Is That The Best Cruiserweight In the World?

Published

9 years ago

October 31, 2014

Abraham

The champ can take a punch. You can see in his three title fights with Marco Huck, how he eats right hands and lefts hooks, then keeps on his feet. Not even Huck, the top 200 pounder in the world could make him kiss canvas, nor could the 25 others who have laced up against him in prize fights.

But like the fighters say, it’s the punch you don’t see coming that puts you on your butt, and the same can be said about life.

The champ already knows. He paid his dues on the minimum wage scale of boxing, in the small shows where promoters matched him against their young guns, thinking he was soft, thinking him an easy win for their man. And maybe he would have been, if he hadn’t known loss or hardship, if life hadn’t kept him bobbing and weaving. He’s counting on that experience Dec. 6, when he’ll seek to unify his cruiserweight title against slickster Yoan Pablo Hernandez.

***

Ola Afolabi will tell you that London could have been the death of him more than a decade ago, when shoplifting and street fights occupied his time. He escaped that fate, ducked away, hopping a plane to Los Angeles to live with his brother. He saw that dreadful end fast approaching, so he shoulder rolled out of the way.

Then another hit came: fights with his brother, irreconcilable differences that made the unfamiliar Glendale streets his new home. He took that one, too, absorbing it and moving on. He slept in youth hostels when he had some cash. When money was tight, he’d break into a movie ticket booth he knew was always available. There was boxing, too. A broke 20-year-old, he began his education in Hollywood, at Wild Card Gym before it was the world class bastion of pugilism it is today. It was the first gym to come up in an internet search. He learned his trade against the big bodies there, like former heavyweight champions James Toney and Michael Moorer, earning experience and a lifetime of knowledge paid for with blood and sweat. It was a road less traveled, away from the amateur ranks and a glittering Olympic resume. He bypassed that altogether, eventually going straight to the pro fight game, a nearly unheard of feat amongst world champions.

He convinced Wild Card owner Freddie Roach to let him clean the gym for $50 a week, making money on the side as a DJ at a strip club for $200 a night.

But as his life began to come together, as the hooligan in him drifted away, the hit he could not prepare for landed.

His mother lost a bout with illness, the last piece that made London home, gone. Fearing he’d relapse into his old street fighting ways, he stayed put in Los Angeles and stood fast in the ring.

He got back in the ring, turned pro at 22, beginning a long slog to the top. His first fight ended in a draw, his fourth was a loss to light heavyweight Allan Green. A slow start. But he got his first break when a promoter called him up to fight Orlin Norris, a battle tested veteran with a record of 57-10-1. He had one week to prepare.

Technical knockout in round seven.

He didn’t get another call for a fight for almost three years, until one promoter dared to pit him against highly touted Eric Fields, then 11-0.

“I was 245 pounds four weeks out,” Afolabi said. “We didn’t eat for like five days to make weight that fight.”

No matter. 10th round stoppage. But he wasn’t a world title contender, not until 2009 when he erased big punching Enzo Maccarinelli in the ninth round one fight later.

Then came Huck, his foil over three competitive fights that went the distance, and when Afolabi surmises what happened, all he can do is shake his head:

“We went there and fought a close fight, I thought I might have edged it or it was a draw, but they gave it to him. The second time I won, but they called it a draw. The third fight, I blew it.”

***

The champ’s fists hit the trainers padded hands, head movement and gloves moving in harmony; hit and don’t get hit in pure form. The two float around each other to the beat of quick hands striking fat pads. Nearly a foot shorter, the bald trainer sometimes pauses, softly speaking instructions through gold teeth.

Though the fight is still a distance away, they plot their strategy against Hernandez before Afolabi thinks better of it.

“You talk too much,” he says.

“It won’t matter,” Jerry Rosenberg replies.

“Yes, it will. That’s our whole plan.”

Both brim with confidence.

“That’s the best cruiserweight in the world,” Rosenberg will say of Afolabi with little prompting. “There’s only one cruiserweight who can give him trouble, and that’s Marco Huck.”

There’s reason for confidence. Afolabi is riding a two fight win streak, including a12th round decision over Lucaz Janik to win a version of the 200 pound title, and a third round demolition of Anthony Caputo Smith in July at Madison Square Garden.

“I know I’ve done everything I can outside the ring to win the title. Now inside the ring, if I’m good enough, I’ll win,” Afolabi said. “If I’m not good enough, then I didn’t deserve it. Then I’ll cash my check and on to the next one.”

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Abraham

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

Published

6 hours ago

September 26, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Canelo-Charlo-Gets-All-the-Ink-but-Don't-Overlook-This-Compelling-Match-in-Turkey

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.

Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.

Since those fights, both have been treading water.

Gassiev

Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.

A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.

Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.

Wallin

Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.

Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.

Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

Applerose2

In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Published

3 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Tedious-Fights-and-a-Controversial-Draw-Smudge-the-Matchroom-Boxing-Card-in-Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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