Lightweight Lightning Results

First of all, this was one of the best all-round boxing cards I’d watched in a long while. All four fights were good matchups and produced memorable fights. This reminded me of a UFC card that lacked a proven name but had a card full of good fights on it. I’d really like to see more of this in the future and with the competition MMA provides boxing these days I think there’s a good chance of it.

Edwin Valero KO2 Antonio Pitalua
Valero made his lightweight debut a successful one, but really did it tell us anything about him we didn’t already know? Fair enough, Pitalua was a solid contender and to knock him out in the 2nd round is a good performance, but I’m not completely sold on Valero yet. We know he can hit hard, but what happens when he can’t land his shots like he’s used to? What happens when he takes a good one on the chin in return? Joan Guzman is the guy I’d like to see Valero in the ring with to answer some of these questions (thats if Guzman can make 135lbs).

Michael Katsidis TKO7 Jesus Chavez
I was sort of right about Chavez, except he had a bit more early on then I anticipated. Katsidis showed little if any improvement and will still struggle against someone who can either box well or go 12 rounds at a good pace. Chavez likely would have beaten Katsidis if he was four years younger and he likely would have won easily. Katsidis needs to ditch his trainer and find a good US trainer if he wants to take it to the next level and he has the potential to do that, but most of the Australian trainers are too far behind the US trainers plus the lack of quality sparring down here will make it hard to Katsidis to be able to beat the Juan Diaz’s or Casamayor’s of the division.

Vicente Escobedo W10 Carlos Hernandez
This fight was certainly a sleeper and I don’t think anyone had any idea it would turn out to be the scrap it was. Even in his advanced boxing age, Hernandez is a game son of a bitch and despite the early knockdowns (that did have him hurt badly) he continued to press forward and deliver hard shots. I really thought the scorecards should have been closer then what they were, but Escobedo was the rightful winner. Hernandez should retire as he’ll likely end up a punching bag for up and comers if he continues on and the mans had a solid career. He’s fought some of the best fighters of the last 20 years like Mayweather, Morales and Genaro Hernandez. I’m not sure what to make of Escobedo. I doubt he stands up to some of the better punchers in the division. Him vs Katsidis might make a good co main event for a big PPV later in the year.

Rolando Reyes KO5 Julio Diaz
Not sure what happened for Diaz but this could end his career as a top 10 contender in this division. Reyes shocked everyone but himself with that 5th round as he was getting beaten comfortably until the stoppage. I’m not sure if Diaz had an off night or didn’t prepare or just simply got caught (I’m assuming the later) but with the talent in this division, a loss like that hurts him a lot.

Other Results from the weekend
Timothey Bradley unified the WBC and WBO titles after surviving two knockdowns (one in the first, one in the last rounds) against Kendall Holt to win a close 12 round decision. Neither guy impressed me too much mainly because Bradley looked shaky when under fire and Holt rarely fired enough to win the fight. I had Bradley winning by two points (114-112) but I haven’t got a scorecard handy to post up. If I was Bradley, I’d be staying away from the likes or Urango, Torres let alone Hatton or Pacquiao as he’s just not ready to handle big punchers like them. Librado Andrade won easily by 12 round decision over Vitali Tsypko on the undercard.
Alexander Povetkin won his tuneup with Jason Estrada and is set to take on Wladimir Klitschko (should he beat David Haye in June) at the end of the year. I haven’t seen the fight but apparently he didn’t look capable of beating Wlad at this stage. I think another fight for him in the meantime would be a good idea as the end of the year is a while off and a guy a bit above Estrada’s level would be ideal to give him some more solid rounds to keep him sharp for Klitschko.

Boxing Breakdown: Bradley vs Holt, Lightweight Lightning

 Some good fights on this weekend again and ones that don’t involve Heavyweights which means we can all have a weekend to wash out our spew buckets and enjoy some proper boxing action. The big one this weekend is the unification of two of the alphabet soup belts at Junior Welterweight between Timothey Bradley and Kendall Holt. Even though Hatton and Pacquiao are fighting for the real strap at this weight, the winner of this fight confirms themself as the next top contender behind the winner. Also this weekend is the slightly weakened Lightweight Lightning card that originally featured Joel Casamayor vs Julio Diaz and Carlos Hernandez vs Jorge Barrios but injuries forced both Casamayor and Barrios out of those fights.

