Dragon Boxing

Mixed bag at the Copper Box

2013-09-22T12:23:00.002-07:00

Saturday night saw Queensbury Promotions' first show at the Copper Box Arena in Stratford, with several title fights, including the highly anticipated Billy Joe Saunders v John Ryder bout, for the Commonwealth and British middleweight titles, held by Saunders.

Fight Of The Night

Liam Walsh v Joe Murray was an entertaining scrap for the Cromer man's Commonwealth super featherweight title, however the main event lived up to many people's expectations, with Saunders and Ryder's different styles making for a highly-compelling twelve round fight. Billy Joe retained his titles after a fight which saw Islington's Ryder marching forward with educated pressure,

Saunders retains his titles

throwing in some big hooks and uppercuts, while Saunders boxed well behind the jab, and at times produced some world class technical skills. John rocked his opponent in the 7th round, but that livened up the champion, who saw out the twelve rounds well, despite the pre-fight rumours of him being tight at the weight. The decision was unanimous in the champion's favour, with one judge scoring it a 115-114, and the other two 115-113. Dragon Boxing had it a 114-114 draw.

Disappointment Of The Night

The much hyped super flyweight Paul Butler struggled as he beat Chile's unbeaten Miguel Gonzalez over twelve rounds for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title, however the British and Commonwealth title fight between Frankie Gavin and David Barnes never got going. The two welterweights are similar boxers, who like to keep it long behind technically sound jabs, and the big factor in this being such a poor contest, was the fact Barnes didn't really look like a man trying to get back into the big time. It was fought as a slow pace, with very little action of the dramatic variety. Gavin won a Lonsdale belt outright as he took a unanimous decision, however neither man came out of the fight with much credit, particularly disappointing from Frankie, who has been on a great run since re-uniting with former amateur trainer Tom Chaney.

Performance Of The Night

Chisora is in line for a world title shot

Frank Buglioni took a step forward in his career as he stopped Czech Republic's Bronislav Kubin with a powerful right hook in the second round of a scheduled ten rounder, however it's hard not to be impressed by Dereck Chisora, who claimed what's rightfully his, by stopping Edmund Gerber in five rounds for the European heavyweight title. Chisora was robbed of the title over in Finland two years ago, as he seemingly outworked home favourite Robert Helenius, but only one of the three judges saw him the winner. The signs were positive for this bout as he came in at a career lightest 235lbs, and although he took a good shot in the fourth round, the fifth round saw him pounding away at the Kazakhstan born German, forcing referee Guido Cavalleri to intervene. An emotional "Del Boy" dedicated the win to Dean Powell afterwards, and in his post-fight interview he spoke about a more professional and dedicated attitude to the sport, which has been there for all to see in his last couple of fights.

Prospect To Follow

Two guys made their debuts on this bill, North London's Georgie Kean, and Middlesbrough's Josh Leather. Kean had sold 700 tickets, and looks like he could be following in Frank Buglioni's footsteps by becoming a bit of a crowd pleaser, but I wasn't too impressed as he took a four round points win against Lincoln's Rick Boulter. Leather likewise cruised to a four round decision over Joe Beeden, and was a clear winner over the course of the fight. A winner of an ABA lightweight title last year, 21 year old Leather has real future in the sport ashe has very good technical skills, and could be part of a North East scene that's just bubbling at the moment. There's not been many big shows in that part of the world in recent years, but Leather is signed with Queensbury, along with a couple of other ex amateur standouts from the North East in fellow 'Boro boy Simon Vallily, and Bradley Saunders.

He won't be a World Champion

We'd like to call this feature "He won't be winning any titles soon", however Boxing's nature nowadays is anyone can win a title, with the various different governing bodies. Therefore we've settled on the above, and it's hard to see Russian middleweight Dmitry Chudinov becoming a big success story. It was the second time he'd fought on British soil, this time taking on Max Maxwell,

Chudinov failed to impress once again

following a draw with Patrick Mendy at Wembley in July. The Serpukhov native is a pressure fighter, with a solid enough jab, but he's no Floyd Mayweather skill-wise, and no Nigel Benn power-wise, therefore a lot of his work is rather under-whelming. Maxwell is tough, he's got a lot of experience, but is a natural light middleweight, therefore it's hard to take much from the fight, other than the fact Chudinov moves to 11-0-2 (7 KO's).

RIP Dean Powell.

This was the final show that Dean Powell had worked on as a matchmaker, and Dragon Boxing would like to pass on our condolences to Dean's family and friends, a great man of our great sport.

A fight to be proud of

2013-02-04T05:29:00.001-08:00

Today in London the May 25th showdown between IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and the WBA title holder Mikkel Kessler was officially announced by promoter Eddie Hearn, with the super fight at the 02 Arena heralding Boxing's return to the big time in UK sporting press.

The first bout between the two was brutal

This is a rematch of a brutal war over in Denmark in April 2010, with Kessler winning on all three judges scorecards, this when Froch, despite being a world champion, was a fighter very few mainstream sports fans had heard of. Times have changed since, "The Cobra" jumped ship from Mick Hennessy's promotional stable to join up with Hearn and his exposure on Sky Sports has made Boxing and Sports fans appreciate the man's attitude to the sport.

This is a fight that all Boxing fans all over the world will want to watch, and the reason being these are two guys who always come to fight, with the show given the very apt title by Hearn of "Warriors Call". That's what really makes this an unique and exciting fight, these are two guys who will give their all and have never ducked an opponent in their career. "The Viking Warrior" has visited Britain once before, and that was to fight the legendary Joe Calzaghe in his own backyard, he was never going to duck this rematch with Froch.

Credit to all parties involved for making this fight happen, it promises to be a truly spectacular night for sports fans in general with the Champions League final taking place at Wembley on the same night. All I can say is a great fight awaits, and may the best Warrior win.

McDonnell set for 2013 World Title tilt

2012-12-07T05:35:00.000-08:00

"Teremoto" is set to move up to super bantamweight

It's been announced this week that current IBF bantamweight champion Leo "Teremoto" Santa Cruz is set to step up to super bantamweight after his title defence in Los Angeles next week. The busy Mexican clashes with fellow unbeaten countryman Alberto Guevara as chief support to Amir Khan's bout with Carlos Molina next weekend, meaning the title will be vacated in the near future.

Santa Cruz has made two voluntary defences already, and was set to fight his mandatory next year, that being Doncaster's in form Jamie McDonnell. Luckily for both fighters, but McDonnell especially, it seems that Leo's future lies in the bigger weight classes and probably a huge clash with Abner Mares could happen this time next year. When the title will be made vacant McDonnell will land himself fight for the belt and will take on an opponent in the top 15 of the IBF's rankings.

McDonnell after winning his eliminator

The challenger is expected to be someone who has participated in a recent IBF title fight or holds one of their multi continental belts, therefore it's expected that McDonnell will have home advantage and be a pretty strong favourite.

One opponent could be Vusi Malinga, the South African who went the 12 round distance with Santa Cruz when contesting for the vacant title in June, and was supposed to fight Jamie in a title eliminator in October. 30 year old Frenchman Mohamed Boulgehcha held the IBF International title in April 2011 and having won his most recent fight, which was a six rounder, in the weird world of Boxing, he can be classed as a contender.

A rematch with the awkward Haskins would be very interesting

A potentially dangerous opponent for McDonnell could be unbeaten, big hitting Mexican Julio Ceja (22-0, 20 KO's) who is the current IBF Latino champion, and is ranked #14 in the world, one place above him the Doncaster bantamweight. That looks to be the most dangerous likely opponent out there, while a fight with European champion Lee Haskins of Bristol, would be very interesting, as Haskins was the last person to beat the 26 year old, claiming a 77-76 decision on the referee's scorecard in March 2008.

Hopefully McDonnell will get his long awaited title tilt next year, his recent performances have been excellent. He's done it the right way by winning British, Commonwealth and European titles, and the good news is that if this world title fight comes off, the chances of it being televised on Sky Sports is very likely, this after his last fight with Darwin Zamora was shown on the channel.

Be patient with DeGale

2012-12-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

DeGale had to work hard in his last fight

James DeGale has his second taste of Channel 5 TV exposure this weekend, as he challenges tough Colombian Fulgencio Zuniga for the vacant WBC Silver Super Middleweight title at the Bonus Arena in Hull. This comes after a promising, if a little inconsistent, debut on the channel from the 2008 Olympic Gold Medallist, where he successfully defended his European title against France's Hadillah Mohoumadi with a unanimous decision.

DeGale has set himself up for a fall in his rather short pro career, he talked the talked against George Groves, but failed to walk the walk, in what was a very close fight. This comes after being booed on his pro debut, but I sense there could be a change in public perception towards DeGale after his move to Mick Hennessy's promotional stable. Before his last fight a feature with James was aired, and there wasn't as much of the brash, and somewhat full of hot air talk, that we've seen from him in the past. He looked confident and fresh, looking very much forward to a new start in his career after leaving Frank Warren.

Bute destroyed Zuniga in their March 2009

I don't think Warren can be blamed in James' career, he was disappointed when the renowned promoter signed rival Groves, but even after that defeat, DeGale was handed a European title shot against Poland's Piotr Wilczewski, coming through some difficult periods to narrowly claim a majority decision.

The point of this piece is with this fight coming up now, I think people shouldn't put too much pressure on James. We know what he did as an amateur, but the pro's is a completely different game and he's already achieved a lot. He won the British title in his 9th pro fight, travelling to Liverpool to face home favourite Paul Smith, and has had three European title fights already. The southpaw holds a very lofty 13th placed ranking in the world with Boxrec, which I believe he deserves as he's come through some difficult tests, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I believe DeGale is way off a world title shot. He's boxed just 75 pro rounds, and could do with at least two or three further 12 round contests.

N'Diaye lies in wait for DeGale

This bout with Zuniga could provide him with further experience, as he's taking on a very experienced opponent. The Colombian has a record of 25-6-1 (22 KO's) and the only two guys to have stopped him are a 26-0 Kelly Pavlik and 23-0 Lucian Bute. In his most recent bout he went the 12 round distance with the unbeaten in 21 fights South African Thomas Oostuhizen, who had been linked to a fight with Carl Froch earlier in the year, and showed his resilience in that bout. DeGale has had just 14 fights and I hope fans/pundits respect what's in front of him here, this will be a hard fight and it would be a great experience for James if he gets the full 12 rounds. Saying this if he is able to stop Zuniga, it has to go down as a massive statement.

Hennessy is expected to keep the man from Harlesden very busy and a mandatory defence of his European title is pencilled in at Bluewater in Kent for the 26th of January, against the hard hitting African born Italian Mohuamed N'Diaye in what could be a real treat for Boxing fans in the UK.

