The second part of an amazing weekend of fights comes on Saturday with wonderful action taking place in the US and Puerto Rico whilst a notable supporting bout is set to take place in Slovenia of all places. On paper the most exciting match up comes in San Juan, Puerto Rico where WBO Super Featherweight champion Orlando Salido (42-12-2-1, 29) defends his title against former champion Roman Martinez (28-2-2, 17). Salido won the title last year in an up-and-down affair with Terdsak Kokietgym and will be hoping to have an easier time with Salido however the odds are that this will ignite in to complete slugfest with both men taking a lot of damage before one eventually stops the other. A really good supporting bout on this card will see Jose A Gonzalez (23-1, 18) returning to the ring for his second bout since his loss against Ricky Burns in May 2013. Gonzalez, who looked really talented against Burns, will be fighting interesting Ugandan Sharif Bogere (26-1, 18), who suffered his only loss to Richar Abril. This essentially two class guys fighting for their chance to get another world title bout and it's hard to have any complaints about the match up. Although we think the Salido/Martinez bout is going to be the bout of the day it's certainly not the highest profile contest of the day. That belongs to the controversial catchweight bout bout between Danny Garcia (29-0, 17) and Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17). Between them the men hold the WBC, WBA “super” and IBF Light Welterweight titles yet rather than unifying the crown they are fighting the contest at 143lbs. Notably Peterson will be stripped of his IBF title if he loses, giving a huge opportunity to Chinese slugger Ik Yang if that happens. What should have been a great bout for the Light Welterweight division remains a very interesting bout but one that should really have been for the gold. One bout on this card that was supposed to be for the gold was a WBO Middleweight title bout between hard hitting Irishman Andy Lee (34-2, 24), the defending champion, and unbeaten American Peter Quillin (31-0, 22). Quillin enters this bout as a former champion who vacated his belt last year, rather than face Russian Matt Korobov. Lee took the Korobov bout and stopped the Russian to claim the title and now we've essentially gone full circle with Quillin get the first shot at Lee. Again there is a bad taste about this bout politically, but in the ring it should be enjoyable and explosive. Unfortunately however this bout has now been made a non-title bout following Quillin missing the weight In supporting bouts we'll get the chance to see a several promising and unbeaten fighters including Light Welterweight contender Viktor Postol (26-0, 11), who fights Jake Giuericeo (17-2-1, 4) in a stay busy contest, the touted Felix Diaz (16-0, 8), who takes on the once beaten Gabriel Bracero (23-1, 4) in an interesting looking match up, and the very highly regarded Errol Spence Jr (15-0, 12), who takes on Samuel Vargas (20-1-1, 10) in a bout that looks good on paper but in reality should be a mismatch. A second US card is again piled with prospects. The most interesting bout, other than the main event which actually features a Filipino, will feature Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez (14-0, 13). Valdez will be fighting against Jose Ramirez (25-5, 15) in what looks a good bout until you realise Ramirez was stopped by the then debuting Vasyl Lomachenko and has since been stopped by Abner Mares, and will stepping up to Super Featherweight for this bout. Another bout that looks good on paper will see Russian destroyer Oleksandr Gvozdyk (5-0, 4) battle against Rowland Bryant (18-5, 12). On paper this looks like a really good test for the Russian but Bryant has lost 4 of his last 6 and shouldn't really push Gvozdyk. Whilst it is a mismatch we would say a stoppage by the Russian should be considered impressive considering his lack of professional experience. Yet another prospect we're excited about on this card is Lithuanian powerhouse Egidijus Kavaliauskas (9-0, 8), who will be up against Arman Ovsepyan (14-4, 11) in what looks likely to be another very impressive performance form the Oxnard based European fighter. Sadly we've struggled to get excited about Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (7-0, 5) who is really talented but has been matched horribly here as he takes on Omar Rojas (3-2, 1) in what appears to be an horrific mismatch. Falcao, a nemesis of Ryota Murata's, is so much better than Rojas that this bout should be disappointing to the the fighter as well as fans. As for the bout in Slovenia, that will see former IBF Welterweight champion Jan Zaveck (34-3, 19) battling against Belgian based Armenian Sasha Yengoyan (31-1-1, 21). This bout, for the WBF Light Middleweight title, as good a WBF title bout as you're likely to see and really could have been for the European title considering the ability of the two men in it. Whilst neither man is a “star” we do like both and it's hard to dislike either. This may not get the attention of some of the other bouts but it could be a very interesting contest all the same. (Image courtesy of notifight.com)
