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.

“Super Boxer” 9th July Preview

Domestic boxing finally returns to Australian free to air television with the new One-HD channel’s “Superboxer” starting this Thursday at 9pm. The card has some solid fights on it with the headliner featuring world title challenger Billy Dib in a Featherweight regional title clash. The undercard sees a mini tournament between Australia’s top four cruiserweights which could likely set up a big fight in the not to distant future as well as one of the countries brightest prospects in the super middleweight division.

Billy Dib vs Kenichi Yamaguchi
(12 rounds, WBO Asia Pacific title)
Dib (22-1-0) might not be world class yet but he’s definately on his way there and at 23 years old he’s got plenty of time on his side. With his unorthodox style which utilises his handspeed and reflexes, Dib often confuses his opponents and draws openings from where there are none. However, his inexperience was shown in his only loss to date last year when he came up short against WBO Featherweight champion Steve Luevano by unanimous decision on the Hopkins-Pavlik undercard last October. Coming off a tough split decision win over Davey Browne in March, Dib takes on Japanese contender Kenichi Yamaguchi (15-1-2). Not a lot is known of Yamaguchi as he hasn’t fought outside of his hometown of Osaka, Japan but on paper he seems a step-up from some of Dib’s opponents. Dib will be looking to impress as the main event on the first free-to-air card in a long, long time and should do so against his inexperienced opponent. Billy Dib by unanimous decision.

Dominic Vea vs Anthony McCracken
(8 rounds, cruiserweight)
This will probably be fight of the night as both guys like to throw (and take) hard punches and have been in their share of wars in recent times. Vea (10-1-0) is one of the better prospects in the country with the only blemish on his record coming against Australian Cruiserweight champion Daniel Ammann in a war in 2006. The fight then was held at 86kg rather then the international limit of 91kg which the title now sits at. The two have since rematched with Vea winning a unanimous decision in an equally exciting war for the OPBF title last year. Vea is a heavy handed slugger with an iron chin who carries his power late into the fight. McCracken (10-2-0) is one of the toughest fighters in the Australian cruiserweight division with his only two losses coming against Ammann and Jamie Withers in 2007 fights. McCracken probably has the edge in skill level but Vea’s punching power more then tilts the scales in his favour and the big question will be how McCracken takes Vea’s power. I like Vea in this fight, but I think it’s going to be a war for the first two or three. I think McCracken will show a good chin early, but as Vea starts landing he’ll go into his shell a bit more and Vea will outwork him over the 2nd half of the fight for a comfortable points win. Dominic Vea by unanimous decision.

Daniel Ammann vs Jamie Withers
(6 rounds, Cruiserweight)
This is a rematch of a 2005 four rounder on an Anthony Mundine card in 2005 which was won via split decision by Withers (11-0-0). That fight was controlled by Withers, although Ammann (15-2-1) had his moments and did very well considering his inexperience at the time considering Withers had an extensive amateur background. Since that fight Ammann has risen to be the best Cruiserweight in the country for a period while Withers battled it out against (mostly) overmatched opponents on Mundine undercards. Ammann won the Australian cruiserweight title at 86kg, defended it four times including wins over Vea and McCracken, challenged for the OPBF title and most recently battered former world title challenger Mohammed Azzoui, scoring five knockdowns in the most lopsided six round decision I’ve ever seen (60-51, 60-50, 60-49). Withers is yet to be beaten and has beaten some of the same guys Ammann has, just not in the same fashion. He struggled against Anthony McCracken (over six-two minute rounds) despite winning a one sided unanimous decision (I scored that fight to him by a point). Withers also outpointed Azzoui last year, winning every round in an uninspiring performance. This is probably the best fight on the card, although I don’t think it has the potential to explode like McCracken-Vea does. Over ten rounds I think Ammann would likely stop Withers, but over six Jamie has a strong chance. I’m giving Ammann the edge as I think he is the more tested, although I think it could be close. Daniel Ammann by split decision.

I believe that will be the televised portion of the card although I’m not 100% sure. Super Middleweight prospecty Michael Bolling (6-0) is also on the card according to boxrec.com, but an opponent is not listed.
Welterweights Anthony Brownlie (2-2-0) and Alex Ahtong (2-2-2) do battle in a four rounder. Brownlie has shown to be very game in his four pro bouts, while Ahtong scored a knockout over tough journeyman Ariel Omongos last October.
Junior Welterweights Robert Whaley (1-0) and Gavin Locock (2-1-1) will fight over four rounds. Whaley will have a slight size advantage but Locock is apparently an experienced amateur with a pro win over Brendan Batty who is making a comeback after a three year absence so this should be a competitive battle.
The nights opener in the Light Heavyweight division is between Mark Pawsey (5-3-1) and Ben Wrotniak (1-0).

Just a note for any promoters, trainers or fighters out there. If you would like your fighter interviewed on this site, please email me at angryfightfan@hotmail.com or leave a comment with your email and I’ll email you. I’m very much in the interest of giving free promotion to Australian boxers who are lacking the coverage so if you would like to give your fighter, gym, fight, promotion or anything similar a plug, please give me an email.

