Boxing News

The Great White North sees a good evening of boxing with two shows tonight in Montreal, with the primary focus on the light welterweight unification clash between WBC Champion Timothy Bradley and WBO Champion Kendall Holt at the Bell Centre.

Bradley, 23-0 (11), is the favorite in this one but given the mercurial nature of Holt, 25-2 (13), it could go either way before the dust finally settles.

Of the two combatants, Holt has faced the better competition in the form of Ricardo Torres, David Diaz, Isaac Hlatswayo, Mike Arnaoutis, Demetrious Hopkins and Ben Tackie.

But Holt struggled against a well past his prime Tackie and looked to be on the verge of getting KO'd in the first round by Torres in their rematch before an accidental clash of heads knocked Torres senseless, enabling Holt to finish the job moments later.

As an undefeated fighter, Bradley has been the more successful but the Californian also hasn't faced top level opponents aside from his WBC title winning effort against Junior Witter. More...

In front of 9,000 screaming fans at a packed 02 Arena in Dublin, Ireland, local hero Bernard Dunne upset the odds in a big way by taking the WBA Super Bantam title from Panamanian southpaw Ricardo Cordoba in once of the most competitive and ferocious fights in a very long time.

Cordoba won the first frame with good counter hooks and straight lefts as Dunne studied the champion. Dunne had a better second round as he largely kept away from Cordoba's power shots except for a few lefts while getting in a few good lead right hands of his own.

The third was Cordoba's round for all but the last thirty seconds as the champion began to come forward and Dunne struggled to adjust until the challenger uncorked a perfect counter left hook that caused Cordoba to reel all the way across the ring before he crumpled along the ropes.

The Panamanian got right back up, beating the count but was on shaky legs as he vigorously traded shots with Dunne until the bell rang ending the third frame.

Cordoba completely recovered by the start of the fourth and was more measured, trying to catch Dunne on the way in. The challenger showed maturity by waiting until the champion's big swings created more openings and when that happened, Dunne shook Cordoba with another counter left hook right on the button. More...

This past Thursday saw two big WBC title fights at separate venues, with one belt changing hands and one staying with its owner.

At The World Memorial Hall in Kobe, hometown hero and reigning WBC Bantamweight Champion Hozumi Hasegawa, 26-2 (10), crushed South African challenger Vusi Malinga, 18-3-1 (11), in the very first round.

It was the eighth consecutive title defense by Hasegawa, who won the WBC crown by dethroning longtime champion Veeraphol Sahaprom of Thailand in April, 2005.

On the undercard in Kobe, light welters Koji Samejima, 16-3-2 (6), and Yukuse Doi, 8-11-2 (5), fought to an eight draw while former WBC Minimumweight titlist Katsunari Takayama, 23-3 (9), swept an eight rounder against Romart Sentillas, 6-3 (4).

At the legendary Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, local featherweight southpaw Takahiro Aoh, 17-1-1 (8), avenged his split decision loss to WBC Featherweight Champion Oscar Larios, 63-7-1 (39), last October by widely outpointing the Mexican over 12 rounds to take the WBC belt.

In other action at Korakuen Hall, super flyweight Jesus Jimenez, 24-5 (17), knocked out Jojo Bardon, 20-14-1 (9), in the first round.

Former world title challenger Sebastien "Double Trouble" Demers won his second bout in a row as he stopped fellow Quebecois middleweight Martin Berthiaume after five rounds of combat last night at The Casino in Montreal.

Demers, 27-2 (10), won his second bout on the bounce following a shocking split decision loss to Dionisio Miranda last year for the NABA title as Berthiaume, 14-4-2 (8), who has now lost three in a row, decided not to answer the bell for the sixth frame.

Middleweight David Lemeiux, 14-0 (14), continued to crush the opposition as the 20 year old local man belted out Mexico City's Luis Roberto Reyes, 6-7-1 (5), who has now lost his last six contests, in the first round. More...

It was a good weekend on the Continent with most of the action taking place on Saturday night, and we kick off this report in Germany.

The Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg saw a European title fight at super middle between old rivals as Kitzingen slugger Karo Murat, 19-0 (12), forced veteran Italian southpaw Cristian Sanavia, 40-5-1 (12), to quit after eight rounds.

