Boxing Preview: “The Magnificent Seven”

On Saturday, September 18, three European title fights, two world title eliminators, a British and Commonwealth title fight and a WBA intercontinental bout will be held at LG Arena in Birmingham, England.

Some serious British talent is on show, with Nathan Cleverly in an WBO light heavyweight elimination clash, Matthew Macklin going for the vacant European middleweight title and James De Gale fighting for the WBA intercontinental super middleweight strap.

Also, Enzo Maccarinelli defends the European cruiserweight title, British welter champion Kell Brook is fighting former beltholder Michael Jennings; Matthew Hall has found himself lucky enough to land himself a spot for the vacant European light-middle title, recently stripped off Ryan Rhodes, and, British heavyweight champion Derek Chisora fights Commonwealth king Sam Sexton.

First and foremost we must mention that former European and British titlist Macklin was set to be fighting Darren Barker, in what would have been a massive domestic showdown. Barker has subsequently pulled out due to injury, which has opened the door for Shalva Jomardashvili from Georgia .

Jomardashvili has a record of 27-2-1 (19), and has spent the majority of his career in his homeland. Although the only time he has been in the U.K. before, he lost over six rounds to Martin Murray.

Macklin’s record is relatively the same at 26-2 (18), but looking at opponents faced, I would say that Macklin should be more experienced.

Macklin has been training under the tutelage of a certain Mr. Roach, at a certain Wild Card Gym, and has fought in the states twice before as well as splitting his fights between Ireland and the U.K.

His first challenge for a British title was back in 2006 against light middle ruler Jamie Moore. What a fight…it was an absolute war, constant back and forth action, unfortunately for Macklin he was knocked out in the 10th, no shame though, it was a thriller.

That was the last loss for Macklin. Since that time, he has won his last nine fights, stopped Wayne Elcock and Amin Asikainen along the way, and seriously feels he is ready for world title contention, with a WBC ranking assured should he win against Jomardashvili…which he should!

As mentioned, Ryan Rhodes pulled out, and Matthew Hall has filled his space. Hall is 23-2 (16) and is taking on Czech veteran Lukas Konecny, 44-3 (21).

On paper, this looks to be a significant step up for Hall, who only two fights ago was outgunned, outboxed and outclassed by Anthony Small for the British and Commonwealth belts.

Looking at Konecny’s record, this will be a very tough fight, as the three losses have gone the distance in a WBO title clash against Sergei Dzinziruk in 2008, a European title bout against Michele Piccirillo in 2006 and a European Union title contest against Ruben Varon in 2004.

Dzinziruk was pushed hard and only managed a majority decision, Piccirillo had to climb off the canvas and Varon escaped with a split decision verdict.

Hall took the fight at short notice but will bring the action as he is a scrapper and will want to close the distance for the inside exchanges. Hall has also been in with some seriously good operators, and carries a good degree of experience for his record.

This should be interesting, Konecny can clearly fight, but how he fights, that is where the questions lie. Hopefully Hall sees this as his golden opportunity and brings the pressure, that grit, determination and heart into play, and walks away with the title.

Nathan Cleverly, 19-0 (9), has a tough night on his hands. He is fighting German Karo Murat, 22-0 (13), a former European super middleweight ruler. Both are undefeated, and both have great records in terms of opponents faced.

Murat looks to be the bigger puncher but then Cleverly has only recently started finding his punching power and sitting down on his shots.

Murat has never fought in Britain, but he has fought abroad. Beforehand, Cleverly divided his time between studying for his Maths degree and training; now he has that degree he should be 100% ready to go with no distractions.

His last opponent is a good measuring stick in Antonio Brancalion, 32-7-2, who Cleverly stopped in the fifth round of their encounter to take the European Light-Heavyweight title.

Brancalion looked as if he could give the young upstart some trouble early but Cleverly adapted and fought smart. I expect him to do the same to Murat…although this will be no walkover. At the end of the day with two undefeated prospects, both will not want to lose the 0 on their records, and we can expect fireworks.

Enzo Maccarinelli, 32-4 (25), is trying to reclaim his former glory, and it has been a long hard road for the Welshman, who many expected to retire not so long ago after his third round knockout loss to Dennis Lebedev.

