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Weigh In for the Tsagouris vs.
Urbaez bout
by Rick McLean
©photo by Durell Wambolt
March 10, 2005
(MAR 10) Today I covered the weigh in for tonight’s event being held at the
Mississauga Grand Banquet Hall, at the Quality Inn Hotel, in
Mississauga Canada. There are five matches scheduled on tonight’s card. The
third match of the evening will feature Canada’s own Sandy Tsagouris,
2-0 (1KO) and she will be fighting Austria Urbaez 6-3-1 (2KO) of
the Dominican Republic.
Tsagouris, 24 years old, stands 5’5 inches tall and weighed in at
124 pounds. Urbaez, 25 years old, stands 5’6 inches tall and weighed
in at 126 pounds. I had an opportunity to interview both ladies
after the weigh in to discuss their thoughts on tonight’s match and
how their careers are going.
Tsagouris is coming off a first round TKO win over Monique Velasquez
last September and has made no major changes in her work ethic or training
techniques. On the other hand, Urbaez is coming off a 10 round unanimous
decision loss to Silke Weickenmeier which also took place last
September.
My first interview was with Sandy Tsagouris. Tsagouris is currently the
manger of Rhinos Gym in Toronto. Sandy has done research on her opponent and
knows that she can go the distance. With that said, her game plan for
tonight is to go the distance with Urbaez. Since her last match, Sandy has
spent many hours in the gym working on technique. She knows that Urbaez has
a slight height advantage but has trained hard to compensate for that and
plans to use her best punch, the “overhand right” when given the
opportunity.
When asked whether she was concerned about going the four round distance,
Tsagouris replied “No, not at all; I feel that I am way past four rounds
right now.” Sandy’s short term goal is to go the four full rounds and
win tonight. In addition, Sandy wants to fight as much as possible this
year. When asked about any future matches, Tsagouris stated that she would
like to box IWBF World Champion Lisa Brown. Sandy has had amateur
experience against Brown and feels she is ready for the challenge.
Tsagouris has no problem finding sparring partners at her gym. She prefers
sparring with guys so she can “let loose” on them. Sandy’s main concern with
women’s boxing as a whole as well as in the Toronto and surrounding area is
the lack of recognition and media exposure. Tsagouris was also concerned
about the detrimental effects that some boxers cause the sport. For example,
women who dodge “tough” matches, use their father’s legacy to gain fame, or
those who lack skill but use their looks to gain notoriety. She hopes that
this will change in the near future so the sport can grow and flourish.
I was able to speak with Austria Urbaez through her interpreter Werner
Marti, who represents Millennium Box Promotion. Urbaez lives and trains in
the Dominican Republic. She likes Canada very much but is uneasy about the
cold. Austria does not want to get sick so she has stayed mostly inside the
hotel because it has a gym she can use as well as other facilities.
When asked what she knew about Sandy Tsagouris, Urbaez replied that she did
not know much about her but she came here tonight to win by knocking
Tsagouris out. Urbaez plans to knock Tsagouris out in round 2 or 3 using her
favourite combination, “the left jab, right jab, followed by a right
uppercut”. Since her last outing Urbaez has changed her technique as well as
building more strength and speed.
When asked if the scheduled 4 round distance posed any problems Austria
stated that she has no problem going the 4 and wished tonight’s match was at
least 6 rounds in length. According to Urbaez, the 6 month layoff has not
affected her at all because she is always training and definitely wants more
matches this year. Urbaez stated that after beating Tsagouris tonight she
would like to fight for either the WIBF or the GBU Intercontinental titles.
In addition, Urbaez wants to box Germany’s Regina Halmich sometime this
year.
Both women were very gracious and I would like to thank them for giving me
the opportunity to speak with them.
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