Weekends in boxing are often strange things. Sometimes, as with last week, they are packed with more fights than we can possibly remember. Other weekends only a few bouts stand out as being genuinely significant. This weekend certainly falls between the two with very little of note on Friday and only one or two really interesting bouts on Saturday. The only world title bout on Friday night takes place in Argentina as WBA Flyweight champion Juan Carlos Reveco (33-1, 18) takes on the exciting Felix Alvarado (18-1, 15). Reveco, who is somewhat known to Asian fans due to his victories over Nethra Sasiprapa and Masayuki Kuroda. Although not one of the elite Flyweights he is a very capable fighter with a nice body attack and he does a lot of things well without being exceptional at many things. As for Alvarado he's well known to Japanese fans for his loss, late last year, to Kazuto Ioka in a bout that was thoroughly compelling viewing. Of the two we tend to feel Reveco is the better all round boxer but Alvarado has the style in which he could make life difficult for the champion in what could be a thrilling contest. As well as the world title bout we do have some very interesting contests, including a Heavyweight bout in France that will see the promising Carlos Takam (29-1-1, 23) taking on former 2-time world title challenger Tony Thompson (39-4, 26). Thompson is going though a bit of an Indian summer in his career with victories over David Price and Odlanier Solis in the last 18 months. As for Takam he proved his skills when he fought Mike Perez last year and was very unfortunate not to come away with a victory. With the merits of both men we cannot disagree with the way the WBC have put their "Silver" title on the line for this bout and we hope it will create a genuine contender for the WBC title. In South Africa we get two IBF international title bouts with some significance. One of those bouts will see former IBF Super Featherweight champion Malcolm Klassen (27-6-2,14) battling against compatriot Jasper Seroka (23-4, 10) whilst the other will see emerging Cruiserweight contender Thabiso Mchunu (16-1, 11) fighting against Brazilian Julio Cesar Dos Santos (26-2, 23). Whilst Klassen has to be favoured over Seroka we think this should be the more competitive bout and with the winner likely to get a fringe world ranking the bout could prove to be significant to a number of Asian fighters in and around the 130lb weight class. As for Mchunu and Dos Santos it's hard to see Dos Sanots winning but he'll likely throw plenty of shots playing into the counter-punching ability of Mchunu who many are tipping as a future world champion in the Crusierweight division. We do like Mchunu a lot and think this really is little more than a showcase bout for him. One bout in the US that we're interested in will be a Middleweight contest between former world amateur champion Ievgen Khytrov (4-0, 4) and Chris Chatman (12-3-1, 5). We were big fans of Khytrov when he was as wrecking ball amateur and he looked sensational when he beat Ryota Murata in the 2011 World Amateur Championships but we feel he has regressed since turning professional. This bout however is his first real test as a pro and should tell us a lot about where he's going in the future. He should beat Chatman but it's a very credible step up in class. (Image courtesy of boxrec.com)
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A busy Friday night saw a lot of action through out the US with a number of those bouts having a relevancy to us Asian fans. Firstly there was a number of former foes of our fighters. These included Light Heavyweight Cornelius White (21-3, 16) who was dispatched inside a round by the unbeaten Thomas Williams (16-0, 11). The bout between White and Williams saw 3 knockdowns with White being stopped in one of the most dramatic rounds of the year. Unfortunately this bout does make Sergey Kovalev's victory over White look less impressive though we'd argue that really Kovalev did the long last damage to White. Things were much better for former Gennady Golovkin foe Curtis Stevens (26-4, 19) who scored an opening round victory himself. Stevens needed just 46 seconds to see off Poland's Patrick Majewski (21-3, 13), who was down 3 times and seemed to look more like a yo-yo than a boxer. Things were also good, at least in terms of the result, for Rico Ramos (23-3, 12). Ramos, who