Thursday night thriller awaits in Vegas

2012-12-04T07:05:00.003-08:00

A huge weekend of Boxing lies ahead for fight fans in Las Vegas, with promoter Bob Arum putting on shows on Thursday, Friday and of course Saturday. Friday sees welterweight contender Jessie Vargas return to the ring, and then on Saturday the action heads to the MGM Grand for that massive 4th fight between Pacquiao and Marquez. The action starts on Thursday however at the Mirage Hotel & Casino, with a fantastic looking lightweight headliner between Raymundo Beltran and Ji-Hoon Kim.

Beltran in his upset win over Lundy

This bout - for the NABF lightweight title - is live on ESPN2 in the USA and features two guys who are not the biggest names in the division, but are always picked for fights on the regular Friday night bills on the channel or their rival ShoBox, the main reason being they always give fans exciting fights. This fight has a lot riding on it now though, with both guys in winning form, and in the top 20 of the divisional rankings.

Beltran spiralled up the rankings with a fantastic majority decision win over Hank Lundy in his last bout, coming through some rough patches early on, to outwork the Philly man down the stretch. A lot of people knew Beltran would give Lundy a hard night's work, but it was a major upset to see him win. Kim also comes into this on the back of an upset victory, having like Beltran, outworked his last opponent, the unbeaten Russian Alisher Rahimov, for a unanimous decision over 10 rounds.

Kim (left) beat the unbeaten Rahimov last time out

This bout has the makings of a serious Fight Of The Year candidate, there might not be a lot of Boxing on show, these are two guys with great engines, they love to throw punches, and defence is very likely to go out of the window after the midway point. Dragon Boxing likes Beltran in this fight, Kim is probably the more limited of the two, and Raymundo will match him for work rate and energy.

The undercard sees some quality prospects on show, the most notable being Jose Benavidez, who fights out of the Wildcard and is unbeaten in 17 fights. He's a welterweight prospect with some wonderful skills, but comes into this fight having been shaken up in the final round of his last bout with 17-7-1 Mexican Pavel Miranda. Thursday night he's scheduled to take on the less dangerous Jesus Selig, who's a Mexican based in Arizona, and the choice of opponent suggests Top Rank are still being cautious with Jose.

Unbeaten Benavidez with the legendary Freddie Roach

A title fight on the undercard sees Jesse Magdaleno face Jonathan Arrellano for the WBO NABO youth super bantamweight belt, which means absolutely nothing to me, but will earn the winner a high ranking with the WBO and put them in the world title contention far sooner than they should be. Jesse is regarded as the most talented of the Magdaleno brothers, and has been incredibly impressive in his short pro career. Jesse is most definitely one to watch, but California's Arrellano has never been stopped and gave unbeaten prospect Roman Morales a tough night in his last bout. You want to see young fighters like Magdaleno progress in their career and this is a fight that should tell us more about him.

Take note of 12-0 Magdaleno

"The Russian Mexican" Evgeny Gradovich makes an appearance on this bill, with the world #38 Featherweight clashing with light hitting New Mexican Willie Villanueva, who was stopped in a round by a then 11-0 Gary Russell Jr in September 2010. This seems like nothing less than a keep busy fight for the exciting Gradovich, who judged by his nickname always comes to fight, and has been involved in a fair few entertaining bouts since turning pro in March 2010.

Verdejo (right) makes his pro debut

Finally the card sees the debut of 2012 Olympian Felix Verdejo, who represented Puerto Rico. Verdejo has signed with Top Rank and is set to campaign at 130lbs as a pro, four months since he reached the quarter finals of the lightweight division tournament, losing to the eventual Gold medallist, Ukraine's exceptionally good Vasyl Lomachenko, who won his second consecutive Olympic Gold. His performances as an amateur have been good and just being 19 years old, he has a lot of time to learn his craft. After what happened with Miguel Cotto at the weekend and also Thomas Dulorme a couple of months ago, Puerto Ricans are searching for the next big thing, could it be Verdejo?

Broner v DeMarco - Keys To The Fight

2012-11-15T08:31:00.001-08:00

This upcoming weekend's main attraction in the USA is a WBC lightweight title fight between current champion Antonio DeMarco and outstanding former WBO super featherweight champion, Adrien Broner, at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City. Dragon Boxing picks some keys to how and when the fight will be decided.

Antonio DeMarco

Deal with Broner's twinned attack.

DeMarco is ready for a war

The unbeaten Broner is a joy to watch, he has unbelievably fast hands and is also a big puncher (20 of 24 wins inside the distance), therefore there's so much for the opponent to deal with. His hand speed means he can deliver three or four shots at one time, with the constant pressure being too much for his recent opponents, albeit at a lower weight class. DeMarco is not the fastest at 135, and if he can't pressure his opponent and put him on the back foot, Broner will fight at his own pace and dominate the Mexican.

Make it a scrap.

Broner was able to dominate guys very easily at 130lbs, he was fed opponents that made him look good, guys with not much of a dig, who simply couldn't fight at a high enough intensity. DeMarco is not the best boxer in the world, but the way he won this title was making his bout with the talented Jorge Linares a war, he ground out an 11th round stoppage and finally got his world title.

Take Broner deep into the fight.

Like I've mentioned already Broner has been fed an average level of opponent who haven't been able to take him into the championship rounds, with just one of his last 15 fights going past six rounds. That fight was a controversial decision over the much smaller Daniel Ponce De Leon, and there has to be questions over how Broner will deal with a bigger guy for what could be a hard 12 rounds.

Adrien Broner

Deal with the southpaw.

Broner should face the toughest test of his career so far

As has been mentioned already in my preview, the only guy to have given Broner real problems was Ponce De Leon, a southpaw, just like DeMarco. The question here has to be how does Broner deal with a southpaw, who can match him punch for punch in this weight class. That was a big night for Broner as it was his HBO debut and he may have been a little bit nervous, but that will have been the fight that Team DeMarco will have studied the most in the run up to this bout.

Moving up in weight.

Broner had to step up in weight for this fight, he struggled to get down to 130lbs for his last bout, and there was talk of him not doing the diet properly. There may not be too much of a question here though, Broner weighed 147 on the night of his last fight against Vicente Escobedo, which is the welterweight limit. He looked just as quick, and he should hold a real dig at this weight.

Stay solid.

One of Broner's many strengths is his defence, it's probably where all the Mayweather comparisons come from, they are very similar with the left hand low and a reliance on his excellent reflexes. Other than Escobedo's right hand, there was barely a glove laid on "The Problem" in his last bout, that suggests DeMarco could have a lot of trouble to land his left from the southpaw stance.

Prediction

Many are predicting Broner for the top, his and in and out of ring persona suggests he'll follow in Mayweather's footsteps as being the guy we leave to hate. This is going to be a real test of his credentials, DeMarco has far more high class experience (151 to 83 pro rounds) and his two major fights (RTD9 loss to Edwin Valero, TKO11 win over Jorge Linares) have both been wars, which is what he has to turn this fight into. I think Broner could surprise us all though, we know he's an excellent technical fighter, but I think he might show he's ready to tough it out in this bout. He'll start off quick, but DeMarco will come into it and make it the great fight we're expecting. However I think Adrien's skills will be the deciding factor (Linares outboxed DeMarco for long periods) and he'll run out a winner on the judges scorecards. 116-111.

Brits set to clock up the air miles

2012-11-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

"The Special One" is set for a trip to the US

Overnight three big title fights involving British fighters in 2013 have come to the fore, the first of them being Devon Alexander defending his IBF welterweight title against Sheffield's Kell Brook. For the last two weeks there's been a lot of talk about where the fight will take place, Brook's promoter Eddie Hearn was desperate to hold the fight at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester, but it looks likely that the fight will be held in either the Barclays Center, New York, or the Staples Center in Los Angeles on the date of January 19. Last night it had been reported the fight could take place at the Scottsdale Center in Alexander's hometown of St Louis, a venue that he's enjoyed one or two debatable decisions in the past, but the likelihood of that seems to be improbable at the moment.

Cleverly is set for huge showdown with Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins is set for a ring return on March 9 and he is expected to be in a world title fight with either Beibut Shumenov, Tavoris Cloud or Wales' own WBO champion Nathan Cleverly. The Welshman was successful in his first US showdown last night, stopping Shawn Hawk in the 8th round of an entertaining bout in Los Angeles. It was Cleverly's most impressive performance for a while, and because of Frank Warren's relationship with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, Cleverly has to be the front runner in the race to fight "The Executioner". Nathan made a positive impact on the US fight fans because of his exciting style, and the win last night seems to have given him a great opportunity to fight the legendary Philadelphia fighter.

Murray set for daunting Argentinian trip

The final fight involving a British fighter is set to happen on April 17 in Argentina, with St Helens middleweight Martin Murray given the difficult challenge of fighting Sergio Martinez in front of an expected 55,000 sell out in South America. Murray will become the third British fighter to come up against Sergio recently, this after Darren Barker and Matt Macklin put up brave challenges against the world #1, but both falling short and getting stopped late on. Murray is set to fight on the undercard of Ricky Hatton's fight in two weeks time, with unbeaten Venezuelan Jorge Navarro in the opposite corner. It's a shame that Murray hasnt landed a fight with someone like Daniel Geale or Dmitry Pirog, they are excellent fighters in their own right, but he could very well be the proverbial lamb to the slaughter against "Maravilla".

Godding set for surprise Hamburg showdown

2012-11-07T08:40:00.001-08:00

Godding has a huge opportunity on Saturday

This Saturday Wladimir Klitschko rolls into Hamburg as he defends his multiple world titles against unbeaten 27-0 Pole Mariusz Wach, a fight that the unified heavyweight champion will no doubt dedicate to his deceased legendary trainer Manny Steward, who's death last week hit the whole Boxing community.

Undercards for Klitschko bills tend to be very weak in terms of action, the obvious reason being the fact they promote the bills themselves because of the TV deal they have in Germany and they don't have many guys signed to their stable, but there's one fight that catches my eye this Saturday. It's a welterweight showdown that pits the experienced former European champion Rafal Jackiewicz against unbeaten Bolton stylist Rick Godding.

It's a terrific opportunity for the 18-0 Godding, who I very much consider a trade secret over here, not many people know about him, but the Steve Wood managed fighter is a cracking little fighter. He's only ranked #18 in the UK, but a victory here could see him pass many domestic contenders and land a crack at new British champion Frankie Gavin, or an all Lancashire clash with fellow unbeaten prospects Denton Vassell or Ronnie Heffron.

Jackiewicz is one of the toughest European welterweights

Godding has mostly fought on Frank Maloney bills, but has not had too much attention from TV companies, probably because he's more of a technical fighter than one punch knockout artist (just three stoppage victories). What has to be noted though is he has stopped two of his last four opponents, the power is starting to come on from the 27 year old, and although he travels to Germany as a big underdog, the Pole is way passed his best, as seen by the way Kell Brook dismantled him in October 2011.

