Vernon Forrest killed in robbery

Former World Welterweight Champion and current WBC Junior Middleweight titlist Vernon Forrest was murdered yesterday during an attempted car jacking. From what I’ve read Forrest was at a gas station filling his tires when a man robbed him. Forrest was armed himself and pulled out his gun when a second man shot him in the back with a semi automatic gun eight or nine times. With the recent deaths of Arturo Gatti and Alexis Arguello, this is more sad news for the boxing public. Forrest wasn’t a great fighter, but he was certainly a good one who’s career was shortened by injuries.

I was going to write up a bio of Forrest’s career, but I don’t think I can top the one at ‘Bad Left Hook’ so here it is:

http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/7/27/964081/styles-make-fights-the-career-of

I will say that Forrest-Mosley I was one of my favourite fights even though I’m a huge Mosley fan. I was also a big fan of Forrest but lost a little hope in him when he fought sparingly between the loss to Mayorga in the rematch and his 2nd stint as a top fighter. I was glad to have watched his final fight against Sergio Mora in which he dominated and I’m sad that he didn’t get to further defend his belt and maybe go out with another big fight down the line. Hopefully the scumbag cunts that did this are brought to justice.

Rest in Peace

Combat Sports over the weekend

A lot happened during my recent absence and I can’t be fucked writing seperate articles for everything so here it is in brief format:

Hopoate outpointed Mirovic at Super Boxer last Thursday. This was by far the worst card so far with the main event somehow managing to eclipse the first fight in terms of being boring as all fuck. Mirovic did alright early but once Hopoate started landing he went into his shell and resorted to holding. He lost a point in the 9th round for repeated holding (a call I can’t dispute because I actually fell asleep in the 8th). The undercard was pretty ordinary with a bullshit stoppage for Ben Edwards (the guy maybe deserved an eight count and he was outclassed, but you’ve got to let him fight I mean it’s professional boxing, I’ve seen amateurs more outclassed then that and allowed to continue), a decent fight between Erin McGowan and Angie Parr in which McGowan won on points and a mismatch n the first fight that went the distance.

Fox Sports however gave me some more fuel for the fire I’ve lit in terms of referees sucking in this country. The Rob Medley fight was a disgrace by the referee. He took a point off for holding when the guy was punching back and doing alright even though he was losing. He repeatedly warned the import for nothing and even when Medley fouled he warned the import for doing nothing. The stoppage and the footwear was bizzare, but the other guy quit because the referee was that bad. Something seriously has to be done about refereeing in this country because we’re starting to get the reputation that Germany had a few years ago in terms of bad places to come and fight the home town fighter. If I was an overseas fighter I wouldn’t come to Australia to fight based off the recent performances. Australian officiating is that far behind the rest of the boxing world that it’s become serious.

Now for the big MMA news, Affliction: Trilogy is off and Affliction is dead as a fight promoter. They were gonna merge with Strikeforce, but Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is on holidays and they couldn’t make the deal. So now Affliction has been bought out by the UFC with from what I understand the UFC getting the fight library, some of the contracts and first crack at signing the rest of the fighters under contract. The big possibility here is that Fedor is signed and the fight with Lesnar made, but I’m skeptical. Fedor and his management won’t have changed their tune and will want a co-promotion with M-1 Global for the fight to be made and still probably want an open contract. Vitor Belfort is likely to be signed and will be a nice addition to the middleweight picture. Affliction will now act as a major sponsor for the UFC and fighters will be allowed to wear Affliction T-shirts in the Octagon again (not when they fight of course).

Also news is that Tito Ortiz could be returning to the UFC and could be facing Rich Franklin instead of the Franklin-Henderson rematch at the main event of UFC 103. A press release has been scheduled for Saturday for some ‘big announcements.’

Fedor-Barnett off; Barnett tests positive for steroids (again)

The WAMMA Heavyweight title fight between Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko is off due to Barnett testing positive for steroids which has stopped him getting a licence for the fight. It’s the 2nd time that Barnett has tested positive, the other time coming after he defeated Randy Couture at UFC 37 for the UFC Heavyweight title. I’m quite disgusted by the whole thing to be honest. It took me a while to warm to Barnett because of the Couture fight and the fact that he has always denied it but over the last 12 months I’ve grown to like him. This changes everything. This is not baseball or soccer or athletics where if you cheat in this way you rob another competitor of their place. This is a combat sport and cheating by making yourself better with illegal substances has the potential to seriously injure or kill another fighter. If Barnett’s appeal fails, I’m quite happy to never see him fight again to be perfectly honest.

