Bantamweight

This Sunday at WEC 49: Varner vs. Shalorus, Will Campuzano is gets a chance to hit the fast forward button on his mixed martial arts career.

 

Campuzano was originally set to face Rafael Rebello at WEC 49.  Rafael is currently ranked 80th in the world.

 

Opportunity knocked when Charlie Valencia was injured, leaving the number eight Bantamweight in the world and former WEC Champion Eddie Wineland without a dance partner for the WEC 49 show.

 

Campuzano found his way into the world of mixed martial arts while attending college.

 

"I used to fight a lot, like out on the street.  [Later on] when I was in college and I still didn’t feel right, you know like there was still something missing. I took a Tae Kwon Do course where I met Todd Seabourne. He fought a lot when he was younger. I used to sit with him for hours. He would go over it in detail, over all of his fights. It just never got old to me,” he explained.

“He introduced me to Marcus Lanier who was a professional MMA fighter. He was looking for training partners. He had just opened up his own school in Mount Pleasant.  And that got me into MMA."

 

Will, would eventually find his way into Mohler Mixed Martial Arts the gym he fights out of today, where he was awarded a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

"I don’t do Gi, so I won’t get anything higher than a blue belt."

With that being said, Will Campuzano has a very complete skill set, but it is his striking skills that make him really fun to watch.

 

"I’m a natural fighter. I’m natural at working hard and working out and training. It’s tough for me, I don’t always know where I should be, I’m constantly overtraining, you know. Striking is very natural for me and I know how to make things work."

Will's WEC career got off to a rough start when he came in as a last minute replacement for an injured Akitoshi Tamura at WEC 43: Cerrone vs. Henderson.  Will made his WEC debut against the seventh best Bantamweight in the world Damacio Page on just 11 days notice. Damacio won the fight by rear naked choke 62 seconds into the fight, handing Campuzano his first and only career loss.

Campuzano's debut was both a blessing and a curse. 

 

Going in against one of the world's elite Bantamweights with only 11 days to prepare is tough.  On the other hand, it got him into the WEC and the best Bantamweight division on the planet.

 

When asked how much of a change it was coming to the WEC, Campuzano explained.

 

"Big change. They treat you like a rock star."

Will quickly turned things around in his next fight against Coty "Ox" Wheeler, putting in an absolutely dominant performance and earning Fight of the Night honors at WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend taking a look: Will Campuzano vs Coty "Ox" Wheeler.  It was an amazing fight.

 

"I’d say when I fought that I was like 60%. My labrum was torn in my left shoulder so I couldn’t use my hand a lot. My shins were really bruised, I couldn’t really kick a lot or use my kickboxing. I had to make up for that. Just light on the left hand, heavy on my right hand and knees instead of kicks."

When asked if he was disappointed that he was unable to drop Ox Wheeler in spite of the barrage of heavy strikes he landed on his opponent.

 

"Well, I didn’t hit him flush with my right hand. I’m [usually] really heavy on my right hand. I just couldn’t set up because my back wasn’t arched. I wood chopped, I just kinda picked at him,” Will said.

“I just couldn’t set up anything. I usually use my leg kick to set up my hands. I just couldn’t do much. Honestly, I think if I’d had my left hand, I think I’d have knocked him out. I just couldn’t set up my shot. All I was throwing was my right hand."

 

Campuzano at 60% put an MMA clinic on "Ox" Wheeler, making a mess of the MMA veteran's face, and winning every single round. He threw more flying knees than I think I've ever seen in a fight. The astounding thing was, he landed every single one of them.

 

It seems that we've yet to see the best of Will Campuzano. Will informed me that he's at 100% for his fight against Wineland this coming Sunday. I asked him for his thoughts on his opponent.

 

"He’s a pretty solid dude. He understands boxing, moving in and out.  He’s pretty good at some things. I’m gonna try to jump on him on the some little things I see. He’s heavy on his right hand as well. I think it should be a very interesting match up."

Eddie Wineland is coming off of a victory over The Ultimate Fighter 8 cast member George Roop.

 

"Yeah George Roop was a sloppy, sloppy fighter [in that fight].  It’s not going to be the same fight at all."

There is no doubt about it, if Will Campuzano can beat Eddie Wineland, his stock as an MMA fighter will skyrocket. This is a huge opportunity and Will Campuzano intends to make the most of it. It should be an amazing fight!

 

 

Scott Coker hinted at it, and Kaufman confirmed the fight earlier today on her Facebook page.  

The number one and two ranked bantamweight female fighters will face off on February 26th as Canada’s undefeated sweetheart Sarah Kaufman takes on 12-1 Japanese fighter Takayo Hashi.