Klitschko vs Chagaev; who cares?

What a pisser! I was very much anticipating how Klitschko was going to handle David Haye’s speed and power as well as his ability to actually throw punches, but instead we get to see Klitschko fight another midget southpaw. Klitschko has a bad history with lefties; being knocked out by Corrie Sanders has made him fear them to the point that he doesn’t throw a right hand. We all remember his fight with Ibragimov last year, and Chagaev is basically the same fighter. The one thing that this fight has going is that Klitschko hasn’t been preparing for a southpaw for the full camp, so Chagaev may cause an upset. Still, I think we’re going to get a repeat of the Ibgragimov fight with Klitschko pawing for dear life with his jab while Chagaev is too afraid to take chances and will stay on the outside for 12 rounds. This fight somehow is for the Ring Magazine belt I believe which is complete horse shit considerin Chagaev hasn’t fought a decent opponent in years. Everyone knows Vitali and Wladimir are the two top fighters in the division and until they meet we don’t have a proper champion.

Boxing Breakdown: Miguel Cotto vs Joshua Clottey

This is a fight between WBO titlist Cotto, who won the vacant title after Williams moved up and now former IBF titlist Clottey, who won the title that the IBF took off Margarito for fighting Cotto and now they are taking the title off Clottey for the same thing because apparently whoever bought their #1 ranking recently makes a better fight then fight Miguel Cotto. Just thought I’d get that out of the way before I got onto the actual fight.

Miguel Cotto defends the WBO Welterweight title that he won in February against the IBF titlist Joshua Clottey tomorrow in what should be a very interesting fight. It marks Cotto’s first real test since since the stoppage loss to Margarito and his 2nd outing this year. Clottey hasn’t fought since his technical decision win over Zab Judah last August after a fight with Kermit Cintron fell apart at the start of the year.

I’m intruiged by this fight. Clottey is one of the tougher guys out there with only Margarito having a better ability to take a punch. He also has a high workrate and above average power which are two things needed to deal with Cotto. Clottey only has two losses on his record, one being a decision loss to Margarito in 2006, a fight which Clottey fought admirably but lost fairly. His other loss is nearly ten years ago to former Welterweight Champion Carlos Baldomir where Clottey was DQ’d in the 11th round while ahead on the scorecards. It was his loss to Margarito and then his domination over former Lightweight Champion Diego Corrales that put Clottey on the map in terms of being a top contender and he’s had trouble getting marquee names into the ring since then.

Cotto has never been one to turn down a hard fight. This guy has been fighting guys who could test him since about his 10th pro fight and has been dominating most of them with his only loss coming to Margarito last year in what was Ring Magazines fight of the year. He fought and beat Mosley when Mosley was struggling to get quality opponents to face him. He fought Margarito when no one would touch him with a 10 foot pole. He’s fought Paulie Malignaggi, Miguel Torres, Carlos Quintana, Lovemore N’Dou, Zab Judah and DeMarcus Corley. Sure those guys aren’t Mayweather or Pacquiao, but at the time of each fight they were dangerous opponents for Cotto and he stopped all but two of them.

I think the big key in this fight will be speed. Cotto has plenty of it, especially in his feet, while Clottey relies more on his ruggedness. Judah gave Clottey problems in their fight with his speed early before Clottey started to break him down. Cotto has shown, especially early in a bout, that his foot speed is among the best in the business. I think Cotto will dart in and out of range and use Clottey as target practice for the first half of this fight before Clottey will finish strong which could make for an interesting back end to the fight. I think Cotto will have this fight won by the 8-9 round mark and survive a shaky moment or two in the championship rounds to win this one on points. Miguel Cotto by unanimous decision.

Haye vs Klitschko postponed

Boxing fans will have to wait a little bit longer for the most anticipated Heavyweight fight since the days of Lennox Lewis as David Haye has been forced to pull out of his June 20 clash with IBF/WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko due to a reported hand injury. The fight has been highly anticipated mainly due to Haye’s antics towards both Klitschko brothers during the negotiations for the fight and an expected 60,000 fans were set to be at the event. No news on whether Klitschko will fight someone else in June or wait for Haye to get healthy, but I can see him losing the IBF title because of this as his mandatory with Alexander Povetkin will be due by the time they fight. The Heavyweight division appears cursed as the only other decent fights that were made in recent times were also cancelled due to injuries (Wladimir-Povetkin, Chagaev-Ibragimov). Hopefully there isn’t too much of a delay because this division already sucks more then a 40 year old toothless Las Vegas hooker and the only way thats going to change is to make some decent fights.