Timothey Bradley vs Kendall Holt (WBC/WBO Junior Welterweight titles)
Gotta go with Bradley in this fight. Neither guy has impressed me enough to think that they’ll be pound for pound contenders anytime soon, but Bradley has looked better against better guys then Holt has in the past. Holt got the win against Torres, but he was getting his arse handed to him before it and he edged out Demetrius Hopkins in a snooze fest last year. I think Bradley will have an easy time of things after the first four rounds in this fight and will box his way to a pretty one sided unanimous decision win. Timothey Bradley on points.

Librado Andrade vs Vitaly Tsypko
Good matchup here and a good chance for Andrade to put on a show to entice Lucian Bute back in the ring for a rematch of their controversial fight last year. I like Andrade, he’s a no fuss fighter who goes out and throws punches and always gives a good show whether he wins or loses. Tsypko is a guy who’s been in against some good fighters, but not as many as he should have because no one has an easy night with him. I think Tsypko will give Andrade some problems, but Andrade will wear him down and then dominate him in the later rounds before stopping him around the 10-11 round mark. Librado Andrade by 11th round knockout.

Antonio Pitalua vs Edwin Valero (WBC Lightweight title)
This could be a fight for the ages or a first round knockout, I’ll be very surprised if it’s anything but. Both guys bring tremendous punching power to the table and both guys start fast. Valero is that guy a lot of you have heard about who knocks everyone out, but hasn’t fought in the USA. He’s made a four defences of the WBA Junior Lightweight belt that he won back in 2006 and his record stands at 24-0-0 with 24 knockouts; with 19 in the first round. Pitalua destroyed Jose Armando Santa Cruz (the guy who should have beaten Casamayor on the Cotto-Mosley undercard) in his last outing and is undefeated for the last seven years. I’m going with the hype and picking Valero and I think he’ll do it in fashionable style. Pitalua represents the biggest test in his career so far, but at 39 years old I find it hard to think he’ll cause the upset. Edwin Valero by 2nd round knockout.

Jesus Chavez vs Michael Katsidis
The big question in this fight is how much Chavez has left. He didn’t look like the same fighter after the tragic fight against Leavander Johnson and after a few years of inactivity because of knee surgery, it’s hard to imagine him being in any kind of great shape. I think Katsidis will blow him away. Katsidis will start too fast and never let Chavez in the fight and I think there’ll be quite a few knockdowns with Katsidis ending things around the 4th round. Chavez needs something to go his way early to have a chance in this fight. He needs to cut Katsidis or drop him in the first or second round or I think he’s going to be cannon fodder. Michael Katsidis by 4th round knockout.

Julio Diaz vs Rolando Reyes
Too much for Reyes to handle in this fight. He’s a capable fighter, but he’s not on this level.Reyes is tough though so he’ll likely go the 10 rounds, but it’ll be all one way traffic. Julio Diaz on points.

Vicente Escobedo vs Carlos Hernandez
Hernandez is another one of those fighters who I’m not sure how much he has left. He was making a good career for himself a few years back, being the only man to ‘drop’ Floyd Mayweather in a challenge for his title in 2001, and then picking up the IBF title at Junior Lightweight two years later. After surrendering the title in a spirited performance against Erik Morales in a unification clash, he dropped a non title fight to Jesus Chavez and then was upset by Bobby Pacquiao on the Castillo-Corrales II undercard. Since then he’s been fairly inactive apart from a loss to Kevin Kelley two and a half years ago. Escobedo is fairly untested, but I think his youth will be enough in this fight. I’m picking that Hernandez is used goods and I think Escobedo uses him as a stepping stone. Vicente Escobedo by unanimous decision.

