This week we have two fights featuring a boxer I had not heard of until just a few weeks back. A bantamweight with knockout power and a master of offensive and defensive footwork: Orlando Canizales.
Our first fight took place on May 4, 1991 against Englishman Billy Hardy in a rematch of their January 1990 first fight. Canizales had won the first fight by split decision in Hardy’s back yard of Sunderland England, the rematch took place at an outdoor venue in Canizales’s home town of Laredo Texas, USA.
Going into the fight Canizales was 25 years old, the IBF Bantamweight champion and he had a record of 27 wins, 1 defeat and 1 draw. He already had 22 wins by knockout which for that weight class was very high indeed. Billy Hardy was 26, had a record of 25 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw with 13 wins by knockout.
Round 1 saw the busy feet from Canizales and the conventional boxing from Hardy. Hardy started well dictating with his long jab to head and body and following up with right hands both straight and arcing over the top. Canizales was circling left often and eats one of these over hands flush when stepping into it. Hardy’s jab was scoring and seemed to be bothering Canizales even with his great head movement, who was giving up height and reach to the Englishman. Canizales started to get his swarming style going as the round was drawing to a close, he was beginning to time Hardy’s jab and successfully crashed across it with a right hand that got the hometown fans into it as Hardy seemed to momentarily wobble. A close first round but I lean towards Hardy’s jabbing and follow up right hands, just.
Round 2 saw Canizales get busier throwing more combinations and getting up onto his toes. Hardy was offering very little head movement just relying on range and his guard to defend himself. Canizales found an opening for his overhand right which he was able to land flush early in the round. Canizales’s movement was now making it difficult for Hardy to throw his jab with confidence as he knew if he missed he would be open. Canizales was now sliding past Hardy slipping under his elbow and out flanking him constantly, his footwork was putting a lot of pressure on the conventional Hardy. Canizales was also doing a good job of picking off shots when he wasn’t able to slip them, he liked to slip inside the jab that is a risky move but can lead to openings for left hooks or even uppercuts. Just over halfway through the round Canizales drew a jab from Hardy that he countered with another overhand that staggered Hardy and forced him to retreat. Canizales began to swarm his opponent with flowing combinations, he would often throw a right hand and fall into southpaw before throwing an overhand left from there. Hardy’s evasion was not his bread and butter but he was doing his best to survive. As it looked likely that Hardy would survive, Canizales started to target the body, the bell went and Hardy had made it. Canizales’s round big.
Round 3 saw Hardy come out jabbing and moving keen no doubt to avoid the onslaught that he faced in round 2, this he did well for the first 30 seconds before another overhand right landed well on him. It was looking like Canizales was forcing Hardy to fight him in the mid to close range, could Hardy hold off the marauding swarmer? Hardy was throwing back with some venom forcing Canizales back and landing with the odd right hand. The problem was as soon as Hardy got his offence going the slick movement of Canizales found the gaps in his linear style and he was caught again either with right overhand or left hook. As we crossed the midway point of the round Canizales found Hardy’s liver with a short left hook which drew the elbows down that sure fire sign that it hurt. Canizales followed up with a left hook that found the jaw and he was sent back into a backward roll, he stayed down face first which was no doubt from the crippling body shot, would he survive? Hardy gamely returned to his feet and looked to fight back to keep the aggressive Canizales off of him. Canizales mercilessly targeted the body knowing full well that was what had been hurt, he landed with both hands sometimes doubling up to the liver. Hardy was surviving in there just, he was beginning to block some of the body shots now but as if by design he was caught with another overhand right to the chin which shook him. Canizales continued to swarm him, he with a few seconds to go pivoted to his right into southpaw and landed with a quick and powerful left hook ala Mike Tyson. The bell sounded and for two straight rounds Hardy had been holding on, Canizales round 10-8.
