The first world title fight to take place in Asia this year is set for January 25th and takes place all the way down at Minimumweight where the under-rated WBC champion Wanheng Menayothin (44-0, 17) looks to make the 6th defense of his title. The talented Thai will be facing a fellow unbeaten as he takes on 22 year old Filipino puncher Melvin Jerusalem (11-0, 7) who is taking a huge step up in class to fight in his first world title fight, and his first fight outside of his homeland.
The champion is, in some ways, a typical Thai with a record that has been padded and is filled with less than notable names. He is however a fighter who is among the best Minimumweights on the planet, and is genuinely under-rated, due in part to the number of easy wins he has on his record. Despite the easy wins he does hold a number of notable victories over the likes of Florante Condes, Oswaldo Novoa, Jerry Tomogdan,Go Odaira and Saul Juarez. In the ring Wanheng is a brilliant little pressure fighter. Defensively he is tight and reliable but it's his front foot pressure work that is key as he walks opponents down and breaks them up with combinations and solid body shots. He's not a puncher, as his record makes clear, but he's a talented pressure fighter who mentally and physically beats opponents until they eventually fold. That has seen him stopping 6 of his last 9 and he is 6-0 (4) in world title bouts with his stoppages typically coming in the later rounds. At 31 Wanheng is probably at the end of his prime, especially given he's a Minimumweight, and with 346 rounds under his belt he is no spring chicken. However he's a fighter who has shown no real slow down in the ring and has looked after himself brilliantly. He may be on the slide but it's certainly not something we have seen in the ring during his fights. Little known challenger Jerusalem has impressed on the domestic Filipino scene with some in the country viewing him as their new rising in the lowest weight class. He debuted back in July 2014, scoring a decision win over Michael Camelion, and then followed that up with 7 straight stoppages including a win over Crison Omayao. That stoppage run came to an end last year, when he took a decision win over veteran Florante Condes, and he has since taken decisions over Jonathan Refugio and Fabio Marfa. In the ring Jerusalem looks to be a fun fighter with decent power, nice movement and clever defence on the back foot. He made Condes look like a foolish novice at times, in fact his movement saw Condes flail wildly before throwing himself to the canvas one point, but the lack of footage really does prevent us getting a great read on him, with only a few clips here and there being available. From what is available he does look promising, but there isn't a lot available. Although Jerusalem is tipped for something big we have seen a number of similar fighters, unbeaten youngster tipped for stardom, fall short in recent years. That includes former Wanheng challenger Jeffrey Galero, who was 11-0 (5) when he challenged Wanheng but is now 14-3 (7) with his career on the rocks. He will need to be aware of just how much of a step up this really is, if he doesn't he will be eaten alive by Wanheng here. What we're expecting is a strong start by the visitor, who will look to use his speed and movement to pick up a number of the early rounds. As the bout goes on however Wanheng will start to break him down and in the middle rounds we'll see Jerusalem slowing significantly before either limping over the line en route to a wide decision loss, or a stoppage loss as Wanheng turns the screw and uses his experience in the champiuonship rounds
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It's not been a great few weeks for Thailand as Amnat Ruenroeng was beaten by Johnriel Casimero, with Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo was battered by Miguel Berchelt and Pungluang Sor Singyu being dethroned by Marlon Tapales. It's fair to say that the run isn't one that Thai fans will be wanting to see continue and on August 2nd they are hoping that it will come to and end when another one of their champions defends his title in a mandatory defence.
