This weekend is certainly not a busy one, but there some real highlights taking place through out Saturday.
For many hardcore fans the stand out fight comes from Sonora where WBA “interim” Super Flyweight champion David Sanchez (28-2-2, 22) defends his title against the always fun to watch Luis Concepcion (32-4, 23). Both men have the ability to put on thrillers so we're hoping that this one lives up to the expectation and delivers and all out war. The winner will be the top contender for the upcoming “regular” title fight between Kohei Kono and Koki Kameda, who fight next month in the US. Staying in Mexico there is brilliant female world title bout between the fantastic Arely Mucino (21-2-2, 10) and the equally brilliant Jessica Chavez (23-4-3, 4). On paper this is brilliantly matched, especially give their 2013 split decision draw, and we're expecting a lot of high paced action between these two. Coming in Mucino is the WBC female Flyweight champion and will be defending her title for the first time since claiming it from Shindo Go earlier this year. South African boxing certainly isn't thriving but with Rodney Berman they do have a promoter willing to really invest in their fighters and the national scene. Today Berman puts his Minimumweight world champion Hekkie Budler (28-1, 9) up against fellow South African Simphiwe Khonco (15-4, 7) in a WBA title defense for the “Hexecutioner”. On paper it looks like a mismatch but Khonco is better than his record suggests, and has won his last 9, whilst Budler may not quite be as good as the numbers suggest. Hopefully the winner of this will agree to a unification bout with one of the other champions, such as Kosei Tanaka or Wanheng Menayothin, or face WBA #1 ranked contender Knockout CP Freshmart. In England we get an excellent Super Featherweight bout as local favourite Stephen Smith (22-1, 12) faces Italian visitor Devis Boschiero (37-3-1, 19). Smith, the younger brother of 2-time world title challenger Paul Smith, is hoping to get a world title fight if he wins here and although he's a big betting favourite there are a number of fans picking the visitor. As for Boschiero the under-rated visitor has challenged for a world title, losing a very close one to Takahiro Ao, and lost twice in very close bouts to European champion Romain Jacob. Potentially this is the fight of the night and the winner is expected to face IBF king pin Jose Pedraza in 2016
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November 22nd-Cleverly Vs Bellew II, McDonnell defends Bantamweight title and a huge female clash!11/20/2014 This coming weekend is a huge one with major fights taking place one after another, after another, after another. It's great to see so many good fights in such a short span of time and even better than a bunch of them feature Asian fighters. Outside of the Asian fighters there are still a lot of great fighters out there. One of the big headline bouts of the weekend comes from the UK in a bout that is being advertised as a grudge bout with real needle. That contest will see former WBO Light Heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (28-1, 14) battle against former 2-time world title challenger Tony Bellew (22-2-1, 14). These two have fought before with Cleverly winning a narrow decision over Bellew in what was one of the best British fights of 2011 sadly however both men have fallen from what they were back then and both have moved from Light Heavyweight to Cruiserweight following stoppage losses. The winner here will likely be moved towards a Cruiserweight title fight however the loser is likely to find themselves being questioned on their future. Another man hoping a win will move him onto a world title bout on this show is Olympic champion James DeGale (19-1, 13) who will be fighting former world title contender Marco Antonio Periban (20-2-1, 13). It's though that if DeGale wins he will get a world title fight in 2015 with a British super fight against Carl Froch being mooted by some whilst a win for Periban will put him back in the mix for a world shot. DeGale isn't the only Olympic champion fighting on this card as Anthony Joshua (9-0, 9) battles veteran Michael Sprott (42-22, 17) in a WBC International Heavyweight title fight. Joshua is very heavily hyped by the British fans and press though we're still awaiting to see him step up, something he's not doing here against a man who really is shot. Sprott at his best would have been a good test for Joshua but Sprott's a shell of the man he once was. One man who is taking a step up on this show is the promising Callum Smith (14-0, 11), a man we feel may be the best prospect in the UK. Smith will be up against former world title contender Nikola Sjekloca (28-2, 8) and whilst this is the biggest test so far for Smith it's also a test he should come out on top in given that Sjekloca is better known for his toughness than anything else. This will be Smith's third defense of the WBC International Super Middleweight title. Another Super Middleweight bout will see WBC silver champion George Groves (20-2, 15) battle against the horrifically over-matched Denis Douglin (17-3, 10) in a bout that is unlikely to go more than 3 or 4 rounds. In a world title bout fans will get the chance to see In a world title bout fans will see the talented Jamie McDonnell (24-2-1, 11) defending the WBA Bantamweight title against Javier Nicholas Chacon (20-2, 5). Chacon is a late replacement after Walberto Ramos was unable to take part in the fight and we suspect Chacon will be no match at all for the British fighter who is said to have lined up a unification bout with Tomoki Kameda for next year. It's a real shame that McDonnell is making the first defense of his title against such a poor foe given the fact there is some quality in the division though it does appear that Eddie Hearn is playing safe with McDonnell courtesy of the Kameda bout. This bout is one of two world title bouts on the show alongside the WBA Super Bantamweight title bout between Scott Quigg and Hidenori Otake. In Mexico we have a great female bout as WBC female Light Flyweight champion Ibeth Zamora Silva (20-5, 8) and former world champion Jessica Chavez (21-3-3, 4). This is a genuinely great female bout and one that fans should be very excited about, though we know that female boxing is ignored by many fans who miss out on great contests like this as a result. (Image courtesy of Sky Sports) Acuna and Chavez both pick up wins; Mike Jones shocked! Antonio DeMarco dropped but comes out on top8/25/2014 This past Saturday was one of the weakest in boxing this year. It really was lacking in terms of fighters and excitement. Thankfully however 4 world class ladies gave us two memorable bouts whilst some men gave us some interest action.
