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The Top Ten Cruiserweights of the Decade 2010-2019
The decade of 2010-2019 was a great one for the cruiserweights and it is quite possible that in this divisional rundown of the ten best in each weight class, 200lbs will not be bettered. It was two eras, really, with one or two of the giants from the first throwing wild hooks at giants from the second as the decade roared to an end. Multiple lineal champions, quality contenders of varied styles and proclivities made it the finest decade for fights and fighters in the division’s short history.
Rankings are by Ring Magazine until the inception of the TBRB in October of 2012.
10 – Ola Afolabi
Peak Ranking: 3 Record for the Decade: 8-4-1 Ranked For: 58% of the Decade
I suspect Ola Afolabi will be something of a controversial pick.
He shouldn’t be. This man defined the term “road warrior” after the retirement of light-heavyweight Glen Johnson. British, born to Nigerian parents, he was a fighter who trained out of California but came out swinging in places as far flung as Argentina, Russia, and many spots in between. A chin hewn of titanium and an underrated jab saw him do damage on four different continents. That story began in earnest in 2009 when he got his first of four shots at cruiserweight Don Marco Huck and dropped the narrowest of decisions in an excellent fight. Treading water through the early part of the decade, he was re-matched with Huck in 2012.
That fight was probably the best of the year and among the best of the decade; Huck-Afolabi II was a heart-fueled war fought tight by two men made of granite. They may have delivered the best twelfth round of the century.
The wider context here is the result of the fight as seen by the judges, which was both gratifying and surprising in Huck’s adopted German stronghold: a draw. Anything close would have been reasonable but Afolabi earned his share, the best result he would achieve against the Serbian tough in four attempts.
That draw and the fact that Afolabi over-achieved away from home is enough to get him to #10 here. It may sound thin but thin is enough; Afolabi’s best cruiserweight win is over Rakhim Chakhkiev, a victory from an Indian summer interrupting what was at times a bizarre final act in his career. It objectively puts him alongside the likes of Tony Bellew and Steve Cunningham (who did most of his good work in the decade before) so that precious draw with Huck makes Afolabi one of the ten most accomplished cruiserweights of the decade.
09 – Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 16-2 Ranked For: 70% of the Decade
Diablo (“Devil)” was at the vanguard of the European assault on the cruiserweight division in the early part of the decade, a clever, adaptable fighter who was well tooled but battled physical limitations while establishing himself at the top of the division.
Neither particularly fast, strong, nor powerful, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk isn’t even an elite counterpuncher in the truest sense of the word, rather he uses baiting footwork to invite opposition to pressure his space whereupon he launches left-hand heavy attacks led by the jab and a well-disguised hook. His underused right became something of a surprise weapon for him, almost by default. It rescued him against the likes of Danny Green, thousands of miles from home and behind on the scorecards. Diablo had some layers.
What he does not have is a deep resume for the decade, his best win a breakdown of Giacobbe Fragomeni in 2010. Fragomeni had been the recipient of a gift in the form of a draw the year before and in the rematch the Pole seemed determined to robe the judges of their responsibilities. In a signature performance he dominated with mobility and jab before introducing hurtful punches which had a terminal cumulative effect. Disciplined and controlled and only allowing himself to fight with more commitment when he had his opponent off balance or out of step, Wlodarczyk stepped up the pain and the pressure in the seventh to earn his stoppage win.
2013 was his prime year and included a curbstomp of anointed prospect Rakhim Chakhkiev but he could not stem the tide; Grigory Drozd and then Murat Gassiev found him, forcing him to make way for a new generation. He is still active though – and well-handled prospects still give him a wide-berth.
08 – Yuniel Dorticos
Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 22-1 Ranked For: 34% of the Decade
Here then is the first entry from the second era of the decade, Cuban puncher Yuniel Dorticos, although it should be noted that he started boxing professionally way back in 2009. It’s been a long and winding road for the Miami resident who has taken a relaxed route to the top but whose patience is now revealing the counterpunch. He meets Mairis Briedis in March to determine who is the first best cruiser of the new decade in a fight that is not to be missed.
