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00:00The following is a special presentation of HBO Sports,
00:28a network of champions.
00:34See the ocean waves rolling into the New Jersey shoreline
00:38and consider the parallels in the careers of professional prize fighters.
00:46Waves meander in and out, proving time really has no barriers.
00:54Some waves retreat to the ocean just as rapidly as they came in.
00:58While other waves press forward as far as they can before finally returning to the sea.
01:05The sport of boxing will make its own choices,
01:09which waves will eventually define the careers of Keith Mullings and Vince Phillips,
01:14two journeyman professionals who, despite obstacles, never gave up on the sport they loved
01:19and pulled off improbable upsets to become world champions.
01:26Keith Mullings learned to box in the Army
01:28and was considered a prospect for the 1992 Olympic team
01:32before he found himself thousands of miles from home in Operation Desert Storm.
01:37Then after a promising start to his pro career,
01:39Mullings lost four of six fights
01:41and was a ten-to-one underdog against famous champion Terry Norris,
01:45a man with an agreement to face Oscar De La Hoya next time out.
01:53Keith Mullings with a dramatic upset victory over Terry Norris.
01:58Vince Phillips found more than a new gym when he moved to Las Vegas in 1989.
02:05The temptations of drugs and women led to a six-month suspension for a positive cocaine test.
02:11But four years later, having battled his way through demons and defeats,
02:15Phillips, in the 1997 upset of the year,
02:18overcame a bad cut to knock out then-undefeated Casta Zou.
02:23And that's it! Vince Phillips has finally won a world title!
02:30Keith Mullings, Vince Phillips,
02:32two men riding emotional waves,
02:34each defending his title tonight in a world championship doubleheader.
02:38These two champions are determined to make their mark.
02:48The recording will beефed by Andrew Lloyd Dodge,
02:51whichCande
02:57will accompany the Royal Rewind.
03:00They're still playing in the universkten Black Video with the Royal Rewind.
03:04on Saturday.
03:06After the씨 of the Royal Rewind,
03:08it's audding Maximum.
03:10The Royal Rewind es an adult Vielleicht
03:13this is a intellectualDAYaison of Mart!!"
03:17from the trump taj mahal in atlantic city new jersey hbo sports presents world championship
03:43boxing tonight a championship doubleheader featuring two brave men who faced and overcame
03:48adversity to reach pinnacles in their sport as vince phillips the junior welterweight champion
03:53defends his crown against alfonso sanchez and keith mullings super welterweight title holder
03:59faces davide charlante both fights are scheduled for 12 rounds we are indoors on a chilly weekend
04:06in atlantic city in the mark g edis arena here at the trump taj mahal not a whole lot of people
04:12in the seats although we expect that a few more boxing fans will be wandering in from the casino
04:18in the next 20 minutes or so those who have made it in can treat themselves to the enjoyment of what
04:24should be two excellent championship bouts hello again everybody i'm jim lampley welcome back to
04:29hbo's world championship boxing this was a night on which we were originally scheduled to bring you
04:34oscar de la hoya defending his welterweight championship against patrick charpentier of
04:39france but de la hoya is in dry dock for the moment his right wrist in a light cast and we'll
04:45have him with us later on tonight as he recovers in anticipation of defending the title june 13
04:50against charpentier meanwhile we have moved keith mullings up from the undercard to the main event
04:56and brought in from another date the alfonso sanchez versus vince phillips fight and that makes this an
05:03excellent night of boxing with what should be two outstanding fights working with me as always
05:07hbo boxing analyst larry merchant and larry let's start by establishing hbo boxing analyst larry merchant
05:13and larry let's start by establishing the landscape in the 140 pound weight class the junior welterweight
05:18division well first of all i think that probably phillips has to be rated as the junior welterweight
05:27champion costa zoo is still a potential champion and angel gonzalez who got a draw in the fight that he
05:36probably won against and over the hill chavez last week i think ranks up there with these two fighters
05:43one of only two blemishes on gonzalez's great record and we'll see miguel angel at the championship
05:48level again i'm sure meanwhile virtually every business decision for fighters in the contending
05:55status at 140 147 154 pounds begins with can i get a fight with oscar de la hoya how does de la
