The amazing Luis Ramon "Yory Boy" Campas will take part in his 102nd bout when he climbs through the ropes to meet Finnish national boxing hero and former European champ Amin Asikainen at middleweight tonight at the Toolo Sports Hall in Helsinki.
36 year old Campas, 91-10 (73), will be making his first European appearance in a career that started in 1987 and saw him through three defenses of the IBF Light Middleweight title in the late 1990's.
32 year old Asikainen, 23-1 (15), won the European crown with an eight round stoppage of Sebsatien Sylvester in 2006 but after two successful defenses, the German relieved the Finn of that belt in their rematch last year.
Asikainen has only been stopped once but will really gets his chin tested as Campas still packs a massive punch, nearly sending upcoming world title challenger John Duddy to his first loss when the pair clashed in 2006.
Red hot super bantamweight Steve Molitor retained his IBF title with a superb 12 rounds points verdict against challenger Ricardo Castillo last night at the Casino in Rama, Ontario.
A former Mexican champion and ex-WBA title challenger from Mexicali, Castillo used his strength advantage to put Molitor on the back foot but could never pin the champion down to draw him into the trenches.
Molitor was cut above the eye in the fourth from a head clash but handled this career first setback well, keeping Castillo at bay and landing crisp counters on the oncoming challenger.
The champion stepped up his own offense in the final rounds and cruised comfortably to a 118-109 win on all three scorecards.
Molitor improves to 26-0 (10) while Castillo loses for the third time in four bouts to fall to 33-5 (22).
At the Prefectural Gym in Osaka, Japan earlier today, the WBC and WBA Bantamweight Champions kept their titles against stern opposition. WBC kingpin Hozumi Hasegawa turned back the aspirations of European Champion Simone Maludrottu by unanimous decision while WBA ruler Wladimir Sidorenko did the same against challenger Nobutu Ikehara.
Southpaw Hasegawa, 23-2 (7), defended his belt for the fifth time by outboxing the tough Maludrottu, 26-2 (10), who had held the Continental crown over eight defenses until relinquishing the title to contend for the WBC, via scorecards of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112.
Sharp boxing Sidorenko, 21-0 (7), made his sixth defense with a good win over Japanese Champ Ikehara, 27-2 (19), by scores of 119-110, 118-110 and 116-112.
In a major Continental upset, Belorussian super feather Sergey Gulyakevich outpointed the heavy handed reigning European Champion Leva Kirakosyan over twelve rounds at Datch Forum in Milan, Italy last night.
26 year old Gulyakevich outboxed the favored Kirakosyan, an Armenian residing in Spain, and managed to avoid the champion's massive punching power while annexing the European title via the varying scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 115-113.
Kirakosyan, 26-5 (17), had previously won eight of his last twelve bouts by KO and had twice victimized British Champion Carl Johanneson during that period. Gulyakevich, 24-1 (12), had been stopped on cuts last year in a failed bid to lift the European title from Alex Arthur before the Scotsman gave up the belt and won the WBO crown. More...
2007 was a bittersweet year for Ricky Hatton as the wildly popular 140 lb British superstar established himself in the states with a decision over Juan Urango before climbing to the heights of the American boxing scene with riveting KO of Jose Luis Castillo, only to be torn down in style by modern day great Floyd Mayweather in a step up to welterweight.
But what will 2008 hold for "The Hitman" ?
Absorbing a disappointment on the way up, when a fighter is still in the learning process, can obviously help improve the finished article while taking a first loss under the glaring lights of a huge Las Vegas PPV showdown can shatter even the strongest of confidences.
Will Ricky pull a Naseem Hamed, his predecessor as the UK's top draw, and pack it in after a comeback win against a second tier opponent? Or perhaps we will see the Felix Trinidad method where the previously unbeaten boxer retires for a few years after the modest comeback win but then returns periodically for big money opportunities? More...
It wasn't the busiest of weekends in the world of boxing, but there were some good fightcards out there and on this occasion, we're going to work backwards through time.
