Details on the competitors in the eight-round middleweight bout between Alejandro Silva and Issah Samir, taking place at Sony Hall in New York City on Wednesday night.

If you can’t be there, check it out at the Boxing Insider YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/boxinginsider

8 Rounds — Middleweights

ALEJANDRO SILVA

Record — 19-0-1, 14 KO’s
Height — 5’10”
Weight — 156.4
Age — 29
Originally from —  Misiones, Argentina
Fights out of — Buenos Aires, Argentina

* Silva s currently ranked 28th in the world by the World Boxing Council (WBC) as a super welterweight (154 pounds).

* Made his professional debut in April 2016 with a second round TKO over Brian David Aranda.

* Sustained a draw in his third pro fight against Gonzalo Andres Chaparo. That is, thus far, the only blemish on his record.

* In February 2020, he won the Argentinian championship at 154 pounds with a 10 round decision over Emiliano Exequiel Pucheta. He defended that belt four times.

* Experienced a little adversity in November 2020 when he hit the deck in the fifth round against Javier Maciel, but he came back to complete a 10-round decision victory.

* Was involved in a rather bizarre incident in February 2021 when he faced Gabriel Omar Diaz. Silva had been holding Diaz, and had him in what amounted to a one-armed front headlock. But then Diaz bit Silva on the arm, hard enough to have Silva writhing in pain, and after a review, the referee disqualified Diaz.

* Scored a very good win in June of last year when he took care of business against southpaw Diego Ramirez, who came into the bout with a record of 23 – 4–1, winning a 10 round decision.

* Silva’s last flight was on September 2, scoring a fourth round stoppage of Jesus Pina Najera.

* Doesn’t mind playing the role of the aggressor, and knows how to cut off the ring. You can classify him as fundamentally sound.

ISSAH SAMIR

Record — 19-1, 16 KO’s
Height — 5’9″
Weight — 156
Age — 33
Originally from —  Accra, Ghana
Fights out of — Las Vegas

* Samir grew up in Accra, Ghana, and he became familiar with the sport because his father did some boxing. He became highly decorated in his country, and won a silver medal at the 2007 All- Africa Games.

* He beat Bruno Julie of Mauritius to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. In the bantamweight division, he lost his opening round bout on points to Hector Manzanilla of Venezuela. Oddly, Julie, who also made it to the Olympics, won a bronze medal.

* Issah is the brother of Bastir Samir, who represented Ghana as a light heavyweight in the 2008 Olympics. Interestingly, Bastir had jumped from welterweight all the way up to light heavyweight in the space of a year in order to find a opening to qualify. And he is now 20 –0–1 as a professional.

* Issah turned pro in July 2011 with a second round TKO of Abdul Majid. In another odd twist, even though he had qualified just a few years before as a bantamweight for the Olympics, Samir made this pro debut at 155 pounds.

* He knocked out each of his first eight opponents. And to continue his quick climb up the ladder, he won the IBF World Youth title at 154 pounds in May 2013 with a third round TKO of Robizoni Omsarashvili.

* Won the 154 pound title in his native Ghana with a 12-round decision over Ishmael Tetteh (September 2012).

* All of his fights had taken place in Ghana until the last one, in December 2020, as he was stopped in three rounds from by Aidos Yerbossynuly, who was undefeated at the time. After being floored in the third, Samir paced around the ring but did not appear as if he wanted to continue.

* That fight took place in Kazakhstan, and there were three different “belts“ on the line: the WBA international super middleweight, the WBC Asian Boxing Council super middleweight and the WBO global super middleweight.…… For what it’s worth. Samir has not fought since. .

*This will be the first fight for him in the United States, although he lives in trains in Las Vegas.

* Samir is a pretty good standup boxer. Hold his hands high. Jabs a lot, and has a sneaky left hook.

* Refers to himself as a “cool and gentle guy,“ unless he is inside the ring, that is.

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