 By - George Delis (@Delisketo )
We already have talked about the highly anticipated fights coming up at the end of July, in and out of Japan, with Kuga and Wake going toe to toe with so much at stake, Ito taking on Diaz for the vacant WBO Super Featherweight world title, Shohei Omori’s 2018 return. Now let’s take a look at another match-up that takes place during that time frame. -Tatsuya Fukuhara vs Naoya Haruguchi (29 July): Tatsuya Fukuhara (20-6) started his career in 2008, fighting in the regional scene for 7 years before earning his first title opportunity in 2015, when he bested Hiroya Yamamoto (9-3*) to become the Japanese Minimumweight champion. Fukuhara defended the championship thrice over the likes of Takumi Sakae (13-0*), Genki Hanai (7-0*) and former OPBF champion and world title contender Shin Ono (19-7*). On February 26 of 2017, he faced Moises Calleros (25-6*) for the Interim WBO World Minimumweight crown at the Matsushima Athletic Park. Both men, realizing this was their big chance, left in all in the ring, trading punches like there was no tomorrow. After 12 rounds of hard hitting action, Fukuhara won a very close decision and the strap. In April, he was promoted as the undisputed champion, since Katsunari Takayama announced his retirement from the sport. The celebration didn’t last long though, as he lost his title to Ryuya Yamanaka (14-2*) a couple of months later. However, in November, he was given another shot at the gold, this time for the WBC championship, against the undefeated Chayaphon Moonsri (48-0*) in Thailand. Fukuhara got the advantage at the early rounds and even outclassed the champion on numerous occasions. Much like his bout with Calleros, it was an even fight but this time the judges saw it in favor of Moonsri. Since then, Fukuhara has been looking to climb the rankings of the division and challenge once more for the world title. He defeated Japanese prospect Yuto Takahashi (8-3*) earlier this year and now he faces another rising star in Naoya Haruguchi (15-8), who recently earned a majority decision over former world title challenger Jeffrey Galero (16-3*) this past March. Fukuhara is currently ranked #9 by the WBC whereas Haruguchi is #38. This will be a test for both fighters. For Fukuhara is a chance to prove to that he still has that flame inside him while for Haruguchi is a tremendous chance to boost himself up in the rankings.
0 Comments
By Eric Armit
Manny’s back and all’s well in the world-well not quite. However Pacquiao’s win over Lucas Matthysse was the best result for boxing. The Filipino great is still a major player. Hopefully we can forget talk of a return with Floyd Mayweather Jr and although I would not rule it out I just can’t see Pacquiao wanting to go over old ground against Jeff Horn. Errol Spence, Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia would jump at the chance and fight Pacquiao anywhere, anytime. If it could be made Terrence Crawford would be a big fight but not a good choice for Pacquiao. Just too tough an ask for Pacquiao at 39. Pacquiao is talking about two maybe three more fights including one at the end of this year. If you look past Spence, Thurman, Garcia and Crawford then you are looking at lesser names such as Shawn Porter, Adrien Broner and Jesse Vargas with Amir Khan hoping to get into the mix but the WBSS super light tournament cuts down his options from that division. He is being urged to retire whilst still a champion-OK it’s a secondary title-but there is no talk of that from Pacquiao. The only caveat about the fight at the weekend is the difficulty over judging how much was down to a refreshed Pacquiao and how much was down to a insipid Matthysse. The Argentinian put up only marginal resistance. What we got was not the Matthysse who beat Lamont Peterson, John Molina and Roberto Ortiz inside the distance and fought a war in outpointing Ruslan Provodnikov but the one who was knocked out in ten rounds by Viktor Postol. None of the three knockdowns was really convincing before Matthysse did his own no mas. What a great weekend for boxing in the Philippines. Obviously Pacquiao’s victorious return hogged the headlines and to a degree it was a pity that it overshadowed two other outstanding performances by Filipino boxers. On Friday Vic Saludar challenged WBO minimumweight champion Ryuya Yamanaka in Kobe, Yamanaka’s home city, and won a clear unanimous decision. Vic probable looked a safe opponent. Over the previous thirteen months he had lost on points to 8-1-2 Toto Landero, beaten 6-2-2 Mike Kinaadman, 14-8-4 Lito Dante and then Kindaaman again. Nothing to scare Yamanaka there but a “low risk” fight exploded in their faces. On Sunday under Pacquiao vs. Matthysse Jhack Tepora floored and stopped Mexican Edivaldo Ortega to win the interim WBA feather title. Going into the weekend their only world champion was IBF super flyweight king Jerwin Ancajas so a huge boost for boxing in the archipelago of over 7,000 islands. Things could get even better with Toto Landero challenging Simphiwe Khonco for the IBO minimum title in South Africa on Sunday and Froilan Saludar, the elder brother of Vic, challenging Sho Kimura for the WBO flyweight title in China on 27 July. Additionally minimumweight Mark Barriga could soon be fighting Mexican Carlos Licona for the IBF