Kaufman, a Victoria B.C. native, was the Hardcore Fighting Championships Bantamweight Champion in Canada before making the move to Strikeforce.

So far since joining the promotion, she has kept her undefeated streak intact, defeating Meisha Tate and the talented Shayna Baszler. She is widely considered to be the top female bantamweight and will need to defeat Hashi to cement her spot.

Takayo Hashi is much less known here in North America, but her dominating victories should not be taken lightly.

A 12-1 record at any level is an accomplishment in itself, but as many of the hardcore fans can attest, the Smackgirl/Jewels promotion has long been the home of top female mixed martial arts stars.

Hashi avenged an earlier loss to Hitomi Akano and more recently defeated Amanda Buckner and Chisa Yonezawa. Her submissions skills are dangerous, and if Kaufman takes her lightly, we could certainly see an upset in the making.

Styles make fights, and with the contradicting styles in this fight, it's sure to be interesting.

Sarah Kaufman loves to stand and bang. She has eight knockouts in her 10 fights and certainly will want to keep this fight standing against the much better submission artist in Hashi.

It’s not often in the sport we get to see the top two fighters in a division face off. These two are among the best female fighters in the world, and as a fan this will certainly be a treat to witness.

If you were to do a quick scan of an MMA pound-for-pound ranking, you’d find the usual suspects at the top—fighters like Anderson Silva and BJ Penn. However, when you got half way down the list, you might find an unrecognizable name. At a sinewy 135 pounds, the name Miguel Torres has gone mostly unnoticed in the world of mixed martial arts.

This year has changed all of that—Miguel has rightfully started to emerge as a breakout star.

Torres was born Jan. 18, 1981 in the small town of East Chicago, Indiana. He is a Mexican American mixed martial artist, who specializes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and possesses very potent Muay Thai striking. In September 2008 Torres received his black belt in BJJ from Carlson Gracie, Jr.

Judging by his unyielding record and sturdy Mexican name, one might think Miguel was a successful boxer. But Torres has taken the “fighting road” less traveled out of East Chicago

While Torres has been serving up losses to his foes since 2000, mainstream fans are just now starting to take notice. With WEC 37 right around the corner, MMA’s smallest superstar, and the WEC’s current bantamweight champion, is ready for stardom. Along with Urijah Faber, the WEC is banking on this one-loss fighter to take the WEC forward in 2009.

At WEC 37, Torres will face his toughest competitor to date, in fellow chicano Manny Tapia. Tapia is an undefeated fighter who also trains in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Looking at submissions alone, one can easily distinguish the discrepancy in BJJ prowess. Torres has 20 submission wins to Tapia’s two. Torres will also have a decided height advantage—5'9" and 5'5" respectively.

Assuming Torres wins, one has to wonder what the future holds for this uber talented fighter. Miguel turns twenty-eight in January, so he looks to be in the prime of his career. While a victory over Tapia would certainly reinforce his status as “top dog” of the ever evolving bantamweight division, it seems like the WEC will want to capitalize on his 34-1 record, along with the other marketable aspects of his game.

His likely next opponent will be the winner between a surging Brian Bowles and Brazilian banger Will Ribeiro, who fight on the same card. But neither of these fights will launch Torres’s status into the atmosphere. Enter Urijah Faber; the WEC’s other star who, despite his recent loss to Mike Brown, is still a very marketable and dangerous fighter.

A rivalry between these two stars could do for the lighter weight divisions what the rivalry between Couture and Liddell did for the meteoric growth of the UFC. Torres commented on the potential matchup in recent interview with Five Ounces of Pain:

“I know me and Faber are going to fight in the future, it’s going to have to happen. The people would love to see it. I would love to do it. I know that he would too. It’s just a matter of the motivation of the paycheck. The WEC has the two best fighters at 135 and 145. They’re not going to want to put a superfight together for a while. They’re going to let me dominate my weight class and let (Faber) do his thing.”

In boxing, people tend to gravitate toward the heavier weight classes for its display of punching power and to mid-range divisions for its combination of speed and striking. The smaller divisions, like bantamweight, tend to get overlooked- at least in the United States.

Perhaps, in mixed martial arts, there might be an exception. The combination of diverse fighting modalities in the sport make the fights at smaller divisions just as exciting as the bigger ones, if not more so. That is especially the case when you have fighters like Torres and Faber present.

There is one thing that casual fans of Torres may not realize about his stellar 34-1 record. While Torres built his astounding record starting with fights on local shows in the Midwest more than 10 years ago, his record is even more remarkable when you learn that Torres owns another 12 unaccounted-for victories. Torres claims his record stands at 46-1.

"I started fighting way before there were databases," Torres said. "When I first started fighting, I was getting out of high school going into my first year of college. I was working at a grocery store as a store manager. ... There were these events that they had. They were in bars. You had to be 21 to compete. If you were 18, you had to get consent from your folks."

