Jeff Sorby

Sergio Martinez decisions Martin Murray

martinez66Fighting with an injured left hand from the 8th round, WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) had to battle a lot harder than many boxing fans expected him to in beating Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight in front of a huge crowd of 50,000 at the Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Murray might have won the fight if he had come out of his defensive shell more often in the fight, as he seemed to adopt the same approach that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez used in his recent fight with Austin Trout in not throwing many punches but counting on his cleaner landing shots to make up the difference for him getting hit a lot more.

Murray could have won but he wasn’t throwing enough and he kept getting nailed by jabs and straight left hands over and over again. Murray was able to block a lot of the shots because he was keeping his gloves high protecting his head, but when one fighter is seen hitting the other all night long on the gloves, it doesn’t matter that a lot of the shots were blocked. Martinez was the busier guy and he deserved the victory. The judges scored it 115-112, 115-112 and 115-112.

Khan defeats Diaz; Wilder KOs Harrison in 1!

Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) had to get up off the deck to defeat former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz (40-8-1, 29 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, UK. Khan was hurt five times in the fight, and knocked down in the 4th by a left hook. In rounds 8 though 11, Khan was badly staggered by heard shots from Diaz. It was only through the use of Khan’s holding and pulling down on the back of Diaz’s head that he was able to survive those rounds. The final judges’ scores were 114-113, 115-113, 115-112. I had Diaz winning rounds 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11. In other words, I had Diaz winning the fight.>

Khan controlled the action in rounds one and two. Diaz fought well in rounds three and four in landing heavy shots. After Khan was knocked down in the 4th, he came back to fight well in the 5th through 7th rounds, albeit using a lot of questionable tactics like pulling down on Diaz’s head and holding his left arm out far in front of him so that Diaz couldn’t get close. From the 8th round to 11th, Diaz had Khan hurt in each of these rounds, but Khan did a good job of holding on and running.

Result: Nathan Cleverly Outpoints Robin Krasniqi; Chisora defeats Avila

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In a fight that was supposed to be a competitive one, WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12 KO’s) totally dominated challenger Robin Krasniqi (39-3, 15 KO’s) in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in front of a packed Wembley Arena in Wembley, London, UK. Cleverly took some monstrous shots from Krasniqi in rounds 6, 7 and the 8th rounds, but got the better of him with a high work rate.

The judges scored the fight 120-108, 119-109, and 120-108. Krasniqi showed excellent power throughout but he wasn’t able to keep up with the constant output from Cleverly. There was also a size difference between the two of them. Cleverly looked like a cruiserweight after rehydrating for the fight, while Krasniqi just looked like he was at the same weight he did for the weigh-in. Being much bigger than Krasniqi definitely gave Cleverly a huge advantage in the fight because he was able to absorb the big shots from Krasnqi without getting shock up.

Cecilia Braekhus defeats St. John

K9097b7dccfPhoto: Wende — 45-year-old Mia St John (47-13-2, 18 KO’s) looked like a spectator from the crowd that had mistakenly walked into the ring tonight against WBA/WBO/WBC female welterweight Cecilia Braekhus (22-0, 6 KO’s) at the Arena Nord, Frederikshavn, Denmark. Braekhus nailed St. John at will in every until the fight was halted in the 3rd after St. John was staggered by the ropes from a storm of heavy shots from Braekhus.

This fight resembled someone getting attacked by a swarm of angry bees because St. John was just covering up and cowering for much of the fight. When she did throw punches back, she was pushing her shots and looking both weak and slow. I’d seen her fight years ago when she was younger and a little faster, but tonight the 45-year-old St. John looked and fought her age.

The difference in talent between the two was startling. St. John was no match from the start and I was surprised she made it out of the 1st round because she was getting hit cleanly with nonstop punches, especially near the end of the round when Braekhus trapped her against the ropes and unloaded on her.

Krzysztof Wlodarczyk vs. Rakhim Chakhkiev on June 22nd in Moscow, Russia

chakhiev44545WBC cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (47-2-1, 33 KO’s) will be defending his title for the fifth against former 2008 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist from Russia Rakhim Chakhkiev (16-0, 12 KO’s) on June 22nd in Moscow, Russia. This is going to be a tough fight for the 31-year-old Wlodarczyk because the 30-year-old Chakhkiev is a tough inside fighter with excellent power. He’s a much different type of fighter than the guys that Wlodarczyk has been fighting recently.

Chakhkiev, #2 WBC,#5 IBF, #9 WBA, #WBO, is taking a step up in class with this fight. Up until now, Chakhkiev’s best opponents have been Zack Page, Alexander Kotlobay, Michael Simms, Epifanio Mendoza and Andres Taylor. None of them have been even remotely competitive with Chakhkiev. He was too powerful and skilled for those guys and the fights pretty much turned out to be all mismatches.

Wlodarczyk’s best wins have come against Danny Green, Francisco Palacios, Giacobbe Fragomeni and Steven Cunningham. Wlodarczyk’s wins over Palacios have been controversial with a lot of boxing fans feeling that Polacios should have won both of them. Both of the fights have taken place in Wlodarczyk’s home country of Poland, and he’s pretty hard to beat when he’s fighting at home.

Maidana picks Broner to beat Malignaggi; wants winner

broner000#2 WBA Marcos Maidana is picking 23-year-old Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) to defeat WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) in their fight on June 22nd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Maidana told esnewsreporting.com that Broner will win because he’s “too strong” for Malignaggi. Maidana then said he wants to fight Broner after he beats Malignaggi and he sees himself beating him, saying “I’m stronger. Put a lot of pressure on him.”

There’s little question that Broner will very likely beat Malignaggi in their fight on June 22nd because Broner has everything going for him in terms of speed, power, defense and youth. Malignaggi has more experience but in this case it might be enough for him to win the fight.

Calzaghe predicting Froch victory over Kessler

kessler43Joe Calzaghe knows a thing or two about WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) after having beaten him by a 12 round unanimous decision in a grueling fight in 2007. After watching some of his recent fights, Calzaghe believes that Kessler’s physical skills have deteriorated enough since their 2007 to where he’s now vulnerable to losing to IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) in their rematch on May 25th in London at the O2 Arena.

Kessler, 34, is a year younger than the 35-year-old Froch, but Calzaghe thinks Froch is the physically younger fighter now and is still at the peak of his career going into his rematch with Kessler.

Trout: What’s Canelo going to do when things don’t go his way on April 20th?

canelo211WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) thinks his opponent WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) won’t be able to make the right adjustments when things don’t go his way this month in their fight on April 20th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Trout sees Canelo as being someone that has only gear and can’t adapt to different situations, especially when all of a sudden he is getting out-boxed for the first time in his career. Canelo badly wants to beat Trout because he defeated his brother Rigoberto Alvarez two years ago in winning an easy 12 round unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBA junior middleweight title in 2011.