By Rob Smith: I was kind of surprised to hear WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire’s name being mentioned by a lot of boxing fans as being a shoe-in for the 2012 Fighter of the Year award. While I think Donaire is a good fighter and has obviously had a good 2012 year in beating all four of his opponents put in with him, I don’t think the quality of his opponents is high enough for Donaire to deserve the Fighter of the Year award.
Month: December 2012
Adamek defeats Cunningham by controversial decision
By Michael Collins: Tomasz Adamek (48-2, 29 KO’s) fought well enough to lose by four rounds tonight against Steve Cunningham (25-5, 12 KO’s) in their IBF heavyweight eliminator for the #2 spot, but instead of losing the fight, Adamek was given a HIGHLY controversial 12 round split decision at the Sands Casino Resort, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Cunningham controlled the action in every round, hitting Adamek with hard right hands, and tying him up before Adamek could land his shots. It was perfect punch and clinch from Cunningham. He did a good job of eluding Adamek’s pressure by moving around the ring to keep from getting hit.
Adamek kept trying but he looked like the extra weight that he’s packed on lately really slowed him down in big way. Adamek used to be a lot better before he bulked up with useless muscle and fat. He needs to get a clue and lose that weight, because he’s no more of a puncher now than he was when he was fighting at 214 as a heavyweight. Adamek simply didn’t carry his power up with him from the crusierweight division like Cunningham did, not that Cunningham is a big puncher at this weight either.
Charr destroys Airich in 1st round knockout
Charr, 28, never gave Airich a chance, as he opened up with everything in his arsenal, hitting him at will with shots until knocking him to the canvas with a left hook to the body. Airich stayed down and the fight was halted by referee Daniel Van De Wiele at 0:44 of the round.
Charr threw everything but the kitchen sink at him until knocking him down with a left to the body.
Charr, #8 WBC, lost previous fight to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko by a 4th round cut stoppage. Charr was over-matched in that fight and he looked like he didn’t belong in there with him. However, if Charr can keep beating journeyman opposition like Airich he should get another world title shot in a year or two.
Adamek vs. Cunningham II on Saturday, December 22nd
By Bill Phanco, photo: Rich Graessle — 36-year-old former two division world champion world champion Tomasz Adamek (47-2, 29 KO’s) will be fighting a rematch against former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham (25-4, 12 KO’s) at the Sands Casino Resort, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Adamek will have his IBF North American heavyweight title on the line.
Adamek has a previous 12 round split decision victory over the 36-year-old Cunningham four years in December 2008.
In that fight, Cunningham totally out-boxed the slower Adamek. However, Adamek knocked Cunningham down three times in the fight, once in the 2nd, 4th and 8th rounds, to win a narrow 12 round split decision. You know that a fighter has been out-boxed when they knock another fighter down three times and yet still barely win the fight. Adamek’s work rate was poor in the Cunningham fight and he was limited to mostly throwing an occasional bomb. That was enough because Cunningham couldn’t take Adamek’s power.
#3 IBF Adamek isn’t the puncher at heavyweight that he was in the cruiserweight division. He’s still winning for the most part, but he’s been selective in the opposition that he’s faced.
Haye: I want to KO Vitali Klitschko in 2013
By Brad Cronick: Former two division world champion David Haye has hitched his wagon to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, as that’s the only fight that Haye wants before he retires. Haye is waiting to see if the 41-year-old Vitali will fight him or choose to retire.
If Vitali retires, then Haye plans on getting out of boxing as well because he doesn’t want to fight any of the smaller names despite the fact that he can still make very good money against them. Haye wants the huge money that would come with a fight against the big 6’7” Vitali.
Haye also wouldn’t mind getting a rematch against Vitali’s brother IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, but he has no interest in fighting Haye again after easily beating him by a 12 round decision in July 2011.
Haye said to the Evening Standard “I want to knock Vitali Klitschko out in 2013. The contract for the fight has been agreed and is there ready to sign. Were it simply up to me, I’d be training to fight right now. Nobody seems to know if Vitali wants to set foot again in the ring, let alone face somebody as dangerous as me.”
