Hits and Misses from a Huge Boxing Weekend

Published

5 years ago

October 28, 2019

Hits-and-Misses-from-a-Huge-Boxing-Weekend

Boxing fans were treated to some very important fights over the last weekend in October.

The riveting action included the final of the 140-pound tournament in the World Boxing Super Series between Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis, a battle between unbeaten 126-pounders Shakur Stevenson and Joet Gonzalez for the vacant WBO title, the continued rebuilding of 154-pound prospect Erickson Lubin, and a slew of other significant matchups.

But with three massive fight cards spread across DAZN, ESPN+ and SHOWTIME on Saturday, who among the many fighters in action scored the weekend’s biggest hits? And which ones ended up with the biggest misses?

Behold, here were the biggest hits and misses.

HIT: The Coronation of Josh Taylor

Josh Taylor’s coronation as the best junior welterweight in the world didn’t come easy.

In fact, Taylor had to use every ounce of his ability and pour himself out completely to seize the 140-pound throne by defeating Regis Prograis on Saturday night in London. Among the many spoils Taylor earned from outworking Prograis over 12 grueling rounds, perhaps the most important one (to go along with retaining his IBF title and nabbing the American’s WBA belt) was the Muhammad Ali trophy awarded to all WBSS tournament winners.

It’s not so much the hardware. Sure, the trophy is beautiful and also aptly named for one of the most accomplished fighters ever. But the most important aspect of the thing through one-and-a- half seasons of WBSS tournaments is how each trophy winner has gone on to experience amazing leaps in terms of career trajectories after winning it.

Both Callum Smith and Oleksandr Usyk have enjoyed the better parts of their professional fighting careers after winning the WBSS. Now Taylor has the chance to do the same thing.

MISS: DAZN’s Production Quality of Otherwise Great Content

There’s just something off about the production quality of DAZN’s WBSS presentations.

Without knowing the inner workings, the disjointedness of its production—especially in regards to the digital assets used between fights—seems to point to DAZN having been given those highlight reels by the entity that runs the tournament, Comosa AG.

The problem with that model, or whatever process actually exists, is that there’s been a steep drop in quality from standard DAZN boxing shows to the WBSS shows. It really shouldn’t be that way. In fact, the WBSS has proven itself to be so vitally important in the sport in such a short amount of time, that it’s almost as if the opposite should be true: the production of a WBSS event should be among the best in the sport.

But that’s not what’s happening. Instead, it has the appearance of one of those second-rate cards that have become the norm in this age of unlimited over-the-top streaming platforms showing fights that would have otherwise gone unseen under the previous model.

Whatever has to happen to get that corrected needs to happen now. There’s no reason such a huge event should look so paltry on fight night.

HIT: Shakur Stevenson’s Status as Future Pound-for-Pound King

Shakur Stevenson was supposedly in a blood-feud with Joet Gonzalez over having dated that fighter’s sister for the last three years without the approval of the Gonzalez family. That was the promotional angle for the Stevenson-Gonzalez bout in Reno, though on paper it didn’t really need that kind of WWE-type treatment because both Stevenson and Gonzalez were undefeated prospects who many envisioned having stalwart professional careers.

But Stevenson completely dismantled Gonzalez in such a way that it didn’t just prove he was one of the better young fighters in all of boxing. Rather, by the end of the fight, it was clear that Stevenson was on his way to perennially appearing on pound-for-pound lists. Just 22 years old, the former Olympic medalist is now the WBO featherweight champion and is already calling out the likes of IBF titleholder Josh Warrington for unification.

While Stevenson is still a work in progress, it’s not hard to envision him growing into a generational talent. His stalwart defense is reminiscent of a young Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his ice-cold ability to keep his emotions in check over the course of 12 full rounds in the face of a pretty strange circumstance indicates he has all the tools to become something really special.

MISS: The Exploitation of the Gonzalez Family Feud

Admittedly, I hit the full range of judgments and emotions when I was first presented with the promotional angle used for Stevenson-Gonzalez. Perhaps it was just me, but the first idea I had about the whole thing was that it was silly, exploitive and the type of thing that I understand makes sense from a promotional perspective but still hate anyway.

But then I noticed I was thinking about the fight a lot more than I did before I learned that the two fighters hated each other over Stevenson dating Gonzalez’s sister. So, by the time the fight was about to start on Saturday night on ESPN+, I was all about completely immersing myself in the presented storyline.

