FanGrrl Updates the Boxing Scene

With a brief note up front to say that we found a different house in the same neighborhood that's much better than the casita delapidado, and we're working on closing; we probably will move shortly after the turn of the new year, so I'm probably going to be scattershot with my blog posts. On the other hand, I can also see the possibility of ranting endlessly about moving, etc. So who knows?

In the world of boxing, Tommy Karpency had another fight -- the day before Thanksgiving, because we certainly couldn't allow Dante's Virgil to both visit family she hasn't seen in forever and watch her favorite sport and boxer all at the same time. We must deny her one or the other. Argh. Further, I had to pass up the chance to jeer and boo at the absolute worst opponent's name in the history of boxing.

His name was Mike McFail.

Seriously.

McFail. Why do things have to work out so that I can't go yell "MCFAIL!!!!!" at Tommy's fight? Just not fair. And yes, he's a real person. Here is his boxing record. He's 120th in the United States -- which means they put Tommy up against another "jobber" (no offense to McFail).

Here's the story:

Karpency crushes McFail

WBA Fedecentro light heavy titleholder Tommy Karpency (19-1-1, 12 KOs) knocked out normally durable veteran Mike McFail in the third round Wednesday night. A vicious Karpency left hook to the body dropped McFail to the canvas, and referee Mike Napple halted the contest after McFail was unable to survive the count. Highlighting the undercard, local welterweight prospect Matt Bershire (9-1-1, 4 KOs) looked impressive in stopping trialhorse Eric Burke in the fifth of their scheduled six rounder. In addition, local middleweight Paul Pindroh (1-0) won a four round unanimous decision over Francisco Portillo in a battle of debut boxers. All scores were 38-37. Simons’ Promotions next scheduled card will take place January 29th and the main event will feature Tommy Karpency defending his WBA Fedecentro title against light heavy Dallas Vargas (22-4).

Please note the last bolded part. Tommy needs to be up against better talent, because it's too easy for him at this point to keep knocking weak opponents on the canvas. I've seen too many fights that look on paper like they would be great opponents, but in reality one boxer has only ever been "spoon fed" weak or over the hill boxers, and never really took on serious competition. Tommy needs to be in with people who are hungrier, like Chuck "The Professor" Mussachio (his last fight). Dallas Vargas is just that person.

Vargas is a huge step up for Tommy, because he's #11 in the US right now; Tommy is #12. This looks like it could be one of those fights that shows whether either of them are really prepared to be so close to the top ten in the US. Vargas has five years more of professional experience and nearly ten years in age on Tommy. Out of Vargas' six most recent fights, though, he's lost two. Tommy hasn't. Of course, it all depends on just who it is you're fighting. Vargas lost to the #1 ranked French super middle weight fighter Jean Paul Mendy (also #31 in the world) and to Jesse Brinkley, the #5 US super middle weight fighter (and #14 in the world). So, it's not like he's losing to chumps. Super middleweights, though, only get up to 168 pounds. So, Vargas is returning to his original weight class to fight Tommy (light heavyweights are 168 to 175 pounds). Usually, if you're going to go to a different weight class, it's better to cut down to the class below you and pound them with the fact that you only have to cut down a few pounds, but they have to bulk up to stay at that weight. But that obviously didn't work so well for Vargas, because he's actually been a light heavyweight more or less the whole time -- he cut down for those fights. I can sort of see why he chose to try boxing in a different weight class, because the light heavyweight division is kind of stagnant. The really good ones rarely fight each other, or if they do, it's the same pairing you've already seen a bunch of times. There's not the kind of churn that you get in the lighter weight divisions.

Vargas scares the shit out of me. It's gonna be great!

The tickets are probably going to cost more. Hmph. JP, make your arrangements NAO. January 29 you have some place to be!

-- DV

Things are getting serious. I may have to ramp up my fangrrl participation levels.