Last night at Glasgow's Bellahouston Sports Centre, British Featherweight title challenger Paul Appleby, 13-0 (8), won his most important test to date by outpointing former super bantamweight triple champion Esham Pickering, 33-8 (13), after twelve rounds.
Appleby was aggressive from the start and looked to tire the aging Pickering but the Newark stylist drew on his long experience to survive the onslaught and even win a few rounds later in the bout when the champion began to flag from the effort.
But Pickering, never a big puncher, just couldn't keep his 21 year old antagonist off and loses the third bout over his last four outings on points. Appleby retains the British Featherweight title for the first time.
The man Appleby defeated to win that belt, fellow Scot John Simpson, 18-6 (6), was also in action on the bill, outpointing Kenyan import John Gicharu, 10-3-1 (5), in a competitive eight round featherweight contest.
Two good cards took place on Thursday and we kick things off in Phitsanulok, Thailand where 23 year old Bangkok southpaw Oleydong Sithsamerchai, 29-0 (12), stayed undefeated while retaining his WBC Minimumweight title on points against longtime PABA Champ Pornsawan Kratindaenggym, 21-2 (16).
30 year old Sa Kaeo based slugger Kratindaenggym had previously only come up short against Donnie Nietes for the vacant WBO belt last year but could not get to grips with the cagey Sithsamerchai, who won on points after twelve rounds.
Yubileiny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia was the site of a big fight card as Baku's Ali Ismailov, 15-1-1 (10), retained the WBO Latino Cruiserweight crown with a third round KO of Argentine visitor Rodolfo De Dominicis, 13-1-1 (10).
World rated Los Angeles based Russian cruiserweight Vadim Tokarev, 26-1-1 (19), stopped American based Cameroonian opponent Manu Ntoh, 17-16-1 (1), in the eighth frame. More...
Rising Scottish boxing star Paul Appleby will be put to the test this Friday when the 21 year old sensation puts his British featherweight title on the line against his most experienced and dangerous opponent to date at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.
The South Queensferry youngster turned professional in January, 2006, following an illustrious amateur career and battered his way up the ranks until gaining a British title shot against fellow Scot John Simpson in June.
After 12 arduous rounds of combat, Appleby, 12-0 (8), was declared the winner by close margins on all three cards but now must put his newly minted belt at risk against highly decorated former triple champion at super bantamweight, Esham Pickering.
Pickering, 33-7 (13), has had many ups and downs during his 12 year career. As a 21 year old in 1998, he lost a British featherweight title bid and two years later was blown out in the first round during a WBO bantamweight title challenge. More...
It was a small hall Saturday in Britain with another installment of Barry Hearn's "Prizefighter" series at London's York Hall.
This time it was the middleweights who were in action, producing a night of memorable fights in a tournament.of three round bouts.
The show opened with one of the most promising prospects of the earlier part of the decade in the light middleweight division, 35 year old Welshman Paul Samuels, 18-4-2 (11), losing a unanimous decision to previously unbeaten Bristol based youngster Danny Butler, who set a pace the older man couldn't keep up with.
The quarterfinals continued as Birmingham's Max Maxwell had his hands full but managed to pull out a razor thin split decision over Gosport's Steve Ede, 9-2 (4). More...
British Super Bantamweight Champion Matthew Marsh was in action again last night and met a familiar foe at London's historic York Hall.
The 26 year old West Ham man met Thetford battler Rocky Dean for the third time over the last two years and once again walked away the winner.
But, as was the case in their previous clashes, it wasn't easy as Dean pushed the British Champion all the way, giving it his all for the twelve rounds before losing a close majority decision on the cards: 114-114, 116-113 and 16-112.
Marsh moves to 11-1 (1), winning his third bout on the trot since suffering a stoppage loss for the WBU Featherweight title to Derry Matthews last year.
Dean drops to 14-10-2 (4) but will likely get another domestic title shot in the near future based on his good performances against Marsh.