Dorticos graduated against Youri Kalenga, an established fighter and a juddering puncher in his own right. Joyfully, Dorticos confirmed himself as a boxer of direct aggression up against top-line opposition just as he was in dusting journeymen; his work also carries a pragmatists streak, however, and he recognizes advantages and actions them accordingly. Dorticos is listed at 6’3” with an 80” reach and so sometimes uses the backfoot.
He moved through the gears after Kalenga and Dmitry Kudryashov (his next opponent) to face Murat Gassiev in what was another wonderful fight but was also a step too far for Dorticos. Gassiev eventually broke the Cuban and sent him spilling through the ropes but not before he had swallowed bomb upon bomb and proven his chin and heart both. Rebounding since that lost with two wins against fighters ranked in the top five (Mateusz Masternak and Andrew Tabiti), Dorticos showed ambition to match that heart and chin.
07 – Krzysztof Glowacki
Peak Ranking: 3 Record for the Decade: 23-2 Ranked For: 37% of the Decade
Krzysztof Glowacki emerged from Poland to replace Wlodarczyk as his country’s premier cruiserweight and soon had overhauled him, becoming one of a stacked division’s preeminent fighters. In a 200lb class stuffed with deluxe brawlers he was, for a time, the best.
He proved it most dramatically by out-thugging Marco Huck, nearing the end, but still venomous in a throwdown, dangerous enough that he held a narrow lead at the opening of the eleventh round. Glowacki, technically unequal to the task of out-fighting Huck, had invested heavily in the body. Gradually, ominously, Huck’s hands began to drop to try to keep those booming hooks from his ribs and gut. Huck had been beaten just once that decade, in a questionable decision up at heavyweight, and to watch the younger, less experienced, but more substantial Glowacki crumble Huck’s battlement was one of the great sights of the decade in any division for those paying attention. There seemed a dreamlike inevitability to it which certainly had not existed at the first bell and when Glowacki landed a delightful little short right traveling up and through the head behind a grazing left-hook it made a strange kind of sense. Huck survived that knockdown – they say the power is the last thing to go, though often it is the heart – but no man would have survived what Glowacki brought behind it. It was a minor upset and a true passing of the torch, from one streetfighter to another.
In his very next fight he devastated another old man, burying Steven Cunningham –39 and confusingly matching a fighter who is the very definition of nightmarish for an ageing warrior – under a barrage of knockdowns and picking up a decision, before running afoul of Oleksander Usyk. There is no shame here but when, after beating number five contender Maksim Vlasov, he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in a rough fight, there was a sense that he had found his level – better than most, but not capable of hanging with the very best.
Hence, number seven.
06 – Mairis Briedis
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 25-1 Ranked For: 28% of the Decade
That Mairis Briedis is ranked outside the top six is indicative of just how strong this list of ten is. I’ll wager that no other weight division has a number six of this quality.
Briedis is iron-hued. He reportedly took some of Wladimir Klitschko’s finest punches in sparring without giving ground. A stylish and skillful boxer, he has delivered nineteen knockouts for his twenty-six victories and lost just a single contest, a majority decision where Oleksandr Usyk defeated him by a single point.
That, alone, is enough to get him on the shortlist, but Briedis has done fine work. He landed on the division in earnest in 2016, beating up a fellow prospect who had achieved contender status in the shape of Olanrewaju Durodola. It was a performance that oozed confidence and seemingly belied his limited experience although even as he (somewhat controversially) closed the show in a hurtful ninth round, Briedis seemed perhaps a little short of gas.
In light of that fact I was a little surprised to see him matched with Marco Huck little less than a year later. Huck was on his way down the rankings, Briedis on his way up, but if ever there was a veteran possessed of the ability to make an inexperienced fighter short of stamina pay it was Huck. I needn’t have worried. This was the fight where Briedis showed his left hand as directly comparable to that of Usyk, taking a clear decision over his veteran foe all while smothering Huck’s offense and coping with his rougher tactics like a ten-year veteran
Briedis came up short against Usyk of course, barely, but has since dispatched no less a figure than Krzystztof Glowacki in three rounds. That, probably, was Briedis’s best win and it leaves him poised to become the pre-eminent cruiserweight of the next decade should he master Dorticos in March.
