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Natasha Jonas almost dethrones Terri Harper, but a split draw sees the champion retain the WBC super-featherweight title

AFTER a superb 10 rounds, Terri Harper and Natasha Jonas’ WBC super-featherweight world title fight ended in a split draw on Friday night (August 7) at Matchroom’s HQ in Brentwood.

The first all-British women’s world title fight lived up to the occasion. Jonas, a skilled 2012 Olympian, started well, taking the centre of the ring and occupying Harper with her southpaw jab. But it was her left cross that scored heavily, landing to the body with some heft.

But Harper opened up a bad cut alongside Jonas’ right eye. Denaby’s Harper powered forward, chopping at Jonas with a high volume of punches. The weight of those attacks seemed to tire Jonas as the two fought their way into the second half of the bout.

But Jonas broke through in the eighth round, a straight one-two set up a shuddering right hook. Harper was badly shaken but she held on to her footing. Liverpool’s Jonas connected with the cleaner, heavier shots but Harper dug in as she battled back on to the front foot.

The judges did not find a winner. Ian John-Lewis scored 96-94
for Harper, John Lathem 96-95 for Jonas and Mark Lyson scored 95-95. The split
draw means Harper retains her WBC super-featherweight title.

On the undercard Anthony Fowler handed Adam Harper a sustained beating, which referee Ian John-Lewis halted it at 1-34 of the seventh but it should have stopped two rounds earlier. In the fourth round Fowler stunned Harper, a double jab setting up an excellent right cross. He hammered Harper along the ropes, the damage clear. Harper appealed for another round but it was a request that should not have been granted.

Liverpool’s Fowler, in his second bout with new trainer Shane McGuigan, looked relaxed, particularly sharp in the opening two rounds here. He held his lead left low and loose, but quick, hard jabs thumped into Harper throughout the early going.

His attacks to the body seemed to drift low, certainly to referee John-Lewis who deducted a point in the second round and sternly warned Fowler after giving Tewkesbury’s Harper another break to recover from a low blow in the sixth round. But that aside, Fowler had performed well.

Bournemouth’s Chris Billam-Smith defended his Commonwealth cruiserweight title with fearsome power. Before the first round was out, chopping left hooks, virtually from within a clinch, saw Nathan Thorley sink to the canvas. Heavy rights forced Thorley down again in the second round. The Welshman recovered himself momentarily, slugging Billam-Smith with a one-two. He fired back but Billam-Smith unleashed a vicious curving right to floor Thorley. Badly hurt, Thorley had to be stopped by referee Mark Lyson at 2-05 of the second.

Johnny Philips charged headlong into Leeds prospect Hopey Price, but piled into clinches rather than landing with any great effect. Opening space up between them, Price drilled him with long combinations and took a 60-54 points win for referee Ian John-Lewis after six rounds.

We continue to bring you old Volleyball magazine and VolleyballMag.com stories from our archives. This one, from August 2013, is written by the inimitable DJ Roueche.

What’s it like to travel around the country getting paid to play music and watch the best beach volleyball players in the world? Well, over the next couple months Im going to do my best to give you a behind the scenes look at what it’s like being the official DJ for the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

I wasn’t at the Salt Lake City event, as one of my best friends was getting married that weekend, so this weekend’s Manhattan Beach Open was my first AVP event of the year. Not a bad way to start the season, that’s for sure. IMG, who put on the event for the AVP, decided to go with an old-school vibe. They stopped short of making the pros play on a big court or using sideout scoring, but they did away with any grandstands, making it sand seating/standing only.

I also noticed a plethora of neon clothing roaming around the venue and rumor had it that Brittany Hochevar had a one piece bathing suit that she was prepared to play in, but to the best of my knowledge it didn’t happen. Additionally, in order to facilitate the bleacher-less spectating, the tournament organizers rotated center court slightly so it ran at a 45 degree angle out from the pier, where the rest of the courts ran parallel to the ocean. There was some grumbling, prior to the main draw, from the players about the main court being different than the rest, but once the tournament started, I didnt hear anyone complain about it.

As for me, I tend to have one of the best seats in the house, elevated off the sand with nothing obstructing my view of the main court. The DJ/announcer area is also always a safe haven for the players to watch a match without being bombarded by fans. Not that the players mind the fans, but sometimes they just want to watch a match just like everyone else.

I like to start playing music about 30 minutes before play begins each day. The players are usually on the court by that time stretching and getting ready to warm up. Plus a 30-minute window gives me some time to get the music going and building the energy to the first match.

I’ve always found the music I decide to play in the mornings of an event to be the most difficult for me throughout the day. It’s usually anywhere from 7:30-9 a.m. when I start playing music and because of the time of day, I don’t want to play really high energy music, but I also don’t want to put everyone back to sleep. The players need energy from me, but I don’t want to play anything that would feel more appropriate at a club at midnight. The solution Ive found is to play songs with a reggae vibe. It’s happy music, has some energy to it, and usually doesn’t annoy fans after they have just rolled out of bed.

