books for winning this one too.

You don’t see too many rounds like this one. Ismael coming and coming and coming some more. He started the round by assaulting Wilson. Wilson answered with the jab. Gutierrez attacked some more, around the one minute mark Gutierrez was tagged with a left hook and he was shocked. I was shocked. He went to the canvas. Against a fighter who has hardly any power at all. He managed to get to his feet by the 7 count and the ref let it continue. As the fight went on, Ismael recoverd and there was a lot of time left. A combination sent Wilson back and Ismael pressed the advantage. By 2:11 the ref had seen enough and grabbed Wilson, protecting him from any more punishment.

Guterriez wins by a 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round TKO.

This is a bittersweet win. I was a little stunned to see the turn of events, but Ismael was so dominating that I didn’t think that he could get hurt. He is still a little glassy eyed. I hope that he learns from this win, and that he improves his defense some.

[Tellistto]

Nice win, hopefully an eye opener for the over confident one named Ismael. Maybe for his manager too!


Tell

[TonyR]

Good win. Hopefully Lawrence and Tomoaki have good outings as well.

[PilotMan]

I got a call after the fight from a mangement rep who was at Ismael’s fight. He said that he represented another young, fighter and wanted to know if I wanted to get the two of them together. His fighter is Alejando Gamboa. Gamboa had fought the same day, and won as well. They want two months lead time, and are willing to pay me over 200k to make the deal. After some research about him I have found that he is a good opponent. He has won 4 of his 6 fights and has won 3 in a row. I am interested in this fight. Ismael is in good shape and he will be trained up. A good fight could bring in good money, and bring prestige to me, and Punishment Inc. My only concern is that he might be moving up in the rankings a little too fast. Ismael has 2 fights left on his contract. I think that this is a good move for both him and me.

Andreas Rueles has been booked for his second fight with Punishment Inc. His opponent is going to be an aging vet who is currently ranked #96. Fred Apostoli has solid power, and a good chin. He won’t be an easy opponent. Of his 17 career losses, 7 of them have come in the last two and a half years. The fight is going to be in two and a half months.

True to form the Light heavyweight title is jinxed. Bob Foster dominated Singleton in the title fight and finished him off with a TKO in the 2<SUP>nd</SUP> round! Foster is the 5<SUP>th</SUP> Champ in the last 2 ½ years.

[PilotMan]

Third week of June, 2007

Fight Night -

Welterweight hopeful/journeyman Glenn Leeds has a fight against Gato Zamuido. Neither fighter has a stellar record, so it could go either way, however, Zamuido does have a good chin and is quite aggressive. Leeds is going to try and use some boxing skills and take advantage of Zamuido’s forward tendency as well as his suspect defense. If Leeds can mangage a win it could be just the boost that he needs to launch his comeback. Zamuito is the heavy favorite at 4/11, while Leeds is the big underdog at 12/5.

Big Fights -

Former Welterweight Champ Wilfredo Benitez #2 59-9-1(33) v. Oscar De la Hoya #5 37-1-0(26)

They don’t get much bigger than this! De la Hoya in his first fight since his surprising loss takes on the top contender in the divison. Benitez, who has one win since losing the title to Jose Napoles, is ready to affirm his place as the top challenger to the title. Both men are in great shape, both are fantastic fighters and both want a shot at the title. AND both have lost in the last 12 months. The loser of this fight has a long road ahead to get back to the top. The favorite is De la Hoya at 8/15, while Benitez is 13/8. That is a pretty good spread all things considered. Not a whole lot of respect to the top contender.

Title Fight -

Featherweight World Champion Peter Badillo #1 24-5-0(17) v. Gary Jakeman #2 19-7-1(9)

This is a rematch of the title fight from last year where Badillo won via a unanimous decision over Jakeman. He has not fought since, however Jakeman has, and it has not been as he would hvae liked. Jakeman is 2-1 in the last 3 fights with the loss coming by way of KO. He did however, KO Armando Medina in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round just last month. Is he ready for another title shot? Badillo was the first person to beat Medina and he Koed him too. It seems that Badillo is doing Jakeman a favor, but he is the top ranked fighter for the title. Badillo is heavily favored at 4/11, while the odds on Jakeman are 12/5. I like Badillo here, I really don’t think that Jakeman has a chance.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Glenn Leeds #140 3-8-2(1) v. Gato Zamuido #137 2-7-3(0)

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

It is clear that neither of these guys is probably going to hurt the other. Leeds did well fighting from behind the jab. He was more accurate and kept Zamuido from landing any long flurries of punches. Lees countered well and by the end of the round it looked like Zamuido might be sucking wind on his way back to the corner. Close round with the edge to Leeds.

Round two was as even as they come. Leeds wasn’t quite as successful as he had been in round one, as he was hit too often, and didn’t land enough. Close, but the edge has to go to Zamuido. Next round I need to see a little more offense, mainly in taking more advantage of counter punching. He just has to throw more punches.

Round three was the same as two. A lot of defense and sloppy punching. Both men taking turns trading, and neither seeming to take advantage or control of the fight. Round four is cruicial. Leeds must take the fight.

Round four was the same. Both men showed more offense, and it looked like Zamuido was going to take the round when Leeds charged back and finished with a flurry. I hope that the judges are kind, but I could see this ending as a draw. That would not be good for the career of Glenn Leeds.

[PilotMan]

Here is the scoring:

J1: 39-38 Leeds

J2: 40-38 Leeds

J3: 39-39

Glenn Leeds wins by majority decision! Whew! He needed that. I needed that for him. He was starting to look like a bust of a signing. Hopefully the small confidence boost provided here can be parlayed into something bigger.

[PilotMan]

Gary Jakeman is the new Featherweight champ as he knocked out Peter Badillo in the 5<SUP>th</SUP>. Badillo had held the title for over 2 years, and had defended it twice.

Oscar De la Hoya is back on the map after his dismantling of Wilfredo Benitez. He knocked out Benitez in the 9<SUP>th</SUP>. I am still shocked, as Benitez is a fantastic fighter.

[PilotMan]

Lee Drydon is ready to challenge the most seasoned fighter that he has ever faced. A fight, coming two months from now, will place the well trained, Lee Drydon against Tae-Shik Kim. Kim is currently ranked #72 in the world, and has a record of 24-7-0(17). He has been ranked as high as #50. He has lost his last two fights, but previous to that he had won a string of six in a row. Four by KO! He has a big punch, but also suffers from a bit of a glass jaw. Not the most careful fighter, he has a tendency to flail a bit too much. If he hits the sweet spot though, it could be lights out.

Big Fights this week:

Former Punishment Inc fighter Niall Beaumont #111 6-1-0(2) v. Tex Old #116 7-5-1(4)

Old has lost 4 fights in a row, however, he is a well respected fighter. His opponents have been high quallity. Both men have lots of power so this fight may not go the distance. I had considered Old as an opponent before, but I didn’t feel that Niall could handle him. I shall get my answer this week. Oddsmakers like Old, by a long way. He is at 4/11, while Niall is 9/4. I will lay some money down on Niall. Odds are worth the risk.

[PilotMan]

Well I forgot to go the club to get the bet made and it ended up costing me plenty. Niall scored a 2<SUP>nd</SUP> round KO over Tex Old. That would have been a nice payout.

Remember back to when I had just taken Horne back under my wing? And there was a fighter who was dying for a fight with him? Al Hardway is back, and wanting a deal. For a while I had actually wanted a fight with him too, but could not get it together. Hardway is currently ranked #7 while Horne is #6. Melvin is really close to being ready. Hardway’s management group has fronted over 180k to make the deal go through. Hmm. He is an accurate puncher with a good chin. Not very good defense, but good power and stamina. Horne actually could make a good fight, the problem is that he lacks the stamina to take the fight into the later rounds. Hardway may be the best option for Melvin right now. I think that I will take it. The fight is going to be in 7 weeks.

Big Fights this week:

Flyweight FOY - Rocky Cubillas 21-1-1(16) #4 v. Lito Jamili 20-7-0(17) #5

Both fighters are on an upward swing and trying to go for a shot at the title. Both men hit very hard, although Cubillas chin is a little better, Jamili hits a bit harder and with more accuracy. Cubillas only loss was to Mauro Martinez, ant Jamili hasn’t lost since Pasqual Perez, and that was two years ago. Cubillas is the favorite, however, it is close. Odds on him are 4/6, while Jamili is 5/4. Cubillas is beatable, I just don’t know if Jamili is the man.

Lightweight FOY - Pernell Whitaker 45-2-1(19) #4 v. Paul Kench 41-1-1(8) #12

Kench had been the fighter with the longest current winning streak until his rescent loss to Luis Valdez. This battle of boxers will go the distance, neither is a big hitter. It is also the first fight for Whitaker since his shocking loss to Cesar Chavez. Pernell is favored heavily at 1/4, while Kench is 15/4. Kench has a gaudy record, but really, Whitaker is one of the best, despite his rescent loss.

And the fight of the week (maybe the year!)

Bantamweight World Champion and FOY - Job Reyes 22-0-2(14) #1 v. Former Bantamweight Champion Xavier Firth 22-7-1(9) #2

Job is the master of the Bantamweight divison, he has fought some close fights but never lost. Recently he has been unbeatable. Firth, was the champ for over a year and a half, and defended his title 3 times, until he faced Reyes. The last fight ended in with Reyes winning a controversial split decision. I can only imagine how close it is going to be this time around. Since the last fight Reyes defended against Fernando Ramirez in grand fashion, while Firth did not beat Sandro Macias. To his credit., Macias didn’t beat him either. Here they are again. Ready to battle for you! Reyes is the unquestioned favorite at 4/9, while the odds on Firth are not that bad at 15/8. Heavy betting for Reyes, he is undefeated, Firth is somone who could do it.

[PilotMan]

I was offered a fair amount of money to make a fight between Glenn Leeds, and Allan Wilcox. Leeds, still isn’t fully recovered from his last fight, and in his fragile state, care needs to be taken when scheduling him. Wilcox is not the man he should be facing. He is a good puncher and has a winning record. Something that Leeds doesn’t have. This was an easy no.

The results from this weeks fights were interesting, but not unexpected. In the flyweight division, Rocky Cubillas kept winning with a unanimous decision win over Lito Jamili. In the lightweight division, Pernell Whitaker showed that he is not anywhere near being washed up as he won a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Paul Kench. And lastly?

Job Reyes again, as if in a repeat of their earlier meeting, won a split decision win over Xavier Firth. Like I said, he just wins. I am not sure if anyone can beat him at this point.

[PilotMan]

Second week of July, 2007

Fight Night -

My man is back in action. It has been a long, long road to get back to this point be he is finally ready to go again. Of course, I am speaking of none other than Lawrence McFarlane. It has been the better part of a year since he lost his fight to George Kings. Kings incidently has gone on to win two other fights, is currently ranked #5, and scheduled to fight Mike McCallum. If not for Leavander Nolan, he would have to be a close runner for FOY at the halfway point of the year.

Anyway, back to the fight. His opponent tonight is Shinji Takehara. Takehara, hasn’t fought in almost a year as well, and his last fight was a loss to Calvin Lewsey. He was ranked in the top 10 before the loss, and now finds himself just on the outside looking in to the title hopefuls. He has good skills and his stamina is going to be in question as well. I am telling Lawrence to be very patient with this. On paper he should have the advantage, however, I remember how well I though that the matchup against Kings was going to be. Look for Lawrence to start slow, and try and conseve his energy a little bit better. Hopefully, he can fight well enough to build a lead and then try and go for the kill if he gets the chance. I look for Takehara to come forward, but still to be mindful of Lawrence’s power. He looks nervous. I am trying to calm his nerves. The last thing I need is for him to be worn out before he even gets in the ring. Lawrence is the favorite at 8/13, while Takehara is at 11/8. I gotta think big for this one.

Other fights of interest this week:

Former Light Heavyweight Champion Virgil Hill 49-4-1(25) #3 v. Will Cripps 19-3-2(11) #4

Think of this as the young vs the old. Hill is still a wiley vet, even though he lost his title to a virtual nobody. Now in his effort to regain his crown he is fighting Cripps. Cripps is on a 3 fight win streak and actually has the ability to outbox the old boxer. He is going to be a tough opponent, but his confidence is not up where is should be. Hill is the favorite at 4/6, while Cripps is 5/4.

[CalgaryBaller]

Very exciting, the first McFarlane match in a while. Should be a goody

[TonyR]

Woot! Lawrence should be on the warpath getting ready to avenge his loss!

[PilotMan]

Very exciting, the first McFarlane match in a while. Should be a goody
Thanks for reading, I am glad that you are enjoying it.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Lawrence McFarlane 17-8-0(16) #19 v. Shinji Takehara 26-2-0(16) #12

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Round one looked good for Lawrence. Both he and Takehara looked to be trying to box and counterpunch. Takehara was doing a better job of it. Every now and then though, Lawrence would sneak a big punch in and it looked like it hurt. Takehara certainly got the worst of that round, the only problem is that when Lawrence got back to the corner, he was complaining that his left hand hurt. I can’t really tell him to keep fighting, but he is. There is some question to the extent of the injury, and I am not sure how it will impact the rest of the fight.

Lawrence is moving very well behind his jab, the only problem is that he appears to be doing little to no damage with it when he throws it. The upside is that at the moment it might not make any difference. Mcfarlane has been peppering Takehara so frequently that he is dominating the rounds. Shinji does not look like he has the conditioning to go the distance. I told Lawrence to keep up the pressure but not to overexert. I don’t want him wearing out like he did in the last fight.

If this keeps up one of two things is going to happen. 1) McFarlane is going to KO or TKO Takehara, or 2) He is going to pile up so many points that it will result in a huge blowout. Lawrence is smokin right now. He is hurting Takehara, just not unleashing his fury....yet.

Round four was a close one. Takehara fought the same fight, Lawrence just didn’t do as much. Even round, maybe a round for Takehara.

Round five was close as well and was the best round for Takehara. Mcfarlane tried to be a little more aggressive and it didn’t work out. He eventually went back to his jab and move, but not before the round was already lost. He need to keep the pressure on if he wants to win big. His hand is an issue. He is just not able to do big damage with his combinations.

Wow! Round 6! Lawrence must have go his second wind, or else Takehara is just hurting, and Lawrence made him pay. He was dominant and dominating as the round progressed. As it was winding down Lawrence hit him with an killer right hook. Takehara bounced off the ropes and stumbled down. He managed to get up at the 4 count, took the 8 and came back for more. Lawrence turned it loose, and hit him with a right, square on the temple and Takehara went down for the second time in the round. This time he was up at 3, as the round ended he looked like a beaten fighter. Too bad for him there are 4 rounds to go.

Round 7 was a disapointment for Lawrence, but it with Takehara holding and in self preservation mode what do you expect? Lawrence won the round easy, and barring a most unsual end he should have this one in the bag.

Round 8 is in the books and Lawrence is on cruise control. He won this round with good jabs, although Takehara showed that there is still some life left in him. He still lost the round, but at least he still has life.

Round 9 was the best yet for Takehara. If this was a close fight I would have been worried, however, I can handle Lawrence taking a little punishment. Takehara has to let it all hang out for the last round. Expect nothing special from me, I just told him not to blow it.

Round 10 was a surprise. Apparently Lawrence didn’t listen to what I said. I told him NOT to blow it. He was killing Takehara. Just killing him. That was until he took a wiked body shot. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Lawrence just doubled over, and the crowd erupted. I nearly wet myself. Stunned at the turn of events I screamed for all I was worth that if he didn’t get up he was out. And I mean out for good. That got his attention and he was up by the 4 count. As the pain wore off he resumed his slaughtering of Takehara, and if not for the leniency of the ref, would have taken him out. Takehara, took a lot of damage. It would have been weird to have been knocked down, only to win the fight via TKO.

[TonyR]

Sweet return win for Lawrence. Hopefully his left hand is okay.

[edit] oops, thought ref stopped it. Should be a good win for Lawrence.

[hoopsguy]

Good to see Lawrence back in the mix - hopefully no surprises when the judges total scores on this one.

[PilotMan]

Here is how they scored the fight:

J1: 95-95

J2: 96-92 McFarlane

J3: 96-92 McFarlane

What the hell is that? Pure ass whiping from start to finish and that is what I get? Ok, so a win is a win, but who sees that fight as 95-95? This fight should have been much more lopsided. I can’t even fathom what the next step would have been if he had lost. Oh well, can’t dwell on it. Time to go to the hospital and check out that hand.

[PilotMan]

Yup, Lawrence is in a bad way, it is going to be sometime before he is back in the ring. His hand is definitely broken. He can keep training though, but it is going to be at least the standard 6 weeks before the cast comes off.

Hill and Cripps fought to a draw. Yippee. That cost me 50k no matter whose side I took.

[PilotMan]

Third week of July, 2007

Fight Night -

Tonight we have the debut of the loneliest fighter in PI. Tomoaki Wantanabe. A man that is so bad that noone wanted to fight him. Basically, because beating him would gain them nothing. I signed him because I saw potential. However, potential only goes so far. If he loses this fight he will be released from contract, as there will be no way for me to schedule any fights for him. Win though, and he could be one foot closer to the mile long road to respectability.

He is facing a fighter in a similar situation, by the name of Faustino Virgen. For some reason I want to call him Virgin. No idea why though. Neither fighter has much going for them. I am just going to send him out there and see if he can win it with his own blood, sweat and hopefully as few tears as possible.

