★Starlite★ Boxing's Sweetscience©®™: Aug 6, 2012

Monday, August 6, 2012

HISTORY TO BE MADE ON SEPTEMBER 22ND WITH THE FIRST EVER CASINO BOXING CARD IN NEW YORK CITY‏

Saturday night, September 22nd, 2012 will be an historic night of boxing as the first ever professional boxing event will be staged in a casino inside New York City as New Legend Boxing/Old World Boxing and W.O.N Promotions present a spectacular show at the beautiful Resorts World Casino New York City in South Ozone Park, New York

“We are very excited about this new venue”, said Felipe Gomez of New Legend Boxing.

“The casino is an important move for us and our business partners. This will help to take our promotions to the next level. The International Fight Night card will feature some of the best local talent in the New York area and will be the first in what we believe will be a long term relationship with the Resorts World Casino New York City”

♔EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess♔, See you at the Fights and Thank You for your time.EL Boxing Empress Online @ Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Keishamorrisey ©®™ 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 All photos other than specified by "EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess" Keisha Morrisey, for ♔Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios♔, KCKMT for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and ★Starlite★ Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved.

Ihab Almatbouli keeps promise made to Royal family‏

One of the heart warming stories of London 2012 is that of Ihab Almatbouli's older brother promising the Royal family of Jordan back in 2007 that either he or his brother would become the first Jordanian boxer to participate in the Olympic Games. The promise was kept as Ihab made it to the second round of preliminaries in the British capital.

After the 26-year-old came third at the AIBA Asian Olympic Qualifying Event Astana 2012 in May to book his place for the biggest show on earth, Ihab Almatbouli was invited to the three-week training camp before the Olympic Games as part of the AIBA Road to London program to ensure that he was well prepared for his debut.

Ihab Almatbouli made history by becoming the first ever boxer from his country to compete at the Olympic Games when he defeated Nigeria's Lukmon Lawal during the first round of preliminaries. On the eighth day of competition, he then put on a brave showing against Cuban Team Captain Julio la Cruz Peralta as members of the Jordanian Royal Family watched on. He was gracious in his defeat to the first seed and was real credit to both himself and to his country. There was huge respect between la Cruz Peralta and Almatbouli at the end of their bout, exemplifying all that is good about the sport.

Other Road to London participants were also in action. Cameroon's Thomas Essomba worked extremely hard against 2008 Beijing Olympic Games bronze medallist Paddy Barnes, catching him with some good shots in both the first and the second round. Unfortunately, the class of the 25-year-old Irishman told as Essomba bowed out of the competition.

Teenage Filipino Mark Barriga also did himself proud by taking one round in his defeat to Kazakhstan's Birzhan Zhakypov by mixing up his shots and landing some good punches. Overall though, Zhakypov's experience told and his know-how allowed him to dominate the bout. The potential of the diminutive southpaw from the Philippines will surely see him come back in four years and compete for medals at Rio 2016.

Osmar Bravo Amador became the first boxer from Nicaragua to box at the Olympic Games since 1996 and was another of the Road to London participants to excel in the first round of preliminaries. He battled hard in the second round of preliminaries against Ukraine's AIBA World Boxing Championships quarter-finalist and European Cup winner Oleksandr Gvozdyk but could not claim the victory.

Serena Williams is now officially - the first woman to win all four Grand Slams + Olympic gold medal

Beautiful, bootyliscious tennis diva Serena Williams is now officially - the first woman to win all four Grand Slams, plus an Olympic gold medal and achieve a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles at the ongoing London Olympics 2012 competition.

Serena Williams not only took home her first singles gold medal but also performed what may be the first ever Olympic crip walk after defeating Maria Sharapova.

And everyone's talking about that crip walk, really.

Queen Underwood Falls to Home Nation Hero Natasha Jonas in Historic Action at the 2012 Olympic Games‏

The day women’s boxing advocates have been awaiting for years finally arrived on Sunday, but it ended differently than American lightweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) had hoped. Underwood became the first American female boxer ever to compete in the Olympic Games in afternoon action at the ExCel Centre, but she dropped her Olympic debut to Great Britain’s Natasha Jonas.

