Blog Posts - Heavyweight Boxing

David Price sees a change in comeback opponent

1/10/2014

Courtesy of boxrec.com

British Heavyweight David Price (15-2, 13) has seen his upcoming opponent change.

Price, making his comeback after back-to-back losses to Tony Thompson, was originally set to take on Evgeny Orlov (14-12-1, 10) back in December. That bout got pushed back when Price was ill and it was expected that he'd meet Orlov, AKA "The Molecule from Hell", on January 25th.

It seems now that Orlov has been replaced by Konstantin Airich (19-7-2, 15), a man who is best known for his controversial bout with Danny Williams, a bout that saw promoter Ahmet Öner ringing the bell in round 6.

Although Airich does have a solid punch on him and has defeated the likes of Ondrej Pala and Lucian Bot he has also lost his last 3 and been stopped 4 times, including an opening round defeat last time out to Manuel Charr. It'd not be a surprise at all if Price finished him off inside 4 rounds as the likable Scouser makes his debut under the promotional banner of Sauerland Events.

This bout will be televised in both Germany, on ARD, and in the UK, on Boxnation, and will begin the climb back up the rankings for Price who is a fighter who we like despite his obvious flaws and frailties.

Fury's at the Copper Box

1/8/2014

Courtesy of Chris Royle/Boxrec.com

Earlier today Frank Warren and promotional vehicle "Queensberry Promotions" announced that both Tyson and Hughie Fury would be featured on his upcoming show at London's Copper Box.

The show, on February 15th, was already set to have a European title fight between Dereck Chisora and Andriy Rudenko on it in a hard hitting Heavyweight battle. It now looks likely that Tyson Fury, whose opponent has yet to be named, will be taking on the winner of the Chisora/Rudenko bout in an attempt to claim the European title.

For Tyson's young cousin Hughie things are less exciting, at least in the immediate future. Although his bout is likely to be televised it's unlikely he'll be facing anyone of note as he continues to develop. There is hope that he'll be moved on to an English or British title fight by summer though we're not going to make assumptions like that as, in all honesty, we don't think he'll be ready for either.

We're expecting both Fury's to have their fights shown, live, on Boxnation in the United Kingdom. Hopefully we'll get the opponents names in the next day or two though we're not expecting anything too exciting with both men likely to play it safe for now.

Chisora gets unbeaten Rudenko

1/6/2014

Courtesy of boxrec.com

Britain's exciting Dereck Chisora (19-4, 13) will return to the ring on February 15th at London's Copper Box Arena to make the first defense of his European Heavyweight title.

Chisora, who won the title back in September by defeating Edmund Gerber, will be taking on unbeaten Ukrainian Andriy Rudenko (24-0, 16). Although Rudenko has a pretty good looking record his opponents, so far, have been poor with the most notable opponents not being anything to write home about.

As of the November 2013 EBU rankings (the latest available on their website) Rudenko was ranked at #17. That means there are 16 better ranked European Heavyweights, including the likes of Erkan Teper and Johann Duhaupas who would both make for interesting fights with Chisora. Unfortunately however it seems that this is a safe fight for Chisora who has high world rankings and will likely be looking for a world title fight later in 2014, a fight that he won't be wanting to jeopardise.

With Chisora clearly rebuilding his career after a number of losses, 2013 was a good year with 4 wins, all by KO. Unfortunately however a victory over Rudenko isn't a step forward after victories over Gerber and Malik Scott and Ondrej Pala which should have acted as a stepping stone to bigger and better fights in 2014. Sure a fight with David Price has fallen through due to Price's situation but how about a Commonwealth title fight with Lucas Browne in summer? Or a fight with either Deontay Wilder of Tyson Fury in a world title eliminator?

There are options out their for Chisora, though it seems that this fight has been a bad choice if you ask us.

Mike Perez set to return

1/6/2014

Courtesy of boxrec.com

It's fair to say that Cuban Mike Perez (20-0, 12) impressed us all late last year with his win over the previously unbeaten Magomed Abdusalamov. Despite the tragedy that followed that bout Perez had genuinely impressed us all, taking the bets shots from "Mago" and replying with interest.

Unfortunately Mago's health following that bout has been a worry to all in boxing with the Russian falling in to a serious coma. We're all hoping that Mago makes a strong recovery, even though his career is obvious over. For Perez though boxing goes on and he's now set to return to the ring on January 18th.

Perez, will be traveling to Canada for his return as he takes on the hard hitting Carlos Takam (29-1, 23). Takam, originally from Cameroon though based in France, is currently on an 11 fight unbeaten streak following his sole career defeat which came to Gregory Tony. This will however be his first fight against someone of real note and his first in which the boxing public will be carefully watching him.

This fight, which has been added to the Lucien Bute/Jean Pascal card, is arguably the show stealer and promises to be just as exciting as the main event.

