This weekend, in all honesty, is a very busy one, on both the world title front and the general boxing front. When it comes to busy weeks there is always a fight or two that gets forgotten about and this week the clearest example of that is the WBA "interim" Super Middleweight title bout in Ukraine.
The defending champion, Ukrainian fighter Stanyslav Kashtanov (30-1, 16), may very well be the most obscure champion active champion, even in the current world of "interim" champions. It's fair to say that he wouldn't make it into my top 20 at Super Middleweight though the intelligence of the WBA has seen him ending up with a world title.
Although obscure Kashtanov is a decent enough fighter. In a by gone era of champions defending on a regular basis he'd be a fringe contender who would likely have gotten a chance somewhere down the line to fight the champion, and lose to him. Instead Kashtanov has collected one of the most paper belts in the sport, and even then it took him two tries.
For people who just go through Kashtanov's record they will notive that he won his last fight, against Server Yemurlayev, for the title via a split decision. Whilst Kashtanov didn't shut out Yemurlayev by any means he was a clearer winner than the cards would show, in fact only the card of Chalerm Prayadsab actually reflected the nature of the bout.
The Ukrainian is well schooled. He does haven't the power to really keep good fighters off him, or the skills or speed to out box opponents but what he does have is the solid fundamentals with which to forge a decent career. He's never going to be a superstar but he's the type of guy who is well schooled enough to only really be beaten by the genuine top 10-15 style of fighters.
Challenging Kashtanov is the very limited and yet very lucky Costa Rican challenger Jaime Barboza (18-7, 8).
If Kashtanov misses out on my top 10, Barboza misses out on, probably being in my top 100.
The 35 year old Barboza is a fighter who has lost 4 of his last 6 and who's only win of note is erm, er, Jose Pinzon, who you know is so notable!
Okay I lied, Barboza doesn't have any wins of note. He's been a Costa Rican national champion and held various C level titles such as the WBA Fedelatin Super Middleweight title but he's never looked capable at the B grade and in his previous "interim" world title fight he was widely beaten, at home, by Brian Magee.
Although Barboza has proven to be tough with just a sole stoppage loss, coming in a rematch to Pinzon, he is very limited and it's hard to imagine him doing too much to really trouble Kashtanov here who should have the ability and know how to take a very clear decision.
Prediction-Kashtanov UD 12
Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Friday, 9 November 2012
Wladimir Klitschko v Mariusz Wach
Heavyweight kingpin Wladimir Klitschko (58-3, 50) will look to make yet another successful defense of his world titles, including the Ring Magazine, WBA "super", WBO and IBF as he faces unbeaten Pole Mariusz Wach (27-0, 15) in an interesting battle of the giants.
Although Wach is unbeaten he is the big under-dog going in to this fight, however some are tipping the Pole to shock the world. I myself can't see it, however it is fair to say that Wach is likely to be Wladimir's biggest challenge in quite some time, in fact at over 6'7" it's fair to say Wach is one of the biggest challenges in the division, period.
With his huge height and unbeaten record Wach does make for an interesting proposition for Klitschko. Then when you also factor in things such as the fact Wach is young than Wladimir by 4 years and also has a marginally bigger reach (82" to Wladimir's 81") it's little a little wonder that some are favouring Wach. Sadly however Wach isn't as good as his record looks and so far, in a career dating back to 2005, Wach hasn't scored a a really major win, instead feasting on club fighters like Kevin McBride and Tye Fields. In fact it's fair to say that Wach's best win to date is over Jason Gavern, not a world level fighter.
Despite the fact Wach hasn't faced anyone near world level, he has shown solid power, especially in recent bouts. In fact despite his record only showing a 55% KO rate he has stopped his last 7 opponents dating back to April 2009 including scoring eye catching KO's over both McBride and Christian Hammer.
Sadly despite seemingly developing his punch power, Wach is slow, he's clumsy and his over-all skills are limited, to say the least. Other than his size it's fair to say there is little to really but shocked by.
Like the challenger, the champion, Wladimir Klitschko is tall, however Klitschko is much, much more than just a tall Heavyweight. As we all know Wladimir is arguably the hardest puncher in the sport with his straight right hand being genuinely deadly, he also posses an excellent, fight controlling jab and whilst he's not got the aggression of some of the most memorable Heavyweights out there he is incredibly hard to beat.