title as it is expected that Hiroto Kyoguchi will vacate the title. They will have another champion for sure because Donnie Nietes and fellow-Filipino Aston Palicte meet in Cebu City on 18 August for the vacant WBO super fly title. When Jerwin Ancajas outclassed Jonas Sultan in defence of his IBF super flyweight title in May it was the first world title fight between two Filipino boxers for 93 years-now it is two in three months. Nietes will be aiming to become a four-division champion and if he wins he will be 17-0-1 in 18 world title fights and is currently 30-0-3 in his last 33 fights. Donnie comes from a fighting family. His uncle Dan is a former Philippines champion and now a judge, Uncle Junie had a brief pro career, Uncle Gerson Snr was a good level amateur and cousin Gerson Jr is a former amateur boxer and now trains Donnie alongside ex-Philippines champion Ala Villamor. The WSBB have managed to pull together interesting lists for their next two divisions. The bantamweight contestants will be Mikhail Aloyan, Ryan Burnett, Nonito Donaire, Naoya Inoue, Jason Moloney, Juan Carlos Payano, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Zolani Tete. At super light we have Ivan Baranchyk, Terry Flanagan, Ryan Martin, Regis Prograis, Kiryl Relikh, Josh Taylor, Eduard Troyanovsky and Anthony Yigit. Both good lists but for me it is the bantams that really excite with four title holders in the competition whereas only Relikh is a champion at super light. I was informed that Prograis had relinquished the WBC interim title before he fought Juan Jose Velasco at the weekend and that their fight was for the WBC Diamond title. It would have been interesting to see WBA No 4 Mario Barrios in the mix at super light. The 23-year-old from San Antonio, who turned pro at 18, is 21-0 with 13 wins by KO/TKO He faces a good test on 28 July when he meets Jose Roman who is 24-2-1 Floyd Mayweather’s record of 50 wins in 50 fights being the highest unbeaten total for any retired world champion is under threat. On August 28 in Thailand Wanheng (Chayaphon Moonsri) will face an as yet unnamed challenger in defence of his WBC minimumweight title. Wanheng is 50-0 and will be making the tenth defence of his title. Of course for his achievement to get him in the record books he will have to retire with a 100% record so you can be sure the challenger will be very carefully chosen. Since the parties representing Kid Galahad and Toka Kahn Clary have been unable to come to an agreement over their IBF title eliminator the IBF have called for purse bids by 31 July. Galahad is No 3 with the IBF (positions 1 and 2 are vacant) and Clary is No 9. Boxing has never been a major factor in Singapore sport but the emergence of Muhamad Ridhwan is sparking some interest. The 30-year-old “The Chosen Wan” has already won WBA Asian, UBO World and IBO International titles and now he is looking to add a more prestigious one. On 29 September in Singapore he faces Namibian Paulus Ambunda for the vacant IBO super bantam title. Ambunda, 37, a former WBO bantam champion, held this IBO title until losing it to Moises Flores in 2016. It was nice to see veteran Moruti Mthalane regain the IBF flyweight title at the weekend. He vacated the title a few years back after a farcical purse bidding process left him with the prospect of defending his title in Thailand for a derisory amount of money. South Africa will be hoping for another title win on Sunday when Simphiwe Khonco defends the IBO minimum title against Toto Landero (holds a win over Vic Saludar). The fight is part of a show to honour the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth and Khonco’s promoter Rodney Berman has released Khonco so that he could top the bill for the promoter of that show. It must have been depressing for the Boxing South Africa team to have gone to the trouble of arranging for the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport to give a clinic on this very important subject of doping when only eleven licensees turned up. You can’t help people who won’t help themselves. Thursday 19 July marked the sixtieth birthday for Azumah Nelson, arguably the greatest African fighter of all time. The “Professor” a former All-Africa, World Military and Commonwealth gold medal winner was WBC champion at feather and super feather. He beat Wilfredo Gomez, Marcos Villasana (twice), Juan Laporte, Mario Martinez (twice0, Calvin Grove, Gabe Ruelas and Jesse James Leija. British fans are unlikely to forget his one round demolition of Pat Cowdell and his dramatic last round stoppage of Jim McDonnell. He drew and then stopped Jeff Fenech in two great fights with the win in 1992 being rated by Ring Magazine as Upset of the Year and his 1995 stoppage of Ruelas was Ring Magazine Comeback of the Year. Azumah only lost two fights over his peak years. After only thirteen fights he came in as a very late substitute against the great Salvador Sanchez in 1982. He was up on one of the three cards before being stopped in the fifteenth round in what was tragically Sanchez’s last fight. His other loss was when he moved up to lightweight in 1992 to challenge Parnell Whittaker and lost a close unanimous decision. Azumah was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. Equally important is the donations he has made to many orphanages in Ghana and the Azumah Nelson Foundation to help the youth of his country. He has been a great ambassador for boxing and for Ghana and the WBC have made arrangements to honour Azumah. Still on Africa I was advised this week of the death of Langton Tinago. The Zimbabwean “Schoolboy” died on 17 July. For many years Langton was the man in boxing in Zimbabwe. Over a 20 year career from 1967 to 1987 he had 110 fights ending with a 86-20-3,1ND record. He was national champion at lightweight and welterweight and had three spells as Commonwealth champion at super featherweight and lightweight and scored wins over Ken Buchanan, Willie Booth, Chris Sanigar and Australia Graeme Brooke. He fell on hard times after he retired but was a much revered figure in Zimbabwe boxing.  