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Why Tapales vs Akhmadaliev Promises Fireworks This Saturday
When Marlon Tapales (36-3) out of The Philippines, and Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-0) out of Uzbekistan meet atop a deep card in the Boeing Center at Tech Port at San Antonio this Saturday, boxing will be treated to the kind of fight that has been delivering consistent excellence in the first part of 2023.
In Luis Nery versus Azat Hovhannisyan, Brandon Figueroa versus Mark Magsayo and Artem Dalakian versus David Jiminez, we got solid, exciting, competitive and often vicious fights where the fistic public didn’t have to be plugged into social media to follow fight negotiations because the negotiations were carried out in private, as is right and proper. Boxing fans did not have to dig through a series of profane-laden videos straight to camera to try to decipher clues as to the state of negotiations between the two millionaire alpha male superstars and their huge teams of accountants, lawyers and agents but could, instead, trust that the two men would turn up and fight it out at the time stated in the TV guide.
January through March, just under or just over the radar depending upon the weight class, boxing has been delivering good to great fights at a high rate across the continents for one of the best beginnings to the year in my time as a fan. Tapales-Akhmadaliev is the latest of these.
Most importantly in trying to pick these jewels out ahead of time is the relative rankings of the two fighters in question. All the examples in paragraph two were fights contested between fighters who were closely ranked in any decent appraisal of their given division. The importance of this cannot be overstated, and the phrase “decent appraisal” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. You can’t trust the ABCs, for example. The WBA are usually the worst offenders in this regard, and as an example their heavyweight rankings would promise a scintillating contest between their number four, a man named Lenier Peno and their number eight, Jonathan Guidry – honest professionals, I’m sure, but minor players to put it politely.
Tapales and Akhmadaliev can be found ranked near the top of the pack in both print and digital media and in specialist independent ratings organisations such as TBRB who rank Akhmadaliev as the number two 122lb contender in the world, and Tapales, the number six (for the record I have them at 3 and 5 respectively). This is not a guarantee of competitiveness – ranked fighters stumble past their primes and achieve underserved spots based upon careful matchmaking all the time, that’s boxing – but it is close.
Akhmadaliev’s rise to 122lb eminence has been swift and violent. After a five-year amateur career which included some impressive moments, he turned professional strapped to a rocket more commonly associated with Olympic gold medal winners. He was first scheduled to fight over ten in just his fourth fight although nobody was able to carry him that far as he strung together knockouts to carry him into the 2020s and his first fight over the twelve-round distance.
His opponent was to be Daniel Roman, highly ranked, big, fast, and much more experienced. It is this fight that confirmed Akhmadaliev as special. His bulldog frame belied his grace and quickness in getting his punches into range – his sizzling inverted one-two was more impressive than Roman’s jab/uppercut combination. He outfought Roman in the first half and even more impressively out-lasted and out-monstered him down the stretch, sweeping eight through eleven on my card to pick up an inexplicably close decision on the official scorecards.
This was a big moment for Akhmadaliev who had never boxed more than nine rounds in his career but was clearly ready to do a difficult twelve and throw enough punches to win late rounds. Engine checked and in possession of two belts, he blasted out an overmatched Ryosuke Iwasa in his ninth fight – an important match we shall return to – before all but shutting out Jose Velasquez in twelve rounds in his tenth.
His most recent fight was a twelve-round knockout of Ronny Rios and there was a feeling watching this fight unfold that Rios was summitting. Azat Hovhannisyan got Rios out of there more quickly, but the systemic breakdown Akhmadaliev put forth was in many ways more impressive. His southpaw jab triggered three and four punch combinations, his footwork brought Rios on before taking Akhmadaliev out of harm’s way; he threw an uppercut through the middle and he hurt Rios to the body as early as the fourth, also the round in which he took near complete control over the fight, losing only one more round on my card. Mixing counterpunches with leads, if a fighter can do it competently, makes the fighting environment as hostile for the opponent as any boxing execution other than perhaps a barracked pressure-stalk. Akhmadaliev showed both and that he understood the detail of both against Rios.
He also proved he carries power late. The single power punches he elected to deploy when he had Rios hurt in the twelfth and final round were chilling, the crippling body shot to the solar plexus he used to break Rios a thing of horror. Akhmadaliev loaded up only at the very end when things were essentially already decided, though it might be noted that he started missing when he did.
Tapales will also have noted though that Akhmadaliev was there throughout for an uppercut to the body and might perhaps offer a thought on Ronny’s reluctance to throw the punch he had success with, such was his fear of Akhmadaliev’s counter left. Tapales had a more circumspect rise to the top, turning professional as a teenager and suffering excusable setbacks as he moved through the distances and into new classes. These “setbacks” must have seemed easy to him compared to life’s alternative; Tapales, one of eight children, worked on a pig-farm even before he was a fifteen-year-old professional.
Either way, post 2014, Tapales seemed to have found the formula to cohabiting learning and winning. He went 12-0 between then and his 2019 contest with Ryosuke Iwasa. We ran into Iwasa above when he succumbed to Akhmadaliev in five. Iwasa, for whatever reason, just did not have the hands to keep Akhmadaliev honest or off him. Akhmadaliev cruised into him in the second and dispatched him in the fifth, uppercuts doing the damage before many straight punches in tandem prompted a slightly premature intervention by the referee.
Tapales meanwhile, lost to Iwasa, his last loss, posted right at the end of the last decade, but there were circumstances. Tapales, who won the first two rounds clearly, incorrectly had a headbutt ruled as a knockdown in the third – worse, his right eye suffered serious damage in the clash and left him hampered. He won perhaps as few as two rounds in the remainder of the fight before succumbing in the eleventh, mainly to the Iwasa left, which he may have struggled to see coming.
Interpreting this fight may be key to understanding how Saturday night will unfold, but I don’t think so. Tapales may have learned his final lesson that night, and since then he has been ruthless in deploying his offence and controlling the fight rhythms. Indeed, he has actually become a victim of his own success, a new problem being inactivity – Tapales staged his comeback fight against the limited Eden Sonsona who he blasted out in two; he then moved back to the sharper end of the division against Hiroaki Teshigawara, who he also knocked out in two; another soft touch in Jose Estrella resulted in another KO2 and Tapales had managed to post just six rounds for the decade.
But he has clearly found the third punch in his combinations and has never looked a better, more complete fighter. Whatever the detail of his contest against Iwasa, Tapales is better now. Nevertheless, Akhmadaliev will start as the favourite as the higher ranked man, the beltholder, based upon the Iwasa result and finally that propensity for targeted body punching. It does all add up to Akhmadaliev being the right pick in a possible thriller that I’ll look to see finished by body punching perhaps late in the fight. Tapales will look to take control early while Akhmadaliev is appraising him, but the jab coming the other way plus the shots Akhmadaliev builds off it will prove to be just a little too much. The stakes are high. The winner is positioned to joust with Luis Nery in determining the next opponent for the victor of the Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton fight later this year.
Sharing top billing on this card, Jesse Rodriguez seeks to pick up a 112lb strap against the overmatched Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez. This will probably feel like something of a procession but with Hernandez on a short streak of quick knockouts, we may be treated to early fireworks.
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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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