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Yeah what up everyone. As I have said in the past every now and again I will bring in guest writers strut to their stuff. In the interest of expanding the wesbites fan base it is important to get the views of others. Because she is so graceful Z. Nazario was kind enough to stop by and give us her take on the the Jimmy lange fight. Lets all give a warm round of applause to our esteemed guest Z. Nazario. As for me? Have no fear I lurk, however, this blog,is Z's.




“No Excuses”, Night of “W”s for Jimmy Lange and
DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley
by Z. Nazario

There is no better way to conclude a hard week of stressful and long work that enjoying a good night of boxing. For a while now, the summer has brought with it a hiatus in terms of big, action TV fights. However, the world we see on TV is not always reflective of what goes on away from the cameras, in the sports arena of a small town. That was the case Saturday night at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA, where the stars of the night fought their hearts out to show that boxing is not death, and that inside boxing might be considered a rare gem at the top levels of televised boxing, but is not in local bouts. The fights at the Patriot Center were highly entertaining, competitive matches; for good portions, inside-boxing wars.

The main event showcased local celebrity and former star of The Contender reality show, the beloved Jimmy Lange of Great Falls, VA, and Jimmy LeBlanc of Weymouth, MA. Lange took care of business with a second round stoppage of “the other Jimmy”. In the co-main event, another darling of the DC/VA/MD region, former world champion DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley stepped up to replace Baltimore’s Tim “The Pitbull” Coleman and face Damian Fuller, a southpaw from Detroit. Coleman suffered a head injury during training camp last week, which prevented him from getting in the right tonight. Chop Chop added a solid stoppage win to his record.

Jimmy & Jimmy: Lange vs. LeBlanc

After four consecutive wins that ignited rumors of bigger and better things in his future in boxing, all plans were shattered when the unthinkable happened, Lange [32-4-2 (KO 23)] lost a unanimous decision against Houston’s Chase “The White Tiger” Shields. Tonight was the time for Lange to show what he learned from his defeat, and get back in the ring in front of his local fans.

His challenger was Jimmy “The Dream” LeBlanc. Stepping into the ring with a record of 12-16-4 (KO 4), including a first round KO lost against Yuri Foreman, LeBlanc was not supposed to have given Lange the problems he gave him in the first round. LeBlanc rocked Lange with more than a few good shots over the duration of the round, even catching him against the ropes in an instance where he could land fine punches to Lange’s head. It was a round LeBlanc won, in my opinion, leaving me wondering how hurt was Lange after feeling the leather from LeBlanc’s gloves visiting his skin.

The second round was to see a different story unfold as Lange landed a left hook that sent LeBlanc to the canvas. Seeing him hurt, Lange capitalized well on the damage he had inflicted, and a few seconds later, another right to LeBlanc’s head had him say hello to the floor for a second time. Like a lion in front of his hurt prey, Lange resumed the attack to finish what he started, with hooks left and right. Finally, he landed a right hook to the body of LeBlanc that dropped LeBlanc for a third and final time. The referee had seen enough and stopped the contest at about 1:30 min of that second round.

The win for Lange brings new plans to keep him active in boxing and an attraction in DC/VA/MD. He will be back fighting at the Patriot Center on November 6th. His team will seek for one, maybe two, fights in between. New York and South Carolina were mentioned as possible locations for those interim fights. About his performance, Jimmy had to say:

“This fight was exactly what it was. It was to get back in the ring… I’ve been sick for 5 months, I’ve been disgusted with myself; and no pun intended, there was no excuse for the way I acted, for the way I fought last time. I wanted to get back in the ring, get back in front of everybody and do what I had to do.”

“[There are] very, very basic details that I was doing wrong, and you have to go over, and over, and over again to fix. Did I fix them? I don’t think they’re fixed yet but we’re working on them. We’ll keep working on them. I think they improved tonight. I think I was stuck in the right pretty good. I was getting underneath the right hand. He caught me once in the first round with the right hand.”

Regarding criticisms about Lange coming out slow, the fighter replied:

“I didn’t come out fast on purpose because I wanted to feel it in there. I wanted to feel it; I wanted to get back in there; I wanted some rounds. It happens that I caught him with some good body shots early and that’s how it goes. But I didn’t come out swinging, and bombing, and going crazy, on purpose. I wanted to work on some things. I think that my head movement was better. It’s a work in progress.”

My favorite quote of the night though, was from Jimmy Lange to Jimmy LeBlanc:
“You sound like a fighter man, you gotta teach me that accent!”

Congratulations Jimmy Lange.

Damian Fuller vs. DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley

When it comes to flamboyancy, few are able to catch the audience eyes as DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley. His entrance this time did not disappoint. Chop Chop emerged from his locker room to enter the ring dressed as some sort of fusion between a vejigante and a dragon-clown-like figure, with white lights illuminating the front of his attire, red lights doing the same on the back.

