Featured Articles
Three Punch Combo: Hot Prospect Souleymane Cissokho, ShoBox and More

THREE PUNCH COMBO – This coming weekend is loaded with fight cards. On these various cards, a number of prospects will be in action. Perhaps the best prospect is a 154- pound fighter named Souleymane Cissokho (9-0, 6 KO’s).
Like many of today’s top prospects, Cissokho had a deep and successful amateur career. He represented France at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro where he took home the Bronze Medal in the welterweight division.
Cissokho, now 28, turned pro shortly after the Olympics in January of 2017 with a first round knockout of Renato Goman in France. A year and a half later. in just his seventh professional fight, Cissokho found himself in the ring with the much more experienced Carlos Molina, a former world title-holder. Somewhat surprisingly, Cissokho dominated Molina. He won all 10 rounds on all three scorecards. To put this performance in a bit of context, earlier this year Molina gave another top prospect, Abass Baraou, a very formidable challenge in dropping a close 12-round decision.
Cissokho made his US debut on the undercard of the Joshua-Ruiz fight at Madison Square Garden where he won a wide eight round unanimous decision over veteran Vladimir Hernandez.
So why do I think Cissokho is such an elite prospect? For starters, his amateur background has served him very well, polishing his skillset. In particular, he is very well balanced and fluid. Moreover, he fights with a certain poise and patience that is rarely seen in young fighters.
But in addition to being well-schooled, Cissokho has plenty of natural athleticism and possesses above average hand speed for the division. And then there is the power. He has heavy handed power in both hands, particularly his right hand, and has already scored some highlight reel stoppages.
One final note: For a young pro, he is already a very dedicated and committed body puncher. He often finishes his combinations by attacking his opponent’s rib cage. Among today’s top prospects, I would put Cissokho among the best body punchers.
On Saturday, Cissokho will face off against veteran Jose Carlos Paz (23-9-1, 13 KO’s) on the undercard of the Tony Yoka-Alexander Dimitrenko heavyweight fight in Antibes, France. I certainly am going to find a way to catch Cissokho’s fight and encourage all boxing fans to do the same. In my view, he is a future star.
A Classic ShoBox Tilt
ShoBox returns on Friday with a tripleheader from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, WA. While a pair of heavyweight bouts are acting as the co-headliners, it is the opening bout between featherweight prospects Giovanni Mioletti (16-0, 7 KO’s) and Luis Porozo (14-0, 7 KO’s) that best illustrates what this series is all about.
I’m guessing not many fans had heard of Mioletti or Porozo before this fight was announced and this is one of the reasons why I love ShoBox and hope this series continues on for many years. Mioletti and Porozo will now get the chance to showcase their skills on a large platform and the winner will see his career take off into a new stratosphere. Just look at how many previously unknown fighters have fought on the ShoBox series and used it as a launching pad for a very successful career.
Mioletti is a former Chicago Golden Gloves champion who turned pro in 2016. He is a slick southpaw with good athleticism and a solid skillset. From the video I have watched on him, he likes to work behind the right jab using his feet to set up angles to fire off combinations. Almost everything he throws is in combination and he is certainly a volume puncher who prefers to lead rather than counter. Defensively, he is slick but has a tendency to keep his right low.
Porozo is a former 2008 Olympian from Ecuador who turned pro in 2015. He likes to press forward as the aggressor, but is also more of a natural counterpuncher. When his opponents lead, Porozo will let his hands fly and he does possess fairly decent hand speed to land those counters. He may not possess one-punch power but is fairly heavy-handed and his punches can take a cumulative effect on his opponents. One issue in his game though is that he sometimes throws his punches a bit too wide, taking some steam off his shots and in the process leaving himself exposed to be hit clean.
I think this is going to be a good entertaining fight featuring a very interesting contrast of styles. Whoever can impose his style the best is going to win and I look forward to seeing which one of these fighters takes the next step up in his career.
Under The Radar Fight
PBC on FS1 returns on Saturday from the Armory in Minneapolis, MN with a card headlined by rising welterweight contender Jamal James (25-1, 12 KO’s) taking on former world champion Antonio DeMarco (33-7-1, 24 KO’s). The prelim portion of the show includes a very interesting welterweight fight between former top prospects Bryant Perrella (16-2, 13 KO’s) and Domonique Dolton (22-2-1, 13 KO’s).
Perrella, once a very highly touted prospect who seemed destined to one day win a world title, has struggled since upping his level of competition and is only 2-2 in his last four fights. Blessed with natural physical abilities, Perrella’s talent has never been questioned. But his chin and stamina have failed him in some recent performances. Now, at age 30, can he get things turned around?
Dolton, a protégé of the late Emanuel Steward, likewise seemed destined for greatness. Blessed with natural athleticism and blazing speed, many thought Dolton would carry the torch as Detroit’s next great champion. However, in a similar way to Perrella, once Dolton upped his level of competition he began to struggle. When pressed in tougher fights, his confidence seemed to be lacking and as a result he went into somewhat of a defensive shell, not moving his hands with as much frequency. Now, at 29, can he find confidence in his natural abilities and come close to living up to those once enormous expectations?
Perrella and Dolton are oozing with natural talent, but both also have major question marks which makes this a fascinating fight with the result hard to forecast. One thing is certain and that is the winner will get another chance to live up to his hype whereas the loser likely heads to permanent journeyman status.
Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel
To comment on this story in The Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Results and Recaps from Las Vegas where Richard Torrez Jr Mauled Guido Vianello
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Weekend Recap and More with the Accent of Heavyweights
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday