Friday Hangover

East London, South Africa - Nkosinathi Joyi (21-0, 15 KO) dominated Mexican Raul Garcia (27-1-1, 16 KO) over twelve rounds to capture Garcia's IBF strawweight title and hand him his first professional loss.

Joyi produced an outstanding performance as he controlled the fight from the outside with his southpaw jab that set up everything else in the South African's arsenal. Joyi's speed and power was too much for Garcia, who was rocked several times in the six rounds I caught.

This is the most meaningful fight in the division for a long time, with two of the top four sharing the ring, something unheard of in the 105 pound history. South Africa are known to produce some awful hometown robberies, but the wide scoring was deserved as Joyi won on scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 118-110. Joyi could be the best fighter in the division and he outclassed Garcia, who's also a damn good fighter.

Dagenham, England - Matthew Hatton (39-4-2, 15 KO) put on his career-best performance as he comprehensively out-pointed Italian challenger Gianluca Branco (43-3-1, 22 KO) to capture the vacant European welterweight crown via unanimous decision, winning by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113. The BTBC scored the fight 116-112 in favour of Hatton.

Hatton's activity was too much for the aging Branco, who's naturally a 140 pounder. Hatton seemed to ease off in the end, but Branco couldn't capitalise as Hatton won a deserved victory in the end.

As for Hatton's position in the welterweight division, he's a long way away from the top 10, maybe even top 20, but his determination to get a title shot earns my respect straight away, even though I don't rate him as a boxer.

Hatton deserves this victory for the effort he's put in since he lost to Craig Watson, and to keep going in his older brother Ricky's shadow. I actually want him to get a big payday against the big names he's been linked with, I really think he deserves it.

In the co-feature, Sam Webb (16-1, 4 KO) rolled back to the amateur years to pull off a surprising result by putting on a stellar performance as he eked out a majority decision victory over Anthony Small (23-2, 16 KO) to win the British and Commonwealth light middleweight titles.

Small began the fight his usual self, showboating for no apparent reason, taunting his opponent while flicking out meaningless punches. Despite being cut in the fifth, Webb started to dominate proceedings by drawing Small into a brawl, which Small didn't want.

Small gassed in the seventh, and after excellent corner work to close Webb's cut, he picked up the pace to attempt to punish Small. Small wobbled all over the place in the ninth, but recovered to last the distance.

Webb won by scores of 117-113, 117-112 and 115-115. The BTBC scored it level at 114-114.

On the undercard, undefeated featherweight prospect Joe Murray (7-0, 3 KO) cruised to a points victory over veteran Yuri Voronin (27-11-2, 18 KO) over eight rounds. Overrated Yassine El Maachi (12-4, 5 KO) also won on points, but over six rounds against Bertrand Aloa (15-6, 1 KO).

Mexico City, Mexico - Lightweight contender Vicente Escobedo (22-2, 14 KO) fought for the first time since his split decision defeat to Michael Katsidis on the Mayweather-Marquez undercard with a third-round stoppage victory over Carlos Urias (43-24, 32 KO).

Helsinki, Finland - Heavyweight prospect Robert Helenius (12-0, 7 KO) improved his record with an uninspiring win over Gbenga Oloukun (17-4, 10 KO), who gave the Finn his toughest outing to date.

The fast-tracked Helenius won an eight-round unanimous decision via scores of 79-76, 78-75, 77-75. The BTBC had eyes on other things, but scored it 77-75.

Nice, France - Former junior middleweight contender Chrisophe Canclaux (41-3, 26 KO) got back to winning ways with a routine second-round knockout victory over inexperienced Janos Varga (6-2, 5 KO). Canclaux recently lost a WBO interim fight against Joachim Alcine, which dropped him down the pecking order at 154 pounds.

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Hatton Fails In Title Bid, Samuels-Renda FOTY Candidate!

Lovemore N’Dou D 12 Matthew Hatton

In a decent starter before Pacquiao-Cotto, Matthew Hatton put in his best performance of his up and down career, by drawing with South African Lovemore N’Dou.

