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This coming Saturday is set to be a hectic day for American boxing fans who get treat to 3 separate shows, split across 3 channels.
For us the most exciting bout of the day, at least on paper, comes from Canada and is aired on USA Fox where we get Puncher Vs Boxer for the IBF Middleweight title. The puncher, is Canada's very own David Lemieux (33-2, 31), who is a very popular and heavy handed puncher with a pretty boy face. The boxer is former WBO champion Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (31-1, 18), a Cameroonian based in France, a very talented boxer-mover with shaky chin. This bout really does have the hall marks of a must watch and looks like to be thoroughly entertaining. The chief under-card bout here is also an interesting looking contest, as former world title challengers collide. The bout will see the exciting Dierry Jean (28-1, 20) take on the under-rated Jerry Belmontes (19-6, 5) in what is really a must win bout for both men if they are looking to get themselves another world title fight in the foreseeable future. In Oakland we'll see a show featuring one of the sports most talented, but least exciting, fighters. The bout in question is the return to the ring of unbeaten American Andre Ward (27-0, 14) who takes on former world title challenger Paul Smith (35-5, 20) of the UK. It's hard to be too excited about this one considering Smith has lost his last two bouts to Arthur Abraham and Ward has been in active for more than 18 months, in fact Ward has only fought twice in the last 3 years. Despite that it's good to see Ward back in action and the sport has missed someone of his his ability. Notably this show will be aired on BET in America. The third show is in Las Vegas with a bout that has really excited some American fans. The contest that stands out here will see former world champions colliding as the enigmatic Adrien Broner (30-1, 22) takes on the strong and rough Shawn Porter (25-1, 16) in a catchweight bout. The catchweight, and subsequent rehydration limit, are expected to favour Broner, however the 3-weight former world champion hasn't looked great recently and Porter will know that his career really depends on a good performance here. We suspect Broner will win but we don't expect this to be a thriller as many fans seem to be hoping for.
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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.  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) |
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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