Ringside Coverage of Irichelle Duran vs. Geraldine Iglesias Photos and Story by Sue TL Fox

I arrived in the middle of the night on August 4th to Las Vegas, and stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. You really have to see this hotel to believe all of the extensive historical memorabilia they have literally displayed on the walls and display cases throughout the hotel. There is authentic rock n’ roll and sports memorabilia. It is no less than fantastic.

I contacted Geraldine Iglesias the morning of the fight, by calling her on the phone while she was in her room. Geraldine is under the wing of a guy named Jim Holley that has the stable of Ashtabula fighters. I was given information that Iglesias was in that stable and was going to possibly give some insight into the inner goings-on with this stable of fighters. I was also given information that Geraldine was not sparring and had been training for a very short time.

But the encouraging word I had was that Geraldine wanted to be a good boxer and get a trainer and be in the sport as a serious athletic. I did not want to distract her before her fight, so I told her that I would interview her after the fight. Of course I did not think for one moment that she would win…..in light of the fact that she was under the direction of Holley, who has or had a stable of women boxers that generally don’t make it past the first round.

They opened the doors at 5:00 pm at the Hard Rock, but I went very early to insure that I had a spot at the ring. The first thing I noticed to my dismay was that the ring was set up very closely to the stage, which did not enable a lot of space for photographers. As Murphy’s law would have it, I ended up having to do the photo shoot from upstairs over the ring.

There were some interesting events that occurred upstairs! Shane Mosley, the World Champion who had recently defeated Oscar de la Hoya, came up to get a bite of food that was offered to the media. Some boxing fans could actually be up in that area if they bought tickets to be there. I took some shots of Mosley with boxing fans.

Carol Ann Weber, a Las Vegas Radio Host with the show “She’s Got Game”, and writer, came up to find out why I was not ringside. I took that opportunity to slip in a few photo shots of her!

THE FIGHT – NOT TELEVISED

The bout between Irichelle Duran and Geraldine Iglesias was not televised. I was sitting next to the ESPN2 crew and asked them just prior to the fight if it would be televised and they said that they didn’t think it would be.

Duran entered the ring and moved around freely, and did not appear nervous (although, later during an interview she said that she was indeed nervous.) The first round started out with some wild swinging, mostly on the part of Geraldine, and it was the typical (egg-beater) punching that I have since given the name when I see punches that are just thrown with little or no technique. Duran looked much more technically sound. There was a lot of punches thrown throughout the four rounds, but Geraldine ultimately won by a split decision. The final scoring was 39-37, 39-37 Iglesias, and 39-37 for Duran. Geraldine is now 1-1. The crowd responded with a resounding “boo” at the announcement of the winner.

POST FIGHT INTERVIEWS OF BOTH FIGHTERS

I first met with 20-year-old Geraldine. Geraldine is from Puerto Rico, but has been in Ohio for the last two years. She was ecstatic about her win, and said that she is planning to re-locate to Las Vegas in two weeks to find a trainer. She will be joining forces with Team Moore (that is J’Marie Moore by the way…) She confirmed that she had only been training for a short time, and had been running mostly to prepare for this bout. Geraldine had another fight at Hard Rock about a month ago, fighting a local boxer and had lost that first fight. Geraldine said that she entered the ring “Believing in herself and did what she had to do.” One of the most significant events that happened to her that day before her fight with Duran was an unexpected conversation with Shane Mosley. She had gone up to Shane and asked for his autograph. That chance meeting, led to him walking her to her dressing room and telling her, “You can win.” Her other supporting factor was J’Marie Moore, the daughter of Archie Moore. J’Marie was a corner man that night for Iglesias!

I asked about her involvement with Holley, and Ashtabula. I will keep this short and sweet on this subject, she has offered, “No comment.” I did find it peculiar that people told me that Holley was giving out his business card freely with the name “Holley” on the card at the fight, and that information got back to WBAN that he was going by the name of “Wright.” I did check the suspension list that has a “Jim Holly/Holley (spelled both ways on the list)” listed as “indefinitely” suspended in the state of Ohio as a “Manager.” hmmm……this picture is getting very cloudy…..

