World Boxing Round-up.

News and Results from the Last week in the Fight Game.

We start off in Jack the Ripper’s old stomping (and ripping and shredding) ground of Bethnal Green, East London. On Sunday night, in historic York Hall – surely in the top three worldwide venues for amount of fights held – and top of the bill was a intriguing lightweight clash

between Commonwealth champion Kevin Bennett of Hartlepool* and the British champion Graham Earl from Luton. Bennett, aka “Bulldog,” came up the hard way, fighting all over the U.K., often against favored opposition and losing four of his twenty-one fights along the way and is now a battle hardened veteran, while Earl fought along the well tried prospect route, beating the journeymen before moving onto the slightly over the hill names and finally the titles. However, a clear point’s loss to the nine-fight novice Ricky Burns of Scotland, in his previous bout put some question marks over his world title aspirations. And things did not look too good for the southerner in this fight either as Bennett made a great start and looked to be too big, strong and determined for Earl. In an incredible comeback, Earl survived a sixth round knockdown, in addition to losing most of the early rounds, to come back and stop the ex-soldier in the ninth round. The victor, now 23-1, can look forward to a high ranking in the suddenly wide-open lightweight division. Underneath, Peter “The Daddy” Haymer retained his English light heavyweight crown with a controversial 96-95 decision over stable mate, Tony “Oakey Kokey” Oakey while Gary Woolcombe, Gokhan Kazaz, Craig Watson, Ian Wilson and Junior MacDonald all stayed unbeaten.

When we say World Boxing Round-up, that is exactly what we mean. Jonny Townsend leaves no stone unturned as he delivers the final word on last week’s boxing action throughout the globe.

Michael Jackson once said, “No other country can match Belgium in the gastronomic interest and stylist variety of its beers.” Of course, this was not the recently cleared “Jesus-juice” Jackson but the esteemed author of “World Guide to Beers” – my personal bible. On Sunday evening in Sint-Amandsberg, Belgium light heavyweight, Ismail Abdoul scored his twenty-fifth win against eight losses (one draw) when Romanian loser, Octavian Stoica, was disqualified in the sixth of the scheduled eight rounds. “Cool” Abdoul is the gatekeeper to the upper echelons of the European 175lb-200-pound weight range and his eight losses have come against top contenders who held a combined 172-8-1 record at the time of fighting him. However, he kicks ass in Belgium, big time!

Costa Rica, one of the most amazingly beautiful countries I have seen, has a new light middleweight champion as Jaime Barboza, won a twelve round split decision over Humberto Aranda. Barboza lost his previous fight against one fight novice, Lucas Arias, who moved to 4-0 (3) in the same card. CONGRATULATIONS, Jorge Ortiz, who won his first fight at his fortieth attempt when beating Jaime Vargas, who had also lost to Julio Sanchez, another winner on the show. Something tells me there are not too many professional boxers in San Jose. Also on the card was Henry “La Mole” Saenz, who is now unbeaten in his last eleven (ten wins with seven kayos). Saenz lost his professional debut in 1998 to world class, and recent Carl Froch victim, Henry Porras then took two years off and came back to again lose to Porras, both times in four rounds. “La Mole” learnt from this lesson and has not fought anyone with a winning record since! But he is winning so who am I to judge.

London Town saw more brawling on the following day when Ryan Walls scored his second win after his loss to the previously mentioned Haymer while Sammy Smith beat Tony “Say Hello to My Little Friend” Montana. Rounding out the small bill was the tall lefty lightweight, Ryan Barrett who won in the first stanza against Anthony Christopher. The twenty-two-year-old Thamesmead fighter is now 11-1 (3) and it is about time manager, Mark Roe, stepped up the opposition a little.

Further fighters emerged from the old Soviet states when a bill in Variani, Georgia, saw Malkaz Berkatsashvili, Shalva Jomardashvili and George Gelashvili all remain unbeaten. Us Western boxing fans had better start practicing these names as more and more of the up and comers are springing from these countries, which, in the opinion of this scribbler, is a very good thing.

