Oddly one journeyman who seems to be in a lot of demand over the past year has been Croat Hrvoje Kisicek (7-9, 2) who has fought 12 times in less than a year. Kisicek returns to the ring again this coming Monday as he battles the unbeaten Gary Cornish (17-0, 9). Cornish will be the third unbeaten Brit that Kisicek will have faced after losing to both Hughie Fury and Anthony Joshua and we'd be shocked if the Croatian managed to do any better here.
Whether we like limited Journeymen being put into the ring with unbeaten prospects or not it does happen. A lot of the time the journeyman doesn't try to beat the prospect but tries to make the promising unbeaten man look good.
Oddly one journeyman who seems to be in a lot of demand over the past year has been Croat Hrvoje Kisicek (7-9, 2) who has fought 12 times in less than a year. Kisicek returns to the ring again this coming Monday as he battles the unbeaten Gary Cornish (17-0, 9). Cornish will be the third unbeaten Brit that Kisicek will have faced after losing to both Hughie Fury and Anthony Joshua and we'd be shocked if the Croatian managed to do any better here.
0 Comments
After the numerous prospects who were fight on Friday night we then move on to a Friday night which is relatively tame in all honesty despite a few interesing prospects being in action.
One of those prospects is American based Polish born Adam Kownacki (5-0, 5) whofaces arguably his toughtest test since turning professional. After taking out his first 5 opponents in just 11 rounds he now faces Excell Holmes (2-2-1-1, 1) who hasn't been stopped. Whilst not a good "test" as such this will allow us to compare Kownacki to Moldovan prospect Constantin Bejenaru who took a 4 round deicison over Holmes last year. In the UK we have 3 unbeaten Heavyweight prospects in action. The most experienced of those is Scottish giant Gary Cornish (17-0, 9) who will look to extend his winning run as he faces Tibor Balogh (13-3-2, 9). With Balogh losing 2 of his last 3 this appears to be a safe "step up" for Cornish who is being moved along very slowly due to his lack of amateur experience, we do however have doubts on just where his ceiling will actually be and can't imagine him getting to British level if we're being honest. Another Brit in action is the big punching David Allen (5-0, 3) who will b looking to make light work of the imported Plamen Nikolov (1-1-1, 1) from Bulgaria. We're not sure if this will tell us anything about Allen though we do expect him to win pretty easily. One British fighter we do expect to learn something about is the gigantic Adam Machaj (3-0, 3) who will be fighting against Croatia's Hrvoje Kisicek (6-8, 1) who of course went the distance with Hughie Fury and was stopped in 2 by Anthony Joshua. We're expecting Machaj to go somewhere between the two and stop Kisicek but take more than 2 rounds to do it. There is also two bouts in the Czech Republic. One of these will see the win-less Josef Kuricaj (0-17) trying to end his awful run as he battles the debuting Ante Verunica (0-0) whilst the other will see experienced "professional loser" Martin Stensky (1-29, 1) fighting Ladislav Sasi (0-0). Wtih 28 stoppage losses against him, we're expecting Stensky so fall over again here unfortunately even though his opponent is a debutant. The Heavyweight division to some is basically full of old, ot of shape fighters battling aroundfor the chance to fight a Klitschko brother and pick up apay day. It may be unfair but that's how many do view it right now.
Unfortunately this weekend may struggle to convince the cynics otherwise as a show in Bolivia, yes that country of Mike Tyson fame, hosts a show featuring number of fighters who are either fat, overweight or both. The show, which features 4 Heavyweight contests will kick off with the debuting Yindo Ovale (0-0) fighting Carmelo Roca (4-7-2, 2). This is a contest that is easy to avoid when you look at the other 3 heavyweight bouts on the show. These contests will see, the out of shape, Chauncy Welliver (55-7-5, 22) fighting against Guido Santana (13-6-2, 9), the old Billy Wright (40-4, 31) defending his PABA interim title against Esteban Hillman Tababary (16-10-2, 12) and Saul Farah (44-17-3, 38) fighting against Carlos de los Santos Fresneda (15-4,8). It's hard to see anything but wins for Welliver, Wright and Farah though in all honesty none of those men will likely go far in the sport due to their notable limitations. Bolivia won't be the only country in South America with Heavyweight action ad Brazil joins in on the act with Jonathan Correia da Silva (0-0) debuting against the limited Jose Carlos Da Silva (2-14-1, 1) who has been stopped in 11 of his 14 losses. Whilst the Bolivian show is the most interesting in terms of overall action we actually the best fight in the division will be in the UK as Britain's Dereck Chisora (18-4, 12) battles the Czech republic's Ondrej Pala (32-3, 22). This bout, for the WBA and WBO International titles is some thing like the third opponent Chisora has been scheduled to face and although a late replacement it does look like he's a decent enough opponent. On the same British show the unbeaten Gary Cornish (16-0, 8) fights Ivica Perkovic (20-22, 15). Although the records are worlds apart it wouldn't be a shock in the slightest if Perkovic managed to defeat the very limited Cornish. Staying in Europe, France will have a contest between Ibrahima Mariko (3-1, 2) and David Spilmont (2-1, 1) whilst Germany will see Aleksandr Beliaziun (0-0) making his debut. The action through Europe extends as far as Russia where Apti Davtaev (3-0, 3) fights Frantisek Kynkal (2-2, 2) and Arbi Madaev (1-0) takes on Oleksandr Pritula (0-1) in two very low level match ups. Over in the US we will get several bouts. The highest profile of those will see Travis Kauffman (26-1, 19) fighting the limited, but late replacement, Jason Barnett (14-14, 7). This contest, for the World Boxing Union Intercontinental Heavyweight should really be just a case of handing Kauffman the title. The other bouts in the US will see David Long (12-2-2, 8) attempting to defeat the hard hitting Danny Kelly (4-0-1, 4) in an interesting looking contest, Terrance Dumas (4-0, 3) fighting the debuting Robert Davis (0-0) and both Randy Easton (0-2-1) and Danny Calhoun (2-0, 1) taking on yet to be named opponents. Finally, there is also action in Canada. These bouts will see Didier Bence (9-0, 3) fighting Eric Martel Bahoeli (9-3, 6) in what should be a good test for Bence and Dillon Carman (5-2, 4) taking on Sylvera Louis (5-2, 2). Whilst the Bence bout is the more interesting it's fair to say that both are pretty competitive looking. In Queensland we get novices in action with debuting pair Mitch Therylle (0-0) taking on Jim McCaughey (0-0) and Jacob Logan (0-1) taking on a third debutant in the form of Luke Barclay (0-0). We're lead to believe that these two bouts are going to be 3 round contests, though we're unsure if they are perhaps part of a 4-man mini tournament or not.
