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Saturday, December 13
 
Simms hands Garcia first defeat

By Thomas Gerbasi
Maxboxing.com

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Zab Judah promised fireworks to kick-off the pay-per-view portion of tonight's card, and he delivered -- quickly -- using a single straight left to KO Colombia's Jaime Rangel just 72 seconds into the opening round.

"I told Don King I was going to steal the show and dominate," said Judah.

"I said all along I wanted to come here and steal the show," said the 26-year-old. "I stole the press conference the other day and I think tonight I've already stolen the show."

Obviously looking to end things early, Judah circled Rangel, who may not have even landed a single shot on the Brooklynite. And once Judah shot in with the left on the overmatched challenger, Rangel -- out before he even hit the canvas -- was done.

With the victory, Judah -- who retained his WBO junior welterweight title and dispelled any notions of his broken hand not being healed -- improves to 30-1 with 22 KOs. Rangel falls to 29-5 with 25 KOs.

"I am going to stay where I am at 140 because the most important thing is a rematch with Kostya Tszyu," said Judah. "I want to take him out."

In a battle of unbeaten super welterweights, Travis Simms surprised Alejandro Garcia by stopping him the fifth round.

He didn't look "Tremendous" for the first four rounds, but in round five, Simms (23-0, 18 KOs) lived up to his moniker with a single punch KO of Alejandro "Terra" Garcia (22-1, 21 KOs) to win the WBA title.

The end came as the two broke from a clinch and Garcia dropped his hands, leaving himself open to the finishing hook.

"He was holding a lot," said Simms. "He was looking at the ref to break us up and when he pulled back, I hit him with the hook."

At the time of the stoppage, Simms led 39-37 on two of the judges' scorecards, with the third score being even.

Both men attempted to stake out their territory early on, with Simms boxing and using some quick left hands out of the southpaw stance, and Garcia attempting to brawl and establish control on the inside. The first telling blow of the bout came late in round two, when a left to the jaw jarred Simms and forced him to hold on.

The boo birds came out in force in round three, jeering the tactical struggle, but Garcia responded in the fourth, drilling the Connecticut native with three successive right hands to start the round. Simms recovered by late in the frame, but not enough to steal the round from Garcia.

But the scorecards were rendered moot when Simms almost tore Garcia's head off in the fifth with a picture perfect left hook as the two separated from a clinch with referee Sammy Viruet lurking behind the action -- ending the bout at the 1:41 mark, and teaching Garcia a valuable lesson: protect yourself at all times.

"I got careless, but it was only because I was doing what the referee told us when he went over the rules before the fight," said Garcia. "He hit me on the break. The referee started to separate us and I stepped back and relaxed. It was not a fair punch. The referee was at fault. I am very disappointed and I want a rematch. I want to get my title back."

In other undercard bouts:

In a rematch of last year's memorable brawl, Luis Perez again defeated Felix Machado to retain his IBF junior bantamweight crown.

The unanimous decision read 115-113, 117-111, 119-109 in favor of Perez, who ups his record to 21-2 with 14 KOs. Machado drops to 23-5 with 12 KOs.

"I worked hard," said Perez. "He had a little bit of an advantage at the beginning, but I got my rhythm going as the fight progressed."

Machado kicked off the bout by jabbing as Perez stalked, and tried to use his reach and boxing skills to his best advantage. But by the second round, the Nicaraguan champion started to close the gap to land his short right quasi-jabs and looping left hands.

The veteran Machado kept to his game plan throughout any adversity, but just when he would get into a rhythm and start to land his jabs with regularity, Perez disrupted it with ripping shots to the head, including a jarring left hook that briefly stunned Machado in the fourth round.

The two fought on fairly even terms in the fifth, and Machado boxed effectively in the sixth while avoiding Perez' heavy artillery. Action between the bull (Perez) and matador (Machado) heated up in the seventh, with every clean hook by Perez being answered with a Machado counter, but it wasn't until the eighth when the brawl really started to match the level of their first fight.

Early in the eighth, Machado was sent sprawling into the ropes by Perez and it appeared that the end was near for the Venezuelan. Despite the barrage by Perez, Machado found the reserve to fight back and even land enough shots to get Perez' respect.

The pace slowed in the ninth and tenth frames, but Machado's rapidly swelling left eye started to show the wear of battle as the bout entered the championship rounds.

To his credit, Machado kept throwing punches despite the pressure of Perez, whose short bombs had obviously taken their toll on the challenger. And while the bout didn't match the sustained ferocity of their first war, Perez did more than enough to repeat his winning feat over Machado.

"This time it was a clear victory because I won most of the rounds," said Perez. "I know him like the palm of my hand. He was hurt, but he is brave and fought like a warrior."

WBC cruiserweight champion Wayne Braithwaite (20-0, 17 KOs) retained his title with a first round stoppage of Panama's Luis Pineda (21-2, 14 KOs).

Looking significantly smaller than his 199-pound foe, the 189-pound champion weathered some early barrages on the ropes from Pineda before spinning out of trouble and going on the offensive. And once Braithwaite had room to punch, Pineda's time in the ring was short. A single right hook delivered from above was the finisher, and though Pineda rose from the canvas, referee Eddie Cotton wisely halted the bout at the 1:27 mark.

"It took a little bit longer than I thought," deadpanned Braithwaite.

In a spirited opener that deserved some television time, Victor Burgos and Rosendo Alvarez both kept their 108-pound titles after a 12-round draw.

Scores were 116-113 for Burgos, 116-112 for Alvarez, and 114-114.

"I felt I won by two points," said Burgos. "I won the last six rounds. I felt a little bit tense because of all the inactivity I have had in my career. He was headbutting all night long, but I was still strong because of my conditioning. I am not interested in Rosendo Alvarez for a rematch. He probably got the draw because of his name."

Burgos (35-13-3, 20 KOs) came into the bout as the underdog, but didn't fight like it once the bell rang, as he landed repeated overhand rights on Alvarez (32-2-2, 20 KOs), who merely snorted at the inconvenience and kept coming forward.

As soon as Alvarez got his rhythm he started to pepper Burgos with hooks from both sides of the plate, all the while moving and pivoting around his foe.

The IBF champion refused to go away though, and the middle rounds featured some heated exchanges that got the then-sparse crowd up and roaring. But down the stretch it was the precision punching of Alvarez that pulled him even on the cards and preserved his WBA title.

"The inactivity affected me," said Alvarez. "But I kept my title. If I get a rematch, I know how to knock him out. I feel bad about the draw. I was winning and the best punches were mine."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.






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