Articles

Ruslan Chagaev KO1 Francesco Pianeta

Published

5 years ago

July 11, 2015

Welcome back, Ruslan.

Chagaev, for me, is the number three heavy of the Klitschko era. At his best he was mobile, two- handed as a boxer, carried legitimate power in his trailing left and led with a fine southpaw jab; a great chin and no small amount of heart capped off a fine package that lacked only a single extraordinary offensive attribute – size, speed, power – to make it an exceptional one.

The double blow of hepatitis-B and a debilitating Achilles injury laid him low, unfortunately in good time for his shot at Wladimir Klitschko but not before he had demonstrated his relative excellence against the likes of Nikolay Valuev and John Ruiz. Now the veteran of two beatings, having dropped a unanimous decision against Alexander Povetkin in 2011, Chagaev has eschewed the path of the warrior in favour of the path of least resistance; Povetkin was the last ranked opponent he has met ring centre.

So faded was he that no small number of people suspected that Francesco Pianeta, out of Germany via Calabria, Italy would be too much for him. Six inches taller than Chagaev at 6’5, the size advantage enjoyed by the lengthier Pianeta was not disguised by the extra four pounds his opponent was carrying to the ring. Chagaev is overweight at 246lbs, and arguably at 230lbs. The combination of Pianeta’s size and Chagaev’s pronounced fade made Pianeta seem a difficult match for him, to the point where German television has bizarrely been hyping Pianeta, who was born in Italy, as potentially the “first German heavyweight champion of the world since Max Schmeling”. This is because Chagaev holds something called the “Regular WBA heavyweight championship”, while the “super championship” is snuggly protected by one Wladimir Klitschko. Fortunately, Germany was spared the embarrassment of crowning her first heavyweight champion in eighty years in these circumstances by Chagaev’s surprising first round knockout of Pianeta tonight in Magdeburg, Germany.

Chagaev, out of Andijan, Uzbekistan, thirty-six years old, opened quietly, attempting to jab Pianeta back with the right while Pianeta tried to dial in his own right and I settled in for twelve long rounds. Then, suddenly, Pianeta was on the ground looking up. Two booming overhand lefts, Chagaev’s dangerous punch, had found their mark and Pianeta seemed broken. Literally appearing to have had the air let out of him he deflated to the canvas and I was surprised to see him regain his feet; Chagaev rushed himself at first but soon regained his boxing and despite shipping a nice uppercut (the only meaningful punch the thirty-year old Pianeta would land in the short 2:50 the fight lasted) he soon cornered Pianeta square and dropped him with a double-left hand to the temple. Pianeta, who has been stopped on just one previous occasion, in six versus Wladimir Klitschko, regained his feet but was correctly waved off by referee Jean-Louis Legland. Carried to his corner like so much loose meat he was soon in tears as Chagaev celebrated, ebulliently.

Chagaev (now 34-2-1) was once an excellent prize-fighter and although I expect this to be something of a false dawn it is hard not to be impressed by the quick work he made of the younger, bigger Pianeta here; a shot at fellow strap-holder Deontay Wilder or some other name-heavyweight may be looming somewhere in his immediate future, although Chagaev’s unfortunate propensity for avoiding contenders in this decade may make such a match impossible. Either way, the show goes on for the gutsy Ruslan.

And for Pianeta (drops to a deceiving 31-2-1)? Well, he didn’t manage to crown himself the first German heavyweight champion since Schmeling; but nor has Chagaev crowned himself the first Uzbekistani champion in forever. The belt he holds is as meaningless as the media bluster in Germany.

Congratulations Ruslan Chagaev; but as you were, gentlemen.

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Matt McGrain

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

4 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

4 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

4 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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