This may have been the htird successive loss for Sirci though the focus is all on Granat who some are tipping as the hottest thing in Swedish boxing since Ingemar Johansson.
Swedish Heavyweight prospect Adrian Granat (2-0, 2) may not have managed to prove that he was a "Super Talent", as some Swedish journalists described him as being, though he did comfortably move to 2-0 as he stopped Italian Gianluca Sirci (4-3, 2).
This may have been the htird successive loss for Sirci though the focus is all on Granat who some are tipping as the hottest thing in Swedish boxing since Ingemar Johansson.
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On Sunday we had 3 Heavyweight bouts spread across the boxing world.
Of those 3 bouts two of them took place in Tanzania and neither went more than a round. One of those saw Idd Bonge (2-0, 2) stopping the chinny Bernard Mwakasanga (2-4, 1) whilst the other saw the Ashraf Suleiman (4-5-2, 3) stopping the debuting Ramadhan Ally (0-1). The other bout, which took place in Croatia, saw the hard hitting but very stoppable Muhammed Ali Durmaz (9-16, 8) taking out Alex Karp (3-6, 1) in 4 rounds. Friday night saw very little in terms of interesting Heavyweight action, Saturday night however had more than a usual weekend's worth numerous bouts of varying levels of interest.
For must fans the key Heavyweight was in Turkey of all places as former amateur star Odlanier Solis (20-2, 13) was finally punished for being lazy and lacking discipline. Solis, fighting against veteran Tony Thompson (39-4, 26), was simply out worked by the 42 year old "Tiger" who scored his third upset in 4 fights. Although Solis's skills were obvious his desire to win wasn't there and although the bout was officially a "split decision" there was no argument over who had deserved the victory. Prior to the Solis/Thompson bout there were two other Heavyweight bouts on the show. The first of those was a nothing contest as the gigantic but useless Bugra Horus (0-1) quit after a round against Goga Abuladze (16-5, 10). Abuladze landed at will through the first round and Horus said he wanted no more. The second Heavyweight bout on the show was much better, though it was controversial. It featured the unbeaten Agit Kabayel (10-0, 7) taking a very narrow split decision over the always testing Gbenga Oloukun (18-10, 11). The bout was scored a split decision to Kabayel though many would feel that Oloukun was jobbed. At 21 Kabayel has got real potential and this bout should do him more good than bad, though his record should now be 9-1 in all honesty. Although Turkey had most of the notable action there was actually a few other fights spread through Europe. One of those really put a smile on our face and that was because Jamie Hearn (11-7-1, 5) managed to stop the shamed Larry Olubamiwo (10-6, 9) inside a round. Anyone who follows this site will be aware that we are disgusted by the fact Olubamiwo can fight as a professional after his multiple drug issues so to see him beaten like this is simply wonderful. Jamie Hearn you deserve a medal! The other European fight saw Franck Acho (1-0, 1) stopping Wilfried Hoareau (0-2) in the fourth round of a contest in France. The first bout of the day was in Autralia where Paul Samways (2-1, 2) stopped Kingsley Enedehge (1-4) in the second round. Although it was a small profile bout it was still a good way to kick off the day. Despite the highest profile bout taking place in Turkey the US did have more than it's share of action with numerous fights across a range of shows. The highest profile of these wasn't anywhere near the signifiance of the Thompson/Solis bout unfortunately still there was interest there. These US bouts included the fourth meeting between Sonya Lamonakis (9-1-2, 1) and Tiffany Woodard (4-8-3, 3). For the third time in four meeting Lamonakis came out on top and asa result claimed the vacant New York female Heavyweight title. Unfortunately whilst Sonya is one of the top female fighters in the division there is really very little competition out there and the only bout that really makes sense is a rematch with Martha Salazar. Whilst Lamonakis did what was expected of her we've got to admit that we were very shocked by the fact that the unbeaten Darlington Agha (9-0-1, 6) was held to a draw by Jamal Woods (4-11-3, 4). Tis contest was a rematch of a bout that took place 9 months ago, in the first meeting Agha dominated and it appears that this time he simply didn't bother turning up. Unfortunately the draw is likely to cost him big time with his record now marked up. On a third US show with Heavyweight action Brett Murphy (1-0, 1) kicked off his career with a stoppage over John Moxey (2-3, 1) whilst Mahmoud Abu-Ria (2-0) took a decision over the huge Pat Quinn (0-2) who weighed in at a rotund 360lbs. Friday might typically be one of the big days in boxing but this last past Friday was unusually quiet qith just a handful of small profile Heavyweight bouts.
Of the bouts the highest profile was in the US as Romanian giant Razvan Cojanu (9-1, 4) narrowly over-came the tricky Avery Gibson (3-3-2, 1). Gibson, who beat Ytalo Perea last time out, gave Cojanu a seriously tough test and many wouldn't have complained had the bout ended in a draw. A second bout in the US saw Pedro Martinez (7-7, 3) upset Anthony Ferrante (12-6-0-1, 7) in what is easily the biggest win of Martinez's career. Going in to this Martinez had lost his previous 3 and had won just one of his previous 6 bouts. In the UK Henry Smith (3-3) managed to over-come Courtney Richards (2-3-1) in a very close 4 round decision. No many bouts, world wide, took place this past Thursday but we did have were two Heavyweight bouts in Mexico.