(Jun 09) Angry Fight Fan World Boxing Rankings

The longest reign as #1 in boxing was ended in just two rounds by Manny Pacquiao this month as he destroyed the four year champion Ricky Hatton at the start of the month to solidify his number one pound for pound status. The win drops Ricky Hatton from my pound for pound top ten for the first time since the win over Tszyu in 2005, marking the entrance of Chad Dawson into the top 10. Dawson enters over the likes of Celestino Caballero, Miguel Cotto (who’s current spot in most peoples top tens still baffles me), Tomasz Adamek (who Dawson beat), Chris John and Ivan Calderon based on an ever increasing impressive resume. A win over someone like Bernard Hopkins will propel Dawson into the top five. In what was otherwise a pretty quiet month for the sport, the bantamweights got some new blood into the top five with Yohnny Perez’s knockout win over longtime top contender Silce Mabuza last weekend. Perez is a young, exciting fighter who will likely give the winner of this months Darchinyan-Agebeko fight a good scrap.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before May 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on March 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.

Weight Division (weight limit)
(Last Month) Ranking- Fighter (Record)

Pound for Pound 
(1) 1- Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2)
(2) 2- Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1)
(3) 3- Paul Williams (37-1-0)
(4) 4- Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1)
(5) 5- Israel Vazquez (43-4-0)
(6) 6- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(7) 7- Rafael Marquez (38-5-0)
(9) 8- Kelly Pavlik (35-1-0)
(10) 9- Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1)
(NA) 10- Chad Dawson (28-0-0)

Active- Manny Pacquiao, Rafael Marquez, Chad Dawson
Out- Ricky Hatton (loss)

Heavyweight (no limit)
(1) 1- Wladimir Klitschko (52-3-0)
(2) 2- Vitali Klitschko (37-2-0)
(3) 3- Ruslan Chagaev (25-0-1)
(4) 4- Nicolay Valuev (50-1-0)
(5) 5- Alexander Povetkin (17-0-0)
(6) 6- David Haye (22-1-0)
(7) 7- Alexander Dimitrenko (29-0-0)
(8) 8- Cristobal Arreola (27-0-0)
(9) 9- Sultan Ibragimov (22-1-1)
(10) 10- Eddie Chambers (34-1-0)

Active- None

Cruiserweight (200lbs)
(1) 1- Tomasz Adamek (37-1-0)
(2) 2- Guillermo Jones (36-3-2)
(3) 3- Steve Cunningham (21-2-0)
(4) 4- Marco Huck (25-1-0)
(5) 5- Jean Marc Mormeck (33-4-0)
(6) 6- O’Neill Bell (26-3-1)
(7) 7- Firat Arslan (29-4-1)
(8) 8- Vadim Tokarev (26-1-1)
(9) 9- Kryzstof Wlodarczyk (41-2-1)
(10) 10- Giacobbe Fragomeni (26-1-1)

Active- Marco Huck, Kryzstof Wlodarczyk (draw), Giacobbe Fragomeni (draw)

Light Heavyweight (175lbs)
(1) 1- Bernard Hopkins (49-4-1)
(2) 2- Chad Dawson (28-0-0)
(3) 3- Glenn Johnson (49-12-2)
(5) 4- Zsolt Erdei (30-0-0)
(4) 5-  Antonio Tarver (27-6-0)
(6) 6- Clinton Woods (42-4-1)
(7) 7- Hugo Garay (32-3-0)
(8) 8- Roy Jones jnr (52-5-0)
(9) 9- Adrian Diaconu (26-0-0)
(10) 10- Tavoris Cloud (19-0-0)

Active- Chad Dawson, Antonio Tarver (loss)

Super Middleweight (168lbs)
(1) 1- Mikkel Kessler (41-1-0)
(2) 2- Lucian Bute (24-0-0)
(3) 3- Carl Froch (25-0-0)
(4) 4- Librado Andrade (28-2-0)
(5) 5- Karoly Balszay (21-0-0)
(6) 6- Sakio Bika (27-3-2)
(7) 7- Jermain Taylor (28-3-1)
(8) 8- Dennis Inkin (34-1-0)
(9) 9- Jeff Lacy (25-2-0)
(10) 10- Andre Dirrell (18-0-0)

Active- None

Middleweight (160lbs)
(1) 1- Kelly Pavlik (35-1-0)
(2) 2- Arthur Abraham (29-0-0)
(3) 3- Paul Williams (37-1-0)
(4) 4- Felix Sturm (32-2-1)
(5) 5- Winky Wright (51-5-1)
(6) 6- Anthony Mundine (36-3-0)
(7) 7- Khoren Gevor (30-3-0)
(8) 8- Randy Griffin (24-2-3)
(9) 9- Sebastian Sylvester (29-3-0)
(10) 10- Amin Asikainen (25-2-0)

Active- Anthony Mundine

Junior Middleweight (154lbs)
(1) 1- Vernon Forrest (41-3-0)
(2) 2- Sergei Dzinziruk (36-0-0)
(3) 3- Daniel Santos (32-3-0)
(7) 4- Kermit Cintron (30-2-1)
(4) 5- Verno Phillips (42-11-1)
(5) 6- Cory Spinks (36-5-0)
(6) 7- Sergio Manuel Martinez (44-1-1)
(8) 8- James Kirkland (25-0-0)
(9) 9- Sergio Mora (21-1-1)
(10) 10- Jamie Moore (31-3-0)