By - George Delis (@Delisketo )
On July 27 at Korakuen Hall, one of the most exciting Japanese fighters makes his first appearance in 2018, as Takuya Kogawa (29-5) takes on Yusuke Sakashita (16-8). During his 13-year career, we have seen Kogawa in numerous wars, in and out of his native country of Japan. In 2009, he faced world title contender and future world champion Chaozhong Xiong (12-2*). That was Kogawa’s, who himself was 12-1 at the time, first major challenge. The Chinese fighter was coming off his WBC championship match against Daisuke Naito (34-2*), less than 2 months prior to this bout, losing a unanimous decision but still looking impressive, even dropping Naito in the 6th round. It was obvious that Xiong was eager to climb up the rankings again and was looking for a quick KO win, which proved to be a mistake, as Kogawa was constantly catching him off guard and nailing him with some good combinations. After 10 action packed rounds, Kogawa got the decision and a much crucial victory. One year (and 3 stunning knockouts) later, he was booked to fight Danilo Pena (23-7) for the vacant OPBF Super Flyweight title. Kogawa outclassed the Philippino for 6 consecutive rounds, until the referee was forced to stop the fight (Danilo suffered a deep cut during the match) thus declaring him the new OPBF champion. That fight put Kogawa in contention for the WBC World Flyweight title and on July of 2011, in Thailand, Kogawa got his big opportunity against one of the best fighters of our generation, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (80-3*). The Thai boxer was clearly the more experienced of the 2 in this outing, as he was already competing for 17 years ! The last time someone managed to stop him was in 1996 while his last loss was at the hands of the aforementioned Dasuke Naito in 2007, which was a decision loss. Wonjongkam, who defeated Koki Kameda the previous year for the WBC, the Ring and Lineal Flyweight title, found himself in a much bigger fight, than he expected to be, against Kogawa, going the distance, in what it was a thrilling encounter. Kogawa didn’t get the decision, but he certainly proved that he can hang with the best of them, considering that this was only his 18th pro career fight. Kogawa made his return to Japan, on January 26 of 2012, winning the vacant Japanese Flyweight title, in another barn burner, against fellow rising star Shigetaka Ikehara (22-2*) and successfully defending it thrice, over the likes of Tetsuma Hayashi (18-1*), Keita Yamaguchi (8-11*) and Ikehara again in a return encounter, knocking him out this time in the very last round. He eventually lost his belt, in a close call, to Suguru Muranaka (18-2*). However, despite that loss, he received an Interim WBA World title fight, once more in Thailand, this time against Sirichai Thaiyen (33-2*). Despite putting on an amazing performance, the Thai fighter got the majority decision…..a decision some may even call a biased one. After yet another frustrating missed world title opportunity, Kogawa went on a winning streak that lasted 3 years, defeating top Japanese boxers like Hiroyuki Kudaka (22-12*), Tetsuma Hayashi (25-3*), Masayuki Kuroda (24-6*) as well as regaining the Japanese crown. At the age of 33, Kogawa, who is currently No.8 in the WBC World Flyweight rankings, will face young knockout artist Yusuke Sasashita (11 KOs) on his way to yet another crack at the gold. https://twitter.com/Delisketo/status/1018968686697250818 * The fighter’s record before the fight. (Image courtesy of Miyata Gym) By Nick Skok:
Twenty-four year old IBF strawweight boss, Hiroto Kyoguchi, is ready for a breakout year. The usual KO provider had a difficult test in Vince Paras on May 20th in Tokyo as a part of the Ryoichi Taguchi - Hekkie Budler undercard, as he went the distance but secured a unanimous decision victory against the pesky filipino. In the aftermath of the fight, Kyoguchi (10-0, 7 KO’s) told Japanese media outlet Nikkan Sports that “Eventually I’d like to be a unified champion.” The confident fighter reminded those in attendance that “Since he (Paras) is younger than me, I said beforehand that I’d teach him a boxing lesson.” You could say he did just that with all three scorecards reading “117-110.” Kyoguchi’s esteemed promoter and gym president, Watanabe-san said “we’d like to have the unification.” It’s possible that in his next fight Kyoguchi will have a mandatory due so Watanabe added that Mark Anthony Barriga was a possibility for September before making a unification which