Watanabe is the favorite, but it might as well be a pickem’ Odds are 8/11 for Tomoaki and 7/6 for Virgen.

Thats it.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Tomoaki Watanabe 0-1-2(0) #142 v. Faustino Virgen 0-2-0(0) #139

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Watanabe is a natural jab thrower. He did a very nice job of landing jab after jab. I don’t think he has the power to really go after Virgen, but I think I am safe to say that I think that he won the round.

I guess I was wrong. Watanabe did have enough power to go after Virgen. He used his jab effectively, and moved well. He smoked a straight right, square on jaw. Virgen went down and got back up at the 4 count. He took the 8 and immediatly got clocked by another on the other side, and went right back down. He again, made the count and came back for more. He lasted another :30 when another blow from Watanabe dropped him to the canvas. Again he got back up and finished the round. I question the brains of the ref for letting this fight continue.

Round 3 was even, but not the kind of even that you associate with two guys dancing around. I am talking about the kind where both men fire shots and the last man standing wins. Both men were tired by the end of the round and both men were hurt. Watanabe is close to grabbing his first win.

Round 4 was boring compared to the rest of the fight. Both men seemed happier to clinch, then to really get down to business. Watanabe did well with the jab and the round did look similar to round one. He should have pulled this one out. Even if he lost 2 rounds he should still manage the win considering how much he killed Virgen in round 2. Here is how they saw it.

[PilotMan]

J1: 40-34 Watanabe

J2: 40-34 Watanabe

J3: 40-35 Watanabe

Here is a chance for Watanabe to make something of himself. Now all he needs to do is take himself seriously and train like crazy. He has his first win, and his value should move up. That will make him more valuable to other opponents. I am excited to watch him develop. Noone fights next week. Time to party. WOOOHOO!

[PilotMan]

Ismael has a fight next week and that will leave him with one fight left on his contract with Punishment Inc. He is still a good fighter, and he is probably the best fighter in the stable, or at least the best with a shot at the title. His contract will be one of the most expensive in the stable, but I now have over 4 million in the bank, so there is room to make an investment. At this point I would say that there is a good chance that he will be resigned.

Important fights:

Featherweight FOY - Calvin Calvert 21-4-0(16) #5 v. Satoshi Ohba 27-1-0(16) #6

This is an interesting matchup. Calvert had been one of the best in the featherweight division, until he was soundly beaten by Armando Medina. Calvert has a big punch, good defense, and solid all around skills. Ohba is a rising force in the division. He was ranked as low as 103 a little over two years ago. Now he is ranked in the top 10. That is quite a climb. His most rescent win was a KO of Juan Zamora. Zamora is a quality fighter. Ohba is the favorite, odds on him are ½, the odds on Calvert are 7/4. Calvert has been at the top for a long time, I know that he has fought many tougher fighters. I will take that bet, especially considering the odds.

Former Light Heavyweight Champion Jeff Ellery 20-12-1(12) #19 v. Carl Wilks 24-2-0(19) #12

Ellery has been on a big downward slide. He has lost his last four fights, two to either former champs or current champs, and one by KO. Both men lost to Martin Kinnear in their last fight. Ellery lost via a majority decision and Wilks was knocked out. Wilks other loss was to Roy Jones, but both losses have been within the last year. Ellery is really down and out, mentally he is not in the game anymore. He will need to buck up if he is to win. Wilks is the favorite at ½, while Ellery is at 5/3.

Title Fight -

Flyweight World Champion Gerardo Ramirez 28-1-0(12) v. Edel Gomez 26-1-1(14) #9

Ramirez is in his second stint as flyweight champion. He is a solid puncher, and a better boxer. Good defense, and good accuracy, should give him a good shot to take the title. Gomez should try and take the fight into the late rounds as Ramirez may tire. Gomez’s only loss was to Zosimo Diaz, the fighter who was just beaten in Ramirez last title defense. This should be a good fight, I think that Ramirez has the edge in almost all the areas, and his experience should see him through. Ramirez is a heavy favorite at 1/4, and Gomez is 3/1.

[PilotMan]

Big payoffs on the gambling front. Calvin Calvert grabbed a split decision win and that meant a payoff of over 250k. That feels good in the pocketbook.

Big money could have been made on Jeff Ellery too. He won his fight with Carl Wilks. He won a 10 round unanimous decision. He would have been just too big a risk.

Gerardo Ramirez is a monster. He cleaned house, defended his title and showed that Edel Gomez is not a title contender. He won with a knockout in the first round.

[PilotMan]

Last week of July, 2007

Fight Night -

The time is now to find a fight for Omar. It has been the better part of 6 months since his loss, and he is almost back in top shape again. He is currently ranked #53 and has a very high contract value. Taking a look at the fighters who are around his ranking and ability, I find Barney Ross. Ross is getting old, and has not been very successful in the last two years. His record is 73-7-4(22), however, he has not won in his last four fights. He was ranked as high as #12 before falling to where he is today. He doesn’t have the confidence of a big name fighter, but his record speaks otherwise. He has solid skills, but not a lot of power. That should help Omar when push comes to shove. I gave them a call and they liked the idea of a fight later this year. Omar should be ready when the time comes.

Ismael is fighting a very important fight this week. Not so much a must win, but that after this, he will only have one fight left on his contract. I would like for him to stay, as I think that he has a very bright future ahead of him. His opponent tonight is Alejandro Gamboa. Gamboa is a rising star in the division, like Gutierrez. His record is 4-2-0(0), but he has won his last 3 fights. He has good skills, but there is some disagreement about the condition of his chin. He has not dominated his opponents, but he seems to do enough to find a way to win. I would expect Ismael to be the aggressor, and for him to try and test the chin of Gamboa. If he were to grab a win, it would mean a nice payday for me, in addition, I plan on laying a big bet here, and take a chance on my man. I want Ismael to fight comfortably, and to be busy. The last thing that I need is for him to get outpointed on the outside. Odds are even between them. It is a pick’em.

Title Fight -

Welterweight World Champion Jose Napoles 83-8-0(58) v. Former Welterweight Champion Manuel Castillo 27-2-1(8) #3

Not one man has been able to defend the title in over 3 years. There have been 4 champions during that time. Napoles lost in the first fight to Sugar Ray Leonard, who lost to Manuel Castillo, who lost to Wilfredo Benitez, who lost to Jose Napoles. Now these men have the opportunity to make a little history. Either Jose is going to defend, or Castillo will hold the title for a second time. Castillo’s most impressive accomplishment was beating the FOY, Derrell Guyver three months ago. Naploles has won five in a row, since his loss to Sugar Ray. Napoles has the power., and Castillo has the defense. Who will come out on top? Oddsmakers like Napoles at ½, while Castillo is 13/8. Tough to call.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Ismael Guterriez 4-1-0(3) #103 v. Alejandro Gamboa 4-2-0(0) #105

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Round one is in the books. And it looks like Ismael got the best of him there. Gamboa did throw a good amount of punches, but could never land more than twice in a row. Ismael did a better job with his combinations, and generally looked to frustrate Gamboa.

Round two was not as good for Ismael. Gamboa landed better shots although neither fighter could really get anything going. The first two minutes belonged to Gamboa, with Ismael snagging the last one. With the fight even, this next round is crucial.

Round three was tough to score. Ismael landed a couple of real power shots, but it didn’t seem to phase Gamboa. Gamboa did well to land quite a few jabs. This fight is messy with both men holding a lot on the inside. The ref is getting involved and it is keeping the pace of the fight down. Certainly not a pretty fight. Round four is a must win round.

Round four was similar to 2 and 3. Neither man really did any damage, and both men landed less punches than they should have. I wish I had better news about this. I am dissapointed in the effectiveness of Ismael’s punches. I would have thought him to be better suited to dishing out punishment. Here is how the judges scored the fight.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-37 Gutierrez

J2: 40-36 Gutierrez

J3: 39-37 Gutierrez

SWEET! His power punches were having an impact with the judges, even though to me it seemed that he was letting his big lead from the first round get away from him. This is certainly good news for the organization, and the winnings from the fight coupled with the winnings from the side bet should be enough to sign him to a significant contract without putting any other contracts in jeopardy. I was so hoping it wasn’t going to be a draw. This will help me rest easier no doubt.

[PilotMan]

Ismael Gutierrez has agreed to extend his contract for an additional 5 fights. The estimated value of the extension is valued at over 2.5 million. We are happy to have him in the fold for that much longer. Lee Drydon and Melvin Horne are the next who may be up for extension. They both have 3 fights remaining on their current contracts.

Jose Napoles has become the first Welterweight Champ to defend his title, as he won a 12 round unanimous decision over Manuel Castillo.

I am looking at some of the other fights that have been announced and I am sure that you will not be dissapointed when they roll around. There are going to be some good ones.

Looking ahead for Punishment Inc, we have a couple of weeks where it is going to be quiet, and then we have 3 fights scheduled. The biggest is going to be Melvin Horne. Horne needs this win to stay in the top 10, or to move up to a better shot at a title.

Lawrence is coming along slowly but surely. I am confident that he will make a full recovery from his broken hand. I am still thinking back to how impressive it was for him to win the fight, one handed, having broken it in the first round. Oh, and by the way, he is back in the top 10 in the middleweight division.

[PilotMan]

Ohhh, there is one, big, doozy of a fight this week. I have been waiting for it for almost a year now. I will get to that in a second, but first Niall Beaumont is also fighting. Here is a preview.

Niall Beaumont 7-1-0(3) #110 v. Harry Lelliot 6-4-2(3) #108

Niall is in really good shape, and looks to be the favorite on paper. He is notoriously inconsistent and I wonder if he will really show up. Lelliot is the favorite in the bookies hearts, and the odds on him are 4/6, while the odds on Beaumont are 5/4.

Title Fight -

Lightweight World Champion Damien Essett 23-1-0(23) v. Julio Cesar Chavez 105-4-2(84) #2

I love it when Essett fights, he one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. I mean top two, with Pernell being the other one. Anyway, he has dismantled every opponent that he has faced in the last 3 years, and doesn’t look to be slowing down at all. He is aggressive, has a huge punch and a good chin. Chavez is on a roll, he put himself on the map with the win over Whitaker in their rematch fight, and he hasn’t let down one bit. He deserves this title shot, but I am not sure that even he, is in the same class as Essett. Oddsmakers are favoring Essett. He is at a ridiculous 1/6, while the odds on Chavez are 9/2. I may have to lay some money down on Chavez, just in the off chance that he does pay. That would be a nice return. Still,I get chills thinking about this. I would love to be able to represent Essett someday. That would be grand.

[PilotMan]

Niall Beaumont has won with a points decision.

The Lightweight title is safely in the hands of Damien Essett, however, he was unable to knockout Chavez, but did win a unanimous decision.

[PilotMan]

Third week of August, 2007

Fight Night -

The big week is finally here. I have 3 fighters who are going and we need all of them to come away with wins. I expect it. With only five losses ever, and over 35 wins, I have to be feeling somewhat confident. Each night is still like the first one for me. Nerves and all.

First it will be Andreas Ruelas. Ruelas is fighting for the second time since I signed him to the stable. He is fighting a very experienced and aging fighter in Fred Apostoli. I want Ruelas to be the aggressor and to make the first move. He should have the better punch, and his defense should be good enough to make Apostoli pay when he misses. This is the highest that either fighter has been ranked, but I expect much more from Ruelas. He has to win if he has any desire to really make a name for himself in the in the middleweight division. Apostoli is the favorite as the odds on him are 4/5 and the odds on Ruelas are 11/10. That is almost even.

The second fight is Lee Drydon in his biggest test yet. His opponent is a quality fighter who has lost his last 3 fights, but was ranked as high as #50. Tae-Shik Kim has good power, and could make this a slugfest, but his chin is in question. Kim will be the aggressor, so Drydon will need to be careful, and make him pay when he misses. Lee has won six fights in a row, and has made me very rich. He has come a long way, and a win here could put him into a new level of quality. He may never contend for the title, but he has done a lot in two years. Kim is the favorite as the odds on him are 4/5, while Drydon is 11/10. Close.

The last fight is Melvin Horne against Al Hardway. Hardway is a very accurate puncher, and is in very good shape. I have a feeling that he is going to get stonger as the fight progresses into the later rounds. I hope that Horne has enough power to subdue him a little earlier, but it is a gamble. Horne has to be in charge in the ring, and that means not wasting any energy while he is doing that. A win for him is a sign that he is back, and it will firmly entrench him in the top of the lightweight division. A loss and it is back to the drawing board and back to regaining some of the confidence that I have worked so hard to get back. Hardway is the favorite at 8/13, while the odds on Horne are 11/8.



All of them have their work cut out for them. There is going to be a big financial shift one way or the other for me.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Andreas Ruelas 11-9-3(9) #99 v. Fred Apostoli 64-17-3(32) #91

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Owned. That is all. Just owned. Ruelas went out in search of blood, and that is what he found. Apostoli was ripe for the taking. Just :26 into the fight and an uppercut from Ruelas found its wasy home and sent Apostoli to the canvas. He struggled to get to his feet, and was up by the 4 count. He took the standing 8 and the ref let it go. Ruelas was the much faster fighter, and he easily slipped punches and landed with combinations of his own. Usually two to three punches. As the round was winding down Apostoli was really covering up. The ref had to get the idea that he wasn’t going to throw anymore punches and that Ruelas was just too much. He stopped the fight at the 2:41 mark.

Helluva way to start the night.

[Tellistto]

Wow, nice way to win a fight, TKO in the first round. Go Rueles! Now if only the other two fights go even 50% as well!


Tell

[PilotMan]

Here we go again!

Lee Drydon 6-2-1(2) #82 v. Tae-Shik Kim 24-7-0(17) #67

This fight is scheduled for 6 rounds.

Drydon laid back and moved a lot. He looked for the opportunity to throw a counter punches and landed more than Kim did. He took some punches, but I feel that he held the advantage through the round. He landed better combos than Kim did, I feel like he won it. Kim looked to be sucking win at the end of the round. I can’t imagine that his conditioning is that bad.

Drydon kept his strategy the same and used his boxing skills to create opportunities to land blows. He did a nice job, and Kim wasn’t really able to get a whole lot going. Kim did have a nice flurry at the end of the round, but I think that he had lost his opportunity for the round earlier. Kim still looks like he may be tiring.

Kim is gassed. He has nothing left in the tank. Drydon should have nothing to fear from him for the rest of the fight. Kim spent most of the round covering up, and taking some viscous blows from Drydon. This stupid ref is letting this fight go, when he needed to stop it. He should have known better. Drydon is going to kill him.

Like round 3 Drydon attacked with his fury for all of round 4. He had nothing to fear from Kim who showed no offense at all. Drydon would hit him 3 or 4 times for every punch that he threw. The best that Kim could do was the occasional jab and I think that he landed one uppercut. Besides that it was all Drydon. The ref finally saw things my way and put an end to it at the 2:31 mark. Another big TKO win for Punishment Inc. A big win for Drydon.

I can’t believe that one of the judges had this fight even through 3. While the others were ahead by 2 and 3 respectively. Thank God that he didn’t get to decide the fate of the fight. He would have screwed me. Kim really lost this fight. He should have been in better shape.

[PilotMan]

And here we go again!

Melvin Horne 11-8-0(10) #6 v. Al Hardway 22-2-0(11) #7

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

An offensive show, both men fought in close, and both threw big punches. Horne landed harder shots, while Hardway landed more shots. One will not survive this pace.

Hardway did a nice job pursuing Horne around the ring. I had hoped for a better defensive showing from Melvin, but he still couldn’t stop Hardway. He did land some big shots, and it makes me wonder if he shouldn’t go after Hardway and try and end this one early. I just don’t see him winning a long fight.

Round three is in the books, and the picture of the fight is of Hardway landing loads of punches, with Horne’s hard punches keeping things a little closer. Melvin is taking way more punches than I want him too, and not landing effectively enough to try and stop Hardway early. If the fight makes round 7 it will be all over. He needs to work to end it early.

Melvin was dangerously close to losing this fight. He was run all over the ring by Hardway and it appeared that he was feeling frustrated that he wasn’t able to break through his defense. Hardway was making things very rough for him, so that by the end of the round Horne was just trying to survive. He needs a big comeback now.

Round 5 was closer, and there was a tough of desperation from Melvin. He is not going to win this fight on the cards, and he needs to land more big shots, but they just are not coming for him. All he can really do is go out there and fight each round for all he is worth and hope that he can land a lucky shot. Hardway is way to accurate a puncher, and he is picking Horne apart from the outside.

Round 6 was better for Melvin. I think that he may have actually won the round. Although it looks like Hardway may have sustained some kind of injury. I will know more after the fight. For now, time is running out, and there is a big hill to climb. He is still getting tagged too much, I hope that he can just gut it out.

Round seven was like all the others. Horne unable to land the big blows, tiring, while Hardway is usuing the jab effectively and exercising his fitness advantage. There are 3 rounds left and Melvin pretty much needs a KO to win.

Round 8 showed how tired Melvin was. He landed a great flurry of punches that didn’t seem to hurt Hardway at all. Hardway, wasn’t as accurate as he could have been but was controlling the round. Out of nowhere a short left hook to the stomach buckles Hardway’s knees, and he went down, rolling around. Horne ran for the corner, and waited. ...9..10. Its over!!!!! Horne has pulled out a win, out of gas and all. He knocked out Al Hardway!

