2011 has been a treat for boxing fans, and seriously you may have seen some stinkers, or felt slightly ripped off about certain things (Wladimir Klitschko v David Haye for example, or the judging in a number of notable fights) but you'll almost certainly have seen some amazing fights. Part way through the year there was a thread on the amazing Budweiser Boxing forum that started talking about the best fights of 2011...I took the thread a bit further than a short list and did more of a...long list...and since then have added more fights, and here is the long list for 2011's fight of the year:
Acosta v Rios
Arce v Vazquez Jr
Berto v Ortiz
Concepcion v Marquez
Lee v McEwan
Lopez v Salido
Maidana v Morales
Odom v Omotoso
Robles v Silva
Rodriguez v Wolak
Berto v Zaveck
Ceda v Narvaez
DeMarco v Sanchez
Murat v Campillo II
Froch v Johnson
Iwasa v Yamanaka
Lujan v Melligen
Mitchell v Murray
Macklin v Sturm
Appleby v Walsh
Aaron v Webb
Diaz v Kennedy
Miranda v Viloria
Chavez Jr v Zbik
Geale v Sylvester
Guerrero v Katsidis
Jamoye v McDonnell
John v Yordan
Lopez v Lundy
Robinson v Sexton I
Chisora v Fury
Conyers v De La Rosa
Antillion v Rios
Crolla v Watson
Gonzalez v Sierra
Gutierrez v Palacios
Hovhannisyan v Marquez
Hernandez v Keb Baas
Lara v Molina
Robinson v Sexton II
Barrett v Tua II
Coleman v Paris
Cotto v Mayorga
Arce v Nongqayi II
Frankel v Molina
Gomez v Granados
Huck v Nakash
Huerta v Martin
Lemieux v Rubio
Martirosyan v Roman
Firtha v Fury
Hasegawa v Gonzalez
Cleverly v Bellew
Molitor v Gauthier
Theron v Cote
Angulo v Kirkland
Aspera v Silvestri
Vincente v Gonzalez
Porpramook v Yaegashi
Arce v Angkotta II
Helenius v Chisora
Martinez v Castaneda
Murray v Sturm
Murray v Rios
If you've missed any of these, make you sure you try to catch them, they are full of action, bombs and in some cases a fair bit of controversy. If you are a fight fan you need to have watched at least half of these!
Tuesday 6 December 2011
Thursday 1 December 2011
Canelo the fraud?
When it comes to boxing superstars it's obvious that both Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather are by far the two biggest names. The third most popular fighter in the world however is quite likely to be Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the 21 year old Mexican who currently holds the WBC Light Middleweight title and has an unbeaten record of 39-0-1 (29KO's). Whilst the young, red headed fighter is popular and a real emerging star of Mexican boxing, he has left some fans with real doubts.
“Canelo” turned professional aged just 15 and won his debut via 4th round TKO and in fact would pick up a number of KO's early in his career despite struggling against Miguel Vazquez (the current WBC Lightweight champion) and scoring a draw against Jorge Juarez. Between 2005 and 2008 Canelo would pick up a number of easy wins before stepping up his opposition and beating guys like Gabriel Martinez, Raul Pinzon and Larry Mosley.
It was maybe in 2010 that the major first questions were asked of Canelo as he beat up the much smaller Jose Miguel Cotto. It wasn't just that Canelo had effectively been matched with a guy several weights smaller than himself but he was also visibly shaken when Cotto caught him in the opening round and seemed to open up questions regarding Canelo's chin. Although Canelo would weather the storm and eventually stop Cotto it was a worry that he was even shaken.
In 2011 however bigger and more revealing questions have been asked about both Canelo's opponents and his out of the ring character. Whilst Canelo has won a world title, he did face the smaller Matthew Hatton to win the title, and in 2 of his 3 defences since he has faced smaller men (both Alfonso Gomez and Kermit Cintron are natural Welterweights). It seems to be a bit of a pattern of Canelo's career, facing smaller men. To date his “best” wins have all been against smaller men (Vazquez, Cotto, Hatton, Gomez, Cintron) though it seems that it's not just in the ring that he likes to pick on the little man.
If stories are to be believed then Alvarez, a man who fights at 154lbs beat up the much smaller Ulises “Archie” Solis (who fights at 108lbs) due to Solis getting close to Canelo's ex girlfriend. This resulted in Solis suffering a broken jaw (broken in 3 places), losing several teeth and having bruises. Whilst this case does seem to be heading towards court Canelo has denied the attack (pointing the finger at one of his brothers), if found to be guilty the long term damage to Canelo's career may be massively damaging. The worrying thing about the story though is that WBC president Jose Sulaiman is quoted as saying “We at the WBC will pay the expenses on the damages that Ulises ‘Archie’ Solís has received not knowing who caused these damages”, a bit strange that the WBC would offer to pay Solis' damages regardless of whether they knew who caused it or not. If the WBC are making this payment, do they maybe know something that Saul Alvarez isn't telling us?
Whilst Canelo has the world at his feet, he may end up being one of the fighters who becomes a true “bad boy” of the sport, or gets a reputation as either a hot head (something we've seen from him in a number of fights) or a man who will only fight smaller men. Until Canelo faces a true threat (and there is a number of them out there) such as Carlos Molina, Erislandy Lara, Lukas Konecny, James Kirkland or even Javier Maciel there has to be doubts about his ability to fight someone who isn't smaller.
Is Canelo a fraud? It's hard to say either way, though it's obvious that he's yet to really face a solid threat his own size. Whilst I'd lean towards him being over-rated it's hard to say just how long he will remain at the top. If he continues to face relative nobodies and smaller men he could easily remain at the top until he grows grey and WBC president Jose Sulaiman passes away due to old age. If he however fights the best fighters out there I'll be honest, I don't see his reign lasting long at all.
“Canelo” turned professional aged just 15 and won his debut via 4th round TKO and in fact would pick up a number of KO's early in his career despite struggling against Miguel Vazquez (the current WBC Lightweight champion) and scoring a draw against Jorge Juarez. Between 2005 and 2008 Canelo would pick up a number of easy wins before stepping up his opposition and beating guys like Gabriel Martinez, Raul Pinzon and Larry Mosley.
It was maybe in 2010 that the major first questions were asked of Canelo as he beat up the much smaller Jose Miguel Cotto. It wasn't just that Canelo had effectively been matched with a guy several weights smaller than himself but he was also visibly shaken when Cotto caught him in the opening round and seemed to open up questions regarding Canelo's chin. Although Canelo would weather the storm and eventually stop Cotto it was a worry that he was even shaken.
In 2011 however bigger and more revealing questions have been asked about both Canelo's opponents and his out of the ring character. Whilst Canelo has won a world title, he did face the smaller Matthew Hatton to win the title, and in 2 of his 3 defences since he has faced smaller men (both Alfonso Gomez and Kermit Cintron are natural Welterweights). It seems to be a bit of a pattern of Canelo's career, facing smaller men. To date his “best” wins have all been against smaller men (Vazquez, Cotto, Hatton, Gomez, Cintron) though it seems that it's not just in the ring that he likes to pick on the little man.
If stories are to be believed then Alvarez, a man who fights at 154lbs beat up the much smaller Ulises “Archie” Solis (who fights at 108lbs) due to Solis getting close to Canelo's ex girlfriend. This resulted in Solis suffering a broken jaw (broken in 3 places), losing several teeth and having bruises. Whilst this case does seem to be heading towards court Canelo has denied the attack (pointing the finger at one of his brothers), if found to be guilty the long term damage to Canelo's career may be massively damaging. The worrying thing about the story though is that WBC president Jose Sulaiman is quoted as saying “We at the WBC will pay the expenses on the damages that Ulises ‘Archie’ Solís has received not knowing who caused these damages”, a bit strange that the WBC would offer to pay Solis' damages regardless of whether they knew who caused it or not. If the WBC are making this payment, do they maybe know something that Saul Alvarez isn't telling us?
Whilst Canelo has the world at his feet, he may end up being one of the fighters who becomes a true “bad boy” of the sport, or gets a reputation as either a hot head (something we've seen from him in a number of fights) or a man who will only fight smaller men. Until Canelo faces a true threat (and there is a number of them out there) such as Carlos Molina, Erislandy Lara, Lukas Konecny, James Kirkland or even Javier Maciel there has to be doubts about his ability to fight someone who isn't smaller.
Is Canelo a fraud? It's hard to say either way, though it's obvious that he's yet to really face a solid threat his own size. Whilst I'd lean towards him being over-rated it's hard to say just how long he will remain at the top. If he continues to face relative nobodies and smaller men he could easily remain at the top until he grows grey and WBC president Jose Sulaiman passes away due to old age. If he however fights the best fighters out there I'll be honest, I don't see his reign lasting long at all.
Sunday 20 November 2011
99 not out for Yori Boy Campas
Luis Ramon Campas is well known to boxing fans, he was, at one point, a genuine world champion (IBF light middleweight champion 1997-1998)., he rubbed shoulders with some of the best fighters of the 1990's. In fact in a career that goes back to 1987 Campas has faced the following well known names: Felix "Tito" Trinidad, Raul "El Diamante" Marquez, Fernando "El Feroz" Vargas, Daniel Santos, Oscar "Golden Boy" De La Hoya and Daniel "El Pillin" Santos as well as a huge number of title challengers.
Campas however seems to be unhappy with his career and wants to achieve more than just rubbing shoulders with some of the best fighters of his era, he wants to have win #100. At the moment Campas' record stands at a rather amazing 99-16-1 (78). Sadly however his most recent fight as a loss, coming this morning at the hands of Mexican prospect Jorge Cota (11-0). Cota managed to score an 8th round TKO over the increasingly shop worn Campas who was stopped for just the 9th time in 116 fights.
Whilst Campas will likely fight on in search of win #100 the loss to Cota is the 4th loss in a little over 2 years for Campas who has gone 7-4-1 in a little over 2 years. Amazingly between 1987 and 1994 Campas started his career with 56 straight wins (prior to his first loss at the hands of Felix Trinidad). Whilst it took just 7 years to rack up 56 wins it has now taken Campas more than 17 years (and counting) to get the next 44 wins.
Sadly for Campas the reasons for continuing may not be win #100 but money, the tough man with fighting blood flowing through his veins has never managed to get the career defining paydays to match up with his who's who record. Whilst Campas was never going to be a brain surgeon or a scientist working at CERN over 100 fights will take their toll on someones motor ability and with the lack of big paydays he may find himself, like many faded stars, looking at the gutter through damaged eyes and slurring whatever words he wishes to say. I'd like to think someone will "offer" themself up to be #100 just to cross the milestone then someone in boxing needs to take him by the hand and offer him another role rather than let him continue to be a human punchbag. Hopefully someone out there manages to get Yori boy out before it's too late.
Campas however seems to be unhappy with his career and wants to achieve more than just rubbing shoulders with some of the best fighters of his era, he wants to have win #100. At the moment Campas' record stands at a rather amazing 99-16-1 (78). Sadly however his most recent fight as a loss, coming this morning at the hands of Mexican prospect Jorge Cota (11-0). Cota managed to score an 8th round TKO over the increasingly shop worn Campas who was stopped for just the 9th time in 116 fights.
Whilst Campas will likely fight on in search of win #100 the loss to Cota is the 4th loss in a little over 2 years for Campas who has gone 7-4-1 in a little over 2 years. Amazingly between 1987 and 1994 Campas started his career with 56 straight wins (prior to his first loss at the hands of Felix Trinidad). Whilst it took just 7 years to rack up 56 wins it has now taken Campas more than 17 years (and counting) to get the next 44 wins.
Sadly for Campas the reasons for continuing may not be win #100 but money, the tough man with fighting blood flowing through his veins has never managed to get the career defining paydays to match up with his who's who record. Whilst Campas was never going to be a brain surgeon or a scientist working at CERN over 100 fights will take their toll on someones motor ability and with the lack of big paydays he may find himself, like many faded stars, looking at the gutter through damaged eyes and slurring whatever words he wishes to say. I'd like to think someone will "offer" themself up to be #100 just to cross the milestone then someone in boxing needs to take him by the hand and offer him another role rather than let him continue to be a human punchbag. Hopefully someone out there manages to get Yori boy out before it's too late.
Wednesday 9 November 2011
CompuBox...the ones who can't count?
If you were one of the many, many people who watched HBO's card last Saturday night you'll have seen one of the best rounds of slugging this year as Alfredo "El Perro" Angulo and James "The Mandingo Warrior" Kirkland slugged it out, traded knockdowns and threw 177 punches...or did they?
The official Compubox figures had Angulo throwing 73 punches in the opening 3 minutes whilst they had Kirkland throwing 104. Having watched that opening round a number of times I'm still asking myself how they got to those numbers. Angulo, by my count went not only over 100 but nearly DOUBLE of the official numbers, and Kirkland, whilst throwing a lot himself, certainly DID NOT throw 30 more than Angulo (in fact, from just watching the fight and not counting I'd have said he actually threw less than Angulo).
