Russian fighter Evgeny Gradovich (18-0, 9) successfully defended his IBF Featherweight title for the second time as he defeated Australian Billy Dib (36-3-0-1, 21) for the second time inside a year.
The two men, who fought to a scrappy decision earlier this year, knew that this fight meant a lot. For Dib it was his chance to become a 2-time world champion and a chance to avenge a loss that he probably didn't feel he deserved. For Gradovich however it was a chance to prove he really did deserve to be "a world champion".
Unfortunately for Dib he looked like a fighter who had regressed massively from their first meeting. It was obvious from the first round that he didn't believe in himself and this allowed Gradovich, typically a slow starter, to take the opening round as he began to that infamous engine of his rolling.
Although it took a few rounds for Gradovich to reach full output it was obvious he was claiming rounds with his work rate, aggression and pressure. Dib was struggling to have more than a flash of success here and there and Gradovich on the other hand was beginning to grind down his Australian opponent.
With Gradovich in charge after 4 rounds it was then Dib's turn to have success as he showed some genuine skill and fought back well from off the ropes. Unfortunately for Dib his success was easy to forget as Gradovich managed to flurry excellently just before the bell with what may have stolen him the round.
However round 5 was scored didn't really matter a Gradovich moved up a gear and scored a flash knockdown in the sixth. This was the start of the end for Dib who was ground down in rounds 7 and 8 as the Russian landed at will to the head and body of the Australian who was beginning to mentally fold.
Dib did manage to make it to round 9 though he was a spent force and it was little wonder that the bout was stopped after just 70 seconds of the round. Dib's speed and movement had been sapped and his defense had become porous to say the least.
With the stoppage loss on his record here I actually hope this is the last time I see Dib in action.
Showing posts with label Australian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Daniel Geale v Darren Barker
In a second successive upset at the Revel Resort, Atlantic City Darren Barker (26-1, 16) claimed a close split decision to take the IBF Middleweight title from Australian Daniel Geale (29-2, 15) in an enthralling and very difficult to score 12 round contest.
The fight started at an amazing pace with both men standing close and trading attacks, Geale, known for his work rate appeared to be his usual busy self but Barker seemed to be just as confident in his stamina and matched Geale almost punch for punch in a great round. The round really could have gone either way and it was one of a number of swing rounds the fight saw as the men refused to let the other really take any advantage, however Barker did land a low one on the bell to end round 2.
The first clear round was the third a round won by Barker thanks to his excellent crisp shots that seemed to rattle Geale at several points. The Aussie tried to fight back but for the first time he was unable to really answer the firepower of the Englishman.
Although Barker had claimed the third Geale appeared to bounce back excellently and took the fourth round as he stepped up his work rate and tried to show Barker that HE was the champion and he wouldn't give up his title with out a fight. It was by the end of this round that both guys were showing signs of having been in a fight with their left eyes reddening from the shots they had each landed. The eyes only got worse through round 5 as they again fought a very tight round that saw Geale landing a low blow that appeared to be a revenge shot for the one Barker hand landed on him
If round 3 was the first clear round then round 6 was the clearest round as Geale dropped Barker hard from a body shot that he only just managed to get up from. The shot, an absolute beauty, would have finished off most men but Barker found a way to will himself to his feet and despite taking a shellacking for a good portion of the round he managed to turn things around late to prove there was still plenty of fight in him.
Following the body shot in the sixth Geale appeared to target the mid section again in round 7 though it was Barker who landed the notable shots and by the end of it Geale's trademark work rate appeared to have deserted with Barker actually having the much better round of the two fighters
The work rate of Geale did return in roudn 8 though only in the first minute or so before Barker came back and possibly stole the round in another of the fights many swing rounds. Unfortunately for Barker it seemed like round 9 was a solid Gale round although Barker did himself land some solid shots it was hard to award him the round as he looked sluggish and tired for the first time.
Barker seemed to bounce back well in round 10 as Geale began to look tired and although neither man appeared able to really hurt the other neither man seemed to be able to really great a gap in the scoring due to close nature of the rounds and the fact that every time one guy won one cleanly the other seemed to take the next.
Going in to the championship rounds it was really anyone's fight due to the close nature of so many rounds. Unfortunately for Geale however he was looking worse for wear not just facially with his lip being swollen but also physically with his work rate dropping dramatically. Geale tried to force himself to battle hard against Barker in the later rounds but amazing Barker fought back even hard and appeared to take round 11.