All three women’s weight classes opened Olympic Games action on Sunday with four preliminary bouts in each weight division. Underwood faced Jonas in the first lightweight contest of the day in front of a full house at the ExCel Centre. Jonas entered the ring to a loud and raucous crowd that roared with each punch she threw. Underwood opened the bout well, managing to block out the crowd and press the British boxer. Her efforts were successful in the first two minutes, and she took a 4-3 lead after one round.

Yet, Jonas managed to steal the lead in the second round to the delight of her hometown supporters. Underwood fell further behind in the second round as the longer and rangier Jonas built her advantage to a 13-9 margin with two minutes of action remaining. The American boxer came out swinging in the fourth round, trying to make up four-point deficit but she couldn’t overcome it and Jonas won a 21-13 final decision.

“I got comfortable in the first round, I was going to her and she was a little bit flat. I was winning on points after the first round but it changed a little in the second round. She kind of sat back and boxed me and I had to come forward,” Underwood said. “I was down one point after the second round and I kind of felt that it wasn’t working going forward the way I was so I just wanted to go for her after that.”

The remaining two U.S. female boxers will open their tournament action on Monday following first round byes. Flyweight Marlen Esparza(Houston, Texas) will face Venezuela’s Karlha Magliocco while middleweight Claressa Shields (Flint, Mich.) battles Anna Laurell of Sweden. Male welterweight Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) will return to the ring on Tuesday in quarterfinal action.

U.S. Result

132 lbs/60 kg: Natasha Jonas, GBR, dec. Queen Underwood, Seattle, Wash./USA, 21-13

Queen Underwood Quotes

“I filled a spot that somebody could have had but I gave away half my life for this and it just doesn’t feel like the reward of being here is enough. I just wish and hope that the fans and people who have been there and my family can believe the journey was enough and I’m a champion regardless of the decision. That’s where it ends with me is being a champion and pushing for it since I didn’t get the gold medal here.”

“I really feel that I didn’t have any chance being down and against the home crowd. If I would have sat back and tried to play games and chess match this, it would have looked like I wasn’t aggressive enough and I didn’t want that. It would probably have been a lower scoring fight because it would have been a slower pace but I wanted to show everybody that I’m going to do all I can do in there. I don’t like being down and I guess it kind of bothered me a little bit, being down after being up.”

“I didn’t feel like they were clean shots in there. I felt hooks behind the head, like more of a push than a scoring blow. As you could see I was little off balance. I just didn’t let the score to affect my work ethic in the ring so that’s why I just went forward.”

I didn’t have a choice (on starting to box young). When I picked up the sport, I was already older. I can’t take back the years, you just get older and older. If the Olympics were in 2008, I would have been a little younger. I think its good that a lot of younger women are picking up the sport at a younger age but I picked it up a little later and stuck around just to have this chance and I didn’t want to throw it away. I wanted to get to the highest level. I guess this is the end of my journey in the amateurs, being here.”

“I’ll support Katie Taylor in my weight class because I’m not in it anymore. I was looking forward to that rematch. I wanted to get in there with her. That was really my motivation for this fight. It wasn’t the gold yet, it was to get to that rematch with Katie Taylor but now I get to cheer her on, I know she’s gonna bring home the gold.”

“I’m going to keep fighting but I got here to the Olympics this time. “I don’t think it’s in me to stick around for four years. I did what I had to do, I waited around for four years for it to be an Olympic sport. I think its time for me to move on to a new chapter in my life. Now, its time to focus on something else.”

“I can beat anybody. I believe that I didn’t have the mindset going into this fight that I was going to lose. I always tell myself that I can do anything that I set my mind to for this tactic, this opponent and this bout. You just have to be in that moment. It’s a bit harder with a home crowd and you can’t let that get to you. They said I was ahead and once I was down that point, I felt that it was working against me, what I was doing. When I tried otherwise, it kept drawing me further and further apart. Sometimes you saw me in there throwing that big haymaker, I wanted to say that I tried. I wanted that to land it because that would have been awesome.”