For us the most important bout of the day was in Argentina where female veteran and female boxing legend Marcela Eliana Acuna (42-6-1, 18) successfully defended her WBO female Super Bantamweight title with a 10 round decision over WBA female Featherweight champion Edith Soledad Matthysse (12-7-1, 1). The bout was the second meeting between the two world class females though the skill level between the two was clear with Acuna taking a unanimous decision against the cruder Matthysse who never stopped trying even when the fight looked to be a lost cause. We do tend to view Acuna as one of the greatest females to lace up the gloves and although she is getting to the end of her career we cannot ignore the fact she is still one of the most talented out there. The other two females in action were the amazing Jessica Chavez (21-3-3, 4) and the little ball of aggression Melissa McMorrow (9-5-3, 1). Like Acuna we saw Chavez using her skills to over-come an aggressive and highly determined foe via a unanimous decision. Although Chavez won on all 3 cards she'll be well aware that she was in a fight. Sadly for McMorrow this further muddies her record though she is one of those fighters with a very misleading record and although she's suffered back-to-back losses she is very difficult to beat. As for men the big story was in the US as former world title contender Mike Jones (26-2, 19) suffered a huge shock loss to Jaime Herrera (12-2, 7). Jones, a former sparring partner of Ryota Murata, was fighting for the first time in over 2 years and was supposed to blitz Herrera. Instead what we saw was Herrera scoring his 5th straight win. Herrera was in serious trouble in rounds 2 and 3 though gritted his teeth and fought back valiantly eventually forcing Jones to quit in his corner. With this loss we imagine Jones's career really is close to over barring something major changing in his. In Mexico former world champion Antonio DeMarco (31-3-1, 23) was given a real scare in the opening round against the tough and under-rated Lanardo Tyner (31-11-2, 20). DeMarco was dropped in the opening round though fought back well to win every other round and take a clear decision over the talented though frustrating Tyner. It's a shame Tyner has never managed to make the most of his skills though he is one of the US's best journeymen right now and a man we do enjoy seeing, just a shame he doesn't seem capable of picking up the wins any more. This coming Saturday is certainly not a great one for fight fans looking for amazing fights in the west though we do have 2 very under-rated contests in female boxing. We know many fans don't care about female boxing but we can safely say that those fans are genuinely missing out on some great fights and fighters, just like the fans who refuse to watch the lower divisions.
The better of the fights, at least in our eyes, takes place in Mexico as popular Mexican Jessica Chavez (20-3-3, 4) battles the always fun to watch American Melissa McMorrow (9-4-3, 1) in a bout for the WBC International female Flyweight title. If you've never seen these two in action you've really missed out. McMorrow is an all action girl who throws relentlessly and enjoys a "good old fashioned tear up". Not only does McMorrow enjoy all action fights but she's happy to fight the best anywhere on the planet and has travelled to Mexico and Germany in the past for big fights, a real credit to the sport. Chavez is the more talented fighter and has fought a who's who of female boxing including Tenkai Tsunami, Irma Sanchez, Arely Mucino and Yesica Yolanda Bopp. Although neither McMorrow nor Chavez are big punchers they both extremely hard in the ring and put on amazing fights with a lot of punchers and a lot of action. We expect to see that again this weekend in what could well be the fight of the weekend. The other female bout sees Argentinian legend Marcela Eliana Acuna (41-6-1, 18) defending her WBO female Super Bantamweight title against fellow Argentinian Edith Soledad Matthysse (12-6-1, 1). Matthysse is the sister of Lucas and although she lacks her brothers concussive power she does boast a really impressive work rate and desire to win, both traits that we expect to see here as she attempts to avenge a previous loss to Acuna. The champion however is one of the true greats of female boxing and combines skill, speed and power very well and will clearly be favoured over Matthysse. Strangely if Acuna loses we imagine that she will wave good bye to boxing due to the fact she is fast approaching 40, it would be a shame to lose to such a great though we do expect her to pass the torch sooner rather than later. Saying that it's unlikely that the torch will be passed to Matthysse here. |
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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