Having lost the 11 Geale managed to fight back harder in the 12 and probably just took that to even out the score from the previous round.
With so many tight rounds any result was fair and whilst I had the bout a victory to the champion (115-112) the judges felt that Barker had done enough to deserve a split decision with scores of 114-113 each way and an oddly wide card of 116-111 to Barker. I understand there were plenty of swing rounds but 116-111 either way seems unfair to the loser of a great fight.
If anything has come from this, one of the best fights of the year, it's that a rematch should take place as it would be a bit hit with the fans and the fighters as well as HBO
The fight started at an amazing pace with both men standing close and trading attacks, Geale, known for his work rate appeared to be his usual busy self but Barker seemed to be just as confident in his stamina and matched Geale almost punch for punch in a great round. The round really could have gone either way and it was one of a number of swing rounds the fight saw as the men refused to let the other really take any advantage, however Barker did land a low one on the bell to end round 2.
The first clear round was the third a round won by Barker thanks to his excellent crisp shots that seemed to rattle Geale at several points. The Aussie tried to fight back but for the first time he was unable to really answer the firepower of the Englishman.
Although Barker had claimed the third Geale appeared to bounce back excellently and took the fourth round as he stepped up his work rate and tried to show Barker that HE was the champion and he wouldn't give up his title with out a fight. It was by the end of this round that both guys were showing signs of having been in a fight with their left eyes reddening from the shots they had each landed. The eyes only got worse through round 5 as they again fought a very tight round that saw Geale landing a low blow that appeared to be a revenge shot for the one Barker hand landed on him
If round 3 was the first clear round then round 6 was the clearest round as Geale dropped Barker hard from a body shot that he only just managed to get up from. The shot, an absolute beauty, would have finished off most men but Barker found a way to will himself to his feet and despite taking a shellacking for a good portion of the round he managed to turn things around late to prove there was still plenty of fight in him.
Following the body shot in the sixth Geale appeared to target the mid section again in round 7 though it was Barker who landed the notable shots and by the end of it Geale's trademark work rate appeared to have deserted with Barker actually having the much better round of the two fighters
The work rate of Geale did return in roudn 8 though only in the first minute or so before Barker came back and possibly stole the round in another of the fights many swing rounds. Unfortunately for Barker it seemed like round 9 was a solid Gale round although Barker did himself land some solid shots it was hard to award him the round as he looked sluggish and tired for the first time.
Barker seemed to bounce back well in round 10 as Geale began to look tired and although neither man appeared able to really hurt the other neither man seemed to be able to really great a gap in the scoring due to close nature of the rounds and the fact that every time one guy won one cleanly the other seemed to take the next.
Going in to the championship rounds it was really anyone's fight due to the close nature of so many rounds. Unfortunately for Geale however he was looking worse for wear not just facially with his lip being swollen but also physically with his work rate dropping dramatically. Geale tried to force himself to battle hard against Barker in the later rounds but amazing Barker fought back even hard and appeared to take round 11.
Having lost the 11 Geale managed to fight back harder in the 12 and probably just took that to even out the score from the previous round.
With so many tight rounds any result was fair and whilst I had the bout a victory to the champion (115-112) the judges felt that Barker had done enough to deserve a split decision with scores of 114-113 each way and an oddly wide card of 116-111 to Barker. I understand there were plenty of swing rounds but 116-111 either way seems unfair to the loser of a great fight.
If anything has come from this, one of the best fights of the year, it's that a rematch should take place as it would be a bit hit with the fans and the fighters as well as HBO
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Sakio Bika v Marco Antonio Periban
Over the past few years the Super Middleweight division has been on of the standout weight classes. Sadly politics has once again left it's mark on he sport as Andre Ward, the standout fighter in the division, was recently stripped of his WBC title.
To fill the void left by the WBC's decision to strip Ward we had a bout between 3-time former title challenger Sakio Bika and the unbeaten Mexican Marco Antonio Periban.
The bout started slowly with Periban just doing enough to claim the opening few rounds. Neither man looked good and the action wasn't great as the crowd started to boo.
In the middle rounds Bika started to charge back and out work Periban who seemed to decide that his best option was dance on the outside and throw next to nothing. The strange tactic of Periban's seemed to see him just giving rounds away with the flat out negativity.
It wasn't until round 8 that we eventually had some fireworks. A clash of heads lead to Periban being taken over to the ringside Dr. Immediately after the Dr said he was fine the two men started to land bombs for fun, though the bell unfortunately cut the excitement short.
