Klitscho wins, Thurman shines, Figueroa lucky, Matthysse in a war and Bopp wins in a busy day!4/28/2014 Last week was one of the busiest in boxing this year. We had the title fights on Wednesday as Hozumi Hasegawa took on Kiko Martinez and Shinsuke Yamanaka fought Stephane Jamoye, we then saw the unexpected failed drug test of Denis Lebedev and all that was before Saturday! On Saturday things went up a gear, we didn't just get fights but we got a maelstrom of fights across all the levels of the sport, and they gave us a bit of everything. Excitement, controversial, action and pain. The first of the major fights was in Germany as Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52), the Heavyweight king and by far the most dominant fighter in is division, retained his collection of titles with an impressive display. Klitschko was fighting against the WBO mandatory challenger Alex Leapai (30-5-3, 24) but made Leapai look like a man off the street. The champion landed jabs, straights, hooks and even the occasional uppercut as he systematically dismantled the challenger with ease. Klitschko is often slated for his holding and hugging but there was little of that as his footwork and offensive shot selection created all the distance he needed to dominate. On the same card in Germany there were good wins for Joseph Parker (8-0, 7) and Oleksandr Usyk (3-0, 3) who both scored stoppages and continued rolling on in their promising and very exciting careers. Although neither man has 10 fights they do, genuinely, look likely to be top contenders in the next year or two. Usyk could probably go for a Cruiserweight title in his next 5 fights if he wished, he really is that good. For Parker the developmental process will be longer but he's a baby in the Heavyweight division. Talking about Heavyweights the exciting Lucas Browne (20-0, 18) claimed the Commonwealth title stopping Canada's Eric Martel Bahoeli (10-4, 7) in 5 rounds in the UK. This was an exciting fight with Browne throwing caution to the wind after being cut by a clash of heads. The big Aussie is one of the most fun to watch Heavyweights when he lets his hands go and although he wasn't in great shape he showed his power in a great overall display. As with the action in Germany the Heavyweight bout in the UK shared a show with some big punchers, including Kirill Relikh (16-0, 14) and Adam Etches (16-0, 13) who both recorded early victories, as did the the new European Bantamweight champion Zhanat Zhakiyanov (22-1, 15) who scored a career best result. Whilst there was action in Europe the big talking points were all about the US where we had a trio of interesting bouts. The first of that trio was a WBC Lightweight title fight between defending champion Omar Figueroa (23-0-1, 17) and former amateur rival Jerry Belmontes (19-4, 5). Figueroa was involved in a sensational bout with Nihito Arakawa last year though here he looked lack lustre, flat and basic as Belmontes out boxed him. Despite looking like the loser Figueroa managed to retain his title thanks to a frankly ridiculous scorecard of 118-110 turned in by David Mendoza who certainly needs an eye test. If Figueroa/Belmontes left a bad taste in the mouth it was quickly forgotten as we got a thrilling contest between Lucas Martin Matthysse (35-3, 33) and John Molina (27-4, 22). Matthysse was dropped twice, once in each of rounds 2 and 5, before coming back, going through the gears and soundly beating up Molina who given a seriously nasty battering in round 10 before being stopped the following round in a FOTY candidate. The one bout that went exactly as expected on this US card saw WBA "interim" Welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0-0-1, 21) stop former Lightweight world champion Julio Diaz (40-10-1, 29). Diaz was forced to retire at the end of round 3 with a rib injury. Although some are tipping Thurman as the man to defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr we can't help but feel he is very unproven considering the hype he is getting. He's talented but no where near the natural talent of Mayweather. The final international bout of note for us was in Argentina as Argentinian female superstar Yesica Yolanda Bopp (27-1, 12) claimed the WBO female Flyweight title with an excellent victory over compatriot Daniela Romina Bermudez (16-3-2, 5). The fight saw both fighters changing weights from where they usually fight with Bopp going up a division and Bermudez coming down a division. Unfortunately for Bermudez she was unable to use her natural size advantage and instead Bopp's skills and speed were the difference as Bermudez was widely beaten in the end, despite putting up a good effort. This was a case of a very good big fighter fighting a great smaller fighter and the smaller fighter being a that bit too good. (Photo thanks to Sumio Yamada)