Rob Day, friend of mine working for the Boxing Tribune, made a very similar point at the start of the year in his article "Compubox – Fact or Fiction?" Rob stated "it should always be remembered that the live figures aren’t completely accurate due to very likely human error". Problem is that human error is only part of the issue, lets be honest for a Compubox judge to miss around 50% of Angulo's punches is more than just human error, it's...somewhat disgraceful.
Dave Allen, another friend posted on a forum posted an excellent point explaining some of the issues with the system:
"Compubox is not 100% correct,it would be more reliable if you had four counters on each side of the ring.But also there are times when the referee would obstruct your view,so as far as i am concerned as long as it do not effect the decision carry on if thats what floats your boat.
I never take any notice of the punch stats,its what i see with my own eye's which makes up my mind who won the bout.Never had them when i first started my passion for the sport,standing out in the cold watching Tom Sawyers swing his bare fist." (Talking Boxing with Billy C)
And maybe Dave gets it spot on, the referee can get in the way, though their is so many other issues. Did you know CompuBox regards anything other than a jab as a "power punch"? Did you know that each fighter has 1 man counting "thrown and connected" on what is no more than a glorified amateur scoring system?
The well established Billy C (see the above link) actually got asked to stop talking the system when he was giving it a hard time on his radio show but sadly for CompuBox they seemed happier in saying "shut up we're right" rather than "we'll try to improve we see we have problems". Maybe this is the biggest issue, they don't want to improve, they have a cushty deal with HBO to provide "official figures" and lets be honest whilst HBO are paying them for a half assed job, why would they want to put money into creating an ACCURATE system? It seems obvious when Jim Lampley or Mex Kellerman state the CompuBox numbers as fact they they are happy with them being "official" which is just a giant shame.
Whilst it seems unlikely that CompuBox will take their head out of the sand it's be nice if more people did begin to question them.
The official Compubox figures had Angulo throwing 73 punches in the opening 3 minutes whilst they had Kirkland throwing 104. Having watched that opening round a number of times I'm still asking myself how they got to those numbers. Angulo, by my count went not only over 100 but nearly DOUBLE of the official numbers, and Kirkland, whilst throwing a lot himself, certainly DID NOT throw 30 more than Angulo (in fact, from just watching the fight and not counting I'd have said he actually threw less than Angulo).
Rob Day, friend of mine working for the Boxing Tribune, made a very similar point at the start of the year in his article "Compubox – Fact or Fiction?" Rob stated "it should always be remembered that the live figures aren’t completely accurate due to very likely human error". Problem is that human error is only part of the issue, lets be honest for a Compubox judge to miss around 50% of Angulo's punches is more than just human error, it's...somewhat disgraceful.
Dave Allen, another friend posted on a forum posted an excellent point explaining some of the issues with the system:
"Compubox is not 100% correct,it would be more reliable if you had four counters on each side of the ring.But also there are times when the referee would obstruct your view,so as far as i am concerned as long as it do not effect the decision carry on if thats what floats your boat.
I never take any notice of the punch stats,its what i see with my own eye's which makes up my mind who won the bout.Never had them when i first started my passion for the sport,standing out in the cold watching Tom Sawyers swing his bare fist." (Talking Boxing with Billy C)
And maybe Dave gets it spot on, the referee can get in the way, though their is so many other issues. Did you know CompuBox regards anything other than a jab as a "power punch"? Did you know that each fighter has 1 man counting "thrown and connected" on what is no more than a glorified amateur scoring system?
The well established Billy C (see the above link) actually got asked to stop talking the system when he was giving it a hard time on his radio show but sadly for CompuBox they seemed happier in saying "shut up we're right" rather than "we'll try to improve we see we have problems". Maybe this is the biggest issue, they don't want to improve, they have a cushty deal with HBO to provide "official figures" and lets be honest whilst HBO are paying them for a half assed job, why would they want to put money into creating an ACCURATE system? It seems obvious when Jim Lampley or Mex Kellerman state the CompuBox numbers as fact they they are happy with them being "official" which is just a giant shame.
Whilst it seems unlikely that CompuBox will take their head out of the sand it's be nice if more people did begin to question them.
Friday 4 November 2011
James Toney is looking fa....bulous
So we are literally just a few hours from James Toney v Denis Lebedev (the show starts on Boxnation on Sky Channel 456, from 3PM which is currently being shown for FREE!) and when this fight was first mooted few really expected Toney to ever get near the 200lbs Cruiserweight limit. A number of forum users openly stated that for Toney to make the weight he'd have to lose a limb or get some liposuction. Toney's weight has always been an issue but some how he has sorted himself out...for at least this fight.
Aged 43 Toney has lost 38lbs since he faced Randy Couture back in his UFC debut (August 28th 2010) though more impressively Toney has come in at his lowest weight since 2003 when he faced Vassiliy Jirov in an IBF Cruiserweight fight. The Jirov fight was a classic with combined punch stats of over 1800 punches thrown with Toney landing 380 of his 811 punches (an amazing 47% connect rate). Since then however Toney's size has increased significantly, most obviously in his last fight when he came to the ring weighing 257lbs against Damon Reed back in February of this year.
Toney looked not only trim at the weigh in but looked healthy as well as slim. The loss of 58 lbs in 9 months seems to have been from a dedicated effort and the veteran of 84 fights seems to be taking his 85th incredibly seriously. Whilst I wouldn't declare Toney to be the fighter he once was, this is no longer looking like the 1 sided beat down it originally appeared. Amazingly it is just over 20 years since Toney last fought outside of his native USA and that was in Monaco against Francesco Dell'Aquila, a fight Toney won by 4th round TKO, he'll certainly be trying to make it 2-0 for his career outside of the US.
Lebedev meanwhile looked like his usual self, weighing in at a very average (for him) weight of 197.5 lbs. I'd expect the Russian to win though it now appears that this could be a more interesting fight than any of us expected.
Aged 43 Toney has lost 38lbs since he faced Randy Couture back in his UFC debut (August 28th 2010) though more impressively Toney has come in at his lowest weight since 2003 when he faced Vassiliy Jirov in an IBF Cruiserweight fight. The Jirov fight was a classic with combined punch stats of over 1800 punches thrown with Toney landing 380 of his 811 punches (an amazing 47% connect rate). Since then however Toney's size has increased significantly, most obviously in his last fight when he came to the ring weighing 257lbs against Damon Reed back in February of this year.
Toney looked not only trim at the weigh in but looked healthy as well as slim. The loss of 58 lbs in 9 months seems to have been from a dedicated effort and the veteran of 84 fights seems to be taking his 85th incredibly seriously. Whilst I wouldn't declare Toney to be the fighter he once was, this is no longer looking like the 1 sided beat down it originally appeared. Amazingly it is just over 20 years since Toney last fought outside of his native USA and that was in Monaco against Francesco Dell'Aquila, a fight Toney won by 4th round TKO, he'll certainly be trying to make it 2-0 for his career outside of the US.
Lebedev meanwhile looked like his usual self, weighing in at a very average (for him) weight of 197.5 lbs. I'd expect the Russian to win though it now appears that this could be a more interesting fight than any of us expected.
Thursday 13 October 2011
It's funny what a loss can "earn" you
In one of Britain's best fights of 2011 John Murray, the popular brawler from Manchester was stopped by former world title challenger Kevin Mitchell. Murray had ran up a record of 31 straight wins prior to that loss and had built a very solid local fan base. Whilst Murray was calling for the bigger fights he had ended up some what stuck in a rot defending either the British title (which he held from 2008-2010) or the European title (which he held for around a year prior to the Mitchell fight).
As a reward for "losing" to Mitchell he's now finally got the big fight he had been asking for, though it's one of the toughest assignments a Lightweight could possibly have, he'll have to travel to America to fight the WBA champion Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios. Rios is one of the most fearsome and heavy handed punchers in the division and has run up an impressive string of victories in recent fights to move his record to 28-0-1 (21). Rios has stopped all but 1 of his last 10 opponents early (the only one he didn't stop was Anthony Peterson who got himself disqualified after repeated low blows) and those wins including stopping the excellent Miguel Acosta and the teak tough Urbano Antillon.
Whilst it might fair to say that a loss has earned Murray a title fight, it may also be fair to suggest that a loss has earned Murray the most painful night of his life. Rios is, in many ways, very similar to Murray, both are in your face and both throw a lot of punches with neither man caring too much if they take 2 to land 1. The differences however are enormous. Rios really has a chin of granite as well as much more power on his shots, he's also craftier than the Englishman and much more able to enforce himself on a high calibre of opponent.
For Murray it may be his big chance, but he also had a big chance against Mitchell just months ago and was beaten at his own game, Rios will do what Mitchell did, just much quicker. Funny how a loss gets you a big chance though isn't it.
As a reward for "losing" to Mitchell he's now finally got the big fight he had been asking for, though it's one of the toughest assignments a Lightweight could possibly have, he'll have to travel to America to fight the WBA champion Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios. Rios is one of the most fearsome and heavy handed punchers in the division and has run up an impressive string of victories in recent fights to move his record to 28-0-1 (21). Rios has stopped all but 1 of his last 10 opponents early (the only one he didn't stop was Anthony Peterson who got himself disqualified after repeated low blows) and those wins including stopping the excellent Miguel Acosta and the teak tough Urbano Antillon.
Whilst it might fair to say that a loss has earned Murray a title fight, it may also be fair to suggest that a loss has earned Murray the most painful night of his life. Rios is, in many ways, very similar to Murray, both are in your face and both throw a lot of punches with neither man caring too much if they take 2 to land 1. The differences however are enormous. Rios really has a chin of granite as well as much more power on his shots, he's also craftier than the Englishman and much more able to enforce himself on a high calibre of opponent.
For Murray it may be his big chance, but he also had a big chance against Mitchell just months ago and was beaten at his own game, Rios will do what Mitchell did, just much quicker. Funny how a loss gets you a big chance though isn't it.
Friday 30 September 2011
Big night? Oh yeah, a real big night! And the UK...and the US
We've already looked at how big Saturday is in Germany but it's not all for the Germans both the UK and the US have a great day in store. The UK has a number of fascinating fights, which is headlined by a European Lightweight title fight. Then of course we are off to one of the craziest nights in US boxing this year.
Firstly the UK fight sees Gavin "The Rock" Rees (35-1, 16) a former WBA Light Welterweight champion defending the European Lightweight title against "Dirty" Derry Matthews (29-5, 15). Whilst I personally favour Rees to win Matthews has been on a sensational run as of late and has won 8 of his last 9 (including out pointing both Scott Lawton and Choi Tseveenpurev). Both men are flawed but they are both hugely entertaining and well worth a watch.
In the US it's a matter of "where do we start?"
Lets start with Atlantic City and with the deep card headlined by Middleweight champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez (47-2-2, 26) facing off against unbeaten British fighter "Dazzling" Darren Barker (23-0, 14). In the past I've been critical of Barker who has been "guilty" of talking himself up though it's that same talking, as well as a lack of challenger for Martinez and good management from Matchroom Sports that have helped to land Barker the biggest chance of his professional career. Martinez is a huge favourite whilst Barker is being given the chance to really put himself on the boxing map.
The same card has an exciting rematch between Andy Lee (26-1, 19) and Brian Vera (19-5, 12). Vera previously stopped Lee to give the Irishman his first professional loss, and now a few fights on Lee attempts to avenge it. The undercard includes a number of prospects including Isaac Chilemba, Alex Perez, Sean Monaghan, Steve Martinez, Magomed Abdusalamov (a heavyweight power puncher) and J'Leon Love.
At the same sort of time Las Vegas has an equally interesting card with a number of good looking fights. The headline act there is a WBC Super Bantamweight title bout in which under-rated Japanese fighter Toshiaki Nishioka (38-4-3, 24) defends his title against the legendary Rafael Marquez (40-6, 36). I'm favouring Nishioka here but it should be both technical, exciting and entertaining. Whilst both men are highly skilled they are also powerful and fun.
The same card also brings to America the ultra talented Roman "El Chocolatito" Gonzalez (29-0, 24) of Nicaragua who defends his WBA Light Flyweight title against Omar Soto (22-7-2, 15). I'd expect Gonzalez to defend his title with relative ease, though hopefully it'll be a good enough fight to help alert the boxing world to Gonzalez.
This same card also includes some top unbeaten fighters including the excellent Christopher Martin and Yoshihiro Kamegai.
Where ever you turn you are promised some amazing fights.
Firstly the UK fight sees Gavin "The Rock" Rees (35-1, 16) a former WBA Light Welterweight champion defending the European Lightweight title against "Dirty" Derry Matthews (29-5, 15). Whilst I personally favour Rees to win Matthews has been on a sensational run as of late and has won 8 of his last 9 (including out pointing both Scott Lawton and Choi Tseveenpurev). Both men are flawed but they are both hugely entertaining and well worth a watch.
In the US it's a matter of "where do we start?"
Lets start with Atlantic City and with the deep card headlined by Middleweight champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez (47-2-2, 26) facing off against unbeaten British fighter "Dazzling" Darren Barker (23-0, 14). In the past I've been critical of Barker who has been "guilty" of talking himself up though it's that same talking, as well as a lack of challenger for Martinez and good management from Matchroom Sports that have helped to land Barker the biggest chance of his professional career. Martinez is a huge favourite whilst Barker is being given the chance to really put himself on the boxing map.
