Former International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (38-2, 28 KOs) destroyed his overmatched opponent Dominique Alexander (16-4-1, 8 KOs) on Saturday night, dropping him with a right hand in the first round at the Expo Center, ul. Pradzynskiego, in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. The bout was stopped immediately after the knockdown, as Alexander was unable to make it to his feet in time to beat the count. In fact, Alexander had a hard time getting up all over the knockdown, because he was badly hurt and his right eye was cut and bleeding all over the place. The bout was officially stopped at 2:13 of the first round.

Wlodarczyk, ranked in the IBF, was making his first showing since losing his IBF cruiserweight title to Steve Cunningham in May 2007, and seemed to have selected Alexander because he was a good opponent - read: easy) coming off such a disappointing loss. However, Alexander appeared to be in control of the fight before the knockdown, as he skillfully landed pinpoint jabs and steered Wlodarczyk around the ring which ever way he wanted to. Read more

One time American heavyweight boxing contender Corey Sanders (23-12, 15 KOs) was humbled on Friday night, losing a unanimous decision to Steffen Kretschmann (10-0, 9 KOs) at the Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, in Berlin, Germany. Sanders, now 32, and badly overweight, was nothing more than a punching bag for the 27-year old German Kretschmann, who pounded away at Sanders round after round, hitting him on-stop with jabs, left hands, uppercuts and straight lefts.

The fight was in no way competitive and after four rounds, both Kretschmann and the German crowd looked decidedly uneasy with the way the one-sidedness of the bout, perhaps wishing that it could be over quicker. After the first round, Kretschmann looked like he had little heart in beating up on his grotesquely overweight opponent, and seemed to turn down the heat on his punches out of a mixture of respect and sympathy. Read more

According to Sports Illustrated, International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is in talks with World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov about a possible unification bout in 2008. Klitschko, 31, the younger brother of former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, has been obsessed with unifying the title for the past year. However, up to this point Wladimir has had little luck in attracting the other heavyweight title holders into a bout with him. Ibragimov, who recently easily defeated 44-year old challenger Evander Holyfield, appears to be interested in taking on Wladimir. Why, that’s a good question. It would seem that Ibragimov would have little chance in defeating Wladimir, and by taking him on it would seem very likely that he’ll lose his title, and and look bad in doing so.

However, it’s not so hard understand when you see that heavyweight challengers Tony Thompson and Alexander Dimitrenko are breathing down Ibragimov’s neck, both of which would have an excellent chance at beating Ibragimov almost as easily as Wladimir will. Read more

Heavily hyped prospect Travis Walker (25-1-1, 19 KOs) was brought to earth on Friday night, losing by 1st round TKO in the first 15 seconds of the fight to 2000 super heavyweight amateur star TJ Wilson (12-1, 8 KOs). Walker, 28, a six foot four inch muscle bound heavyweight known for his devastating knockout power, made a tactical blunder in the first few seconds of the bout when he let the 6′6″ 280 lb Wilson immediately back him up into a corner where he couldn’t escape the power shots thrown by Wilson. Within 15 seconds, Wilson unleashed a slurry of punches which all connected to Walker’s head, the last two stunning him can causing him to drop his hands to his side.

The referee quickly jumped in and stopped the bout, wanting to prevent Walker from being seriously hurt by Wilson. An argument can be made that the referee jumped in a little too soon, however, Walker only threw one punch in the fight before the stoppage and was taking serious punishment before the referee chose to stop the bout. I have no doubt that Walker would have been dropped in another 10-20 seconds the way Wilson was punching, mainly because Wilson was just much too fast and large to be dislodged from his punching position, especially the way Walker was looking after absorbing the last two shots. Read more

Lucian Bute (21-0, 17 KOs) remained unbeaten on Friday night as he stopped Colombian Alejandro Berrio (26-5, 25 KOs) in the 11th round at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The southpaw Bute, 27, led all the way, jabbing constantly and moving on the outside to stay away from the knockout artist Berrio. Despite sporting two badly swollen eyes, Bute connected with two powerful left hooks to drop an exhausted Berrio in the 11th round. Referee Marlon Wright moved in and put a halt to the bout. Berrio stalked Bute round after round, landing an occasional bomb whenever Bute would remain stationary long enough for Berrio to connect. However, Bute’s fighting style was all wrong for Berrio, who prefers his opponents to stand in front of him rather than the hit and run type that Bute more closely resembles.