Since then however, he has had three first round knockout wins, the last earning him the vacant European cruiserweight title. Maccarinelli has always been a huge puncher; in that division you rather have to be, but he has suffered major confidence issues for a while.

Let us not forget that Maccarinelli is an ex-WBO titlist and has been in the ring with some good talent, including current WBA Heavyweight Champion David Haye.

Maccarinelli faces Alexander Frenkel, 22-0 (17), who fights out of Germany. Frenkel, undefeated, has not really been tested and this is his first real title fight, in fact he has never been 12 rounds.

He can bang that’s for sure but should he come up against the Enzo that I think will turn up, that is, the Enzo who so desperately wants to be world champion again, Frenkel will have his hands full.

On the flipside if the Enzo who cannot pull the trigger and waits to be punched like a rabbit caught in headlights turns up, you can see Frenkel walking away with it. For me that’s how this fight is decided.

In one of the big domestic showdowns of the night, we have British heavyweight champion Derek Chisora vs. Commonwealth champion Sam Sexton.

Chisora’s record is 13-0 (8) while Sexton’s is 13-1 (6). Coincidentally, Sexton’s only career loss is to Chisora back in 2008, so this is a rematch.

Sexton’s last two fights were at the end of 2009 against Martin Rogan, who he beat twice. Chisora’s last fight was about four months ago, stopping Danny Williams and sending him into retirement (he was on his way there anyway; Chisora just pushed him along a bit).

In their last meeting, Chisora stopped Sexton in six rounds but Sexton has come on quite a bit since then. Chisora, I think, has come along even more though. He carries more power and better boxing ability than Sexton.

Chisora also tries to really get inside the opponent’s head and fights very cockily, which can infuriate the best of fighters. Look for a repeat of the first time they met, in a good ol’ fashioned beats up.

Also James De Gale, 7-0 (5), is in action against Carl Dilks 14-2 (5). The highly touted Gold medal winner from the Beijing Olympics has his sternest test ahead of him.

In Dilks, De Gale will find an awkward aggressor, with a good chin who’s not afraid of getting involved in a tear up. Dilks has had twice as many pro-fights as De Gale, but De Gale is most definitely the better boxer, and more powerful.

De Gale should be able to outbox Dilks in a classic ‘skill against will’ scenario, either way it will be good for De Gale to be put under pressure, at least for a little bit anyway.

With the way De Gale has been performing recently, as tough as Dilks is, it’s not totally implausible to see Dilks getting stopped. If not, De Gale takes a close decision.

Last but in no way least, the fight that most have been looking forward to on this superb bill sees Michael Jennings, 36-2 (17), taking on Kell Brook, 21-0 (14), for the British welterweight title that is also a contest for the WBO Intercontinental trophy.

Brook has everyone excited as he is the new product of the St.Thomas Gym in Wincobank, South Yorkskire. This facility has produced some of Britain’s finest in Prince Naseem Hamed, Johnny Nelson, Junior Witter, Herol Graham and Paul Ingle.

Kell has long been seen as the next big thing In British boxing, sharing that title with Cleverly, and the public almost look at him as the new Hamed, be it that they fight in similar styles and come from the same gym and area.

Those are all obvious comparables, but is Brook as good as Hamed was?

Time will tell, and while this isn’t Brook’s first real test, it’s a good one, as he has been in with some good fighters, as has Jennings.

Brook also has quite heavy hands and although statistically he may have a better knockout ratio, do not be misled into thinking Jennings can’t punch.

Jennings has a very good boxing brain, because that is what he does best, he boxes. He is very quick at coming in, getting shots off and stepping out of range, under a high guard.

So high in fact, that’s where Miguel Cotto found a new home for his devastating left hooks to the body when they fought for the WBO welterweight title.

If that ‘niche’ in Jennings’ market is open for exploiting, then Brook knows what to do. Although Brook is no Cotto, he is a very slick, fast counter puncher who again, will trade when necessary.

Brook is the British champion here and this is also the WBO welterweight eliminator. It’s facing up to be a cracker with no excuses on both sides.

This fight was supposed to happen a while back but due to ‘complications’ it didn’t. Kell will be coming fitter than he has ever been, and on the night I see Brook having too much for Jennings, possibly stopping him in the later rounds.