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In case you missed it, you can catch up on last week's weekend recap here.
2012-12-03 North Bangkok University, Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand Channel 3
Srisaket Sor Rungvisai TKO2 Alvin Bais
The opening round saw no fighter holding a distinct advantage. Rungvisai was the aggressor but walked into shots, including the head of Bais which resulted in a cut on Rungvisai. However, Rungvisai was more or less unfazed and took Bais out with a single straight right hand to the body in round 2. Bais took a knee then beat the count but was unable to continue. Rungvisai successfully defended his WBC Asian Boxing Council super flyweight title and his record now stands at 16-1-1 with 15 KOs. Both career blemishes came inside his first 3 fights.
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2012-12-04 Bodymaker Colosseum, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
TBS Japan televised this card, which I previously recapped here.
Koki Kameda SD12 Hugo Ruiz (116-113, 113-117, 115-113)
Daiki Kameda UD10 James Mokoginta
Tomoki Kameda KO4 Rey Las Pinas
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2012-12-06 Discoteca The City, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Amateur Camcorder
George Foreman TKO3 David Ferraez
I know this wasn't the main event, where Wilbert Uicab apparently won a majority decision against Oscar Blanquet, but how can I not recap a George Foreman fight? I mean it's not the all-time great heavyweight Big George, but it is one of his sons. Monk, the third son of George Sr, advanced his pro record to 16-0 with 15 knockouts in Mexico on this night. Was the opponent respectable? Well, no. Do I think Monk will ever amount to anything? No again. But he's still a big strong guy that's kinda fun to watch.
After a pretty timid opening Foreman dropped Ferraez with a backhand near the end of the 1st round. It wasn't ruled a knockdown since the shot is illegal, but it was just odd that Ferraez went down from a grazing shot like that in the first place. By the way Ferraez was complaining to the ref it was as if he was fishing for a DQ win. Ferraez was too short, too fat, and too ordinarily skilled to cause Monk too many problems in the fight but at least tried to win. The two mixed it up a bit in the 2nd and 3rd rounds before Ferraez finally wilted, and Ferraez actually had the better of most of the 3rd. But once Monk landed a few good left hooks and a right hand while Ferraez was against the ropes, he was easily able to push Ferraez down. It was correctly ruled a slip but Ferraez just didn't have the energy to continue.
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2012-12-07 Bowler's Arena, Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Coldwell.tv
Anthony Crolla UD10 Kieran Farrell (99-92, 96-94, 99-93)
This absolute non-stop back and forth war was the best fight I saw all week. And yes, I'm fully aware Pacquiao-Marquez IV took place the next day. Farrell relentlessly pressured and punched a technically superior Crolla for the majority of this fight before fading in the later rounds where Crolla's well-placed shots could finally match Farrell's output. Although I felt Crolla deserved to win the fight I didn't have any expectations when the final bell rang. Farrell gave absolutely everything he had in the ring and collapsed before the decision could even be announced. He was given oxygen, taken out on a stretcher, and rushed to the hospital.
Although it was initially reported that Farrell only suffered from extreme exhaustion / dehydration, doctors later discovered his brain was bleeding. A quick recovery is expected but Farrell, who has a newborn daughter at home, acknowledged that he may have to retire sooner than he expected.
With the victory Crolla picked up the vacant BBBofC English lightweight title, advanced his record to 25-4, and is now in line to fight the winner of Martin Gethin vs Ben Murphy in 2013 for the BBBofC British title. On the other hand Farrell suffered his first career defeat and may never fight again. Best wishes to him and his family.
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2012-12-07 Palamacchia, Livorno, Toscana, Italy
Rai Sport
Lenny Bottai KO9 Harun Akcabelen
Bottai, now 18-2, picked up only his 7th knockout in this competitive contest against Akcabelen, who has now been stopped in his last 3 outings. The way Akcabelen was knocked out in this fight alone merits substantial mandatory suspension. Akcabelen didn't appear to be in any danger through 8 rounds and was giving as well as he received in many of them. But Bottai's cleaner and more fluid combinations must have slowly worn Akcabelen down. Bottai was faster of hand, foot, and had superior reflexes. You could notice Akcabelen get broken down in the last round but it was ultimately his own doing that ended the fight.
Akcabelen randomly wanted to touch gloves mid round and after a quick touch Bottai took him out while he was defenseless. I couldn't help but think of the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight upon watching this, but Akcabelen was knocked out much worse. A straight right hand from Bottai ended a combination and snapped Akcabelen's head back over the ropes and turned his lights out. The ref stopped it while Akcabelen was still on his feet but he slowly fell forward and the ref caught him mid-fall to soften the impact. You could argue that the referee was slow to stop the fight as Akcabelen wasn't answering multiple clean shots, but only the last one was truly devastating.
