A Look Back on This Weekend’s Boxing – 17 & 18th May, 2013

By Shane Newsome - 05/20/2013 - Comments

peterson454By Shane Newsome: Welcome readers to my weekly column which takes an informative, un-bias, retrospective look back on just what went on at the weekend, with reports on the biggest and best boxing action from across the globe.

This week we saw the good, bad and ugly sides of boxing. Including the rise of a new star in Lucas Matthysse, the re-emergence of some old ones in Shane Mosley and Guillermo Jones and perhaps the beginning of an end for some present ones in Lamont Peterson and Denis Lebedev.

So as usual we start our look back in the same place we begun our preview, on Friday at Crocus City Hall, Moscow, Russia and the WBA ‘Regular’ World heavyweight title defense for unbeaten Russian Alexander Povetkin (26-0) against challenger and previously unbeaten Pole Andrzej Wawrzyk (27-1).

Here we had a fight, which on paper looked like it would be a tough one for Povetkin turn out to be an incredible miss-match, the previously untested challenger looked way out of his depth in the ring throwing on average only 4 punches a minute and covering up for the rest of it though not very well either as the Russians barrage of shots fired through Wawrzyk’s guard constantly before downing his man at the end of the second round and finishing him off early in the third.

Though Povetkin looked impressive, strong and quick in this fight it wasn’t a test for him at all and twelve rounds on a punching bag would have given him more preparation for his fight later in the year against Wladimir Klitschko than this fight proved, saying that in putting Wawrzyk in against the likes of Povetkin rather than throwing him straight to the lions of the Klitschko brothers we have saved our-self’s another boring heavyweight title defense just like other recent ones we have seen against similarly untested opponents. The immediate future in truth for both fighters doesn’t look good, I can’t see Andrzej Wawrzyk being involved in a too competitive fight for a while and fights against has-been’s and and wash-up’s may be his more natural level. As for Alexander Povetkin I don’t feel he has the power or height to bother Wladimir Klitschko at all and I feel this could be another easy defense for the IBF/WBO/WBA/IBO champion come the 5th October saying that this is Heavyweight boxing where anything can happen and Povetkin has earnt his shot at the title and if he catches the younger Klitschko on a bad day who knows what’ll happen.

Also on this Russian card we were treated to one of the fights of the year a true classic between former  WBA World cruiserweight Champion Russian Denis Lebedev (25-2) and new champion Panamanian Guillermo Jones (39-3-2) and a fight where 41 year-old Jones really rolled back the years, this fight treated us to a bit of everything some good boxing at times, a slug fest at other times though also some truly poor referring from South African Stanley Christodoulou,

The action started straight away with both men going at it and the underdog Jones showing he hadn’t just turnt up to lie down, with both men boxing well and hitting their opponent with big shots it was clear to see that this fight wouldn’t be going the distance and in the fourth round as a result of some of the punches he took from Jones, Lebedev’s right eye began to swell in a bad way closing within a round as Jones began to slow in pace but target the eye as a route to victory. Lebedev was still in the fight at this point though and he fired back with some big shots of his own but even though Jones seemed unable to block most of them as age had caught up to him he did see every single shot coming and the experienced showed as he braced himself for every shot which enabled him to take them with relative ease looking at the end of the fight as if he’d had a much easier night than it indeed turned out to be, the story for Lebedev on the other hand just worsened until it began to look as if he were growing something on the right side of his face, and the fight really should have been stopped as early as the 6th, instead it went on and Lebedev went on shipping punishment as his opponent switched to a southpaw style to work on the swelling even more and also creating some swelling under the other eye, Lebedev stayed in the fight though as Jones slowed down even more with some pushing that would make Amir Khan look like a saint though the referee allowed him to get away with it and continue with swelling that made E.T look pretty, until the 11th round where Jones knocked Lebedev down, out of probably more out of common sense and concern for his own health than lack of heart Lebedev choose to stay there for the count handing Jones his title from an all out war.

Credit to both fighters here for a great fight and both have interesting futures ahead of them though Jones’ maybe shorter and more immediate you’d like to see him go after another crusierweight champion in a swan-song fight for the 41 year-old Panamanian, Lebedev would more likely on the other hand have to sit out for a while to get over his injuries though after a comeback fight could just as well challenge for a title again, I see both fighters being able to beat IBF Champion Cuban Yoan Pablo Hernandez and also a re-match between the two wouldn’t be unwelcome.

Staying with Friday we take a diversion to Hilton Lac Leamy, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada to pick up a comeback fight for British Super-middleweight challenger James DeGale (15-1) against Canadian Sebastien Demers (31-6) and an Impressive performance from DeGale was what was needed here against an opponent who’s only losses are to decent opposition, and an impressive performance was what DeGale delivered looking quick, strong and powerful in blasting his man out of there as early as the 2nd round handing Demers his 4th KO defeat in his 6 losses and a fourth defeat in a row. I would be looking for DeGale to step up his option now as he makes his way back toward a title shot possibly as early as next year, as for Demers retirement looms if he doesn’t want to continue spiraling toward the career of a journeyman.

