Mixed bag at the Copper Box

Saturday night saw Queensbury Promotions' first show at the Copper Box Arena  in Stratford, with several title fights, including the highly anticipated Billy Joe Saunders v John Ryder bout, for the Commonwealth and British middleweight titles, held by Saunders.

Fight Of The Night

Liam Walsh v Joe Murray was an entertaining scrap for the Cromer man's Commonwealth super featherweight title, however the main event lived up to many people's expectations, with Saunders and Ryder's different styles making for a highly-compelling twelve round fight. Billy Joe retained his titles after a fight which saw Islington's Ryder marching forward with educated pressure,

Saunders retains his titles

throwing in some big hooks and uppercuts, while Saunders boxed well behind the jab, and at times produced some world class technical skills. John rocked his opponent in the 7th round, but that livened up the champion, who saw out the twelve rounds well, despite the pre-fight rumours of him being tight at the weight. The decision was unanimous in the champion's favour, with one judge scoring it a 115-114, and the other two 115-113. Dragon Boxing had it a 114-114 draw.

Disappointment Of The Night

The much hyped super flyweight Paul Butler struggled as he beat Chile's unbeaten Miguel Gonzalez over twelve rounds for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title, however the British and Commonwealth title fight between Frankie Gavin and David Barnes never got going. The two welterweights are similar boxers, who like to keep it long behind technically sound jabs, and the big factor in this being such a poor contest, was the fact Barnes didn't really look like a man trying to get back into the big time. It was fought as a slow pace, with very little action of the dramatic variety. Gavin won a Lonsdale belt outright as he took a unanimous decision, however neither man came out of the fight with much credit, particularly disappointing from Frankie, who has been on a great run since re-uniting with former amateur trainer Tom Chaney.

Performance Of The Night

Chisora is in line for a world title shot

Frank Buglioni took a step forward in his career as he stopped Czech Republic's Bronislav Kubin with a powerful right hook in the second round of a scheduled ten rounder, however it's hard not to be impressed by Dereck Chisora, who claimed what's rightfully his, by stopping Edmund Gerber in five rounds for the European heavyweight title. Chisora was robbed of the title over in Finland two years ago, as he seemingly outworked home favourite Robert Helenius, but only one of the three judges saw him the winner. The signs were positive for this bout as he came in at a career lightest 235lbs, and although he took a good shot in the fourth round, the fifth round saw him pounding away at the Kazakhstan born German, forcing referee Guido Cavalleri to intervene. An emotional "Del Boy" dedicated the win to Dean Powell afterwards, and in his post-fight interview he spoke about a more professional and dedicated attitude to the sport, which has been there for all to see in his last couple of fights.

Prospect To Follow

Two guys made their debuts on this bill, North London's Georgie Kean, and Middlesbrough's Josh Leather. Kean had sold 700 tickets, and looks like he could be following in Frank Buglioni's footsteps by becoming a bit of a crowd pleaser, but I wasn't too impressed as he took a four round points win against Lincoln's Rick Boulter. Leather likewise cruised to a four round decision over Joe Beeden, and was a clear winner over the course of the fight. A winner of an ABA lightweight title last year, 21 year old Leather has real future in the sport ashe has very good technical skills, and could be part of a North East scene that's just bubbling at the moment. There's not been many big shows in that part of the world in recent years, but Leather is signed with Queensbury, along with a couple of other ex amateur standouts from the North East in fellow 'Boro boy Simon Vallily, and Bradley Saunders. 

He won't be a World Champion

We'd like to call this feature "He won't be winning any titles soon", however Boxing's nature nowadays is anyone can win a title, with the various different governing bodies. Therefore we've settled on the above, and it's hard to see Russian middleweight Dmitry Chudinov becoming a big success story. It was the second time he'd fought on British soil, this time taking on Max Maxwell,

Chudinov failed to impress once again

following a draw with Patrick Mendy at Wembley in July. The Serpukhov native is a pressure fighter, with a solid enough jab, but he's no Floyd Mayweather skill-wise, and no Nigel Benn power-wise, therefore a lot of his work is rather under-whelming. Maxwell is tough, he's got a lot of experience, but is a natural light middleweight, therefore it's hard to take much from the fight, other than the fact Chudinov moves to 11-0-2 (7 KO's).