We start off on Sunday at Challenge Stadium in Perth, Australia, where hometown sensation Danny Green finally managed to cage a full fledged world title by outpointing WBA Light Heavy strap holder Stipe Drews over twelve rounds.
Having tasted the hard punching Green's power, Drews mostly danced away from the action for the duration of the contest, stopping to fight only in the twelfth and final frame, losing his belt during his first defense and dropping to 32-2 (13). Green, a former interim WBC Super Middle titlist, improves to 25-3 (22), and could be in line for unification bouts with Zsolt Erdei, Clinton Woods or Chad Dawson.
On the undercard, Commonwealth Feather king Jackson Asiku, 22-3 (12), turned back challenger Matt Powell, 10-4-2 (3), in four rounds while lightweight William Kickett, 8-0 (4), graduated from prospect class with a hard fought eight round points win over two time world featherweight title challenger Tommy Browne, 23-5-1 (8). More...
Father time finally caught up with heavily decorated two weight world champion Virgil Hill as the 43 year old was outperformed by challenger Firat Arslan, losing the WBA Cruiserweight title by a wide points verdict at Freiberger Arena in Dresden, Germany.
37 year old Arslan, a former longtime sparring partner of ex-European Champion Luan Krasniqi, sought to wear down the older man from the opening bell and backed up Hill for most of the fight.
Forced to largely rely on his countering skills, Hill kept up a good punch output but was unable to dissuade the oncoming German southpaw, who was able to land with both hands in the early rounds.
Hill attempted to take the steam out of Arslan's attack in the middle rounds but didn't have the power to hold onto the center of the ring and was soon again on the back foot.
Arslan fought the fight of his life, rocking the iron chinned champion with big shots down the stretch but was never able to hurt Hill as the American visitor showed good stamina to stay in the bout but he just couldn't take away the challenger's confidence. More...
Aside from the Ricardo Mayorga vs. Fernando Vargas bout in Los Angeles, there was a good bit of action across the globe last night and we start in the land Down Under.
At the Croatian Club in the Sydney suburb of Punchbowl, the Australian middleweight title was defended by reigning champion Junior Talipeau, 9-0 (2), who posted a fairly close ten round points win over a very competitive Peter Mitreveski, Jr., 17-5-1 (7).
Local man Mitreveski towered over the stocky New Zealand based champion but lost a point in the first and that margin would prove significant as the challenger fell short on the cards, 96-95, 96-94 and 97-92.
Up north on the Gold Coast, a charity show was held at the Brisbane Convention Center with 20 year old light welter Leonardo "Lenny Zappa" Zappavinga, 12-0 (9), of Sydney staying on track by dropping Ariel Omongos, 4-12 (3), twice in the fourth to win at 2:03 of that round.
There was a high profile domestic matchup at the Fashion Mart in Kobe, Japan, as defending Japanese Bantamweight titlist Masayuki Mitani, 21-2 (10), rebounded off a last round stoppage loss for the OPBF crown in August by holding off former WBC title challenger Teppei Kikui, 21-7 (4), of Yokohama to post a 99-93 and 98-92 (twice) unanimous verdict. More...
WBA Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm had a close call last night at Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany as challenger Randy Griffin pushed the popular Hamburg man hard for twelve rounds.
Griffin had Sturm on the defensive for much of the bout but in general could not get past the champion's jab to mount any type of effective sustained effort.
Both had their moments and shared some thrilling exchanges but Sturm managed to keep Griffin from getting into a rhythm and slowed things down during the later rounds to his advantage.
At the end of twelve rounds, a draw was declared by scores of 115-114 Sturm, 117-114 Griffin and 114-114 tie.
Sturm keeps his WBA Title and sees his record to 28-2-1 (12). Griffin drops to 24-1-3 (12).
Berlin's Estrel Convention Centre was the site of a major European boxing card last night with former world cruiserweight champion turned heavyweight Juan Carlos Gomez handling ex-WBC Heavyweight champ Oliver McCall over twelve rounds in the main event.