On the undercard, Norwich's Sam Sexton, 11-1 (4), captured his fourth consecutive victory with a sixth round TKO of Southampton based Irishman Colin Kenna, 16-9-2 (7), to secure the vacant Southern Area Heavyweight title.
Also in the winner's circle at York Hall were light middles Eddie Corcoran and Grant Skehill, super feather Vinny Mitchell and super middle veteran Tony Randell, who KO'd prospect Tariq Quaddas in the third of a scheduled four rounder.
Last night at London's 02 Arena, former world cruiserweight champion David Haye backed up his boasts by knocking out nearly man Monte Barrett in five rounds to make a successful entry into the world of bigtime heavyweight boxing.
Haye gave Barrett problems with handspeed and of course, the vaunted "Hayemaker" power but the London slugger had to come through a few good shots from the former world heavyweight title challenger to pull off his debut in boxing's glamor division.
A slow first round saw Haye establish distance and the jab while Barrett was putting everything into the punches he threw. The second was highlighted by a hard shot from Barrett that shook the local hero.
The Bermondsey belter traded heavy shots with Barrett in the third and dropped the American with a quick leaping left hook. A few exchanges later, Barrett was down again from a right hand on the inside that landed on the side of his head. More...
Last night at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland, British Welterweight Champion Kell Brook retained his belt for the first time with a crushing first round stoppage over former titlist Kevin McIntyre and Commonwealth Super Feather kingpin Ricky Burns stopped challenger Yakubu Amidu in the seventh.
30 year old McIntyre had ridden a three bout win streak into the contest including a pair over fellow Scot Kevin Anderson but against the fast handed 22 year old Brook, the Paisley Postman had no answers.
Brook, 18-0 (11), gave the local man a lashing, knocking McIntyre, 26-6 (8), down three times before the bout was stopped before the first round had run it's course.
Coatsbridge southpaw Ricky Burns, 25-2 (6), won his tenth in a row by stopping Ghanaian slugger Yakubu Amidu, 16-2-1 (16), to keep the Commonwealth Super Feather crown.
Ex-British Welter Champ Michael Jennings, 34-1 (16), stayed busy with an eight round points verdict against Jason Rushton, 18-7 (3), while promising light heavy Kenny Anderson, 9-0 (7), stopped veteran Hastings Rasani, 20-38-2 (16), in four.
The long and winding career of British Heavyweight Champ Danny Williams takes another twist tonight at London's York Hall as the 35 year old "Brixton Bomber" faces Essex based Pole Albert Sosnowski in a ten round non-title affair.
Williams, 40-6 (31), has had many ups and downs since turning pro 13 years ago and won and lost the British and Commonwealth titles numerous times but never winning the big one as failures to capture the European or a world title illustrate.
Scheduled to rematch John McDermott following their very close Brit title clash in July, Williams will instead face Sosnowski, a 29 year old campaigner originally from Warsaw who has fought the majority of his career in Great Britain.
Sosnowski, 43-2 (26), has an impressive numerical won-loss record on paper but the reality of his opposition hasn't been much to write home about. The best wins of "The Dragon" have been against Lawrence Tuasa, Michael Holden, Colin Kenna, Miguel Alberto Pucheta and a 40 year old Orlin Norris.
Stepped up a bit at last in his most recent bout, Sosnowski lost all eight rounds against 38 year old American journeyman Zuri Lawrence in Brooklyn, NY this past August.
With Williams, it's difficult to tell which Danny will show up but if the motivated slugger who hammered Scott Gammer last year comes to fight tonight at York Hall, Sosnowski will have a very difficult time. More...
Last night at Aston Villa Leisure Centre in Birmingham, England, Don Broadhurst, 9-0 (1), outpointed Ghanaian novice Isaac Quaye, 1-2-1 (0), over twelve rounds to win the vacant Commonwealth Super Flyweight title.
Popular local middleweight Matthew Macklin, 23-2 (16), picked up a good win by decisioning Geard Ajetovic, 16-4-1 (8), in a ten rounder while super feather Stephen Foster, 24-2-1 (16), did the same in six against journeyman Jason Nesbitt, 7-77-2 (5), while fighting at welterweight.
