The Boxing world is still talking about the recent
changing of the guard which saw undefeated IBF number one Lightweight contender
George Kambosos ascend to the throne of Undisputed Lightweight champion of the
world with his recent decision victory over previously undefeated former
champion Teofimo Lopez. As normally is the case when there is a changing of the
guard atop any division throughout the sport, the scrambling amongst top
contenders and top promoters has begun all of whom are vying for one central
thing. An opportunity to secure a bout with the new champion. For the fighters
the opportunity is obvious, to compete for the Undisputed Lightweight crown
Promoters and networks meanwhile, see the opportunity to secure the rights for
the new champion’s first title defense for their respective promotional banners
and network platforms.
In the aftermath of Kambosos’ victory over Lopez on
November 27th in Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY,
coincidentally, two Lightweight bouts took place on December 4th and
5th that could have an impact on what Kambosos might do next and it
is worth noting that the new champion was in attendance at both bouts, no doubt
scouting his next potential opponent. The first of these two bouts took place
on December 4th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Los Vegas, NV where
undefeated top Lightweight contender Devin Haney squared off with former IBF
Jr. Lightweight world champion Joseph Diaz in a twelve round bout.
What was of interest for me in regard to this fight was
whether or not Diaz could expand upon the test that Haney received earlier this
year in his fight against former world champion Jorge Linares. A fight where
Haney was badly staggered at the end of the tenth round and appeared as though
he may have been saved by the bell. Although to his credit, Haney was able to
regroup and finished the fight strong, the fact that he was legitimately hurt
for the first time in his career was something that future opponents could try
to use to their advantage against him.
While some may argue that Linares, a former world
champion is nearing the end of a fine career, Diaz is closer to his prime years
as a fighter and this seemed like a fight that would provide Haney a test
beyond what Linares was able to do if an opportunity arose for Diaz. Despite
how things seemed going into the fight, what ended up occurring was more or
less a tactical Boxing match, which while competitive throughout, favored Haney
as he generally out boxed and outworked Diaz in the majority of the rounds to
earn a twelve round unanimous decision victory.
One aspect of Diaz’ strategy, which I felt served him
well for a period of time was that he tried to pressure Haney from behind a
high defensive guard. While this led to sporadic success throughout the bout
for him in my view in scoring four out of twelve rounds in his favor, he simply
did not throw enough to earn the nod in some rounds that may have been viewed
as close and spent much of the time looking to entice Haney to throw punches in
which he could try to counter. This allowed Haney to use his movement to evade
the pressure Diaz was putting on him and generally win rounds by being more
active and landing the cleaner, more effective punches.
It can be a challenge for fighters, particularly those
that attempt to implement a strategy based on counter punching to find a
balance between being a disciplined counter puncher and putting themselves in a
position to win rounds by being active. In this case, I felt that Diaz was
responsible in the sense of staying defensively sound, but he could not produce
an offensive output that was such that may have swayed opinion as to who was
getting the upper hand in rounds that were not easy to score and this is what
ultimately gave Haney the edge to win the fight and remain unbeaten.
The second bout, which may have implications for the
future of the Lightweight division took place on December 5th at the
soon to be renamed Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA where former Jr.
Lightweight world champion Gervonta Davis met Isaac Cruz in a twelve round
bout. The story of this bout was that Cruz had stepped in as a replacement for
original opponent Rolando Romero on a little more than one month’s notice to
face the heavily favored Davis.
While such a scenario does not always lead to competitive
fights, Cruz showed immediately that he had not taken the fight for a mere
payday and almost as soon as the fight began, immediately backed Davis up
against the ropes. This was aided by the fact that Cruz used consistent and
effective head movement that did make it difficult for Davis to land
consistently. It became clear rather quickly that this would be a tougher than
expected test for Davis, a fighter who had scored knockouts in twenty-four of
his previous twenty-five bouts in his professional career. Cruz was able to
consistently bring the fight to Davis and never really wilted in trying to
apply consistent pressure.
As the fight progressed however, Davis was able to use
more movement to evade some of Cruz’ pressure and in the process was able to
get some distance where he was able to get his punches off first. The subtle
difference particularly in the middle and late rounds is what allowed Davis,
who injured his left hand in the sixth round and who subsequently fought the
later rounds using only his right hand to earn a hard fought unanimous decision
victory.
