Tag Archives: 02

Posted on 09/10/2016

HBO World Championship Boxing Results: GGG Stops A Very Game Brook
By: Sean Crose

In one of the bigger surprises of the year, undefeated welterweight titlist Kell Brook – 25-0 – agreed to face multi-middleweight title holder Gennady Golovkin – 35-0 – for middleweight supremacy on Saturday. The bout, which was broadcast live on HBO – to be replayed later – transpired in front of a huge English crowd in London’s O2 arena. Golovkin was a solid favorite, but Brook, who bulked up nicely, was clearly not to be written off. Here were two highly skilled, undefeated titlists, plying their trade in front of 20, 000 screaming British fans. Sure enough, the two fighters entered the ring to a blazing level of excitement that was a credit to British boxing promoters (American fight makers can take a lesson).

Right off the bat, Brook got hurt in the first. He survived, however, and didn’t look bad for the rest of the round. Indeed, it was something of a surprise to see Brook refusing to run from the feared GGG. Sure enough, a disciplined Brook took the second by employing a smooth defense that avoided Golovkin’s jab and by hitting GGG with sharp, clean shots. By the third round, it was clear that it was a very good fight indeed, with both men tossing off terrific shots. No doubt surprisingly to some, it was a close bout. What’s more, things remained close in the fourth.

Then came the fifth.

Golovkin started landing. Hard. And with a whole lot of frequency. Brook, for his part, wasn’t doing much. And so Brook’s corner threw in the towel. Some were surprised. No doubt, some were outraged. In truth, however, it was a smart call. Brook wasn’t looking good and the future of the fight seemed to hold a long, brutal decline for the man called “Special K.” This, however, is to take nothing away from Brook. He looked solid, overall. Indeed, he looked excellent. He even really gamed Golovkin a bit. The Kazakh warrior was simply too inflicting too much damage as time went on. It was as simple as that.

“Big drama show likes street fight,” Golovkin said afterward. “This not boxing. This street fight.”

Bernard Hopkins, working for HBO, asked if Golovkin felt Brook’s power at all. “I don’t feel his power,” Golovkin claimed, “I feel his distance. He has great distance.” Ultimately, Golovkin made it clear that Brook was literally up too far. “I feel after first round,” Golovkin claimed, “he’ s not middleweight.”

Ultimately, GGG gave himself a three or four for his performance out of ten. Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s noted trainer, stated things more bluntly.

“He was trying too hard,” the cornerman said.

As for Brook, he was calm, but clearly unhappy, in defeat. Sure enough, he admitted that his right eye, which had clearly been bothering him in the bout, was the reason his corner threw in the towel. “A few rounds before that I told him (his trainer) my eye was gone,” Brook claimed.

“I’m very frustrated.” Brook admitted. Still, he had respectful words for Golovkin. “He’s a warrior,” Brook said, “I don’t want to take anything away from him.”

aturday night in California, Jesus Soto-Karass met Yoshihiro Kamegai for the second time this year in a super welterweight throwdown at Inglewood’s Forum. The two men had fought to a draw last April and were wanting to finish business. Kamegai – 26-3-2 – nailed the 28-10-4 Soto-Karass with a blistering body shot in the first, causing his opponent to nearly stumble about in pain. Soto-Karasss survived the round, but Kamegai managed to get the better of the two throughout the first four rounds of the bout.
The fight remained close throughout the middle rounds, but it was Kamegai who controlled the tempo. He also fired thunderous body shot after thunderous body shot. In the eighth, Soto-Karass went down from the brutality. Fortunately, the veteran warrior’s corner stopped the affair in the corner before the ninth.

It was the right call to make.

Afterwards, in the final fight of the night, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez the undefeated twenty-nine-year-old multi-titlist, faced Carlos Cuadras the twenty-eight-year-old, also undefeated, WBC super flyweight champion. Nicaragua’s Gonzalez – 45-0 – was aiming for a title in his fourth weight class, something his mentor and former trainer, Alexis Arguello, was never able to do. Yet Mexico’s Cuadras – 35-0-1 – was a formidable foe…. plus, Cuadras was looking to really make his mark on the boxing world in a big way.

A fast paced first round showed that Chocolatito was in with a first rate opponent, but was still able to look a bit sharper. Gonzalez stormed into the second with a blistering, relentless attack. Cuadras was able to land – but pretty much only on the Nicaraguan’s gloves. Yet, while it was true Gonzalez controlled the first three rounds, Cuadras was there to fight. Indeed, the man had his moments in the fourth…enough to take the chapter, in this writer’s opinion.

What’s more, Cuadras really came alive in the fifth. Gonzalez was in a fight for himself. It was worth noting, however, that even when things weren’t going entirely his way, Gonzalez got his shots in and they were effective shots indeed. As the bout sped through the middle rounds, Gonzalez head the edge thanks to his clean punching. Cuadras, however, steamed on, still very much in the fight.

