Boxing on American television used to be a rarity, like searching for a needle in a haystack. Maybe twice a month there would be cards on Showtime or HBO. 2015 is making those days seem like a thing of the distant past. This past week we were treated to no less than four major American telecasts. Add to that some international cards and we were given a bit of everything. For those of you who were unable to catch it all — or have more of a social life than I do — here is a breakdown of this past week’s festivities.
Before we begin with the domestic cards from the weekend, let’s take a detour to Japan. Although instilled with a rich combat history, the boxing scene in Japan has been particularly entertaining the past few years. This has largely been aided by the emergence of some true hard-hitters and gritty in-fighters. Last year, Japan arguably produced the top fighter of the year in Naoya Inoue. While he has yet to make an appearance on American television some of his countrymen are breaking through. On the PBC card that we will review later, Tomoki Kameda was a prominent fixture. On Japanese TV, the 130lb division provided fireworks in Tokyo on Wednesday. In the featured bout, Takashi Uchiyama squared off against unbeaten Thai Jomthong Chuwatana in a bout for Uchiyama’s WBA Super Featherweight strap. Chuwatana came with an unblemished record (albeit a paltry one, 9-0) and prior success in kickboxing. Takashi brought to the table a fellow perfect record 23-0-1 and 9 straight title defenses. Uchiyama pounced from the first bell. He unloaded in the first and overwhelmed his gutsy challenger. Barely past a minute in the 2nd, Takashi landed a clean body shot that dropped Chuwatana flat on his back. He was unable to beat the 10-count and struggled for several minutes later — it was definitely an early candidate for KO of the year. Uchiyama seems to be poised to rematch fellow Japanese standout Takashi Miura, later this year.
Friday night gave us two cards and another terrific finish. The first coming from ESPN lacked much in so far as in-ring drama. It did bring to mind some bittersweet emotions. The long running series Friday Night Fights is coming to an end. It too will be replaced by Premier Boxing Champions. For those of us who were raised on the sweet science, FNF is a remnant of another time. Its absence will be surely missed. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if ESPN can make a stake at displaying relevant matchups between top contenders. Time will tell. Be on the lookout for a feature piece of FNF in the near future.
The other Friday card was presented by Top Rank and shown on TruTV. This was to be a somewhat straight-forward showcase for the promising yet compromised prospect, Glen Tapia. Tapia suffered a brutal KO at the hands of James Kirkland a little over a year ago. Since then TR has been intent in getting him back to HBO status. His opponent Michael Soro apparently did not get the memo. Soro put away Tapia in the 4th with an offensive blitz that went uncontested for almost a minute. The referee finally felt mercy and the contest was stopped with a wobbled and badly damaged Tapia in his arms. This was high drama and most likely the last hurrah for Tapia as a hopeful draw/prospect. Perhaps he is too tough for his own good but ultimately he has taken on an insane amount of punishment in his young career. He can undoubtedly be used as an opponent but it would be great to see him pick up some defense and make another run. His promoters pegged him as a pseudo-replacement for Arturo Gatti. Remember, Gatti was considered washed up and defeated after the two losses to Ivan Robinson.
Saturday was packed with action that began in the afternoon and lasted well into the night. We began our day with a double offering from PBC on CBS. The first contest was a barnburner with sustained action throughout. Pitting Japanese-Mexican (no typo) Kameda against Britain’s Jamie McDonnell we saw what many thought to be the best fight from the otherwise lackluster PBC cards. Kameda showed his power early in the contest dropping McDonnell in the 3rd. Ultimately, pacing would be the deciding factor in this encounter. Tomoki looked to be very much in control in the first half. He began slipping afterwards and most likely gave up the final third of the fight believing he was up. The 12th was very telling as both men brought the fight to each other but Jamie appeared the aggressor. That round would decide the fight. Kameda even with the knockdown, ended up losing by one point on two judges’ scorecards.