N’Dou showed his class in the earlier rounds, opening a cut over Hatton’s eyelid in the second round. The middle rounds were tight, with the Sky team scoring them for Hatton. With no clear indication of a winner, both fighters raised their glove after a gruelling twelfth round.

Hatton’s disappointment came after a tight 12 rounds, which both fighters won clear rounds, but with many evenly fought rounds, the judges declared a draw. Judge John Coyle scored the bout 115-114 to Hatton. Judge Steve Marshall scored the fight 115-114 in favour of N’Dou and judge Tom Marshall, who scored the Haye - Valuev contest at 116-112, scored it 114-114.

Lovemore N’Dou seemed to land the more scoring shots, even though the computer disagreed, with Hatton landing 91 to N’Dou’s 78. The BTBC scored it 114-114.

On the undercard, 24 year old puncher Cello Renda, was stopped in a definite fight of the year contender by journeyman Paul Samuels.

In the opening round of their fight that was pointlessly scheduled for eight, Renda knocked down the in-rushing Samuels with a crisp left hook. Samuels came off the canvas and rocked Renda with hard right hands and eventually won the round.

In an all-action second round, Renda gained the upper hand, landing and throwing more frequently than his older opponent. Then, out of the blue, a boxing rarity happened. A double knockdown! As both fighters traded heavy shots simultaneously, Renda and Samuels fell to the canvas. Renda was up at 5, while Samuels barely beat the count, rising up at 9. Renda put his foot on the throttle, throwing punches left, right and center. He probably punched himself out at this point.

Samuels went for broke in the 3^rd, tasting victory against the dangerous Cello. Samuels landed with every punch that was thrown and the helpless Renda was stopped by referee Terry O’Connor. What a fight!

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UK Beat Report (11/2/09)

by Dafs117

In the most detailed UK Beat Report to date, the November edition takes a look back over the great domestic battle last month, plenty of news analysis and a look at the action packed month that awaits us.

We’ll begin at the top, the heavyweights. David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) heavily hyped quest for heavyweight supremacy finally heats up this month as he challenges 7ft giant Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) on November 7. In a bout that’s touted David vs. Goliath for obvious reasons, the Russian giant will defend his WBA crown for the second time in his second reign as champion. He returns to a venue where he outpointed former WBO titlist Sergei Lyakhovic (23-3, 14 KOs) in 2008 in a lethargic WBA Eliminator. The Nuernberg Arena should be full of 10,000 fight fanatics come November 7.

Questions will always rise about Haye’s size disadvantage and china chin at heavyweight, but can he be the first Brit since Lennox Lewis in 2003 to capture a heavyweight trinket? Tune in on Sky Box Office on November 7.

Last month saw the year’s most anticipated event kick-off, Showtime’s Super 6 Boxing Classic. The unique tournament features are very own Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KOs) in his journey for 168 pound supremacy. He and speedy American switch-hitter Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KOs) split the judges at the Trent FM Arena. Luckily, with some home-cooking, Froch emerged thewinner and collects precious two points into the next stage of the tournament, where he will face Calzaghe foe Mikkel Kessler (42-1, 32 KOs) in a possible unification bout if the Dane defeats unbeaten Olympian Andre Ward (19-0, 12 KOs) on November 21.
Ryan Rhodes (43-4, 29 KOs) and Jamie Moore (32-4, 23 KOs) gave us a cracking light middleweight contest and proved the winner duly merited a crack at the WBC title. Moore was defending his European belt for the second time after impressively winning the belt against former world titlist Michele Piccirillo (50-5, 29 KOs). Moore won the first four rounds before the slow starting Rhodes gained confidence and began to counter effecitively in the fifth. Moore’s weight problems were on show in the sixth as he ran out of gas. In a thrilling seventh round, Rhodes stopped Moore to clinch the European belt and most importantly he’s involved in a WBC eliminator with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (40-0-1, 30 KOs) and belt-holder Sergio Gabriel Martinez (44-1-2, 24 KOs).

In the British Super Bantamweight title contest, Nottingham’s Jason Booth (34-5, 14 KOs) was eventually much “2 Smooth” for his challenger Michael Hunter (29-2-1, 13 KOs) Hartlepool, who retired after the fifth round of their contest in Sunderland. Booth could move on to the European stage in 2010.

