He’s far from a household name anywhere apart from in his homeland of Thailand, but reigning, undefeated WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin, AKA Chayaphon Moonsri, has the best pro record in boxing today – as far as active fighters go.
The 32 year old who stands 5’2” improved to 49-0(17) yesterday (Nov. 25) with a close but unanimous decision victory over Japanese southpaw Tatsuya Fukuhara, 19-6-6(7).
Going into last night’s super-featherweight fight with Jason Sosa, one-time potential superstar Yuriorkis Gamboa was under no illusions: it was a fight he had to win or his career was over. Well, the former WBA and IBF featherweight champion got the win, but it was mighty close. And controversial.
Gamboa faced a determined former WBA super-featherweight champion in Jason Sosa and after ten rounds the New York crowd firmly felt the younger man’s hand should have been raised. Instead, 35 year old Gamboa (the Cuban will turn 36 next month) was awarded a ten-round majority verdict after an exciting, drama-filled bout.
Tonight in Germany, Manuel Charr won a 12 round unanimous decision over the huge Alexander Ustinov. Winning by commanding scores of 116-111, 115-111 and 115-112 Charr improved to 31-4(17), Ustinov fell to 34-2(25). Oh, and Charr picked up a version of the WBA heavyweight crown.
The “world” title fight was much maligned for being just this (we all know Anthony Joshua is the real WBA heavyweight champ) but tonight’s action was actually pretty good. 40 year old Ustinov was the aggressor in the early rounds, backing 33 year old Charr up. Both men swapped plenty of leather, there wasn’t too much clinching and the action proved enjoyable.
Though he has a number of big fights to shoot for at middleweight, his current weight class, world ruler Gennady Golovkin says he is still looking at a potential move up eight pounds to the super-middleweight division. Speaking with ESPN Deportes, as quoted by RingTV.com, Triple-G says he would move up “if there is a big fight at 168.”
Fans are of course hoping, hoping, hoping that GGG will be able to get it on with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez in his next fight; so as the two best 160 pounders out there can finally settle their differences (no-one being happy with the drawn verdict that was handed in at the conclusion of September’s big fight). But if talks stall, or maybe after the fight has taken place, GGG could make that move up.
Boxing fans across the globe have asked, and will continue to ask, if Sonny Liston took a dive, or dives, in his two bouts with Ali, and to this day we have no definitive, universally accepted answer. However, there is one other fight that is still even more of a mystery so many years ater it took place. What really happened that November 25 day of 1980 when Duran and Leonard met in their New Orleans rematch?
It’s looking quite likely how rival heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker could meet next spring. As fans may be aware, WBO champ Parker and his team have pressed very hard for a unification fight with Joshua, the WBA/IBF ruler – this week holding a quite bizarre press conference where footage was shown of AJ being troubled and knocked down in fights; a “reward” offered to anyone with video evidence of Parker being decked at any time – and it seems Joshua has bitten.
Former IBF lightweight champ Freddie Pendleton had some career; facing the biggest and best names of the 1980s and ’90s. “Fearless” was the Philly warrior’s nickname and fearless Pendleton really was.
Like him and his fighting style or not, there is one thing Cuban stylist Guillermo Rigondeaux could never be referred to as, and that’s a “ducker” or a “cherry picker.” This much is clear from the very fact that the former super-bantamweight champ has agreed to move up not one but two weight divisions to challenge WBO super-featherweight ruler Vasyl Lomachenko on December 9.
“All roads leads to Mayweather,” the great Floyd “Money” Mayweather once said. But now, in light of the financial blockbuster that was Mayweather-Conor McGregor, you know, the most financially successful crossover fight of all-time, it seems all roads lead to McGregor: AKA “The Notorious.”
This great sport, which we all love greatly, is filled with examples of hugely talented fighters who never quite achieved all that was expected of them; all they were capable of. Names like Gerry Cooney and David Tua often emerge, from the heavyweight ranks, when it comes to exciting, powerful and talented warriors who failed to get where they were going: all the way to the top.