Tonight is set to be an interesting night in international boxing with arguably the pick of the bouts actually being a female world title unification contest between Edith Soledad Matthysse (13-7-1, 1) and Jelena Mrdjenovich (35-9-1, 19). Whilst we know many fans aren't supporters of female boxing this really is the best bout of the night and promises 10 very competitive rounds. A promise that no other bout of the night can make.
In the US fans will have the chance to see former unified Light Welterweight champion Danny Garcia (30-0, 17) take on former 2-weight world champion Paul Malignaggi (33-6, 7). On paper this looks to be an interesting match up but in reality it will be a mismatch with Garcia being too strong and too young for the battle worn Malignaggi. On the same card we'll see a WBA “regular” Middleweight title defense as the heavy handed Daniel Jacobs (29-1, 26) defends his belt against the frustrating and slippery Sergio Mora (28-3-2, 9). On paper this looks like a clear win for Jacobs however this is likely to be the second toughest bout of his career, only behind his loss to Dmitry Pirog. Mora, a former title holder at 154lbs, knows that this will likely be his last shot at the top but will be the big under-dog. In the UK we'll see Olympic champion Luke Campbell (11-0, 9) battle against local rival Tommy Coyle (21-2, 10) in what we suspect will be a mismatch in favour of the very promising Campbell. The bout is being sold as a major domestic showdown but the reality is that the men are on very different levels and it's hard to see anything that Coyle can do to really test his more impressive foe.
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The second part of an amazing weekend of fights comes on Saturday with wonderful action taking place in the US and Puerto Rico whilst a notable supporting bout is set to take place in Slovenia of all places. On paper the most exciting match up comes in San Juan, Puerto Rico where WBO Super Featherweight champion Orlando Salido (42-12-2-1, 29) defends his title against former champion Roman Martinez (28-2-2, 17). Salido won the title last year in an up-and-down affair with Terdsak Kokietgym and will be hoping to have an easier time with Salido however the odds are that this will ignite in to complete slugfest with both men taking a lot of damage before one eventually stops the other. A really good supporting bout on this card will see Jose A Gonzalez (23-1, 18) returning to the ring for his second bout since his loss against Ricky Burns in May 2013. Gonzalez, who looked really talented against Burns, will be fighting interesting Ugandan Sharif Bogere (26-1, 18), who suffered his only loss to Richar Abril. This essentially two class guys fighting for their chance to get another world title bout and it's hard to have any complaints about the match up. Although we think the Salido/Martinez bout is going to be the bout of the day it's certainly not the highest profile contest of the day. That belongs to the controversial catchweight bout bout between Danny Garcia (29-0, 17) and Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17). Between them the men hold the WBC, WBA “super” and IBF Light Welterweight titles yet rather than unifying the crown they are fighting the contest at 143lbs. Notably Peterson will be stripped of his IBF title if he loses, giving a huge opportunity to Chinese slugger Ik Yang if that happens. What should have been a great bout for the Light Welterweight division remains a very interesting bout but one that should really have been for the gold. One bout on this card that was supposed to be for the gold was a WBO Middleweight title bout between hard hitting Irishman Andy Lee (34-2, 24), the defending champion, and unbeaten American Peter Quillin (31-0, 22). Quillin enters this bout as a former champion who vacated his belt last year, rather than face Russian Matt Korobov. Lee took the Korobov bout and stopped the Russian to claim the title and now we've essentially gone full circle with Quillin get the first shot at Lee. Again there is a bad taste about this bout politically, but in the ring it should be enjoyable and explosive. Unfortunately however this bout has now been made a non-title bout following Quillin missing the weight In supporting bouts we'll get the chance to see a several promising and unbeaten fighters including Light Welterweight contender Viktor Postol (26-0, 11), who fights Jake Giuericeo (17-2-1, 4) in a stay busy contest, the touted Felix Diaz (16-0, 8), who takes on the once beaten Gabriel Bracero (23-1, 4) in an interesting looking match up, and the very highly regarded Errol Spence Jr (15-0, 12), who takes on Samuel Vargas (20-1-1, 10) in a bout that looks good on paper but in reality should be