?Shotgun? Shannon O?Connell 15-5-1 (7) came up short in her bid to wrest the IBF super bantamweight title from 20-year veteran Marcela ?La Tigresa? Acuna 46-6-1 (19) at Ce.De.M. No.2, Caseros, Buenos Aires, Argentina on Friday night.
In a close contest with a lot of rounds that were difficult to score, O?Connell was unlucky not to be awarded a few more points in a fight that looked like it could go either way. At the conclusion of the 10-round bout the ringside judges had scored in favour of the champion 97-93 and 99-91 twice.
That was at odds with the commentary team on TcY Sports, the television station that aired the fight in Argentina. The broadcasters could only split the combatants by a single round, giving Acuna the win 96-94. They awarded rounds one, six, eight and nine to O?Connell.
The pattern of the fight was set early. O?Connell wanted to use her height and reach to keep Acuna on the outside and at the end of her punches. The much shorter Acuna needed to bulldoze her way in, staring at the floor with her chin down while she threw wild overhand shots. Accuracy was not her game, pressure was.
O?Connell fought well against Acuna. She was more active, made good use of her long and accurate jab, and showed good ring generalship to keep Acuna turning and off balance. Acuna kept the pressure up throughout the bout, landing some solid single shots that were enough to win her some close rounds when not a lot of scoring punches were landed.
?I wouldn?t call it ?surprised? but she definitely caught me a few times, but I knew she was a big puncher,? O?Connell told Maxboxing. ?If anything I was expecting her power to be bigger than it actually was. The gloves were the smallest things I?ve ever seen. I?m known for tiny hands and they were too small for my hands so in saying that I think I handled her power pretty well.?
The 34-year-old mother of two from Slacks Creek in Queensland had to overcome some dubious refereeing throughout the bout that saw a number of head clashes go unpunished.
?No, the referee was terrible,? said O?Connell of Rodolfo Stella. ?He only picked me up for things and not her. There were head clashes every round but she didn?t get in trouble once.
?The judging was bad also. I thought 94-96 would have been a fair score. I didn?t feel that I won the fight knowing it was in her backyard but it was definitely closer than what they had. A lot of people came up to me including the commentators saying how bad it was.?
The entire fight has been uploaded to YouTube and can be found by clicking on the following link:
goo.gl/eSM84y
Family means a lot to O?Connell. Her father Kevin O?Connell was a 25-year-old electrician who rode speedway motorcycles in his spare time until an accident at Speedway City on the fringes of Adelaide claimed his life the day before Australia Day 1985. Shannon was just two years old at the time.
After her father?s untimely death, her mother struggled to cope with the loss. She fell into the grip of drug abuse and was never able to escape its grasp, eventually dying from a heroin overdose in 2007.
O?Connell?s grandparent, Mavis and Bill O?Connell, became parental figures in the young Shannon?s life. So when her grandfather passed away at the start of June while she was in training camp for Acuna, it hit O?Connell hard.
?Losing my Pop and burying him only three days before jumping on the plane was the hardest thing I?ve ever had to go through,? said O?Connell, whose tough childhood has been well documented. ?He was like a father to me. The hardest part was not being able to be there for my Nan. I felt like I blamed boxing for that so even training was torture. I was able to switch on for the fight though and I don?t use that as an excuse at all.?
O?Connell gave up the chance to fight on the undercard of the WBO welterweight world title defence of Manny Pacquiao against Jeff Horn in Brisbane, Australia at Suncorp Stadium on July 2 to fight for the IBF world title against Acuna in Argentina. It was a tough decision to make, but O?Connell felt she had little choice after Acuna?s team insisted on the fight happening in the champion?s backyard.
?Man, that was a hard decision,? said O?Connell. ?It would have been a dream come true to have that fight on the Pac-Horn card and I?m sure the outcome would have been different as well but they refused to come to Australia and I believed I could beat her even in her country and I didn?t want to give up the opportunity to fight the best in the world.
?There is no point in having regrets. What?s done is done and at the end of the day I hope I can be remembered in this sport as someone that gave back it her all and never backed down from a challenge once I?m retired.
?I?m not there yet though, I?m still gunning for that top spot.?
BAM-BAM FLANAGAN LINES UP LEBEDEV
Big punching cruiserweight Mark ?Bam Bam? Flanagan 22-4 (15) is facing the biggest challenge of his career when he takes on talented Russian southpaw Denis Lebedev 29-3 (22) for the WBA Super world cruiserweight title at DIVS, Ekaterinburg, Russia on July 10.
The fight has been largely lost in the whirlwind of publicity for Jeff Horn?s historic fight against international superstar Manny Pacquiao at Brisbane?s Suncorp Stadium on July 2.