RIP Dean Powell.

This was the final show that Dean Powell had worked on as a matchmaker, and Dragon Boxing would like to pass on our condolences to Dean's family and friends, a great man of our great sport.

A fight to be proud of

Today in London the May 25th showdown between IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and the WBA title holder Mikkel Kessler was officially announced by promoter Eddie Hearn, with the super fight at the 02 Arena heralding Boxing's return to the big time in UK sporting press.

 

The first bout between the two was brutal

This is a rematch of a brutal war over in Denmark in April 2010, with Kessler winning on all three judges scorecards, this when Froch, despite being a world champion, was a fighter very few mainstream sports fans had heard of. Times have changed since, "The Cobra" jumped ship from Mick Hennessy's promotional stable to join up with Hearn and his exposure on Sky Sports has made Boxing and Sports fans appreciate the man's attitude to the sport.

This is a fight that all Boxing fans all over the world will want to watch, and the reason being these are two guys who always come to fight, with the show given the very apt title by Hearn of "Warriors Call". That's what really makes this an unique and exciting fight, these are two guys who will give their all and have never ducked an opponent in their career. "The Viking Warrior" has visited Britain once before, and that was to fight the legendary Joe Calzaghe in his own backyard, he was never going to duck this rematch with Froch.

Credit to all parties involved for making this fight happen, it promises to be a truly spectacular night for sports fans in general with the Champions League final taking place at Wembley on the same night. All I can say is a great fight awaits, and may the best Warrior win.

McDonnell set for 2013 World Title tilt

"Teremoto" is set to move up to super bantamweight

It's been announced this week that current IBF bantamweight champion Leo "Teremoto" Santa Cruz is set to step up to super bantamweight after his title defence in Los Angeles next week. The busy Mexican clashes with fellow unbeaten countryman Alberto Guevara as chief support to Amir Khan's bout with Carlos Molina next weekend, meaning the title will be vacated in the near future.

Santa Cruz has made two voluntary defences already, and was set to fight his mandatory next year, that being Doncaster's in form Jamie McDonnell. Luckily for both fighters, but McDonnell especially, it seems that Leo's future lies in the bigger weight classes and probably a huge clash with Abner Mares could happen this time next year. When the title will be made vacant McDonnell will land himself fight for the belt and will take on an opponent in the top 15 of the IBF's rankings.

McDonnell after winning his eliminator

The challenger is expected to be someone who has participated in a recent IBF title fight or holds one of their multi continental belts, therefore it's expected that McDonnell will have home advantage and be a pretty strong favourite.

One opponent could be Vusi Malinga, the South African who went the 12 round distance with Santa Cruz when contesting for the vacant title in June, and was supposed to fight Jamie in a title eliminator in October. 30 year old Frenchman Mohamed Boulgehcha held the IBF International title in April 2011 and having won his most recent fight, which was a six rounder, in the weird world of Boxing, he can be classed as a contender. 

A rematch with the awkward Haskins would be very interesting

A potentially dangerous opponent for McDonnell could be unbeaten, big hitting Mexican Julio Ceja (22-0, 20 KO's) who is the current IBF Latino champion, and is ranked #14 in the world, one place above him the Doncaster bantamweight. That looks to be the most dangerous likely opponent out there, while a fight with European champion Lee Haskins of Bristol, would be very interesting, as Haskins was the last person to beat the 26 year old, claiming a 77-76 decision on the referee's scorecard in March 2008.

Hopefully McDonnell will get his long awaited title tilt next year, his recent performances have been excellent. He's done it the right way by winning British, Commonwealth and European titles, and the good news is that if this world title fight comes off, the chances of it being televised on Sky Sports is very likely, this after his last fight with Darwin Zamora was shown on the channel.

