Saturday, September 29, 2018

DUNO, GABALLO AND TAPALES IN BIG FIGHTS THIS WEEKEND


Credit: Sanman Promotions
Press Release: September 29, 2018 By Sanman Promotions – It will be a busy week for three Filipino fighters as they headline relevant bouts this coming weekend. 
 
 
Lightweight contender Ruthless Romero Duno will face dangerous Mexican Ezequiel Aviles in a co-featured bout under the Linares-Cotto fight in Fantasy Springs, Indio, USA.  
  
Meanwhile in Manila, Philippines, bantamweight prospect Reymart Gaballo will work his way up the ranks when he faces Tanzanian Julius Kisarawe. Together with Gaballo, former world champion Marlon Tapales is back and ready to move up towards another shot at a world title as he fights Tanzanian Goodluck Mrema in a bantamweight match-up.  
  
Both fights are featured in the ESPN 5 event which will feature the above fighters together with Dave Peñalosa facing Twalib Tuwa also of Tanzania. The fights will be broadcasted live on ESPN 5, Sunday at 2PM (Philippine Time). 
  
DunoGaballo and Tapales are all wards of Sanman Boxing. According to Sanman CEO Jim Claude Manangquil, all these fighters will do everything to impress boxing fans. Duno is nearing a world title fight and we hope to face the winner of the Linares-Cotto fight.  
  
Sanman CFO Dexter Tan is in the US to accompany and support Duno while CEO JC Manangquil is in Manila to take care of Gaballo and Tapales. 

Material and Photo Courtesy of: Sanman Promotions Used with Permission. 

For more information about Sanman Promotions and to watch the Sanman Live Boxing series please visit Sanman Promotions’ official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SanmanPromotions.  The Linares-Cotto card will also be available  on Facebook tonight (Saturday, September 29th) beginning at 9PM ET/6PM PT (U.S. Time.) as part of the Golden Boy Fight Night series and will also be available on the Facebook Watch app. To watch the Linares-Cotto card, featuring Duno vs. Avilies please visit the official Golden Boy Fight Night Facebook page: www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyFN 

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved. 


Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Update

We would like to let our readers know that new material will be released on Monday, October 1st. Stay tuned. “And That’s The Boxing Truth.”

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Joshua Stops Povetkin In Seven To Retain Heavyweight World Championship


Undefeated IBF/WBA/IBO/WBO Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua successfully retained his crown with a devastating seventh round stoppage of longtime Heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London, England. As has been the case in his recent fights, the champion was put to the test by the challenger.

In previewing this fight, this observer stated that I felt it would serve Povetkin well to use lateral movement to establish himself as an elusive target while looking to out box the champion by executing his offense in compact spurts. This is precisely what the challenger did by using timing to execute his offense and head movement to evade much of Joshua's offense.

The challenger also appeared to break the champion's nose in the first round with a combination of punches highlighted by a left hook. Joshua went back to his corner at the conclusion of the round bleeding heavily from his nose. While clearly being put to the test early, the champion appearing to suffer a broken nose is not a position he is unfamiliar.

Some may recall in Joshua’s title defense against Carlos Takam in October of last year before stopping the “Game” Takam in ten rounds. Although the champion was able to have his moments throughout this fight, this was perhaps as significant a test as his battle with Wladimir Klitschko was in April of last year in the same venue Wembley Stadium. Unlike his encounter with Klitschko, where Joshua had to get off the canvas to win the fight, it appeared at least in my eyes that the danger in this fight for Joshua was being out boxed over the course of the fight by Povetkin. I felt Povetkin got the better of the action in five of the first six rounds due to his timing, movement, and combination punching.

Despite appearing to be facing a growing deficit to overcome on the scorecards, the champion would find the answer he needed to turn the fight in his favor in round seven. In a scenario that is as good an illustration as any as to why a fight can change in a moment, Joshua staggered the challenger with a flush left hook and dropped Povetkin with a right hand. Showing his mettle, Povetkin somehow made it to his feet, despite staggering to his feet and looking to nearly fall through the ropes in his own corner. Although the fight was allowed to continue, Joshua closed the show with a brutal right hand that sent the challenger down for a second time as Povetkin's trainer stepped on to the apron of the ring in an attempt to stop the fight. As the challenger fell to the canvas for the second time, Referee Steve Gray stepped in and stopped the fight.