Of those two bouts the most notable featured unbeaten American Scott Alexander (9-0-1, 5) who scored a 129 second KO over the over-matched Juan Luis Lopez Alcaraz (3-8-2, 1). This bout, a clear mismatch on paper, saw the expected outcome and left us all wondering what Alexander would fight someone with a pulse. The other bout on the show of interest to ourselves saw the debuting Abraham Cruz (1-0) use a 53lb weight advantage to over come the much smaller Luis Rodriguez (1-2) over 4 rounds. This bout ended in a majority decision for Cruz though it seems the victory will have done little to convince fans that Cruz will be worth followin considering the laboured manner of his victory. This past Wednesday saw a trio of Heavyweight bouts both taking place on the same card down under. Whilst neither were big fights both had interest around them.
The most notable of the three bouts saw the hard hitting Bowie Tupou (24-3, 17) dominate and then stop the over-matched Nick Guivas (7-2-2, 5). Guivas was down in rounds 3, 5 and 6 as he was bounced off the canvas in a thoroughly one sided contest. Willie Nasio (2-0, 2) scoring his second KO victory as he took out the win-less Moses Havea (0-2) part way through round 3. The bout, scheduled for 4 rounds of 2 minutes, was Nasio's first in 11 months and he shook off the ring rust well to set up another bout next month. In the other bout on the show the debuting Marco Monaco (0-1) got upset by the 50-50 James Porter (2-2) who evened up his record with a majority decision victory. Whilst boxing fans around the world are debating the legitimacy of Deontay Wilder's KO over Malik Scott this past weekend there has actually been a man who has left no one question whether or not his KO was genuine. That man was the unbeaten and hard hard hitting Alexis Santos (13-0, 11) who left Sylvester Barron (8-4, 3) feeling the effects of some series bombs.
Santos, who is very promising and pretty under-the-radar, probably connected 2 or 3 shots more than he needed two in the finish but the referee, Robert Benoit. who should be to blame for those. Keep an eye on Santos, he may not have the perfect record but he's certainly looking like one worth following, especially if you believe America needs a major force in the Heavyweight division. Sunday's are days where we expect many fights but this past Sunday saw one Heavyweight fight in Hungary. The bout in question saw novice fight Istvan Geller (2-0, 1) scoring his first decision victory as he out pointed the much more experienced Zoltan Somosi (15-13, 7) over 6 rounds.
It's not often that the Heavyweight division gives us something to talk about but this Saturday did give us more than just 1 or 2 headlines and more than a handful of forum topics of varying nature.
The biggest profile bout of the day was in Puerto Rico where Olympic bronze medal winner Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31) stopped fellow American Malik Scott (36-2-1, 13) inside a round. Whilst on paper this was an impressive result many have doubted the legitimacy of the stoppage cast aspirations that Scott took a dive, the bout was fixed or that Scott should have his purse with held. The only thing that seems certain about the result was that Scott didn't come in to win and that question marks will remain over Wilder until he faces someone who actually tries to fight with him. With the win Wilder has set him self up as the WBC #1 contender and will face the winner of the upcoming rematch between Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola. That bout should finally answer some questions about Wilder's power, skill, stamina, chin and fighters mentality. With out trying to sound overly critical they are 5 things we shouldn't have to wait more than 30 fights to find out about. If Wilder's bout was the highest profile contest of the day then the close runner up was in the USA as Ukrainian Vyacheslav Glazkov (17-0-1, 11) defeated Poland's brave Tomasz Adamek (49-3, 29) over 12 rounds. Adamek fought much of the bout with a swollen eye and although he was always game he really did look like a fighter who needs to seriously considering waving good bye to our great sport. Adamek's heart and chin, which have always been his best traits, proved themselves but his power doesn't effect Heavyweights and his speed had dropped to the point that he no longer has much of a chance against a Heavyweight of any note. In Poland we saw former title contenders battling as Polan'd very own Andrzej Wawrzyk (29-1, 15) battled South African veteran Frans Botha (48-11-3-1, 29). Botha, who looked a shadow of himself, was dropped in round 5 and then stopped soon afterwards with the Polish fighter unloading. On the same Polish card their was also a victory for Marcin Rekowski (13-1, 11) who bounced back well following his recent loss to Oliver McCall. Rekowski, fighting the limited Mateusz Malujda (4-3-1, 1), had no problems at all in claiming a victory dropping Rekowski twice in the contest. In France the debuting Mohamed Samoudi (1-0) got off to a great start as he out pointed the previously unbeaten Mateusz Gatek (1-1) over 4 rounds. We've struggled to get many details on this one but a win on debut seemed to be expected of Samoudi. Staying Europe fans in Switzerland the unbeaten Arnold Gjergjaj (24-0, 18) continued to improve his record as he stopped Argentina's limited Emilio Ezequiel Zarate (18-13-3, 9) in 7 rounds. We can't but think it's now time that Gjergjaj steps up up his competition and starts fighting opponents who are a bit more testing than those he has been in with. From what we've seen we've been impressed but anyone would look impressive stepping this level of opponents. On the subject of Argentinians fans in Argentina managed to get a chance to see former Cruiserweight champion Marcelo Fabian Dominguez (46-7-1, 24) out pointing domestic rival Manuel Alberto Pucheta (37-9, 30) over 10 rounds. We all know journeymen are brought in to face better fighters with the idea that the journeymen will lose. Thankfully sometimes journeymen fight other journeymen in what, on paper, look like more competitive match ups.
One of those journeymen v journeymen match ups occurred on Wednesday as the light punching Ferenc Zsalek (13-40-3, 2) stopped fellow journeyman Csaba Olah (4-79-3, 3) in just 2 rounds. Whilst many may have favoured Zsalek going in few would have expected him to score a stoppage given he had scored just 1 stoppage in 55. |