Be patient with DeGale

DeGale had to work hard in his last fight

James DeGale has his second taste of Channel 5 TV exposure this weekend, as he challenges tough Colombian Fulgencio Zuniga for the vacant WBC Silver Super Middleweight title at the Bonus Arena in Hull. This comes after a promising, if a little inconsistent, debut on the channel from the 2008 Olympic Gold Medallist, where he successfully defended his European title against France's Hadillah Mohoumadi with a unanimous decision.

DeGale has set himself up for a fall in his rather short pro career, he talked the talked against George Groves, but failed to walk the walk, in what was a very close fight. This comes after being booed on his pro debut, but I sense there could be a change in public perception towards DeGale after his move to Mick Hennessy's promotional stable. Before his last fight a feature with James was aired, and there wasn't as much of the brash, and somewhat full of hot air talk, that we've seen from him in the past. He looked confident and fresh, looking very much forward to a new start in his career after leaving Frank Warren.

Bute destroyed Zuniga in their March 2009

I don't think Warren can be blamed in James' career, he was disappointed when the renowned promoter signed rival Groves, but even after that defeat, DeGale was handed a European title shot against Poland's Piotr Wilczewski, coming through some difficult periods to narrowly claim a majority decision.

The point of this piece is with this fight coming up now, I think people shouldn't put too much pressure on James. We know what he did as an amateur, but the pro's is a completely different game and he's already achieved a lot. He won the British title in his 9th pro fight, travelling to Liverpool to face home favourite Paul Smith, and has had three European title fights already. The southpaw holds a very lofty 13th placed ranking in the world with Boxrec, which I believe he deserves as he's come through some difficult tests, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I believe DeGale is way off a world title shot. He's boxed just 75 pro rounds, and could do with at least two or three further 12 round contests.

N'Diaye lies in wait for DeGale

This bout with Zuniga could provide him with further experience, as he's taking on a very experienced opponent. The Colombian has a record of 25-6-1 (22 KO's) and the only two guys to have stopped him are a 26-0 Kelly Pavlik and 23-0 Lucian Bute. In his most recent bout he went the 12 round distance with the unbeaten in 21 fights South African Thomas Oostuhizen, who had been linked to a fight with Carl Froch earlier in the year, and showed his resilience in that bout. DeGale has had just 14 fights and I hope fans/pundits respect what's in front of him here, this will be a hard fight and it would be a great experience for James if he gets the full 12 rounds. Saying this if he is able to stop Zuniga, it has to go down as a massive statement.

Hennessy is expected to keep the man from Harlesden very busy and a mandatory defence of his European title is pencilled in at Bluewater in Kent for the 26th of January, against the hard hitting African born Italian Mohuamed N'Diaye in what could be a real treat for Boxing fans in the UK.

Thursday night thriller awaits in Vegas

A huge weekend of Boxing lies ahead for fight fans in Las Vegas, with promoter Bob Arum putting on shows on Thursday, Friday and of course Saturday. Friday sees welterweight contender Jessie Vargas return to the ring, and then on Saturday the action heads to the MGM Grand for that massive 4th fight between Pacquiao and Marquez. The action starts on Thursday however at the Mirage Hotel & Casino, with a fantastic looking lightweight headliner between Raymundo Beltran and Ji-Hoon Kim.

Beltran in his upset win over Lundy

This bout - for the NABF lightweight title - is live on ESPN2 in the USA and features two guys who are not the biggest names in the division, but are always picked for fights on the regular Friday night bills on the channel or their rival ShoBox, the main reason being they always give fans exciting fights. This fight has a lot riding on it now though, with both guys in winning form, and in the top 20 of the divisional rankings.

Beltran spiralled up the rankings with a fantastic majority decision win over Hank Lundy in his last bout, coming through some rough patches early on, to outwork the Philly man down the stretch. A lot of people knew Beltran would give Lundy a hard night's work, but it was a major upset to see him win. Kim also comes into this on the back of an upset victory, having like Beltran, outworked his last opponent, the unbeaten Russian Alisher Rahimov, for a unanimous decision over 10 rounds.