This week in fight sports (February 14)

No this isn’t a new segment and I won’t be doing this very often if ever again, but there’s been a whole bunch of things go on the last few days and I’ve been bust at work so I thought I’d address as many of them as I can in one article.’

Mundine decisions Taylor, calls out Sturm
Mundine won a boring 12 round decision over Shannan Taylor again showing that he isn’t anywhere near a world class puncher as Taylor has been knocked out by smaller opponents before. Taylor resorted to fouling Mundine in the later rounds and probably should have been DQ’d. Mundine boxed well but didn’t take any chances and complained to the ref everytime Taylor mounted an offence. After the fight Mundine decided that since Green has come out of retirement, all of a sudden he doesn’t need to fight him (after he’s called him out ever since Green retired) an said he’ll be fighting Felix Sturm in Germany to ‘avenge his loss to Ottke.’ Hopefully Sturm cleans his clock.

Tank Abbott and Ken Shamrock score wins, set up super fight
Tank Abbott and Ken Shamrock showed yesterday that their recent losses were all flukes by dominating quality opposition yesterday. Tank scored a 29 second KO win over PRIDE veteran Mike Bourke, dropping him with a right hand and finishing him off with ground and pound. The performance was in the league of Rampage Jacksons win in the third fight against Wanderlei Silva although it’s debatable which knockout was more impressive. Ken Shamrock gave up 180lbs in weight but dominated submission specialist Ross Clifton. In a fight that made Arlovski’s first win over Tim Sylvia look normal, Shamrock dropped his opponent with a right hand before finishing with an armbar from side control. The pair are expected to fight in the middle of this year. Shamrock promised to end Tanks career if he doesn’t ‘put his beer down and get in the gym’ while Tank said he wished it was Ken Shamrock who was eating his right hand instead and told the fans to have a beer for him.

Margarito gets one year ban
Antonio Margarito has been suspended for one year for the plastering of the hands incident in his fight with Shane Mosley. This whole thing sucks to be perfectly honest. While I don’t think Margarito should be punished for something that his corner did, the whole incident puts a question mark on some of Margarito’s best performances. While a lot of precaution is taken by officials before the fights and I’m sure that if he had tried it before hand he would probably have been caught, you can’t help but wonder if Margarito has cheated before. If Margarito’s ban doesn’t get overturned I don’t think we’ll see him fight on US soil ever again. The fight puts an end to a likely rematch with Miguel Cotto that was set up for mid this year but could also pave the way for the Mosley-Cotto rematch we all want to see.

Canadian officials ask UFC to bend over for April event
UFC 97: Redemption is in jeopardy after the Quebec governing body that deals with combat sports wants the UFC to change their rules in order for the event to comply with their standards. The changes include no knees, no elbows and the referee checking on a fighters condition in the event of a knockdown before the fight continues. So basically, they want some fucked up hybrid sport with punching, kicking and grappling like a slightly more violent version of Pancrase. Dana White should remind them what the UFC will do for their economy and if he doesn’t budge then tell them to go shit in their hat and pull it over their ears and take the event to Vegas.

Nate Campbell loses titles on scale
Instead of losing his titles in the ring to Ali Funeka, Campbell weighed in at 138lbs, 3lb over the 135lb Lightweight limit and forfeited his belts. The titles are still on the line for Funeka should he be victorious but it further frustrates fans as what is the most talent rich division in boxing again gets put on hold from fighters not making weight. Hopefully Funeka tears Campbell a new one and then doesn’t take the titles back to South Africa and instead does what Campbell would have and fight the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz. Still, Campbell moving up sucks because there was a few good fights involving him including a rematch with Juan Diaz. Maybe Campbell and Guzman can try and fight each other again (Guzman failed to make weight for their clash last September) at 140lbs with a 5lb allowance.

This week (well last few weeks) in Boxing

I’ve been a little stingy when it comes to boxing lately. I’ve been enjoying the fights but I haven’t had the time to really write anything up. I’m going to try and cover as much as I can thats happened over the last few months in this post. I’ve also been working on the rankings but I can’t promise when they’ll be up. I need the motivation for a good 4-6 hours work on them to get them where I want them and with work and training and other stuff I haven’t had the time. It’s the long weekend this weekend and I’m no big rugby league fan so I might get something done of it this weekend. Then again I’ll probably do what most Aussies do and get smashed all weekend and do nothing.

