By Scott Gilfoid: With WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in negotiations for a fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin on June 10, #1 WBO Avtandil Khurtsidze will fight Tommy Langford for the interim WBO 160 pound title on April 22 at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. Dan Rafael is reporting the big news about the Khurtsidze-Langford fight, which isn’t a bad match-up. The winner of the fight will face the winner of the Golovkin vs. Saunders fight at some point in the future.
The fight will likely need to take place soon, as Saunders has already been ordered by the World Boxing Organization to fight back to back mandatory challengers due to him having sat inactive for 1 year before he finally made a voluntary defense against fringe contender Artur Akavov last December.
I doubt the WBO will let Golovkin sit on their WBO title without requiring he defend it against the winner of the Khurtsidze vs. Langford fight straightaway.
“I am looking forward to April 22 and beating Langford in front of all of his fans,” Khurtsidze said via ESPN.com. “I know he’ll be looking to run from me all night and to steal a decision, but I’m coming for the knockout. I am coming to crack bones that night.”
Wow, Khurtsidze says he wants to “crack bones” against the 27-year-old Langford on the night. I just hope for Khurtsidze’s sake that he brings his track shoes with him on April 22, because he may need them in order to chase down Langford. This is a pure boxer with nonexistent power that Khurtsidze will be fighting in Langford. It’s not going to be actual fight in the traditional sense. Langford is going to very likely be running like no tomorrow at the sound of the bell in round 1. Khurtsidze, 37, is like a smaller version of Mike Tyson, and Langford doesn’t have the fire power or the chin to stand up to his kind of punching power Khurtsidzer for long.
Khurtsidze (32-2, 21 KOs) looked sensational in defeating Antoine Douglas by a 10th round knockout in his last fight on March 5 last year. Douglas couldn’t stand up to the pressure and the big punches from the hard hitting 5’4” Khurtsidze. Douglas was knocked down in rounds 3 and 7 before the massacre was mercifully stopped in round 10. The only blemish on Khurtsidze’s 15-year pro career record is a 12 round unanimous decision loss to former WBO middleweight champion Hassan N’Dam in 2010. That was seven long years ago. Khurtsidze has improved since then, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the native from the country of Georgia defeated N’Dam if they were to face each other now.
The light hitting Langford (18-0, 6 KOs) recently defeated domestic level fighter Sam Sheedy by an unimpressive 12 round split decision in a fight for the vacant British middleweight title on November 25 last year. Sadly, Sheedy is the best name on Langford’s entire 5-year pro career resume. I can’t recognize any of the other names on Langford’s resume. I mean, Langford is unbeaten, but he might as well have a record of 0-0 right now, because he’s faced absolutely no one talented in my opinion. I just wonder how Langford is going to do when he gets inside the ring with a quality fighter like Khurtsidze on April 22. I think it’s going to end badly for Langford, and I don’t think it matters one bit that the fight is going to be staged in the UK.
“It’s a huge fight and a huge opportunity to propel my name to the top of the sport,” said Langford to ESPN.com. “This is a tough fight, but it’s very winnable. I’ve got the style to beat him,” said Langford.
I don’t know about Langford being propelled to the “top of the sport” if he wins against Khurtsidze. It’ll get him a title shot against Golovkin when the smoke clears from his fights against Daniel Jacobs and Saunders, but that’s about all I see for Langford. I think he’ll be blown out of the water in 2 rounds by Golovkin if he gets that far. I don’t think Langford is going to get past Khurtsidze. It’s a bad match-up for him. You’ve got to have some punching power and a good set of wheels to compete against a guy like Khurtsidze.
Langford moves alright, but he doesn’t have any power at all. His power punches remind me of jabs more than anything. Khurtsidze cuts off the ring really well, so he’s going to have no problems catching up to Langford and blasting him to the body and head. Khurtsidze likes to throw body shots, and I get the impression that Langford doesn’t like getting hit downstairs much.
I don’t quite understand why the WBO has Langford ranked No.3 in their top 15 rankings instead of someone like David Lemieux, Willie Monroe Jr., Curtis Stevens, Sergey Derevyanchenko or Maciej Sulecki. I rate those fighters as all better than Langford. The boxing fans need to see Golovkin matched against the best in the WBO’s top 15. When they let unproven fighters fight for the interim WBO title, I think it makes it too easy for GGG. Khurtsidze has the popwer to take the judges out of the equation on April 22. I just hope that it’s a clean fight without a lot of holding being done.