With a number of Asian fighters fighting on Asian soil this weekend we may have been forgiven a little for forgetting about this weekend's international action. Instead however we've actually become rather excited about it and more interestingly is the fact it takes place over several countries, proving that boxing is starting to really get underway for the new year. For most boxing fans the key fight is in the Light Heavyweight division where we get 3 really interesting bouts all on the same card in Quebec, Canada. The biggest of those Light Heavyweight bouts is a brilliant match up between Jean Pascal (28-2-1, 17) and Lucien Bute (31-1, 24). Although the bout has the NABF title on the line it's actually a bout that doesn't need any belt at all to sell it with it being the biggest bout one could make in Canada. The fighters have shown a dislike of each other, their fans have shown a general resentment of the other man and the fight it's self is as close to a 50-50 contest as we could have. To be frankly honest this is what domestic level boxing is all about and we really appreciate the promoters for putting it together. On paper the winner of Pascal/Bute should walk in to a bout with WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, though we'd not be hugely shocked if WBO champion Sergey Kovalev managed to get one of the two men in his next fight as well. The other Light Heavyweight bouts on the card include 3 very interesting unbeaten fighters. The most notable unbeaten man is Russian's Artur Beterbiev (3-0, 3) who takes on the tough Gabriel Lecrosnier (16-25-3, 1) in what should be a bout to get rounds under Beterbiev's belt. The other bout, an all-unbeaten clash between Eleider Alvarez (13-0, 8) and Andrew Gardiner (10-0, 6) is a bout we love the look of and should be a thriller for as long as it lasts. One final bout from this Canadian card that we want to talk about is a Heavyweight bout between Cuba's Mike Perez (20-0, 12) and the once beaten Carlos Takam (29-1, 23). Perez, who fought in a tragic bout with Russian Magomed Abdusalamov late last year, will be hoping that that bout doesn't have lingering effects on him, though if it does he could well find his career unwinding here against the dangerous Takam in a bout that does scream "must watch". Outside of Canada we have a several female bouts that interests us. The most notable is the Super Bantamweight bout in Mexico between Yazmin Rivas (28-8, 9) and Calixta Silgado (11-2-2, 8). This bout, which shares the headline of the card in Jalisco alongside Fernando Lumacad's bout with Horacio Garcia, is only a secondary title bout though really it should be for a world belt with Rivas having been cruelly robbed of her title late last year. In Chile we have another female Super Bantamweight bout with the unbeaten Carolina Rodriguez (10-0, 1) defending her WIBA title against Brazil's Simone Da Silva Duarte (14-4, 6). Rodriguez, Chile's first ever world champion, is unlikely to really have the big bouts her talent deserves but will be happy in being a national boxing hero. The final interesting female bout is in Argentina where Monica Silvina Acosta (19-0-2, 5) defends her WBA Light Welterweight title against Ana Laura Esteche (9-3-1, 2). This should be a very easy bout for the highly talented Acosta, though unfortunately she doesn't have too many options in her division and this bout may well be as good as it gets for 2014. Back to the men, the most interesting bout, other than the ones in Canada, is in Hermosillo, Mexico, as the very highly regarded Felipe Orucuta (28-2, 23) takes on Efrain Perez (16-4, 11). Orucuta, the WBO #1 at Super Flyweight, will be eying up a potential rematch with Omar Andres Narvaez, the WBO champion who beat him via a split decision last year. Of course Orucuta isn't the only man looking to fight Narvaez with Daiki Kameda said to be angling for a fight with him and a loss for the Mexican puncher would see him falling from graces with the WBO and a door being left open to various Asian fighters. Of course we believe a few Asian fight fans will be tuning in to the Hermosillo show to see the potentially explosive encounter between Marco Demecillo and David Sanchez in what is potentially the best fight of the weekend. We believe that's all the big international bouts for this weekend and hopefully we'll see a few of the bouts living up to their potential.
