Tag Archives: Oleksandr

Posted on 11/19/2016

HBO PPV Undercard Results: Curtis Stevens and Oleksandr Gvozdyk Emerge Victorious, and Hooker Draws with Perez
By: William Holmes

The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada was the host site for tonight’s HBO PPV card featuring a main event betweenSergey Kovalev and Andre Ward for the Light Heavyweight Championship.

Three bouts were featured on the undercard, and the opening bout was between Curtis Stevens (28-5) and James De La Rosa (23-4) in the middleweight division.

De La Rosa was rocked by a rising left hook from Stevens in the first round and he was on the defensive for most of the opening round. Stevens was able to land a left hook that knocked De La Rosa in the last thirty seconds of the round, but De La Rosa was able to get back to his feet.

De La Rosa had a cut by his left eye in the second round and took heavy shots to the body. However, he was able to start to land his jab in the last minute of the round.

Both fighters let it all fly in the third round and both landed several hard combinations. Stevens got the better of De La Rosa and landed the stronger shots, but he may have spent all of his energy.

De La Rosa began to relay on his jab in the fourth round and was able to keep Stevens at bay, and that jab continued to be successful for De La Rosa in the fifth and sixth rounds and even had Stevens trapped in a corner at multiple points.

De La Rosa looked like the fresher fighter in the seventh round and Stevens was short with most of his punches. Stevens crowded v in the eighth and was able to land some heavy hooks to the body, but he was deducted a point by the referee for landing a low blow.

The announcers felt Stevens may have hurt his left hand in the ninth round since he wasn’t throwing his patented left hook counter like he usually does. The HBO cameras were able to capture Stevens telling his trainer he hurt his left hand in the fourth round

Stevens pressed the action in the final round and landed some heavy shots over the top of De La Rosa’s guard which reopened the cut of De La Rosa, but it was De La Rosa who was raising his hands in the air at the final bell as if he won the fight.

The final scores were 98-90, 96-92, and 96-92 for Curtis Stevens.

The next bout of the night was in the light heavyweight division between Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2) and Oleksandr Gvozdyk (11-0).

Both boxers fought out of an orthodox stance and Gvozdyk was backing Chilemba up early with his contant jab. Chilema was able to land his check left hook near the end of the round, but it could have been scored either way.

Chilemba was missing with his hooks in the second round while Gvozdyk was finding a home for his right cross. Gvozdyk was landing at a higher clip than Chilemba in the third round, and he had Chilemba covering up in a defensive shell with his back against the ropes while Gvozdyk unleashed several combinations on him.

Chilemba had a strong fifth round and was able to land some short uppercuts on the inside, but Gvozdyk took back over in the sixth round and looked like he was wearing his opponent down.

Gvozdyk outworked Chilemba in the seventh round and Roy Jones Jr. threatened to stop the fight if he didn’t pick up the action in the eighth round. Chilemba was able to catch Gvozdyk by surprise in the opening thirty seconds of the eighth round, but Gvozdyk took back over in the final minute and had Chilemba’s nose bleeding badly.

Chilemba told his trainer, Roy Jones Jr., before the start of the ninth round that he was done and couldn’t fight anymore, and Jones told the referee the fight was over. Chilemba believed his right hand was broken.
Oleksandr Gvozdyk wins by TKO at the end of the eighth round.

The final fight on the undercard was between Maurice Hooker (21-0-2) and Darleys Perez (33-2-1) in the junior welterweight division.

Hooker was a lot taller than Perez and used it to his advantage by keeping a jab in the face of Perez in the opening round. However, Perez looked comfortable with Hooker’s power in the second round and was able to catch Hooker by surprise with some well timed hooks, and he had him hurt in the opening minute of the third round with a clean looping right hook.

Perez appeared to score a knockdown in the fourth round when he tagged Hooker with a right cross and sent him tumbling backwards and to the mat, but the referee ruled it a slip.

Hooker had a good fifth round with an active jab, but Perez again caught Hooker with looping right hooks in the sixth round.

Perez remained the aggressor in the seventh round and took some of Hooker’s best punches but kept on moving forward. Perez remained the aggressor in the eighth round and had Hooker circling away from his opponent and moving backwards.

The final two rounds played out like the earlier rounds, with Perez pressing forward and landing an occasional right hook or right cross while Hooker would land a number of jabs while moving backwards.

A lot of rounds could have been scored either way, but the judges appeared to agree by scoring the fight 97-93 Perez, 97-93 Hooker, 95-95 making the bout a draw.

Posted on 11/17/2016

HBO PPV Preview: Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward, Hooker vs. Perez, Chilemba vs. Gvozdyk, Stevens vs. De La Rosa
By: William Holmes

On Saturday night Roc Nation Sports and Main Events Promotions will team up to deliver one of the best fights that could be made in boxing on HBO Pay Per View. The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada will be the host site for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight Title fight between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward.