Juan Manuel Marquez KO11 Joel Casamayor
I didn’t think Marquez had it in him to knock Casamayor out. I thought he might be able to out box him or outwork him but to pull off a knockout in a close fight in that style was impressive! Both of these guys are extremely underrated fighters and I thought this was a great fight. It wasn’t up there with Castillo-Corrales by any stretch of the imagination but for the purists this was an excellent strategic battle similar to Leonard-Benitez. I really want to see Marquez fight Nate Campbell. These are the two top guys currently fighting at this weight class and no other fight makes any sense while Pacquiao is fighting De La Hoya. I personally don’t see what Campbell can bring to the table that Marquez hasn’t seen before but bigger upsets have happened before.

Shane Mosley KO12 Ricardo Mayorga
Mayorga fought a great fight, but even fighting at nearly the best I’ve seen him against one of the flattest Mosley’s I’ve seen he couldn’t get over the line. The finish was spectacular and for any idiots out there who thought Mayorga was robbed of not being allowed to go to a decision go shit in your hat. Mosley knocked him out, there’s no more conclusive end to a fight then that. So what if there was one second left on the clock, Mayorga was out. Mosley was ahead on the cards as well so Mayorga wasn’t robbed of shit especially condsidering the 10-7 round that Mosley would have got anyway. As for the scorecards, I had Mosley up by one. Mayorga was very effective early on, but Mosley was defending well in the second half of the fight and Mayorga wasn’t landing much even though he was frustrating Mosley with his tactics. I’d like to see Mosley retire on this win, he’s 37 years old and his best days are behind him but I’d definately watch him fight again without question if he fights again (which I’m sure he will). I’m really not sure who’d make a good matchup with him? He’s beaten the guys he’s gonna beat and he’s lost to the guys he’s not going to beat. Maybe a rematch with Cotto when he comes back? I wouldn’t mind seeing him fight Margarito either if he drops back down to welterweight and thats a fight I think he’d have a chance in, although I’d be picking Margarito to become the first to stop him.

Mijares takes on Darchinyan
This is the sort of fight you want as a boxing fan; the top guys unifying the titles. Darchinyan is one of my favourites and while I was hoping to see Mijares take on Montiel, this fight is only slightly not as great. Mijares is obviously the favourite with his recent victories but Darchinyan has more then a punchers chance especially if Mijares’ Mexican spirit comes out and he trades with Vic. It’s great to see the lighter weight divisions getting the attention they deserve, I definately can’t wait for November 1st and I think Vic has the tools to cause an upset here!

Steve Cunningham defends against Tomasz Adamek
Cunningham returns from his long blank induced layoff (anyone know why he’s been out so long?) to defend against former WBC Light Heavyweight titlist Tomasz Adamek. Adamek whipped O’Neil Bell earlier this year and is one of the top cruiserweights around right now. This is a very interesting fight that could go either way. I’m backing Adamek though based on his recent form and Cunninghams inactivity.

This week in Boxing will be scrapped
I’m scrapping this part of the site and I will try and cover things as they happen. It probably won’t always happen on time but I’ll do my best. I don’t like just piling it all into the one post if I can avoid it.

This week in Boxing (13th September)

Juan Diaz outfights Katsidis
Juan Diaz won a 12 round split decision over Michael Katsidis for the vacant IBO title last weekend. Katsidis fought a good fight but the difference between the two fighters was that Diaz is a lot more technically sound and doesn’t rely solely on his power. However despite his 2nd consecutive loss, Katsidis was impressive particularily in his attitude after the fight. When asked if he thinks he should take a softer touch in his next fight, he responded with something to the tune of (I can’t find the exact quote ’its a 17 hour flight to the USA from Australia so I don’t want to come all this way for a soft touch.’
On the undercard Rocky Juarez stopped Jorge Barrios in round 11 of a junior featherweight contest. I haven’t seen this fight because we didn’t get it on the coverage down here.

