Huge thanks once again to Eric Armit who has provided us with his weekly report for the last weke in the world of boxing
January 20 Philadelphia, USA: Feather: Eric Hunter (20-3) W PTS 10 Rene Alvarado (21-4). Super Light: Mike Perez (22-1-2) W PTS 10 Miguel Acosta (29-8-2). Welter: Ray Serrano (20-2) W PTS 6 Jerome Rodriguez (6-2-3). Light: Lamont Roach (6-0) W TKO 4 Herbert Quartey (12-11). Hunter vs. Alvarado Hunter gets unanimous decision as he outboxes lanky Nicaraguan Alvarado. Switch-hitter Hunter started the fight as a southpaw and Alvarado was able to find him with long rights in the first round. Hunter was boxing with a low guard, avoiding Alvarado’s shots by swaying out of range and bobbing and weaving leaving him inside range with both hands free to punch. Alvarado was throwing more but Hunter was quicker and more accurate and began to pocket the rounds. As heads bumped together both fighters were cut early, Hunter outside the left eye and Alvarado over the right eye, but neither cut was a factor. Hunter shook Alvarado with a left hook in the fifth and was letting his hands go more but mainly head hunting. Alvarado was finding Hunter a difficult target due to the local’s excellent upper body movement but he stuck with the job and was always competitive with Hunter tending to fight in spurts with fast combinations. After Hunter had a good eighth Alvarado banged back to take the ninth but any chance he had disappeared in the last as Hunter scored heavily with both hands throughout the round. Scores 97-93 twice and 98-92 although it looked a little closer than that. Home town fighter “The Outlaw” Hunter, 28, has lost twice, both times by disqualification. Once you can put down to carelessness but two is stupidity for a fighter with his talents. He is a quick, slick boxer with excellent skills. He was National PAL champion and beat Diego Magdaleno in that tournament but failed at the final stages of the US Olympic Trials losing to Roberto Benitez in the box-off. He is rated No 8(7) in the IBF ratings. Alvarado, 25, had height and reach over Hunter but was just not accurate enough with his punching. A former Nicaraguan super bantamweight and WBC Silver featherweight champion he lost a biggie when being outpointed by Rocky Juarez in May but had rebounded by winning the WBC International title with a victory over Juan Pablo Sanchez in October and was rated No 15 by the WBC. Perez vs. Acosta Perez takes close unanimous decision over Venezuelan veteran Acosta in an entertaining scrap. The visitor had the better of the early rounds as he used hard counters to catch Perez who was coming forward to try to work inside. By the end of the fourth Acosta looked a likely winner as he seemed to score with enough counters to edge 3 of the 4 rounds and also inflicting cuts over both of Perez’s eyes. However that only seemed to spur Perez to greater effort and the fifth was a big round for him as his pressure tactics were paying off and he also took the sixth. Acosta was on his way to winning the seventh when a powerful left jab from Perez put Acosta down. He disputed the knockdown but a 10-9 round to Acosta suddenly became a 10-8 round for Perez. Acosta fought back hard to edge the eighth but despite a worsening cut over his right eye Perez took the ninth as Acosta was rocked by another left. The tenth saw both fighters battling furiously to swing things their way and with his left eye closing Perez decided matters by flooring Acosta with left hook which effectively ended any chance of the Venezuelan had of getting the decision. Scores 96-93 twice and 97-94 all for Perez with those two 10-8 rounds making the difference in a great little fight. Newark’s Michael Angelo “The Artist” Perez, 24, lost on a sixth round retirement against Omar Figueroa in 2012 but has since gone 7-0,1ND with this being his best win so far and the WBA have him rated No 7. Acosta, 36, a former secondary WBA lightweight champion, has slipped to 5 losses in his last 6 fights but all against high quality opposition. Serrano vs. Rodriguez Serrano returns to action with a points win over Rodriguez. After only one fight in two years Serrano found Rodriguez a good test. Serrano had the better of things over the first two rounds but Rodriguez had a big third as he scored with a series of southpaw lefts. Serrano was back in control in the fourth catching Rodriguez with a number of straight rights and boxing his way to victory. Scores 59-55 from all three judges. The 25-year-olod “Tito”, a former World Cadet bronze medalist, won his first 18 fights but was then de-railed by consecutive losses to Karim Mayfield in 2012 and Emmanuel Taylor in January 2013 before returning to action last November. Now 2 draws and 2 losses in his last 4 fights for Rodriguez. Roach vs. Quartey Former amateur star Roach destroys Ghanaian Quartey in four rounds. The talented 19-year-old floored Quartey with a right in the first round and had him hurt in the second and the third before ending it in the fourth. After two knockdowns in the round the referee stepped in to save Quartey. Teenager Roach was National PAL, NGG and United States champion as an amateur so is one to note. Quartey, 26, suffers his eighth loss by KO/TKO having been knocked out by former WBO champion Roman Martinez just 31 days ago. January 22 New York, NY, USA: Cruiser: Junior Anthony Wright (13-0-1) W TKO 2 Rayford Johnson (10-17). Feather: Floriano Pagliara (16-7-2) W PTS 8 Antwan Robertson (9-12-1). Wright vs. Johnson “Hurricane Wright blows away outclassed Johnson in two rounds. After a slow start in the first which Johnson probably edged Wright caught up with Johnson and ended it in the second. Wright hurt Johnson with a left hook and then cut loose with a series of uppercuts and with Johnson not fighting back the referee stopped the fight. The 28-year-old former Chicago Golden Gloves champion and NGG quarter-finalist has 11 wins by KO/TKO and makes it three wins since a draw with unbeaten Stivens Bujaj for the vacant WBC International title. Texan Johnson, 34, is 2-8 in his last 10 fights. He got a good win over Vince Miranda (16-1) in August but was then stopped inside a round by Joey Dawejko in November. Pagliara vs. Robertson Italian Pagliara wins the vacant WBU Americas title with unanimous decision over Robertson. The fight lacked excitement with Robertson being miserly with his punches so that Pagliara took every round. The Italian had Robertson in deep trouble in the fourth and fifth. Robertson was just looking to survive after that and despite two warning from the referee that the fight could be stopped if he did not increase his efforts Robertson continued his negative tactics to the end of the eighth round. Scores 80-72 from all three judges. Pagliara made a win/win as he proposed in the ring to his girlfriend after the fight and she accepted. The 36-year-old “Italian Flash” a former Italian super feather champion now based in Brooklyn had lost 3 of his last 4 fights so a very welcome win. His record would be 17-6-2 but reportedly a points win in an Italian title defence in 2013 was changed to a disqualification loss after Pagliara tested positive for a banned substance. Robertson has lost 4 of his last 5 fights. The show was staged by Dmitriy Salita’s Star of David Promotions and was dedicated to the two NYPD men who were murdered recently. January 23 Saint-Nazaire, France: Bantam: Nordine Oubaali (4-0) W KO 5 Nugzar Chavchavadze (6-1). Outstanding prospect Oubaali makes it two, wins by KO/TKO as he knocks out unbeaten Georgian in two rounds. The 28-year-old southpaw, the FFB No 1 had a stellar amateur being a multi-time French champion winning a hatful of amateur tournaments, taking a bronze medal at the World Championships and scoring wins over current IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng, Rau’shee Warren and outstanding Irish battler Paddy Barnes twice. At the 2008 Olympics he drew with Zou Shiming 3-3 but lost on the jury’s decision. First fight outside Georgia for Chavchavadze who was in over his head. Corato di Bari, Italy: Super Welter: Felice Moncelli (11-3-1) W PTS 12 Dieudonne Belinga (12-6-1). Light Heavy: Mirco Ricci (13-2) W PTS 6 Leo Tchoula (9-9). Moncelli vs. Belinga Moncelli gets majority decision over tough French opponent Belinga. The Frenchman attacked strongly at the outset but his lack of punching power allowed the local fighter to take over and score with heavy rights and set the pace of the fight. Southpaw Belinga showed excellent skills with good upper body movement. Moncelli staggered Belinga with a right in the fifth and looked to be on the cusp of a stoppage win in the sixth. However, Belinga survived and Moncelli started to tire and Belinga and got through with heavy punches of his own in the eighth and ninth to get back into the fight. The tenth was evenly balanced and although Belinga went down it was ruled a slip. The Frenchman won the eleventh to put the fight in the balance but a series of crisp shots from Moncelli allowed the Italian to just edge the decision in a close and skilful match. Scores 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114. The 21-year-old Italian champion wins the vacant IBF International title with his sixth victory in a row. He turned pro in 2012 at the age of 18 after only two years as an amateur so is still learning. Belinga, 28, the FFB No 1 is 1-2-1 in his last 4 fights with the losses being to world rated Jack Culcay and to Attila Kovacs for the vacant WBO European title in September. Ricci vs. Tchoula Just a keep busy fight for 24-year-old Italian champion Ricci as he takes unanimous decision over German-based Tchoula who drops to 8 losses in a row Nabua, Philippines: Super Bantam: Bernabe Concepcion (33-6-2) W KO 2 Rasmanudin (18-8-3). Super Light: Al Sabaupan (24-2-1) W KO 3 Geisler A P (6-5). Concepcion vs. Rasmanudin Too easy for Concepcion as he halts battle weary Indonesian in the second. “The Real Deal” had Rasmanudin under pressure in the first and ended it the second with a crunching left hook to the body. Now 19 wins by KO/TKO for the 27-year-old Filipino as he tries to resurrect his career. He lost to Steve Luevano and Juan Manuel Lopez in shots at the WBO feather title and subsequent losses to Juan Carlos Martinez and Mikey Garcia sent him into semi-retirement with just one fight in 2013 and one fight last year. The “Lost Boy” Rasmanudin, 27, a former Indonesian bantam and super bantam champion now has 4 losses and a draw in his last 5 fights. Sabaupan vs. Geisler Sabaupan climbs off the floor to get his fourth win on the bounce by KO/TKO. The local southpaw found himself on the floor in the first round but was not badly hurt and handed out a steady beating over the next two rounds before putting the Indonesian down and out in the third. The 26-year Filipino “Captain” was unbeaten in his first 18 fights before losing to Marvin Quintero in an IBF eliminator in 2012. In March 2013 he was floored and outpointed by Ric Dominguez and was then inactive for a year. He is rated No 1 by the GAB. Geisler’s available record shows him 3-5 in the last 8 fights with all five losses by KO/TKO. Bangkok, Thailand: Super Fly: Kongfah (19-0) W TKO 3 Rendi Stone (3-4-1). Super Fly: Srisaket (32-4-1) W TKO 3 Ardi Tefa (6-3). Bantam: Suriyan (39-6-1) W KO 3 Daoden (0-1). Kongfah vs. Stone Easy win for Thai as he has too much power for Indonesian and wins vacant WBC Youth Silver title. Stone had the edge in height and reach and spent the first round backing up and then leaping in with quick flurries of light punches. Kongfah just walked through them but was not letting his own hands go and hardly threw a punch in the round. After boxing southpaw in the first round Kongfah switched to orthodox and stepped-up the pace throwing more meaningful punches but almost went down when a punch caught him when he was off balance. He went back to southpaw in the third and was digging in hurtful shots to head and body with Stone fading quickly. A volley of hooks and uppercuts saw Stone just standing still and not throwing anything back and when the Indonesian turned away from the punishment the referee stopped the fight. Now 11 wins by KO/TKO for the 22-year-old Thai and his first fight