Official time of the stoppage was 1:59 of round seven. Anthony Joshua advances to 22-0, with 21 Knockouts. Alexander Povetkin falls to 34-2, with 24 Knockouts.

Also on this card, in a rematch to determine a mandatory challenger in the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) Lightweight ratings, former world title challenger Luke Campbell scored a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over former European Lightweight champion Yvan Mendy. Campbell out boxed Mendy over the course of twelve rounds using a mix of lateral movement and combination punching.

The use a movement by Campbell, a former British and Commonwealth Lightweight champion simply kept Mendy from being able to land his punches consistently as he frequently was made to miss by Campbell. At the end of twelve rounds, Campbell won a convincing unanimous decision. Official scores were: 119-109, 118-111, and 116-112.

Unofficially, I scored this bout, ten rounds to two or 118-110 in points for Campbell. Although Mendy tried to apply pressure on Campbell throughout, he simply could not land anything significant to discourage Campbell from moving or to turn the momentum in his favor. The win for Campbell, the nineteenth of his career, avenges his first career loss, which came via a twelve round split decision to Mendy in December 2015. Luke Campbell advances to 19-2, with 15 Knockouts. Yvan Mendy falls to 40-5-1, with 19 Knockouts.

Campbell now moves into the mandatory challenger position in the WBC Lightweight ratings. The current WBC world champion in the 135lb. Lightweight division is unified WBC/IBF Lightweight world champion Mikey Garcia. It is unclear as of now as to whether Garcia, who successfully unified the WBC and International Boxing Federation (IBF) world championships in the division with a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated IBF champion Robert Easter in July of this year will stay at 135lbs. or attempt to move up to either the 140lb. Jr. Welterweight or 147lb. Welterweight divisions. If Garcia does opt to vacate his unified world championship to move up in weight, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Campbell could either be named world champion by the WBC per his being the top contender in the division and having earned the mandatory title shot, or be put in a fight for the vacant championship against the next highest ranked available contender in the WBC ratings.

In a battle for the British Cruiserweight championship, undefeated prospect Lawrence Okolie scored an underwhelming twelve round unanimous decision over champion Matty Askin to win the championship. This was frankly an ugly fight to watch and a very difficult fight to score due to the styles of the two fighters not meshing well. There was a lot of in fighting and grappling throughout the fight and that made it difficult to distinguish which fighter was getting the upper hand. Despite being penalized three points throughout the fight for headbutting and holding, Okolie was able to win the fight on the scorecards.  Official scores were 116-110, 114-112, and 114-113 all in favor of Okolie. Lawrence Okolie advances to 10-0, with 7 Knockouts. Matty Askin falls to 23-4-1, with 15 Knockouts.

Unofficially, I scored this fight in favor of Matty Askin 116-111. This was due largely to the fouls committed by Okolie throughout the fight. If one takes the point deductions out of the equation this was too close to call, despite the scoring of the three official judges, which one could argue was influenced at least in part by those deductions on two of the three scorecards.

In the Heavyweight division, undefeated prospect Sergey Kuzmin scored a fourth round stoppage of former British, English, and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion David Price. Price, the 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist in the Heavyweight division took the fight on less than ten days notice. Despite this, the one-time rising prospect, who came into the fight off of a knockout loss at the hands of Alexander Povetkin earlier this year, did hold his own for the duration of the bout and appeared to get the better of exchanges when the two fighters traded punches. Price however, seemed to be fighting fatigue after three rounds and at the conclusion of the fourth round, the bout was stopped by his corner due to what was said to be a torn bicep.

Sergey Kuzmin advances to 13-0, with 10 Knockouts. David Price falls to 22-6, with 18 Knockouts.

One has to wonder where the thirty-five year old Price, whom a few years ago yours truly felt was among the top rising prospects in the Heavyweight division. Now having lost three of his last five fights and suffering knockouts in all six of his career losses, one might wonder whether this latest setback will signal the end of Price’s career. For the moment, Price indicated in a post-fight interview that he intends to continue his career once his injury has healed. As for Sergey Kuzmin, the victory over Price earned him a regional championship in the WBA’s Heavyweight ratings, which in simple terms means it will elevate his standing in the WBA rankings going forward.

In the opening bout of the evening, in the Welterweight division, undefeated prospect Shakhram Giyasov scored stopped previously undefeated prospect Julio Laguna in four rounds. Giyasov was the effective aggressor throughout the fight and consistently brought the fight to Laguna. The end came when a combination to the head of Laguna caused the fight to be stopped at :38 of round four.