The pair had met two years before in a contest that German based Cuban Gomez had won on points but was later changed to a no contest after a failed post-fight drug test.
This time, the 42 year old McCall fought cautiously, hardly moving out of his tight defense while Gomez tried to find openings for his long southpaw jab and the occasional hook.
McCall finally lept into action during the tenth round and hammered his antagonist with serious right hands but didn't have enough energy to finish off the former cruiserweight.
Gomez survived and went on to get his second wind, cautiously keeping McCall at the end of the jab before being awarded the points win 118-110 (twice) and 116-112. More...
Brian Peters puts on a superb bill tonight at National Stadium in Dublin with two middleweights possibly heading for a massive showdown leading the way.
Continuing his triumphant return home after a solid career start in America, John Duddy, 21-0 (16), faces a towering 19 year old, 6 foot 3 inch middleweight from Droylesden, England named Prince Arron, 10-2 (0), over ten rounds.
Arron has been in with Commonwealth title challenger Anthony Small, Danny Reynolds and Cello Renda but will likely be unable to deal with the pressure brought on by the far more experienced Duddy.
It's been whispered that Duddy will challenge newly minted world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in the near future but he'll likely be embroiled in a domestic dust-up first with Birmingham starlet Matthew Macklin. More...
Last night at Herrmann Gieseler Hall in Magdeburg, former IBF Super Middle title challenger Robert Stieglitz took a big step back towards elite status with a clear ten round points victory over South African Champion William Gare.
Stieglitz made his second appearance since suffering a brutal third round stoppage at the hands of Colombian slugger Alejandro Berrio in March for the vacant IBF title and was put through his paces over the course of the bout by Gare.
Gare had only moved up from light middle in the past year after a long career at 154 lb having faced the best in South Africa as well as top Europeans of the early 2000's such as Antonio Perugino, Steve Roberts and Mihaly Kotai.
With such a seasoned background and having fought many of his bouts abroad, Gare wasn't the least bit phased by the partisan German crowd at Hermann Gieseler Halle but had difficulty penetrating the defenses of the taller, younger Stieglitz. More...
In what is surely his last chance at a world title belt, the amazing Evander Holyfield, 42-8-2 (27), will be in action tonight at the Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia mounting a challenge to WBO Heavyweight Champion Sultan Ibragimov, 21-0-1 (17).
Six days shy of his 45th birthday, Holyfield brings along a mountain of past achievements in the ring against Ibragimov along with a four fight win streak over the likes of Lou Savarese, Vinny Maddalone, Fres Oquendo and Jeremy Bates over the last 14 months.
"The Real Deal" has proven that he can still wade through good second tier talent but will he have enough left in the tank to unseat the 32 year old Ibragimov? More...
Last night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, super featherweight Marco Antonio Barrera fought to overcome nemesis Manny Pacquiao in a rematch, but the 33 year old Mexican also found himself contending with the withering effects of an eighteen year career and dropped a unanimous decision to the celebrated Filipino southpaw.
In the early rounds, Barrera used his favored manner of dealing with southpaws, the left jab, and managed to keep Pacquiao from launching any kind of effective counter offense with good footwork.
But Barrera couldn't keep up the high energy approach and by the fourth round was no longer able to impose his will over that of Pacquiao, who began to force his rival into fighting off the back foot.
The middle of the fight saw the two come to grips and Barrera acquitted himself well, lashing Pacquiao with sterling right hands but could not prevent his opponent from gaining even larger measures of revenge as the bout moved on. More...
In front of 4,000 fans last night at the Ewe Arena in Oldenberg, Germany former WBA Heavyweight titlist Nikolay Valuev resumed his career after suffering his first professional loss and world title to Ruslan Chagaev back in April.
The seven foot "Russian Giant" squared off with six foot five inch Canadian southpaw, Jean-Francois Bergeron of St.-Jerome, Quebec, the reigning NABA titlist.
