Khalid Yafai vs. Johnson Tellez – Results

By Boxing News - 10/23/2016 - Comments

yafai

By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated super flyweight contender Khalid Yafai (20-0, 14 KOs) defeated Nicaraguan journeyman Johnson Tellez (9-28-5, 6 KOs) by a 3rd round knockout last Saturday night at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, UK. The 27-year-old Yafai nailed Tellez with a left to the midsection to put him down on the canvas. The fight was then halted by referee Kevin Parker at 2:48 of the round after Tellez failed to get back to his feet.

The official time of the stoppage was at 2:48 of the 3rd round. In looking at the knockout blow on replay, it appeared to be partially low, as it was a belt-line shot where most of Yafai’s left glove was below the belt-line rather than on it.

Tellez, 24, attempted to protest the stoppage by pointing out that he had been hit low, but the referee wasn’t buying it, and he let the knockout stand. I personally thought it was a bad stoppage, because it did appear to be a low blow. Never the less, it was such a dreadful mismatch that it didn’t really batter at all that was stopped.

You can argue that the fight should have been halted by the referee in round one, considering that Yafai was just teeing off with nonstop punches against Tellez, who wasn’t doing much of anything other than covering up. The high point of the fight for Tellez can in the last seconds of round one when he head-butted Yafai and then nailed him with a right hand a split second later. The referee warned Yafai about his head-butt, and he appeared to apologize for it.

In round two, Yafai continued to pour it on in throwing shots to the body and head of Tellez. There was virtually nothing being thrown back from Tellez. He was just covering up like a good sparring partner, and it wasn’t even entertaining. Yafai was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Tellez, and not looking particularly fast or power compared to the top fighters in the super flyweight division. Tellez did land a few nice shots to the head of Yafai that landed cleanly. I noted that Tellez appeared to be the faster and more powerful puncher of the two.

One thing that jumped out at me in looking at Yafai and Tellez before the fight started was the HUGE size advantage of Yafai. He looked to me like he had rehydrated to 140lbs. There’s no limit to how much a fighter can rehydrate, but it was still pretty shocking to see how heavy looking Yafai was compared to Tellez. However, the added weight didn’t come with added punching power, as #10 WBA Yafai didn’t look very powerful or fast at all for a fighter as big as he was. He looked to me like the same size as light welterweight Lucas Matthysse, but he didn’t have the punching power that you’d expect for someone that big.

Yafai didn’t even look as powerful as the other top fighters in the super flyweight division like Roman Gonzalez, Carlos Cuadras, Zolani Tete, and Naoya Inoue. That’s obviously going to be a problem for Yafai, because he wants to mix it up with the top names in the 115lb division. If he can’t punch with the same kind of power as the other fighters in the super flyweight division, then his chances for success against them are virtually nonexistent.

After the Yafai-Tellez fight, Yafai’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport boasted that he had gotten him a title shot against WBA World super flyweight champion Luis Conception (35-4, 24 KOs) for December 10 on the undercard of IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s next fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Hearn says he believes that Yafai will beat the 31-year-old Conception.

“Finally all done; Yafai will challenge for the world title on December 10th on the big Anthony Joshua card in Manchester,” said Hearn to Sky Sports. “He’ll take on Lewis Conception. He’s looking to become the first world champion from Birmingham, and I believe he’s going to go and do it. December 10th an official world title shot for Khalid Yifai. It was so difficult to find him a match even for tonight. You’re limited in the super flyweight division, but it’s a division where there are some big fights coming through. Chocolatito vs. Cuadras was a good fight at super flyweight. He (Yifai) wants to get in that mix as well. Conception is a tough fighter. He just beat [Kohei] Kono in Japan, so he’s one of the top world champions. We’d had Khalid since his pro debut. He’s been on a great roll, 20-0. Now it’s time to find out if he’s the real deal. We believe he is,” said Hearn.

The 5’2” Conception is technically the World Boxing Association super flyweight champion, but I don’t rate him as being the best or even the third best champion in that weight class. I rate Conception as being the 9th best fighter in the super flyweight class. I see a number of fighters being better than Conception. As such, I think it’s possible that the MUCH bigger 5’2” Yafai could beat the 5’2” Conception on size alone rather than on talent. However, I think Yafai would just be a paper champion in the division. Let’s be honest here. If you throw Yafai in the ring with the likes of Roman Gonzalez or Carlos Cuadras, he’s not going to beat either of them, or even be competitive with them. I think Yafai is a good top 10 fighter, and good enough to be a paper champion, but he’s not going to beat Roman Gonzalez or Cuadras in this lifetime. Those guys are just WAY too good. However, if Hearn can arrange a fight between Yafai and one of those guys in the near future, he’ll at least get a nice payday. I can’t see Yafai winning or making it to the 12th round, but he’d get a payday and some notoriety.

I haven’t ever been impressed with Conception. Cuadras easily beat Conception by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in April 2015. This was with Cuadras fighting in spurts and not going on a full out attack. Conception was twice beaten by Hernan Marquez, a fighter that I don’t rate. Conception did avenge those two defeats by beating Marquez by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision last December, but that was against a depleted battle worn Marquez. He wasn’t the same fighter that he was back in 2011, when he twice beat Conception.

“As soon as Conception beat Kono, I texted him [Hearn], ‘can you get me Conception?’ and he went and did the job,” said Yafai. “I needed to shake off some rust. I’m completed one whole round this year. It’s good to get a few in there. I took some shots, but I always find a way. I will find a way on December 10th,” said Yafai.

In speaking about his knockout shot, which appeared to be low, Yafai said, “I felt I hit him on the bellybutton. He took it pretty well. It was good to get some rounds in.”

Yafai noted this about his next opponent Conception: “Yeah, I rate him. He’s a big puncher, two-time world champion. Obviously, he’s a recipe for a great fight. I’m a come forward aggressive fighter. I’m looking to show my skills. He’ll come forward no doubt, but I think he’ll meet someone who can really punch at this weight, and I think I’ll put him away at some stage in the fight. I think I’ll get the real recognition that I deserve. Once I do a great job on him, I’m a world champion,” said Yafai.