The same card has an exciting rematch between Andy Lee (26-1, 19) and Brian Vera (19-5, 12). Vera previously stopped Lee to give the Irishman his first professional loss, and now a few fights on Lee attempts to avenge it. The undercard includes a number of prospects including Isaac Chilemba, Alex Perez, Sean Monaghan, Steve Martinez, Magomed Abdusalamov (a heavyweight power puncher) and J'Leon Love.
At the same sort of time Las Vegas has an equally interesting card with a number of good looking fights. The headline act there is a WBC Super Bantamweight title bout in which under-rated Japanese fighter Toshiaki Nishioka (38-4-3, 24) defends his title against the legendary Rafael Marquez (40-6, 36). I'm favouring Nishioka here but it should be both technical, exciting and entertaining. Whilst both men are highly skilled they are also powerful and fun.
The same card also brings to America the ultra talented Roman "El Chocolatito" Gonzalez (29-0, 24) of Nicaragua who defends his WBA Light Flyweight title against Omar Soto (22-7-2, 15). I'd expect Gonzalez to defend his title with relative ease, though hopefully it'll be a good enough fight to help alert the boxing world to Gonzalez.
This same card also includes some top unbeaten fighters including the excellent Christopher Martin and Yoshihiro Kamegai.
Where ever you turn you are promised some amazing fights.
Thursday 29 September 2011
Big night? Oh yeah, a real big night! Firstly Germany
When we think of big nights in boxing we generally seem to talk about 1 big fight. For example this year we've had "big nights" including Wladimir Klitschko v David Haye, Shane Mosley v Manny Pacquiao and most recently Floyd Mayweather v Victor Ortiz. The problem with these being regarded as "big nights" is that we suffer big time if the main fight end up as a bit of a flop and sadly all 3 have. This coming Saturday however is that other kind of "big night", the one we simply can't lose on thanks to quality fights happening literally everywhere you look.
If we turn our attention to Germany first we have an enthralling card, just look at the highlights below:
Steve Cunningham v Yoan Pablo Hernandez (IBF Cruiserweight title)
Grzegorz Proksa v Sebastian Sylvester (European Middleweight title)
Karo Murat v Gabriel Campillo (IBF Light Heavyweight Eliminator)
The card also features Dustin Dirks and Edmund Gerber. Can we just say that this is a great card before breaking down the actual matches?
Cunninham v Hernandez is a real toss up for me. Over the last 5 years Cunningham has been one of the premier Cruiserweights, he's beaten the likes of Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Marco Huck, Wayne Braithwaite and Troy Ross whilst suffering to, pretty controversial losses to Wlodarczyk and Tomasz Adamek. Hernandez however has been one of the emerging talents of the division with size, power, skill and youth all coming together. The 26 year old originally of Cuba is a 6'4" southpaw who is taking his first step up since suffering a reverse to Wayne Braithwaite back in 2008 and Hernandez has certainly improved since then. This bout is a genuine toss up.
Proska v Sylvester is another toss up, though I've got to favour the Pole who is coming into the bout on the back of 10 straight early wins. Whilst Sylvester is a clever fighter his work rate (or rather lack of) can be costly, and in fact it was with his recent loss to Daniel Geale. Although Proska at 5'8" is tiny for a middleweight he's actually taller than the former IBF world champion and this bout could well be the most entertaining of the night. Sylvester is fighting for his career whilst Proska is fighting to keep his unbeaten record.
I the other fight of the card (Murat v Campillo) I think we have the "second chance" saloon for both men. Campillo is arguably the most under-rated fighter in the Light Heavyweight division, a slippery, skilled, intelligent fighter who was completely robbed of his WBA title in January 2010 by Beibut Shumenov. Murat is a good fighter, and already holds a controversial win over Campillo (a majority decision back in 2008) but he's never really been able to take that leap into the next level. I fancy this one to be controversial probably with Murat winning another hotly contested decision.
We shall be looking at the other noteworthy cards over the following few days just to show you how great Saturday is going to be!
If we turn our attention to Germany first we have an enthralling card, just look at the highlights below:
Steve Cunningham v Yoan Pablo Hernandez (IBF Cruiserweight title)
Grzegorz Proksa v Sebastian Sylvester (European Middleweight title)
Karo Murat v Gabriel Campillo (IBF Light Heavyweight Eliminator)
The card also features Dustin Dirks and Edmund Gerber. Can we just say that this is a great card before breaking down the actual matches?
Cunninham v Hernandez is a real toss up for me. Over the last 5 years Cunningham has been one of the premier Cruiserweights, he's beaten the likes of Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Marco Huck, Wayne Braithwaite and Troy Ross whilst suffering to, pretty controversial losses to Wlodarczyk and Tomasz Adamek. Hernandez however has been one of the emerging talents of the division with size, power, skill and youth all coming together. The 26 year old originally of Cuba is a 6'4" southpaw who is taking his first step up since suffering a reverse to Wayne Braithwaite back in 2008 and Hernandez has certainly improved since then. This bout is a genuine toss up.
Proska v Sylvester is another toss up, though I've got to favour the Pole who is coming into the bout on the back of 10 straight early wins. Whilst Sylvester is a clever fighter his work rate (or rather lack of) can be costly, and in fact it was with his recent loss to Daniel Geale. Although Proska at 5'8" is tiny for a middleweight he's actually taller than the former IBF world champion and this bout could well be the most entertaining of the night. Sylvester is fighting for his career whilst Proska is fighting to keep his unbeaten record.
I the other fight of the card (Murat v Campillo) I think we have the "second chance" saloon for both men. Campillo is arguably the most under-rated fighter in the Light Heavyweight division, a slippery, skilled, intelligent fighter who was completely robbed of his WBA title in January 2010 by Beibut Shumenov. Murat is a good fighter, and already holds a controversial win over Campillo (a majority decision back in 2008) but he's never really been able to take that leap into the next level. I fancy this one to be controversial probably with Murat winning another hotly contested decision.
We shall be looking at the other noteworthy cards over the following few days just to show you how great Saturday is going to be!
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Saul Alvarez v Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
The title of this entry reads like the biggest money fight outside of Pacquiao v Mayweather though it's not an entry about the two men facing off, well not directly anyway. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is seen as Mexico's darling of boxing, he is a young, charismatic ginger haired kid who at just 21 years old holds a record of 37-0-1 (27) and is the current WBC Light Middleweight champion. Canelo is seen by some in the sport as the next big Pay Per View name and the guy that could help reinvigorate the fans.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is seen as the complete opposite, to Canelo, despite similarities including an unbeaten record (43-0-1, 1NC (30)) a WBC title (Middleweight) and also being Mexican, he's largely disliked. Whilst Alvarez is seen as the next big thing, Chavez Jr is seen as a bit of a fraud, a fighter who is living on his father's great name in the sport and doing little to deserve his chances on HBO.
I have for a while, been a JCC Jr defender, feeling that he's taken a lot of stick from fans for being over-hyped despite being described as "useless" and "clueless" yet he's a funny one. JCC Jr certainly has entertaining fights, his fight with Sebastian Zbik was exciting and really fun to watch and at least beat a fighter in their division for his title. If pushed it would seem the fraud is Canelo.
I know some readers may now be fuming but lets just look at it fairly.
Canelo managed to get a vacant "world title fight" against Matthew Hatton, in a division that Hatton wasn't campaigning in, whilst Chavez had to beat reigning title holder Zbik. (1-0 Chavez, I'm sure you agree)
Chavez will be making his next defence against former world title challenger Ronald Hearns whilst Canelo will be facing former title challenger Alfonso Gomez. The difference is that Gomez challenged for the Welterweight title and will be challenging for the Light Middleweight title, Hearns lasted 7 rounds with Felix Sturm at Middleweight, the same division he will be challenging Chavez. (Another for Chavez)
An often said comment about Chavez is that he was lucky to beat Carlos Molina though this is the Molina who just gave Kermit Cintron a whooping and was unlucky to only get a draw with Erislandy Lara. More recently Canelo was lucky to beat Francisco Villanueva, a guy who was 5-17-2. In fact Canelo also struggled to beat Lightweight (yes, Lightweight) champion Miguel Vazquez in Miguel's debut (3-0 Chavez)
When you look at things a bit more than simple their name and physical traits it seems pretty obvious, that Chavez is a bit more of a real deal than "Canelo".
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is seen as the complete opposite, to Canelo, despite similarities including an unbeaten record (43-0-1, 1NC (30)) a WBC title (Middleweight) and also being Mexican, he's largely disliked. Whilst Alvarez is seen as the next big thing, Chavez Jr is seen as a bit of a fraud, a fighter who is living on his father's great name in the sport and doing little to deserve his chances on HBO.
I have for a while, been a JCC Jr defender, feeling that he's taken a lot of stick from fans for being over-hyped despite being described as "useless" and "clueless" yet he's a funny one. JCC Jr certainly has entertaining fights, his fight with Sebastian Zbik was exciting and really fun to watch and at least beat a fighter in their division for his title. If pushed it would seem the fraud is Canelo.
I know some readers may now be fuming but lets just look at it fairly.
Canelo managed to get a vacant "world title fight" against Matthew Hatton, in a division that Hatton wasn't campaigning in, whilst Chavez had to beat reigning title holder Zbik. (1-0 Chavez, I'm sure you agree)
Chavez will be making his next defence against former world title challenger Ronald Hearns whilst Canelo will be facing former title challenger Alfonso Gomez. The difference is that Gomez challenged for the Welterweight title and will be challenging for the Light Middleweight title, Hearns lasted 7 rounds with Felix Sturm at Middleweight, the same division he will be challenging Chavez. (Another for Chavez)
An often said comment about Chavez is that he was lucky to beat Carlos Molina though this is the Molina who just gave Kermit Cintron a whooping and was unlucky to only get a draw with Erislandy Lara. More recently Canelo was lucky to beat Francisco Villanueva, a guy who was 5-17-2. In fact Canelo also struggled to beat Lightweight (yes, Lightweight) champion Miguel Vazquez in Miguel's debut (3-0 Chavez)
When you look at things a bit more than simple their name and physical traits it seems pretty obvious, that Chavez is a bit more of a real deal than "Canelo".
Sunday 26 June 2011
I love this sport...
...I honestly do, I mean that. Whether we're talking about the good times, the bad times, the happy times or the sad times I love this great sport of ours. It's the truest sport. No fighter can lie for long in this sport and get away with it. Sadly though fighters can lie and get lucky a time or two.
Whilst Felix Sturm won what I felt was a close decision against Matthew Macklin (in what was genuinely a fantastic fight full of action) in a fight that could genuinely have gone either way, neither fighter lied. They both put it on the line in a fantastic fight. Tonight though one man lied and got very lucky. Devon Alexander "The lucky" was out landed, out punched, out thrown and dropped against exciting Argentine Lucas Matthyse. I had the fight clearly to Matthyse, so did many others on Fightjudge and a number of forums, even the commentators seemed to have felt Matthyse had won the fight. Odd I actually believe all 3 judges must have felt Matthyse won, yet 2 of the 3 judges scored the fight to Alexander. Was it the crowd who swayed their views? Was it the fact that Don King was in charge of the event? Was it that St Charles, where the fight was held, was just down the road from St Louis, the home town of Alexander? Was it because Alexander is an American?
I'm not sure what it was but seriously, Alexander did not deserve to win that fight. Even the most blinkered of fans cannot possibly have seen the fight being a win for Alexander. Sadly as much as I love boxing, I hate the garbage that comes with it. These sorts of decisions aren't just bad, they sickening. It's no wonder our great sport is falling further and further into the depths of "nobody cares". No one will be brought into our great sport watching decisions like I saw in St Charles tonight. In fact people like myself may even turn away from the sport, it's disgusting things like this that will see people walk away for good.
The crowds in the US have been dropping and the reason isn't that the US have no good fighters, instead it's because we know that the sport is somewhat fishy. Fighters like Tavoris Cloud (who was on the same card), Andre Ward, Steve Cunningham, Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios are all very talented US fighters and if they are marketed well the people will come, they do not need their names tarnishing with the despicable decisions we've seen.
Whilst Felix Sturm won what I felt was a close decision against Matthew Macklin (in what was genuinely a fantastic fight full of action) in a fight that could genuinely have gone either way, neither fighter lied. They both put it on the line in a fantastic fight. Tonight though one man lied and got very lucky. Devon Alexander "The lucky" was out landed, out punched, out thrown and dropped against exciting Argentine Lucas Matthyse. I had the fight clearly to Matthyse, so did many others on Fightjudge and a number of forums, even the commentators seemed to have felt Matthyse had won the fight. Odd I actually believe all 3 judges must have felt Matthyse won, yet 2 of the 3 judges scored the fight to Alexander. Was it the crowd who swayed their views? Was it the fact that Don King was in charge of the event? Was it that St Charles, where the fight was held, was just down the road from St Louis, the home town of Alexander? Was it because Alexander is an American?