Khan: I WILL fight Floyd Mayweather Jr; his team is interested
By Michael Collins: Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) still has his mind set on facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) for a mega fight, and Khan thinks Mayweather will stick around the sport long enough for him to make that fight happen.
Abel Sanchez: “A third fight between Marco Huck and Ola Afolabi is coming” – Huck/Afolabi 3
By Joseph Herron – With the prospect of Denis Lebedev defending his WBA Cruiserweight title against former Heavyweight title challenger “Fast” Eddie Chambers in 2013, many fight scribes and boxing fans alike have been pondering the possibility of potential opponents for WBO Champion Marco Huck.
Trainer Abel Sanchez recently visited “The Pugilist KOrner” and made an intriguing declaration concerning the hard punching German based title holder.
“My fighter, Ola Afolabi, will be facing Marco Huck for a third time on March 2nd in Germany,” insists Big Bear Lake based fight trainer. “I just spoke with Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions and he stated that the deal is 99.9% completed.”
Seven months ago, the two powerful Cruisers met in the ring for a second time and treated the fight fans in attendance to an entertaining slugfest and fight of the year candidate. Because the competitive sequel ended with an inconclusive majority draw verdict, most die-hard fight fans have been clamoring for third pairing between Huck and Afolabi.
Abel Sanchez is hoping that a third fight will indeed be the charm for Ola Afolabi.
“Both previous fights were very competitive and entertaining. So it just makes sense to do it again. The first bout resulted in a very close win for Huck, and the second was an entertaining majority draw. So hopefully the third bout will finally end in my fighter’s favor.”
David Price expects to fight in a world title eliminator by 2nd of 2013
By Michael Collins: British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price (15-0, 13 KO’s) figures he’ll capture the EBU heavyweight title and fight in a world heavyweight title eliminator bout by the end of 2013. Price has been matched against older heavyweights instead of fighters that could test him and possibly even beat him.
Sergio Martinez says Martin Murray won’t make it past 8
By Steve Mabbott: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) doesn’t see his opponent unbeaten British middleweight Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11 KO’s) going the distance with him when they face off on April 27th at the Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield, Distrito Federal, Argentina.
Martinez said as quoted by the Sportsmole.co.uk “It’s great that he should want to give his all and I was the same but the fight won’t go past the eighth round.”
Murray has good power and a lot of heart, but he’s not special. He was staggered by Felix Sturm in their fight last year, and he’s mighty lucky that Sturm didn’t have more time to work on him in the 12th because he probably would have knocked him out. Most of the opponents that the 30-year-old Murray has faced in his career have been nothing special. The difference in experience against quality opposition between the two fighters is monstrous.
Donaire to move up in weight if he doesn’t get Rigondeaux or Mares in March or April
By Rob Smith: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) will be fighting in March or April, 2013, and he wants to unify the 122 pound titles in fights against WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux or Abner Mares.
The Mares fight is something that will have to wait for a little while longer, however, because Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum is reportedly interested in matching Donaire with Rigondeaux in an in house Top Rank fight.
It makes a lot of sense for Arum to do this because it’s not a difficult fight to put together like it would be if he tried matching Donaire with the Golden Boy promoted Abner Mares, and Rigondeaux has been asking for the Donaire fight for a long time. At least this way Arum will give Rigondeaux what he wants while at the same time giving boxing fans a good fight.
Donaire said to Philstar.com “That’s [Donaire-Rigondeaux] the fight I want to happen, but I know not to wait for anyone. If they can’t make the fight happen, then I’ll move up in weight [to featherweight].”
Donaire has been saying recently that it could be difficult to set up a fight with Rigondeaux because of what the Cuban fighter might ask for in terms of money for the fight. It doesn’t look like Donaire is going to be patient with Rigondeaux like he was with the much more popular – and far less dangerous – Jorge Arce.