Darryl Pinckney Sends Us A Major Knee-Bender: GIF Spotlight

Undefeated prospect Luis Leija, cousin of Jesse James Leija, was 14-0 going into his featherweight match with Darryl "The Nightmare" Pinckney. Pinckney was deceptively 19-19-2. It was 1995 and the year before this Darryl had stopped Junior Jones in three rounds. This man was one dangerous 50/50 fighter and "The Nightmare" was not an ironic nickname. He would reaffirm this point with Leija.

Pinckney KO1 Leija. If you ever wake up in life and you're staring at the full sole of one of your shoes. . . there's a good chance something went wrong for you. Leija would go on to rumble with several names but most notably he was stopped in two against Floyd Mayweather Junior. Pinckney was quite a story before and after, and he'd still go on to fight major titlists Oscar Larios, Jesus Chavez, Mauricio Pastrana, Freddie Norwood, Robert Garcia, Guty Espadas Junior and Juan Manuel Marquez. He would knockout Espadas Junior while Junior was still undefeated in 1996. He even gave Juan Manuel Marquez a scare that year.


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Serious Journeymen Are A Nightmare: GIF Spotlight

Journeyman Darryl "The Nightmare" Pinckney was a thunder-fisted seek-and-destroy man who either destroyed or got stuck seeking until the end of the fight. In October of 1994, Pinckney would take on Junior Jones with less than a week's notice, in typical journeyman fashion. Darryl was 18-18-2, while Jones was a sterling 33-1-0. It couldn't have been more obvious who would win this bout. Through round one and two it still could not have been more obvious. Until Pinckney kindly clarified the situation by abruptly one-punching Junior Jones all over the canvas.

As you can see, Jones got up and tried to play it off like nothing, but his legs were gone when the fight resumed and he tackled his opponent to the canvas, while trying to hold on until he recovered. Referee Earl Morton made the call after the tackle. Pinckney TKO3 Jones. Jones would go on to take the 0 of Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera and beat him in a rematch. Pinckney wasn't done pulling upsets in his career and, though losing, he also dealt Juan Manuel Marquez his first surprise knockdown, if I'm not mistaken. Pinckney would finish his career at 24-42-3 and Jones at 50-6-0. The life of a journeyman is not easy. But you can still raise a ruckus while you're living it. Darryl Pinckney raised multiple ruckuses. Cheers to The Nightmare.


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Juan Manuel Marquez's Crossercut KO: GIF Spotlight

In February of 1999, the spectacular Juan Manuel Marquez had recently won a North American featherweight title. He was 27-1, with his one defeat being a disqualification on his pro debut. He'd not yet had a major world title shot. There have been luckier fighters. But he looked every bit the part of a champion. He entered the ring to LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" and he must've had tremendous respect for LL's mama, because he listened and got the job done in round one. He did it with an uppercut he developed somewhere on planet Funkatron, where George Clinton purportedly summers. I call it a crossercut, because it sweeps across as much as it comes up and under. You can call it a Bolo if you think that's what it is. I won't hold it against you.

Whatever you want to call it, it's beautiful. This punch is like a Bond girl. I'm thinking of actually naming this punch "The Ursula Andress." Either way, Marquez KO1 Garcia. To his credit, Garcia got back up, though the referee waved it off. JMM would have to wait until 2003 to get a hold of a major world title. He'd have a major world title in every calendar year for a decade, through four divisions. He'd be spectacular and lethal throughout. Garcia had a very tough time after their match, finishing his career, according to Boxrec, on eleven consecutive losses. If only we could all be legends.

PS: Well, I guess then it would be meaningless, if we were all legends. What a dumb thought I almost ended on.


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When Gamboa Was A Tyson: GIF Spotlight

In July of 2008, Cuba's Yuriorkis Gamboa was one of boxing's baddest and most promising prospects. A fast, athletic finisher with dynamite in his gloves. On three day's notice, Al Seeger decided he'd give him a go for a North American title on ESPN's Friday Night Fights. It went very well for one of them, in the first round.

Gamboa became a major world titlist in 2009, yet the excitement and the KO's in his favor have mostly ended. He did have a Pier-Six Brawl with P4P name Terence Crawford in 2014, but his winning efforts tend to be fairly subdued affairs after a few years as a world titlist name, considering he was one of many who were treated as Tysonesque on the way to stardom. He is still a winning, world class fighter, however, having just taken a controversial decision over Jason Sosa. Respectfully, I miss the early Gamboa.


