Last weekend, Swedish heavyweight prospect Adrian Granat (now 14-0, 13 KOs) landed a stunning victory over German boxer Franz Rill – KO in round 6. A win that will have impact for Granat and furthermore a win that has been widely noticed among boxing experts around the world.
The win places Granat as nr 29 on Boxrec after only 14 fights. He is now the IBF intercontinental champion – a title that has been held earlier by world boxers like Robert Helenius and Kubrat Pulev.
Newly crowned British heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte says he wants to get one more fight in before the end of the year, and he told Sky Sports that his ideal choice of opponent would be Australia’s former WBA belt-holder Lucas Browne. Whyte, beaten as a pro only by reigning IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua (with whom Whyte is convinced he will one day get a return fight) has called the man known as “Big Daddy,” “a big baby.”
Whyte says he would love to fight, and silence, the man he has been going back and forth with on Twitter.
Inspired by the recent top-10 greatest living fighters poll by Ring Magazine, veteran British boxing writer Colin Hart has produced his picks for the ten greatest living British fighters (note: ‘living’ fighters, not all-time greats). With some six decades of covering boxing under his belt and the huge amount of knowledge that has been picked up along the way, the 80-something Hart is probably one of the most qualified writers to come up with such a list.
Former world title challenger, Isaac ‘Grenade’ Ekpo of Nigeria has called out Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Lucian Bute, Felix Sturm, Fedor Chudinov and all the top Super Middleweights in world boxing, declaring his readiness to face any of them in the ring.
Ekpo (31-2, 24 KOs), the former WBO Africa and Commonwealth champion at Super Middleweight, previously lost a decision in a bid for the WBO Super Middleweight world title against Robert Stieglitz in Germany in October 2013.
After racking up nine straight victories since the defeat to Stieglitz, Ekpo who is currently rated number 5 Super Middleweight in the world by both the WBO and WBA says he is ready to take on the big guns in the sport to cement his place in boxing history.
Ghana’s Emmanuel Quartey is promising to win the Commonwealth Super Bantamweight belt when he faces current title holder, Gamal Yafai in the UK on December 3 in a show billed to be screened live on Sky Sports.
The tough fighting Quartey who has knocked out 19 of the 20 opponents he has beaten in 22 career fights failed to travel to the US for a purported WBA International title fight against Mexico’s Hanzel Martinez last month due to circumstances beyond the boxer’s control, but the Ghanaian has quickly shifted focus to December’s bout in Manchester and is so confident of victory he is even predicting a knockout against the undefeated Yafai (10-0, 4 KOs).
Boxing legend Bernard Hopkins (a real legend in an age when the word is over used) will look to exit the sport he helped make great, on December 17th, and, in typical Hopkins style, B-Hop will not face a soft or easy opponent in his swansong. According to the always reliable Michael Woods of NYFights.com, the amazing 51-year-old (Hopkins will turn 52 in January) will face dangerous puncher Joe Smith Jnr just over a week before Christmas Day.
It sure would be very interesting to have “retired” superstar and all time great Floyd Mayweather Junior sit down and list his picks for a “The Best I Faced,” article or to go through his career and look back at the best and worst opponents he met. Throughout his 49-0 career, Mayweather met punchers, fellow boxers, durable guys, southpaws and fighters who were incredibly fast.
Both Tony Bellew and David Haye have options, quite a few in fact. WBC cruiserweight champion Bellew has a number of potentially big and financially rewarding fights at 200-pounds, where the proud Liverpool man could try and unify the division, while Haye, who has a fight upcoming in December (opponent still to be determined) has possible big money fights with the likes of Anthony Joshua (really big money!) and maybe Shannon Briggs on the horizon.
It seems fans can, at the very least, pencil the date of December 10 in their diary, with the date underlined for a massive heavyweight event. Eddie Hearn, speaking with BBC Radio 5 Live, said that the deal between the two fighters “is there” and that all that needs to be sorted out now is the sanctioning requests. Hearn said that as long as the governing bodies are happy, the fight WILL go ahead, likely in Manchester, this December.
In a brawl from start to finish, World Boxing Council cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (28-2-1, 18 KOs) chopped down a game but limited 37-year-old BJ Flores (32-3-1, 20 KOs) in a third round knockout on Saturday night to retain his WBC title in his first defense at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
Flores was put down on the canvas four times in getting dropped x 3 in the 2nd round, and x 1 in the 3rd round. Flores failed to beat the count after the fourth knockdown of the fight in round 3. Referee Ian John Lewis then halted the fight at 2:11 of the round. Lewis failed to make a call in round two after Bellew hit Flores with a clear low blow that had him doubled over and in pain.