05 – Yoan Pablo Hernandez
Peak Ranking: Ch. Record for the Decade: 9-0 Ranked For: 43% of the Decade
In a sense, Yoan Pablo Hernandez was the decade’s big disappointment. A product of the Cuban amateur system and German professional promotion, he was a strange mix of schooled and staid in style, borrowing from both boxing cultures and his southpaw right jab was a noted punch.
Lineal champion in the first part of the decade, Hernandez suffered badly with injuries and even illness. Plagued by knee and elbow problems he spent the best part of a year sat out and plotting his comeback after a rather flat 2014 win over Firat Arslan. It would be his last. He never returned to the ring.
He had been dazzling, however, against Steve Cunningham in 2011 with the legitimate cruiserweight title on the line. A consummate boxer, Cunningham sought to move his way through that fight but Hernandez controlled him with superb footwork, keeping his toe outside of Cunningham’s left foot almost throughout while dropping an excellent jab to the body.
In his rematch with the deposed champion, he staged the best performance of his career and one of the finest in the divisional decade, battering Cunningham to a virtual standstill in the fourth and coming within a hair’s breadth of stopping him, the star punches a right hook to the body and a two-piece built from a jab and uppercut.
Hernandez’s resume for the decade isn’t particularly deep with victories over Troy Ross and Firat Aslan probably his next best; he wasn’t always as glittering as he was that second night against Cunningham either and it seemed for every such performance there was a Steve Helerius where he remained in control but perhaps not imperious.
Still, he was the lineal champion and a very good fighter. It is hard to picture the top five without him.
04 – Denis Lebedev
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 13-3 Ranked For: 88% of the Decade
Denis Lebedev is arguably the definitive cruiserweight puncher for the decade and is certainly the definitive survivor. No man was ranked for more weeks than the Russian, who managed to hang on for nearly nine of the ten years at hand, something both unusual and impressive.
He has been around long enough to have beaten up an injured James Toney and obliterated an out-gunned Roy Jones in 2011 but also to have staged a failed comeback attempt against current #8 contender Thabiso Mchunu just last year. In the trunk of his career he lost two fights: in 2010 he was unlucky to drop a desperately close split to Marco Huck in his German stronghold. Six years later he met fellow Russian Murat Gassiev, the “new Huck” in many ways and was unlucky once more in receiving the stiff end of the decision.
Lebedev was robbed in neither contest, but I preferred him in both. Huck was given the benefit of the doubt in three close rounds on my scorecard and I saw the result, still, as a draw. Against Gassiev I had it to the older man by a single point despite his being dropped heavily with body punches. These narrow, narrow losses hurt Lebedev. Had he won both, he would have been unbeaten for the decade, that disastrous comeback aside, and would have a case for making the #1 slot; had he won one or the other, he would rank above the defeated man. On such tiny margins do legacies turn.
Still, those close losses speak for him somewhat as do wins over Kalenga, Pawel Kolodziej, Toney, Jones and, best of all, a brutal second round dispatch of Victor Emilio Ramirez.
03 – Marco Huck
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 14-4-1 Ranked For: 71% of the Decade
Second only to Denis Lebedev for longevity of relevance, Marco Huck’s name resounds throughout the decade as one that matters.
In honesty though, he needed that decade to build his legacy; Huck has done more than the likes of Briedis but needed twice the time to organize it. His impact in the second part of the decade was very limited. The made men who fell to Huck fell during the first half of the decade when he was in his fearsome prime.
And what a prime it was. Huck’s rambling offense looked disorganized but was anything but and there was no fighter more skilled in the art of the wait. Patience is a commodity much less valuable since the reduction of the championship distance from fifteen to twelve rounds but Huck, from very early his career, had the smarts and the guts to make it work. The benefits were many but chief among them were that he carried his power and his workrate late into fights and his sense of when his opponent was beginning to give was as well developed as his strategic timing. With the possible exception of Usyk, nobody ever had Huck completely and finally beat; there was always the chance he might rally and crush a tiring opponent.
Lebedev was probably the finest scalp Huck took in his pomp, but Afolabi and Firat Arslan both succumbed more than once to Huck’s guile.
The second half of the decade though, overall, was not a success. Glowacki cracked him in eleven rounds, devastating his mystique; a relatively unimpressed Briedis outpointed him by distance; then Usyk put a bitter beating upon him.