In fact, Gonzalez walked into the ninth with his face looking quite puffy. Cuadras may not have landed as many clean shots as he wanted to…but he was clearly landing clean on the challenger enough for the results to show on Gonzalez’ face. Indeed, the ninth may well have been even. What’s more, walking back to his corner at the end of the tenth, Chocolatito looked exhausted. Then again, Cuadras looked exhausted in his corner, too.

Whatever these men were paid to fight on Saturday – it wasn’t enough.

The championship rounds were something to behold. The two men went back and forth throughout the eleventh, and then – Chocolatito got hurt. It was a Cuadras body shot that did it and by the bell to close the chapter, Gonzalez was on the ropes. As HBO commentator Roy Jones had stated earlier: “You find a guy who’s not used to lose him, you’ve got to teach him how to lose.”

And the twelfth? An exhausted Gonzalez kept moving forward in the twelfth. He took the majority of it, perhaps, but Cuadras had his moments – especially towards the final bell. Indeed, it was quite a war. It was then also all down to the judges.

Sure enough, the judges gave it to Gonzalez, via unanimous decision. Chololatito won the title…and Cuadras won himself a whole new fan base.

Posted on 04/08/2016

Showtime Boxing International Preview: Charles Martin vs. Anthony Joshua, Selby vs. Hunter
By: William Holmes

Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley are not the only big names fighting on Saturday, as Showtime Showtime Boxing International will televised two world title fights live from the O2 Arena in London England. The main event of the evening will feature newly minted IBF Heavyweight Champion Charles Martin putting his title on the line against the hard hitting uber prospect Anthony Joshua. The opening bout of the afternoon will be between IBF Featherweight World Champion Lee Selby and Philadelphia contender Eric Hunter.

The main event will have big implications in the heavyweight scene moving forward, as the other two world titlists have big title bouts coming up in the near future. Tyson Fury is set to defend his title again against Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder will be traveling to Russia to face Alexander Povetkin. The winner of the bout between Martin and Joshua will have big money options in the near future.

The following is a preview of the IBF Featherweight and IBF Heavyweight title bouts.

Lee Selby (22-1) vs. Eric Hunter (21-3); IBF Featherweight Title

Lee Selby is the current IBF Featherweight Title holder and has fought outside the United Kingdom once in his career. However, on Saturday night he will be fighting in the United Kingdom yet again and will have the fans in attendance cheering for him.

Selby will have a two and a half inch height advantage as well as a one inch reach advantage over his opponent. They are both twenty nine years old and in the peek of their athetlic prime.

Neither Selby or Hunter has any notable international amateur accomplishments and both have average power for a featherweight. Hunter has stopped eleven of his opponents while Selby has only stopped eight.

Hunter’s record is a bit deceiving, as two of his losses were by disqualification, to Mike Oliver and Luis Franco, and his other loss was by split decision to Carlos Vivan way back in 2007.

Selby has defeated the likes of Fernando Montiel, Evgeny Gradovich, and Joel Bunker. Hunter’s biggest wins have come against Jerry Belmontes, Yenifel Vicente, Antonio Escalante, and Rene Alvardo.

This should be a close fight and will likely be action packed. Both boxers like to throw a high volume of punches, and this bout could go either way. But Selby, at this point, has faced the tougher competition and fighting in front of his countrymen should make him a favorite on Saturday.

Charles Martin (23-0-1) vs. Anthony Joshua (15-0); IBF Heavyweight Title

Charles Martin wasted little time in challenging himself after he defeated Vyacheslav Glazkov for the IBF Heavyweight title and accepted a challenge from one of the best prospects the heavyweight division has to offer.

Martin has incredible power and has stopped twenty one of his opponents, but Joshua has even more impressive knockout numbers as he has stopped every single opponent he has faced and only one guy has made it past the third round.

Martin, a southpaw, will be giving up one inch in height and two inches in reach to Joshua. Martin did have some success in the amateur circuit as he is a former National Police Athletic League Champion and was the National Runner up in the Golden Gloves. Joshua however, has reached the pinnacle of the amateurs by winning the gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Martin’s biggest victories to date have come against Vyacheslav Glazkov, Vicente Ssandez, Kertson Manswell, Glenddy Hernandez, and Joey Dawejko. Joshua’s biggest victories to date have come against Dillian Whyte, Gary Cornish, Kevin Johnson, and Raphael Zumbano Love.

This will be the first time Martin has ever fought outside the United States. Joshua has never fought outside the United Kingdom and will have a friendly crowd in attendance supporting him.

Both boxers have been very active the past two years. Martin fought once in 2016, four times in 2015, and five times in 2014. Joshua has fought five times in 2015 and seven times in 2014.

Martin has the power in his hands to score the upset, but Joshua comes from a strong amateur pedigree and has even more power in his hands than his opponent. The longer the fight goes the better the odds are of a Joshua victory, but regardless Joshua should be the favorite to win on Saturday night.