That champion is the unbeaten Wanheng Menayothin (42-0, 17) who defends his belt against in form Mexican challenger Saul Juarez (23-4-1, 12), the current mandatory challenger. Wanheng's record is one of the longest unbeaten records in the sport, only a few fights behind that of Nicaraguan sensation Roman Gonzalez, despite that no one is proclaiming the Thai as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. That's due to his level of competition which has certainly not been great. In fact his best wins have come against the likes of Florante Condes, Oswaldo Novoa, Ardin Diale, Young Gil Bae and Go Odaira. They aren't terrible fighters but nothing exceptional for a man with 42 wins. Of course it's not just the wins that stand out on Wanheng's record but also his apparent lack of power. In fact 17 T/KO's in 40 fights is a 40% stoppage rate, one of the least impressive in the sport today for any world champion. What neither of those numbers, nor the names, do is actually tell you a lot about Wanheng who is developing his power and really does pass the eye test with flying colours. In the ring he's a very intelligent and aggressive pressure fighter, he has a solid guard, he's calculating with his footwork and throws some brilliant combinations, with his power being criminally under-rated. He's not a 1-punch KO artist but his' a vicious terrier like fight who grinds opponents down and barely takes a shot in the process. It's that grinding that has seen him stopping his last 5 opponents and claim 6 stoppages in his last 7 bouts. On paper the challenger should be the under, surprisingly however boxrec.com rank Juarez as their #1 fighter in the division. That's due to their algorithms however Juarez has been on an impressive run on recent years with 2 wins over Adrian Hernandez and a victory, and a draw, against Oswaldo Novoa. Along with those 4 results he also has wins over Luis Ceja, Armando Torres, and early career wins over Martin Tecuapetla and another win over Novoa. In all honesty he has an impressive resume. On the other hand he has been beaten by Tecuapetla, Jose Argumedo, Juan Hernandez Navarrete and Milan Melindo, all highly regarded fighters themselves. In the ring Juarez has shown lots of facets to his ability. He can box in a relatively technical fashion using his jab, holding when needed and using intelligent movement with crisp combinations, he can also go to war and enjoy a good old fashioned tear up. He's not an out and out warrior but like many Mexican fighters that it certainly something he has in his arsenal when needed. Like the champion the challenger isn't a puncher, in fact he only boasts a 43% stoppage rate and has scored just a single stoppage in the last 36 months, that's 1 stoppage in 9 bouts. Despite that he does have solid pop and will keep fighters respectful of him given his ability to land clean. Where're expecting a technically brilliant battle here. Juarez's movement and technical boxing against Wanheng's calculating pressure. Sadly however for Juarez the bout will be held in the hot and humid conditions of Thailand which will likely zap his energy if he tries to move too much whilst Wanheng will look to walk him down. If Juarez slows, as expected, we think Wanhneg will come away with a clear and wide decision win. So far world title action in Asia has been lacking for 2016 with Thailand really stealing all the headlines at the world level. That changes in early March, however the first title bout of the new month is another from the Land of Smiles and is one that in all honesty looks like being a bit of a mismatch in favour of the champion, and one of the sport's most under-rated champions. That champion is 30 year old Thai Wanheng Menayothin (40-0, 15) who looks to defend the WBC Minimumweight title for the 4th time since ripping it out of the hands of Mexican Oswaldo Novoa in late 2014. The under-rated, and unbeaten, Thai will be up against a former title challenger in the form of Go Odaira (12-4-3, 1), a speed but feather fisted challenger. Wanheng has one of the sports longest unbeaten records, and it's a record that dates back more than 9 years. Although he holds a long unbeaten record it's one that can easily be criticised with the Thai having only faced a couple of “names” in his 40 fights as a professional. The first of those names was Florante Condes, who Wanheng beat way back in June 2011. Sadly it would take more than 3 years for him to then face Novoa, one of the poorest champions in recent memory. Since winning the title Wanheng has again failed to face notable opponents, and has instead beaten the likes of Jeffrey Galero, a promising but unproven Filipino youngster, Jerry Tomogdan and limited Korean slugger Young Gil Bae, none of whom deserved a world title fight. Although Wanehng's record is very thin on names he really does pass the eye test. Defensively he's a very tough boxer to figure out, with a tight guard and an intelligent defensive game plan. Offensively he's a wonderful boxer to watch, applying grinding pressure from the early stages to eventually break his opponents, either mentally or physically. On paper one would assume he's not a puncher, but he has stopped 4 of his last 5 opponents and it