There isn't a lot of international action this weekend but there is a really mouth watering all Mexican bout for the WBC Light Flyweight title. Not only is a brilliant match up on paper but it's one that has a direct bearing on the way the division looks, and it's a division that is packed with Asian contenders. The match up in questions sees defending champion Pedro Guevara (25-1-1, 17) battling against the very highly regarded Ganigan Lopez (25-5, 16) in a really mouth watering match up. The champion, defending his belt for the second time, won the title last December when he stopped Japan's popular Akira Yaegashi. In that bout he showed all the traits a fighter could wish to have and will know that another win here would lead to some serious talk about a unification bout. As for the challenger he's an exciting and capable fighter who was won 5 in a row following a surprising 2nd round TKO loss to Denver Cuello just over 3 years ago. Whilst the action is limited it's certainly worth tuning in for if you get the chance as this could be very special.
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We know many boxing fans focus on what happens in the US and Europe whilst ignoring many bouts outside of those two areas. That was part of the reason that we began this site last year and we hope that we've managed to bring some attention to new fighters, fighters like Kosei Tanaka and Sho Ishida, who are both very under-the-radar of the typical western boxing fan. This coming weekend is one where many western fans will end up missing out on some fantastic fights as Mexico really takes a hold of boxing for a night of great action and big fights. For us the most exciting bout comes in Sinaloa as WBC Super Flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (30-0, 24) defends his belt against compatriot Jose Salgado (34-2-1, 27). This will be Cuadras's first defence since winning the belt with a technical decision against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and it the potential to be a very interesting bout between two heavy Mexican handed fighters. This really could end up a slug fest if the machismo of both men drags them into a war. On the same card in Sinaloa fans will also see a female world title bout between WBA female Bantamweight champion Irma Garcia (10-1-1, 2) and Simone Da Silva Duarte (14-6, 6). It's hard to see anything but a win for the champion but she does tend to be in action-packed fights courtesy of her style which is all about activity. A third interesting bout on the same show will see highly ranked Light Flyweight Pedro Guevara (22-1-1, 14) fight in a stay busy contest with Alejandro Morales (14-4, 7). Guevara is likely to be in a world title fight at 108lbs next year so should be viewed as a possible opponent for someone like Akira Yaegashi, Ryo Miyazaki or Jonathan Taconing and we'll be honest any of those men against Guevara would be great to see. Another notable Light Flyweight bout takes place on a second show in Mexico as the heavy handed Javier Mendoza (21-2-1, 18) battled against Ramon Garcia Hirales (20-4-1, 12) in a contest for the currently vacant IBF Light Flyweight title. This is a genuinely interesting bout and against should be viewed as a bout that could see the winner matched with a top Asian fighter in 2015. For those who remembered correctly this title was stripped from Johnriel Casimero earlier this year after he failed to make weight for his bout with Mauricio Fuentes. The Mendoza/Garcia Hirales bout comes on the same card as Terdsak Kokietgym's world title bout against Orlando Salido. Over in Europe we do have two notable bouts. The high profile of those is in the UK as former world title challenger George Groves (19-2, 15) attempts to get his career back on track after back-to-back stoppage defeats to compatriot Carl Froch. Groves will be fighting European Super Middleweight champion Christopher Rebrasse (22-2-3, 6) in what is really a make-or-break fight for both men. On paper Groves should be the big favourite though his clean KO loss to Froch last time out may have a lasting effect and Rebrasse will know he's being over-looked by many. The only other European bout of note takes place in Finland of all places. This bout will see tricky Cuban Richar Abril (18-3-1, 8) defending his WBA Lightweight title against the unbeaten Edis Tatli (23-0, 7). For Abril this will be his first bout in 19 months, following a decision over Sharif Bogere whilst for Tatli this will be his first world title bout and in fact his first major bout. Abril is a tricky, frustrating but highly skilled fighter who can make anyone look bad, including himself. As for Tatli he's looked decent in recent bouts though hasn't fought anyone near this level before. It's possible that the winner of this bout may face Takahiro Ao next year