His “folks” finally relented and the rest has been recorded—at least most of his fights that is. To read more about Torres’s “fight road” less traveled click here (after reading this article of course).

So on Dec. 3, when Torres defends his WEC bantamweight title for a third time, you should be tuned in to the VERSUS channel. Contact your cable company to find out if you have the channel—it will clearly be worth your time.

There is nothing better than free MMA, especially when you get the chance to see a fighter like Miguel Torres do what he seems born to do.

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This article was originally published at Inside Fights. Brian Oswald is a new staff writer for the website. He thanks you for your continued support.

Last night on Wednesday Night Fights on ESPN, Joe Tessitore was joined by two special guest analysts, while Teddy Atlas was away at the Olympics.

It was a nice break to have Lightweight champion Nate Campbell along with comedian Jackie Mason stop by and give their expert opinions on boxing.

If you happened to catch any of the action from last night’s fights, consider yourself lucky. Usually the fights shown are average at best, and well Teddy Atlas’ style of commentating gets boring fast.  Who really comes up with the crap that he says during the keys to the fight? 

Jackie Mason was a breath of fresh air and thanks to his combination of analysis and jokes he gave me the idea to research who are the top Jewish boxers of all time.  I owe you one Jackie!

Honorable Mention:  Yuri Foreman, Dmitry Salita, Zab Judah, and Israel Vazquez. 

Out of all the current fighter who are Jewish, Yuri Foreman (25-0, 8 KOs) and Dmitry Salita (28-0-1, 16 KOs) have the most potential.  Foreman who fights at light middleweight has already been televised several times on Versus and is the current NABF light middleweight champion. Salita, on the other hand, will be making his first television appearance when he fights Willie Limond (29-2, 8 KOs) on the Calzaghe-Jones undercard on HBO PPV.   

Zab Judah’s boxing skills would secure him a spot in the top ten; however the only thing holding him back is his inconsistent religious background.  Judah’s family has declared themselves Jewish, saying they are Black Hebrew Israelites (descendants of the ancient Israeli people), thus making Zab Jewish.  However after his loss to Floyd Mayweather, Zab thanked Jesus as his lord and savior (not a really Jewish thing to do), which caused me to question where his fate lies. 

When I first became a fan of boxing my favorite fighter was Israel Vazquez.  The reason being was that I thought with a name such as ‘Israel’, you must be Jewish. After lots of research I was tempted to contact Vazquez to ask him himself if he was Jewish.  However I soon realized that ‘Israel’ is not an uncommon name for a non Jew.  So just for kicks, Israel Vazquez makes my honorable mention. 

10.  Lew Tendler (135-15-9, 39 KOs) 1913-1928

Past editor of Ring Magazine, Nat Fleischer, called Tendler the greatest south paw in boxing which is no small compliment.  As impressive as that honor is, what makes it even more remarkable is that Tendler never won a championship throughout his 15 year career.  He first fought at the age of 15 at bantamweight and throughout his career rose in weight all the way to a welterweight.  On July 27, 1922 Tendler fought Benny Leonard (another Jewish fighter) for the world lightweight title.  Tendler lost a very close decision, however the only way in which he could have won the title was by knocking out Leonard (New Jersey state rule).  Tendler’s style was fan friendly and he became feared for his body punches and his impressive straight punches.      

9.  Benny Valger (139-36-7, 18 KOs) 1916-1932

Valger, unlike many of the fighters on this list never won lots of recognition as a great boxer.  The highest honor that Valger reached was as the 115 pound US Champ.  Valger won a decision against the featherweight champion Johnny Kilbane, but because he did not win by knockout, he did not takeover as the new champion.  What makes Valger stick out from the rest of the fighters on this list is his chin.  Although he lost 36 fights, not once was he knocked out, quite an impressive feat during a time period when fighters fought more frequently. 

8.  Max Baer (68-13, 52 KOs) 1929-1941

Don’t let his loss to James Braddock (The Cinderella Man) confuse you.  Max Baer, even with that loss had a great career.  If Baer chose to actually train for the Braddock fight the outcome would have been different.  His fight with Frankie Campbell, led to Baer receiving the nickname ‘killer’, because Campbell collapsed shortly after the fight and died soon after.  It should be acknowledged that Baerspent spent a lot of time with Campbell at the hospital after the fight.  The biggest bout of his career was against German, Max Schmeling.  Baer became very popular among Jewish boxing fans after he knocked out Schmeling, who was a favorite fighter of Adolf Hitler.    