scheduled for ten rounds. Ignore the impressive figures 14 of Kongfah’s victims had never had a fight and not one had a positive record. Stone had been knocked out in three rounds in a WBC Youth bantamweight title fight in November and his published record is almost certainly incomplete. Srisaket vs. Tefa In the first of two disgraceful mismatches former WBC super fly champion Srisaket halted inexperienced Indonesian Tefa in three rounds. A man that the WBC rate No 1 should not be in “fights” like this. Now a meaningless 5 wins since losing his title to Carlos Cuadras in May. Again Tefa’s record probably incomplete but he has lost by early KO/TKO in 3 of his last 5 fights. Suriyan vs. Daoden An even worst disgrace as another former WBC super fly champion kayos a novice with no traceable record. Where does boxing in Thailand hide if a tragedy occurs in a travesty like this? I guess they just don’t care. Veroce, Hungary: Middle: Norbert Nemesapati (16-2) W TKO 2 Andras Varga (12-17-3). Hungarian Teenager “Noble” Nemesapati gets the show back on the road with stoppage of fellow-countryman Varga. After 14 wins in a row the 19-year-old Nemesapati lost to Jason Escalera in August last year and to Schiller Hyppolite for the vacant WBC International title last month. This is his first fight since then. He showed good skills in both of those fights and with more experience will come again for sure. Varga, 22, was on a good run being 10-1-1 in his last 12 fights. Montebello, CA, USA: Cruiser: Murat Gassiev W DISQ 4 Terry Smith (8-18-3) A poor match came to a poor ending. Gassiev was hunting Smith from then outset with Smith on the retreat and limited to only occasional counters. As the fight progressed Gassiev closed the distance and was thumping home body shots. In the fourth the end looked close as Gassiev was getting through with heavy punches from both hands. Smith was hanging on desperately and the referee had a hard time getting him to let go. He took a point of Smith for his grasping tactics but it made no difference and after more holding from Smith the referee disqualified him. Unsatisfactory ending for the tall 21-year-old Russian who is rated WBC 9 and IBF11 (9). He needs to meet better opposition as there is nothing in his list of opponents to justify such high ratings. Smith has just one win in his last 9 fights. January 24 Bloomfield, CO, USA: Welter: Brandon Rios (33-2-1) W RTD 3 Mike Alvarado (34-4). Super Middle: Gilberto Ramirez S (31-0) W PTS 10 Maxim Vlasov (30-1). Super Light: Abner Lopez (22-4) W PTS 8 Aik Shakhnazaryan (15-1). Light: Olek Gvozdyk (5-0) W TKO 2 Cory Cummings (18-8-1). Welter: Konstantin Ponomarev (27-0) W PTS 8 Steve Claggett (20-3-1). Rios vs. Alvarado Rios brutally crushes Alvarado to put a finisher to their three bout series. Rios was dominant from the start stalking a hesitant, retreating Alvarado and slamming home vicious uppercuts and hooks with Alvarado only firing back an occasional punch and already looking a beaten man after just three minutes. Rios continued to batter away at Alvarado in the second who landed a low punch which looked deliberate and had Rios on the floor in agony. He was given time to recover. As the round continued Alvarado scored with a left hook, his best punch so far but then Rios was again knocking lumps of Alvarado and having the Colorado fighter’s face a mask of blood from a heavy nose bleed. In the third Alvarado was just trying to survive but not succeeding. Rios battered him with straight rights, hooks and uppercuts. A right uppercut snapped Alvarado’s head back and he pitched forward to his knees. Alvarado got up and made it to the bell. Despite the efforts of his corner he seemed reluctant to continue. The doctor held up two fingers in front of Alvarado and when Alvarado said he could see four the fight was over. Rios had halted Alvarado in seven rounds in 2012 but had a bad 2013 losing a close decision to Alvarado in a rematch and then being outclassed by Manny Pacquiao. An attempt to bounce back in August mis-fired with Rios behind on two cards and looking flat only for his opponent Diego Chaves to throw him a lifeline by getting disqualified. This win has achieved what the Chaves fight failed to do for the 28-year-old former WBA light champion and now he is back into the mix with the big names. He wins the WBO International title. Alvarado, 34, has said he will fight on but that can’t be certain. He showed nothing here and was badly beaten. He almost certainly faces jail time for being found in possession of a firearm whilst on probation. The warning signs were there as his arrest took place when he was stopped in his car in the early hours of the morning when he was supposed to be getting into top condition for this important fight. Ramirez vs. Vlasov Ramirez continues on his winning way but gets his toughest test so far. The unbeaten Mexican has been used to fighting super middleweights where his height and reach have given him a big edge. This time he was up against a taller fighter and a natural light heavyweight and that produced a very competitive fight. The first two rounds were even with southpaw Ramirez going to the body and Vlasov matching him punch for punch. The body attack started to slow Vlasov from the third and he became reluctant to trade preferring to score from the outside where he found a home for his straight rights. Ramirez continued to work the body but as the bout wore on both fighters began to show the ravages of the punishing exchanges with Ramirez marked around the left eye and Vlasov bruising up. Neither fighter really managed to open a gap with but Ramirez was the busier. Vlasov staged a strong finish as the Mexican tired but the earlier higher work rate of Ramirez made the difference ( according to CompuBox Ramirez threw 631 and landed 179 and Vlasov threw 411 and landed 115) but in the end Vlasov punched hard but came up short. Scores 97-93 twice and 96-94. The 23-year-old Ramirez is No 2 with the WBA, WBC and WBO and No 3 with the IBF so could land a title fight late in the year. Russian Vlasov, 28, lost a close decision to Isaac Chilemba in 2011 but had accumulated 11 wins since then and was WBC 10 and IBF 11 at light heavyweight. He did his reputation no harm in running Ramirez so close. The bout was made at a catch weight of 171lbs. Lopez vs. Shakhnazaryan Mexican “Jaeger” Lopez ruins the US debut for Russian hope. A big factor was the height and reach edges that the 5’10” (178cm) Lopez had over the 5’5 ½” (167cm) Shakhnazaryan. Lopez was able to work on the outside but with Shakhnazaryan having enough success to stay in the fight for four rounds. The fifth saw Lopez getting through with heavy shots and shaking Shakhnazaryan. In the sixth body punches from Lopez put Shakhnazaryan down twice. The Russian fought back hard over the last two rounds but could not close the gap. Scores 78-73 twice and 76-74. The 24-year-old from Tijuana has lost only one of his last 11 fights and this win in his first fight north of the border should see him asked back again. The 21-year-old “Humanoid” holds the WBO European, WBC Baltic and IBF Youth titles and will probably go back to Russian and regroup. Gvozdyk vs. Cummings Ukrainian Gvozdyk blows away experienced Cummings in just over four minutes. After failing to get through to Cummings in the first he floored the American with a left hook early in the second. Cummings got up only to be caught by a series of punches that dumped him face down on the canvas. Cummings bravely made it to his feet but when a right put him down again the fight was halted. The tall 27-year-old was Ukrainian amateur champion in 2009, 2010 and 2011, won a gold at the World University Games and a bronze at the 2012 Olympics so has a good grounding. He has wins over Mike Gbenga and Otis Griffin and moves to 4 wins by KO/TKO. “Black Ice” Cummings, 35, drops to two losses by KO/TKO but was coming off a win over Yusaf Mack in October. Ponomarev vs. Claggett Ponomarev just edges out Claggett in an all-action fight between two young hopefuls. Neither fighter is a big puncher so they were able to trade punches throughout the fight making it a competitive close quarter’s scrap. There was little between them but the Russian was slightly the better boxer and more accurate with his punches. He built a slender lead and did just enough to hold on to it as Claggett staged a strong finish The scores of 77-75 twice and 78-74 all for Ponomarev were not universally popular but he just about deserved the decision. The 22-year-olod Russian “Talant” turned pro at 17 and is still learning but already has a win over veteran Cosme Rivera. Canadian Claggett had won 9 of his last 10 fights, 8 by KO/TKO and he can come again. Bergamo, Italy: Light: Emiliano Marsili (31-0-1) W TKO 7 Gyorgy Mizsei (21-13). Super Light: Andrea Scarpa (17-2) W PTS 10 Franceso Acatullo (7-3-1). Super Middle: Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye (24-2-1) W PTS 6 Norbert Szekeres (16-38-3). Marsili vs. Mizsei Southpaw Marsili retains EBU title with repeat win over Mizsei. Although edging the first two rounds the champion had trouble closing with the Hungarian who made good use of his advantages in height and reach and was able to tie Marsili up when he got close. The fight began to swing in the third as after Mizsei had dominated the ring centre Marsili finally began to land some heavy punches to head and body. Mizsei went down just before the end of the round but it was ruled a slip. Marsili kept up the pressure in the fourth finding gaps in the Hungarian’s defence but Mizsei scored well with his jab and right hooks to clearly win the fifth. In the sixth Marsili got through with a series of rights and put Mizsei down. The Hungarian got up but was floored again by a left to the body and only just survived the round. Mizsei had nothing left and after Marsili landed some hard punches to head and body a left hook to the chin put Mizsei down and out. The 38-year-old Italian makes it 14 wins by KO/TKO and four successful defences of his EBU title. He is rated IBF 3 (2)/WBC 8 and deserves a title fight. Mizsei, 21, had dubious qualifications as a challenger. His biggest win was a split decision over Brunet Zamora (25-1-2) in April but after that he was 2-3 in his next 5 fights being stopped by Jean Pierre Bauwens, losing a clear unanimous decision to Marsili for the title, and then losing every round against Brit Anthony Crolla. This is his fifth loss by KO/TKO. Scarpa vs. Acatullo Scarpa wins the vacant national title with a unanimous decision over Acatullo in a great little scrap. The champion had all of the physical advantages and Acatullo had to get inside to have any chance. Over the first two rounds he was walking in behind a cross-armed guard and although taking some punishment on the way in was working the body well. The third saw Scarpa scoring heavily with rights and bringing blood from Acatullo’s nose. More of the same in the fourth and despite Scarpa dominating with his jab Acatullo’s constant pressure meant each round was full of action. The fifth round swung one way and then the other as Scarpa scored with rights only for Acatullo to have a period of control with heavy hooks and Scarpa banging back to have Acatullo in trouble by the end of the round. They battled away in the sixth and although both were show signs of tiring the action remained hot in the seventh with Scarpa on top and Acatullo still winging hooks to try to turn things his way. The pace dropped in the eighth and Scarpa was able to control the fight from the outside in the ninth. The last was a wild round with both fighters tired, staggered and hurt at the end of a grueling war. Scores 98-92 twice and 97-93. Scarpa won clearly but the scores don’t tell the whole tale. Now 16 wins in a row for the 27-year-old Scarpa a former undefeated Italian super feather champion who is No 4 in the EBU ratings. Acatullo, 26, had lost only one of his last 7 fights and had never gone past six rounds before. Ali Ndiaye vs. Szekeres Ali Ndiaye eases back with unanimous decision over experienced loser Szekeres. The 35-year-old Senegalese-born Ali Ndiaye, a former a former Italian and EU champion had blown his world rating in a shock stoppage loss to Chris Rebrasse in March and this was his first fight since then. He is still rated No 5 by the EBU. Hungarian Szekeres, 28, has lost 7 of his last 8 fights but usually goes the distance. Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico: Super Bantam: Rey Vargas (23-0) W TKO 2 Nestor Paniagua (25-8-2). Super Middle: Marcos Reyes (33-2) W PTS 8 David A Lopez (41-15-1). Welter: Marcos Villasana Jr. (15-5) W PTS 8 Francisco Valadez (1-4-1). Vargas vs. Paniagua Predictable outcome to this mismatch as world rated Vargas blows away Paniagua in two rounds. Vargas tried to get it over in the first getting through with some hard body punches before dropping Paniagua with a head shot. The Argentinian managed to be there at the bell but it was obvious he was in over his head. In the second Vargas launched a sustained body attack and with Paniagua trapped on the ropes and soaking up punishment his corner threw in the towel just as the referee stopped the fight. The tall, thin 24-year-old Vargas wins the vacant WBC International Silver title and now has 20 wins by KO/TKO. He had a stellar time as an amateur winning the national title, taking a gold medal at the Pan American Championships and competing at the World Junior Championships and has a win over current WBA bantam champion Juan Carlos Payano from those amateur days. If Guillermo Rigondeaux, Leo Santa Cruz, Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg look over their shoulders this is the guy they will see coming their way. He is rated WBC 4/IBF 5(4) and WBO 6. Paniagua, 35, the FAB No 7 was unbeaten in his last 8 fights going in. Reyes vs. Lopez Reyes gets unanimous decision over Lopez. “Dorado” Reyes won this one on his superior skill against a tough, experienced Lopez. It was not all plain sailing as Lopez had Reyes down in the second round but Reyes recovered and was a clear winner. Scores 77-74 from all three judges. The 27-year-old Reyes was riding high in the ratings after a 19 bout winning streak including wins over Julio Cesar Garcia, Amilcar Funes and Rogelio Medina until Abraham Han climbed off the floor to outpoint him in October. This was Stage 1 of a reconstruction job. Southpaw Lopez 37 had his own 16 wins streak broken when he lost to Austin Trout for the secondary WBA light middle title in 2011. Since then it has been just one fight in 2012, one in 2013 and one in 2014. Villasana vs. Valadez Villasana wins unanimous decision over novice Valadez. The son of the former WBC champion is yet another on a putting the bricks back in the wall exercise as he makes it two wins in a row after going 2-4 in a run of six fights. First eight round fight for Valadez. Brooks, CA, USA: Middle: Paul Mendez (16-2-2,1ND) W RTD 1 Ernesto Berrospe (10-6). Feather: Guy Robb (15-1) W TKO 7 Jose Silveira (15-13). Mendez vs. Berrospe Mendez returns to action after recovering from a shoulder injury and gets a win, but this one caused by an injury to his opponent. Mendez made a confident start taking the fight to Berrospe and scoring with good hooks and forcing him back with a strong jab. At the end of the round Berrospe’s arm looked swollen and the doctor confirmed he had ruptured his bicep so the fight was over. The 25-year-old lanky “El Gallo Negro” wins the vacant IBA title. He has a 13 bout unbeaten streak including a draw with current interim WBA champion Dmitry Chudinov. After being out for 9 months with the injury he is looking to get into some high profile matches. Mexican Berrospe was having his first fight since September 2013 and is facing another long lay-off. Robb vs. Sliveria Robb wears down late substitute Sliveria. Robb was bigger and stronger and forced Sliveria to fight in the back foot and off the ropes in round after round. The Mexican stood the pressure for the first three rounds but from the fourth was showing signs of tiring. Rob kept pounding away and in the seventh a hard combination had the exhausted Sliveria sagging and the fight was stopped. The only loss for the 25-year-old from Sacramento was a seventh round stoppage against unbeaten hot prospect Joel Diaz, but Diaz had to climb off the canvas for the win. This is Robb’s eighth win since then. Experienced Sliveria, 35, a former IBA bantam champion has lost 6 of his last 7 fights. Pennsauken, PA, USA: Chazz Witherspoon (32-3) W TKO 2 Cory Phelps (16-8-1). Witherspoon continues his rebuilding with easy stoppage of Phelps. Witherspoon had his jab working early and was walking down Phelps getting through with some hard body punches. Late in the round two thunderous rights had Phelps reeling and Witherspoon added some more body punches before the bell. Witherspoon was driving Phelps back with the jab in the second and then landed a right uppercut which put Phelps down. He made it to his feet but more jabs followed by another right uppercut put Phelps down again and the fight was stopped. Second win for the 33-year-old “Gentleman” since being crushed by Seth Mitchell in two rounds in April. A second cousin to former WBA champion Tim, Witherspoon was a NGG champion but just failed to qualify at the US Olympic Trials for the 2008 team. Phelps, 30, lasted just 78 seconds against Shannon Briggs in August. Witherspoon vs. Briggs would be interesting. Temuco, Chile: Feather: Cristian Palma (20-8-1) W PTS 10 Luis Parra (3-3). “El Tigre” Palma retains Chilean title with unanimous decision over Parra. Palma was allowing Parra to come forward and catching him with hard counters. The aggression of the challenger kept him in the fight over the first four rounds but Palma was in total control over the middle rounds flooring Parra twice and opening a cut over his right eye. Most of the fight had gone out of Parra by the closing rounds and Palma won the unanimous decision on scores of 99-90, 97-91 and a too close 9-94. First fight for Palma since losing a wide decision against Paulus Ambunda in May. “Motorcito” Parra was in his first ten round fight. Helsinki, Finland: Light: Edis Tatli (24-1) W TKO 1 Olegs Vilcans (1-8). The best thing that can be said for this fight is that it did not last long. It took former WBA title challenger Tatli just 40 seconds to force the stoppage against Latvian. Vilcans was a very late substitute. He has lost 8 times by KO/TKO with every one of those losses in the first round and in four of those fights he failed to last one minute-and they put him in with a guy who lost only on a majority decision to Richar Abril for the WBA title in his last fight in September. It took me longer to type this than it took for Tatli to win. Limoges, France: Heavy: Cyril Leonet (7-8-2) W KO 6 Alban Galonnier (4-7-1). Leonet finally wins the French title as he knocks out Galonnier in the sixth to lift the vacant crown. These two had met in a non-title fight in December 2013 with Leonet winning a unanimous decision. Leonet made it third time lucky as he had lost twice to unbeaten Newfel Ouatah for the title. Southpaw Galonnier had height and reach over Leonet but his chin let him down. Virreyes, Argentina: Bantam: Yoan Boyeaux (30-4,1ND) W TKO 3 Nestor D Monte (16-11-4). Frenchman Boyeaux continues his Argentinian campaign with win over Monte. The former French champion is undefeated in his last 21 fights with 17 wins by KO/TKO in that streak. He dominated the first two rounds and Monte failed to come out for round three. The No Decision on the 27-year-old “Yo Boy’s” record was when he outpointed Karim Guerfi for the vacant French title in January 2013 only for the decision to be changed when Boyeaux tested positive for a banned substance. He has not fought in France since then. Now 8 losses by KO/TKO for Monte who is 3-7-1 in his last 11 fights. Niort, France: Middle: Davy Armand (16-4-2) W PTS 6 Laurent Ferra (16-19-4). Local fighter Armand keeps his hopes of a title shot alive with a unanimous points win over Ferra. Armand started fast against the aggressive Ferra who pressed the fight hard. Armand had been ill the night before the fight and considered cancelling. It might have been different over 8 or ten rounds but Armand did enough to win. The 30-year-old FFB No 3 lost on points to Karim Achour for the French title in May and a return match is his aim. Southpaw Ferra is tough and has only failed to last the distance twice in his 19 losses. January 25 Mar del Plata, Argentina: Feather: Matias C A Rueda (21-0) W KO 3 Guillermo O Soloppi (18-5,1ND). Cruiser: Cristian J Medina (12-1-1) W TKO 7 Nelson D Dominguez (17-5-1). Rueda vs. Soloppi Rueda retains WBO Latino title with kayo of Soloppi. The challenger tried to take the fight to Rueda in the first getting inside and scoring with uppercuts but Rueda responded with a couple of left hooks to the body. Soloppi continued to press Rueda in the second trying to deny the bigger puncher room to develop leverage and also roughed Rueda up with some headwork. Rueda ended it in the third. After shaking Soloppi early with right he then landed a crushing left hook to the body with Soloppi going down and being counted out. The 26-year-old “Little Cobra”, the Argentinian champion, makes it 18 wins by KO/TKO including 13 wins that way in his last 14 fights. He is rated WBO 6/IBF 15(14). Soloppi, 29, was unbeaten in his first 14 fights but is 5-5 in the last 10 and is rated No 9 bantam by the FAB. Medina vs. Dominguez Medina has no trouble holding on to his interim WBC Latino title with stoppage of Dominguez. Southpaw Medina used his right jab to collect the first round and in the second floored Dominguez with two rights. Dominguez fought back in the third and fourth scoring well with his long jabs but in each round had to absorb some hard body punches. Medina began to take control in the fifth although he was still in second gear. That changed in the sixth as he floored Dominguez twice both times with rights to the chin. Medina took Dominguez to the ropes in the seventh and ended the fight with a left/right body/head combination that sent Dominguez down for the fourth time and the fight was stopped. The 25-year-old “Maravilla” has 4 wins by KO/TKO. After losing his first paid fight he is now unbeaten in 13 and is rated FAB No 3. Dominguez, 37, is 3-4 in his last 7 fights with all four losses by KO/TKO. He is rated No 6(4) at heavyweight by the FAB. Abbreviations ABC=Asian Boxing Council an affiliate of the WBC ABF=Asian Boxing Federation. I assume this is an affiliate of the IBF ABU=African Boxing Union an affiliate of the WBC ACC=WBC Asian Council Continental title ANBF=Australian National Boxing Federation who administer Australian titles BBB of C=British Boxing Board of Control BBB of C Southern/Central/Midlands/Scottish Area etc. British Area titles BDB= Bund Deutscher Berufsboxer one of the German boxing bodies B & H=Bosnia & Herzegovina BSA=Boxing South Africa responsible for administering boxing in South Africa CBC=Commonwealth Boxing Council a sanctioning body for titles competed for by citizens of Commonwealth countries CISBB-WBC title covering the rump of the USSR and the Slovenian Boxing Board DRC=Democratic Republic of the Congo EBU=European Boxing Union FAB=Argentinian Boxing Federation FFB=French Boxing Federation GAB=Philippines Games & Amusement Board responsible for administering boxing in the Philippines GBC= Global Boxing Council a sanctioning body IBA=International Boxing Association a sanctioning body IBF=International Boxing Federation a sanctioning body IBO=International Boxing Organisation a sanctioning body JBC =Japanese Boxing Commission NABA=North American Boxing Association, a WBA affiliate NABF=North American Boxing Federation a WBC affiliate NABO= North American Boxing Organisation, a WBO affiliate NCC=National Championships of Canada NGG=US National Golden Gloves NZPBF=New Zealand Professional Boxing Federation a national sanctioning body OPBF=Orient & Pacific Boxing Federation PABA=Pacific & Asian Boxing Association, a WBA affiliate PBF=Philippines Boxing Federation, a sanctioning body in the Philippines UBF=Universal Boxing Federation a sanctioning body UBO=Universal Boxing Organisation a sanctioning body USBA= United States Boxing Association, an IBF affiliate USBO=United States Boxing Organisation an WBO affiliate WBA=World Boxing Association a sanctioning body WBC=World Boxing Council a sanctioning body WBFed=World Boxing Federation, a sanctioning body WBFound=World Boxing Foundation, a sanctioning body WBU=World Boxing Union, a sanctioning body IBF WBA Rating=Both bodies leave vacancies in their ratings so when showing a IBF or WBA rating for a fighter where there is a vacant position ahead of them in the rankings which affects his rating I will put his numerical rating i.e. No 6 and in brackets and his rating based on the number of fighters ahead of him so IBF 6 (5) shows his numerical position is 6 but there are in fact only 5 fighters listed ahead of him due to one or more of the higher rating positions being vacant.