In the early rounds, Bute used stinging combinations and a accurate jab to keep Berrio on the outside. Berrio remained patient, looking as if he knew that he would catch up to Bute sooner or later. However, by the 8th round Berrio was now looking desperate, as he was trailing badly by that time. Read more

Heavyweight Juan Carlos Gomez (43-1, 35 KOs) dominated the 42-year old Oliver McCall (51-9, 36 KOs) beating him by 12-round unanimous decision at the Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, in Berlin, Germany. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 118-110 and 118-110, giving Gomez the victory. Strangely enough, this was the second time that Gomez has beaten the forty year old McCall, having beaten him two years ago by unanimous decision only to have the victory ruled a no-contest when drugs showed up in his urine after the fight. This time, however, the victory was even easier as the southpaw Gomez controlled the action with his long jab and straight left hand.

For some reason, McCall seemed to be holding back, as if he was trying to preserve his energy until the right moment in which to expend it. However, by the time that McCall began to start punching in the 8th round, he seemed to lack the power in his shots that he normally has in the early rounds of his fight. Obviously, it was a tactical error on his part, something he should have accounted for because he did very little in the first seven rounds of the fight other than following Gomez around the ring, taking shots during much of the time. Read more

Former 2004 heavyweight Olympic gold medalist for the Cuban team, Odlanier Solis (5-0, 4 KOs) obliterated American Jeremy Bates (21-15-1, 18 KOs) in the 2nd round tonight at the Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, in Berlin, Germany. Using mostly uppercuts and powerful body shots, Solis pounded away at Bates, 33, knocking him down in the 1st round, and then hurting him badly in the 2nd round with a devastating right uppercut that sent him to the ropes where the referee moved in and halted the bout.

Solis, 27, looked remarkably overweight at 250+ pounds, 50 more than he weighed in three years ago when he won the heavyweight gold medal in the 2004 Olympics. I suppose Solis feels that he needs the weight to compete in the heavyweight division, where the money is better than the cruiserweight division - where Solis should really be fighting at his height (six feet). However, mixed in with all the blubber that Solis has put on there’s a decent amount of muscle, which makes him effective against the unskilled heavyweights in the division like Bates. Read more

Featherweight prospect Yuriorkis Gamboa (6-0, 5 KOs) had an easy time tonight destroying 33-year old Samuel Kebede (25-2, 14 KOs) in the 2nd round at the Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, in Berlin, German. Gamboa, 25, the 2004 Olympic flyweight gold medalist from Cuba, knocked Kebede down twice in the 1st round and then once more in the 2nd round, prompting for referee to move in and put a halt to the one-sided affair. Gamboa knocked Kebede down with a chopping right hand seconds into the fight.

After receiving a standing eight count, Kebede resumed fighting and taking terrific punishment from Gamboa, who fought most of the fight with his hands at his sides, using little defense - because Kebede was throwing zero punches - and pot shotting Kebede at will with hooks, body shots and powerful right hands. Late in the first round, Gamboa knocked Kebede down with another chopping right hand. The round ended with Gamboa blasting away at a defenseless Kebede whose face was red from the numerous shots he’d absorbed in the round. Read more

Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who has now been injured causing the five consecutive delays in bouts, is now set to fight the winner of Oleg Maskaev vs Samuel Peter, a bout which takes place in February 2008. However, With Vitali’s Emeritus status (read: unearned) as a mandatory challenger, the questiuon remains whether he can stay healthy enough to ever make the bout with the winner. His back, knee and shoulder has proven to be quite fragile as his career has progressed, especially in recent years as he’s aged. Now, at 37 - make it 38 by the time he fights the winner of Maskaev-Peter - it remains questionable that he can even make out of his training camps in one piece without injuring himself badly. A large part of the blame lays with him, for he was injured in 2005 while running in cold weather in Germany.