Shakhram Giyasov advances to 5-0, with 4 Knockouts. Julio Laguna falls to 14-1, with 10 Knockouts.

Two previously announced bouts on this card a four round Light-Heavyweight bout between Dana Zaxo (2-0, 2 Knockouts) and Toni Bilic (1-14, 1 Knockout) as well as a four round Welterweight bout between Petar Alexandrov (2-3, 1 Knockout) and Chris Kongo (9-0, 6 Knockouts) did not take place. There is no word as of this writing as to why those two bouts were dropped from the card.

For Anthony Joshua the victory over Alexander Povetkin was his sixth title defense. With his mandatory title defense obligations fulfilled at least for the time being, Joshua will now wait for the winner of the December 1st encounter between undefeated WBC Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder and undefeated former unified Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury. Depending on the outcome of Wilder-Fury, Joshua is tentatively scheduled to return to the ring in April 2019, once again at Wembley Stadium. Given Joshua has routinely drawn massive crowds to his fights and the bout with Povetkin drew an estimated 80,000 spectators, it is logical to assume a bout with the Wilder-Fury winner, which would be for the Undisputed World Heavyweight championship could take place in the United Kingdom where Joshua is one of the sport’s biggest stars. What will also be interesting is to see if such an encounter will be televised globally on DAZN, the new digital streaming network, which for its first Boxing event secured rights to the Joshua-Povetkin card as part of its recent expansion into the United States.

The growth of Over The Top (OTT) digital distribution, the success of cord-cutting of consumers choosing not to subscribe to a traditional cable/satellite pay-TV provider, as well as the success of direct to consumer subscription-based digital networks like DAZN and ESPN+, the latter of which announced recently that it had already reached one million subscribers just five months into its existence should be an indication that the future of the sport in terms of how it is televised is the direct to consumer model as well as an indication that the sport has begun to move away from the realm of traditional pay-per-view for Boxing’s major events. For now, DAZN’s Boxing debut should be considered a success. A success that those who support the sport should support as the network sets its sights on growing not only their combat sports content, which for the moment includes Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), but continuing to expand their offerings to include their recently launched U.S. service. With both DAZN and ESPN+ in acquisition mode to acquire various rights for Boxing content as well as across all of sports and competing with other networks that distribute the majority of their content via traditional cable/satellite television, the ultimate winner will be the sports fan. An evolution in consumer choice that this observer looks forward to continuing to watch as it evolves.

“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison

Friday, September 21, 2018

Joshua-Povetkin Weights



The official weigh-in for Saturday’s World Heavyweight championship fight between undefeated IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua and WBA number one ranked Heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin took place earlier today in London, England. The official weights for the entire card are as follows.

Main Event: IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO Heavyweight world championship – 12Rds.

Anthony Joshua (Champion) 245 1/4lbs. vs. Alexander Povetkin (Challenger) 222lbs.

British Cruiserweight championship – 12Rds.

Matty Askin (Champion) 199 1/2lbs. vs. Lawrence Okolie 199 1/4lbs.

Heavyweight – 10Rds.

David Price 265 1/4lbs. vs. Sergey Kuzmin 244 3/4lbs.

Lightweight – 12Rds.

Yvan Mendy 134 1/4lbs. vs. Luke Campbell 134 1/2lbs.

Welterweight – 6Rds.

Julio Luguna 142lbs. vs. Shakhram Giyasov 143 1/4lbs.

(*Bouts Also Scheduled To Take Place On This Card: Weights for these bouts unavailable as of this writing.)

Light-Heavyweight – 4Rds.

Dana Zaxo vs. Toni Bilic

Welterweight – 4Rds.

Petar Alexandrov vs. Chris Kongo

Joshua vs. Povetkin takes place on Saturday, September 22nd at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The full card can be seen in the United States and Canada on DAZN beginning at 1PM U.S. EST. In the United States, DAZN is available online as well as mobile and connected streaming devices for$9.99 per month with a 30-day free trial. For more information about DAZN in the United States and to subscribe please visit: www.DAZN.com. For more information about DAZN in Canada including subscription plans please visit: www.DAZN.CA.


In the United Kingdom, the card can be seen on a pay-per-view basis on Sky Box Office beginning at 6PM (Local UK Time.) for £19.95. To order please visit:https://www.sky.com/boxoffice/Joshua-Povetkin Check your local listings internationally.