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This coming Saturday is a major day in the boxing world and ends one of the most interesting weeks this year. The bigger fights, which take place around the world, are nothing short of major bouts and are really, really exciting. The biggest fight of the day is in Germany as Heavyweight kingpin Wladimir Klitschko (61-3, 51) defends his WBO, WBA "super" and IBF titles against WBO mandatory challenger Alex Leapai (30-4-3, 24). Many have written Leapai off though with his power he does have a punchers chance against Klitschko, as long as he catches clean. Admittedly it's rare for Klitschko to be caught but there is always that chance. For those complaining about Leapai getting this chance it's worth noting he did earn the chance having beaten Denis Boytsov last time out. On the same card there is a second notable Heavyweight bout as the promising and unbeaten Joseph Parker (7-0, 6) takes on late replacement Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (17-3, 15) who has taken the place of Sherman Williams who has had a big falling out with the promoter of the show. A third interesting bout on this card sees Klitschko's compatriot, and 2012 Olympic gold medal winner, Oleksandr Usyk (2-0, 2) in action against the tough Ben Nsafoah (15-9-2, 8). In the UK we get a third interesting Heavyweight contest as the hard hitting and very likeable Lucas Browne (19-0, 17) takes on Canada's Eric Martel Bahoeli (10-3, 7) in an excellent looking Commonwealth title fight. We like Browne and although we know he's limited he's always going to be a lot of fun. Talking about fun to watch fighters the same British show will feature Adam Etches (15-0, 12), who will be fighting Felipe De la Paz Teniente (12-1, 6), and Kirill Relikh (15-0, 13), who battles Ty Gilchrist (6-3-1, 2), who are also very fun to watch, heavy handed and aggressive minded fighters. Staying on the subject of fun to watch fighters the audiences watching Showtime get a number of fun to watch fighters in action. One of those will be Lucas Martin Matthysse (34-3, 32) who battles John Molina (27-3, 22). On paper this looks fun though in reality it's likely to be a mismatch and it's hard to see anything but a steam roller job by Matthysse who will be looking to leave an impact on his return to the ring after losing to Danny Garcia last time out. Another of those will be Omar Figueroa (22-0-1, 17) who will defending his WBC Lightweight title against former amateur foe Jerry Belmontes (19-3, 5). Figueroa is returning to the ring for the first time since damaging his hands on the head of Nihitio Arakawa in one of the 2013 FOTY contenders, he'll be hoping to have fully recovered as he's facing a man who beat him in the unpaid ranks. A third, world class, fighter on this card is Keith Thurman (22-0-0-1, 20). Thurman is the WBA "interim" Welterweight champion and is viewed by some as the heir apparent to Floyd Mayweather Jr, we'd disagree with that but he has a great chance to shine against former 2-time IBF Lightweight champion Julio Diaz (40-9-1, 29). This should be an easy KO win for Thurman if he's as good as speculated by the US media and fans. One more man of note on this US card is Antonio Orozco (19-0, 15) who we absolutely love watching. Orozco should, like the other exciting fighters on this card, pick up an easy stoppage as he takes on the much smaller Martin Honorio (32-8-1, 16). Honorio is a former world title challenger and is a world class Super Featherweight but Orozco is more of a Light Welterweight. In Argentina we have a very special looking female bout as Yesica Yolanda Bopp (26-1, 12) battled fellow Argentinian world champion Daniela Romina Bermudez (16-2-2, 5). The bout is a little bit weird as Bopp, the WBO Light Flyweight champion, is stepping up to 112lbs whilst Bermudez, who holds a title at Super Flyweight is stepping down. For all intents and purposes this is a bout fought at a catchweight of 112lbs, the Flyweight limit, with the vacant WBO Flyweight title on the line. Very interesting bout and one we've been told is "must watch". This will be the second time the two have met and the first time around Bopp took a very hard fought decision, with that in mind it's a true 50-50 bout in our eyes. (Image courtesy of http://www.klitschko.com) This past Sunday saw one of female boxing's true super fights as the two top Lightweights collided. The bout, between Delfine Persoon (29-1, 13) and the previously unbeaten Erica Anabella Farias (19-1, 9) was supposed to leave us with a clear indication of who is the best female Lightweight on the planet. Unfortunately, though as we often see in this sport, the bout left us with no clearer indication of who really is the better fighter. The bout was