Kell Brook destroyed the Pole in Sheffield

Clearly Rick has taken this because he feels he needs to be moving into title contention now, without the support of a big time promoter in the UK, he has had to look overseas and first and foremost, he must be applauded for taking this chance. Jackiewicz has improved his form of late, he's won his last four and that includes going over to Italy to stop Luciano Abis in seven rounds, becoming the European Union champion along the way. He's a real danger, but Godding has a solid 93 pro rounds of experience under his belt now, and I could definitely see an upset.

Interestingly this bill is being shown on ESPN this weekend at 10pm, I can't tell you if any of the undercard is being shown, but could this be a sign of things to come with ESPN venturing into more live Boxing events?

Cleverly hits LA

2012-11-06T08:59:00.002-08:00

This Saturday (November 10) WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly makes his US debut, as he defends his title against South Dakota puncher Shawn Hawk, on a big bill at the Staples Center, Los Angeles.

Cleverly is making a name for himself in LA

Being Welsh and a massive Boxing fan, this is a very exciting weekend for myself, it's great to see British fighters going over to the States and this looks like an opportunity for Cleverly to really shine. Just like proposed opponent Ryan Coyne, Hawk looks like an opponent who will make the Cefn Fforest man look good. "The Sioux Warrior" is not that much of a step up in class from Nathan's last opponent Tommy Karpency, but to me this is not really about who he's fighting, it's about looking spectacular and getting the guys over in the USA excited.

Cleverly didn't tuck into this Man v Food type meal

Frank Warren and Cleverly have been touting for a fight with the likes of Dawson, Hopkins and Shumenov for a good year or so now, and if Cleverly comes through this test, then a showdown with a top five ranked opponent has to come. If you look at the Boxrec rankings now and you will see Nathan at #6 and Tony Bellew #5, which suggests that people should get off his back in terms of who he's fought, Bellew is an excellent fighter, but what the rankings suggest is that Nathan hasn't been too impressive of late and hasn't been fighting the right calibre of opponent.

Hawk is not a big name, but is a dangerous puncher

Hawk is ranked #50 in the world with the respected online rankings, and unlike Bellew's last opponent Edison Miranda, he doesn't have a great name in the sport. He's a serious puncher with 17 of his 23 wins coming early, but last time out he was outclassed over 12 rounds by then 8-0 former amateur standout Eleider Alvarez, therefore you're expecting Cleverly to win comfortably, but I've seen Alvarez fight and he's a devastating KO Artist, so this could be a test.

It's a great weekend of Boxing in the USA, Moreno v Mares on the same bill is a brilliant fight and I'm a massive fan of Leo Santa Cruz, who's also on show at the Staples Center, but this is the fight I've got my eye on and tracking the buildup already, there seems to be plenty of hype about Nathan over there. BoxNation are showing it over here and Showtime are expected to open their telecast with Cleverly's title defence. Warren has done a great job of getting him on the bill, now Nathan needs to deliver a top class performance, and move on to a huge fight.

Bute didn't impress in a light heavyweight venture on Saturday

Interestingly Lucian Bute fought at light heavyweight at the weekend and if that proposed rematch with Froch doesn't happen, I would think of him as a perfect test for Nathan, a fresh and hungry fighter would destroy the version of the Canadian-Romanian we saw at the weekend, he looked like a fighter with a lot missing from his game.

Plumber Price turns the tap off on Fraudley's career

2012-10-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

It took very little time for Audley to hit the canvas

This past Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, local 6ft8 heavy hope David Price turned in a devastating display to end the career of 2000 Olympic Gold medallist Audley Harrison in a mere 82 seconds. Price deserves all the praise that's coming to him from all corners of the Boxing universe, but the focus has to be on another terrible display from "A-Farce".

Harrison has got to go down as one of the worst Gold medallist from any Olympic games in any weight class, the fact is this man has made a fortune from the sport, despite several failures. Despite that truly embarrassing display against David Haye in November 2010, Harrison still got himself many column inches pre-fight, including a double page spread in Thursday's Mirror, which I was disgusted by. In that interview he talked of being back to the form of his March 2004 4th round knockout of Richel Hersisia, but I doubt anyone would have believed his deluded hype this time around.

Before his comeback bout with Ali Adams, Harrison had talked of fighting a Klitschko and in media interviews before his meeting with Price, Audley got himself another buzz word, this time it was 'redemption'. This after his infamous "Yes I can" speech pre Hayemaker. Harrison deserves respect somewhat for defying so many critics, but there is no way he's bouncing back after this latest debacle.

Harrison in better days

The reason I've written this post is not to make fun of Harrison however, I respect what he accomplished as a Gold medallist and the legacy he left in the amateur game for the likes of Amir Khan, James DeGale and Anthony Joshua, who benefited from increased funding after Audley's Sydney success. What I did not like post-fight was people on TV and online speaking against the Echo crowd for taunting Harrison for a terrible display. Many have said it takes great bravery to enter the ring, and that's true, Boxing is a violent sport, but many of those in the arena on Saturday could have done what Harrison did and would have done it for much less money. Once again he failed to throw a power punch and like in the Haye fight he turned into a human punch bag.

His career has long been tainted and he has played his part in three of the most recognisable TV channels ending their interest in the sport. The 40 year old turned pro at Wembley Arena in May 2001 having signed a million pound deal with the BBC, and blew plenty of opponents away early, which he could afford to do for a two or three years, but the excitement and hype started to wain, people lost interest in Harrison v "a bum" and the BBC ended their coverage of live Boxing, and are very unlikely to return. Audley was then given an opportunity with Frank Warren, who had a new TV deal with ITV, but the beginning of the end started as he lost for the first time in a split decision snore-fest against Danny Williams in December 2005. He did overturn that defeat, but that was after a loss in the States against Dominick Guinn, and just three months after the Williams rematch, he was knocked out in three rounds by Michael Sprott, and Warren soon returned to Sky. Dishwater wins over Jason Barnett and George Arias followed, but after a loss to unheralded Belfast cab driver Martin Rogan, Audley split ties with the veteran promoter.

The Wembley man went on to win Prizefighter and claim the European title with a stunning 11th round knockout of Sprott, which got him the shot against Haye in Manchester. The buzz around the fight was great, Harrison talked up his chances, but his display was one of the worst seen in a world title fight. This fight was screened on Sky Box Office and the uproar from the public made Sky discontinue with charging fans extra for fights. This changed their perception of the sport and has got them to the situation we currently have, which is one promoter providing all of their content, Warren launching his own TV channel and Frank Maloney and Ricky Hatton with no TV contract for their stables.

What it may seem is that I'm pinning a lot of British Boxing's troubles on Harrison, that is not true, there are many contributing factors to the ongoing politics festering in the game, but in the last ten or fifteen years, I can't think of many figures who have tainted Boxing as much as Harrison. I don't know how anyone can justify anything that he has done in his career or how he performed on Saturday night, well done on winning the Gold, but 12 years on, he must take a long, hard look in his mirror at home and think, what have I achieved? It's hard to know what Harrison will do without Boxing, it's never easy to give the sport up, and I personally hope he finds something that gives himself the same fulfilment as he had in Sydney, but judged on the amount of PPV buys he got Sky that November, a job as a door to door salesman isn't a bad idea.

Fury v Price would be a huge fight in Britain

Let's not forget Price here though, this guy looks the real deal, a massive grudge match with Tyson Fury could beckon in 2013, this after the Manchester man launched two separate foul mouthed rants aimed at Price on Saturday night. Like Harrison, Fury could sell time to an inmate, but unlike Fraudley's fight with Haye, that could be a heavyweight fight which lives up to it's hype and puts the former's bout firmly in the back of our minds.

Purdy set for Jones test

2012-09-26T10:26:00.002-07:00

Purdy overpowered his Argentinian opponent

It looks as though Lee "Lights Out" Purdy has earned himself another big fight for December, with a bout against American tough man Carson Jones being mooted for either the 8th or 15th. Eddie Hearn is expected to put together another stacked bill, featuring the return of Darren Barker (hopefully), a cracking domestic dust up between John Ryder and Kreshnik Qato, as well as the return of Erick "The Eagle" Ochieng.

Jones, who gave Kell Brook an incredibly tough fight in July, is set for a return to Britain and will no doubt give Purdy the biggest test of his career. It represents a real change in fortune for the Colchester man, who was handed a last minute opportunity to fight unbeaten Argentine banger Gumersindo Carrasco for the IBF International Welterweight title in September, stopping the crude 25 year old in four rounds, in what was a thoroughly enjoyable spectacle.

Purdy is never in a bad fight and judged on Jones' fight with Brook, it could be a real pre Christmas cracker for Boxing fans tuning into Sky Sports. The step up in class for the talented Ryder will be another reason to tune in as he takes on the very experienced and battle hardened London based Albanian.

Five opponents for Ricky Burns

2012-09-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Ricky Burns stunned Kevin Mitchell on Saturday night by completely out-muscling the Dagenham man inside four rounds to remain WBO lightweight champion. That win has led calls for an unification clash with Antonio DeMarco or Miguel Vazquez, but that won't be happening this year and is more likely going to happen in March or April. After the fight Frank Warren said that Burns is likely to be out in December and here are five potential opponents for that date.

1. Scott Harrison

An all Scottish fight with Harrison is likely for Burns

I don't think Harrison deserves a shot at the title, but this is modern Boxing and with both guys signed up to Frank Warren's promotional company, this would be an easy one to make, but would also make a huge amount of money for Warren. These are Scotland's two best boxers in the last 10-15 years, Harrison was a great featherweight, but in his two fights back, he's fought a very low level of opponent. Saturday night Harrison got a six round points decision over Joe Elfidh, and other than the first round, he showed that he was a long way off a world title fight. This is the fight that would least surprise me, even though I'm totally against it, Harrison should be nowhere near a world title fight when there's so much quality domestically and world wide at 135lbs. Personally I would like to see Harrison fight Mitchell on the undercard of Burns' next title fight.

2. John Murray

Murray's on the comeback trail

Another fight that would be pretty easy to make because of the promotional deals. Murray has been out of the ring since a brave challenge for Brandon Rios' world title in December 2011 over in New York, where he was stopped in eleven rounds. Before that Murray had lost to Kevin Mitchell in what was an amazing fight, but one he hadn't trained properly for, and he showed that he's very dangerous if he's taken his preparation seriously. Murray is back in full training at Joe Gallagher's gym, him v Burns would be a serious contender for FOTY.

3. Sharif Bogere

Bogere would be an interesting choice

Ugandan based in Las Vegas holds a high ranking with the WBO as he's the current WBO NABO champion, and is certainly a live contender at 135 as he's ranked #14 in the world by boxrec and undefeated in 23 pro fights. Is promoted by Golden Boy in the States, and they have a good relationship with Frank Warren, which certainly makes it a contest with not so many political brick walls in front of it. Bogere however is being linked for a November title fight with Richard Abril, although it's doubtful if that will go ahead, Eddie Hearn was expecting Gavin Rees to challenge for that WBA title.