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Kevin Kelley Laughs Last With Lennox Lewis: GIF Spotlight

This is from a well-aged (1994) ad for HBO boxing with gregariously loquacious featherweight titlist Kevin Kelley and worldly heavyweight legend Lennox Lewis playing a bit of chess. That Lennox would fall to a featherweight could not be predicted by anyone but Hamed.


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Naseem Hamed Stars In: The Damnedest Uppercut (GIF Spotlight)

Another excellent "Boom Boom," Mr. Tom Johnson, attempted to unify his IBF Featherweight Title with Prince Naseem Hamed's WBO Featherweight Title in February of 1997, at London Arena. Courageously trying to adjust to Hamed's uncannily awkward style, Johnson was met with awkward power punch after awkward power punch, as Hamed shook off every attempt to thwart him. The end came on one of the damnedest uppercut finishes I've seen land. Of all the fast, strangely thrown haymakers of the night, this took the cake:

How Hamed found the shot, the combination of anticipation and speed, it's eerie. After some false starts, Johnson found it in him to even get up from this shot before the count was up, but it was rightfully waved off by referee Rudy Battle.


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Abner Mares On The Culture Shock Of Success: Quote Spotlight

A fighter with one of the toughest opponent rosters in boxing, Abner Mares, did a TV spot for Showtime leading up to his 2013 match with Jhonny Gonzalez. He said of reaching success:

"My parents never owned a home and it was just, you know, apartment to apartment. And, like a two-bedroom, for eleven brothers and sisters. And, you know, that's a lot. People know me now. You tend to forget, like,. . . where you come from. You know? It's just like, oh, this is the life. I've been missing out. You know, I'm throwing money away. And then you just have that moment where, like, oh, 'Hold on, Abner. This is not you. You know? You started from nothing, eating out of trashcans, having nothing. This is not you. Go back to you.' And that's why I have my beautiful family."


How many fighters do we see come from little or nothing, use fighting to get somewhere stable in life, then hit it big and live so extravagantly they go broke for no good reason? It looks like Abner Mares is planning on avoiding that bizarre pattern we probably all have seen. Good luck to him on keeping his life in perspective and on coming back to the championship level. He's been a major world titlist in three different weight classes after only 31 fights. He has just one loss.




The full spot from their official Youtube channel:

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Eric Hunter VS Rene Alvarado: A Mayweatheresque Performance

The Setup:

With fellow Philly fighter Bernard Hopkins in attendance at Philly's 2300 Arena, looking to be fresh off the set of a new Dos Equis commercial where he is The Most Interesting Man in the World 2.0, the 20-3 Featherweight/Super Featherweight prospect Eric Hunter matches the slow and steady Nicaraguan Super Featherweight Rene Alvarado, 21-3, with no losses by stoppage. Hunter's three losses are perhaps rather surprisingly comprised of one early split-decision in 2007 and two disqualifications, coming in 2010 and 2013. None of these losses are to fighters of much name, but he did beat then-unbeaten Jerry Belmontes, notably. Alvarado takes one of his losses by popular perennial contender Rocky Juarez. They meet at Featherweight. This is a co-main event, together with Michael Perez VS Miguel Acosta preceding it. It's a good, solid card from FS1. Cheers to them for that.

The Action:

When you get a young fighter on the rise like this with Eric Hunter's style, there's always a danger that they lose focus, get too comfortable, get lazy, and open the door for someone much less talented to get into the fight, gain confidence and start to pickup momentum. Eric Hunter did what you hope any fighter with that style can do and he showed the kind of focus a champion would. While he never displayed the type of power he would seem to need to put Alvarado away, he shut him down, never opened a door for him to barge in and never even seemed to give him one moment that would've given hope he could turn the tide.

Hunter was way-too-good for him. Alvarado was shown at every turn that he was out of his depth. He tried, he didn't back down, he was a fighter, but the difference in class was immense. The records on paper, their numbers, they show similar levels, but when you see them together in the ring, it's like watching Picasso and your 4-year-old son trying to paint the same picture. That's not to try and oversell you on Hunter, but that really did appear to be the gap in talent. Check hooks, counter straight right hands off of the shoulder roll, switch-hitting, he put on a clinic tonight. His defense was incredibly sharp.