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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) Boxing can be a funny old sport at times and today showed just how funny and odd it can be as we got a bit of everything. There really was nothing missing from what should be considered the night of boxing so far this year. The first notable action was in the UK as Heavyweight's collided in two separate "UK v US" bouts. Unfortunately for the US these were both won by the British fighters. The first Heavyweight clash saw the always entertaining Tyson Fury (22-0, 16) stopping the hard hitting Joey Abell (29-8, 28) in an entertaining, if some what clumsy, battle. Abell went over to the UK to win but simply lacked the skills or size to really give Fury too many questions, he did however buzz Fury on at least 2 or 3 occasions. In the second Heavyweight clash we actually had something a bit more competitive with Dereck Chisora (20-4, 13) out pointing American Kevin Johnson (29-5-1, 14) in a bit of a peculiar bout. It seemed, for many rounds, that Chisora simply out worked Johnson applying constant pressure and and just breaking him down bit by bit. Unfortunately though Johnson showed that he had the skills to beat Chisora he just lacked the desire to do so and instead dropped a clear decision in a bout that he could have won had he managed to find the fire inside of him to actually fight. The results in the Heavyweight bouts are set to see the winners pitted together in all British Heavyweight bout that could also act as a pseudo world title eliminator. Following the fights from Britain we had to wait a little bit before we had action from South America. Amazingly the South American action was spread across numerous countries. The most notable bout in Latin America was in Mexico as Roman Gonzalez (38-0, 32) extended his unbeaten record with a highly entertaining stoppage over Juan Kantun (21-6-3, 15). Kantun, to his credit, came to fight and show no respect to Gonzalez's fearsome reputation unfortunately though he was no match for Gonzalez when the Nicaraguan moved through the gears and broke down the brave Mexican. This victory for Gonzalez sees him moving a step closer to a fight with WBC Flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi in a bout that we expect to see later this year. Whilst the Gonzalez/Kantun bout was the main event on a card from Tapachula, Chiapas the highlight of the show was actually the chief support bout which featured a truly sensational fight of the year candidate. The bout in question saw former IBF Super Flyerweight champion Rodrigo Guerrero (20-5-1, 13) stopping the previously unbeaten Daniel Rosas (17-1-1, 11) in a bout that can only be described as "pure, unadulterated violence". Both men were staggered, stunned, rocked and cut as we had a pure Latino war that saw both men putting it all on the line. If you get a chance to download this one do, you will not be disappointed. Guerrero may be a familiar name to Asian boxing fans having seen him lose late last year in an IBF title fight to Daiki Kameda. This win just puts into perspective how good Guerrero is and how good, as a result, Daiki actually is despite the hate he seems to get from various corners. Staying in Mexico for a few more moments, though moving to Jalisco, we had the biggest upset of the night. In this bout the WBC #2 ranked Featherweight Robinson Castellanos (19-10, 12) was sensationally stopped by the unheralded Rene Alvarado (20-2, 13). Whilst the records may not make this look like an upset it really was a shock. Alvarado has lost 2 of his last 7 and had never beaten anyone of note, Castellanos on the other hand was unbeaten in 11 and held a notable recent victory over Celestino Caballero, whilst other wins included a decision over the then unbeaten Christopher Perez and a stoppages over Omar Estrella and Orlando Rizo. This was a huge shock and a big shake up at 126lbs will follow this result. Down in Argentina the former WBA interim Welterweight title holder Diego Gabriel Chaves (23-1, 19) bounced back from the first loss of his career by stopping the over-matched Juan Alberto Godoy (31-14-1, 10) in just 3 rounds. Chaves, a highly entertaining fighter with real power, would make for a great opponent with almost any top Welterweight contender and we'd love to see him in action again even if he'll never manage to become a genuine world champion. He's talented and exciting but also very flawed and could be matched in to some fantastic action contests if promoters want to