Active- Kermit Cintron

Welterweight (147lbs)
(1) 1- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(2) 2- Miguel Cotto (32-1-0)
(3) 3- Andre Berto (25-0-0)
(4) 4- Joshua Clottey (35-2-0)
(5) 5- Carlos Quintana (26-2-0)
(6) 6- Luis Collazo (29-4-0)
(7) 7- Zab Judah (37-6-0)
(8) 8- Mike Jones (17-0-0)
(9) 9- Sebastian Lujan (31-5-2)
(10) 10- Rafal Jackiewicz (33-8-1)

Active- Andre Berto

Junior Welterweight (140lbs)
(NA) 1- Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2)
(1) 2- Ricky Hatton (45-2-0)
(2) 3- Timothey Bradley (24-0-0)
(3) 4- Andreas Kotelnik (30-2-0)
(4) 5- Kendall Holt (25-3-0)
(5) 6- Paulie Malignaggi (26-2-0)
(6) 7- Ricardo Torres (32-2-0)
(8) 8- Junior Witter (37-2-2)
(9) 9- Victor Ortiz (24-1-1)
(10) 10- Vivian Harris (29-3-1)

Active- Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton (loss)
Out- Juan Urango (moved up)

Lightweight (135lbs)
(1) 1- Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1)
(3) 2- Edwin Valero (25-0-0)
(4) 3- Juan Diaz (34-2-0)
(5) 4- Joel Casmayor (36-4-1)
(6) 5- Joan Guzman (29-0-0)
(7) 6- Ali Funeka (30-2-2)
(8) 7- David Diaz (34-2-1)
(9) 8- Anthony Peterson (28-0-0)
(10) 9- Breidis Prescott (21-0-0)
(NA) 10- Amir Khan (20-1-0)

Active- None
Out- Manny Pacquiao (moved up)

Junior Lightweight (130lbs)
(1) 1- Humberto Soto (48-7-2)
(2) 2- Jorge Linares (26-0-0)
(3) 3- Roman Martinez (22-0-1)
(4) 4- Malcolm Klassen (23-4-2)
(5) 5- Robert Guerrero (22-1-1)
(6) 6- Cassius Baloyi (36-3-1)
(7) 7- Mzonke Fana (28-4-0)
(8) 8- Nicky Cook (29-2-0)
(9) 9- Alex Arthur (26-2-0)
(10) 10- Sergey Gulyakevich (26-1-0)

Active- Humberto Soto

Featherweight (126lbs)
(1) 1- Chris John (42-0-2)
(2) 2- Cristobal Cruz (38-11-1)
(3) 3- Ricardo Juarez (28-4-1)
(4) 4- Steve Luevano (36-1-1)
(5) 5- Jorge Solis (37-1-2)
(6) 6- Takahiro Aoh (17-1-1)
(7) 7- Yuriorkis Gamboa (15-0-0)
(8) 8- Guty Espadas Jnr (45-7-0)
(9) 9- Thomas Mashaba (20-2-4)
(10) 10- Mario Santiago (19-1-1)

Active- None

Junior Featherweight (122lbs)
(1) 1- Israel Vazquez (43-4-0)
(2) 2- Rafael Marquez (37-5-0)
(3) 3- Celestino Caballero (32-2-0)
(4) 4- Juan Manuel Lopez (25-0-0)
(5) 5- Poonsawat Krattindaenggym (38-1-0)
(6) 6- Daniel Ponce de Leon (36-2-0)
(10) 7- Toshiaki Nishioka (33-4-3)
(7) 8- Gerry Penalosa (54-7-2)
(9) 9- Steve Molitor (28-1-0)
(NA) 10- Bernard Dunne (28-1-0)

Active- Rafael Marquez, Toshiaki Nishioka
Out- Jhonny Gonzalez (loss)

Bantamweight (118lbs)
(1) 1- Hozumi Hasegawa (26-2-0)
(2) 2- Fernando Montiel (39-2-1)
(3) 3- Anselmo Moreno (24-1-1)
(8) 4- Yohnny Perez (18-0-0)
(6) 5- Abner Mares (17-0-0)
(4) 6- Silence Mabuza (22-2-0)
(7) 7- Joseph Agebeko (26-1-0)
(5) 8- Wladimir Siderenko (21-1-2)
(9) 9- Nehomar Cermeno (17-0-0)
(10) 10- Simone Maludrottu (29-2-0)

Active- Anselmo Moreno, Yohnny Perez, Abner Mares, Silence Mabuza (loss), Wladimir Siderenko (loss)

