One boring bout -- Toronto Sun

By STEVE BUFFERY, Toronto Sun

RAMA, Ont. — The world junior featherweight clash between Sarnia’s Steve Molitor and Takalani Ndlovu of South Africa on Saturday night offered up all the excitement of a barn raising.

The bout, for the vacant IBF title, resembled more of a chess match than a brawl, though the southpaw Molitor, who lost the title to Panama’s Celestino Caballero in 2008, threw enough clean shots, most via right-left combinations, to earn a unanimous decision.

The win improved Molitor to 32-1 while Ndlovu dropped to 30-6.

It said something about the fight that fans began pouring out of the Casino Rama Entertainment Centre before the 12th and final round started. Ndlovu, 32, was game, but brought little to the table, while Molitor, 29, was hesitant to let the leather fly.

The fight got off to an exceptionally slow start, with both boxers feeling each other out and hardly throwing any punches, prompting a number of nasty comments from the crowd.

The two combatants began to open up a bit in the third, but there still was precious little action, and the boos began to rain down.

Ndlovu got the better of the Canadian in the third and fourth rounds, but Molitor picked up the action in the fifth, nailing the South African with some clean shots including a sharp left-right combination to the body and the head, though Ndlovu answered with a solid straight right.

The fighters began to loosen up in the middle rounds, with Molitor getting off more combinations. Ndlovu walked into a left-right combination thrown by Molitor in the eighth.

Molitor landed the best punch of the night, a left to the chin, in the 10th and landed a few clean shots in the final two.

American fighter Ana (The Hurricane) Julaton was marketed prior to Saturday’s WBA super bantamweight title fight against Toronto’s Lisa (Bad News) Brown as the face of women’s boxing — a female boxer with super model looks, a million-dollar smile and two world titles.

Brown was essentially an afterthought.

One thing’s for certain now. Julaton won’t be doing any photo shoots for a while.

By the end of her 10-round bout against Brown, who earned scores of 99-92, 99-91, 100-90 for a unanimous decision, blood was flowing from under both of Julaton’s eyes and covered he face and top. The Filipino-American, whose record dropped to 6-2-1, walked into straight lefts and rights throughout the fight and answered basically with a smile. Sadly, the smile was her most effective weapon. The two-time world champion possessed superior hand speed, but no defence and no power and was dominated by Brown, who improved to 17-4-3.

In the fifth round, referee Rocky Zolnierczyk ordered Julaton into a neutral corner to be checked by a ring side physician after a nasty cut opened under her left eye. Always smiling, Julaton attempted to give Brown a friendly tap on the gloves when the fight resumed, but Brown answered with a left to the head, to which Julaton replied with another smile. By the end of the sixth, a cut had opened under Julaton’s right eye and by the end of the seventh, blood was pouring out.

Toronto’s Neven Pajkic is never going to set the world on fire, but he was good enough to take away the Canadian heavyweight title away from Brampton’s Greg Kielsa.

The Serbian-Canadian earned a unanimous decision, basically by out-working the more experienced Kielsa. Pajkic scored repeatedly with left and right combinations, while Kielsa, a lumbering fighter at the best of times, seemed reluctant to let any big punches fly.

The 32-year-old Pajkic, who didn’t start boxing until he was 26, improved to 12-0, while Kielsa, a former Olympian for his native Poland, dropped to 11-1.

Pajkic hurt Kielsa in the second round with a flurry and had the Brampton fighter against the ropes, but couldn’t finish him off. He continued to carry the bout to the southpaw Kielsa, who did land the occasional solid left. Pajkic staggered Kielsa with a flurry again in the fifth, before Kielsa slowed his opponent with a solid left hook, though as the fight went on, the former champion appeared to lose his will to engage. Each time Kielsa threw a combination, Pajkic answered with his own. By the seventh round, Kielsa sported a mouse under his left eye.

steve.buffery@sunmedia.ca

Source: torontosun.com

Hurricane Ana hopes to take boxing world by storm -- Toronto Star

By Morgan Campbell, Toronto Star

When super bantamweight champion Ana (The Hurricane) Julaton enters the ring, heads turn.

In 2006, she caught Manny Pacquiao's attention when the then-featherweight champion spotted her at an amateur tournament in California and invited her to work with him and trainer Freddie Roach.

Eight fights and two world titles into her pro career, the San Francisco native has attracted ESPN's attention too, and the network will feature her next month in the season premier of the news magazine show E:60.

Saturday night at Casino Rama Julaton (pronounced HU-la-ton) meets Toronto's Lisa Brown (16-4-3, 5 KO) for the vacant WBA 122-pound crown, and the 29-year-old hopes a win in her Canadian debut will further boost her profile. After signing a two-year contract with Brampton-based Orion sports management, Julaton is committed to making an impact here.

"I fell in love with downtown (Toronto) right away. For me it feels just like home," said Julaton, who is 6-1-1 with two knockouts. "I feel like I can relate (to Canadian fans)."

Wednesday's public workout at Krudar Muay Thai marked Julaton's first official meet-and-greet with the Canadian media, but she's already used to the spotlight.

A first-generation Filipina-American, Julaton makes headlines in the Philippines each time she fights, and Wedneday's media session included a TV crew that had flown in from Manila.

If she defeats Brown on Saturday, officials in Manila have already planned a tickertape parade in Julaton's honour. According to manager Angelo Reyes, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also plans to congratulate the fighter personally if she wins.

That's a lot of acclaim for a fighter with fewer than 10 pro bouts, but nobody in Julaton's camp worries about the attention swelling her head. The fighter says her first pro loss taught her humility.

Eager to win a title in her first year as a pro, Julaton dropped an eight-round decision to Dominga Olivo in an August 2008 title shot, and says the loss taught her to take nothing for granted. Especially fame.

"After that fight I took a year off. ... It actually gave me time to sit back and focus and reorganize myself," said Julaton, who moonlights as a martial arts instructor in Daly City, Calif. "To be at the top of the game, you have to be able to juggle the physical aspect and also the entertainment aspect of it. For me, my first priority is being an athlete. I'm not looking past this fight."

If Julaton keeps winning, Reyes says she could become the next crossover star in a sport – women's boxing – he says is set to explode.

Reyes believes a group of women with the right combination of skill and charisma can do for women's boxing what female stars have done for tennis: Keep it on the map when fans lose interest in the men.

Of course, Reyes sees Julaton as a central figure in the mainstreaming of women's boxing, but gained no traction when he pitched his grand vision to big promoters like Golden Boy and Top Rank. But he found a willing listener in Orion's Allan Tremblay.

Orion needs other stars to complement former 122-pound champ Steve Molitor, and after the success Orion had selling teenage star Marvin Sonsona to the local Filipino community, Tremblay knew he had a market for Julaton too.

"He told me the market for Ana is in Toronto," Reyes said. "I will say that we have arrived when I can go to the networks and say we're putting Ana Julaton as the main event in Toronto. Ana can get there so long as she keeps winning."

mcampbell@thestar.ca

Source: thestar.com