would then theoretically be made at the end of the year. “We’d check a mandatory with the IBF [with a Barriga fight].” The target was going to be WBO champion Ryuya Yamanaka (16-2, 5 KO’s) of the Shinsei Gym in Kobe before he lost just days ago. Said Yamanaka leading up to the fight: “What I need to do now is to keep winning. I’d like to have a unification fight with Kyoguchi once we are both recognized as stronger/better fighters. I saw the article where Kyoguchi said same thing in an interview. [eFight.jp] While hardcore fans are starting to look in Kyoguchi’s direction and generally love unifications, Yamanaka brought up a valid point in that they’re not generating a lot of interest amongst casual fans at home. Kyoguchi’s fight wasn’t shown live on the Taguchi undercard and was on tape delayed broadcast five days after it took place. The fact that Yamanaka lost to Vic Saludar doesn’t upgrade the potential unification as the Japanese boxing public would be even less interested now. However, it should be noted that Watanabe-san successfully staged a unification fight on New Year’s Eve last year with his guy Ryoichi Taguchi defeating Milan Melindo. As the New Year’s Eve week fights become more competitive amongst local promoters and networks, no doubt another unification match could garner some interest during the holidays, even amongst the strawweights. Nick Skok can be reached on Twitter @NoSparring By - George Delis (@Delisketo )
July is a super stacked month, full of interesting fights and exciting returns. Well this will be no exemption, as on the 29th we will witness the comeback of former Japanese champion Shohei Omori (18-2). Since his father was also a boxer, Omori took up the sport at an early age, even competed at the 65th National Boxing Tournament during his high school years, reaching second place. Only a year later, he made his pro debut in 2011, knocking out Shuhei Hasegawa. He gathered 10 more victories, mostly against local competition, including Yusuke Tachikawa (7-2*), Kiron Omura (11-2*), Yubon Kaneyama (10-3*), before facing his first serious challenge, in the more experienced Mexican fighter, as well as world title challenger, Christian Esquivel (27-4*). Omori looked like the veteran in this outing, controlling the fight from the beginning and eventually stopping Esquivel in the 4th round, after 3 consecutive knockdowns. In 2015, he earned the opportunity to fight for the Japanese Bantamweight title, taking on the reigning champion Kentaro Masuda (21-6*) at Korakuen Hall. Omori quickly dominated the match, dropping the champion twice in the 1st. Masuda found himself defending against the challengers nonstop offense, offering almost no resistance, until he got caught in the 3rd with a thunderous left hook, which led to the referee calling for the bell and crowning Omori the 69th Japanese Bantamweight champion. https://twitter.com/Delisketo/status/1017104710271193095 He successfully defended his crown, 4 months later, against 2-time world title contender and future Asia Pacific champion Hirofumi Mukai (11-3*), to continue climbing the world rankings. However, that momentum came to an abrupt ending when he came face to face with Marlon Tapales (27-2*) on December of the same year. Omori got dropped thrice in the opening round and eventually TKOed, tasting defeat for the first time in his career. Despite suffering a devastating loss, Omori wasn’t ready to give up. Instead, he came back stronger than before, earning back to back KO wins. In April of 2016, he made short work of Indonesian champion Espinos Sabu (15-8*). He then fought Edgar Jimenez (22-11*) in August. The Japanese put the outsider down in the 3rd round after a plethora of strikes, which rendered him unable to continue. His third victory was on December 31st against former OPBF champion and 2-time world title contender Rocky Fuentes (35-8*). Unlike the other two, this was a completely different fight as both men were highly skilled and well-rounded. Omori fought cleverly, buying his time, a strategy that paid of, as he knocked the Philippino out with a killer uppercut, which came out of nowhere, thus putting him in world title contention. https://twitter.com/Delisketo/status/1017120078557523975 In 2017, at the EDION Arena in Osaka, Omori challenged for the WBO World Bantamweight championship. Ironically, his opponent and new champion, was non other than Marlon Tapales, who managed to capture the gold after defeating Panya Uthok the previous year. It was almost as fate was giving Omori a chance at redemption. The bout started with both fighters going back and forth, with no one really gaining an advantage over the other. Business was about to pick up though, as Omori hurt the champion in the 5th with a series of body shots, much to the delight of the Japanese audience. Tapales woke up in the 6th round, fighting more aggressively. In the beginning of round 7, Omori rocked him again, and while it looked like the match was almost over, Tapales fired back, gaining some much needed ground. Both warriors went on to have an exciting FOTYC, trading blows within the next rounds, with no man backing down. In the end, Tapales managed to score a knocked down during the last minute of the 10th round, dazing Omori, and then again in the 11th, causing the referee to stop the match. Even in defeat, Omori looked strong, putting on a valiant effort, earning the respect of his opponent as well as the fans. After 15 months of absence, he finally makes his return to the ring, fighting Philippino standout Brian Lobetania (13-5) on July 29, at the same building he was last seen. This should be a relatively easy win for Omori, who will look to quickly get back into world title contention. At 25 years of age and already a one time world title challenger, it is only logical that we will see him in the main event again in no time. By Eric Armint-
