It's not often that we get Saturday's that are busy but low profile. Days that look like total mismatch but yet deliver some good back and forth action and days that end with us all viewing fighters different to how we began the day, whether that's for better or for worse. The fighter who took the biggest "hit" in terms of what we think of them was Adonis Stevenson (24-1, 20) who retained his WBC Light Heavyweight though looked like a totally different man who had impressed so many fight fans last year. In 2013 Stevenson blasted opponents away for fun mowing through 4 fighters in a combined 20 rounds. Those victories had seen him becoming "Fighter of the Year" and being viewed as potentially the best Light Heavyweight on the planet and one of the sports biggest punchers. The reputation of Stevenson didn't scare Poland's Andrzej Fonfara (25-3-0-1, 15) who twice pulled himself off the canvas to give Stevenson his toughest bout in years and in fact dropped Stevenson in round 9. Although Fonfara did lose he seemed to come out of the night as a man heading upwards whilst many will be questioning what Stevenson really has in the tank. From this performance it was little wonder Stevenson wanted nothing to do with Sergey Kovalev who would have to be favoured if the two men did in the next year or two. Fonfara wasn't the only man to impress on the show in Canada as the much touted, and very exciting, Middleweight contender David Lemieux (32-2, 30) put on a stunning performance. Lemieux was fighting recent world title challenger Fernando Guerrero (26-3, 19) and made Guerrero look like a 4th round fighter. Lemieux battered, bruised, cut and broke up Guerrero in 3 vicious rounds that left Guerrero being bounced off the canvas and badly cut before finally being stopped. It was genuinely sensation from Lemieux who appears to want a WBO world title fight later this year. Stevenson wasn't the only world champion in action as Mexico's Jhonny Gonzalez (56-8, 47) successfully defended his WBC Featherweight title with a technical decision over the previously unbeaten Clive Atwell (12-1-1, 7). Atwell was taking a huge step up in class and did, at times, manage to make life difficult for the big punching Gonzalez though the Mexican's experience helped him through any issues thrown his way as he built up a big lead on the score cards. Unfortunately the bout failed to reach a natural conclusion after Gonzalez was cut from a clash of heads sending us to the scorecards which all had Gonzalez comfortably in the lead. On a second Mexican we saw a new "world champion" crowned in the Super Flyweight division as Mexico's talented David Sanchez (25-2-2, 19) claimed the WBA "interim" title. Sanchez was given a tougher than expected contest with Venezuela's Breilor Teran (13-10-1, 6) who proved to be much better than his record indicated despite losing a unanimous decision to Sanchez. As with the Stevenson/Fonfara bout the loser here probably came out with enough confidence and credit to feel like they could well give anyone in the world a hard night's work. With the victory for Sanchez he becomes the top contender to the WBA Super Flyweight and could well emerge as the next man on the radar of current world champion Kohei Kono of Japan. Despite a Kono/Sanchez bout being one we'd love to see there are some murmurs out there that a Sanchez/Koki Kameda fight is more likely, at least for now. Given the promotional issues with the Kameda clan a bout against Sanchez in Mexico could well take place later this year as Koki Kameda looks to re-establish himself as a force on the world stage. On the same card as Sanchez's win fans also got to see the triumphant return to action for the very popular Jackie Nava (29-4-3, 13) who stopped Alys Sanchez (12-2-1, 4) and claimed the WBA female interim Super Bantamweight title. This was Nava's first fight since 2012, after having had a child, though her class was on show as she faced a woman who simply wasn't in her league. We'll say that Alys Sanchez was lucky in the fact Nava was coming back from a break or this could have become rather nasty. Nava was down herself in the opening round and we'd hasten to suggest that wouldn't have happened had it not been for the long break. Also on this show former world champion Edgar Sosa (50-8, 30) made his return to the ring following his loss to Akira Yaegashi last year. Sosa was triumphant here as he defeated Omar Salado (24-8-2, 15), who retired at the end of round 4. Sosa now looks likely to campaign at Super Flyweight and whilst he's certainly got the skills to hold his own we do wonder if he has the size needed to really compete at the top level at 115lbs. (Image courtesy of groupe Gvon Michel)
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Some days just look like they will be fun. The days may be full of mismatches but they look like fun mismatches with fighters we don't mind watching. This Saturday is likely to be one of those days. The biggest fight, by far, this weekend will see the big punching WBC Light Heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20) defending his title against Polish challenger Andrzej Fonfara (25-2-0-1, 15). Stevenson is a man who was being lined up to fight Russia's Sergey Kovalev though it appears that bout is now off the table after a lot of disagreements from the promotional teams of the two men. Instead it appears that Stevenson will be looking for Bernard Hopkins, if he's successful here. Stevenson is a monster puncher and was one of the revelations of 2013. Sadly for Fonfara he's probably on to a hiding to nothing, albeit a high profile hiding. With the power of Stevenson it's hard not to image that this will be fun. On the same Canadian card we're expecting an enjoyable clash between fringe contenders David Lemieux (31-2, 29) and Fernando Guerrero (26-2, 19). Both men are flawed and very limited but together they should manage to put on an entertaining, albeit shot lived, Middleweight scrap. Also on this same card is a clash between the world ranked Eleider Alvarez (14-0, 8) and the once beaten Alexander Johnson (15-1, 6). Alvarez made some enemies last time he was in the ring by acting like a spoilt brat. We're hoping that Alvarez doesn't just retain his unbeaten record but also shows some new found maturity. Whilst the most significant show of the day is in Canada it's not the only show with some bouts of interest. In fact we have two other notable shows in Mexico. The most significant single bout on those show's is in Acapulco convention center as WBC Featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47) makes the first defence of the title he won from Abner Mares last year. Gonzalez is facing the unbeaten but unknown Clive Atwell (12-0-1, 7) from Guyana. Atwell is ranked #12 by the WBC and is on an 11 fight winning streak though his competition to date has been obscure to say the least and it's hard to imagine anything but a Gonzalez victory here. On the other Mexican card of note, in Baja California, we get two world title bouts. The most interesting of those is, oddly, a female bout as the returning Jackie Nava (28-4-3, 12) battles WBA female interim Super Bantamweight champion Alys Sanchez (12-1-1, 4). Nava hasn't fought in well over a year, having had a child in that time, though will be favoured to over-come Venezuela's Sanchez, who actually lost in a non-title bout last time out. This is a bout that looks interesting due to Nava's long lay off, though if "La Princesa Azteca" is half the fighter she was back in 2012, she wins this bout with out any major issues. On the same card is a WBA interim Super Flyweight bout that sees the talented David Sanchez (24-2-2, 19), no relation to Alys, taking on the limited Breilor Teran (13-9-1, 6). The "vacant" interim title is almost being gift wrapped for the WBA #3 ranked Sanchez here with Teran somehow holding a #9 ranking. We'll be honest and say we'd rather have seen Sanchez battle the WBA regular champion Kohei Kono than cheapen the WBA belts with this mismatch though with a strong rumour that we;ll be seeing Kono defending against WBA's top ranked challenger Koki Kameda we do understand why Sanchez is being given a WBA title fight, even if we do view it as a mismatch. (Image courtesy of Groupe Yvon Michel) |
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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