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I'd like to tell you that I covered every card that anyone would care about, but, as luck would have it relevant fights took place in Africa during this week. Outside television didn't come in because the headliners and opponents were either African or low profile. And in case you're unaware, looking for African boxing broadcasts to be streamed live or become available on demand on the internet is often an exercise in futility. Native DVD traders make a killing selling overpriced copies of fights to interested parties overseas simply because they have no real competition.
But I digress. On Friday, March 22 in Ghana, Joseph Agbeko apparently struggled badly against Luis Melendez despite the lopsided scorecards in his favor. This was his first fight since losing his rematch to Abner Mares at the end of 2011. Nonetheless Agbeko is the new IBO bantamweight champion. The last IBO champion was Vic Darchinyan, but the title became vacant after he dropped a decision to Anselmo Moreno.
The following day, March 23, Jeffrey Mathebula and Takalani Ndlovu completed their trilogy in South Africa. Mathebula won by scores of 116-112 on all scorecards. Consequently Mathebula became the mandatory for the IBF bantamweight title, which he once held prior to meeting Nonito Donaire. I found a brief recap of the entire event here.
And that's all I've got to say about fights I didn't watch from this week. Now we move on to what I usually do, account for fights I have seen (whether the results are detailed or not). As always, feel free to ask about anything in the comments section. Also, you can check out last week's recaps here.
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2013-03-18 NCO Club, Royal Thai Airforce, Bangkok, Thailand
Thai TV 7
Nawaphon Por Chokchai KO4 Joan Imperial
Por Chokchai made the 4th defense of his WBC Asian Boxing Council flyweight title and improved to 13-0 with 10 knockouts. A sustained body assault ultimately forced Imperial to fold.
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2013-03-19 Bangkok University, Thonburi Campus, Bangkok, Thailand
Thai TV 3
Denkaosan Kaovichit TKO12 Eiji Tsutsumi
Ultimately Kaovichit overcame Tsutsumi in a back and forth slugfest and stopped him in the final round, thus making the 9th defense of his PABA super flyweight title after reigning as the flyweight champion 4-5 times previously. Kaovichit actually has more PABA title fights than most people have fights total. But forget all that. All you need to know is that the 10th round of Kaovichit-Tsutsumi was epic and a candidate for round of the year. Watch it below:
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2013-03-21 Gentlemen Fight Club Boxing House, Budapest, Hungary
GFC Boxing
Zoltan Petranyi TD8 Attila Palko (78-74, 78-75, 78-74)
The 46 year old Petranyi successfully defended his Hungary heavyweight title. A clash of heads ended the fight early after causing a bad cut to open outside of Petranyi's left eye.
Souleymane M'baye TKO2 Laszlo Haaz
The former world champion M'baye made easy work of Haaz, dropping him once in round 2 en route to a mercy stoppage while he was still standing. Body shots broke Haaz down and uppercuts and hooks upstairs prompted the referee to wave it off. This was M'baye's first fight since breaking his leg during an interim WBA welterweight champion against Ismael El Massoudi.
Due to the bizarre nature of that ending in July of 2011, the WBA has continued to rate M'baye very highly regardless, although seemingly in the wrong weight class. Going into this fight the WBA #1 junior welterweight spot was vacant while Amir Khan, Karim Mayfield, and Souleymane M'baye occupied 2 through 4 respectively. M'baye hasn't fought at a junior welterweight since his EBU title fight with Colin Lynes in 2009.
I swear to god, I'm not making this up...
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2013-03-21 Club Sportlife, Kiev, Ukraine
Elite Boxing Promotion
Viktor Postol UD12 Henry Lundy (116-113, 116-112, 116-112)
In a close fight filled with swing rounds Postol won by unanimous decision, the expected outcome. Opinions as to what the score should have been vary greatly depending upon whom you ask, but overall most European boxing fans didn't think there was anything controversial about it. Most American boxing fans, even among the more hardcore, haven't even seen the fight.
I, however, saw the fight and I re-watched half of the rounds at least twice. There was not much to choose from. Effective moments were few and far between.
Lundy started slow and let Postol control range behind his long jab in round 1. In round 2 Hank's defense improved and he slipped into punching range, allowing him to get off. Lundy easily landed the most telling blows of round 2.
And then things got murky for the next 7 rounds or so. I really can't object too much to how anyone scored rounds 3-9. The two alternated between doing what worked for them in the first 2 rounds. Several rounds were virtually even (and would have been appropriately judged so in an older era).
