This Week In Boxing: October 8–11
[lead]Wednesday October 8[/lead]
From Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Biloxi, Mississippi
Time: 6:00 PM PDT, 9:00 PM EDT, 2:00 AM BST
TV: ESPN2 (US)
Sam Soliman 44(18)-11 vs Jermain Taylor 32(20)-4–1
12 rounds
IBF middleweight title
Jermain Taylor made a name for himself by ending Bernard Hopkins’s successful middleweight title defense streak behind a simple jab. It was a jab from Taylor that kept Hopkins off of him and unable to do the work we all know Hopkins is legendary for. The decoration and distinction of beating a future Hall of Famer should take one into another galaxy and another sphere of success, but for Taylor it didn’t. Hopkins always brags about his ability to ruin a fighter. He didn’t quite ruin Taylor, but combine two fights with Bernard Hopkins and one fight with Winky Wright. That mix sent Taylor’s career in a different direction.
(Some trivia for you, Winky Wright had beaten Sam Soliman to earn that shot at Jermain Taylor. In 2005!)
Taylor’s descent began when he faced Kelly Pavlik. He’d beaten Pavlik in the amateurs and looked to duplicate the success as a professional (possibly overlooking Pavlik.) After some early success, Pavlik started to come on strong and eventually stopped Taylor in 7 rounds. Taylor would lose 4 of his next 5 fights. Taylor took a two year lay off before returning and working his way back into the title picture in 2014.
Taylor’s success is easy to trace and obvious to see. For Sam Soliman, it’s been a long ride full of steps forward before a couple steps back.
Let’s quickly go down the list:
After losing plenty of fights early in his career to weak opposition, he secures a fight with former Rugby player Anthony Mundine.
In the biggest fight of his career to that point he losses to Anthony Mundine by a controversial decision. Soliman is essentially a journeyman now.
Soliman has a long winning streak, sheds the journeyman label, and earns a shot at contendership for Jermain Taylor’s IBF middleweight title. All he has to do is beat Winky Wright. Soliman loses.
He wins his next two before facing Mundine again. This time Soliman knocks him out.
Sam decides to participate in ESPN’s show called The Contender. He faces Sakio Bika and loses an eight round decision.
He secures another fight with old rival Anthony Mundine who was a junior middleweight title holder. He loses yet again to the former Rugby player.
Soliman goes back to Australia and tears through seven domestic contenders. He heads to Germany to fight for another world title. This time it’s Felix Sturm’s IBF middleweight title which Sturm had held hostage for what felt like decades. Soliman outworks and out hustles Sturm for 12 rounds and scores a unanimous decision. Soliman finally does it. He’s a world champion…
Soliman gets popped for using a banned stimulant. The stimulant in question was methylsynephrine. (It’s used for weight loss mostly.) The decision is overturned and the belt goes back to Sturm.
Soliman goes back to Australia and knocks out a domestic foe. Sturm calls again and says let’s do this. No drugs this time.
Soliman heads back to Germany and beats Sturm even easier this time. Soliman comes up clean and is officially the IBF middleweight champion.
Now he faces Jermain Taylor. A bout nine years in the making! The winner will face Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam which will be the easiest and quickest negotiated fight in the history of boxing as the winner will no doubt tie themselves up before Gennady Golovkin comes knocking.
If Taylor can get his jab going and get Soliman to respect his power he’ll have this in the bag. If Soliman is allowed to get inside and do his normal inside hustling, Taylor has no chance. This could be a wild fight.
Andre Dirrell 22(15)-1 vs Nick Brinson 16(6)-2–2
10 rounds
light heavyweight division
There was a point in time when you could argue who the best super middleweight was in the world. Andre Dirrell or someone else. He was a bronze medalist at the 2004 Athens games, avenged his amateur losses including one to current middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, and had numerous amateur decorations. As a pro he looked unstoppable heading into the Super Six super middleweight tournament.
His first fight was against current super middleweight titleholder (and undefeated at the time) Carl Froch. It was a close fight. Froch took Dirrell into deep waters (or you can say it the other way around) before emerging as the split victor. Dirrell would go on to face Arthur Abraham. Dirrell would win by disqualification after Abraham hit him after he’d slipped on water in the ring. Ultimately, it was Andre Dirrell who lost that night.
After his fight with Abraham he started to experience headaches and dizziness. His family noticed that the combination of the periods of headache and dizziness and some slight temperamental changes possibly indicated a more advanced and serious problem. Dirrell saw a specialist who confirmed their suspicion. Dirrell’s doctor refused to sign a clean bill of health until Dirrell could go three months without feeling any symptoms. This placed an impending and anticipated fight with Andre Ward on hold forever.
Dirrell has fought sparsely since then and 2014 will be the first year since his 2009 where he fights twice within a twelve month span. Nick Brinson will be his opponent and if the Dirrell of old shows up, Brinson will be in major trouble. Brinson has had trouble against opponents with domestic level talent, not to mention the world level fighters which Dirrell certainly was before Abraham got him.
Dirrell is coming off an impressive knockout of Vladine Biosse. Biosse had just went the distance with British super middleweight phenom prospect Callum Smith and Dirrell made easy work of him. (Though you can certainly interpret it like this: Have you ever had to ask someone for help opening a jar and they can’t do it. Then they hand it back to you and you pop it open like nothing? Almost as if they loosened it a bit. Could be that’s what happened.)
Dirrell is a sight for sore eyes in boxing. He was once a tremendous young talent. An ambidextrous puncher with defensive skill.
