Russian "Hawk" Khabib Allakhverdiev (-) made the first defense of his WBA Light Welterweight as he traveled to Monaco and defeated Frenchman Souleymane M'baye (-), a former world champion himself.
The bout was a really slow starter with both men spending almost the entirety of the opening round standing off each other waiting for the other man to open up. The same occured at the start of the second round until Khabib took the initiative late on and actually dropped M'baye with almost the first really concentrated attack.
Unfortunately rather than building on the success of the second round Allakhverdiev seemed happy to stand off in the following rounds as both men again waited for the other to make the first move. This actually seemed to favour M'baye who, despite being 38, still possess very good hand speed and he was able to land single eye catching shots on Allakhverdiev.
It wasn't until the the end of round 5 that the Russian really seemed to pick up the pace again, when he did he looked a level above the Frenchman who was forced to take shots on the ropes as the crowd finally came to life. It appeared that Allakhverdiev had an extra gear he go in to at any time time, though unfortunately he kept stalling after showing flashes of exciting action.
Allakhverdiev scored his second knockdown in round 8 as he again went on the offensive and sustained an attack. It appeared the end was nigh for M'baye but after getting back to his feet the Frenchman really took it to champion and let loose with a fantastic flurry. Unfortunately for M'baye he lacked the power needed to ever really hurt the Russian who is genuinely a guy.
Having seen M'baye fight back well from the knock down the Russian "Hawk" was in no mood to let the Frenchman establish himself in the bout and instead went on the hurt hurting the challenger in round 10 before launching a serious attack in round 11 that finally forced the referee to step in.
With this victory Allakhverdiev has further enhanced his reputation as a top Light Welterweight. The performance wasn't great but he did become the first man to genuinely stop M'baye (who's previous stoppage loss came due to a leg injury).
Personally I'd like that to be the end of M'baye and I'd then like to see Allakhverdiev facing a fellow top fighter, maybe someone like Zab Judah, next time out.
Showing posts with label WBA Light Welterweight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WBA Light Welterweight. Show all posts
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Danny Garcia v Zab Judah
WBA "super" and WBC Light Welterweight champion Danny Garcia (26-0, 16) and challenger Zab Judah (42-8-0-2, 29) may have entered the ring with a genuine dislike of each other though at the end of their excellent bout they certainly seemed to have a new found respect for each other.
The bad mouthing, specifically by Garcia's dad Angel Garcia may have crossed the line of "decency" several times but that didn't prevent the fighters from showing their class in the ring as the two men put on an unexpectedly solid fight.
The bout started slowly with Garcia looking to land his dangerous right hand on to Judah who attempted to score with his fast jab. The opening round was certainly hard to split though it was due to neither man managing to establish themselves as the boss. As the fight wore on though Garcia seemed to grow in to things quickly and after rocking Judah hard in round 5 he managed to dominate the challenger in round 6 as the champion looked to be on the verge of forcing a stoppage.
Oddly Judah, a known "fast starter" really first came alive in round 7 as he used his speed and skills to thoroughly dominate the champion in his first clear round. It appeared that the notorious fast starter was starting fast for the second half of the fight, sadly however for the challenger his momentum was swiftly ended in round 8 as Garcia dropped him on to his pants.
Garcia, who appeared to be comfortably up going in to round 9, helped in part to the knockdown then claimed the 9th before an enthralling fight back by Judah saw him taking the final 3 rounds whilst detonating some really eye catching left hooks that appeared to hurt the champion. Sadly for Judah however it was too little too late and Garcia had bagged enough of the early rounds to retain his title.
For Garcia this was an expected title defense though few could have expected the difficulties that he had. The most shocking thing about the bout however was the heart that Judah showed in refusing to fold at any point in the bout, in fact his ability to fight back and to fight back hard was nothing short of excellent from a man who has often been questioned regarding his intestinal fortitude.
The bad mouthing, specifically by Garcia's dad Angel Garcia may have crossed the line of "decency" several times but that didn't prevent the fighters from showing their class in the ring as the two men put on an unexpectedly solid fight.
The bout started slowly with Garcia looking to land his dangerous right hand on to Judah who attempted to score with his fast jab. The opening round was certainly hard to split though it was due to neither man managing to establish themselves as the boss. As the fight wore on though Garcia seemed to grow in to things quickly and after rocking Judah hard in round 5 he managed to dominate the challenger in round 6 as the champion looked to be on the verge of forcing a stoppage.