As the fight got into the later rounds Lundy's aggression and activity increased although his accuracy took a bit of a dive in the process. Consequently I felt he only just edged rounds 8, 9, and 12. On the other hand, rounds 10 and 11 were particularly clear for Lundy and that sentiment seems to be shared by most.
At the end of the day I can only give you my opinion. This is not one of those fights where you can just take my word for it. It started as a chess match between 2 defensive minded players until one realized he was behind and went for broke. I thought the guy who went for broke pulled it out. You'll just have to watch it and judge for yourself.
In any event, Postol improved to 22-0 and picked up the vacant WBC International light welterweight title. He's rated at least #3 by the WBC at the time I'm writing this. Meanwhile Lundy falls to 22-3-1 but showed he's more than capable of competing at 140 pounds. He plans to be back in the gym next week.
Dmytro Kucher UD12 Julio Cesar Dos Santos
Kucher shuts out Dos Santos on all 3 judges' scorecards and picks up the vacant WBC International cruiserweight title.
Marat Kulumbegov UD8 Mikhail Krinitsin
Oleg Malynovskyy UD6 Zhandos Zhetpisbayev
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2013-03-21 York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom
BoxNation
Billy Joe Saunders UD12 Matthew Hall (120-108, 120-109, 119-110)
As you can see by the scorecards, this was not a particularly close fight. Don't get me wrong, Hall was game and came to fight, but Saunders was in control from start to finish. Hall slipped and rolled to get inside but rarely ever got himself into comfortable punching range (or at least wasn't comfortable enough to throw punches when he was there). Saunders boxed circles around Hall using his reach, speed, volume, and technique.
Saunders, a southpaw, was open for the right hand but Hall rarely lead with it. I found that to be unusual because Hall actually managed to get his lead foot outside that of Saunders quite often. In layman's terms you could say that Hall gave Saunders too much respect. However, it didn't appear that Saunders was hurting Hall too much until Saunders rallied in round 10 following a right hook to the body. Hall briefly "lost" his mouthpiece to buy some time and easily made it to the finish line.
Nonetheless, Saunders successfully defended his BBBofC British and Commonwealth (British Empire) middleweight titles and improved to 17-0. Saunders said Hall was the toughest fighter he ever faced and called out John Ryder after the fight. Less surprisingly Hall also stated that Saunders was the best he ever faced, amateur or professional. Promoter Frank Warren was pleased with Billy's performance but thinks he'll become a better fighter as he moves up in weight (seemingly implying Saunders is a bit drained).
Bradley Skeete PTS10 Peter McDonagh
Skeete won the fight 100-90 after McDonagh had a point deducted in the 9th round. This was Skeete's first defense of his BBBofC Southern Area welterweight title. He looked better than I remember him in previous outings.
Paul Butler TKO4 Anwar Alfadli
Tom Baker PTS4 Jason Ball
Billy Morgan PTS6 Dan Carr
The rounds were only 2 minutes long, and yes, it was on purpose...
Simon Vallily PTS4 Simeon Cover
John Dignum PTS4 Kieron Gray
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2013-03-22 Club Universitario, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
TV Publica
Luciano Leonel Cuello TKO8 Joaquim Carneiro
Cuello controlled the fight throughout and Carneiro quit in his corner after the 7th round. However, it took the referee until the start of the 8th to officially call it off.
Consequently Cuello improved to 32-2, defended his South American light middleweight title, and picked up a shiny new WBC Latino light middleweight title (previously vacant). As he's only 28 years old he may just develop into a world stage fighter someday. His only career defeats came to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Saul Alvarez, and the Chavez Jr fight was close. Then again, so was Chavez Jr's 1st fight with Matt Vanda...
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2013-03-22 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
WealthTV (US) / Indigo (Canada)
Adonis Stevenson TKO6 Darnell Boone
Not much to say really. Stevenson did what he was expected to do. If anything it took longer than expected for him to do it. Boone's ability to stand up to Stevenson's bombs for as long as he did showed that the first fight back in 2010 wasn't a complete fluke. Just because you're beating the hell out of Boone doesn't mean you don't have to worry about what's coming back. Boone did have brief moments in this fight where Stevenson needed to keep his wits about him. However, whether or not Boone's surges actually won him any rounds is another matter entirely (although the French Canadian broadcast team gave Boone the 4th). Let's just say the surges combined with Boone's chin kept the fight semi-interesting.
