In a year that has been full of stunners, last night’s truly shocking result in Carson, California might just have topped the lot. Srisaket Sor Ringvisai, AKA Wisaskil Wangek, absolutely destroyed one-time Pound-for-Pound king Roman Gonzalez.
Last night’s fight was a rematch of a great action fight that saw the tough, strong and, as we saw last night, viciously powerful Thai southpaw score an upset decision win over a 46-0 “Chocolatito” – what happened last night blew that win off the charts.
It has been confirmed by HBO how former light-heavyweight king Sergey Kovalev will make his ring return on November 25, against once-beaten contender Vyacheslav Shabranskyy of Ukraine. The bout will take place at Madison Square Garden Theatre and it’s possible Mexican warrior Orlando Salido could also return on the same card.
Kovalev, 30-2-1(26) is of course coming off back-to-back losses to Andre Ward, the second fight in June being a KO defeat for “Krusher.” Some people felt the Russian puncher would take a considerable amount of time off after being halted the way he was by Pound-for-Pound king Ward, but, no, he’s back less than six months on – and against a pretty good fighter.
What was former multi-weight world champion Oscar De La Hoya’s finest ring victory: his KO over heated rival Fernando Vargas, his close points win over the defensive wizard that was Pernel Whitaker, his first stoppage win over the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez?
Maybe it was in fact De La Hoya’s 1999 welterweight decision win over African terror Ike Quartey. This fight, one that saw “The Golden Boy” operating at his absolute peak, is also a fight that saw De La Hoya hit the deck – only to get up and win the war with the dangerous puncher known as “Bazooka.”
With the majority of fans pretty much expecting IBF/WBA heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua to win in commanding fashion when he meets Kubrat Pulev in Cardiff on October 28, the event is in need of a solid under-card. And one is currently shaping up.
Confirmed now are three title fights: Kal Yafai will defend his WBA super-flyweight title against Sho Ishida, Frank Buglioni and Callum Johnson will clash with both the British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles on the line, and at heavyweight, Lenroy Thomas and David Allen will clash in a rematch of the fight they had in May on the Spence-Brook card.
Two things seem certain when it comes to Jeff Horn, the undefeated WBO welterweight champ: he will fight again, in Australia before the end of the year, and it will not be against Manny Pacquiao.
Pac Man, who shockingly lost to Horn on July 2, has stated how he still wants a return fight with Horn, but not until next year as he is busy with his many Senatorial duties. But Horn wishes to stay active and right now a suitable, top-10 rated fighter is being negotiated. A day ago, a news story broke saying how Britain’s Bradley Skeete, 27-1(12) and the reigning WBO European welterweight champion, had got the big fight, but Dean Lonergan of Duco who promote Horn has issued an official statement saying that this report was guilty of being premature.
September 16, 2017 promises to be one massive night of boxing, for boxing. On this night we will have, of course, the world middleweight title fight collision between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, we will also have the inaugural WBSS 168 pound fight between Callum Smith and Erik Skoglund, and we will also have the ‘other’ world middleweight title fight.
British heavyweight David Price has encountered yet another bad news setback in a once-promising career filled with them. The big, powerful and likeable Liverpool puncher was last seen being stopped by Christian Hammer in February, in a slugfest that saw “Pricey” also inflict an amount of punishment, and he hoped to get back to winning ways next Saturday (Sept. 16).
Without a doubt the greatest heavyweight to have come out of Canada, George Chuvalo, the tougher than tough fighter who, as the saying goes, ‘fought ’em all,’ turns 80 next week (September 12).
There are, The Toronto Sun reports, big celebrations set to take place next Tuesday, at a party fans can attend. And Chuvalo, who has famously suffered more than anyone has a right to in their personal life – George losing three of his sons, two to drugs, and also his wife, who tragically committed suicide – has the right to celebrate despite the hardship. A real survivor, both in and out of the ring, George has commanded nothing but respect for decades.
A number of great fighters fought well into their forties and some of them – Archie Moore, George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins for three examples – arguably fought some of their best fights when at full veteran stage. And middleweight king Gennady Golovkin says he feels so good physically that he could very possibly do the same.
Timing is everything in boxing: the timing of a punch, the timing of a knockout blow and the timing of the fight itself. It’s no secret how welterweight great Sugar Ray Leonard waited, and waited and waited for the opportune time to make the move up to middleweight and challenge the fearsome Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
Age proved to be a big factor in the 1987 battle – Hagler’s age, that and the wear and tear the Brockton southpaw had picked up during his long title reign. Now, as we approach the middleweight Super Fight many have compared to Leonard-Hagler, some astute fans are asking themselves, has Mexican warrior Canelo Alvarez, in his prime at age 27, waited until the perfect time to move up and challenge middleweight king Gennady Golovkin? Will age prove to be a big factor in this fight?