06:02hoya affect these two fights tonight well in a couple of ways jim directly because he's not fighting
06:09tonight open the door for these two fighters but indirectly he's you could say that he even helped
06:15them win a title because both fighters phillips and mullings won championships from fighters who were
06:24being groomed and auditioned for future fights with delahoya what it suggests jim is that there are fighters
06:31out there who are not deemed marketable promotable for one reason or another who can fight they're
06:39sort of like character actors rather than leading men but sometimes character actors become leading
06:44men well let's talk to a leading man and talk about the boxing business with a man who's still maybe the
06:49most marketable fighter of all at his level heavyweight legend and hbo expert commentator george foreman
06:54george vince phillips at age 34 is very cut and dried in his attitude toward his boxing career
06:59quote i want to make as much money as possible i'll take any fight in any of three weight classes
07:05that pays me the right kinds of dollars good attitude for vince to have at this stage of his
07:09career great attitude you become champion of the world number one two you get in the best possible
07:14conditioning and you fight the best opponents out there you're going to make a lot of money i think
07:18he's on the right road to do as much he's a tremendously exciting fighter if anybody deserves
07:23to make a lot of money for the entertainment value of his fights it is vince and let's take a look at
07:27the tail of the tape as he gets ready to fight the outstanding alfonso sanchez of mexico you can see
07:32that vince has given up eight years in age here he's two inches taller than sanchez sanchez waiting at
07:38139 and tonight weighs 145 24 hours later vince phillips as you can see has put on 12 pounds since the
07:44weigh-in and he has a four inch reach advantage punch stat numbers larry merchant
07:51the advantage that phillips has from these numbers is that he throws more punches which means that
07:57in close rounds he's like likely to get the benefit of the doubt if the fight goes to a decision
08:03that's all to his benefit
08:07jabs you can see that phillips throws many more jabs than sanchez who in this respect is a typical
08:15mexican fighter throwing a lot of hard punches and the rules of the bout with unofficial ringside
08:20scorer harold letterman the vince phillips alfonso poncho sanchez fight is scheduled for 12 rounds
08:26using the new unified rules for world championship fights there is no standing eight count no three
08:32knockdown rule only the referee can stop the fight and you cannot be saved by the bell at any round
08:37including the 12th and final round jim all right harold and now let's bring alfonso sanchez into the ring he
08:44calls himself pancho sanchez raised north of mexico city comes from the new generation of mexican
08:52fighters larry who are considerably less face first in style than some of their predecessors i think
08:58some of the mexican fighters are becoming more resourceful perhaps more americanized in that in that
09:05way just as some american fighters are adopting some mexican fighters style by becoming more aggressive
09:14the only blemish on sanchez's record was a knockout loss to irish mickey ward in a fight in which
09:20sanchez dominated every second going into the seventh round and then was hit by a liver shot
09:26and reduced to a prone position on the canvas other than that he's been near perfect 18 wins 16
09:32knockouts a couple of them against pretty good fighters
09:37and now here comes cool vince phillips grew up in pensacola florida boyhood buddy of roy
09:43jones he says that they are still friendly although not as intensely close as was the case
09:48before that moment long ago when vince went into the army where his amateur career flourished
09:54then when he got out and began his professional career he ran afoul of cocaine he's been clean
10:00ever since may 16 1993 and stands as a strong example of redemption to other fighters and other athletes
10:07who have had the same kind of problem main one being kennedy mckinney his running mate who also is now
10:15the holder of a title
10:18the record for cool vince phillips losses to anthony baby jones ike quarte and romales ellis he likes to
10:25say only quarte really beat me the 27 ko's among his 37 or 38 wins underline vince's tremendous right
10:34hand punching power and now let's go to michael buffer for the official introductions
10:41ladies and gentlemen good evening and welcome to donald j trump's taj mahal casino resort here on the