Khan KTFO, Cook wins title
Amir Khan got exactly what he deserved for thinking that his fights are pay per view material and got KTFO (KTFO is ‘knocked the fuck out’for any NOOBs out there) in the first minute of his fight by unknown Argentinian and 9-1 underdog Breidis Prescott. I only wish that this would happen to certain Australian fighters who think their mismatches are worthy of $50 PPV prices. Now I did like Khan from the Olympics and I’d hoped he did well as a pro, but you’ve got to earn PPV slots, not just put yourself on one because you think you’re that good. Khan needs to go back to fighting on undercards against guys who will make him work and make him learn and then earn his spot. On the undercard Nicky Cook won a 12 round decision over Alex Arthur to take his WBO 130lb title.

Week of lightweights sort of ruined
Joan Guzman has failed to make weight for his fight with Nate Campbell. The fight is still on, but it won’t be for any titles and it has the potential to throw a massive spanner in the works of the best division in boxing if Guzman manages to win. With Marquez fighting Casamayor for his linear title this weekend as well, it had the potential to set-up a major fight between the winners of those two fights. Now we have to hope Campbell wins his fight for anyone to be that interested in seeing the Casamayor-Marquez winner take him on. I think Guzman will still be too classy and frustrate the very inconsistant Campbell en route to winning a decision. In the other fight I’m picking Marquez to outwork Casamayor, but its a very tight fight to call.

Other fights this weekend
And theres a lot of them. First, Sergio Mora rematches with Vernon Forrest for the WBC 154lb title. I think Forrest will come out with something to prove in this fight and he needs to because a loss will probably be the end of the line for him. I’m picking Forrest to win inside the distance in this fight. Forrest KO10.
Andreas Kotelnik also makes his first defence of his WBA 140lb title, taking on Norio Kimura. With a name like Kimura I’m surprised he didn’t get into Judo instead of boxing. I’ve not heard of Kimura or know anything about him, so I assume Kotelnik beats him, probably over the 12 rounds.
Even though theres like 10 ‘world titles’ up for grabs this weekend, I’m only going to comment on the Timothy Bradley fight as well. He takes on dangerous but limited lightweight Edner Cherry in the first defence of his WBC world junior welterweight title. Despite only a 50% KO ratio, Cherry can punch. He could take the title if Bradley makes a mistake. I think Bradley will handle him pretty easily as he is a class above him. Bradley via 12 round unanimous decision.

This week in Boxing (6th September)

Results from last weekend
I haven’t seen any of these fights yet. If anyone has a link to a youtube clip or something like that please let me know via comment or Email (angryfightfan@hotmail.com). Ivan Calderon defended his title with a technical decision win over Hugo Cazares. From what I understand Calderon was having a much easier time of things this time around and Cazares just couldn’t mount any sort of consistant attack on him.
In the other good matchup of last weekend, Cristian Mijares defended his WBA/WBC 115lb titles against Chatchai Sasakul with a 3rd round knockout. I really want to see Mijares in the ring with Fernando Montiel or Vic Darchinyan (I’d say it’ll be Montiel) and I’m sure that a fight between him and one of those guys could be made. Hopefully the sanctioning bodies are man enough to let the fight be for all of the titles instead of doing what they normally do and stripping them for fighting other titlists.
John Ruiz lost to Valuev again, thats all I’m going to say on the fight because thats all the mention it deserves.

