This past Wednesday saw a rare US mid-week televised show courtesy of ESPN. The main bout of the show was an IBF Middleweight title eliminator between the hard hitting American Curtis Stevens (27-5, 20) and talented Frenchman Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (31-1, 18), a former WBO world champion. The bout promised a lot on paper, especially when Stevens's camp got a small ring for the fight.
The bout was a huge opportunity for both and would book the winner with a world title fight for next year. Surprisingly however Stevens fought as if he was a novice at the start of his career. Stevens, who was famously stopped by Gennady Golovkin last year, looked like he was unable to cut the ring down and round after round he followed the French fighter who landed shots and moved showing fantastic boxing skills against who was simply unable to get off. Going into the second half of the fight Stevens was in a hole and went chasing a stoppage, unfortunately for him that search him being dropped to the canvas in round 8 and putting him deeper in a hole that by then left Stevens needing a KO. Stevens's lack of skills however prevented that from ever happening. In fact until the final 30 seconds of the bout it seemed he was totally unable to even hurt the Frenchman who took a very clear and well earned victory. N'Damn N'Jikam will fighting the winner of next week's bout between Sam Soliman and Jermain Taylor. Odds are that N'Dam N'Jikam will have to be favoured either of those two men.
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This coming Wednesday sees boxing returning to ESPN for a special one off show which features a sensational Middleweight bout as well as one or two interesting undercard bouts. For us the most interesting of the undercard contests will be the only involving former Ukrainian amateur star Sergiy Derevyanchenko (1-0, 1). Derevyanchenko looked sensational as an amateur, fantastic in the WSB competition and like a star in the making on his professional debut. Rather than wasting time with record padding wins we will see the Ukrainian in with the upset minded Lekan Byfield (5-5-2) who is much, much better than his record indicates. Last time out Byfield defeated the once touted Jason Escalera and if he's on that form here he could give the Ukrainian a very good test. A second notable under-card bout here will see the unbeaten Miguel Marriaga (18-0, 16) put his impressive record on the line against the tricky, though often frustrating, Christopher Martin (28-3-3, 9). Marriaga, from Colombia, hasn't beaten many fighters of note, though he does hold a win over former Koki Kameda rival Mario Macias. As for Martin he defeated the then unbeaten Chris Avalos, though has failed to really move his career on wards following that victory way back in 2010. When on song Martin is very good though all too often he sleep walks through bouts, Marriaga will know this is his chance to make a name for himself though it is a big step up in class. Despite the interesting under-card it is the main event that steals the show and and means a lot in the short term. That bout will see former WBO Middleweight champion Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (30-1, 18) battle against the hard hitting an exciting Curtis Stevens (27-4, 20) in an IBF title eliminator. N'Dam N'Jikam has won 3 straight fights since losing WBO title to Peter Quillin around 2 years ago and he'll be hoping to move one step closer to re-capturing a world title. As for Stevens he'll be looking to get himself a chance at a world title having previously fallen short in a shot against Gennady Golovkin. The winner of the N'Dam N'Jikam/Stevens bout will face the winner of the upcoming contest between Sam Soliman, the current IBF Middleweight champion, and Jermaine Taylor. Those two are set to meet on October 8th. (Image courtesy of http://roundbyroundboxing.com) A busy Friday night saw a lot of action through out the US with a number of those bouts having a relevancy to us Asian fans. Firstly there was a number of former foes of our fighters. These included Light Heavyweight Cornelius White (21-3, 16) who was dispatched inside a round by the unbeaten Thomas Williams (16-0, 11). The bout between White and Williams saw 3 knockdowns with White being stopped in one of the most dramatic rounds of the year. Unfortunately this bout does make Sergey Kovalev's victory over White look less impressive though we'd argue that really Kovalev did the long last damage to White. Things were much better for former Gennady Golovkin foe Curtis Stevens (26-4, 19) who scored an opening round victory