This coming Saturday is a less than exciting day in international boxing. Much of the action is taking place in Europe, though there is some notable female action in Mexico.
The only male world title fight of the day takes place in Germany, however it's a less than exciting title bout that really shows how farcical the WBA are. The bout in question sees the very talented WBA “regular” Light Heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (46-2, 34) defending his belt against Konni Konrad (22-1-1, 11). Breahmer is talented, but he's a league lower than WBA “super” champion Sergey Kovalev. Konrad on the other hand is a pitiful challenger who is ranked #133 by boxrec.com, an accurate ranking showing just what a joke he is as a challenger. The German card does feature some interesting hopes, such as Cruiserweight Noel Gevor (18-0, 10) and Super Middleweight prospect Stefan Haertel (6-0), both of whom should continue their perfect runs. The other European card of note comes from Leeds where fans get the chance to see a number of notable fighters, though unfortunately the bouts are, on the whole, horrible mismatches. On paper the most interesting of the bouts will see the unbeaten, and hugely popular, Josh Warrington (21-0, 4) take on Australian Joel Brunker (28-1, 16). This looks a good bout on paper but Brunker has got a padded record and Warrington has been relatively over-hyped, based on his fan base. It should be an entertaining fight but one that won't really effect the world scene. One fighter who may be eyeing up a future world title fight is former IBF Bantamweight champion Stuart Hall (17-4-2, 7) who takes on the horribly matched Arnoldo Solano (14-10) in what is a farcical mismatch. Another terrible mismatch will see former world title challenger Tony Bellew (24-2-1, 15) take on Arturs Kulikauskis (16-26-5, 8). Another former world title challenger on this card is Martin Murray (31-2-1, 14) who faces Jose Miguel Torres (31-6, 27). On paper the Murray bout looks good but the reality is that Torres is a limited opponent who was beaten black and blue by David Lemieux not too long ago. The most notable action in Americas comes from Mexico where fans will get a couple of female world title fights. On paper the most exciting of those comes at 108lbs where Ibeth Zamora Silva (23-5, 9) will defend her belt against Esmeralda Moreno (31-7-1, 10). On paper this could actually be the fight of the day. On the same card fans will also get the chance to see the much touted Rey Vargas (24-0, 20), who many are tipping to become a world champion. Another female title fight set to take place in Mexico will see WBA female Minimumweight champion Anabel Ortiz (17-3, 3) defending her title against the once beaten Sandra Robles (11-1, 5). This will be Ortiz's first bout since defeating Nana Yoshikawa back in April and we don't expect to see her struggle with Robles, despite the fact Robles is on a 9 fight winning streak.
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This past Saturday may not have been one of the best weekends in the sport this year but it was certainly still an interesting one with a number of notable fighters in action, ranging from champions to former champions, prospects to men looking to save their careers. The first notable action was in Europe as Olympic champion and Cruiserweight sensation Oleksandr Usyk (7-0, 7) kept alive his chase to win a world title in double quick fashion. Usyk claimed the WBO Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title as he stopped the much more experienced Daniel Bruwer (24-6-1, 21) in 7 rounds. Although we know Usyk is on the fast track to a world title he is still amazingly impressive and there is little doubt that he can compete with anyone in the division already. Although some were disappointed with Usyk taking his time it seemed clear to us that he wanted some rounds under his belt before moving towards a world title bout. On the same card fans also saw former world champion Andriy Kotelnik (32-4-1, 13) take an 8 round decision over Alexander Benidze (13-15-2, 6). Although not a major bout it was Kotelnik's first contest in over 4 years and we were big fans of him when he was an active fighter. Another former world champion who picked up a win in an 8 rounder was Britain's Ricky Burns (37-4-1, 11) who beat Alexandre Lepelley (17-2-1, 3) in what was his first win since losing his WBO Lightweight title to Terence Crawford earlier this year. Although Burns failed to shine we were very impressed by Josh Warrington (19-0, 3) who claimed the European Featherweight title with a fantastic performance against Italian veteran Davide Dieli (15-4, 5). Warrington stopped Dieli in 4 rounds to record his 3rd stoppage in 4 bouts and it seems perfectly clear that he is finding his "man strength". Whilst Burns and Kotelnik both kept their careers alive with wins it wasn't a great day for former world champions in American and Mexico. In the US fans saw former Light Heavyweight kingpin Chad Dawson (32-4-0-1-1, 18) suffer a huge shock loss to Tommy Karpency (24-4-1, 14). Dawson, who has now won just 1 of his last 4, must be considering his future. This was a close loss but he's not the fighter he once was, in fact he's not even close to being the fighter he used to be. Dawson's loss was on the same card an a solid bout between Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21) and Willie Nelson (23-2-1, 13). What made the bout enjoyable was the fact Nelson did almost nothing a boxer should do. Nelsons' flaws were exploited time and time again by Martirosyan who looked far from special himself. It was a strange but engaging bout between two fringe contenders in the Light Middleweight division, though neither look like they are real world class. The main event on the US card was a real dud as IBF Super Featherweight champion Rances Barthelemy (21-0-0-1, 12) took a clear but dull victory over the light punching Fernando David Saucedo (52-6-3, 8). The bout was a world title fight and whilst Barthelemy is world class he's also very dull to watch when he can't impose himself early. We wish that Barthelmy had been in with someone with some power and bite though we suspect he'll be doing what he can to avoid a real fight as opposed to fighting a feather fisted but tough survivor like Saucedo. Another world title bout took place in Mexico as WBC Featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48) stopped Jorge Arce (64-8-2, 49) in a disgusting mismatch that really left no one looking good. Arce looked like an old an broken man whilst Gonzalez looked like someone who should have been fighting a much better better opponent. It really was disgusting that the WBC allowed this one. On the same card in Mexico we saw Adrian Estrella (19-0, 17) boost his growing reputation as he took a dominant win over former world champion Celestino Caballero (37-6, 24). Caballero was dropped hard several times as Estrella strolled to a dominant decision. Caballero did well to see out the distance but was never really in the bout and it would seem plausible for Estrella to be put in line to fight the winner of the upcoming WBC Super Featherweight title fight between Takashi Miura and Edgar Puerta, a bout that will take place in November. (Image courtesy of Notifight.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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