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They say you can't have too much of a good thing however in boxing you really can. Over the last few years we've been treat to a number of great fights involving Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios (32-2-1, 23) and "Mile High" Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23) sadly however those great fights have almost certainly taken a chunk of each man and neither will ever be the same as they used to be. Those great fights have included two meetings between the two men who battered each other in 2012, when Rios stopped Alvarado in 7 round, and then again in 2013, when Alvarado won a decision over Rios to level the score. Since the second of those bouts both men have continued to take punishment with Alvarado being stopped by Ruslan Provodnikov and being on the receiving end of beating by Juan Manuel Marquez, whilst Rios took a beating by Manny Pacquiao and took a damaging win over Diego Chaves. In recent weeks Alvarado has looked terrible. His shadow boxing was clumsy, a run in with the law didn't help matter whilst Rios is clearly slurred. Maybe, just maybe, this could be trying to get too much of a good thing and we suspect the winner and loser here may well have cast away their long term future for what is exciting looking rematch but an unnecessary one for now. In Mexico there is also a potentially explosive contest as the fast rising Rey Vargas (22-0, 19) battles against Nestor Hugo Paniagua (25-7-2, 17). Coming in to this one Vargas will be very strongly favoured however this is a potential banana skin for the unbeaten Super Bantamweight hopeful The excellent Eric Armit reviews the past weeks international action-
The Past Week in Action 19 January 2014 January 16 Verona, NY, USA: Middle: Willie Monroe Jr (19-1) W PTS 10 Brian Vera (23-9). Middle: Brandon Adams (15-1) W TKO 2 Lekan Byfield (6-7-2). Welter: Taras Shelestyuk (10-0) W KO 1 Antonio Fernandez (5-21-2). Light: Vitor J De Oliveira Freitas (8-0,1ND) W TKO 1 Mike Doyle (2-14-1). Monroe vs. Vera Monroe gets his biggest win so far as he outboxes experienced Vera to take a wide unanimous decision. From the first “The Mongoose” was just too fleet of foot and hand for a solid, determined but much slower Vera. Monroe had his southpaw right jab working from the outset and despite pressurising hard Vera was not able to cut off the ring and force Monroe to the ropes. When Vera did get close Monroe was either smothering Vera’s punches or landing fast combinations and getting away again. Vera had some success in the fourth when he did manage to trap Monroe on the ropes but by the end of the round Monroe was back to his stick and move system. In the fifth a light right from Monroe caught Vera when he was off balance and the Texan’s glove momentarily touched the canvas and the referee gave Vera a count. Later in the round Monroe landed a much harder shot and hurt Vera. The pattern stayed basically the same over the remaining rounds with Vera pursuing and Monroe too quick and too clever to be caught and catching Vera with counter after counter. Scores 99-90, 98-91 and 97-92. The 28-year-old son of Willie “The Worm” Monroe came to prominence last year by winning the ESPN Boxcino title beating Donatas Bondorovas, Vitaliy Kopylenko and Brandon Adams which somehow garnered him a No 3 rating with the WBA. His lone defeat was to Daniel Boone in 2011 and this was his eighth win since then. He is also rated WBO 7/WBC 13 but needs more big fights before going for a title. Vera, 33, had been inactive since losing the second of back-to-back fights against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in March last year. His has been a roller-coaster career typically being kayoed in two rounds by Jaidon Codrington in “The Contender Series”, beating Andy Lee, losing to James Kirkland, getting two wins over Sergio Mora, losing to Max Bursak beating Serhiy Dzinziruk etc. He has shown resilience in the past but is not getting any younger. Adams vs. Byfield Bad mismatch ends early. “Cannon” who lost to Monroe in the ESPN Boxcino final was fed a record-padder in Byfield and ended the fight early. A straight right put Byfield down at the end of the first round but he lasted to the bell. Another right floored Byfield in the second and a right to the body and one to the head put him down again. He made it to his feet but the fight was stopped. The 25-year-old Californian makes it 10 wins by KO/TKO. He scored good wins over Daniel Edouard and Ray Gatica to get to the Boxcino final but as with Vera just could not get to grips with the slick Monroe and was clearly beaten. Adams will participate in this year’s Boxcino but at light middle. Byfield, 28, had a couple of reasonable level wins but was coming off a loss to Charles Whittaker last month. Shelestyuk vs. Fernandez Ukrainian Shelestyuk destroys Fernandez in 101 seconds. A hard combination from Shelestyuk sent Fernandez stumbling into a corner and a series of punches rounded off with a right hook sent him down to the canvas with the referee suspending the count as it was obvious Fernandez was not getting up and needed some time to recover. The tall 29-year-old makes it 7 wins by KO/TKO. He needed an impressive performance after only squeezing past Patrick Boozer on a split decision last time out in September. He has the amateur credentials having been Ukrainian champion in 2009/10/11, winning a gold medal at the World Championships and a bronze medal at the European championships but a loss to Brit Fred Evans in 2012 which ended his Olympic dream. He has an early career inside the distance win over Adams. Fernandez, a 36-year-old from the US Virgin Isles, is 1-8 in his last 9 fights. De Oliveira vs. Doyle Brazilian prospect gets this one over in 84 seconds. The 21-year-old nephew of former champ Acelino Freitas beat Doyle to the punch putting him down with a crunching left hook. Doyle beat the count but the follow-up attack had the referee halting the fight. De Oliveira, a former Brazilian Youth champion and World Youth Championships contestant has 5 wins by KO/TKO. Poor Doyle is 0-10-1 in his last 11 fights. La Guairá, Venezuela: Super Feather: Johan Perez (20-2-1) W PTS 12 Humberto Gutierrez (29-6-2). Welter: Juan Carlos Prada (32-1-1) W KO 2 Likar Ramos (26-6). Super Welter: Alfonso Blanco (9-0) W TKO 2 Edinson Garcia (23-19). Perez vs. Gutierrez Perez wins the vacant NABA title with wide unanimous decision over fading Mexican Gutierrez. With big edges in height and reach “El Terrible” outboxed the former interim WBA champion. Scores 119-107 twice and 120-106. First fight for the local 31-year-old since dropping his interim title to Maurice Herrera on a majority verdict last July. Mexican Gutierrez, 26, is 1-4-1 in his last 6 fights and looks to be on the down slope. Prado vs. Ramos Prado returns to the winning column and collects the interim WBC Fecarbox title with kayo of Ramos. An uppercut to the body in the second put Ramos down and he could not get up before the referee finished the count. The 30-year-old southpaw has 21 wins by KO/TKO and was returning to action after losing on an eighth round stoppage against Luis Carlos Abregu after having had the Argentinian down earlier in the fight. The former Olympian drew his first pro fight and the loss to Abregu broke a 30 bout winning streak. He is rated No 13 by the WBA. Southpaw Ramos, 29, another former WBA interim champion, dropped out of the ratings after back-to-back losses to Juan Manuel Marquez and Claudio Olmedo and also as a result of fighting only once in years 2012,2013 and 2014. Blanco vs. Garcia Blanco gets back in the ring and wins in two rounds over poor Colombian Garcia. It was a one-sided messy fight with Garcia going down too easily and the referee finally stopping the fight in confused circumstances so a win but not a satisfactory one for Blanco. The lanky 28-year-old Venezuelan was having his first fight since March 2012. An Olympian and a World Championships silver medalist in 2007 and bronze medalist in 2009 he scored wins over James DeGale, Darren Sutherland, Marco Periban, Shawn Porter, current WBA interim champion Dmitry Chudinov and Alex Theran as an amateur. A better performance was expected out of Garcia. January 17 Las Vegas, NV, USA: Heavy: Deontay Wilder (33-0) W PTS 12 Bermane Stiverne (24-2-1). Super Bantam; Leo Santa Cruz (29-0-1) W TKO 8 Jesus Ruiz (33-6-5). Super Light: Amir Imam (16-0) W TKO 5 Fidel Maldonado Jr (19-3,1ND). Light Heavy: Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (12-0) W TKO 9 Garrett Wilson (13-9-1). Heavy: Eric Molina (23-2) W TKO 8 Raphael Zumbano (35-9-1). Wilder vs. Stiverne Wilder wins WBC title as he formulates a game plan and sticks to it with Stiverne never really getting into the fight. Wilder had the height and reach and made good use of them with Stiverne only able to get to grips occasionally and spending much of the time following Wilder around the ring and eating jabs. Wilder made use of his jab to easily take the first round and was robbed off a legitimate knockdown in the second. Over the last ten seconds of the round Wilder flailed away with hard cuffing shots to the head of Stiverne who tumbled forward on his way down. He grabbed hold of Wilder and pulled Wilder down with him but whilst Wilder climbed up with ease Stiverne sagged backwards and was unsteady when he got up. It was not ruled a knockdown but should have been. Stiverne had some success in the third and fourth rounds as he chased Wilder and they traded hard punches with Stiverne getting through with some body shots. Going into the fifth round for the first time as a pro Wilder used his jab to control the round with Stiverne having a good round in the sixth but he was being caught again and again by jabs. In the seventh Wilder drove a straight right down the pipe which pierced Stiverne’s guard and visibly staggered the champion. Wilder drove Stiverne to the ropes and landed a series of head punches. Over the following rounds Wilder used his jab, hard rights and good movement to frustrate Stiverne who, unable to effectively cut off the ring, was reduced to throwing wild shots in the hope one of them might land. They didn’t and Wilder was able to box his way to a comfortable points decision. Scores 120-107, 119-108 and 118-109. The 29-year-old “Bronze Bomber” answered questions about his stamina and took some hard punches without being troubled he also showed he could box and box to a game plan which were all positives. If there are any questions left they are there because of the poor performance of Stiverne who was just too slow and was unable to put enough pressure on Wilder to really extend the new WBC champion. With Wlad Klitschko now committed to facing Bryant Jennings Wilder was mentioning Tyson Fury as a potential challenger with a unification match for all of the belts with Klitschko later in the year. Wilder became the first American champion since Shannon Briggs( a name I was hoping not to have to mention) won the title in 2006 and he did it on Muhammad Ali’s birthday. Nice one Deontay. Stiverne,36, was making the first defence of his WBC title and he let himself down badly. He did not seem to have any alphabetic version of a game plan and surrendered his title without showing the fire and determination of a champion. He still has a part to play in the division but is unlikely to get another title shot. Santa Cruz vs. Ruiz Santa Cruz retains his WBC title with predictable stoppage of Ruiz. For two rounds these two locked horns in typically