The boxing world turns it's attention to London this weekend as Eddie Hearn puts on, arguably, the best British card in a decade. Whilst we are often critical of Hearn, who has put on some awful match ups this year, this card really is an intriguing one. The supposed main event is probably the weak link of the card as IBF Welterweight champion Kell Brook (34-0, 23) defends his title against domestic foe Frankie Gavin (22-1, 13). Gavin, once an amateur standout, has failed to shine as a professional and it it would be a monster upset for the Brummie to over-come his more esteemed countryman. A much more interesting world title fight comes at Featherweight where unbeaten IBF champion Evgeny Gradovich (19-0-1, 9) takes on highly touted Welshman Lee Selby (20-1, 8). Many of our UK friends have suggested this is going to be an easy nights work for “The Welsh Mayweather” though Gradovich is never going to be an easy night for anyone and we suspect this could be very competitive. Alternatively our friends from the UK may be right and this could be Selby's coming out party. For Japanese fans this bout is notable as Hisashi Amagasa has stated he wants to face the winner. An even better looking world title bout will see Japanese based Venezuelan Jorge Linares (38-3, 25) defending his WBC Lightweight title against Englishman Kevin Mitchell (39-2, 29). This has all the ingredients of a enthralling bout. Both guys are very highly skilled though both are extremely flawed and all 5 of their combined losses have come by stoppage. This could be a case of who unfolds first as opposed to who is actually the better boxer. Also on this card is British Olympic gold medal winner Anthony Joshua (12-0, 12) who battles the always frustrating Kevin Johnson (29-6-1, 14). The talk going in to this is whether or not Joshua will become the first fighter to stop Johnson. If Joshua can't take Johnson out then we fear for the fans who will have to put up with Johnson show casing his survival skills more than his fighting skills. On paper it's a huge step up in class for Joshua though in reality Johnson scarcely comes to win fights any more.
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The final Saturday of March gives us a number of really good bouts, both in Asia with an ALA show and around the globe with interesting bouts in Mexico, the US and the UK. In the UK, where we get the first of the big international bouts, fans will get the chance to see the unbeaten Kell Brook (32-0, 22) defend his IBF Welterweight title for the first time and make his first return to the ring following his stabbing last year. The talented Brit, dubbed “The Special One”, will taking on mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan (34-2, 18). The match up is a mandatory but still a good test for Brook, especially given the stabbing incident. If Brook is the same fighter he was when he won the title then he wins this easily, if he's not the same movement then he may well be dragged into a very tough contest. Another bout on this card worth noting is a Middleweight bout between the promising Adam Etches (18-0, 15) and the always testing Sergey Khomitsky (29-11-3, 12). Etches is a fantastic prospect but this is his first real gut check and it's a fantastic time to find out if he's as good as hopes. An interesting Flyweight bout will see the touted Khalid “Kal” Yafai (13-0, 9) put his unbeaten record on the line against Cristofer Rosales (10-1, 7). Yafai is dropping to Flyweight for the first time and although talented he looks like he'll need a lot more seasoning before being ready for a title fight in boxing's toughest division. A bout with relevance to Asian fight fans comes at Super Featherweight where the world ranked Stephen Smith (20-1, 12) battles Jacek Wylezol (11-8, 6) in a stay busy fight. We want to see Smith testing himself against the best in the world, such as Takashi Miura or Takashi Uchiyama, but bouts like this really do leave us wondering what Smith and his team are playing at. In the US fans will see a number of notable bouts, the most notable of which is a WBC Featherweight title bout which sees monster puncher Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48) defending his title against once touted American Gary Russell Jr (25-1, 14). Russell Jr is getting his second shot at a world title, after being beaten by Vasyl Lomachenko last year, whilst Gonzalez looks to record the 3rd defence of the title he won back in 2013 with an upset win against the then unbeaten Abner Mares. Really interesting fight and one we've seen opinions being split on. In an excellent co-feature bout fans will see the talented Jermell Charlo (25-0, 11) battle against Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21). The fighters involved in this bout should have styles that make for an interesting fight, though we're