Lightweight Matchups start this weekend
Former WBO, WBA and IBF lightweight champion Juan Diaz returns from his shock loss to Nate Campbell to take on former WBO interim lightweight champion Michael Katsidis this weekend. This fight should be a barnburner and if it weren’t for the UFC being on this weekend I’d be watching it live. I think Katsidis will be in the fight for 4-5 rounds but Diaz has a lot more boxing skill and that should be the difference. Katsidis is tough though and I think this fight will go the distance (at 3.5-1 I’m hoping it does as well) but Diaz will be the clear winner.
There’s an interesting fight on the undercard between junior lightweight contenders Rocky Juarez and Jorge Barrios. This is another fight that could be a war. Both guys like to come forward and mix it up on the inside and this is a tought fight to call. I’m leaning towards Barrios though because he’s the bigger, stronger man and I think it will play a big factor in the later rounds. Barrios to win this fight on points in a highly entertaining battle.
Also in action this weekend in the UK is a fight for the WBO (interim?) with British fighters Alex Arthur and Nicky Cook doing battle. Arthur should be the favourite in this fight. He’s more experienced and he has a size advantage, however Cook looked good early in his career and could have something to prove after losing to Luevano last year for the vacant WBO Featherweight title. I think Arthur will retain his title on points. Amir Khan is on the undercard against some Colombian up and comer.

Edwin Valero moving up to lightweight
The lightweight division is getting more interesting by the day with the news that WBA 130lb titlist Edwin Valero has relinquished his title and will fight for the WBC interim Lightweight title against the winner of the Antonio Pitalua-Jose Armando Santa Cruz bout. With boxers like Manny Pacquiao (assuming he comes back down after he fights Oscar), Juan Manuel Marquez, Joel Casamayor, Nate Campbell, Juan Diaz, Michael Katsidis, Joan Guzman and David Diaz already in this division, Valero is an unnecessary but more then welcome addition to the most exciting division in boxing right now.

Joey Giardello passes away
Former World Middleweight Champion Joey Giardello passed away on Thursday at the age of 78. had a twenty year professional career and defeated such great fighters as Sugar Ray Robinson, Dick Tiger and Rubin Carter just to name a few. After previously splitting fights with Dick Tiger and drawing with Gene Fuller in 1960 (in his first shot at the championship), Giardello won the third fight with Tiger and the Undisputed Middleweight Title in 1963. Despite what the movie ‘The Hurricane’ says, Giardello beat Rubin Carter in his one and only defence of the title in 1964 via 15 round decision before he lost the title to Dick Tiger in 1965. Giardello is a very underrated fighter who was among the best middleweights of all-time. RIP.

This week in Boxing (30th August)

Oscar De La Hoya takes on Manny Pacquiao on December 6th
The fight was announced yesterday. Manny Pacquiao will move up to welterweight to take on Oscar De La Hoya. I’ve made my opinions very clear on this fight so if you want to know how much of a mismatch I think this pointless fight is, check out these posts:
http://angryfightfan.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/this-week-in-boxing-23rd-august/
http://angryfightfan.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/this-week-in-boxing-16th-august/
For the record anyway, all of my frustration is aimed towards the De La Hoya team for this fight. I have tremendous respect for Pacquiao for taking such a hard fight and I really hope he can find a way to knock De La Hoya out. If he can there’s no one who can really question that this man is an all-time great. I just don’t see how he can do it and don’t see at all why this is such a big fight. I’d much rather see Margarito take on Paul Williams or Cristian Mijares take on Fernando Montiel then watch this fight.

Olympic Boxing Results
Well for the first time in who knows how long the Cubans didn’t win a Boxing Gold Medal in an Olympics they competed in. The Chinese and Russians topped the Boxing Medal Tally with two gold medals each. The United States continued their fall in Amateur Boxing by securing only one Bronze Medal this Olympics.
Here’s the full results of the Gold Medal fights:

Junior Flyweight
Gold: Shiming Zou (China)
Silver: Serdamba Puredjorj (Mongolia)
Bronze: Paddy Barnes (Ireland), Yampier Hernandez (Cuba)

Flyweight
Gold: Somjit Jongjohor (Thailand)
Silver: Laffita Hernandez (Cuba)
Bronze: Georgy Balakshin (Russia), Vincenzo Picardi (Italy)

Bantamweight
Gold: Badar-Uugan Enkhbat (Mongolia)
Silver: Yankiel Leon Alarcon (Cuba)
Bronze: Bruno Julie (Mauritius), Veaceslav Gojan (Moldova)

