Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses Retains Title

The Hitman Retains WBA Title
by The Namibian
Thursday, March 22, 2007

WINDHOEK – Namibian boxer Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) Intercontinental Lightweight title against Georgian-born challenger Beka Sadjaia at the Windhoek Country Club Resort.

Moses wasted no time in the 12-round bout as he took on the visiting challenger head-on with his unstoppable punches that landed heavily on Sadjaia’s head.

Moses, who stretched his professional record to 20 fights without a loss, was all over his opponent as he was looking for an early knockout.

Retaining his title is what drove Moses as he came on stronger and stronger with his powerful punches on Sadjaia.

Sadjaia had a running nose for most of the rounds as the determined Moses combined well with his left and right hooks on Sadgaia.

Moses, who won the fight by a unanimous decision in the eighth round beat the rather sloppy opponent in two minutes and 34 seconds.

The bombardment of punches went right up to the eighth round and finally caught the better of Sadgaia.

The brilliant performance of the undefeated WBA Intercontinental Lightweight boxer was witnessed by former President Sam Nujoma, who visibly enjoyed every minute of the fight.

In an earlier title fight, WBA Pan-African Junior Welterweight contender Jason ‘Taks’ Naule was crowned the new champion after beating South African contender Lawrance Ngobeni.

Ngobeni’s experience did not pay off as the lanky Naule came on strongly in the ninth round giving little time to his opponent to breath.

Naule won his first title fight by a unanimous decision and has stretched his record to 11 fights without a single defeat.

Recording the first technical knockout of the evening was super middleweight boxer Willbeforce Shihepo, who wasted no time as he crushed his South African opponent, Emmanuel Gwala.

Shihepo’s well-calculated knockout came in one minute and 34 seconds and he now boasts a record of 14 fights, 10 wins and four losses.

Featherweight Siegfried Kaperu also did his Namibian supporters proud as he went on to claim a victory after a unanimous decision in the six-round bout.

Kaperu now has a record of 14 fights, 11 wins and three losses.

He beat Siyabulela Ziqula from South Africa.

Super middleweight boxer Vikapita Meroro was another marvel to watch as he went on to record his seventh victory against South African opponent Kenneth Masekwane in a four-round bout.

Junior lightweight boxer Junius Amunyela won his fight by a unanimous decision against Victor Khota from South Africa.

Amunyela now boasts a record of seven fights and no loss.

Junior lightweight Jatoorora Tjingaveta beat Peter Malakia in a four-round bout by a unanimous decision and has extended his record to three fights, two wins and one loss.

Flyweight Simon Negodhi drew against Abmerk Shindjuu in their four-round bout while featherweight Mathew Niitembu went down to Albino Felesianu on points in their four-round bout.

The event sanctioned by the Namibia Professional Boxing and Wrestling Control Board was sponsored by Nampower, Total and the Windhoek Country Club Resort.

It was promoted by Nestor Tobias, the brain behind Namibia’s international boxing bonanzas.

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Mormeck Wins Against Bell

Mormeck Wins Back Cruiserweight Title
17 March 2007

Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck regained his WBA/WBC cruiserweight titles from O’Neil Bell in Saturday’s rematch. Just over a year on from their explosive first fight, Mormeck won out on points in a very good fight at the Levallois-Perret, France, Saturday night.

The difference on was Mormeck was able to weather Bell’s late surge to finish the fight and win a close, unanimous decision in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 4,000 at the Palais des Sports Marcel Cerdan.

Mormeck (33-3, 22 KOs), from Point-a-Pitre, Guadalupe, France, now residing in Rosny-sous-Bois, had been the first French fighter to become a unified world champion, and he said he felt tremendous pressure attempting to regain the titles in his home country.

“I felt the whole country of France on my shoulders going into this fight,” Mormeck said, “but it helped me. I was fighting for them tonight. We were in it together. I couldn’t let them down.”

Saturday’s match resembled the first fight in many ways as Mormeck built an early lead by staying busy and landing power shots. While he faded at Madison Square Garden in what became a “Fight of the Year” (and “Round of the Year”) nominee that took place on Jan. 7, 2006, Mormeck was able to box his way to a win in the later rounds when Bell asserted himself most strongly.