Anyways, following Boone's best round, 4, Stevenson responded by bludgeoning him in the next round. Boone remained on his feet throughout the 5th but it would be the last time. A straight left hand to the chest followed by a right hook to the body took Boone to 1 knee a minute into the 6th round and with 30 seconds left a left uppercut followed by a straight left completely laid Boone out. The referee didn't bother counting to 10 but Boone would continue to stay down for a minute or so. This knockout will end up on my 2013 highlight reel for sure.
Eleider Alvarez TKO3 Nicholson Poulard
A perfectly placed right hand that was hidden behind a jab ended the fight.
Didier Bence UD8 Jonte Willis
Willis was down in round 3 and badly hurt at the end of round 5, courtesy of right hands. Willis did well to survive and even won a few rounds, but the fight wasn't like the French commentary team made it out to be. The 8th was actually one of Jonte's very best rounds but the Indigo card had it even. Had they given the round to Willis the fight would have ended in a draw on their card. To me, they were more concerned with being right (or giving it to the house fighter) than being honest. That being said, I have no problem with anyone scoring the last round even if they had the fight wide for Bence. That at least would be consistent.
Hughie Fury TKO2 David Whittom
Hughie, cousin of Tyson Fury, dropped Whittom in round 2 with a right hand and the referee waved it off. Hughie was fairly slick and quick of hands for a 6'8" fighter. This was an impressive pro debut for the 18 year old.
Sebastien Bouchard UD4 Adam Grabiec
Mian Hussain TKO2 Basilio Silva
This was a highlight reel knockout. Silva took a pasting in round 1 then was dropped twice in round 2.
Marc Pagcaliwangan RTD1 Jose Adan Fernandez
Fernandez injured his hand and quit.
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2013-03-22 Universal Hall, Berlin, Germany
Eurosport
Odlanier Solis UD12 Leif Larsen (116-112, 115-114, 117-111)
Solis spent rounds 4 and 6 shelled up, leaning over his front knee while Larsen picked him off. Stylistically that mirrored the rest of the fight, but in those rounds Larsen let his hands go and was effective. Solis fought out of an aggressive stance but spent most of his time waiting around to counter punch. It usually worked out, but only because Larsen isn't that good to begin with... And while I only thought Larsen was particularly effective in a few rounds, several more were up for grabs simply because Larsen was busier.
On another note, the bout was called over after 10 rounds but resumed for a final 2. They spent a minute or so arguing about whether the bout was supposed to be a 10 or 12 rounder. Solis, who actually put forth some effort to close the 10th round strong, came out faded in the championship rounds and may have given both of them away. A draw looked entirely conceivable, but Solis got the decision.
Subsequently Solis improved to 19-1 but has only had 2 fights since being stopped by Vitali Klitschko in 1 round more than 2 years ago. He's a player in the heavyweight division should he decide to resume a busier schedule against reputable opposition. Larsen, on paper, was a decent start as he entered the bout unbeaten (17-0) with wins over Jason Gavern and Danny Williams (AKA the usual suspects).
Selcuk Aydin UD10 Giuseppe Lauri
An overhand right / right hook clearly hurt and dropped Lauri in round 3 but it wasn't called. Lauri was cut by another right hand in round 5 and rocked even more by a left hook but the bell saved him. But, just as before, Aydin let Lauri off the hook and didn't press his advantage. Instead Aydin continued to dominate with single shots over the 10 round distance rather than string together combinations that would have forced a stoppage. Lauri didn't win a single round.
In any event Aydin rebounded from his loss to Jesus Soto Karass 2 months prior. However, he'll have to beat someone better than Lauri if fans are expected to take him seriously at world level again. So far it looks like Aydin may have peaked as an amateur.
Ruslan Chagaev KO1 Mike Sheppard
Chagaev has now won 4 straight fights since his loss to Alexander Povetkin in 2011. He may just fight another live body soon.
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2013-03-22 OTOP Centre, Khueang Nai, Thailand
Thai TV 7
Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo TKO5 Nathan Bolcio
Bolcio took a knee, got back up, and quit. Piriyapinyo, born Suriya Tatakhun, picked up the vacant PABA featherweight title. Since losing his first fight to Chris John all of Piriyapinyo's opponents have quit against him. I guess Chonlatarn is beefing up his statistics again for the next chance he gets to be put into a money fight that he's expected to lose. Relevant fights outside of major opportunities, where he might actually win, will probably continue to be a "no go".
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2013-03-22 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois, USA
ESPN
Don George D10 David Alonso Lopez (94-97, 96-94, 95-95)
Lopez looked old and lacked snap. He didn't throw punches to get George's respect. But he was touching George with clean punches. And apparently touching George was enough to earn Lopez a draw.