The judges actually had Melvin ahead on two cards 68-66, while the third had it 69-66 for Hardway. This is going to go down as the biggest windfall for me finanially in any one week.

This one week put about 2.6 million back in my pocket! Holy Shit!

I think that it is time for the boys to get new suits. Our reputation has to be impressive. I need to get that title. Although, I think that If Melvin ever faced Essett, he would get his ass kicked.

I think I need a break. I would have never guessed that we would have won all three fights, especially the way that my fighters won them

[TonyR]

Sweet round of fights PM! Great to see all the fighters doing well. Just need Lawrence to mend that broken hand.

[PilotMan]

Last week of August, 2007

How do you beat a week like that. I went out, bought a new car, started house hunting, I feel like after more than 2 years that this has been a worthwhile adventure. I do have my sights set on having a fighter in the stable who is a champion. We have some good fighters here now, I don’t think that any of them are on the same planet as some of the top notch guys around, but stranger things have happened. Do you remember Omar Acevedo vs. Felipe Vargas? Vargas is now 12-1-0(8), his only loss is still to Omar. I love that.

Big fights for this week:

Former Lightweight Champion Jorge Reynoso 22-5-2(14) #3 v. Benny Leonard 88-7-1(69) #5

Both of these guys are almost mirror images of each other, they are both boxer/puncher types, who can go either way in a fight. Leonard has a bit more respect in terms of his career, but Reynoso is the former champ. However, since his loss to Essett Reynoso has been 1-1-1(0), not spectacular, he needs this win if we wants to stay in range for another title shot. Leonard is unbeated in 3 fights in the last year. Leonard is the big favorite at 1/4, while Reynoso is the underdog at 11/4. I think it will be closer than that.

Heavyweight World Champion and FOY Joe Louis 74-3-0(59) #1 v. Evander Holyfield 41-5-1(26) #2

Louis, again, takes on the top contender. He has had no problem since taking the title from Peter O’ Connell, and this is his 3<SUP>rd</SUP> defense of the title. He is a solid all around fighter who is undefeated in the last 3 years. Holyfield is the #2 by default. O’Connell is probably the next best fighter, but he lost his rematch for the title so Holyfield moves up. Holyfield has had some good fights though. The biggest was his upset of Muhammed Ali last year. He has lost to Joe Frazier, but beaten Michael Moorer twice. He did lose to O’Connell, before O’Connell got his last title fight. Louis is a tough man to beat, Evander will have his work cut out for him. Bookies favor Louis at 1/4, while Holyfield is 10/3. I just can’t see Louis losing this fight.

[PilotMan]

A good money making week. I love those! I was contacted by the management of Jose Jimenez(insert joke here). He is a flyweight figher on his way down. He wanted to get at Lee Drydon, but Lee is still not up to his fitness goal. They were going to pay me just over 58k for the fight. It could have paid off nicely but, I am just not ready to see him fight yet.

In other world news, Joe Louis is still the best Heavyweight fighter in the world. He won with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield.

And former lightweight Champ Jorge Reynoso scored a 10<SUP>th</SUP> round KO over Benny Leonard, and with the money I bet and the other fight, I netted a little over 200k for the week. That was a big win for Reynoso, he can still dream of a rematch with Essett, or hope somehow that Essett retires early and he can fight again, because he doesn’t have a dream of beating Essett.

[PilotMan]

have been working with Omar, getting him ready for his upcoming fight. He is going to be fighting in about 3 weeks. Omar is in good shape and has been training hard. It should be interesting to see if he can bounce back from his loss as well as Lawrence did. Everyone else is getting healthy and working on their skills.

Melvin and Lee are approaching the end of their contracts with me. I like both guys, though I am not sure how much farther Lee can go in the flyweight division. He has arguably made the most money for me, although now he is getting more expensive. Melvin Horne also has 2 fights left, I have almost 5 mil in the bank so there should be some money to be expended on some new contracts or contract extensions.

Fight of the week:

Welterweight FOY - Derrell Guyver 28-2-0(14) #5 v. Jose Victor Lopez 24-1-0(15) #6

Guyver and Lopez are fighting in a rematch of a fight that happend at the end of 2005. Lopez was the winner in that one. Lopez’s only loss was to Oscar De la Hoya, and that was last year, while Guyver, who handed De la Hoya his first loss, but is coming off of a loss against a former champion. Guyver is going to press the action, while Lopez hopes that his power can control the fight. Guyver is the favorite at 2/5, while Lopez is at 11/5. Lopez is deserving of more respect than that, I will take that bet.

[hoopsguy]

Congratulations on the string of victories.

Can you post a recap at some point of the stable of fighters listing their records (overall and with you), as well as their ranking and contract status? It is getting a little harder to keep track of everyone as you add more fighters to the mix.

[PilotMan]

I will try and see if I can get something, or if there is an update coming up that contains that info. It is a bit more difficult since I simmed up about 30 update pages ahead right now.

[PilotMan]

I can’t lose! What a run! The bet that I laid on the fight of the week paid off with winnings of 220k. It is incredible.

Jose Victor Lopez continued his good run, and knocked out Guyver in the 9<SUP>th</SUP> round. Guyver is really struggling with consecutive losses.

The camp of Jose Jimenez offered us the same offer as they did last week. Again, I told them that I wasn’t interested.

I took a look at a couple of potential fights but didn’t see anything that really grabbed my eye. Leeds and Wantanabe are both training. Gutierrez is ready to fight but I haven’t decided what type of fighter I want to pair him with. Rueles is getting some much needed training. Omar fights in a week and Melvin, Lawrence, and Lee are all recovering from fights.

Fights of the week:

Former Flyweight Champion Adam Napier 27-3-0(25) #3 v. Colin Jolmers 20-3-1(12) #5

Jolmers is a young fighter who has been on the rise in the flyweight division over the last couple of years. He has won his last 12 fights and has only recently broken into the top 10 in the division. He really hasn’t fought any of the top fighter so Napier is going to be a test. For Napier he is trying to find something to grasp onto after losing the title, and then losing to Mauro Martinez. Jolmers is in better shape, but Napier has been there before. Napier is the favorite at ½, while Jolmers is 13/8. I like Napier here, he gave Martinez a real good run for his money.

Former Heavyweight Champion Peter O’Connell 37-5-1(20) #3 v. Anthony Wood 17-1-2(6) #9

O’Connell is still a man who commands respect even though he has failed in his bid to win his title back. He takes on a very beatable man in Wood. Wood was recently knocked out by Michael Moorer, although O’Connell may not have the power of Moorer, he should still be good enough to hand Wood his second loss in his young career. Odds are 1/7 in favor of O’Connell while Wood is 13/2.

[PilotMan]

Colin Jolmers proved me wrong with a unanimous decision win over Adam Napier. His name is now going to be whispered along with others as legit contenders to the flyweight title.

Peter O’Connell easily won his fight with a unanimous decision win over Anthony Wood.

New rankings were posted and here is where the fighters of Punishment Inc stand in the boxing world.

Melvin Horne (L) #5

Lawrence McFarlane (M) #9

Omar Acevedo (L) #53

Lee Drydon (FY) #65

Andreas Ruelas (M) #91

Ismael Gutierrez (LH) #101

Tomoaki Wantanabe (W) #110

Glenn Leeds (W) #123

[PilotMan]

Last week of September, 2007

Fight Night -

Middleweight Andreas Ruelas has his next fight scheduled and it is against a familar face. Ruelas is taking on John Fanshaw. Fanshaw hasn’t been very successful since he was TKOed by Lawrence McFarlane just over two years ago. Fanshaw is a fighter who is going to come after Ruelas, and hopefully he will eat a lot of leather on the way. Fanshaw has little power and poor defense. He is an accurate puncher, but whose heart to fight is in question. Ruelas should be able to take him, as he is a very similar fighter to Lawrence. This is going to be a good fight to keep building him up.

Glenn Leeds is also going to fight. His opponent is Faustino Virgen. Virgen is still winless, and Leeds needs a fight that he can win to keep building his confidence. Virgen was beaten by Wantanabe, and hopefully Leeds will do the same.

Wantanabe is also signed. He is fighting a real loser. Miguel Angel Morales is winless in 14 fights. He has more experience, but is really down on his skills. He had some potential at some point, but at this point he isn’t going to contend for anything.

Omar is fighting this week. We have spent the week getting him in top shape, and he is primed to make his return to the ring after being knocked out. Omar is going to have to be on his best because Ross has a good chin, and can take a lot of punches. He doesn’t have the power to really hurt Omar, so Omar will have to out box him to win. Ross has fallen from the ranks of contender to pretender. Ross hasn’t won a fight in over 2 years. A win for Omar would move him a long way up the ranks. Ross is ranked #39, while Omar is #53. Oddsmakers are heavy for Ross, he is at 1/4, while Acevedo is 3/1. I will take another big chance betting, as this one fight could pocked a ton of money. Even if he loses, it will be worth the risk.

Fight of the week:

Former Light Heavyweight Champ and FOY James Singleton 15-9-0(14) #2 v. Roy Jones 44-2-1(35) #5

Jones really wants to win, and for Singleton, he needs a win to prove his legitimacy. Singleton was crushed in his first defense of the title, and a win against Jones would let him keep his high ranking. Jones has yet to get a title shot, he has been inconsistent. Both men have been knocked silly by current champ Bob Foster. Odds are favoring Jones at 4/11, while Singleton is at 9/4. I think that Jones is likely to win, but I never thought that Singleton would beat Hill for the title.

[Tellistto]

Go Omar!


Tell

[TonyR]

woot! Can't wait to see Omar knock his block off!

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Omar Acevedo 7-2-0(2) #53 v. Barney Ross 73-7-4(22) #39

This fight is scheduled for 8 rounds.

Round one is in the books, and it could have gone better. Omar did not do as good a job defensively and was not a accurate as he needed to be offensively. Ross takes the round, with Omar needing to be a bit more aggressive or he is going to get picked off.

Round two was a shocker for sure. Ross moved well and landed from the outside. He landed a couple of punches, while Omar did a much better job moving and was better with his accuracy. Out of nowhere, a right hook from Omar landed square on Ross’ temple. He staggered and fell backward and down. Stunned, Omar went for the corner and waited. The ref got to 4 before Ross got back to his feet. Omar, sensing weakness, went in for the kill. He got a couple of good shots in but the round ended before he could finish it on his own. This changes everything.

Having thought that Ross was still hurt I sent Omar out into the fray with an aggressive outlook. That was a mistake. A little over :30 into the round Omar was hit hard and went down on his back. I should have known better. His chin. Aggggh. He did manage to get up at 7, but with the whole round to go he laid back and just tried to survive. He manged to make it to the end, but this evens everything out.



Round four was a see-saw battle with neither man really getting the upper hand. Omar may have done just enough to win the round, but it was sloppy. There was too many missed punches as too many clinches. You would think that these two would be happy on the outside, but it appears that they both like to press the inside.

Round five was a draw. It looked like Ross was going to take the round because he was doing a better job of slipping Omar’s punches. As the round was winding down though Omar came on and landed a good flurry that brought the round back to an even standing. This is a close fight, and Omar needs to hang in there.

Round six belongs to Omar. He was hardly hit until the end of the round. He did miss to many punches. Ross could be tiring as it seems to be affecting his punches. If Omar has two more rounds just like that he should win the fight. Neither fighter has been hurt since the knockdowns. I keep waiting for Omar to land another, but I don’t think that it is coming.

I told Omar to press the action a little, and he did, but he did get hit more as a result. He took more damage than he should have, but he gave out more too. Neither fighter was in trouble, Ross seemed to get his second wind, and probably took the round. Round 8 is very important. I told Omar to relax, and box. Do not press, do not look for the KO, just land the punches. He should win the fight if he can win here.

He listened to what I had to say and executed it nicely. Ross was obviously tiring and had a hard time finding Omar. He missed a lot and left himself wide open. Ross also stopped punching with his right hand about halfway through the round. I wonder what happend? Omar finished strong, although he did mention that he hurt his hand as well at the end of the round. I am waiting for the scores. This would be a big win for Omar and help to get him back on track, not to mention the financial windfall that a win would mean for me.

[CalgaryBaller]

Oh man PM, I can't wait to find out what is going to happen with Omar.

[PilotMan]

Here are the scores:

J1: 76-76

J2: 76-76

J3: 77-75 Acevedo

YUK!!!! A majority draw in a fight that Omar should have won! Ripped off. I feel so used. Goodbye quarter of a million dollars. Omar should have won that. I had him winning by 1 point. I want a rematch. As soon as he is healthy, we are going to have ourselves a rematch.



<HR align=left width="0%" SIZE=1><HR SIZE=1>

James Singleton didn’t have what it took to beat Roy Jones, as he fell by a unanimous decision.

[PilotMan]

^^ = :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Tellistto]

What a bummer, if only Omar hadn't gotten knocked down. That was the only reason it came out to a draw.


Tell

[CalgaryBaller]

Thats weak PM, at least it doesn't look like Omar took too much damage, so hopefully we'll be able to get that fight soon/.

[TonyR]

I've noticed how the game can be very lopsided and have various discrepencies.
I've had a fighter totally dominate a fight and go to decision and be like 70-63, 70-63, 65-63.

What a Rip! Omar should have won!!! REMATCH!!!!

[PilotMan]

such is the way of boxing

[PilotMan]

got a call today about a high profile fight involving McFarlane. Jeff Larkin, who is ranked just behind Lawrence in the rankings wants a fight in just under 2 months time. They also want to pay me almost 300k for the fight. That could be some nice money, and it would be a challenging fight for Lawrence. Larkin is a heavy hitter, but he too, lost to George Kings by a split decision. I cannot take this fight though as Lawrence is not in shape yet for fighting. He will be soon enough though.

Ismael is out to face a hard, young fighter, who is very highly rated and should draw a nice purse for the fight. His next opponent is a guy by the name of Shane House. House is undefeated in 3 fights with 3 KO’s. He will be hard, but could also boost Ismael should he win. This is a short prep fight, as it will be next month.

Fights of the week:

There are two titles on the line this week and they are:

Light Heavyweight World Champion Bob Foster 66-8-1(53) #1 v. Former Light Heavyweight Champ Virgil Hill 49-4-2(25) #3

Foster has never fought Hill, but he has killed guys that Hill has lost too. Hill is looking for redemption following his loss to Singleton, and now with Singleton out of the picture for the time being he might reign longer too. Foster is a power puncher, who could KO anyone in the LH division. There are rumors though. It is being said that there isn’t a LH now that can defend the title. Foster can prove them wrong here. This fight is a pickem’. Me? I like Foster, but again, I bet that Hill was going to keep the title earlier too.

Flyweight World Champion Gerardo Ramirez 29-1-0(13) #1 v. Flyweight FOY Rocky Cubillas 22-1-1(16) #5

This is almost the fight that everyone has been asking for, but since Maruro Martinez isn’t the FOY anymore this will have to do. Ramirez is on his second stint as the champ, and he is proving that he is deserving of it. Cubillas has had a great year, and has been just as good, though he has no title. Both men bring great punches, and great chin’s. This could go the distance, or be stopped early. The longer the fight goes the more it favors Cubillas as he has better stamina. But, he also has better power and a better chin, so if Gerardo wants to keep his title, he is going to have to earn it. Betting folk like Cubillas as he is the crowd favorite at 8/15, while Ramirez goes off at a close 5/3. Ramirez is one of the best champs around. He is going to be tough to beat.

[PilotMan]

Betting was a wash. Bob Foster was able to keep his title, and become the first light heavyweight to defend the title. He won by unanimous decision.

In the flyweight weight class, the reign of Gerardo Ramirez is over again, as Rocky Cubillas took the title from him in a controversial majority decision.

They guys are still training, although we are in a bit of a dry spell for fights the world does continue to move on. Our next fight is Ismael in 3 weeks.

Fight of the week:

Bantamweight World Champion and FOY Job Reyes 23-0-2(14) #1 v. Carlos Zarate 67-5-1(61) #4

Reyes has his hands full tonight. Zarate is a killer. He has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. As a top ten contender, he is unhappy that he has been passed over so many times. Job is not just any fighter though. He is a skilled boxer with power too. Neither fighter has great defense, so it will depend on who can take the blows, and who doesn’t get hit. Oddsmakers like Zarate at 4/6 while Reyes is 5/4. Reyes is one of my favorite fighters, so it is only natural that I cheer for him.

[PilotMan]

Oh well, another bad week. Crap I hate losing. The betting has not been my friend lately. A shocker in the Bantamweight division. Carlos Zarate knocked out Job Reyes in the FIRST round! Unbelievable! He is tough, he could reign for a while.

Here is our financial breakdown at this point:

Cash 4,118,973

Assets

Melvin Horne 393920 x 2 = 787,840

Lawrence McFarlane 440544 x 4 = 1,762,176

Omar Acevedo 499991 x 3 = 1,499,973

Lee Drydon 398982 x 2 = 797,964

Andreas Ruelas 256481 x 4 = 1,025,924

Ismael Gutierrez 569103 x 6 = 3,414,618

Tomoaki Wantanabe 87350 x 8 = 698,800

Glenn Leeds 138908 x 4 = 555,632

Total Contracts 10,542,927

Total Assets 14, 661, 900

That is a pretty penny!