4. Raymundo Beltran

Beltran has never challenged for a world title

26-6 31 year old Mexican is having a resurgence in his career, this after the biggest win of his career against then top 10 ranked Hank Lundy in July, claiming a majority decision over 10 rounds. Has lost two of his last four fights against US based prospects Bogere and Luis Ramos Jr, but the victory over Lundy has brought him into the title picture. On form this defence would hold little risks for Burns, Beltran's tough, but you would expect Burns to be far too good technically.

5. Miguel Acosta

Acosta (left) has a fan friendly style

I'm not expecting a huge name for this defence for Burns, Acosta fits the type of name who could get a title shot. The Venezuelan is a former WBA champion, but is on the slide having lost three of his last four fights. The first of those was when Brandon Rios took his title off him, and since then both Richard Abril and unbeaten Armenian Art Hovhannisyan have beaten the 34 year old, although his last fight with Art was a split decision and he did put him down. Again an opponent you'd expect Burns to beat cosily, but ranked 22nd in the world by Boxrec.

There's no doubt Frank Warren has many options for Burns, hopefully Burns v the winner of DeMarco v Broner will take place next year, but judged on these five potential opponents, there's definitely some nice appetisers out there ahead of the tasty looking main course!

Gallagher debuts in Belfast

2012-09-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

Gallagher with his Delhi Gold

This weekend sees some huge fights at the top of the bills in Britain, with Ricky Burns v Kevin Mitchell in Scotland and Carl Frampton v Steve Molitor in Belfast. At the Odyssey Arena, Eddie Hearn has put together a stacked card, which includes some tremendous prospects. Martin J Ward, Khalid Yafai and Scott Cardle are three talented guys on show, but one making his debut and not attracting too much interest at the moment is 2010 Commonwealth Gold Medallist Paddy Gallagher.

The 23 year old from Belfast performed brilliantly two years ago in Delhi, beating Callum Smith 11-5 in the final as he claimed Gold for Northern Ireland. He joins fellow Delhi Gold Medallist Eamon O'Kane in fighting on this bill. Following that Gallagher went on to participate in the World Series of Boxing, having two fights, going 1-1, but he did suffer some disappointment last year in the Ulster Championships as he lost to the talented William McLaughlin.

Gallagher in my opinion is better suited to the pros, and it was way back in May when he signed with Belfast based manager John Rooney, becoming one of several Northern Irish amateurs to have gone pro. The intention of Eddie Hearn seems to be get more big shows in Belfast, they are a great Boxing crowd, and Rooney will be able to get Gallagher on these shows if he impresses.

Hopefully we'll get some highlights of this fight on Saturday night, or on Ringside in the coming weeks, but I believe "Patman" is definitely a good addition to the very competitive domestic 147lbs division. There's no doubt he should win, but his opponent William Warburton is a real tough kid and has been stopped in just two of his 44 fights, expect Gallagher to be keen to put on a real show, that's the key in Boxing nowadays.

In form Selby can shine in Belfast

2012-09-20T07:36:00.002-07:00

Selby reigns the Commonwealth and in Britain

One of the biggest tests in Boxing is when you have to go into an opponent's backyard and face a partisan welcome from his adoring fans, and that's something talented Welshman Lee Selby (13-1, 5 KO's) will have to face this coming weekend on the big Sky Sports bill at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

Selby is a fighter many people won't have heard too much about a year or so ago, but on the 17th of September 2011, he produced a fantastic performance by winning in Liverpool against Stephen Smith, stopping "Swifty" in the 8th round of a great scrap. That won him the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles, and following that he produced arguably the most impressive display of his career so far, stopping the incredibly tough Scot John Simpson, in five rounds, where Selby showed his impressive array of shots, including heavy ones to Simpson's body.

In May he had a Commonwealth title defence against unknown Ghanaian Patrick Okine, and did what he had to do by stopping him in five rounds, but the acid test comes this Saturday night. The experience of fighting in Liverpool against Smith will stand Selby in good stead, but going to Belfast will be on another level. The Odyssey is a big arena, the fans will be packed in there because of so much home interest, and Selby will have very few fans, this is a fantastic test for one of the most talented boxers in Britain at the moment.

Selby's manager and corner man Chris Sanigar has said this should be his last fight at domestic level, if he comes through this fight with Lindsay, then the best in Britain will have been beaten, and you can't deny that the 25 year old from Barry has looked unbelievably impressive in his title fights.

Lindsay will have the home support

This has the makings of an awesome bout though, Lindsay is 19-1 with 7 KO's, but hits much harder than his record suggests and his only loss was against John Simpson, who to his credit came to Belfast and put on a real Boxing masterclass. I think we'll see a different, hungrier, Lindsay this weekend though. He's waited patiently for another title chance, Eddie Hearn won the purse bids and got him this opportunity on home soil, which provides a little off-point, credit has to go to the board for putting this fight out to purse bids and things have been done the right way, we need more of these bouts at British, Commonwealth and European level, promoters have had their chances to make fights, but many have fallen by the way side!

Credit to the aforementioned Hearn for putting on another very good show, he's certainly keeping the bar high, but his charge could be in for a defeat here. I'm delighted Selby is Welsh, he along with Nathan Cleverly could be real standard bearers for Boxing in the principality for the next two or three years, both have huge amounts of potential and can flourish with the right matches. Selby has been sparring at the Mayweather Gym in recent months and that kind of experience will no doubt improve him as a fighter. His power has developed so much in the last 12 months, at the start of his career he did struggle to make a mark in the game and no big promoter really got involved, but now with Frank Warren's backing, things are definitely happening for Lee.

Miskirtchian lies in wait for Selby

Selby has a very fluid Boxing style, from a technical standpoint he's a pleasure to watch, but he's also the type of fighter who's perfect for Hearn's show on Saturday night, he comes to fight and now with that improved power I've talked about, he delivers big knockouts. I fancy him in this fight, Lindsay's tough, but I'll be having a few quid on another knockout win. That should set up a European title fight against champion Belgian based Georgian Alex Miskirtchian, which I'm confident would take place in Britain, but also ending up in a Selby win, considering the champion has lost to Paul Truscott in the past. The featherweight division is packed with exciting fighters and Wales has it's own pocket rocket.

Mack ready for another world title attack

2012-09-17T08:11:00.002-07:00

Macklin after his win over Alcine

This past Saturday night Matthew Macklin was handed an opportunity on the Martinez v Chavez undercard because of his deal with Martinez's promoter Lou DiBella, as he faced off against Montreal based Haitian Joachim Alcine. Boxing News had predicted a tricky night for Matt saying "Macklin should be able to withstand some anxious moments to take a decision", however he stunned the slow starting Alcine by landing a huge right hand in the first round, which had pretty much finished the fight, although he had to put him down once again and put on a lot of heat to get the job done.

I did expect Alcine to be the kind of fighter to make Macklin look pretty spectacular, he has left himself open in the past and it was only two years ago that Alfredo Angulo had destroyed him in a round. However he was on a good run of form having beaten David Lemieux, and the win has really brought Macklin back into the world title picture.

Twice Macklin has been left disappointed in world title tilts, the decision over in Germany against Felix Sturm was disgusting, and then he put a really brave performance against Sergio Martinez, who came on strong to stop him in 11 rounds. With Macklin it could be a case that he's really unlucky that the middleweight division is the most competitive in world Boxing at the moment. Martinez, Geale and Golovkin are three standout names in my eyes, but behind them is the likes of Hassan N'Jikam, Dmitry Pirog and Peter Quillin, while the UK scene is incredibly strong at the top with Martin Murray, the injury ravaged Darren Barker, and Billy Joe Saunders, who had a great win over Jarrod Fletcher on Friday night.

McGirt (second from right) could be the man to lead Mack to world title glory

Macklin has the tools to become a world champion though, he's incredibly fit, has fantastic power, and with no disrespect to Joe Gallagher, who I'm a huge fan of, moving over to train with Buddy McGirt is probably the best thing he's done. The added time of working with McGirt seemed to really benefit him ahead of this fight, and what I saw from them at the end of Saturday's fight was there's a real strong relationship between the two. For this fight Macklin trained in his new gym over in Marbella, which not only benefits himself, but also local disadvantaged children.

Macklin looks settled now, he has been in between trainers and promoters in the past, I've always been a fan of his, but I think he became frustrated in the UK with promoters. He appeared on Frank Warren and Ricky Hatton shows in his last few UK bouts, but many big fights, including one with Khoren Gevor on the Khan v McCloskey undercard fell through late on. Now that he has a deal with DiBella, Macklin seems to have the opportunity of regular fights, although I'm unsure when his next bout would be.

An all Irish fight with Lee appeals

I've always been someone who's called for Macklin to face Barker, but that one looks very unlikely now with Barker's injury problems, the Barnet man will need at least two fights in preparation for someone of Macklin's level. If he was to fight for a world title, from a fan's perspective I would love to see him face Golovkin or Pirog. Those two fights have war written all over it and all three guys have solid names over in the US. The other fight that makes obvious appeal is an all Irish bout with Andy Lee, who lost to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in his last fight, but showed plenty of quality in the first few rounds. Lee has long been established in the US, and the battle in the ring is intriguing, as well as the the battle outside the ring between famed trainers McGirt and Manny Stewart. I would love to see Macklin out before Christmas, not much energy will have been used in the first round blowout, but it's all about where DiBella stands with getting a TV date.

Another Mexican Star is Born

2012-09-16T10:56:00.004-07:00

Santa Cruz landing one of his vicious body shots

Last night's Boxing action promised much beforehand, both Golden Boy and Top Rank put together two fantastic bills. There's no doubt that the Martinez v Chavez Jr fight will be one that lives long in the memory of most Boxing fans, mostly because of the big onslaught from the Mexican in the final round. Matthew Macklin had a superb win and Martinez v Beltran was a great Puerto Rico v Mexico war at the Thomas & Mack Centre.

At the MGM Grand, the dominant stoppage for Canelo Alvarez, that many had predicted came to fruition, Daniel Ponce de Leon became a world champion in a second weight class, while Maidana v Soto Karass delivered what I expected, that had great, fan friendly fight written all over it.

And still IBF champ

The guy that really impressed me on this awesome night for pugilists the world over was unbeaten Mexican bantamweight Leo Santa Cruz. "Teremoto" won the IBF title with a wide 12 round decision over South Africa's Vusi Malinga in June, and that left a little to be doubted about his power. However last night he completely destroyed the very experienced Eric Morel in five rounds, targeting the 36 year old's somewhat fragile body, landing 89 shots to the mid-rift in the first four rounds.

I've seen one or two articles of late, which have followed the lack of American success at the Olympics, that Mexico is starting to become the dominant force in Boxing. Mexico have always been a nation with a fantastic tradition in Boxing, but we are now starting to see them get champions at the bigger weights, whilst a lot of these smaller guys keep coming through.