and in fact Abril was set to fight Jorge Linares last year so this bout does have some significance to Asian boxing fans. (Image courtesy of notifight.com) This past weekend wasn't just a busy one in Asia but also a very, very busy on around the boxing world with numerous fights taking place around the planet. For many fans the biggest fight, outside of Macau, took place in the UK as the much talked about rematch between unified Super Middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24) and compatriot George Groves (19-2, 15) took place. The men, who first fought last November, seemed tentative of the other's power early on but the first slowly came alive in the middle rounds, that was until Froch killed the bout with a vicious and destructive right hand that sent Groves down hard. The challenger, who had talked the talk, failed to recover though in fairness the shot would have stopped anyone in the division. A second world title fight on this show saw Jamie McDonnell (24-2-1, 11) over-come Thailand's Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat (52-3, 34) in what was one of the most action packed fights of the evening. On the same card in the UK fans also got to see several other notable bouts. These included another Super Middleweight bout which saw Olympic champion James DeGale (19-1, 13) stopping American Brandon Gonzales (18-1-1, 10) in what was sold an IBF Super Middleweight title eliminator. In theory this makes DeGale the mandatory challenger to Carl Froch though we've got doubts that that bout will be taking place any time soon, if ever. Another Olympic champion, Anthony Joshua (6-0, 6), was als on the show as he stopped Matt Legg (7-3, 2) inside a round. Also on this British card was a was a victory for former 2-time world title challenger Kevin Mitchell (37-3, 28) who scored a come-from-behind stoppage of of the previously unbeaten Ghislain Maduma (16-1, 10). Mitchell, who was down going into round 11, managed to twice drop Maduma who was out on his feet when the stoppage came. It wasn't just the UK that featured a notable rematch as Germany also featured one. This time it was between Felix Sturm (39-4-2-1, 18) and Sam Soliman (43-11-0-1, 18). This bout, fought for the IBF Middleweight title, saw Sturm thoroughly out worked as Soliman became a world champion for the first time in his long and often over-looked career. For Sturm this was a disappointing way to lose his title considering the blistering performance that saw him winning the belt against Darren Barker, looking back however that victory appears to have been a misleading one with Barker losing due to a recurring injury that has now cost him his career. On the same card in Germany local fans got to see the very talented Susi Kentikian (33-2-0-1 17) defend her WBA female Flyweight title with a stunning performance against South Korean Dan-Bi Kim (9-3-1, 2). On the undercard of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai's (27-4-1, 25) disappointing contest with Mexico's Carlos Cuadras (30-0, 24) there other bouts of note. One of these saw WBC #1 contender at Light Flyweight Pedro Guevara (22-1-1, 14) take a decision over Armando Torres (19-12, 13). Guevara, the top contender for Naoya Inoue, successfully defended his Silver title with this victory and will be hoping to challenge Inoue later this year or, if Inoue remains at 108lbs, early next year. Anthony Joshua and James DeGale weren't the only Olympic champions in action and in Ukraine we had another, in fact we had arguably the pick of the bunch in the form of Oleksandr Usyk (4-0, 4) who made very light work of Argentinian veteran Cesar David Crenz (21-9, 13). Usyk, who looks like a murderous fighter in the ring, spent a round quietly scouting Crenz before slowly going through the gears and stopping Crenz with a brutal body shot. We also had bouts in the US. Amongst those was a victory for the talented, and quickly maturing Henry Lundy (25-3-1, 12) who scored a stay busy victory over the over-matched Gerardo Cuevas (17-12, 15). The bout, which ended via a 2nd round KO for Lundy, was a pointless bout in terms of competitive nature but we can't help but think that keeping Lundy active is a great by his team who probably know that he's a fighter who can be frustrating if he gets bored either in, or out, of the ring. Also in the US there was a victory for two possible challengers for Asian title holders. One of those men was Javier Fortuna (25-0-1-1, 18) who out pointed Juan Antonio Rodriguez (25-5, 23) and could well be moved into position for a bout with Takashi Uchiyama later this year or Takashi Miura. The other man was Sergio Mora (26-3-2, 9) who scored a rare stoppage as he defeated Samuel Rogers (14-2, 8) and moved one step closer to a possible encounter with Gennady Golovkin. (Image courtesy of