himself. Stevens needed just 46 seconds to see off Poland's Patrick Majewski (21-3, 13), who was down 3 times and seemed to look more like a yo-yo than a boxer. Things were also good, at least in terms of the result, for Rico Ramos (23-3, 12). Ramos, who is best known for knocking out Akifumi Shimoda, dropped Jonathan Arrellano (14-3-2, 3) 3-times though failed to do much to make fans want to see him. Although talented and powerful with his left hook Ramos did too much of nothing and once again left fans wondering what is mentally wrong with him. In bouts less directly relevant to our fighters we saw a few interesting results. In the Light Middleweight division Cornelius "K9" Bundrage (33-5-0-1, 19) managed to secure himself the #1 slot with the IBF courtesy of a victory over Joey Hernandez (23-2-1, 13) who showed up his clear limitations. Light Welterweight sensation Antonio Orozco (19-0, 15) managed to quickly see off the horribly over-matched Miguel Angel Huerta (27-12-1, 18) and Cruiserweight hopeful Thabiso Mchunu (15-1, 10) managed to over-come Nigerian puncher Olanrewaju Durodola (17-2, 16) Although the Asian action this weekend is scarce, to say the least, the international action does have some very interesting match ups, especially in the US where the bouts seem to be "interesting" as opposed to genuinely "notable". On Friday the interesting match ups in the US take place across a number of divisions. For us the most notable is the return to action of American Middleweight Curtis Stevens (25-4, 18) who fights for the first time since he was stopped by Gennady Golovkin last year. Stevens will be looking to get back to winning ways as he takes on Patrick Majewski (21-2, 13) in what looks, on the face of it, like a great match up. Stevens is the clear favourite (priced around 1/4) though depending on the damage Golovkin to him he may not be the same fighter and Majewski (7/2), fighting in his adopted New Jersey, will be very well supported. On the same card there is also action in the Cruiserweight division with the very highly regarded Thabiso Mchunu (14-1, 10) battling against the big punching Olanrewaju Durodola (17-1, 16). Mchunu, who impressed against Eddie Chambers last time out, is world ranked by all 4 bodies and will know he's closing in on a world title fight. Saying that though Durodola is a big puncher with a lot of stoppages inside 4 rounds and we'd not be shocked to see Mchunu given a chin test of some variety. As with the Stevens/Majewski fight one man, Mchunu is the clear favourite (1/4) though it's Nigerian born Durodola (4/1) has got Olympic experience and great power. Staying in the US, though going to Indio, California we get a Light Middleweight double header. The main event sees former IBF champion Cornelius Bundrage (32-5-0-1, 19) take on Joey Hernandez (23-1-1, 13) in an IBF eliminator for the #1 spot. The bout, not one that we're really excited about, should set up the next challenger for the winner of the upcoming Carlos Molina/Jermall Charlo bout. The second Light Middleweight bout on the show sees the always exciting to watch Antonio Orozco (18-0, 14) take on the over-matched Miguel Angel Huerta (17-11-1, 18). Although this is a mismatch we love watching Orozco who is all action with a must watch style and real power. Whilst this bout is an easy one for the unbeaten man we wouldn't be shocked to see 2014 become his break out year. One more show in the US is in Washington and will be televised on ESPN. The main event here sees former Sergey Kovalev foe Cornelius White (21-2, 16) attempt to resurrect his career as he takes on the unbeaten Thomas Williams Jr (15-0, 10) in what is a really important bout in the Light Heavyweight division between two IBF ranked fighters. A second bout on this card that has an interest to us is a Featherweight one between Rico Ramos (22-3, 12) and Jonathan Arrellano (14-2-2, 3). Ramos, best known for stopping Akifumi Shimoda back in 2011, has won just 2 of his last 5 fights whilst regularly stinking out the joint. Anything but a good win over Arrellano would likely be the end of Ramos's days on TV. Interestingly Arrellano (priced at 5/2) is given a decent underdog price from the bookies who have Ramos (1/3) as a favourite but not a certainty. The only other bouts of note take place in Spain where European Union Light Welterweight champion Ruben Nieto (13-0, 6) defends his belt against Samuele Esposito (17-1, 10). The winner of this bout is likely to be moved towards a notable fight by the end of the year. |
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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