The Olympians made another successful return beginning with light heavyweight bronze medallist Tony Jeffries (4-0, 3 KOs) who outpointed Artem Solomko (10-18, 3 KOs) in four rounds. Heavyweight David Price (3-0, 2 KOs) made up for his previous inactivity by stopping previously unbeaten Liridon Memishi (0-1-1, 0 KOs) and outboxing Bulgarian Yavor Marinchev (5-16, 3 KOs) the following week to a four round points victory. Frankie Gavin (4-0, 4 KOs) successfully stopped Steve Saville (19-7, 8 KOs) in the second round of their contest. James De Gale (4-0, 3 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten Ally Morrison (2-0-1, 0 KOs) in three rounds. 3 time ABA champion Tony Bellew (11-0, 8 KOs) stopped journeyman in the first round Jindrich Velecky (16-7, 15 KOs). Michael Jennings (36-2, 17 KOs) made the most of a late replacement in the shape of Laszlo Komjathi (35-27-2, 13 KOs) winning every round of their eight round fight.

Paul Smith (28-1, 15 KOs) narrowly defeated Tony Quigley (13-2, 6 KOs) by split decision in a derby fight to win Quigley’s British Super Middleweight belt. A rematch is a certain. Welterweight prospect Jamie Cox (13-0, 8 KOs) retired Manoocha Salari (4-10-3, 3 KOs) in the third round.

Welterweight prospect Adnan Amar (23-1, 7 KOs) won the vacant English welterweight title by stopping Jon Thaxton conqueror Tom Glover (9-7-3, 0 KOs) in the fifth round. Glover had a broken nose in the third.

Aberdeen’s Lee McAllister (30-2, 7 KOs) continued his rise from the flames after his defeat to unbeaten star John Murray (28-0, 16 KOs) by defending his Commonwealth lightweight crown against Charlie Paul King (15-2, 0 KOs) by stopping him in the seventh round with a crushing overhand right.

Slickster Ian Napa (19-7, 1 KO) scraped past Gary Davies (9-3-1, 7 KOs) and stole his British bantamweight belt via a majority decision victory. Mongolian born Shinny Bayaar (14-4-1, 4 KOs) survived a nasty cut over his right eye to win the British flyweight title against Chris Edwards (13-14-3, 4 KOs) by split decision. Unbeaten light middleweight Brian Rose (14-0, 4 KOs) stopped Jason Rushton (18-10, 2 KOs) in the tenth round. Shortly after the fight, Rushton collapsed in the changing room and slipped into a coma. Thankfully the 26 year-old is out of the coma and on the road to recovery.

In the news last month, Danny Williams (41-8, 31 KOs) is allowed to keep his British belt despite his humiliating points defeat to Carl Baker (9-4, 6 KOs) in the most recent edition of Prizefighter. This news has put a spark in his step and he won’t retire from the sport.

Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KOs) will defend his WBA crown against Dimitri Salita (30-0-1, 16 KOs) on December 12, at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle. It’s a massive date for the 140 pound division as WBO titleholder Timothy Bradley (24-0, 11 KOs) also defends against his mandatory challenger Lamont Peterson (27-0, 13 KOs) and on the same card Juan Diaz (35-2, 17 KOs) and Paulie Malignaggi (26-3, 5 KOs) will fight in a rematch of their controversially scored fight in August. Khan and Salita are adamant that race and religion will not be a topic discussed in their pre-fight interviews.

Kell Brook (20-0, 13 KOs) had to pull out of his welterweight contest with Chorley’s Michael Jennings (35-2, 17 KOs) due to a viral infection. The bout is likely to be re-scheduled.

Light welterweight prospect Chris Evangelou, wanted by many promotional companies across the pond, has decided to sign his services to Calzaghe Promotions. He’s the biggest prospect so far to sign under the Calzaghe banner. He’ll make his debut on November 20 in Newport.