http://www.bestboxingblog.com) This coming weekend might be a huge one for Asian boxing but it's not just boxers from Asia in major fights and we actually get other notable fights in both the UK and in Germany as the sport really goes into an over-drive for a weekend. The biggest fight, for most, is in the UK as unified Super Middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23) defends his IBF and WBA titles against compatriot George Groves (19-1, 15). The bout has been hyped to the hilt in the UK courtesy of Sky Sports and we're expecting it to be a great bout, just like their first contest was last November before Groves was controversially stopped by referee Howard Foster. Unfortunately whilst the bout is likely to be great we've got to admit the build up has made us dislike both fighters and we sort of want both men to knock the other out. On the same card in the UK we get former 2-time world title challenger Kevin Mitchell (37-2, 27) fighting against the unbeaten Ghislain Maduma (16-0, 10) in an IBF Lightweight title eliminator. This looks like a great fight and should tell us a lot about both men. Another, equally as interesting bout on this card, sees Olympic gold medal winner James DeGale (18-1, 12) fighting against the unbeaten Brandon Gonzales (18-0-1, 10) in what looks to be effectively a Super Middleweight title eliminator to face the winner of the Froch/Groves bout. The London card not only has the 3 bouts mentioned above but also hosts the WBA Bantamweight title fight between Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat and Jamie McDonnell as well as the the next bout for Olympic Super Havyweight gold medal winner Anthony Joshua (5-0, 5) as he takes on the massive under-dog Matt Legg (7-2, 3) in what is widely seen as a total mismatch. Talking about Olympic champions there is actually a third in action as Ukrainian sensation Oleksandr Usyk (3-0, 3) takes a huge step up to battle against experienced Argentinian Cesar David Crenz (21-8, 13) in what should be a good test to see if Usyk is as good as hyped. If Usyk blasts through Crenz then there will be little need to hold him at this level any longer and he might as well be looking at world ranked opponents later this year. The Froch/Groves bout isn't the only rematch as IBF Middleweight champion Felix Sturm (29-3-2-1, 18) faces Australian Sam Soliman (44-11-0-1, 18) for the second time. In their first meeting the tricky Soliman took a unanimous decision before testing positive for a stimulant. At the time it seemed that that was to be the end of Sturm's often forgettable career but instead it ignited a new found fire in the German who has stopped his last 2 opponents including Britain's Darren Barker. The once technically skilled but safety concious Sturm appears to have a new found viciousness to him and this should see him past Soliman here. In Mexico, where our interest lies with the thrilling bout between Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras, Mexican fans will get the chance to see a brilliant contest between the very highly regarded Light Flyweight Pedro Guevara (21-1-1, 14) and the decent, though not great, Armando Torres (19-11, 13). This bout, for the WBC Silver title, will see Guevara hoping to maintain his status as one of the top challengers for Naoya Inoue's title and a bout between Inoue and Guevara in September would be the perfect way for the "Monster" to wave good buy to the Light Flyweight division. Staying in Mexico fans will also get to see Gamaliel Diaz (37-11-2, 17) in action as he takes on Hugo Morales (11-10, 2). Diaz, best known by Japanese fans who remember hi beating Takahiro Ao and being stopped by Takashi Miura, will be expecting an easy win here though he does come in to the bout after back-to-back losses following his victory over Ao more than 18 months ago. In the US fans get a small but interesting show which features an important bout in the Super Featherweight division as Javier Fortuna (24-0-1-1, 18) takes on Juan Antonio Rodriguez (26-4, 23). Fortuna is said to be in line for a possible bout with Takashi Uchiyama though will likely need to get past Bryan Vasquez as well ad Rodriguez to get that fight. On the same US card there is a very interesting Middleweight bout which sees former world title holder Sergio Mora (25-3-2, 8) taking on the once beaten Samuel Rogers (14-1, 8). Mora has spoken about a possible clash with Gennady Golovkin and whilst it's not an awful bout it will need Mora to keep winning and trying to make himself more attractive to TV executives. Unfortunately for Mora his style is very much an off putting one and he will have to find something new to make himself more fun to watch. (Image courtesy of Sky Sports) |
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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