By Gary Brownlie: On Saturday night a man from Coatbridge Ricky Burns (29-2, 7 KO’s) turned in the performance of a lifetime, defeated an undefeated world champion and claimed the WBO Super-featherweight world title. To say the least, his performance showed heart, determination and talent. Here was a man, written off by the pundits and experts but still confident and willing to go into the ring against the undefeated Puerto Rican, Roman “Rocky” Martinez (24-1-1, 15 KO’s). The first round belonged to the champion, with a flash knock down. The disappointment was written all over Ricky’s face as he fell back against the ropes, caught flat footed with a straight right. It was a lesson learned for the man from Coatbridge.
Roman Karmazin
Karmazin scores spectacular come from behind KO over Miranda!
By Sam Gregory: In tonight’s main event from the Civic Auditorium, Glendale, California 37 year old Russian Roman “Made in Hell” Karmazin 39-3 with 25 KO’s took on Colombian Dionisio Miranda 20-4 with 18 KO’s in an International Boxing Federation middleweight title eliminator in a scheduled 12 round bout.
Bunema Flattens Karmazin
In a shocking upset, junior middleweight Alex Bunema (29-5-2, 15 KOs) knocked #4 ranked International Boxing Federation junior middleweight Roman Karmazin (36-3-1, 23 KOs) down two times in the process of stopping in the 10th round of a scheduled 12-round bout for the World Boxing Association Inter-Continental light middleweight title on Saturday night at the Madison Square Garden, in New York City, New York. Karmazin, 35, had pretty much had his way with the 32 year-old Bunema all fight long, dominating him with left hooks and jabs. However, Karmazin, who makes it a practice of carrying his hands to his sides rather than keeping them up high and protecting his chin, got decked with a left hook from Bunema in the opening moments of the 10th round.
It would have taken a miracle for Karmazin to have survived the rest of the round after that knockdown, as he was badly hurt. As soon as he made it up, Bunema, a fighter not ranked in the top 15 and merely brought in as an opponent for Karmazin, began wildly throwing punches, many of them missing. However, after missing a handful of shots, Bunema finally connected with pay dirt, tagging Karmazin with a big left and then a right hand that dropped him to the canvas, where he lay there almost senseless. The referee Johnny Callas then promptly stopped the bout at 1:36 of the 10th round.
Roman Karmazin Profile
“I came to the biggest and best promoter in the world because I wanted that world title shot,” Karmazin explains. “At the time I signed with Don King, I was the IBF’s top ranked junior middleweight. I told Mr. King: any time, any place, any champion. Unlike my previous handlers, I felt Don King had to power to prevent boxers from ducking me and last minute cancellations like the De La Hoya fight.”