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The biggest Asian name in the Featherweight division, Chris John, may have recently retired but that hasn't stopped the division from continuing in his absence. The most recent example of that was this past Saturday night where Belgian Alexander Alexander Miskirtchian (23-2-1, 9) took a narrow victory over Frenchman Sofiane Takoucht (27-3-1, 12) and claimed his opportunity for an IBF world title fight with Evgeny Gradovich. The bout, the second meeting between the two men, was just as close and hard fought as their first bout. Back in September 2011 Miskirtchian traveled to France and took a highly debated split decision over Takoucht to claim the European Featherweight title. This time around it was Takoucht who did the traveling and it was again the Frenchman on the unfortunate end of a very close and hard fought bout which could just as easily have gone the other way. Although no belt was on the line for this fight, with the European belt being given up recently by Miskirtchian, it was still a major fight with the winner getting an IBF #1 ranking at Featherweight. As a result not only does it effect the unbeaten Gradovich but could also effect Hozumi Hasegawa, Chonlatarm Piriyapinyo and Akifumi Shimoda who are all top 15 ranked by the IBF. There really isn't a lot of action in the wider world this coming weekend, though we have found a bout that interests us as fans. That's a bout in Belgium that sees the promising, and very highly regarded Alexander Miskirtchian (23-2-1, 9) fighting against Sofiane Takoucht (27-2-1, 12). On paper this looks like a brilliant European level Featherweight contest, however there is more to it than simply honour. The winner of the Miskirtchian/Takoucht bout will not just improve their record but will be set for an IBF Featherweight world title bout with Russian champion Evgeny Gradovich (18-0, 9). If you look at the IBF's rankings you'll notice they currently don't have a #1 or #2 in the Featherweight division. Their highest ranked fighter is Miskirtchian at #3 with Takoucht closely behind at #5. As the organisation have a very particular rule on how to get a #1 or #2 ranking this bout is a very important one and would see the winner filling the #1 slot. Of course this is important not just for the men in action and not just for Gradovich but also for a number of Oriental fighters, including the #8 ranked Hozumi Hasegawa (33-4, 15) and the #9 ranked Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (48-1, 31) who would both likely see a possible fight with Gradovich pushed back. Oddly despite his ranking at the weight we don't expect to see Hasegawa even contemplating a fight against Gradovich with his attention more focused on the Super Bantamweight champions than the Featherweight belt holders. This past Saturday may not have seen any fights in Asia though it did see some results that may have interested a number of Asian fans and fighters. The most notable bout of the day was in Buenos Aires, Argentina where Daniela Romina Bermudez (16-2-2, 5) claimed the WBO female Super Flyweight title. Bermudez stopped Peruvian opponent Linda Laura Lecca (8-2-1-3, 3) to claim the title and possibly paint a target on her back for a number of Japanese fighters. Whilst we'd expect Bermudez to do all she can to avoid the fearsome Naoko Fujioka, the WBC champion, bouts with any of Naoko Yamaguchi, Tomoko Kawanishi or Aniya Seki would be intriguing bouts. Unfortunately we don't imagine any of those bouts to happen, despite the fact that Yamaguchi was, at one point, scheduled to fight Bermudez in 2013, as seen in the poster opposite. Whilst the fight in Argentina was a world title fight, despite possible views on female boxing, a card in Mexico had an equally important contest on it. This bout, in Jalisco, saw Ganigan Lopez (24-5, 15), a former victim of Denver Cuello's, defeating former IBF Minimumweight champion Mario Rodriguez (16-9-4, 11). Rodriguez, who was beaten for his world title by Katsunari Takayama, In all honesty Lopez dominated the fight and took a very clear decision over his compatriot as he claimed the vacant WBC International Light Flyweight title and opened the door to a world title fight with Adrian Hernandez. Although this result may seem like one with little connection to Asia it's actually a very important result. With a number of Asian fighters world ranked by the WBC at Light Flyweight this could see their chance for a voluntary title fight pushed backwards. So this could effect the likes of Jonathan Taconing, Shin Ono and Naoya Inoue who are all highly ranked. The year may have only just kicked off but we've already seen the first world title fight of the year and we've also seen the first clear moment of controversy of 2014. Fighting in the US, Cuba's Rances Barthelemy (20-0, 13), best known to us for stopping Fahsai Sakkreerin, challenged Dominican Argenis Mendez (21-3-1, 11). Mendez, who started the year as the IBF Super Featherweight title, was a highly ranked fighter. Despite the fact Mendez had struggled with Afghanistan's Arash Usmanee, he was still a clear favourite over Barthelemy with his experience and excellent skills expected to see him over the line against Barthelemy, who had also struggled with Usmanee. The favourite tag however didn't help Mendez who found the power of Barthelmy too much. The power of Barthelemy was the difference between the two men in the opening round as he momentarily buckled the knees of the defending champion. The power was again felt late in round 2 as Mendez was dropped for the first time in his career. The champion never really recovered and Barthelemy let his hands go freely landing a couple of clean shots clearly after the bell. Those 2 shots were all it took to knock out Mendez. Although Mendez did come in to the bout as the champion it was clear, from