Round 4 began with Canizales drawing Hardy into throwing at his constantly moving head and exploiting the gaps with sharp short counters. His style was built to exploit straight hitters that didn’t feint that much and he was dictating here. Hardy was trying, he was going to go out on his shield or catch Canizales with something big. One thing that really sticks out about Canizales is he throws very short punches, his footwork is very busy but his balance is great and his hands are very coordinated which allows him to link punches together in combinations of huge variety. With just over 30 seconds to go he uncorked such a combination, left hook to the head, right uppercut to the heart, left hook to the liver, the liver punch landed flush and Hardy was hurt again, beautiful boxing from the champion. Hardy survived a brief onslaught of follow up body punching but did well to not go on full retreat. Canizales backed away and invited Hardy on which he did, throwing a long jab cross which Canizales looked to counter with a home run right hand that just missed its mark just as the round came to an end. Canizales round.
Round 5 saw Canizales happy enough to box with Hardy, they were exchanging jabs and it was pretty even going for the most part. Although the activity was even I was leaning towards Canizales’s cleaner work, he was not as devastating as the previous 3 rounds but he was still landing clean shots. Hardy must have felt like the winner in this round as this was the first in a while he hadn’t been shaken and swarmed all over. Canizales but close.
Round 6 saw Hardy throwing some more feints and looking to double jab, maybe the last round had given him some confidence because from my point of view this is the sort of thing that could turn the tide in his favour. After about a minute of this Canizales seemed to snap out of it and started to attack Hardy’s body with vicious combinations. From in close Canizales was a different class slipping punches and finding the openings. Back came Hardy doggedly firing back, he was out gunned and up against a terrible match up but he was showing fighting spirit. As mentioned before this was an outdoor event in Texas, the ladies in the crowd were furiously fanning themselves which suggests the Englishman from the cold north of England might be feeling the heat in more ways than one. With under a minute to go in the round Canizales landed two left hooks that had Hardy backing up, Canizales moved forwards to swarm but Hardy did well to matador off the ropes and return to the centre. Hardy gave as good as he got for the rest of an even round, I will call it even.
Round 7 saw Hardy come out and attempt to stamp his authority on the round, he was seemingly getting stronger even with the head and body attack of Canizales. Canizales had not shown to be hurt by a punch but his activity had slipped a fraction in the last couple of rounds which was understandable as his high octane style took a lot of energy. As the round went on it seemed that Hardy was going to win it on pure activity, his conditioning was looking good as he was fighting in the Texas sun and was seemingly the fresher fighter. The round came to a close and the temperature flashed up showing 30 degrees centigrade however ringside it was up to 37 degrees. Hardy’s round.
Round 8 saw Hardy come out like the round before looking to win it on heart and activity. Canizales was looking to pot shot Hardy using his activity against him looking to land a knockout shot. A minute into the round Canizales landed a left hook right hand that convinced Hardy to back up, Canizales followed him and threw a right hand lead stepping into southpaw then a left hook from this new stance, the shot landed clean on Hardy dropping him hard. Hardy was out, he didn’t move and the fight was waved off. What a way to earn the knockout, a beautiful set up, the left hook was incredibly short considering the stance switch.
A great performance from Canizales and Hardy did himself great credit by fighting back hard considering he was hurt badly in rounds 2,3 and 4. Canizales’s footwork, head movement and shortness of punch are something to be admired.
Our next fight comes just shy of 3 years later, Canizales has now extended his record to 35 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw and 1 no contest with 27 wins coming by knockout. His opponent for this one was Gerardo Martinez, his record at the time of this fight was 29 wins 1 loss and 15 wins by knockout.