Huck was my first choice for the second slot but a closer look gave me a feeling, despite his longevity as a contender that he was making up the numbers from around 2015. Still, a powerfully impressive first half of the decade secures him the number three slot.
02 – Murat Gassiev
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 26-1 Ranked For: 29% of the Decade
Murat Gassiev was ranked for a fraction of the time that Huck was ranked for, but only once could he have been considered a true underdog. Gassiev was Huck plus, patient in the stalk but both more powerful and precise in the punch.
The year after his razor-thin defeat of Lebedev, Gassiev found himself in the ring with another veteran in the shape of Wlodarczyk, still clinging on to a top ten ranking and still respected enough to command a berth in the cruiserweight World Boxing Super Series tournament. As detailed above, Wlodarczyk, like Lebedev, like Huck, had all the necessary qualities to torture a less experienced foe. Gassiev steam-rolled him. He was thoughtful about it; he felt his man out – but in the end, he just bombed through him. The body punch that ended matters was hard enough to end all resistance but casual enough to strike fear into the hearts of lesser men.
Yunier Dorticos though, didn’t box scared against Gassiev when the two met early in 2018 but Gassiev sat down on his work in the second half of the fight and finally dumped his game opponent out of the ring and onto the apron in the dying seconds of the twelfth. He had turned in two winning performances against two elite cruisers in back-to-back contests and when the match with Usyk was made that summer the boxing world appeared to have the fight it most wanted to see.
In fact, it proved a mismatch. Usyk summited to greatness that night and Gassiev found himself scrambling around in the foothills seeking survival rather than victory. Injury has since robbed him of heavyweight riches.
Nevertheless, he was a prestigious puncher at the 200lb limit and seemingly impervious to the violent attentions of elite opposition. Gassiev isn’t locked at number two, and Huck, certainly, has a very reasonable case for being ranked above him, but in the end I’ve been more forgiving of Gassiev’s failure to beat Usyk in his prime than Huck’s failure to beat Glowacki, Briedis and Usyk just past his.
01 – Oleksandr Usyk
Peak Ranking: Ch. Record for the Decade: 17-0 Ranked For: 46% of the Decade
I’m unsure how many undisputed decadal number ones we will run into in the course of this series, but I do know that Oleksandr Usyk is one.
Marco Huck, ranked number three here, made the bad mistake of making things personal with Usyk in the run-up to their September 2017 contest. That is the Usyk fight to watch or re-watch if you want to see him at his most vicious. Not a noted puncher but one who hit often and hard enough to mix his man’s mind, Uysk is happy with a decision as a general rule but it was clear in the case of Huck that he coveted the stoppage. So motivated, he turned the trick more quickly than the brute Glowacki, taking him out in ten, faster than any other fighter. Tony Bellew, too, who returned from his adventures at heavyweight late in 2018 to confront Usyk, felt the full wrath of Usyk’s most full-blooded shots, succumbing in eight.
But it is as a boxer, not a puncher, that he has most excelled in the second half of this stacked decade, most of all (and in doing so proving his indisputable supremacy over the field) in his defeat of decadal number two Gassiev. Usyk completely outclassed Gassiev, turned his stalking style against him with deluxe footwork of the highest order that saw the division’s premier puncher reaching for nothing.
Briedis stretched him further with that cultured left-hand and smarts on defense closing the gap but dropped a decision, nonetheless. Throw in wins that had something of a routine feeling over divisional strongmen like Huck and Glowacki and two things become clear: Usyk is clearly the best cruiserweight of the decade and must be named among the very best fighters of the decade.
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Women’s Prizefighting Year End Review: The Best of the Best in 2024
Women’s Prizefighting Year End Review: The Best of the Best in 2024
It’s the end of the year.
Here are our awards for the best in women’s boxing. But first, a rundown on the state of the sport.
Maybe its my imagination but it seems that fewer female fights of magnitude took place in 2024 than in previous years.
A few promoters like 360 Promotions increased their involvement in women’s boxing while others such as Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions seem stagnant. They are still staging female bouts but are not signing new additions.