Mexican style standing and trading with both fighters throwing plenty of punches and working the body. From the third the accuracy and power was with Santa Cruz. He was still focusing on the body but it was evident that he was the harder puncher and that Ruiz’s shots were not enough to discourage the champion’s relentless attacks. Santa Cruz was breaking Ruiz down throughout the fourth, fifth and sixth and although Ruiz was still being combative he was slowing and shipping more and more punishment. The seventh was a brutal round with Santa Cruz battering away at Ruiz who was pinned on the ropes for most of the three minutes and looked ready to go. A straight right and a body punch had Ruiz hurt and more rights and a wicked left hook all added up trouble for Ruiz. In the eighth a stunning straight right sent Ruiz stumbling back into the ropes and Santa Cruz just launched a ceaseless barrage of punches until the referee stopped the fight. Fourth defence of his WBC title for Santa Cruz who is now calling out Abner Mares but would willingly take Guillermo Rigondeaux, Carl Frampton or Scott Quigg so plenty of options out there. The 26-year-old Mexican. “Estrella” Ruiz, 25, loses inside the distance for the third time. He was rated No 15 featherweight by the WBC and had done nothing to earn a title shot. However he was competitive for a couple of rounds before the extra power from Santa Cruz began to grind him down. Imam vs. Maldonado Jr Imam gives a classy performance but has to climb off the floor to beat Maldonado. The young Imam found himself under pressure in the first round and Maldonado also seemed to be bossing the second until a bolt out of the blue in the shape of a right from Imam floored Maldonado who only survived because the punch landed so late in the round. The third round was a roller-coaster ride for Maldonado. It started out great for him as almost before the sound of the bell had faded he floored Imam with a left. It was the first time Imam had been on the floor in his career so far but he kept his composure and used another hard right to put Maldonado down. Maldonado beat the count but was on shaky legs and another attack from Imam saw Maldonado lurching forward and putting both gloves down resulting in another knockdown. The impetus was now with Imam and he dominated the fourth before ending things in style in the fifth. Maldonado was continuing to pressure the young prospect but another right followed by a left hook put Maldonado down for the fourth time and although he made it to his feet the fight was stopped. The 24-year-old “Young Master” (he borrowed it from Joe Gans who was known as “The Old Master”) wins the vacant WBC Con Am title and goes to 14 wins by KO/TKO. The lanky Don King fighter already has useful wins over Yordenis Ugas and Santos Benavides. As an amateur he won a silver medal at the PAL Tournament and a bronze at the NGG’s but lost to Errol Spence at the US Olympic Trials. He is WBA No 8 and one to watch. Albuquerque’s Maldonado, 23, “The Atrisco Kid” suffered consecutive losses to Fernando Carcamo and Michael Perez in 2012 but had rebounded with six wins and a no decision including a victory over Luis Ramos (23-1) so was very much a live opponent. Shabranskyy vs. Wilson Shabranskyy hands out a solid beating to game Wilson until the fight is stopped in the ninth round. Wilson was a late substitute and coming down from cruiser. Additionally he was giving away a bunch in height and reach (Shabranskyy H 6’3 ½” 192cm R 193cm x H Wilson 5’8” 173cm R 184cm) when you add Shabranskyy’s power this was only going to end one way and Wilson did well to last as long as he did. It looked like being a short fight when Shabranskyy floored Wilson just before the bell at the end of the second. However Wilson had only failed to last the distance once before and he showed a good chin. He needed it as Shabranskyy belaboured him to head and body in every round before scoring a knockdown in the eighth with a hard right to the jaw. Wilson saw out the round and stayed on his feet throughout the ninth but it was one-way traffic and after consulting with the referee Wilson’s corner men retired their man. The 27-year-old Ukrainian “Lion Heart” makes it 6 wins by KO/TKO in his last 7 fights and 10 in all. A former Youth kick boxing champion Shabranskyy was runner-up in the Ukrainian Championships in 2008 and 2009 and competed in the WSB. Wilson “The Ultimate Warrior” , 32, has now lost 4 fights in a row with the other three being at cruiser against Alex Alekseev, Vyacheslav Glazkov and Thabiso Mchunu. He got a world rating with wins over Aaron Williams, Omar Sheika, Chuck Mussachio and Andres Taylor before hitting his four loss slide. Molina vs. Zumbano Molina makes it 5 wins in a row as he halts Brazilian in the last round. After a slow start Molina took control being the stronger man and had Zumbano under pressure and rocking with body punches in the sixth before scoring with a series of head punches in the eighth that forced the referee’s intervention. The 32-year-old “Drummer Boy” now has 17 wins by KO/TKO but the really important fight saw him destroyed inside a round by Chris Arreola in 2012. The big Texan is rebuilding scoring wins over Tony Grano and DaVarryl Williamson on the way. Zumbano, 33, has a typical Brazilian record-wins at home-loses away from home, but he usually goes the distance. Prague, Czech Republic: Middle: Anatoli Hunanyan (5-0) W TKO 8 Bronislav Kubin (17-16-1). Hunanyan retains Czech title with stoppage of Kubin. The former K-1 competitor was making the first defence of the title he won with an upset victory over Stepan Horvath in April. He has 4 wins by KO/TKO. Kubin,36, a former GBU world champion, has now lost 6 of his last 7 fights. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain: Light Heavy: Adasat Rodriguez (9-3-2) W Carlos Esteban (10-1). Rodriguez retains the Spanish title with close unanimous decision over Esteban. It was a close fight with many rounds hard to score but with local fighter Rodriguez doing the cleaner work and just deserving the decision with Esteban’s corner contesting the result. Scores 97-93, 96-94 and 96-95. It took Rodriguez three efforts to make the weight. The 27-year-old Tenerife fighter lost to Erik Skoglund for the EU title last February. First fight schedule for more than six rounds for Esteban. Uncasville, CT, USA: Super Feather: Jose Perez (11-3-2) W PTS 8 Agustine Mauras (6-1-3). Feather: Jorge Abiague (8-1) W PTS 8 Josh Crespo (3-1-2). Middle: Elvin Ayala (27-6-1) W PTS 6 Aaron Mitchell (27-2-1). Heavy: Zhang Zhilei (2-0) W TKO 1 Perry Filkins (0-1). Perez vs. Mauras Perez goes 1-0-2 in his series with Mauras after winning unanimous verdict. As with their first two fights this was again a close one over the first five rounds with Perez just taking the first round but Mauras evening things up by winning the second. The pattern was repeated over the next two rounds with Perez scoring well to the body in the third and Mauras hurting Perez with a left in the fourth. Perez fired back to take the fifth hurting Mauras with some good left hooks and then also collected the sixth and seventh rounds being quicker and more accurate with his shots. Mauras tried to turn things around in the last but Perez stayed out of trouble and finished the round strongly. Scores 78-74 twice and 79-73. The 28-year-old Perez, a former New England super feather champion, wins the vacant New England lightweight title. A much needed win for Perez after a run of two defeats and then two draws with Mauras. Mauras, 24, loses his unbeaten tag in his first eight round fight. Abiague vs. Crespo Abiague makes one of his rare appearances and edges out Crespo on a split decision. After a couple of even early rounds Crespo broke through in the third rocking Abiague but failing to take full advantage of the moment and Abiague was able to recover. From the fourth Abiague was in control and despite a big effort from Crespo in the last boxed his way to a deserved win. Scores 78-74 twice for Abiague and 77-75 to Crespo. Cuban-born Abiague, 34, wins the vacant New England title. He turned pro in 2008 after winning the NGG title at 51kg but had only 4 fights in 5 years before becoming more active last year. Crespo, 26, has had a similar low activity with only 7 fights in almost 4 years. Ayala vs. Mitchell Ayala returns and gets in six rounds of work against oldie Mitchell and takes unanimous decision. Ayala wins on scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56. Ayala, 34, lost to Arthur Abraham for the IBF middle title in 2008. After consecutive losses to Lajuan Simon and David Lemieux he accumulated six wins before being floored twice and wiped out in 70 seconds by Curtis Stevens in January 2013. This was his first fight since then. Mitchell’s figures look good until you realise that he is 45-year-old, was having his first fight in over six years, and came in as a late substitute. Coincidentally Ayala outpointed Aaron’s twin brother Eric Mitchell in 2012. Abbreviations ABC=Asian Boxing Council an affiliate of the WBC ABF=Asian Boxing Federation. I assume this is an affiliate of the IBF ABU=African Boxing Union an affiliate of the WBC ACC=WBC Asian Council Continental title ANBF=Australian National Boxing Federation who administer Australian titles BBB of C=British Boxing Board of Control BBB of C Southern/Central/Midlands/Scottish Area etc. British Area titles BDB= Bund Deutscher Berufsboxer one of the German boxing bodies B & H=Bosnia & Herzegovina BSA=Boxing South Africa responsible for administering boxing in South Africa CBC=Commonwealth Boxing Council a sanctioning body for titles competed for by citizens of Commonwealth countries CISBB-WBC title covering the rump of the USSR and the Slovenian Boxing Board DRC=Democratic Republic of the Congo EBU=European Boxing Union FAB=Argentinian Boxing Federation FFB=French Boxing Federation GAB=Philippines Games & Amusement Board responsible for administering boxing in the Philippines GBC= Global Boxing Council a sanctioning body IBA=International Boxing Association a sanctioning body IBF=International Boxing Federation a sanctioning body IBO=International Boxing Organisation a sanctioning body JBC =Japanese Boxing Commission NABA=North American Boxing Association, a WBA affiliate NABF=North American Boxing Federation a WBC affiliate NABO= North American Boxing Organisation, a WBO affiliate NCC=National Championships of Canada NGG=US National Golden Gloves NZPBF=New Zealand Professional Boxing Federation a national sanctioning body OPBF=Orient & Pacific Boxing Federation PABA=Pacific & Asian Boxing Association, a WBA affiliate PBF=Philippines Boxing Federation, a sanctioning body in the Philippines UBF=Universal Boxing Federation a sanctioning body UBO=Universal Boxing Organisation a sanctioning body USBA= United States Boxing Association, an IBF affiliate USBO=United States Boxing Organisation an WBO affiliate WBA=World Boxing Association a sanctioning body WBC=World Boxing Council a sanctioning body WBFed=World Boxing Federation, a sanctioning body WBFound=World Boxing Foundation, a sanctioning body WBU=World Boxing Union, a sanctioning body IBF WBA Rating=Both bodies leave vacancies in their ratings so when showing a IBF or WBA rating for a fighter where there is a vacant position ahead of them in the rankings which affects his rating I will put his numerical rating i.e. No 6 and in brackets and his rating based on the number of fighters ahead of him so IBF 6 (5) shows his numerical position is 6 but there are in fact only 5 fighters listed ahead of him due to one or more of the higher rating positions being vacant. Boxing has been slow to resume normal service after the new year break however this weekend sees things really kick off with several major bouts and some real excitement in the West about a Heavyweight title bout that could see an American fighter becoming a world champion in the sports blue ribbon for the first time in years. As well as that we get some interesting prospects and a Super Bantamweight world title fight. We'll start the Heavyweight bout which will see WBC champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21) defending his belt for the first