Why Vitali, a multi-millionaire, should choose a risky cold climate to train doesn’t make much sense, especially in light of his his history of severe injuries. Whatever, the case the injuries - a torn MCL and bone bruise - made it necessary for him to retire temporarily from boxing. Read more

With little more than two weeks to go before the Super middleweight showdown between undefeated World Boxing Organization super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (43-0, 32 KOs) and World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (39-0, 29 KOs) the big question that comes to mind for many is whether Calzaghe will have the power to keep the younger, stronger Kessler on the outside where he’s much less effective. The bout, which takes place at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, in Wales, will be a factor in the 35-year old Calzaghe’s favor, however, it’s not clear how much the crowd can assist Calzaghe in the way of his lack of power. Calzaghe, a fighter mainly noted for being an excellent slapper, has never had the kind of knockout power that Kessler possesses, and has been lucky up to this point in his career, only having to face mostly weaker, mediocre fighters.

Much has been made of the fact that Calzaghe has held onto the WBO super middleweight title for the past 10 years, but unknown to many fans is that the wins have come against weak opposition, much weaker than the top super middleweights that have recently risen to the top of the division. For Calzaghe, with his marginal punching power, a fight against Kessler couldn’t have come at the worst time for him in his career, because he’s clearly on the downward slope and doesn’t have more than a few good fights in him before he starts taking beatings - and suffering loses, if he continues to face tough opposition after he faces Kessler. Read more

Welterweight contender Alfonso Gomez (18-3-2, 8 KOs) won a harder than expected unanimous decision over former lightweight start Ben Tackie (29-8-1, 17 KOs) on Tuesday night at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. Gomez, 26, a former fighter from the reality television series “The Contender” controlled virtually every round of the fight as he outworked the older 34-year old Tackie with a high volume punch out. However, though Tackie landed far less punches, his more powerful shots badly marked up Gomez’s face and him in full retreat in the last two rounds of the fight. The final judges’ scores were 98-92, 98-92, 97-93, awarding Gomez the decision.

Gomez, hoping to land a future bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in early 2008, boxed circles round the slower, less active Tackie in rounds one though seven, making him look old in comparison. Gomez used his jab, superior movement and combinations to keep Tackie on the outside and bottled up for most of the bout. Tackie, however, kept up with his usual constant pressure, forcing the younger Gomez to throw a lot of punches, much more than he had to do in his last bout against the washed up Arturo Gatti. Read more

Undefeated middleweight Sergio Mora (19-0-1, 4 KOs) fought to a draw with Elvin Ayala (18-2-1, 8 KOs) on Tuesday night at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. Mora, 26, noted for his appearance on the reality television series “The Contender” looked slow and limited against the unorthodox Ayala, nothing like all the hype that had been built up about his since he first started appearing on the show. Mora appeared to lose the fight, as he did little other than land jabs for most of the fight. On the occasions when he would throw his slow right hand, Ayala would immediately counter him with several shots and make him not want to use the right again. The final judges’ scores were 99-91 for Mora, 96-94 for Ayala and 95-95 for a draw. The 99-91 score was crazy, looking like a judge favoring Mora because of his more well known name than any actual actual rounds he won.