unsure how exciting it will end up being. Both are talented fighters and both are in the hunt for a Light Middleweight title fight later in the year so both will fight for the win. Jermell's twin brother Jermall Charlo (26-0, 16) will also be inaction on this card as he takes on Michael Finney (12-2-1, 10), who has gone 0-2-1 in his last 3 bouts. Although Finney is a good test for prospects we do think Charlo, both of them in fact, have progressed to contender status and this should be a mismatch in the ring. In Mexico the bout of interesting will see the heavy handed Miguel Berchelt (24-1, 21) fighting against Rene Gonzalez (31-7-1, 23) in a potentially explosive clash between two men who can be hurt and can do the hurting. Neither man afford a loss here and both know that they will have to perform at their best is they are to remain relevant in the under-rated Super Featherweight division. The division looks set to change a lot in the coming 12 months and the loser here will unfortunately miss out on any coming opportunities. The winner however will find themselves put forward as a serious contender later in the year. (Image courtey of www.notifght.com) Boxing is, at it's heart, a fighting sport. Fights of course aren't always pretty and not very fight is a fun to watch war like the recent Minimumweight unification bout between Katsunari Takayama and Francisco Rodriguez Jr. This weekend we saw the ugly side of boxing with 2 very ugly world title fights that saw the title change hands though left no one wanting to see the former champion given a chance at redemption. The first of the ugly fights was fought at Super Middleweight and saw the teak tough Sakio Bika (32-6-3, 21) lose the WBC Super Middleweight title to the unbeaten Anthony Dirrell (27-0-1, 22). The fight was a second meeting between the two men and no one wants to see fight #3 after this was filled with hugging, holding, head butts and spoiling. The clean shots, from both men, were at a premium and it was the perfect example of the issue that arise from having too many world titles out there. Neither Bika nor Dirrell are in amongst the top 3 or 4 fighters in their division and neither really should be able to call themselves a world champion. The second of the ugly fights was down at Welterweight as Kell Brook (33-0, 22) claimed the IBF title with a messy majority decision over Shawn Porter (24-1-1, 15). The bout was plagued by holding, mauling, head clashes and rabbit punches with the styles failing to gel at any point. At the end of the bout Brook did deserve the win and now deserves big money fights, including a much talked about British super fight with Amir Khan, but the fight really wasn't much better than the Bika/Dirrell contest. We know British fans will be thinking it was a great contest, and in fact Sky commentator Nick Halling said "It's one you'd want to see again", we need to be honest and say no one wants to see it again. Had it not been for the fact that Brook finally got his chance we doubt anyone would have a nice word to say about the bout. It really was a stinker. Thankfully not all the big fights were hard to watch and in fact prior to the bouts we've already mentioned there was 2 great contests, one on the same card and one in Germany. The one on the same card saw WBC Lightweight champion Omar Figueroa (24-0-1, 18) prove his championship heart as he stopped Daniel Estrada (32-3-1, 24) in a thoroughly entertaining contest that had it all. At the start the bout was a war with both men trading shots at will. After a few rounds Estrada began to back off and we got a bit of boxing from both. Then, in round 8, we got real drama as Figueroa suffered an horrendous cut over his left eye. The cut looked like it could possibly have been a fight ender though thankfully it wasn't, at least not directly. The cut seemed to give Figueroa a sense of urgency in the following round and he went to town on Estrada dropping the Mexican before following up with a vicious assault that forced the referee to end the bout. For many Figueroa is best known for his war with Nihito Arakawa and just like that fight the contest with Estrada again proved what an offensive machine Figueroa is though it's also likely to be his final bout at Lightweight with the fighter himself making it clear he struggles to make 135lbs. That leaves a huge opportunity for Teiken promoted Jorge Linares who will now be the top contender. We wouldn't like Linares's chances against Figueroa but against another top contender, for example Hank Lundy (WBC #3) or Javier Prieto (WBC #5), we'd imagine Linares would easily become a 3-weight world champion. The other memorable bout of the night came, as mentioned above, in Germany as Yoan Pablo Hernandez (29-1, 14) narrowly held on to his IBF Cruiserweight title with a split decision victory over Firat Arslan (34-8-2, 