Ten years ago, Saman Sorjaturong caused a HUGE upset when he kayo’d pound-for- pounder Humberto Gonzalez (one of my all time favorites) in seven action filled rounds in the fight of the year. The twenty-nine-year-old Chiquita immediately retired and is now a successful butcher and businessman in Mexico City, while the Thai made ten defenses of the WBC light flyweight title before succumbing to Yo Sam Choi in 1999 and 2001. Now almost thirty-six, he fights on and is a stepping-stone for novice prospects and on Monday, in Japan, he was stopped in one by Osaka teenager, Koki Kameda. The tall Kameda is one to watch though and now has five first round wins in his 7-0 (6) record.

Hua Hin is Thailand’s oldest beach resort but this charming coastal village was involved in a disgraceful boxing mismatch when 19-0 Teerapong Distar defended his IBF Pan Pacific bantamweight title against 0-5 (sometimes listed as 8-6 but he fights different disciplines of boxing), Rico Genon with a unanimous decision – winning 120-108 on two of the three cards. Continuing the card’s shameful display, recent Manny Pacquiao victim, Fahsung 3K Battery improved to 46-8-1 with a win over 2-11-2 Benjie Concepcion. The show was televised throughout Thailand, proving that they have just as much crap on their TV as we do over here!

Former K1 fighter and kickboxing champion, “Diamond” Dale Westerman, of Australia, continued his recent revival with a split decision over Japan’s Yoshinori Nishizawa, to defend his OPBF light heavyweight Title in Tokyo. Nishizawa has a 26-16-5 record but decked Anthony Mundine and Markus Beyer in recent, albeit losing, world title challenges. Westerman, aged thirty-five, credits his new success to increased training, better diet and a new boxing style. If you’re interested, Dale also gives kickboxing lessons at the Harper’s in Brighton, VIC, on Wednesday evenings, where he is a personal trainer. Tell him I said “G’day.”

Atlantic City’s eccentric John “The Eastern Beast” Brown only loses to decent fighters. In fact, eleven of his twelve victors have fought for, or held, a world title and victims Gabriel Ruelas and Robbie Peden both won the super featherweight title – and Peden meets Marco Antonio Barrera later in a unification bout this September. On Tuesday, in
Tampa, Brown met decent Damian Fuller and lost the first five rounds before rallying to win the second half of the bout and earn a ten round draw (Brown’s second in a row) against the Detroit southpaw. Also, in the co-main event the judges couldn’t separate cruiserweights Willie Herring and Shaun George, as the twenty-six-year-old fighters tied in a bout that seemed to favor Herring.

Another bill in Georgia saw sixteen fighters turn professional and half of them won. There were seven middleweight bouts on the bill and every fight ended in an early knockout. I’m not going to name all the fighters but eleven of their names end in “Vili” and another five in “Ze.” That should do it for Georgia now.

I have to admit that Gianfranco Rosi is not, and never has been, one of my favorite boxers. He was part of the Italian breed of fighters that seemed to plague the late eighties and early nineties, relying on a jab and grab style (forerunner to Johnny “The Please Quit, Man” Ruiz) and some dodgy home decisions. Nevertheless, I have to respect his achievements, however dubious some of the results are, as he held the Italian and European welterweight titles as well as the European, WBC and IBF light middleweight titles, the latter of which he held over five years and made twelve successful defenses – although his opponents often had to fight Rosi, the referee and the judges. Well, guess what, he’s back and fighting in the historic city of Budapest, Hungary for the IBF Mediterranean middleweight title at age forty-seven! I don’t know what that title is, or how an 11-8-2 Frenchman gets to fight an OLD Italian, but Rosi scored a unanimous decision to take home the bauble. Unfortunately for him though, he won’t be defending at home, as Italy doesn’t allow fighters over forty to box there, so Gian will have to continue his travels which have seen him fight in Croatia, Yugoslavia and now Hungary since he came back from his six year retirement.