10:48boardwalk in atlantic city new jersey where tonight bob arum's top rank incorporated in association with
10:56your undisputed undefeated king of beers budweiser this buds for you present an evening of professional
11:03world championship boxing for your entertainment these belts are sanctioned by the new jersey state
11:09athletic control board boxing commissioner larry hazard senior this first bout is also sanctioned by
11:15the international boxing federation president robert w lee supervisor at ringside for the ibf
11:22daryl peoples the three judges scoring this contest will be al bennett dave moretti and raphael
11:29santos and when the bell rings the referee in charge of the action working for the 105th time in a world
11:37title belt joe cortez and now ladies and gentlemen from the trump taj mahal
11:45here in atlantic city 12 rounds of boxing for the ibf junior welterweight championship of the world
11:56introducing first fighting out of the blue corner wearing black trimmed with silver and weighing in
12:03at 139 pounds his professional record 18 victories 16 by knockout with only one defeat
12:11ladies and gentlemen from san mateo te colo upon mexico here is the challenger alfonzo poncho sanchez
12:23and his opponent across the ring fighting out of the red corner wearing purple trimmed with gold and
12:33white weighing in at an even 140 pounds this native of pensacola florida has a professional record of 39
12:40victories with 27 knockouts and three defeats ladies and gentlemen presenting the reigning ibf junior
12:49lightweight champion of the world cool vincent phillips
12:56all right all right all right gentlemen we win all the rules in the dressing room
13:08i won a good clean fight obey my commands at all time
13:11sanchez's only loss was one of the strangest fights we've ever had on hbo
13:21when he was completely dominating journeyman mickey ward was one punch away any kind of a punch from
13:28winning the fight ward threw a left hand to the body sanchez folded up like a beach chair
13:35look for phillips to probe for that weakness sanchez said he learned from that bout never to take
13:42anything for granted and to remember that every opponent is dangerous every second of the fight
13:50phillips tends to throw more punches particularly as the graphic showed you and larry pointed out
13:54he throws more jabs you might expect that vince's activity level can carry him
14:00on the scorecards if he's able to take the close rounds as a result of it but sanchez is probably
14:06the more accurate puncher and he throws with power as does phillips
14:12and a quick story as the two fighters get oriented here in round one referee joe cortez the third man
14:18in the ring his daughter cindy a quadriplegic since an automobile accident in june of 1996 just this week
14:24went back to work at the veterans hospital in las vegas we suspect she's watching tonight
14:30congratulations cindy best of luck on your continued career
14:36nice left to the body by sanchez
14:43big concern is that vince phillips there's no sweat on his back
14:47comes out real dry and that's not good when you're facing the punches
14:52interesting too because vince has had some super fast starts in the past he threw more than 100
15:01punches in each of the first two rounds of his battle against ike corte a couple of years ago
15:10sanchez has been effectively picking his spots here in the first round
15:14and now phillips lands a right hand over the top as sanchez tries to come back
15:20to the body phillips is now starting to find the range with his jab he's landed five or six of them
15:27in the last 30 or 40 seconds hard left hook inside by phillips landed flush sanchez took it pretty well
15:37as a matter of fact he probably won't get a chance to land a good left hook like that again
15:41since phillips this guy took it and just waved it off like a fly
15:48right hand lands for phillips
15:51and you can see the conviction with which vince throws the right hand
15:54and the left hand puts sanchez down i think the damage was done by the big right george
15:59that's it well yeah we know one thing about sanchez when he goes down he stays down
16:10first round knockout for phillips and he is the guy who looks pretty good for the first minute of the
16:16fight but once phillips landed the right hand george that was all over yeah i think it was that
16:22earlier left hook that i thought didn't make a difference made a lot of difference and this
16:26guy just came back in and landed another left hook good night irene
16:33well there were a series of hard punches we told you about vince's extraordinary punching power and
16:39he showed it there you know it's not only a wonderful story about his comeback jim but he is
