Some days in boxing are there for the hardcore fans, some are for the mainstream fans but many blur the lines with a little bit for everyone. This coming Saturday appear to be one of those that clearly blurs the lines though has appeal world wide with fights in Europe, North America and South America whilst also featuring fighters from Asia. In fact whilst the day is relatively thin on real world title fights, with just 3 including an interim, it does serve a key feature in helping set up some notable fights in the near future. The two "regular" world title fights are both set to take place on the same card in Nevada. The least interesting of these will see IBF Light Middleweight champion Carlos Molina (22-5-2, 6) attempt to make the first defense of his belt against the promising and unbeaten Jermall Charlo (17-0, 13). Charlo, widely regarded as one of the USA's most promising prospects, is taking a huge step up here though if he's as good as hyped he shouldn't struggle with Mexico's often over-looked Molina. Molina however is the king of upsetting the odds and many are tipping him to retain. The second, and by far more interesting, title fight on the Nevada card sees WBC Super Bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (26-0-1, 15) make the second defense of his title. Santa Cruz is an extremely fun to watch guy who usually brings a lot of pressure and excitement which should make for a great styles match up with his opponent Cristian Mijares (49-7-2, 24) who is a sneaky and technically sound veteran. Mijares will be known to Japanese fans for his two victories over Katsushige Kawashima as well a victory against Teppei Kikui. He's skilled though has a lot of miles on the clock and is seen as a major under-dog against Santa Cruz. The popular belief is that a Santa Cruz victory leaves him with four clear options. He could move up the Featherweight, he could face the unbeaten and highly ranked Carl Frampton, he could call out Anselmo Moreno or, and most interestingly for us, he could answer the challenge of Shinsuke Yamanaka who has repeatedly requested a bout with Santa Cruz. There was supposed to be a third world title bout on this show though unfortunately Omar Figueroa's badly damaged hand saw his bout called off. His scheduled opponent, Ricardo Alvarez (23-2-3, 14), has unfortunately been matched with vicious Mexican Sergio Thompson (28-3, 26) who we imagine will run through Alvarez with relative ease. Thompson, best known for beating Jorge Linares and losing Takashi Miura, is tough, hard hitting and has to be favoured over Alvarez who is lucky to have a well known boxing brother. Talking about brothers that moves us nicely on to Alvarez's brother and the show's main event which features Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (42-1-1, 30) fighting Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18) in what is an exciting all-Mexican Light Middleweight match up. Whilst both men come in to the bout with a loss their is a lot to like about the match. Neither man likes the other, both are usually fun to watch and both are considered to be amongst the top contenders in the division. Excellent match up and a bout that should be thoroughly enjoyable. Also on this card is the main attraction of the night for ourselves, the bout between Nihito Arakawa (24-3-1, 16) and Jorge Linares (35-3, 23). Strangely we get the "interim" title fight in Peru as Peruvian boxing icon Alberto Rossel (31-8-0-1, 13) makes the fourth defense of his WBA "interim" Light Flyweight title. Rossel might be one of the most obscure men parading around as a world champion and this weekend he takes an equally obscure challenger in the form of Gabriel Mendoza (19-2-2, 16). Although Mendoza has an attractive looking record and is ranked by 3 of the 4 title bodies he's not really beaten anyone of note and his crowning achievement saw far is surviving 10 rounds with Carlos Buitrago. The Peruvian card is also expected to feature WBC #7 ranked Minimumweight Ricardo Astuvilca (10-0, 2) in action though his opponent hasn't yet been announced. Staying in Latin American, just a moment longer, there is another notable bout taking place in Mexico as former multi-weight world champion Jorge Arce (62-7-2-1, 47) returns to action against Brazilian Aldimar Silva Santos (19-7, 10). As well as the action in the America's there is, as mentioned earlier, action in Europe with a British card that has some genuine significance to Asian boxing fans. This is because the world ranked Super Flyweight Paul Butler (14-0, 7) is in action. Butler, ranked by all 4 major bodies, could be a potential opponent for someone like Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Daiki Kameda, Koki Kameda, Kohei Kono, Denkaosen Kaovichit, Teiru Kinoshita, Sho Ishida or Oleydong Sithsamerchai. Butler will however need to get past the challenge of Argentina's Oreste Bernabe Nieva (15-2, 6) before those big fights are spoken about in too much detail.