Kim (left) beat the unbeaten Rahimov last time out

This bout has the makings of a serious Fight Of The Year candidate, there might not be a lot of Boxing on show, these are two guys with great engines, they love to throw punches, and defence is very likely to go out of the window after the midway point. Dragon Boxing likes Beltran in this fight, Kim is probably the more limited of the two, and Raymundo will match him for work rate and energy.

The undercard sees some quality prospects on show, the most notable being Jose Benavidez, who fights out of the Wildcard and is unbeaten in 17 fights. He's a welterweight prospect with some wonderful skills, but comes into this fight having been shaken up in the final round of his last bout with 17-7-1 Mexican Pavel Miranda. Thursday night he's scheduled to take on the less dangerous Jesus Selig, who's a Mexican based in Arizona, and the choice of opponent suggests Top Rank are still being cautious with Jose.

Unbeaten Benavidez with the legendary Freddie Roach

A title fight on the undercard sees Jesse Magdaleno face Jonathan Arrellano for the WBO NABO youth super bantamweight belt, which means absolutely nothing to me, but will earn the winner a high ranking with the WBO and put them in the world title contention far sooner than they should be. Jesse is regarded as the most talented of the Magdaleno brothers, and has been incredibly impressive in his short pro career. Jesse is most definitely one to watch, but California's Arrellano has never been stopped and gave unbeaten prospect Roman Morales a tough night in his last bout. You want to see young fighters like Magdaleno progress in their career and this is a fight that should tell us more about him.

Take note of 12-0 Magdaleno

"The Russian Mexican" Evgeny Gradovich makes an appearance on this bill, with the world #38 Featherweight clashing with light hitting New Mexican Willie Villanueva, who was stopped in a round by a then 11-0 Gary Russell Jr in September 2010. This seems like nothing less than a keep busy fight for the exciting Gradovich, who judged by his nickname always comes to fight, and has been involved in a fair few entertaining bouts since turning pro in March 2010.

Verdejo (right) makes his pro debut

Finally the card sees the debut of 2012 Olympian Felix Verdejo, who represented Puerto Rico. Verdejo has signed with Top Rank and is set to campaign at 130lbs as a pro, four months since he reached the quarter finals of the lightweight division tournament, losing to the eventual Gold medallist, Ukraine's exceptionally good Vasyl Lomachenko, who won his second consecutive Olympic Gold. His performances as an amateur have been good and just being 19 years old, he has a lot of time to learn his craft. After what happened with Miguel Cotto at the weekend and also Thomas Dulorme a couple of months ago, Puerto Ricans are searching for the next big thing, could it be Verdejo?

Broner v DeMarco - Keys To The Fight

This upcoming weekend's main attraction in the USA is a WBC lightweight title fight between current champion Antonio DeMarco and outstanding former WBO super featherweight champion, Adrien Broner, at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City. Dragon Boxing picks some keys to how and when the fight will be decided.

Antonio DeMarco

Deal with Broner's twinned attack.

DeMarco is ready for a war

The unbeaten Broner is a joy to watch, he has unbelievably fast hands and is also a big puncher (20 of 24 wins inside the distance), therefore there's so much for the opponent to deal with. His hand speed means he can deliver three or four shots at one time, with the constant pressure being too much for his recent opponents, albeit at a lower weight class. DeMarco is not the fastest at 135, and if he can't pressure his opponent and put him on the back foot, Broner will fight at his own pace and dominate the Mexican.

Make it a scrap.

Broner was able to dominate guys very easily at 130lbs, he was fed opponents that made him look good, guys with not much of a dig, who simply couldn't fight at a high enough intensity. DeMarco is not the best boxer in the world, but the way he won this title was making his bout with the talented Jorge Linares a war, he ground out an 11th round stoppage and finally got his world title.

Take Broner deep into the fight.

Like I've mentioned already Broner has been fed an average level of opponent who haven't been able to take him into the championship rounds, with just one of his last 15 fights going past six rounds. That fight was a controversial decision over the much smaller Daniel Ponce De Leon, and there has to be questions over how Broner will deal with a bigger guy for what could be a hard 12 rounds. 