the first time he took a left hook that he couldn't cope with the power of the challenger. The ending may have been controversial though it did seem somewhat inevitable with the fact Mendez had been shaken and dropped in less than 6 minutes of action. From an Asian point of view this is a massively important result. Firstly for Arash Usmanee, the #9 ranked IBF fighter. The Canadian based Afghan is surely going to be looking for a rematch with Barthelemy a man many felt he beat and with the added experience he has since that bout there would be a sizable figure backing him for the upset. For Masao Nakamura, the IBF #6 ranked fight, this result would likely see him licking his lips for a potential clash with Barthelemy in what would be a flat out shoot out. And, finally, tough Filipino Michael Farenas, the IBF #12 ranked fighter, would likely view himself as a potential challenger and he could well be the most likely to get the shot out of the 3 Asian ranked challengers. Away from the challengers this result is certainly not a bad one for WBA champion Takashi Uchiyama or WBC champion Takashi Miura. The two Japanese champions, who are both set on unifying their belts together, will know they are a league, if not 2 above Barthelemy and will also know that if they fought Mendez they'd have taken him out. In all honesty, Daiki Kaneko is the big loser here, had he targeted the IBF title and performed as he did against Uchiyama he'd be a world champion right now and if he could get Barthelemy in the ring, despite not being IBF ranked, he'd need to be favoured there as well. Note-There is talk about this result being appealed due to the shots coming after the bell. In all honesty we don't see the appeal actually over-turning the result. Just a day after the first male title fight of the new year we get the first female title fight of 2014 as Argentinian Daniela Romina Bermudez (15-2-2, 4), pictured, takes on popular Peruvian Linda Laura Lecca (8-1-1-3, 3) in a battle for the vacant WBO Super Flyweight title. The title, which was last defended in October 2012 by Carolina Raquel Duer, is of course in the division that Japan has a number of notable fighters, including the incredible Naoko Fujioka. Sure we'd fancy Fujioka to do a job on either Bermudez or Lecca the winner of this bout would become a name that Fujioka would certainly have on her radar. Japanese fans may, ever so slightly, recognise the name of Bermudez. She was, in 2013, scheduled to fight the then WBC champion Naoko Yamaguchi before the fight fell through just days prior. That could well mean that a victory here for the Argentinian may see her become a target for Yamaguchi, or even OPBF champion Tomoko Kawanishi. Lecca, who will be the under-dog going in to this fight, is the naturally bigger fighter though will be the lesser experienced fighter and the one who will have the crowd against her. With the skills she has though, this could be competitive. As well as the female fight there is a second bout of note for Japanese fans as Mario "Dragoncito" Rodriguez (16-8-4, 11), the former IBF Minimumweight champion, fights for the 3rd time since being decrowned by the excellent Katsunari Takayama. Rodriguez, trying to re-establish himself on the world stage, will be be fighting fellow Mexican Ganigan Lopez (23-5, 15) in a bout for the vacant WBC Continental Americas Light Flyweight title. Whilst Japanese fans will be familiar with Rodriguez it's the Filipino's who will recognise the name of Lopez with Ganigan having been stopped by Danver Cuello in 2012 before defeating Mateo Handig in August last year. The winner of the All-Mexican fight would become a top WBC contender at 108lbs. This will be of interest to Jonathan Taconing, Shin Ono, Naoya Inoue and Nethra Sasiprapa who are all top 10 ranked by the WBC and may need to face the winner to get their hands on WBC champion Adrian Hernandez. Friday January 3rd-IBF Super Featherweight title up for grabs in the US as a new year kicks off1/3/2014 For boxing fans around the world it's fair to say 2013 ended with a pair of Super Featherweight title fights in Japan. Fans worldwide who turned their attention to the East will have seen both the WBA and WBC Super Featherweight champions retain their titles in Tokyo. For WBC champion Takashi Miura life was easy as he destroyed, dismantled and really beat up Dante Jardon. For WBA champion Takashi Uchiyama things were bit more difficult though he did enough to see off the spirited challenge of Daiki Kaneko. The new year interestingly kicks off with yet more action in the Super Featherweight division as IBF champion Argenis Mendez (21-2-1, 11) looks to begin 2014 in style. Mendez, who successfully retained against Arash Usmanee last year, will be seeking his second defense as he takes on unbeaten Cuban Rances Barthelemy (19-0, 12) who was also given a genuinely tough test by Usmaneee in 213. Mendez is widely considered the weakest of the 4 champions at Super Featherweight though he's a wonderfully skilled fighter with excellent defensive moves, and fantastic counter boxing ability. When he unleashes however Mendez is a solid puncher and hits harder than his record would indicate. Barthelemy, much like the champion, is considered to be excellent defensively though can strike with the best of them, as he did against Thailand's Fahsai Sakkreerin late last year. At his best he's an intelligent and rangy fighter though like many Cuban fighters he can allow rounds to slip away by simply turning off. That's unlikely to be a hindrance here against Mendez who often does the same. |
InternationalWe know that not every fight involves an Asian fighter but a lot of fights do affect Asian fighter. As a result we've decided to add this new section to Asian boxing where we look at selected International bouts. Archives
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