Chop Chop faced difficulties against Fuller during the first three rounds, when he seem to look to work the body, but lacked enough jab to set properly his attack. However, he never lost the serene, focused expression. In the forth round, Corley set the state for a brutal attack, where he took Fuller to the corner and pummeled him with a plethora of combinations to both body and head. Immediately after the referee separated the two men and finished the count for Fuller, Chop Chop ran back to keep Fuller in the same corner, resuming the attack with more right and left hooks, and uppercuts thrown and landed with no mercy, causing the referee to stop the contest.

His celebration of victory at the end of the bout was on a par with his entrance. He saluted his fans by crossing his arms in an executioner “X” while moving his head in a self-approval manner, as if establishing his still relevance in the ring despite his recent losses, including the KO against Freddy Hernandez. It is right to say that Chop Chop established Saturday night that he can still give the battle in the ring for some of the young up and comers.


Undercard

Brandon Quarles vs. Vincent “The Beast” Batteast: In the four rounds, jr. middleweight fight, it was Quarles the man taking the best piece of the cake. During the first three rounds, the two men fought bravely, mostly at a short range, where Quarles was being effective. Quarles exhibited a good right hook, and the impressive ability to fight well while being against the ropes. Batteast came back strong at the ring of the bell in the fourth round, looking for a very much needed knock out, his only chance at victory. This was the only round Batteast won on my card. Final scores were 39-37 from all three judges, for the winner by unanimous decision, Brandon Quarles.

Zain “Tiger” Shah vs. John “The Baptist” Terry: Since the beginning of this four round, middleweight bout, Terry puzzled Shah, myself and some of the people in press with his awkward style, lack of balance, hands down, punches thrown seemingly at random and with no timing or measure. To my surprise, his chaos seemed to confused and frustrate Shah some in the second round, the only round Terry won on my card by landing some of those unmeasured, random shots, perhaps by luck more than tactic (although some might argue that total disorder could also be a strategy). This pattern repeated at the beginning of the third round. However, by mid round Shah found effectiveness in using his jab to neutralize chaos. He continued to smartly use his jab, and set his rights with it to win the round, and the remainder of the fight. The fourth round was dressed with confusion. Terry was down twice and Shah once in that round, but none were called knocked downs. All three judges scored the fight the same, 40-36 for Zain Shah. Of notice is the use of a spoon by Terry’s corner to cool his cut and bruises. Quite creative people…

Nathalie Forget vs. Jennifer “The Bolivian Queen” Salinas: These two women fought for six rounds at featherweight, in what made yours truly take back his opinion about women boxing. Both put on an action packed, brawling galore. Kudos to both women. It was Forget the one who left with the “W”, obtaining a majority decision with 57-57 by one judge, 58-56 by the two others.

Todd “White Lightning” Wilson vs. Calvin “Peco” Faggins: The first thing of notice about this fight was the weights of the two fighters. Faggins weighed in at 125 lbs, Wilson at 132 lbs. The match however, was officially a welterweight match according to the bouts sheet. Wilson entered the ring to the sound of a bagpipe played live by a folk walking around the ring. That play probably lasted more than the actual fight, in which Wilson knocked out Faggins about a minute into the very first round. There was some debate among press on which punch ended the show for Faggins. Obviously, few saw clearly what happened. While the consensus in media row was that it was a straight left, Wilson told reporters afterward that it was a left jab. If so, this is a demonstration of how jabs can also be demolishing knock out punches.

Dontre King vs. Juan “The Savior” Rodriguez: The beginning of this fight, scheduled for six rounds at welterweight, saw an aggressive Rodriguez chasing King to go straight to his body, and scoring a knock down. Early on the fight, King was having trouble on the inside, where Rodriguez was taking the best of him. The fight seemed to even out more as the clock kept running. At that aggressive pace, both fighters looked tired by the final round, staying at a longer range and throwing shots that lacked the same energy and power as they did during the previous two rounds. Even though both King and Rodriguez were running out of gas, they both landed a few good shots, almost simultaneously. At the sound of the final belt, two exhausted boxers raised their arms in victory, both considering himself the winner. The final scores were 59-55 for King – surprising given how close the fight was, and the fact that King got knocked down once – and two identical 57-57. The final result however, a majority draw, was fair.

Tony “Mo Better” Jeter vs. Lawrence Johnson: This six round, middleweight fight ended abruptly in a first round technical draw due to an impressive unintentional headbutt. It left a big cut on Jeter’s forehead from which blood ran abundantly down Jeter’s body as if water out of a hose. The doctor advised to stop the contest, and a clearly frustrated Jeter hit the canvas with both gloves to express his upset, while the scarlet liquid kept emanating from the cut without control.



Z. Nazario is a Special to Unifiedchamp.com; Stay tuned for more of her work