Ten fights total are featured on this card, including the highly anticipated debut of two time Olympic Gold Medalist Claressa Shields.

HBO appears to be ready to televise four fights on the pay per view, and the following is a preview of all four bouts.

Curtis Stevens (28-5) vs. James De La Rosa (23-4); Middleweights

This bout is on the pay per view card despite the fact it’s highly unlikely that either participant will be fighting for a world title in the near future.

Curtis Stevens is a fan favorite and shocked many in his last bout when he beat undefeated prospect Patrick Teixeira.

He’ll be giving up ½ inch in reach and about three inches in height to De La Rosa. However, he has faced significantly better competition and has a deep amateur background than his opponent.

De La Rosa lost his last two fights and only has thirteen knockout victories. Stevens has twenty one knockout victories and is known for delivering exciting bouts.

Both boxers only fought one time in 2016, zero times in 2015, and three times in 2014.

Stevens has beaten the likes of Patrick Teixeira, Tureano Johnson, Patrick Majewski, Saul Roman, Derrick Findley, and Elvin Ayala. He has lost to the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Andre Dirrell and Jesse Brinkley. De La Rosa has defeated the likes of Alfredo Angulo but has lost to the likes of Jason Quigley, Hugo Centeno Jr., Marcus Willis, and Allen Conyers.

Stevens has been inconsistent throughout his career, but this is a bout that he should win in a fan pleasing fashion.

Isaac Chilemba (24-4-2) vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk (11-0); Light Heavyweights

Not many boxers can claim to have lasted twelve rounds with Sergey Kovalev, and Isaac Chilemba is one of them.

However, he’s facing a highly decorated Ukranian amateur that is managed by Egis Klimas, who has an impressive stable of boxers under his control, and many consider Gvozdyk to be future world champion material.

Gvozdyk has nine stoppage victories in only eleven professional bouts and is a 2012 Summer Olympics Bronze medalist. Chilemba has ten stoppage victories in thirty professional bouts, so Gvozdyk has a clear edge in power. Chilemba also does not have the amateur experience of Gvozdyk.

Gvozdyk will be the same height as Chilemba but will also have a two and a half inch reach advantage. They are of the same age. Gvozdyk has also been considerably more active than Chilemba. He fought three times in 2016 and four times in 2015, while Chilemba only fought once in 2016 and twice in 2015.

Gvozdyk has already defeated the likes of Nadjib Mohammedi and Tommy Karpency before he has faced his twelfth opponent. Chilemba has defeated the likes of Doudou Ngumbu, Maksim Vlasov, Edison Miranda, Denis Grachev, and Vasily Lepikhin; but he has also lost to the likes of Sergey Kovalev, Eleider Alvarez, Tony Bellew, and Willbeforce Shihepo.

Chilemba is a tough opponent with a strong chin, but he’s not on the same level of technique as Gvozdyk and he doesn’t have the power to score an upset knockout.

This should be a good showcase fight for Gvozdyk to show off his skills.

Maurice Hooker (21-0-2) vs. Darleys Perez (33-2-1); Junior Welterweights

Maurice Hooker is one of the most intriguing prospects on the undercard, as his reach and height has many people comparing him to Paul Williams.

Hooker will have a four inch height advantage as well as an amazing ten inch reach advantage over Perez. He’s also six years younger than Perez.

Hooker is known for being a hard puncher and has stopped sixteen of his opponents. Perez has twenty one stoppage victories, but his best days appear to be behind him.

Hooker fought three times in 2015 and twice in 2016 while Perez fought one time in 2016 and three times in 2015.

Perez has the edge in amateur experience. He represented Columbia in the 2008 Summer Olympics while Hooker’s biggest claim to fame in the amateurs was when he won the Dallas Regional Golden Gloves Championship.

This bout is a big step up in competition for Hooker. He has defeated the likes of Ty Barnett, Wilfrido Buelvas, and Eduardo Galindo. Perez has beaten the likes of Argenis Lopez, Jonathan Maicelo, and Jaider Parra. His losses have come to Anthony Crolla and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Perez was the former WBA Lightweight champion, but he’ll be competing at a higher weight class on Saturday and will be facing a good opponent with a ridiculous reach advantage.

The ten inch reach advantage will be too much for Perez to overcome.

Sergey Kovalev (30-0-1) vs. Andre Ward (30-0); WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight Title

The main event of the night is one of the best fights that could be made in boxing today and the winner will likely have a claim to the top pound for pound spot on the mythical list.