This provided the first blemish on the young Kameda’s record but it may prove to be no more than a brief obstacle. His “Mexican-style” makes him a very exciting, very marketable fighter. McDonnell coming in as a dog proved he can hang and we should see more of both in the future. In the main event, Omar Figueroa Jr locked horns with Scotland’s Ricky Burns. Burns was for all intensive purposes making his proverbial last stand. A devastating KO or definitive decision would likely spell the end of his career. Ricky fought like he was very aware of these circumstances. Putting forth a good account of himself he fought from opening to closing bell as a man not willing to relegate himself to opponent status. In the end, he came up short as Omar was the more effective fighter. Burns should be able to hold his chin up though. It seems very unlikely he will receive any big names trekking to his home country for any fights in the future though. He will most likely have to take his act on the road should he court any other top challengers/champions. Figueroa is on a roll winning key competitive matchups. Interested to see where he lands next. In this new age of network boxing, Omar could prove to be one of the most attractive fighters in Haymon’s stable along with Kameda.
Across the pond, Europe provided several cards — perhaps most importantly, Germany hosted the Felix Sturm-Fedor Chudinov encounter. Sturm has been holding out looking to land one last big paycheck, most likely a clash with Arthur Abraham. The long time middleweight champ though fell short once again. This time to the young gun, Chudinov, who came to the ring with only a dozen pro bouts under his belt. It becomes hard to imagine that Sturm will see any more high-level matchups in his home country. If he is seeking a payday he can always sign up to slaughtered by Gennady Golovkin or any other top-tier MW in America. Elsewhere, the UK provided a showcase card featuring many of its top domestic draws. Heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua continued his destruction of lower-tier opposition. He will be back in action at the end of the month against his toughest challenge to date in Kevin Johnson. Matthew Macklin also picked up a KO on the card.
The final card of the evening presented only half the advertised bouts but more than compensated in brutal, exciting action. Humberto Soto was scheduled to take on Frankie Gomez in the opening bout. The never-ending soap opera for Gomez reared it ugly head yet again. Missing weight initially by several pounds a side-deal was made to bump his fight up to a catchweight. Alas, this would not be enough either. He again was off and the fight was scrapped altogether.
In most circumstances, losing a co-main the day before a scheduled fight would be disastrous. Luckily this card was held in the state of Texas a few days removed from Cinco de Mayo and featured the largest draw in Mexico, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. On top of that he was battling the man Max Kellerman referred to as the most exciting fighter in boxing, James Kirkland. Canelo seemingly took offense to this and staked his own claim as boxing’s most interesting top tier fighter.
In front of 30,000 rabid Latino fans, Canelo shook off the 10 month-long ring rust and produced arguably the greatest performance of his already bright career. Coming out strong against a seemingly inept or distracted Kirkland, Canelo seemed hellbent on an early stoppage. In the first he recorded a solid knockdown and kept up the pressure through the 2nd. By the 3rd, it seemed apparent that this fight would not go the distance. James again tasted the canvas. The end came at 2:19 as Kirkland ate a brilliant right feint. Looking low but connecting high Canelo flattened James and gave himself and 2015 the best KO to date.
Looking forward, Alvarez seemingly took note at the lackluster and much maligned MayPac superfight and decided to put forth an alternative. Canelo delivered the goods and also seemed intent at hyping up his own purported superfight with Miguel Cotto. Saul is taking on the route of his great Mexican brethren and is taking on all comers. Up next is hopefully Cotto most likely in September. Perhaps even more though is a potential clash with boxing’s most dangerous fighter Gennady Golovkin. If both men can keep up the momentum and stay undefeated we may be looking at one of the largest and most desired fights in recent memory (barring the MayPac fiasco). On the flipside, Kirkland is back to where we all expected him. With the public wondering, Kirkland’s promoter, 50 Cent, has advised that a reunion with Ann Wolfe is inevitable. Here’s hoping that he is able to rebuild and continue his streak of fascinating fights.
In all, we were spoiled this past week. The time of giving is not over yet though. Saturday presents the fight card that hardcore fans have been clamoring for all year since it was announced. Pegged as “Pound for Pound” HBO will showcase two of the most, if the not the most, exciting pugilists in the world today. In the main, continual knockout artist Gennady Golovkin takes on hopeful challenger Willie Monroe Jr. In the opener is the American TV debut of king of the lighter weights Roman “Chocalatito” Gonzalez. Be on the lookout for articles on Gonzalez and of course “Gambler’s Predictions” on the fights for next weekend.
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