21). The bout was genuinely a thriller with Arslan starting slowing, giving away the first 2 or 3 rounds, then coming on strong in the middle rounds before Hernandez fought back late on. It was one where the close rounds really did decide the winner and 116-112 either way wouldn't have garnered any sort of complaints. A genuinely well matched bout that had styles that gelled and again proved how thrilling the often over-looked Cruiserweight division is. We'll be honest we wouldn't mind a rematch of this one. Back in the US, though not at the world level, fans also saw unbeaten Heavyweight Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32) record his 32nd stoppage with a 4th round retirement of the popular but limited Jason Gavern (25-17-4, 11). Gavern had taken the fight on late notice and it showed as he came in at one of the highest weights of his career and looked exhausted after just 4 rounds. We know some American fans are really high on Wilder but with fights like this he is leaving himself very open to criticism. We know it was a stay busy fight and we know he's getting close to a world title fight but those are no excuses to continually fight out of shape journeymen. At the end of the day we want to be fans of boxing around the world but we can't pretend we enjoyed much of the action tonight. There was highlights but there was also a lot of unmemorable rounds which appeared to feature more holding and mauling than punching. A bit of shame really considering that the bouts looked very good on paper. (Image courtesy of http://www.proboxing-fans.com) If you've been a boxing fan in Britain over the last 4 or 5 years you will have been told, repeatedly, about Kell Brook (32-0, 22), a man many believed would rise quickly to the top and become the next great British fighter. Those 4 or 5 years have sadly been wasted with little substance to actually go with the promise that "Special K" has. In fact if anything numerous British fighters have managed to climb over Brook who went from the hottest thing in British boxing to being seen as a man unwilling to take the step up. It was partially unfair considering that Kell and his supposed opponent both had issues but that sort of reputation does stick. This coming Saturday sees the Sheffield man finally getting his long awaited shot at a title though, unfortunately for him, he will be facing the fast improving Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15). Porter, the current IBF Welterweight champion, has been sensational recently and did real jobs on Devon Alexander and Paul Malignaggi who were both frozen by Porter's aggressiveness, strength and power. For many the Porter/Brook fight the fight of the weekend, for others it's a chance to see one man exposed as a fraud. We tend to feel that Porter will over-come Brook though the fight should certainly be exciting for as long as it lasts. On the same card we will have 2 other world title fights. One of those will be a rematch as WBC Super Middleweight champion Sakio Bika (32-5-3, 21) tries to settle the score with the talented but frustrating Anthony Dirrell (26-0-1, 22). The two men fought last December and Dirrell, at times, looked like he was going to be the first man to stop Bika. Unfortunately at other times he looked lazy and like he couldn't be bothered. That laziness was most clearly seen in the final round when he ran away from Bika and effectively cost himself the title with the bout resulting in a split decision draw. The other world title fight on the same card will see WBC Lightweight champion Omar Figueroa (23-0-1, 17), a fan friendly puncher best known for his war with Nihito Arakawa, battling against tough Mexican Daniel Estrada (32-2-1, 24), also a fighter well known for fighting Arakawa. Figueroa looked very fortunate to retain his title last time out, taking a much debated decision over Jerry Belmontes, though should find himself in with a more willing dance partner here and we should end up with a very fun brawl between two free swinging fighters with similar mentalities. This could be very fun. The only other world title bout takes place in Germany as IBF Cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez (28-1, 14) attempts to defend his belt against veteran Firat Arslan (34-7-2, 21). This will be the 4th defence from Hernandez who, despite his record, blows hot and cold and could come undone against Arslan. On the undercard of this Germany show will be the professional debut of the much touted Stefan Haertel (0-0) who will be taking on the experienced but very limited Olegs Fedotovs (18-14, 12). For Japanese fans Haertel maybe memorable as one of Ryota Murata's foes at the 2011 World Amateur Championships. (Image courtesy of www.proboxing-fans.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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