The newest line-up of Prizefighter has been released with the light welterweights taking the stage on December 4. The competition is headlined by former WBA champion Gavin Rees (28-1, 14 KOs) and also features former European titlists Ted Bami (26-5, 13 KOs), Colin Lynes (31-6, 12 KOs) and Jason Cook (25-2, 12 KOs) in another star studded and competitive field promoted by Barry Hearn.

Undefeated light heavyweight student Nathan Cleverly (18-0, 8 KOs) will have to travel to Italy to face his opponent Antonio Brancalion (32-7-2, 8 KOs) for the vacant European light heavyweight title. A date and venue has not been announced.

Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KOs) hinted on Soccer AM that he will make his comeback to training in the New Year and that he would love another crack at Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KOs).

Joe Calzaghe is off out TV screens when he was booted off BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing losing out to actress Zoe Lucker in a dance off. Not to worry, as a new TV show Calzaghe Clan has hit our TV screens in Wales.

And to round-up the news, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard made a brief visit to Wales last month.

In a bout that could possibly be ignored by Sky, the heavily anticipated rematch between Irish cab driver Martin Rogan (12-1, 6 KOs) and Norwich’s Sam Sexton (12-1, 5 KOs) will take place on the 6th of November at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. In the first fight, Sexton was out on his feet when the doctor stopped the fight due to excessive swelling on Rogan’s left eye. He’ll be trying to re-capture his Commonwealth belt. On the undercard, Scotland’s Alex Arthur (27-2, 20 KOs) will continue his run at lightweight against an unnamed opponent.

On the same night, Paul McCloskey (19-0, 9 KOs) fights Daniel Rasilla (15-2, 4 KOs) for the European light welterweight belt also in Northern Ireland. On the undercard, Martin Lindsay (14-0, 6 KOs) will fight against an unknown opponent and Steve Williams (8-0, 3 KOs) and Michael Grant (12-0-1, 1 KO) will compete for the vacant English light welterweight title.

Hopefully on a lucky Friday the 13th, Matthew Hatton (37-4-1, 14 KOs) will challenge against Lovermore N’Dou (47-11-1, 31 KOs) for the IBO light welterweight belt. Robert Norton (31-4-1, 19 KOs) will defend his Commonwealth cruiserweight title.

Rendall Munroe (19-1, 8 KOs) will defend his European Super Bantamweight title for the fifth time against Simone Maludrottu (30-2, 11 KOs) in Nottingham on the 20th. Olympian Tony Jeffries (4-0, 3 KOs) and heavyweight prospect Tom Dallas (7-0, 5 KOs) fight on the undercard.

Bradley Pryce (28-7, 17 KOs) tops the show in Newport on the same night as Munroe’s defence. Pryce will fight journeyman Sergejs Savrinovics (7-15-1, 4 KOs) in a stay busy fight. Welterweight Tony Doherty (21-1, 9 KOs) will fight for the first time in 20 months as the chief support. Prospects Chris Evangelou and Lee Lewis will make their debuts on the same bill.

Charismatic light middleweight Anthony Small (22-1, 16 KOs) defends his British and Commonwealth belts in Wigan on Friday 27 against Thomas McDonagh (34-2-3, 7 KOs). In the neighbour county, Curtis Woodhouse (10-1, 5 KOs) makes his comeback fights since his shock points defeat to Jay Morris (11-14, 3 KOs) and will face lightweight brawler Graham Earl (26-4, 12 KOs) in Hull.

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The BTBC Rumor Mill

Sources wrangled and cornered by The BTBC this afternoon have let loose that recently stripped WBC Champ, Timothy Bradley, could be defending his WBO Jr. Welterweight Title in the late Summer or early Fall against former 135 lb. lineal champ, Nate Campbell. The fight is still in the negotiation stage, but both sides are not far apart financially. The bout would probably represent the biggest payday available for either fighter right now at 140 and it's a sure sell to Showtime...

Zab Judah, who was rumored to be getting a shot at the soon-to-be-vacated IBF Jr. Welter Title on the PBF/JMM card in July may apparently be matched up with another opponent if particulars with Randall Bailey can't get worked out. The rumored substitute for Bailey is, Ricky Hatton's bro, Matthew Hatton...

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