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison


Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Joshua-Povetkin Preview

In March of this year undefeated unified IBF/WBA/IBO Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua took one step closer to becoming the Undisputed Heavyweight world champion by scoring a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated WBO world champion Joseph Parker. Although Joshua successfully defended his crown for the fifth time and added the World Boxing Organization (WBO) world championship to his unified crown, the victory over Parker also marked the first time the twenty-eight year old native of Watford, England was extended to the full distance of a fight as a professional after scoring knockouts in his first twenty bouts.

As is usually the norm following a unification bout, the unified Heavyweight world champion will make the sixth defense of his crown against a mandatory contender on Saturday night against longtime top Heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium in London, England. This figures to be another test for Joshua in facing Povetkin, the current World Boxing Association (WBA) number one contender, who is a former world title challenger that also held Interim/Regular champion status in the WBA Heavyweight ratings for a lengthy period in his career. Some may recall Povetkin's decision loss in his one previous title shot against former longtime Heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko in October 2013. Despite suffering his only career loss in that fight, Povetkin made a good account of himself in going the distance with Klitschko under circumstances where due to being at a size and weight disadvantage he was simply not able to get off with much of his offense as Klitschko used his bigger size to consistently tie Povetkin up and also used his weight to his advantage by leaning on the shorter Povetkin.

While clearly the bout between Klitschko and Povetkin was not the most entertaining to watch, the native of Kursk, Russia earned respect for the effort he put forth in that fight. Since suffering the setback Povetkin has won eight straight fights. The challenger however, has also been the subject of controversy in his career. Some may recall that Povetkin was at one point also rated as the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) number one contender and was due to face undefeated WBC world champion Deontay Wilder in May 2016 in Moscow, Russia, but that fight was cancelled only days before it was to take place after it was revealed by the WBC that Povetkin had tested positive for the banned substance Meldonium.


This was followed by a second positive test for Povetkin later that year prior to his scheduled fight against former WBC world champion Bermane Stiverne, when it was revealed that Povetkin tested positive for the banned substance Ostarine. Povetkin however, faced and scored a knockout win over former world title challenger Johann Duhaupas. Although Povetkin has fought three times since those two positive tests and his victory over Duhaupas, it is understandable how some may be critical of the WBA for mandating Anthony Joshua to face Povetkin given what has happened in the past. It can and perhaps should be pointed out that the subject regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs and/or substances that are deemed by regulators to be illegal and subsequently banned is an epidemic throughout all of sports much less combat sports.

Even though that by no means creates grounds for justification of a positive test or in this case tests, there should also be a point where an athlete has an opportunity at redemption. In this case, Povetkin’s opportunity at redemption will come in two parts. The first is a second opportunity at a world championship that he failed to win when he faced Wladimir Klitschko nearly five years ago. The second, which should be obvious to most is to show that the two positive tests that have led to much criticism is a low point in a solid career and should not ultimately define that career. In fairness to the challenger, he has fought three times since this second failed test for a banned substance and to this observer’s knowledge he has tested clean in both pre and post-fight testing since then.

Stylistically, this should be a fight of a fighter known for his punching power in the champion Anthony Joshua against an opponent known as a boxer/puncher, who has also shown the ability to get an opponent out of there should the opportunity arise. As has been the case in most of Joshua’s recent fights, he will be going up against a fighter with more professional experience as Povetkin has fought thirty-five bouts in his career compared to the champion’s twenty-one.
When discussing a fight like this it can be all too tempting to discuss every imaginable statistic and give subsequent analysis. 

Out of respect for the reader, yours truly will try not to dive too deep into a statistical breakdown of the two fighters even though I have made a career examining such statistics. There are however, a few key statistics that do stand out that one, whether a casual fan, a hardcore enthusiast, and the expert should consider as this fight approaches.

The first of these numbers is the total knockouts of the two fighters and subsequent career knockout percentages. In this category, the theoretical edge goes to the champion Joshua, who has only gone the distance in a fight once in his career and has what some might consider an intimidating career knockout percentage of 95%. This differs from the challenger Povetkin, who has scored knockouts in twenty-four of his thirty-four career wins registering a career knockout percentage of 69% heading into this encounter.