For fighters yet to get a major world title attached to their name, I don't know as there are any you will see with more polished or consistent defense than what Hunter showed tonight. The true show of class for Hunter's style was when Alvarado took his chances, he paid for it far more than Hunter did. Eric "The Outlaw" Hunter dominant UD10 Rene Alvarado, who took home a pretty decent cut above the right eye, for whatever other troubles he had in his damage report. I didn't give Alvarado a round and I didn't see any that would fairly go to him either.

What it means to me:

Frankly, I have little idea of Mr. Hunter's previous troubles, his disqualifications, but I would like to see him back on the air and putting on these performances. As far as I'm concerned, he was the performer of the night. This was an old school pleasure. I have to say I consider him someone to be taken seriously in either the Featherweight or Super Featherweight division. Jhonny Gonzalez has a lot of names to choose from, but Hunter would certainly be a match to respect if it happens. For Alvarado, you can't say much. He gave it a good shot and he didn't look to belong at this level. No shame but no sugarcoating.




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Prince Naseem Hamed's Shadow Dancing Entrance: GIF Spotlight

With his opponent, Kevin "Flushing Flash" Kelley in the ring and increasingly more aggravated, Prince Naseem Hamed dances on behind the curtain in a very long grand entrance for the ages on HBO. There was plenty of time for awkward conversation between commentators Jim Lampley, George Foreman and Larry Merchant. A few times, Lampley noted the exact time the entrance had gone on.



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What Do Featherweights Rehydrate To? An Unofficial Weight Reference List

The following is a list compiled from our main page:

Fight Night Boxing Weights: A List Of Unofficial Weigh-in Weights After Rehydration

Please note: This particular reference list page is reserved only for Featherweights fighting without catch-weights, that we have on file. Where we have seen catch-weights implemented within the division's range, we will try to make note. This page is meant to answer the question only of what your standard Featherweight rehydration will look like for educational purposes, whether you are interested academically or for betting purposes, debate, whatever. I hope you find it helpful if you've recently done a search for it. If you like what we do here, please bookmark, share, link to us, comment, etc. If you have a correction on any typos or special, relevant information you feel we should make note of, any error or anything at all, please feel free to comment. What we get the most response to we will likely work the most to expand on. Thanks for your visit.


Featherweight: 126 lbs 



2014:

November:

Evgeny Gradovich VS Jayson Velez - Contested at Featherweight

Gradovich: 140
Velez: 137

October:

Nicholas Walters VS Nonito Donaire - Contested at Featherweight

Donaire: 133
Walters 138

June:

Vasyl Lomachenko VS Gary Russell Junior - Contested at Featherweight

Lomachenko: 138
Russell: 138.5

March:


Orlando Salido VS Vasyl Lomachenko - This was scheduled for Featherweight with Salido failing to make weight and weighing 128.25 - Lomachenko made the Featherweight limit. So, in essence it was contested at Featherweight for Lomachenko and Super Featherweight for Salido.


Salido: 147
Lomachenko: 136


2013:

November:


Nonito Donaire VS Vic Darchinyan II - Contested at Featherweight

Donaire: 131
Darchinyan: 133

May:

Abner Mares VS Daniel Ponce De Leon - Contested at Featherweight

Mares: 126 - 133
Ponce De Leon: 126 - 137.5 


2010:

September:

Yuriorkis Gamboa VS Orlando Salido -  Contested at Featherweight

Gamboa: 140
Salido: 140

2009:

February:



Chris John VS Rocky Juarez I

John: 133
Juarez:  135 or 136, apologies, I couldn't make this out at the time I recorded this one and Jim Lampley didn't read it exactly when he read off HBO's TOTT. There is an upload on Youtube.com of this match and it's too blurry for me to be certain, even at the highest setting (480).


2006:

November: 

Juan Manuel Marquez VS Jimrex Jaca - Contested at Featherweight

Marquez: 136
Jaca:  136

2004:

June: 


Marco Antonio Barrera VS Paulie Ayala

Barrera: 130
Ayala: 135


2000:

September


Erik Morales VS Kevin Kelley - Contested at Featherweight

Morales: 130
Kelley: 132


Source: Sources for all matches are during the fight broadcast's tale of the tape unless otherwise noted.