[PilotMan]

Rankings as of October, 2007

Heavyweight

CHAMP Joe Louis 75-3-0(59)

#1 Peter O’Connell 38-5-1(20)

#2 Muhammad Ali 61-6-0(39)

#3 Colin Dibble 27-4-1(14)

#4 Evander Holyfield 41-6-1(26)

#5 Lennox Lewis 38-3-1(28)

#6 Richard Ferrier 24-9-1(14)

#7 Jim Corbett 27-8-7(14)

#8 Ralph Weymouth 19-8-2(14)

#9 Max Watt 17-2-4(10)

#10 Daniel Doherty 24-3-1(7)

Light Heavyweight

CHAMP Bob Foster 67-8-1(53)

#1 Roy Jones 45-2-1(35)

#2 James Singleton 15-10-0(14)

#3 Will Cripps 20-3-3(11)

#4 Virgil Hill 49-5-2(25)

#5 Julio Perez 17-3-0(6)

#6 Pat Olver 24-2-0(6)

#7 Derrick Scoulding 43-3-1(30)

#8 Jeff Ellery 21-12-1(12)

#9 Martin Kinnear 30-15-0(21)

#10 Brendan Lawe 14-8-0(12)

Middleweight

CHAMP Leavander Nolan 21-0-0(6)

#1 George Kings 27-2-0(9)

#2 Anthony Hardy 48-4-0(16)

#3 Wayne Wells 32-2-0(22)

#4 Bill Neville 29-1-1(21)

#5 Roger Jennings 39-3-1(27)

#6 Cedric Kaplan 25-3-1(16)

#7 Jeff Larkin 23-5-0(23)

#8 Lawrence McFarlane 18-8-0(16)

#9 Carlos Monzon 99-9-11(66)

#10 Mark Gannon 40-1-2(28)

[PilotMan]

Welterweight

CHAMP Jose Napoles 84-8-0(58)

#1 Javier Quirino 45-4-0(32)

#2 Oscar De la Hoya 38-2-0(27)

#3 Wilfredo Benitez 59-10-1(33)

#4 Manuel Castillo 27-3-1(8)

#5 Jose Victor Lopez 25-1-0(16)

#6 Derrell Guyver 28-3-0(14)

#7 Ed Roper 32-2-3(13)

#8 Ike Quartey 40-3-1(34)

#9 Andrey Romero 38-2-1(31)

#10 Milton McCrory 44-4-3(28)

Lightweight

CHAMP Damien Essett 24-1-0(23)

#1 Julio Cesar Chavez 105-5-2(84)

#2 Jorge Reynoso 23-5-2(15)

#3 Pernell Whitaker 46-2-1(20)

#4 Melvin Horne 12-8-0(11)

#5 Sam Hughes 45-7-0(25)

#6 Benny Leonard 88-8-1(69)

#7 Luis Valdez 36-5-0(15)

#8 Raul Jimenez 25-1-0(11)

#9 James Marks 50-7-1(23)

#10 Al Hardway 22-3-0(11)

Featherweight

CHAMP Gary Jakeman 20-7-1(10)

#1 Peter Badillo 24-6-0(17)

#2 Armando Medina 22-2-1(5)

#3 Calvin Calvert 22-4-0(16)

#4 Wilfredo Gomez 48-5-2(44)

#5 Kevin Kelley 56-4-2(36)

#6 Ricardo Sanchez 30-3-0(19)

#7 Derrick Abercrombie 29-5-0(19)

#8 Satoshi Ohba 27-2-0(16)

#9 Juan Zamora 23-2-1(14)

#10 Kazuki Sugita 20-2-0(12)

[PilotMan]

Bantamweight

CHAMP Carlos Zarate 68-5-1(62)

#1 Job Reyes 23-1-2(14)

#2 Xavier Firth 22-8-1(9)

#3 Hiroshi Nagase 33-9-0(12)

#4 Joselito Pana 36-2-1(14)

#5 Sandro Macias 20-6-3(14)

#6 Edel Milanes 22-6-2(13)

#7 Eder Jofre 76-4-4(51)

#8 Enrique Grimaldo 43-2-0(30)

#9 Bimbo Melchor 21-2-1(12)

#10 German Tiznado 47-2-2(13)

Flyweight

CHAMP Rocky Cubillas 23-1-1(16)

#1 Gerardo Ramirez 29-2-0(13)

#2 Mauro Martinez 35-0-0(21)

#3 Colin Jolmers 21-3-1(12)

#4 Adam Napier 27-4-0(25)

#5 Geronimo Solorio 33-2-0(21)

#6 Ernesto Bantillian 16-6-0(11)

#7 Lito Jamili 20-8-0(17)

#8 Fidel Bassa 28-3-1(18)

#9 Hideki Nishizawa 22-3-1(10)

#10 Lito Mataganas 20-3-0(9)

[PilotMan]

Punishment Inc, has announced the extension of the contracts of Melvin Horne and Lee Drydon. Both fighters have signed contracts valued at around 1.5 million for an additional 4 fights each.

I am glad that we have enough to be able to extend the contracts of both of them. They have their weaknesses but I enjoy how well they have done. Horne is looking to get a title shot, while Drydon needs some more fights to build experience and improve his skills. Both are young and tough, and given the right timing, they can be fantastic fighters.

Fights of the week

Former Light Heavyweight Champion #6 Julio Perez 17-3-0(6) v. #7 Pat Olver 24-2-0(6)

A pair of boxers who should see the end of the fight, they will put on a good show. Perez is trying to stop a downward slide as he has lost all of his last 3 fights. The good news is that Olver hasn’t beaten any of those guys either. Olver’s most recent fight saw him win with a second round KO of contender Cliff Harris. Olver is the favorite at 2/5, while Perez is 2/1. I don’t know what to think. To me Perez should be able to win, but his confidence is suffering, and Olver isn’t a pushover.

Former Light Heavyweight Champ #9 Jeff Ellery 21-12-1(12) v. #21 Kelly Schofield 34-4-1(14)

This is a rematch from a fight when they were both top 10 contenders. That fight was a draw, since that fight one has one a title, but neither has been dominant. Schofield has been knocked out twice by former champ Brenden Lawe, and Ellery, who beat Lawe for the title, has won once in his last 5 fights. Ellery is a better puncher, but the loser in this one is really a loser. Schofield is the favorite at 8/11, and Ellery is 6/5. Ellery should win this fight, I just see him as the better fighter.

Lightweight Fighter of the Year #4 Pernell Whitaker 46-2-1(20) v. #8 Luis Valdez 36-5-0(15)

Whitaker is still rebounding from his loss earlier this year to Chavez. He is the favorite here against Valdez. A man who he beat last year. This shouldn’t be to troublesome for him.

[PilotMan]

Whitaker grabbed another win with a 5<SUP>th</SUP> round KO over Luis Valdez.

Pat Olver won a majority decision over Perez, handing him another big loss.

Kelly Schofield won a unanimous decision over Jeff Ellery.

I have been making some big bets, and didn’t win any this week. 200k down the tubes. I got more coming up though.

Lawrence McFarland (M) is going to fight in about 5 weeks. He has been training and should be ready for this fight. Mark Gannon is his opponent. Gannon is currently ranked #11 and but has moved up the rankings fast. He is a power hitter, and has only been beaten one time. That was almost 3 years ago. McFarlane will need to again, be on top of his game. Gannon is going to move well and he has good power, but not an exceptionally good puncher. His chin is his weakness that we are going to try and exploit. It should be a good battle.

[PilotMan]

Last week of October, 2007

Fight Night -

One big fight for PI this week. Ismael Gutierrez fights for the seventh time, and tries to extend his winning streak to 4 fights. He is moving up rapidly, and needs to develop his skills before he ascends to fast. His opponent this week is a very tough fighter. Shane House hits hard and is very accurate with his punches. He has a good chin, and is likely to be able to stand and go toe to toe with Ismael if he wants. We will try and move better, avoid his power, and strike the body. If he cant breath then we should be able to take the fight to him. He has won all of his fights by TKO and is undefeated in 3 fights. A large payday looms with this fight, so it is important that he do well. Ismael will need to potect his chin unless he wants it exposed again. A win here would move him up in the rankings and would be great for his confidence. House is a huge favorite at 2/7 while Gutierrez is 13/5. IF he can win, it would mean very good money. He is trained better than he has for any other fight, and his confidence is high. Now it is up to him to turn that into results in the ring.

Fight of the week:

Former Welterweight Champion #4 Wilfredo Benitez 59-10-1(33) v. #8 Ed Roper 32-2-3(13)

These two met earlier this year, with Benitez Koing Roper in the 7<SUP>th</SUP> round. Benitez then got taken to the house by De la Hoya, and Roper drew with Andrey Romero. Benitez is still a way off from being able to contend for the title, but he should have no problem with Roper. Roper is an aggressive fighter who if, he catches you the right way can steal the fight, but Benitez should be too well rounded to lose. Benitez is the favorite at 3/5, while Roper is 11/8. I like Wilfredo here all the way.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

#100 Ismael Gutierrez 5-1-0(3) v. #106 Shane House 3-0-0(3)

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Ismael executed that plan that we laid out ahead of time. He tried to stay on the outside and counter punch House. He seemed to be fighting himself as he struggled to stay outside versus pushing inside which is where he likes to fight. House landed multiple combinations early and really had his way with Gutierrez. It was sloppy on the inside as the ref was constantly pulling them apart. House was really pressuring Gutierrez when Ismael found an opening and cracked him with a one punch left hook to the temple. House went down and looked stunned. I know I was. He managed to get back up at 5 and came right back into the fight. He knew that cost him the round though.

House seemed to be on his back foot in this round. He lacked the pressure that he had in the first round and just wasn’t hitting like he did in the round one. Ismael controlled the early part of the round but failed to impress and House slowly got his confidence back. Neither fighter landed many combinations, and Gutierrez held a lot. Round three needs to be cleaner. This one could have gone either way. I am still holding him back though. If he can outpoint House he can take it since I know that House is coming head hunting.

House came out fast in this one. He really controlled the round with Ismael content to move around the ring, and land the occasional punch. About 2:00 into the round Ismael changed tactics and came after House. He landed a number of crisp shots and looked really good. This round could have gone either way as well. He certainly didn’t lose the round. Round 4 will be very important. The knockdown in round one is proving to be huge right now. Otherwise, he might need to press hard.

Ismael must have felt good because he came out and pressed the action once again. He wasn’t looking for the KO, but he was trying to get the first shot off. Initally it looked like House was going to steal the round. He was laying back and not pressing like I expected too. Then the jab of Gutierrez took over. He threw it from all over and it landed so often that House finally started to come forward, and when he did he got more of the same. Ismeal finished very strong and had his best overall round. We will see what the judges say, but I feel really good about it too. If Gutierrez gets the win he will have deserved it. He fought well.

[PilotMan]

J1: 40-36 Gutierrez

J2: 38-37 Gutierrez

J3: 38-37 House

JUDGE 3 YOU SUCK! Ismael clearly dominated the fight, how he could have seen that Ismael lost 3 rounds is beyond me. He really dominated the last round and round one was 10-9 at the least. I saw it much more like 39-37. I would have been happy with that. Oh well, whataya gonna do? He did win the fight, although someone tried to steal it from him. It was a well deserved win against a formidable opponent. Made a nice payday from this one. The odds were definitely in my favor.

[PilotMan]

Wilfredo Benitez grabbed a 10 round Unanimous decision over Ed Roper. That was to be expected though.

When I got back to the office there was a message to call the manger of young and up an coming lightweight Enrique Frias. Frias is unbeaten in 23 fights and is ranked #13. Horne is probably the lowest rated contender to the title, so they sweetened the pot with 287k, on top of what would already be a very nice payday. This is not the kind of fight that I am looking for. I said no. But I am looking for opponents for Melvin. He is ready to go again.

Fight of the week:

Featherweight FOY Calvin Calvert #4 22-4-0(16) v. Former Featherweight Champ Peter Badillo #2 24-6-0(17)

This is the fight that Calvert wanted, except that he wanted it before he lost to Armando Medina and before Badillo lost the title to Gary Jakeman. It should be a very entertaining fight though. Both men are aggressive, hit hard and have great defense. In fact they are almost identical in terms of their abilites. Calvert is the favorite at 4/6 while Badillo is 5/4. I would have thought that this should be a pickem, so I guess that means that a bet on Badillo would be worth the risk. Calvert is in better fighting shape and his confidence is better, as this is a very tough test for Badillo right after his loss.

Featherweight World Champ Gary Jakeman #1 20-7-1(10) v. #5 Wilfredo Gomez 48-5-2(44)

These two men have fought before, but it has been a while. Jakeman won the first fight by split decision. Both men have lost to Ricardo Sanchez, this year. Jakeman doesn’t get a whole lot of respect as a champion, and Gomez is a quality fighter. Both men are slugger type fighters with good chins. I expect that it will be a good fight, but if it goes the distance, then I like Jakeman. The betting has been favoring Gomez at 8/11, while Jakeman is 6/5.

[PilotMan]

A new Featherweight Champion has been crowned. Wilfredo Gomez scored a unanimous decision over Gary Jakeman to grab the title. I lost 100k on this fight.

Calvin Calvert beat former champion Badillo in a split points decision, I won around 67k for this fight.

Someone called to offer Omar a fight, but isn’t back into good enough shape to even warrent a look. Given his chin issues, I need to be very careful with whoever I have him fight next.

I did manage to book a fight for Lee Drydon. My favorite flyweight is going to get an easier fight than his last. His opponent this time is Bert De Costo. De Costo is a seasoned journeyman, who at one time was a title hopeful, he is at the end of his career now, and just looking for his next payday. He has won 1 fight in 3 years, and has a glass jaw. This was Lee’s reward for his contract extension.

I am having a difficult time trying to decide who Horne’s next opponent should be. He is currently the #4 contender to the title, but I don’t think he would have a prayer against the likes of Whitaker, Cesar Chavez, or former champ Reynoso. Right now, Damien Essett is in a who other galaxy. The name that does stand out is aging Benny Leonard. Leonard is a fantastic, well rounded fighter, who can box as well as he can slug. He was knocked out by Reynoso in his last fight, and but his aging body is slow to recover. We just can’t come to an agreement on a fight right now. There really aren’t any others that I want him to fight just yet.

[PilotMan]

Third week of November, 2007

Fight Night -

And so begins a night that will lead to many nights until the end of the year, and a lot of fights for Punishment Inc. Middleweight Andreas Ruelas is fighting tonight. He has looked very good in the gym the last couple of weeks. His training really seems to be going better. I am looking forward with great anticiaption to this fight. His opponent, John Fanshaw, was disposed of by Lawrence, and I am looking for Andreas to do the same thing. Rueles is like a younger McFarlane. He is incredibly aggressive, and that means that he will be hit by the boxer Fanshaw. Fanshaw is aggressive as well. I would look for him to come in and out a lot, and to try and disrupt Ruelas. He has a good chin, and good stamina, but he has no confidence. He is in much worse shape than when Lawrence whipped him so it should be easier for Ruelas to do the same thing. Andreas has good instincts, so I am going to let him go out and fight his fight tonight. If he gets into trouble then I will give some advice, but I want to see how he is going to deal with Fanshaw. The oddsmakers like Andreas. The odds on him are 8/13, while Fanshaw is 11/8.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

#89 Andreas Ruelas 12-9-3(10) v. #91 John Fanshaw 17-15-0(8)

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Andreas was relaxed going into the fight. I wanted him to go out and be comfortable and see what Fanshaw was going to do. Fanshaw wanted to push the pace of the fight and threw and landed some nice punches. I wanted Ruelas to go to the body and work him over there. Andreas landed a number of nice combos, and genereally controlled the round with his jab. Hooking the body when he could. He got hit more than he should but he still won the round.

Round 2 was more of the same. Actually it was the jab show. Both men threw their jabs well, Ruelas landed better. Fanshaw only managed to get a few 2 punch combos, while Andreas jab was working well, and he was still working the body. I noticed an uppercut that made Fanshaw wince, and I wonder if it might be broken. Later I thought that I saw Fanshaw shake his left after an especially hard jab off of Andreas’ head. I told him it is time to work the chin, especially if his jaw might be broken.

A sloppy, sloppy round from my fighter. He started to get greedy and took too much punishment. He also failed to really control the round like he did in the first two rounds. Fanshaw is still a good puncher, he just isn’t going to hurt you. Andreas needs to do a better job.

Another solid round from Andreas. He focused more on his defense, he took some off of his punches, but still came forward looking for a fight. The result was a lot of punches landed and minimal damage taken. A good round. If he can do that a couple of more times this fight will be in the bag.

Well Fanshaw survived round five but that was all. This fight should have been stopped. Andreas’ jab is really controlling the fight. He just throws it at will and he is able to use it as a first punch or a counter punch. His defense is what is really working though. He looks to be a step faster than Fanshaw. Fanshaw just ate a lot of leather, and looked really bad at the end of the round. He fought back enough to go on, but it is clear that he needs a KO to win.

Round six was a close as any. Fanshaw was accurate and Ruelas landed some nice uppercuts, but neither fighter was hurt at all. This round could have gone either way, but as far as the fight goes, I would say that Ruelas had done enough to win the fight.

[Tellistto]

Woot, the fights go on. Looks like a solid fight by Rueles who seems to be following in Lawrence's shadow step for step. Let's hope he can continue that trend and become as good as Lawrence has as well!


Tell

[TonyR]

Wow could we possibly see a Ruelas/McFarlane fight in the future?