Junior Bantamweight (115lbs)
(1) 1- Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1)
(2) 2- Alexander Munoz (32-3-0)
(3) 3- Nobuo Nashiro (13-1-0)
(4) 4- Z Gorres (29-2-2)
(5) 5- Jorge Arce (51-5-1)
(6) 6- Jose Lopez (39-7-2)
(7) 7- Hugo Cazares (29-6-1)
(8) 8- Dimitri Kirilov (29-4-1)
(9) 9- Jose Navarro (26-4-0)
(10) 10- Kohei Kono (23-4-0)

Active- Kohei Kono

Flyweight (112lbs)
(1) 1- Nonito Donaire (21-1-0)
(2) 2- Denkaosan Kaovichit (46-1-1)
(3) 3- Daisuke Naito (34-2-3)
(4) 4- Omar Narvaez (28-0-2)
(5) 5- Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (72-3-1)
(6) 6- Koki Kameda (20-0-0)
(7) 7- Takefumi Sakata (33-5-2)
(8) 8- Bernard Inom (19-1-1)
(9) 9- Moruti Mthalane (23-2-0)
(10) 10- Jose Cesar Miranda (29-4-1)

Active- Denkoasan Kaovichit, Daisuke Naito

Junior Flyweight (108lbs)
(1) 1- Ivan Calderon (32-0-0)
(2) 2- Edgar Soto (35-5-0)
(3) 3- Brian Viloria (24-2-0)
(4) 4- Giovanni Segura (19-1-1)
(5) 5- Ulises Solis (28-2-2)
(6) 6- Brahim Asloum (24-2-0)
(7) 7- Juan Carlos Reveco (19-1-0)
(8) 8- Cesar Canchila (27-1-0)
(9) 9- Juanito Rubillar (46-11-7)
(10) 10- Omar Nino Romero (27-3-1)

Active- Brahim Asloum

Minimumweight (105lbs)
(1) 1- Roman Gonzalez (23-0-0)
(2) 2- Oleydong Sithsamerchai (31-0-0)
(3) 3- Raul Garcia (26-0-1)
(4) 4- Florante Condes (23-4-1)
(5) 5- Donnie Nietes (24-1-3)
(6) 6- Juan Palacios (25-2-0)
(7) 7- Milan Melindo (18-0-0)
(8) 8- Nkosinathi Joyi (19-0-0)
(10) 9- Manuel Vargas (26-3-1)
(NA) 10- Katsunari Takayama (23-3-0)

Active- Oleydong Sithsamerchai
Out- Muhammad Rachman (loss)

(May 09) Angry Fight Fan World Boxing Rankings

Most of the action this month coming at 122 and 168lbs, the big win of the month was Paull Williams domination over Winky Wright. Due to the one sidedness of this fight, I’ve moved Williams into the top three pound for pound behind Marquez and Pacquiao. Both Hopkins and Vazquez have been sort of inactive and a win by either of them will likely be enough to move Williams down the list, but on current form Williams’ wins over Wright (who had not been dominated like that ever even by Hopkins) and Margarito puts him right up there in my opinion.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before May 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on March 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.

Weight Division (weight limit)
(Last Month) Ranking- Fighter (Record)

Pound for Pound 
(1) 1- Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2)
(2) 2- Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1)
(7) 3- Paul Williams (37-1-0)
(3) 4- Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1)
(4) 5- Israel Vazquez (43-4-0)
(5) 6- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(6) 7- Rafael Marquez (37-5-0)
(8) 8- Ricky Hatton (45-1-0)
(9) 9- Kelly Pavlik (35-1-0)
(10) 10- Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1)

Active- Paul Williams

Heavyweight (no limit)
(1) 1- Wladimir Klitschko (52-3-0)
(2) 2- Vitali Klitschko (37-2-0)
(3) 3- Ruslan Chagaev (25-0-1)
(4) 4- Nicolay Valuev (50-1-0)
(5) 5- Alexander Povetkin (17-0-0)
(6) 6- David Haye (22-1-0)
(7) 7- Alexander Dimitrenko (29-0-0)
(8) 89- Sultan Ibragimov (22-1-1)
(9) 910- Eddie Chambers (34-1-0)
(NA) 8- Cristobal Arreola (27-0-0)

Active- Alexander Povetkin, Cristobal Arreola
Out- Samuel Peter (10)

Cruiserweight (200lbs)
(1) 1- Tomasz Adamek (37-1-0)
(2) 2- Guillermo Jones (36-3-2)
(3) 3- Steve Cunningham (21-2-0)
(4) 4- Marco Huck (24-1-0)
(5) 5- Jean Marc Mormeck (33-4-0)
(6) 6- O’Neill Bell (26-3-1)
(7) 7- Firat Arslan (29-4-1)
(8) 8- Vadim Tokarev (26-1-1)
(9) 9- Kryzstof Wlodarczyk (41-2-0)
(10) 10- Giacobbe Fragomeni (26-1-0)