sloppy and aggressive from the off with both trying to behead the other. It was fun to watch but lacked the sweet science that some would have expected from the two women involved. Later on the sloppiness from both saw headclashes and forced the referee to deducted a point from either fighter under the WBC accidental foul rule. Going in to the final round it seemed pretty even and it looked like it was all for the taking. The final round all Farias as she dominated, almost certainly proving that she was the better fighter. Unfortunately though the judges disagreed and gave Persoon the decision with unquestionably unfair scores declaring the Belgian the winner with cards of 96-93, 96-92 and 96-92, effectively scoring the bout 7 rounds to 3 in favour of Persoon, a disgraceful set of scores. The victory sees Persoon taking the WBC belt from Farias who had held the title since 2011. (Image courtesy of boxeohoy.blogspot.com) Porter emerges as a monster, Quillin fails to set the world alight and Quigg makes a statement4/20/2014 This past Saturday was a busy one in the boxing world with numerous major fights happening in the Western world and they old told their own, very different story. Of course the highlight of the night was the one bout we actually covered in detail as Kazakhstan's Beibut Shumenov (14-2, 9) lost in his unification bout with American legend Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2-2, 32). It was poor from Shumenov who, like many of Hopkins's opponents throughout the years, fought the wrong fight and instead of using his own strengths he fought to Hopkins's game plan of a slow paced bout in a contest that had little real excitement barring the knockdown against Shumenov in round 11. Prior top Hopkin's bout with Shumenov US fans got the chance to see two other world title bouts. The first of those saw WBO Middleweight champion Peter Quillin (31-0, 22) easily out point the game but under-sized Czech Lukas Konecny (50-5, 23). We'll admit we like Konecny, a lot, but he's no Middleweight and it showed here as he could never hurt Quillin despite landing some clean and hard looking shots. Although Konecny couldn't hurt Quillin this bout did suggest that many other Middleweights could and in fact it hinted at the idea that Quillin is lucky that his management team will help him avoid Gennady Golovkin. On this performance Golvokin would steam roll Quillin with genuine ease and in fact we'd give fighters like Matthew Macklin, Martin Murray, Felix Sturm, Daniel Geale, Marco Antonio Rubio and Matt Korobov a better than evens shot at dethroning Quillin. Whilst Quillin is talented he's not as good as he thinks he is, he doesn't hit as hard as he thinks and more importantly he's not very fun to watch. He was backed up by Konecny and made to look awful and boring in a bout that he really should have taken the initiative in. Thankfully some of the other champions in action during the night did take the initiative. One of those was IBF Welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15) who dismantled the tough and skilled Paul Malignaggi (33-6, 7) in very impressive fashion. Malignaggi, who is known for his toughness and bravery was completely destroyed by Porter who looked a real monster in scoring a 4th round TKO. Despite the loss Malignaggi showed his class in his post fight comments before being taken to hospital. Although it wasn't confirmed it does seem very likely that Malignaggi will retire over the next few days and move into the commentary booth full time at US network Showtime. It seems that commentating is Malignaggi's calling and it's something he is genuinely exceptional at. Whatever "Paulie" chooses to do in the future we wish him the best. As for Porter this win should set up a clash with unbeaten Brit Kell Brook though we have a feeling that Brook may have changed his plans. Talking about British fighters brings us perfect to the other world title fight which saw WBA Super Bantamweight title holder Scott Quigg (28-0-2, 21) stop South African challenger Tshifhiwa Munyai (24-3-1, 12) in just 2 rounds. Munyai, who had never previously been stopped, was dropped twice in both rounds before being stopped less than 2 minutes in to the second round as Quigg made a statement. Although Quigg's promoter spoke about looking at unification fights with both WBC champion Leo Santa Cruz and IBF champion Kiko Martinez it seems more likely that Quigg will be pitted against WBA ranked opponents, such as Japan's Shingo Wake. Interestingly Hozumi Hasegawa has a chance to scupper a possible Quigg-Martinez fight when he fights for the IBF title this coming Wednesday. Quigg's clear rival is Carl Frampton, another fighter with a big British fan base, and on this performance Quigg may well have seen some fans favouring him over the