25 year old Murat first won the European title by defeating ex-WBC Champion Sanavia via close unanimous decision in April of last year and aside from reigning world champions Carl Froch, Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler and Karoly Balzsay, now stands as The Man in Europe.

On the undercard, former European Middleweight kingpin Sebastian "Hurrikan" Sylvester, 30-3 (15), returned from a failed bid to unseat WBA Champion Felix Sturm in November by capturing the vacant IBF International Middleweight title with a seventh round KO of Italian Champion Gaetano Nespro, 14-5 (2). More...

This biggest happenings this weekend in Asia took place last night in The Philippines, with a bill in Cebu City and one in Tagbilaran City.

At the Cebu Coliseum, there were four title fights, all for WBO regional belts, with three of the contests ending in stoppages, providing a fireworks display for the packed audience.

Hard-nosed former WBO Interim Lightweight Champion Michael Katsidis bounced back from competitive losses to two of the best in the world at 135 pounds, Juan Diaz and Joel Casamayor, to grind out a big win over granite-jawed Argentine veteran Angel Hugo Ramirez over ten rounds to capture the vacant WBA Asia Pacific belt.

Katsidis aggressively went after Ramirez, flooring him in the second, third and fourth frames but the Aussie couldn't put Ramirez away, losing a point in the second round for hitting the opponent after he was down.

Ramirez, 19-5-2 (8), survived the knockdowns and managed to go the distance on his feet, losing a wide points decision to Katsidis, who improves to 24-2 (20). More...

Tokyo's famed Korakuen Hall was the scene of the action this weekend in Japan and on Saturday night, the hallowed venue played host to a OPBF Featherweight title contest.

Yokahama slugger Satoshi Hosono had won the belt against Makyo Sugita in October and came into the first defense of the OPBF crown with a flawless career record.

Challenging Honoso was 34 year old Tokyo native Masaki Sawanaga, who had seen a six bout win streak evaporate at the hands of Nakoi Matsuda in their bout for the vacant Japanese title this past October.

Throwing caution to the wind, Sawanaga went after Hosono from the start and forced a full-out firefight that surprised the 25 year old champion. More...

After turning back most of his top level competition at super middleweight, longtime WBO Champion Joe Calzaghe left behind the 168 pound division in a much anticipated move to light heavyweight and has summarily dismissed legends Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones in 2008.

Standing now at 46-0 (32), the soon to be 37 year old "Welsh Wizard" is looking at a few remaining bouts before hanging up the gloves for good in the near future, possibly after making a run at Rocky Marciano's amazing 49-0 career mark.

But who should Calzaghe face in his next outing?

The top young gun in the division is undoubtedly the undefeated 26 year old southpaw Chad Dawson, but the IBF/IBO titlist is slated to meet Antonio Tarver in a rematch in March and won't be ready to step back in the ring again, assuming he gets past Tarver again, until September or October.

That could be too long for Calzaghe, who was last in action against Jones in November.

If Calzaghe continues his trend of fighting older foes, there's always Glen Johnson, the 40 year old ex-IBF titlist, but it wouldn't likely generate the kind of money that "Super Joe" is seeking in one of his final bouts. More...

The only genuine action this past weekend took place in Asia and we crack open the first results report of 2009 with a quick trip to the Pacifico in Yokahama, Japan where there were two world title fights on Saturday night.

Yusuke Kobori put his WBA Lightweight crown at risk for the first time since winning the belt with a third round stoppage of Jose Alfaro in May, but the Tokyo man wasn't ready for what challenger Paulus Moses brought to the table.

The 30 year old Namibian earned his stripes by winning the WBA Pan African and Intercontinental titles in 2006 but truly earned his "Hitman" nickname on Saturday by generally beating the champion to the punch over twelve tough rounds.

When the dust had settled, Moses took the WBA title by scores of 119-109 and 115-113 twice, keeping his perfect record intact to climb to 24-0 (17).

Former Japanese and OPBF Super Feather kingpin Kobori saw a 15 fight no loss streak go up in flames and the 27 year old sees his record drop to 23-3-1 (12).