Auckland, not too far, from Queensland, also plays host to a Heavyweight action as Will Quarrie (1-0) looks for his second victory whilst Anthony Nansen (3-1, 1) attempts to bounce back from his lone defeat. Quarrie's opponent has yet to be named though Nanse will be fighting the limited Junior Maletino Iakopo (0-10-2) in what should be a comfortable victory. The Heavyweight doubles continue in Malta as novice Ibrahim Fidan (2-0) and debutant Deniz Kotzig (0-0) are in action. Both men are facing yet to be named opponents. The previously mentioned Orlov isn' the only giant in action tonight with Scotland's gigantic Gary Cornish (15-0, 7) putting his unbeaten record on the line. Cornish will battle the light hitting Czech Jiri Svacina (12-10, 1). With Svacina being a former Light Heavyweight it's hard to imagine him being much of a challenge for Cornish who should be too big, too strong and too powerful. With Saturday having a genuine major bout it's fair to suggest that Friday is the proverbial "calm before the storm" with 4 low level professional Heavyweight bouts spread across the world and another series of the "Bigger is Better" tournament.
We expect the first fight to take place in Greece as the unbeaten Evgenios Lazaridis (1-0, 1) looks to continue his winning streak. The novice professional is best known for his exploits in the one night tournament "Bigger is Better" (which he won) though he did also compete at the 2012 Olympic test event defeating American Lenroy Thompson. Lazaridis will be facing the winless Sergio Romano (0-2) and it's quite difficult to see how the 6'6" Greek could lose here. Interestingly Romano reached the semi-final in the same "Bigger is Better" tournament" losing to losing finalist Yavuz Keles. After the Greek bout we expect Bulgaria to take centre stage as Kristian Krilov (2-5-1) takes on Deyan Mihailov (0-3-2) in an all-Bulgarian affair. Although it's a bout between two "professional losers" it's a bout with two fighters that British fans may recognise with both men having fought the UK 3 times. Unfortunately for Krilov he is 0-3 in the UK whilst Mihailov is 0-2-1 and both have effectively proven to be little more than fodder for emerging prospects. Having just mentioned the UK it seems a fitting time to mention the UK bout that sees the unbeaten Scottish giant Gary Cornish (14-0, 6) fighting for his first professional title. Stood at 6'7" Cornish will be dwarfing his journeyman opponent Paul Butlin (14-18, 3) by some 5" as they battle for the International Masters Heavyweight title over the 10 round distance. Interestingly this will be the first time Cornish has been scheduled to do 10 rounds. Finally we get to the last pro bout in the division as we reach Argentina and see Emilio Ezequiel Zarate (16-11-3, 8) taking on Luis Oscar Juarez (7-7-1, 4) for the 4th time. To date Zarate holds a record of 2-0-1 against Juarez, though Juarez is 2-0 going in to this bout whilst Zarate has won just 1 of his last 4 bouts. Now aside from "professional" Heavyweight action we also, as mentioned above, have a "Bigger is Better" tournament. "Bigger is Better" for those of you who haven't caught the tournament before pits fighters from cross codes (boxers, kickboxers, thaiboxers and mma fighters) in to what is effectively a "Prizefighter" tournament". These bouts are no longer recorded by Boxrec.com as not all the fighters need to posses a boxing license. This will be the 21st "Bigger is Better" though arguably the most interesting as it's supposed to feature the very highly touted Romanian Bogdan Dinu (9-0, 6 as a professional) who was a stand out amateur. Dinu is viewed as the over-whelming favourite with around 90% of the votes on the "Bigger is Better" website at the time of writing. As well as Dinu the competition features Nikolas Tsoukalas-a Greek kickboxer, Edmont Baltatzis-a kickboxer who alleges to be the pro boxing Heavyweight boxing champion of Greece (we can't find any evidence of that however), Alexandros Kartozia-a Georgian kickboxer, Ozcan Cetinkaya-A Turkish pro boxer (21-8-2, 14), Vladimir Toktasynov-a Russian kickboxer, Szymon Was-a Polish kickboxer and Dmitri Bezus-a Ukrainian kickboxer. |