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(AUG 23) LINCOLN, R.I.---Sandy
Tsagouris vividly remembers the venue of her last fight, the
peculiarly dubbed KoenigPlast arena, situated in a corner of
Germany, known as Nordrhein-Westfalen. Tsagouris, unbeaten at the
time, endured her toughest night of her four-year career, untimely
dropping a controversial ten round decision to unbeaten German Ina
Menzer for the WIBF featherweight title as well as the vacant WBC
Female featherweight championship.
Last night however, Tsagouris, a 27 year old Toronto, Ontario native
returned to the square for the first time since her emotional loss
last March, and this time the venue as well as the final result was
decidedly more to her liking.
Tsagouris, the latest stable acquisition of Rhode Island promoter
Jimmy Burchfield, and her opponent former 2007 Pan American Games
champion Adawirky Lopez thoroughly entertained the crowd at the
northern Rhode Island, Twin Rivers Events Center, in a six round
featherweight bout that Tsagouris won in a 58-55. 58-55, 58-55
unanimous decision. Tsagouris improved to 8-1 (3KO) with the
victory, Lopez dropped to 1-1.
"I lost my last pro fight so I didn't know what to expect," said
Tsagouris following the win. "She was a real tough opponent. I
didn't know what to expect out of her. She only had one pro fight
but a lot of amateur experience. In this situation you don't know
what she's going to come out with, really, you don't know what
anyone is going to come out with."
Tsagouris hit the scales at 128 for her latest outing, while Lopez,
a Dominican Republic native who currently boxes out of Tampa,
Florida weighted in at 126.
At the outset of the fight, Tsagouris, of Greek descent displayed
the power and killer instinct that earned her the tag of "Lil Tyson"
in her go-around with Lopez. Just a dozen seconds into the fight,
Tsagouris connected with a short, quick right that briefly stunned
Lopez, moving her back a step. But Lopez, with more than 50 amateur
outings to her credit responded well in the middle rounds. As
evidenced- In the third, Lopez rocked Tsagouris with a hard right
hook. And although Tsagouris scored by going to the body in the
latter rounds but her defensive acumen lacked the sharpness that she
displayed in the beginning of the match-up. Still, Lopez who
increased her rate of aggressiveness as the bout progressed fell
into the syndrome of 'a little too late.'
"I wanted to come out very strong," said Tsagouris who admitted to
using the Menzer result as motivation heading into her latest bout.
"Training's been up and down for us. I didn't know what to expect. I
had a few obstacles in my way, it was tough, but I came out with the
win which I'm happy for."
"It's tough coming back from a loss like that," said Tsagouris's
trainer, Billy Martin. "We had a lot of up and downs during our
training (leading up to the fight). She had a chest infection a
while back-I'm not making any excuses, she's a tough bird, but it
did set her back mentally but I thought she performed pretty well
for not having fought since March and taking a couple of fights
off."
A head but in the fourth round produced a small gash to Tsagouris's
left eye- a gash that ultimately required a few sutures. The result
of which left Tsagouris's September 27 scheduled fight with
Maria-Jose Nunez at the Powerade Center in Brampton, Ontario up for
grabs. 'We have to see about the cut though," said Tsagouris.
"She did her thing and it was important that we got the win," Martin
said.
Fellow Canadian and World Champion Jamie Clampitt worked the corner
for Tsagouris. "Actually Jimmy saw me fight against the World
Champion (Menzer) and she beat me on a controversial decision. He
thought I did a good job and wanted to bring me in. I chose to go
with him and CES, and I'm real happy to fight here."
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