The long standing feeling over Klitschko is that he's chinny and easily beatable as a result, however he's managed to go unbeaten in over 8 years and won no less than 13 title fights in that period. Not only has he been winning, but he's been beating the top guys in the division such as Chris Byrd, Samuel Peter, Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev, Eddie Chambers and of course the supposed saviour of the division David Haye.
I can't help but think that Klitschko is going to have a bit of a field day with Wach. Wach may be able to, whack (excuse the pun) but Klitschko is able to do a bit more than just punch, so I imagine he'll box, manage to use his superior foot work and get off on Wach in a cautious bout. I think it will start really slowly but Wladimir will manage to detonate his right hand in the middle rounds and Wach will topple. Don't expect this to be exciting, but expect it to be...interesting.
Sadly however, as we all know, Wladimir Klitschko's long term trainer Emmanuel Steward passed away recently. This will be the first time Klitschko will fight with out Steward in a number of years, and hopefully this won't get to Wladimir. As we all know, Wladimir was re-invented under Steward and hopefully this won't see Wlad forgetting the teachings of his much missed mentor.
Prediction: Klitschko KO8
Although Wach is unbeaten he is the big under-dog going in to this fight, however some are tipping the Pole to shock the world. I myself can't see it, however it is fair to say that Wach is likely to be Wladimir's biggest challenge in quite some time, in fact at over 6'7" it's fair to say Wach is one of the biggest challenges in the division, period.
With his huge height and unbeaten record Wach does make for an interesting proposition for Klitschko. Then when you also factor in things such as the fact Wach is young than Wladimir by 4 years and also has a marginally bigger reach (82" to Wladimir's 81") it's little a little wonder that some are favouring Wach. Sadly however Wach isn't as good as his record looks and so far, in a career dating back to 2005, Wach hasn't scored a a really major win, instead feasting on club fighters like Kevin McBride and Tye Fields. In fact it's fair to say that Wach's best win to date is over Jason Gavern, not a world level fighter.
Despite the fact Wach hasn't faced anyone near world level, he has shown solid power, especially in recent bouts. In fact despite his record only showing a 55% KO rate he has stopped his last 7 opponents dating back to April 2009 including scoring eye catching KO's over both McBride and Christian Hammer.
Sadly despite seemingly developing his punch power, Wach is slow, he's clumsy and his over-all skills are limited, to say the least. Other than his size it's fair to say there is little to really but shocked by.
Like the challenger, the champion, Wladimir Klitschko is tall, however Klitschko is much, much more than just a tall Heavyweight. As we all know Wladimir is arguably the hardest puncher in the sport with his straight right hand being genuinely deadly, he also posses an excellent, fight controlling jab and whilst he's not got the aggression of some of the most memorable Heavyweights out there he is incredibly hard to beat.
The long standing feeling over Klitschko is that he's chinny and easily beatable as a result, however he's managed to go unbeaten in over 8 years and won no less than 13 title fights in that period. Not only has he been winning, but he's been beating the top guys in the division such as Chris Byrd, Samuel Peter, Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev, Eddie Chambers and of course the supposed saviour of the division David Haye.
I can't help but think that Klitschko is going to have a bit of a field day with Wach. Wach may be able to, whack (excuse the pun) but Klitschko is able to do a bit more than just punch, so I imagine he'll box, manage to use his superior foot work and get off on Wach in a cautious bout. I think it will start really slowly but Wladimir will manage to detonate his right hand in the middle rounds and Wach will topple. Don't expect this to be exciting, but expect it to be...interesting.
Sadly however, as we all know, Wladimir Klitschko's long term trainer Emmanuel Steward passed away recently. This will be the first time Klitschko will fight with out Steward in a number of years, and hopefully this won't get to Wladimir. As we all know, Wladimir was re-invented under Steward and hopefully this won't see Wlad forgetting the teachings of his much missed mentor.