Meanwhile, back in Italy, Aldo Nicchi also fought for the IBF Mediterranean title, this time at light middleweight against the very tough Romanian, Vasile “HOP-HOP” Surcica, who lost twenty-three of thirty-one fights during his blazing run to this esteemed belt, who actually knows his way around the ring and gave the unbeaten Italian an even run in the opening rounds before dropping a 117-111 decision on all three cards. Nicchi is now 13-0 (3) while the late substitute, “Hop-Hop,” drops to 13-24-2.

Another recent Sorjaturong vanquisher, Devid Lookmahanak, captured the WBC Asian Boxing Council super flyweight title on the same bill that saw the return of Veeraphol Sahaprom after his recent loss of the WBC bantamweight title belt. Sahaprom was a great champion and held the title for seven years, making fourteen successful defenses. The now 7-0 (4) Lookmahanak won his bout in six rounds while the ex-champion took one round less to notch up his forty-eighth victory in fifty-two fights.

Back Down Under, we travel to the Gold Coast and a terrific fight ensued when “Big” Bob Mirovic took on Rob “The All-American Prizefighter” Calloway in a skirmish for the WBF heavyweight title recently given up by Audley Harrison, who defeated Calloway in four back in February 2003. More importantly, this clash was also for the Pan Asian Boxing Association laurels and neither guy disappointed as the youngster Calloway, just thirty-five, won the opening rounds with his boxing before a right hand had him hurt in rounds three and five. Mirovic was zinged in the sixth and was rescued by the bell but the Aussie had already caused considerable damage to the Kentucky born fighter’s right eye, which had swollen shut by the midway point. Calloway then used his mobility and high work-rate to keep the thirty-nine-year-old off him and record a unanimous victory. I’m guessing that his neighbor’s in Missouri will all want a Pan Asian belt and will be running down to the local Chinese restaurant in search of one, but “The All-American Prizefighter” will be the only blonde kid in his ‘hood to own one. Sweet Joy! On the under-card, the wonderfully named “King Kava” was sent to sleep in the first by Kiwi Richard Tutaki, whom avenged a previous stoppage loss to the big Tongan.

Friday night in the States saw a lot of bills in a lot of towns so here’s a quick sprint around the U.S. delivering you the news that needs to be delivered. First off, Billy Douglas, brother of Buster, advanced to 12-5 with a win in West Virginia. Billy makes his brother look like a body beautiful! It must be genetics. The headlining bout saw Pennsylvania cruiserweight, Dan “Hard Way” Harvison raise his record to 13-0 (8) with an eight round points win. Last time out he won the vacant WBO NABO cruiserweight title with a decision over Rayco “War” Saunders. Also on Friday, at the Blue Horizon, Saunders fought Nigerian puncher, Emmanuel Nwodo, who had to go the distance, but remained unbeaten since relocating Stateside and is now 16-4 (12). Saeed “The Hawk” Hawkins won his sixth this year to up to 8-0 (3) while nearby in Atlantic City, Oleg Maskaev, warmed up for his proposed heavyweight title shot against Vitali Klitschko with a third round stoppage of the smaller, Livin Castillo.

Along the Boardwalk, forty-four-year-old “Merciless” Ray Mercer returned from his brief retirement to easily outpoint Darroll “Doin’ Damage” Wilson. This was the first bout in over two years for Shannon Briggs’ first conqueror Wilson. In Las Vegas, the Ibragimov cousins remained unbeaten as Sultan bagged his fifteenth knockout in seventeen wins with an opening round blitz of Andy Sample and Timur made it 19-0-1 (11) when he broke Rogerio Lobos’ nose in the fourth. The Panama Lewis trained duo are keeping a busy schedule as they try to crack into the top ten. Keep your eyes trained on these two.

Makhmud Otazhanov ruined Gabriel Cruz’ perfect record with a six round win and Israeli welterweight prospect Merhav “The Sergeant” Mohar scored his sixteenth win over hapless opposition to move on up to 16-1, but as he was only twenty-two this week we will forgive him. Happy Birthday Sergeant!