I'm not sure what it was but seriously, Alexander did not deserve to win that fight. Even the most blinkered of fans cannot possibly have seen the fight being a win for Alexander. Sadly as much as I love boxing, I hate the garbage that comes with it. These sorts of decisions aren't just bad, they sickening. It's no wonder our great sport is falling further and further into the depths of "nobody cares". No one will be brought into our great sport watching decisions like I saw in St Charles tonight. In fact people like myself may even turn away from the sport, it's disgusting things like this that will see people walk away for good.
The crowds in the US have been dropping and the reason isn't that the US have no good fighters, instead it's because we know that the sport is somewhat fishy. Fighters like Tavoris Cloud (who was on the same card), Andre Ward, Steve Cunningham, Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios are all very talented US fighters and if they are marketed well the people will come, they do not need their names tarnishing with the despicable decisions we've seen.
Saturday 11 June 2011
Argentina...the new hot bed?
It's amazing to think that of all the countries in the world Argentina is one of the dominant forces in world boxing. The country is current tied in 4th place for most amount of "champions" (they have 5 titles, the same as Germany and UK). The current champions are:
Sergio Martinez (Ring Middleweight)
Marcos Maidana (WBA "interim" Light Welterweight)
Jonathan Barros (WBA Featherweight)
Omar Andres Narvaez (WBO Super Flyweight)
Juan Carlos Reveco (WBA "interim" Flyweight)
Last night Reveco added his name to this list by defeating Jean Piero Perez with a vicious body shot (the write up of the fight can be read here) and tonight we will see Narvaez facing off against the pretty unknown William Urina. In all honesty a loss for Narvaez is almost unthinkable (he's a huge 1/33 favourite) though it's the 3rd fight for Narvaez this year showing that the veteran is staying active and keeping the ring rust off.
The future is a good one though at the moment Argentina seem to be one of the rising forces in the sport ob Boxing.
Sergio Martinez (Ring Middleweight)
Marcos Maidana (WBA "interim" Light Welterweight)
Jonathan Barros (WBA Featherweight)
Omar Andres Narvaez (WBO Super Flyweight)
Juan Carlos Reveco (WBA "interim" Flyweight)
Last night Reveco added his name to this list by defeating Jean Piero Perez with a vicious body shot (the write up of the fight can be read here) and tonight we will see Narvaez facing off against the pretty unknown William Urina. In all honesty a loss for Narvaez is almost unthinkable (he's a huge 1/33 favourite) though it's the 3rd fight for Narvaez this year showing that the veteran is staying active and keeping the ring rust off.
The future is a good one though at the moment Argentina seem to be one of the rising forces in the sport ob Boxing.
Monday 30 May 2011
Back to what we were made for...silly boxrec stuff
Wednesday 25 May 2011
More from Small Pith and some Prospects
My friend Small Pith returns with another one of his bizarre blogs. I love Small, honestly I do, but I think the guy has...problems. He was hugely behind Jean Pascal this past weekend, he said he had a £500 bet on Pascal by stoppage, though I've yet to see his betting slip. Now he's unleashed a fury at Hopkins, claiming Joe Bugner is the real record holder for oldest champion. Whilst I do write for and administer the site the writers have been given free reign to literally write anything they want, I don't censor what they write on the site so take his views...as those of a crazyman.
What I do have complete control over is this site, and a prospect site. It's the prospect site that actually has taken my attention this past week. It's one of the more interesting sides of the sport though one a lot of people don't really pay attention to until prospects become contenders and it's a real shame. This past week I've looked at 3 different prospects already and they are all really exciting youngsters:
Firstly one Daniel “Bad Boy” Rosas, a fighter who seem destined for greatness and has had a tough start to his career. The piece on Rosas can be read here:
Secondly was the youngest prospect I could find. 16 year old Robert Manzanarez, a fighter who made his debut at just 15 years old and is now unbeaten in 10 fights. The piece on Manzanarez is here.
Most recently was a piece on a Nicaraguan some are already declaring a future world champion. Carlos Buitrago, a 19 year old who is well on his way forward. The piece on Buitrago can be read here
There will be more fighters going on that site over the coming weeks, so stay tuned there.
What I do have complete control over is this site, and a prospect site. It's the prospect site that actually has taken my attention this past week. It's one of the more interesting sides of the sport though one a lot of people don't really pay attention to until prospects become contenders and it's a real shame. This past week I've looked at 3 different prospects already and they are all really exciting youngsters:
Firstly one Daniel “Bad Boy” Rosas, a fighter who seem destined for greatness and has had a tough start to his career. The piece on Rosas can be read here:
Secondly was the youngest prospect I could find. 16 year old Robert Manzanarez, a fighter who made his debut at just 15 years old and is now unbeaten in 10 fights. The piece on Manzanarez is here.
Most recently was a piece on a Nicaraguan some are already declaring a future world champion. Carlos Buitrago, a 19 year old who is well on his way forward. The piece on Buitrago can be read here
There will be more fighters going on that site over the coming weeks, so stay tuned there.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Hopkins and Jones old men on a different spectrum
Legendary fighters fighting well beyond their “prime” is something that has always happened. We all remember Muhammad Ali taking those unnecessary fights with the likes of Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick, Mike Tyson taking fights with Danny Williams and Kevin McBride. The most recent example of a great fighter with a legendary name being beaten up by a younger fighter is Roy Jones Jr who was almost killed in a Russian ring this past weekend when he faced Denis Lebedev.
Although fighters fighting on well beyond their primes is nothing new fighters like Roy Jones and Evander Holyfield need to be taken away from the boxing ring. Despite them both having serious issues regarding finance they need to find some other way to make money. Roy Jones Jr has got other avenues, at the moment he's a promoter and he does work for HBO. Although he apparently owes a large sum to the IRS having his brains splattered across a Russian ring won't help anyone at all.
Rather amazingly on the same day the Roy Jones Jr was knocked senseless and left face first in a ring in Moscow Bernard Hopkins became the oldest professional champion (regarded by the WBA/WBC/WBO/IBF). Hopkins shows what a fighter can do with just the old skool tricks, he wasn't the biggest, the strongest or the fastest, though he was a fighter who could out think his opponents. Unlike Jones who had all the natural talent a fighter could wish for, Hopkins has had to do things the hard-way and as a result time hasn't take the toll it has on Jones. The once lightning reflexes of Jones have evaporated whilst Hopkins, who never relied on natural gifts has seen his experience and skills come from hard graft and have seen him secure his name in the record books for another great achievement.
How long can Bernard Hopkins go on for? I'm not sure, but I'll be tuning in to see just how long Bernard can remain at the top.
Although fighters fighting on well beyond their primes is nothing new fighters like Roy Jones and Evander Holyfield need to be taken away from the boxing ring. Despite them both having serious issues regarding finance they need to find some other way to make money. Roy Jones Jr has got other avenues, at the moment he's a promoter and he does work for HBO. Although he apparently owes a large sum to the IRS having his brains splattered across a Russian ring won't help anyone at all.
Rather amazingly on the same day the Roy Jones Jr was knocked senseless and left face first in a ring in Moscow Bernard Hopkins became the oldest professional champion (regarded by the WBA/WBC/WBO/IBF). Hopkins shows what a fighter can do with just the old skool tricks, he wasn't the biggest, the strongest or the fastest, though he was a fighter who could out think his opponents. Unlike Jones who had all the natural talent a fighter could wish for, Hopkins has had to do things the hard-way and as a result time hasn't take the toll it has on Jones. The once lightning reflexes of Jones have evaporated whilst Hopkins, who never relied on natural gifts has seen his experience and skills come from hard graft and have seen him secure his name in the record books for another great achievement.
How long can Bernard Hopkins go on for? I'm not sure, but I'll be tuning in to see just how long Bernard can remain at the top.
Saturday 21 May 2011
Lights out and A challenger becomes the champion
This blog was set up to be a bit odd, whether it was the oddities in the ring, out of the ring or just odd things to do in boxing. Well tonight we had the perfect example of something odd happening in the arena. As Sadam Ali and John Revish were coming out to begin round 5 of their bout which was televised on ESPN Friday Night Fights the lights cut out. For 16 minutes the fighters and the audience were left in near darkness. The fight did continue, eventually, when the lights were fixed. It wasn't quite what people were expecting when they thinking of “Lights out” though it was a talking point and an oddity that brought back memories of similar sorts of breaks.
It wasn't the only oddity of the week though the other oddity was the strange case of Nathan Cleverly's opponents. Firstly it was Juergen Braehmer, who until mid-week seemed to be coming over to London to fight Cleverly, then he failed to get on the plain. Did Braehmer bottle it? Was he, as one rumour stated, arrested, again? Was he cut as the official line said? Whatever it was Braehmer had given just a few days noticed that he wouldn't be making the date. This is the second time THIS YEAR that Braehmer has pulled out of a fight with less than a weeks notice (the previous time was against Beibut Shumenov).
After Braehmer's pull out Englishman Tony “Bomber” Bellew seemed to be stepping into the breach to save the show. Bellew had done the press conference along with Cleverly though late on Thursday was forced out of the bout having been unable to make a check weight. Aleksy Kuziemski a Polish 35 year old would step in to replace Bellew and this will be the fight we will be seeing live on Sky Box Office. The title, that had been Braehmer's at the start of the week has been passed onto Cleverly, who has now found himself going from a challenger and slight under-dog to champion and heavy favourite. That's rather odd.
A preview of the Kuziemski v Cleverly fight can be found here
It wasn't the only oddity of the week though the other oddity was the strange case of Nathan Cleverly's opponents. Firstly it was Juergen Braehmer, who until mid-week seemed to be coming over to London to fight Cleverly, then he failed to get on the plain. Did Braehmer bottle it? Was he, as one rumour stated, arrested, again? Was he cut as the official line said? Whatever it was Braehmer had given just a few days noticed that he wouldn't be making the date. This is the second time THIS YEAR that Braehmer has pulled out of a fight with less than a weeks notice (the previous time was against Beibut Shumenov).
After Braehmer's pull out Englishman Tony “Bomber” Bellew seemed to be stepping into the breach to save the show. Bellew had done the press conference along with Cleverly though late on Thursday was forced out of the bout having been unable to make a check weight. Aleksy Kuziemski a Polish 35 year old would step in to replace Bellew and this will be the fight we will be seeing live on Sky Box Office. The title, that had been Braehmer's at the start of the week has been passed onto Cleverly, who has now found himself going from a challenger and slight under-dog to champion and heavy favourite. That's rather odd.
A preview of the Kuziemski v Cleverly fight can be found here
Saturday 14 May 2011
This weekends title fights
Later today the world of boxing has 3 “world” title bouts. The big name bout is of course the Super 6 Semi Final bout between Andre “Son Of God” Ward and “King” Arthur Abraham in a bout that will decide half of the Super 6 final and the WBA “super” champion at Super Middleweight. The bout is an interesting one and although I favour Ward to take the decision plenty of folks do seem to feel that Abraham’s power could trouble the American. The bout will be shown on Showtime and ARD amongst other channels around the world and the winner will face the winner of Carl Froch and Glen Johnson who fighter in a few weeks time.
My Preview for Rings news 24 can be found here
World Boxing Title Preview take on the fight can be read here
Abraham Profile can be read here
Ward Profile can be read here
The most interesting title bout of the night however sees 22 year old Mexican puncher Hugo Ruiz, who enters with a record of 27-1 (25) facing off against veteran Francisco Arce (the younger brother of WBO Super Bantamweight champion Jorge Arce). Arce will be attempting to join his brother as champion whilst Ruiz will be looking for his biggest win as he defends his WBA “interim” Bantamweight title. Ruiz will be trying to prove that he’s the star some have started to claim he is whilst Arce will be trying to upset the apple cart in what is genuinely and intriguing match up.
World Boxing Title Preview take on the fight can be read here
Hugo Ruiz Profile can be read here
Francisco Arce Profile can be read here
The final title fight of the weekend is probably the least interesting to be frankly honest. It sees the once highly rated Cristian Mijares defending his IBF Super Flyweight title against Nicaraguan Carlos Rueda an almost unknown in the boxing world. Mijares had seen a bout with Raul Martinez cancelled a week or so before the bout and so Mijares found a replacement opponent. Mijares was once a pound-for-pound top 10 fighter though has been showing signs of being on the slide for the past few years and although it would be an upset to see Reuda win it’d say more about how far gone Mijares is rather than how good Rueda is.
World Boxing Title Preview take on the fight can be read here
Cristian Mijares Profile
Carlos Rueda Profile
My Preview for Rings news 24 can be found here
World Boxing Title Preview take on the fight can be read here
Abraham Profile can be read here
Ward Profile can be read here
The most interesting title bout of the night however sees 22 year old Mexican puncher Hugo Ruiz, who enters with a record of 27-1 (25) facing off against veteran Francisco Arce (the younger brother of WBO Super Bantamweight champion Jorge Arce). Arce will be attempting to join his brother as champion whilst Ruiz will be looking for his biggest win as he defends his WBA “interim” Bantamweight title. Ruiz will be trying to prove that he’s the star some have started to claim he is whilst Arce will be trying to upset the apple cart in what is genuinely and intriguing match up.