Interestingly for us, there is also a second Heavyweight fight on the show. This one will see unbeaten prospect Oscar Rivas (12-0, 7), originally from Colombia, take on the hard hitting Eric Barrak (7-1, 6). On paper it's a good fight despite the fact Rivas will clearly be favoured. Notably this will be a battle of nicknames with Rivas being known as "Kaboom" whilst Barrak is known as "Boom" so surely we're going to be getting an encounter to remember.

Nobuhiro Ishida eying up the Japanese Heavyweight title

1/6/2014

Courtesy of http://green-tsuda.com

Most fans around the world will recognise the name Nobuhiro Ishida. His career, over the last few years at least, has been interesting. He shocked the world in 2011 when he stopped the previously unbeaten James Kirkland in the upset of the year, then faced a string of top fighters in the form of Gennady Golovkin, Paul Williams and Dmitry Pirog.

It now appears that Ishida has turned his attention away from the Middleweight and Light Middleweight divisions to focus on the Heavyweight division.

The lanky Japanese fighter will be getting his first taste of Heavyweight action on January 11th at the Korakuen Hall as he steps into the ring with Yamato Fujinaka in what will be a public sparring session. The spar has been set up for the JBC to see how Ishida will cope with the power and size of a Heavyweight foe. It's expected that if he can impress the JBC he will be getting a Japanese Heavyweight ranking and Japanese Heavyweight title fight.

If Ishida does get that ranking he'll have very impressively moved from Middleweight to Heavyweight in one fell swoop, something that is close to, if not completely, unprecedented.

David Haye's retirement set to be cut short?

1/3/2014

Courtesy of boxrec.com

It appears the reports of David Haye's forced retirement have been greatly exaggerated with the English Heavyweight having recently returned to the gym.

The former Cruiserweight kingpin who has promised much but delivered little at Heavyweight was thought to have been struck down by a career threatening injury after a number of pull outs in 2013. Earlier this year however the "Hayemaker" twitted out a picture of himself in the gym in what appears to be a clear sign that he will be returning to action at some point in 2014.

With Manuel Charr and Tyson Fury both being messed about by Haye in 2013 it's fair to say that some will be doubtful about any fights Haye may sign up for this coming year. This could see opponents looking to insert additional clauses into any fight contract and it could also see fans thinking twice about buying tickets whilst also putting doubt in to the minds of venues and television stations.

If Haye does return, as expected, then he'll obviously add a bit of character to the division though unfortunately the let downs from the big mouthed puncher would take a lot for him to reverse and some will never trust him again. It's a shame that he did promise so much when he first made a permanent move to Heavyweight as he really did dig himself a hole that he could never climb out of.

We're hoping that a more mature and more committed Haye will return in 2014, though it's unlikely that "big mouth" will manage to really "save the Heavyweight division" as he once promised.

Wladimir Klitschko v Alex Leapai is likely to be in Germany or Australia

1/3/2014

Courtesy of boxrec.com

Due to Alex Leapai's, pictured, major victory over the previously unbeaten Denis Boytsov late in 2013 he is now, as many will know, the mandatory WBO challenger to Wladimir Klitschko, the WBO, IBF and WBA "super" champion. The bout, which is currently being arranged as we speak is set to take place in the coming months though the surprising thing is that 2 countries are being spoken about as the likely host.

The obvious one is Germany. the country where the Klitschko brothers have been based for much of their career and where Wladimir has a massive fan based. Whilst the Americans may not be fans of "Dr Steelhammer" on the whole the German market really cannot get enough of him with TV coverage and huge stadiums giving him the attention that "the Heavyweight champion" rightfully deserves.

The second option that has appeared is Australia. Although Leapai is based in Australia himself the country is a bit of a shock to act as a Heavyweight title fight venue with the most famous Heavyweight title fight in Australia's history coming way back in the 1900's when Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns for the title and became the first African American champion in the division's history.

Whilst we do like the idea of expanding the scope of boxing, we would hope that a fight in Australia would have a deep under-card. Thankfully there are numerous good prospects down under that could be put on the card, such as Joseph Parker, Cameron Hammond and Jeff Horn though whether or not German TV would be happy would be the big question. The time zone issue may force the bout to be in Germany unless some sort of a compromise could be found, for example the card starting earlier than usual for an Australian card.

Vitali Klitschko becomes Champion Emeritus

12/16/2013

Courtesy of Boxrec.com

Earlier today reports started to filter out that Ukrainian veteran Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41) had finally decided his future and the future status of the WBC Heavyweight title.

Klitschko, whose future had been in doubt for several months announced that his political fighter, for the freedom of Ukrainian citizens, was more important to him at the present moment than his fight to be a Heavyweight champion. Thankfully for "Dr Ironfist" the WBC were happy to accommodate Klitschko by giving him the "Emeritus" title allowing him to concentrate on his political fight with the chance to return to a WBC world title fight down the road.