As for the Affliction card, so far Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers and Tito Ortiz have all ruled themselves out of the running. It’s looking like it’ll be Jeff Monson, who’s been doing alright against certain opponents of late. He scored a submission win over Sergey Kharitonov in DREAM this year and scored a controversial decision over Roy Nelson. He’s riding a seven fight win streak since losing to Barnett, with other wins over Mark Kerr and Ricco Rodriguez. Monson’s submission skills make him a dangerous fight for anyone, but I doubt he’ll get Fedor down and he’s likely to get knocked out in the opening two rounds.

Cotto vs Pacquiao November 14!

Bob Arum today announced that WBO 147lb champion Miguel Cotto and World 140lb champion Manny Pacquiao have come to terms and will fight November 14th in Las Vegas. Details on which weight division the fight will be held in as well as what titles are on the line will come out shortly, but if all goes to plan this should be a mega fight. Cotto brings the huge Puerto Rican fan base while Pacquiao is probably the name fighter in boxing right now. I’m hoping this fight takes place at 147 and not some catchweight as I’d like to see Pacquiao fight a bigger guy without making him drop below a weight that is comfortable. Either way, Pacquiao’s firepower should be too much for Cotto and I expect a stoppage before the 10th round. More soon…..

Boxing Breakdown: Super Boxer (23rd July)

The first batch of the Super Boxer series peaks tomorrow night with the long awaited rematch between Bob Mirovic and John Hopoate for the Australian Heavyweight title. I’m actually looking forward to this rematch a lot more then I did the first fight because I don’t have to go out to watch it and we know a bit more about Hopoate (11-3)since before the first fight. He’s had two stern tests since he stopped Mirovic (29-20-2) in battering US journeyman Cliff Couser and being battered by former WBC champion Oliver McCall. I really fought Bob fought a terrible fight the first time they met. He usually controls center ring but he gave it up against Hopoate and didn’t once try and back him up. I think Bob can win this fight if he can back Hoppa up, but whether he can at his age and the ring rust he’ll have from 10 months out of the ring is the big question. Hopoate has no doubt improved since that fight and I think this fight is his to win. I think this one goes the full ten rounds with Mirovic doing well early, but not having the speed to keep Hopoate off him or the conditioning to handle his rushes. Hopoate by unanimous decision.

The undercard had the explosive fight between kickboxing star Ben Edwards (who holds a first round knockout over Hopoate) and Royce Sio (who knocked out Solomon Haumono in one before ground and pounding his way to a DQ loss), but it’s apparently been scrapped. In the first Super Boxer women’s fight, undefeated Erin McGowan (10-0) takes on Angie Parr (2-1 plus a heap of kickboxing fights) over six rounds. Rookies Ged O’Mahny (pro debut) and Bruce MacFie (0-4) battle over four at Middleweight and Heavyweight Steve Ciappara (4-2-1) returns for the first time in over a year against Arnold Pelman (2-0-1) in a four rounder.

Zaromskis claims DREAM Welterweight title

Heavy underdog Marius Zaromskis claimed the vacant DREAM Welterweight championship yesterday with knockout wins over Hayato Sakurai and Jason High in the final round of the Grand Prix at DREAM.10. Zaromiskis’ striking was superb as be picked both men apart in their contests before ending each fight with a head kick. Sakurai was badly cut over the left eye midway through the opening ten minutes and a fired up Zaromskis finished the fight with a head kick and a barrage of punches shortly after. High barely got by his first round opponent Andre Galvao by split decision and was having early success with takedowns in the final. Zaromskis however escaped and ended the fight with a head kick set up by a three punch combo. The 26 year old Lithuanian improved his record to 11-2 with 9 knockouts and his only two losses coming  to former Cage Rage champion and TUF9 competitor (sort of, he got eliminated by James Wilkes in the first episode) Che Mills.

In the evenings super fights, Shinya Aoki proved to me that he doesn’t indeed have worse stand up fighting then myself by outstriking returning contender Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro en route to a unanimous decision. In what turned out to be a 10 minute feeling out process, Aoki repeatedly scored with kicks for the duration of the opening stanza. Shaolin scored a takedown in the 2nd stanza, but was unable to do anything significant in Aoki’s guard and it proved too little too late as he lost the decision. Also on the card, Paulo Filho survived some scary moments against Melvin Manhoef before submitting the K-1 veteran with an armbar midway through the first round. TUF7 veteran Jesse ‘JT Money’ Taylor defeated Dong Sik Yoon by injury early in the 1st round.