World Boxing Title Preview take on the fight can be read here
Hugo Ruiz Profile can be read here
Francisco Arce Profile can be read here
The final title fight of the weekend is probably the least interesting to be frankly honest. It sees the once highly rated Cristian Mijares defending his IBF Super Flyweight title against Nicaraguan Carlos Rueda an almost unknown in the boxing world. Mijares had seen a bout with Raul Martinez cancelled a week or so before the bout and so Mijares found a replacement opponent. Mijares was once a pound-for-pound top 10 fighter though has been showing signs of being on the slide for the past few years and although it would be an upset to see Reuda win it’d say more about how far gone Mijares is rather than how good Rueda is.
World Boxing Title Preview take on the fight can be read here
Cristian Mijares Profile
Carlos Rueda Profile
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Brotherly love
Last weekend we saw Jorge Arce become the first man from Mexico to win “world titles” in 4 separate weight divisions when he upset the odds and stopped Wilfredo Vazquez Jr in the 12th round of a pulsating bout. This coming could see the Arce family celebrating once again as Jorge's younger brother Francisco Arce attempts to gain the interim WBA Bantamweight title from Hugo Ruiz. Could this month really be the month for the Arce family?
Jorge was a heavy betting outsider, in fact you could back him as highly as 9/1 whilst Vazquez had gotten as low as 1/12. The fight was one of the best fights of 2011 as the offensive minded Arce just refused to give up, he had looked tired in a number of rounds then mounted a surge in the final 2 rounds to grind down the younger and bigger champion.
Like Jorge, Francisco is going in to the bout as the under-dog (although no betting lines seem to be available), he's fighting a man who is 27-1 (25) and younger than himself as well as being bigger than himself. Francisco has never won a world title before and has always been in the shadows of his older brother, now is his time to shine and stand, for a little while, on a similar footing.
Jorge's place in Mexican boxing history is secured, he'll almost certainly be in the Hall of Fame despite not being the most talented fighter in recent years. Francisco will want to try and win and help forge his own legacy, the big question is can the Arce's join the Klitschko's (Vitali and Wladimir) and the Garcia twins (Raul and Ramon) in holding world titles at the same time as each other? Also can anyone remember a time when so many brothers held titles? It's not a new thing of course, we've seen the Galaxy twins, the Marquez brothers and numerous others do it, but 3 at once? That can't have been a common thing.
Jorge was a heavy betting outsider, in fact you could back him as highly as 9/1 whilst Vazquez had gotten as low as 1/12. The fight was one of the best fights of 2011 as the offensive minded Arce just refused to give up, he had looked tired in a number of rounds then mounted a surge in the final 2 rounds to grind down the younger and bigger champion.
Like Jorge, Francisco is going in to the bout as the under-dog (although no betting lines seem to be available), he's fighting a man who is 27-1 (25) and younger than himself as well as being bigger than himself. Francisco has never won a world title before and has always been in the shadows of his older brother, now is his time to shine and stand, for a little while, on a similar footing.
Jorge's place in Mexican boxing history is secured, he'll almost certainly be in the Hall of Fame despite not being the most talented fighter in recent years. Francisco will want to try and win and help forge his own legacy, the big question is can the Arce's join the Klitschko's (Vitali and Wladimir) and the Garcia twins (Raul and Ramon) in holding world titles at the same time as each other? Also can anyone remember a time when so many brothers held titles? It's not a new thing of course, we've seen the Galaxy twins, the Marquez brothers and numerous others do it, but 3 at once? That can't have been a common thing.
Friday 6 May 2011
May 7th what a busy day
This coming month promises to be one of the most interesting months in boxing this year. We have number of high quality match-ups, we have title fights around the world and we have a number of very interesting none title fights. We started the month with a relative upset, with Drian Francisco losing in Thailand to Tepparith Singwancha in an “Interim” WBA Super Flyweight title bout. Less than a week later the sport explodes all over the globe.
In Japan we get a 3-fight card that features unbeaten rising prospects Tomoki Kameda and Masao Nakamura and WBA Bantamweight champion Koki Kameda defending against Nicaraguan challenger Daniel Diaz. This is an incredibly under-rated card that will be shown some of the best young talent in East and hopefully some Western fight fans will get the chance to watch it. An interesting fact about Koki Kameda, he is Japan's first ever 3-weight world champion.
In Denmark we see the return to the ring of future Hall of Famer Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield when he takes on Danish fighter Brian Nielsen. This bout isn't worth staying in for though some of the under-card bouts are interesting enough to watch the event. We get female star Cecilia Braekhus defending her Welterweight titles against the experienced Chevelle Hallback, we get to see rising heavyweight Kubrat Pulev facing American Derrick Rossy and also a match with Dustin Dirks, the rising German star. The card seems to be PPV only so it's not the best choice for the night. Interesting fact from the card the combined age of the heavyweights in the main event is 94 and their combined record stands at 107-12-0 (71).
In the UK we have the very, very intriguing “International Prizefighter Heavyweights” in which 8 men will complete in a straight knock with 3 round bouts leading to a final. The competitors have changed a bit over this past week but look to be the following:
Konstantin Airich (Germany)
Lucian Bot (Romania)
Tye Fields (USA)
Kertson Manswell (Trinidad and Tobago)
Evgeny Orlov (Russia)
Mike Perez (Cuba)
Michael Sprott (UK)
Gregory Tony (France)
This will be televised on Sky Sports 1 in the UK and promises to have some great moments. Sprott has to be seen as a live under-dog having experienced the tournament before. Interesting fact Evgeny Orlov (6'9”) is the tallest man in the competition, slight taller than Tye Fields (6'8”) whilst Mike Perez is dwarfed and the shortest man involved (6'0”).
At around the same time is a card in Germany that also has real international appeal featuring some Brits, some Germans and an Aussie. The main event sees IBF Middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester face off against Australian Daniel Geale in what should, on paper, be a very even bout. That card also features a European Light Heavyweight title defence by Danny McIntosh against former world title challenger Eduard Gutknecht in what should be an excellent bout. Rising German heavyweight Edmund Gerber faces British heavyweight Carl “The Fridge” Baker in what should be decent test for Gerber over the opening round or two. The card also has Karo Murat on it and young Swede Marcos Nader. Interesting fact here, Geale follows in the footsteps of fellow Aussies Anthony Mundine and Danny Green challenging for a title in Germany, they both failed, will it be 3rd time lucky?
Of course the nights biggest even is in the US and will be shown on Showtime and Sky Sports with the main event being Manny Pacquiao v Shane Mosley for the WBO Welterweight title. That card also features WBO Super Bantamweight action as champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr defends against Mexican star Jorge Arce. The card also features an incredibly deep undercard that features unbeaten prospects including Mike Alvarado, Jose Benavidez, Pier Olivier Cote and Carl Dargan, with former world champions Kelly Pavlik and Rodel Mayol also competing. It will be Pavlik's first bout since he went into rehab for his alcohol problems. Interesting fact here, Arce is attempting to become the first ever Mexican fighter to become a 4-weight world champion.
In Japan we get a 3-fight card that features unbeaten rising prospects Tomoki Kameda and Masao Nakamura and WBA Bantamweight champion Koki Kameda defending against Nicaraguan challenger Daniel Diaz. This is an incredibly under-rated card that will be shown some of the best young talent in East and hopefully some Western fight fans will get the chance to watch it. An interesting fact about Koki Kameda, he is Japan's first ever 3-weight world champion.
In Denmark we see the return to the ring of future Hall of Famer Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield when he takes on Danish fighter Brian Nielsen. This bout isn't worth staying in for though some of the under-card bouts are interesting enough to watch the event. We get female star Cecilia Braekhus defending her Welterweight titles against the experienced Chevelle Hallback, we get to see rising heavyweight Kubrat Pulev facing American Derrick Rossy and also a match with Dustin Dirks, the rising German star. The card seems to be PPV only so it's not the best choice for the night. Interesting fact from the card the combined age of the heavyweights in the main event is 94 and their combined record stands at 107-12-0 (71).
In the UK we have the very, very intriguing “International Prizefighter Heavyweights” in which 8 men will complete in a straight knock with 3 round bouts leading to a final. The competitors have changed a bit over this past week but look to be the following:
Konstantin Airich (Germany)
Lucian Bot (Romania)
Tye Fields (USA)
Kertson Manswell (Trinidad and Tobago)
Evgeny Orlov (Russia)
Mike Perez (Cuba)
Michael Sprott (UK)
Gregory Tony (France)
This will be televised on Sky Sports 1 in the UK and promises to have some great moments. Sprott has to be seen as a live under-dog having experienced the tournament before. Interesting fact Evgeny Orlov (6'9”) is the tallest man in the competition, slight taller than Tye Fields (6'8”) whilst Mike Perez is dwarfed and the shortest man involved (6'0”).
At around the same time is a card in Germany that also has real international appeal featuring some Brits, some Germans and an Aussie. The main event sees IBF Middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester face off against Australian Daniel Geale in what should, on paper, be a very even bout. That card also features a European Light Heavyweight title defence by Danny McIntosh against former world title challenger Eduard Gutknecht in what should be an excellent bout. Rising German heavyweight Edmund Gerber faces British heavyweight Carl “The Fridge” Baker in what should be decent test for Gerber over the opening round or two. The card also has Karo Murat on it and young Swede Marcos Nader. Interesting fact here, Geale follows in the footsteps of fellow Aussies Anthony Mundine and Danny Green challenging for a title in Germany, they both failed, will it be 3rd time lucky?
Of course the nights biggest even is in the US and will be shown on Showtime and Sky Sports with the main event being Manny Pacquiao v Shane Mosley for the WBO Welterweight title. That card also features WBO Super Bantamweight action as champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr defends against Mexican star Jorge Arce. The card also features an incredibly deep undercard that features unbeaten prospects including Mike Alvarado, Jose Benavidez, Pier Olivier Cote and Carl Dargan, with former world champions Kelly Pavlik and Rodel Mayol also competing. It will be Pavlik's first bout since he went into rehab for his alcohol problems. Interesting fact here, Arce is attempting to become the first ever Mexican fighter to become a 4-weight world champion.
Sunday 1 May 2011
The night the Light Flyweight division changed
In a bizarre night of boxing in which 3 rematches took place for titles in the Light Flyweight division and a WBO minimumweight title bout we crowned 3 NEW world champions.
Firstly in Mexico the WBC Light Flyweight title changed hands as Adrian "El Confessor" Hernandez stopped Gilberto Keb Baas. These two met a few years ago with Hernandez doing the job in 4 rounds. The bout was an enthralling bout through out with the 25 year old Hernandez rising to the task and Keb Baas' corner stopping the bout between the 10th and 11th round. Hernandez does look like one who could be very exciting in the future.
Also in Mexico the WBO Light Flyweight title changed hands as Jesus Geles was stopped in 4 rounds by Ramon Hirales Garcia. These two had fought in February in a "WBO Interim unification" bout (I kid you not) with Geles taking a decision in his native Mexico. On that card we also had WBO Minimumweight champion Raul Garcia stopping Filipino challenger Rommel Asenjo in 3 rounds to stop the rise of the man known as "My little assassin".
In an horrifically scored and horrifically refereed bout in Argentina we saw 40 year old Luis Alberto Lazarte lose his IBF Light Flyweight title to Ulises Solis. These two men had met in December of last year and Lazarte, with 2 point deductions had managed to score a draw in a bout he could have been disqualified in a number of times. This time it was Solis who was deducted a point in a bout he seemed to win by a wide margin though the judges cards read 116-112 to Solis
114-113 to Lazarte 115-112 to Solis. How Lazarte wasn't deducted points or kicked out was mystery, his most potent blows were low or behind the head.
The night has seen a total shift in the Light Flyweight division with 3 new title holders, with Mexicans taking titles away from an Argentinian and a Colombian. The current list of all the world champions in the sport can be found here
Firstly in Mexico the WBC Light Flyweight title changed hands as Adrian "El Confessor" Hernandez stopped Gilberto Keb Baas. These two met a few years ago with Hernandez doing the job in 4 rounds. The bout was an enthralling bout through out with the 25 year old Hernandez rising to the task and Keb Baas' corner stopping the bout between the 10th and 11th round. Hernandez does look like one who could be very exciting in the future.
Also in Mexico the WBO Light Flyweight title changed hands as Jesus Geles was stopped in 4 rounds by Ramon Hirales Garcia. These two had fought in February in a "WBO Interim unification" bout (I kid you not) with Geles taking a decision in his native Mexico. On that card we also had WBO Minimumweight champion Raul Garcia stopping Filipino challenger Rommel Asenjo in 3 rounds to stop the rise of the man known as "My little assassin".
In an horrifically scored and horrifically refereed bout in Argentina we saw 40 year old Luis Alberto Lazarte lose his IBF Light Flyweight title to Ulises Solis. These two men had met in December of last year and Lazarte, with 2 point deductions had managed to score a draw in a bout he could have been disqualified in a number of times. This time it was Solis who was deducted a point in a bout he seemed to win by a wide margin though the judges cards read 116-112 to Solis
114-113 to Lazarte 115-112 to Solis. How Lazarte wasn't deducted points or kicked out was mystery, his most potent blows were low or behind the head.
The night has seen a total shift in the Light Flyweight division with 3 new title holders, with Mexicans taking titles away from an Argentinian and a Colombian. The current list of all the world champions in the sport can be found here
Monday 25 April 2011
The biggest day in Light Flyweight History?