give him a chance. Whilst in Panama former world champion, and a man known to every Japanese boxing fan, Liborio Solis (17-3-1, 8) took swift care of the horribly over-matched Alex Olea (10-7, 5). Solis, who has beat both Kohei Kono and Daiki Kameda at Super Flyweight, scored a first KO over Olea in a bout that saw Solis weighting 124lbs, significantly above the Super Flyweight limit that he fought both Japanese fighters at. Going back up continental America, from the south to the United States we saw yet more fistic action. The bout that we felt was most noteworthy from this show saw Esquiva Falcao (1-0, 1) make his successful debut in professional boxing as he managed to defeat Joshua Robertson (5-5, 1) by stoppage. Robertson did prove to be tough early on but was swiftly broken down by Falcao who looks like he has the potential to be a world Middleweight champion. For fans who recognise the name "Esquiva Falcao" it could well have because of his amateur rivalry with Japan's very own Ryota Murata. Murata twice beat Falcao in major international competition, including the 2012 Olympic final, and they are now both promoted in the US by Top Rank. On the same US card as Falcao's victory there was also a stoppage victory for the much touted Jessie Magdaleno (18-0, 14 KOs) who stopped stopped Mexican Roberto Castaneda (20-6, 15 KOs) in 5 rounds. Castaneda was dropped twice in round 2 before being finished in round 5 by one of the fastest rising US prospects. The main event on the aforementioned US show saw Jessie Magdaleno's older brother Diego Magdaleno (25-1, 10) in action. Diego Magdaleno, ranked by bother the IBF and WBO at 130lbs, made light work of the over-matched Jorge Pazos (14-7-1, 8) though looked several leagues below the likes of Takashi Uchiyama and Takashi Miura, both of whom look like they would eat up Magdaleno and spit out the bones any time they wanted. Boxing still seems to be relatively quiet at the moment with very little in terms of notable action really taking place. Thankfully this weekend does have some fights of note in both the US and the UK. For us the most notable of the bouts takes place state side with the highlight being that of Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (0-0), pictured. The Brazilian, who won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic games before losing in the final to Ryota Murata, kicks off his professional by fighting against Joshua Robertson (5-4, 1) in a 6 rounder. If Esquiva adapts to the professional ranks like Murata did then it's hard to see him struggling at all. Staying in the states we have 2 other interesting bouts. One of those sees Diego Magdaleno (24-1, 9) fighting against Jorge Pazos (14-6-1, 8). Diego Magdaleno, who fought in Macau last year, is world ranked by both the IBF and WBO and may be looking for a world title fight by the end of the year. We'd be shocked by anything but a Magdaleno victory, especially when you consider that Genesis Servania completely dominated Pazos just a few fights back. Diego's young brother Jessie Magdaleno (17-0, 13) will also be on the card as he takes on the big hitting Roberto Castaneda(20-5-1, 15). On paper this looks like a really explosive contest though unfortunately Castaneda has been stopped 4 times in his 5 losses including 3 times in his last 4 bouts. On paper it looks great but in reality it seems to be very much a one-sided contest. Over in Britain it's the Heavyweight division that stands out with 2 notable Heavyweight contests. One of those will see the ever-entertaining Dereck Chisora (19-4, 13) fighting against America's very frustrating Kevin Johnson (29-4-1, 14) whilst the other will see the gigantic Tyson Fury (21-0, 15) attempt to over-come the huge hitting Joey Abell (29-7, 28). For Chisora we're expecting to see him just simply out-work Johnson who is best known for being "lazy" in the ring, despite actually being very talented. As for Fury however he's had a lot going on in his life recently that could well have thrown him off this fight mentally and as a result it's a highly interesting bout and a potential banana skin. We'd be shocked by the upset but can sort of see it coming. Last, but not least, is a bout in Mexico that as caught our eye. This bout sees former Minimumweight and Light Flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (37-0, 31) in a stay busy contest against Juan Kantun (21-5-3, 15). It's expected that Gonzalez will take care of Kantun quickly before fighting on April 6th in Japan and then fighting later in the year against Akira Yaegashi in a WBC Flyweight title fight. This fight could well be a mismatch but it's always a joy to watch Chocolatito and if he's going to have a busy year then it's hard to complain with an easy bout here. |
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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