seems that he manages to keep his grinding power into the later stages of bouts. Of course with 40 bouts there will be some wear and tear, but given his tight defensive work Wanheng does look like a very young 30 year old, and despite having 319 rounds on his record he'll be around for a while yet. Although the challenger it's fair to suggest that Odaira has mixed with better company than the champion. That's because Odaira has shared the ring with Katsunari Takayama, the only man to stop Odaira, with the two facing off at the end of 2014 in an IBF/WBO Minimumweight title bout. He has also fought Ryuji Hara and holds a notable win over former world title challenger Takashi Kunishige. In the ring Odaira is all about speed, much like his mentor Susumu Hanagata, a former WBA Flyweight champion. Interestingly Hanagata will be one of the biggest helps that Odaira will have with the former champion having already experienced Thai conditions in a competitive loss to Chartchai Chionoi back in 1973, incidentally it was Chionoi who Hanagata beat for his world title in Japan the following year. Blessed with incredible hand speed and brilliant movement Odaira's gameplan will be be based on getting his shots off and getting away. That sounds easy but in Thailand that's incredibly difficult so he actually spend extra days in Thailand getting used to the heat, humidity and other aspects of the weather. He'll be hoping that helps him prepare, but unfortunately for him the Thai conditions are only part of the problem, with Wanheng being another. Wanheng's style is one that will see Odaira working doubly hard to get out of range, and he will really have to work double hard to avoid the champion. Although a wonderfully talented boxer this is a very uphill task for Odaira who seems likely to put into a small ring and chased down by Wanheng. We suspect the challenger will have a great start, and will looks sensational at times, but by the middle rounds he'll begin to slow and the champion will start to take over before forcing a stoppage in the second half of the fight. (Image courtesy of The Champion - Thailand) With Floyd Mayweather retired at 49-0 some fight fans may be expecting his record to stand for some time. The truth however is that his long unbeaten record is likely to be broken in the coming years with several fighters all chasing it. One of those is WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (39-0, 14) who looks to score his 40th win this coming Tuesday when he defends his title against Korean challenger Young Kil Bae (26-4-1, 21). The bout marks a rare point of note for Korean boxing which hasn't had a male world title challenger since 2013, when Jung-Oh Son challenged Koki Kameda, and hasn't had a world champion since In Jin Chi retired in 2007. The only other recent world title with a Korean saw Ji Hoon Kim being widely out pointed by Miguel Vazquez back in 2010. On paper this is a real mismatch. Bae, also known as Myung Goo Yuh, is a 36 year old fighter who is married to fellow fighter Hee Jung Yuh. Much of his career has been spent in obscurity and in fact he began his career with a faltering 9-4-1 (4) record. Since that start however he has slowly but surely climbed through the ranks with his aggressive and fun to watch style which has seen him slowly make a name for himself in Thailand as well as Korea. During that run he has rattled of 17 straight T/KO victories and claimed the PABA Flyweight title. On paper Bae's run is impressive though it does say a lot about his competition, which has typically been terrible. Those fights have shown his to be aggressive but predictable, heavy handed but not concussive, exciting but not exceptional. More notable than his run however is the fact he has suffered his last 3 losses have come but T/KO, including a 74 second blow out defeat to Roque Lauro. Whilst Bae is, on paper, a puncher it's fair to say Wanheng isn't, however the champion is an exceptional pressure fighter who is tough, accurate, can hold a high pace and can grind fighters down both mentally and physically. He's one of the sports most under-rated pressure fighters and combines accuracy, aggression and work rate to really impose his fight style on his opponents. Whilst technically Bae and Wanheng are very different types of fighters it's fair to say that they have both fought a lot of poor opposition. Saying that however Wanheng has faced the much better competition with the likes of Ardin Diale, Yuma Iwahashi, Oswaldo Novoa and Jeffrey Galero. They might not be amazing opposition but they are solid enough to be regarded as much better than anything Bae has beaten. Given that Bae likes to fight on the front foot and that Wanheng is a pressure fighter, who love to close the distance, we're expecting this one to be a lot of fun with plenty of exchanges. Sadly for Bae however he'll not manage to cope with the solid defense and accurate offense of Wanheng who will likely grind down the challenger in the middle rounds of a fun but one sided fight. On June 2nd we see the return to the ring of WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (37-0, 12) who looks for the second defense of his world title. Originally we were expecting the talented