Fights can be disappointing for a number of reasons. They turn out to be a horrible clash of styles, the fighters might not perform on the night or we could see something freakish, for example an accidental clash of heads in the opening minute, destroy a contest. We saw one of those on a special episode of ESPN's Friday Night Fights, held on a Wednesday, as experienced Australian Sam Soliman (44-12-0-1, 18) lost the IBF Middleweight title to former unified world champion Jermain Taylor (33-4-1, 20). In a bout that really wasn't anything to watch back. Early on the bout was a typical Soliman fight. Messy. Scrappy. It was awful, frankly awful. Sadly for Soliman his hopes of retain were ending in round 6 when he suffered a knee injury that effectively left him a sitting duck for Taylor's shots. Fighting on one leg Soliman was dropped numerous times in the second half of the fight as Taylor really couldn't miss him. The knockdowns sealed the bout with no debate about the winner though a lot of conflicting views on both the winner and the loser. The view from ESPN was that Soliman had fought a brave fight one 1-leg and that Taylor was back in the mix as a top Middleweight. The reality however is that Taylor isn't back. He beat a poor champion who was injured to win a title he won't hold for long, in fact we really doubt that he over-comes Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam in a mandatory title fight next year. As for Soliman this loss will likely be his final big bout before he looks for an easy or two to collect some late career pay cheques. Both Soliman and Taylor are a long, long way behind the likes of Gennady Golovkin, in fact going on the fight tonight Golovkin would beat both Taylor and Soliman on the same night. It really was embarrassing to see this as a world title fight. We're sorry but whilst both men deserve a little bit of credit, neither should have been able to end the day as a world champion. (Image courtesy of http://roundbyroundboxing.com)
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The Middleweight division at the moment is, quite frankly, a bit of a mess. In our eyes the clear kingpin of the division is Gennady Golovkin who has run roughshed over the supposed contenders of the division like Daniel Geale and Matthew Macklin. Technically the "linear" champion is Miguel Cotto, the 4-division champion from Puerto Rico who stopped Sergio Martinez earlier this year. Below Golovkin and Cotto there division is as incoherent as any other in the sport with no clear #3, #4, #5 or #6 . One of the men hoping to make a case for himself as #3 in the division is IBF champion Sam Soliman (44-11-0-1, 18). The Australian veteran finally won a world title earlier this year at the age of 40, when he clearly out worked and out pointed Felix Sturm. The stylistically repulsive Soliman will be making the first defense of his title this coming Wednesday as he takes on former unified champion Jermain Taylor (32-4-1, 20). On paper, and on paper alone, this looks like a good fight against a hard working but limited current champion and a former champion looking to recover past glories. In reality the fight is a farce. Soliman is quite probably a genuine top 10 Middleweight and he won his title the hard way by going to Germany and taking a decision over a then reigning champion. Sadly however what Taylor has done over the last 7 years should have been enough to keep him from any sort of a title fight. Over the last 7 years or so Taylor has gone 5-4, suffering a trio of knockout losses, including a very painful one to Arthur Abraham. He has scored only a single notable win in that time, beating the then ruined Jeff Lacy. It's also pertinent to add that he has just 2 wins in the last 2 years, and the first of those wins is only just inside that 2 year window. In other words, Taylor shouldn't near a world title fight, and recent out of the ring activity has further suggested that he shouldn't even be in a professional ring. We've got to be honest. This is a disgusting match up that the IBF have happily taken a sanctioning fee for and the IBF should be ashamed. Soliman should retain his title here and hopefully send Taylor into retirement, and hopefully not the emergency room. Everyone involved here should be embarrassed. Bouts like this are a disgrace to hard working fighters and contenders who do their all for an opportunity and to see someone like Taylor here is really disgusting, especially given Taylor's recent antics out of the ring which suggest he's not fully in control of his brain like he was just a few years ago. (Image courtesy of http://www.foxsports.com.au) 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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