Northern Irishman. One thing's for sure, this result wouldn't have impressed WBA "super" champion Guillermo Rigondeaux who would likely love a chance to fight Quigg, Frampton or anyone else willing to get in the ring with him. On the same British card their was a fantastic fight between former world title challenger John Murray (33-3, 20) and the fast improving Anthony Crolla (28-4-1, 11). Murray, who was stopped by Brandon Rios a few fights back, started fast against Crolla though was ground down in round 10 and it seems likely Crolla is only going to be a few fights away from getting a world title fight of some variety. (Photo, of Porter, courtesy of boxrec.com) It's not often that we get a world class bout on Sunday but that's what Belgian fans get this weekend when their queen of the ring Delfine Persoon (28-1, 13) faces Argentina's unbeaten Erica Anabella Farias (19-0, 9) in a battle for both the WBC female Lightweight and for the over-all position as the elite female Lightweight.
Going in the two women have traded the #1 boxrec ranking for the last year or two and they are easily the two standout fighters in the division. This bout is to decide the clear number #1 though of course with Persoon being at home it's fair to say a robbery or controversial decision may harm the legitimacy of the bout. Interestingly for Belgian boxing this bout comes just days before Stephane Jamoye fights Shinsuke Yamanaka for the WBC Bantamweight title. The country, which is a boxing minnow, may well have a double celebration by the end of this week. The key boxing action this past Friday was the Boxcino Middleweight semi finals in the US. The first of these semi-finals saw Brandon Adams (14-0, 9) take a split decision over Raymond Gatica (14-3, 9). It was a split in the eyes of perhaps 3 people with many feeling Adams had taken a pretty clear decision over Gatica who tried to make the fight but was out boxed for the vast part of the bout. Adams was the favourite in his bout though in the other contest we saw an upset as Ukraine's previously unbeaten Vitaliy Kopylenko (23-1, 13) was out boxed by the often frustrating, but clearly talented, Willie Monroe Jr (17-1, 6) who really shone in a very impressive victory. The Adams/Monroe Jr bout is now scheduled to take place on May 23rd. As well as the Boxcino show there was some other interesting results in the states, three of which took place on a card in Texas. These Texas bouts saw former Yoshihiro Kamegai opponent Jorge Silva (20-6-2, 16) suffer his 4th loss in 5 bouts since draw with Kamegai. Silva, who looked like a tough, tough guy against the Japanese puncher was stopped in 6 by Alan Sanchez (13-3-1, 7). The same show also saw the promising Errol Spence (12-0, 10) wiping out Raymond Charles (12-3-2, 5). The best bout on the Texas show though was the 10th round stoppage victory for Sergio Perales (24-2, 16) who over-came former world title challenger Raul Martinez (30-4, 18). Martinez had previously lost in world title bouts to Nonito Donaire and Rodrigo Guerrero but was expected to beat Perales who will likely find himself moving towards and IBF Bantamweight world title fight. Interestingly Perales was controversially beaten by current IBF champion Stuart Hall last year and would almost certainly love to avenge that loss in the next year or so. In a notable upset in Pennsylvania fans got to see the under-rated Rod Salka (19-3, 3) give a boxing lesson to the highly outed Cuban Alexei Collado (18-1, 16). Collado went into the bout with a big reputation though was dropped in round 3 and never really recovered as Salka won pretty much every round of the bout with his clever defence and accurate shots. (Image courtesy of http://www.pound4pound.com) Although Friday was disappointing in terms of scheduled action around the world the same cannot not be said about Saturday which genuinely looks like a brilliant day in the boxing world. The first dollop of major action is in the UK with an Matchroom show that is headlined by a WBA Super Bantamweight title fight between defending champion Scott Quigg (27-2, 20) and South Africa's talented, but under-rated, Tshifhiwa Munyai (24-2-1, 12). Munyai did take this fight on a week's notice after the original opponent Nehomar Cermeno had visa issues. Unfortunately the banner was never changed by Matchroom so still features Cermeno's name on it. Although Munyai is a late call opponent he has all the tools to give Quigg a nightmare and is 5-1 in the UK having beaten Lee Haskins and Martin Power in the past. This could very well be the hardest test of Quigg's career so far. With Shingo Wake ranked #4 by the WBA he'll certainly be keeping a close eye on the Quigg/Munyai result and could well see himself fighting against the winner sometime later this year. On the same British