April 30th looks likely to be the biggest day ever in Light Flyweight history. It's a day in which the division will possibly be turned on it's head as the WBO, WBC and IBF titles are all fought for on the same night. WBPT have previewed all of the fights and we'll get onto that a little bit later on but does the division stand on the verge of a major shake up or are we going to see 3 easy title defences?
In Argentina we have a rematch of one of 2010's most controversial bouts as champion Luis Alberto Lazarte faces off against Ulises Solis in an IBF defence. The 1st bout between the two could easily have ended mid way through due to all the fouls committed by the Argentinian champion. Now aged 40 Lazarte really needs to pull something out of the bag. Kevin Donnelly previewing the fight for WBTP ended his preview with a forewarning of “Do not be surprised to see either a wide decision or even a DQ win for the Mexican challenger.”
Solis is a class fighter and already deserves the title and I think now he gets it.
Preview of that bout can be read here (Thanks to Kevin Donnelly)
The other two fights are both in Mexico and are also both title rematches. Firstly we have WBC champion Gilberto Keb Baas facing hot youngster Adrian Hernandez. These two first met over 3 years ago and Hernandez stopped Keb Baas in the 4th round. At that time Hernandez seemed destined for greatness he'd gone to 13-0 (11) and had beaten Keb Baas and Rodel Mayol both by 4th round KO. Soon afterwards he suffered a draw with Eric Ortiz and a TKO loss to Oscar Ibarra. Whilst Hernandez is trying to rebuild his career somewhat Keb Baas is revelling in an Indian summer as the WBC champion having won a title on his 3rd try.
Preview of that bout can be read here
The final fight in the divisions day to remember is another rematch though one from just a few months ago as Colombian Jesus Geles defends his WBO title against Ramon Garcia Hirales. The two met in February in a “WBO interim Unification bout”, though when Giovanni Segura made his plans to step up to Flyweight the full version of the title was award to Geles. I their first bout both fighters fought brilliantly with Geles taking a thin split decision in a fight that was really close. That fight was in Colombia and this one is in Mexico, expect the challenger to take a thin decision based on the back of the crowd's noises.
Preview of that bout can be read here
Whether it's the most important day in the divisions history or not, one thing is certain, it'll be the busiest. In a division that is as a talent laden as this one is it could be very difficult to imagine any of the winners holding the titles for too long with out being in big fights. The division boasts the unbeaten Roman Gonzalez (WBA champion), Filipino great Donnie Nietes (former WBO minimumweight champion), unbeaten Mexican Jose Rodriguez and although it's lost it's biggest name in Giovanni Segura it's still a more than interesting division. How often can we say that about the 108lbs division?
In Argentina we have a rematch of one of 2010's most controversial bouts as champion Luis Alberto Lazarte faces off against Ulises Solis in an IBF defence. The 1st bout between the two could easily have ended mid way through due to all the fouls committed by the Argentinian champion. Now aged 40 Lazarte really needs to pull something out of the bag. Kevin Donnelly previewing the fight for WBTP ended his preview with a forewarning of “Do not be surprised to see either a wide decision or even a DQ win for the Mexican challenger.”
Solis is a class fighter and already deserves the title and I think now he gets it.
Preview of that bout can be read here (Thanks to Kevin Donnelly)
The other two fights are both in Mexico and are also both title rematches. Firstly we have WBC champion Gilberto Keb Baas facing hot youngster Adrian Hernandez. These two first met over 3 years ago and Hernandez stopped Keb Baas in the 4th round. At that time Hernandez seemed destined for greatness he'd gone to 13-0 (11) and had beaten Keb Baas and Rodel Mayol both by 4th round KO. Soon afterwards he suffered a draw with Eric Ortiz and a TKO loss to Oscar Ibarra. Whilst Hernandez is trying to rebuild his career somewhat Keb Baas is revelling in an Indian summer as the WBC champion having won a title on his 3rd try.
Preview of that bout can be read here
The final fight in the divisions day to remember is another rematch though one from just a few months ago as Colombian Jesus Geles defends his WBO title against Ramon Garcia Hirales. The two met in February in a “WBO interim Unification bout”, though when Giovanni Segura made his plans to step up to Flyweight the full version of the title was award to Geles. I their first bout both fighters fought brilliantly with Geles taking a thin split decision in a fight that was really close. That fight was in Colombia and this one is in Mexico, expect the challenger to take a thin decision based on the back of the crowd's noises.
Preview of that bout can be read here
Whether it's the most important day in the divisions history or not, one thing is certain, it'll be the busiest. In a division that is as a talent laden as this one is it could be very difficult to imagine any of the winners holding the titles for too long with out being in big fights. The division boasts the unbeaten Roman Gonzalez (WBA champion), Filipino great Donnie Nietes (former WBO minimumweight champion), unbeaten Mexican Jose Rodriguez and although it's lost it's biggest name in Giovanni Segura it's still a more than interesting division. How often can we say that about the 108lbs division?
Thursday 21 April 2011
Small Pith...The Jean Pascal Lover
I recently started a website all based about world title fights called WorldBoxingTitlePreview and within a week I'd recruited a couple of writers to helps. We started by getting a guy claiming he was "Trendy Terry", then we added Small Pith Jr (a guy who stole something I said and turned it into his bloody online handle) and Kevin Donnelly. By the end of the 2nd week I'd trusted the other guys to do their own previews and stuff without the need to edit them and play about with them, then came Small's preview for Hopkins v Pascal. All I can say is that Small likes Mr Pascal a little bit too much.
You can read that preview here:
Small Pith Makes Love to Jean Pascal
I beg you to give it a go if you want a giggle.
You can read that preview here:
Small Pith Makes Love to Jean Pascal
I beg you to give it a go if you want a giggle.
Monday 18 April 2011
0's go in 4 world title fights, though did anyone pick the right results?....
In my most recent entry on this blog I spoke about a busy night at the end of the month which features a number of world title fights with out any of the fighters have a 0 in their loss column. Amazingly last weekend (16th-18th April) we saw 6 fighters with unbeaten records competing in world title bouts. Of those 6 fighters 4 of them had perfect winning records, a combined record of those 4 fighters stood at a very impressive 99-0 (75),with Juan Manuel Lopez at 30-0 (27), Andre Berto at 27-0 (21), Paul McCloskey at 22-0 (12) and Cesar Seda at 20-0 (15). Their opponents in the title fights had pretty impressive records overall themselves at a combined 109-14-6 (80) with the individual records of Omar Narvaez 33-0-2 (19), Victor Ortiz 28-2-2 (22), Amir Khan 24-1 (17) and Orlando Salido 34-11-2-1 (22).
Now what became rather surprising was that every one of the perfect winning records was ended within around 24 hours of each other. Cesar Seda's was the first to go as he was defeated by Narvaez in a fight for the WBO Super Flyweight title. Seda had put up a very competitive effort but the champions work rate, accuracy and handspeed was the telling factor. Paul McCloskey's 0 was the next to go as WBA Light Welterweight champion Amir Khan scored a hugely controversial technical decision win after a clash of heads opened a small cut on McCloskey's head and forced the fight to the score cards early. Neither of these results were that surprising, in all honesty. What was surprising were the other two results.
Juan Manuel Lopez had entered his bout as the WBO Featherweight champion, Boxrec.com had ranked him at #1 in the division and Salido had come in on a relatively one sided loss to Yuriorkis Gamboa. Lopez was a 1/16 favourite hours prior to the fight whilst you could back Salido at odds as high as 7/1. Those that backed the underdog would have been laughing themselves silly as their man force fed Lopez a steady diet of right hands and forcing the stoppage in the 8th round. Andre Berto had entered his bout as the WBC Welterweight champion and was around 1/3 as the favourite and Ortiz was a 7/2 underdog. Ortiz started quickly dropping the champion twice in the opening round (though only 1 was scored) and dominated much of the fight (despite being dropped twice himself). This wasn't as surprising as the Salido result but was still a big upset of the man many had ranked as the 3rd best Welterweight in the world.
Amusingly if you'd of had a double on the upsets at the best odds you'd have walked away with 36 times your stake. Salido was actually 14/1 to win by stoppage and Ortiz by decision was 7/1, had you picked both of those results you'd have won 120 times your stake. Not too bad for a return that right there.
Thursday 14 April 2011
6 titles fights, 0 perfect records?
Last week I blogged about how there was a triple head in Japan, a show that if you caught it you'd have really enjoyed. Both Nishioka and Ao defended their titles successfully whilst Hozumi Hasegawa suffered his 2nd stoppage loss in 3 fights at the hands of Jhonny Gonzalez. At the end of the month however boxing fans have a bit of a scheduling nightmare. America (south and north) hold no less than 6 title fights in just 1 night. They are:
Rafael Concepcion v Hugo Ruiz (WBA, Bantamweight)-Panama
Gilberto Keb Baas v Adrian Hernandez II (WBC, Light Flyweight)-Mexico
Jesus Geles v Ramon Garcia Hirales II (WBO, Light Flyweight)-Mexico
Raul Garcia v Rommel Asenjo (WBO, Minimumweight)-Mexico
Julio Cesar Miranda v Richie Mepranum II (WBO, Flyweight)-USA
Luis Alberto Lazarte v Ulises Solis II (IBF, Light Flyweight)-Argentina
Although these are all in the “smaller weights” and include 4 rematches they should include some very interesting match ups. What's perhaps the most amazing is that from the 12 fighters involved not a single one has an unbeaten record. In fact the combined losses are 52!
By fighter:
Keb Bass-20
Lazarate-9
Concepcion-5
Miranda-5
Asenjo-2
Hirales-2
Mepranum-2
Solis-2
Geles-1
Garcia-1
Hernandez-1
Ruiz-1
Could this be 4 records-
1-Most title fights on the same night? (6)
2-Most title fight rematches on the same night? (3)
3-Most combined losses of title fight fighters in 1 night? (52)
4-Most title fights with out an unbeaten record?
Tuesday 12 April 2011
10-0 (10) and another "fake" record
Just a few weeks ago I was complaining about fake records, and it's that time once again to find a fighter than has a better looking record than he really deserves. 23 year old Belarussian middleweight Raman Dzekhkanau is 10-0 (10) as a professional though is actually unranked on the boxrec database due to the “quality” of his wins. So far Dzekhkanau has fought only 11 rounds a professional and has one of those records that looks pathetic when you scrape beneath the surface. Of his 10 opponents to date he has faced 8 debutants and faced opponents with a combined record of 4-6-2.
Dzekhkanau appears to be taking his first risk later this week when he faces the 3-0 (1) Polish 29 year old Robert Swierzbinski. Swierzbinski is boxrec.com's 241st ranked Super Middleweight and through his 3 fights has already fought the same amount of rounds as Dzekhkanau. (11) though his opponents are significantly better. Combined Swierzbinski's opponents have combined for 12-0-1 and aside from his own debut he has faced more experienced fighters every time he has fought.
Although it's not a forgone conclusion this time around, I'd be surprised if the Pole doesn't win, probably by decision after 6 rounds.
Monday 4 April 2011
Japanese Triple header
This coming Friday night sees a boxing triple header with 3 world title fights on the same card. Although the card is in Japan it's certainly a must watch for all boxing fans as some of the best smaller men in the sport put it on the line in 3 rather interesting bouts. The last triple header I can remember was a Don King card in St Louis which had the following fights:
Devon Alexander v Andriy Kotelnik (WBC + IBF Light Welterweight title fight)
Tavoris Cloud v Glen Johnson (IBF Light Heavyweight title fight)
Cory Spinks v Cornelius Bundrage (IBF Light Middleweight title fight)
Of those 3 fights we only saw 1 champion officially lose (Spinks was stopped in the 5th round) despite many feeling that Kotelnik had done enough to take away Alexander's titles.
In Japan we have:
Hozumi Hasegawa v Jhonny Gonzalez (WBC Featherweight title fight)
Toshiaki Nishioka v Mauricio Javier Munoz (WBC Super Bantamweight title fight)
Takahiro Ao v Humberto Mauro Gutierrez (WBC Super Featherweight title fight)
For those not familiar with the champions he's a little bit on each of them.
Hasegawa (29-3, 12KO's) is 30 years old and after losing 2 of his first 5 fights went unbeaten for almost 9 years. His most recent loss came at the hands of Fernando Montiel (LTKO4), the first and only time Hasegawa has been stopped. The loss to Montiel ended Hasegawa's reign as WBC Bantamweight champion that started back in April 2005 that started when Hasegawa defeated Veeraphol Sahaprom. He has fought just once since losing to Montiel last April and beat Juan Carlos Burgos for the vacant WBC Featherweight title.
Hasegawa (29-3, 12KO's) is 30 years old and after losing 2 of his first 5 fights went unbeaten for almost 9 years. His most recent loss came at the hands of Fernando Montiel (LTKO4), the first and only time Hasegawa has been stopped. The loss to Montiel ended Hasegawa's reign as WBC Bantamweight champion that started back in April 2005 that started when Hasegawa defeated Veeraphol Sahaprom. He has fought just once since losing to Montiel last April and beat Juan Carlos Burgos for the vacant WBC Featherweight title.