This Manhattan Beach Open was different for me as I only played music from the ’80’s and ’90’s all day Saturday. Since the staff, players, and fans really got behind the old school vibe of the event, I thought it would be fun to do the same. Sunday I had planned on mixing up the decades of music a little more, but people were so into the ’80’s and ’90’s music I had played Saturday so I decided to stay with that theme a little more on Sunday than I had originally planned.

Even Rosie’s Raiders kept yelling at me to play ’80’s music. Even though their song suggestions weren’t appropriate for the moments of the match, their heckling let me know that they cared. I take it as a sign of respect when I get heckled by the Raiders.

The most appropriate moment of the weekend for the ’80’s- and ’90’s-themed music was when we had the Legends Match on main court right before the women’s final. They played four on four, with Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd on one side of the court versus Sinjin Smith, who picked up Eric Fonoimoana as his partner, on the other. It rounded out nicely as Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson were placed on team Smith/Fonoi with Nick Lucena and Tri Bourne hopping on the Dodd/Hov team.

I sprinkled in some Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen with some cuts off the Karate Kid Soundtrack (Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins and You’re The Best by Joe Bean Esposito) to really make the legends feel old, although I’m sure running around on the sand made them feel old enough.

Fonoi, aka The Body, looked like he could be a top player on tour today. I already told him I have a good cut shot from the right if he needs a partner for his comeback. The best part of the Legends match was listening to all the dialogue between the players, well, mostly from Hovland. Hov would not only yell at the other team, but also his own teammates, especially Tri Bourne, who looked a little out of place at first, but settled in just fine. Hov even took to yelling at the tournament director Matt Gage for messing up the score. There may have been a ball or two thrown Gage’s way as well.

The Legends were scheduled to play only one game to 21, rally score, but since the game seemed to go by quickly, and Hov/Dodd lost, Hov asked the crowd if they could play one more. Obviously the crowd said yes, and Hov/Dodd managed to win the bonus game. I guess well have to wait until next year for game three.

Going into this tournament, I’d say Jen Kessy and April Ross were the favorites. Not only were they seeded the highest and coming off a victory in Salt Lake City a week before, but knowing that their partnership is coming close to an end, in a perfect world, they would get their names on the pier together. However, they didn’t get their story book ending, losing to Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat in the semifinals to finish third. This was Fopma’s third Manhattan Beach final in a row and I’m sure she was feeling like it was her time to win it all.

However, she came up against Whitney Pavlik, who was also in her third consecutive final, but had won the last two. Whitney had a new partner this time in three-time Olympic gold-medalist, Kerri Walsh Jennings, who has her name on the pier five times already.

Game (or set) one was close with Whitney and Kerri coming out on top, 22-20, but there was a little controversy towards the end of the game as it appeared that Kerri came under the net and got her leg tangled with Fopma, preventing Fopma from getting to a ball she probably could have had. Regardless if she could have gotten to the ball, and/or if Fopma/Sweat would have scored a point on that play (they were leading at this time), they never seemed to get their mojo back. Eventually they went on to lose the match, making Pavlik a three-time consecutive Manhattan Beach champion, and Walsh Jennings a six-time career winner.

On the men’s side, consistent with the old-school feel, Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer teamed up after ending their longtime partnership a few years ago and Fuerbringer retiring in March to take the assistant coaching job with the men’s indoor national team.

Story goes that Casey Jennings called Matt and asked if he’d play one more Manhattan Beach open with him. Fortunately, Matt was available. After winning their last match on Saturday, Fuerbringer jetted right over to Irvine to coach the national team in their intrasquad scrimmage. I happened to walk by Matt Sunday morning before his first match and I asked him how he was feeling. Without hesitation or a fake look on his face he said he felt great. And apparently he did as the next time I saw him, he was flying all over the court in the final. It’s difficult enough to beat Phil and Rosie once in a tournament, but to do it twice in the same day and the second time in the final of the Manhattan Beach Open, is quite a feat.

Casey had a look of determination on his face all weekend and Matt looked like he was out there just playing for the love of the game again. Casey always seems to play well against Phil and that may have factored into Phil and Rosie mostly serving Matt, or maybe they thought since he hadn’t been on the sand much that hed eventually get tired. Regardless of the reason, they didnt really have an answer for him. Matt did his job at the net, and if he didnt block a ball, Casey was there to dig it. Matt seemed to live by the hard angle/cut shot all match and both his and Casey’s transition setting really was the difference in the match, and in the entire tournament.

It was my first tournament in 2003 when Casey and Matt made it to their first final in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where they lost to Fonoi and Dax Holdren. I was also there in 2004 when they finally won in Belmar, N.J., against Adam Jewell and Jake Gibb. I DJ’ed both of their weddings and now I’m happy to say I was there when they won the Manhattan Beach Open together.

