Sunday, 25 March 2007
Cobra Can Be King
Carl Froch is looking for a fight with any super middleweight in the world but there’s reason to think that none of them will be rushing to accommodate him.
Froch continues to come across as a cold, strange sort of individual but there’s no doubt he’s one dangerous fighter. His latest performance was devastating. And unnerving for prospective foes.
Stopping Sergey Tatevosyan in just two rounds at his hometown Nottingham Ice Arena makes for an impressive enough statistic in itself, given that the Russian had never been stopped before and is considered a genuine hard case, but the manner of it was chilling.
Froch controlled it from the start. Tatevosyan tried to come forward and dictate but wasn’t allowed to do anything effective at all. Carl didn’t do much himself in the opener, but easily found the target with what he did throw, and the second round saw more of the same until Tatevosyan was sent crashing by a hammer of a right. When he got up he was jumped on and barraged until the ref intervened. Not many of those punches actually got through as the Russian swayed and covered up, but he wasn’t throwing back and there was no protest at the stoppage from Sergey or his corner. He knew he was done.
What impressed so much about this was the effortless manner in which it was achieved. Carl Froch was never out of first gear. That really says something. Sergey Tatevosyan is not going to be a world champion any time soon, or later, but he is a tough nut who goes in against top class men and always acquits himself well. Nobody has ever come near to doing to him what Froch just did.
The Nottingham Cobra is a huge puncher and is physically very strong at super middle. He’s also a boxer, not a mindless brawler - a shot picker who knows what he’s doing in that ring. Those attributes are plenty, more than enough to make Carl Froch a world ranked fighter, but it’s a fact that boxing at the top level is mostly mental, and that’s where Froch could perhaps have that vital edge over his rivals.
There’s no denying that Carl has a rare aura about him. Most fighters talk a good fight but this is a man with a total belief in himself, and where he’s going, that's both conspicuous and contagious. I don’t particularly like the guy but he is gradually making a believer of me too.
Froch continues to come across as a cold, strange sort of individual but there’s no doubt he’s one dangerous fighter. His latest performance was devastating. And unnerving for prospective foes.
Stopping Sergey Tatevosyan in just two rounds at his hometown Nottingham Ice Arena makes for an impressive enough statistic in itself, given that the Russian had never been stopped before and is considered a genuine hard case, but the manner of it was chilling.
Froch controlled it from the start. Tatevosyan tried to come forward and dictate but wasn’t allowed to do anything effective at all. Carl didn’t do much himself in the opener, but easily found the target with what he did throw, and the second round saw more of the same until Tatevosyan was sent crashing by a hammer of a right. When he got up he was jumped on and barraged until the ref intervened. Not many of those punches actually got through as the Russian swayed and covered up, but he wasn’t throwing back and there was no protest at the stoppage from Sergey or his corner. He knew he was done.
What impressed so much about this was the effortless manner in which it was achieved. Carl Froch was never out of first gear. That really says something. Sergey Tatevosyan is not going to be a world champion any time soon, or later, but he is a tough nut who goes in against top class men and always acquits himself well. Nobody has ever come near to doing to him what Froch just did.
The Nottingham Cobra is a huge puncher and is physically very strong at super middle. He’s also a boxer, not a mindless brawler - a shot picker who knows what he’s doing in that ring. Those attributes are plenty, more than enough to make Carl Froch a world ranked fighter, but it’s a fact that boxing at the top level is mostly mental, and that’s where Froch could perhaps have that vital edge over his rivals.
There’s no denying that Carl has a rare aura about him. Most fighters talk a good fight but this is a man with a total belief in himself, and where he’s going, that's both conspicuous and contagious. I don’t particularly like the guy but he is gradually making a believer of me too.
Ray's A Laugh
Sugar Ray Leonard says that Peter Manfredo Jr is ready, willing, and more than able to defeat Joe Calzaghe on 7th April and take away Joe’s WBO super middleweight title. I don’t take too much notice of that. Ray has been acting as in-camp advisor to Manfredo, and the two have been friendly ever since Peter played such a big part in the first series of The Contender. Leonard obviously would like to see Manfredo pull it off and is saying things to try and convince himself it will happen.