Post comments for any potential corrections or requests, please.

Click here for next heaviest weight (Super Featherweight)
Click here for next lighest weight (Super Bantamweight)


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JoJo Diaz VS Ramiro Robles: Prospect WAR!

The Setup:

On the ninth of July, 2012 Olympian and Super Bantamweight prospect JoJo Diaz takes on significantly less hot Mexican Bantamweight prospect but statistically near-identical Ramiro Robles, at almost the same height, weight, age, reach and record. Diaz, with only eleven professional fights is coming off a UD over former world title challenger and current gatekeeper, at most, Luis Maldonado. Diaz is yet another prospect who is being closely followed in hopes of being a star. Just as the previous match on this card had notoriously shameful referee Russell Mora, this match has notoriously respected and likely top three regarded referee in the sport, Tony Weeks, who hasn't refereed since Mayweather/Maidana. Also noteworthy-both men are southpaws. Two southpaw prospects!



The Action:

This match turns into what was rightly a widely scored match in Diaz's favour, and yet, it was as good as any rightfully widely scored fight is ever going to be. In round one, Diaz seems to smell blood in the wrong place and unleashes on Robles as if he thinks he can blow him out early but he's not even close. Robles is fine, though did eat an awful lot of Diaz's assault. This is a tough guy, Robles, and he seems unintimidated from the get-go. It isn't a slow build to confidence. He is looking secure in what he can do from round one. Commentator Paulie Malignaggi is bang-on, as far as I can tell, in his assessment that Diaz is definitely the more gifted fighter, but while Robles doesn't have the ability to hang with him, athletically, from the outside, Diaz mostly allows for inside fighting when he's putting those fan-friendly combos together. And Robles mostly had an ability to answer for every combination he ate.


Diaz fires these great left uppercut/right hook combos and full-bodied hooks to the body, left and right. He's an excellent, diverse offensive fighter. The only thing missing is a well-timed jab in this match. Aside from the range giving Robles his best chance in the fight, Diaz blocks more, lands more, gets off faster, lands sharper, and counters better throughout the fight. It's a battle, it's hard-fought competition, but it's still a class difference. If there is a criticism on Diaz, it's that for the high level of talent, he didn't show the ring generalship to fully control a fight that maybe he could have controlled with different strategy. With more commitment to a jab, this may have been easier winning for JoJo. But that's not a guarantee, I suppose, and you cannot take away a thing from Robles, who is a warrior. His chin and his stamina are enviable.

Even though Robles is far from a good counter-puncher, as Malignaggi stated, he's ALWAYS there to answer back. He never lets Diaz run away with a round. I cannot state to you how important that is in the way this match played out. It could've been so easy to let Diaz move in and out and land his combinations out of discouragement, but while some fault is on Diaz for staying in for a reply, major props has to go to Robles for going after Diaz after every assault, as often as he could. He does not let the fight go, even with the gap in talent between the two. He keeps letting his hands go. He keeps committing to not being out-worked, even if he's out-skilled or out-sped. He never fought like a dejected opponent. He knew he was in it as long as he could land punches and he did, in each round, land something substantial. He was never broken and never put in a territory where it wasn't still competitive within the round. Really, this was war, no matter that one guy clearly got the better of it. By the penultimate round, Diaz had the bloody face to prove he didn't fight a pushover. 

It was not only impressive that the loser didn't get discouraged, but it was impressive that with such a determined guy that Diaz was so strongly favoured over, Diaz didn't get discouraged either. Lesser prospects would have had the wind taken out of their sails the first time they got this type of match with a genuinely hard man who refused to give in. Diaz UD10 Robles, and all on the up and up.



What it means: JoJo Diaz remains a hot prospect, got taken into deep waters in a way you want to see a prospect before they get a big shot in this sport. He passed with flying colours. I do feel there's a weakness there with his jab that he could work on but a very satisfying performer and hopeful prospect worthy of following. Robles puts himself on the map as a tough as nails, game as they get prospect. Both prove that they can go ten hard, grueling rounds. They have the heart, they have the conditioning, they have the mindset. Either of these guys should be welcome to future television cards. FS1 picks an excellent match and deserves credit for this one.