a mismatch. A second US card is again piled with prospects. The most interesting bout, other than the main event which actually features a Filipino, will feature Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez (14-0, 13). Valdez will be fighting against Jose Ramirez (25-5, 15) in what looks a good bout until you realise Ramirez was stopped by the then debuting Vasyl Lomachenko and has since been stopped by Abner Mares, and will stepping up to Super Featherweight for this bout. Another bout that looks good on paper will see Russian destroyer Oleksandr Gvozdyk (5-0, 4) battle against Rowland Bryant (18-5, 12). On paper this looks like a really good test for the Russian but Bryant has lost 4 of his last 6 and shouldn't really push Gvozdyk. Whilst it is a mismatch we would say a stoppage by the Russian should be considered impressive considering his lack of professional experience. Yet another prospect we're excited about on this card is Lithuanian powerhouse Egidijus Kavaliauskas (9-0, 8), who will be up against Arman Ovsepyan (14-4, 11) in what looks likely to be another very impressive performance form the Oxnard based European fighter. Sadly we've struggled to get excited about Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (7-0, 5) who is really talented but has been matched horribly here as he takes on Omar Rojas (3-2, 1) in what appears to be an horrific mismatch. Falcao, a nemesis of Ryota Murata's, is so much better than Rojas that this bout should be disappointing to the the fighter as well as fans. As for the bout in Slovenia, that will see former IBF Welterweight champion Jan Zaveck (34-3, 19) battling against Belgian based Armenian Sasha Yengoyan (31-1-1, 21). This bout, for the WBF Light Middleweight title, as good a WBF title bout as you're likely to see and really could have been for the European title considering the ability of the two men in it. Whilst neither man is a “star” we do like both and it's hard to dislike either. This may not get the attention of some of the other bouts but it could be a very interesting contest all the same. (Image courtesy of notifight.com) This past weekend, for many fans, has been a write off and a chance to vent at Al Haymon, Showtime, Golden Boy Promotions and various other American boxing personnel. We're not going to rant and rave about how bad the action was and how badly matched up the 3 televised bouts on Showtime were, instead we're just going to give you the results in succinct manner. You've already read the rants and anyway, why should we waste your time and why should we pretend the card was actually worth caring about? So here we go. Daniel Jacobs (28-1, 25) claimed the WBA "regular" Middleweight title with an easy 5th round TKO over Australian Jarrod Fletcher (18-2, 10). Jacobs will now paraded around the world with a paper title whilst Fletcher will be feeling relieved that he wasn't forced into a fight with Gennady Golovkin, as was looking likely at one point early this year. Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17) put on a 1-sided beating against Edgar Santana (29-5, 20) with Santana looking more like a punch bag than a legitimate challenger for the IBF Light Welterweight title. It was one-sided from the opening round and eventually the doctor stopped it to protect Santana from further punishment. Danny Garcia (29-0, 17) almost beheaded the criminally over-matched Rod Salka (19-4, 3). This bout, fought at 142lbs, looked similar to seeing a college kid beating up a high school kid and Salka, despite being a really charming guy, had no real reason to be in the ring. That's all we are going to say on that stinking, awful and ridiculous card. Thankfully there was more action from the US as NBCSN put on an interesting card that featured a number of notable fighters. The most competitive of the action here saw Heavyweight hopeful Vyacheslav Glazkov (18-0-1, 11) struggle past journeyman Derric Rossy (29-9, 14) in a bout that was significantly more competitive than it looked on paper. The only black mark here in terms of the fight was the outlandish 98-92 score card from judge Pierre Benoist, a card that would have been shamed had it not been tucked away on a card many fans didn't seem to watch. Another Heavyweight on the same card was Joseph Parker (10-0, 9) who again very deservedly got rave reviews. Parker, fighting for he second ime in he US, dismantled the over-matched Keith Thompson (7-3, 4). Parker did what he was supposed to do but still generated the great feedback from fans who appear to be warming to him more than many other Heavyweight prospects. In female action we had a pair of world title bouts. At 105lbs fans in Mexico saw Victoria Argueta (13-1, 4) out point fellow Mexican Alondra Garcia (9-2, 1) in