I hope a lot of young boxers coming up are watching this. They can pick and choose who their role model is but for the sport of boxing, it’s not about looking at and saying I wanted to do that. It’s about actually doing it and sticking to it. There are a lot of people that can play a game and be on and off with it but boxing’s full time.

If you slack off, that can set you back for a year. That was the key to me moving forward. I never let myself take a break, I never let myself rest and now I think I’m due for a bit of a break. I’m tired, this has been one hell of a journey. Ever since winning a championship in 2007, I just stuck with boxing and made this my first priority over friends, family and a normal life. I’m ready just to rest and cheer on the upcoming women and focus on a future for myself.”

“History doesn’t mean anything to me. The gold medal meant more. This is history for Queen Underwood and amateur boxing. It’s a big moment for up and coming boxers, but for me to set high goals for myself, I don’t think just getting here was enough for me. Being a part of history wasn’t enough for me. I don’t look at just being an Olympian as great. I think bringing home a medal would be great. I know a lot of people look and me and say, ‘hey, you did good.’ I’m going to take this home and later on, say I did good. I will always say I could have done more because that’s just how it is.

Women make history‏

Olympic history was re-written today at the ExCeL Arena as women's boxing made its long-awaited debut at the Games in a watershed moment for the sport. During the afternoon session of day nine of competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the world was introduced to the three Women's weight categories, Flyweight (51kg), Lightweight (60kg) and Middleweight (75kg).

2010 AIBA World Champion and 2011 European Champion Elena Savelyeva from Russia got proceedings underway in the first of the Women's Flyweight (51kg) contests versus the People's Democratic Republic of Korea's 27-year-old Hye Song Kim. It was Savelyeva, a bronze medallist at the AIBA World Boxing Championships Qinhunangdao 2012, who got the better of the first round with a big right hand the difference at the interval. The Russian edged the second with a solid left hook and took the third with a sweet uppercut. In the final round, the points were shared as she progressed to the quarter-finals with a 12:9 win. 28-year-old Savelyeva will now face top seed and reigning AIBA World Champion Cancan Ren from China.

It was fast and furious in the second bout of the day as Brazilian southpaw Erica Matos went head to head with Karlha Magliocco. It was the Venezuelan who began well as she landed several good hooks to take the first. 29-year-old Matos turned the tide in the second, cornering her opponent and unleashing some good connecting combinations. This unpredictable contest then saw 2010 Panamerican Champion Magliocco regain the initiative as the orthodox fighter dominated the third to take a slender point advantage going into the final round. In the fourth, both fighters went for it and the crowd were up on their feet as punches were thrown from all directions, but it was the Venezuelan who prevailed 15:14 to set-up a meeting with Marlen Esparza of the USA in the last eight.

Chungneijang Mery Kom Hmangte, also known as Mary Kom, the five-time AIBA Pinweight (46kg) World Champion who went up two weight categories in order to qualify for these Olympic Games, brought the house down as she made her entrance into the ring. The Indian icon faced tough Karolina Michalczuk of Poland in what promised to be an enthralling encounter. The diminutive Kom was conceding a lot reach and height to her opponent and had to use her superior technique and shot making skills in order to not be charged down by the continually onrushing Michalczuk. It was a real clash of styles and after sharing the first round, Kom managed to land a couple of good hooks to edge the second. In the third, the 29-year-old mother of two from India was getting to grips with her aggressive rival and was starting to land more and more punches, a huge left one of the highlights of round three. The spectators were treated to a sumptuous final round as Kom held on to record a 19:14 victory as she held back tears when announced as the winner.

An emotional Mary Kom said after her win, "This is a fantastic day, it is unbelievable for me to be here, very special. I have been fighting twelve years to get to this point, to be at the Olympic Games. It has been my life-long ambition to get here. My victory is very emotional because not only as am I finally here but it is also my twins' fifth birthday today and I am missing it. This win is a gift to them".