[PilotMan]

Here is what the judges think:

J1: 60-54 Ruelas

J2: 60-56 Ruelas

J3: 59-56 Ruelas

A nice win in a fight that I was hoping he would show off some of his power and get a KO. A win is a win though and even though the odds were pretty good that he would win, I still laid the max bet of 250k on him to win. It is easy to bet when you know your guy is good enough to win. That was a good fight, he should be happy with the result. I am.

[PilotMan]

Fred Apostoli, the man who was TKOed by Ruelas a few weeks ago wants a rematch. He isnt the caliber of fighter that he should be facing right now. He wants to move up and a rematch like that just isn’t going to put you on the map. NO.

Omar has his rematch. He is going to get his fight with Barney Ross. It is scheduled for the middle of January next year. He has to win this fight. There is no way around it. He should have won the last one.

[PilotMan]

Woot, the fights go on. Looks like a solid fight by Rueles who seems to be following in Lawrence's shadow step for step. Let's hope he can continue that trend and become as good as Lawrence has as well!


Tell
That is what I was thinking when I signed him. He seems to be very similar in style and result.

[PilotMan]

Wow could we possibly see a Ruelas/McFarlane fight in the future????? I guess it's always a possibility. Ruelas has a way to go though.

[PilotMan]

Last week of November, 2007

Fight Night -

Glenn Leeds is fighting for his third time with the organization. Leeds has done ok in training, but has already fallen behind Wantanabe in the rankings and in the gym. He has an opportunity to fight the man that Wantanabe handily beat. Faustino Virgen isn’t going to put a lot of money in the bank account, but he could really help Leeds on his road back up. Virgen is fighting just to put food on the table. He has been handled well in all four of his fights and I don’t expect much out of him here.

Leeds has to show the good tools that I know that he has. So far he has just not proven himself, and his contract value really hasn’t gone up that much. Like I said, right now, Wantanabe is better fighter. Look for him to stay loose and I would like to see him end the fight early. It would be a big boost if he could, but he is only going to have 12 minutes to do it in. Leeds is a solid favorite at 2/5, while Virgen is at 2/1.

Next week is a very busy week for Punishment Inc, as well as the rest of the boxing world. So this will have to be good enough this week.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

#124 Glenn Leeds 4-8-2(1) v. #134 Faustino Virgen 0-4-0(0)

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Glenn was dominant, he controlled the entire round and peppered Virgen with power shots. He had him reeling a number of times, and I was cheering him on and yelling at the ref to stop the fight. He would have none of it, and Virgen fought back. Glenn came back holding his left hand. He says that he knows he broke it. Man, that really sucks. Now we will see if he can still end the fight early.

Another good round for Leeds, although not nearly as good as round one. He just couldn’t seem to push the fight hard enough. Leeds is having trouble breathing, he is really struggling. He may need to back off, as he has taken way too much damage. Good thing this fight is half over. He wouldn’t make it through a ten rounder.

Virgen was again in control, he backed off and landed a boatload of punches and Virgen just didn’t get it going. Leeds should have this well in hand, he just can’t take him out. It is not a dominating performance, let’s just see him finish the fight on an upnote.

Well, he didn’t finish with a flurry and he didn’t dominate, and he took the most damage of any other round. Virgen did a great job of controlling this last round. I don’t think that it was enough to steal the fight. If Leeds did grab a draw, I will be very dissapointed. Even there were no knockdowns either round one or round three could have been 10-8 rounds. Here is what the judges have to say.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-39

J2: 39-39

J3: 40-38 Leeds

This is the most unfucking believable scoring I have ever seen. Who the hell saw the fight like this. This cost me a quarter of a million dollars. That is fucking rediculous. How do you get a draw out of two rounds where Virgen easily could have been taken out. It is hard enough that Leeds may have a broken hand and a broken nose, but add insult to injury. Literally. I am ready to get in there, put the gloves on and kick ass on all three of those judges at the same time.

Sad to say, that this will probably leed to Glenn Leeds not being resigned by me. If he can’t beat a palooka like Virgen he will never improve beyond where he is right now.

[PilotMan]

First week of December, 2007

Fight Night -

This is not only a big week for Punishment Inc, but also the number of other fights across the world.

The first fight of the night is Tomoaki Watanbe. He is in his second fight, and hoping to build on his last impressive fight. His opponent this week is Miguel Angel Morales. Morales has a lot of experience, but has yet to win a fight. Morales is a boxer, who likes to press the action. He has very little power, but he has a good chin. To his credit Watanabe is coming off of a dominating performance. He will try and punish Morales, and grab his second career win. If he can he will have paid off on the investment. I think that he can. It is going to be a short fight, so he will be attacking. His chin is a little fragile, so it will be with some caution. Watanabe is the underdog at 5/4 while Morales is the favorite to get his first win at 4/6.

The second fight features the most popular fighter in Punishment In,. Lawrence McFarlane. McFarlane has a very difficult fight on his hands. His opponent is Mark Gannon. Gannon has one loss, and has won 40 fights and 28 of them by KO. Gannon has good defense, solid power, but his chin may be his weak spot. He is in good condition, although his last fight was a draw with Calvin Lewsey. Gannon will try and take the fight to the later rounds, and utilize his defense to keep McFarlane away. Neither fighter will be the aggressor, and Lawrence could win a boxing match, but I really want to see him land the big punch. He has trained very well, and he is ready for this fight. The winner here will lauch themselves handily into the top 10. Gannon is a huge favorite, the odds on him are 4/9, while McFarlane is getting no respect at 15/8. A chance to win some money.

Other big fights this week:

Welterweight World Champion #1 Jose Napoles 84-8-0(58) v. #2 Javier Quirino 45-4-0(32)

Quirino is fresh off of wins against Sugar Ray Leonard, and Oscar De la Hoya. He has been ranked in the top 10 for over a year and a half. He has beaten the best of the best in the welterweight division and now he gets his shot. Napoles is defending his title for the second time and has looked very good in his last fights. Both men are big time punchers and I would be surprised if either will last for the full 12 rounds. Napoles is the slight favorite at 4/5 while Quirino is at 11/10.

Lightweight World Champion #1 Damien Essett 24-1-0(23) v. Former Lightweight World Champion #3 Jorge Reynoso 23-5-2(15)

Essett, the most dominating pound for pound fighter around will defend his title in a rematch against Reynoso. Reynoso was knocked out in the first round in their last fight, but he is coming off of a 10<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Benny Leonard. Essett is the favorite at 3/5 while Reynoso is at 11/8. How can Essett lose? He has to be a sure thing.

Former Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard #14 37-6-1(25) v. Robert McCormick #20 16-9-2(14)

Sugar Ray has dropped four fights, while McCormick is 2-2 in his last four. This isn’t clash of the titans but is is going to be important to the future of Leonard. If he can’t get a win here he may as well retire. He has really lost a lot of confidence and is isn’t like McCormick is a great fighter. Leonard will need all his power and speed to win, although he is the favorite by a long shot. He is at 2/7 while McCormick is at 13/5. I am not going to touch this with a ten foot pole.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Tomoaki Watanabe #116 1-1-2(1) v. Miguel Angel Morales #138 0-12-2(0)

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Morales owned round one and landed a load of punches that were not powerful, but they were effective. Tomoaki will need another strategy, his punches are powerful, and he could end the fight if he gets Morales going backward. Round two will need to be better than this.

Round two was even. Neither fighter seems to be able to get the upper hand. Morales was not as accurate, but Tomoaki didn’t impress either. He will really need to turn it on in order to turn this fight around.

Tomoaki tried to come out on the offensive and ended up getting peppered with a series of punches that immediately sent him moving backward. He looked to move a little more and found much more success and may have even stolen this round. He has to be the better fighter in the next round, I have a lot of money riding on this fight. I am surprised that he has yet to really hurt Morales. He is just too slippery.

Tomoaki did very well in the last round and made up for the failure in round one. He hurt Morales about two minutes in, but just couldn’t end the fight. Morales landed the least amount of punches in the last round than in any of the other rounds. He was tagged by some good punches, but his chin held up well. I really hope for Watanabe’s sake that he doesn’t end up with another draw.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-38 Morales

J2: 39-38 Morales

J3: 39-39

Awwwwwww......(*^(^&! Just damn. I mean, what a dissapointing result. Especially on the heels of the Leeds fight. This just was not to be. I can see how they came to their decisions though. I guess round three was more of a draw, and that Tomoaki outright lost the first two. Sigh. Back to the gym with you. We have a long road ahead. For me? Lawrence McFarlane.

[PilotMan]

Here we go again!

Lawrence McFarlane 18-8-0(16) #10 v. Mark Gannon 40-1-2(28) #11

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Round one was an ugly round. Gannon expected Lawrence to come out and try and take the fight to him and he was sorely mistaken. Instead he laid back and watied for Gannon to come forward. He landed more counters and generally out boxed Gannon in the first round. Neither fighter did much damage, and the round was marred by some pushing inside, but all in all it was a good first round.

Gannon and Lawrence both got a bit more aggressive in this round. The beneficiary of this was Gannon. He seemed to be getting off first and is defense was better too. Lawrence can not get picked apart on the outside, especially when Gannon needs to have his chin tested. A hard lesson from the Kings fight was that Lawrence has a tendency to tire earlier than the other guy. He will have to not let these early rounds go away.

Gannon did a great job of counter punching and was being very pateint waiting for McFarlane to come forward. He was moving too well, and it felt as though Lawrence was chasing him around the ring. Toward the end of the round a straight counter right caught Lawrence right below the left eye and he slumped to the canvas. He was up quick at three, but that really cost him a couple of rounds worth of points. I am not happy at all. Something has to change.

Well we got one back! Round four was not going well at all, in fact Gannon was toying with McFarlane for the round. He was out pointing him and generally making him look bad. That is until the left hook. Gannon went right down and almost didn’t get back up. He took the standing eight and fought back well. This round easliy could have been lost, but it was salvaged with the knockdown. We need more of that.

Round five was taken off by Gannon. He didn’t do much and Lawrence didn’t either. Lawrence did do enough to take the round though. He landed more even if most that landed were just jabs. Gannon was not as accurate as he has been. Hopefully that knockdown slowed him some.

Round six was even. Both men landed well in spurts but neither was able to really take advantage. Early in the round Lawrence was moving very well and I was under the impression that he was going to take this round too. Gannon came back though and brought things even.

I have this fight even, and I hate the late rounds. I told Lawrence that this fight was on him. He had to take charge. He had to do it the way that he felt he could. As the round started I knew he was fired up but he wasn’t showing anything in the ring. His punches were behind, although Gannon couldn’t seem to catch up with him either. :51 into the seventh round a powerful right came out of nowhere and sent Gannon flying. It really hurt him. He was down for a seven count. He did get back up, and fought well, however he still lost the round, and Lawrence did what he really needed. Now he needs to keep it up.

I told Lawrence that was just what he needed and to keep it up. It only took :23 for another right hand to find it’s way to Gannon’s jaw. He crumbled down, but did manage to get up at 7 again. There is no hurry now, as Gannon will be forced to come forward. McFarlane didn’t try and end it, but he is gaining confidence now. That was a bad round for Gannon. Lawrence must keep the pressure on with two rounds to go.

Round 9 looked like the earlier rounds, with Gannon picking off Lawrence from the outside. He pumped jab after jab, and wouldn’t stay in one spot long enough to get hit. This round was clearly his. I still think that he probably needs at least a knockdown to win this fight. Lawrence will try and win this fight with a solid round here at the end.

Well that is it. It wasn’t pretty but he did keep it close. Gannon could have stolen the round with great boxing skills again, but hopefully Lawrence landed enough to make him look good. As of right now, I have this fight scored a draw. I really hope that isn’t the case. With the hit that I took on the Watanabe fight I can’t afford another big blow to the budget. Here are the scores:

[PilotMan]

J1: 96-92 McFarlane

J2: 95-91 McFarlane

J3: 94-92 McFarlane

Great! Not only a win, but a unanimous decision! Those scores are a lot further apart than I would have guessed, but I will take it. He got the win, and he did it with great power. Three knockdowns in the fight should seal it, and there is no way that he should have ever been knocked down. This is a very nice payout against a fighter who was favored pretty good. Hopefully this will be good for us in the rankings.

[PilotMan]

Sugar Ray Leonard did what he needed and grabbed a close split decision against Robert McCormick.

Jose Napoles did what I didn’t think that he could do, and that was grab a win against a hot fighter. He won in style with a unanimous decision.

Damien Essett dominated Jorge Reynoso, and defended his title again with at 10<SUP>th</SUP> round knockout

[PilotMan]

As we wind down the 2007 year there still are no real good looking fights for Melvin Horne. The fighters that are available are just not a good match for him. Most have some appealing traits, but all have at least one or more disqualifing skills. I will just be patient with him.

Lawrence is pretty worn out following his fight, but he is training. It was a great win for him. I am looking to press him further up the rankings for his next fight.

Drydon has the last fight of the year for the gym. He should be able to beat this guy. He needs the experience.

[TonyR]

Just Awesome! McFarlane should get a Title shot in a few fights!!

btw, you getting any endorsement deal yet?

[PilotMan]

Yeah, I have gotten about 300-400k for the last two years total. Not great, but its a start.

[Tellistto]

Very nice win, there. Hopefully Lee can build on that win and end the year in style for the gym. With the recent run of losses, it was looking a bit iffy on how the end of the year would look in hindsight.

Tell

[PilotMan]

Well, I couldn’t wait any longer. Melvin is not ready for his title shot, and aside from Essett, Whitaker, or Chavez there isn’t anyone ahead of him. I scheduled a fight between him and #15 Luis Valdez. Valdez finds himself out of the top 10 for the first time in three years. His back to back losses have humbled him a little, in fact, he has only won 1 in his last 4 fights. Melvin should be the favorite, I think that he is the better fighter all the way around. His fight will be in February, next year.

Fight of the week:

Former Heavyweight Champion Peter O’Connell #2 38-5-1(20) v. Muhammad Ali #3 61-6-0(39)

O’Connell is still trying to make a case for a third fight with Joe Louis, while Ali is still waiting for his title shot. Ali rebounded from his loss against Evander Holyfield, with a 5<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Michael Moorer. While O’Connell beat Anthony Wood in a points decision. Both men are similar in style, but Ali’s stamina is going to see him win this in the later rounds. He is the favorite at 1/3, while the odds on O’Connell are 11/4. If O’Connell wins, he should get that title shot again.

[PilotMan]

A little speculation pays off every now and then. I figured that even though I though that Ali was going to win the fight, that a 2 v.3 fight with the odds that heavily weighted to one fighter, that it was worthwhile to bet on O’Connell. After all, he had been the champ, and he has reigned as one of the top heavies for a long time. So I laid 50k on him to win. Sure enough he snagged a 10 round unanimous decision over Ali. Surprising? Pleasantly so.

[PilotMan]

Last week of December, 2007

Fight Night -

Lee Drydon has the last fight of the year for Punishment Inc, and it will signal the end of the third year since I started this little venture. Drydon is facing Bert De Costo. De Costo is ranked lower, considered a way past his prime fighter, and hasn’t won a fight in over a year. Even though at one time he was a competitive fighter at in the flyweight division, he has now fallen far from grace. Drydon is hoping that he can be the one who will finally end the career of a fighter who should have ended it on his own a long time ago. I expect De Costo to attack from the opening bell. That was always his MO. He has good power, and good all around skills, however, his stamina and his chin are both in question.

I have been working with Lee on maximizing his skill in the ring. He still hasn’t shown the ability to go to the next level, although he is pretty highly ranked for a guy with only 10 fights. He is a power puncher, and I feel that he should take out De Costo. Fortunately for me, the voice of public opinion says that De Costo is the better fighter, and that he is going to win. Odds are with him in this one. He is favored at 2/5, while Drydon is at 11/5. I am going to bet the farm here. I feel very confident, and I know that Lee is in a much better place professionally than De Costo is right now.

National Fight of the week:

Former Bantamweight Champion #3 Xavier Firth 22-8-1(9) v. #4 Hiroshi Nagase 33-9-0(12)

Firth, while being a very talented fighter, and a very underrated champion for his time, is on a slide, and his opponent isn’t going to make life any easier for him. He has not won in two fights with Reyes, and his other fight was recorded as a draw (Sandro Macias). Nagase, is now ranked in the top 10 for the first time in his career. A long winding road and a current 4 fight win streak have gotten him here. He is not great at anything, but gets by with a little bit of everything. Firth is the favorite here, he has earned his spot at the top, but will Nagase be able to dethrone him? Firth 4/11, Nagase 12/5.

[PilotMan]

One more thing that I should report, and that is with my increased involvement in fof multiplayer leagues and this wonderful program that Vaughan and Co. put out (WWSM2006), my time on Punishment Inc has dwindled. So much that we have all but erased the large lead that I had on the updates. So far, there are about 275 pages of updates and the WP file is almost over 600kb. I do intend to continue the dynasty, but the speed of updates may slow some. I want to thank everyone that has kept up with it, as it has been the most successful and longest running dynasty that I have ever put together. It has only begun to take a life of it's own, and the future is still bright for it. There is another idea that I had for this or possibly another dynasty that I have talked to some of you about, and now that I am caught up, it may come to fruition. Time will tell.

Thanks again, and even though the pace may slow somewhat we are not done.

PM

[hoopsguy]

I've enjoyed the read, PilotMan. Thanks for putting this together and I'll be anxious to see updates on this one if/when time permits. Good luck with your other efforts.