Boxing's most experienced fighter, Peter "The Professor" Buckley, 32-256-12 (8), finally hung up the gloves after participating in his 300th contest and capped off his career with the first win in five years by outpointing Matin Mohammed, 0-1-1 (0), in a four rounder.
39 year old Buckley has fought the top men in Britain since turning pro as a featherweight on October 4, 1989 with a draw against Alan Baldwin at the Colosseum in Stafford, England.
An unbelievably active fighter, Buckley's record stood at 10-5-3 (1), after his first full year, 18 contests over twelve months! More...
39 year old European Union titlist Giacobbe Fragomeni turned back the clock last night to top previously undefeated WBC International beltholder Rudolf Kraj for the vacant WBC Cruiserweight Championship after the bout was stopped in the ninth frame at the Pala Lido in Milan, Italy.
Local man Fragomeni, 26-1 (10), who had previously lost only to then European Champion David Haye in 2006, suffered a severe laceration from an unintentional headbutt and the bout went to the cards after eight rounds.
Hamburg, Germany based Czech boxer Kraj, 14-1 (10), was behind on all three scorecards, 77-74, and loses on a technical decision.
On the undercard, Simona Galassi, 9-0-1 (3), retained her WBC Female Flyweight title with a unanimous decision over Stefania Bianchini, 17-4-3 (2), in a rematch between two of Italy's most popular fighters.
After a long career, first at light welter before dropping down a weight class, Jon Thaxton won the vacant European Lightweight title with a third round knockout of Spain's Juan Carlos Diaz Melero last night at The Showground in Norwich, England.
Despite Melero having been a European Champ previously, Thaxton had fought the better competition of the two and that edge in experience showed as the southpaw controlled the pace of the bout and avoided much of the Spaniard's efforts.
After having won the first two frames, Thaxton began to tighten his bead on Melero and suddenly floored the visitor with a perfect counter right hook that stopped the bout at 2:29 of third.
Thaxton improves to 34-8 (19) while picking up the vacant European Lightweight title and Melero drops to 36-2 (19), both losses by knockout in European title bouts.
Danny McIntosh, 8-0 (3), won the vacant English Light Heavyweight crown with a seventh round stoppage of Steve Spartacus, 19-5 (11), in a competitive scrap.
Welterweight prospect John O'Donnell, 19-1 (8), continued his comeback with a fourth round finishing of Sergejs Savrinovics, 4-9-1 (2), and former WBO Heavyweight Champion Herbie Hide, 45-4 (42), returned to fight in England for the first time since 2004 to crush Aleksejs Kosobokovs, 12-10 (5), in the third.
Norwich, England's leading exponent of the fistic arts, Jon Thaxton, returns tonight at the Showground in his hometown where the lightweight will make a second bid at the European title as he faces Spain's Juan Carlos Diaz Melero over a scheduled 12 rounds.
Seasoned southpaw Thaxton, 33-8 (18), turned pro in 1992 and came up the hard way, battling as a light welterweight and proving his toughness once and for all in a thrilling back and forth war with Ricky Hatton for the British title in which "Jono" lost by only four points, 117-113 after twelve brutal rounds.
The fight stands as one of the more difficult in Hatton's long career and after a failed bid at the Commonwealth crown against big Belfast puncher Eamonn Magee a year and a half later, Thaxton began to campaign as a lightweight.
The stocky Norfolk man ran up 12 straight victories after that, capturing the WBF and British titles in the process and earned a shot at European Champ Yuri Romanov in April of this year at London's York Hall.
Thaxton was competitive against the Belarus Brit spoiler but was pulled out by his corner in the sixth when cuts suffered during the bout became too severe for a continuation of hostilities.
Facing Thaxton tonight at Norwich will be former Spanish and current European Union titlist Juan Carlos Diaz Melero, 36-1 (19). More...
