One More Shot at the Big Time Awaits the Winner of Nietes vs Waseem on Saturday

Published

2 months ago

July 18, 2023

One-More-Shot-at-the-Big-Time-Awaits-the-Winner-of-Nietes-vs-Waseem-on-Saturday

A perfect, strange fight is scheduled to take place in the bantamweight division this Saturday in Dubai. Available on FITE TV and broadcast in the middle of the afternoon in the UK and early in the morning for America, it is one for the Sweet Scientists among us. The major attraction, I suggest, is not the inexplicable headliner to be fought between Hector Andres Sosa and James Dickens, but the chief support – the talented Muhammad Waseem squaring off against the veteran Donnie Nietes, boxing far from home for a minor strap and a future in a sport that has all but used them up.

Waseem, The Falcon, never quite landed. A hero in Pakistan, he seemed destined to put his country on the boxing map after repeatedly medalling as an amateur. A promising beginning saw him challenge for world titles twice at 112lbs; Waseem failed on both occasions. Nietes, on the other hand, is past-prime. A wonderful fighter, he has held high rankings in multiple divisions but he has not won a significant fight since 2018 – although that narrow triumph over the mighty Kazuto Ioka was a fabulous victory.

Ioka avenged the defeat by a wide unanimous decision in the summer of 2022 and it seemed that this might be all from the unsung Filipino.

Instead, he meets Waseem, and the winner shall emerge with a minor alphabet title at the weight and no small amount of leverage. It is a resurrection of sorts and for all that Nietes (pictured) has fallen the further, Waseem is every bit as much in need of a sporting rebirth. Quick-handed and organised, he was also a huge flyweight and one that looked superb in out-pointing Nietes’ countryman Giemel Magramo in 2016. In 2017 though, Waseem bizarrely returned to treading water, moving out of twelve round competition and back in to six and eight round matches against professional losers. What it all meant was that he was ill-prepared for his 2018 shot at a strap against storied veteran Moruti Mthalane.

Waseem-Mthalane took place in 2015 but remains the key fight in handicapping Waseem-Nietes. Mthalane was much older but streets craftier – the question in their contest was whether the bigger, quicker, younger man could overcome the wily campaigner out for the latest in a long line of alphabet titles. These questions are the same as those that will be answered this Saturday in Dubai Studio City. On that occasion, Waseem came up short, but it was an intriguing fight. Mthalane had all the control early. Waseem looked planless, like a fighter who had been told that the way to shed his amateur style was to visit the trenches, but this essentially meant he was thoroughly outfought while failing to use either his reach or size advantage. Still, that size may have worn Mthalane who suffered badly late in the fight, even visiting the canvas in the eleventh after a square, aggressive Waseem pinned him to the ropes. It would be an exaggeration to call this a near miss, but had this much more aggressive Waseem materialised a few rounds earlier, it would have been exactly that.

Travelling between Lahore and Dubai, Waseem again inexplicably returned to shortform boxing and questionable opposition and around this time, I lost interest in him – only for him to box for a title once more, this time against divisional number one Sunny Edwards. Edwards was far too good for Waseem, but just like the Mthalane fight, he showed flashes of promise.

Promise can only carry a fighter so far, however, and Waseem was somehow thirty-four years old at this point. When he vanished for a year, it seemed he might have hung up his gloves.

So, his date with Nietes came as something of a surprise, and at bantamweight no less. Waseem has the advantage here and he even fought at the weight limit during his inexplicable 2017 rummage through journeyman hell. But it is not the weight class he fought for titles at, nor is it a division in which he will hold a meaningful size advantage over the average contender. This is probably why Nietes has been selected as an opponent. Donnie Nietes is a fighter I could talk about all day. Having turned professional in 2003, he has been boxing for two decades and is about to enter his fifth weight class, but at 5’3” he is small for even a flyweight and will be a tiny bantamweight. This has never stopped him making a vivid impression on his opponents, though. Nietes has a deep well of tactical attack, he is the type of fighter who makes small strategic adjustments for big differences in the ring, a left-hooker at heart, he changed this punch out for right hands to lift his 108lb strap against southpaw Ramon Garcia (having already dropped one unbeaten at 105lbs). Seven years later in his wonderful first fight with Kazuto Ioka, he counteracted Ioka’s super one-two combination with a weak but quick scoring jab and by subtly moving the fight to the inside where he edged his foe. Moises Fuentes baffled him to a draw in 2013 but Nietes seemed a different man in the rematch, dirty and direct, stopping his man with a right-hand behind a beautifully feinted left.

A near-genius, Nietes travelled both the weight-classes and the world in search of money and recognition, achieved a modicum of both before starting, finally, to slip in the early 2020s. Subjected to a robbery draw against Aston Palicte in 2018, he suffered the real thing against Norbelto Jimenez in 2021. I thought Nietes did barely enough, but this was no robbery. He appeared uncertain at times against a fighter who he would have buried even two years earlier. When Ioka turned his old foe around with such ease in June last year it was clear that Nietes was past it and at forty, perhaps finished with the sport.

Sweet Science readers can see then why these two are made for each other.

I will be cheering for Donnie Nietes and there is no real reason he cannot get it done. It is true he is the older man but at six years, the difference is not prohibitive; it is true he is the smaller man, but that has been the case since about 2016 and it really has not made a meaningful difference. Still, unless he loses the battle of the jabs despite his length and speed, I think Waseem will get the job done. Aggressive, and capable of weaving together swift punches out of a reasonably adaptable stance, Waseem will get home for a win on points. Nietes needs a fast start to take the prize because one of boxing’s best engines has begun to sputter of late.

Still, if he is in the fight as the tenth and eleventh wind down, Nietes may just find a way. Up to bat for the fifty-third time, it is impossible to believe that Waseem will be able to show Nietes anything he has not seen before.

Waseem, the man who reached for potential super-stardom but never made it, thirty-five years old, 12-2, still very much the athlete, the man with the physical advantages. In the other corner, Nietes, brilliant, has seen the likes of Waseem many times before, but perhaps unable to pull the trigger now against a quicker opponent, perhaps unable to position himself as he did before to avoid the hurtful blows from a sport that is harder on veterans than any other.

Each is the other’s worst nightmare stylistically, and each is the other’s only chance at one more shot at the big time. It is a perfectly balanced fight, taking place in a fistically unfashionable part of the world at a strange time of the day but I submit it should not be missed, certainly not by anybody who has read this far.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

22 hours ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

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

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

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

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

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

Bustillo Wins Rematch

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

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

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

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

Other Bouts

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

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

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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

Published

1 day ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

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

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

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

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

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

Co-Feature

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

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

Other Bouts of Note

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

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

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

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Published

2 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Zhilei-Zhang-KOs-Joe-Joyce-Calls-Out-Tyson-Fury

Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.

In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.

In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.

Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”

He meant it as a rhetorical question.

Semi-Windup

Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.

A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.

Also

Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.

In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.

The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.

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