Cleverly and Barker: Heartbreak In Wales, Tears Of Joy In Atlantic City!

IMAG0001 What a rollercoaster night of emotions British boxing fans experienced last night! In Cardiff, Wales, unbeaten WBO light-heavyweight champ Nathan Cleverly was the victim of one of the most one-sided beat-downs seen, as the lethal-hitting monster that is Sergey Kovalev won by crushing yet at the same time seemingly effortless fashion.

Simply put, the fight was no contest from the start, as the Russian terror knocked the unbeaten Welshman senseless, to the point where the referee was all but holding Cleverly up at the end of that torrid 3rd-round. The slaughter should have been stopped then, as Cleverly was totally gone and seemed out of it as he sat on his stool. Cleverly actually appeared to come to in the corner and he was allowed out for the 4th. The inevitable was swift in coming, however.

continue

Photos: Darren Barker defeats Daniel Geale; Martinez TKOs Romero

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.”

continue

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

(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.

continue

Jacobs, Quillin and Dirrell “Get In The Ring” To Knock Out Childhood Cancer, Obesity and Bullying

Yesterday, at the Starrett City Boxing Club in Brooklyn, the “Get In The Ring” foundation held its first ever awareness event. The charity targets childhood cancer, obesity and bullying and has been raising awareness since its inception earlier this year. Founder and cancer survivor Daniel “The Miracle Man” Jacobs was joined by WBO middleweight champion Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin and super middleweight Anthony Dirrell.

Raffles were held to help raise money. With guests winning anything from signed boxing gloves, to a pair of tickets to see Jacobs fight Giovanni Lorenzno, August 19 at the Best Buy Theater in New York City.

“This feels better than the fight itself. I’m happy that a lot of people came out to support me,” Jacobs said. “I’m really trying to target some key issues in our community, so to know that people have my back means a lot to me.”

continue

Barker defeats Geale by split decision; Kiko Martinez batters Jhonatan Romero

geale3 Darren Barker (26-1, 16 KO’s) defeated IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale (29-2, 15 KO’s) tonight by a 12 round split decision to win his IBF 160 lb. title at the Revel Resort, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. Barker got the decision by the scores 114-113 for Geale, 114-113, 116-111 for Barker.

Much of the fight was toe-to-toe action with not much in the way of defense being displayed. Geale used a lot head movement, but he was still hit a lot by Barker’s shots. Barker threw a lot of shots, so it didn’t matter that he was missing punches every now and then because he more than made up for it by his sheer volume of shots thrown.

continue

Kovalev answers questions, routs Cleverly

(Photo credit: Eoin Mundow/SEEN Sport Magazine) Undefeated Russian Light-Heavyweight Sergey Kovalev served noticed to the rest of the fighters at 175lbs and answered a lot of questions about his ability in his four round destruction of belt holder Nathan Cleverly of Wales. Cleverly’s come forward in your face style played right into the strengths of Kovalev and he was in trouble from the start.

The 3rd round saw Cleverly dropped twice by not just one shot but the barrage of punches that the Russian was throwing and in the 4th the ref stepped as Cleverly had nothing left to offer.

Coming into the fight even though Kovalev was the betting favorite there were plenty of questions you could of asked of his quality of opposition faced especially, after Gabriel Campillo was knocked out on friday night in Chicago. In a less than deep Light-Heavyweight division Kovalev, for me at least, has now propelled himself to the top passing the ageless Bernard Hopkins and hard punching Adonis Stephenson because make no mistake Nathan Cleverly was a legit fighter in the division.

continue

Kovalev obliterates Cleverly; Maccarinelli defeats McKenzie; Smith smashes Buckland

(Photo Credit: Eoin Mundow/SEEN Sport Magazine) WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) was BADLY exposed tonight by the unbeaten powerful Russian Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KO’s) in what you can only call a total slaughter in losing to Kovalev by a 4th round TKO at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. Heck, it wasn’t even a fight.

It was like watching someone pound away at a helpless punching bag. I mean, Cleverly hit the deck three times in the fight, and the fight should have been stopped in the 3rd round after Cleverly had been knocked to the canvas twice by crushing right hands from Kovalev.

continue

Fonfara Wins, Excites Fans but Shows Flaw

More than fifty years ago Floyd Patterson fought Sonny Liston twice and got destroyed twice. Trainer Cus D’Amato didn’t want Floyd to fight Liston. He knew Floyd was intimidated by the Big Bear. Before Cassius Clay dethroned him, Liston was the most feared fighter around. Cus doubted whether Floyd could beat the Big Bear, and to make matters worse, Cus felt a loss would mean the most coveted championship in all of sport would fall into the hands of one of the most undesirable characters in the fight game. Liston was an ex-con and there were rumors about him being controlled by the mob. Their first fight took place at Comiskey Park in front of crowd of over 18,000 fight fans.

At that time, Liston was a scary brute. He outweighed Patterson by 25 lbs. and enjoyed a 13 inch reach advantage. Floyd was an over grown light heavy, having won the Olympic Gold as a middleweight. Cus advised Patterson against taking the fight, but Floyd overruled him. Floyd desperately wanted to be a true champion and fight the best challengers. As history tells us, Floyd was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. Liston used a powerful jab with big blasts from both hands to destroy Floyd in less than one round. Then Sonny proved it was no fluke by doing it again in a rematch.

continue

The Top Heavyweights Of 21 Years Ago Vs. Today’s Top-10: Who Wins?

How fit and healthy is today’s heavyweight division? Did we fight fans have a better time of it in previous decades, or are today’s big men holding up the “glamour division” in good stead?

Picking up an old issue of Ring Magazine recently, the August 1992 issue, I scanned the top-10 heavyweight rankings. A great bunch of fighters are listed on the page of that 21-year-old issue, that’s for sure – but would the likes of Holyfield, Lewis and Mercer have beaten the cream of today’s crop?

Read on and see what I think!

The heavyweight top-10: Ring Magazine, August issue 1992 VS. Today’s heavyweight top-10: Ring Magazine

continue

Nathan Cleverly vs. Sergey Kovalev: Gogue’s Big Fight Preview

On Saturday, March 4th, 2006, at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England, undefeated and long reigning WBO Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe attempted to silence the fight critics who consistently claimed the slick southpaw was a protected fighter who religiously avoided the best competition in his respective division by facing the hard punching and undefeated IBF title holder Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy.

Leading into this historic and memorable unification bout, Jeff Lacy had garnered the reputation as one of the hardest pound for pound punchers in the sport, stopping five of his previous six opponents. With a deep amateur pedigree and an impressive knock-out victory over mutual opponent Robin Reid, the American born power puncher was the overwhelming favorite among most fight scribes and boxing fans across the globe.

continue