I also noticed on the suspension records that there is a person named “Jim Holly” that was suspended in Indiana and Pennsylvania for falsifying ID in those states… Could this be the same Jim Holly……(only the boxing commissions know for sure.)

Well so much for Ashtabula, Geraldine did come out of Ohio. She said that she is from Cleveland, not Ashtabula, but is under the wing of Holley who has the Ashtabula stable. (You can go to the Women’s Boxing Page, and Dee and Julie have a page of fight records with all the losses that come from those fighters, mostly in the early rounds.)

Carol Ann Weber and I both interviewed Irichelle Duran after the fight. Carol Ann may have the recording on their website for the radio station http://www.kdwn.com And I will keep you posted on when it may be able to be downloaded. Duran was asked by Carol Ann how she felt about the fight and her performance. Duran said “Little upset”, but added that she felt good and proud, and just a little bit nervous. Duran said, “I felt like home in the ring.” She said that she spent six months training in Australia.

Duran said that she has wanted to box since she was a little girl, and that she would get on the “speed ball.” Duran said that when she broke the news to her father, Roberto Duran about her desire to step in the ring, he “Almost had a heart attack, talking to him about it.”

Duran said that she wants to make a name for herself and to continue to strive to be a good boxer, training hard and diligently.

Duran said that she was a little disappointed in her performance because she is capable of much more and that, she stated, “I didn’t show what I could do.”

FIGHT REPORT IN SPANISH

By Alex Cisnernos – Las Vegas

Irichelle Duran poco afortunada en su debut profesional

La tarde del miercoles conocimos a la joven Irichelle Duran quien haria su presentacion mundial en el Hard Rock Casino. Una joven llena de carisma y buen humor, confeso su nerviosismo en su presentacion delante de las camaras de television y el cuerpo de prensa local. “estoy muy nerviosa” dijo Irichelle, ” me tengo que acostumbrar a esto” concluyó. Ella estuvo expuesta desde su niñes a las camaras y a la atenció de miles de aficionados los cuales seguian a su padre , el campeon del mundo y legendario Roberto “manos de Piedra” Duran.

Pero desde este momento seria diferente ya que ella seria el centro de atraccion de la prensa. “No me imaginaba esto. No se que decir”. La novates de la bella Irichelle se noto no solo en la entrevista , epro tambien el la ring en la pelea estelar del Hard Rock donde su rivekl se lanzo a ella desde el inicio sin que ella suopiera lo que estaba pasando. Sin embargo Irichelle mostro su talento boxistico y su vigor los cuales caracterizaron a su padre en su larga carrera deportiva. Entre mas pase el tiempo, sabemos que Irichelle será una de las protagonistas en la division Super Mosca y que conseguira el cetro en el futuro.

LA PELEA.

La joven Panameña, Irichelle Duran perdió su pelea de debut por decision dividida ante Geraldine Iglesias ( 1-1) la cual no mostró ningun talento en el entarimado del casino Hard Rock. Dos jueces votaron 39-37 a favor de Iglesias para darle su primera victoria profesional. Los jueces no tomaron en cuenta la superioridad tecnica de Duran , ni tampoco que en el tercer round, el unico que le dieron a Irichelle, casi derriba a su rival en dos ocaciones. Duran trabajo el cuerpo de su rival y se mostro mas motivadas por el publicop en los dos ultimos rounds cuando propino seberos golpes a Iglesias. Sin embargo, los jueces robaron la pelea a Duran dando la decsion a Iglesias quien soltaba sus golpes como quien quisiera “cachetear” a alguién. la superioridad de Irichelle fue notoria para todos los aficionados en el Hard Rock , los cuales al escuchar el veredicto abuchearon a los jueces y a Geraldine Iglesias quien festejaba vailando al termino de la pelea. Irichelle se mostro descontenta por la decision de los jueces pero sabemos que esta experiencia servira par que se levante a la conquista del campeonato super gallo, el cual esta en la mira de la joven. Muchas cosas extrañas pasan en Las vegas y el resultado de Duran – Iglesias no fué la excepsión.