Mora was coming off 14 months of inactivity in which time he turned down a fight with Jermain Taylor, saying that he wasn’t ready to fight him, and also canceled a fight with Kassim Ouma due to an injury Mora experienced while training. Read more

With a left hook comparable to a young Mike Tyson, heavyweight prospect Mike Mollo (19-1, 12 KOs) completed dismantled the usually sturdy-chinned Art Binkowski (16-2-3, 11 KOs) in the 2nd round on Saturday night the Sears Centre, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Standing around six feet in height, Mollo showed the his lack of size wouldn’t be a problem for his as he landed huge left hooks in the first round, backing up the taller Binkowski for much of the round. Binkwoski, 30, showed a good chin in the first as he was hit with several monstrous left hooks that would have dropped a less sturdy chinned fighter.

However, in the 2nd round, Binkowski’s luck ran out as he was dumpted to the canvas after taking a left hand hook to the chin. Binkowski immediately got up, facing his corner as if teh bout was over. After getting him turned back around, the referee allowed the fight to continue. Sensing blood, Mollo went left hook happy, throwing them with every ounce of energy in his body. His efforts soon paid off, as he landed a storm of punches while Binkowski was caught against the ropes, sending him down again. Read more

One time heavyweight champion John Ruiz (42-7-1, 29 KOs) won an impressive two round knockout over Otis Tisdale on Saturday night at the Sears Centre, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Ruiz, ranked #3 in the WBA, showing a new offensive-minded fighting style - minus his usual clinching - knocked Tisdale down twice in the first round and once in the 2nd, before the referee Pete Podgorsk moved in and stopped the bout at 0:45 of the 2nd round. Ruiz, 35, was all action in the bout, using massive uppercuts, hooks, movement and a powerful right hand to control virtually every second of the bout with the out-gunned Tisdale.

Orginally scheduled to fight Sergei Liakhovich, but when he backed out of the fight a week before the bout, Ruiz was forced to take on the Journeyman Tisdale as a last minute replacement. As it turns out, this perhaps was even better for Ruiz, mainly because it allowed him to work out the kinks in his new offensive attack. As it was, Ruiz looked nothing short of sensational against the limited Tisdale, possibly good enough to beat Liakhovich handily had he opted to fight Ruiz. Read more

Former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Julio Diaz’s (34-4, 25 KOs) busy fighting style was no match for the hard-punching World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association lightweight champion Juan Diaz (33-0, 17 KOs) who blasted him round after round with multiple combinations until Julio ultimately quit at the beginning of the 9th round on Saturday night at the Sears Centre, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. With the win, the 24-year old Juan Diaz adds the IBF lightweight title to his collection of belts, clearly showing that he’s the dominant fighter in the lightweight division.

Before the bout, there was speculation that Julio’s high punch volume would cause problems for Juan, enough possibly for Julio to create an upset. However, after the first couple of rounds, Juan put that thought completely out of mind as he pummeled Julio with blistering three and four punch combinations to the head and body. Read more

Super flyweight Dimitri Kirilov (29-3, 9 KOs) defeated Jose Navarro (26-3, 12 KOs) on Satrurday night at the Khodynka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia, to win the vacant International Boxing Federation super flyweight title. Kirilov, 28, eeked out a close unanimous decision by the scores of 116-112, 114-113 and 114-113. In the early going, Kirilov had trouble trying to solve Navarro’s southpaw style, which included a lot of lead lefts and a high volume workrate. Aside from a flash knockdown of Navarro in the 3rd round when Kirilov caught him with a right hand as he was attempting a punch, Navarro won rounds 1-2, 4-5. The bout changed directions starting in the fifth round after a hard headbutt by Kirilov opened up a cut under Navarro’s right eye.