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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/) Results from the quarter finals of Middleweight Boxcino and a major upset all on Friday night!3/1/2014 This past Friday wasn't just a busy one in Asia but also in the US with two major televised US shows on rival channels "ESPN" and "Showtime". Of the two shows the one that interested us the most was the ESPN show which kicked off the "Boxcino Middleweight" tournament. The competition, an 8 man knock out tournament, seeks to create a star though on this particular show we really didn't get anything that looked likely to become a break out fighter. Saying that however one man did shine one the card. That was Ukrainian Vitaliy Kopylenko (23-0, 13), pictured, who looked very sharp and very skilled as he dominated and stopped Cerresso Fort (17-3-1, 11) in just 2 rounds. The victory for Kopylenko will see him instilled as the tournament favourite with out any doubt at all. Kopylenko's opponent in the semi final will be American Willie Monroe Jr (16-1, 6) who looked talented though lazy in his decision victory over the crude but game Donatas Bondorovas (18-5-1, 6). Bondorovas brought the action and tried to make the fight but Monroe showed his defensive skill to take a decision even though his performance was described as being very "Devon Alexander-ish". In the other quarter finals Brandon Adams (13-0, 9) defeated Daniel Edouard (23-5-2, 14) who retired between rounds 4 and 5 and the previously perfect Sena Agbeko (15-1, 15) was stopped by the average Raymond Gatica (14-2, 9). Edouard was knocked down in round 4 before staying on his stool at the start of round 5 signalling he no longer wanted to continue. As for Agbeko his performance was poor to say the least. He went in swinging for the fences though didn't appear to have the power that his record suggested. By the end of round 3 he was gassed and sooner became a punch bag for Gatica who will fight Adams in the other semi final. From what we saw we would expect to an Adams versus Kopylenko final later in the year. On the Showtime card we had the "Mayweather Promotions" show. The card was supposed to be a show case of the Mayweather stable though turned out to be a nightmare for "The Money Team". It started badly for Mayweather with the much touted Luis Arias (9-0, 4) only just squeaking past journeyman Dashon Johnson (15-15-3, 5) on a non-televised bout. Arias, viewed by some as a champion in the making, was very fortunate to escape with the win and appears to lack the traits needed to become a world champion. After Arias's near miss there was then a very close televised contest that saw Christopher Pearson (11-0, 9) needing to pick himself off the canvas to take a split decision over Lanardo Tyner (31-9-2, 20). Tyner, who is incredibly tough, had Pearson in all sorts of trouble before the bell saved the unbeaten man in round 6. Although Pearson had made a good start to the bout he ended it with more than a just a few question marks over his head. If Arias and Pearson had both been lucky then it seemed the luck for Mayweather fighters had run out when it came to Badou Jack (16-1-1, 11) who was stopped in just 61 seconds by tough but limited Derek Edwards (27-3-1, 14). Edwards landed a perfect right had about 30 seconds in to the bout that sent Jack down hard. Although Jack did recover to his feet from the first knockdown he was set to the canvas again just 20 seconds later and upon rising to his feet the referee waved off the contest. The final bout on this card saw J'Leon Love (17-0-0-1, 10) stopping the very limited though game Vladine Biosse (15-3-2, 7). The bout was bloody with both men cut though it was controlled by Love who was too quick, too skilled and too big for Biosse. Unfortunately the stoppage, with just over 2 minutes of the bout left, did leave a poor taste in the mouth in due to the fact Biosse was in no real trouble at the time. (Picture courtesy of boxrec.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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