Santa Cruz from Huetamo, Michoacan de Ocampo, has risen up the #3 in boxrec's bantamweight rankings after this win, which has to go down as a huge win. Morel is a faded force and is much longer in the tooth than Leo, but Abner Mares couldn't stop him in their catchweight 120lbs fight in April, and it certainly makes a case for a massive all Mexican clash in the next 12-18 months between the two Golden Boy promoted fighters, this if Mares gets the past the uber-talented Panamanian boxer Anselmo Moreno in November.

Moreno currently tops the bantamweight rankings, and a fight with him even if he loses to Mares, would definitely be a great seller and make for a fantastic clash of styles, Mares v Moreno looks like it will be a bit of a chess match, with both guys such excellent boxers. Just ahead of Santa Cruz in the rankings is Shinsuke Yamanaka from Japan, unbeaten in 16 fights and the current WBC champion. Both guys turned pros in 2006 and I believe that's a fantastic match up, judged on last night Santa Cruz is one who is going to progress quickly and become another huge Mexican star.

Brook back October 20th

2012-08-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed today via Twitter that IBF welterweight contender Kell Brook will return at the Sheffield Arena on the 20th of October. It will be a third straight bout for Brook at the Arena, this after 12 round decision wins over Matthew Hatton and Carson Jones.

Brook is in training for October 20th date

Brook certainly made his promoter sweat last month against American Jones, fading badly late on and only just holding on for the victory. Many had speculated that he was to leave trainer Dominic Ingle after Hearn criticised his buildup to that fight, however reports in Yorkshire have suggested Brook is back at the famed Wincobank gym.

The likely opponent for Brook is Argentinian Hector Saldivia, in what will be a final eliminator for the IBF 147lb title, which is being defended by Randall Bailey on September 8 against Devon Alexander in San Antonio. Saldivia is a huge puncher and holds a KO% of nearly 75%, however has lost twice in his career - both times by stoppage - including at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in May 2010, when he was stopped in a round by Said Ouali.

Cuba's Abril could also feature on the bill

A full announcement of this bill will be made on Monday, there's no doubt that Hearn will put together a solid undercard, with his recent shows being incredibly successful for Sky Sports. Chief support could be a world title fight between in form Welshman Gavin Rees and tall Cuban Richard Abril for the vacant WBA lightweight title. Many insiders doubt Rees will pull this one off, especially considering Abril's height and his superb display in his most recent fight with Brandon Rios, which was one of the worst decisions I've seen in my eight years of watching the sport. Being Welsh it would be fantastic to see Rees claiming the title though and it would mean Wales have two current world champions, the other being Nathan Cleverly.

Who will be the Ring King?

2012-05-04T07:54:00.002-07:00

What a great fight this is going to be, I see it as a battle of two undefeated fighters, Mayweather rightly has never seen his 0 go, while Cotto's two defeats have both been controversial.

The two fighters who face off at the MGM Grand

Everyone who knows Boxing knows how good Floyd Mayweather is, in my opinion the guy is a genius, he has unbelievable skills and is what Boxing should be about, which is to not get hit. He might not always be the most exciting fighter to watch, but he really is one of the best fighters of all time in my opinion.

Last time out he had a bit of a farcical fight with Victor Ortiz, it ended very controversially, but Floyd was starting to break him down and would have got a mid to late stoppage in my opinion.

Cotto is a great fighter and is the #1 in this light middleweight division, which is why he deserves so much respect. Last time out he had that massive rematch win over Margarito, breaking the Mexican down, putting serious damage on his opponent's very fragile eyes, the referee stopping the bout in the 10th.

Margarito handed Cotto is his first career loss, a serious beatdown, but then came that controversy with the hand wraps, which put major doubts over the legitimacy over the win. His only other loss was a 12th round stoppage by Manny Pacquiao, a year after that Margarito loss. This is a controversial loss as Cotto was forced to fight at a catchweight of 145lbs, 2lbs under the normal welterweight limit, which meant really Pacquiao was at his strongest and Cotto at his weakest. Considering Cotto went straight up to 154 after that fight says how much of a disadvantage he was.

Mr Flash Mayweather at the fighter's meeting earlier this week

Mayweather has fought just once at 154, which was in that big fight with De La Hoya, one Mayweather did have the edge in, but was scored a split decision. That does suggest Cotto will give him problems, especially as he's just got better and better at this weight, looking very comfortable with new trainer Pedro Diaz, an ex Cuban scholar who certainly has improved the Puerto Rican.

However I just don't think there's an active Boxer who can beat Mayweather, this is going to be a tremendous fight and occasion, but I'm backing Mayweather to win a unanimous points decision.

Lopez and Salido to dish out another cracker

2012-03-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

I love big Puerto Rican bills and this weekend live on Showtime, we see a rematch of one of last year's Fights of the Year, plus some massively talented Puerto Rican kids are in action.

Lopez and Salido are ready to go again

Starting off with the main event, which sees the #1 Featherweight Orlando Salido (37-11-2, 25 KO's) defend his WBO title against the home favourite Juan Manuel Lopez (31-1, 28 KO's) in a classic Mexico v Puerto Rico battle. Salido stunned Lopez in April last year, stopping Lopez on his feet in the 8th round, this after systematically beating him, putting him down in the 5th. Salido has been stopped five times, but many of those early defeats where when he was inexperienced, his last five defeats have all been on points, and that includes against guys like Gamboa and Juan Manuel Marquez. Since beating Lopez, he's made two successful defences, however they've been against guys with not much of a dig in Kenichi Yamaguchi (17-1-2 at time of fight) and Weng Haya (15-3 at time of fight). The Haya fight especially brings up doubts as Salido was put down in the 3rd and 4th, before coming back to win in the eighth, since then Haya has been stopped in four against a guy with a record of 14-5-1.

Salido after his stunning win in April

Lopez was one of the hottest guys in world Boxing going into that first fight, he was being tipped up for a super fight with Gamboa, but it all fell apart in Bayamon. I still rate this guy though, before the Lopez fight he had impressively stopped Steven Luevano, Bernabe Concepcion and the legend Rafael Marquez, and again this weekend he's landed home advantage. He had a return in October and beat Mike Oliver in two rounds, you can't really ask more than that, and I think it's the perfect confidence booster for him. The feeling I get about him here is that he will have learnt from his mistakes, and I really like his chances of regaining that title on Saturday night.

I really can't wait for this fight, it's going to be a great occasion and even though some rematches don't usually live up to the hype, I think this one will. My pick is Juanma, I havent been impressed with Salido in his last two fights, and I think Lopez is going to stop him late here.

Garcia and Concepcion provide the chief support

The main headline bout sees Oxnard based fighter Miguel Angel Garcia (27-0, 23 KO's) defend his WBO NABO featherweight title against Bernabe Concepcion (29-5, 15 KO's). Garcia is trained by his brother, star trainer Robert Garcia, and judged on recent displays really isn't far off world title contention. Judged on the title he holds and his spot on this bill, the winner of the main event looks his next opponent and that fight with either would be very exciting. He's knocked out some good guys already in the likes of Cornelius Lock and Matt Remillard, but this looks a tough job. Concepcion isn't in the best form, but only Juan Manuel Lopez has knocked him out and in that fight he put Lopez down in the first. In his last two fights he's not been at his best and judged on that he wont be able to compete with Garcia.

On the undercard watch out for a flyweight called Jonathan Gonzalez (8-0, 7 KO's) who impressed me massively when stopping Samuel Gutierrez in five rounds a month ago, he did a really good job on him last night and this weekend goes for the interim WBO Youth flyweight title, which is a ridiculous belt. His opponent is fellow countryman Erickson Martell (9-3-1, 7 KO's), who's just behind him in the Puerto Rican rankings and is on a five fight winning run, but only one of those fighters had ever won a fight. McWilliams Arroyo, who also is in a title fight on this bill, stopped him in five in April last year.

There's one or two other guys on the undercard to look out for, but I don't know a great deal about them, so it will be a case of having a look at those bouts and seeing where the talent is, which we should see as Puerto Rican Boxing is and always is very strong.

Big weekend for the Scots

2012-03-08T12:16:00.001-08:00

Massive weekend of Boxing coming up North of the Border, with the new star of British Boxing, Ricky Burns, making the first defence of his interim WBO lightweight title at the Braehead Arena.

Big night for Burns

Burns (33-2, 9 KO's) became a two weight world champion with a fantastic performance against the dangerous Michael Katsidis last time out at Wembley Arena, using his fantastic skills to claim a unanimous decision over 12 rounds. The Coatbridge man is one of the most improved fighters in world Boxing and he's already ranked #7 in the world in what's an exceptionally competitive division. Even though I was massively impressed with what I saw last time out in November, the fact he didn't defend his super featherweight title against anyone of note still raises one or two doubts. However he's such a nice guy and very dedicated under the expert leadership of trainer Billy Nelson.

Moses brings a top pedigree

His opponent this weekend is Paulus Moses (28-1, 19 KO's) who's held the WBA title and is ranked #31 in the world, so does have some credibility. He won that WBA title in January 2009 away in Japan against Yusuke Kobori, before making a successful defence at home against another Japanese fighter in the tough Takehiro Shimada, easily winning a UD over 12. However after that he ran into the big punching Venezuelan Miguel Acosta, and was stopped in six in front of his home crowd, which will no doubt raise some doubts over his chin. Since then he's had three fights, all at home, and against nobody near the same level of ability as Burns. He's experienced, has a 65.62 KO% and can win on the road, so he's a pretty good challenger.

Should be a real good fight on Saturday night, Burns is a pretty strong 1.2 favourite with the bookies, and although he might be able to test Moses' chin now that he's a lot more comfortable at this weight, I think it will be a hard 12 round fight, which Burns should show his superior technical ability.

Appleby needs to start stepping up

The main undercard bout sees the vacant Celtic super featherweight title on the line as home favourite Paul Appleby (17-3, 11 KO's) faces Ireland's Stephen Ormond (11-0, 5 KO's). It should be a really good fight with Appleby's last one an absolute cracker against Liam Walsh at York Hall for the Commonwealth title. Appleby is the bookies favourite, but the worry I have is that he's lost his last three title fights and that last fight was a hard one. Ormond is fresh and is ahead of him in the rankings (110th in the world, Appleby 181st), and has also been away in the US in the past for fights and sparring. He's not faced the hardest opponents, but no unbeaten fighter should ever be underestimated.

Johnson boxed for Scotland as an amateur

Some awesome prospects on this bill, Commonwealth medallist Callum Johnson (3-0, 1 KO) is a fighter going places, he trains at Gallagher's Gym in Manchester, and simply needs to be a bit more active. He has a hard night's work ahead of him with the very tough Belfast man Tommy Tolan. Cruiserweight Stephen Simmons (3-0, 1 KO) has the same record as Johnson and is another good Billy Nelson fighter coming through. What I've seen of him he's a really solid boxer and has got some good experience under his belt already in beating Nick Okoth, Hari Miles and John Anthony. This weekend he takes on Hastings Rasani, who's never an easy guy to stop.