Active- None

Light Heavyweight (175lbs)
(1) 1- Bernard Hopkins (49-4-1)
(2) 2- Chad Dawson (27-0-0)
(3) 3- Glenn Johnson (49-12-2)
(4) 4-  Antonio Tarver (27-5-0)
(5) 5- Zsolt Erdei (30-0-0)
(6) 6- Clinton Woods (42-4-1)
(7) 7- Hugo Garay (32-3-0)
(8) 8- Roy Jones jnr (52-5-0)
(9) 9- Adrian Diaconu (26-0-0)
(10) 10- Tavoris Cloud (19-0-0)

Active- Adrian Diaconu

Super Middleweight (168lbs)
(1) 1- Mikkel Kessler (41-1-0)
(2) 2- Lucian Bute (24-0-0)
(4) 3- Carl Froch (25-0-0)
(5) 4- Librado Andrade (28-2-0)
(7) 5- Karoly Balszay (21-0-0)
(6) 6- Sakio Bika (27-3-2)
(3) 7- Jermain Taylor (28-3-1)
(8) 8- Dennis Inkin (34-1-0)
(9) 9- Jeff Lacy (25-2-0)
(10) 10- Andre Dirrell (18-0-0)

Active- Carl Froch, Librado Andrade, Karoly Balzsay, Jermain Taylor (loss), Jeff Lacy

Middleweight (160lbs)
(1) 1- Kelly Pavlik (35-1-0)
(2) 2- Arthur Abraham (29-0-0)
(NA) 3- Paul Williams (37-1-0)
(3) 4- Felix Sturm (32-2-1)
(4) 5- Winky Wright (51-5-1)
(5) 6- Anthony Mundine (35-3-0)
(6) 7- Khoren Gevor (30-3-0)
(7) 8- Randy Griffin (24-2-3)
(8) 9- Sebastian Sylvester (29-3-0)
(10) 10- Amin Asikainen (25-2-0)

Active- Paul Williams, Felix Sturm, Winky Wright (loss)
Out- Javier Castillejo (draw)

Junior Middleweight (154lbs)
(2) 1- Vernon Forrest (41-3-0)
(3) 2- Sergei Dzinziruk (36-0-0)
(4) 3- Daniel Santos (32-3-0)
(5) 4- Verno Phillips (42-11-1)
(6) 5- Cory Spinks (36-5-0)
(7) 6- Sergio Manuel Martinez (44-1-1)
(8) 7- Kermit Cintron (30-2-1)
(9) 8- James Kirkland (25-0-0)
(10) 9- Sergio Mora (21-1-1)
(NA) 10- Jamie Moore (31-3-0)

Active- Cory Spinks
Out- Paul Williams (moved up)

Welterweight (147lbs)
(1) 1- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(2) 2- Miguel Cotto (32-1-0)
(3) 3- Andre Berto (24-0-0)
(4) 4- Joshua Clottey (35-2-0)
(5) 5- Carlos Quintana (26-2-0)
(6) 6- Luis Collazo (29-4-0)
(7) 7- Zab Judah (37-6-0)
(8) 8- Mike Jones (17-0-0)
(9) 9- Sebastian Lujan (31-5-2)
(10) 10- Rafal Jackiewicz (33-8-1)

Active- None

Junior Welterweight (140lbs)
(1) 1- Ricky Hatton (45-1-0)
(3) 2- Timothey Bradley (24-0-0)
(2) 3- Andreas Kotelnik (30-2-0)
(4) 4- Kendall Holt (25-3-0)
(6) 5- Paulie Malignaggi (26-2-0)
(5) 6- Ricardo Torres (32-2-0)
(7) 7- Juan Urango (20-1-1)
(8) 8- Junior Witter (37-2-2)
(9) 9- Victor Ortiz (24-1-1)
(10) 10- Vivian Harris (29-3-1)

Active- Timothey Bradley, Kendall Holt (loss), Paulie Malignaggi

Lightweight (135lbs)
(1) 1- Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1)
(2) 2- Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2)
(NA) 3- Edwin Valero (25-0-0)
(3) 4- Juan Diaz (34-2-0)
(4) 5- Joel Casmayor (36-4-1)
(6) 6- Joan Guzman (29-0-0)
(8) 7- Ali Funeka (30-2-2)
(9) 8- David Diaz (34-2-1)
(10) 9- Anthony Peterson (28-0-0)
(NA) 10- Breidis Prescott (21-0-0)

Active- Edwin Valero
Out- Antonio Pitalua (loss), Julio Diaz (loss)

Junior Lightweight (130lbs)
(3) 1- Humberto Soto (47-7-2)
(4) 2- Jorge Linares (26-0-0)
(5) 3- Roman Martinez (22-0-1)
(8) 4- Malcolm Klassen (23-4-2)
(6) 5- Robert Guerrero (22-1-1)
(2) 6- Cassius Baloyi (36-3-1)
(7) 7- Mzonke Fana (28-4-0)
(9) 8- Nicky Cook (29-2-0)
(10) 9- Alex Arthur (26-2-0)
(NA) 10- Sergey Gulyakevich (26-1-0)

