Boxing Previews: Friday Night Action

This Friday evening sees a few good nights at the fights across the globe and we kick things off at Palais de Sports in Sainte-Quentin, France.

Ex-European featherweight champ and world title challenger Cyril Thomas, 36-3-4 (10), headlines the event as the local man meets undefeated Justin Savi, 23-0 (15), of Benin.

Savi previously held the IBF Mediterranean title, which he won by widely outpointing Argentine veteran Pastor Humberto Maurin in 2008. Maurin stands as one of the few accomplished opponents of Savi’s resume and the African slugger will have a difficult time with Thomas, who narrowly missed unseating IBF champion Cristobal Cruz a year ago at Palais des Sport.

At stake is something called the inaugural WBC Silver featherweight title.

Cyril’s younger brother, super bantam prospect Jerome Thomas, 8-0 (0), goes for the vacant WBC Mediterranean belt against Swiss visitor Bertrand Bossel, 9-6-2 (4), on the undercard.

Heading north to Robin Park Centre in Wigan, England, undefeated welterweight Denton Vassell, 14-0 (8), clashes with Lee Purdy, 13-1-1 (7), for the vacant Commonwealth title.

This will be a big test for Manchester man Vassell, who has never been past six rounds and faced only modest competition to date.

Opponent Purdy of London, who has been 10 rounds twice, won the British southern area title last September by gaining revenge upon Peter McDonagh, who handed Purdy his only defeat to date.

The undercard sees a former Commonwealth welter titlist, Craig Watson, 16-3 (6), moving up to light middle to face big punching native Ugandan Badru Lusambya, 21-1-2 (19).

Southpaw Watson holds wins over Matthew Hatton and Ali Nuumbembe while Lusambya is a former African Boxing Union light middle titlist who has gone 2-1-1 in his adopted UK homeland, including a draw against the very difficult iron-chinned Romanian journeyman Ghorghe Danut two years ago.

Heading over to America, former heavyweight world title challengers Tony Thompson, 33-2 (21), and Owen Beck, 29-4 (20), headline the Omni New Daisy Theater in Memphis, scheduled for eight rounds.

Thompson has won two straight since losing to Wladimir Klitschko in 2008 while Beck saw a four bout win streak following his 2006 loss to Nicolai Valuev go up in smoke against hot prospect Manuel Charr in Germany this past January.

In the chief support bout, undefeated lightweights Hank Lundy, 17-0-1 (10), and Tyrese Hendrix, 18-0-1 (7), go at it over ten rounds.

Lundy had to climb off the canvas against Richard Abril to win a split decision in January and will likely be tested by tall southpaw Hendrix.

At the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury, unbeaten middleweight southpaw Fernando Guerrero, 17-0 (14), climbs in with veteran Michael Walker, 19-3-2 (12), over ten rounds.

Walker has gone 1-3 over his last four and will be hard pressed to put the first loss on the younger Guerrero’s resume.

Two more undefeated prospects are on the undercard; promising light middle Shawn Porter, 13-0 (10), and Canadian super middle Adonis Stevenson, 13-0 (10), who appear in eight round bouts.

Crossing the Border in Mexico, there is a clash at The Arena in Valladolid with the vacant WBO Latino super bantam belt on offer.

Former European Champion Kiko Martinez, 21-3 (16), looks to get back on track after losing two of his last three including an IBF title eliminator to Takalani Ndlovu and a European title bout Rendall Munroe.

The Spaniard will face highly seasoned ex-WBO Latino bantamweight boss Feliciano Dario Azuaga Ledezma, 77-18-2 (64), over 12 rounds but given the once punch power of Martinez and the chin of Ledezma, stopped in his last five losses, it isn’t likely to go the distance.

We finish up this look at Friday’s fights by crossing the Pacific and landing in Bangkok, Thailand where WBC Asian Boxing Council lightweight beltholder Saddam “Da Bomb” Kietyongyuth, 19-0 (15), puts his perfect record on the line over 12 scheduled rounds.

The local hero faces Indonesian slugger Simson Butar-Butar, 19-10-2 (14), who has tried unsuccessfully to win regional belts at super bantam, feather and super feather and has yet to win on four prior trips to Thailand.