what appeared to be a relatively one sided bout, unless you were judge Joe Garcia who some how had Garcia winning 97-93, a scorecard even a close relative would have struggled to have had considering the dominance of Argueta. The other female world title bout saw historic Chilean fighter Carolina Rodriguez (13-0, 1) become the first Chilean in history to successfully defend a world title as she took a split decision over Colombian teenager Dayana Cordero (13-5-1, 9). The bout was very close despite an outlandish scorecard of 99-91 to Rodriguez. We understand that Rodriguez is a national boxing icon in Chile but the least she should do is offer a rematch to Cordero who was very unfortunate here. (Image courtesy http://foxsports.com.au) One of the big problems with boxing today is the fact the promoters tend to think that fans are stupid and that the boxing media will just peddle what ever line they want us to. The problem for the promoters is that we, as fans and media, know what a fight isn't worth our time. Sadly the promoters have yet to cotton on to the fact that our loyalty does have it's limits and if you keep feeding up with mismatches we will take our business else where. It's been his mentality that has seen boxing lose some fans to UFC, not as many fans as some reports suggest but still some fans. Sadly this weekend is going to be one of those weekends where the main stream boxing public will feel a little bit ripped off due to a show in America that leaves a bitter taste before a punch is even thrown. The show in question is a triple header on Showtime. The biggest name on the card is unified Light Welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16) who will be fighting in a non title fight against Rod Salka (19-3, 3). Salka is a massive under-dog and rightfully so given that he's moving up in weight, lacks power and lacks much in terms of world class experience. We do believe Salka is better than his record but not good enough to give Garcia any problems. Before we go any further let us just make everyone aware, we do not mind stay busy fights, in fact we're very supportive of fighters wanting to stay busy and fighting in "gimmes" as a result. What we're not fans of is a fighter who fights every 5 or 6 months having a "stay busy fight". A stay busy fight should be just that, a fight to stay busy, like Srisaket Sor Rungvisai's bouts against the likes of Joel Kwong. It shouldn't be a bout given air time on a major network in the US that customers are paying for. The Light Welterweight division is awash with better match ups but they've ended up bringing up a Lightweight who is unranked? Awful move from Garcia's team. Thankfully non of the world bodies will be sanctioning the Garcia fight though the IBF will be sanctioning a different Light Welterweight bout on this card. That's because IBF champion Lamont Peterson (32-2-1, 16) will be facing Edgar Santana (29-4, 20). Santana is pretty fun watch and has very respectable power. He is not, however a world class Light Welterweight and he's certainly not come close to earning a shot at a title holder. Thankfully is a better bout than the Garcia bout, but only just. We would all have loved to have seen Garcia Vs Peterson in a triple title unification bout and Santana Vs Salka in a show opener but instead we've ended up with 2 bouts that people really have shown a disdain for and are left wondering why the promoter is treating us like fools. The third bout on the show is the highlight of the card as Daniel Jacobs (27-1, 24) fights against Jarrod Fletcher (18-1, 10) for the WBA Middleweight title. On paper this is an interesting fight and a chance for Jacobs to cap off an amazing story from being a cancer patient to a world champion. Sadly however it's a bout for one of the many numerous WBA paper belts that are going around pretending to be real title belts. The real champion, Gennady Golovkin, defended his belt just a few weeks ago against Daniel Geale yet the WBA, in their infinite wisdom, have managed to create a fake belt for this bout. It's a real shame that this, like a possible Salka/Santana bout, isn't being fought as an eliminator. In Mexico we get a couple of notable bouts, though the first of those suffers from the same issue as the American card. That's because WBC #1 contender at 122lbs Andres Gutierrez (29-0-1, 22) will be fighting in a total mismatch against complete no-hoper Mario Macias (26-12, 13). Some of you may recall Macias as a former Koki Kameda opponent and you'd be right, you'd also be right if you said Macias was the last fighter Koki has stopped. It'd be a massive shock if Macias manages to survive more than 3 or 4 rounds. The other bout will see IBF female Minimumweight champion Victoria Argueta (12-1, 