Active- Malcolm Klassen, Cassius Baloyi (loss)
Out- Edwin Valero (moved up)

Featherweight (126lbs)
(1) 1- Chris John (42-0-2)
(2) 2- Cristobal Cruz (38-11-1)
(3) 3- Ricardo Juarez (28-4-1)
(4) 4- Steve Luevano (36-1-1)
(5) 5- Jorge Solis (37-1-2)
(6) 6- Takahiro Aoh (17-1-1)
(10) 7- Yuriorkis Gamboa (15-0-0)
(8) 8- Guty Espadas Jnr (45-7-0)
(7) 9- Thomas Mashaba (20-2-4)
(9) 10- Mario Santiago (19-1-1)

Active- Yuriorkia Gamboa, Guty Espadas Jnr

Junior Featherweight (122lbs)
(1) 1- Israel Vazquez (43-4-0)
(2) 2- Rafael Marquez (37-5-0)
(3) 3- Celestino Caballero (32-2-0)
(4) 4- Juan Manuel Lopez (25-0-0)
(5) 5- Poonsawat Krattindaenggym (38-1-0)
(6) 6- Daniel Ponce de Leon (36-2-0)
(NA) 7- Gerry Penalosa (54-7-2)
(7) 8- Jhonny Gonzalez (40-6-0)
(8) 9- Steve Molitor (28-1-0)
(9) 10- Toshiaki Nishioka (33-4-3)

Active- Celestino Caballero, Juan Manuel Lopez, Poonsawat Krattindaenggym, Gerry Penalosa (loss)
Out- Bernard Dunne (10)

Bantamweight (118lbs)
(1) 1- Hozumi Hasegawa (26-2-0)
(3) 2- Fernando Montiel (39-2-1)
(4) 3- Anselmo Moreno (24-1-1)
(5) 4- Silence Mabuza (22-2-0)
(6) 5- Wladimir Siderenko (21-1-2)
(7) 6- Abner Mares (17-0-0)
(8) 7- Joseph Agebeko (26-1-0)
(9) 8- Yohnny Perez (18-0-0)
(10) 9- Nehomar Cermeno (19-0-0)
(NA) 10- Simone Maludrottu (29-2-0)

Active- None
Out- Gerry Penalosa (moved up)

Junior Bantamweight (115lbs)
(1) 1- Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1)
(2) 2- Alexander Munoz (32-3-0)
(3) 3- Nobuo Nashiro (13-1-0)
(4) 4- Z Gorres (29-2-2)
(5) 5- Jorge Arce (51-5-1)
(6) 6- Jose Lopez (39-7-2)
(7) 7- Hugo Cazares (28-5-1)
(8) 8- Dimitri Kirilov (29-4-1)
(9) 9- Jose Navarro (26-4-0)
(10) 10- Kohei Kono (22-4-0)

Active- Nobuo Nashiro

Flyweight (112lbs)
(1) 1- Nonito Donaire (21-1-0)
(2) 2- Denkaosan Kaovichit (46-1-1)
(3) 3- Daisuke Naito (34-2-3)
(4) 4- Omar Narvaez (28-0-2)
(5) 5- Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (72-3-1)
(6) 6- Koki Kameda (20-0-0)
(7) 7- Takefumi Sakata (33-5-2)
(8) 8- Bernard Inom (19-1-1)
(NA) 9- Moruti Mthalane (23-2-0)
(9) 10- Jose Cesar Miranda (29-4-1)

Active- Nonito Donaire, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Jose Cesar Miranda (loss)
Out- Brian Viloria (moved down)

Junior Flyweight (108lbs)
(1) 1- Ivan Calderon (32-0-0)
(2) 2- Edgar Soto (35-5-0)
(NA) 3- Brian Viloria (24-2-0)
(4) 4- Giovanni Segura (19-1-1)
(3) 5- Ulises Solis (28-2-2)
(5) 6- Brahim Asloum (23-2-0)
(6) 7- Juan Carlos Reveco (19-1-0)
(7) 8- Cesar Canchila (27-1-0)
(8) 9- Juanito Rubillar (46-11-7)
(9) 10- Omar Nino Romero (27-3-1)

Active- Edgar Soto, Brian Viloria, Ulises Solis (loss)
Out- Nelson Dieppa (10)

Minimumweight (105lbs)
(1) 1- Roman Gonzalez (23-0-0)
(2) 2- Oleydong Sithsamerchai (30-0-0)
(3) 3- Raul Garcia (26-0-1)
(4) 4- Florante Condes (23-4-1)
(5) 5- Donnie Nietes (24-1-3)
(6) 6- Juan Palacios (25-2-0)
(7) 7- Milan Melindo (18-0-0)
(8) 8- Nkosinathi Joyi (19-0-0)
(9) 9- Muhammad Rachman (62-7-5)
(10) 10- Manuel Vargas (26-3-1)

Active- Raul Garcia

Froch KOs Taylor, Juanma KOs Penalosa

Apologies for the lateness of these reports, been real busy lately, gonna try and put a few things up tonight. One thing, the rankings will probably be a day or two late. They should be up Saturday.