Oddly Judah, a known "fast starter" really first came alive in round 7 as he used his speed and skills to thoroughly dominate the champion in his first clear round. It appeared that the notorious fast starter was starting fast for the second half of the fight, sadly however for the challenger his momentum was swiftly ended in round 8 as Garcia dropped him on to his pants.
Garcia, who appeared to be comfortably up going in to round 9, helped in part to the knockdown then claimed the 9th before an enthralling fight back by Judah saw him taking the final 3 rounds whilst detonating some really eye catching left hooks that appeared to hurt the champion. Sadly for Judah however it was too little too late and Garcia had bagged enough of the early rounds to retain his title.
For Garcia this was an expected title defense though few could have expected the difficulties that he had. The most shocking thing about the bout however was the heart that Judah showed in refusing to fold at any point in the bout, in fact his ability to fight back and to fight back hard was nothing short of excellent from a man who has often been questioned regarding his intestinal fortitude.
Friday, 30 November 2012
Khabib Allakhverdiev v Joan Guzman
Unbeaten Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev (18-0, 8) impressively claimed the WBA Light Welterweight title as he inflicted the first loss on to Domican Joan Guzman (33-1-1-1, 20) thanks to an 8th round technical decision in a bout marred by a number of blown calls by referee Luis Pabon.
The fight started well with a very fun opening round that saw Guzman sent to the canvas in what was ruled a slip though clearly came from a punch as Pabon made his first botched call of the night. Other than the "knockdown" the round was thoroughly fun to watch as both men went at each other. Thankfully the following round continued in a similar manner with both men tagging each other with solid shots.
Allakhverdiev proved to have the power to hurt Guzman again in the third round as he sent the Dominican down, this time with the shot being counted by the referee as the Russian claimed a 10-8 round. Guzman fought back well the following round and used his feet to stay out of danger for most of the round before both men tried tearing lumps off each other in the final 30 seconds. Sadly for Guzman his momentum was ended quickly with the Domican again knocked down, as Pabon botched yet another call in favour of the Dominican. Although Pabon missed the clear knockdown, he couldn't help Guzman's face, which ended up getting tagged with a shot that appeared to really mess up Guzman's nose.
After 5 rounds it was looking like a bout that was going to go Allakhverdiev's way, though Guzman then decided to use his brain and instead of going toe-to-toe with the Russian he instead decided to box and move. When Guzman was moving he was making Allakhverdiev look slow and plodding and this allowed Guzman to claim both the 6th and 7th round very easily. It was now that I was asking myself why had Guzman not started the fight like this, though though the answer was obvious, he's 36 and he can't do that for 12 rounds.
Controversy again reared it's ugly head in round 8 as Guzman, still boxing on his toes fell over, twisting his knee in the process. After a time out, the referee allowed Guzman to go on and Allakhverdiev went straight after his man who was now a stationary target. It didn't take long for Allakhverdiev to have Guzman in real trouble and then Guzman went down again, this time a clear push as Allakhverdiev went in for the kill. This time Guzman was unable to continue forcing the referee to end the bout with some viewers (especially those watching on TV) assuming that Guzman was wanting out of the fight considering the energy he had been using by boxing on his toes.
Surprisingly despite arguably scoring 3 knockdowns, and only losing 3 of the 8 rounds Allakhverdiev only managed to scrape a close split decision over Guzman with all 3 cards reading 76-75 (2 in favour of the Russian). A series of cards that were as mystifying as the performance of Pabon, who not only missed the knockdowns but also warned Allakhverdiev about anything and everything, splitting the fighters when it favoured Guzman and really started to get in Allakhverdiev's head. Sorry Luis but it's time to walk away after this dreadful performance.
The fight started well with a very fun opening round that saw Guzman sent to the canvas in what was ruled a slip though clearly came from a punch as Pabon made his first botched call of the night. Other than the "knockdown" the round was thoroughly fun to watch as both men went at each other. Thankfully the following round continued in a similar manner with both men tagging each other with solid shots.
Allakhverdiev proved to have the power to hurt Guzman again in the third round as he sent the Dominican down, this time with the shot being counted by the referee as the Russian claimed a 10-8 round. Guzman fought back well the following round and used his feet to stay out of danger for most of the round before both men tried tearing lumps off each other in the final 30 seconds. Sadly for Guzman his momentum was ended quickly with the Domican again knocked down, as Pabon botched yet another call in favour of the Dominican. Although Pabon missed the clear knockdown, he couldn't help Guzman's face, which ended up getting tagged with a shot that appeared to really mess up Guzman's nose.