American-based promotion company Top Rank, actually lost 50 percent of their female fighter roster when Seniesa Estrada, the undisputed minimumweight champion, retired recently. They still have Mikaela Mayer.
A promotion company making headlines and creating sparks in the boxing world is Most Valuable Promotions led by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian. They signed Amanda Serrano and have invested in staging other female fights
This year, the top streaming company Netflix gambled on sponsoring Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, along with Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor and hit a monster home run. According to Netflix metrics an estimated 74 million viewers watched the event that took place on Nov. 16 at Arlington, Texas.
“Breaking records like this is exactly what MVP was built to do – bring the biggest, most electrifying events to fans worldwide,” said Nakisa Bidarian co-founder of MVP.
History was made in viewership and at the gate where more than 70,000 fans packed AT&T Stadium for a record-setting $17.8 million in ticket sales outside of Las Vegas. It was the grand finale moment of the year.
Here are the major contributors to women’s boxing in 2024.
Fighter of the Year: Amanda Serrano
Other candidates: Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields, Franchon Crews, Dina Thorslund, and Yesica Nery Plata.
Amanda Serrano was chosen for not only taking part in the most viewed female title fight in history, but also for willingly sacrificing the health of her eye after suffering a massive cut during her brutal war with Taylor. She could have quit, walked away with tons of money and be given the technical decision after four rounds. She was ahead on the scorecards at that moment.
Instead, Serrano took more punches, more head butts and slugged her way through 10 magnificent and brilliant rounds against the great Taylor. Fans worldwide were captivated by their performance. Many women who had never watched a female fight were mesmerized and inspired.
Serrano once again proved that she would die in the ring rather than quit. Women and men were awed by her performance and grit. It was a moment blazed in the memories of millions.
Amanda Serrano is the Fighter of the Year.
Best Fight of the Year – Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor 2
Their first fight that took place two years ago in Madison Square Garden was the greatest female fight I had ever witnessed. The second fight surpassed it.
When you have two of the best warriors in the world willing to showcase their talent for entertainment regardless of the outcome, it’s like rubbing two sticks of dynamite together.
Serrano jumped on Taylor immediately and for about 20 seconds it looked like the Irish fighter would not make the end of the first round. Not quite. Taylor rallied behind her stubborn determination and pulled out every tool in her possession: elbows, head butts, low blows, whatever was needed to survive, Taylor used.
It reminded me of an old world title fight in 2005 between Jose Luis Castillo a master of fighting dirty and Julio Diaz. I asked about the dirty tactics by Castillo and Diaz simply said, “It’s a fight. It’s not chess. You do what you have to do.”
Taylor did what she had to do to win and the world saw a magnificent fight.
Other candidates: Seniesa Estrada versus Yokasta Valle, Mikaela Mayer versus Sandy Ryan, and Ginny Fuchs vs Adelaida Ruiz.
KO of the Year – Lauren Price KO3 Bexcy Mateus.
Dec. 14, in Liverpool, England.
The IBO welterweight titlist lowered the boom on Bexcy Mateus sending her to the floor thrice. She ended the fight with a one-two combination that left Mateus frozen while standing along the ropes. Another left cross rocket blasted her to the ground. Devastating.
Other candidates: Claressa Shields KO of Vanessa LePage-Joanisse, Gabriela Fundora KO of Gabriela Alaniz, Dina Thorslund vs Mary Romero, Amanda Serrano KO of Stevie Morgan.
Pro’s Pro Award – Jessica Camara
Jessica Camara defeated Hyun Mi Choi in South Korea to win the WBA gold title on April 27, 2024. The match took place in Suwon where Canada’s Camara defeated Choi by split decision after 10 rounds.
Camara, who is managed by Brian Cohen, has fought numerous champions including Kali Reis, Heather Hardy and Melissa St. Vil. She has become a pro fighter that you know will be involved in a good and entertaining fight and is always in search of elite competition. She eagerly accepted the fight in South Korea against Choi. Few fighters are willing to do that.
Next up for Camara is WBC titlist Caroline Dubois set for Jan. 11, in Sheffield, England.
Electric Fighters Club
These are women who never fail to provide excitement and drama when they step in the prize ring. When you only have two-minute rounds there’s no time to run around the boxing ring.