Carl Froch KO12 Jermain Taylor
What a fight! Not fight of the year so far (Dunne-Cordoba and Marquez-Diaz sit ahead of it for me so far) but definately right up there. Jermain Taylor decked Froch early and seemed in control and was on his way to winning on points until Carl Froch exploded on him in the 12th and stopped him in the final seconds of the bout. Two things I noticed from this fight. First, Froch needs to keep his left up if he’s going to hang with the likes of Bute or Kessler or even Abraham or Pavlik. Second, Jermain Taylor needs to completely change whatever conditioning program he is on because it clearly isn’t working. This is the 2nd time he’s looked the better fighter and lost by KO because of his conditioning.

Juan Manuel Lopez TKO9 Gerry Penalosa
Lopez seems the real deal. The fight was completely one sided even though Penalosa was game. Lopez is ready for the likes of Vazquez or Caballero, and thats all I have to say about that.

Felix Sturm KO7 Koji Sato
Sturm really looked the goods in this fight. He made Sato look like an amateur for most of the fight and punished him whenever he got the chance to. I’m really interested to see how Sturm goes against Mundine and whether he can do most Australian boxing fans a favour and put Mundine to sleep.

Boxing Breakdown: Froch-Taylor, Lopez-Penalosa

With all the K-1 and UFC going on, I didn’t even realise these two fights were on this weekend. Two very good fights between young undefeated fighters taking on former champions. These two fights should be good to get us in the mood for the big Hatton-Pacquiao bout next week (well me anyway, most of you guys either follow MMA, or boxing or K-1 and when you follow all three it can be strange watching a whole heap of K-1 then an MMA match or whichever combo you use). There’s also a couple of other decent fights on this weekend, with Felix Sturm putting his WBA Middleweight crown on the line against undefeated OPBF champion Koji Sato and a not so big fight in the return of Danny Green.

Carl Froch vs Jermain Taylor
(WBC Super Middleweight title)
Interesting fight this one. I’m picking Taylor, but I haven’t seen Froch’s last fight and all my English friends assure me he looked the goods so I’m not picking with any real confidence. Taylor should win this fight though, he’s had plenty of time to get over the Pavlik losses and scored an impressive win on his comeback. His experience of being in there with Hopkins, Wright and Pavlik alone should seperate him from Froch who is still very green on the big stage. None of those three were able to dominate him, even Pavlik when he scored that memorable stoppage was on the canvas and losing on points before he found the shots to put Taylor away. Another factor in this fight is Froch has rarely fought outside of the UK so travelling into Taylor’s backyard so to speak and fighting a fight on this level may mean he doesn’t perform to his full abilities. I think the fight will be close, but Taylor should prevail. Jermain Taylor on points.

Juan Manuel Lopez vs Gerry Penalosa
(WBO Junior Featherweight title)
This fight has the potential to be a war, or a quick knockout. We don’t know a whole lot about Lopez other then that he can punch and punch very hard. Penalosa is a durable fighter so I’ll be extremely impressed if Lopez blows him away, but I won’t be that surprised because Lopez is that good. Penalosa has never been stopped and is coming off some impressive victories including a 7th round KO over Jhonny Gonzalez. The two things that factor heavily in Lopez’s favour are that he is left handed and that he has youth on his side. Out of Penalosa’s losses, three of them (at least) have come against southpaws (the two losses to Takayama and the loss to Ponce de Leon) and that’s enough for me to give Juanma the edge although I think he’ll be extended 12. Juan Manuel Lopez on points.

Felix Sturm vs Koji Sato
(WBA Middleweight title)
I smell an upset here although I’m going to pick Sturm. Sato is a dangerous fighter with a 14-0 record and 13 knockouts, he’s only been extended past the 6th round once. His biggest win comes over Australian contender Adam Vella, who took Sato to the 9th round but was broken down by Koji. Sturm is very hot and cold and if he isn’t on form in this fight I think he loses by knockout. My balls aren’t big enough today to back him though. Felix Sturm on points.

Danny Green show
With all the good fights on this weekend, why am I forced to either pay $50 to watch boxing or stay up past midnight going to a pub surrounded by morons in order to watch anything? Former WBA Light Heavyweight champion Danny Green returns from his retirement and takes on some South African no one has heard of and this is PPV worthy? I must sound like a broken record, but why? Couldn’t Green have headlined a Friday Night Fights card on Fox Sports instead of charging people $50 to watch him? As much as I like Green, I bag on Mundine for charging $50 for his joke fights so Green gets nothing different. The fact that we’re getting Hatton-Pacquiao on PPV next week for $40 shows how much of a rip-off this is. There you have two of the best pound for pound fighters on the planet squaring off, but for $10 more you could get Danny Green knock out some chump in two rounds?

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.