Kovalev, at the age of 33, and Ward, at the age of 32, are nearing the end of their physical primes but neither have shown signs of slowing down inside the ring.

They both are six foot tall, but Kovalev will have a slight one and a half inch reach advantage when they are both inside the ring.

Ward has the deeper amateur background of the two as he won the Olympic Gold Medal in 2004. Kovalev also had success as an amateur and was a former Russian Champion as an amateur, but he never competed in the Olympics and was engaged intense competition with two other Russian amateur standouts, Matt Korobov and Artur Beterbiev.

Kovalev has the edge in power. He has stopped twenty six of his opponents while Ward has only stopped fifteen. However, Ward is a gifted defensive boxer and is excellent with his counters, and Kovalev often leaves himself open for counters after he throws one of his heavy combinations.

Kovalev has defeated the likes of Isaac Chilemba, Jean Pascal, Nadjib Mohammedi, Bernard Hopkins, Blake Caparello, Nathan Cleverly, Ismayl Sillah, Cedric Agnew, and Gabriel Campillo. He has fought twice in 2015 and once in 2016.

Ward has fought twice in 2016 and once in 2015. He has defeated the likes of Alexander Brand, Sullivan Barrera, Paul Smith, Edwin Rodriguez, Chad Dawson, Carlo Froch, Artur Abraham, Sakio Bika, Allan Green, Mikkel Kessler, and Edison Miranda.

This is a tough fight for many to pick, mainly because Ward has never faced a power puncher like Kovalev and Kovalev has never faced a slick boxer like Ward.

However, Ward’s jab is his best weapon and he’ll likely use it often to keep Kovalev at bay. History has shown that a slick boxer will usually beat a power puncher if everything else is reason, and Saturday should be no different.

Posted on 10/27/2016

Interview with Isaac Chilemba: “He has picked the wrong time and wrong opponent:”

By: Matthew N. Becher

Isaac Chilemba is a contender in the Light Heavyweight Division. He is 29 years old from Malawi and lost his last fight in Russia to Sergey Kovalev. Many a pundit predicted Chilemba to be an easy opponent for Kovalev in the champs’ native country, but Chilemba proved anything but, lasting the entire fight while absorbing punches that have knocked out many a challenger before him. On November 19th, Chilemba will take on the up and coming Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk on the Kovalev v. Ward Pay per View undercard. We spoke with Isaac about his previous fight, switching trainers to Roy Jones Jr. and how he feels about becoming a gate keeper in the division.

Boxing Insider: After your last fight with Kovalev, do you feel you have a better chance at winning a title in the light heavyweight division?

Chilemba: Yes, I think that I am where I am supposed to be. I’ve put in a lot of sacrifice and a lot of time and I feel that I am super close to winning a title.

Boxing Insider: What was the reasoning for changing trainers after the Kovalev fight?

Chilemba: We had to make a decision on if we were going to stay training in Africa or if I would come back to America for training. We decided it would be better to go to America for training, for my career.

Boxing Insider: On November 19th, you will be the main undercard against former Olympian Bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk. How do you feel about performing on such a big stage? And what do you know about your opponent?

Chilemba: The stage doesn’t get to me at all. I am happy to fight anywhere, anytime. What I know about my opponent is that he was a top amateur and now is a good professional. I believe he wants to get somewhere in the boxing world. He has picked the wrong time and wrong opponent.

Boxing Insider: At 29 you are still a very young man in the fight game, but you will be seen as a gatekeeper for Gvozdyk. How does that feel?

Chilemba: I treat every opponent the same. We don’t overlook anyone, all fighters train the same. All of our goals, as fighters, is to be the best, and to be the champion. So if I’m fighting a guy with only 11 fights or a guy with 40 fights, they are all the same. He was a medalist, an Olympian, so I will treat him the same as if I was fighting a Kovalev.

Boxing Insider: Since you have been training with Roy Jones Jr. Is there anything that he has sharpened in your game plan and/or style?

Chilemba: Since training with Roy is the best thing that could happen right now. Coming up as a youth I would learn a lot of my technique watching other fighters and the fighter I watched the most video of was Roy Jones. My old trainer use to say to me “Stop that Roy Jones Shit”, he never thought that was my style. Now I am working with a guy that I look up to and he is showing me the meaning behind all the moves and why he was doing what he was doing. I believe that you will see a whole new Isaac Chilemba on the 19th of November.

Boxing Insider: So the main event is against 2 of the top pound for pound fighters in the world, and they are both in your weight class. What will the outcome be between Kovalev v. Ward?

Chilemba: I always believe that the boxer can outsmart the puncher. Kovalev is a puncher but is a very good boxer. It is very much a 50/50 game. Ward is a very smart fighter, and if he comes to box, he should be able to outbox Kovalev easily. It is very hard for me to pick a winner.

