This weekend is certainly not a busy one, but there some real highlights taking place through out Saturday.
For many hardcore fans the stand out fight comes from Sonora where WBA “interim” Super Flyweight champion David Sanchez (28-2-2, 22) defends his title against the always fun to watch Luis Concepcion (32-4, 23). Both men have the ability to put on thrillers so we're hoping that this one lives up to the expectation and delivers and all out war. The winner will be the top contender for the upcoming “regular” title fight between Kohei Kono and Koki Kameda, who fight next month in the US. Staying in Mexico there is brilliant female world title bout between the fantastic Arely Mucino (21-2-2, 10) and the equally brilliant Jessica Chavez (23-4-3, 4). On paper this is brilliantly matched, especially give their 2013 split decision draw, and we're expecting a lot of high paced action between these two. Coming in Mucino is the WBC female Flyweight champion and will be defending her title for the first time since claiming it from Shindo Go earlier this year. South African boxing certainly isn't thriving but with Rodney Berman they do have a promoter willing to really invest in their fighters and the national scene. Today Berman puts his Minimumweight world champion Hekkie Budler (28-1, 9) up against fellow South African Simphiwe Khonco (15-4, 7) in a WBA title defense for the “Hexecutioner”. On paper it looks like a mismatch but Khonco is better than his record suggests, and has won his last 9, whilst Budler may not quite be as good as the numbers suggest. Hopefully the winner of this will agree to a unification bout with one of the other champions, such as Kosei Tanaka or Wanheng Menayothin, or face WBA #1 ranked contender Knockout CP Freshmart. In England we get an excellent Super Featherweight bout as local favourite Stephen Smith (22-1, 12) faces Italian visitor Devis Boschiero (37-3-1, 19). Smith, the younger brother of 2-time world title challenger Paul Smith, is hoping to get a world title fight if he wins here and although he's a big betting favourite there are a number of fans picking the visitor. As for Boschiero the under-rated visitor has challenged for a world title, losing a very close one to Takahiro Ao, and lost twice in very close bouts to European champion Romain Jacob. Potentially this is the fight of the night and the winner is expected to face IBF king pin Jose Pedraza in 2016
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Lomachenko fails in record attempt, females all retain whilst a number of titles swap hands3/2/2014 This past Saturday was the first monster day of the boxing year. It may have taken some time coming but what a day it was and what a memorable day it was with fights taking place all over the globe, multiple titles changing hands, multiple champions in action and an amateur stand out attempting to create history. To say that Saturday March 1st was a bumper day in boxing is to merely state the obvious. The action began in Australia where WBC female Super Featherweight champion Diana Prazak (13-2, 9) retained her title by stopping compatriot Shannon O'Connell (8-3, 5) in round 5. Prazak's power presented O'Connell problems from the off and the challenger was dropped twice in round 2 before being saved by the referee in round 5. Prazak is amongst the most feared female fighters on the planet right now and this result showed why. She's got dynamite in her hands and stopping O'Connell, who lost a close decision to Hyun-Mi Choi last year, was nothing short of impressive. Although Prazak retained her title several fighters in Europe didn't. One of those was Britain's Ricky Burns (36-3-1, 11) whose luck finally ran out as he faced unbeaten American Terence Crawford (23-0, 16). Crawford, who appeared to fight well within himself, controlled the fight from round 4 onwards with his speed and combinations. Unfortunately British commentary team Jim Watt and Nick Halling seemed to do all they could to downplay Crawford's victory though it was obvious that Burns was well beaten. This victory saw Crawford claiming the WBO Lightweight title and put himself amongst the elite at 135lbs. Another WBO title changed hands in Germany where Arthur Abraham (39-4, 28) reclaimed the WBO Super Middleweight title with a narrow points victory over rival Robert Stieglitz (46-4, 26). This result was a genuine shock to us as we viewed Abraham as washed up though the "King" had reclaimed his crown and taken a 2-1 lead from a trilogy with Stieglitz. The bout was an interesting one though a 12th round knock down by Abraham did effectively seal the fight for him. On the same card in Germany WBO female Middleweight champion Christina Hammer (17-0, 8) put on a clinic to out point Jessica Balogun (23-3, 11). Balogun was game through out though her technical limitations cost her any chance at a victory as Hammer won every round with her skills and movement. Although Hammer's shots never hurt Balogun they were so technically sound they they prevented the challenger from getting much going offensively herself. In South Africa was saw another champion retain their title with Hekkie Budler (25-1, 8) defended his WBA interim Minimumweight title for the first time. Budler, a genuine non-puncher, needed just a round to see off the very limited Karluis Diaz (21-5, 14). We're now hoping to see Budler fight IBF champion Katsunari Takayama in a unification bout though their appears to be work to be done if this fight is to be made. Across the Atlantic the action continued with even more major bouts. The most notable bout on the American continent happened in the US as Ukrainian amateur great Vasyl Lomachenko (1-1, 1) attempted to secure his place in professional boxing history. Lomachenko, fighting for the WBO Featherweight title in just his second bout unfortunately came up short against grizzled veteran Orlando Salido (41-12-2-1, 28). Although Lomachenko lost a split decision to Salido plenty felt he took more from the loss than many prospects take from 25 wins and with Salido failing to make the weight and being stripped of the title we'd not be shocked if Lomachenko fights for the vacant title next time out. If Lomachenko had won he'd have broken the almost 40 year record of Saensak Muangsurin who won a world title in just his third pro bout. As well as the Lomachenko bout there was also a major rematch on the same card as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1-1, 32) managed to take a clear, but hard fought, victory over the game Brian Vera (23-8, 14). The two men had fought last year with many feeling Vera was robbed this time however Chavez took a genuine victory even if he did do some things that were very annoying, especially in round 12 where he ran and danced. After the fight their murmurs of a bout between Chavez Jr and Gennady Golovkin, though presumably Golovkin would have to make the move to Super Middleweight for the bout to make sense. Staying with rematches Mexico saw a major rematch as female star Zulina Munoz (41-1-2, 26) managed to defend her WBC Super Flyweight title and avenge her sole defeat as she claimed a technical decision over Alesia Graf (26-4, 11). Graf, who beat Munoz back in 2007, traded shots with Munoz willingly in one of the nights best fights but unfortunately a clash of heads in round 6 forced the bout to the scorecards which all favoured Munoz. This wasn't a pretty fight in terms of boxing but it was highly entertaining stuff with both freely swinging at the other. Great action for as long as it lasted. Going further down the America's there was also a world title fight in Argentina where the ultra-talented Erica Anabella Farias (19-0, 9) successfully retained her WBC female Lightweight title with a victory over compatriot Maria Eugenia Lopez (8-8-2). The bout was a mismatch with Farias just being too good at everything for Lopez though the key thing about the bout was that it was a tune up for Farias who will be fighting in a much more meaningful contest next time out against Delfine Persoon, her mandatory challenger. (Picture courtesy of http://www.thesweetscience.com/) |
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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