(Here’s a link to Dirrell vs Golovkin as amateurs.)[hr gap=””]
[lead]Friday October 10[/lead]
From Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California
Ronny Rios 23(10)-0 vs Robinson Castellanos 19(12)-10
10 rounds
featherweight division
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If I’m a young fighter on the cusp of entering the fold for a title there are a few divisions that I would have no interest in. One is featherweight. It’s one of the most jam packed divisions with titles in every direction and no clear kingpin that can beat everyone-the way Andre Ward or Wladimir Klitschko reign over their divisions-rather there are 5 or 6 guys that can beat just about anyone. Featherweight is jam packed and the entrance fee into the world level is a high price to pay. It’s why Eddie Hearn is keeping Lee Selby on the domestic level.
For Rios, Castellanos might be too weak of an opponent. He’s a former name in the division who hasn’t done much in recent history. He’s coming off a stoppage loss and I’m not sure a win for Rios does much to elevate his stock.
Basically this is a Golden Boy showcase card for their prospects.
Antonio Orozco 20(15)-0 vs Steve Forbes 35(11)-13
10 rounds
junior welterweight division
It’s like a tradition if you’re a junior welterweight or welterweight and signed with Golden Boy to beat Steve Forbes up.
Diego De La Hoya 6(5)-0 vs Luis Ruiz Lizarraga Jr 5(2)-2–1
6 rounds
super bantamweight division
Yes, Diego De La Hoya is related to Oscar De La Hoya. Thus far in his young career he’s been good enough to have success and keep his undefeated record. There’s little to criticize. He’s a prospect who’s still developing in 6 round fights doing what he’s supposed to. When he steps up (likely between fights 10–15) we’ll know more about De La Hoya and about his trajectory.[hr gap=””]
[lead]Saturday October 11[/lead]
From O2 Arena, Greenwich, London, UK
Time: 12:30 PM PDT, 3:30 PM EDT, 8:30 PM BST
TV: Sky Sports (UK)
Anthony Joshua 8(8)-0 vs Denis Bakhtov 38(25)-9
12 rounds
vacant WBC international heavyweight title
There isn’t a heavyweight prospect in the world as exciting as Anthony Joshua. When you watch Joshua you get the sense that there may not be a single vulnerability with him.
Take a look at him and the first thing that may enter your mind is that he’s the heir to the Klitschko throne. He takes care of his body and trains like he’s got a weight to make. He’s built like an NFL linebacker, only taller.
Watch an interview with him and you hear his quiet confidence and see a pleasant guy who smiles. There is no ‘cerebral approach’ that turned American fans off with Lennox Lewis.
His youth leads you to conclude that he’s the future of the heavyweight division if it all comes together… and if it all comes together, what we’ll have is a superstar who crosses over into the American sports media as well as every other media who has an interest in boxing. Joshua will be an international superstar known around the world as the heavyweight champion of the world. A humble, charismatic champion outside the ring who fights with a dangerous ferocity inside the ring.
So it that it? Should we put our life savings on Joshua’s future success? Not yet. Joshua certainly looks like a sure thing, but don’t be fooled. This is all hype so far and the truth is still to be discovered. Bakhtov will be Joshua’s next big step up the ladder at heavyweight. It’s a good test for Joshua and an exciting one for anyone curious about how far Joshua can go.
Lee Selby 19(7)-1 vs Joel Brunker 27(15)-0
12 rounds
featherweight division
Remember earlier when we mentioned the featherweight division and the very steep cost to get in? Selby is one of those guys right on the bubble. He may be good enough to be considered for the top 10, but there’s something missing if you wanted to include him in the world level category. I guess this is a good time to check out the featherweight division and see just how competitive this division is.
Jhonny Gonzalez is currently the king. He doesn’t have the crown that lineal champions get, but he’s at least sitting on the throne. Nonito Donaire has the best case for being second banana and he’s facing number 5 rated Nicholas Walters. Simpiwe Vetyeka is still out there kicking around at number 3 given Donaire didn’t really make a strong case for decisively beating him. Evgeny Gradovich is number 4 and the wild card of the division. He may be the future of the division if Donaire takes care of Walters (or the other way around) and he cleans up the winner.
Gonzalez can face Abner Mares (also in the top 10) again, but we already saw what that fight looks like. Two guys looking in are Vasyl Lomachenko and Jesus Cuellar. They’re hovering around Lee Selby looking for some way to jump into the division race.
Here lies the problem for Selby: Does he wait it out and see how the picture unfolds over the next year or dive right in and try to take one of the title holders? I think his promoter, Eddie Hearn, is far too smart to throw Selby into the race just yet. Selby has taken one loss already in his young career and can’t risk another. Selby should look for a fight with Billy Dib and gradually make his way toward Jesus Cuellar.
Or Selby can follow through with the original plan which was to face Nonito Donaire when they get that opportunity.
[hr gap=””]
From Oasis Hotel Complex, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico
TV: DigiSport (Hungary)
Carlos Molina 22(6)-5–2 vs Cornelius Bundrage 33(19)-5
12 rounds
IBF light middleweight title
It’s hard to imagine Molina losing. Not because Bundrage isn’t a good fighter or even because Molina is spectacular. Mostly because every time I imagine this fight my brain drifts to other subjects.
Molina is one of the most difficult fighters in the sport. He likes to get inside and fight fought. When he lands a clean blow he’ll often tie up and then work from the clinch. Bundrage likes to do the same thing. Bundrage works hard, but doesn’t appear to do much work where you can point and say ‘ah see there, that was good by Bundrage.’
This is the most forgettable title fight since Vazquez-Bey. This fight is not for those with a weak stomach. Hardened fans may question their fandom after seeing this fight. You’ve been warned.