Thai to be facing South Korean foe Young Kil Bae, though after Bae suffered a training injury he was replaced by Filipino foe Jerry Tomogdan (17-5-3, 9). On paper the replacement bout is a downgrade in terms of the challenger, though it's fair to say that he'll be going in to this bout with a lot of confidence and nothing to lose. The challenger is genuinely unknown outside of the most hardcore of fans and the fans of the Filipino domestic scene. It's on the domestic level that Tomogdan has claimed his best wins to date including a narrow decision win against Joey Canoy for the PBF (Philippines Boxing Federation) Minimumweight title just last year. Sadly it's also been his results on the domestic scene that have told us how limited he is with a notable 12 round draw against Crison Omayao being his latest result. Tomogdan has faced a small number of notable foes with Joebert Alvarez forcing a 6th round KO against Tomogdan in 2012 whilst Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep won a technical decision against him in 2013, just 7 months before Yodmongkol went on to stop Koki Eto for the WBA interim Flyweight title. Sadly however it's a loss to Boy Tanto which stands out as the most notable defeat on his record. That loss to Tanto wasn't one sided by any means, in fact Tomogdan had good reason to believe he deserved the win, however just being in a competitive bout with Tanto is rather damning of his ability and power. At just 21 years old we'll admit Tomogdan has improved a lot since that loss to Tanto and on paper his record is messy due to facing some good fighters whilst he was still a boxing baby. Although still a youngster he's had to develop in the ring and what we have now is a promising at 21 years old, but one who still has a lot of untapped potential. What he has going for him coming in to this bout however is that he's a southpaw and also relatively tall, standing at 5'5”, for a Minimumweight. When Tomogdan fought Tanto he showed some nice touches. He kept calm, despite Tanto bending the rules at times, showed relatively nice movement and speed and did look like a young fighter who was finding his way in the sport. Notably as the bout wore on Tomogdan did appear to grow into the contest and times he genuinely looked really promising, though it was against a limited foe. That bout did come more than 18 months ago, and since then Tomogdan has gone 6-0-1, though unfortunately it's the latest one that we have film of and it's the most recent bout to try and get a read from. Of the two fighters involved the champion is much more well known, in fact Wanheng is one of the most notable active fighters in Thai boxing and the 29 year old is genuinely of of their most exciting and fun to watch fighters. He has also notched up a few notable wins of his own and looks to be one of those few Thai fighters who is as good as his record suggests. Much of Wanheng's career was spent building. He turned professional in 2007 and faced on sporadic tests, such as a bout with Ardin Diale in 2008, Florante Condes in 2011, Crison Omayao, also in 2011, and Yuma Iwahashi in 2013. It wasn't until 2014 that we saw him finally competing at the world level where he over-came Oswaldo Novoa for the WBC title. For many fans that win was a weak one to wn the title with Novoa not being a genuinely tier champion, for others however it was the much needed break out win for Wanheng who had been ranked for a while but never made that step up. Since winning the title last November we've seen Wanheng defend it once, taking a wide decision against the previously unknown Jeffrey Galero. Although Wanheng won it decisively we'll be honest and say that Galero looks like he could become a staple on the OPBF title scene in the future. Unfortunately for the challenger he was unable to cope with Wanheng's strength, experience and over-all style, which is built on a lot of very educated but intense pressure that sees the Thai wearing down his opponents mentally and physically. His arsenal includes all the punches in the book but really it's his smart defense and intelligent footwork that has made him such a solid fighter. When looking Wanheng's record we don't see the really big wins, yet, but we suspect they will come down the line. For now however it's a waiting game a possible fight with Denver Cuello is possible for later this year. First he will need to over-come Tomogdan in what looks, really, like a mismatch. From the footage available of both Tomogdan actually looks “made to order”. He's a mover but with no real power there will be little to stop Wanheng from cutting the ring off, getting close and unleashing to the mid-section of the challenger. Those body blows will take their toll and we suspect that Tomogdan gets stopped in the second half of the bout by the genuinely excellent Thai. (Image courtesy of Thairec.com) Unbeaten records really can mean anything. They can mean a fighter is brilliant, they can mean a fighter is untested, they can mean a fighter is lucky, or they can mean that a fighter has yet to step up. Sometimes those that are yet to step are capable of stepping up, other times however a fighter cannot make that step successfully and when the try they fall short.