In early 2013 Flanagan was an average light heavyweight with a record of 11-4 (6), but a move up to the cruiserweight division the same year allowed his frame to fill out and his punching power to come to the fore. Since then, Flanagan has amassed a record of 11-0 with nine knockouts and climbed up the WBA?s world rankings to reach the #6 position at 200-pounds.
37-year-old Lebedev will enter the bout with substantially more experience than Flanagan, who turned pro in 2009. A sixteen-year fight veteran, Lebedev is a former light heavyweight like Flanagan and fought for his first world title in 2010. Since then, he has continued to compete at the highest level. He has been ranked in the top ten at cruiserweight by The Ring magazine for the 387 consecutive weeks, 100 weeks more than his closet rival, Marco Huck.
What Flanagan does have on his side is youth, explosiveness and world class power. The 27-year-old will be looking to use his powerful right cross against the southpaw in conjunction with a sustained body attack to slow down the popular champion. Flanagan is putting in work with AIBA Youth World Boxing Champion at super heavyweight Justis Huni, former light heavyweight world title challenger Blake Caparello and talented national 168-pound champion Faris Chevalier.
Expect fireworks in a fight that won?t last until the final bell.
BIKA ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL
Former WBC super middleweight champion Sakio ?The Scorpion? Bika 32-7-1 (21) has announced his return to the ring after a two year hiatus. The Cameroon-born Australian was last in action against Adonis Stevenson in April 2015 when he stepped up in weight to challenge for the WBC light heavyweight championship of the world.
The 38-year-old Bika, who has never been stopped in his seven losses, will be up against Luke Sharp 14-5-3 (6) at the Fraternity Club, Fairy Meadow, NSW on July 8. Hannah Nasari of Neutral Corner promotes.
Bika won the vacant WBC 168-pound title with a majority decision victory over Marco Antonio Periban of Mexico almost exactly four years ago at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Bika held on to the title with a split draw over Anthony Dirrell at the same venue six months later. He lost the title in a rematch against Dirrell at the StubHub Center in Carson, California in August the following year.
The only losses on Bika?s ledger have come to world class boxers Sam Soliman, Joe Calzaghe, Lucian Bute, Jean-Paul Mendy, Andre Ward, Dirrell and Stevenson.
ZERAFA RETURNS WITH SPECTACULAR KO
Melbourne middleweight Michael ?Pretty Boy? Zerafa 22-2 (13) opened his account for 2017 with a spectacular sixth round knockout of New Zealand-based Argentinean Tomas Reynoso 10-2-1 (3) at the Melbourne Pavilion in Flemington, Victoria, Australia on Saturday night on a Team Ellis promoted card.
The fight was scheduled for eight rounds but it was never in danger of going the distance with Reynoso given an eight count in both the second and fifth rounds.
The former world ranked 25-year-old took some time to shake off the rust, but once he got his motor going it was all one way traffic. A sneaky left hook just before the bell in the sixth put Reynoso?s lights out before he hit the canvas. Referee Malcolm Bulner didn?t bother to administer a count.
Speaking to his family and friend on Facebook after the fight, Zerafa said: ?A tough fight last night for myself where I got cut pretty early but I had to keep my eyes on the prize? and BANG KO in the 6th round, came home with a big win, and couldn?t be more proud. I?d like to thank my opponent Tomas Reynoso for coming down and taking the fight, much appreciated.?
Zerafa has been spending time in the United States recently, getting in quality sparring at the world famous Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles and the results showed on Saturday night.
Zerafa?s only two losses have been against world class level boxers Peter Quillin at Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut in 2015 and Arif Magomedov at Luzhniki in Moscow, Russia in 2014.
In other recent action Kiwi Nikolas ?The Greek? Charalampous 14-1 (6) defeated Queenslander Aaron Russell 10-3 (4) by ten round UD in a cruiserweight clash at the Mansfield Tavern in Mansfield, Queensland on an Ace Boxing Promotions card on Saturday June 10. Scores were 98-92 twice and 98-93.
On the same card middleweight Adrian Rodriguez 6-0-1 (5) had too much firepower for Salar King 5-7 (3) stopping him in the eighth and final round of their bout for the vacant Queensland state title. Referee Jeff Frazier saved King from further punishment after the second knockdown. Rodriguez was comfortably ahead 70-63 on all three cards when the fight was stopped.
Undefeated welterweight prospect Liam Paro 7-0 (4) scored his fourth successive stoppage with a fourth round KO of veteran Alex AhTong 9-39-5 (5) in a scheduled six round bout. Paro, a slick, quick-handed southpaw, has been working with Jeff Horn ahead of his highly publicized bout against Manny Pacquiao next month.