I remember specific matches throughout my 10-year career DJ’ing on tour, but a lot of times I can’t remember the city since center court pretty much always looks the same.

However, this year’s Manhattan Beach Open will be an easy one for me to remember. With no stadium, I was able to see the entire pier with an amazing view of the ocean and watched two great friends earn the honor of having their names on the pier as a team, deservingly so.

From what you wrote in the beginning, my first thought went to the P2 or a Spieler A09.1 (maybe P09.1, but I didn’t have the chance to try that one yet), but the A3 might be a good fit, too, but on the lighter side.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the recent Yonex rackets well enough, but the Babolat Satelite Essential is very close to the A3. Slightly more flexible maybe…

Price wise, the A3 and P8 are around the same?! That’s insane! If you can get a P7 for below 100$ (around 2,500,000?), it’s worth a shot. You say you like the colors and the specs, but be aware that it’s a compact head racket, judging from your first post, I don’t know if that would be the best choice. Do you hit the sweet spot consistently?

With a 30$ difference between the Spieler and the P8/P7, I’d go with the higher quality and better feedback of the latter ones. I prefer the compact head though.

edit:
Even with much higher tension than they usually use, not many people disliked my P8s when trying them, even when they’re used to lighter, more flexible, regular head sized rackets and don’t have great technique. I never tried the P7, but judging from the spec (in comparison to the P8), I do not think you need to be too shy about that either.

One of the most heroic finals in Japan was the 2003 edition of the All Japan Championships between Kosei Inoue and Keiji Suzuki. Both legends, both are involved in the men’s All Japan mens team leading up to the Tokyo Olympic Games. This competition is held in open weight and turned out to be a legendary tournament and also marked the last match of another legendary fighter Shinichi Shinohara.

The open Weight class is known as the most prestigious judo event in Japan. Yasuhiro Yamashita, the current AJJF President and JOC President captured most All Japan titles with nine consecutive titles from 1977-1985, what an icon he is.

In 2003 the Japanese heavyweights excelled with names of Kosei Inoue, Keiji Suzuki, Shinichi Shinohara and Yasuyuki Muneta.

Inoue took the All japan title from Shinohara who dominated the event from 1998-2000 in the year where he took the Olympic silver medal against David Douillet in an epic Olympic final. From 2001 it was the 2000 Olympic Champion U100kg Kosei Inoue who competed successfully among the heavyweights and won the tournament in 2001 and 2002. Shinohara was eager to beat new king Inoue but lost to Suzuki and announced his retirement.

The Nippon Budokan, the original Venue of the 1964 Olympic Games and 2019 World Championships always delivers a special atmosphere. The competition is held in one mat only and the crowd was delivered a spectacular field with athlete who knew each-other from their childhood.

This competition was decisive for the Japanese selection event for the 2003 World Championships which were held in Osaka later that year.

Favourite for the title was Kosei Inoue who wanted to compete in Athens and being selected for the 2003 World Championships would give him a leap on competitors. Inoue was the champion of the last two years in Japan and going for his 3rd consecutive All Japan title. He was the reigning Olympic Champion U100kg.

The coming man was Keiji Suzuki who wanted to claim his first al Japan title and he wanted to qualify for the Athens Olympic Games +100kg. 2003 should be HIS year as he won the Kano Cup in January and the Tournoi de Paris in February. In the beginning of April he won All Japan Championships in the category U100kg, but this was the open weight tournament.

Yasuyuki Muneta was in shape as well. Same like Suzuki he won the Kano Cup and Tournoi de Paris in the beginning of the year but took a silver medal at 2002 All Japan Championship. He had never won this open weight Al japan title.

Shinichi Shinohara was the three time All Japan Champion 1998-2000 and World Champion in 1999 of both +100kg division and open weight. He felt bestolen in Sydney when he doubtfully lost to Douillet.

The All Japan championship was held three weeks after the National championships by weight categories and Suzuki defeated Inoue in Fukuoka by koka and was at form.

Watch the video with great commentary of the finallists Inoue and Suzuki. A great review by the All Japan Judo federation introduced by Hideki Furuta, one of the JudoInside partners with his well-informed website eJudo. It turned out to be one of the best finals spoiling the crowd with great ashi-waza and battles.

The result of the event: both finallists were selected for the 2003 Worlds in Osaka, Inoue U100kg and didn’t disappoint, he won his third World title. Suzuki won in the open weight world title and the next year he was crowned Olympic Champion U100kg in Athens. Despite his height Yasuyuki Muneta dominated the heavyweights +100kg in Osaka and took the third male world title for Japan. All three men stood on the podium at the All Japan Championships.

Review the All Japan Championships with unique commentary of the finallists.

Watch the video below or click here