is best known for knocking out Akifumi Shimoda, dropped Jonathan Arrellano (14-3-2, 3) 3-times though failed to do much to make fans want to see him. Although talented and powerful with his left hook Ramos did too much of nothing and once again left fans wondering what is mentally wrong with him. In bouts less directly relevant to our fighters we saw a few interesting results. In the Light Middleweight division Cornelius "K9" Bundrage (33-5-0-1, 19) managed to secure himself the #1 slot with the IBF courtesy of a victory over Joey Hernandez (23-2-1, 13) who showed up his clear limitations. Light Welterweight sensation Antonio Orozco (19-0, 15) managed to quickly see off the horribly over-matched Miguel Angel Huerta (27-12-1, 18) and Cruiserweight hopeful Thabiso Mchunu (15-1, 10) managed to over-come Nigerian puncher Olanrewaju Durodola (17-2, 16) Although the Asian action this weekend is scarce, to say the least, the international action does have some very interesting match ups, especially in the US where the bouts seem to be "interesting" as opposed to genuinely "notable". On Friday the interesting match ups in the US take place across a number of divisions. For us the most notable is the return to action of American Middleweight Curtis Stevens (25-4, 18) who fights for the first time since he was stopped by Gennady Golovkin last year. Stevens will be looking to get back to winning ways as he takes on Patrick Majewski (21-2, 13) in what looks, on the face of it, like a great match up. Stevens is the clear favourite (priced around 1/4) though depending on the damage Golovkin to him he may not be the same fighter and Majewski (7/2), fighting in his adopted New Jersey, will be very well supported. On the same card there is also action in the Cruiserweight division with the very highly regarded Thabiso Mchunu (14-1, 10) battling against the big punching Olanrewaju Durodola (17-1, 16). Mchunu, who impressed against Eddie Chambers last time out, is world ranked by all 4 bodies and will know he's closing in on a world title fight. Saying that though Durodola is a big puncher with a lot of stoppages inside 4 rounds and we'd not be shocked to see Mchunu given a chin test of some variety. As with the Stevens/Majewski fight one man, Mchunu is the clear favourite (1/4) though it's Nigerian born Durodola (4/1) has got Olympic experience and great power. Staying in the US, though going to Indio, California we get a Light Middleweight double header. The main event sees former IBF champion Cornelius Bundrage (32-5-0-1, 19) take on Joey Hernandez (23-1-1, 13) in an IBF eliminator for the #1 spot. The bout, not one that we're really excited about, should set up the next challenger for the winner of the upcoming Carlos Molina/Jermall Charlo bout. The second Light Middleweight bout on the show sees the always exciting to watch Antonio Orozco (18-0, 14) take on the over-matched Miguel Angel Huerta (17-11-1, 18). Although this is a mismatch we love watching Orozco who is all action with a must watch style and real power. Whilst this bout is an easy one for the unbeaten man we wouldn't be shocked to see 2014 become his break out year. One more show in the US is in Washington and will be televised on ESPN. The main event here sees former Sergey Kovalev foe Cornelius White (21-2, 16) attempt to resurrect his career as he takes on the unbeaten Thomas Williams Jr (15-0, 10) in what is a really important bout in the Light Heavyweight division between two IBF ranked fighters. A second bout on this card that has an interest to us is a Featherweight one between Rico Ramos (22-3, 12) and Jonathan Arrellano (14-2-2, 3). Ramos, best known for stopping Akifumi Shimoda back in 2011, has won just 2 of his last 5 fights whilst regularly stinking out the joint. Anything but a good win over Arrellano would likely be the end of Ramos's days on TV. Interestingly Arrellano (priced at 5/2) is given a decent underdog price from the bookies who have Ramos (1/3) as a favourite but not a certainty. The only other bouts of note take place in Spain where European Union Light Welterweight champion Ruben Nieto (13-0, 6) defends his belt against Samuele Esposito (17-1, 10). The winner of this bout is likely to be moved towards a notable fight by the end of the year. |
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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