A guy I'm really looking forward to watching and tracking his future progress is Glasgow's super featherweight Jon Slowey (7-0, 0 KO's). This kid is a very talented boxer, and as reported in last week's Boxing News, he's recently been out in Thailand sparring some world champions, including ex super bantam king Poonsawat. I heard he did really well in those sessions, and that kind of sparring will be a massive help to a young fighter like himself. Fellow Scot James Ancliff is his opponent this weekend, which on paper is a step up in class.

Symington light welterweight Sammy Hill (2-0, 0 KO's) has shown some excellent skills in two pro fights so far, and after being involved in two pretty small shows in Scotland, gets a chance for some big bill experience here against Matt Seawright. John Thain (5-0, 1 KO) is a light middleweight attracting some hype, while 20 year old lightweight Jordan McCorry (2-0, 1 KO's) has a step up in class against Youssef Al Hamidi.

There is a debutant on the card this weekend as well, that being Leeds welterweight Damon Jones, who I've heard quite a bit about and has turned pro a little sooner than expected. He had some decent success last year as an amateur and this weekend he takes on Liam Griffiths, stopped just once in nine fights and has gone the distance with a lot of unbeaten prospects.

It is a massive weekend for Scottish Boxing and on Friday night we shouldn't forget about super featherweight Michael Roberts (6-0, 0 KO's) who headlines a bill at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, as he takes on Pavels Senkovs. Roberts is a really talented fighter, he's not beaten the greatest opposition so far, but has shown some solid, raw skill.

Great to see so much talent coming through in Scotland and it's a simple case of success breeding success with Ricky Burns spearheading the renaissance of Scottish Boxing. The bill is live on BoxNation and hopefully they will show a good few of these Prospects, who deserve some TV coverage and hype.

Prospect Watch - Weekend Starting 02/03/2012 - Review

2012-03-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

Mixed weekend for some of the Prospects I featured, here's what happened.

Friday 02/03/2012

Little was very impressive on Friday night

Adam Little (5-0, 2 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 638 in the World, 66 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Ricky Hatton trained Little earns himself a ranking by claiming just his second stoppage win, and his most impressive by stopping Martin Shaw in the first round at the Castle Leisure Centre in Bury. It was a very good performance from the Blackpool fighter as he headlined a Youtube streamed showed, working well behind a fast jab, before a big right hand had Shaw in real problems. He's very much an improving fighter and is with the right team.

Marrero (left) kept his paper title

Claudio Marrero (11-0, 9 KO's) Featherweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 246 in the World, 5 in the Dominican Republic.

How did the fight go? - Southpaw Marrero made a successful first defence of his WBC FECARBOX title on Friday night by claiming a wide UD over Gerardo Zayas, three judges scoring it 99-91 x2 and 100-90. The big punching 22 year old probably wasn't at his best, but he was fighting a guy ranked as a lightweight, so was always going to have a bit of a dig to put him back. Getting 10 rounds in your 11th pro fight is a real positive if you ask me, and he definitely looks like one of a number of good Dominican fighters coming through.

Saturday 03/03/2012

Johanneson edged a great fight with Goodwin

Chris Goodwin (14-2-1, 0 KO's) Lightweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 209 in the World, 11 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Goodwin loses a split decision to Johanneson, but it was a fantastic fight on Saturday night in Chester, with both men going all out in the British title eliminator. One judge had it 97-95 for Goodwin, while the other two scored it 96-95 and 99-93, which is a pretty shocking scorecard as most, if not all of the rounds were very close, and does paint a rather harsh tale for Goodwin. Johanneson's experience and class was just the deciding factor, but credit to Goodwin, who fought a great fight on the inside, but may just not have the quality or power to be a domestic king.

Joe Hughes (4-1, 2 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 543 in the World, 52 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Hughes suffered his first pro defeat, losing 58-57 on referee Phil Edwards' scorecard against the crude, but dangerous Joe Efidh on Saturday night. It was a fight shown after the McDonnell bout on Sky, and credit has to be given to both men as it was a cracking little fight. Hughes showed some very good stuff early on and put his opponent down in the first, but then Efidh, who had been out of the ring for over two years, seemed to find some fight and made it a real hard night's work for Hughes. The 21 year old Hughes just showed a bit of naivety, but judged on what I've seen so far, he looks like the type of fighter who will learn from this loss and come back stronger.

Price will probably be next out on May 19th

Danny Price (4-0, 1 KO) Cruiserweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 245 in the World, 17 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Price continued his steady rise up the rankings and gain some quality experience by easily outpointing the very experienced John Anthony 40-36 over four rounds at Hillsborough Leisure Centre. Anthony has taken a lot of the current best British cruisers the distance, and has only really been outclassed when going on the road to the continent. Price was about 12lbs the heavier man here, and the size difference was very evident, which is why he completely bossed the bout. Like I said in the original Prospect Watch, he's very well schooled, technically sound, and will continue to feature here on Dragon Boxing.

Sunday 04/03/2012

Eddie Corcoran (8-1, 3 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 445 in the World, 36 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Corcoran was supposed to be in with Dee Mitchell yesterday, instead found himself facing the stopped just five times in 77 fights Duncan Cottier. Corcoran went about his business nicely and was by far the stronger boxer as he claimed a 40-36 win over four rounds. He showed some really classy work to the head and body, switching beautifully, and certainly looks like a fighter with the hunger back.

Prospect Watch - Weekend Starting 02/03/2012

2012-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

Not many big shows this weekend, but the next two weeks are going to be crazy and the next few months even crazier with Bute v Froch announced today.

Friday 02/03/2012

Hatton's first pro fighter as a trainer is Little

Adam Little (4-0, 1 KO) Welterweight

Age - 21

Boxrec Ranking - Unranked

Notable win(s) - Yet to beat a Boxrec ranked fighter

Facing and Where? - Martin Shaw (3-2, 1 KO) @ Castle Leisure Centre, Bury.

What's he all about? - Trained by former world champion Ricky Hatton, this talented boxer from Blackpool is a lad I've heard quite a bit about, with plenty of improvement being made under the "Hitman". He's yet to lose a round as a pro and comfortably outclassed Billy Smith in November, this his first bout under Hatton's tutelage. His opponent here like him is a young guy, and although stopped for the first time in his last fight, that was against a talented young fighter called Joe Hughes, who features on Saturday night and later in this blog.

Claudio Marrero (10-0, 9 KO's) Featherweight

Marrero is an ex Olympian

Age - 22

Boxrec Ranking - 249 in the World, 6 in Dominican Republic.

Notable win(s) - TKO 2 Francis Ruiz @ Westin Diplomat Resort, Hollywood, Florida.

Facing and Where? - Gerardo Zayas (18-18-2, 11 KO's) @ Westin Diplomat Resort, Hollywood, Florida 10x3.

What's he all about? - Big punching Dominican fighter, who comes into this fight on the back of his career best performance in January, where he claimed his first title in beating Ruiz for the WBC FECARBOX title. Before that he'd only beaten one person with a winning record, and Ruiz was a significant step up in class, but he dealt very well with it. Ruiz had gone the distance with Jonathan Arrellano and Yan Barthelemey before this fight, and it took leading prospect Randy Caballero six rounds to stop him. This southpaw has a lot of class and although his KO record is excellent, he's stopped most guys with pressure not power.

Saturday 03/03/2012

Chris Goodwin (14-1-1, 0 KO's) Lightweight

Age - 23

Goodwin is big news in his hometown

Boxrec Ranking - 203 in the World, 12 in UK.

Notable win(s) - PTS 4 Jon Baguley @ Robin Park Centre, Wigan.

PTS 10 Geoffrey Munika @ Northgate Arena, Chester.

Facing and Where? - Carl Johanneson (31-5, 20 KO's) @ Northgate Arena, Chester 10x3.

What's he all about? - This guy is bringing big time Boxing back to Chester, improving significantly in the last two years and a win in this British title eliminator will be massive for him. Stepped up to 10 rounds in his last two fights and has had no problem with the distance, beating Geoffrey Munika, which was a really good win, and last time out against unknown, but tough Belgian, Wesley Hertoghe. This is a significant step up in class against former British super feather king Johanneson, who nearly regained that title last year against Gary Sykes and is his only loss in his last five fights. This could be a typical small hall classic and to be honest it's a hard one to pick, although I think Goodwin's home advantage and 23 year old freshness could be massive.

Joe Hughes (4-0, 2 KO's) Welterweight

Age - 21

Boxrec Ranking - 469 in the World, 42 in the UK.

Notable win(s) - TKO 6 Martin Shaw @ Rainton Meadows Arena, Houghton-le-Spring.

Facing and Where? - Joe Efidh (6-0, 0 KO's) @ Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield 6x3.

What's he all about? - I've already mentioned this fighter, who's impressed me in his first four fights, especially with some tricky matchmaking. He impressively stopped Shaw in six way back in April, and then in his last fight in September, took every round 60-54 against tough Welshman Tony Pace in Doncaster. The Wiltshire man has got plenty of technical ability and got himself in awesome shape last time out, getting down to 141lbs, the lowest weight of his career so far. Efidh has taken a hiatus from the game since July 2009, but before that he'd boxed well in six fights, not losing a round as a pro fighter. On that form he's a test, but is he in the right frame of mind coming back?

Danny Price (3-0, 1 KO) Cruiserweight

Age - 26

Boxrec Ranking - 245 in the World, 18 in the UK.

Price steps up in class again this weekend

Notable win(s) - PTS 4 Hastings Rasani @ Peterlee Leisure Centre, Peterlee.

Facing and Where? - John Anthony (7-22-1, 5 KO's) @ Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield 4x3.

What's he all about? - Price made his pro debut in October, this a couple of months after he was dropped from the GB squad. We've seen great boxing ability from him in first three bouts though, he's exceptionally well schooled and is a technically very sound fighter. Last time out he claimed a 40-35 points victory over a tough Bulgarian called Tayar Mehmed, stopped only once in his career, but Price did put him down with a classy 2nd round body punch. Here he faces Anthony, stopped just three times in 30 pro fights and has taken all the leading British cruiserweights

Sunday 04/03/2012

Corcoran in his comeback bout v Voldoins

Eddie Corcoran (7-1, 3 KO's) Welterweight

Age - 26

Boxrec Ranking - 448 in the World, 37 in UK.

Notable win(s) - RTD 4 Jay Morris @ York Hall, Bethnal Green.

Facing and Where? - Dee Mitchell (9-19-1, 2 KO's) @ York Hall, Bethnal Green 6x3.