7.  Mike Rossman (44-7-3, 27 KOs) 1973-1983

When telling my father that I was writing an article about the best Jewish boxers, he recommended that I look closely at Mike Rossman.  When most Jewish fighters blossomed in the twenties, thirties, and forties, Rossman stood out as the best Jews had to offer in the seventies and eighties.  The Jewish Bomber started his career at 151 pounds but is well known for his work in the light heavyweight division.  He was an underdog against Victor Galindez in the Ali-Spinks undercard, but managed to knock him out in the 13^thround to become the WBA light heavyweight champion.  He defended his WBA belt once more before losing in a rematch to Galindez seven months later. 

6.  Victor Perez (90-28-15, 27 KOs) 1928-1938

 

If there is any one thing that you the reader should take from this article it is the life of Victor Perez.  Perez was the French flyweight champion and the IBU (International Boxing Union) world flyweight champ in 1931.  After losing his flyweight title to Jackie Brown, Perez moved up in weight to fight for the bantamweight championship, where he lost to Al Brown.  In 1943 Perez and thousands of others arrived at Auschwitz.  He was a part of “Convoy 60” which contained 1,000 people from France.  He was forced to fight other Jews as a means of entertainment for the Nazis.  Perez in 1945 was just one of 31 survivors from the 1,000 that arrived, but was eventually murdered in a Death March. 

5.  Abe Goldstein (101-20-9, 35 KOs) 1916-1927

Abe Goldstein is considered one of the top bantamweights in all of boxing.  Many of his losses came in championship fights, while others appeared during the end of his career.  After losing twice for the American flyweight championship, he defeated Joe Lynch in a rematch and became the world bantamweight champion.  He went on to successfully defend his title twice before losing to Eddie Martin, and from that point forward was never able to regain his status among the top bantamweights in boxing. 

4.  Battling Levinsky (196-55-37, 31 KOs) 1910-1930

Anyone who has the name Battling must have quite a high reputation to keep up.  He was born as Barney Williams, but Battling Levinsky sure fits him better.  Levinsky fought an unprecedented 37 times in 1914, which included nine fights in January.  Rumor even has it that he fought three times on New Year’s Day 1915.  Fighting with that frequency sure makes modern day fighters look weak.  Levinsky was the World Lightweight Champion from 1916-1920 and fought the likes of hall of famers Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey.

3.  Benny Leonard (183-19-11, 70 KOs) 1911-1932

Benny Leonard has the distinct honor (in my books) of having the greatest alias in boxing.  The “Ghetto Wizard” learned as a young boy to fight in the lower east side of Manhattan, while living in a Jewish ghetto.  One can compare Leonard with Bernard Hopkins, both of whom love to trash talk and play mental games with their opponents.  Leonard had a deadly combination of speed and unusually heavy hands for a lightweight which helped him compile an impressive knockout rate.  Leonard was the world lightweight champion and if he had not been disqualified for hitting Jack Britton when he was on the canvas, the world welterweight champion as well.  He is seen as one of the greatest lightweights in history and ranks eighth on Ring Magazine’s list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years.

2.  Abe Atell (126-18-21, 51 KOs) 1900-1917

The Little Hebrew got his first title shot at the age of 18 against George Dixon.  He won a 15 round decision to become world featherweight champion.  After quickly losing the featherweight championship to Tommy Sullivan, Atell regained the title and defended his title successfully an unprecedented 18 times, a record in the featherweight division.  As his career went on he became known as a dirty fighter, once punching a referee (must have inspired Zab Judah) and was alleged of putting a substance on his gloves to blind his opponent.  Atellalso was known for his participation in a little incident with the Black Sox as well.  Atell was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a member of the first class in 1990.

1. Jackie Fields (74-9-2, 31 KOs) 1925-1933 

Here he is, the top Maccabee, the best Jewish fighter of all times.  Fields, unlike the other Jewish fighters on this list, had a successful amateur boxing career to go along with his career in boxing.  At the age of 16, Fields won gold in the featherweight division at the 1924 Paris Olympics.  He also had a very impressive record as an amateur of 51-3.  Fields beat fellow Jew, Mushy Callahan, during his journey to welterweight stardom.  In 1929, he went on to win the NBA (National Boxing Association) welterweight championship against Jack Thompson in March and the world welterweight title against Joe Dundee in July.  After a brief retirement and a detached retina Fields returned to win back his welterweight title, this time from Lou Brouillard.  Has Fields impressed you yet?  According to the good people at BoxRec, “In February 1933, Fields lost the title in a 10-round decision to Young Corbett III in San Francisco. The referee, Jack Kennedy, admitted to Jackie's manager Jack Kearns after the fight in the dressing room: ‘I made a mistake,’ and told him he had raised the wrong hand. Kearns hit Kennedy, sending him sprawling to the floor and knocking him out.”