In other action on the bill, another Tokyo resident fared better as Toshiaki Nishioka saw his status as WBC Interim Super Bantam Champ improve to the full WBC Champion with a dramatic 12th and final round stoppage of Mexico's Genaro Garcia. More...

Today at the Sun Plaza Hall in Hiroshima, Japan, Thailand's Denkaosan Kaovichit shook off the world title jinx by knocking out reigning champion Takefumi Sakata in the second round to win the WBA Flyweight belt.

The 32 year old Kaovichit held the PABA crown from his first professional bout in 1996 and made an amazing 32 defenses over two reigns, losing only a WBA title contest to Eric Morel in 2002 and drawing with Sakata for the same belt a year ago.

But this time the native of Samui, Thailand took it out of the Japanese judges' hands by producing a shattering result, crushing the seasoned Tokyo based champion at 2:55 of the second.

Sakata himself came up the hard way, holding the Japanese title through two defenses before losing it to Trash Nakanuma by majority decision in 2002.

Sakata regained the crown in a rematch a year later and after two more defenses narrowly missed knocking off WBA Champ Lorenzo Parra, losing a majority decision in 2004 and again in 2005.

In 2006, Sakata was decked in the fifth before losing a split decision to Roberto Vasquez for the interim WBA crown but finally struck gold in a third bout with Parra, who couldn't make the weight and was stopped in the third, earning Sakata the elusive WBA throne. More...

Just two cards of note happened this weekend in Asia and on Saturday, the focus was on Archaic Hall in Amagasaki, Japan which featured a good contest for the Japanese light middleweight title.

After a nine year career filled with ups and downs, Amagasaki southpaw Yuki Nonaka, 17-7-2 (6), finally hit paydirt in September by stopping former Japanese welter title challenger Akihiro Furukawa for the vacant domestic light middle championship.

Last night the 31 year old Nonaka lit up the ring in his hometown with a sterling performance against durable Tokyo slugger Takao Onda, 19-7 (14), to retain the Japanese belt for the first time by scores of 99-92 and 98-92 twice.

Nonaka could be heading into a unification bout with OPBF titlist Kazuhiko Hidaka, who defeated Nonaka by points in a close fight last year, or a high profile scrap with former Japanese titlist Nobuhiro Ishida, who won a WBA title eliminator in September and might be looking for a tough bout to keep busy before a world title clash.

An excellent super flyweight bout highlighted the undercard as Takeshi Honda, 12-3-4 (8), got past Yudai Matsumoto, 7-5-2 (1), after eight rugged rounds on marks of 78-76, 78-75 and 77-75. More...

Tonight at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland, 46 year old Evander Holyfield will add another chapter to a career that began over 24 years ago in Madison Square Garden.

The fact that "The Real Deal" is still getting opportunities to deliver upon his goal of regaining a world title is pretty amazing but the man who delivered so many miracles in the past cannot be counted out in his challenge of WBA Heavyweight Champion Nikolay Valuev, 49-1 (34), but from the outset, it's unlikely Holyfield can pull this one off.

Despite his gigantic, 7 foot, 310 pound frame, Valuev can box and is fairly light on his feet but as Ruslan Chagaev displayed last year in Germany, the big Russian isn't that hard to hit and he can be beaten.

Chagaev disrupted the big man's offense by parrying the jab that Valuev works behind and staying out of range. The much quicker Chagaev countered well by leaping in with southpaw power left hands to head and body and then getting out of range again before taking return fire.

But Holyfield, 42-9-2 (27), isn't a southpaw and isn't nearly as mobile as Chagaevs so he'll likely have to take on Valuev in a much more straight forward fashion and that means standing right in front of the big fella.

While that will definitely allow Valuev more opportunities to hit his opponent than it did against Chagaev, it will also give Holyfield probably his only chance to win the fight. More...

Aside from the big Klitschko vs. Raham world title fight show in Germany, there were a few decent fight cards on the Continent on Saturday.

At Hala Mosir in Ketrzyn, Poland, former WBC Youth Light Heavyweight beltholder Dawid "Gypsy" Kostecki, 29-1 (21), won his eighth contest on the bounce with a fifth round TKO of Kenyan super middle Samson "The Hammer" Onyango, 17-3 (12), at light heavy during a scheduled 10.