Giving Lopez the benefit of the doubt in every round, you could reasonably give Lopez rounds 2, 5, 7, 8, and 9, which produces a draw. Lopez was hurt pretty bad in round 3 and George was stunned a little at the end of round 5. Teddy Atlas agreed that Lopez won rounds 5, 8, and 9 while co-commentator Bernardo Osuna seemed to agree with those rounds and also gave Lopez round 2. Facebook fans only gave Lopez rounds 5 and 8, although the 9th was shaded to George by a 57/43 percentage. I figure there should be about a 20% voting percentage cushion as far as awarding even rounds goes on the basis that the statistical probability of producing a 50/50 round is far too low, no matter how even the round actually is.
Ultimately, "Da Bomb's" big right hands were the reason most people thought he won the fight. If you take George's power out of the picture, then sure, Lopez has a case to winning the fight. But what judge does that? Apparently Mauro Di Fiore does. On the other hand, I felt both judges John Epperson and Mike Fitzgerald gave perfectly respectable cards. If you don't believe me, watch the 7th round again and tell me that George wasn't largely ineffective. CompuBox reports George was 6/64 in round 7 while Lopez was 7/37. Did Lopez land jabs while George landed power shots? Sure. But were those power shots really significantly more effective than Lopez's jabs? Not really. The impact of Lopez's jab showed up on George's left eye, so he must have had something behind it. As CompuBox defines anything that isn't a jab as a "power punch", you must realize that jabs can easily be more effective than them. From rounds 7 through 9 I saw George fall short with his punches while Lopez countered. George was not bombing Lopez as he had done earlier in the fight; he was simply being out boxed.
So although Teddy Atlas told you "this is what's wrong with the sport," don't be so quick to complain. Watch the fight again closely. Everyone makes mistakes. This was not a terrible draw. Then again, I didn't think the Victor Ortiz-Lamont Peterson draw was bad either. So what do I know...
Adrian Granados D10 Kermit Cintron (96-94, 93-97, 95-95)
I hate to keep raining on the general public's parade but Granados got too much credit for being "hungry". Whether or not Cintron's face looked like a man that wanted to win should be irrelevant as it pertains to scorecards. Whether Cintron could actually land punches is what counts. And his counter punching was under rated. The only clear rounds I saw for Granados were 3, 6, and 10 (often highlighted by his right hands).
However, Cintron clearly won round 4 and busted Granados' nose in the process (probably via a left hook, one of his best punches throughout the fight). I also liked Cintron in rounds 7 and 9. Granados basically took the 9th off. Teddy Atlas had the fight 98-92 for Granados but elected to give Cintron the 1st round while Facebook, with the same final score, instead gave Cintron round 7. Facebook also only had Granados winning round 5 by a 55/45 margin.
So there you have it, 5 different rounds outlined that Cintron might have deserved (see logic on tight voting rounds explained in the main event). So is a draw highway robbery? No! But did I think Granados won the fight? Yes. 97-93 Granados is my card, but the same score in the opposite direction isn't the worst card I've ever seen. Like I said before, I only saw 3 clear cut rounds for Granados. Judge John McCarthy just gave Cintron every benefit of every doubt... It happens (a lot).
Consequently the 23 year old Granados is denied a career best win while the 33 year old Cintron must acknowledge that he's a long ways off from the form he once had as a world champion. Cintron chose to hang them up after being dominated by Saul Alvarez, but his wife and children convinced him to make a comeback. Supposedly they figure he has about 5 or so fights left in him. But perhaps after seeing what a virtually unknown did to him they have changed their minds.
Hairon Socarras UD4 Sergio Montes de Oca
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2013-03-23 Club Social y Cultural El Cruce, Malvinas Argentinas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
TyC
Matias Carlos Adrian Rueda TKO5 Ramon Armando Torres
Unbeaten super featherweight prospect Rueda was scheduled for his first 10 rounder but took his opponent out in half of the time. The fight ended on a must see right hand. I'm unsure what impressed me more: the punch itself or Torres' ability to get up so quickly. However, as Torres was clearly in no condition to continue, the referee waved the fight off regardless.
Consequently Rueda is now 11-0 with 9 knockouts. The 24 year old, nicknamed "La Cobrita", may be one to look out for in the future. Power punchers from Argentina tend to make for good television.