DREAM.10 Preview

With some of the recent DREAM cards, I’m a little let down by this one. The Grand Prix is by far the weakest one in the DREAM series thus far and the super fights aren’t on the level of say Kawajiry-JZ. Still, there’s a four man tournament to crown the Welterweight champion and we get to see three decent fights so I shouldn’t complain too much.

Welterweight Grand Prix
This was really set up to crown either Sakurai or Aoki a champion and pairing them off early was a little stupid. I doubt Sakurai will have much trouble winning against any of the opponents and unless he has a really bad night (which being Sakurai is possible) I think he wins this without too much trouble, probably going the distance in both fights though. I’m picking Galvao to beat High and meet him in the Final.

Shinya Aoki vs Vitor Ribeiro
Prediction- Aoki on points
I’m glad to see Ribeiro back as he was a good opponent a few years ago and it would have been a shame for his career to end on an injury. Ribeiro was a solid fighter about 3-4 years ago defeating the likes of Tatsuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen and Ivan Menjivar. He is a world champion Jiu Jitsu player and against someone like Aoki who is a freak in terms of grappling, especially in MMA, it could be an excellent ground battle. Ribeiro has alright striking, but I think his absence will hurt him against a top tier opponent like Aoki. Aoki will probably take over towards the end of the first 10 minute period before dominating the final five minutes to win a unanimous decision.

Paulo Filho vs Melvin Manhoef
Prediction- Filho by submission (0-10 minutes)
I find it very hard to pick Manhoef against a grappler. If the fight hits the mat you can bet your left testicle on Filho finishing Manhoef. Then again, if Manhoef can keep the fight standing for an extended period of time he could knock Filho out. Then again (again), Filho hasn’t been knocked out, while Manhoef has been tapped out a number of times. Filho will be out to prove something in this fight and I expect him to win inside the first period by submission, probably a rear naked choke.

Dong Sik Yoon vs Jesse Taylor
Prediction- Taylor by unanimous decision
Strange to see the infamous JT Money on the card, but he’s not getting back in the UFC any time soon so its a good fight for him to take. I don’t think Dong has much of a chance here unless he can get Taylor on his back. Taylor will win in the fashion he won his way to the Final of TUF7 before his post house antics got him booted off; by taking Dong down and holding him there, then throwing up after he wins the decision.

Bell and Pittman survive scares at Super Boxer

Both managed to win their fights convincingly on paper, but for those watching there was some shaky moments for Australian stars Tim Bell and Jamie Pittman on the Super Boxer series on Thursday night. Facing Tongan born Walter Papu’a for the OPBF/PABA Light Heavyweight titles, most anticipated the hard hitting Papu’a to go on the attack. However, it was Papu’a’s fine counter punching skills that had seen him win 11 of his 14 professional fights and he racked up an early lead on points by landing several hard left hooks in the opening rounds. Bell looked at sea against a much more complete boxer, but his iron jaw and will as well as his incredible conditioning eventually broke down his opponent and he outworked him over the back half of the fight to take a unanimous decision. Papu’a looked to be an excellent boxer and it was a shame his work rate wasn’t up to par as he’d give a lot of fighters a tough fight if he had the energy to go 12 rounds like he did the first five. As for Bell, his durability is going to make him a tough fight for anyone but I think his skill level will need to improve if he’s going to take the step to world class opponents.

On the undercard, Jamie Pittman survived a rough six round fight with journeyman Frank Ciampa. After rocking Ciampa in the 2nd round, Pittman received an inadvertant thumb in the eye which caused his eye to swell heavily. Whoever his cutman is, he did an excellent job as Pittman’s eye went down through the course of the fight but Pittman never fully solved the awkward style of Ciampa and had to settle for a unanimous decision. In the other two televised fights, Bantamweight prospect Mark Quon outscored Thai import Thonthai Rajanondh over six entertaining rounds while Heavyweight prospect Andre Meunier stopped Kim Heta in the 2nd round.

