Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
SignOnSanDiego.com > Sports -- Deaf woman draws in pro boxing debut
Leni Hall boxed four rounds at 4th and B last night and never heard the bell, nor will she ever hear one.
Hall, of Encinitas, is deaf. On a less-than-stellar card offered by Florida-based All Star Boxing Inc., Hall, making her first professional appearance at the age of 30, represented what arguably was the evening's most interesting study.
Hall did not win, boxing to a four-round draw with a well-schooled Carly Batey, a native of Plymouth, England, who learned to box while she was in the U.S. Marine Corps. But Hall showed enough that her handler, Bernie Navarro of the Encinitas Boxing Club, predicted she can become a factor in women's boxing as a super flyweight.
“A big factor,” Navarro said. “We will move up. We will fight anybody.”
In the scheduled 12-round main event, Juan Carlos Rodriguez of Guadalajara, Mexico, scored with a boxing rarity – a five-punch combination – and with it stopped William Morelo of Colombia at 1:59 of the fifth round. Rodriguez thus captured the vacant WBC Latin junior welterweight title.
Mexico's junior welter titlist – his title was not at stake in this one – Rodriguez began merely tapping his rival, but by the fifth round he was punching with authority. At 33, this was Rodriguez's 75th fight. He is 54-20-2, with 37 KOs. Morelo is 23-6, with 17 KOs.
The evening's most explosive punch came from National City super flyweight Sergio Espinoza. It was a left uppercut and left Marco Antonio Sanchez of Mexicali, Mexico, sprawled on his side. He still was there when he was counted out 2:42 of the opening round.
Winning improved Espinoza's record to 13-2-1, with 5 KOs.
In a four-round bantamweight match, Christopher Martin of Chula Vista ran his record to 4-0 by scoring a unanimous decision over Brice Yoeneke of Las Vegas.
Martin is 20. He had 30 amateur bouts, winning the California Golden Gloves at 112 pounds and a Ringside World Championship at 119 pounds. He weighed 121 last night.
Alejandro Arteaga of Bakersfield rallied after being rocked to stop Irving Garcia at 2:24 of the third of four scheduled super featherweight rounds.
The Hall-Batey bout was waged skillfully by both participants, with Hall, a swarmer, switching stances and always moving forward, winging hooks. The considerably taller Batey did some effective countering.
Judges Fritz Werner and Tony Crebs had it 38-38, with judge Alejandro Rochus seeing it for Hall 39-37. Referee David Mendoza said he had worked a fight involving a deaf person only once before.
“Yes, six years ago,” said Mendoza. According to Mendoza, Hall, then an amateur, was involved in that bout. She once held the No. 3 ranking by USA Boxing in her weight class. She had refrained from turning pro, according to Leonie Hall, her aunt, because she did not feel she had a competent trainer.
“She has been waiting all her life for Bernie,” said her aunt.
Leni Hall boxed four rounds at 4th and B last night and never heard the bell, nor will she ever hear one.
Hall, of Encinitas, is deaf. On a less-than-stellar card offered by Florida-based All Star Boxing Inc., Hall, making her first professional appearance at the age of 30, represented what arguably was the evening's most interesting study.
Hall did not win, boxing to a four-round draw with a well-schooled Carly Batey, a native of Plymouth, England, who learned to box while she was in the U.S. Marine Corps. But Hall showed enough that her handler, Bernie Navarro of the Encinitas Boxing Club, predicted she can become a factor in women's boxing as a super flyweight.
“A big factor,” Navarro said. “We will move up. We will fight anybody.”
In the scheduled 12-round main event, Juan Carlos Rodriguez of Guadalajara, Mexico, scored with a boxing rarity – a five-punch combination – and with it stopped William Morelo of Colombia at 1:59 of the fifth round. Rodriguez thus captured the vacant WBC Latin junior welterweight title.
Mexico's junior welter titlist – his title was not at stake in this one – Rodriguez began merely tapping his rival, but by the fifth round he was punching with authority. At 33, this was Rodriguez's 75th fight. He is 54-20-2, with 37 KOs. Morelo is 23-6, with 17 KOs.
The evening's most explosive punch came from National City super flyweight Sergio Espinoza. It was a left uppercut and left Marco Antonio Sanchez of Mexicali, Mexico, sprawled on his side. He still was there when he was counted out 2:42 of the opening round.
Winning improved Espinoza's record to 13-2-1, with 5 KOs.
In a four-round bantamweight match, Christopher Martin of Chula Vista ran his record to 4-0 by scoring a unanimous decision over Brice Yoeneke of Las Vegas.
Martin is 20. He had 30 amateur bouts, winning the California Golden Gloves at 112 pounds and a Ringside World Championship at 119 pounds. He weighed 121 last night.
Alejandro Arteaga of Bakersfield rallied after being rocked to stop Irving Garcia at 2:24 of the third of four scheduled super featherweight rounds.
The Hall-Batey bout was waged skillfully by both participants, with Hall, a swarmer, switching stances and always moving forward, winging hooks. The considerably taller Batey did some effective countering.
Judges Fritz Werner and Tony Crebs had it 38-38, with judge Alejandro Rochus seeing it for Hall 39-37. Referee David Mendoza said he had worked a fight involving a deaf person only once before.
“Yes, six years ago,” said Mendoza. According to Mendoza, Hall, then an amateur, was involved in that bout. She once held the No. 3 ranking by USA Boxing in her weight class. She had refrained from turning pro, according to Leonie Hall, her aunt, because she did not feel she had a competent trainer.
“She has been waiting all her life for Bernie,” said her aunt.