Prediction: Klitschko KO8
Monday, 3 September 2012
Vitali Klitschko v Manuel Charr
Despite the Heavyweight division being much maligned by both the fans of the actual sport and those that still think Mike Tyson is the champion (trust me there is some of those folk still out there) it's genuinely accepted that the Ukrainian Klitschko Brothers are the #1 and #2 at the weight. This weekend sees the older of the Klitschko's, Vitali (44-2, 40) defending his WBC Heavyweight title against unbeaten challenger Manuel Charr (21-0, 11) in Moscow.
The challenger, significantly the younger man at "just" 27 years old, is widely seen to be a sacrificial lamb as the 41 year old Vitali looks to top off his long and illustrious career with yet another win, however does the man known as "The Diamond Boy" have a chance of a giant upset as age catches up with the champion?
Born in Syria though now based in Germany Charr has been quietly making his name since turning professional in 2005. Though without any spectacular wins to date he has been scoring what could be described "decent" wins over the likes of Gbenga Oloukun (at the time 16-0, 10), Owen Beck (a former world title challenger), Danny Williams (another former title challenger) and Taras Bidenko (who gave the gigantic Nikolay Valuev a competitive bout). Though admittedly the likes of Williams and Beck were several years removed from their best.
Although Charr is unbeaten he hasn't had been fighting against any fellow contenders instead picking off fighters who are either journeymen or noticeably beyond their best years. One of those journeymen, American Zack Page, gave Charr all he could handle at the end of 2010 and Charr should feel fortunate to have come away from that bout with a majority decision as he was pushed close to his first professional loss. Whilst the stoppage of British veteran Danny Williams was questionable at best.
At around 6'3" Charr will be dwarfed in the ring and at around 240-250lbs he's not a fighter in great shape often looking rather doughy. His work rate is far from spectacular and his defense is sloppy at best with a lot of his own attacking work looking more like slaps than real punches however he's a fighter who appears to be confident having already said he will "destroy" Vitali Klitschko and David Haye. In fact Charr has to take credit for having serious balls having walked up to David Haye and challenged him at the press conference after Haye had defeated Dereck Chisora. Testicular fortitude aside Charr appears to have little else going for him.
At 41 years old Vitali Klitschko is significantly older than his challenger and with 46 professional bouts on his record he also has much more experience. However this experience has come at a price and through his illustrious career he has picked up various injuries including a torn rotator cuff, torn ligaments and a badly damaged knee (which forced an early retirement from the sport in 2005 before making a comeback several years later).
Klitschko's professional career started way back in 1996 and has seen him becoming a 3-time champion at Heavyweight having held the WBO title (1999-2000) and the WBC title (2004-2005, 2008-) and scoring notable victories over Herbie Hide, Larry Donald, Corrie Sanders, Samuel Peter, Juan Carlos Gomez, Shannon Briggs, Odlanier Solis, Chris Arreola, T omasz Adamek and most recently Dereck Chisora. However he has had set backs including not only his short lived retirement but also losses to Chris Byrd (due to the aforementioned torn rotator cuff) and Lennox Lewis (due to serious cuts). As well as the set backs he hasn't really been accepted by certain quarters of the boxing community who have failed to accept him as a high quality operator in the ring.
Standing at a lofty 6'7" and coming in to the ring in the region of 240-250 Klitschko has an excellent build which is athletic and rangy. It's the range and size of Klitschko that has caused so many opponents real issues in the past with his busy and heavy jab controlling the range and pace of a fight. Not only is Klitschko awkward due to his reach but also his unorthodox style which sees him throwing punches from unusual angles whilst avoid shots with upper body movements.
Charr is the clear under-dog (priced as high as 24/1 by one Sportsbook) and with good reason. Not only is he taking a massive step up to face Klitschko but he has shown nothing that Klitschko will fear. He's not shown to be capable of doing anything outstanding and he's looked to just be very average in an era of poor Heavyweight challengers. For Charr to win he would quite frankly need a miracle.
For Klitschko (best priced at 1/33) this looks like a routine title defense against a poor challenger. In fact without being facetious I honestly feel Klitschko could win this with an arm tied behind his back. Expect to see the Ukrainian's jab breaking not only the defense of the challenger (with an alarming regularity) but also his will before Charr gets stopped in the latter half of the bout (if he makes it that far). Don't be surprised however to see Charr starting very brightly....until he gets hit and goes progressively into his shell before taking a beating and wilting.