What's he all about? - Corcoran was being touted as a really good prospect in mid to late 2008, but three years ago this month, he was put in with fellow unbeaten fighter, the then 10-0 Denton Vassell and got stopped in the 6th round of their scheduled eight round bout. It took him until November 2011 to get back in the ring after that, and he looked on form, stopping Latvia's Segejs Volodins in two rounds, this impressive as Volodins had recently gone the distance with the likes of Dean Byrne and Ryan Barrett. Losing to Vassell is no disgrace, but judged on his last fight, Corcoran looks on the way back. Mitchell has been stopped just twice in 29 fights, but was done in four by Bolton stylist Rick Godding last time out.

Prospect Watch Weekend Starting 24/02/12 - Review

2012-02-27T07:42:00.000-08:00

Here's the review of the Prospects featured this weekend and how they got on in their fights. From now on I wont be telling of any new guys to follow, but I will be adding guys to my watch list, so when they are next out they'll be featured.

Butcher continues to impress as a pro

Friday 24/02/2012

Iain Butcher (3-0, 1 KO) Flyweight

New Boxrec Ranking - Now 234 in the World and 7 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Butcher continued his good form as a pro by getting his first stoppage win against Hungary's Richard Voros with a stunning first round stoppage. The promoters had spent a fair bit of money getting the kid over, but Butcher proved far too good and secured an impressive victory, which will send out a message to the rest of the British flyweights.

Richard Contreras (9-0-1, 8 KO's) Featherweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 204 in the World and 12 in the USA.

How did the fight go? - Contreras was always in a hard fight with tough journeyman Daniel Quevedo and unfortunately for him he was held to a draw. I think we saw here a guy who's powerful and expected to go out and blow his opponent, but unfortunately he was facing a real hard man. He has gone up in the rankings, but really this is a step back for him.

Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KO's) Light Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 6 in the World, 4 in the USA

Expect to see Vargas at the MGM Grand May 5th

How did the fight go? - Vargas had an incredibly tough opponent in Lanardo Tyler and it really wasn't a pretty fight fight, however Vargas showed his class to win 99-91 on all three judges scorecards. Vargas has a lot of talent and getting the rounds in is no issue, you need to fight guys like Tyler and this was a good 10 round workout for him. He could very well be out in May on the Mayweather-Cotto bill as he's signed to Mayweather Promotions.

Saturday 25/02/2012

Luke Blackledge (8-0, 3 KO's) Light Heavyweight

New Boxrec Ranking - No ranking change as of yet

How did the fight go? - No confirmation of this result on Boxrec, but Blackledge proved too strong for his Polish born Welsh based opponent Robert Studzinski, stopping him in three rounds. Blackledge really is a fighter on an upward curve at the moment and represents the VIP Promotion stable he represents. He looks like a very talented fighter and will fancy a step up in class now.

Centeno Jr was an easy six round winner

Hugo Centeno Jr (12-0, 6 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 211 in the World and 43 in the USA.

How did the fight go? - Centeno makes a nice step up in the rankings by completely outclassing his opponent Narvaez over six rounds, winning 60-52 x2 and 59-53 on the judges scorecards. Narvaez is a rough old fighter and has only been stopped three times in his pro career, so Centeno did his job to get the decision. At 6ft1 he uses his height well in the division, but surely as he gets older he will be a light middleweight or middleweight.

Culcay had too much for his Italian opponent

Jack Culcay (11-0, 7 KO's) Light Middleweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 94 in the World, still 1 in Germany

How did the fight go? - Culcay found himself in with a tough Italian, but was far too good over the seven rounds which it lasted, stopping him with a real heavy barrage in the penultimate round. This classy ex amateur star seems to have a lot going for him at the moment, and is getting big German bill experience. Harder fights are to come, but he looks to be fighting incredibly well at the moment and is showing his class.

Craig Evans (6-0, 2 KO's) Super Featherweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 408 in the World, 21 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Big shame for Evans here as his opponent Marc Callaghan retires at the end of round 1 with an arm injury. He had a really frustrating 2011 and to be honest his 2012 hasn't really got off to the best start. He's coming along nicely with Lee Beard as his trainer, but he needs some tough rounds to show his quality.

Frankie Gavin (12-0, 9 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 39 in the World, 6 in the UK.

Gavin looked really good on his return

How did the fight go? - Great win for "Funtime" who looked a lot sharper in stopping ex British champion Kevin McIntyre in three rounds on Saturday night. It was an awesome body shot that did it for him and everything about Gavin in the run up to the fight and in it was far better than what we've seen recently. This could easily have been a tricky night if he wasn't on form, but his head was right and he showed the class which made him Britain's only World Amateur champion.

Lewis Rees (3-0, 2 KO's) Light Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 623 in the World, 42 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - This was one of the best fights on the undercard

"Beefy" did well against Morby

Liam Smith (9-0-1, 4 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 186 in the World, 15 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - When I wrote the Prospect Watch this weekend we didn't even know who "Beefy" was fighting after Laszlo Komjathi pulled out. He ended up fighting a guy who's usually two weight divisions above him in Paul Morby, and he was far too good for the man from Portsmouth, winning 80-69 on the referee's scorecard. Early on Liam looked like he really had him and was on the verge of a stoppage win, with some very good work shown in the first three rounds. After that he just carried on the solid work and ground out a good decision.

Christopher Pearson (3-0, 2 KO's) Middleweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 395 in the World, 76 in the USA.

How did the fight go? - Pearson makes a big step up the rankings with a 1st round smashing of Jeremy Wood on the big bill in St Louis. Wood had gone the distance with one or two unbeaten fighters in the past, but found himself completely over-matched here against a very good young fighter. Pearson was a really solid amateur and what I've seen of him as a pro, he looks a real talent.

Bets Of The Weekend #2

2012-02-25T03:54:00.000-08:00

Alexander Povetkin v Marco Huck - WBA Heavyweight Title

I'm picking Povetkin on points

Alexander Povetkin (23-0, 16 KO's) makes the second defence of his WBA title in Germany tonight as he faces former WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-1, 25 KO's) in a real grudge match.

Povetkin has to be given the edge as he's the natural heavyweight with all the amateur skills having won Gold at the 2004 Olympics. He's still a work in progress, but has come along well in his last two fights, beating Chagaev on points and stopping poor Yank Cedric Boswell in eight last time out. I was impressed with his controlled style in that fight and technically he's very sound, which is going to give Huck big problems.

Huck hasn't lost since December 2007 when Steve Cunningham stopped him in the final round of their world title clash, but since then he's been very dominant at the lighter weight. He's been fed a lot of bad opponents in his last few bouts, and the only time he was tested he had the judges thank, escaping with a SD win over Denis Lebedev in December 2010. Povetkin only has an inch over him in terms of height and that suggests he should be able to compete in this heavyweight by using some movement and his added ring craft, but he did weight in 20lbs lighter in the weigh in and that firmly puts the ball in Povetkin's court.

Povetkin to win on points @ 2.5 with Stan James

Nathan Cleverly v Tommy Karpency - WBO Light Heavyweight Title

Cleverly looked great at the weigh in

Big weekend of Welsh sport and tonight in Cardiff Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11 KO's) takes centre stage as he makes the third defence of his WBO light heavyweight title against unknown American Tommy Karpency (21-2, 14 KO's).

Cleverly battled to a majority decision over Tony Bellew in his last fight in October and had to show the determination of a champion to get through a really hard fight in Liverpool. His all action style is great to watch and I think the fact he came in at 174lbs for this fight suggests he's in fantastic shape and ready to go. It's the lightest weight he's come in since a great 10th round stoppage over Karo Murat in September 2010 and that's worrying for the American.

Sometimes we do underestimate these unknowns that come over and what I've gathered about Karpency is he's a tough counter punching southpaw, who's never been stopped. The only real name on his record is Murat, who he gave a good fight in May 2010, losing on all three judges scorecards in Germany. The problem I have is that this guy has done nothing to earn a title shot, he's never even won one of these small WBO belts, losing to Murat in a challenge for the WBO Inter-Continental, which is probably the sick way he's got this shot. The fact he's never been stopped suggests he's got fighting heart and he can take a shot, but he's also been out of the ring for over a year and for me everything seems to be against him.

Cleverly needs a big statement tonight and really anything less than a stoppage will be slightly disappointing, it's what everyone's expecting.

Cleverly to win by stoppage @ 1.53 with Ladbrokes

Dennis Shafikov v Lee McAllister - European Light Welterweight Title

McAllister and Shafikov at the weigh in

Lee McAllister (34-2, 9 KO's) has a big chance in his hometown of Aberdeen tonight as he challenges Russian champion Dennis Shafikov (27-0, 16 KO's) for the European light welterweight title.

McAllister is a former WBU and Commonwealth champion at lightweight, and has recently won the Commonwealth and IBO International title at this weight, but for me this is too much of a step up in class. He looks comfortable at this weight and his power does seem to be improving, but looking at his last four or five fights he hasn't really been tested. The key to this fight I think is his loss to John Murray in January 2009, where he was stopped in eight by the powerfully built Manchester man. Shafikov looks a similar, but he also has three fights more experience than Murray had at that time.

The Russian looks like a real warrior and comes into this on the back of winning the title against experienced, but shot Italian Giuseppe Lauri with an 8th round retirement, where he was considerably the stronger fighter. The only time he's really stepped up in class he could only draw on his own patch with then 20-0 Italian Brunet Zamora, who does travel well. However the fact he's coming over to Scotland suggests he really fancies this one. There's been plenty of notice for both and I expect Shafikov to be at his best, which is bad news for McAllister.

Shafikov to win by stoppage @ 3.0 with Boylesports

Adrien Broner v Eloy Perez - WBO Super Featherweight Title

Broner talking the talk as usual

Two unbeaten fighters meet in what looks like a great WBO super featherweight title fight tonight with champion Adrien Broner (22-0, 18 KO's) making his first defence v Eloy Perez (23-0-2, 7 KO's).

Broner is being hottly tipped as the new Floyd Mayweather

Perez is a fighter I really rate and he certainly deserves his shot here as he's come through the right way, making five defences of the WBO NABO title, so he's picked up the right kind of experience. Boxrec have him at #6 in the world and he's certainly one of the best contenders out in this average division. I watched his last fight with Ira Terry and was really impressed by his controlled, thinking, mature style, he doesn't do anything rash and throws with real venom, despite having a pretty low KO%. He's stopped his last two and those have been against decent fighters, so I think he's in form.

Perez physically is able to cope with Broner I think and although you would expect him to be big odds anyway, I think he's going to win a world title sometime in his career, it's a hard ask tonight, but he might just do it.

Perez to win @ 6.0 with SportingBet

Devon Alexander v Marcos Maidana - 10 round Welterweight Contest

Expect a great fight tonight in St Louis

Cracking fight here as two guys who won world titles at 140lbs, step up to 147 for a big ding dong in St Louis. Alexander (22-1, 13 KO's) takes on Maidana (31-2, 28 KO's) in a 10 rounder.

