Pereira takes 126 Pound IBF Bauble, Candelo and Reid settle for Mystifying Draw

By Alex Pierpaoli

Photos by Brendon Pierpaoli

Enthusiastic members of Connecticut's Brazilian population were treated to a visit from undefeated featherweight Valdemir Pereira, who outpointed Thailand's Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym at Foxwoods Casino on Friday night in the 2006 return of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.  Pereira picked up the vacant IBF version of the one-hundred twenty-six pound title with the lop-sided decision win; all three official judges saw Pereira defeat the rugged Thai fighter by scores of 118-108.

Thailand's southpaw, Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym, was relentless in pressuring Pereira all night, but he was unable to mount much of an offensive against the Brazilian's solid defense.  With arms held high by his cheeks throughout the bout, Pereira fended off or blocked most of Rakkiatgym's wide hooks to the head and body.

As the rounds wore on Rakkiatgym became more frustrated and several times he beat his chest with both gloves and dared Pereira to charge him, to come closer and to slug.  Pereira never lost focus however, and Rakkiatgym ended up looking more like a one hundred twenty-six pound man doing an impression of King Kong.    

Clearly a brawler, Rakkiatgym's squared shoulders and utter lack of a right jab left him unable to exploit the typical southpaw advantages versus the skilled Pereira.  Rakkiatgym tried all night to draw Pereira into a firefight, hoping the Brazilian would get careless in close and open himself up for chopping hooks and uppercuts.  But punching opportunities never came for Rakkiatgym and Pereira was able to pick him apart from a distance and pepper him with flurries when they were along the ropes.

Also in attendance, was former champion Acelino Freitas, who was screaming himself hoarse in Pereira's corner in support of his Brazilian countryman.  Pereira also kept much of the Brazilian crowd pleased as he blasted away with short quick punches that scored points and swelled the face of Rakkiatgym. 

With the victory Valdemir Pereira is now the IBF titlist and his record improves to 23-0 (15) while Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym falls to 51-4 (34).      

In the televised co-feature, former top ranked Jr. Middleweight, J.C. Candelo had to settle for a dubious draw versus Teddy Reid in a fight this writer felt, clearly, belonged to Candelo. 

The hard-punching veteran Teddy Reid brought the fight to Candelo from the opening bell, crowding him and swinging power shots at him with both hands.  But Candelo's more skilled counterpunching and accurate straight punches were doing far more damage than the sloppy, clubbing punches Reid was throwing.  Candelo was able to land the more effective punches throughout the fight while Reid pursued him and pressed the action but rarely landed more than one punch at a time. 

When the decision came it was a far closer fight on the official cards than this writer expected.  Judge Robert Paolino saw the fight at 97-91 for Candelo, a decisive victory, while Judge Clark Sammartino scored it 95-93 for Reid.  The final card, Judge Tom Kaczmarek's, saw the fight even at 94-94.  During the bout, Reid had been penalized two points for roughhouse tactics by Ref. Johnny Callas which made the close scores all the more peculiar.            

Pressure fighters, like Teddy Reid in this case, force a fight's action, but in order for the more aggressive fighter to win rounds, he needs to land effective punches and Reid was simply not doing that in this writer's opinion. 

Whatever.  If you're a boxing fan you know it won't be long before a far more unjust decision is announced which eclipses any injustices done to J.C. Candelo versus Teddy Reid.  

In undercard action:

Newark's Carlos Vinan punished Lowell's Joey Ortega relentlessly over four rounds to claim a unanimous decision victory, by three scores of 40-36.  Ortega, who was able to land sporadic counterpunches throughout, falls to 2-13 after the defeat.  Vinan is now 4-1 with one knockout.  

Junior welterweight, Doel Carrasquillo charged out of his corner and jumped right on opponent, Kevin Carmody in another of the night's first round stoppages.  Carmody wasn't reacting well to any of the big shots Carrasquillo was landing and Ref. Eddie Cotton saved him from further punishment at: 48 seconds of round one.  Carrasquillo is now 4-3-1 (2) while Carmody drops to 5-6-1. 

Cruiserweight Steve Marcantonio had his first pro fight Friday night and was a brutal success in stopping Dave Cottle at 1:50 of the first round.  Cottle, who was also making his pro debut, slumped to the canvas just as Ref. Charles Dwyer stepped in to rescue him from Marcantonio's two-fisted assault.  Taken from the ring on a stretcher, Cottle was conscious before he left with paramedics enroute to hospital for observation.   

Lightweight John "Action" Jackson of Miami, crumpled Ricardo Rosas in two minutes and fifteen seconds in another of the evening's first round knockouts.  Rosas' record is now 2-3 (1) and Jackson improves to 4-0 with all of his victories coming by way of the knockout.

Send comments or questions to Alex Pierpaoli at: alex@kofantasyboxing.com

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