Prediction: Klitschko by T/KO 8 (priced at around 9/1)
The challenger, significantly the younger man at "just" 27 years old, is widely seen to be a sacrificial lamb as the 41 year old Vitali looks to top off his long and illustrious career with yet another win, however does the man known as "The Diamond Boy" have a chance of a giant upset as age catches up with the champion?
Born in Syria though now based in Germany Charr has been quietly making his name since turning professional in 2005. Though without any spectacular wins to date he has been scoring what could be described "decent" wins over the likes of Gbenga Oloukun (at the time 16-0, 10), Owen Beck (a former world title challenger), Danny Williams (another former title challenger) and Taras Bidenko (who gave the gigantic Nikolay Valuev a competitive bout). Though admittedly the likes of Williams and Beck were several years removed from their best.
Although Charr is unbeaten he hasn't had been fighting against any fellow contenders instead picking off fighters who are either journeymen or noticeably beyond their best years. One of those journeymen, American Zack Page, gave Charr all he could handle at the end of 2010 and Charr should feel fortunate to have come away from that bout with a majority decision as he was pushed close to his first professional loss. Whilst the stoppage of British veteran Danny Williams was questionable at best.
At around 6'3" Charr will be dwarfed in the ring and at around 240-250lbs he's not a fighter in great shape often looking rather doughy. His work rate is far from spectacular and his defense is sloppy at best with a lot of his own attacking work looking more like slaps than real punches however he's a fighter who appears to be confident having already said he will "destroy" Vitali Klitschko and David Haye. In fact Charr has to take credit for having serious balls having walked up to David Haye and challenged him at the press conference after Haye had defeated Dereck Chisora. Testicular fortitude aside Charr appears to have little else going for him.
At 41 years old Vitali Klitschko is significantly older than his challenger and with 46 professional bouts on his record he also has much more experience. However this experience has come at a price and through his illustrious career he has picked up various injuries including a torn rotator cuff, torn ligaments and a badly damaged knee (which forced an early retirement from the sport in 2005 before making a comeback several years later).
Klitschko's professional career started way back in 1996 and has seen him becoming a 3-time champion at Heavyweight having held the WBO title (1999-2000) and the WBC title (2004-2005, 2008-) and scoring notable victories over Herbie Hide, Larry Donald, Corrie Sanders, Samuel Peter, Juan Carlos Gomez, Shannon Briggs, Odlanier Solis, Chris Arreola, T omasz Adamek and most recently Dereck Chisora. However he has had set backs including not only his short lived retirement but also losses to Chris Byrd (due to the aforementioned torn rotator cuff) and Lennox Lewis (due to serious cuts). As well as the set backs he hasn't really been accepted by certain quarters of the boxing community who have failed to accept him as a high quality operator in the ring.
Standing at a lofty 6'7" and coming in to the ring in the region of 240-250 Klitschko has an excellent build which is athletic and rangy. It's the range and size of Klitschko that has caused so many opponents real issues in the past with his busy and heavy jab controlling the range and pace of a fight. Not only is Klitschko awkward due to his reach but also his unorthodox style which sees him throwing punches from unusual angles whilst avoid shots with upper body movements.
Charr is the clear under-dog (priced as high as 24/1 by one Sportsbook) and with good reason. Not only is he taking a massive step up to face Klitschko but he has shown nothing that Klitschko will fear. He's not shown to be capable of doing anything outstanding and he's looked to just be very average in an era of poor Heavyweight challengers. For Charr to win he would quite frankly need a miracle.
For Klitschko (best priced at 1/33) this looks like a routine title defense against a poor challenger. In fact without being facetious I honestly feel Klitschko could win this with an arm tied behind his back. Expect to see the Ukrainian's jab breaking not only the defense of the challenger (with an alarming regularity) but also his will before Charr gets stopped in the latter half of the bout (if he makes it that far). Don't be surprised however to see Charr starting very brightly....until he gets hit and goes progressively into his shell before taking a beating and wilting.
Prediction: Klitschko by T/KO 8 (priced at around 9/1)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)