The CAS has given Olympic boxing a lifeline by ordering the AIBA to allow Serik Konakbayev to be a candidate in this week’s presidential election. If interim president Gafur Rahimov had been the sole candidate there is every chance that the Olympic Committee would banish boxing from the Olympics. It is ridiculous that without this court action Rahimov, who is on the US Department of the Treasury’s sanctions list “for providing material support “ to a criminal organisation would have lead such a high profile sports body. You only have to look at the list of current world champions to see the important part Olympic competition has played. Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Oleg Usyk, Artur Beterbiev, Demetrius Andrade, Gary Russell, Errol Spence, Vasyl Lomachenko, Isaac Dogboe, Khalid Yafai and Jose Pedraza were all Olympians. Of course there will still be amateur boxing even if the sport is not an Olympic sport but there must be a huge question over government support to boxing where the return in Olympic medals is a big factor in the support and sponsorship money given to the sport. My fear is that having been pig-headed enough to try to push Rahimov through as a sole candidate many AIBA delegates will react badly to having their plan foiled and vote Rahimov in just to thumb their noses at the CAS and the US Department of Treasury.
It is the next round of the WBSS super lights and bantams this
weekend. The competition is already producing some great action and the Josh
Taylor vs. Ryan Martin and Ryan Burnett vs. Nonito Donaire fights have the
potential to be every bit as entertaining. The WBSS really is making a big
impact and they are proving that the fights are more important than any title.
With the WBSS in control of the various matches it is taking much of the
decision making on who fights for what title and against whom out of the
control of the sanctioning bodies but they all want to be associated with it so
are playing along and basking in whatever glory comes out. All our own work? No
none of your work Mr Sanctioning Body.
The next round of the WBSS
cruiser tournament takes place in Chicago on 10 November. It will see the
tournament favorite Mairis Breidis face Noel Gevor, or Noel Mikaeljin as he
now seems to prefer to be known, and Krzys Glowacki against Maksim Vlasov. They
are both very good fights between highly rated fighters. Breidis is No 1 with
the WBC, and Vlasov No 2, the WBO have Glowacki No 2 and Vlasov No 5 the WBA
have Vlasov No 2 and Glowacki No 3. The No 1 spot with the IBF is vacant with
Andrew Tabiti who is already through to the semi-finals at No 3 and Glowacki No
7. Gevor’s only rating is No 14 with the WBC but then he is promoted by Sauerland
promotions which explains his inclusion. Of course Yuniel Dorticos is also
through to the semi-finals.
The elephant in the room is that on the same night in Manchester
Oleg Usyk defends all four titles against Tony Bellew. Whoever wins that fight
it is likely that all four titles will become vacant during the life of this
WBSS tournament but until after the Usyk vs. Bellew and thee 10 November quarter-finals
are over it won’t be clear who will be fighting for three of the four titles.
It is impossible to know what is happening with the WBA. In their September
ratings they showed Usyk as super champion, Beibut Shumenov as their secondary
champion, and Arsen Goulamirian as their interim champion and Denis Lebedev as
“champion in recess”. Their October ratings do not show Goulamirian at all and
show Dorticos at No 1. I am not sure why Goulamirian has disappeared totally
and I am also not sure how Lebedev can be “in recess” as he had a fight in
September. It seems likely he will be reinstated and his fight with Mike Wilson
on 24 November on a show in Monaco will be a title defence-of some title. Leave
it to the WBA to screw things up at least in that they are reliable.
Apart from their headaches in the cruisers the WBA are still
struggling to sort out the position on their secondary heavyweight title. Manuel
Charr was to have defended the title against Fres Oquendo on 29 September but
of course Charr tested positive for a banned substance. That ruled out Charr and
as Oquendo rightly turned down a $500,000 offer to fight Jarrell Miller the WBA
are still on the hook from the court case where they were ordered to give
Oquendo a title fight. Oquendo has not fought for four years and the way it is
going I can see him fighting for the title against Anthony Joshua’s grandson.
That would be more like Super 88 than Super 8. No WBA title fight for Miller
Instead he will fight Romanian Bogdan Dinu in Mulvane, Kansas on 17 November.
It is only natural that Daniel Jacobs should be calling out Saul
Alvarez but the IBF may put a spoke in that wheel. Before the Serhiy
Derevyanchenko fight Jacobs was rated behind Jack Culcay at No 3 so they may
insist he fight Culcay before anyone else.
The Jeff Horn vs. Anthony Mundine fight in Brisbane on 30 November
will be a huge fight for Australia. I am amazed by Mundine. At 43 he is still a
force but what amazes me is that he started out as a super middle, moved up to
middle, went down to super welter, fought Danny Green at cruiser and is now
going to fight welterweight Jeff Horn at catchweight. He is a very
controversial figure in Australia due to his strong stance on racial matters
and he has said that he will not stand during the national anthem in Brisbane.
Juan Francisco will have a keep busy fight as he waits for a
return shot at Srisaket. Estrada will face former WBC flyweight champion Sonny
Boy Jaro. The Filipino scored a major upset when he beat Pongsaklek for the WBC
title in 2012 but then lost three fights in a row including dropping the WBC
title. He has won 10 of his 11 fights since then but at 36 and past his best he
should pose no threat to Estrada.
The planned fight for the secondary WBA super welter title between
the champion Brian Castano and former champion Erislandy Lara has been
postponed until sometime early next year.
Two of Poland’s leading heavyweights, Artur Szpilka and Mariusz
Wach will battle it out in Gliwice on 10 November. I don’t like the term “Crossroads”
but the loser will find it hard to stay relevant if he loses here. At 29 it is not quite so critical for Szpilka
but at 38 time is running out for Wach.