Posted on 09/18/2016

Usyk dominates Glowaski with Gold Medal Class in Gdansk
​By: Eric Lunger

Undefeated WBO cruiserweight Krzysztof Glowacki of Poland (26-0) was on home ground Saturday night, at the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, to take on Ukraine’s undefeated Oleksandr Usyk (9-0). This was only Usyk’s second professional bout outside his native country, having defeated Germany’s Ben Nsafoah in a third round knock out in Oberhausen in April of 2014.

Usyk, 29, turned pro somewhat late, after an interesting and highly decorated amateur career. He was the 2008 European Amateur champion at light heavyweight, the 2011 World Amateur champ at heavyweight, leading up to a gold medal at heavyweight at the 2012 London Games, where he bested both Artur Beterbiyev and Tervel Pulev. Usyk’s last professional fight, however, was in December of 2015 against a durable, crafty, but rather outmatched Pedro Rodriguez (22-1), whom Usyk clearly out boxed for six rounds before letting his hands go in the seventh for a convincing TKO.

Usyk has a tall frame for a cruiserweight, technically proficient defense, and very impressive hand speed. He came into the fight last night as a highly touted, skilled and groomed fighter with very high aspirations.

However, the road to future greatness lay through Krzysztof Glowacki.

Glowacki, 30, is probably best known to American boxing fans for his tremendous bout in August of last year against Germany’s Marco Huck at the Prudential Center in Newark. Huck came into the fight with a long proven record (including thirteen title defenses) and a reputation for being ruthless in the ring. In an action filled bout, Glowacki was knocked down early in the sixth by a well-disguised left hook and barely beat the count. Having weathered a series of hard shots for the remainder of the round, Glowacki then began to land his own, with Huck clearly wary of the Pole’s undiminished power. As round followed round, Glowacki, incredibly, gained strength and confidence, putting an increasingly worried Huck on the defensive. Then, in the eleventh came a textbook left-right combination from Glowacki that sent Huck crashing backwards to the canvas, and Glowacki ended the fight quickly as a dazed Huck was still recovering from the knockdown.

So the question going into Saturday night was: would Glowacki bring the same combination of grit, power, and skill to Gdansk, and would it be enough to overcome Usyk’s considerable physical and technical talents?

Not surprisingly the Gdansk crowd was vocal and eager from the opening bell. Glowacki obliged them by starting quickly with aggressive jabs to Usyk’s midsection. Usyk responded coolly with his own jab, and his footwork was quick, precise, and supremely agile. The second was more of the same: Glowacki came out hard, seeking to land a big left hook and Usyk continued to control the distance with his jab. By the third round, a pattern had been set. Glowacki fighting hard, coming forward, but unable to solve the problems set for him by Usyk. Usyk’s activity level, on the other hand, increased markedly. As his confidence and comfort grew, he began to dominate, sticking and moving, controlling distance, and circling to his left to avoid Glowacki’s overhand lefts.

The middle rounds of the fight were probably Glowacki’s best rounds. He was strong on his feet, continued to come forward, and obviously had a game plan for the fight – namely, to use his lunging jab to the body to lower Usyk’s hands and create an opening for the overhand left. And at no point in the fight did Usyk take Glowacki lightly. He clearly had respect for the Pole’s power and his one punch knockout potential. In the seventh and eighth, the pace of the bout slowed, and the crowd (like their favorite) grew impatient with Usyk’s elusiveness. But when Glowacki pressed forward to attack, he opened himself up to Usyk’s countering hooks.

The eleventh was a big round for Usyk. It started with him catching Glowacki with a short but crisp combination in the center of the ring (Usyk’s blazing hand speed was a factor all night), and when Glowacki, obviously realizing he needed to score at this point, tried to let his hands go, it was Usyk who beat him to the punch. The twelfth opened with a momentary flash of hope for the home crowd, as Usyk went down after tangling feet with Glowacki. However, the enthusiasm was brief, as Ukrainian went on the showcase all of his skills: his footwork, his jab, his mastery of angles. At one point he slipped a Glowacki right so radically, that he was beside Glowacki, and hit him with a right hook while standing practically at Glowacki’s right shoulder.

The fighters hugged at the final bell; Glowacki nodded and appeared to congratulate Usyk. There was no doubt as to the outcome, despite Grzegorz Proksa’s absurdly even scorecard. The cruiserweight division seems sandwiched between the always glamorous heavyweight division and the currently fascinating light heavyweight division, with the rightly anticipated Kovalev – Ward bout on the horizon. But judging from Oleksandr Usyk’s performance last night in Gdansk, we have a lot to look forward to at the 200 pound limit.