card fans will get the chance to see a potentially explosive domestic encounter as Anthony Crolla (27-4-1, 10) takes on former world title challenger John Murray (33-2, 20). The one is expected to be a gruelling and hard fought affair and we'd expect nothing less than a thriller. This card will also feature former Toshiaki Nishioka opponent Rendall Munroe (28-4-1, 11) who will be hoping to take home the Commonwealth title as he battles the unbeaten Josh Warrington (16-0, 1). In the US the stand out bout, at least for us, is the WBA/IBF Light Heavyweight unification bout between Beibut Shumenov and American legend Bernard Hopkins. That bout however is just 1 of 3 world title bouts on the show. At Middleweight we see prospective Gennady Golovkin rival Peter Quillin (30-0, 22) defending his WBO title against the Czech Republic's Lukas Konecny (50-4, 23). Whilst we are big fans of Konecny and what he brings in his fights he's likely too small to really give Quillin a real tests though will be game for as long as he lasts. The other title bout on this show sees IBF Welterweight champion Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14) defending his world title for the first time. Porter, a sloppy looking but aggressively minded fighter, will be hoping to score his second notable victory as he takes on the criminally under-rated Paul Malignaggi (33-5, 7). It's arguably the most competitive bout of the day and we have also been told that the winner is set to face Kell Brook in their next fight. Finally we'll get to find out if Brook is as good as British fans have been telling us! Whilst we're really looking forward to Saturday's fights we've got to admit that Friday looks disappointing to us with only a handful of even semi-notable notable bouts. There doesn't appear to be any major contests but there is enough C level fights to keep us all interested enough. A couple of those interesting bouts come on the ESPN telecast which will show the semi-final's of the Boxcino Middleweight. In our eyes the more competitive of those semi's will see the unbeaten Brandon Adams (13-0, 9) facing the twice beaten Raymond Gatica (14-2, 9) in what is a pretty even match up. Adams is the big betting favourite but it's certainly not as one sided as the odds suggest. The second semi pits the clear favourite Vitaliy Kopylenko (23-0, 13) against the skilled but timid Willie Monroe Jr (16-1, 6). It's hard to see anything but a Kopylenko decision here as he does look a little bit special. Other than those two bouts there is an interesting 10 rounder between Alan Sanchez (12-3-1, 6) and Yoshihiro Kamegai's former foe Jorge Silva (20-5-2, 16). Kamegai and Silva drew in an a very fun to watch tear up in 2012. Since then Silva has lost 3 of 4 and appears to have been a broken man following the shellacking he took from Kamegai and then Alfredo Angulo. (Picture, of Kopylenko, is courtesy of boxrec.com) This past weekend was of course all about Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley as they fought in their long awaited rematch. Aside from that bout however we did have some other notable action. The most important of those bouts actually on the Pacquiao undecard as the once beaten Bryan Vasquez (33-1, 17), pictured, out pointed the previously unbeaten Jose Felix Jr (26-1-1, 21) and retained the WBA interim Super Featherweight title, effectively putting him back in line for a rematch with Takashi Uchiyama. On the scorecards it was close, with two judges scoring it 114-113 to Vasquez though in our eyes he was a clear winner, despite the fact we had tipped Felix. On the same card we also got to see a pair of Olympic medal winners. One of those was Ryota Murata's former amateur rival Esquiva Falcao (2-0, 1), who looked very impressive in defeating the very tough Ethan Pena (2-1, 1), whilst the other saw the debut of bronze medal winner Oleksandr Gvozdyk (1-0, 1) who scored the perfect debut KO over Mike Montoya (4-3-1, 2) to announce himself on the pro ranks. In the Ukraine we saw the return to the ring of former Light Middleweight title holder Zaurbek Baysangurov (29-1, 21) who has come back from a long injury induced lay off. Baysangurov managed to stop the tough Guido Nicolas Pitto (18-3, 7) in 12 rounds to re-announce himself back to the boxing world. Unfortunately for his Baysangurov's compatriot Vyacheslav Uzelkov (30-4, 19) things weren't as successful. Uzelkov, a former opponent of Beibut Shumenov, was upset by Geard Ajetovic (25-9-1, 12) in what goes down as the fight to end Uzelkov's world title dreams. This was the second upset defeat in 4 bouts for Uzelkov who is looking done as a top level fighter. Whilst Uzelkov's loss was the biggest upset of the weekend it wasn't the only one and it was British fans who actually got the majority of them