The worry a lot of people have here is that Alexander is going to get a controversial decision, and already the rumour mill is alive with news that the fight was brought down from 12 to 10 rounds because he'll struggle late on and get stopped. It's something he's been very suspect of, and was lucky to scrap a split decision over another Argentine in Lucas Matthysse last time out. I watched that fight this week and I think the Argentine nicked it as he secured a knockdown and was busier, especially in the later rounds. He hasn't really fired since beating Urango in eight, securing dodgy decisions over Kotelnik and Matthysse, but also struggling to get going in that big fight with Bradley.

Maidana on the other hand has come on really well from the Khan fight, outworking Morales for a 12 round points win, and wining a homecoming in four last time out, destroying a poor Spaniard called Petr Petrov. He's above Alexander in the rankings and I think moving up to 147 is going to suit him even more because he'll strengthening, and not cutting too much weight. I think his all action and come forward style is going to be too much for Alexander. The St Louis man will take some punishment early on and he'll feel that by the later rounds. If it goes to points I think Alexander has hit, but I really fancy Maidana to get the stoppage in one of the last three rounds.

Maidana to win @ 2.5 with Totesport

Prospect Watch - Weekend Starting 24/02/12

2012-02-24T10:25:00.000-08:00

Another big Boxing weekend, hopefully there will be no farcical scenes this week and just good, entertaining scraps in the headliners and also with the guy's I'm featuring here.

Butcher is a very promising flyweight

Friday 24/02/12

Iain Butcher (2-0, 0 KO's) Flyweight

Age - 19

Boxrec Ranking - Currently unranked

Notable win(s) - None so far

Facing and Where? - Richard Voros (3-4, 1 KO) @ Sports Centre, Wishaw.

What's he all about? - Not many people will know a lot about this kid, but I've heard some good things about him in his two fights so far. They haven't been against the best opposition in flyweight journeymen Anwar Alfadli and Darren Pryce, but Butcher hasn't dropped a round in either fight and has boxed well off the back foot. He doesn't have a stoppage on his record, but in the fight Alfadli, he did score a first round knockdown. Not a massive step up in class here against a Hungarian fighter, who has won his last two, but against debutant's.

Contreras has punched his way through nine fights

Richard Contreras (9-0, 8 KO's) Featherweight

Age - 21

Boxrec Ranking - 245 in the World, 13 in USA.

Notable win(s) - 19/08/2011 KO 5 Manuel Sarabia @ Omega Products International, Corona, California.

03/12/2012 KO 4 Juan Sandoval @ Honda Center, Anaheim.

Facing and Where? - Daniel Quevedo (13-12-2, 8 KO's) @ Doubletree Hotel, Ontario, California.

What's he all about? - This big punching southpaw from Riverside, California is quickly becoming a fan favourite with his hard hitting style and on current form looks ready to be a serious contender in the future. Became the first man to stop Sandoval last time out with a devastating stoppage, very impressive considering the opponent had taken 17-0 Mikayl Arreola the distance before that, and also Abner Cotto early in his career. Another tough looking fight for Contreras here as he faces a guy stopped just once in his career, which was last time out against former world flyweight champion Eric Morel. Taken the likes of Leo Santa Cruz and Yonhy Perez the distance, so this looks like a good learning fight for the unbeaten prospect.

Vargas is starting to step up

Jessie Vargas (17-0, 9 KO's) Light Welterweight

Age - 22

Boxrec Ranking - 8 in the World, 5 in the USA.

Notable win(s) - 08/04/2011 RTD 1 Vivian Harris @ Buffalo Bill's Star Arena, Primm, Nevada.

08/07/2011 KO 2 Walter Estrada @ Buffalo Bill's Star Arena, Primm, Nevada.

17/09/2011 SD 10 Josesito Lopez @ MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Facing and Where? - Lanardo Tyler (25-6-2, 15 KO's) @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

What's he all about? - Vargas is a Mayweather protege and hottly tipped for a big pro career, although he nearly lost his unbeaten record last time out against the in form Josestio Lopez on the Mayweather-Ortiz undercard, sneaking a decision. He is a much better fighter than he showed on the night and I think we'll put it down to nerves. Before that he had been looking excellent form and tonight he headlines ShoBox in Vegas, so will be out to impress. Tyler has never been stopped and recently gone the distance with Wale Omotoso and Kevin Bizier, therefore Vargas needs to be on his game most definitely.

Saturday 25/02/12

Luke Blackledge (7-0, 2 KO's) Light Heavyweight

Age - 21

Boxrec Ranking - 231 in the World, 22 in the UK.

Blackledge is being tipped for a fight with Rocky Fielding

Notable win(s) - 12/11/2011 PTS 6 Phill Fury @ Event City, Manchester.

Facing and Where? - Robert Studzinski (1-5, 1 KO) @ Sports Centre, Oldham.

What's he all about? - This fighter came to my notice when he beat Tyson Fury's young cousin Phill on the Fury v Pajkic undercard, and demonstrated some very solid boxing skills to take all of the rounds on the referee's scorecard. He followed it up just over a month later with another points win, and seems to be getting some good rounds in. Promoted by Steve Wood he provides great shows for fans in the North West, this talented young fighter still has a lot of work, but has done well in seven fights so far. Here he faces Welsh based Pole Studzinski, who's a pretty tough kid, but has been stopped by some pretty average fighters in the past, including a debutant last November.

Hugo Centeno Jr (11-0, 6 KO's) Welterweight

Age - 21

Boxrec Ranking - 257 in the World, 50 in the USA.

Notable win(s) - 21/04/2011 UD 4 Jovanni Rubio @ Orange County Faigrounds, Costa Mesa, California.

04/11/2011 UD 6 Hector Orozco @ Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California.

Facing and Where? - Octavio Narvaez (7-10-1, 4 KO's) @ Oceanview Pavilion, Port Hueneme, California.

What's he all about? - This tall welterweight is a talented fighter from the current hotbed of Boxing Oxnard, California and did exceptionally well as an amateur. I haven't seen a great deal of his fights, but he has boxed well in his most recent bouts and got some good rounds under his belt last time out against the tough David Lopez. Narvaez hasn't fought for over a year and did start to look disinterested in the sport towards the start of last year. He has however taken much experienced fighters than Centeno Jr the distance.

Jack Culcay (10-0, 6 KO's) Light Middleweight

Age - 26

Culcay

Boxrec Ranking - 102 in the World, 1 in Germany.

Notable win(s) - 31/07/2010 TKO 4 Ionut Ilie @ 02 World Arena, Hamburg.

19/11/2010 UD 8 Alexey Ribchev @ Universum Gym, Hamburg.

03/12/2011 KO 1 Giammario Grassellini @ Hartwall Arena, Helsinki.

Facing and Where? - Salvatore Annunziata (15-5-4, 3 KO's) @ Porsche-Arena, Stuttgart.

What's he all about? - This Ecuadorian based in Germany was a 2009 World Amateur Gold Medallist and has looked very impressive as a pro so far. He's done 10 rounds already in his short career, and last time out seriously impressed by knocking out Grassellini in a round. Here he faces another Italian opponent in southpaw in Annunziata, who has taken German prospects Marcos Nader and Dominik Britsch the distance in the past. Culcay has got some serious knockout power, but the amateur pedigree also backs him up.

Craig Evans (5-0, 1 KO) Super Featherweight

Evans needs to get more active

Age - 22

Boxrec Ranking - 407 in the World, 21 in the UK.

Notable win(s) - 16/07/2011 TD 5 Scott Moises @ Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Facing and Where? - Marc Callaghan (19-28-1, 4 KO's) @ Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff.

What's he all about? - Really talented Welsh boxer coming through, who trains with Lee Beard, but does need a lot more fights to progress. Not been seen since October and has had a relatively stop start to his career so far. Is full of class and is yet to lose a round as a pro, also been hearing that his power is starting to improve. Callaghan is awkward and has plenty of experience, so don't expect an easy night for Evans.

Frankie Gavin (11-0, 8 KO's) Welterweight

Has Gavin got his focus back?

Age - 26

Boxrec Ranking - 57 in the World, 6 in the UK.

Notable win(s) - 19/02/2011 TKO 7 Michael Lomax @ York Hall, Bethnal Green.

21/05/2011 UD 12 Young Muttley @ 02 Arena, London.

16/07/2011 SD 12 Curtis Woodhouse @ Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Facing and Where? - Kevin McIntyre (30-8, 9 KO's) @ Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff.

What's he all about? - "Funtime" is back after a very bad few months, which saw him pull out of a fight at very late notice and end his short training spell with the Tibbs camp in London. To be fair he has had some problems outside the ring and hasn't really settled down, which is why he struggled to get going in his last two fights, where he nearly got beat by Woodhouse. He's back living and training in Birmingham now, and hopefully that will spark him back into life, he's had a seriously long amount of time outside the ring. McIntyre is a former British champion and was recently the Celtic champion, which certainly makes this a really interesting bout, Gavin will have to be on his game.

Lewis Rees (2-0, 2 KO's) Light Welterweight

Age - 22

Boxrec Ranking - Currently Unranked

Notable win(s) - 21/05/2011 TKO 2 Sid Razak @ O2 Arena, London.

Facing and Where? - Tony Pace (1-3, 0 KO) @ Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff.

What's he all about? - This has the makings of a really good All Welsh fight as both guys are talented fighters, but obviously the focus has to be on Rees, who has made an impressive start to his pro career. He was a really talented amateur, winning Welsh titles, but like Craig Evans who I've spoken about, he has been very inactive and hasn't been seen since September. This is going to be a competitive bout as Pace is tough and has gone the distance with Ronnie Heffron.

Liam Smith (8-0-1, 4 KO's) Welterweight

Age - 23

Boxrec Ranking - 236 in the World, 18 in the UK.

Notable win(s) - 17/09/2011 KO 3 Barrie Jones @ Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Will Beefy have an opponent on Saturday night?

Facing and Where? - TBA @ Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff.

What's he all about? - "Beefy" was supposed to fight Laszlo Komjathi this weekend, but the Hungarian pulled out today (Friday) with an injury and it leaves Smith in a bit of doubt. It's disappointing for Liam because he has been in really good form of late and seems to have really stepped up since joining Gallagher's Gym along with his brothers. He's stopped his last three opponents with this busy and powerful style, and seems to be really improving at the moment.

Christopher Pearson (2-0, 1 KO) Middleweight

Age - 22

Boxrec Ranking - 602 in the World, 119 in the USA.

Notable win(s) - 06/01/2012 UD 4 Cleven Ishe @ Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California.

Facing and Where? - Jeremy Wood (1-4, 1 KO) @ Scottrade Center, St Louis, Missouri.

What's he all about? - Good middleweight prospect who I've already featured this year, where he had to work a little bit hard for a four round points win over Ishe. I watched his debut and he looked a seriously good fighter, stopping the man in the other corner in a round. He's got some good amateur experience under his belt and his promoters seem to really want to give him plenty of big bill experience. His opponent Wood hasn't been stopped since his debut and has gone the distance with two unbeaten fighters in that run.