To kick off February we will find out what an unbeaten record means for two fighters. They are WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (36-0, 12) and Filipino challenger Jeffrey Galero (11-0, 5), who meet on February 5th For Galero this is that step up, in a major way, whilst for Menayothin it's an opportunity to defend his title, a title he won when he stepped up and broke down Oswaldo Novoa late last year. Strangely however we've got to admit we don't really know how good either man is. Menayothin is certainly the more proven but still isn't a man we've seen truly pushed, though he did need to dig a bit to beat Novoa. The 29 year old champion took 36 fights for us to really get to know him. It's unfair to say he hadn't beaten anyone in his first 35 bouts, but his best wins were over Ardin Diale, Florante Condes and Yuma Iwahashi. All 3 were decent wins but Condes really was the stand among them and that was, by far, the toughest bout for Wanheng in his first 35 contests. In the ring the Thai champion is an interesting fighter to watch. He's aggressive but very intelligent and although he applies almost constant pressure it's very educated pressure. He fights well behind a high guard, knows when to let his shots go, and can move in and out of range with out taking much in return. Although Wanheng is a smart fighter fighter he does have his flaws. His feet aren't the quickest, he looks uncomfortable on the backfoot and his hands aren't the heaviest or fastest. So far however he's managed to cover those flaws with intelligence and by fighting to his strengths. He has also been helped by generally fighting in small rings in Thailand where his pressure really is telling and he has been able to make fighters break, either mentally of physically. Whilst we're unsure about how good Wanheng really is, we are lucky enough to have plenty of footage of him. The same cannot be said for Galero of which footage is minimal, to say the least. Sadly the lack of footage of Galero means we're unsure about how he fights. Thankfully we're not totally in the dark about him though and we do know that he's a southpaw and that his competition has, on the whole, been very poor. In his first 10 bouts Galero's opponents had a combined record of 26-41-8. Of those 26 combined wins 9 had come by stoppage whilst 22, of the 41 losses, had come by stoppage. Basically Galero was fighting light hitting losers who weren't really expected to ask questions of him. Thankfully in Galero's last bout we did see the Filipino being given questions as he took on the criminally under-rated Donny Mabao. The Mabao fight ended in a close decision win for Galero though saw real questions being asked of the unbeaten man who may well have found his level with that win. In all honesty that win over Mabao probably told us all we needed to know about Galero, he's not world class. Going into this bout we suspect that we'll see Wanheng take a few rounds to work out what Galero has to offer, something especially important given that footage of Galero is as scarce as it is. After a few rounds rounds however Wanheng will begin to move through the gears and grind his first challenger who we suspect will be stopped in the middle rounds. The 105lb Minimumweight division has been one of the most interesting in the last 12-18 months. It has been full of interesting bouts ranging from thrillers to upsets, it has seen real changes with several of the divisions bigger names moving up whilst other fighters have taken the division by storm, and most interestingly it's seen the best fighting real tests as they attempt to prove their class. Oh and it's had Ali Raymi involved in it too. Whether it's been the emergence of Kosei Tanaka, who recently stopped Ryuji Hara, the continued excitement of Katsunari Takayama, who had a barn burner with Francisco Rodriguez Jr earlier this year, or the break through of the wonderfully named Knockout CP Freshmart this year has been great for the fans of the smallest men in boxing. The Minimumweight division comes to the fore against this coming Thursday when unbeaten Thai Wanheng Menayothin (35-0, 11) finally gets a long awaited shot at a world title as he battles heavy handed WBC belt holder Oswaldo Novoa (14-4-1, 9). The bout will be Menayothin's big step up whilst for the champion it's a chance to top off what will be a fantastic year for him. The champion won his title earlier this year, winning it in spectacular fashion in China where he totally dismantled Xiong Zhao Zhong. He made his first defense in a relative nothing bout against Alcides Martinez in June and since then we've all been awaiting for him to fight Menayothin. Although Novoa's