Boxing Breakdown: Super Six Round One

The much anticipated Super Middleweight ‘Super Six’ series starts this weekend with two of the three first round matches taking place. For those of you not in the know, pictured above are the six competitors (from L-R Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch, some promoter, Andre Ward, Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell). I’m not sure how the entire format will work, but these men will fight off over the next year to see who is the best. The only top 168lbers not in this tournament are Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade who will fight their rematch later this year. Fighting this weekend are Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor as well as Carl Froch vs Andre Dirrell with Kessler-Ward taking place next month.

 This is the first time in a while I’ve gone back and forth so much on not one fight in a weekend, but two big fights. Both of these matchups are even and there’s a lot of variables to take into place such as the fight locations, the fighters weights and their recent results. It’s hard to make any sort of confident prediction with these two fights.

Arthur Abraham vs Jermain Taylor
When these two held their respective belts at 160lbs I always thought Taylor would beat Abraham should they meet. My tune has changed over time and now, especially at 168lbs, I think Abraham is the strong favourite but I’m not at all confident in that prediction for a number of reasons. Abraham is still yet to face someone in the league of a Jermain Taylor. Most of his wins have been over 2nd rate Middleweights with the odd exception (mainly being Edison Miranda who was a dangerous contender when he fought Abraham the first time). However, Abraham has to be the more confident of the two going in with Taylor losing his last fight by knockout to Carl Froch and losing two fights not long before that to Kelly Pavlik. Taylor’s been saying that he has fixed his conditioning problem but if this fight gets to the 6th and 7th rounds again I’m sure we’ll see Taylor revert back to fighting only 30 seconds of each round as he’ll start to question his conditioning again. Abraham has said for a while that he’s been struggling to make 160lbs and this can be backed up by the performance in his one fight north of middleweight in the rematch with Edison Miranda. Another factor to take into account is that this fight is in Germany and will be the first time that Taylor has fought outside of the USA. Taylor should dominate early with his jab and Abraham is a slow starter who likes to get his defence set before launching his offence, but I think come the 4th and 5th round Abraham will take over and his punching power should be too much for a fatigued Taylor around the 10-11 round mark. Arthur Abraham by 11th round knockout.

Andre Dirrell vs Carl Froch
I’ve been scratching my head about this fight for the last few weeks. Froch is such an ugly fighter to watch with his hands down, chin in the air lunging style of his but he’s so effective at it. His defence is horrendous early in a fight but he seems to figure out his opponents angles and adjusts his defence as the rounds go on as he did against Jean Pascal and Jermain Taylor. Dirrell is your typical ex-amateur star who has excellent footwork, handspeed and combinations without the devastating one punch power. There’s no doubt who the more experienced of the two is and it’ll be interesting to see how Dirrell makes the adjustment from fighting guys like Anthony Hanshaw and Victor Oganov to fighting one of the big names in the division. The other big factor here is that Dirrell is fighting in Froch’s backyard which is good to see from a young prospect, especially an American one as the US fighters tend to like to fight in their country. I think two big questions that could decide this fight are how Froch deals with Dirrell from the southpaw stance as his awkward defensive approach could spell trouble against a straight left hand from a southpaw and how Dirrell’s conditioning will be in the second half of a tough fight against a world class fighter like Froch. I’ve been leaning towards Dirrell to pull off the upset and I’m going to stick with it. I think his handspeed and footwork combined with the youth and hunger that Jermain Taylor didn’t have against Froch will see Dirrell be able to repeatedly hurt Froch throughout the fight and score a stoppage in the mid-late rounds. Andre Dirrell by 8th round knockout.`

Tua jump starts career with KO victory over Cameron

 

 

David Tua pushed himself back into heavyweight contention yesterday. Sure the fight with New Zealand rival Shane Cameron only lasted 13 seconds into the 2nd round, but the head movement and hand speed that got boxing fans excited back the late 1990’s that suddenly disappeared just as he reached the top appeared to be back as well as the always devastating punching power that led to three knockdowns inside a 50 second period. Even if Tua turns out to only have the gas tank to fight like this for a few rounds (it’s better then the few minutes he had been fighting like that the last time we saw him) if he can explode on heavyweights like he exploded on Cameron for the first few rounds that single handedly makes him the most exciting heavyweight in the game right now.

I’ve heard people calling for him to get a title shot right off the bat. That’s crazy talk and it should be met with a backhander as far as I’m concerned. Tua needs to get back in the ring in the next two months and fight again and he needs at least three or four more fights before he’s ready to go against one of the Klitschko’s. The Klitschko’s both have nearly a foot in height over Tua and have been fighting regularily so Tua’s going to have to work to get inside and if he doesn’t have more then three minutes of fight time in the bank he’s going to struggle against the Klitschko’s when they start spearing him with their jab and taking him to deep water like they do. Give Tua Rahman or give him McCline. Just give him guys who could take him rounds but guys who have looked right for the taking in recent times. If he can’t beat these guys he doesn’t deserve a title shot. I’d rather not see Tua get another title shot then see him get one when he’s under done. Still it’s good to see Tua back fighting as a headliner rather then on some shitty card in the States. All the years that John Ruiz has stunk the place out (actually I’d pay to see a rematch with him and Tua) the thought of Tua’s 17 second destruction has kept me hopeful that someone else will do the exact same thing to him. The Heavyweight division got a little better with last nights main event.