Similarly to how I saw the Haney-Diaz bout, I scored the
Davis-Cruz bout eight rounds to four in favor of Davis. Unlike Haney-Diaz, this
proved to be a much more difficult fight for Davis compared to the consistent
Boxing performance that Haney was able to put forth. Both fighters however, did
maintain their positions as contenders in the Lightweight division and it will
be interesting to see if either was able to make a convincing argument to
entice George Kambosos to give them an opportunity to fight for the Undisputed
Lightweight championship of the world.
Unfortunately, it is not as cut and dry as it perhaps
should be to determine who may be first in line for Kambosos. This is due to
both Haney and Davis holding what amounts to interim/regular champion status in
the WBC and WBA Lightweight ratings respectively. There is also some who think
the issue of Kambosos being an undisputed world champion is something to
dispute. This is due to the World Boxing Council’s decision to designate
Teofimo Lopez as it’s “Franchise” champion shortly after he became undisputed
champion with his decision victory over Vasyl Lomachenko in October of last
year. While such a designation is merely a label, Boxing’s other respective
sanctioning organizations do not recognize the new champion Kambossos, who beat
Lopez as an undisputed champion.
Even though 90% of this can be summed up simply as
Boxing’s various political elements rearing their collective heads in not so
productive ways, this fact could delay fights from being signed because
promoters may see a route to get a sanctioning organization to potentially
strip Kambosos of a piece of the undisputed championship as an easier way to go
for their fighter to be recognized as a legitimate world champion rather than
engage in a negotiation process where Kambosos per his being champion is in the
obvious position of being able to dictate the terms of a potential fight. While
such “Franchise,” “Interim,” and “Regular” champion designations remain more of
a detriment to the sport than a help and remains one of the reasons why Boxing
can’t seem to get out of it’s own way at times, unfortunately, this is the
scenario of things within the sport that needs to be revamped significantly.
As for former unified Lightweight world champion Vasyl
Lomachenko, He will be the next potential opponent for Kambosos looking to make
an argument for himself as he will face former IBF Lightweight world champion
Richard Commey at Madison Square Garden’s Theater, the same venue where
Kambosos defeated Lopez for the Undisputed Lightweight world championship, on
December 11th in a fight that can be seen on ESPN and ESPN+ here in
the United States.
This amounts to a “Crossroads Fight” between two former
world champions who coincidentally each lost their portions of the Lightweight
world championship to Lopez and each has only fought once since suffering those
respective defeats, each scoring knockout wins in those bouts. Perhaps, the
similarities between Lomachenko and Commey end there. Vasyl Lomachenko is known
for his immaculate foot work, ability to change angles and vary his attack at
odd angles against his opponents. This has resulted in him winning world titles
three divisions from the 126lb. Featherweight division to the 135lb.
Lightweight division. Although he lost what ended up being a close fight to
Lopez, Loma, as he is known to his fans, is still one of the top fighters in
the entire sport and should be considered as a potential opponent for Kambosos
along with Haney and Davis.
Before Lomachenko can set his sights on trying to become
a two-time Lightweight world champion he must deal with a highly skilled
boxer/puncher in former IBF Lightweight world champion Richard Commey. Commey
suffered a second round knockout loss at the hands of Lopez in December 2019,
nearly two years to the day of this encounter with Lomachenko. Although what
happened to Commey in that fight can be best described as one fighter simply
getting caught and being unable to recover, he has put together a fine career
in his own right having scored victories in thirty of his thiry-three career
bouts. While Commey has more professional experience compared to the seventeen bouts
Lomachenko has fought, Lomachenko has a plethora of amateur experience having
won three-hundred ninety-six bouts as an amateur and only losing two bouts as a
professional against the highest level of competition available.
The key to this fight in my eyes will be whether or not
Commey will be able to get Lomachenko’s respect early in the fight. One thing that Teofimo Lopez was able to do
that worked out well for a significant stretch of his fight with Lomachenko,
which ultimately led to his victory was he made it very difficult for
Lomachenko to get into a consistent rhythm offensively and also limited his
movement. Commey must take the initiative and find a way to make Lomachenko
uncomfortable. Both fighters are capable of scoring a knockout should the
opportunity present itself, but the winner of this fight might be determined by
who is able to dictate the combat and the answer to that question might come
early in the bout.
No matter who wins between Lomachenko and Commey, odds
are we will not be any closer to determining who will be the first to challenge
George Kambosos for his undisputed crown. With this being the last significant
Lightweight fight on the schedule to take place in 2021 however, at minimum,
the debate of who out of the three winners of these bouts made the most
convincing argument should become clearer.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau
Denison All Rights Reserved.
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