Like many of Valuev's opponents, Bergeron spent most of the bout keeping his distance from the towering Russian, especially after landing a good power left hand in the second that had no effect at all on Valuev. More...
New Jersey based light welter contender Kendall Holt finally gets his shot at the big time tonight but he has to go to Barranquilla, Colombia to do it as he faces hometown man and WBO Light Welter Champion Ricardo Torres at Coliseo Universidad del Norte.
A pro since 2001, Holt, 22-1 (12), had his 15 fight win streak stopped during a first round stoppage at the hands of journeyman Thomas Davis three years ago but has since won seven consecutive bouts, including victories over current WBC Lightweight Champ David Diaz, former IBO Lightweight boss Isaac Hlatshwayo and highly thought of prospect Mike Arnaoutis.
That impressive resume since 2005 has gotten Holt to a title shot tonight but he'll likely have to put on the best performance of his life if he is to
take the WBO crown from hard punching champion Torres.
Torres, 31-1 (27), shot from obscurity in 2005 with the reputation as a massive power puncher when he challenged the WBO Light Welter Champion of that time, Miguel Cotto, and narrowly missed upsetting the Puerto Rican superstar in a massive firefight that saw both men on the canvas numerous times before Cotto finished off the Colombian in the seventh. More...
It was a night of hot and heavy action last evening at the Mall of Asia in Pasig City, Philippines as OPBF Lightweight Champion Randy Suico led the way with a dominating eighth round KO over Osaka, Japan's Koji Samejima.
The hammer fisted Suico, 27-3 (23), of Mandaue City, Philippines, never gave the Japanese import time to breath, using intense pressure to floor Samejima, 15-2-1 (6), in the sixth with a body shot before finishing him off with a perfect right hand at 2:23 of the eighth.
Suico continues his march back to world title contention and to date, has only lost to current world champions Juan Diaz and Mzonke Fana along with former world champion Javier Jauregui.
On the undercard, former world title challenger Jimrex Jaca, 28-3-2 (13), of Cebu City walked into an intense firefight with Japan's Ryu Miyagi, 16-1-3 (12), at super featherweight. More...
Earlier today at the City Sogo Gym in the Kobe suburb of Takasago, local hero and domestic bantamweight titlist Masayuki Mitani made an unsuccessful bid to unseat reigning OPBF Champ Rolly Matsushita, suffering a dramatic stoppage at 2:09 of the 12th and final round.
Mitani, 20-2 (10), came into the bout riding a ten fight win streak, including two successful defenses of the Japanese title, but was unable to shake the confidence of Japan based Filipino Matsushita, 23-6-1 (13). More...
Ex-WBO Light Middle titlist Bronko McKart won his third bout on the bounce last night at the New Alhambra in Philadelphia, PA, scoring a close split decision victory over La Habra, CA based Enrique Ornelas to win the vacant NABF Middleweight belt.
36 year old southpaw McKart, 51-7 (31), dropped Ornelas, 25-4 (15), in the third but was unable to finish the Californian and battled the rest of the way to a razor thin 114-113 (twice), 113-114 win.
Monroe, MI based McKart was stopped in the sixth by Kelly Pavlik a year ago but has now mounted a serious comeback and could be in line for another major world title shot later this year.
It was a night of furious fisticuffs at the Sindicato de Taxistas in Cancun, Mexico last night as reigning WBC Light Flyweight titlist Edgar Sosa went to grips with fiery Argentine challenger Luis Alberto Lazarte for a scheduled 12 round championship bout.
Sosa, fresh off a majority decision win over Brian Viloria in April to take the vacant WBC crown, had his hands full from the start with the challenger.
Lazarte came in riding a 17 bout win streak from a three year campaign in his homeland and at 36 years of age, could have seen this opportunity as his last chance at major world title glory.
The challenger went straight at Sosa and won the early rounds before beginning to slow down to a pace more suited to the champion. More...
