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 IBF Featherweight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IBF Featherweight. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Evgeny Gradovich v Mauricio Javier Munoz
In a very high action contest "Mexican-Russian" Evgeny Gradovich (17-0, 8) defended the IBF Featherweight title.
Facing former WBC Super Bantamweight title challenger Mauricio Javier Munoz (26-4, 12) of Argentina it's fair to say that Gradovich had a fighter who was very similar to himself. Both men throw the boxing textbook out of the window preferring instead to wage wars and have genuine fights. When you have 2 fighters in the ring together you very rarely have a disappointing contest.
The bout started at the sort of pace fans of both men would have expected as they both threw leather for fun and took it in turns to be the man coming forward. It seemed that either both men were made of granite or neither man could punch but this didn't prevent the round from being thoroughly enjoyable from the off.
Although Munoz entered as a sizable under-dog he refused to act like an under-dog and as the fight went on he started to force the action more and more. Unfortunately for the Argentinian the more he forced the action the more he walked into a storm of counters from Gradovich. Whilst this was a painful looking experience for the challenger it made for great entertainment for the fans.
Through the middle rounds it was obvious that Gradovich had more to his game than just the come forward all action style that he is known for and he was showing off the other dimensions to his game when needed. Of course it was more fun to watch the high octane stuff but it was still good to see that Gradovich did have a plan B in his locker if he needed it.
In round 9 Gradovich managed to raise the crowd as he moved up a gear just as it seemed that Munoz's resolve was starting to drain. Amazingly just as it looked like he was fading the Argentinian seemed to wake up and found energy from somewhere as he again began to press the action and force the fight with Gradovich resorting to using his legs just as much as his hands.
Going in to the final 3 rounds the Gradovich corner were confident that their man was clearly in the lead with trainer Robert Garcia effectively telling his man to make sure he didn't get caught by anything big. He was of course getting caught, it's almost part of his style, but Munoz lacked the power to really trouble the Russian who was rarely blinking after Munoz tagged him.
Unfortunately for Munoz he was starting to struggle with the pace in the final round and seemed to be on the verge of being stopped though showed the toughness and heart to see out the round.
Although neither fighter was notably hurt, other than Munoz in the final round, the fight did at times resemble a very fun to watch though oddly one sided contest with Munoz looking like a prototype of Gradovich. Both men throw lots and enjoyed coming forward though Gradovich was busier, more accurate and more technically gifted with his shorts being straighter and his defense, whilst not great, was better than Munoz's.
With the first defense of his title under his belt Gradovich will likely be looking for his next challenger. With Vasyl Lomachenko having now signed with Top Rank a bout between Lomachenko and Gradovich almost certainly needs to be though about somewhere down the line.
For Munoz it's unlikely that we'll see him in another world title fight I'm afraid.
Facing former WBC Super Bantamweight title challenger Mauricio Javier Munoz (26-4, 12) of Argentina it's fair to say that Gradovich had a fighter who was very similar to himself. Both men throw the boxing textbook out of the window preferring instead to wage wars and have genuine fights. When you have 2 fighters in the ring together you very rarely have a disappointing contest.
The bout started at the sort of pace fans of both men would have expected as they both threw leather for fun and took it in turns to be the man coming forward. It seemed that either both men were made of granite or neither man could punch but this didn't prevent the round from being thoroughly enjoyable from the off.
Although Munoz entered as a sizable under-dog he refused to act like an under-dog and as the fight went on he started to force the action more and more. Unfortunately for the Argentinian the more he forced the action the more he walked into a storm of counters from Gradovich. Whilst this was a painful looking experience for the challenger it made for great entertainment for the fans.
Through the middle rounds it was obvious that Gradovich had more to his game than just the come forward all action style that he is known for and he was showing off the other dimensions to his game when needed. Of course it was more fun to watch the high octane stuff but it was still good to see that Gradovich did have a plan B in his locker if he needed it.
In round 9 Gradovich managed to raise the crowd as he moved up a gear just as it seemed that Munoz's resolve was starting to drain. Amazingly just as it looked like he was fading the Argentinian seemed to wake up and found energy from somewhere as he again began to press the action and force the fight with Gradovich resorting to using his legs just as much as his hands.
Going in to the final 3 rounds the Gradovich corner were confident that their man was clearly in the lead with trainer Robert Garcia effectively telling his man to make sure he didn't get caught by anything big. He was of course getting caught, it's almost part of his style, but Munoz lacked the power to really trouble the Russian who was rarely blinking after Munoz tagged him.
Unfortunately for Munoz he was starting to struggle with the pace in the final round and seemed to be on the verge of being stopped though showed the toughness and heart to see out the round.
Although neither fighter was notably hurt, other than Munoz in the final round, the fight did at times resemble a very fun to watch though oddly one sided contest with Munoz looking like a prototype of Gradovich. Both men throw lots and enjoyed coming forward though Gradovich was busier, more accurate and more technically gifted with his shorts being straighter and his defense, whilst not great, was better than Munoz's.
With the first defense of his title under his belt Gradovich will likely be looking for his next challenger. With Vasyl Lomachenko having now signed with Top Rank a bout between Lomachenko and Gradovich almost certainly needs to be though about somewhere down the line.
For Munoz it's unlikely that we'll see him in another world title fight I'm afraid.
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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