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Sergei Liakhovich-Robert Helenius Set For July 16

Published

9 years ago

June 1, 2011

The Sweet Science

Liakhovich invites Helenius

Into ‘The White Wolf’ Den

July 16 in Munich

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (June 1, 2011) – The delayed return of former world heavyweight champion and 1996 Bellarusian Olympian, Sergei “The White Wolf” Liakhovich is on July 16 as the Bellarusian Olympian takes on highly-touted, undefeated Robert “The Nordiac Nightmare” Helenius in Munich, Germany.

The 35-year-old Liakhovich (25-3, 16 KOs), rated No. 13 by the World Boxing Council, was supposed to be back in action April 9 in Newark after nearly a year-long absence, but an injury suffered in the final week of training camp forced him to withdraw. Instead of taking an easy tune-up, or sign a more lucrative deal offered by K2 Promotions, Liakhovich chose to make his Main Events debut against Helenius (15-0, 10 KOs), who is world rated among the top four governing bodies (WBO #2, IBF #3, WBA #8 and IBF (IBF #15), as well as No. 8 by The Ring. Helenius is a native of Norway but he lives and fights out of Germany.

“This is what being a true champion really is about,” Liakhovich explained. “I believe you have to take risks to get greater results. Boxing is the best of all sports but its core is in earning respect as a fighter. I think you can accomplish that by taking risks. I had to do that in the past when I fought Dominick Quinn, who was America’s top heavyweight hope at that time, and nobody gave me a chance when I went against Lamon Brewster. Both times taking risks paid off for me and this is not any different. My opponent is a good fighter. He proved that he deserves to be in the top 10 of the world by defeating Brewster and (Samuel) Peter. But he’s never faced anybody with my skills.

“I was very disappointed I had to cancel my (April) fight, but I believe what happens is always for a reason, and sometimes things turn out the way you did not expect. I am glad I have this opportunity and I will take full advantage of it. I’m working again with trainer Kenny Weldon, who was in my corner when I won the WBO title, and doing things that I had stopped. We’ve also been working on a few new things to prepare for this fight. I think it’s going to be a very good fight with two guys putting everything on the line.”

Back in 2006, Liahkovich was on top of the boxing world having won a unanimous decision (117-110, 115-113, 115-112) against Brewster for the WBO crown, sporting a 23-1(13 KOs) pro record that included notable wins against world title contender Guinn and previously undefeated Friday Ahunanya. In his first world title defense, however, Liakhovich lost his belt to Shannon Briggs by way of a 12^th round technical knockout with only one second remaining in the fight, in which Sergei led on all three judges’ cards by scores of 106-103, 106-103 and 105-104.

After his fight against Briggs, Sergei was put on his old promoter’s shelf and he has fought only three times since 2006, the last a ninth-round stoppage of Evans Quinn a year ago in Germany.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Sergei,” Main Events CEO Kathy Duva commented. “From the moment he was offered the match with Helenius, he absolutely demanded that we make the fight. There are very few elite professional boxers who are willing to put everything on the line without a moment’s hesitation, as Sergei did, and accept such a challenge. I believe that his experience and courage will carry the day on July 16^thagainst such a strong opponent. Sergei is one of the most fan friendly fighters in boxing and we all look forward to a great match in Munich. We also look forward to bringing home the win!”

Liakhovich’s Boston-based attorney and veteran boxing lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, got Sergei out of his last contract and negotiated his new deal with Main Events and the Helenius fight. “Sergei chose to take a fight that he could have easily avoided and made more money in a three-fight deal which was offered by K2 (two undercard bouts on the Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye and Vitali Klitschko-Tomasz Adamek cards followed by a guaranteed world title shot),” Atty. Cardinale noted. “His reasoning was a win against Helenius will make a world title fight considerably more valuable to him and his family than the deal offered by K2.

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

5 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

5 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

5 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

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