Here are some of the fighters that take advantage of every second and they do it with skill:
Gabriela Fundora, Mizuki Hiruta, Ellie Scotney, Lauren Price, Clara Lescurat, Adelaida Ruiz, Ginny Fuchs, Mikaela Mayer, Yokasta Valle, Sandy Ryan, Chantelle Cameron, Ebanie Bridges, Tsunami Tenkai, Dina Thorslund, Evelin Bermudez, Gabriela Alaniz, Caroline Dubois, Beatriz Ferreira, and LeAnna Cruz.
Claressa Shields Movie and More
A motion picture based on Claressa Shields titled “The Fire Inside” debuts on Wednesday, Dec. 25, nationwide. Most boxing fans know that Shields has world titles in various weight divisions. But they don’t know about her childhood and how she rose to fame.
Also, Shields (15-0, 3 KOs) will be fighting Danielle Perkins (5-0, 2 KOs) for the undisputed heavyweight world championship on Sunday Feb. 2, at Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan. DAZN will stream the Salita Promotions fight card.
“Claressa Shields is shining a spotlight on Flint – first on the big screen and then in the ring on Sunday, February 2,” said event promoter Dmitriy Salita, president of Salita Promotions. “Claressa leads by example. She is a trailblazer and has been an advocate for equality since she was a young lady. This event promises to be one of the most significant sporting and cultural events of the year. You don’t want to miss it, either live, in person or live on DAZN.”
Shields is only 29 years old and turns 30 next March. What more can she accomplish?
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Lucas Bahdi Forged the TSS 2024 Knockout of the Year
A Knockout of the Year doesn’t have to be a one-punch knockout, but it must arrive with the suddenness of a thunderclap on a clear day and the punch or punches must be so harsh as to obviate the need for a “10-count.” And, if rendered by an underdog, that makes the KO resonate more loudly.
Within these parameters, Lucas Bahdi’s knockout of Ashton “H2O” Sylva still jumped off the page. The thunderclap happened on July 20 in Tampa, Florida, on a show promoted by Jake Paul with Paul and the great Amanda Serrano sharing the bill against soft opponents in the featured bouts.
The 30-year-old Bahdi (16-0, 14 KOs) and the 20-year-old Sylva (11-0, 9 KOs) were both undefeated, but Bahdi was accorded scant chance of defeating Jake Paul’s house fighter.
Sylva was 18 years old and had seven pro fights under his belt, winning all inside the distance, when he signed with Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, in 2022. “We believe that Ashton has that talent, that flashiness, that style, that knockout power, that charisma to really be a massive, massive, superstar…” said the “Problem Child” when announcing that Sylva had signed with his company.
Jake Paul was so confident that his protege would accomplish big things that he matched Sylva with Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield. Currently 18-0 and ranked #2 by the WBA, Schofield was further along than Sylva in the pantheon of hot lightweight prospects. But Schofield backed out, alleging an injury, opening the door to a substitute.
Enter Lucas Bahdi who despite his eye-catching record was a virtual unknown. This would be his first outing on U.S. soil. All of his previous bouts were staged in Mexico or in Canada, mostly in his native Ontario province. “My opponent may have changed,” said Sylva who hails from Long Beach, California, “but the result will be the same, I will get the W and continue my path to greatness.”
The first five rounds were all Sylva. The Canadian had no antidote for Sylva’s speed and quickness. He was outclassed.
Then, in round six, it all came unglued for the precocious California. Out of the blue, Bahdi stiffened him with a hard right hand. Another right quickly followed, knocking Sylva unconscious. A third punch, a sweeping left, was superfluous. Jake Paul’s phenom was already out cold.
Sylva landed face-first on the canvas. He lay still as his handlers and medics rushed to his aid. It was scarifying. “May God restore him,” said ring announcer Joe Martinez as he was being stretchered out of the ring.
The good news is that Ashton “H2O” Silva will be able to resume his career. He is expected back in the ring as early as February. As for Lucas Bahdi, architect of the Knockout of the Year, he has added one more win to his ledger, winning a 10-round decision on the undercard of the Paul vs Tyson spectacle, and we will presumably be hearing a lot more about him.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
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.
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 10th 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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