Though Dillian Whyte has his own fight to concentrate on – against the dangerous and determined Robert Helenius – Whyte also has major interest in Saturday night’s headline fight between Anthony Joshua and late replacement foe Carlos Takam.
Whyte (who, interestingly, AJ told Eddie Hearn was the man he would most liked to have fought after Kubrat Pulev was forced to pull out due to a shoulder injury) told Sky Sports how he sees this Saturday’s fight as “an easy fight” for WBA/IBF ruler Joshua.
Yesterday in Tokyo, Japan, Ryota Murata pleased the many thousands of his homeland fans in attendance as he ripped the WBA middleweight “regular” title from Hassan N’Dam, the Frenchman remaining on his stool after seven torrid (for him) rounds.
As jubilant and as emotional as he was in becoming the first Japanese fighter to win a version of the middleweight title in over twenty years, Murata, 13-1(10) was also very respectful when speaking about the man he knows he must defeat if he’s to become the universally accepted middleweight king: Gennady Golovkin.
It’s arguably THE biggest fight fans want to see take place aside from a return between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez: it’s Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder in what would be a monster heavyweight unification showdown. But the promoter of one of the two fighters says the fight will only go ahead if Wilder agrees to take substantially less than a 50-50 purse split.
Earlier today in Tokyo, Japan local hero Ryota Murata stopped Hassan N’Dam to take the WBA middleweight title and also avenge an earlier, controversial loss to the man from France. Murata, in total control of the fight, forced N’Dam to remain on his stool after seven completed rounds.
Now 13-1(10) the 31 year old from Tokyo has arrived as a major player in the 160 pound weight class. 33 year old N’Dam, who was never in the fight, falls to 36-3(21).
Last night in his home town of Leeds, unbeaten featherweight contender Josh Warrington improved to 26-0 and scored a rare KO (his sixth in total) in halting Denmark’s Dennis Ceylan in the tenth-round. With the win over the previously unbeaten Dane who is now 18-1-2(8) Warrington earned himself a shot at Lee Selby’s IBF crown.
Comeback: “a return by a well-known person, especially an entertainer or sports player, to the activity in which they had formerly been successful”
7. Sugar Ray Robinson.
Sugar Ray had more than earned the accolade as the finest boxer in history pound-for pound, as a welterweight and a middleweight. But Ray wanted more. He moved up to light heavyweight and in June of 1952 challenged Joey Maxim for his world title. Robinson was way ahead on the scorecards, but going into the latter rounds of the fight – fought under a temperature of 104 degrees – Robinson hit the wall. He was suffering from heat prostration and had to quit on his stool at the end of thirteen rounds. Sugar Ray announced his retirement afterwards. It stuck for two and a half years.
Tonight in London on David Haye’s Hayemaker Promotions card at The O2, 2016 Olympic silver medal winner Joe Joyce made his pro debut a successful one, the red-hot heavyweight prospect taking on and halting experienced 16-fight pro Ian Lewison in a scheduled ten rounder. The end came at the 2.35 mark of round-eight, as a battered Lewison was pulled out by his corner when under fire.
Russia’s unbeaten cruiserweight star Murat Gassiev is in action tonight – he will face former 200-pound champ Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in the WBSS tournament – but the reigning IBF champ has bigger goals than merely winning the tournament.
Gassiev, 24-0(17) and trained by Abel Sanchez, tells RT Sports how he aims to win the WBSS, unify the cruiserweight division and then make the move up to heavyweight. It’s still early days, and Gassiev could have his hands full against the tough and experienced Wlodarczyk in New Jersey tonight, even if he is favoured to win, but Gassiev might just have the tools and the talent to achieve his goals.
British promoter Eddie Hearn has a great idea: Deontay Wilder gives his fighter Dillian Whyte a shot at the WBC title and then the winner fights Anthony Joshua in a massive unification showdown next year.
But US promoter Lou DiBella doesn’t like the idea, not one bit. DiBella, in speaking with Sky Sports, said that in his opinion Dillian Whyte is “irrelevant” in the career of Deontay Wilder and that “the concept that we would somehow feel obligated, or the necessity to fight Dillian Whyte for a chance to fight Anthony Joshua is a joke.”
Some fighters, be they at the start of their career, at the middle or even coming towards the end, come back stronger after suffering their very first defeat, while other fighters are never, ever the same again after tasting the pain of losing.
Great fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Bernard Hopkins and James Toney have over the years proven how there is so much more than holding an unbeaten record in boxing; each legend returning from a loss with a vengeance. However, some fighters, a number of them closing in on greatness at the time, were all but finished, at least compared to what they had been, after losing their “O,” their prefect record.