There will an IBF eliminator in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 5
January to find a challenger for Errol Spence. The IBF No 1 spot vacant, No 2
Yordenis Ugas is lined up to challenge Shawn Porter for the WBC title in
February and No 3 Jesse Vargas declined to fight an eliminator. The outcome is that
Kuala Lumpur-based Uzbek Kudratillo Abdukakhorov the No 4 and Japan’s Keita
Obara No 6 will fight each other to fill the No 1 spot. It seems that the
Porter vs. Ugas fight will be on the same show as Spence vs. Mikey Garcia.
With Zolani Tete tied up in the WBSS bantam tournament the WBO are
already looking to crown an interim champion. Ghanaian Duke Micah is rated No 1
by the WBO with Mexican Ricardo Espinoza No 2. Micah is a certainty but as yet
it is not clear if Espinoza will accept the opportunity. If Isaac Dogboe
retains his WBO super bantam title against Emanuel Navarrete in New York on 8
December, then with Micha’s title fight and Richard Commey now to meet Russian
Isa Chaniev for the IBF light title relinquished by Mikey Garcia Ghana could
have three world champion in the first half of 2019.
Plenty of good fights to come for the EBU tiles. From the lighter
to the heavier a date is awaited for Andrew Selby’s challenge to Vicente
Legrand for the flyweight title. Jeremy Parodi and Luca Rigoldi contest the
vacant super bantam title on 17 November, on 14 November Samir Ziani and Juli
Giner fight for the vacant super feather title, Francesco Patera, fresh from
his upset victory over Lewis Ritson, will defend the lightweight title against
Marvin Petit with purse bids due 19 November The super light title is vacant
and Joe Hughes and Andrea Scarpa will fight for that on 30 November in Italy,
Kerman Lejarraga defends the welterweight title against Frankie Gavin in Bilbao
on 17 November, at super welter Sergio Garcia will be allowed a voluntary
defence and then has to fight Zakaria Attou, negotiations are ongoing for Kamil
Szeremeta to defend his title against Martin Murray, Robin Krasniqi has a
voluntary defence of his light heavyweight title against Stefan Haertel on 17
November and if he wins he then has to defend against Juergen Brahmer.
Cruiserweight champion Yves Ngabu is defending against Micki Nielsen no date yet for that one and finally if no agreement is reached purse bids are due 13 November for Agit Kabayel’s defence of the heavyweight title against Otto Wallin. Quite a schedule and some high quality fights.
Cruiserweight champion Yves Ngabu is defending against Micki Nielsen no date yet for that one and finally if no agreement is reached purse bids are due 13 November for Agit Kabayel’s defence of the heavyweight title against Otto Wallin. Quite a schedule and some high quality fights.
Marcos Maidana is still scoring victories but in the courts not in
the ring. The former WBA super light and welter champion sued his former
manager claiming that he had defrauded Maidana of over $600,000. The court
ruled that his manager had adulterated contracts, forged Maidana’s signature
and collected money in the name of Maidana including a $175,000 signing on fee that
Maidana should have received as signing on bonus from Universum Media. Whether
Maidana will be able to recover the money is a different matter.
On the South African scene it was good to learn that Gideon
Buthelezi was finally paid in full for his IBO title defence against Lucas
Fernandez. However there is a lesson there that when you bend the rules even
with the best of intentions it can rebound on you. This time not insisting on
the promoter having the money instead of a promise from a sponsor for the money
has ended happily but that has not always been the case in the past.
There was some controversy over Tommy Oosthuizen’s win over
Thabiso Mchunu in September so they will fight each other again on a Rodney
Berman show on 6 December. On the same show unbeaten Thulani Mbenge will be
defending his IBO welterweight title against experienced former IBF lightweight
champion Miguel Vazquez.
The Italian Boxing Hall of Fame was formally opened late last
month. Nino Benvenuti, Patricio Oliva, Mauricio Stecca and the late Giovanni
Parisi were the first inductees. They are unique in that they are the only Italian
boxers to win both an Olympic gold medal and a world title. Parisi tragically
died in an automobile accident in 2009 at the age of just 41. There have been
so many great Italian boxers and boxers of Italian heritage it will interesting
to see who else joins this famous four in the Hall.
Not such good news for Italians was the death last month of Piero
Del Papa at the age of 80. Del Papa was Italian light heavyweight champion and
twice held the European title. In his twelve year 62 fight career he fought
Eddie Cotton, Mauro Mina, Carl Bobo Olsen, Giulio Rinaldi, Chic Calderwood, Tom
Bogs, Gregorio Peralta, Rudi Lubbers and so many more. His only shot at a world
title came in his 55th fight when he was knocked out in one round by
Vicente Rondon for the WBA light heavy title. RIP Piero.
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| Piero Del Papa |
Last month also saw the death of one of Kenya’s outstanding boxers in Richard Murunga. He put Kenya on the map when he came out of nowhere to win a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich where Kenya also won a silver and another bronze. He turned pro in 1974 and had a few fights in Europe for Mogen Palle. After he retired despite a spinal injury making him a paraplegic he played a big part in boxing in Kenyan as a trainer and later as a manager and founded the Kenyan Boxing Federation. RIP Richard.
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| Richard Murunga |
Former world light heavy and cruiser champion Dariusz Michalczewski is entering the ranks of promoters. His first show will be a co-promotion with Erol Celan in Gdansk on 8 December. Michalczewski was 48-2 in his pro career winning his first 48 fights including 25 consecutive victories in WBO WBA and IBF title fights over two divisions.
Always expect the unexpected in boxing. After suffering his
seventh loss in his last eight fights Georgian boxer Levan Shonia went back to
his corner leaned over the ropes and punched his trainer. That was more than he
had managed in six rounds against Spas Genov.
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