record is patchy, to say the least, he is a pretty good fighter. He holds wins not only over Zhong but also over Jose Argumedo, Jose Alfredo Zuniga and Javier Martinez Resendiz as he has managed to string together 7 straight wins since a close technical decision loss to Carlos Velarde more than 2 years ago. At 5'3" he's a relatively tall Minimumweight but overall he looks huge at the weight given his imposing and rangy frame, in fact it appears as if he seriously drains to make 105lbs. Gifted with size and power we don't think Novoa has the most rounded of skills but we hardly think he cares. He strikes us as more of a free swinging fighter, in there to win a fight not a boxing contest. This can leave him open but he does look a very strong guy who can take a shot and walk down opponents, as he did against Zhong. On the road, as he was against Zhong and will be again here, it's often a case of a winning a fight and winning it early. As for Thailand's Menayothin we have a man with a misleading and confusing record. On paper he's got a sensational looking record with 35 straight wins in the Minimumweight division. In reality very few of those wins really tell us anything other than that he's a Thai fighter were activity is key as opposed to the level of competition. That's not to say the Thai hasn't fought anyone of note, in fact wins over Ardin Diale, Florante Condes, Crison Omayao, Rolio Golez and Yuma Iwahashi are decent wins, though at best they are decent and not great or outstanding. Stylistically Menayothin is like many Thai's. He's strong, tight defensively and fights as an out and out pressure fighter. Saying that however he's not got massively concussive power and scores many of his stoppages through accumulation as opposed to single shots damage. Despite the lack of power he is aggressive, fun to watch and should stylistically make for a great fight with a fighter like Novoa. In the ring we're suspecting a really exciting war with both men meeting in the middle of the ring and letting shots go with bad intentions. For Wanheng the question is whether or not he can take the power of Novoa? If he can then the Thai is likely to take a very hard fought and exciting decision with the two men fighting toe-to-toe for large swathes of the bout. If Novoa hits too hard for the Thai however this one could be over quickly though is still likely to be very exciting for as long as it lasts. It may seem crazy to say be we genuinely feel this one could be a FOTY candidate much like the first bout between Porpramook Kompayak and Adrian Hernandez, that was another bout where a WBC champion from Mexico traveled to Thailand and we ended up with something very special to watch. (Image courtesy of http://www.thairec.com) One fighter, win or lose, who seems to have much of the boxing public against him is WBC Minimumweight champion Xiong Zhao Zhong (22-4-1, 12). Zhong, China's first ever world champion, appears completely unable to do anything right in the eyes of critical fans who seem to blame him for anything and everything. When he first got his title fight, back in November 2012, Zhong had been given preferential treatment by the WBC. There's no arguing that and theres also no arguing that Filipino Denver Cuello took a payment to step aside so that China could have their first world champion. Cuello, who took the step aside payment, then got a fight with Zhong himself and lost that by majority decision in a bout that we felt Zhong had clearly on top in. Zhong, despite fighting and beating Cuello, was denigrated due to the fact Cuello had injured his shoulder. It was brave from Cuello but Zhong had done what was decent and battled the top contender. Unfortunately for Zhong he was again chastised when the Chinese government refused to allow him to fight Omari Kimweri. Zhong, wanting to meet TV commitments and expectations of fans, was forced to take on a much less testing Thai who took the fight late. It wasn't a "world level fight" but Zhong was stuck between letting down down his fans in China or taking an easy defense. Fans worldwide can criticise but it was the first time a Chinese champion had ever defended a world title at China and that alone meant a lot. Zhong will again be trying to win fans over as he takes on Mexico's Oswaldo Novoa (12-4-1, 7), the WBC #2 ranked and IBF #7 ranked challenger. Although somewhat unknown Novoa is well regarded with not just the WBC and IBF decrying him as world class but also Boxrec (where he is #7 ranked). These rankings haven't come from any particular victory but more the series of 5 straight, 3 by KO, victories that Novoa has strung together over the last 18 months or so. These