When I was a kid we had a saying “cheat’s never prosper” boy were we naïve. In September two fighters who have served derisory suspensions for positive tests will make a whole load of money as Saul Alvarez fights Gennady Golovkin and Alex Povetkin challenges Anthony Joshua. If you put aside the disgust over this cheating then Alvarez vs. Golovkin is a fight we all want to see. With the bad blood that has grown out of the positive tests and extended wait for their return contest hopefully it will be a better fight than their first one. Let’s hope this time Alvarez comes to fight. Joshua vs. Povetkin is not the fight we wanted but where the heavyweights are concerned, both inside and out of the ring, there seems to be more prima donnas than at La Scala. The WBA were always going to run out of patience over the unification fight between Joshua and the WBC champion Deontay Wilder. It was dumb of Wilder not to take any offer to fight Joshua anywhere. He can make five times more than he can against any other fighter. He is now left in limbo. His No 1 challenger Dillian Whyte -who he does not appear to want to fight- faces Joseph Parker on 28 July so whoever wins that at best it will the end of the year before Wilder can face them. His No 2 is Dominic Breazeale and that is not going to be a big pay day and below Breazeale sit Povetkin, Luis Ortiz, Tony Bellew, Parker and Charles Martin so slim pickings. Joshua vs. Povetkin is not a great fight. Povetkin looked vulnerable against David Price but he is a puncher and Joshua will make big money whoever he fights. The Povetkin fight will be staged on 22 September at Wembley Stadium where Joshua drew 90,000 for his fight with Wlad Klitschko. Povetkin will not be as big a draw but the crowds come to see Joshua so will still be big by anyone’s standard. What must be worrying for Wilder is that Joshua has said that if he gets past Povetkin-and the “if” word is mine not Joshua’s-then his next fight will also be at Wembley. Make sure your passport is up to date Deontay. With Povetkin being both WBA and WBO No 1and with the IBF No 1 spot vacant a win over Povetkin would take the pressure off Joshua for those other versions of the title he holds. Looks like no one wants to fill the IBF No 1 position. Pulev was to fight Dillian Whyte in a final eliminator but Whyte has opted for a much more attractive fight against Joseph Parker. Next up was Jarrell Miller but when Pulev’s promoter won the purse bidding and was looking at Sofia as a venue Miller indicated he did not want to fight in Bulgaria and so Hughie Fury’s name suddenly came into the equation. Quite a transformation for Fury from unrated to No 5 for beating Sam Sexton particularly when you realise that even before he lost to Joseph Parker last September the IBF did not even rank him in the top 15. It stinks but then the IBF are desperate and running out of options and you can’t be seen to approve an unrated fighter in a final eliminator. The question over the money for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Lucas Matthysse fight appears to be resolved with confirmation that the cash is in the bank. That uncertainty is a risk when a big fight goes to country or organisation who are buying the fight for publicity and don’t have a track record for staging big fights. The result of the fight won’t tell us anything new about Matthysse but it will answer a lot of questions about how much Pacquiao has left. It is his first fight since losing to Jeff Horn over a year ago so we, and a lot of boxers around Manny’s weight, want to find out if he still has a future. The current WBSS series is not yet finished and already plans are well advanced for the next. In the super lights WBA champion Kiryl Relikh vs. Eduardo Troyanovsky will double as a quarter final in the tournament and a mandatory defence by Relikh. In another quarter-final European champion Anthony Yigit will face Ivan Baranchyk. Since the IBF title is vacant and the No 1 spot in the IBF ratings is also vacant then it would make sense that the fight between Baranchyk No 2 and Yigit No 3, be for the vacant IBF title. According to the EBU Yigit is scheduled to defend the European title against Franck Petitjean on 17 November so that European title fight has to be in jeopardy. Josh Taylor and the winner of the fight on 14 July for the WBC interim title between champion Regis Prograis and Juan Jose Velasco are the others named so far. Velasco certainly profited from the ratings elevator going from No 34 to No 18 in the WBC ratings last month and with the next WBC ratings imminent he will probably find his way into the top 15. Missing at this time is WBC champion Jose Carlos Ramirez who defends against Danny O’Connor on Saturday and WBO