By Eric Schmidt: Former International Boxing Federation light middleweight champion Luis Ramon Campas (91-11, 73 KOs) was stopped in the 7th round on Friday night against Amin Asikainen (24-1, 16 KOs) at the Toolo Sports Hall, in Helsinki, Finland. Campas, 36, who normally fights at light middleweight, looked much smaller against middleweight Asikainen, 32, who happens to be the best boxer in Finland.
Campas had problems with Asikainen’s superior reach and size for most of the fight, as he was unable to get within punching distance without having to eat several shots while on the way in. Once in close, Asikainen would often tie him up to prevent him from punching. A minute into the 7th round, Asikainen tagged Campas with a big right hand while he was trying to come inside, hurting him badly and causing him to back up. Asikainen followed after him, and hit him with repeated right hands, driving Campas to the ropes, where Asikainen finished him off with three more fight hands before the referee Erkki Merone could call a halt to the bout at 0:56 of the 7th round.
Ranked #6 in the International Boxing Federation middleweight division, Asikainen, who lost his EBU middleweight title to Sebastian Sylvester in a 11th round TKO in June 2007, showed a lot of side to side movement in the opening rounds, as he kept Campas constantly in pursuit. Asikainen tagged Campas with a big left uppercut late in the 1st round that snapped his head back. However, due to Asikainen constantly trying to clinch Campas as he came inside, there were a number of headbutts in the bout. Asikainen cut over his left eye in the 2nd round after one of the headbutts, and then cut a second time, this time in the 5th, when Asikainen cut on his forehead from another headbutt.
In between, Asikainen moved a lot around the ring, shooting jabs, right hands and left hooks at Campas. In rounds three and four, Campas applied a lot of pressure, and was able to land a number of good right hands to the head. Asikainen, however, continued moving much of the time, and remained an illusive target. His style reminded me somewhat of a poor version of Felix Sturm, the World Boxing Association middleweight champion. After the 4th round, Campas began to show signs of fatigue, as he looked much weaker as he tried to catch up with Asikainen.
In the sixth round, Asikainen began to find Campas more and more with his right hand. At the same time, Asikainen’s jab was catching Campas perfectly as he was coming in, stopping him dead in his tracks over and over again. In the 7th round, Asikainen caught Campas with a perfect right hand as he was coming in, stunning him. Asikainen quickly followed up with a flurry of shots, mostly right hands, that drove Campas to the ropes, where Asikainen put an end to the fight with three consecutive right hands.
Campas didn’t go down, however, but he was sagging on the ropes, and appeared to be about to go down when the referee stepped in and halted the fight 0:56 of the 7th round. It was a good victory for Asikainen, who showed a lot of boxing skills in the ring. I’d like to see him go against Sturm, if at all possible. That would be like watching a track meet with two sprinters.