time. Heavyweight titles bouts usually seem to get extra attention and this one is no exception as the challenger is unbeaten American Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32), a man who has done next to nothing to deserve a world title fight. The bout does give Wilder a great opportunity to become the first American to hold a Heavyweight world title since Shannon Briggs in 2007. Sadly for Wilder he's not just taking a step up in class for this bout, he's taking an elevator and going from the ground floor to somewhere near the top, and we're not sure he has any idea what to do once he gets hit back. This is a high profile opportunity for both men and the winner will move towards a monster payday, but for the loser this really could devastating. In the co-feature of the show we will see unbeaten WBC Super Bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (28-0-1, 16) defending his belt against the horrible matches Jesus Ruiz (33-5-5, 22) in a bout that really fills us with disappointment. We won't pretend that the Super Bantamweight division is as strong as the Flyweight division but it's not weak enough to excuse Ruiz getting a title fight. The likes of Shingo Wake, Yukinori Oguni, Genesis Servania, Shohei Omori and Albert Pagara have all got a better claim to a fight at the top level than Ruiz and that sums up what we think. In fact have just said that, Omori holds a win over Cristian Esquivel who actually outpointed Ruiz a few fights back. Thankfully the card does have a couple of really good bouts on it at a level lower down. One of those will see the unbeaten Amir Imam (15-0, 13) putting his perfect record on the line against Fidel Maldonado Jr (19-2, 16) in a bout for a WBC Continental Americas title at 140lbs. This could be spectacular with both men knowing a win will boost them up a level and both having belief in their power. Brilliant bit of match making. The other bout will see former Nobuhiro Ishida sparring partner Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (11-0, 9) battling against the under-rated Garrett Wilson (13-8-1, 7). Shabranskyy is rightfully the favourite and he should have the ability to beat Garrett but the tough American will almost certainly give the unbeaten Ukrainian fighter a headache in what is another wonderful bit of match making. As always thanks to Eric for compiling his weekly report!
January 9 Santa Ynez, CA, USA: Light: Darleys Perez (32-1) W PTS 12 Jonathan Maicelo (21-2,1ND). Welter: Francisco Santana (22-3-1) W TKO 1 Kendal Mena (20-1). Super Bantam: Roman Morales (19-0) W KO 3 Ernesto Guerrero (17-15). Heavy: Jarrell Miller (11-0-1) W PTS 6 Aaron Kinch (5-4-2). Perez vs. Maicelo An all-South American match sees Colombian Perez retain the interim WBA title with wide unanimous verdict over Peruvian Maicelo. Maicelo started aggressively but the champion is a natural counter puncher and was able to catch Maicelo with hard rights whenever Maicelo tried to get inside. Maicelo had some success in forcing Perez back and scoring with lefts and some of the early rounds were close but Perez had Maicelo’s face marking up by the fourth and from the sixth was in control. Perez was loading up on his punches and making more use of left hooks and Maicelo had no answer and very little defence. As Maicelo tired Perez began to look for an early finish and he landed a series of hard shots from both hands in the eleventh which put Maicelo down. The Peruvian made it to his feet and tried to rally in the last but was caught time and again with hard rights and staggered and nearly floored late by a left only just making it to the final bell. Scores 120-107, 118-108 and 118-109. Second defence by 31-year-old Perez of the title he won by outpointing Argenis Lopez in June. His lone loss was on points against Yuriorkis Gamboa for this same title in 2013. As an amateur Perez was a quarter-finalist at both the Olympics and World Championships. He showed the skills and power to be a force in a division which with Terrence Crawford moving up lacks a dominant figure. North Bergen-based Maicelo, 31, was rated WBA No 6. He looked to have blown any chance of a title fight when being flattened after eight brutal rounds by Rustam Nugaev in April 2013 but had rebounded with a split decision over Art Hovhannisyan(17-1-2) in July last year. Santana vs. Mena “Chia” Santana wins the vacant WBA International title as he blows away Dominican Mena in 103 seconds. After flooring the lanky Mena with a left hook early in the fight Santana punctuated an exchange with another left hook which crashed into the chin of Mena who went down on his back with the referee immediately waiving the count. Now 11 wins by KO/TKO for the 28-year-old from Santa Barbara. In October 2011 he lost an eight round decision against current WBO No 1 light middle Jermell Charlo but since then has accumulated 10 wins including victories over Freddy Hernandez, Joachim Alcine and previously unbeaten Eddie Gomez. Mena was having his first fight for 13 months. His 20-0 record was to put it mildly deceiving. Only one of his victims had a positive record (6-3) and 9 had never won a fight, so no real test for Santana. Morales vs. Guerrero Morales continues to impress as he halts Mexican Guerrero. After stalking Guerrero for the first two rounds the “Pride of San Ardo” ended it in the third with a vicious left hook to the body. Guerrero went down and stayed there for the full ten count. The 23-year-old Morales has ten wins by KO/TKO and includes Jon Arrellano, Roberto Castaneda and Khabir Suleymanov in his list of victims. Guerrero not strong opposition. He has now lost his last seven fights, the last three by early KO/TKO, but against unbeaten fighters with combined records of 54-0 so no one is doing him any favours. Miller vs. Kinch Miller makes it 7 wins in a row as he wins every round against Kinch. The 6’4” (193cm) “Big Baby” had height and reach over the limited Kinch. Although he had Kinch hurt early he could not close the fight out and Kinch fought back to go the distance. Scores 60-54 twice and 60-53. Brooklyn’s Miller was a former kickboxing/MMA professional before winning a silver medal at the New York Golden Gloves and turning pro. He had just one fight in 2009 and then did not fight again until 2011. He has served as a sparring partner for both Klitschko brothers. His draw was against Joey Dawejko in 2013. The 35-year-old Kinch has only failed to go the distance once and that was against world rated Charles Martin. Cabazon, CA, USA: Light Welter: Ivan Redkach (18-0,1ND) W TKO 6 Yakubu Amidu (21-6-2). Middle: Ievgen Khytrov (8-0) W TKO 3 Maurice Louishome (8-1-1). Light Middle: Alantez Fox (14-0-1) W PTS 8 Patrick Day (9-1-1). Light: Tevin Farmer (18-4-1) W PTS 8 Viktor Chernous (15-2-1). Super Middle: Francy Ntetu (14-0) W PTS8 Tyrell Hendrix (11-6-2). Redkach vs. Amidu Redkach just punches too hard for Amidu and forces the Ghanaian to retire at the end of the sixth round. Under trainer Robert Garcia Redkach is finally living up to his hype. The Ukrainian southpaw used superior skills and quicker movement to build a lead against the slow starting Amidu who was just not letting his hands go over the first three round. However, the strong, hard-punching Ghanaian came into the fight more in the fourth but Redkach was the more accurate and retained his edge. Amidu was also competitive in the fifth but his cause suffered a set back when he was penalized a point for a couple of low blows. That became irrelevant in the sixth as a straight left put Amidu down heavily for the first knockdown of his career. The Ghanaian got up and was immediately under fire again. The second knockdown came courtesy of flashing left hook/right cross combination which again sent Amidu down on his back. He fought back hard and with Redkach having put a lot into the round Amidu was pressing a tiring Redkach to the bell. In his corner Amidu complained that he had hurt his ankle on the second knockdown and did not want to continue. The 28-year-old Redkach makes it 13 wins by KO/TKO and is rated IBF 5(4)/WBC 11 but he needs more high level fights before he is ready to go for a title challenge. “Black Mamba” Amidu, 30, lost to Ricky Burns for the CBC super feather title in 2008 before moving his base to the USA in 2010. After losses to Ji-Hoon Kim and Haskell Rhodes he held WBO super feather title challenger Juan Carlos Burgos to a draw in July 2013 but was eliminated in last year’s ESPN Boxcino Tournament when he was all square with Chris Rudd over six rounds but Rudd took the tie-breaker round. Khytrov vs. Louishome Predictable inside the distance win for former Ukrainian amateur star Khytrov. The “Ukrainian Lion” almost made it three first round wins on the bounce when the tall Colorado fighter took a knee after being nailed with a right at the end of the first round. Louishome survived but was staggered a couple of times in the second with punches from Khytrov twice sending his mouthpiece flying. Khytrov continued the onslaught in the third and when another right dislodged Louishome’s mouthpiece the referee stopped the fight. The 26-year-old Khytrov has won all eight of his fights by KO/TKO. He was a gold medal winner at the European Junior Championships and the World Championships but had to settle for bronze medal at the European Championships after losing to Irish star Jason Quigley and was beaten at the London Olympics by Anthony Ogogo. Louishome, 37, really just a prelim level fighter and way out of his depths here. Fox vs. Day Fox wins match of unbeaten fighters on a majority decision with some stranger scoring. When I first started research for this fight I saw Fox described as 6’5” (196cm) I though it must be a misprint-a 6’5” light middle! However it was right and it was the story of the fight. Over the early rounds Day found it difficult to get past the huge reach advantage enjoyed by “SlyAza” and work inside. Fox is more awkward than accomplished and as the fight progressed Day had more success scoring with rights. Fox threw a prodigious amount of jabs and was fine in countering but tended to leave himself open when launching his own attacks, but he was busier than Day and finished the fight stronger. The referees were very split on this one with the cards reading 80-72 and 78-74 for Fox and 76-76 with the middle score looking the more accurate reflection. The 22-year-old Fox drew with still unbeaten Frank Galarza in 2012 and this was his seventh win since then but he lacks power and although he finished strongly in this one with his height making 154lbs could give him stamina problems against better opposition. Big things were expected from Day as at one time he was rated No 1 in the USA in his division as an amateur. A draw with Urmat Ryskeldiev (6-3) in 2013 was disappointing but he then won 4 in a row 3 by KO/TKO and seemed to be finding his groove. He has some work to do now. Farmer vs. Chernous “American Idol” Farmer continues his winning streak with unanimous decision over Chernous. The 24-year-old southpaw has flourished under new management and has turned a 7-4-1 record into a more than respectable 18-4-1 with a run of 11 wins including victories over unbeaten fighters in Camilo Perez and Emanuel Gonzalez. Two of his losses have been to Polish prospect Kamil Laszczyk and current IBF No 1 Jose Pedraza but he looks to have put those well behind him. Ukrainian Chernous, 30, turned pro in Australia and won 14 of his 15 fights there collecting the Australian welterweight title but in his first fight in the USA fought a disappointing draw with Ivan Zavala in July. Ntetu vs. Hendrix DRC-born Ntetu continues unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Hendrix. Scores 79-73 twice and 78-74. The 32-year-old Canadian-based fighter beat Schiller Hyppolite in a clash of unbeaten fighters in 2012 but does not seem to have kicked-on since then. “Hollywood” Hendrix is 2-5 in his last 7 fights but can point to an upset win over Dennis Hasson (16-0) in June which will get him work. New York, NY, USA: Middle: Tureano Johnson (18-1) W TKO 5 Alex Theran (17-2). Welter: Dusty Hernandez Harrison (25-0) W PTS 10 Tommy Rainone (22-6-1). Welter: Chris van Heerden (22-1-1) W PTS 10 Cecil McCalla (20-1). Super Middle: Andrew Hernandez (8-0-1,1ND) W DIS 4 Jerry Odom (12-1,1ND). Johnson vs. Theran Bahamian Johnson uses all-out pressure to overwhelm Colombian hope Theran. Johnson gave Theran no room to work and set a work rate of his own that Theran could not match. Johnson was on top of him and scoring with clubbing rights with southpaw Theran trying to move and work from the outside. Instead he was constantly finding himself on the back foot, on the ropes and being bullied inside. Theran did find some space in the second and third rounds but not much as Johnson was forcing him into a brawl that suited the Bahamian. A right from Johnson late in the fourth had Theran pitching forward to the canvas and taking a count on one knee. In the fifth a left to the body put Theran down again. The Colombian broken his ankle as he went down but got up and limped his way to the bell before retiring in his corner. The 31-year-old Johnson wins the vacant WBC Silver and WBA International titles which should do wonders for his ranking with those bodies. He is currently WBC8/IBF 12(11)/WBA 12. This is his fourth win since losing to Curtis Stevens on a controversial stoppage in the last round of their fight in April where Johnson only had to last out the remaining 51 seconds to get a points win. He was the outstanding member of the Bahamas amateur boxing team having won numerous Caribbean Championships and competed twice at the World Championships and at the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. “The Prince” Theran, 24, was just out-gunned here and together with his stoppage loss to Arif Magomedov in April it looks as though he will come up short as a pro after an outstanding amateur career in which he reportedly beat Johnson. Harrison vs. Rainone Harrison gets wide unanimous decision but finds it hard to shine against crafty southpaw Rainone. After an even first round Harrison took over as he was doing most of the pressing, landing the better punches and outworking a passive Rainone who relied mainly on counters which kept him in the fight but down on the cards. Hernandez was harvesting the rounds without being able to nail, down the defence-minded Rainone. When Rainone did turn aggressor he was being caught by counters from Harrison and did not sustain the action. Harrison shook Rainone with a right in the seventh and tried to end it then but Rainone was able to duck, weave and hold his way out of trouble. Over the last two rounds Harrison was able to keep Rainone on the ropes for most of the time and was getting through with hard combinations with Rainone just doing enough to stay in the fight and go the distance. Scores 100-90 twice and 99-91. Only 20 the tall Washington prospect will have better nights but this was a good test of his patience against a fighter who posed some problems that the relatively low quality of his opposition to date has not done. He collects the vacant WBC Continental Americas title. He is WBO 14 but may soon creep into the ranking of some of the other bodies with tougher opposition. “Razor” Rainone, 35, had lost only one of his last eleven fights and was WBO USBO champion but the opposition had been non-threatening. van Heerden vs. McCalla van Heerden shook off nearly nine months of rust to get a split decision despite yet more weird scoring. McCall came in 2lbs 5ozs over the contract weight but that did not help him. The South African southpaw needed to make this an inside fight to counter the skills of McCalla and he succeeded. He stayed inside working the body which gave McCalla no room to get leverage and McCalla lacked the punch power and the strength to change the fight. McCalla did enough scoring to make some rounds close but was unable to keep van Heerden out long enough to take control of the fight. Scores 97-93 and 96-94 for van Heerden and an incredible 99-91 for McCalla! Van Heerden wins the vacant IBF International title. The 27-year-old “Heat” had relinquished his IBO title to try to land a shot at one of the other titles but in a star studded welterweight division that is a big ask. He suffered a broken ankle which had kept him out of action since April and his return gave him the honour of being the first South African fighter to fight at the MSG since Willie Toweel back in 1960. McCalla had done most of his boxing in the backwaters with no names of note on his record. Odom vs. Hernandez “The King’s Son “Odom found a pretty stupid way to lose his unbeaten tag. The hot prospect was being given a good test by Hernandez but was on his way to a win probably inside the distance. He broke through in the third round and floored Hernandez with a series of punches. Unfortunately he continued the series with Hernandez on the canvas and was rightly disqualified. The 21-year-old is one of those kids saved from the streets by boxing and he had a stellar time as an amateur winning gold and silver medals at the NGG’s and a silver in the US Championships but lost out at the US Olympic Trials. He has skill, speed and power so hopefully he can put this aberration behind him. Phoenix prelim fighter Hernandez gets a lucky win. Tacoma, WA, USA: Middle: Mike Gavronski (16-1-1) W PTS 10 Dashon Johnson (15-19-3). Gavronski gets unanimous decision over late sub Johnson. The local fighter Gavronski made a good start taking the fight to Johnson and outscoring him over the opening round but with Johnson finding enough openings for his jab to show Gavronski he was in a fight. From the second the tactics became clear with Gavronski going to the body and Johnson to the head. Gavronski was edging the rounds with his higher work rate but Johnson was landing enough head shots to stay competitive. Johnson had a good fifth starting the round by forcing Gavronski to the ropes and landing rights to the head. Gavronski did some good work when he moved to ring centre but Johnson closed the round with some good head shots. The sixth was again close with again Gavronski going to the body and Johnson to the head and both fighters had their moments in a seventh and eighth with Johnson coming on strong but Gavronski edging the rounds with a higher work rate. In the ninth Gavronski pushed Johnson down to the canvas. It was an offence he had committed before and this time the referee deducted a point from the local fighter. Gavronski boxed his way through the last using a sharp jab and good movement to prevent Johnson staging a strong finish and got the deserved decision. Scores 98-91twice and 95-94. Gavronski a clear winner but the 98-91scores did not do justice to Johnson’s work. “Imagine Me” Gavronski, 29, had seen an unbeaten 15 bout streak snapped by a points loss to world rated Tureano Johnson in July and this was his second win as he rebounds from that set back. He had prepared to fight Californian Louis Rose so had little time to adjust to the change of opponent. “Fly Boy” Johnson, 26, was a six day notice fill-in and again showed how difficult an opponent he can be despite a 2-14 record in his last 16 fights. Many of those losses were late notice fights against top class opposition in the other man’s backyard and the wins over Adam Trupish and Craig McEwan show he has ability. January 10 Tijuana, Mexico: Light Fly: Javier Mendoza (23-2-1) W TKO 2 Mauricio Fuentes (17-4). Super Bantam: Edivaldo Ortega (20-0-1) W KO 3 Chris Esquivel (27-6). Light Welter: Abner Lopez (21-4) W TKO 2 Jose D Mosquera (16-5-1). Straw: Mario Rodriguez 19-9-4) W TKO 5 Armando Torres (21-14). Mendoza vs. Fuentes Mendoza blows away Flores in two rounds. The IBF champion ended this non-title fight in quick time. The Mexican “Cobra” had Flores under pressure in the first and wrapped it up in the second. A left/right combination saw Flores take a knee. He was up quickly and took the eight count. When the action resumed another series of shots from Mendoza put Flores down again. He made it to his feet but was shipping more punishment when his second entered the ring to save him further punishment and the fight was stopped. It was proposed that this be a title fight but the IBF rightly refused to sanction it so it went ahead as a ten round non-title fight. Now 19 wins by KO/TKO for the 23-year-old southpaw. Mendoza won the vacant IBF title in September with a points victory over Ramon Garcia. Fuentes, 25, loses by KO/TKO for the second time. He was knocked out inside a round by Joel Casimero in an IBF title fight in May where Casimero came in overweight and lost his title on the scales. In refusing to sanction this fight it shows that the IBF do actually have standards-sometimes. Ortega vs. Esquivel “Indio” Ortega continues to look a top prospect as he destroys experienced Esquivel inside three rounds. The aggressive local southpaw was the aggressor from the start with Esquivel willing to stand and trade but getting the worst of the exchanges. The end came in the third round when a torrent of punches from Ortega sent Esquivel to the ropes and an overhand right put him down to finish the fight. Ortega wins the interim WBO NABO title and goes to 11 wins by KO/TKO. He is meeting a good level of opposition with fellow-Mexicans Carlos Jacobo and Enrique Bernache and Filipino Rey Perez beaten in file. “Italiano” Esquivel, 28, a former WBC Silver title holder and WBC bantam title challenger was knocked out in four rounds by unbeaten Japanese prospect Shohei Omori in May so suffers consecutive losses for the first time in his career. Lopez vs. Mosquera Lopez again shows his power and makes it a bad night for Colombian boxers as he halts Mosquera in two rounds. The lanky Mexican had Mosquera hurt in the first but failed to finish it. In the second a hard combination put Mosquera down and although he made it to his feet at the end of the eight count the referee stopped the fight. “Jaeger” Lopez, 24, has 19 wins by KO/TKO and is rebuilding after a loss to Alejandro Barrera (23-2) in August. He has good wins over former WBC champion Humberto Gutierrez and Ric Dominguez. After suffering only one loss, to Diego Chaves, in his first 16 fights Mosquera, 31, is 2-4 in his last 6 fights and coming off a loss to Aaron Herrera in July. Rodriguez vs. Torres Former IBF champion Rodriguez gets stoppage win over Torres. The “Little Dragon” ended this in the fifth with two knockdowns which saw the referee stop the fight. He lost to Donnie Nietes in a challenge for the WBO title in 2010 but has a draw with new IBF champion Pedro Guevara and a kayo won over Nkosinathi Joyi. Torres, 33, the nephew of former WBC champion German Torres turned pro in Japan and is a former NABF and WBC Silver champion but is 2-5 in his last 7 fights. Las Vegas, NV, USA: Super Bantam: Jessie Magdaleno (20-0) W PTS 8 Erik Ruiz (13-2). Light Middle: Rodrigo Garcia (17-0) W KO 1 Jailton De Jesus Souza (13-4). Feather: Vic Pasillas (9-0) W PTS 6 Karl Garcia (4-4). Magdaleno vs. Ruiz Magdaleno cancelled his last fight after he was emotionally thrown by a burglary at his apartment but no one was going to rob him in this fight as he won every round against Robert Garcia trained Ruiz. From the first round the brilliant young southpaw was too quick and accurate for Ruiz getting his punches home and being away before Ruiz could counter. Ruiz managed to get into the fight in the fourth and fifth but Magdaleno was still the one scoring most controlling things with his jab and slotting home hard rights. The unbeaten youngster scored with some heavy punches in the eighth as he tried to extend his run of wins by KO/TKO to seven but Ruiz was still there at the bell. Scores 80-72 from all three judges. Magdaleno, 23, wins the vacant NABF Junior title. He is rated WBO 2/IBF 4(3)/WBA 7 despite never having had a fight scheduled for more than eight rounds which is a case of rating on potential rather than achievement but he is a future champion. It is worrying for other boxers that there is a third Magdaleno brother coming through the amateur ranks who is supposed to be even better than Diego or Jessie! Ruiz had won his last 4 fights but had no answer to the sparkling skills of Magdaleno. Garcia vs. Souza Mexican prospect Garcia wipes out Brazilian Souza inside a round. One solid left hook put Souza down and out after just 71 seconds. Now 12 wins by KO/TKO for the 