Gianluca Frezza UD10 Antonio Moscatiello
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2012-12-07 Civic Center, Kissimmee, Florida, USA
Telemundo
Jose Nieves TKO2 Glenn Porras
Porras was over eager and kept running into counter shots. He was wide with his punches and fell over his knees when he'd miss. Consequently he tasted the canvas in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Although Porras beat the count each time, he was not ready to continue after the last knockdown. Nieves picked up the vacant WBO Latino bantamweight title in the process.
Yordenis Ugas UD10 Cosme Rivera
Carlos Lacayo UD4 Giovanni Vasquez
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2012-12-08 Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex, United Kingdom
Primetime
Nathan Graham TKO4 Kris Agyei-Dua
After a 10 round draw in their previous thrilling outing this bout reached a definitive conclusion, although through hard-to-reproduce means. Graham definitely was having his way with Agyei-Dua from the opening round, especially with overhand rights, but there's no way he could have predicted the injury Agyei-Dua would later suffer. Agyei-Dua probably even won the 3rd round. Then in the 4th round before either fighter could claim superiority Agyei-Dua dislocated his shoulder after throwing a left hook to Graham's body.
Viewers could see the bone in Agyei-Dua's left shoulder was clearly popped out and he was in a lot of pain but he begged the ref to let him continue. After his cornerman was able to pop his shoulder back into place, the ref resumed the bout. Graham then quickly jumped Agyei-Dua and had him out on his feet in moments, forcing the ref to wave the fight off. The shoulder was still injured and the Primetime commentators were adamant that the bout should have never resumed. The ref should have called over the doctor as soon as the injury took place. Agyei-Dua was furious that he lost in this manner, but it had to be done. Freak accidents sometimes happen.
Lee Markham TKO6 Diego Burton
Ian Lewison TKO4 Dorian Darch
Joe Mullender TKO5 Samet Hyuseinov
Tyler Goodjohn TKO4 Sylwester Walczak
Michael Devine PTS6 Kristian Dochev
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2012-12-08 Spodek, Katowice, Poland
Polsat
Damian Jonak UD10 Jackson Osei Bonsu (99-91, 98-90, 99-90)
Jonak arguably achieved a career best win against the ever thrilling but always chinny Bonsu when he dropped Bonsu early en route to a wide unanimous decision. It merely took a jab to floor Bonsu in round 2 but he got right back up and went on to fight his ass off, even if he took a beating in the process. While Bonsu mostly head hunted, Jonak balanced his attack to the head and body. Bonsu was dropped by yet another jab in round 5 but shook it off just as he did earlier. The crisper, snapping shots continued to come from Jonak throughout the duration of the bout. Bonsu, as usual, had balance issues throughout the night and was almost looking completely out of his depth until he staggered Jonak with a straight right hand in the 7th round. But Bonsu's balance quickly came back to haunt him as Jonak easily pushed him to the canvas in order to buy time to recover.
Nonetheless Bonsu was still able to follow up enough to win the 7th round, perhaps his only clear victory of the fight. From there onward Jonak was in the driver seat but Bonsu had no quit in him. It was a solid fight and Jonak should be taken seriously at junior middleweight because of it. Jonak is not worthy of a top 10 world rating yet, but I could easily see that or even a world title in his future. Well, maybe a WBO or IBO world title... (Not to belittle those organizations, it's just based on which fighters currently hold which belts)
Lukasz Janik UD8 Ismail Abdoul
Michal Starbala TKO1 Vladimir Fecko
Izuagbe Ugonoh TKO5 Mathieu Monnier
Michal Chudecki UD4 Roland Mohacsi
Lukasz Maszczyk TKO2 Oszkar Fiko
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2012-12-08 Sport Service, Podolsk, Russia
Allboxing.ru
Denis Bakhtov UD10 Danny Williams (99-90, 99-89, 99-88)
Williams, as usual when he faces respectable opposition, wound up visiting the canvas more times than I could be bothered to count. After debuting at 227 lbs in 1995, Williams fought at a near career high of 284½ lbs against Bakhtov. Yet, also usual in Williams fights, he nearly took Bakhtov out midway through. But as is often the case when Williams is close to tasting victory, he ended up on the canvas himself shortly afterward.