victories, which included a decision over one-time interim title challenger Jose Alfredo Zuniga and a stoppage over former Zhong foe Javier Martinez Resendiz have both really worked in his favour. Interestingly for a man with 4 losses on his record Novoa has actually faced decent competition and two of those who have beaten him, Carlos Velarde and Jesus Silvestre, have gone on to fight for the WBA version of the world title whilst another who has beaten him, Jose Argumedo, has twice been beaten by Novoa. What we have with Novoa is a very aggressive puncher. He goes to the ring to fight and doesn't seem to mind what hand he hits you with. It's not really pretty but it does tend to be exciting and is the sort of thing that any fight fan loves. A two handed offensive machine with a little bit of craziness thrown in for good measure. It's this aggressiveness that has seen hm record so many stoppages and keep even his losses close. On the flipside however he does leave himself open and does seem to regularly over-commit to shots. Although Novoa is a big puncher he doesn't look as physically strong as Zhong who is boxing's version of a tank. Everything about Zhong says he's a hard man. He just looks tough, as if he were carved out of concrete and then taught to fight. Despite looking so big and strong he's not actually a big puncher, though he does tend to be able to hurt opponents with his heavy shots esepcially to the body as he showed last time out. It's fair to say he's not a world class puncher but his shots are all thrown with the intention of making an opponent not ant to take another one. With Novoa being such an openly aggressive fighter this has the markings of a really great fight. Novoa will come forward with his aggression, Zhong will come forward relying on his strength and as a result we should see two men stand toe-to-toe freely swinging at each other in the hope of ending the other mans chances. Unfortunately for that potential excitement we also have the risk of a headclash calling an early early conclusion to the bout and both men have had headclashes in the recent bouts. As well as the potential excitement via a clash of styles we also have excitement in the fact both men have been down. This one could end at any time and more over it could end in spectacular fashion. If you like a fight we really reccomend tuning in to this one. As for a prediction we favour Zhong. The Chinese fighter might not be everyone's cup of tea though he's a genuine world level fighter and he's proven to be much better than people give him credit for, we think we'll see a further improved version of Zhong managing to defeat a tiring Novoa in what will be a real humdinger. Earlier this week we, and many others, expected WBC Minimumweight champion Xiong Zhao Zhong (21-4-1, 11) to face Australian based Omari Kimweri. Unfortunately however Kimweri has been unable to fight in that contest after passport issues saw him being sent back to Australia, just days before the fight. Zhong, China's first ever boxing world champion, may have thought he would be denied of a chance to defend his title in front of his people. Thankfully however Zhong's promoters managed to save the day as they called around and found the champion an opponent. Unfortunately the opponent has turned out to be nothing special as Thailand's Lookrak Kiatmungmee (7-4, 4) has become the man to fill in the gap. With the late notice however it was never going to be a contest as intriguing as the Zhong/Kimweri contest would have been. Zhong is one of the sports most over-looked fighters. For some he's little more than a paper champion though for others, those who have seen him, he's a tough and bullish fighter who will break opponents with his strength, style and mental toughness. As Zhong showed in his first title defense, a decision over the highly regarded Denver Cuello, he's not someone who could be described as a sweet scientist. He is however someone who sums up Asian boxing, tough gutsy and always in the ring to win. In Kiatmungmee it's obvious that Zhong has a "patsy". Kimweri did look like a credible opponent but the Thai replacement is literally someone who picked up the phone and said yes. Kiatmungmee hasn't fought in almost two years, incidentally following a decision loss to Kimweri. Not only has he been inactive but he also suffered 4 losses in his last 5 bouts and you actually need to go back to 2006 for his last noteworthy victory. Yes this is a mismatch, though with the conditions surrounding it, it's a mismatch that saved the show and has allowed Zhong to make the first ever world title defense in China. Something worth considering before you rip the fight a new one.