Bell had commented at the weigh in on Friday that Mormeck looked like he had trained harder for the rematch by the looks of his physique, and Mormeck came out aggressively from the opening bell.

Bell tried to establish his jab and often followed with one-two combinations while Mormeck—just as he had done in the first fight—landed power shots, including four tremendous right hands in the opening stanza.

Mormeck added an uppercut, some left hooks and body shots in the second round. Bell tried to answer but Mormeck landed the harder shots.

Bell landed an uppercut of his own in the third round before Mormeck fell to the canvas at 2:15 into the round from a low blow. When the action resumed after a one minute break, Mormeck showered a vicious assault on Bell that, ironically, may be best remembered for the fact that Bell didn’t go down.

The non-stop action continued in round four as Bell attempted to counter Mormeck’s power shots, but the Frenchman seemed unwilling to lose exchanges in the early going of this seesaw battle.

The brisk pace slowed a bit in the beginning of the fifth round before the staggering blows returned. Seeking ways to break Mormeck down, Bell even acted like he was hurt near the end of the round to only try to gain an advantage by exploding with combinations.

Bell had his best round of the fight in the sixth. The referee warned Mormeck for punching in the back of the head at 1:40 into the round. Bell then deployed a rope-a-dope strategy in an attempt to get Mormeck to exhaust his seemingly boundless energy.

The tactic worked wonders for Bell, who appeared to have Mormeck on the verge of a knockdown before the bell sounded ending the round.

Bell tried to keep his momentum rolling into the seventh, and a referee’s warning to Mormeck for hitting behind the head seemed to encourage him. Bell used more rope-a-dope before returning to the center of the ring for more brawling.

Bell responded to a belt-line shot in the eighth round with a delayed-response pratfall, apparently mocking Mormeck’s low-blow fall to the canvas in the third round.

Mormeck sensed or learned from the open scoring announcements spoken in French on the public address system that he had built a sizeable lead going into the ninth round.

Bell knocked a fading Mormeck out in the 10th round in their first fight, and Mormeck made a deft decision to box more and conserve energy for the championship rounds.

Mormeck lowered his punch output and displayed boxing skills in the closing rounds while Bell wanted to continue brawling to pick up some desperately needed rounds from the judges.

In the end, Bell’s rally came a few rounds too late. All three judges scored the fight for Mormeck by scores of 116-112 and 115-113, twice.

Bell (26-2-1, 24 KOs), from Jamaica now fighting out of Atlanta, did not agree with the decision.

“Mormeck is a monster in the ring,” Bell said. “I spared him the knockout this time but I think I did enough to win.

“I am disappointed by this decision. I thought I won every round. I am appalled by the judges. He never hurt me.

“I’ve been off for 14 months and my promoter Warriors Boxing needs to answer for that.”

Bell prowled the dressing room hallways looking for Mormeck after the fight, and he stormed into the post-fight press conference with his anger festering while he waited for the Frenchman to arrive.

After Mormeck commented on the fight, he responded to a reporter’s question by saying, “I don’t like O’Neil Bell.” Before the translator could say, “but I do have tremendous respect for him as a fighter,” Bell rushed toward Mormeck and a brief melee broke out that promoter Don King would later characterize as “deplorable after such a great match took place.”

The victor was understandingly more positive in his comments.

“Bell was in good shape,” Mormeck said. “He always has surprises for me and tonight was no different. He was still standing after 12 rounds.

“I do not respect him as a person but I do have tremendous respect for him as a fighter.”

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Guerrero Wins Back World Title

Herald Staff Report
February 24, 2007

Gilroy’s Robert “The Ghost” Guererro (20-2-1) scored a ninth round TKO stoppage of Denmark’s Spend Abazi (35-2) to capture the vacant IBF World Featherweight Title.

The 23-year-old southpaw, who debuted in Monterey shortly after his 18th birthday, now sits atop the Featherweight World of Professional Boxing.

Abazi was decked by “The Ghost” in the third and fifth rounds, and the end came as a beaten Abazi was saved by the ringside physician.

The world title bout in Copenhagen, Denmark, was Guerrero’s first outside the United States.

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