6 foot 5 inch tall Pawel Kolodziej, 22-0 (12), stayed perfect with a eight round points verdict over 5 foot 9 Hungarian southpaw Laszlo Hubert, 18-3 (9), in a rematch.

33 year old Hubert has only been a professional boxer since March of 2007, fighting seven times that year and an amazing 14 times in 2008.

Tomasz Hutkowski, 13-0-1 (10), defeated 38 year old Hungarian veteran Zoltan Beres, 38-41-2 (13), via third round stoppage at cruiserweight. More...

An interesting bill shapes up tonight in the heavyweight division as weight class kingpin Wladimir Klitschko meets the challenge of former champion Hasim Rahman at the SAP Arena in Manheim, Germany.

Klitschko, 51-3 (45), looks to be on the best form of his career at 32 years of age and rides a nine bout win streak into this defense of his IBF,WBO and IBO belts.

The towering Ukrainian is coming off a sharp knockout win against American Tony Thomspon in July and hasn't had too much dificulty since coming off the canvas three times in 2005 to beat Samuel Peter.

Rahman, 45-6-2 (36), hasn't lost a bout since dropping a WBC title challenge to Oleg Maskaev in 2006, but the 36 year old from Baltimore hasn't been in with anyone of Big Wlad's caliber since getting poleaxed by Lennox Lewis in their rematch all the way back in 2001.

Boxing is all about unpredictability and sometimes even miracles and for Rahman to unseat Klitschko, he'll have to pull off the kind of hail mary right hand that he used to stop Lewis in their first bout.

It could happen, but very, very unlikely and this is almost certainly the last title opportunity Rahman will get unless he can manage to look very good against the top man in the division.

Tonight at the Morongo Casino and Resort in Cabazon, CA, heavyweights James Toney and Fres Oqendo tangle in the main event for the IBA belt.

Former IBF Middle, Super Middle, Crusierweight Champion Toney, 70-6-3 (43), is now 40 years old and the magic that once thrilled audiences hasn't been seen in his gloves against a competitive opponent for quite some time now.

But if the Michigan native can even turn the clock back somewhat, he should be able to outbox opponent Oquendo, 29-4 (18), himself no spring chicken at 35.

Oquendo has won his last three contests but lost another aging warrior, Evanader Holyfield, a full two years ago. If the long armed Puerto Rican can gets his punches off first and keep the cagey Toney at the end of the jab, Oquendo will likely win this one on points but he outcome really depends on what Toney has left in the skills and stamina department.

On the undercard, promising super middle Andre Ward, 16-0 (11), meets Esteban Camou, 23-4 (19), over ten rounds.

Heavyweights Eddie Chambers, 32-1 (18), and Malik Scott, 31-0 (11), are also scheduled to appear on separate bouts.

The European Super Featherweight title was fought over on Friday at Sporthalle Brandberge at Halle an der Saal in Germany and reigning champion Sergey Gulyakevich, 26-1 (12), retained the belt with a hard earned victory over previously unbeaten European Union Champ Vitali Tajbert, 17-1 (6).

Women's flyweight superstar Susi Kentikian, 23-0 (16), kept on track with a defense of her WBA and WIBF titles with a ten round points win over GBU Champ Anastasia Toktaulova, 13-10 (2).

Two undefeated heavyweights clashed on the bill and Sebastian Koeber, 17-0 (12), came out on top with a dramatic tenth and final round KO of Dieter Roth, 19-1 (12), for the Interim German title.

Oliver Guettel, 15-1 (8), retained his WBC Youth Welter title with a ten round UD over previously undefeated Muhsen Nasser, 17-1-1 (2) and WBO Intercontinental Middleweight beltholder Sebastian Zbik, 25-0 (9), won a non-title eight rounder against Christophe Karagoz, 17-14-4 (4).

Saturday saw Jeremy Parodi, 23-0-1 (7), win the French Super Bantam title against former European title challenger Salem Bouaita, 19-14 (6), on points in Toulon, France. More...

The Continent saw a few good fight cards this weekend and we start off in Germany where at the Burg-Waechter Castello in Dusseldorf played host to a good card.