This is the second time Vitali has been the WBC Emeritus champion having also held the position between beating Danny Williams in 2004 and returning to action in 2008 against Samuel Peter. During that time injuries had plagued Kitschko's body which needed time and a break to recover. This time however there is almost no chance that he will be returning to the ring.

Aged 42 and having spent 15 months out of the ring it appears the only fights left for Klitschko are his political ones.

As a result of Klitschko's change in status this leaves the WBC world title vacant. This could see several interesting possibilities.

First we know that Bermane Stiverne is the WBC #1 ranked fighter and the Silver title holder. A fight between Stiverne and Deontay Wilder (#3) would certainly be a fighter that would be explosive and a lot of fun. If this bout was made for the full WBC title there would be few complaints.

Rather than just making Stiverne/Wilder for the WBC title a second option would be to have those two men match up in an eliminator with Chris Arreola (#2) fighting Bryant Jennings (#4) in another eliminator with the winners facing off. Of course this could actually be extend to an 8 man tournament if the WBC chose to include Mike Perez (#5), Dereck Chisora (#6), Manuel Charr (#7) and Tyson Fury (#8). This may not be a quick fix but it would certainly add a lot of excitement to the Heavyweight division if 8 of the top challengers were forced to fight off for the right to call themselves a world champion.

British pullouts effect the coming weekend

12/9/2013

Courtesy of Matchroom Sports

Pull outs in boxing are nothing new and there's no way we can stop them. At the end of the day people do get injured and they do get ill. It's just unfortunate however when two pull outs, for the same weekend, destroy some of the little interesting action we thought we'd get.

Earlier today both Anthony Joshua (3-0, 3) and David Price (15-2, 13) were forced out of their fights for this coming Saturday.

Joshua, who has now pulled out of successive dates, unfortunately appears to have damaged his shoulder. He was scheduled to fight Welshman Dorian Darch (7-2, 1) but we'll be honest and admit that that's no big shame to be off. Darch is nothing great and wouldn't test Joshua in all honesty.

The other fight was to be Price's return from back-to-back losses. Price has unfortunately got a virus and won't be fighting Evgeny Orlov (14-12-1, 10) in Germany. Although we'd have assumed Price would have blitzed Orlov inside 4 rounds it was still a good fight given the fact Price needed a confidence builder following 2 stoppage defeats to Tony Thompson.

Dereck Chisora sends out open letter to Deontay Wilder

12/4/2013

Courtesy of boxrec.com

We all know that British Heavyweight Dereck Chisora (19-4, 13) enjoys a good fight and it appears that he is determined to get one in early 2014.

Having seen David Price vacating the British and Commonwealth titles that fight has certainly fallen through, at least for now. Instead of crying over spilt milk Chisora has turned his attention stateside and seems to have targeted unbeaten American Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30).

As a sign of how much Chisora wants the fight he has sent out an open letter to Wilder:

Dear Deontay,

I’m asking you man-to-man and hope that you have the honour and courage to accept my challenge and fight me.

I’m in this business to prove that I’m the best and to become a world champion which I’m sure you are too, so take me up on my challenge and let’s do this and get it on early next year.

I’ll be honest, I don’t rate you. You’ve put together a record of 30 knockouts from 30 fights, but I believe that you are grossly over-hyped for knocking over nobodies - which is understandable for the first two years as a pro when you’re learning - but after 30 fights you’re still knocking over nobodies. As a guide I fought Vitali Klitschko for the world title in only my 18th fight. When are you going to step up and fight a real contender?

There’s only one way to prove me wrong and shut me up and that is to get in the ring with me.

The fans want to see if you can really fight and back up your words by facing someone who will give you a real fight, where you can prove that you America’s saviour in the heavyweight division, and that someone is me.

You can punch, there’s no question about that, I can bang as well. It would be an explosive and exciting fight between us, but lets see who’s got the bigger heart for the fight when the heat is on.

If you beat me fair and square I’ll have no problem saying that you were the better man, but lets do it and prove who really is the better man.

Richard Schaefer from your promoter’s Golden Boy Promotions has a good relationship with my promoter Frank Warren so there’s no problem getting it made.

Deontay, if you are a proud fighting man then you will take up this challenge and give the fans and media what they want to see.

Regards,

Dereck Chisora

Wilder has responded by effectively saying Chisora is his third option for his next bout. The American seems to feel that he is likely to fight for the, soon to be, vacant WBC Heavyweight title if Vitali Klitschko retires. If he's not to get that fight he's said he'd like to face Tyson Fury and if that fails to materalise a fight with Chisora would be his next choice.

Interestingly Wilder, who holds a rather undeserved #3 WBC ranking, would likely have to face Bermane Stiverne (23-1-1, 20) for the WBC title if Vitali does announce his retirement. We've got to admit that that is a fight that we'd love to see and a fight that would guarantee fireworks for as long as it lasts