scottbells

Wilder vs. Arreola – make proper fights please!

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Chris Arreola

By Scott Bells: It was reported yesterday that Deontay Wilder is lining up Chris Arreola for his voluntary defence mid-Summer. I hope for the sake of boxing that this isn’t the case. I have read writers (particularly one on this site) bashing fighters for being matched up softly recently but this fight would really take the crown.

Chris Arreola was considered a decent heavyweight in 2009-2012 after he fought Vitali Klitschko but was soundly beaten. A subsequent loss to Pole Tomasz Adamek showed that he did not quite have what it took to be operating at world level (Adamek was a world class cruiserweight but not considered world class at heavyweight).

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Shannon Briggs to fight Alexander Dimitrenko?

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dimitrenko326By Scott Bells: I had read a couple articles today suggesting that heavyweight Shannon Briggs would be taking on B-level fighter Alexander Dimitrenko on the undercard of David Haye’s next show. If Briggs and Haye both win, they will face each other next.

Clearly this is a great fight for Briggs and one that will show people whether he should even be in the ring with Haye. After the beating he took off Vitali Klitschko a 6 years ago, from a health point of view, I certainly don’t want to see him in with a big puncher like Haye if he is likely to suffer a similar fate.

Unfortunately, the terrible opposition he has faced since has told us nothing about his ability to take a punch.

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Wilder badly exposed by Szpilka!

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WILDER SZPILKA-FIGHT NIGHT-01162016-1128(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) By Scott Bells: Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) made the third defence of his WBC Heavyweight title last Saturday night with a devastating one-punch knockout against a game challenger Artur Szpilka (20-2, 15 KOs) in a 9th round knockout at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight was stopped by referee Michael Griffin at 2:24 of round 9 after Wilder flattened the southpaw Szpilka with a right hand.

The fight was extremely close in most parts, with different fighters dominating in small parts.

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Fury beats Klitschko!

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klitschko#4By Scott Bells: Undefeated Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) is now number one at heavyweight owning 3 of the 4 major belts after defeating IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. While nobody could dispute the result or the scorecards, it was a poor fight to watch. The scores were 115-112, 115-112 and 116-111.

Immediately, people have stated how ‘shot’ Klitschko looked throughout the fight, which is true to some extent. However, that should not take away from the fact that Tyson Fury deserves alot of credit for devising and executing a game plan based around his strengths, namely in reach, height and speed.

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Carl Froch considering a return!

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froch11By Scott Bells: So Carl Froch has finally come out and said he is considering a return to the ring, possibly to fight IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (21-1, 14 KOs) (provided he beats Lucian Bute (32-2, 25 KOs)). My initial reaction is the say to Froch to stay retired! Too many fighters have returned and looked a shadow of their former self, lost a fight and damaged their legacy.

For Froch, if he were to return, the only fight people would want to see would be him vs. middleweight Gennady Golovkin, and unfortunately I do not see it as a fight Froch would win. I am a huge Froch fan and think he has been one of the best and under-appreciated British world champions in recent history, but he has been in a lot of wars. Froch’s two fights against Mikkel Kessler were enough to stop many fighters from fighting again, but Froch’s first fight against George Groves also showed that he is slowing down, and that his punch resistance may have faded slightly.

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An honest assessment of Deontay Wilder

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1-Screen Shot 2015-09-26 at 10.53.09 PMBy Scott Bells: 35 wins, 34 of which have been by knockout, and 0 losses. An impressive resume for any world heavyweight champion you would have to say.

You cannot fail to be impressed with what Deontay Wilder has done so far in his professional career, but we must look deeper to truly understand whether this man is indeed the real deal, or another fighter who has been spoon-fed opponents and hyped heavily to maximise the return on investment for his promoters.

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Khan vs. Garcia – the only fight that makes sense for Amir!

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khan0987(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Scott Bells: Virgil Hunter recently said he thinks Amir Khan should fight a rematch with Danny Garcia and that he would shine against him second time around. Floyd Mayweather also said, when explaining his dismissal of Khan as an opponent, that Khan had not beaten the guys to whom he had previously lost.

I think both Hunter and Mayweather are correct; I am a big fan of Amir’s hand speed and quickness of foot, but obviously he is too easy to hit at times when he stays in the pocket – the exceptions to this are his masterclass performances against Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander who are good, but not great fighters.

The beauty of the rematch against Garcia is that it is a fight that Khan should win; stylistically he could box Garcia’s head off all night, BUT the question is whether he has learnt the lesson of the first fight where he consistently stayed in the pocket too long after throwing quick combinations and the big shot was only a matter of time.

The shots Khan gets hit with most regularly are wide hooks that he doesn’t see coming; this was the case against Prescott, Maidana (when Khan had his hands down thinking he was out of range when he was not), Juan Diaz, Peterson and Garcia where the consequences were dire.

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Dirrell decisions Rubio in easy win! McDonnell wins again against Kameda

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Image: Dirrell decisions Rubio in easy win! McDonnell wins again against Kameda(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) By Scott Bells: Anthony Dirrell (28-1-1, 22 KOs) bounced back from his loss to Badou Jack with an easy win against long faded former world title challenger Marco Antonio Rubio (59-8-1, 51 KOs) on Sunday afternoon in a fight televised by Premier Boxing Champions on CBS at the American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.

Dirrell showed fast hands, but it really is worrying that he couldn’t put Rubio away – his lack of power really is worrying. Rubio was moving up in weight after being dominated by Gennday Golovkin so this fight was truly exceptional matchmaking from Dirrell’s promoters to make him look good.

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Khan has unfinished business with Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia

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khan88By Scott Bells: So Amir Khan thinks he deserves a shot with Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao? Looking at his clear boxing skills and excellent speed, I actually think he could give both a competitive fight, however just because you could be competitive doesn’t mean you deserve it.

As an Englishmen, I would love to see the fight, but if I were Amir Khan, I would be pushing and pushing my promoter to get me back into the ring with either Lamont Peterson or Danny Garcia.

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The undefeated heavyweights, bright futures or inevitable declines?

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fury43323By Scott Bells: It says a lot when promoters have to pad out fighters records to ensure they remain unbeaten simply due to the fact that the two who sit at the top of the tree (The Klitschkos) are so much better than the rest.

This is what, in my opinion, many promoters are doing as there is clearly a number of grades of fighters in the heavyweight division; some can make it to the top and others will not recover from the inevitable first career loss that most, if not all, will suffer to a Klitschko or a Haye type on the way through.
Let’s break them down…..

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