4) defending her belt against Alondra Garcia (9-1, 1) in a much, much better match up than many of the others taking place over the weekend. Thankfully, for once, we have a relatively well matched bout! (Image courtesy of http://explorebk.com) When boxing is at it's best it's one of the greatest and most honest sports the world has. It's one of the only sports that pits man against man in a true battle of skill, wits, strength and technique. Unfortunately at it's worst our sport leaves us with a bitter taste, a feeling of corruption and more anger than any other sport. It's one of the few sports where the "rightful winner" can be denied their day in the sun by officiating that leaves us with more questions than any sport really should. Sadly boxing, at it's worst looks like the only sport where the winner can lose and the loser can win.
The idea of a winner losing and a loser winner was shown perfectly on Saturday night in Puerto Rico where the unbeaten Danny Garcia (28-0, 16) was hugely fortunate to retain his WBC and WBA "super" titles in a Light Welterweight clash with Mauricio Herrera (20-4, 7). Garcia, a highly touted fighter who has been on a great run recently, was heavily favoured to beat Herrera with many asking why Herrera was picked as an opponent. The challenger, a relative unknown to many boxing fans, was written off before the first bell though proved that those who write fighters off do so at their peril. Herrera started well and found a home for his jab from the opening round. Garcia, well known for his timing, simply couldn't cope with the jab, movement and angles Herrera was giving him and it seemed like Garcia was amateur fighting a skilled professional. Herrera kept landing clean blows whilst Garcia looked lost trying to load up on his famed left hook and missing wildly as if he was doing something for the first time. Unfortunately the judges did what they could to keep the title in the hands of unbeaten man though many know that there was no way Garcia won the bout and the rightful winner, whilst dignified after the fight, has every right to question why he is in this sport. Whilst the controversy of the Garcia/Herrera fight was the big talking point of this past Saturday in Puerto Rico it was far from the only talking point. Another was the opening round "KO" scored by Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31) over close friend and seemingly happy victim Malik Scott (36-2-1, 13). Scott seemed to be caught by a slapping left hand and then a blocked right hand though was unable to beat the count in a fight many in the online community are calling suspect. It did seem like a very poor effort on Scott's part of trying to beat the count and it certainly didn't seem like Scott tried to win despite the fact he knew there was a big fight around the corner if he had won. A third controversy on the card was the stoppage in a bout between Puerto Rico's very own Juan Manuel Lopez (34-3, 31) and Mexico's Daniel Ponce De Leon (45-6, 35). The bout, a rematch of the contest that put Lopez on the map a few years back, saw both men knocked down in a thrilling second round though the referee did seem to jump in too early to "save" Ponce De Leon. The trio of questionable results in Puerto Rico certainly hasn't helped anyone to believe that Golden Boy Promotions are "the good guys" in the boxing world and instead has amped up conspiracy theorists who believe that the promotional outfit are hosting fixed fights. We'd not suggest that fights are fixed but the judging in the main event really was disgusting and it's little wonder fight fans are turning away from our sport. Thankfully not everything was questionable and in Nicaragua we saw former world champion Jose Alfaro (27-8-1, 23) completely dominate compatriot Marcos Mojica (13-2-2, 9) en route to a 7th round KO. Alfaro is best known to Asian fans due to his split decision victory over Thailand's Prawet Singwancha and his loss to Japanese pair Yusuke Kobori and Yoshiro Kamegai. Although unlikely to ever compete at the world level again we still felt this was a notable result. Another fight that saw little doubt over the winner was a contest between unbeaten Ukrainian Heavyweight Vyacheslav Glazkov (17-0-1, 11) and Polish veteran Tomasz Adamek (49-3, 29). Adamek, a great warrior and genuine tough guy, saw his face looking very swollen in a losing effort that could well be his swansong at the top level. It was a brave effort from Adamek but his age and natural size was clearly against him with Glazkov being a clear victor. In the UK we again saw some clear victors with the unbeaten Kell Brook (32-0, 22) dominating and later stopping Mexico's Alvaro Robles (17-3, 15). Whilst this was supposed to be a tune up for a world title fight for Brook