with a trio of big betting upsets. The first of those saw the highly touted George Keane (3-1, 1) lose a decision to journeyman William Warburton (12-60-3, 2) before we then saw Frank Buglioni (12-1, 9) get stopped by veteran Sergey Khomitsky (29-10-2, 12). Finally fans then saw Commonwealth Cruiserweight champion Tony Conquest (13-2, 5) getting stopped by the hard hitting Ovill McKenzie (22-12, 11) in what turned out to be an awful night for Frank Warren and his stable of fighters. Upset's were also seen in Mexico as Eduardo Martinez (10-2-1, 2) scored a major win by out pointing former Ryo Miyazaki foe Jesus Silvestre (28-5, 20) in what could be considered the biggest shock of the night. Silvestre, who we thought possible deserved a win over Miyazaki was the bigger man here, the more experienced man and the bigger puncher though was defeated by split decision in a result that could Martinez in to the world rankings. The other bout on the Mexican show wasn't an upset however as world title holder Anabel Ortiz (14-3, 2) easily out pointed Ivoon Rosas (10-7-1, 2). Ortiz, who is known by Asian fans for her bouts with Naoko Fujioka and Etsuko Tada appears, was in control of this one from the opening bell. (Image, of Vasquez, courtesy of http://www.wbanews.com) April 12th-Felix Jr meets Vasquez to decide Uchiyama challenger, former Murata rival returns!4/11/2014 This weekend is an oddly weekend in term of top level boxing. That's not to say that we don't have plenty of fights dotted around but what we do have seems to be very much below world level. A full card in Denmark, for example, is at best a fringe card with the most interesting bout on it being a Heavyweight clash between exposed fighters David Price (16-2, 14) and Ondrej Pala (33-4, 23). Sure that should be entertaining but we don't imagine either of those men will make a dent on the world level. What we are left is a bit of tiered system with bouts across the levels of varying significance to Asian boxing. One of those bouts is in Mexico as WBA female Minimumweight champion Anabel Ortiz (13-3, 2) returns to Mexico for the first time in 3 bouts. Ortiz is best known to us for her defeat to Naoko Fujioka and her debatable split decision win over Etsuko Tada, a decision many feel was a "Kameda decision". Ortiz will be hoping to secure a non-title victory as she battles Ivoon Rosas (10-6-1, 2) in what really should be a bit of a mismatch. On the same card as Ortiz's fight will be a man known to Asian boxing fans, Jesus Silvestre (28-4, 20) who was very unfortunate to lose to Ryo Miyazaki last year. Silvestre will be looking to score his second victory since the Miyazaki fight as he battles the seemingly over-matched Eduardo Martinez (9-2-1, 2) in what should be a marking time fight for the talented Mexican. The most meaningful bout, not including the Manny Pacquiao rematch with Timothy Bradley, is in the US as WBA interim Super Featherweight champion Bryan Vasquez (32-1, 17) battles unbeaten puncher Jose Felix Jr (26-0-1, 21) in what looks like a potential fight of the night. Vasquez's only loss came back in 2012 when he fought Takashi Uchiyama and was stopped in 8 by "KO Dynamite". In that bout Vasquez genuinely impressed us though seemed a little too weak and maybe lacked the physical maturity to match Uchiyama. For Felix however this is a huge opportunity and he has the sort of style and power that makes him very dangerous to anyone in the division. In theory the winner of Vasquez/Felix Jr will be next in line for Uchiyama though in a dream would Felix would make a perfect dance partner for WBC champion Takashi Miura and that would certainly be better for the fans if Felix wins. The same show in American also features the second professional contest in the career of Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (1-0, 1) who was of course an amateur rival of Ryota Murata's. Falcao will be looking for his second victory as he takes on fellow unbeaten Pubilo Pena (2-0, 1) in what is likely to be one of the first shows on the online stream on Toprank.tv. One more bout of note on the US show is the contest between the debuting Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk (0-0) and Mike Montoya (4-2-1, 2). Gvozdyk was sadly robbed of an Olympic final in London 2012 when he was beaten, on countback, by Adilet Niyazimbetov. Gvozdyk probably wouldn't have beaten Egor Mekhontsev though he certainly deserved the chance and was robbed of that opportunity. Hopefully we'll get to see Gvozdyk fight Mekhontsev somewhere down the line in the professional ranks, though for now we need to wish him good luck on his professional debut. (Picture, of Silvestre, is courtesy of notifight) |
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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