After 5 rounds it was looking like a bout that was going to go Allakhverdiev's way, though Guzman then decided to use his brain and instead of going toe-to-toe with the Russian he instead decided to box and move. When Guzman was moving he was making Allakhverdiev look slow and plodding and this allowed Guzman to claim both the 6th and 7th round very easily. It was now that I was asking myself why had Guzman not started the fight like this, though though the answer was obvious, he's 36 and he can't do that for 12 rounds.
Controversy again reared it's ugly head in round 8 as Guzman, still boxing on his toes fell over, twisting his knee in the process. After a time out, the referee allowed Guzman to go on and Allakhverdiev went straight after his man who was now a stationary target. It didn't take long for Allakhverdiev to have Guzman in real trouble and then Guzman went down again, this time a clear push as Allakhverdiev went in for the kill. This time Guzman was unable to continue forcing the referee to end the bout with some viewers (especially those watching on TV) assuming that Guzman was wanting out of the fight considering the energy he had been using by boxing on his toes.
Surprisingly despite arguably scoring 3 knockdowns, and only losing 3 of the 8 rounds Allakhverdiev only managed to scrape a close split decision over Guzman with all 3 cards reading 76-75 (2 in favour of the Russian). A series of cards that were as mystifying as the performance of Pabon, who not only missed the knockdowns but also warned Allakhverdiev about anything and everything, splitting the fighters when it favoured Guzman and really started to get in Allakhverdiev's head. Sorry Luis but it's time to walk away after this dreadful performance.
Saturday, 20 October 2012
Danny Garcia v Erik Morales II
As a boxing fan some things are really upsetting, and watching an icon nearly have his head knocked off his shoulders is up there with the worst. Sadly for Erik Morales (?-?) I think we saw the final death knell in an hall of fame career tonight as Danny "Swift" Garcia (?-?) almost certainly ended Morales' career.
The early rounds of the bout saw a mature Garcia showing Morales little respect. The WBA "super" and WBC Light Welterweight champion seemed to no longer respect Morales as he had done when the two men first met earlier this year. Instead Garcia seemed to realise he was now a world champion.
Garcia had won the opening 2 rounds but in round 3 really made a statement as he seriously hurt Morales just before the bell. A dazed Morales headed to Garcia's corner before being guided, by his team to his own corner and from then on the writing was on the wall.
It didn't take long for Garcia to take advantage of a dazed Morales and midway through the fourth round Morales was almost sent out of the ring by a wonderful Garcia counter that saw Morales down and forced the referee to wave the bout off.
Whilst Morales isn't the fighter he once was, and in fact is a washed up fighter (despite his Ring magazine rating of #6 going into the bout) this was still a sorry and upsetting sight. Thankfully for Garcia it's job done and hopefully he'll face Lucas Matthysse next year in a fight to truly decide the #1 guy at Light Welterweight. Whilst Garcia may well be the WBC and WBA "super" champion at 140lbs, few will accept him as the stand out guy unless he can defeat Matthysse, and that appears to be the bout that the fans are calling for.
The early rounds of the bout saw a mature Garcia showing Morales little respect. The WBA "super" and WBC Light Welterweight champion seemed to no longer respect Morales as he had done when the two men first met earlier this year. Instead Garcia seemed to realise he was now a world champion.
Garcia had won the opening 2 rounds but in round 3 really made a statement as he seriously hurt Morales just before the bell. A dazed Morales headed to Garcia's corner before being guided, by his team to his own corner and from then on the writing was on the wall.
It didn't take long for Garcia to take advantage of a dazed Morales and midway through the fourth round Morales was almost sent out of the ring by a wonderful Garcia counter that saw Morales down and forced the referee to wave the bout off.
Whilst Morales isn't the fighter he once was, and in fact is a washed up fighter (despite his Ring magazine rating of #6 going into the bout) this was still a sorry and upsetting sight. Thankfully for Garcia it's job done and hopefully he'll face Lucas Matthysse next year in a fight to truly decide the #1 guy at Light Welterweight. Whilst Garcia may well be the WBC and WBA "super" champion at 140lbs, few will accept him as the stand out guy unless he can defeat Matthysse, and that appears to be the bout that the fans are calling for.
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