Matt “The Predator” Vanda is now 34-1 (21) after out-pointing Yory Boy Campas with a split decision victory at home in Minneapolis. Campas, officially the World’s Oldest thirty-three-year-old, hasn’t beaten anyone decent since becoming the first to defeat Tony Ayala Jr. back in 2000. Vanda flatters to deceive but it looks like he’ll get a title shot although I can’t see him progressing any further than that. Also at the Target Center, Roberto Duran’s cousin, Santiago “El Herrero” Samaniego was unlucky to lose when a good punch was ruled a head butt and he lost a sixth round technical decision against Vanda victim, and hometown boy, Troy Lowry. “Big” (they’re all ‘Big’ this week?!?) Michael Grant continued his rehabilitation by out-pointing Marcus McGee, but I don’t think even trainer Buddy McGirt sees Grant getting another title shot, although a run of wins against this type of opposition could earn him a farewell present against someone looking for a “name” victim.

My home state of California held FOUR bouts to continue to make us the busiest in boxing and Jose Cruz must be aggrieved this morning after his right eye was cut by Pedro Mora’s head, in Burbank, and he had to settle for a technical draw. Cruz was 9-0 (6) in September 2003 but is now winless (two draws and a disqualification loss) in his three fights since. Veteran and former world title challenger, Julio “Yambito” Gamboa was stopped in seven by the very good prospect Adam Carrera, just twenty-two, who is now 17-1. Carrera brings an aggressive style to the already aggressively filled super bantamweight division. Keep watching this one.

In Oceanside, power-punching phenom, Daniel Ponce De Leon, stopped tough trial-horse, Phillip Payne in the seventh round to claim the WBO NABO super bantamweight title. Payne had never been stopped before but was dropped three times by the 26-1 (25) Mexican. The twenty-four-year-old joins all-action fighters like Oscar Larios, Israel Vazquez, Mahyar Monshipour, Joan Guzman, Somsak Sithchatchawal, Nedal Hussein and Celestine Caballero – whom recently out-pointed Ponce De Leon – in boxing’s second most exciting division.

On Saturday, in Buenos Aires, Martin Antonio Coggi, son of Argentinean legend Juan, made his professional debut when he forced Ruben Rafael Rojas’ retirement at the end of the third. Papa Juan was a longtime WBA light welterweight champion back in the eighties and nineties and is now training “El Principito” who has hopes of emulating his famous father.

The British light welterweight loser’s belt remains unclaimed as John Paul Ryan and Christian Laight battled to a six round draw. Ryan is now 2-17-1 while Laight “drops” to 1-11-2. Ernie Smith returned from his shocking win last week to resume losing ways when he dropped a six rounder to prospect, Adnan Amar. “Gypsy” Smith capitulated for the eleventh timethis year, but he’ll always remember that one win! Nobby Nobbs’ staple, Peter Buckley actually managed to garner a draw when he held Sean Hughes over six while John “Fireball” Fewkes won his sixth straight.

Iranian born Frenchman Mahyar Monshipour may be fighting Oscar Larios one day in a battle of super bantamweight champions and he warmed up for that challenge last night with a tough tussle against Mexican Julio Zarate. “La Sombra” dropped the champion in the fourth round with a nice left hook, straight right combo and the Persian had to dig deep to respond to the heavy leather coming his way, but he did and Zarate got more and more careless with his head, losing two points for the Glasgow Kiss and then retiring after the eighth round. Monshipour is now 28-2-2 and the fight with Larios could happen in Los Angeles where there is a sizable Iranian community. Underneath, Jackson Chanet from the fighting Gypsy tribe won for the twenty-fifth time but hasn’t fought anyone of note while former Vivian Harris challenger Souleymane M’baye kept busy with a blowout of hapless Walter Leichning.

The Lauri brothers of Italy both won in Switzerland when Giuseppe beat the Hungarian light welterweight Laszlo Komjathi in the tenth, while younger brother Antonio, out-pointed the Pole, Slawomir Ziemlewicz. Swiss cruiserweight, Loris Emiliani, won the vacant IBF Youth cruiserweight title and moved up to 7-0 (5).

