Braehmer and Abraham take decision wins in Schwerin, Pulev new IBF mandatory!

Stefano Abatangelo,JŸrgen BrŠhmerJuergen Braehmer took another step towards another crack at a world title. On Saturday, the 34-year-old beat Stefano Abatangelo by unanimous decision (119:108, 119:108 and 115:111) in front of a sold-out home crowd at the Sport- und Kongresshalle Schwerin, Germany. “It was difficult to showcase my skills against Abatangelo as he has an awkward style,” said the light heavyweight contender who defended his European as well as his WBO International Title. “Still it was good for me to get some more rounds under my belt which will definitely help me in my next fight.” Braehmer is the mandatory to WBO Champion Sergey Kovalev.

Arthur Abraham had also to work hard to get his hands raised in Schwerin. Before a crowd of 5,600 spectators inside the arena, Abraham got the decision against durable Willbeforce Shihepo to win the WBO Intercontinental Title. The scores read 116:112, 116:113 and 117:111 in favor of the man from Berlin, Germany. This bout also marked the 10-year-anniversary of the former middleweight and super-middleweight champion’s professional career.

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Photos: Jhonny Gonzalez Shocks Abner Mares, Santa Cruz Wins

02 In a leading candidate for Upset of the Year – and possible Knockout of the Year – former two-division world champion and knockout artist Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KO’s) registered a stunning 2:55, first-round knockout over previously unbeaten Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KO’s) Saturday on SHOWTIME® before 7,686 loud and enthusiastic fans at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

Gonzalez’s shocking upset victory in the WBC featherweight title fight sets up a possible showdown with Leo Santa Cruz (25-0-1, 15 KO’s), who scored two knockdowns en route to an impressive third-round knockout over defending WBC super bantamweight champion Victor Terrazas (37-3-1, 21 KO’s) in the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING co-feature.

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Noah Zuhdi Blasts Vajda in Two, Retains Title

zuhdi vajda pic 2In front of a packed house last night at the Lucky Star Casino in Oklahoma, WBU Lightweight Champion Noah Zuhdi did not disappoint the partisan crowd as he knocked out clever counter-puncher Gyula Vajda in the second round to defend his championship.

Zuhdi (17-1, 13 KOs) came out strong and Vajda (12-4, 8 KOs) came out stubborn in the first stanza. In a lightening quick exchange in the center of the ring, Zuhdi followed up a jab with a thudding straight right, right as Vajda was trying to counter. The flash knockdown seem to only wake the Hungarian up, however. Vajda began fighting at a heightened sense and temporarily stunned Zuhdi with a counter left that the champion described as “the second hardest I’ve ever been hit with.”

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Gonzalez stops Mares in 1st round!!! Santa Cruz obliterates Terrazas

01(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) WBC featherweight champion Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KO’s) was stopped in the 1st round tonight by the hard hitting challenger Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KO’s) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Gonzalez knocked Mares down twice with left hands near the end of the 1st round to get the stoppage. Referee Jack Reiss called a halt to the fight after the second knockdown, even though Mares was getting back up, and probably would have been able to make it out of the round. That’s the controversial part of it. Mares only had to stay on his feet for a short amount of time and he would have made it to the end of the round.

You can make an argument that Mares made two big mistakes in this fight that led to his defeat. His first mistake was to suddenly go after Gonzalez with 30 seconds left in the round. Mares showed no respect for Gonzalez’ power when he went after him, and that resulted in Marez getting nailed by a left hook that put him down on the canvas.

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Kubrat Pulev beats Tony Thompson

Tony Thompson, Kubrat PulevPhoto: Wende – Tonight‘s IBF eliminator in Schwerrin, Germany was supposed to be Kubrat Pulev‘s bigest test so far. He had earned his high ranking but had to wait for almost a full year for this opportunity because he was being avoided for various reasons. His opponent Tony Thompson was an avoided boxer as well and he advanced to this eliminator by beating twice Britain’s David Price. The Cobra proved to be a completely different kind of fighter and defeated the Tiger via a wide margin UD. I am tempted to say that if you read my „Analyses and forecast“ for the fight, perhaps you did not need to watch it, it is all there. Here is a quick walk through Pulev‘s winning effort:

Round 1: Both fighters started tentatively cautiously feeling out each other’s range and direction of movement. Thompson opened the score with jabs and one good left cross. Pulev seemed to be perplexed by the southpaw stance and the size of his opponent and he did not appear to move well, when he did, it wasn’t in the right direction. Pulev is a notoriously slow starter and his first good spurt was in the end of the round. TT clearly won the round.