Going in to the final 4 rounds it was still finely in the balance and either man had a great chance to claim a decision.
Round 9 seemed to show the best boxing of the bout with Periban showing some lovely class but he couldn't keep it up and and Bika did just enough to claim the following 2 rounds and take a slim lead in the final round.
It was in round 12 that the action and excitement picked up as both men went for it. They were both aware the fight was close and both seemed to know that a knockdown would win the bout for them. This saw both men leaving their jaws on the line and unloading on each other in what was genuinely fun to watch action despite the fact both men looked technically awful.
The close nature of the bout left, as many would expect, a tight decision though one that just favoured Bika by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114 to claim a majority decision.
This loss sees Periban falling to 20-1 (13) whilst Bika improves to 32-5-2 (21) and claims a world title in his 4th attempt. I'd be very shocked if he kept the belt for long.
To fill the void left by the WBC's decision to strip Ward we had a bout between 3-time former title challenger Sakio Bika and the unbeaten Mexican Marco Antonio Periban.
The bout started slowly with Periban just doing enough to claim the opening few rounds. Neither man looked good and the action wasn't great as the crowd started to boo.
In the middle rounds Bika started to charge back and out work Periban who seemed to decide that his best option was dance on the outside and throw next to nothing. The strange tactic of Periban's seemed to see him just giving rounds away with the flat out negativity.
It wasn't until round 8 that we eventually had some fireworks. A clash of heads lead to Periban being taken over to the ringside Dr. Immediately after the Dr said he was fine the two men started to land bombs for fun, though the bell unfortunately cut the excitement short.
Going in to the final 4 rounds it was still finely in the balance and either man had a great chance to claim a decision.
Round 9 seemed to show the best boxing of the bout with Periban showing some lovely class but he couldn't keep it up and and Bika did just enough to claim the following 2 rounds and take a slim lead in the final round.
It was in round 12 that the action and excitement picked up as both men went for it. They were both aware the fight was close and both seemed to know that a knockdown would win the bout for them. This saw both men leaving their jaws on the line and unloading on each other in what was genuinely fun to watch action despite the fact both men looked technically awful.
The close nature of the bout left, as many would expect, a tight decision though one that just favoured Bika by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114 to claim a majority decision.
This loss sees Periban falling to 20-1 (13) whilst Bika improves to 32-5-2 (21) and claims a world title in his 4th attempt. I'd be very shocked if he kept the belt for long.
Friday, 1 March 2013
Billy Dib v Evgeny Gradovich
In a minor upset American based Russian Evgeny Gradovich (16-0, 8) claimed the IBF Featherweight title decisioning the more experienced Australian Billy Dib (35-2-0-1, 21 ) in a messy yet engaging battle that really saw the "Mexican Russian" showing what he's about.
The opening round saw the champion start well as he moved well and landed a number of solid shots whilst making the challenger look silly, reckless and a bit out of his depth and he continued that in the second round as Gradovich applied rather ineffective pressure on to the champion.
Although the first two rounds were easy to score in favour of Dib the fight started to change in the third round as Gradovich's pressure started to have noticeable effect on the flashier champion. Dib better boxing skills were being negated by the bloody mindedness of Gradovich who just refused to back off and appeared to have started to get his engine going. Although the third was close and could have conceivably gone either way it was the turning point in the fight and Gradovich started to get real traction in the 4th as he repeatedly forced Dib on to the ropes and grew in confidence.
As Gradovich's confidence started to bloom so did his success with more and more of his shots landing cleanly on Dib who was almost dropped early in the 5th round, as the momentum swung completely in favour of Gradovich. Not only was Gradovich now coming into his own but Dib appeared to be both mentally welting and physically breaking down as his ear and nose started to bleed.
Although the challenger was really coming in to the bout the champion did manage to have some success through out the 6th round although Gradovich seemed to do enough at the end to just claim it. The following round again saw Dib having some moments of success but simply not enough of them to claim the round with Gradovich relentlessly marching towards him and trying to unload against a fighter who was spending more time trying to establish a safe distance than actually fighting.