Cristian Javier Medina D4 Facundo Javier Solis
Roman Ruben Reinoso UD4 Fernando Miguel Romero
Hector Alfredo Avila SD6 Martin David Islas
Natalia Vanesa Aguirre UD4 Maria Eugenia Lopez
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2013-03-23 Centre sportif Jacky Leroy, Flobecq, Hainaut, Belgium
Camcorder
Dardan Zenunaj KO1 Hovhannes Zhamkochyan
Zhamkochyan should have been ruled down following a right hand early in round 1 but the ropes kept him up and the referee let him off the hook. Zhamkochyan seemingly complained about a headbutt that proceeded the knockdown but it is unclear if that had any influence on the referee's missed call. Nonetheless, a volley of right hands would officially drop Zhamkochyan twice more that round before the ref waved it off. Overall I thought Zhamkochyan did more complaining than actually fighting, who also feigned a low blow when he was hurt with a left hook to the body.
Thus the 25 year old Zenunaj improved to 8-1 and picked up the vacant IBO International super featherweight title. Zhamkochyan fell to 26-6-1 with his previous defeat also coming by way of 1st round knockout.
Arnaud Dimidschtein D8 Innocent Anyanwu
Jordan De Simone TKO1 Radoslav Baca
Patera Fransesco TKO1 Peter Feher or Simon Belko
Reda Azzaoui UD4 Pascal Bouchez
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2013-03-23 GETEC Arena, Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
BoxNation (UK) / ARD (Germany)
Robert Stieglitz TKO4 Arthur Abraham
The bout started at a fairly intense pace for an Abraham fight with the two alternating between attack and defense modes for the first half of the round. However, as Stieglitz began to master the punch and grab technique out of the Bernard Hopkins playbook, Abraham's offense was completely shut down in the second half. From there on Stieglitz pretty much dominated the fight by merely swarming Abraham with combinations and smothering him in order to get a respite. Headbutts were mixed in with the holding, but hey, it got the job done.
Abraham did experience a moment of success in round 2 after he landed a few shots to the back of Stieglitz's head, but Stieglitz soon recovered and had Abraham in even worse trouble before the round ended. Abraham had to hold on to survive and his left eye had begun to swell badly.
Abraham never recovered.
Stieglitz would go on to beat the hell out of Abraham in round 3. One of the only effective punches Abraham was able to land was another shot to the back of Stieglitz's head toward the end of the round. The referee promptly took a point and Abraham responded by a fairly spirited, albeit ineffective, rally. What fans didn't know at the time was that the "King" was making his last stand and subsequently retired in his corner between rounds. The bout is ruled a TKO during the 4th round merely because there was confusion as to whether or not Abraham was actually quitting.
The delay of the stoppage reminded me of the first Abraham-Miranda fight when extra time was taken to decide whether or not the fight would continue after Abraham's jaw was broken. Abraham wanted to quit then too, but changed his mind when he was informed that he'd lose by TKO. Against Stieglitz he knew he was going to end up stopped regardless, so he saved himself the pain of additional punishment. His eye was indeed in bad shape, but so was the eye of Erik Morales when he arguably took Marcos Maidana to school after taking a beating in the first 2 rounds.
I'm sure some of you are confused because you've read other reports of the "ringside doctor" stopping the fight, but he was merely the excuse. If Abraham wanted to continue, he would have let him.
But I digress. Stieglitz regained his WBO super middleweight championship from the man that took it from him and is now, for the first time, universally taken seriously as a world champion. George Groves is expected to challenge for Stieglitz's title soon if a trilogy isn't made with Abraham first.
Robert Helenius UD10 Michael Sprott
Although Helenius clearly deserved to win this fight, I'm seriously considering dropping him from the Bad Left Hook top 10 heavyweight ratings after this uninspiring performance against a once credible fringe contender with a foot into retirement. Helenius just hasn't been the same since he injured his shoulder and got a gift against Chisora. His defensive flaws were always there, but the man once had eye opening power and utterly obliterated his opponents. He claimed to be physically healed leading into this bout, but I have my doubts. If it is merely mental or due to ring rust then maybe Helenius just needs to stay busy and get his confidence back. If not, please don't mention his name in the Klitschko sweepstakes again. Nonetheless, Helenius improved to 19-0.
Lukas Konecny TD12 Karim Achour
Consistent pressure, good body work, and overhand rights upstairs lead Konecny to victory. Clashes of heads cut the fight a tad short (and Konecny's face) but not enough to make people wonder how things would have gone otherwise. Achour briefly celebrated what he thought was a TKO victory before it was clarified that the bout would go to the scorecards.
Subsequently Konecny picked up the vacant WBO European middleweight title. This should give him a high WBO rating but his chances of actually winning the world title are pretty slim. I suspect Peter Quillin would smash him up Adrien Broner-Gavin Rees style.