Promoter Barry Hearn put on the second installment of his "Prizefighter" series last night as a round robin of heavyweights slugged it out at Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle and there was also a Glyn Rhodes promoted show at Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield.
The Prizefighter bill featured a mix of prospects and veterans fighting a series of three round elimination bouts and things got off to a contentious beginning as Luke Simpkin, 11-30-3 (8), narrowly got past Dave Ferguson, 7-2 (0), via split decision.
Next up, Chris Burton, 13-1 (6), won every round against David Ingleby, 5-22-1 (3), to post a unanimous decision. Sam Sexton, 10-1 (3), had a tougher time shifting his opponent, former British and Commonwealth title challenger Pele Reid, 19-6-2 (17), but outboxed him to get the points verdict.
Former British and Commonwealth cruiserweight title challenger Lee Swaby, 23-21-2 (11), won all three rounds against Darren Morgan, 5-5 (3), but the southpaw wasn't so fortunate in the next round as he in turn lost every frame to Burton and was eliminated from the tournament.
Simpkin was next to go as he lost by unanimous decision after three rounds to Sexton, who advanced to the finals to face Burton.
The best performance was saved for last as Sexton swarmed Burton and forced a stoppage at 2:10 of the third and final round. The 24 year old from Norwich wins the second installment of Prizefighter and is awarded a 25,000 GBP bonus.
In Sheffield last night, lightweight John Baguley, 8-11 (4), stopped Dwayne Hill, 9-9 (1), in the third round of a scheduled ten to annex the vacant British Central Area title at Don Valley Stadium.
Light heavyweight prospect Billy Boyle, 9-0 (6), stayed perfect as he finished off veteran opponent Simeon Cover, 16-42-4 (2), in the fifth of a scheduled six.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics have come to a close but not before providing various thrills and chills during the boxing competition. Here are the final Medal standings in each division.
Super Heavyweight: Italy's Roberto Cammarelle took home the Gold while Zhilei Zhang of China was the Silver Medallist. The Bronze Medal went to Britain's David Price and the Ukraine's Vyacheslav Glazkov.
Heavyweight: Russia's Rakhim Chakhkiev turned in the Gold Medal winning performance and Italy's Clemente Russo won Silver. Joining them on the podium were Bronze Medallists John Mbumba of France and America's Deontay Wilder.
Light Heavyweight: China's Xiaoping Zhang won Gold and Ireland's Kenny Egan took the Silver. Bronze Medallists were Kazakhstan's Yerkebulan Shynaliyev and Tony Jeffries of Great Britain.
Middleweight: James DeGale of Great Britain banked the Gold Medal with Cuba's Emilio Correa caging Silver. Ireland's Darren John Sutherland and Vijender Kumar of India each bagged Bronze Medals.
Welterweight: Bakhyt Sarsekbayev of Kazakstan was the Gold Medallist with Cuba's Carlos Banteaux hauling in the Silver Medal. Bronze was shared by Korea's Jungjoo Kim and China's Silamu Hanati.
Light Welterweight: Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic grabbed the Gold Medal and Manus Boonjumnong of Thailand got Silver. The Bronze Medals went to Alexis Vastine of France and Cuba's Roniel Iglesias. More...
With the postponement of their scheduled September 20 clash announced earlier this week, due to a training injury to Joe Calzaghe's hand, the contest between the Welsh Wizard and Roy Jones Jr will now take place in November at the original location of Madison Square Garden.
Five years ago, this was a prospective fight that would have had fans and media alike crawling over broken glass to get into. Calzaghe had just won a tremendous slugfest with heavy-handed recent ex-champion Byron Mitchell while Jones was at the absolute height of his career having just outclassed John Ruiz for a heavyweight title.
Since that time, the pair's careers have gone in wildy different directions. Calzaghe, staying at super middle, won four fights over tough but less than top class competition before enjoying his coming out party again Jeff Lacy in 2006 but then going in against lower tier opposition again for two bouts before emerging to outfight Mikkel Kessler.