[Tellistto]

I've certainly enjoyed the ride so far. Even if the pace slows, I'll still be reading along.


Oh yeah, go Lee!

Tell

[Cards4ever]

Definitely some good stuff here, great work PM.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Lee Drydon 7-2-1(3) v. Bert De Costo 36-21-0(23)

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Round one is in the books, and it appeared to be a feeling out session for both fighters. Neither fighter looked especially good at any point in the round. Drydon jabbed well, but was unable to really land any serious punches. De Costo meanwhile, went to the body more, and moved better than a fighter his age should have. I still think that Lee won the round, but it was unimpressive.

I told Lee to keep using the jab and see what he could do with his right. Both men landed the jab well through the round, and De Costo proved that his strategy was to get inside and hold on. The ref was getting impatient and so was I. Drydon hit him with a big one-two that staggered him, but he stayed up. Toward the end of the round Drydon caught him coming in with another big one-two and this time he went down. Flat on his back all he could do was gaze up as the ref counted him out. This was the result that I expected, this is the result that I wanted.

Certainly, with the prefight odds the way they were, we did much more than just win a fight. I think that with the way the year has gone, the whole crew gets a night on the town at my expense. It has been a good year.



<HR align=left width="0%" SIZE=1><HR SIZE=1>

Xavier Firth and Hiroshi Nagase fought their way to a majority draw. Whoooopedeeedooo!

I have been propositioned for a rematch with Artemio Hinojosa for a fight in a couple of weeks. It is short notice, but Ismael is ready. It is the only fighter that he has lost too. A chance and redemption and a shot at a nice payday. They have already offered 242k to boost the purse. I know that he will likely be the underdog, but Hinojosa is quailty, and I still think that he can be beat by Ismael. I sign the fight.

[PilotMan]

Current Stats for Punishment Inc.



Career Fights 52

Wins 43

Losses 6

Draws 3

By KO 22

Over the course of my three years I have won over 24 million from fights.

For 2007 I earned over 10.4 million from fights, and over 6.8 million in total profit. Not to shabby for a flabby old man, huh?

Here is a look at our financials

Cash

$3,543,732

Contracts(fights remaining on contract)

Melvin Horne 2.364 mil (6)

Lawrence McFarlane 1.477 mil (3)

Omar Acevedo 1.500 mil (3)

Lee Drydon 2.190 mil (5)

Andreas Ruelas .877 mil (3)

Ismael Gutierrez 3.340 mil (5)

Glenn Leeds .400 mil (3)

Tomoaki Watanabe .404 mil (7)

Total Contract Value

12.552 mil

Total Asset Value of Punishment Inc

16.096 mil

Not a bad return on investment in three years time. :)

[PilotMan]

Current Rankings for Punishment Inc

Melvin Horne #4 (L)

Lawrence McFarlane #9 (M)

Omar Acevedo #37 (L)

Lee Drydon #62 (FY)

Andreas Ruelas #84 (M)

Ismael Gutierrez #98 (LH)

Glenn Leeds #114 (W)

Tomoaki Watanabe #137 (W)

[TonyR]

Nice to see McFarlane and Horne in top 10!
Any chace of title shot for Horne in near future?

[Tellistto]

Nice win! And the rankings are looking good too. I'd love to see another heavyweight brought into the team sometime in the future.

Tell

[Cards4ever]

I can't wait to see who the first champ is going to be!

[PilotMan]

End of 2007 Rankings

Heavyweight

CHAMP Joe Louis 73-5-0(59)

#1 Peter O’Connell 39-5-1(20)

#2 Colin Dibble 28-4-1(14)

#3 Richard Ferrier 25-9-1(14)

#4 Evander Holyfield 41-6-1(26)

#5 Muhammad Ali 61-7-0(39)

#6 Ralph Weymouth 20-8-2(15)

#7 Lennox Lewis 38-4-1(28)

#8 Max Watt 17-2-4(10)

#9 Michael Moorer 45-5-1(35)

#10 Daniel Doherty 24-3-1(7)

Light Heavyweight

CHAMP Bob Foster 67-8-1(53)

#1 Roy Jones 45-2-1(35)

#2 James Singleton 15-10-0(14)

#3 Will Cripps 20-3-3(11)

#4 Virgil Hill 49-5-2(25)

#5 Pat Olver 25-2-0(6)

#6 Derrick Scoulding 44-3-1(31)

#7 Julio Perez 17-4-0(6)

#8 Martin Kinnear 30-15-0(21)

#9 Richard Eyles 19-7-0(9)

#10 Roger Stewart 34-8-0(18)

Middleweight

CHAMP Leavander Nolan 21-0-0(6)

#1 George Kings 27-2-1(9)

#2 Anthony Hardy 48-4-0(16)

#3 Bill Neville 29-1-2(21)

#4 Wayne Wells 32-2-0(22)

#5 Roger Jennings 39-3-1(27)

#6 Carlos Monzon 100-9-11(66)

#7 Cedric Kaplan 25-3-1(16)

#8 Lawrence McFarlane 19-8-0(16)

#9 Jeff Larkin 24-5-0(24)

#10 Ad Webster 31-6-3(8)

[PilotMan]

Welterweight

CHAMP Jose Napoles 85-8-0(58)

#1 Javier Quirino 45-5-0(32)

#2 Oscar De la Hoya 38-2-0(27)

#3 Wilfredo Benitez 60-10-1(33)

#4 Manuel Castillo 27-3-1(8)

#5 Jose Victor Lopez 26-1-0(17)

#6 Derrell Guyver 28-3-0(14)

#7 Andrey Romero 40-2-1(32)

#8 Mark Dibble 25-8-1(8)

#9 Kit Evans 23-1-1(6)

#10 Yoshiaki Kabayashi 34-3-0(21)

Lightweight

CHAMP Damian Essett 25-1-0(24)

#1 Julio Cesar Chavez 105-5-2(84)

#2 Pernell Whitaker 47-2-1(21)

#3 Melvin Horne 12-8-0(11)

#4 Jorge Reynoso 23-6-2(15)

#5 Sam Hughes 46-7-0(25)

#6 Benny Leonard 88-8-1(69)

#7 Raul Jimenez 26-1-0(11)

#8 Alejandro Mayorga 23-3-1(18)

#9 Marino Vargas 36-3-0(27)

#10 Enrique Frias 22-0-1(9)

Featherweight

CHAMP Wilfredo Gomez 49-5-2(44)

#1 Gary Jakeman 20-8-1(10)

#2 Calvin Calvert 23-4-0(16)

#3 Peter Badillo 24-7-0(17)

#4 Kevin Kelley 57-4-2(36)

#5 Armando Medina 22-3-1(5)

#6 Ricardo Sanchez 30-3-0(19)

#7 Juan Zamora 24-2-1(14)

#8 Satoshi Ohba 27-2-0(16)

#9 Kazuki Sugita 20-2-0(12)

#10 Azumah Nelson 48-6-3(31)

[PilotMan]

Bantamweight

CHAMP Carlos Zarate 68-5-1(62)

#1 Job Reyes 23-1-2(14)

#2 Xavier Firth 22-8-2(9)

#3 Hiroshi Nagase 33-9-1(12)

#4 Joselito Pana 36-2-1(14)

#5 Sandro Macias 20-6-3(14)

#6 Eder Jofre 78-4-4(51)

#7 Enrique Grimaldo 44-2-0(30)

#8 Bimbo Melchor 22-2-1(12)

#9 Edel Milanes 22-6-2(13)

#10 Jimmy Barry 62-2-11(41)

Flyweight

CHAMP Rocky Cubillas 23-1-1(16)

#1 Gerardo Ramirez 29-2-0(13)

#2 Mauro Martinez 36-0-0(21)

#3 Colin Jolmers 22-3-1(12)

#4 Adam Napier 27-4-0(25)

#5 Lito Jamili 21-8-0(17)

#6 Hideki Nishizawa 23-3-1(10)

#7 Lito Mataganas 20-3-1(9)

#8 Geronimo Solorio 33-3-0(21)

#9 Ernesto Bantillian 16-7-0(11)

#10 Pancho Villa 81-9-6(26)

[Tellistto]

You know, looking at Melvin's record, you really have to wonder how he got so high in the rankings in the first place with those 8 losses. Just wouldn't happen in real life like that, would it?

Tell

[PilotMan]

You're right. I don't think that it would be possible at all. Especially with only 20 fights.

[PilotMan]

2007 Fighter of the Year Awards

Flyweight - Rocky Cubillas 23-1-1(16)

Cubillas is now a two time fighter of the year. Last year, I didn’t think he was deserving, however, this year he made up for it. He still hasn’t fought Mauro Martinez yet, but that may change. He won all three of his fights, including the important one. He is the Flyweight Champion of the World. I am sure that he is looking over his shoulder. He has no future fight scheduled.

Bantamweight - Carlos Zarate 68-5-1(62)

Zarate didn’t fight that much. However, he managed to do something to that no other fighter has been able to do in three years. He was able to defeat Job Reyes for the title, and he did it in style. A first round knockout of the champion. He did win a fight earlier in the year, and that was by KO too. He has no opponent scheduled for his first title defense.

Featherweight - Kevin Kelley 57-4-2(36)

Kelley had a good year and won some very hard fights. He was ranked in the top 10 all last year and is currently the #4 contender to the title. He won fights against Ernesto Marcel, Joel Rodriguez, Eusebio Pedroza, and Armando Medina. His next fight is a little over a month away against Ricardo Sanchez, who is the #6 contender to the title, and lost to Medina in his last fight.

Lightweight - Damien Essett 25-1-0(24)

Essett is the one of the best pound for pound fighers in all of boxing. He has been the champ for almost two years and and has defended his title four times, winning all by KO or TKO except one, Julio Cesar Chavez. Three of those defenses were this year. The most rescent was a KO of former champ Jorge Reynoso, in a rematch of the fight where Essett won the title. He doesn’t have a fight scheduled yet.

Welterweight - Javier Quirino 45-5-0(32)

This selection confuses me a little. Quirino had a good year going, and got his title shot. However, he lost in his bid for the title. He did have three other wins this year. They were against Tommy Ryan, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Oscar De la Hoya. He beat them all by decision. He has no fights scheduled yet for this year.

Middleweight - George Kings 27-2-1(9)

I know Kings very well. He used the fight against McFarlane as a springboard for a fantastic year. Kings moved up to the #1 ranked contender spot in the Middleweight division. He beat a number of top Middleweights Jeff Larkin, Ad Webster, Mike McCallum, and Anthony Hardy. His last fight was a draw with another top ten fighter, Bill Neville. He has no fight scheduled yet for next year.

Light Heavyweight - Bob Foster 67-8-1(53)

Foster has spent the last three years ranked in the top 10 in the LH division. The last year was his best though. He is undefeated over this period with wins over some impressive fighters. Over the last year though, he was dominant. He knocked out Roy Jones in the first round, and Les Grant in the 8<SUP>th</SUP>. He scored a TKO in the second in his title fight against James Singleton. In his first defense of the title he beat Virgil Hill over 12 rounds. He has no fight scheduled yet for next year.

Heavyweight - Joe Louis 75-3-0(59)

Louis again continues his dominance of the Heavyweight division. He defended his title three times over the last year. He TKOed Max Watt in the second, and beat Peter O’Connell on points in 12. In his last fight he beat Evander Holyfield in 12 rounds. O’Connell has given him the most trouble, but can’t beat him, and right now, noone else has beated O’Connell. Louis could be at the top for a long time.





and



the 2007 WCBM Fighter of the Year is.......................................................













Rocky Cubillas!!!!!



Cubillas is going to have to fight Martinez if he is going to be legit in my eyes. He has done a good job, but for some reason, I cannot accept that he is the best fighter over the last year. Louis, Essett, and Foster are all more deserving in my eyes.

[PilotMan]

First week of January, 2008

I have signed another fight for welterweight Glenn Leeds. In two months he is going to face Jose Luis Garza. Garza is 2-2-1(1) in his last five fights, but he is 5-12-1(3) overall. He is an aggressive fighter, with a good punch. He has the power to knock a guy out early or it can go the other way. Defensively he doesn’t scare me much, and he doesn’t hold up well in a barrage of punches either. Still he will be a challenge for Leeds who can seem to beat anyone.

Also, I got on the phone with the manager for Frank Tate. Tate is a Middleweight slugger who is very experienced, but who also has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights. I was interested in striking a deal for him to face my rising, but inexperienced start Andreas Ruelas. It would be a tough challenge for him, but it is time for him to face some tougher competition. Tate sports a 44-10-1(27) record and is currently ranked #75. The fight is scheduled to take place a week after the Leeds - Garza fight.

[PilotMan]

Third week of January, 2008

Fight Night -

Well, we find out how Punishment Inc is going to start the new year tonight. There are two fights for us this week. You could call this the night of revenge for us. Hopefully, it will be. The first fight features Omar Acevedo in a rematch against Barney Ross. I fully expect him to be vindicated for the draw that he earned in his last match. Ross is a tough fighter, who is solid all around. His power is only average, but Omar’s chin is only average so he will still need to be careful. If Omar is going to win this fight he will need to be consistent. He cannot afford a lapse in any round. Ross is 73-7-5(22), while Omar is 7-2-1(2). Ross is a heavy favorite at 1/4, while odds on Omar are 3/1.

The second fight for us tonight is a big fight between Ismael Gutierrez and Artemio Hinojosa. Hinojosa is the only fighter to beat Gutierrez. Since that win, a little over a year ago, he has a record of 2-2-1(0). He has good defense, but his weakness is his lack of power, and he so-so chin. He was good enough to beat Ismael the first time around. My plan for Gutierrez is to be patient about going in. He doesn’t want to be an easy target, and I want him to look for opportunities to land big punches. I know that he will be going forward anyway. I just don’t want him to be open to a barrage of counterpunches. Hinojosa has a record of 8-4-4(1), while Gutierrez is 6-1-0(3). Hinojosa is the favorite at ½, while Ismael is at 7/4.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Omar Acevedo 7-2-1(2) v. Barney Ross 73-7-5(22)

This fight is scheduled for 8 rounds.

Omar is relaxed for this fight. He knows that he needs to be wary, but at the same time, he cannot relax too much. No real strategy for round one. Just fight his fight. It was a see saw round where it appeared that Acevedo’s jab and hook were going to be effective. Ross landed a number of punches. In the end it was hard to tell who really took the round.

Round two a couple of things became evident. Both men are good with the jab, and that this seems to be a personal fight. A lot of shoving and at time holding and hitting on the inside. Omar did a great job here with the jab. He stayed away when he needed to and really landed a couple of good flurries. He racked up a lot of points and didn’t get nearly what he gave. I will be leery though. The last fight looked like this too.

Round three was sloppy. Ross was holding a lot. A lot of punches missed by both men. Acevedo is landing the harder punches, but he just wasn’t busy enough for him to deserve to win the round. Ross is not able to land more than two punch combo’s while Omar seems to be loading up for the hooks and uppercuts. Omar is still in this fight. He needs to open a lead if he wants to open up offensively.

Round four Ross took charge. He landed a number of good punches and by the halfway point he had the round easily. Omar came back with a nice flurry of punches, but in the end, it appeared that Ross had clearly taken the round. I want Omar to move and use his accuracy advantage more. He needs to outpoint Ross. He can’t look for the KO, or he will get himself into trouble.

I told Omar to find the body more. He needed to go forward and land to the body to slow down Ross more. The plan worked very nice until the last :30 of the round. Ross landed a six punch combination and reeled Omar. I fear that with that, Ross stole the round.

The sixth was the best for Omar since the 2<SUP>nd</SUP> round. I told him it was time to attack. He has a good natural aggression and it helped him here. But I also told him I wanted it done carefully. He pressed Ross all over the ring, but it was an in and out pressure. He was not cautions about moving out of the way if he wasn’t landing. With Ross’ body still the primary target, Omar landed a lot of punches and easily won the round.

Round seven was more of the same for Omar. The attack from the 6<SUP>th</SUP> carried over here. He started with more hard punches to the body, and jabs to the head. Ross landed more here than he had in last round, but he was taking a beating. As the round progressed Ross became more desperate and Omar hit him with a driving combination. In the waning seconds of the round Ross was in all out cover up mode. The ref, which he failed to do in the first fight, recognized this and stopped the fight. Hell Yea!

The winner by TKO at 2:45 of round 7!

Omar Acevedo!

Omar did a fantastic job and took charge when he needed too. I applaud the ref for finally seeing the fight. A huge payday ensues from my bets on this fight. This fight will pay me 750k for the win! Not including the take from the purse. As an FYI, the judges had the fight like this:

J1: 57-57

J2: 57-57

J3: 58-57 Acevedo

I think that Omar would have won anyway, but I love making sure it happens for real.

[hoopsguy]

Nice to have the guys from Punishment Inc back in the rotation. Good first win for Omar.

[PilotMan]

Here we go again!

Artemio Hinojosa #100 8-4-4(1) v. Ismael Gutierrez #98 6-1-0(3)

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

For round one I wanted Ismael to go out and feel his opponent out and see what would develop. I am not in a rush to see what Ismael can do here. I am more interested in vindication for me and my fighter. Ismael started off on a tear, and took the fight to Hinojosa early. It is obvious that his power has developed really nice at this point in his career. Hinojosa answerd with a run of nice shots, but the power of Gutierrez appears to be the factor in this round. A good run for Ismael in the last minute rocked back Hinojosa, although he was still fighting back, he was taking a lot of punishment. With the round winding down a couple more big shots and surprisingly the ref jumped in and waved the fight off. Giving Ismael the first round TKO.

