Juan Diaz Triumphant in Comeback

Web-P4133638 By Marc Livitz at ringside in Corpus Christi, Texas, photo gallery by Adrian Hernandez – Juan Diaz scored a sixth round TKO victory over Hernando “Pipino” Cuevas, Jr. tonight at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Diaz (36(18)-4) had taken a respite of sorts from the ring. The Houston, TX boxer last fought in July of 2010 in a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez. He lost a sound unanimous decision and the result was a far cry from his initial meeting with Marquez in February of 2009.

Although Diaz was knocked out in the ninth round, their battle in front of Diaz’s home crowd in Houston garnered “Fight of the Year” Honors. In between his two meetings with “Dinamita” Marquez, “Baby Bull” Diaz went one up and one down with Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi, who many felt was robbed of a victory in their first meeting in Houston. Tonight, Diaz faced off with the son of former WBA welterweight champion Pipino Cuevas, Sr.

Rigondeaux dominates Donaire

WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KO’s) proved to be too fast, too skilled and too talented for WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s) tonight in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Radio City Music Hall, in New York, New York, USA.

The judges scored the fight 114-113, 115-112, 116-111. The fight wasn’t nearly as close as the two judges that nearly had Donaire winning. Those scores were pretty sad and scary because you have to wonder what fight where those judges watching. I only had Donaire winning 10th round and that was because he nailed Rigondeaux with a left hand when the two were in close in a clinch.

Donaire wrestled out of it and hit Rigondeaux when he wasn’t expecting a shot while he was standing straight up. Let’s be honest: that was the way Donaire could knock Rigondeaux down because he was too slow and missing all night long with his shots. Rigondeaux got up from the knockdown and immediately resumed schooling Donaire and making him look really, really bad.

Cecilia Braekhus defeats St. John

Photo: 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.

Donaire vs Rigondeaux: Keys to Victory, Four to Explore, & Official Prediction!!

(Tune in to “Left-Hook Lounge Radio” today at 2PM Eastern/11AM Pacific for a breakdown of the fight)

NONITO DONAIRE: KEYS TO VICTORY

For Donaire, the key to victory is one-dimensional with no need to analyze the obvious. Most will initially attempt to look at this matchup and single out his height and reach advantage. Reality tells us that being the bigger man in this showdown won’t mean much, as Donaire has never been a fighter to lean on an opponent or use his weight to wear them down. The physical battle will be meaningless. Instead giving way to the mental angle, which will ultimately be the deciding factor. Donaire has all the tools he needs to win and enough ring intelligence to dispatch them. The operative question at hand is how will he handle what could be the deepest adversity he’s ever seen…..mentally?

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

WBC 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.

Charr working hard to get Haye fight; tweets gory photo of him

#8 WBC heavyweight contender Manuel Charr (23-1, 13 KO’s) might be little more than just a fringe contender in the division, but he is quite good at pushing for fights against top fighters. Charr campaigned for a title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko last year and got it despite never having faced any real quality opposition.

The outcome was predictable with Vitali easily stopping the over-matched Charr in four rounds and leaving him a bloody mess. Now, Charr is looking to get a fight with former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s), and he recently tweeted a photo of himself holding up the severed head of Haye in a move to make fun of Haye having previously created a head of him holding the severed heads of Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko.

This was the same scenario with Haye talking himself into a fight with Wladimir but without the experience at the heavyweight level necessary for him to be successful.

The scary thing is Charr is considered to be the leading candidate for Haye’s June 29th fight in Manchester, which is slightly disappointing given that Haye’s manager/trainer Adam Booth had been talking big about how Haye’s next opponent would be a top 10 unbeaten contender. The last time I checked, Charr has been beaten by Vitali.

You Khan’t Deny Destiny – Why Amir Is Pound For Pound Number 1

I have been ridiculed, unfairly so in my opinion, for expressing my wanton thought processes in the local when it comes to boxing. As any real man such as myself knows the local pub is where a lot, if not most, of the best boxing banter occurs (and indeed fights depending in which part of Stoke you live in). Being a somewhat pugilist sage, in my local and wider community, I am still happily surprised when people wish to enter into a boxing debate with me. Not least of all because it gives me a chance to hear others opinions – even though they are largely wrong and not worth hearing, unlike mine. Whilst I have spent a lot of time in America, and like to call it a second home, even though it is my mum who owns a second home there and lets me stay over, the knowledge in the States isn’t as widespread on important matters e.g Amir Khan. Unlike here in the greatest country on earth, Great Britain (mostly England), everyone knows who Amir Khan is. Most people will remember him for three reasons, which are i) he won an Olympic medal, ii) he got knocked out by John Prescott’s nephew and iii) he beat up some blokes trying to nick his Range Rover or is an awesome boxer. This highly informative and easy to read article aims to synthesize many parts of my knowledge to create a wider spectrum for the uninformed, and mostly yank culprits, who do not see what all us Great Britons see – Khan is King (not literal). In my opinion he is pound for pound number one above the likes of Mayweather and Timothy Bradley.

Can Rigondeaux Really Challenge the Filipino Flash? I Say Not Likely

Every great fighter needs a nemesis to challenge him, and long ago Nonito Donaire’s many critics picked one for him in WBA champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. Two equal champions battling for glory? That sounds much more exciting than the sobering reality that Rigondeaux is a massive underdog.

What are Donaire’s real chances of surviving Rigondeaux? Donaire’s many critics contend that Donaire’s amazing career was really just smoke and mirrors, masking the fact that he actually fought second-raters and outright bums.

Some “bums” there. Combined, Donaire’s last four opponents boast an impressive 55-8-2 record in world title fights.

And Rigondeaux? His last five opponents clock in at 2-2-2, with questionable interim titles generously included in the total.

R.I.P Carl Williams, “The Truth” Passes Away At Age 53

By James Slater: In sad news, it has been reported that former top class heavyweight contender and former two-time world title challenger Carl “The Truth” Williams has passed away. Williams, just 53, lost a long battle with oesophageal cancer, passing away on April 7th.

Best known for his losing challenge of a peak Mike Tyson – when Williams was somewhat controversially stopped via TKO, when up and on his feet, in the opening round – Williams fought a number of other notable bouts.

His best performance was undoubtedly his close 15-round decision loss to an unbeaten Larry Holmes for the IBF title back in May of 1985. The long-armed Williams used his superb jab to great effect especially, with a good number of people feeling the challenger had done enough to have upset “The Easton Assassin.” Carl also fought notables such as Jesse Ferguson (WTKO10), Mike Weaver (LTKOby2), Bert Cooper (WRTD8), Trevor Berbick (WU12), Tim Witherspoon (LS12), Tommy Morrison (LTKO8) and Frank Bruno (LTKO10).

Left-Hook Lounge: Donaire vs Rigondeaux, Pacqiuao in Macau, & Freddie Roach’s Influence on Shiming

Cassidy H. (Queens, NYC): I’ve heard you speak strongly about Donaire in the past. Seems like he has all the momentum going into his clash with Rigondeaux this week. How do you see it all playing out?

Vivek W. (ESB): Nonito Donaire is one of those fighters I’ve always carried very close to heart. I love his genuine attitude outside the ring, as well as his ability inside of it. What has given me mixed emotions regarding Donaire in the past was the fact that, to me, he appears to be one of those talents that live up to the level of his competition. When the media starts placing your name on the mythical P4P list, and the sport starts tossing out accolades such as “Fighter of the Year”, and those type of things…..I think you truly have to bring a certain level of consistency to rate them. In my mind, Donaire hasn’t always carried the level of consistency I’d like to see in a fighter placed on such a high mantle.