The cut had an effect on Navarro, making him a little less active and allowing Kirilov to get into the fight. From that point on, both fighters traded rounds with excellent toe to toe action until the 11th round. With the fight on the line, Kirilov rallied to win the last two rounds of the fight behind his powerful right hand. Navarro, though, made it very close and landed the more numerous shots, but none of them were thrown with the power of Kirilov’s right hand. Read more

The outcome was never in doubt on Saturday night, as the 32-year old World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion literally boxed circles around the 44-year old challenger Evander Holyfield in the process of winning by an easy 12-round unanimous decision at the Khodynka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia. The final judges’ scores - 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111 - gave no indication about how truly one-sided the bout was for Ibragimov, as Holyfield did virtually nothing all bout long except for follow him around and take shots to the head and midsection. In truth, Holyfield looked basically the same fighter he was in losing efforts to Chris Byrd, James Toney and Larry Donald in 2003 and 2004, only then Holyfield blamed the losses because of a shoulder a problem.

This time, there were no such excuses to fall back on because he was badly outclassed every minute of the fight. After a cautious first two round, I assumed that Holyfield would come out blazing in the third like he had against the four mediocre opponents he’d beaten during his boxing comeback. However, when Holyfield continued to throw next to nothing in the 3rd and fourth rounds, I began to understand that he just couldn’t, that he was simply too old to pull the trigger. By the 8th round, it had become embarrassing, as Ibragimov was hitting Holyfield at will and making him look like an old man, despite his still relatively youthful appearance. Read more

Cruiserweight challenger Vadim Tokarev (24-1-1, 17 KOs) stopped former middleweight Marlon Hayes (23-10, 11 KOs) in the 3rd round tonight at the Khodynka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia. Tokarev, 35, hurt Hayes with a right hand in the third round, staggering him and then landed a series of crushing blows that prompted the referee to move in and put a stop to the bout. This was the first bout for Tokarev since losing a controversial majority decision to German-based Marco Huck in May 2007. Tokarev was in fine form tonight, showing no ill effects of the bad decision that went against him in his last fight, as he punished Hayes badly in rounds two and three.

In the first round, Hayes, 36, showed an effective jab and good movement that kept Tokarev on the outside, unable to draw a bead on the elusive Hayes. Mixing in powerful body shots, Hayes was able to easily win the round over the slower Tokarev, who seemed somewhat confused. Read more

Heavyweight Joe Mesi (36-0, 29 KOs) make short work of another C-level opponent tonight, stopping Shannon Miller (15-4, 9 KOs) in the 1st round at the Twin River Event Center, in Lincoln, Rhode Island. As often the case, Mesi, 33, looked superb offensively, opening up with huge salvos in the opening seconds of the bout, hurting Miller almost immediately. With little being thrown back at him, Mesi quickly dropped Miller with a scorching right hand that had him badly hurt as he slid to the canvas. The referee Joey Lopino moved in and called a stop to the bout at 2:51 of the round. For Mesi, it was his seventh consecutive win since making his return to boxing in 2006 following a two-year suspension by the Nevada boxing officials after he was diagnosed with a brain bleed.

To his credit, Mesi has shown great improvement since his first two bouts after his suspension, in which he looked pudgy, slow and poor defensively. However, Mesi has looked sharp in his last three bouts, and would seem to be ready for a better class of opposition than the likes of Miller. Read more

According to the latest boxing news, World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (29-1, 22 KOs) has stated in an interview that he’s interested in fighting either Oleg Maskaev or Wladimir Klitschko (49-3, 44 KOs), and is hoping that he can get back in the ring within two months. From the looks of it, I’d say offhand that Peter is probably angry at himself for getting knocked down three times by the relative light-hitting Jameel McCline in their bout last weekend, a fight that Peter was on the verge of losing in the 3rd round.

Peter looked nothing short of horrible, like an unschooled amateur fighter going up against a seasoned professional. It doesn’t help his case any the fact that he threw a large number of fouls in the bout, enough for him to be disqualified if the referee had been interested in conducting his job in a proper manner. If it hadn’t been for the case of McCline tiring out - as usual - after the first three rounds, Peter would have likely been stopped early on. While Peter eventually was able to eek out the decision with a late surge, the damage to his reputation has been done already. Hence, Peter’s desire to take on Wladimir Klitschko, a fighter who already defeated Peter two years ago by a 12-round decision. Read more