A skilled fighter the Southpaw doesn't have the fight changing power of some others in the division (Juan Manuel Lopez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Mickey Garcia) though is one of the truly skilled fighters who moves and punches brilliantly.
Nishioka (37-4-3, 23KO's) is 34 years old and like Hasegawa he is a southpaw. Nishioka turned professional in 1994 and suffered a KO loss in his second bout, after 8 fights he was 6-2 which would extend to 11-2-1, since then all the blots on his record have come to Veeraphol Sahaprom. Nishioka and Sahaprom met 4 times (in 2000, 2001, 20003 and 2004) with Sahaprom winning the 1st and 4th meeting with the middle two being draws. Since the 2004 loss though Nishioka has been on a solid run of victories since then with 14 straight wins 8 of those by stoppage. Included in those wins were decisions over Napapol Sor Rungvisa and Rendall Munroe and stoppages over Genaro Garcia, Jhonny Gonzalez, Ivan Hernandez and Balweg Bangoyan.
Nishioka isn't particularly fast with either his hands or his feet though he is very technically solid, he doesn't waste much when he throws. Though it's really his power that stands out, he's not a monster hitter by any stretch of the imagination though what he is is a very solid hitter, he hits hard, he hits clean and he hits well. He showed against Munroe that he can break down hard working fighters. He can sometimes start slowly and was dropped against Gonzalez, though when he gets going he's simply brilliant and to beat him you need to keep him out of his rhythm. If he lands with a clean accurate shot it can well mean goodnight.
Ao (29-2-1, 9KO's) is the baby amongst the trio at just 26 years old. The blots in Ao's record have all come to good fighters with a draw against Hiroyuki Enoki in 2008 and a loss to Oscar Larios the same year. He has also lost to Elios Rojas. Ao does hold several notable wins though including victory in a rematch with Larios, a stoppage over Whyber Garcia and most recently a decision over Vitali Tajbert in November of last year. Ao like the other 2 fighters is a southpaw and much less well known. Currently ranked by Boxrec.com as the 3rd best Super Featherweight in the world he relies on his skills rather than power though faces the dangerous Humberto Mauro Gutierrez. Guitierrez has lost to Tajbert a year prior to Ao's win.
Although I'd favour all 3 of the Japanese fighters to win (though the fights should be relatively fun to watch) the matches really aren't walk overs.
Saturday 2 April 2011
Like Sending Lambs to the slaughter, the problem with a padded record
Some of my7 recent posts have been about “fake records” and more specifically that of Dzmitry Lubachkin who suffered the first loss of his career last night and now falls to 18-1 (17). Lubachkin had fought a combined 29 rounds, facing 13 fighters making their debut and had never faced a fighter with a winning record. Last night he faced Selcuk Aydin who moved to 21-0 (16) in what I'm assuming was signed as an April fool but somehow managed to get made.
Tonight though we get a WBO Cruiserweight title with the somewhat “padded” record of Ran Nakash who is 25-0 (18) challenging the very good Marco Huck who is 31-1 (23).Huck was probably lucky to have gotten the win in his last fight when he scored a controversial decision again Denis Lebedev though is still a good fighter. When Italian Giacobbe Fragomeni pulled out of the fight with Huck Nakash took the fight on short(ish) notice and dropped out of a fight with former world title contender Bobby Gunn.
Nakash's record isn't as padded as that of Lubachkin though is hardly a record that is worth of a world title fight, even at the short notice he was given. A quick look at Nakash's record and we get the following stats: (by winning or losing record, those records must be more than ½ of that result)
5 (20%) of Nakash's opponents have been debutants
8 (32 %) of Nakash's opponents have had winning records
8 (32%) of Nakash's opponents have had losing records
9 (36%) of Nakash's opponents had never won a fight
Only 7 (28%) of Nakash's opponents had double digit wins
The combined record of all his opponents is 138-149-12
Nakash's impressive looking 72% KO rate shows he has boxed just 102 professional rounds, a little over 4 rounds a fight and has only gone 10 rounds twice. He has scored 4 7th round KO's and no KO's later than that. So from his 6 longest fights we get 48 of his career rounds.
Nakash is 32 and stands at just 5'10 tiny for a Cruiserweight (Huck by comparison is 26 and 6'1'') for comparison on records:
0 (0%) of Huck's opponents have been debutants
25 (78.125%) of Huck's opponents have had winning records
7 (21.875%) of Huck's opponents have had losing records
2 (6.25%) of Huck's opponents had never won a fight
20 (62.5%) of Hucks opponents had double digit wins
The combined record of all his opponents is 488-127-18
Huck's record shows an equally impressive KO rate of 71.88% and he has had 199 rounds as a professional, a little over 6.2 rounds a fight. He has gone 12 rounds several times as well.
Nakash maybe the best opponent Huck's team could get at the short notice though is not a spectacular name or as good as his record indicates. I've previewed the fight if you want to read more on the actual fight.
Nakash is however, rather good at Krav Maga and more can be read about Nakash here:
http://www.rannakash.com/
http://www.rannakash.com/
Thursday 31 March 2011
I, like your secretary's sister, have nothing better to do...Mr Smith
Sometimes it's hard not to laugh. Hypocrisy at it's best if hilarious. If you originally though what I wrote on Paul Smith was harsh, though blatantly an opinion then you may love to hear what Paul's been saying. His twitter account has been fun to read over these past few days, as has his boxingscene interview with Terry Dooley, who said in a message to someone:
“Hello chaps. Thanks for the reads. Here is the link to the article I read over the weekend. I didn't want to name the author or link in as a link in from the 'Scene is more than the guy deserves. Smith makes some good points, some will disagree with him but on a personal level he's one of the most approachable people in the game. He can't help being a Scouse! Peace. Terry PS Flint, Dunky Mac, GazOC -- wotcha chaps, miss our little debates.
“Hello chaps. Thanks for the reads. Here is the link to the article I read over the weekend. I didn't want to name the author or link in as a link in from the 'Scene is more than the guy deserves. Smith makes some good points, some will disagree with him but on a personal level he's one of the most approachable people in the game. He can't help being a Scouse! Peace. Terry PS Flint, Dunky Mac, GazOC -- wotcha chaps, miss our little debates.
Rather nice of Terry to see this link posted on EastSideBoxing (http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=300009&page=2)
So anyway, some how between the weekend and last night things got more funnier than ever. With Smith “fighting back” (shame he didn't do that against DeGale, I would have won a nice signed glove from a Prediction League had he won). Thanks to the boxing scene interview it was obvious who and what this snippet was about:
“Smith has never been shy in the past but there is the distinct sense that a small minority of virtual critics post their missives in order to draw attention. Last weekend's blog entry in which the “writer” went at Paul on a personal level before carrying his ire over to younger brother Stephen is an example of this trend.”
“Smith has never been shy in the past but there is the distinct sense that a small minority of virtual critics post their missives in order to draw attention. Last weekend's blog entry in which the “writer” went at Paul on a personal level before carrying his ire over to younger brother Stephen is an example of this trend.”
Now what Terry seems to have avoided noting in his article is several key points. First Smith was the one who got personal by decrying twitter user Ringnews24 “drunk”. Smith also mentioned “I can see tossers a mile off” (or something to that effect, prior to deleting several twitter entries) slagging off myself, ringnews24, John Simpson and trainer Billy Nelson.
Some of those were personal insults and yet fans seem fine with Paul calling people things like:
“Fat idiotic ginger” and “fat virgin”. Had he done his research he'd certainly have known he was wrong on the ginger part, the virgin and may only have actually have been right in the “fat” part. Though plenty of boxing fans did describe Paul as a “fat middleweight” on forums, so maybe that's something we have in common. A common ground to relate on.
In one Tweet Paul had a shot at both Billy Neslon and John Simpson stating “Simpson hasn't improved since before Stephen. Nelson trained NO ONE from scratch. Over rated.”. If he wants to have a go at boxing personalities then fair enough, though that was well before my article which seemed to kick up some ruckus. In December of 2010 he also called Olympic gold medal winner James DeGale “an idiot”. Though it's not just boxing personalities he takes his frustration out on, but the fans on forums. The following quotes are just posts from EastSideBoxing where Paul used to post.
“Big Dunk” said that Paul said “said everyone that posts on here is scum. vermin that no nothing about boxing.” (regarding ESB's users) (though user Boro Chris seems to believe the actual term was “Degenerate scum was the charming phrase he used I think.”, which says it all)
“Troy” posted “smiths been scratching about forever at domestic level,its plain to see hes going nowhere,and on top of that hes a dickhead.”
“Grant1” posted “If Smith talked **** on there before the fight he should have manned up and got back on there.
If he didn't want to post anymore that's fine, but at least go on there and say 'I was wrong. I won't be posting anymore'.
He looks like a big girl to 99% of people with the way he's handled it.”
“Gemmell100” posted “I used to give smigga big time abuse on boxrec, he used to take things personally, i remember he used to talk **** about destroying degale and groves the guy is a piece of turd, **** boring boxer” the same user also added “It's not that bomber it is the fact i would say degale will win easily(which he did) and smith turned around and tried giving me personal abuse”
efc85 posted “Its his attitude that i dont like. Also his refusal to give degale any credit, saying things like "hes not that good", after degale had just punched his head in. What a clown”
Another one from “Big Dunk” “To everyone defending Paul Smith, I don't think you have actually read his posts on boxrec. He is simular to a nutjob style poster. say anything slightly negative agaisnt him, or even disagree with him on a non paul smith related subject and he starts swearing, calling names...what have you ever done in boxing etc.
the guy is a twat”
Who also added
“i used to like Paul Smith. Then one time he attacked me for no reason. said everything I said was complete bull**** etc.
“i used to like Paul Smith. Then one time he attacked me for no reason. said everything I said was complete bull**** etc.
So I asked him to tell me what i have said about him or what comment he was paticuarly annoyed about because i was genuinley baffled as i have never said anything harsh agaisnt him i always liked him.
His response was "you scored the fight to Quigley"
100% thats what he said to me lol. I asked why thats such a problem plenty of people has quigley winning and he then started swearing and slagging me off.
everyone knows i rate his brother as one of my top prospects in the country. always talking him up.
His issue with ESB came from reading the Quigley & Dodson Round by rounds (they dont have many RBR's on boxrec) where he didn't perform out of this world. some of the comments could have been deemed harsh and many scored the quigley fight to quigley. thats why he thinks everyone on ESB is scum.”
From “lp1985” is this “must admit he didnt take critiscm to good, remember some1 posted the link from boxrec on here and he was slating every1 on here.”
“9Ball” posted this “ Bomber has had some harsh treatment and normally he is able to just say ' ok mate, your opinion. pity smigga cant do the same. Maybe he has anger issues lol”
Whilst these are quotes from Paul on Boxrec's forum:
“You're starting to show your true, arsehole like colours that you've displayed on esb for a long time now.” (talking about poster/user Rob Palmer)
Finally finding the quote on ESB (see above) what Paul actually said was
“It's a ****hole, full of degenerates and should be hacked and turned into a forum for equestrian enthusiasts.”
“It's a ****hole, full of degenerates and should be hacked and turned into a forum for equestrian enthusiasts.”
Staying on the ESB subject “Now I can take stick, from the best of them. What I believe, though, is that you shouldn't insult someone behind a screen when you wouldn't dare say it to their face. That's what eastside is full of. People who love slagging fighters off for the sake of it with stupid playground name calling.”
On his loss to Steve Bendall:
“As for the loss to the faded Bendall - ask anyone who saw it who they thought should have got the decision. It was a terrible performance, weight drained and way below par but I won at least 7 rounds! That's being generous.” Funny that he's now going back to middleweight over 2 ½ years after that loss.
“As for the loss to the faded Bendall - ask anyone who saw it who they thought should have got the decision. It was a terrible performance, weight drained and way below par but I won at least 7 rounds! That's being generous.” Funny that he's now going back to middleweight over 2 ½ years after that loss.
And finally one more great Smith quote from Boxrec “Hang on, I've got thick skin. I can give it as well as take it that's my point - some people can't.” Proof of the pudding seems to show he lacks that thick skin.
For a man with thick skin and who doesn't like personal insults, he's always been more than happy to use them. Whether your a fan or not he's shown that he's more than happy to engage in “the play ground” stuff.
The Boxingscene interview can be found here:
Finally a couple of his newest twitter posts directed towards me:
“ha! Writing a complaint email to frankwarren.tv about me rubbishing ur **** site! What did u expect? FW to put me over his knee?!”
To correct him, that wasn't me, I'd have sent it with my name on. I do know who sent it and it certainly wasn't me.
“ha! Writing a complaint email to frankwarren.tv about me rubbishing ur **** site! What did u expect? FW to put me over his knee?!”
To correct him, that wasn't me, I'd have sent it with my name on. I do know who sent it and it certainly wasn't me.
“Cage well and truly rattled. Haha. FYI - Your blog on me has 42 typos. My secretary's sister counted them last night.”
Your secretary's sister needs better things to do. Though thank you very much for the additional publicity. And I'm not sure where you feel my cage has been rattled. It's YOU who deleted what YOU said, I've left my comments on the web for all to see.