The headline event featured the biggest win so far for heavyweight Alexander Dimitrenko, 29-0 (19), who knocked out ex-European Champion and world title challenger Luan Krasniqi, 30-4-1 (14), in the third round of a contest for the WBO Intercontinental Heavyweight title.

Standing six feet seven inches and weighing in at 256 pounds, 26 year old Ukrainian Dimitrenko has pounded his way through the lower ranks since turning professional seven years ago but the defeat of Krasniqi signals the entrance of the Hamburg resident onto the world stage.

There were three good eight round contests on the bill as well with heavyweight Denis Boystov, 23-0 (18), outpointing American visitor Vinny Maddalone, 31-5 (22), super middle Dimitri Sartison, 23-1 (15), stopped Edison Francisco Guedes, 11-8-1 (5), in the third while super middle Gusmyl Perdomo, 16-2 (10), stopped Laurent Goury, 14-18 (2), in the fourth.

The International Events Centre in Castlebar, Ireland saw former European Super Bantam Champ Bernard Dunne, 27-1 (14), take a technical decision after six rounds against Uruguay's former WBC Bantam title challenger Cristian Faccio, 16-4 (11). More...

Sichuan Gymnasium in Chengdu, China was the site of a Don King boxing card last night headlined by the triumphant return of Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera, 64-6 (43), who came back from a one year hiatus from the ring to stop lightweight Sammy Ventura, 25-20 (20), in the fourth round with body shots.

There were heavyweights on the bill, with Jameel McCline, 39-9-3 (23), rekindling his world title hopes with a twelve round unanimous decision against Mike Mollo, 19-3 (12), to win a WBC title eliminator.

Veteran Polish heavy Andrew Golota, 41-7-1 (33), suffered another setback as the 40 year old was pounded to the canvas in the first frame by Ray Austin, 26-4-4 (17), and appeared to suffer an arm injury in the process, declining to come out for the second round of action.

Juan Palacios, 25-2 (20), went to the trenches with committed opponent Teruo Misawa, 18-5-4 (7), and emerged with a stoppage victory in the eighth round to tajke home the Interim WBC Minimumweight crown. More...

Confounding the predictions of the vast majority of media experts, Australia's Vic Darchinyan dominated sharp boxing Cristian Mijares before knocking out the southpaw stylist in the ninth round to add the WBC and WBA titles to his own IBF belt at super flyweight.

After having seen off dangerous fellow Mexican Jorge Arce with ease last year, Mijares was expected to avoid the winging shots of the Aussie bomber, who was stopped by Nonito Donaire 15 months ago but that's not what transpired in this battle of southpaws.

Darchinyan's normally wide punching style was replaced with a tightly controlled manner but the native born Armenian still punched with authority and Mijares was floored in the first from an uppercut.

The Gomez Palacio man beat the count but was surprisingly outboxed over the balance of the fight, caught repeatedly with the left hand of Darchinyan.

Mijares did have some success catching Darchinyan on the way in, but "The Raging Bull" simply walked through the efforts of Mijares and imposed his will upon the WBC/WBA Champion, pounding away until Mijares was felled for good by a perfect left cross and the bout was stopped at the end of the ninth. More...

It was night full of fireworks last evening at the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, CA with Welterweight Saul Alvarez stepping up against veteran Larry Mosley and pulling out a victory in a difficult fight.

Just 18 years of age, Guadalajara teenager Alvarez, 22-0-1 (15), had difficulty with the handspeed and sheer skill of the underrated 28 year old Los Angeles man Mosley, 15-3-2 (6), but Alvarez's busier work rate managed to draw the attention of the judges to post a 96-94, 97-93 and 99-91 unanimous decision victory.

Hartford, CT based southpaw super bantam Mike Oliver, 21-2 (7), lost his second bout in a row following his IBO title win last November as El Paso, TX hard man Antonio Escalante, 18-2 (12), belted the New Englander all over the ring, dropping him three times in the first before finishing the job with a meaty left to the ribs that KO'd Oliver at 0:33 of the third.

6 foot 2 inch light welter hopeful Hector Sanchez, 16-0 (7), of Puerto Rico was in a dogfight with big hearted Texas based opponent Albert Rodriguez, 8-1 (4), who gave Sanchez a difficult time before being KO'd at 1:43 of the second with a left hook to the ribs.