The winner, by TKO, at 2:54 of round one......

Ismael Gutierrez!

I am stunned. Let me tell you that the Hinojosa corner from Artemio himself right down to his cutman were pissed off. They felt this should have been allowed to continue. I am not going to argue this. I do like the payday. They get what they deserve. And I get mucho dinero.

This fight will pay about 437k just in winnings from my bet, plus the near 1 mill from the purse of the two fighters. Hinojosa is a quality fighter. Just not a good as Ismael.

[Tellistto]

What a way to start the New Year! Boom, down goes the opponent! Really nice to see Ismael coming into his own, hopefully his rise to stardom is about to take off!


Tell

[TonyR]

Nice start to the new year! Great to see the guys keeping up the good work.

[PilotMan]

I got a surprise phonecall this week. It was from a former lightweight title contender. Pedro Carrasco, who lost by TKO to Damien Essett (doesn’t everyone?) almost two years ago. Since then, he had a bad string of fights. He lost his next three fights by KO or TKO and he fell in the rankings to #36. He recently won a fight, but perhaps the weight of 119 career fights is starting to get to him. He has only been beaten 7 times, and now he wants to fight Omar! Well, I have to tell you I was impressed. They were even willing to pay me an extra 180k or so for the fight. In the end I told them no. Mainly because I was unsure if Omar would be healed by the time the fight rolled around. Even though they want the fight in 9 weeks. You just can’t plan those things. Still, I was impressed. Omar did well against Ross. He is going to be moving up. That sort of scares me for a fighter who only has 11 career fights.

Not a whole lot going on this week. Next week is going to be very busy though.

[PilotMan]

First week of February, 2007

Fight Night -

This is one busy week of fights. There are a number of big name fights as well as an important fight involving Melvin Horne. I did get a message that Betillio Sanchez is interested in a fight with Lee Drydon. Both of these guys have fought almost 3 years ago. The fight was before I took Drydon under my wing and the fight was a draw. What makes things interesting is that Sanchez has grown as well. They are willing to pay me a little over 200k. The money is nice, but with over 6 million in the bank, it means less. It would pay for 5 or 6 weeks of training though. I was just looking at him as a possible fight. The problem is that the fight is in two weeks. It isn’t really a problem though. All of my guys are in good shape, and Drydon is healthy from his last fight. I signed the deal.

The new rankings came out. Here is where we stand:

Melvin Horne (L) #3

Lawrence McFarlane (M) #7

Omar Acevedo (L) #34

Lee Drydon (FY) #60

Andreas Ruelas (M) #85

Ismael Gutierrez (LH) #96

Glenn Leeds (W) #117

Tomoaki Wantanabe (W) #146

Tonight, Melvin Horne is fighting the 14<SUP>th</SUP> ranked fighter Luis Valdez. Valdez is trying to grab a win after losing two consecutive fights. Horne is newly ranked the #2 contender to the title. If he wants a title fight then he needs to win this fight. Valdez has a good chin and an accurate punch. Horne is going to need to take the fight to Valdez. He has been training well and is in great form. I want him to press the action, however, he has never had great stamina so he needs to be careful not to run out of steam. The oddsmakers have Valdez as the favorite at 3/5. Horne is listed at 11/8.

A very long list of great fights this week:

Featherweight Fighter of the Year Kevin Kelley #5 57-4-2 (36) v. Ricardo Sanchez #7 30-3-0(19)

We get our first look at Kelley. Will his chin hold up to the puching power of Sanchez? Will Sanchez be able to absorb the punishment that Kelley is likely to dish out? Both men fought Armando Medina in their last fights. Sanchez lost, while Kelley won on points. For this fight Sanchez is the favorite at 8/11, while Kelley isn’t getting respect at 6/5.

Former PI Fighter Niall Beaumont #101 8-1-0(3) v. Bill Allison #102 9-17-1(1)

Allison ½, Beaumont 7/4

Good luck, Niall.

Former Bantamweight Champion #2 Job Reyes 23-1-2(14) v.#5 Sandro Macias 20-6-3(14)

Job starts up the road to redemption. He has never fought Sandro, but Macias has been around. He has been ranked in the top 20 for over 4 years. He hasn’t won in his last two fights. Both fights were against good men, but he does have a win over Calos Zarate. Zarate is the one who stunned Reyes last month. Reyes is the heavy favorite at 1/4, while the odds are 11/4 on Macias.

Former Welterweight Champion #4 Wilfredo Benitez 60-10-1(33) v. #3 Oscar De la Hoya 38-2-0(27)

These two fought last year with De la Hoya winning by a KO in the 9<SUP>th</SUP> round. De la Hoya lost his next fight in a surprise decision against Javier Quirino. Both men are great fighters and this could really go either way. I would think that the winner could get a good look at a title shot. De la Hoya is the favorite at ½., while Benitez goes off at 5/3.

Former Welterweight Champion #5 Manuel Castillo 27-3-1(8) v. #6 Jose Victor Lopez 26-1-0(17)

Another battle at the top of the welterweight division. Lopez has been on a tear and his only defeat was almost two years ago against Oscar. While Castillo recently lost in his title shot with Jose Napoles. Lopez packs a huge punch while Castillo is a commanding boxer. Castillo is the narrow favorite at 4/5, while Lopez is at 11/10. Personally, I like Lopez.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

#3 Melvin Horne 12-8-0 v. #14 Luis Valdez 36-6-0(15)

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Long fights like this are wars of attrition. You can’t go out to fast or you will wear out. For Horne this is too true. Both men came out slow in the first round. Neither looking to take a whole lot of chances. The ref got on both fighters about cliching on the inside. Halfway I told Melvin to go to the body. A hook to the body and a hook to the temple put Valdez on the canvas. He was up at four, and finished the round. I would say that was a good way to start a fight.

Round two started well for Valdez and ended well for Melvin. The jab of Valdez is tough, and is right there, so far. However, the uppercut from Melvin is landing with fury and accuracy. It is doing good damage, and seems to be controlling the fight. Both men seem to be tiring at quick rates. Melvin can’t let this one go the distance.

Melvin is winning these rounds but at what cost? His power is there, but he doesn’t seem to be able to finish his man, or avoid the multitude of punches that he is taking. He needs to either lay back or go for broke.

Round four was even in my eyes. Melvin didn’t work as hard as he should have. Valdez easily could have stolen the round. His jab is driving and accuate. Melvin took a couple of 4 and 5 punch combinations. I need to figure out a way for him to avoid being hit more. His naturally aggressive style doesn’t like that though.

Round five had to go for Valdez. He worked very hard, and as Melvin was coming back he had that look. You know, that look that fighter get when they have tried it all and now they just don’t know what to do. I have had that look a time or two. Melvin is still in this fight. In fact I would say that Valdez is sucking wind pretty hard too. I think that if Melvin lands the right punch at the right time, this one would be over.

UNBELIEVABLE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING! YOU DUMBASS REF! What a fantastic round for Melvin. That was absolute, pure domination. This fight should have been over. With over :30 left in the round Valdez was out on his feet and did nothing. Nothing at all. Melvin wailed and wailed, landed blow after blow, and still the ref didn’t stop it. This is good to see this late in the fight. I need to see more of this from Horne.

Valdez got back into it here. Power versus work. Valdez was all over the place, and his punches landed with good effect. Melvin found the uppercut again and his power was keeping Valdez honest. There are 3 rounds left. I want Melvin to either end it, or win them all. Valdez is gassed. He should be easy pickings. Right?

During the break I told Melvin what I thought. He could tell that Valdez was on his last leg, and hopefully if he got him reeling again the ref would stop it this time. He came out with guns blazing early. Too bad for him he didn’t hit anything. Valdez was cautious but still good with the jab. Halfway though the round Melvin took over. An uppercut, and a hook to the body. A slip and another hook. Soon Melvin could smell the blood again. Dominating as the round once again came to an end, I laid it on the ref. He glanced at me and looked at Valdez. He knew it was over.

Melvin Horne wins by TKO at 2:53 of round 8!

Fantastic!

A great job done by Melvin to win another convincing win against a top caliber opponent. Granted he is no Damien Essett, but top 20 is still top 20. This is a good fight to go with Melvin’s contract extension that we recently signed. Here is how the judges had the fight:

J1: 68-64 Horne

J2: 69-64 Horne

J3: 67-67

Melvin was certainly on his way, but I have no idea why judge three saw it that close. Another big payday for the group, Melvin’s stock can’t rise much higher. He may need to start thinking about a top contender fight or even a title fight. Time will tell.



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Featherweight FOY Kevin Kelley fought to a 10 round draw with Ricardo Sanchez.

Niall Beaumont wins a split decision over Bill Allison.

Job Reyes gets back on the horse with a Unanimous decision win over Sandro Macias.

Oscar De la Hoya beats Wilfredo Benitez by Unanimous decision.

Jose Victor Lopez won by an 8<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Manuel Castillo.

[Tellistto]

Very cool! I guess Melvin got rated that high from the beginning because he has skills. Perhaps the game goes by that more than it does the record at game start? He's always been rated way up there, as I recall.


Tell

[PilotMan]

The game takes real fighters and what their records were during their careers and combines it with fictional fighters and assumed records so that everyone isn't starting at 0-0. The abilities are more important than rankings to start. As the game progresses, the fighters at the top don't have the records that the pros do because the top fighters are always fighting each other, which rarely happens in real life.

[PilotMan]

It is a special time for me, an exciting time, an incredible time. It will mark the begining of a new era for Punishment Inc. There is a new fighter that has been signed to the stable. This is no ordinary fighter. He is The Greatest. There is only one fighter that can fill that bill. There is only one fighter big enough to live up to that title.

After a long negotiation I am pleased to announce the biggest signing for the gym. We are now a premiere gym. We are now a place that some of the greatest fighters will call their home. This starts with the signing of an aging fighter. Aging, but not old. Experienced but not washed up. A real, legitimate title contender, who has never gotten the chance to fight for the title. A fighter who will rely on me to get him to that level.

Punishment Inc is pleased to announce that Muhammed Ali, The Greatest, has signed a 10 fight contract with Punishment Inc. This contract is valued at over 4.7 million dollars, and will ensure that he will be part of the gym for at least the next two years.

Ali’s career record is 61-7-0(39). He is still recovering from his last fight, a unanimous decision loss against Peter O’Connell. He is in poor shape, and it could be months before he is ready to fight. In the meantime he will begin training with us, and hopefully we can get a feel for where his future is headed.

[PilotMan]

Third week of February, 2007

Fight Night -

The troubled Tomoaki Wantanabe is set to face off against Faustino Virgen three weeks from now. They called me for a rematch of the fight the Wantanabe won. Virgen’s camp payed a little over 13k for the fight. Not really a tough decision for me. Wantanabe needed a fight and fighting a guy that he has already beaten is not a hard call.

Lee Drydon is set to fight for the second time this year. His last fight was so short that he needed another fight. This one will be much more of a challenge than the other was. Sanchez has been a very busy fighter and he currently has won three in a row. He is a very big puncher, who sacrifices his defense in order to land the big punch. His fight with Drydon was a long time ago, and both have made very good progress. He is aggressive, and he has a chin that helps him to be able to land the big punch. Drydon is a good puncher, and his goal will be to slow him down and take him to the later rounds. Drydon’s superior defense is going to be the key. He has to keep Sanchez off of him, and land the hard shots when he gets the chance. He should be able to absorb the blows and hopefully, get enough of his own in to decide the outcome of the fight. Sanchez is the favorite in this one, the odds on him are 8/15, while the odds on Drydon are 5/3.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Lee Drydon 8-2-1(4) v. Betillo Sanchez 9-6-1(3)

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Round one was a great start for Lee. He was told to be cautious and look for opportunities to counterpunch. I was anticipating Sanchez really coming forward, and he needed to be able to see the openings. Drydon landed many more punches, and despite his power, Sanchez really didn’t look worse the wear. A few more like this and I would be happy.

Round two was pretty even. Sanchez was much more defensive and picked his spots. He was more effective at controlling the ring. Drydon may need to be a bit busier. So far noone has really landed any huge shots. This is a longer fight so there is still time. Drydon is not an aggressive fighter, however, I would like to see him land more shots. He is in great shape, and I am not worried about him tiring.

What a sloppy fight. Both men missed more punches than they landed. It was horrid. Drydon stood up a lot more in this round. Both men seemed to be comfortable trading jabs and not much more. A hook or an uppercut there. Neither was able to really control the round. Something needs to happen in the next round.

Another fairly messy round. Sanchez did his best, and boy is he a tough nut to crack. He isn’t phased by anything. Sanchez seemed to control most of the round, especially with the jab. Lee needs to find a solid round and turn this thing around. Have a round that stands out, and makes him look like the winner. Sanchez’s defense isn’t that great, we need to find a way to exploit that.

A war would be the best way to describe round five. Both men traded combinations, and both took the most damage that either had taken through the whole fight. Drydon is in danger of letting his streak fade away. This is a huge round. He has to prove that he is the better fighter. Sanchez is a tough fighter, he has not backed down and has controlled the last couple of rounds. What can Lee do to turn the tables?

Lee let it all hang out for round six. This was going to be the deciding factor. He didn’t force the pace but he did load up on as many shots as he could. Defense wasn’t much of an issue, but he avoided being hit by the combos that had plagued him most of the last 5 rounds. A number of huge shots landed and as the round progressed it looked like Sanchez was finally tiring. He absorbed a good jab-jab-hook and reeled back against the ropes. It was followed by a shot to the ribs that buckled his knees and sent him to the canvas. He struggled and managed to get up by the 5 count. He took the 8, but Lee pressed him and landed two more heavy blows before the end of the round. Sanchez was out. It was only the ropes and the bell that saved him from a TKO in this one. Now it goes to the judges. Here is how they scored it.

[Cards4ever]

Wow, you got Ali, that's awesome. Should be some great fights coming up with him I bet.

[PilotMan]

J1: 59-55 Drydon

J2: 58-57 Drydon

J3: 58-56 Drydon

A unanimous decision win for Drydon, and his win streak is kept alive. Sanchez was a good challenge, and brought a nice payday for the group. It looks like had he not gotten the knockdown in the last round that he likely would have won, but only if he would have won the last round. It was really like I told him. He had to go out there and own it. He had to make it his. He did. He did it in style. Great job. I think we are going out to dinner. We are in the middle of a nice win streak for the boys. I am so excited by my newest fighter, and so is everyone else. It has changes the whole feel of the gym. We have made it. Now for that title.

[PilotMan]

A week of rest for the crew before a couple of busy weeks. Ali is still recovering from his fight, and it will still be a few weeks before he gets back into regular training. There is only one good fight this week.

Former Flyweight Champion Adam Napier #5 27-4-0(25) v. #10 Geronimo Solorio 33-3-0(21)

Two little guys who are big punchers. Napier has lost his last three fights, but it was to some of the best in the division. His confidence is struggling, and his chin isn’t nearly as good as Solorio’s. However, Solorio just lost in his last fight. That was to Mauro Martinez. This should be good, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Solorio pulled it out. The favorite is Napier at 2/7, while Solorio is at 13/5.

[hoopsguy]

Congrats on Ali - very cool turn of events for Punishment, Inc.

[PilotMan]

First week of March, 2007

Fight Night -

Adam Napier got his groove back with a unanimous decision over Geronimo Solorio.

The new rankings are out. Here is where the fighters of Punishment Inc stand.

Melvin Horne (L) #3

Muhammad Ali (H) #6

Lawrence McFarlane (M) #6

Omar Acevedo (L) #29

Lee Drydon (FY) #58

Andreas Ruelas (M) #83

Ismael Gutierrez (LH) #93

Glenn Leeds (W) #113

Tomaki Watanabe (W) #146



This week Glen Leeds gets another opportunity to get his career on the right track. When Glenn first came here I saw the same potential that I saw in Lee Drydon. A guy with good skills that just needed a leg up in a business that was designed to suck the life out of guys so that the guys at the top could get theirs. I took him in, and he has been undefeated. However, he has only won once in three fights. He needs to find that winning feeling once again. He is fighting a journeymen in Jose Luis Garza. Garza fights often, and won two fights last year. He has only won five times in his 18 fight career. I expect that this will be an active four round fight where both men will have at it, and the last man standing will get the win. Leeds is a great puncher, and he should be able to land the lion’s share of the punches. Garza’s heel is his defense, or lack there of. He has a descent chin and has scored more KO’s than Leeds has in his career. Still, I have to believe that Glenn is going to get it done. His last fight was a draw with Virgen. A fighter that he clearly should have dominated. I know that I have felt that his time with us could be short, if he wants any shot to stay here, he needs to win this fight. Glenn is the favorite at 4/6, while Garza goes off at 5/4.