we've unfortunately heard "Brook" and "Tune up" put in the same sentence too many times to know quite what to expect from Brook's next fight. On the same show in the UK Kevin Mitchell (37-2, 27) made light work of Mikheil Avakyan (21-12-4, 8) scoring a second round TKO. This bout, like Brooks, was supposed to be a prelude for a world title fight though it's hard to imagine Mitchell beating any of the current Lightweight champions. Although not a big bout we'd suggest that the best bout of the night was actually the British Light Heavyweight title fight between Bob Ajisafe (12-2, 3) and Dean Francis (34-5-1, 26). We hadn't expected much from this contest due to various issues, instead however the bout turned out to be genuinely brilliant and is well worth a watch. (Picture courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions) The Light Welterweight division has been one of the most interesting divisions in recent years. Whilst many fighters have used it as a stop gap before joining the always brilliant Welterweight division it has still given us some great fights such as the Mike Alvarado/Brandon Rios fights or Marcos Maidana's fights with Victor Ortiz and Amir Khan. This weekend promises us another notable contest in the 140lb division as the divisional kingpin Danny "Swift" Garcia (27-0, 16) defends his WBA "super" and WBC titles against the tough but limited Mauricio Herrera (20-3, 7) in Puerto Rico. In terms of boxing skills this shouldn't be a contest with Garcia being the much better fighter, however Herrera has got the toughness to give good fighters headaches and does hold a very notable victories over Ruslan Provodnikov and Ji-Hoon Kim. We have to strongly favour Garcia though we do expect the bout to be highly entertaining. Another bout on the same card is, arguably, the biggest all-American Heavyweight bout in a generation as Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30) puts his perfect record on the line against Malik Scott (36-1-1, 13). Wilder goes in as a notable favourite though this is a big step up for the unbeaten man and we're expecting to see him tested properly for the first time. Just a shame it's taken him almost 6 years to move up to this level. The card also features several other interesting contests. One of those is between big punching rivals as Juan Manuel Lopez (33-3, 30) faces Daniel Ponce De Leon (45-5, 35) for the second time. These two men first fought back in 2008 when Lopez announced himself on the world stage with an opening round KO over Ponce De Leon. Since their first fight however Lopez has taken a lot of punishment and Ponce De Leon has a solid chance at revenge. Another bout sees former Middleweight title challenger Daniel Jacobs (26-1, 23), a former Dmitry Pirog foe, fighting against Colombia's Milton Nunez (26-9-1, 24). Whilst Jacobs is best known for his loss to Pirog he has actually beaten some notable opponents, the same however cannot be said about Nunez who has lost to every of note, including Gennady Golovkin. With that in mind we're expecting Jacobs to win by stoppage. One more bout on this card features Lightweight hopeful Jose A Gonzalez (22-1, 17) who famously gave Ricky Burns, the then WBO Lightweight champion, a tough test last year. Gonzalez, fighting against Ramesis Gil (8-8-5, 5), will likely be hoping to get a second world title fight later this year and from what we've seen of him he could well be a nightmare for anyone else at 135lbs. In the US the most notable bout is another Heavyweight contest as Poland's Tomasz Adamek (49-2, 29) meets Ukrainian Vyacheslav Glazkov (16-0-1, 11) in what is a major bout for both. Both still have ambition to be be a Heavyweight world champion though both have seen their stock drop in recent fights and a loss for either man would effectively be the end of their dreams. Major bout and one that could force one of the men to retire. In the UK we have 2 bouts of note. The key one sees perennial Welterweight contender Kell Brook (31-0, 21) attempt to stay busy as he fights Alvaro Robles (17-2, 15) in what should be Brook's final bout before a world title contest. Then again every bout seems to be Brook's final bout before a world title fight. The other bout of note in the UK sees former 2-time Lightweight title challenger Kevin Mitchell (36-2, 26) fighting against Mikheil Avakyan (21-11-4, 8). Whilst this is a "gimme" for Mitchell the expectation is that a victory here will see him moved on to a world title fight with IBF champion Miguel Vazquez later this year. A loss here though and that'll be the end for the highly touted Mitchell. (Banner courtesy of http://www.goldenboypromotions.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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