Courtesy of boxrec.com
Last November Chinese fighter Xiong Zhao Zhong (20-4-1, 11) made history in becoming the first Chinese man to claim a boxing world title. To many Zhong's victory over Javier Martinez Resendiz for the WBC title was a case of Zhong being given an undeserved opportunity to create history. To others however it was a chance for boxing to awaken a sleeping giant in the potentially huge Chinese boxing market. The only thing that was obvious with Zhong's victory over Resendiz was that Zhong would have to face stiffer competition if he was wanting to hold the title for long. The WBC, who had hepeld Zhong secure his place in history had already had a final eliminator and so Zhong's first challenger was already arranged and was certainly a tougher opponent than Resendiz. Courtesy of Boxrec.com Having been paid step-aside money following his title eliminator victory way back in 2011, Filipino Denver Cuello (33-4-6, 21) has finally gotten the fight he deserves. Known as "Mr Excitement" Cuello has been one of the most fun to watch young Filipino's in the boxing world and also one of the top Minimumweights over the past few years. Going in to the bout there is a lot of pressure on both men. Not only will it be Zhong's first defense of a world title (the first, by any man from China) but will also be Cuello's first chance, at long last, to become a world champion. Although the pressure on both men is huge it's likely to be more so on Zhong who holds his nations hopes on his shoulders despite the fact that this bout will be fought on neutral turf in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The 30 year old Zhong, who has been professional since 2006, first made his mark on the boxing world in 2009 when he challenged Daisuke Naito for the WBC Flyweight title. Although Zhong put up a good fight and dropped Naito he failed to do enough to claim the decision and instead had to go back home from Japan belt less. Since the loss to Naito, Zhong has improved, dropped down in weight and claimed a world title though is still an unproven fighter and not a fighter many would feel is deserving of a world title belt. Despite his improvements from the Naito fight Zhong is still technically limited though he looks to be a strong fighter (likely the case with the fact he has previously fought at Flyweight) he has very solid stamina (from training at Kumming). It's his technical limitations however that are likely to be key and he can be caught clean pretty easily (Resendiz managed to tag him several times), against a top fighter being caught can mean good night. The 26 year old challenger, has been a professional since 2004 and although he started his professional career 3-2-4 he has become one of the top Minimumweights in the world on merit. Cuello, known for his hard punching and aggressive style has scored notable wins in the past few years including stoppages of former world champion Muhammad Rachman, former world title contenders Omar Soto and Takashi Kunishige and the highly ranked Ganigan Lopez. With seriously hurtful power, devastating body shots and an attacking mindset Cuello is a nightmare to fight. He's a fighter who knows how to hurt opponents with wicked uppercuts and hooks and refuses to be intimidated in the ring. He's technically a bit crude but so powerful, tough and strong that many opponents crumble either under his power or under his pressure. The big question going in to this bout is whether or not Zhong will manage to get the respect of Cuello. If he can't then this will be a painful night for the Chinese fighter will will be forced to take hurtful shots upstairs and downstairs from a very talented and confident fighter. If Zhong can get Cuello's respect then we may well have a very competitive contest on our hands, unfortunately for Zhong it's not often we see Cuello respecting his opponents too much. If asked to pick it's hard to go against Cuello. Sure the Filipino has looked less than stellar in his last 2 outings (a 10 round majority decision over Takashi Kunishige and a 10 round unanimous decision over Ivan Meneses) but he has only suffered 1 defeat in 7 years (and that was a disqualification in Mexico in a bout he seemed to be winning). Note-Despite the spelling we've used through out the preview, the correct spelling of the Chinese fighter's name is actually Xiong Chao Zhong (as mentioned in an article on gokumming.com from 2012). |
World Title Previews
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