Although the first 7 rounds were messy with copious amounts of clinching things got silly afterwards with both men being deducted a point for holding in round 8 as the fight went from a bit messy to a full on grapplefest that wrestling fans would have been proud of. Dib continually held on to Gradovich when the men were close effectively stopping the Russian from hitting him though doing little work himself as the bout really broke down with several awful rounds. Whilst Gradovich wasn't able to land much of note the fact he was simply trying to force the fight was enough for me to award him the rounds against Dib who was intent on spoiling.
Although the holding and hugging continued on a round by round basis until the final bell both rounds 11 and 12 were eye catching with 11 seeing both men rocked whilst 12 saw Dibs face becoming a claret mask as a cut around his eye worsened and dripped across his face. It was obvious from the facial damage of the two men that Dib had been hit numerous times and whilst Gradovich was marked up himself he didn't have the war scars of Dib at the final bell.
To many onlookers it seemed as if Gradovich, who had forced the bout through out was a clear winner. In fact when the bell went to end the bout Gradovich climbed the corner to celebrate whilst Dib had a very muted and short celebration before looking sorry for himself. It was clear that Dib didn't believe he had won whilst Gradovich had obviously though he'd done enough to claim the belt. Thankfully 2 of the judges agreed as Gradovich took a split decision and the world title.
Dib, sung in by American rap-star 50 Cent was fighting in America for the first time since losing in a WBO Super Bantamweight title bout to Steve Luevano back in 2008. The show was supposed to re-introduce him to America yet what it actually did was introduce the wider boxing world to the potentially exciting to watch Gradovich. Rather wonderfully it relieves the dirty and awful to Dib of the world title and likely any more undeserved limelight.
The opening round saw the champion start well as he moved well and landed a number of solid shots whilst making the challenger look silly, reckless and a bit out of his depth and he continued that in the second round as Gradovich applied rather ineffective pressure on to the champion.
Although the first two rounds were easy to score in favour of Dib the fight started to change in the third round as Gradovich's pressure started to have noticeable effect on the flashier champion. Dib better boxing skills were being negated by the bloody mindedness of Gradovich who just refused to back off and appeared to have started to get his engine going. Although the third was close and could have conceivably gone either way it was the turning point in the fight and Gradovich started to get real traction in the 4th as he repeatedly forced Dib on to the ropes and grew in confidence.
As Gradovich's confidence started to bloom so did his success with more and more of his shots landing cleanly on Dib who was almost dropped early in the 5th round, as the momentum swung completely in favour of Gradovich. Not only was Gradovich now coming into his own but Dib appeared to be both mentally welting and physically breaking down as his ear and nose started to bleed.
Although the challenger was really coming in to the bout the champion did manage to have some success through out the 6th round although Gradovich seemed to do enough at the end to just claim it. The following round again saw Dib having some moments of success but simply not enough of them to claim the round with Gradovich relentlessly marching towards him and trying to unload against a fighter who was spending more time trying to establish a safe distance than actually fighting.
Although the first 7 rounds were messy with copious amounts of clinching things got silly afterwards with both men being deducted a point for holding in round 8 as the fight went from a bit messy to a full on grapplefest that wrestling fans would have been proud of. Dib continually held on to Gradovich when the men were close effectively stopping the Russian from hitting him though doing little work himself as the bout really broke down with several awful rounds. Whilst Gradovich wasn't able to land much of note the fact he was simply trying to force the fight was enough for me to award him the rounds against Dib who was intent on spoiling.
Although the holding and hugging continued on a round by round basis until the final bell both rounds 11 and 12 were eye catching with 11 seeing both men rocked whilst 12 saw Dibs face becoming a claret mask as a cut around his eye worsened and dripped across his face. It was obvious from the facial damage of the two men that Dib had been hit numerous times and whilst Gradovich was marked up himself he didn't have the war scars of Dib at the final bell.
To many onlookers it seemed as if Gradovich, who had forced the bout through out was a clear winner. In fact when the bell went to end the bout Gradovich climbed the corner to celebrate whilst Dib had a very muted and short celebration before looking sorry for himself. It was clear that Dib didn't believe he had won whilst Gradovich had obviously though he'd done enough to claim the belt. Thankfully 2 of the judges agreed as Gradovich took a split decision and the world title.
Dib, sung in by American rap-star 50 Cent was fighting in America for the first time since losing in a WBO Super Bantamweight title bout to Steve Luevano back in 2008. The show was supposed to re-introduce him to America yet what it actually did was introduce the wider boxing world to the potentially exciting to watch Gradovich. Rather wonderfully it relieves the dirty and awful to Dib of the world title and likely any more undeserved limelight.
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