Melissa McMorrow SD10 Nadia Raoui
In the female main event of the evening McMorrow was nearly robbed of a victory against the hometown fighter Raoui. Scorecards ranged from 99-91 McMorrow to 96-94 Raoui. In typical McMorrow fashion she applied relentless pressure, stayed busy, and kept a low center of gravity with high hands. Raoui struggled to hit McMorrow with effective punches through most of the fight.
McMorrow kind of resembles a mini Mike Tyson without power. She's the unified WBO female and WIBF flyweight champion and the #2 flyweight in the world behind fellow Californian Ava Knight. Should the two meet in the ring a true winner would produce a champion no sane person would dispute. That being said, I'm sure there will be several other female flyweight "world champions" out there regardless...
George Groves TKO2 Baker Barakat
In early undercard action Groves blitzed through Barakat like he was expected to do. Right hands put Barakat down in round 2 and the referee waved it off while Barakat was still standing moments later. Barakat protested, but there was only going to be one winner on this night.
The fight in no way prepared Groves for a showdown with Robert Stieglitz, or the winner of an Abraham-Stieglitz trilogy, but it did at least expose (not in the bad way) Groves to fans that follow the current / former WBO super middleweight champions. By the time the fight happens Groves should be favored to win. As of today he's 18-0 with another fight on the undercard of Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler II looming. One should suspect that Groves is being lined up to unify titles with the winner of that rematch down the line. But, I'm getting way ahead of myself...
Edmund Gerber UD8 Gbenga Oloukun
Gerber won another questionable decision but continued to look like the limited fighter Michael Sprott twice showed him to be. The good news for Gerber is that he's a heavyweight and is only 24 years old. Potentially he has a long time to learn this sport. Also, as long as he keeps fighting in Germany, his record should continue to look nice on paper during the learning process. He's now 23-1.
Enrico Koelling UD6 Josef Obeslo
Moritz Stahl KO1 Jozsef Orsos
A single left hook to the body lead to Orsos opting out of the fight. It was a borderline quit job. I'm not certain he could have actually beat the count if he really tried. Ultimately the referee did help him up.
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2013-03-23 Abano Terme, Veneto, Italy
Rai Sport
Devis Boschiero KO10 Samir Kasmi
I have to be honest. Through 6 rounds of this fight I thought I had over rated Boschiero in the Bad Left Hook super featherweight rankings. I still may have. Kasmi, a journeyman, was giving Boschiero all he could handle. But Kasmi wasn't really fighting like a journeyman. Both fighters looked pretty good. Even after Boschiero dropped Kasmi in round 7 (which may have simply been a slip) Kasmi came back and closed the round strong. Boschiero would continue to turn up the heat during spots in subsequent rounds but Kasmi always came right back, even stunning Boschiero at the close of round 9. I haven't seen the official cards but a strong case could be made that Kasmi should have been leading going into round 10.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Boschiero landed a huge 1-2 combination that badly buckled Kasmi's knees and sent him into retreat. Boschiero was quick to pounce on his prey and had him down officially moments later with another right hand. Kasmi beat the first count but was down again immediately afterward and failed to beat it again. Kasmi kept trying to move away instead of staying close and tying up.
Consequently Boschiero salvaged his career as a top fighter and retained his EBU super featherweight title. His only career loss remains a controversial one to Takahiro Ao. But rumor has it judge Duane Ford (who scored that fight 115-113 Ao) thought Ao gave Boschiero a boxing lesson. So once again, what do I know...
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2013-03-23 Arena Riga, Riga, Latvia
Mayzus Investment Company
Mairis Briedis TKO2 Danny Williams
This apparently wasn't a sanctioned fight. Supposedly it was deemed "public sparring for publicity" by the Baltic Boxing League. They claimed there were no judges but the referee (who may serve as a judge) was clearly legit. He waved the fight off following the 4th knee Williams took in round 2.
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2013-03-23 Centro de Espectáculos "La Macarena", Uruapan, Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico
Televisa
Marco Antonio Rubio UD12 Marcus Upshaw (120-107, 117-110, 117-110)
Rubio had the taller, longer, and younger Upshaw gun shy and retreating for most of the bout. Open scoring had the fight a shutout for Rubio on all 3 scorecards after 4 rounds. In round 6 after action was paused to re-insert Upshaw's dropped mouthpiece, Rubio dropped Upshaw altogether with a 1-2 combination. However, Upshaw got right back up and fought just as well as he had prior to the knockdown...which wasn't nearly good enough to have a prayer of winning. It however was enough to pick him up a round on 2 judges' cards as open scoring revealed Rubio's lead again after 8 rounds. Those same judges would go on to split the last 4 rounds right down the middle. Perhaps they were just upset that Rubio didn't get Upshaw out of there.
Now, the only thing troubling about this bout was that it made Rubio the mandatory for the WBC middleweight championship...again. I don't think the public will have much interest in watching Sergio Martinez take on Rubio. But if Martin Murray can upset Martinez next month, I'm sure they'll find a way to sell Murray-Rubio in the UK. That, however, is a long shot. Expect Rubio, the new WBC United States (USNBC) middleweight champion, to march on to another world title fight. He might even win said world championship if Martinez opts to vacate rather than face him (something Martinez has done before). It would be almost comical if Chavez Jr swooped in once again to claim Martinez's vacant belt. Don't be too surprised if we get Chavez-Rubio II followed by Chavez-Martinez II.
Arely Mucino UD10 Suri Tapia (100-89, 100-89, 100-89)
Tapia was down in round 1 by a left hook but rallied back strong enough to win other rounds in the eyes of many fans in attendance. Rounds were often close without much to separate the fighters, but Mucino was more polished and landed the better shots. A shutout on all 3 scorecards may have been a bit harsh, but it was understandable.
Nonetheless, Mucino, who's never in a bad fight, advanced to 17-2-1 on the same day that her most memorable rival also won (McMorrow). I deemed Mucino-McMorrow the 2012 female fight of the year. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out soon. You'll thank me later.
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2013-03-23 Arena Foro Tecate, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico
Azteca 7
Omar Chavez TKO2 Pablo Vasquez
Up until the last 20 seconds or so in the first round the fight was quite competitive, but then Chavez's power showed up and a straight right hand put Vasquez on his butt. Vasquez beat the count and made it out of the round but was hurt again by a right hand (this time followed by a left hook) early in round 2. Another left hook had Vasquez down again moments after that (which he tried to pass off as a slip). Vasquez (whose name was spelled Vazquez by Azteca 7) beat the count yet again but was stopped on his feet shortly afterward when his corner literally came into the ring with the towel and pulled him away.
Subsequently Chavez got back to his winning ways following his 2nd loss to Jorge Paez Jr and improved to 29-2-1. "El Businessman" is now 2-2 since solely campaigning at junior middleweight. I'd say he was better as a welterweight but I don't think he's fought anyone on Paez's level at that weight. And to be honest Paez was just a blown up Welterweight...
Ricardo Dominguez UD10 Al Sabaupan
Saul Roman TKO9 Jose Pinzon
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2013-03-23 Hala Sportowa, ul. Zuzlowa 4, Czestochowa, Poland
Polsat
Lukasz Janik UD10 Lars Buchholz (100-90, 100-90, 100-90)
Is a description really necessary? Janik did 10 rounds on a heavy bag and managed to improve to 25-1 at the same time. Janik should be matched with a rating cruiserweight once again soon enough. The first time around he was stopped by Mateusz Masternak inside 5 rounds.
Andrzej Wawrzyk UD6 Robert Hawkins
Damian Jonak UD8 Max Maxwell
I give Maxwell credit for looking less shot against a legitimate junior middleweight contender as opposed to the green prospect he was shut out by the week before.
Andrzej Soldra UD6 Oliver Tchinda
Przemyslaw Runowski UD4 Michal Vosyka
Lukasz Maszczyk UD6 Andras Varga
Lukasz Zygmunt UD6 Lukasz Rusiewicz
Jacek Chruslicki UD4 Tamas Szatmari
Robert Parzeczewski UD4 Piotr Tomaszek
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2013-03-23 Cancha Ruben Zayas Montanez, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico
UniMas
Jonathan Gonzalez TKO3 Joseph Rios
Gonzalez let Rios bring the fight to him and bided his time to land devastating counters. Rios was first hurt towards the end of round 2 and was in trouble throughout most of round 3. A cut opened over Rios' left eye and the referee opted to stop the fight after conferring with the ringside doctor. It seemed early to stop the fight on cuts, but Rios didn't complain.
Consequently "Bomba" Gonzalez improved to 12-0 [1 NC] with 11 victories coming by way of knockout. His no contest with Omar Salado probably would have ended in a knockout as well, but Salado effectively quit (unofficially) before that could happen. Whether it's flyweight or super flyweight, Gonzalez should be a real player in either division in the not too distant future.