Sugar Ray has even said the timing of this fight is significant. Bizarrely, he considers it an omen that Calzaghe meets Manfredo twenty years and one day after he himself pinched the middleweight title from Marvin Hagler – the sort of coincidence that ( in Leonard’s mind ) makes it almost preordained for Manfredo to win. Clutching at straws or what?
Manfredo is a tough, solid, aggressive type who will always give his best but he looks pretty much made to order for Joe Calzaghe. The American camp say their fighter has the capacity to execute different plans, should the situation call for tactical adjustments, but from what I’ve seen of him he looks a plodder.
Manfredo lost two decisions to Sergio Mora, a guy with quick hands but no power. The first time they fought, in the final of The Contender, it was hot action all the way but Mora won fair and square because he clearly landed more punches. When they boxed again it went to a split decision, again for Mora, but that one saw Manfredo getting into range and unloading his own stuff a lot more effectively. Had it been longer than an eight rounds fight Manfredo may well have proved the stronger, better man. Seems to me that that will have given them false heart for the Calzaghe match because, reading between the lines, I reckon Manfredo and his people have Joe marked down as another Sergio Mora. Large mistake.
Joe Calzaghe is 42-0, with 31 inside. He can punch. Fast and hard. I think Peter Manfredo will be out of his depth, and quickly realize it's not Sergio Mora who's dishing out the leather, and no amount of reassurance from Ray Leonard or anybody else in the corner will protect him from the pummelling. I see a beaten, banged up challenger getting rescued in round seven or thereabouts.
Sugar Ray has even said the timing of this fight is significant. Bizarrely, he considers it an omen that Calzaghe meets Manfredo twenty years and one day after he himself pinched the middleweight title from Marvin Hagler – the sort of coincidence that ( in Leonard’s mind ) makes it almost preordained for Manfredo to win. Clutching at straws or what?
Manfredo is a tough, solid, aggressive type who will always give his best but he looks pretty much made to order for Joe Calzaghe. The American camp say their fighter has the capacity to execute different plans, should the situation call for tactical adjustments, but from what I’ve seen of him he looks a plodder.
Manfredo lost two decisions to Sergio Mora, a guy with quick hands but no power. The first time they fought, in the final of The Contender, it was hot action all the way but Mora won fair and square because he clearly landed more punches. When they boxed again it went to a split decision, again for Mora, but that one saw Manfredo getting into range and unloading his own stuff a lot more effectively. Had it been longer than an eight rounds fight Manfredo may well have proved the stronger, better man. Seems to me that that will have given them false heart for the Calzaghe match because, reading between the lines, I reckon Manfredo and his people have Joe marked down as another Sergio Mora. Large mistake.
Joe Calzaghe is 42-0, with 31 inside. He can punch. Fast and hard. I think Peter Manfredo will be out of his depth, and quickly realize it's not Sergio Mora who's dishing out the leather, and no amount of reassurance from Ray Leonard or anybody else in the corner will protect him from the pummelling. I see a beaten, banged up challenger getting rescued in round seven or thereabouts.
Monday, 12 March 2007
Mental Arithmethick
A bruising fight for the WBU’s so called World Featherweight Title was ruined by the scorecards. Not that the judges found the wrong winner. I agreed that local hero Derry Matthews had done enough to retain the dubious bauble by decision at Liverpool Olympia, but two of the cards were way out of order.
British champ John Simpson, cast in the role of challenger here, dropped Matthews in the first round, thereby taking the session 10-8. On two separate occasions later in the contest referee Mickey Vann took a point away from Matthews for repeated misdemeanours. Over a full twelve rounds fight the biggest score that Derry Matthews could accumulate in those circumstances was 116.
The judges were unanimous in favour of the Scouser, but one of them marked 118 for Derry and another had him down for 117. Those two gentlemen are either senile, or were walked to the venue by a dog, or else they are just incredibly thick. Whatever, their ringside performance was totally unacceptable, or should be, but nobody seems to have mentioned it and no doubt nobody will.
British champ John Simpson, cast in the role of challenger here, dropped Matthews in the first round, thereby taking the session 10-8. On two separate occasions later in the contest referee Mickey Vann took a point away from Matthews for repeated misdemeanours. Over a full twelve rounds fight the biggest score that Derry Matthews could accumulate in those circumstances was 116.