Not only was the return of Tua great, but the riddance of John Hopoate just made me smile. Finally a good domestic fighter did what should have always been done to Hopoate. I admit I was starting to buy into a little bt of the hype but deep down inside I knew this guy couldn’t be the best Heavyweight boxer in this country and when Wilson dropped him I jumped out of my seat the way I did when Kostya Tszyu decked Zab Judah to win the Undisputed Junior Welterweight title back in 2001. Hopoate just had no skill level, he was a strong fit guy who could throw a right hand but his jab is limp dick, his head movement is non existant and he couldn’t counter punch his way out of a wet paper bag. I always like Colin Wilson as he was your typical blue collar worker who just got in there and always had a good crack at it and this only made me a bigger fan. Hopefully Wilson can get a good payday out of this (and hopefully it’s not against Bob Mirovic).

The undercard also saw two excellent battles in the Cruiserweight and Junior Middleweight divisions. Daniel Ammann outpointed Lawrence Tuassa over six rounds in one of the earlier bouts of the evening. Tuassa had his moments early in the fight but Ammann’s workrate was just too much. I have no idea what Jeff Fenech and Bob Sheridan were watching because anything less then a 59-55 card in favour of Ammann (let alone a fucking draw) would have been criminal. Ammann appears to be a strong and tough customer as he manhandled Tuassa in the clinches and took some bombs without flinching. His skills aren’t top notch by any means but from what I’ve been told he had few amateur fights and has fought most of his career as a pro so they’re going to improve. It will be interesting to see how far he goes. The third fight between him and Dominic Vea has to happen. The other fight on the card worth noting was the opening fight of the evening between Steve Heremaia and Frank Laporto. Heremaia dropped Frank twice in the opening round and showed excellent head movement and punching power but La Porto fought back to take the middle rounds and looked to have Heremaia out on his feet in the fifth only for Steve to rally and win the final round and the decision. I’d love to see a rematch between these two over ten rounds.

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.’

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.

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.

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.

RIP Arturo Gatti!

In some completely fucked up shocking news, former IBF Junior Lightweight and WBC Junior Welterweight champion Arturo Gatti was found dead in Brazil over the weekend with his wife having since been arrested for his murder. “Thunder” was arguably the most exciting boxer in the history of the sport having been involved in a number of historic wars. Armed with a granite chin, conditioning for days and an iron will, Gatti often took tremendous punishment and came back to win.
His trilogy with Mickey Ward will go down in history as three of the greatest fights of all-time with both men trading bombs for 30 rounds, swapping knockdowns and showing recuperative powers that will always see those two men tied together in boxing history. The way Gatti came back in the 9th round of the first battle with Ward after being heavily dropped with a body shot and battered against the ropes to then rock Ward and then come out for the 10th round and go toe-to-toe will always be one of my favourite boxing memories. His wars with Ivan Robinson, Tracy Harris Patterson, Gabriel Ruelas and Wilson Rodriguez were spectacular on their own, but not quite as special as the battles with Ward.
Gatti won the IBF 130lb title from Tracy Harris Patterson in 1997 and the WBC 140lb title in 2004 before losing it to Floyd Mayweather in 2005. He challenged the WBC Welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir in 2006, losing by knockout. In his career he beat quality fighters such as Ward, Jesse James Leija, Terron Millett, Leo Dorin, Gabriel Ruelas and Calvin Grove. While not the greatest fighter of all-time, Gatti will be remembered better then some of them because of his heart and the gritty performances he always put forward and because of this he was a PPV attraction. It’s sickening that he could put forward such an effort in the ring to make the money he did for his family only to die at such a young age without getting to enjoy it to the fullest. Gatti was 37 years old. RIP!

Boxing Breakdown: Joseph Agebeko vs Vic Darchinyan

Armenian born Australian citizen and reigning undisputed Junior Bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan looks to equal Jeff Fenechs triple world crown tomorrow when he takes on IBF Bantamweight champion Joseph Agebeko of Ghana. Agebeko has been a professional for ten years, although he’s only recently started fighting on the world scene. He dropped a 12 round decision to WBA champion Wladimir Siderenko in 2004 before taking nearly three years off. Since his comeback, ‘King Kong’ has won four fights including winning his title and making his initial defence of it. Agebeko battered Luis Perez in 2007 before edging William Gonzalez last December.

Darchinyan is slowly becoming one of the bigger names in boxing. His trash talking draws a line between fans and haters and that combined with his take no prisoners style of fighting makes him someone to take notice of. Darchinyan won his first title in 2004 with an 11th round stoppage over Irene Pacheco for the IBF Flyweight title. After making six defences of that belt, he was stopped by Nonito Donaire in five rounds in one of the biggest upsets in recent years. Redemption for ‘The Raging Bull’ came last year as he destroyed both Dimirti Kirilov for the IBF title and then unified with pound for pound ranked Cristian Mijares by one sided knockout to become the first unified 115lb champion. He has since defended the title with an 11th round stoppage over Jorge Arce.

I like Vic in this fight and I think it’ll be one sided with the only thing worth arguing about is when Vic ends it. Agebeko’s way too inactive and he’ll need to be at his absolute sharpest to handle Vic and I also think Vic will need to have an off night. The guys that will trouble Darchinyan will be good movers who can make him miss and Agebeko doesn’t fit that description. It’ll probably be a good fight for a round or two but then Darchinyan takes over and starts letting those machine gun like assaults off in battering Agebeko into about a 10th round knockout.

Also in action this weekend, Lightweight contender Tony DeMarco takes on Anges Adjaho in the co feature. Former IBF Cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham meets former WBC Cruiserweight champiojn Wayne Braithwaite in an untelevised fight on the Darchinyan undercard. The winner will take on Tomasz Adamek, who’ll likely defeat Bobby Gunn in a defence of his Cruiserweight title. WBA Middleweight champion Felix Sturm defends against dangerous contender Khoren Gevor.