Bernard Lebron TKO1 Nathaniel Vazquez
Christopher Rivera UD4 Jeffrey Ramos
Felix Verdejo TKO2 Martin Quezada
Although just a typical undercard bout scheduled for 4 rounds, this fight actually garnered more attention than the main event due to the amateur credentials and innate talent of the 2012 Olympian. Verdejo's probably the best hope Puerto Rico has for future stars right now, and tickets for the bandwagon are selling out fast.
Anyways, Quezada was down at the end of round 1 and down again early in round 2. The referee looked into Quezada's eyes following the second knockdown and saw a man who was finished, thus ending the fight.
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#QuitCounter2013 advanced by 5 and broke past 50. We're well on schedule to find more than 200 quitters this year. Hurray? New additions added in bold.
2013-01-05 Reyes Sanchez RTD5/TKO6 Ramiro Alcaraz
2013-01-11 Brandon Holmes TKO4 Javier Esparza
2013-01-11 Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym TKO4 Noli Morales
2013-01-12 Hector Alfredo Avila RTD6/TKO7 Emilio Ezequiel Zarate
2013-01-12 Matias Carlos Adrian Rueda RTD3/TKO4 Sergio Alejandro Blanco
2013-01-18 Brandon Riddell TKO1 Eric McNorris
2013-01-19 Khalid Yafai RTD4 Gonzalo Garcia
2013-01-19 Roberto Feliciano Bolonti RTD7/TKO8 Franco Raul Sanchez
2013-01-23 Delen Parsley RTD2 Tyrone Selders
2013-01-23 Eugene Russell KO1 Granson Clark
2013-01-25 Brian Vera TKO10 Serhiy Dzinziruk
2013-01-25 Edgar Santana TKO3 Eddie Soto
2013-01-25 Franklin Lawrence RTD2 Mark Brown
2013-01-25 Omar Douglas RTD2 David Warren Huffman
2013-01-30 Erick Martinez TKO2 Miguel Angel Garcia Nava
2013-02-01 Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo RTD4 Arief Blader
2013-02-08 Kevin Bizier RTD8 Nate Campbell
2013-02-09 Carlos Gabriel Ozan KO1 Modesto Rodriguez
2013-02-09 Javier Francisco Maciel TKO5 Emilio Julio Julio
2013-02-09 Micki Nielsen KO1 Josef Krivka
2013-02-09 Saul Juarez KO10 Armando Torres
2013-02-16 Brandon Cook RTD3 Raul Saiz
2013-02-16 Demetrius Hopkins RTD6 Charles Whittaker
2013-02-16 Jamel Herring RTD3 Carlos Lopez
2013-02-16 Joel Tambwe Djeko TKO6 Bassam Belkhir
2013-02-21 Czar Amonsot RTD6 Addisu Tebebu
2013-02-21 Patrick Day RTD1 Dominique Foster
2013-02-22 Ariel Vega TKO4 Jose Rodriquez
2013-02-22 Christian Hammer RTD6 Oleksiy Mazikin
2013-02-22 Manuel Charr RTD2 Yakup Saglam
2013-02-22 Simona Galassi RTD2 Gabriella Vicze
2013-02-22 Yunier Dorticos RTD3 Willie Herring
2013-02-23 Chris Avalos RTD4 Jose Luis Araiza
2013-02-26 Petch Kokietgym RTD8 Albert Alcoy
2013-03-01 Michal Syrowatka KO2 Laszlo Robert Balogh
2013-03-02 Genesis Servania TKO7 Angky Angkotta
2013-03-08 Renato De Donato TKO6 Antonio Santoro
2013-03-09 Darren Barker RTD4 Simone Rotolo
2013-03-09 Giovanni De Carolis RTD4 Artem Solomko
2013-03-10 Michael McLaughlin RTD1 Jimmy LeBlanc
2013-03-15 Gary Cornish TKO5 Humberto Evora
2013-03-15 Levan Ghvamichava RTD3 Angel Rios
2013-03-15 Sultahn Staton RTD2 Kenneth Brown
2013-03-16 Gustavo David Vittori TKO2 Diego Fernando Neira
2013-03-16 Marco Antonio Periban KO2 Samuel Miller
2013-03-16 Yesica Yolanda Bopp RTD5 Carolina Alvarez
2013-03-22 Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo TKO5 Nathan Bolcio
2013-03-22 Luciano Leonel Cuello RTD7/TKO8 Joaquim Carneiro
2013-03-22 Marc Pagcaliwangan RTD1 Jose Adan Fernandez
2013-03-22 Michael Walsh vs Krisztian Laufer
2013-03-23 Robert Stieglitz TKO4 Arthur Abraham
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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 once a week, 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.