champion Maurice Hooker. I expect Ramirez to win but I am not sure about Bob Arum letting him fight in the tournament as promoters prefer to pick the opponent for the champions and not leave it to another promoter to do so. It will be interesting to see what other names are added. There is some question over the participants in the bantamweight WBSS tournament. Originally the names of Ryan Burnett, Zolani Tete, and Emmanuel Rodriguez were announced. Jason Moloney was added later with Nonito Donaire the very latest to sign up. Naoya Inoue and Russian Misha Aloyan are awaiting formal confirmation but there is now some question as to whether Burnett will participate. (Ed's note - Inoue has now been confirmed) The world is changing too quickly for me with the unique WBSS tournament and professionals boxing at the Olympics. Now Golden Boy is going into partnership with Facebook to show live cards free of charge on the media site. Too much change at my age but let me add one wish of my own and that is the revival of professional boxing in Cuba. That I would welcome. Too often by the time the great Cuban amateurs turn pro they are already past their peak or too set in their styles to make a successful transition to the pros. There are high class fighters such as Lazaro Alvarez, Carlos Banteur, Rosniel Iglesias, Julio De La Cruz, Robeisy Ramirez, Erislandy Savon and Yosvany Veitia who would be great additions to the pro ranks. Purse bids have been in the news with the postponement of submission of bids for Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko fight. Originally this was to be an IBF final eliminator but since the IBF stripped Gennady Golovkin of their title that changes the picture with the Jacobs vs. Derevyanchenko fight probably being for the vacant title. As No 1 Derevyanchenko is in the driver’s seat with the No 2 position vacant and Jacobs No 3. Golovkin was stripped for not complying with the IBF instructions to defend against Derevyanchenko. What will happen next is not clear. Lou DiBella insisted that the fight go to purse offers so right now no one knows who will promote the fight or which channels it goes to but as Jacobs is tied to HBO if the purse winner wanted to deal with another channel then Jacobs would be unable to fight. If Jacobs can’t take part then the IBF would have to look further down their ratings which currently read 4) Jermall Charlo, 5) Demetrius Andrade, 6) Tommy Langford and 8) Martin Murray. There was something very strange about the outcome of the bidding for Adonis Stevenson vs. Oleg Gvozdyk fight. The winning bid was $3,102,000 from Tom Brown who often works with Al Haymon, next highest was $2,100,100 from Yvon Michel and then Top Rank with a bid of $1,670,000. Just 30 minutes after winning the bidding Brown rescinded his bid and since Michel’s bid was next highest he was awarded the fight and he proposes to stage it on 3 November in Montreal. Top Rank have protested and say that a new purse offer process should be undertaken. However if a promoter who won the purse offer relinquishes the right to promote the bout then clause 2.20 of the WBC rules gives the WBC the right to grant the fight to the second highest bidder. The only explanation I can see is the when Brown/Haymon saw they had bid £1 million more than the next highest bidder they realised they had seriously overpriced the fight and ducked out. TMZ Sports, a Nigerian company, are seeking at least $2 million in damages from Floyd Mayweather Jr over alleged failure to make a number of appearances in Africa. The allegation is that Mayweather took an advance payment of $210,000 but after backing out of the appearances did not refund the $210,000. Of course Floyd could solve the case by buying Africa. If that does not work then anyone who can afford and is stupid enough to pay $18 million for a watch and offer Adrien Broner a $50 million deal can afford to hire some very high class lawyers so best of luck with your action TMZ. No wonder Mayweather was such an accomplished fighter. He put all the class he had into his fights and left none over for real life. Saturday will see the return to the ring of Beibut Shumenov in Astana, Kazakhstan against German Hinzi Altunkaya. This will be for the vacant secondary WBA cruiser title even though Shumenov has not fought for over two years. The former WBA light heavyweight and one time holder of the same WBA secondary cruiser title announced his retirement in June last year citing an eye injury. He also complained of a lack of activity. With proposed fight falling through he had only one fight in 2015 and one in 2016, but says he is now looking to be more active. The WBA rating of Altunkaya is obscene. In the ratings published 31 March he was unrated and in April he suddenly appeared at No 3 even though he had not had a fight since January when he beat a guy with a 3-7-1 record. There is no honest explanation for blatant manipulation such as this-disgraceful and so typical of the WBA. Namibian Sakaria Lukas, the WBO No 2 feather, is saying that he is now a free agent. Lawyers for Lukas are claiming that an essential part of the contract between the boxer and MTC Sunshine Academy was access to IBO title fights. However IBO President Ed Levine was reported as saying that MTC was suspended for non-payment