Ringside Boxing Report: Andre Ward – Derrick Findley

Andre Ward Stays Unbeaten And Julio Gonzalez Survives Scare In San Jose

On the road to an eventual Gold Medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, it wasn’t the jab of Andre Ward that captured him fans all across the nation; It was his charm. Tales of the baby faced boy wonder training hard since the age of 12, even running beside moving cars, captivated the nation. Soft spoken and well mannered, Ward captured the Gold and became an instant crossover star.

Ward was the main selling point of Thursday’s lineup of fights at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. He made numerous appearances on local TV and radio while feature stories on him ran in almost all of the major Northern California newspapers. His picture was plastered on the jumbotron outside of the arena for all fans and traffic onlookers to see and he was the talk of the town for about a week.

While he was only scheduled to be in the “special attraction” fight, Ward was most definitely the star of this show and that was a bi-product of both his in ring ability and his ability to charm fans and give them someone to root for. The boyish charm, however, was absent Thursday night at the HP Pavilion.

In front of 4,152 screaming Bay Area fans, Ward sported a menacing glare, completely determined and seemingly oblivious to all the circumstances surrounding his second homecoming fight. He looked focused and determined, almost angry with his eyebrows curved down to his nose.

Across the ring from Ward was a monster in his own right. Hailing from Gary, Indiana was Derrick Findley. Findley stands no more than 5’6, but his short frame is packed with 165 lbs of solid muscle. Looking more like a professional body builder then a middleweight boxer,
Findley looked to be game and ready for the challenge from a physical standpoint. Inside the ring, it was a completely different story.

The opening bell sounded and Ward charged out of the gate and jabbed away at Findley, who sported a tight-shelled defense. While most of Ward’s punches in the early going ended up hitting the gloves of his opponent, he was still pressing the fight and keeping Findley off balance. Questions about ring rust after Ward’s seven month layoff after a hand injury quickly went away.

In round two, Ward began to mix in other punches besides the jab. He started the round off by landing a lead left hook on the ear of Findley as the shorter man tried to make his way inside. The shot excited the crowd and maybe Findley too as the Midwesterner fired back with an overhand right that missed over the top.

As the fight progressed, Ward found his way with the lead left hook and shot some combos to the exposed body of Findley in an effort to lower his rival’s guard. Ward maintained his position on the outside most of the fight and his biggest shot of the night came in the last 30 seconds of round three where he connected with a thudding overhand right.

Seeing his opponent hurt, Andre Ward pleased fans and angered critics by dropping his hands and starting to fight in a manner more typical of a prime Roy Jones Jr.

From the fourth round on, it was a master class of technical prowess put on by Ward. He gave no room behind the jab to allow any offense from Findley, who did nothing but run into jabs the whole night and wasn’t even able to get off any more then 50 punches in the entire six round fight.

Aside from a left hook on the ropes in the fifth round, Findley was not able to come up with any offense and never figured a way to get around the snapping jab of Ward. Ward, meanwhile continued to pick apart Findley, working the left hook in conjunction with the jab and firing everything in combinations. Ward cruised to an easy unanimous decision, all score cards reading 60-54, every round going to the undefeated man.

In the main event of the night, another San Jose favorite, Julio Gonzalez, battled perennial long shot Vitali “Dr. TKO” Kopitko. At the end of the night, the line read Julio Gonzalez winning by way of KO in the third round after four knockdowns. However, the results line fails to tell the whole story.

The fight started off like most expected it would, with the 6’3 Gonzalez pressing the action. Kopitko looked helpless as he was tagged with shot after shot from the unusually free swinging Gonzalez.

Gonzalez then landed a left hook to the body that sent Kopitko falling to the canvas. The pale skinned Ukrainian was covered in red wherever he was tagged with a punch and he looked lucky if he were to survive the round. But that he did and in the second round, Kopitko came out with a new energy about him.

Firing in flurries, he took advantage of the wild punching Gonzalez and pounded away with right hands, landing almost at will and opening up a huge gash over the right eye of Julio. With about a minute left in the second stanza, Kopitko landed a massive right hand that stood Gonzalez up against the ropes. Suddenly Gonzalez looked vulnerable and was an easy target for Kopitko.

The referee started looking on intently and the fight looked destined for a stoppage and for Kopitko to score one of the great upsets of the year. Gonzalez then started to stumble forward and fight fire with fire. The Mexican fired away against the ropes and once again had Kopitko reeling. Gonzalez finished the round firing bombs at a tired out Kopitko, in what was an amazing action packed round.

The Huntington Beach native then came out in the third round by pressing the fight and going back to the body before scoring a knockdown by way of the left hook about halfway through the round. Kopitko lay on the floor wincing in pain and it looked as if his night was over. Gutting it out through the pain, he rose at the count of 10.

Still, the ball was rolling for Gonzalez and in the last 10 seconds, Kopitko was hit with a gut shot that sent him keeling over in pain as he exposed himself to shots to the top of his head. This time it was really over, the referee waved off the fight and despite the scare of a lifetime in the second round, Gonzalez won by KO in the third round.

Julio Gonzalez’ record improved to 41-3 as he continues to chase a light heavyweight title shot in what is now a wide open division. Vitali Kopitko fell to 24-10.

On the undercard, San Francisco Golden Gloves champion Karim Mayfield fought Salvador “Chava” Lopez in a four round 154 lb fight. Mayfield proved to be the aggressor early in the bout, providing much of the action and firing a high number of punches and while he didn’t land much, this negated the offense of Salvador Lopez.

Mayfield was the much faster of the two and despite not being able to do anything on the inside early, he eventually shortened up his punches and ended up forcing a stoppage in the third round. The upstart Mayfield upped his record to 2-0.

Another Bay Area prospect on the bill was Carlos Masquez, facing Mike Peralta in an explosive junior welterweight bout. Masquez came out jabbing early, a sharp contrast to the free swinging Peralta. After engaging on the inside, Masquez pulled out and through a short left hook that downed Peralta.

Peralta rose up and the round ended. Masquez pushed the fight through the third round where he once again pulled out with a short left hook and sent Peralta stumbling backwards into the ropes. Masquez jumped on him and scored a TKO victory. Masquez moved to 2-0 while Peralta dropped his first contest and went to 1-1.

Continuing with the theme of homegrown talent, Antonio Johnson moved to 8-0 with a victory over journeyman Sean Holly. Johnson started slow, trying to find his range against the awkward Holley behind the jab. Johnson found success when he put less emphasis on the jab and started going in with lead right hands and lead left hooks. While it wasn’t overwhelming, Johnson was methodical and accurate in the second round and that forced an eventual stoppage in between rounds two and three.

All and all, it was a great night for Bay Area boxing as it showcased a lot of young talent, highlighted by Andre Ward, Karim Mayfield, Antonio Johnson and Carlos Masquez. Goosen-Tutor promoted the card and it was fifth installment of the HP Pavilion’s Fight Night At The Tank, 2006 season. This year was an extreme success for the fight series, showcasing fighters like Ward and Gonzalez as well as others like Tony Thompson, Robert Guerrero, and Hector Camacho Jr.