16:45a real classic american boxer puncher type fighter what we saw that in about the second minute of that
16:54round he started landing his jab landing his jab landing his jab then the left hook then the right
16:59cross i mean it was a beautiful professional job we just saw here
17:07let one of the other guys go out there you'll see that the finishing punch
17:11for the knockout is a little left hook but that right cross set it up
17:25great work doesn't mean you land a left hook like he did earlier you think the guy won't come back
17:29with another but vince did and it hurt right on top of the ear well he was in that perfect counter
17:37rhythm sanchez missing with the right vince coming right back over the top with the left hand yeah
17:42some guys don't even know when they shouldn't be punchers they start trying to exchange punches
17:46now but this guy has dynamite in his hands no doubt but sometimes you don't do that with another guy who
17:51can't punch also sanchez wondering what hit him
17:57and for alfonso sanchez whose career looked so promising just a couple of fights ago
18:06he is now headed toward the opponent list it'll take him a while to work his way back to this level
18:12after being embarrassed in a first round blowout by vince phillips
18:16and now let's go to michael buffer for the official particulars
18:29ladies and gentlemen referee joe cortez reaches the count of ten at two minutes 30 seconds of the
18:37very first round the winner by knockout victory and still ibf junior welterweight champion of the world
18:45the world cool
19:01okay let her announce phillips's manager akbar muhammad shepherding him over toward larry merchant
19:08as you look at the final punch stat numbers that show that both fighters landed 14 punches
19:14phillips was slightly the more active as we told you he would be and at the end of the day the
19:19difference were the crushing power shots that phillips landed on sanchez's face and now let's go back to
19:24larry thank you very much jim congratulations vince it's vp but you are not the vice president of this
19:31division you're the president tell us about the fight well i just thank god for giving me this victory
19:38i mean they was kind of nervous all week because it's it's a coming out party for me i won't beat
19:43zoo a million dollar fight i can't get a million dollar fight so i have to keep beating these guys
19:48taking step by step in order to do it and i think this is the step two million dollar fight well let's
19:52take a look at the knockout and how it and how you brought it off tell us what you saw well i saw him
19:58he had a strong jab so i seen that he was vulnerable for my right hand and and when i pivoted to the right
20:04earlier before that i hit him with the right hand so when i went to the body with the right hand i saw
20:09the first time i came over so i did it again but this time i came back with a left hook behind it
20:14were you planning to use that body punch to set this fight up because of what happened in the mickey
20:20ward fight when he was stopped on a body punch that's the strategy for any fight uh larry you must
20:26work the body as well as the head so i started to buy to see what his effect was how he was going to
20:30approach it so when i hit him with a good body shot i seen him drop his right hand a little bit
20:35but he didn't drop his left but his left started going down on the face and that's when i knew i had
20:39the right hand over on top all right you beat costa zoo who was being groomed apparently for an eventual
20:48shot at oscar de la jolla now we don't hear of oscar de la jolla wanting to fight vince phillips
20:55what are your thoughts about that well you know my agent ackbar told me that bob bam told him at a
21:01party one night that uh oscar won't fight anybody that um he can't beat so naturally i'm a strong
21:10puncher a hooker fighter he won't fight me so obviously i won't get that fight but i won't say
21:15that i love bob bob is a good promoter and you know whatever happens come about it it's time now to say
21:21bob you told me one trip you show me the money if i knock out costa zoo i did my job been doing it for
21:26three fights now it's your time show me the money all right all right you and costa zoo had a wonderful
21:34fight one of the best fights of last year he has refused a rematch with you oscar de la jolla apparently
21:41is not interested in fighting you where do you think you have to go now well i'm gonna sit down and
21:47after this and talk to my agents but you know larry i fought like corte on hbo i'm destined for a
21:53rematch with i corte willika he won't fight me he's a little wimp but anyway willika no disrespect to