of sanctioning fees. MTC say Sakaria is still under contract and with Lukas positioned for an eventual challenge to Oscar Valdez or interim champion Carl Frampton there is serious money at stake here. Some good European Boxing Union title fights are lined up. On 11 August in Finland lightweight champion Edis Tatli (30-2) defends against Frenchman Marvin Petit (23-1-1). Brit Frankie Gavin will challenge welterweight champion 25-0 Kevin Lejarraga in Bilbao on 17 November. No date yet for Dominic Boesel vs. Enrico Koelling at light heavy. Purse offers have been called for or negotiations are underway for Vicente Legrand vs. Andrew Selby at flyweight, Lee Haskins vs. Georges Ory at bantam, Abigail Medina vs. Jeremy Parodi at super bantam, Marc Vidal vs. Kiko Martinez at feather. For those interested in money the winning bid for Vidal vs. Martinez was Euro 26,113 ($30,437 or £23,000). Still on the EBU they made the right decision in refusing the German Bund Deutscher Berufsboxer (BDB) application to be reinstated as an affiliated member. This is the body that hid from the EBU a positive test in an EBU title fight by Erkan Teper. Have they improved? When administrative body accepts a fight between Robert Maess (21-1 19 wins by KO/TKO) and Mihaita Cosma (0-18 18 losses by KO/TKO) as an acceptable match you have to wonder what they find unacceptable. It has been a good few weeks for Erik Morales. Last month he was inaugurated into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and now he has won another honour. In the recent Mexican elections he was voted in as Diputado for District 07 in Tijuana. The Camara de Diputados is the Mexican equivalent of the US House of Representatives. Isaac Dogboe will make the first defence of his WBO super bantam title against Hidenori Otake in Phoenix on 25 August. Otake the WBO No 5 has a 31-2-3 record with his only loss in his last 24 fights being a wide unanimous decision against Scott Quigg in 2014 for the secondary WBA title. Whilst Isaac Dogboe brought a world title to Ghana the IBO took one away. They have stripped Emmanuel Tagoe of their lightweight title for not entering into negotiations to defend against Fedor Papazov. Since the 28-1 Tagoe is not rated by any of the four major bodies he is going to have to a problem getting a shot at another title. With Abner Mares having failed in his bid to win the real WBA feather title from Leo Santa Cruz the WBA secondary title is now vacant. The WBA No 2 Jack Tepora 21-0 will fight No 3 Edivaldo Ortega (26-1-1) on the undercard to Pacquiao vs. Matthysse. Just to be consistent in their stupidity on 11 August the WBA No 1 featherweight Jesus M Rojas defends the WBA feather interim title against Joseph Diaz. So the WBA aim is to still have a super champion, a secondary champion and an interim champion so what happened to their vow to reduce the number of champions? Also on the undercard to Pacquiao vs. Matthysse Carlos Canizales will defend the WBA light fly title against Bin Lu of China. Never heard of Bin Lu? Not surprising as although he was an elite level amateur he has had only one pro fight. In September last year he stopped Thai Wanchai Nianghansa who had an 8-9 record. The WBA were so impressed that five months later, without Lu having had another fight, he suddenly appeared in the WBA ratings at No 12. It’s a pity they are not a US based outfit as the FBI might show the same interest as they did when the IBF was selling places in their ratings. Thai fighters like to keep busy so WBC super fly champion Srisaket has a non-title fight in Thailand on 21 July against Korean Young Gil Bae. Interesting heavyweight fight coming up as Bryant Jennings goes for his fifth win in a row as continues his effort get another title shot. He takes on IBF No 8(7) Alex Dimitrenko on 18 August in Atlantic City. Dimitrenko was to have challenged Agit Kabayel for the European title but has gone for the Jennings fight instead. Jennings, the WBO No 8 lost on points to Wlad Klitschko for the IBF/WBA/WBO titles in 2015. Tony Yoka has some competition-at home. His wife Estelle Mosseley was World and Olympic Champion and now she too will turn pro later this month. She has been signed up by a TV Channel for a programme of ten fights through to 2020. Some other of the former stars of French amateur boxing will be in action on 27 July in Le Cannet with Olympians middleweight Christian Mbilli 10-0 and Rio bronze medallist Mathieu Bauderlique 14-1scheduled to appear. Main event will see 17-0-1 Yannick Dehez defend the French welter title against 15-0 Jose Gomez. The show is being promoted by Brahim Asloum, himself an Olympic gold medal winner back in 2000 when he beat Brian Viloria on the way to the final giving France its first Olympic boxing gold medal for 64years. Asloum twice held the WBA light flyweight title and retired when still champion. He is now one of the leading promoters in France A curious one from way back. In 2006 the USA and Ukraine teams met and at 75kgs Shawn Porter beat Oleg Usyk. It is difficult to imagine a 165lbs Usyk. In a similar vein US amateur Khalil Coe has to be worth keeping an eye on. Last month in the Chemistry Cup in Germany he won the gold medal knocking out four-time World Champion and Olympic gold medallist Cuban Julio Cesar De La Cruz inside a round.