Adrien Broner

Deal with the southpaw.

Broner should face the toughest test of his career so far

As has been mentioned already in my preview, the only guy to have given Broner real problems was Ponce De Leon, a southpaw, just like DeMarco. The question here has to be how does Broner deal with a southpaw, who can match him punch for punch in this weight class. That was a big night for Broner as it was his HBO debut and he may have been a little bit nervous, but that will have been the fight that Team DeMarco will have studied the most in the run up to this bout.

Moving up in weight.

Broner had to step up in weight for this fight, he struggled to get down to 130lbs for his last bout, and there was talk of him not doing the diet properly. There may not be too much of a question here though, Broner weighed 147 on the night of his last fight against Vicente Escobedo, which is the welterweight limit. He looked just as quick, and he should hold a real dig at this weight.

Stay solid.

One of Broner's many strengths is his defence, it's probably where all the Mayweather comparisons come from, they are very similar with the left hand low and a reliance on his excellent reflexes. Other than Escobedo's right hand, there was barely a glove laid on "The Problem" in his last bout, that suggests DeMarco could have a lot of trouble to land his left from the southpaw stance.

Prediction

Many are predicting Broner for the top, his and in and out of ring persona suggests he'll follow in Mayweather's footsteps as being the guy we leave to hate. This is going to be a real test of his credentials, DeMarco has far more high class experience (151 to 83 pro rounds) and his two major fights (RTD9 loss to Edwin Valero, TKO11 win over Jorge Linares) have both been wars, which is what he has to turn this fight into. I think Broner could surprise us all though, we know he's an excellent technical fighter, but I think he might show he's ready to tough it out in this bout. He'll start off quick, but DeMarco will come into it and make it the great fight we're expecting. However I think Adrien's skills will be the deciding factor (Linares outboxed DeMarco for long periods) and he'll run out a winner on the judges scorecards. 116-111.

Brits set to clock up the air miles

"The Special One" is set for a trip to the US

Overnight three big title fights involving British fighters in 2013 have come to the fore, the first of them being Devon Alexander defending his IBF welterweight title against Sheffield's Kell Brook. For the last two weeks there's been a lot of talk about where the fight will take place, Brook's promoter Eddie Hearn was desperate to hold the fight at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester, but it looks likely that the fight will be held in either the Barclays Center, New York, or the Staples Center in Los Angeles on the date of January 19. Last night it had been reported the fight could take place at the Scottsdale Center in Alexander's hometown of St Louis, a venue that he's enjoyed one or two debatable decisions in the past, but the likelihood of that seems to be improbable at the moment.

Cleverly is set for huge showdown with Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins is set for a ring return on March 9 and he is expected to be in a world title fight with either Beibut Shumenov, Tavoris Cloud or Wales' own WBO champion Nathan Cleverly. The Welshman was successful in his first US showdown last night, stopping Shawn Hawk in the 8th round of an entertaining bout in Los Angeles. It was Cleverly's most impressive performance for a while, and because of Frank Warren's relationship with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, Cleverly has to be the front runner in the race to fight "The Executioner". Nathan made a positive impact on the US fight fans because of his exciting style, and the win last night seems to have given him a great opportunity to fight the legendary Philadelphia fighter.

Murray set for daunting Argentinian trip

The final fight involving a British fighter is set to happen on April 17 in Argentina, with St Helens middleweight Martin Murray given the difficult challenge of fighting Sergio Martinez in front of an expected 55,000 sell out in South America. Murray will become the third British fighter to come up against Sergio recently, this after Darren Barker and Matt Macklin put up brave challenges against the world #1, but both falling short and getting stopped late on. Murray is set to fight on the undercard of Ricky Hatton's fight in two weeks time, with unbeaten Venezuelan Jorge Navarro in the opposite corner. It's a shame that Murray hasnt landed a fight with someone like Daniel Geale or Dmitry Pirog, they are excellent fighters in their own right, but he could very well be the proverbial lamb to the slaughter against "Maravilla".