Round 1 saw Martinez come out aggressively jabbing with authority, he was doubling and tripling it up to throw off the counter punching of Canizales. Martinez had started quickly, he showed more head movement and feints in 45 seconds than Hardy showed in 8 rounds. Martinez started to throw right hands after his jab noticing Canizales’s tendency to slip to the inside of jabs to set up his own offence. Martinez was showing no fear of the champion and was winning this round handsomely on volume, Canizales was still finding the rhythm of his opponent. Martinez was loading up his shots ever so slightly when compared with the short punching of Canizales, would his aggression leave an opening for the champion? As the round was drawing to a close Martinez was having more and more success especially with his busy right hand. With 20 seconds left to go in the round they came together in a clinch position in which Canizales looked to have the worst of it, from there he pivoted quickly to his left, took a half step back to avoid a right hand and landed a short simultaneous counter that buckled Martinez’s knees. He managed to stay on his feet but was hurt badly, he retreated to the ropes and Canizales advanced landing a double right hand left hook combination that dropped Martinez hard to the canvas. He got up but wobbled badly and lucky for him the round ended before Canizales could take up his attack. Martinez won 2 minutes 40 seconds of the round but ended up losing it 10-8.
Round 2 saw Canizales press the attack straight from the bell testing how much Martinez had recovered. He was also beginning to target the body on both sides, no doubt expecting Martinez to be focused on protecting his chin. Martinez after a tough 30 seconds decided to meet fire with fire and launched his own attacks forcing Canizales to evade. Canizales was beginning to get a beat on Martinez’s jab, slipping inside and outside of it looking to counter. Martinez was doing his best to force Canizales back to the ropes to nullify his great footwork, from here he could keep the slippery counter puncher in front of him and perhaps slow him down a bit. Canizales was no stranger to the in-fight however and his shorter punches and greater variety was finding openings on the taller Martinez. One quick note was the referee was so keen to break them that he did so when their arms were both free, even back in the 90s refs were allergic to the clinch it seems. Martinez did a great job forcing Canizales back after they were separated only for the ref to again break them accusing Martinez of pushing, to me it looked like good work. Martinez’s body work and aggression seemed to be bothering Canizales, many right hands were landing on him and he seemed to grimace often. As the round ended Martinez had done remarkably well considering how he ended the last round. I leaned towards Martinez in this round but it was close.
Round 3 saw Martinez launch into his offence from the off, he was a gamer and no mistake. Canizales was forced onto the back foot by the sheer volume and aggression of Martinez. We got to see Canizales’s cute covers as Martinez was targeting the body relentlessly over and over, for every 10 punches from Martinez Canizales would throw 6, could the challenger keep this volume going? As the round entered the final minute Canizales seemed to find his rhythm, his dancing feet avoiding Martinez’s punches and he was able to land his counters before avoiding the returns. The bell sounded and I gave this round to Martinez again just on pure activity although it was again close.
Round 4 saw Canizales start out at his slippery best, he was slipping punches masterfully and countering now and again with aplomb. Martinez then forced Canizales back to the ropes and looked to roughhouse hitting shoulders, arms and whatever he could. The longer, wider punches of Martinez were leaving openings as he tended to load his punches at all ranges when compared with the shortness of Canizales’s punches. With just over a minute to go in the round Canizales found Martinez’s chin with a left hook that stunned him badly, he staggered back and Canizales approached looking for the finish. Two left hooks landed and Martinez was down, he took his 8 count and looked with it still, would he survive? Canizales swarmed all over him landing clean punches with both hands to head and body. Before Canizales could finish the job the referee stepped in, could he have waited longer? Martinez was fighting back although he was hurt, I would’ve liked to see him have a chance to continue but it can be a fine line in there and the ref was closer to it than I.
Canizales has defended his title from a very game opponent in this one. His swarming style was a pleasure to watch, modern great Roman Gonzalez no doubt had observed his style as they were very similar in their approach. Canizales would finish up his career with a record of 50 wins, 5 losses, 1 draw and 1 no contest with 37 wins by knockout. He would successfully defend his bantamweight tile a joint record 15 times.
What did you think of this week’s fights?
Come back next week for another fight of the week retrospective trip down memory lane.
All fight of the week fights can be found here