In a (for some fucked up reason) non televised fight for the Australian Super Middleweight title, Les Piper outscored Luke Maloney over ten rounds to retain his title. It’s fucking stupid not to show fights like this as these are the type of guys who need the coverage. Some promoter has lost a good local main event by wasting this fight on the unaired prelims of a card like this. I’d also like to know what happened to Kariz Kariuki’s fight even though that fight was very unlikely to go past the 2nd round.

I also have a few criticisms of the coverage and officiating itself. Darrell Beattie has got to go, really what does he bring to the table for this promotion? He obviously has not the slightest idea about boxing but is only in there as a channel ten personality. The referee’s were obviously not as bad as last week, but the idiot who refereed the Quon fight needs a reality check. You aren’t the star of the show mate, those two were putting on a good clean fight and you over-refereed the fuck out of it. If one guy is holding and throwing NOTHING then you warn him for holding. If the two guys are putting on a good fight, STAY THE FUCK OUT OF IT AND LET THEM FIGHT! Some of the judging was a little dodgey as well with one judge finding a 10-8 round in favour of Bell somewhere in that fight. If you didn’t have Walter up at least 3-2 after five rounds you need to hand back your judging licence I’m afraid. Overall though the fights were all entertaining and as far as I’m concerned it beats the shit out of anything Foxtel has put on domestically in recent times.

Buakaw, Souwer, Petrosyan, Yamamoto advance to K-1 MAX Final

Apologies for the lack of build-up to this, I completely forgot it was on. With UFC 100 and the Darchinyan fight (mainly UFC 100) this just got overlooked. I’ve just finished all of the fights and October’s Final Four is set and we’re guaranteed a newbie in the Final. Former champions Buakaw Por. Pramuk and Andy Souwer will do battle in one semi final with the winner to face the winner of Giorgio Petrosyan and Yuya Yamamoto, who upset DRAGO by unanimous decision in a war to book an unlikely spot in the Final. DRAGO battered Yamamoto for the 2nd half of the first round and again early in the 2nd round before the gusty Japanese warrior turned it back on him in what was a back and forth 2nd round. After surviving DRAGO’s early barrage in the 3rd it was all Yuya as he punished DRAGO to steal the decision.

Giorgio Petrosyan ‘upset’ Albert Kraus in the next fight by unanimous decision after taking the former K-1 MAX champion to school. Petrosyan repeatedly made Kraus’ attacks look amateurish and countered him for the full three rounds. While the fight wasn’t the most exciting, it definately cemented Petrosyan as one of the top fighters in MAX right now. The MAX favourite Artur Kyshenko shockingly went out against Andy Souwer, whom he defeated in last years semi finals. Souwer outlasted last years runner-up, outworking him in the extra round to book his 4th consecutive spot in the Final four. The fight started off tactically before the two went to war in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. With barely anything seperating them, Kyshenko just couldn’t handle the pace in the final round and the experienced Souwer turned up the pace to win the decision.

Souwer will do battle with old rival Buakaw in the semi finals after Buakaw outpointed Nieky Holzken in the last quarter final. Buakaw punished the Dutch fighters midsection with knees and kicks while taking little damage in return, putting in one of his best performances of recent times. Holzken was simply outmatched in terms of speed and skill and the decision was undoubtedly Buakaw’s. The semi final with Souwer is the 3rd time the two have met in K-1 with Souwer scoring a split decision in the 2005 final over five brutal rounds and Buakaw avenging the loss the following year, again in the Final, by 2nd round knockout.

Many K-1 MAX fans will be hoping that it is either Buakaw or Souwer who wins this year as the winner is likely to fight MASATO at Dynamite! on new years eve. MASATO battered former PRIDE star and current DREAM Lightweight contender Tatsuya Kawajiri, stopping the dangerous Japanese striker in two one sided rounds. Kawajiri was shown that there is a difference between an elite MMA striker and an elite K-1 striker as he repeatedly tried to brawl with MASATO only to land nothing of real significance while taking heavy counters in return. Kawajiri’s corner mercifully stopped the bout in the 2nd round.

Also on the card Kid Yamamoto was sensationally knocked out by unheralded Jae Hee Cheon in the first round. After rocking Jae in the opening moments, Kid grew aggressive and was countered heavily with a uppercut-left hook combination that knocked him out. It was the 2nd loss in a row for Kid, who bowed out of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix to two fight rookie Joe Warren in his last outing. Yoshihiro Sato was also victorious, defeating Joerie Mes by split decision after an extra round.