21:58you for what was in the paper i like you as a fighter i respect you as a fighter but as a person
22:02i felt you disrespect me back home in florida on the roy jones honoring and i didn't like it so i had
22:07to let you know let's get it on that's all too you came into the ring tonight at 152 pounds you put
22:13on 12 pounds between the weigh-in yesterday and the weigh-in today does that mean you are really
22:19a full-grown welterweight well larry i can't say what it really is but i'm a junior welterweight
22:24that's what i make that's what i get on the scale at that's what i'm fighting that but i believe i can
22:28now with the middle stage that i have i can handle any welterweight from delahoy to willika and to the
22:33rematch and destroy i corte that's junior welterweight all right a lot of people believe the same thing and
22:39thank you very much for a short but brilliant fight thank you jim all right thank you very
22:44much larry george you heard him talking about uh his prospects for fighting people like corte
22:49he weighs 140 and obviously at 140 he has explosive punching power most of the people he wants to fight
22:57for money's sake are at 147 or 154 you see any problem prevents moving up in those weight classes
23:03not at all because he could probably do a better job at boxing he's got good power at that weight he'll
23:08lose a bit of the power but he'll keep a lot of the skill and experience he has so he wouldn't
23:12have any problems moving up in weight all right let's take a look at the two and a half minutes of
23:15the first round from our handheld camera and as we look at it in this intensely close-up angle george
23:21you talk about his professionalism and his power and the things that vince showed in this
23:25very patient one-round destruction of sanchez yeah he allowed uh vince to get into a rhythm with his jab
23:31vince started jabbing right before he would do anything and right after he finished doing
23:35a certain thing he started with that left jab aimed down at the body and saw it maybe a little too
23:40earlier to do that kept his paw then sort of good left hook never got discouraged and tried it again
23:53sanchez had a knockout victory in 10 rounds over charles murray who had some note as a puncher and as a
24:00boxer going into that bout phillips said well murray apparently doesn't have anything left
24:05off of what happened to sanchez here you may suspect that vince has seen something correctly there
24:10at this point sanchez a little off balance but nevertheless throwing the punches he wanted to
24:15throw and landing some of them yeah he's believing in himself that he is a puncher so he wasn't going to
24:19be reluctant and trying to be too reserved he mixed it all up the way everything you're supposed to do
24:25sanchez was doing
24:36vince is keeping his as you can see his left foot pretty much right on the pivot and he keeps everything
24:41right in front of him
24:49now you see the execution of the good left jab by benson phillips
24:53seems like a small thing but it's a big thing it's right there in his face
24:56every time sanchez finish anything the jab is right back there again
25:02and when you begin to land the jab then you develop more confidence that you're going to land your other
25:07punches because if you're properly trained they blow in rhythm yeah he was he just lands a good right
25:12hand earlier then didn't seem like much but it hurt sanchez trying to chop with his right hand
25:20phillips landing a little left hook in there
25:26and phillips by keeping that left jab out there he's using and really at a good and effective fashion
25:32using his left is usually reached right hand sneaked in there yet he was out of range of
25:36being hit back boy there it was right cross little left hook sanchez down on the canvas
25:43and by midway through the count it became apparent that poncho sanchez was not going to get up only
25:50trouble with that kind of performance george it doesn't make anybody terribly anxious to fight you
25:54the next time out well you know this guy deserves that he's been around he's paid his dues he's had all
26:00of this these things going for him all along he just got on the right wrong road for a season but
26:04now he's back on track he's going to do a lot of great things i think i think it's going to be fun
26:08to watch as we continue to follow the redemption career of vince phillips recovered cocaine addict
26:14world champion boxer there's keith mullings who headlines the main event coming up next
26:19mullings defending his 154 pound title seized from terry norris against italian fighter davide
26:26chelante and you can see that keith is going to work warming up for that valve meanwhile joining