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Diego De La Hoya VS Miguel Tamayo: I wish his name were Victor

The set up:

Taking place on the ninth of July, DDLH weighed in just inside the Featherweight limit and Tamayo weighed in right at the Super Bantamweight limit, only two pounds official difference. We have Tamayo as the seasoned veteran journeyman, who has been in the ring with Gary Russell Junior in just his last fight. We have DDLH, who is being built as one of FS1's star prospects. Diego comes in having appeared the goods as a TV fighter, even if he doesn't hit the elite level. He's a fun prospect. His cousin, promoter and HOF fighter Oscar De La Hoya is in attendance for this match.

The action:

I cannot tell you how much I wish Diego's name were Victor, because "Vicious" is the adjective that I suspect will stick with his name. There are fighters with a good killer instinct and then there are vicious fighters. A good killer instinct is only knowing when you have hurt someone and can finish them and making good on that knowledge. But being vicious requires the willingness to kick into another gear until you can hurt a guy in the first place. A sense of urgency, a style where you take risks for the sole payoff of doing damage to your opponent. DDLH shows this viciousness the same as he had in the last fight I saw him in. He is risky, the way he lets go big punches in combination, early and often. He manages to be both risky and technically sound. He isn't reckless or unprofessionally impatient but he always tries to get his man hurt, right out of the gate, from the look of it. Against Tamayo, this is no different. He found big punches and put together hurtful combinations in round one. No real feel-out periods for Diego De La Hoya. He looks to chin-check his man as soon as possible with something big.

There wasn't much to the fight on Tamayo's behalf. Not for lack of trying. Tamayo came out looking like he wanted to convey the sentiment of "Hey, kid. Whatever you've got, I've seen it." and Tamayo has been in with some serious men who can hit, like Cesar Seda, with whom he went the distance. The way DDLH moves shows his high class as an athlete. His footwork is very good and he uses movement consistently. He's not all aggression. There's craft to this young man. In round three, DDLH seems to openly shove Tamayo to the ground. He's knocking Tamayo's head back with uppercuts and even jabs. Tamayo is firing with dedication but he's not at all sharp by comparison. By this third round, DDLH is knocking Tamayo around, stumbling, off balance, taking heavy leather to the body too. He's not reacting the same way to punches in this round. He's already been a little broken down, early as it is.

Round four saw another round of punches in bunches from DDLH, who has hurtful combinations, not shoe-shining combinations. Tamayo fires wide and slow combinations. Tamayo gets turned and turned as he sends telegraph after telegraph of what he wants to do. There is too much of a deficit of hand and foot speed with this young gun for Tamayo to overcome.

I like when DDLH fires a one-two-three, jab, straight right, left uppercut. That uppercut at the end is some kind of nastiness and expertly timed. About a minute left in the fifth and DDLH lands a huge straight right on Tamayo with a dramatic head snapping effect and they trade as Tamayo goes to the ropes and takes the worst of it. Referee Russell Mora breaks them and DDLH drives Tamayo to the ropes again with another combination and yet another head snapping right lands big. Mora stops it. Some called it an early stoppage; I call it a perfect place for the old standing eight count rule to have been implemented, were it in effect. Tamayo raised his hands as if to say "Oh, come on!" but he wasn't ever really in the fight. I won't argue Russell Mora's call, despite knowing him for one of history's worst reffing jobs ever in Abner Mares VS Joseph Agbeko I. A black mark on sports history if ever there was one, Mora left that night. I can't help but mention it whenever Russell Mora shows his face. He is forever tainted as a professional referee because of it and I am disappointed any time he is given the chance to oversee any fight on television. 

What it means: Diego De La Hoya is still must-see TV. FS1 is smart to be following him and building him up as a draw. He brings a fight. For Tamayo? His stock slipped even as a journeyman, game as he is. You can only stay relevant, even as a relevant journeyman for so long when you take damage like that. It is not a place in the sport that lends itself to longevity. I don't know how much longer he can offer any real resistance to name fighters at even as early a stage as DDLH is at. FS1 gets a thumbs up for bringing Diego back but a thumbs down for allowing Russell Mora the privilege of any spotlight on their air. Channels don't have to have authority in picking referees to make very clear that they won't televise men like Mora and, of course, Laurence Cole, the notorious regular to HBO's Texas cards, who the commentators themselves have pointed out as one of the sport's worst. Thankfully, Mora didn't have much opportunity to turn in one of his disasters this time out.





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