We'll admit we sometimes get over-excited about things. Boxing is one of those sports that really can get exciting just because of the anticipation of an event. Unfortunately this past weekend saw our hopes and dreams fall down to earth with an almighty crash and our realisation that this is boxing and things never go as we hope they do. On Saturday morning British Heavyweight giant Tyson Fury (22-0, 16) was forced to pull out of his clash with fellow giant Alexander Ustinov (29-1, 21) following a family member falling "gravely" ill. This should have for told the weekend really because it was disappointment, after disappointment for the most part. The Fury/Ustinov fight had been one of two Heavyweight clashes that we were excited about. The other was a WBC eliminator between Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10) and Mike Perez (20-1-1, 12). Unfortunately this potentially exciting bout turned into a bit of a damp squib after an out of shape Perez blew himself out after about 6 rounds and spent half the fight holding, spoiling and generally doing all he could to prevent an exciting contest. Perez was eventually punished for breaking the rules with a deduction in round 12 that sealed the fight in favour of Jennings by split decision. One thing that was clear from this result is that neither man should be thinking about getting in the ring with Wladimir Klitschko or Bermane Stiverne, at least not for the time being. On the same card as the Jennings/Perez bout we did get some excitement as Anthony Caputo Smith (15-4, 10) took the fight to Ola Afolabi (21-3-4, 10) in an exciting but one sided bout. Smith came out with the intention of forcing Afolabi to work and that's what he did eventually busting up the face of Smith to the point of the Dr stopping the bout. In fairness there was also a good bout in the UK as Billy Joe Saunders (20-0, 11) claimed the European Middleweight title with a stoppage against Emanuele Blandamura (22-1, 5). It was a competitive fight and a good win for Saunders and following the bout it seemed to be strongly hinted that British fans would be getting a bout between Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr. The bout is likely to sell to the British public though we've not been that impressed by Eubank who scored an easy win on the under-card against a totally mismatched opponent. Whilst the disappointment of the Heavyweight bouts would usually have stuck out as the lowest part of the weekend we need to admit that we actually had something even worse in Germany. Manfred Kuechler. The German referee appeared to make 2 very poor and highly controversial calls to help protect home fighters on a card that perhaps threw German boxing back in to the dark ages. The first poor call came in a female bout between Christina Hammer (18-0, 8) and Sophie Anne Mathis (27-4, 23). Mathis appeared to knock out Hammer with a series of shots whilst Hammer was holding her arm though the referee decided the shots had been illegal and awarded Hammer the victory by DQ in a result that sent the French boxing press into a frenzy. Unfortunately for Mathis her misfortune was hidden behind another poor decision from Kuechler who awarded a TKO victory to Robert Steiglitz (47-4, 27) in his bout against Sergey Khomitsky (29-11-2, 12). Khomitsky had problems with his tape and the referee, knowing Steiglitz was struggling, seemed to take the opportunity to stop Khomitsky rather than risk Steiglitz suffering a major loss. (Image courtesy of SES)
0 Comments
This coming Saturday is a day that has some really interesting action with some very notable bouts in both the UK and the US. One of the most notable bout which was scheduled for the weekend was to be a Heavyweight rematch between the unbeaten Tyson Fury (22-0, 16) and and Dereck Chisora (20-4, 13). Sadly Chisora has suffered an injury however Fury will fight on the card and will battle man mountain Alexander Ustinov (29-1, 21) in what looks like a genuine clash between giants. In another interesting bout on the UK card fans will get the chance to see unbeaten Middleweights colliding as Billy Joe Saunders (19-0, 10) fights Emanuele Blandamura (22-0, 5) in a European title fight. The contest is an interesting bout on paper though we tend to feel that Blandamura is up against it here considering that he's travelled from Italy, though he did win in Germany last time out. Whilst Britain's card is long, and interesting, the card of the day is in New York. The main event on this card is the WBA Middleweight "super" title fight between Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Geale. The Middleweight title fight is great though the support bouts are equally as interesting. One of the support bouts is a Heavyweight clash between unbeaten fighters as Bryant Jennings (18-0, 10) battles against Mike Perez (20-0-1, 12) in what appears to be a very good fight. Not only is this good on paper but it's also meaningful and the winner will be set for a WBC Heavyweight title fight giving a extra motivation to both men. Another of the bouts will be at Cruiserweight as former world title challenger Ola Afolabi (20-3-4, 9) takes on American Anthony Caputo Smith (15-3, 10). This bout, a 10 rounder, won't have a title or even a big opportunity on the line but will a must win for both men who will be aware that a loss could be the end of their title dreams. A third interesting card takes place in Germany where we have a very interesting male bout and a potentially thrilling female world title bout. The male bout will see former WBO Super Middleweight world champion Robert Steiglitz (46-4, 26) taking on the under-rated Sergey Khomitsky (29-10-2,12) in a bout for the WBO Inter-Continental Super Middleweight title. Steiglitz is hoping to secure another world title fight somewhere down the line whilst Khomitsky is looking to build on his big upset win over Frank Buglioni last time out. We have to favour Stieglitz on paper but Khomitsky is certainly a live under-dog. In a female bout the sensational Christina Hammer (17-0, 8) will be attempting to claim a 3rd divisional title as she takes on hard hitting French woman Anne Sophie Mathis (27-3, 23) in a battle for the vacant WBO female Light Middleweight title. Many seem to feel that a win here for Hammer could help us move towards a European female super fight between Hammer and Cecelia Braekhus, a bout that is effectively a dream fight and the female version of Manny Pacquiao Vs Floyd Mayweather. (Image courtesy of boxnation) 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
December 2015
Categories
All
|