But as the event unfolded, I couldn’t help but feel icky inside. Here was a real family locked in some serious turmoil by events that began long before these two fighters were ever in the position to face each other for a world title. Whatever happened in the ring wasn’t going to change any of that. This wasn’t just some storyline that’s sole purpose was my entertainment. These were broken relationships that no one outside the people involved ever really needed to know about.

To that end, let’s hope we don’t get any more of these type promotions in the future. There’s no need to exploit life’s harder parts in a sport that’s already filled to the brim of numerous heartbreaks and tragedies.

HIT: Dereck’s Chisora’s Plan to Fight Oleksandr Usyk

Dereck Chisora scored a highlight-reel knockout over David Price in the fourth round in the co-main of the Prograis-Taylor card in London.

Chisora never made it to the top of the heavyweight heap, but it’s been a joy to see him keep trying to scale the mountain anyway. The 35-year-old is a mainstay on the British boxing scene, and he’s really upped his game in recent years after linking up with former rival turned promoter David Haye.

While he tends to go overboard with self-promotion antics outside the ring, inside the ring he’s a hustling big man who always brings the action and consistently throws bombs. There aren’t many of those types in the sport, and it’s a good bet that anyone hoping to climb to the top of heavyweight division would be wise in first testing their mettle against Chisora.

After the win, Chisora said he wanted to fight Oleksandr Usyk next. That would be the perfect test for the former undisputed cruiserweight champion who just scored his first win at heavyweight over Chazz Witherspoon last month.

And Chisora isn’t the type to show up for a paycheck. He’s the type who would do everything in his power to wreck Usyk’s plans and grab that long-awaited world title shot for himself instead.

MISS: Joshua Greer’s Lack of Urgency About Getting Better

Joshua Greer’s gimmick is to bring a pillow to his fights for when he puts his opponent to sleep, but over the last few outings, it seems more like he should bring pillows for everyone else in attendance.

The 24-year-old bantamweight prospect seems to have a lot of talent, but having talent only implies the potential to do great things. It’s one thing to be able to do something. It’s entirely another thing to actually do it.

Greer has a wonderful backstory. Like many in the sport, he came out of some really tough circumstances that he says helped him realize just how precarious life can be. It’s hard not to root for a guy like that to be successful.

But after seeing him struggle to earn a close decision win over part-time fighter Antonio Nieves on Saturday in Reno just a few months after escaping with a majority decision over Nikolai Potapov, one wonders if Greer fully understands how important it is to continually get better.

His post-fight comments to ESPN’s Mark Kriegel suggest he doesn’t.

“At the end of the day, all I do is win,” said Greer.

No, Mr. Greer. All you do right now is escape with wins against lackluster opponents that future world champions should dominate.

HIT: The Continued Resiliency of Erickson Lubin

Lubin came up in the sport as an amateur prodigy who skipped trying to make the 2016 Olympic team so he could sign a promotional deal with Mike Tyson’s quickly defunct Iron Mike Productions. That didn’t work out and Lubin ended up fighting under Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions banner where he quickly made a name for himself as a legitimate junior middleweight prospect.

But Lubin’s world title hopes were dashed by then WBC champion Jermell Charlo in 2017 via one-punch knockout. After suffering such a devastating loss in the first round of his first world title opportunity, it might have been easy for Lubin to slip into self-pity and despair. Instead, Lubin simply went back to work and has now won four straight fights including his unanimous decision win over the hard-hitting Nathaniel Gallimore on Saturday night in Reading. PA.

Now, Lubin is right back to where he was before the Charlo loss. He’s a young prospect with lots of potential, and one who is again eager for his chance to win a world title.

It takes a considerable amount of resiliency to be humiliated like Lubin was on the national stage against Charlo and not let it affect one’s personal belief. Congrats to Lubin for climbing out of a difficult circumstance to take another run at his dream.

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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Published

1 day ago

December 21, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.

The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.

Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.

The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.

An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.

Moses Itauma

Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.

His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.

Photo (c): Mark Robinson

Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10^th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.

Bohachuk-Davis

In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.

Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.

Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.

Fisher-Allen

In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.

Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.

In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.

He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Other Bouts of Note

In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.

A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.

In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.

McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

Published

3 days ago

December 20, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.

The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.

Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.

The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.

That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.

The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)

Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)

Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.

Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).

Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.

The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.

Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.

Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.

We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”

The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

Published

3 days ago

December 19, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.

Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.

Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.

Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.

There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.

It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.

Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.

At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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