When my comments apparently "carried ire over to his brother Stephen" I was merely backing John Simpson, a guy who used I to live near to and have been a long term fan of. This supposed "ire" can be read here Smith v Simpson II-The Rematch (really isn't much ire there aimed at Stephen).
So to finish (well for now)...thank you for your time Paul even if you are wasting it. I do think you've taken it all too personally, though that seems to be a trend with yourself. That thick skin really doesn't seem to exist. And again thank you for all the publicity.
Wednesday 30 March 2011
When a 20-0 (15) fighter v an 18-0 (17) fighter is a bad fight
Sometimes in boxing you look too much at raw numbers and decide that a fight will be good or bad just on that. One such case is taking place on April 1st when Selcuk Aydin 20-0 (15) faces Dzmitry Lubachkin 18-0 (17). Should be good right? 2 Unbeaten, hard hitting punchers facing off in a fight that should mean a lot to both men, however it's not that simple.
Aydin, although lucky to defeat Canada based Romanian Jo Jo Dan last year is the WBC #1 contender, he holds the “Silver title” and is owed a fight with Andre Berto. In fact Aydin has every right to feel aggrieved that Victor Ortiz is next up for Berto in a HBO decided clash. Aydin is currently ranked #15 by Boxrec.com and #9 by the IBO, although not an elite fighter he's a good one, a powerful one and one that can really hurt his opponents. Although he has stamina issues (as shown against Dan) and lacks the technical skills and speed to be world class he's a very good fighter. A good fighter, but not a great fighter. Aydins last 7 wins have come against solid looking opponents with decent records. Jo Jo Dan was 26-0, Jackson Osei Bonsu was 30-2, Said Ouali was 25-2, Luis Hernandez was 23-2, Marat Khuzeev was 17-3-1, Lucky Lewele 25-4 and Farhad Bakirov 24-2-2. Those 7 opponents gave Aydin 56 rounds combined.
Lubachkin is someone we don't know much about. Back in February I actually wrote about him for this very blog. So lets just copy the raw numbers from that:
Aydin, although lucky to defeat Canada based Romanian Jo Jo Dan last year is the WBC #1 contender, he holds the “Silver title” and is owed a fight with Andre Berto. In fact Aydin has every right to feel aggrieved that Victor Ortiz is next up for Berto in a HBO decided clash. Aydin is currently ranked #15 by Boxrec.com and #9 by the IBO, although not an elite fighter he's a good one, a powerful one and one that can really hurt his opponents. Although he has stamina issues (as shown against Dan) and lacks the technical skills and speed to be world class he's a very good fighter. A good fighter, but not a great fighter. Aydins last 7 wins have come against solid looking opponents with decent records. Jo Jo Dan was 26-0, Jackson Osei Bonsu was 30-2, Said Ouali was 25-2, Luis Hernandez was 23-2, Marat Khuzeev was 17-3-1, Lucky Lewele 25-4 and Farhad Bakirov 24-2-2. Those 7 opponents gave Aydin 56 rounds combined.
Lubachkin is someone we don't know much about. Back in February I actually wrote about him for this very blog. So lets just copy the raw numbers from that:
He has faced 13 debutants
He has never faced a fighter who was better than 1-1-1 (his 14th opponent- Aliaksandr Kuryanovich)
His opponents have a combined 1 win amongst them
The combined record of his 18 opponents have a record of 1-6-2
He has never faced a fighter who was better than 1-1-1 (his 14th opponent- Aliaksandr Kuryanovich)
His opponents have a combined 1 win amongst them
The combined record of his 18 opponents have a record of 1-6-2
Now some more additional facts. Lubachkin has had 29 rounds recorded as a professional (Aydin has had 33 rounds in his 3 fights). Of those 29 rounds 10 came against debutant Siarhei Shoba in Lubachkin's 5th professional fight, the only one to have gone the distance. 4 of Lubachkin's first 6 fights haven't been fully recorded on boxrec.com, the site aren't sure of which round the fights were won in. Of the completely recorded fights on his record only Iliya Koltun has managed go more than 2 rounds(not including Shoba) with 9 fighters failing to make the 2nd round.
Aydin has more fights than the combined total of Lubachkin's opponents, he has more than twice as many rounds and the only thing Lubachkin has more of are KO's. On paper Lubachkin is the power puncher but when he faces Aydin it'll be obvious that the padded record will do the Belarussian no favours. Expect Aydin to stop Lubachkin whenever he wants.
Aydin has more fights than the combined total of Lubachkin's opponents, he has more than twice as many rounds and the only thing Lubachkin has more of are KO's. On paper Lubachkin is the power puncher but when he faces Aydin it'll be obvious that the padded record will do the Belarussian no favours. Expect Aydin to stop Lubachkin whenever he wants.
Note-Lubachkin is a Light Middleweight whilst Aydin has been fighting at Welterweight, regardless Aydin will win with ease. The Turkish fighter is a big Welterweight and will only be giving away around an inch in height.
Saturday 26 March 2011
I give you Mr Paul Smith, part time boxer, part time English teacher
Sometimes as a writer it's fun to communicate with people that you write about. I've often enjoyed the brilliance of Twitter for such activities, of course my Ringnews24 piece “Audley Harrison The Mighty Twitter Warrior” is one of the most fun and amusing pieces I've done. Though sometimes you realise your opinion on someone flips 180 after talking to them for a while. They go from being someone you were behind to someone you want to see fail. A recent series of conversations with British boxer Paul Smith has been one of those cases.
Smith, from Liverpool, has a record of 29-2 (15) and I'd actually been behind him from when I first heard about him. His appearance on “The Contender” was short lived though he had shown his heart and was exciting, it further concreted my feelings that he was one to keep an eye on. Brave, hard working and the type of fighter that is genuinely good to watch. Though his actions after a fight last year in which his brother took a controversial decision against Scottish fighter John Simpson raised some questions about him. He acted like a bit of a tit to be frank. Though I gave him a pass, his brother had just won the biggest fight of his career in front of a pro-Scottish crowd and it was a reason to be emotional. My support was right behind him when he faced James DeGale, I actually backed him on all the PL's I was a part of and really wanted him to shut DeGale up. He had talked the talk going into the fight, seemed confident and was far more experienced than DeGale. Then it became obvious that he didn't deserve to be in the ring with DeGale. Smith took a 29-1 record into that fight against the 8-0 DeGale, it was a shock however that DeGale just abused him in the ring. It wasn't that DeGale was just quicker and more skilled, but he was stronger, his shots left more of an effect. It was Smith that was made to look like the rank novice.
Since the loss to DeGale Smith has been out of the ring, that's 3 months with out a fight and with none lined up we're unsure when he will be making a return. Maybe DeGale did more than just beat him in the ring but broke his fighting spirit. Maybe it was just a beating but quite possibly more. Smith was toyed with in front of his own fans in Liverpool and it must have been embarrassing to be handled so easily by a novice pro.
When asked recently by Ringnews24.com over twitter as to whether he would want to do an interview he showed the nasty arrogant side, the side that had been shown in Glasgow when his his brother “robbed” John Simpson. He failed to actually say “no” and instead accused the sites admin of being a drunk before going on to give “English lessons” over twitter, correcting grammar, which actually went down to pointing out a space before a comma is wrong. We can see from the twitter conversation excerpts below just silly Paul's lessons got:
“you don't leave spaces before commas , like that. Also CAPITALS help. Yet another whopper with a laptop posing as a writer.”
-We can see the irony here, no capital to start the sentence whilst capitals appear as a point of emphasis in the middle of a sentence. Mr. Smith, this isn't correct, you should know this.
“If you think your grammar is correct, and you expect people to read your site/articles then you're madder than I first thought!”
-Again pointing out grammar errors over twitter seems pointless but lets see his 3rd point regardless.
“drink & debate don't mix. Especially when you expect people to take your opinion seriously! We'll see come April 27th. And NEW!”
-Again the irony of capitals Mr. Smith. It should be a capital “D” for “drink”, the “And” is a conjunction so there is no need for the full stop or the capital and “NEW!” should be “new!”. See this is easy.
But hey lets carry on this lesson, I'm starting to feel intelligent correcting someone else grammar.
“advertising on what exactly? Vie got more followers than that site itself! It's hardly popular. Like I said, wannabe writers.”
Again Mr. Smith, come on, get your capitals right. Also what is “Vie”? You may indeed have more followers than a site though that would probably come down to you being more famous than a fledgling site. Is twitter a popularity contest?
“as for PR if that's kidding the bollocks off loyal fans and sugar coating things then yes, it's not my strong point.”
Again missing the capital. Though this was in reply to his reaction when asked about an interview in which he was going to be able to express his opinion and tell boxing fans what he's been up to since the loss to DeGale and what fans were to expect from his return. If he honestly feels that's sugar coating, then it's a shame that he's taken so many to the head that he's showing signs of brain damage or lack of comprehension skills.
Anyway with this done I'd like to wish John Simpson all the best in knocking Stephen Smith out on April 27 live on Sky Sports 1. It's time the record was set straight and this time with out the controversial decision that marred their first fight. Better yet, like when DeGale beat Paul, this will be in front of more Liverpudlians at the Olympia.
As is obvious the above is all opinion and I'm not an actual doctor. I have the opinion that if someone thinks an interview is "sugar coating" then their is something wrong with them. I am entitled to such an opinion, just like someone is entitled to the opinion that I am a "wanker", that the Ringnews24.com staff member was a "drunk".
EDIT:
A new post by Mr. Smith
"Gotta love when people print lies about you too and try and twist the truth. More to the point, you gotta love libel cases!"
He can try the libel case but I never actually lied, again it's a statement of "opinion", if he doesn't understand this then thats his problem, not mine. Though thank you paul for the free publicity. As are his claims of "drunk" and "wanker", obviously Mr. Smith loves irony.
Edit part 2:
Paul recently tweeted:
" My opinion is that God exists, Diana was murdered and Aliens exist - but that doesn't make them FACTS. Your Scott is a liar..."
Now again this is a "fair comment", this doesn't make him a liar, and neither does my opinion that if he doesn't understand being asked to do an interview isn't sugar coating things. Maybe I will change my opinion to him actually showing signs of that damage, rather than just insulting his intelligence. Anyone who believes that Diana was murdered is a bit weird anyway...;-)
Final edit:
I recently found an article with a quote from Smith in which he called James DeGale an idiot, seems rather apt that he's happy to throw around insults but if others do it he threatens legal action with no foot to stand on. Also my preview on Stephen Smith v Jon Simpson II is now on hubpages.
As is obvious the above is all opinion and I'm not an actual doctor. I have the opinion that if someone thinks an interview is "sugar coating" then their is something wrong with them. I am entitled to such an opinion, just like someone is entitled to the opinion that I am a "wanker", that the Ringnews24.com staff member was a "drunk".
EDIT:
A new post by Mr. Smith
"Gotta love when people print lies about you too and try and twist the truth. More to the point, you gotta love libel cases!"
He can try the libel case but I never actually lied, again it's a statement of "opinion", if he doesn't understand this then thats his problem, not mine. Though thank you paul for the free publicity. As are his claims of "drunk" and "wanker", obviously Mr. Smith loves irony.
Edit part 2:
Paul recently tweeted:
" My opinion is that God exists, Diana was murdered and Aliens exist - but that doesn't make them FACTS. Your Scott is a liar..."
Now again this is a "fair comment", this doesn't make him a liar, and neither does my opinion that if he doesn't understand being asked to do an interview isn't sugar coating things. Maybe I will change my opinion to him actually showing signs of that damage, rather than just insulting his intelligence. Anyone who believes that Diana was murdered is a bit weird anyway...;-)
Final edit:
I recently found an article with a quote from Smith in which he called James DeGale an idiot, seems rather apt that he's happy to throw around insults but if others do it he threatens legal action with no foot to stand on. Also my preview on Stephen Smith v Jon Simpson II is now on hubpages.
Wednesday 23 March 2011
Boxings activity man
Boxers in this day and age often get an awful lot of stick from fans for not fighting often enough. Of course most fighters at world level fight only twice, maybe thrice, a year at a push or if you're Floyd Mayweather you fight maybe once a year in the ring and twice a year outside of it. Though it's time to give a little bit of respect to probably the most hard working “championship level” fighter around at the moment. 28 year old Ramon Garcia Hirales may not be a fighter you're familiar with, his record of 15-2-1 (8) doesn't look like he's been a particularly busy fighter, especially not when you realise he's been professional since 2007.
Since July last year when Hirales fought Filipino fighter Johnriel Casimero for the Interim WBO Light Flyweight title and won a close split decision he has suddenly become super active. He would defend that title twice in just 5 months with his 3rd defence coming in February of this year. Although Hirales would lose that fight by being controversially out pointed by Jesus Geles and losing a split decision he's preparing for a rematch that is set to be fought in April, yes just 2 months after losing his title. This will be Hirales' 5th fight in just over 7 months, all of which have been for the Interim WBO Light Flyweight title. The hectic schedule of Hirales may well cut his career shorter than it should be, though for fight fans this is what the sport needs more of. Instead of fighters like David Haye fighting as little as once every 12 months we need more Ramon Garcia Hirales'.
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