"The Pride of Wales" then made his long awaited jump to light heavyweight to outwork the ageless Bernard Hopkins, who was finally, at age 43, in with an opponent who "The Executioner" could not control. More...
There were two shows of note last night, at University Arena in Limerick, Ireland and one Merseyside at the Olympia in Liverpool, England.
At Limerick, local hero Andy Lee, 16-1 (13), returned home after a disastrous first loss, to Brian Vera in America last March, and regained his form by dramatically stopping Philadelphia boxer Willie "The Gladiator" Gibbs, 20-4 (16), at the end of the tenth and final round of their bout.
Lee put his height advantage and southpaw stance to good use, keeping the American at arm's length for most of the night and rattling off crisp combinations that generally found their mark.
The veteran Gibbs tried to make up what was clearly becoming a ever widening points gap by winging big shots but his faulty defense led to a near knockout loss in the middle rounds as he was battered pillar to post by the Irishman.
Gibbs survived the ordeal and simply couldn't get to Lee until the last round when he connected with over rights that had the Limerick lad in deep water. A referee telling off of Gibbs for use of the head gave Lee time to clear the cobwebs and he was soon hammering Gibbs to the canvas. More...
Brian Peters Promotions put on a big show last night at the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland and the big three of Andrew Murray, Jim Rock and Bernard Dunne all won their contests on a bill that also saw Darren Corbett and Oisin Fagan enter the winner's circle as well.
Murray, 13-0 (6), already the Irish Light Welter titlist, dropped down to true lightweight for the first time in his career and faced Peter McDonagh, 11-13 (2), a London based Galway man long on useful experience despite the humble won - loss record.
McDonagh had won the Irish title over two years ago in a notorious contest when opponent Michael Gomez simply stopped fighting in the fifth round and was coming off a competitive performance in Italy this past February against European Union Light Welter Champ Giuseppe Lauri before bowing out with an injury in the sixth.
But none of that counted last night at National Stadium as Murray used his edge in youth and quickness to rattle off sharp punch sequence and win most of the rounds. More...
Last night at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales, Jamie Arthur completed the first step of his comeback with a second round KO of Dai Davies to win the British Welsh Area Super Featherweight title in thrilling fashion.
A star of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Arthur had fallen on hard times after suffering stoppage losses to Haider Ali and Harry Ramogoadi in 2005 and promptly sat out of the ring for nearly three years before returning this past April to outpoint inexperienced Ghanian, Ayittey Mettle, over six rounds.
The 28 year old from Cwmbran had vowed to lift Davies' Welsh title and once the bell rang for the contest last night at Newport Centre, he quickly went about doing exactly that.
Arthur just had too much speed, too much guile, too much height, and too much power as well, as he knocked out Davies at 1:31 of the second frame of their scheduled ten rounder. More...
In anticipation of their Saturday night bout for the Welsh Super Featherweight title at Newport Centre in Newport, Wales, rivals Dai Davies and Jamie Arthur will come face to face today for the official weigh-in to the Jamie Sanigar promoted fight card.
Reigning champion Davies, 5-9-1 (0), has faced some of the best at feather and super feather such as Jason Booth, Rendall Munroe, Derry Matthews, Akaash Bhatia and Matthew Marsh, resulting in a humble won-lost record but also great ring experience.
Arthur, 10-2 (3), of Cwmbran, will be taking part in his second bout since returning from a two and a half year layoff and the 28 year old will be looking to reclaim past amateur glories that saw him claim a Gold Medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. More...
Ahead of their vacant British Lightweight title clash on Friday, July 11, 2008 at Robin Park Arena in Wigan, England, combatants Lee Meager, 21-2 (8), and John Murray, 24-0 (12), will come face to face at a press conference in Manchester as the first step to decide just who will claim Mancunian bragging rights in the 135 pound division.
30 year old Meager, nicknamed "Macho Man", will be looking to reclaim the title belt he lost to southpaw veteran Jon Thaxton in 2006 and has vowed to school his younger opponent Murray in the realities of the sport at top level. More...
