Will
01-07-2007, 06:59 AM
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) -- Travis Simms took back the championship he never actually lost.
Simms, whose WBA super welterweight belt was stripped because he never defended it, stopped Jose Antonio Rivera in the ninth round to reclaim the title Saturday night.
"I'm back," Simms screamed, after ending a layoff that lasted more than two years.
Simms knocked Rivera down with a hard series of shots in the final round, and as Rivera got to his feet and said he wanted to continue, referee Tommy Kimmons asked him "You sure?"
A few seconds later, after another flurry from Simms, Kimmons stopped the fight with a minute left in the round and Simms -- who entered as the "champion in recess," because he hadn't fought in more than two years -- had his belt back.
"I am not known as a power puncher," Simms said. "I'm a stick and move guy. But I proved I've got power tonight."
The Simms-Rivera fight highlighted the undercard of the WBC heavyweight elimination fight between Samuel Peter and James Toney.
Fighting for the first time since October 2004, when he easily defended the WBA super welterweight belt with a unanimous decision over Bronco McKart, Simms (25-0, 19 KOs) controlled the fight, leading 80-71 on one card after eight rounds and 79-72 on the other.
It was only the third fight in nearly 4 1/2 years for Simms, who got his "champion in recess" title while Rivera (38-5-1) emerged as the actual titleholder after beating Alejandro Garcia in May.
But Simms showed no signs of rust after the long layoff.
He tossed Rivera to the canvas in the first round, drawing a chorus of boos from the sellout crowd of about 5,000 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
Rivera went down again in the second, and that was a legitimate knockdown as Simms began taking control. He had Rivera's chest and arms covered in blood -- pouring from Rivera's nose -- by the end of the second round, and managed to successfully avoid most of Rivera's biggest punches.
"It was just a matter of time after that," Simms said.
Rivera knew he was trailing by a big margin, and acknowledged that he spent most of what would be the final rounds looking for a knockout blow that never came.
"I didn't want it to be stopped," Rivera said.
Simms, from Norwalk, Conn., weighed in at 153 3/4 pounds. Rivera, of Worcester, Mass., weighed 153.
In other fights on the undercard:
-- Former IBF champion Roman Karmazin of Russia (35-2-1) stopped Ghana's James Toney -- not the one fighting in the main event -- at 2:05 of the fourth round of their scheduled 10-round middleweight bout. Karmazin knocked down Toney (21-3-1), then quickly followed up with a barrage that ended it.
-- Bermane Stiverne of Las Vegas got his ninth knockout in nine pro fights, needing only 1:48 to beat Otis Mills (5-3-1) of Cleveland. Stiverne knocked Mills down with a hard right to the body; once Mills got up, Stiverne continued pounding away and the fight was quickly stopped.
-- Laura Ramsey (7-2) of Winter Haven, Fla., stopped Ijeoma Egbunine (12-2), a Nigerian now fighting out of Marietta, Ga., in the first round.
-- Devon Alexander of St. Louis (10-0) stopped Maximinio Cuevas (9-5) of West Palm Beach, Fla., in the final minute of the scheduled four-round welterweight fight.
-- Panama's Guillermo Jones (34-3-2) also had a first-round knockout, beating Jeremy Bates (21-13-1) of Ashland, Ky.
-- Anges Adjaho of Orwell, Ohio remained unbeaten (15-0) with a unanimous six-round lightweight decision over Tampa's Armando Cordoba (23-32-2).
-- Javier Mora of Anaheim, Calif. moved to 20-4-1 with a unanimous six-round heavyweight decision over Earl Ladson of Winston-Salem, N.C. (12-13-1).
Simms, whose WBA super welterweight belt was stripped because he never defended it, stopped Jose Antonio Rivera in the ninth round to reclaim the title Saturday night.
"I'm back," Simms screamed, after ending a layoff that lasted more than two years.
Simms knocked Rivera down with a hard series of shots in the final round, and as Rivera got to his feet and said he wanted to continue, referee Tommy Kimmons asked him "You sure?"
A few seconds later, after another flurry from Simms, Kimmons stopped the fight with a minute left in the round and Simms -- who entered as the "champion in recess," because he hadn't fought in more than two years -- had his belt back.
"I am not known as a power puncher," Simms said. "I'm a stick and move guy. But I proved I've got power tonight."
The Simms-Rivera fight highlighted the undercard of the WBC heavyweight elimination fight between Samuel Peter and James Toney.
Fighting for the first time since October 2004, when he easily defended the WBA super welterweight belt with a unanimous decision over Bronco McKart, Simms (25-0, 19 KOs) controlled the fight, leading 80-71 on one card after eight rounds and 79-72 on the other.
It was only the third fight in nearly 4 1/2 years for Simms, who got his "champion in recess" title while Rivera (38-5-1) emerged as the actual titleholder after beating Alejandro Garcia in May.
But Simms showed no signs of rust after the long layoff.
He tossed Rivera to the canvas in the first round, drawing a chorus of boos from the sellout crowd of about 5,000 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
Rivera went down again in the second, and that was a legitimate knockdown as Simms began taking control. He had Rivera's chest and arms covered in blood -- pouring from Rivera's nose -- by the end of the second round, and managed to successfully avoid most of Rivera's biggest punches.
"It was just a matter of time after that," Simms said.
Rivera knew he was trailing by a big margin, and acknowledged that he spent most of what would be the final rounds looking for a knockout blow that never came.
"I didn't want it to be stopped," Rivera said.
Simms, from Norwalk, Conn., weighed in at 153 3/4 pounds. Rivera, of Worcester, Mass., weighed 153.
In other fights on the undercard:
-- Former IBF champion Roman Karmazin of Russia (35-2-1) stopped Ghana's James Toney -- not the one fighting in the main event -- at 2:05 of the fourth round of their scheduled 10-round middleweight bout. Karmazin knocked down Toney (21-3-1), then quickly followed up with a barrage that ended it.
-- Bermane Stiverne of Las Vegas got his ninth knockout in nine pro fights, needing only 1:48 to beat Otis Mills (5-3-1) of Cleveland. Stiverne knocked Mills down with a hard right to the body; once Mills got up, Stiverne continued pounding away and the fight was quickly stopped.
-- Laura Ramsey (7-2) of Winter Haven, Fla., stopped Ijeoma Egbunine (12-2), a Nigerian now fighting out of Marietta, Ga., in the first round.
-- Devon Alexander of St. Louis (10-0) stopped Maximinio Cuevas (9-5) of West Palm Beach, Fla., in the final minute of the scheduled four-round welterweight fight.
-- Panama's Guillermo Jones (34-3-2) also had a first-round knockout, beating Jeremy Bates (21-13-1) of Ashland, Ky.
-- Anges Adjaho of Orwell, Ohio remained unbeaten (15-0) with a unanimous six-round lightweight decision over Tampa's Armando Cordoba (23-32-2).
-- Javier Mora of Anaheim, Calif. moved to 20-4-1 with a unanimous six-round heavyweight decision over Earl Ladson of Winston-Salem, N.C. (12-13-1).