Inside Women's Boxing:

Alcorn vs. Rakoczy

Herrera vs. Ortiz

Martinez vs. Tubbs

Shahid vs. Chaiyasen

Ventry vs. Kalantaryon

Inzunza vs. Villa

Split Decision!
Alcorn Wins in Controversial Fashion Over Rakoczy

By Steve Cummings
photos by Michael Pimentel

Did the boxer make the puncher miss, or did she just run? Did the puncher control the ring and make the fight or was her vaunted attack defused? Many in the sold-out crowd at The Palace Indian Gaming Center in Lemoore, CA Friday night had a hard time agreeing on just exactly what the outcome should have been after 10 exciting rounds of boxing between unbeaten lightweights Jenifer Alcorn and Jessica Rakoczy. But then again, the three judges weren’t exactly in agreement either.

Jenifer “All American” Alcorn survived a gash on her forehead from an unintentional butt and a broken nose to win a split decision over Jessica “Ragin’” Rakoczy and earn the vacant IWBF lightweight title. The scores covered the spectrum with one judge seeing it for Alcorn by a narrow edge of 96-94. The other two each saw it as a one-sided bout but they disagreed on who had the upper hand. Each had it 98-92, one for Alcorn and one for Rakoczy.

There was no controversy involving whether or not the bout lived up to the hype. The audience at The Palace was supercharged for the fight and they got their money’s worth. Local star Alcorn had her fan base well-represented and Rakoczy had the respect of the knowledgeable crowd as well. It was 14-0 vs. 12-0 for a world championship and everybody knew it.

The fight started as expected with Alcorn on the attack and Rakoczy on the move. There were few exchanges in a very even round before Rakoczy began to get off her own attack in the second round. For the rest of the fight Jenifer chased her elusive foe while Jessica carefully picked her spots to attack before quickly moving away. Rakoczy repeatedly planted her feet to fire off a left hook, then danced away to her right. In the later rounds she doubled and tripled up on the left hook a few times.

In the third round there was an accidental clash of heads that left Alcorn with a sizeable gash above her right eyebrow. Blood also flowed from her nose and Rakoczy ended the round on a roll. Throughout the fourth round the cut bled down around the right eye but in the corner Judy Miller was able to close the cut before the fifth and it was never a factor the rest of the way.

It was Alcorn’s intention to work the body of Rakoczy but that proved to be a daunting task as Jessica showed off dazzling boxing skills through all 10 rounds. In the second half of the fight Alcorn got closer and was able to pin Rakoczy to the ropes for brief periods with the result being a pretty good shiner under Jessica’s right eye. But Jessica often found the mark herself with both hands whenever she would stop and go on the offensive.

This fight was a classic in every sense. When two undefeated fighters go at it, usually, something has to give. On this night neither camp gave an inch and when it was over all that was settled in the minds of the people who saw it was that this was a great fight that needs to happen again. The Alcorn camp was jubilant while the Rakoczy camp was heartbroken. Jenifer Alcorn has the IWBF lightweight belt to go along with her WIBF title and the satisfaction of overcoming a tough opponent and a lot of blood to fight a great fight. Jessica Rakoczy is saddled with her first loss but knows she came up big in the biggest fight of her life. And women’s boxing has the best thing it could possibly have gotten out of this superfight. A real-deal rivalry between two of its stars.

The featured bout of the evening saw heavyweight Gilbert Martinez get back on the winning track with a 10-round unanimous decision over come backing former champ Tony Tubbs. Martinez (15-4-1, 7 KO’s) bored in with a mauling attack that smothered Tubbs’ attempt to counterpunch and the result was an unentertaining bout that featured a lot of clinches. Tubbs, the former WBA heavyweight champion, showed flashes of the old magic from time to time by getting off quickly from in close, then giving angles that baffled Martinez in his attempt to counter. Those moments, however, were few and far between and in the end the judges all agreed that Martinez was the winner by scores of 98-92, 97-94 and 96-94. Tony Tubbs saw his mark fall to 43-9 with 24 KO’s.

The heavyweight bout was a disappointment to the crowd due in large part to the entertaining undercard that preceded it. Junior middleweights Farid Shahid and Anucha Chaiyasen waged a back-and-forth fight despite the final scores of 40-36 X 3 for Chaiyasen. The two went at it on the inside for much of the bout and both scored heavily with short uppercuts. Chaiyasen’s nose was bloodied but at the end of each round he had outworked his opponent. Anucha Chaiyasen’s record improved to 2-1 while Farid Shahid suffered his first pro loss, falling to 1-1.

Featherweight Juan Hererra of nearby Orosi stepped into the ring for the second time as a pro and got a stiff test from Rodrigo Ortiz of Santa Rosa. Hererra, an 18-year old high school senior got all he bargained for despite the 0-7 record of his opponent going in. “El Tigre,” as Hererra is known, got off to a good start and landed several power shots over the first six minutes, staggering Ortiz in the second with a left hook. But Ortiz wanted to break his winless streak in a big way and he was able to score to the head of his young opponent throughout the fight. Ortiz came up big in the fourth round but Hererra won a majority decision by scores of 38-38, 39-37 and 39-37. Juan Hererra is now 2-0.

Welterweights James Ventry and Roma Kalantaryon had the crowd rocking during four hard-fought rounds. In the end Ventry improved to 2-0 by scores of 38-37 Ventry, 38-37 Ventry and 38-37 Kalantaryon. Ventry was roughed up in the first and in big trouble but then came back strong as Kalantaryon, making his pro debut, stopped throwing punches when under attack. A point deduction for holding and hitting in the fourth round proved costly to the Armenian fighter and Ventry, bleeding heavily, was able to cash it in.

The first bout of the evening was a wild four-rounder that saw Noe Inzunza defeat Oscar Villa by majority decision. The featherweights went at it with Villa throwing wild, showboating punches through the first three rounds. Some of Villa’s wind-up uppercuts and bolo punches found the mark but Inzunza ended up breaking him down. The entire fourth round saw Inzunza punishing Villa while putting a halt to all of his opponent’s antics. Scores were 38-38, 39-37 Inzunza and 39-37 Inzunza. Noe Inzunza improved his record to 5-7 while Oscar Villa fell to 3-10.

The “All Or Nothing” card was put on by George Chung’s American Champion Sports and televised in the Bay Area. Ring announcer Michael Buffer got the crowd “ready to rumble” and VIP’s on hand included former Oakland Raiders quarterback Darryle Lamonica, IWBF featherweight champion Kelsey Jeffries and UFC world champion Frank Shamrock.