By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated super middleweight contender Karoly Balzsay (19-0, 14 KOs) stopped Jose Alberto Clavero (28-7-1, 14 KOs) in the 5th round of a scheduled 12-round title belt for the WBO Inter-Continental super middleweight title on Saturday night at the Gerry Weber Stadium, Halle, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Balzsay, 28, originally from Hungary and now fighting for Universum in Germany, took Clavero out with a short left-right combination in the 5th round.
The knockdown was somewhat odd in that after Clavero was hit with the two quick shots, he went ahead and threw a right hand of his own, then circled around and got in fighting position, as if he were getting ready to continue fighting. It was then that he fell to the one knee, partially holding himself up with one arm, trying to clear his head. It must have been at least two or more seconds that elapsed after Balzsay had landed his hard combination to the head, making it seem strange the way he suddenly dropped after such a lengthy period of time.
The punches were both hard, and came within fraction of a second of each other, and there’s no doubt that Clavero was badly hurt. After getting up, he was still not in good condition, as he staggered back to his corner and had to be sat down by his trainer to be looked over.
Balzsay, a former two-time Olympian for the Hungarian Olympic team (2000 and 2004), ranked #4 in the WBO super middleweight division, and trained by Fritz Sdunek – the former trainer for Wladimir Klitschko, boxed well in the first round, using his jab, hook and right-left combinations to keep Clavero at bay. A southpaw, Balzsay appeared to give Clavero problems with his ability to punch on the move, as he frequently hit Clavero with jabs and right hooks while circling the ring.
At the same time, however, when Balzsay would stop, he showed little ability to block right hands from Clavero, all of which would slip right past Balzsay’s guard as if it wasn’t there and home in on his face as if it had a beacon attached to it. For that matter, Balzsay wasn’t particularly adept at blocking left hands either, which Clavero was able to land with great regularity.
Looking at Balzsay’s face, littered with scars from previous bouts, it seems as if his inability to block punches wasn’t isolated to this fight alone for it looked like he’s spent most of his short boxing career blocking punches with his face. He seemed only able to escape punishment when he was on the move, which he elected to do sporadically in the round. He fired back his own shots, hitting Clavero with some good right hooks and straight left hands. The round was very close, much closer than it should have been given Balzsay’s high ranking.
Clavero came out firing away in the 2nd round, hitting Balzsay with powerful right hands with great regularity. Again, Balzsay showed absolutely zero ability in being able to block a right hand, and subsequently was hit many times in the round by them. At first, Clavero was using both hands, hitting him with almost even rhythm, but when he saw how good his right hand was landing, he appeared to forget all about using his left and focused on pounding away on Balzsay’s face with just his right. Balzsay tried matching Clavero punch for punch, but was unable to do so, because Clavero at least was able to block some shots, unlike Balzsay, who was wide open for anything thrown his way.
In between rounds, Balzsay’s trainer Sdunek barked at him, obviously giving him instruction to start protecting himself. In the 3rd round, Balzsay stayed on the move during the entire round, never stopping for more than an instant, and firing off jabs and hooks while moving. It looked good, and as a tactic it was quite effective for Clavero, mostly a slow face forward type plodder, wasn’t able to land any of his right hands in the round. Balzsay looked incredibly good, and if he could fight like this all the time, instead of foolishly standing in front of his opponents, he might have the makings of a future super middleweight champion.
In the 4th round, Clavero was able to land more of his right hands, as Balzsay, perhaps getting confident, or maybe tired, choose to stop more often and try to trade shots with Clavero. More often than not, this seemed to favor Clavero, the slightly harder puncher of the two, as he was able to drill Balzsay with shots. Perhaps sensing that the round was getting away from him, Balzsay began moving again in the last minute of the round, and peppered Clavero from the outside with jabs and fast hooks to the head. It looked great, and showed once again how good Balzsay can be when he’s choosing to use his boxing skills rather than trying to slug it out at close range with his opponents.
The 5th round was all Balzsay, as he constantly moved, circling the round, and using his hands to steer Clavero around whenever he would come lunging forward trying to attack. All the while Balzsay would land short hooks, hitting him with combinations and jabs and rarely getting hit with anything in return. In the last minute of the round, Balzsay hit Clavero with a blistering fast right-left combination as the Argentinean fighter was lunging to land a punch, both shots landed to the jaw, snapping Clavero’s head back from one side to the other in quick succession. Clavero, then missed with a right hand, and then circled around and got in his fighting stance, but then sank to the canvas in a much delayed knockdown. He rested on one knee and his hand, staying in that position for what seemed like eternity. Referee Manfred Kuechler, after taking a good look at Clavero, realized that he wasn’t about to start fighting again anytime soon and promptly called a halt to the fight at 2:17 of the 5th round.
Balzsay needs a lot of improvement if he wants to eventually win a world title in the WBO. Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch and many other super middleweights look a lot better than him, have better defenses, better power and much better overall boxing skills than him. He does look good at times, like when he’s moving, but the problem is he’s inconsistent with his movement and doesn’t appear to have the stamina to keep on the move for long without having to stop and trade shots with his opponents. In terms of development, I’d place him firmly behind fellow German fighters like Felix Sturm, Arthur Abraham, Sebastian Zbik and Dimitri Sartison