By - George Delis (@Delisketo )
July 13 signals the return of Japanese fan favorite Ryo Akaho, after his sudden retirement back in January of this year. Ryo Akaho (31-2-2 / 20 KOs) began fighting as a professional 13 years ago in 2005 at the age of 18. He went undefeated for 4 years, with a record of 13-0-1 (7 KOs) when he challenged world title contender Daigo Nakahiro (21-2*) for the Japanese Super Flyweight championship. Despite being the less experienced of the 2, he managed to take the champion to the limit, in a pretty close encounter, which ended in a draw. Akaho may not have won the strap that day, but he certainly proved himself to be a worthy challenger. In 2011, after 2 more KO wins, another big opportunity arrived as he was set to take on 2 division champion Fred Mundraby (12-0*) for the vacant OPBF Super Flyweight title. Ryo’s skills and power were too much for the Australian as his corner was forced to stop the fight, declaring the Japanese prodigy the new OPBF champion. Akaho defended his belt thrice against Toyoto Shiraishi (21-5*), Yoshihito Ishizaki (6-3*) and Yohei Tobe (4-0*), putting himself at the top of the division. On December of 2012, he received his first word title shot against the charismatic WBC World Super Flyweight champion Yota Sato (25-2*). Those 2 had one of the most entertaining title fights of the year. A clash of styles: the calm and collected Akaho on one hand, the cocky and flamboyant Sato on the other. The champion was fooling around the first two rounds, messing with the challenger’s mind. Ryo’s temper got the better of him, charging Yota in the end of both rounds. Sato took advantage of it, hitting Akaho with some good jabs. And then, the exciting part of the fight began as things really got heat up in the 5th round where both men were exchanging bombs, rocking each other hard, with Akaho almost dropping the champ on the 6th and 9th round. It was a back and forth affair that left the crowd at the edge of their seats. In the end, Sato may have gotten the decision but both men got the loud approval from the fans. On that day, Akaho was established as a main event player. It was then that he decided to move up a weight class and try his luck at Bantamweight. Akano piled up 7 consecutive victories, 6 of them via knock out, including wins over former Japanese Super Bantamweight title holder Masaaki Serie (25-6*), Mexican prospect Antonio Tostado Garcia (14-3*), as well as African champion Prosper Ankrah (24-4*), securing the WBA International championship in the process and another World title fight, this time for Bantamweight gold. His bout with Panya Uthok (50-3*) took place on August of 2015, at the champion’s “backyard” in Thailand. Akaho was looking strong in the opening round, delivering a few nice shots, but he was repeatedly got hit with illegal blows to the back of the head on numerous occasions. Dazed by Uthok’s dirty tactics, he was knocked out early in the next round, the first time he got stopped in his entire career. Ryo returned to action 9 months later and since then, he has been unstoppable in his last 5 bouts, even becoming the Japanese Bantamweight champion on March of 2017. At the beginning of 2018, it was announced that due to sudden illness, Akaho was forced to retire from active competition, relinquishing the Japanese title too. However, this May, the 2 time world title contender appeared at Korakuen Hall, the arena in which he made his name, and officially stated that he is coming back for good. His opponent will be Robert Udtohan (25-3 / 15 KOs), who’s mostly known for his loss to WBA International champion Xiaojun Qiu. This fight is clearly booked to give the returning champion, a hero’s welcome, as the Philippino is nowhere near his level. The most dangerous rival of Akaho here, is his health status and if or how it will affect his performance in the ring. Hopefully he has made a complete recovery and will soon start competing against top contenders again, on his quest to finally win the big one. (*denotes record of fighter pre-fight)
|
Guests!These articles are submitted by guest writers and sites. They aren't submitted by the usual folk behind Asian Boxing and don't fall in line with our editorial stance, giving a fresh view on various boxing issues from the Asian boxing scene. Archives
August 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