25-year-old Garcia, the last 6 on the bounce. One to watch. After 11 wins Souza is 2-4 in his last 6 fights with all four losses by KO/TKO. Pasillas vs. Garcia Pasillas remains unbeaten as he takes every round against Garcia. The Californian southpaw, a former NGG bronze medalist, floored Garcia in the third and won on scores of 60-54 twice and 60-53. Puerto Rican Garcia is trained by former WBO straw and light fly champion Ivan Calderon but is 2-4 in his last 6 fights. Arezzo, Italy: Light Middle: Orlando Fiordigiglio (20-0) W KO 2 Jose Del Rio (18-6). Super Middle: Roberto Bassi (7-1) W PTS 10 Fabrizio Leone (6-6). Fiordigiglio vs. Del Rio Fiordigiglio retains his EU title with kayo of Spaniard Del Rio. Fiordigiglio was attacking from the start scoring well with body punches and although Del Rio defended well he was under pressure throughout the round. Fiordigiglio took Del Rio to the ropes in the second and although the Spaniard again covered well and tried to counter Fiordigiglio pulled the trigger first and nailed Del Rio with a short left hook. The Spaniard went down heavily and despite a brave attempt by Del Rio to get up the fight was over. The tall 30-year-old champion was making his third defence of his EU title and goes to 11 wins by KO/TKO. He is rated No 1 by the EBU and is waiting in line for a shot at the winner when Jack Culcay defends the title against Cedric Vitu. He is an intelligent boxer with power who could move into the world ratings in 2015. Former Spanish welter champion Del Rio, 29, had lost on points on the road against Jackson Osei Bonsu, Jussi Koivula and Sebastien Maidana ( a close decision for the WBFed world title) and this was his first loss by KO/TKO. He had won his last 3 fights but was rated down at No 27 in the EU ratings. Bassi vs. Leone Bassi wins the vacant Italian title with unanimous verdict over Leoni. Bassi was the quicker and better boxer and Leoni who was reduced to trying to find one big punch to turn the fight his way. Bassi was able to avoid those attempts and score with hard combinations and stop Leoni’s efforts to get inside and work the body. A dispirited Leoni tried to stage a big finish but with both fighters tiring Bassi was able to box his way to a clear victory. Scores 98-93 twice and 96-94 with the latter being generous to Leoni. The 31-year-old Bassi answered questions over his stamina as he stayed the course well in his first fight scheduled for more than six rounds. Now 5 losses in a row for Leoni. This was very much a low level national title fight with neither fighter considered to be in the top 10 Italian’s at this weight. The Past Week In Action 4 January 2015
December 28 Mercedes, Argentina: Light Heavy: Walter G Sequeira (12-1) W PTS 10 Roberto D Moreno (9-6-1). Sequeira retains the interim WBC Latino title with unanimous decision over Moreno. It was the aggressive Sequeira against the counter-puncher Moreno. The fight was evenly balanced over the first six rounds with Sequeira having success when he could pressurise Moreno and trap him on the ropes and Moreno showing good lateral movement and countering. From the seventh the superior strength and stamina of the local boxer told and finally Sequeira ran out a clear winner. Scores 97-93 twice and 99-91. Now 12 wins in a row for the 27-year-old champion who is rated No 2 cruiser by the FAB. Moreno, 29, the FAB No 6 super middle, had won his last three fights. December 29 Budapest, Hungary: Heavy: Zoltan Csala (6-0) W KO 3 Zoltan Petranyi (51-20). Heavy: Zsolt Bogdan (8-0) W PTS 10 Danny Williams (46-25). Fly: Gabor Molnar (16-6) W PTS 10 David Kanalas (5-1). Csala vs. Petranyi The “younger fighter” Csala wins the vacant WBFed International and Hungarian titles with kayo of Petranyi. Csala started strongly and aggressively with a surprised Petranyi forced onto the back foot. The more experienced man got into the fight in the second and looked to be taking control. However in the third the bull-like rushes from the 37-year-old “Furioso” overpowered Petranyi. Both shaped to throw a right but Csala’s got there first. It crashed into Petranyi’s jaw and he fell face first on the canvas and was counted out. Now 5 wins in a row by KO/TKO for Csala who has only been a pro for 5 months. He is strong but slow and crude. The 48-year-old “Csepi” Petranyi had stopped being a travelling test body and had been promoting his own shows recently with a result that he had won his last 15 fights. The defending champion, a pro since 1996, first won the national title in 2003 and with it falling vacant occasionally had actually won the title 5 times and was a huge local favourite. He announced his retirement having fought in 13 different countries in his 18 year career. Bogdan vs. Williams Romanian-born Bogdan takes unanimous decision over Williams to win the vacant Global Boxing Federation title. Bogdan was looking to end it early as he caught Williams with a right to the head in the first and again with a right uppercut at the end of the round. Williams employed rope-dope-tactics in the second just laying on the ropes for the whole three minutes but he was doing more holding than hitting. It was more of the same in the third with Bogdan scoring with some meaty hooks to head and body and Williams briefly using his jab but mostly just covering up on the ropes. The fourth was almost a carbon copy of the third except that Williams did score with a series of left hooks but for the rest of the time was content to lie on the ropes and block, duck or hold. Both fighters looked tired in the fifth (in fact they both looked tired from the first so I should say more tired) but Williams did actually drive Bogdan across the ring only to then retreat back to the ropes himself. It was the same in the sixth only this time Williams launched a sustained body attack and momentarily looked capable of turning the fight around only to again retreat to the ropes where Bogdan just threw bludgeoning hooks and crosses and Williams just held. In the seventh a Williams left hook sent Bogdan staggering back across the ring and Williams followed him scoring with hooks to the body. However the Brit was not able to sustain the attack and again threw the round away by just lying on the ropes and letting Bogdan flail away. Bleeding from the mouth and nose and exhausted Williams spent the last three rounds as he had for most of the fight laying on the ropes whilst Bogdan threw ponderous punches with enough getting through to win each round. Williams looked to be badly hurt by a series of uppercuts in the ninth and lost his mouthpiece in the last but survived. Scores 99-91 twice and 100-90.The refereeing was weak. Both fighters received plenty of warnings but no action was taken. Both Bogdan and Williams could have been thrown out for holding and Williams could have been disqualified for constantly leading with his head. The 35-year-old Bogdan was taking part in his first ten round fight having turned pro in 2011. He is just too slow to be a threat to any top fighter. The 41-year-old Williams is less than a shadow of the fighter who beat Mike Tyson ten years ago with the former British and Commonwealth champion no longer the “Brixton Bomber” he has to fight at a funereal pace to go ten rounds. Occasionally he digs in some left hooks which were a feature of the younger man Williams, but it’s a fleeting glimpse. He is 2-15 in his last 17 fights. Molnar vs. Kanalas A rousing little flyweight fight saw Molnar regain the Hungarian title with split decision over Kanalas. It was a tight fight which could have gone either way. Neither is a big puncher so they were able to trade often and there were plenty of frantic exchanges with the rounds being difficult to score. The cards read 98-93 and 96-94 to Molnar and 95-94 to Kanalas. Molnar had won the title in March by beating David Kanalas who I believe is Roberts’s brother. The national title became vacant after Molnar was stopped in three rounds by Jamie Conlan for the WBO European title in June. First loss for Robert. The 23-year-old was a good level amateur winning a silver medal at the European Schools Championships, competing at the World Cadet Championships and the World Junior Championships. December 30 Prague, Czech Republic: Cruiser: Lubos Suda (33-9-1) W TKO 6 Lukas Skirca (1-2). Cruiser: Roman Kracik (36-11-1) W PTS 6 Jindrich Velecky (19-31). Suda vs. Skirca Veteran Suda makes heavy work of beating inexperienced Czech Skirca. The 38-year-old Suda found late substitute Skirca a handful for the first two rounds as Skirca came out punching and had Suda hurt a couple of times. Suda bounced back over the next two rounds with Skirca badly cut over his left eye. It was all even after four but in the fifth body punches from Suda slowed Skirca and Suda scored two knockdowns in the sixth to force the finish. First fight in almost 8 months for former undefeated EU champion Suda who was world rated way back after winning 19 of his first 20 fights. He blamed his poor performance on an arm injury suffered two weeks before the fight. Skirca, 31, had been stopped in 105 seconds by Brit Kash Ali in November. Kracik vs. Velecky No real highlights in this one as Kracik boxes his way to a clear points win. The 43-year-old Kracik announced his retirement after twelve years as a pro. He lost only one of his first 31 fights, to Suda, and is a former Czech champion. Velecky, another Czech, and 40-years of age, has lost his last 13 fights, but usually goes the distance. Abbreviations ABC=Asian Boxing Council an affiliate of the WBC ABF=Asian Boxing Federation. I assume this is an affiliate of the IBF ABU=African Boxing Union an affiliate of the WBC ACC=WBC Asian Council Continental title ANBF=Australian National Boxing Federation who administer Australian titles BBB of C=British Boxing Board of Control BBB of C Southern/Central/Midlands/Scottish Area etc. British Area titles BDB= Bund Deutscher Berufsboxer one of the German boxing bodies B & H=Bosnia & Herzegovina BSA=Boxing South Africa responsible for administering boxing in South Africa CBC=Commonwealth Boxing Council a sanctioning body for titles competed for by citizens of Commonwealth countries CISBB-WBC title covering the rump of the USSR and the Slovenian Boxing Board DRC=Democratic Republic of the Congo EBU=European Boxing Union FAB=Argentinian Boxing Federation FFB=French Boxing Federation GAB=Philippines Games & Amusement Board responsible for administering boxing in the Philippines GBC= Global Boxing Council a sanctioning body IBA=International Boxing Association a sanctioning body IBF=International Boxing Federation a sanctioning body IBO=International Boxing Organisation a sanctioning body JBC =Japanese Boxing Commission NABA=North American Boxing Association, a WBA affiliate NABF=North American Boxing Federation a WBC affiliate NABO= North American Boxing Organisation, a WBO affiliate NCC=National Championships of Canada NGG=US National Golden Gloves NZPBF=New Zealand Professional Boxing Federation a national sanctioning body OPBF=Orient & Pacific Boxing Federation PABA=Pacific & Asian Boxing Association, a WBA affiliate PBF=Philippines Boxing Federation, a sanctioning body in the Philippines UBF=Universal Boxing Federation a sanctioning body UBO=Universal Boxing Organisation a sanctioning body USBA= United States Boxing Association, an IBF affiliate USBO=United States Boxing Organisation an WBO affiliate WBA=World Boxing Association a sanctioning body WBC=World Boxing Council a sanctioning body WBFed=World Boxing Federation, a sanctioning body WBFound=World Boxing Foundation, a sanctioning body WBU=World Boxing Union, a sanctioning body IBF WBA Rating=Both bodies leave vacancies in their ratings so when showing a IBF or WBA rating for a fighter where there is a vacant position ahead of them in the rankings which affects his rating I will put his numerical rating i.e. No 6 and in brackets and his rating based on the number of fighters ahead of him so IBF 6 (5) shows his numerical position is 6 but there are in fact only 5 fighters listed ahead of him due to one or more of the higher rating positions being vacant. |
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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