Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts

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.

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?