So far the "PBC" has been a mixed bag. It's given us big name fighters in relatively uneven match ups and lesser name fighters in some brilliantly matched bouts. There has been a huge wave of support by fans of the project and massive damnation by those who are against. Whilst both sides have their merits we've got to say that we've really enjoyed the "B level" action, the bouts with out the bigger names. We get one of those later today as well as a bout with a big name in what appears to be another mismatch. The mismatch in question will see Britain's Amir Khan (30-3, 19) take on Chris Algieri (20-1, 8). On paper it looks an interesting bout, especially with both men having been former world champions at 140lbs. However fans and the bookies have viewed this as a mismatch with Khan a 1/12 favourite. In all honesty that seems about right with Khan being a more skilled, bigger punching, faster fighter. Algieri is a big and tough fighter but one who has to be considered as the big under-dog coming in to this bout. Then again he usually is the under-dog when he faces a "name" fighter. For us the much, much, better bout is a WBA "regular" Super Featherweight title bout between the once beaten Costa Rican Bryan Vasquez (34-1, 18) and heavy handed Dominican Javier Fortuna (27-0-1, 20). This bout looks like it really could be something special with the explosive Fortuna up against a technically sound, tough and hard working foe. On paper we favour Vasquez who has mixed with better company, and holds a win over Sergio Thompson, though the bookies have really struggled to split the two men in what looks to be a possible contender for fight of the weekend. Interestingly the winner of this will sit behind Japan's Takashi Uchiyama on the WBA's list of champions, and could be a potential opponent for "KO Dynamite" later in the year. Vasquez however has been beaten by Uchiyama already in his career and would likely not be in a rush to rematch the Japanese puncher.
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April 12th-Felix Jr meets Vasquez to decide Uchiyama challenger, former Murata rival returns!4/11/2014 This weekend is an oddly weekend in term of top level boxing. That's not to say that we don't have plenty of fights dotted around but what we do have seems to be very much below world level. A full card in Denmark, for example, is at best a fringe card with the most interesting bout on it being a Heavyweight clash between exposed fighters David Price (16-2, 14) and Ondrej Pala (33-4, 23). Sure that should be entertaining but we don't imagine either of those men will make a dent on the world level. What we are left is a bit of tiered system with bouts across the levels of varying significance to Asian boxing. One of those bouts is in Mexico as WBA female Minimumweight champion Anabel Ortiz (13-3, 2) returns to Mexico for the first time in 3 bouts. Ortiz is best known to us for her defeat to Naoko Fujioka and her debatable split decision win over Etsuko Tada, a decision many feel was a "Kameda decision". Ortiz will be hoping to secure a non-title victory as she battles Ivoon Rosas (10-6-1, 2) in what really should be a bit of a mismatch. On the same card as Ortiz's fight will be a man known to Asian boxing fans, Jesus Silvestre (28-4, 20) who was very unfortunate to lose to Ryo Miyazaki last year. Silvestre will be looking to score his second victory since the Miyazaki fight as he battles the seemingly over-matched Eduardo Martinez (9-2-1, 2) in what should be a marking time fight for the talented Mexican. The most meaningful bout, not including the Manny Pacquiao rematch with Timothy Bradley, is in the US as WBA interim Super Featherweight champion Bryan Vasquez (32-1, 17) battles unbeaten puncher Jose Felix Jr (26-0-1, 21) in what looks like a potential fight of the night. Vasquez's only loss came back in 2012 when he fought Takashi Uchiyama and was stopped in 8 by "KO Dynamite". In that bout Vasquez genuinely impressed us though seemed a little too weak and maybe lacked the physical maturity to match Uchiyama. For Felix however this is a huge opportunity and he has the sort of style and power that makes him very dangerous to anyone in the division. In theory the winner of Vasquez/Felix Jr will be next in line for Uchiyama though in a dream would Felix would make a perfect dance partner for WBC champion Takashi Miura and that would certainly be better for the fans if Felix wins. The same show in American also features the second professional contest in the career of Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (1-0, 1) who was of course an amateur rival of Ryota Murata's. Falcao will be looking for his second victory as he takes on fellow unbeaten Pubilo Pena (2-0, 1) in what is likely to be one of the first shows on the online stream on Toprank.tv. One more bout of note on the US show is the contest between the debuting Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk (0-0) and Mike Montoya (4-2-1, 2). Gvozdyk was sadly robbed of an Olympic final in London 2012 when he was beaten, on countback, by Adilet Niyazimbetov. Gvozdyk probably wouldn't have beaten Egor Mekhontsev though he certainly deserved the chance and was robbed of that opportunity. Hopefully we'll get to see Gvozdyk fight Mekhontsev somewhere down the line in the professional ranks, though for now we need to wish him good luck on his professional debut. (Picture, of Silvestre, is courtesy of notifight) |
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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