Featherweight
Gold: Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine)
Silver: Khedafi Djelkhir (France)
Bronze: Shahin Imranov (Ajerbaijan), Yakup Kilic (Turkey)

Lightweight
Gold: Alexey Tishchenko (Russia)
Silver: Daouda Sow (France)
Bronze: Yordenis Ugas (Cuba), Hrachik Javakhyan (Armenia)

Junior Welterweight
Gold: Felix Diaz (Dominican Republic)
Silver: Manus Boomjumnong (Thailand)
Bronze: Alexis Vastine (France), Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo (Cuba)

Welterweight
Gold: Bakhyt Sarsekbayhev (Kazakhstan)
Silver: Carlos Banteaux Suarez (Cuba)
Bronze: Silamu Hinati (China), Jungjoo Kim (South Korea)

Middleweight
Gold: James Deagle (Great Britain)
Silver: Emilio Correa Bayeaux (Cuba)
Bronze: Vijender Kumar (India), John Sutherland (Ireland)

Light Heavyweight
Gold: Xiaoping Zhang (China)
Silver: Kenny Egan (Ireland)
Bronze: Yerkebulan Shynaliev (Kazakhstan), Tony Jeffries (Great Britain)

Heavyweight
Gold: Rakhiem Chakhkiev (Russia)
Silver: Clemente Russo (Italy)
Bronze: Deontay Wilder (United States), Osmai Acosta Duarte (Cuba)

Super Heavyweight
Gold: Roberto Cammarelle (Italy)
Silver: Zhieli Zhang (China)
Bronze: Vyacheslav Glazkov (Ukraine), David Price (Great Britain)

Medal Tally
Countey (Gold-Silver-Bronze)
1. China (2-1-1)
2. Russia (2-0-1)
3. Italy (1-1-1)
4. Mongolia (1-1-0)
5. Thailand (1-1-0)
6. Great Britain (1-0-2)
7. Kazakhstan (1-0-1)
8. Ukraine (1-0-1)
9. Dominican Republic (1-0-0)
10. Cuba (0-4-4)
11. France (0-2-1)
12. Ireland (0-1-2)
13. Armenia (0-0-1)
14. Ajerbaijan (0-0-1)
15. India (0-0-1)
16. Mauritius (0-0-1)
17. Moldova (0-0-1)
18. South Korea (0-0-1)
19. Turkey (0-0-1)
20. United States (0-0-1)

Cazares-Calderson II, Mijares returns this weekend
The big rematch between the top two Junior Flyweights (108lbs) in the World takes place this weekend. Ivan Calderson puts his undefeated record and WBO 108lb title on the line against former champion Hugo Cazares in Puerto Rico. I think Calderon will be much more adjusted to the weight (for guys this small that extra kilo makes a difference) and I also think Cazares is struggling to make weight. Calderon should win the rematch more comfortably.
Also in action this weekend is the top Junior Bantamweight (115lbs) in the World Cristian Mijares. Mijares is one of the few titlists who is willing to fight other guys with titles and fight top fighters on a consistant basis. This is one of the reasons I think he deserves a spot in the top ten Pound for Pound best fighters in the World. Recently he’s beaten Jorge Arce, Katsushige Kawashima and Alexander Munoz and not only that, he fights every few months so he can stay sharp. Other champions could learn a lot from this guy! Mijares takes on former WBC flyweight titlist Chatchai Sasakul (64-3).

Big two weeks of Lightweights starts next weekend
All of the top lightweight contenders (bar Manny Pacquiao) will do battle over a period of eight days starting next weekend when Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis fight to try and get back in the title picture. This is then followed by a fight for the Linear Lightweight title between Champion Joel Casamayor and two weight titlist and top pound for pound fighter Juan Manuel Marquez. Also on the same day, multi alphabet belt holder Nate Campbell gives Joan Guzman a chance to win his third world title. Two of the junior welterweight titles go up for grabs on the same day with Timothy Bradley and Andreas Kotelnik defending their respective belts. Despite the few weeks without a big fight, September 13 is doing its best to make up for lost time!