Now to Saturday and Grand Oasis Resort, Cancun, Mexico and the re-emergence of future Hall-of-Famer Shane Mosley (47-8-1) as he came back after a year out to pull off an impressive victory over Mexican Pablo Cesar Cano (26-3-1) to hand his opponent his second loss in two fights, and an impressive performance it was to for Shane though he didn’t run away with this one as he might have in his youth he deserved the unanimous decision that was handed to him in his opponents back yard. I hope this was just a chance for Shane to finish his career on a high after four straight negative results that don’t tell the career of this great fighter, but I fear this won’t be the end we see of the 41 year-old as he sets himself up for a title shot that won’t be good to see, as his story beings to take the look of that of a late Roy Jones’, as for Cano this loss doesn’t mean an end with youth on his side at 23 years-old we could see the young big hitting Mexican back in a big fight if he works on his flaws as soon as next year.

Next to Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA with the fight card of the weekend including the big fight of the weekend Between IBF light welterweight Champion Lamont Peterson (31-2-1) and interim WBC light welterweight Challenger Lucas Matthysse (34-2) and the emergence of a new superstar in Argentinean Lucas Matthysse who made light work of a world champion Lamont Peterson feeling him out in the first round before stepping up the pressure into the second and knocking his man down and finishing him off in the third knocking him down another two times before the fight was stopped.

For Matthysse the future looks bright after such an impressive performance he has opened a lot of doors, including potentially mouth watering fights against the likes of Danny Garcia, Floyd Mayweather, Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley and an Argentinean super fight against fellow countryman Marcos Maidana, all of which with his power are winnable fights and sadly I don’t see too many people jumping at the chance to face him. As for Peterson and in a bit of bad match-making the fight took place at 141 not 140 so that Peterson didn’t lose his title if he lost, with that said every fighter at 140 will now be itching to get after Peterson and his IBF title and disappointingly the chance will most likely go to another recently defeated fighter Zab Judah who has done nothing to deserve it and should be an easy win for Peterson.

Also from this card an IBF Welterweight title defense for Champion Devon Alexander (25-1) against British challenger Lee Purdy (20-4-1), In a strange turn of events we saw Purdy not make weight for the second fight in a row meaning he couldn’t win Alexander’s IBF Title and then a fight that shouldn’t really have been made, it was a step too far too quickly for Purdy who took his chance on just 4 weeks notice and though he looked to have the chin to repel all of Alexander’s shots and the power to hurt him at times, he really lacked everything else as Alexander looked comfortable even with one hand after injuring his left hand early, out boxing the slow plodding Purdy who had no head or foot movement to suggest he was in the fight at all before good friend and first time cornerman Darren Barker pulled him out of the fight at the end of the 7th round and not a moment too soon in all honesty as Purdy just took more and more punishment.

Purdy now needs to take a step back and a fight between the winner of unbeaten Frankie Gavin and also unbeaten Denton Vassell (who has a win against Purdy on his record already) if he seriously feels his future remains at 147, though moving up in weight could also be a viable option, As for Alexander the fight against Kell Brook would be a good one though with Kell going a separate way it doesn’t look like it’ll happen anytime soon and he may take some time getting over his injuries.

Also on this busy Atlantic City card we had a great showcase of young talent including a fight between unbeaten Welterweight hopes America’s Shawn Porter (21-0-1) and Canada’s Phil Lo Greco (25-1) where Porter won every single round on his way to a fairly impressive unanimous decision win, I’d like to see Porter face Julio Diaz again after last years draw to settle the score, considering Diaz’s performance against Khan it should be a better fight as well. also on this card were two great former amateur champions American bantamweight Rau’shee Warren (4-0) and British Middleweight Anthony Ogogo (2-0) who both put in impressive performances against their limited opponents and both have very bright futures ahead of them on this evidence. another fighter on this card was British Super-flyweight Haroon Khan (2-0) who to put in a great performance getting his man out of there inside 30 seconds and looked a lot better than in his first fight all be it against a fighter who was just expected to lie down. in a mixed night for the Peterson brothers the card also saw a comfortable win for Anthony Peterson (32-1) scoring a 2nd round stoppage and a win for unbeaten American Light Heavy Thomas Williams Jr (14-0) as they stepped up their competition in a haunt for future title fights.

Our final action of the weekend comes from York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, UK and the return to Matchroom Sports Prizefighter and its third installment of the Cruiserweights competition, rather than going through it fight for fight I will just take a look at the winners performance Canning Town’s own Wadi Camacho (9-1) who strangely looked unimpressive on his way to the Prizefighter title slapping and looking very amateurish, he doesn’t look powerful, quick or skilled enough at the moment to function at title level though he is only 27 and these things can be worked on and will need to be if he wants to make it, a start would be a rematch against the only blip in his record China Clarke (11-1-1) before he looks to go any further. This card also saw a return to action for former Prizefighter champion Nigerian born Light Middleweight Larry Ekundayo (6-0) and it also proved a return to winning ways for the 30 year-old who really needs to push his career on now if he hope to become a champion.

On a side note, also in action this week were Irish Middleweight Andy Lee (30-2) who stepped up his return to the big time with an impressive 1st round stoppage win over Darryl Cunningham (28-4) a step up in opposition would be great now and hopefully a return to title fights isn’t too far away as he continues his good work with new trainer Adam Booth. And finally Hughie Fury (3-0) continued an impressive start to his career with a third straight win that has him ticking along well and hopefully he can now step up his opposition to some tough journeyman who can be level sticks for the younger cousin of Heavyweight contender Tyson Fury.

Apologise for the length of today’s article but there was a lot of boxing action and next week will be no different with perhaps the fight of the year between Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch and many more, Thank you for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed it and look out for my review for next week’s action on Friday, Have a good week all and enjoy yourself no matter what you’re doing.



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