Boxing – Bika peeved At Being Left Out of Showtimes’ Super Six Tournament

By Jason Kim: Super middleweight contender Sakio Bika (27-3-2, 18 KO’s) is unhappy with being left out when Showtime selected fighters for their super middleweight six-man tournament that begins on October 17th. The fighters that ended up being selected – Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch and Andre Ward – are good for the most part, but the inclusion of Abraham, a fighter that has never fought a bout at super middleweight, seems odd.

That should have gone to 30-year-old Bika. Ranked at number #3 in the International Boxing Federation, #6 in the WBC and #13 in the WBO, Bika should have been given the nod when they were selecting for the tournament. The inclusion of the unbeaten Abraham seems to have been made more for what he accomplished as a middleweight and because of his popularity in Germany.

Bika has only beaten three times in his career, losing to San Soliman by a 12 round decision in October 2002, Joe Calzaghe by a 12 round decision in October 2006 and most recently to Lucian Bute in a 12 round decision in June 2007.

All of the fighters that beat Bika are quite good, and one of the losses, the one to Soliman, Bika avenged last year with an eight round decision victory. Jermain Taylor, 30, has done little since moving up to the super middleweight division in 2008, beating Jeff Lacy by a 12 round decision and then getting stopped in the 12th by Carl Froch in April 2009.

Surely, Bika has done more in his career to deserve to be put in the tournament rather than Taylor. That seemed like another selection by Showtime based on what Taylor had accomplished at middleweight rather than what he’s done as a super middleweight.

Bika rightfully is angry about being left out of the super six tournament. Bika has challenged Taylor many times, but hasn’t has him accept a fight with him.

Seeing that he’s being blocked in moving forward at super middleweight, Bika is planning on moving up a weight class and fighting at light heavyweight so that he can try to win a title at that weight. That actually might be a smarter move for Bika, because the super middleweight division is one of the best in boxing with some of the biggest stars, whereas the light heavyweight division only has a small handful of stars with Chad Dawson being it’s biggest star. Roy Jones Jr. still competes in that division, but he’s more a less fighting out his string against lesser fighters and doesn’t seem to be too concerned with trying to capture another title at this stage in his career.

Bika says that he’d like to fight Jean Pascal, the WBC light heavyweight champion.

Two years ago in 2007, Bika won The Contender reality television show with wins over Donny McCrary Sam Soliman and a knockout victory over power puncher Jaidon Codrington in the finals. In Bika’s most recent fight, he easily defeated Peter Manfredo Jr. in a 3rd round stoppage in November 2008.

7 Responses to “Boxing – Bika peeved At Being Left Out of Showtimes’ Super Six Tournament”