Although the cards were wide this was by no means a dominant performance from Bakhtov. He badly struggled with Williams, was knocked down at least once (despite never being ruled down), and was out on his feet at least once. Both fighters were visibly battered after the fight, Bakhtov even more so. Where does each fighter go from here? Nowhere relevant, but perhaps they'll get a few more paydays.
Dmitry Sukhotsky TKO1 Volodymyr Borovskyy
Karen Avetisyan KO2 Arman Ovsepyan
Vusal Aliyev UD6 Maxim Nikonorov
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2012-12-08 Ringside Gym, Leppavaara, Espoo, Finland
MTV3 MAX
Edis Tatli TKO1 Paolo Gassani
As soon as Tatli hurt Gassani he immediately blitzed him until the ref stepped in to wave it off. Tatli, still in the prospect stages of his career, is now 19-0 with 5 KOs, 3 of which came in the 1st round while the other was a corner retirement. Nonetheless, he picked up the vacant EBU-EU (European Union) lightweight title with this victory.
Niko Jokinen TKO1 Fatah Baghban
Eemeli Katajisto KO1 Lubo Hantak
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2012-12-08 Academie Ness Martial, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
WAY Productions
Roody Pierre-Paul TKO3 Karoly Lakatos
Paul, now 7-0 as a pro after dominating Lakatos, is still fighting people without a prayer of a chance of winning but is looking impressive in the process, quite the theme for Canadian prospects in recent years. Anyways, Paul pounded Lakatos into a corner and forced a referee stoppage. Paul showed good boxing skills and excellent athletic ability.
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2012-12-08 Business Expo Center, Anaheim, California, USA
Fox Deportes
Ricardo Williams Jr RTD5 Luis Ramos Jr
Both fighters started fast and Williams was down early in round 2 via a short left hook from Ramos. Williams finished the rest of the round just fine but it caused some unrest among his cornermen between rounds. Ramos continued to be aggressive but was wild and wide with his shots. Williams found opportunities to counter straight up the middle and gradually softened the skin under Ramos' eyes. Both fighters were gunning for the knockout but only one could walk away with it. Thus Ramos, a 23-0 undefeated prospect, suffered his 1st career defeat, albeit controversially.
A headbutt opened up a bad cut around the left eye of Ramos in the 5th and the bout was on the verge of going to the scorecards. But the fight shortly resumed and another cut around the right eye of Ramos emerged. It was unclear what caused the 2nd cut. Ultimately the fight was stopped between the 5th and 6th rounds on cuts, but apparently not from one ruled as a result of a headbutt. Otherwise, the fight should have gone to the scorecards. And Ramos was ahead on 2 of the 3 official cards.
Jermall Charlo RTD4 Edgar Perez
Jamel Herring UD4 Jose Valderrama
Rau'shee Warren UD4 David Reyes
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2012-12-08 Temple University McGonigle Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
I attended this event and recapped the full card here.
Bryant Jennings KO5 Bowie Tupou
Eric Hunter UD10 Jerry Belmontes
Angel Luis Ocasio TKO2 Esteban Rodriguez
Jason Sosa TKO2 Isaac Suarez
Joshua Arocho UD4 Alex Barbosa
Todd Unthank-May UD4 Taneal Goyco
Jesse Hart UD4 Steven Tyner
Anthony Burgin UD4 Kenneth Brown
Hasan Young TKO1 Josue Rivera
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2012-12-09 Hala Sportowa, ul. Reymonta 13A, Bialobrzegi, Poland
TVP WARSZAWA
Pawel Glazewski TKO3 Oleksandr Garashchenko
Glazewski's superior boxing skills were too much for Garashchenko to deal with. Glazewski easily timed, slipped, deflected, and countered Garashchenko's awkward but ineffective offense. And when Glazewski wanted to lead he landed the left hook to the head and body at will. A series of hooks in the 3rd lead the ref to step in and wave the bout off. It may have been early (Garashchenko was in the process of throwing a punch back at the time) but there was no doubt who the winner would be. Thus Glazewski continues to bounce back following his questionable loss to future hall of famer Roy Jones Jr earlier in the year.
Michal Zerominski PTS6 Istvan Kiss
Krzysztof Szot PTS4 Sandor Racz
Kamil Szeremeta PTS4 Dzianis Makar
If a bout is not mentioned which took place on one of the above cards it’s most likely because I haven’t got around to watching it yet. In the event that I do watch such a bout at a later time it’s still unlikely I will update this recap. My recaps will be posted on Mondays and/or Wednesdays, devoted to cards that most casual American boxing fans haven’t seen or heard of. For available footage of the previously reported bouts follow @sweetboxing on twitter. You may also email the author of this piece at rgbivins@gmail.com