Perhaps the challenger’s most significant advantage is the fact that he has more professional experience as compared to the champion having fought fourteen more fights and accumulated a total of 225 rounds fought inside the ring compared to the champion, who has only fought a total of 77 rounds in his twenty-one professional fights. While this may not appear to some to be a major statistic, which could tilt the fight in the challenger’s favor, what it does suggest is Povetkin is a fighter that knows how to go into the deep waters of a fight and it certainly should not be dismissed that taking the champion into the late rounds of the fight as Joseph Parker was able to do is part of his strategy, which in this observer’s eyes would be smart if he can execute it.


The most significant statistic that some might point to is the difference in age between the two fighters, which in theory does favor the champion of eleven years. Although Povetkin will turn forty years old in 2019, one might argue that he has not had the grueling effects of a long career. It will nevertheless be interesting to see if Povetkin’s age does become a factor in this fight.

In his last bout, Povetkin overcame a knockdown in the third round to score an impressive stoppage of former Olympic Silver medalist and British and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion David Price on the undercard of Joshua-Parker earlier this year. While Povetkin’s bout with Price can best be described as an exciting slugfest and the challenger has shown a willingness to engage and exchange with his opponents throughout his career, I would not necessarily expect Povetkin to take a similar approach in this fight against Joshua. Although Povetkin’s fight with Price was the type of encounter fight fans love, he did dodge a bullet for lack of a better term as he was caught, knocked down, and hurt by a fighter who a few years ago was touted by some experts including this one as one of the rising stars in the Heavyweight division.

While David Price is a fighter also known for his punching power and some might say had a similar rise early in his career as Joshua before suffering some career setbacks, Joshua is the type of fighter who can end a fight with one punch and if Povetkin gets caught as he did against Price it could well lead to his downfall. How can Povetkin pull off what some would call an upset?

The challenger is a solid combination puncher, who is capable of executing his offense in compact spurts. Although Povetkin also has punching power, I believe it will serve him well to use lateral movement and attempt to establish himself as an elusive target and look to out box Joshua over the course of the twelve round world championship bout. In contrast to what I feel will work well for the challenger, it would be logical to expect the champion Joshua to implement a gradual pressure approach as he has done against previous opponents in the past.

What makes the fight more intriguing is both fighters have styles that more often than not creates entertaining fights and both fighters have been caught before. Both men have also shown the ability to get off the canvas to win fights by knockout. An intriguing encounter between two of the best the Heavyweight division has to offer.

In terms of what the outcome of this fight could mean for the rest of the talent-deep division, most would probably assume that the winner of this fight will be in line to face the winner of the potential bout between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and undefeated former unified Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury. Something Joshua-Povetkin also represents in terms of the landscape of how the sport overall is televised is the fight as well as the full undercard will be televised as the first major Boxing event on the recently launched DAZN subscription-based streaming service in the United States.


Although readers are familiar with this observer’s point of view in regard to the realm of Over The Top (OTT) digital distribution as well as the recent column discussing DAZN’s entrance into the United States, this event does indeed represent the changing times in the sport. In my eyes, in time the content in terms of the amounts of Boxing content that will be available to the consumer from digital networks like DAZN and ESPN+, will represent a greater value to that consumer as compared to paying a pay-per-view fee where only a portion of a single card is televised. What it represents should ultimately be beneficial to both the sport of Boxing, the athletes who compete in the sport,  and the fans who support it.

As the Boxing world focuses it’s attention on the legendary Wembley Stadium for the latest in a long line of marquee events in the sport, if the intriguing fight Joshua-Povetkin appears to be on paper turns into an entertaining encounter once the fighters are in the ring, some may look back on September 22, 2018 as a day in the history of the sport where an event headlined by a World Heavyweight championship fight not only ushered in a new era for Boxing on television, but more importantly elevated the sport. If that indeed happens, it will be a win for the sport of Boxing.


“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”



Joshua vs. Povetkin takes place on Saturday, September 22nd at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The full card can be seen in the United States and Canada on DAZN beginning at 1PM U.S. EST. In the United States, DAZN is available online as well as mobile and connected streaming devices for$9.99 per month with a 30-day free trial. For more information about DAZN in the United States and to subscribe please visit: www.DAZN.com. For more information about DAZN in Canada including subscription plans please visit: www.DAZN.CA.


In the United Kingdom, the card can be seen on a pay-per-view basis on Sky Box Office for £19.95. To order please visit: https://www.sky.com/boxoffice/Joshua-Povetkin. Check your local listings internationally.

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison