Articles

Dereck Chisora Has The Tools To Make Vitali Work

Published

12 years ago

February 13, 2012

This coming February 18th, WBC heavyweight title holder Vitali Klitschko 43-2 (40) will make the eighth defense of his title, a title he won from Samuel Peter back in 2008, after a nearly four year retirement. Klitschko’s opponent is the relatively green UK based Dereck Chisora 15-2 (9). In 17 bouts Chisora, 28, has never been stopped or been in trouble. In fact at times he was even in command against the two fighters who beat him by decision, Tyson Fury and Robert Helenius. Chisora’s problem in both bouts seems to be that he lost focus down the stretch, which obviously doesn’t bode well for him heading into his title clash with the 40 year old Klitschko.? Having pointed out Chisora’s weaknesses, he deserves credit for taking on two undefeated prospects who also have title aspirations.

Therefore he shouldn’t be automatically sold short because he’s not undefeated. Actually there are some things to like about Chisora the fighter, other than him just being a fighter who appears to be a rough guy with a good chin.?? From a style vantage point, the 6 foot 1 1/2 inch Chisora is an attacker who looks to apply pressure and carry the fight to his opponent. What separates him from other swarming like attackers is he looks to jab his way in, which is fairly unique for a pressure fighter. He also mixes his shots up and has good punch placement. He doesn’t apply bell-to-bell pressure and fights more in spurts, and it’s between the spurts as he’s trying to get re-set where he’ll be vulnerable to Vitali’s counters. If Vitali manages to disrupt his aggression he’ll be methodically taken apart and probably stopped.? His reach is short (74 inches) for a fighter over six feet tall. Joe Frazier, who was 5′ 11″ had a 73 inch reach. The problem for Chisora is, he’s nowhere near as busy as Frazier was and an even bigger concern for him in this fight is his lack of power in his finishing hooks and crosses. In other words it looks as though he’s not going to be able to force Vitali to do anything he doesn’t want to. ??Granted, Vitali hasn’t faced many attackers during his career other than Corrie Sanders and Cris Arreola, but he showed improvement in between Sanders and Arreola. When he fought Sanders in 2004 he backed straight up and got caught at the end of Sanders’ lefts and rights as he was forced to the ropes. Sanders actually shook Vitali a few times while he was on the attack and forcing the fight. However, Sanders ran out of steam and once he slowed up Klitschko pot-shotted him on the way in and eventually stopped him. ??When he fought Arreola five years later, Vitali handled Arreola’s aggression better. Part of the reason for that was Cris didn’t go at him as hard and fast as Sanders did and Klitschko pivoted more and kept Arreola turning as he was eating Vitali’s jab trying to close the distance and get inside. ??Of the two Chisora much more resembles Arreola than he does Sanders when it comes to activity and aggression. ??Recently Chisora said something that makes you think he’s at least going to try and take the fight to Klitschko and force him to open up and fight more-so than box and pick his shots.

?“I’m in tip-top shape, the best I’ve been in for my entire career and I’m going to smash Mr. Vitali Klitschko to bits. People are saying that Klitschko is the hardest fight of my career, but this is going to be the hardest fight of his career. I’m going to war with him, he won’t get to use that big height and reach against me with the way I’m going to fight him and I’ve got the eighth round in my head that I’m going to stop him in.”?? Chisora’s words don’t leave much to the imagination, do they? He obviously knows that he can’t out-jab Vitali and trying to do it would be suicide in this fight. Therefore he must make Klitschko uncomfortable during the fight and force him to fight from a weakness or supposed vulnerability on the inside. That sounds great in theory, but how many times have we seen another fighter force Vitali Klitschko into doing what he didn’t want to? If my memory serves me correctly those instances have been few and far between. ??

So let’s go with what we know. Chisora will try and push the fight. And like most fighters, Vitali doesn’t like to be pressured. He likes his opponents to move to him, but coming forward isn’t effective pressure. Fighters who just come forward Vitali usually chops up with his heavy jabs and then opens them up with his right uppercuts and unconventional crosses. Those weapons can be nullified by un-relenting pressure, something that Chisora hasn’t shown a tendency towards doing from bell-to-bell. If Chisora can somehow keep Vitali on his heels – much easier said than done, we could see an entertaining bout.??Does Dereck Chisora have the tools to beat Vitali Klitschko? Perhaps. The problem for him is they don’t appear to be evolved enough and his lack of fight altering power will probably be the difference.

??”Everyone that has fought the Klitschko brothers have been scared, this is one cat that isn’t scared of him or anyone and I’ll throw him off of that throne he’s been sitting on for the last few years,” Chisora said.??At this stage of the game it would be a welcome change if Chisora showed up and went at Vitali from the onset and was more concerned with winning than going the distance or getting stopped. If he got stopped in the seventh round but gave Klitschko a good scare and made him work and fight hard he wouldn’t be an embarrassment and perhaps would be a better fighter down the road as a result.??

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com??

Dereck Chisora Has The Tools To Make Vitali Work / Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel.

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Frank Lotierzo

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 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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Articles

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

Published

8 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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Articles

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

Published

8 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”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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