Boxing Breakdown: Super Boxer (16th July)

Take two I guess.

Super Boxer returns this Thursday and many (myself included) hope that there aren’t as many headlines after this card because when it comes to boxing in this country, no news is good news. After the horrendous actions of people I don’t wanna even name because they disgusted me so much, a lot is riding on this card going a) without any drama and b) with some good battles. Luckily one of the main event participants is Tim Bell who is maybe the most exciting fighter in domestic boxing in this country. Bell takes on tough Tongan Walter Pupu’a for the PABA and OPBF Light Heavyweight titles. The undercard sees some of the best, but perhaps lesser known super middleweights in the country doing battle.

Tim Bell vs Walter Pupu’a
(12 rounds, OPBF/PABA/WBO Oriental Light Heavyweight titles)
This should be an absolute war! Both men are big punchers who can take tremendous amounts of punishment and both like to come forward and I see nothing else but a slug-fest for the ages in this fight. Tim Bell (16-5-1) always comes to fight and it’s that style that has seen him score wins over top domestic fighters Daniel Lovett, Sonni Michael Angelo and Kane McKay in his last three fights. He’s currently riding a five fight winning streak which also includes wins over Marc Bagero and a revenge win over Sean Connell. Bell really put himself on the radar with the win over Lovett last October in a fight that was undoubtedly fight of the year in this country last year. Pupu’a (11-3) is in the 2nd phase of his career, having compiled a 5-1 record in the mid 1990s in America before going 6-2 in his last eight since 2005. Not a whole lot is known of Walter other then he can punch and he’s well travelled so fighting in Bell’s backyard won’t phase him. There really couldn’t be a better main event considering how bad last weeks event went and this is a great chance for Bell to let the people of Australia know who he is. I think Bell will be too sharp and strong for Walter but they’ll trade hellacious bombs for the entire 12 rounds. Tim Bell by unanimous decision.

Luke Moloney vs Les Piper
(10 rounds, Australian Super Middleweight)
This is an interesting fight. Both fighters are fairly inexperienced and have fought a lower caliber of opponent so it should be interesting to see how they handle the step up in competition. Piper (9-2-3) has fought the better opposition, but hasn’t come away with a win whenever he’s stepped it up. Moloney (13-3) is riding a 10 fight winning streak, but hasn’t fought anyone of note and hasn’t really fought any experienced fighters since dropping three of his first six fights. Piper is the current Australian Super Middleweight champion and this fight is scheduled for ten rounds so I assume the belt is up for grabs in this fight. Having seen minimal amounts of both men, I’m finding it hard to make a real accurate prediction in this fight, but I’m going to lean towards the experienced fighter in Piper to win a close decision. Les Piper by split decision.

Kariz Kariuki vs Plaisakada Singwancha
(8 rounds, Super Middleweight)
A battle between two foreign born fighters, although one of them calls Australia home. Kariuki (18-7-2) hails from Kenya and represented his home country in the 2000 Olympics, staying in Australia and turning professional shortly after. He’s come into his own in 2009 with three knockout wins, the last one coming over tough African-Australian Sonni Michael Angelo in a spirited battle in April. Kariz has fought some of the tougher domestic fighters in recent years with the likes of Paul Briggs, Glenn Kelly (who Kariz dropped twice) and Jason Delisle having shared the ring with him. Kariuki possesses big punching power, with 17 of his 18 wins coming by way of knockout. Plaisakada Singwancha (36-18) had a solid start to his career racking up a 30-4 record before having his first fight in Australia where he lost to Sam Soliman by 3rd round KO. He has won only seven of his last 20 bouts, although his opposition has greatly increased and he proves a tough test for many inexperienced fighters. Kariuki doesn’t fit that description however and I expect him to make short work of his Thai opponent. Kariz Kariuki by 2nd round knockout.

Also apparently on the card is 2004 Australian Olympic Team Captain and former challenger to Felix Sturm’s WBA Middleweight title, Jamie Pittman (18-1), who reportedly takes on Frank Ciampa (7-13). Pittman should have way, way too much for Ciampa and should score a one sided stoppage victory. Australian Super Bantamweight Champion Mark Quon (6-2) battles 20 year old Thailand journeyman Thongthai Rajanondh (15-10) while Heavyweight rookies Andre Meunier (5-1)and Shane McDonald (0-1) round out the card.