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Arash Usmanee, Argenis Mendez battle to exciting draw

829VERONA, N.Y. (August 23, 2013) – Photos by TOM CASINO / IRON MIKE PRODUCTIONS – International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightweight champion Argenis “La Tormenta” Mendez (21-2-1, 11 KOs) retained his title after battling challenger Arash Usmanee (20-1-1, 10 KOs) to an exciting 12-round majority draw in tonight’s “Tyson Is Back!” event, live on the ESPN Friday Night Fights 2013 season finale, at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

“Tyson Is Back!” was promoted by Iron Mike Productions in association with Greg Cohen Productions.
 
Neither fighter hit the canvas in the main event as the momentum switched back and forth throughout the fight.  The crowd was on its collective feet in the second-half of the bout as Mendez displayed superior hand speed and powerful counter punching, while IBF No. 13-rated Usmanee was the aggressor and doggedly determined

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Barker Defeats Geale in a Thriller

barker100Darren “Dazzling” Barker and Daniel “The Real Deal” Geale fought an all out action packed twelve round bout that could be considered one of the fights of the year; in which Barker earned the hard fought split decision victory over Geale to become the new International Boxing Federation (“IBF”) Middleweight Champion. Barker garnered two scorecards of 116-111 and 114-113 while Geale received the other scorecard of 114-113.

This fight was televised by HBO Boxing After Dark from the Revel Casino – Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Barker from England improved his record to 26-1, 16KOs with the victory and has won three consecutive fights since his lone loss as a professional when he was stopped by current World Boxing Council Middleweight Champion and one of the pound for pound best fighters in the world, Sergio Martinez in the eleventh round.

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Photos: Darren Barker defeats Daniel Geale; Martinez TKOs Romero

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In the 10-round main event, the UK’s Darren Barker (26-1, 16 KOs) defeated Australia’s Daniel Geale (29-1, 15 KOs) by means of a twelve round split decision to capture the IBF middleweight championship. Both fighters had their moments throughout the fight. Barker seemed to be more accurate with his punches. Geale was in every round and dropped Barker in round six with a left to the body that almost had the British fighter down for good. Barker showed tremendous resilience and fought hard to end the round. Going into the later rounds it was anyone’s fight. Barker was throwing more punches, but Geale was landing the harder blows. After the final bell rang the scorecards read 114-113 for Geale, as the other two judge had it 116-111 and 114-113 for Barker. Barker wins by spit decision.

“I started loading up and got carless and I started getting hit too much,” said Barker. “The occasion kind of got to me. If I would had stuck to my game plan and boxed more, I would have won easier. During the knockdown it all went through my head…my wife my family and my daughter. I knew I was up against it going in. He was a tough man.”

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Sergey Kovalev vs. Nathan Cleverly – round by round breakdown of the fight

UEFA Women's Under 17's Draw(photo credit: Main Events) Sergey Kovalev has emerged as a force to be reckoned with and he is like a breath of fresh air. Fans like to see boxers winning decisively beyond doubt and leaving no room for controversy and politics. Kovalev did just that and perhaps established himself as a leading pay-per-view star. Here is a quick breakdown of his winning effort:

Round 1: Not much of initial probing and testing, the differences in their stances reflected the difference in their styles. Cleverly leaned a little forward most of the time smoothly shifting weight between offense and defense. Kovalev had a puncher’s stance and kept his weight on the back foot as a rule but shifted form foot to foot with punches. His footwork was much faster and sharper than Cleverly’s as was his hand speed. His superior range orientation allowed him to keep his guard low and the hands free for punching. His defense relied heavily on counter punching and reflex. He used the jab only as a range finder for his left hooks and right hands. Cleverly did not throw or land anything significant and this would become a worrying pattern for him.

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