In the last of the Flyweight (51kg) bouts, Bulgaria's Stoyka Petrova battled Siona Fernandesfrom New Zealand in an excellent contest between two top boxers. The 26-year-old Bulgarian made her experience count as she slowly wore down her opponent, scoring more and more as the rounds went by to move into the quarter-finals with a convincing 23:11 win.

The crowd went wild for the first of the Lightweight (60kg) fights as Natasha Jonas of Great Britain made her big entrance alongside the USA's Quanitta 'Queen' Underwood. The powerful orthodox American began on the front foot, using her jab to great effect as she edged the first. The pace was unrelenting as both boxers traded punches, but a great right hook in the second saw the 28-year-old Brit take the round. Jonas began to exert more authority to dominate her rival and scored heavily in the third. A strong left followed by some good combinations in the fourth ensured the local favourite took the round and the victory. There were wild celebrations from Jonas as she was declared the winner 21:13. The British orthodox fighter now faces top seed, quadruple AIBA World Champion Katie Taylor in the quarter-finals.

26-year-old 2010 AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Cheng Dong from China and Romanian orthodox Mihaela Lacatus were pretty well matched in most departments, with the same build and the same reach. There was not much to separate the two on paper however Dong was out of the blocks much quicker and caught the experienced 30-year-old Romanian, who had come out of retirement to qualify for these Olympic Games, with several good shots in the first round. The points were then shared in rounds two and three with both unable to find a breakthrough. The Chinese stepped it up in the closing stages to wrap up a 10:5 win. She will now test herself against Tajikistan's Asian Champion Mavzuna Chorieva for a place in the semi-finals.

The showdown between Brazil's Adriana Araujo and Saida Khassenova of Kazakhstan was a contest out of the top drawer with both boxers really going at each other. Khassenova began well but then 31-year-old multiple-Panamerican Champion Araujo slowly picked her opponent apart with more effective punches in the latter stages. In the end, the Brazilian went on to win the bout 16:14 and she will now meet Morocco's Mahjouba Oubtil.

In the last Lightweight (60kg) contest, tall New Zealander Alexis Pritchard faced 31-year-oldRim Jouini of Tunisia. 28-year-old orthodox Pritchard used her jab well in the first round before scoring with some good one-twos to edge it. Jouini came back in the second and upped her work rate, cornering her opponent and unleashing a couple of hard straights to take the round. Pritchard dominated the final two rounds in style, turning it on when she needed to most, with the charismatic Kiwi progressing into the quarter final stages with a well-taken 15:10 victory.

The Middleweights (75kg) were in action next as Kazak Marina Volnova locked horns with 26-year-old Elizabeth Andiego. It was a tour de force by the orthodox Volnova, moving well and looking to land with that deft left hook of hers. Her Kenyan rival struggled throughout with the accuracy of her shots and Volnova confidently won the bout 20:11 after taking each round.

Experienced 32-year-old Swede Anna Laurell battled hard against Naomi-Lee Fischer-Rasmussen, using her reach to throw good hard one-twos. The Australian 26.year-old showed huge heart and determination to try and move inside in order to score points but the Swedish star was clever and countered well to win each round. Laurell advancing to the quarter-finals with a bruising 24:17 win. She will now meet US teenage sensation Claressa Shields.

2008 World Champion Jinzi Li of China started well against the 23-year-old Brazilian Roseli Feitosa, using her power to great effect as she threw some big punches in each round. There was a quality comeback by Feitosa in the final round but unfortunately after losing the first three, it was too late as Li claimed a 19:14 victory.

The President of Azerbaijan was in the stands to lend his support to Elena Vystropova in her contest with Edith Ogoke. The Nigerian 21-year-old sprung a huge surprise as he ferocious attacks had Vystropova on the back foot in the first two round, landing some thunderous shots to take both by two points. The experienced Azeri gathered her senses in the third and started to box well with her superior technique clawing back her deficit from four to one point coming into the final round. Ogoke defied the odds as she stood firm and won the contest 14:12.

The evening session will see both the Men's Bantamweight (56kg) and Heavyweight (91kg) quarter-finals take place with a podium finished guaranteed for the winners.