The judges were unanimous in favour of the Scouser, but one of them marked 118 for Derry and another had him down for 117. Those two gentlemen are either senile, or were walked to the venue by a dog, or else they are just incredibly thick. Whatever, their ringside performance was totally unacceptable, or should be, but nobody seems to have mentioned it and no doubt nobody will.
Sunday, 4 March 2007
Danny's Last Surprise?
Danny Williams remains full of surprises. He turned up in Wales on Friday weighing 228 pounds, which is 39 pounds less than he scaled for Audley Harrison in December and 60 lighter than his weight when losing to Matt Skelton two fights back. Against all expectations, what we were looking at was a properly conditioned fighter.
Danny knocked out Scott Gammer in the ninth round to once again become British champ, and I have to congratulate him on that. It was a good fight too. The whole thing was fought at a brisk pace, with plenty of punches thrown, and it had an ebb and flow about it that kept the outcome in doubt until the final barrage.
Gammer, though unbeaten going in, was up in class. In the end, that’s what told. Williams started fast to make a point and clearly took the opener but the Welshman let some punches go to win the second, and I thought he took the third and fourth as well. Danny livened up again in the fifth to win that session and he was in control through the next two. Gammer looked a bit bewildered and seemed to be losing confidence, but he roused himself to have his best round of the fight in the eighth, catching Williams with some clean hooks.
With eight gone it looked all square, and all to fight for. But Danny didn’t give Scott any chance to build on that eighth round success. It was suddenly all Williams and once he had Gammer against the ropes he just kept pounding away until the defending champ couldn’t take any more and slumped to the deck.
Strange man Danny said afterwards that he wasn’t too happy with his performance and would go away and look at the tape, and if he felt he couldn’t do any better than this next time, there wouldn’t be a next time. He’d call it a career. Seemed an odd sort of self assessment after such a decisive win, but that’s Danny Williams for you. Puzzling to the end.
Danny knocked out Scott Gammer in the ninth round to once again become British champ, and I have to congratulate him on that. It was a good fight too. The whole thing was fought at a brisk pace, with plenty of punches thrown, and it had an ebb and flow about it that kept the outcome in doubt until the final barrage.
Gammer, though unbeaten going in, was up in class. In the end, that’s what told. Williams started fast to make a point and clearly took the opener but the Welshman let some punches go to win the second, and I thought he took the third and fourth as well. Danny livened up again in the fifth to win that session and he was in control through the next two. Gammer looked a bit bewildered and seemed to be losing confidence, but he roused himself to have his best round of the fight in the eighth, catching Williams with some clean hooks.
With eight gone it looked all square, and all to fight for. But Danny didn’t give Scott any chance to build on that eighth round success. It was suddenly all Williams and once he had Gammer against the ropes he just kept pounding away until the defending champ couldn’t take any more and slumped to the deck.
Strange man Danny said afterwards that he wasn’t too happy with his performance and would go away and look at the tape, and if he felt he couldn’t do any better than this next time, there wouldn’t be a next time. He’d call it a career. Seemed an odd sort of self assessment after such a decisive win, but that’s Danny Williams for you. Puzzling to the end.
Here A Champ, There A Champ, Everywhere A ....
It’s been a busy couple of days on the silly titles front. In Firenze, Italy, Leonard Bundu beat Karim Netchaoui by 11th round TKO to capture the vacant and, no doubt, much coveted IBF Mediterranean Welterweight Championship. In his previous fight, Netchaoui had failed in a try for the vacant WBO Inter Continental Welterweight Title.
Meanwhile, Albanian Kreshnick Qato, who has a 15-6 log with two big wins coming by way of KO, grabbed something called the vacant EBU-EE (European External European Union) Super Middleweight Championship by outpointing Alexander Zaitsev in Tirana.
So many vacancies out there to be filled, and so many more yet to be created. Sadder and sadder.
Meanwhile, Albanian Kreshnick Qato, who has a 15-6 log with two big wins coming by way of KO, grabbed something called the vacant EBU-EE (European External European Union) Super Middleweight Championship by outpointing Alexander Zaitsev in Tirana.
So many vacancies out there to be filled, and so many more yet to be created. Sadder and sadder.
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