There is one, very big, important fight this week:

World Heavyweight Champion and Fighter of the Year Joe Louis 75-3-0(59) v. #3 Colin Dibble 28-4-1(14)

Louis has beaten everyone. Well....except my man Muhammad that is. He has been standing tall in the Heavyweight division, Having been the champ for two years now. This will be his 4<SUP>th</SUP> title defense. Dibble’s only loss over that time frame has been to Joe Frazier by KO in the 5<SUP>th</SUP> round. Dibble has been ranked in the top 10 for less than a year now. Louis is a favorite at 2/9 while Dibble is at 4/1. I really don’t think that Dibble has a chance at all.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

#113 Glenn Leeds 4-8-3(1) v. #117 Jose Luis Garza 5-12-1(3)

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

No real instructions for Leeds, he has to want round one. It didn’t play out to anyone’s advantage though. The first half of the round was ugly, neither fighter really took advantage of the situation and there was a fair amount of holding. Garza landed a nice combo, but Leeds landed more punches and landed harder punches. I think that he needs to take the fight to Garza, and I don’t think that Garza can hurt him.

In between rounds I told Glenn that he needed to be more aggressive. Garza is nothing and that if he didn’t believe in himself then he wasn’t going to win. He attacked, but it was ugly. Leeds would move inside and hold on. And over and over again, he would hold on. A punch here and a punch there and nothing was really happening. Our of nowhere a right hook that Garza walked into, and he went to the canvas. Up at the six count and Leeds tried to keep the pressure but Garza simply covered up and no more damange was inflicted.

Round three saw Garza be more aggressive, and it was more sloppy fighting from Glenn. To many missed punches and Garza landing too often. As the round progressed Glenn caught him with a couple more combo’s but the round was boring. I think that Glenn just doesn’t have it in him to really control the fight. This was a close round, but he needs to finish strong to be assured of the fight result.

The focus for round for was to rack up points, and since Garza doesn’t have a prayer in the world of hurting Glenn. I told him to pressure the inside and work the body for the last round. He went out and worked and landed a lot of punches inside. Glenn seemed to really be winning the round, and enough combo’s landed that the head opened up a little. By the end of the round it was clear who the better fighter was going to be. Now, if the judges will see it that way I will be happy.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-36 Leeds

J2: 39-37 Leeds

J3: 40-36 Leeds

A solid win that will hopefully lead to bigger and better things for my struggling Welterweight fighter. This was a good show, although it was a sloppy one at times.

[PilotMan]

When I got back to the office there was a note on my door about a possible matchup between Lawrence McFarlane and another top ton ranked fighter. That fighter is Cedric Kaplan. Kaplan reminds me of Omar, a guy who can hit, is pretty accurate, but has a poor chin. He has good endurace, but the fact that he is ranked lower must say something. Kaplan has only lost 3 fights in his career but his last loss was over 2 yrs ago. Since then he has been on the road up. They are offering pay me an additional 245k. Lawrence is almost trained up and really should be looking at another fight soon. At the top you need to be picky about who you get, since the number of challengers is pretty limited. I don’t think that he is ready for a title fight, but perhaps a win here might help that out. I booked it.

There is some pretty major fallout from the fights this week. The biggest up set of the year was saw relative unknown Colin Dibble win a points decision from Joe Louis and then in the ring during the post fight interview Louis announced his retirement from boxing. Louis was the three time Heavyweight Fighter of the Year, and a dominating fighter. He is also the first Champ to retire since I became a manager.

[Tellistto]

Nice win for Leeds, and wow. Lewis retiring really opens it up at the top of the heavyweight division for other fighters. Maybe with one good win for Ali he could score a title fight soon. That'd be sweet!


Tell

[PilotMan]

Second week of March, 2007

Fight Night -

I have two guys fighting tonight, one of the fights is Tomoaki Watanabe and the other is Andreas Ruelas. For Watanabe, he is fighting Faustino Virgen in a rematch of their fight last year, that Wantanabe won easily. Virgen still has yet to win a fight, and Wantanabe is coming off of a loss in his last fight, that he really needed. Watanabe is proving hard to motivate in the gym. I just can’t seem to reach him, and Leeds, his training partner is only faring marginally better. If Tomaki cannot win another fight, it is going to be very hard to find guys who will be willing to fight him. This fight really could go either way. Both men hit hard, but it was Tomoaki who won the first fight by knocking Virgen multiple times. Tonight, Tomoaki has to let it all hang out, because if he loses this fight, it will probably be his last fight for me. I just can’t make money with a guy who’s fights I don’t have any say over. For what it’s worth, Tomoaki is the favorite. He is at 8/11 while Virgen is 7/6. I will lay some money on him, but at those odds it won’t really be worth the risk.

The next fight is a middleweight fight with Andreas Ruelas. Ruelas is cut from the same mold that Lawrence McFarlane is in. In fact, I have been having the two of them spar together so that I can get a good look at both men. Ruelas has been merciless in his three fights for me. Winning them all easily. He faces a vet tonight who only has ten losses in his career, but who has lost three of his last four, and is rumored to be on the way out. Frank Tate can still lay some smack on people and his chin is still strong. We will find out tonight how well he can take a punch, because it is his body that is going to take the beating. Andreas is the favorite in this one too. The odds on him are 8/13, while the odds on Tate are 11/8.

There are two other fights worth mentioning this week as well:

Former Bantamweight Champion Xavier Firth #3 22-8-1(9) v. Denzil Ainsworth #12 41-2-1(26)

Firth has always been a tough customer, but he hasn’t won a fight in over a year and a half. During that span he lost twice to Job Reyes and drew with two other top ten fighters. Ainsworth is trying to get into the top ten and he will do that if he can beat the struggling Firth. Ainsworth may not be as good as his record would suggest, as some of the guys that he has beaten are not highly ranked. However, his last fight was against Victor Luna, a guy who was ranked in the top 10 for a while, and he won by KO in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP>. Oddsmakers like Ainsworth at 3/5, while Firth is at 11/8. I still like Firth

Former Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard #10 38-6-1(25) v. Ike Quartey #13 40-4-1(34)

Since Leonard lost the title over two years ago his star has been falling steadily. He did manage a win in his last fight but it was by split decision only. Both men are similar hitters, with Leonards skills being more attuned, however, he is struggling with his confidence. Quartey lost by KO in the first round in his last fight to Andrey Romero, but he has been pretty good otherwise. He seems to be in pretty good shape. Oddsmakers are really questioning Quartey’s loss and it has sent the odds through the roof. Leonard is the silly favorite at 1/7, while Quartey is at 11/2. Quartey will get my money here because this fight is much closer than this.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

#146 Tomoaki Watanabe 1-2-2(0) v. #145 Faustino Virgen 0-5-1(0)

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

I gave him his ultimatum. He already knew it though. He really has no choice in the matter. He has to let it all hang out right here, and now. Round one saw Tomoaki press, the first few times he came in he was peppered with shots that forced him back. It didn’t take much time and he was soon able to exert himself the way he did in the first fight. BOOM! A left to the temple and Virgen found himself on the floor. He staggered up at 6 and bravely fought the round. He was able to avoid most of Wantabe’s shots until the end of the round, but survived to see the next one.

Round two was closer, and Virgen did much better and forcing the action and keeping my guy going backward. I still think that Watanabe did more damage, and it showed on the face of Virgen. Tomoaki has to go out and keep the pressure up. He should he up by three points by now, so if he does lose both rounds, he still should win. But with his career on the line, I won’t have him taking any chances.

I have never, I repeat never, seen a round like this one. Never, ever.....never. The first minute was all Watanabe. He landed some of the biggest shots of the fight. Virgen was stunned and reeling and looked like he was going to be out on his feet. The next Virgen land a left jab, followed by a short right hook that caught Tomoaki coming in. He shook and went down hard. He did get up by the six count, and didn’t look to bad. Both men went toe to toe for the last minute, with both men being dangerously close to finishing the other. I don’t know how it happened. Tomoaki still lost the round, but he did a fair bit of damage on Virgen too. He needs round 4.

Apparently the ref likes to see the guys duke it out. Tomoaki started this like last round. He really commanded the ring and landed a good number of power punches. Near the middle of the round he was doing well. An uppercut inside did the most damage though, and Virgen tasted the canvas again. He was up at the 7 count, but continued to take punishment until the end. I have see fight’s stopped for less. So this one will go to the cards. Here is the result.

[PilotMan]

J1: 38-35 Watanabe

J2: 37-36 Watanabe

J3: 37-36 Watanabe

A unanimous decision win, but what is up with J2 and J3? I think they hit the crack pipe a little hard. You cannot tell me that rounds one and four were 10-9 and 10-8 rounds. Both were at least 10-8 and round three should only have been a 10-9 round for Virgen, that obviously wasn’t true either. Oh well. I will stop complaining now. Now I have to see if Tomoaki will parlay this one win into a string that he can use to move up the rankings.

[PilotMan]

Here we go again!

Andreas Ruelas #83 13-9-3(10) v. Frank Tate #73 44-10-1(27)

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Round one was a slow starter. Not a whole lot of action early. Andreas looked a little sloppy and slow, and Tate looked to be dodging his punches with ease. Tate was quick with the jab and slipped well enough to really control the round. I would say that he too it easily. Andreas has to find a way to get inside. He has to force Tate backward.

Andreas was pickier with his movement and moved to press Tate backward. As he did so he moved so that he didn’t get hit as much. This was a successful strategy as Tate took a lot of shots to the head and body. It was clear as the round was winding down that this was a well executed plan. Tate went back to the corner shaking his head.

More of the same for Andreas. He really commanded the round, and Tate was confused. Tate would land a jab, and move to double up, then Andreas would move out of the way. As he pressed forward with jab’s of his own, he would follow hooks and crosses. That was the difference in the round. This was how the round continued. Tate tired much earlier and the punches piled up. Toward the end of the round Tate could take no more and the ref moved in between the two men.

That is a TKO win for Andreas Ruelas at 2:29 of round 3.

A fairly easy win for Andreas over a much more experienced and higher ranked fighter.

The judges has the fight even through 2, with Ruelas winning on J3's card.

I am happy with this result. He executed the plan well, and even though he was hit too much, he made sure that he stuck to the gameplan. His jab was the difference maker in the fight. It totally set the tone and allowed him to maintain the upper hand. Ruelas is certainly a fighter on his way up. Now he needs some wins against bigger named fighters.



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Well crap, a good day at the fights followed by a bad day at the ticket window.

Denzil Ainsworth and Xavier Firth fought to a majority draw. (-50k)

and

Sugar Ray Leonard scored a 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round KO over Ike Quartey. This one was especially painful. (-150k)

[Tellistto]

Oh, that looked like a really nice fight by Andreas. Being able to command the ring like he did in the last two rounds is something that can set him apart if he keeps it up. Hopefully his movement will pick up and he can avoid some of those hits in future fights against better opponents. Solid win!

Too bad about those bets, though. Can't pick them all.

Tell

[PilotMan]

Good news this week! Ali is finally back at work in the gym. It is still going to be some time before he will be in fight conditioning, but at least now, he can get back in shape. I am on the lookout for a new opponent for Ismael Gutierrez, and another for Andreas Ruelas.

There are a few guys who are down to 2 fights each remaining on their contracts. I need to decide after their next fights whether or not they have what it takes to keep fighting for Punishment Inc.

Omar Acevedo is the first. He did well in his last fight, but he might be reaching the pinnacle of his ability. He is closing in on a top 25 ranking in the Lightweight category, and he could potentially make top 10, but his chin is a real drawback.

Andreas Ruelas is the second fighter. He will most likely be resigned, because he is only now, getting into the form of a fighter who is ready to make a move up the rankings. He is still ranked rather low, but he has had some great fights, and he is still fairly reasonable to sign.

Glenn Leeds is the last fighter. I signed him as a potential big money maker. His value has increased almost 50% since I signed him, and he is undefeated, but there is something about the way that he fights that makes me really hesitant. He has the raw, natural ability to really be someone, perhaps I need to be more dedicated to him.

Here is a preview of the fights this week:

Bantamweight World Champion and Fighter of the Year - Carlos Zarate 68-5-1(62) v. #4 Hiroshi Nagase 33-9-1(12)

Zarate is in his first title defense against a fighter who hasn’t lost in almost two years. Nagase recently fought to a draw with Xavier Firth, almost three months ago. This is the first time that he has been ranked in the top 10. I can understand why his first defense is against a fighter with limited status in this division, and I can also understand why he is so reluctant to fight Job Reyes again. However, I still think that Reyes is the man. Zarate lost a year ago, to a fighter that Nagase beat later that same year. Zarate is the heavy favorite at 2/5, while Nagase is at 11/5. Nagase has a great chin, but Zarate hits like a hammer. He will likely defend succesfully.

Former Flyweight Champion - #2 Gerardo Ramirez 29-2-0(13) v. #3 Mauro Martinez 36-0-0(21)

Mauro Martinez has beaten everyone. He has been ranked in the top 10 for three full years. He has never gotten a title shot. Ramirez is the only two time champ in history. Both want Rocky Cubillas, the current WCBM Fighter of the year. This is a titanic battle. Neither fighter has great stamina, and Martinez is a much bigger hitter. I love Martinez, but if Ramirez gets him reeling who knows what will happen. Maruro is a big favorite at 4/9 while the odds on Ramirez are 15/8. I cannot bet against a fighter who has yet to lose.

Former Light-Heavyweight Champion - #8 Julio Perez 17-4-0(6) v. #9 Otto Pink 32-2-0(25)

Perez has lost four fights in a row. Somehow, he is still in the top 10. Being a former champ must hold a lot of weight. In fact, he hasn’t won a fight since late 2004, and that was when he won the title. Pink is new to the top 10. When Perez won the title, Pink was ranked 40<SUP>th</SUP> in the division. Now he a bit higher. Pink comes in with much more confidence, and the poise of a fighter on the rise. All is not what is seems though. They both fought Javier Madrid. Perez beat him, but Pink lost to him, just about a year ago. This is a power v. defense matchup. Perez is the defense, while Pink is the power. Perez is the favorite at 2/5, and Pink is at 2/1. I don’t know where Perez’s head is at, so maybe Pink will get some money on this one.

[PilotMan]

The time comes in a young fighters career, when he needs to test his meddle against another young figher on his way to the top. Sometimes the winner makes his move, and claims his destiny, and sometimes the loser falls into disrepair, and never is the same again. The time has come for one, young Punishment Inc fighter to cross this path.

In three weeks, Ismael Gutierrez will face his toughest challenge. He will fight Nolito Lamela. Lamela currently has a record of 6-0-1(1). Lamela, is a very accurate puncher with a great chin, and a solid punch. He won’t press the action, but will look to take advantage of mistakes made by the other guy. Both men are at the top of their respective games right now, and both could easily use this to move to bigger and better things. Gutierrez is the early favorite, but time will tell.



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The results from last weeks fightes were exciting to say the least.

In the Flyweight division, Mauro Martinez continued his winning ways by scoring an 8<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Gerardo Ramirez. (+22.2k) He deserves his shot now, please?

In the Light Heavyweight division, Otto Pink won a split decision over Julio Perez. If this doesn’t kick Perez out of the top 10, I don’t know what will. (+400k, yeah baby!)

And in the Bantamweight division, Hiroshi Nagase was crowned the new champion after he surprised Zarate, and knocked him out in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round of their title fight. Without Job in there, the division is up for grabs, but maybe he will get his shot again. (-50k)



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The Light heavyweight title is on the line this week.

Light Heavyweight World Champion and Fighter of the Year - Bob Foster 67-8-1(53) v. #2 Roy Jones 46-2-1(35)

Jones last loss was to Foster over a year ago. Foster tagged him and Jones was out in round one. Both of Jones’ losses were by KO in round one. So I figure, if he survives round one, he will win. This will be Foster’s second defense of the title, and first this year. Jones is rated very high, but his fights havn’t been great lately. This fight should not go the distance, but who knows? Both are killers. Jones is the favorite at 2/5, while the odds on the champ are 2/1. I will take the Champ with a proven history and those odds any day of the week.

[PilotMan]

Maybe I should have stuck with the favorite. Another new Light Heavyweight champ is crowned after Roy Jones scored a 9<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Bob Foster. (-100k) Jones becomes the 6<SUP>th</SUP> champ in three and a half years. Who will bring stability and a long reign to the title?

The new rankings are out and here is where the fighters of Punishment Inc stand.

Melvin Horne (L) #3

Muhammad Ali (H) #5

Lawrence McFarlane (M) #7

Omar Acevedo (L) #29

Lee Drydon (FY) #59

Andreas Ruelas (M) #71

Ismael Gutierrez (LH) #93

Glenn Leeds (W) #105

Tomoaki Watanabe (W) #112

Andreas will make his next fight a tougher one. He will fight #58 ranked vet fighter Rocky Graziano. The fight will be in two months. It will be power v. power, in an all out slugfest. Rocky’s chin and his defense will be tested greatly. I like the matchup for Andreas, especially with his contract winding down.

Ismael has his fight in two weeks. He looks like is going to be in tip top shape. I have my fingers crossed.



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Middleweight Figher of the Year - #2 George Kings 27-2-1(9) v. #5 Roger Jennings 40-3-1(28)

Kings is very familar to everyone who knows Punishment Inc. He beat Lawrence in a big fight, and has beaten everyone else since. Jennings is a very good fighter too. His last fight was a KO of Jeff Larkin, but neither fighter has been able to beat Bill Neville, both of whom drew with the fighter. Jennings has been known to not be in the best of shape, and his chin, really hasn’t been tested. He shouldn’t have to worry about Kings. Who is a pretty light puncher. His biggest problem will be dealing with his defense and counter punching ability. Kings is the favorite here. Odds are a runaway 1/4, while odds on Jennings are 15/4. After knowing how tough Kings is, I gotta lean his way here.