Fresh off his defeat against Zsolt Erdei, Hugo Hernan Garay of Argentina fought in Uruguay on Saturday and stopped compatriot, Miguel Angel Robledo in four. The twenty-four-year-old Garay is now 24-2 with both narrow reversals coming at the hands of the Hungarian WBO light heavyweight champion. In August last year, “Pigu” beat some guy named Casanova in just fifty-five seconds, thereby proving the old adage “I’m a Lover not a Fighter” to be quite true. Uruguayan bantamweight prospect, Caril Emir Herrera improved on his previous win over Pablo Cesar Sepulveda when he stopped the Argie TWO SECONDS into the fourth. “El Gallito del Cerro” is now 10-0 (8).

Former IBF super bantamweight champion Vuyani Bungu lost his IBO featherweight title to the IBO super bantamweight champion, and countryman, Thomas “The Rock” Mashaba over twelve rounds. The thirty-seven-year-old drops to 39-5 while the new champion moves up to 16-2-4. Along the way Bungu beat such fighters like Kennedy McKinney (twice), Jesus Salud and Danny Romero during his five year, and undefeated, IBF reign, as he churned out thirteen defenses. The IBO light flyweight title was taken by Nkosinathi Joyi with an eight round decision over Ncedisile Kafile, whose record now reads 2-5. What a valid championship that must be!

On the Mayweather (and some other guy – what was his name?) under-card, the best heavyweight tap-dancer out there, Calvin Brock, scored an easy fourth round stoppage of professional loser, Kenny Craven. “The Boxing Banker” is now 26-0 (21) and will be relieved to have the scalp of “The Man who Beat Butterbean” under his belt. Colombian
welterweight sensation, Joel Jair Julio, just twenty-years-old, scored his eighteenth knockout in nineteen wins when he halted Arthur Medina in the first and middleweight Giovanni Lorenzo won for the eighteenth straight time as he out-pointed Ronald Weaver. “Wicked” Wes Ferguson returned from his loss to Arthur Brambila with a gimme fight versus John Temple and won each of the four rounds and Henry Crawford moved to 7-0 with a rare stoppage. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was very impressive as he stopped normally durable Ruben Galvan in the fourth round. “Superman” went the distance with stiff punching Dimitriy Salita last year and had never been stopped before Saturday night. OK, here’s a quick quiz for all of you boxing fans. Can anyone tell me who Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s. famous boxing father is? Anyone?

Gerardo Verde did not deserve to be given a title shot and I find it disgraceful that the WBO sanctioned this minimumweight bout. However, about seven rounds into his fight against Ivan “El Nino De Hierro” Calderon, Verde started to believe in himself and closed the gap on the light punching champion, but it was too little, too late and another
successful defense for the thirty-year-old Puerto Rican and close friend of Miguel Cotto. Upset of the night belonged to Carlos Maussa for his brilliant performance against “Not So Vicious” Vivian Harris. The Guyanese fighter came out blasting against the big underdog and rocked the challenger in the first minute but the awkward Colombian showed a great chin and determination to keep coming forward and landed a few big blows of his own. I think that Harris didn’t train as diligently as he should and he started to tire after a few rounds while Maussa showed a rock ’em, sock ’em style and kept marching forward like Frankenstein’s Monster and in the seventh landed a lovely left hook to become the new WBA light welterweight champion. As far as I know only one boxing “expert” picked Maussa to win! That guy must be a genius. There’s no need to divulge into the Mayweather exhibition except to say that it went pretty much as I expected. Gatti looks great against a certain level of opposition but has always struggled when faced with speed.

Fighter of the week was Carlos Maussa for his lovely performance of telegraphing his roundhouse blows and stopping the previously undecked Harris while nickname of the week goes to Tony “Oakey Kokey” Oakey.

*Hartlepool is infamous for hanging a monkey during the Napoleonic Wars, fearing it was a French spy.

Jonny Townsend can be reached at taansend@yahoo.com