Photo: Riyadh Season – Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) entered the ring with a place already locked in the boxing hall of fame, but emerged with the status of legend, undisputed champion and first man to defeat Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs), last Saturday.
In international boxing, the story of the week, probably of the year, or even of the last few years, belongs to Oleksandr Usyk. Not just a story, “HISTORY” was before our eyes this Saturday.
It’s incredible though. Many saw Usyk ‘out-boxing’ Fury, but who saw him shaking him as solidly as in the 9th round? Even though, for judge Mike Fitzgerald, it was Fury’s half-fall to the mat that made the difference.
Regardless, according to the vast majority of the public, excluding the ‘Gypsy King’, Usyk was the “right” winner. Plus, his clear victory was competitive enough that everyone was already sold on a rematch.
Until then, it’s hard not to place Usyk at 1st in the pound-for-pound rankings. The most ardent debate enthusiasts could throw out the names of ‘Bud’ Crawford and the ‘Monster’ Inoue, but on one point, there is no longer any room for debate.
Oleksandr Usyk is a legend among the greats.
Credit to Briedis
In the semi-final, we were sold Jai Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) as ‘the next big thing’. Light heavyweight champion, future heavyweight champion and in the meantime, possible rival worthy of the name for the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol.
All his statements are undoubtedly still true. Opeteia again defeated Mairis Briedis (28-3, 20 KOs), 22 months later, via a decision just as unanimous and competitive as the first time.
It was the end of the fight that was the most interesting. Despite a broken nose, and almost 2 years of inactivity, the 39-year-old Latvian ignited like a phoenix, to – at times – land Opeitia in hot water.
We must credit the Australian for his victory. He earned the IBF title again. If it was more complicated than expected, we should also give flowers to Briedis. The ex-monarch still flirted with the crème de la crème (of the cream) for a 3rd time.
Remember, in 2018, he only lose to Usyk by a round.
As huge as an ‘L’ can be.
Déjà vu in Riyadh
Last December, Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs) surprised the entire boxing world by stopping Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs) in 4 rounds. Despite everything, he was neglected again on his return to Saudi Arabia…
The upset-man had not said his last word.
This time the German took on the Cuban ‘Flash’, Frank Sanchez (24-1, 17 KOs) in a 7 round destruction. Kabayel thus becomes a mandatory contender for the heavyweight title. Sanchez, for his part, finds himself with a knee as questionable as the 31 years displayed on the legal papers he obtained upon his arrival from Cuba. The rest will be interesting.
The end of an era
Since Laurent Poulin already spoke yesterday about the event of the young leader Moses Itauma. All we had to do was talk about the sad story of the undercard.
It appears to be the end for ‘Krusher’ Kovalev.
Some weren’t so sad, notably Lou DiBella, based on Kovalev being a bad person. On the other hand, in terms of boxing only, that was nothing short of sad.
At one time, Kovalev was a terrifying puncher with a legendary jab who, on paper, was one round away from defeating Andre Ward to become pound-for-pound #1. Several humble observers had the ‘Krusher’ winning…
Either way, those days are over. Without taking anything away from Robin Sirwan Safar (17-0, 12 KOs), the Russian no longer seemed to be a shadow of himself by losing by unanimous decision. ‘Father time is undefeated’, as the English say.
Double upset in San Diego
While everyone was still talking about Riyadh, ESPN had a delicious late night card.
And that concludes a big day for Ukrainian boxing…
Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) surprised Mexican Emanuel Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) to win the vacant WBO lightweight title by split decision.
In the semi-final, Giovani Santillan (32-1, 17 KOs) was surprised in front of his family by being knocked out. in the 10th round by Brian Norman Jr (26-0, 20 KOs). The 23-year-old American therefore gets his hands on the WBO interim 147 lb title.
The word ‘interim’ could soon disappear knowing that Terence Crawford will most likely never be a welterweight again.
Update of the best records
With the setback for Santillan (32-1), this is the 4th time in less than a month that a boxer with a perfect record in 30 fights or more has seen his record tarnished. Before him, Munguia (43-1), Bazinyan (32-0-1) and Haney (31-1) suffered the same fate.
If you’re interested, only six active boxers are consistently perfect in 30 or more fights.
This is Terence Crawford (40-0), Abel Mendoza (40-0), Jermall Charlo (33-0), Jaron Ennis (31-0), Arnold Barboza Jr (30-0) and William Zepeda (30-0).
Canelo-Scull: belt or fortune?
Speaking of undefeated boxers, the IBF opened the week with a bang by calling a fight between Canelo Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) and William Scull (22-0, 9 KOs). ).
It’s really nice to see that a federation is ‘putting its pants on’, to quote Anthony Marcotte, in front of Canelo.
But let’s be honest, it’s not exactly what we expected.
But, in less than 28 days, we will know one thing. Does Canelo cares more about his IBF title and undisputed champion status than his guaranteed $35M per fight? Because, really, he will never get that to face the Cuban.
The PG Agenda
To watch this week, internationally:
Taylor vs. Catterall
Highly anticipated rematch fight on Saturday in England between Josh Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) and Jack Catterall (28-1, 13 KOs), defeated via a controversial decision in October 2022. Since then, Catterall won his 2 fights and Taylor lost to Teofimo Lopez. The outcome seems simple for the winner: trilogy or world championship.
Rozanski vs Okalie
After more than 13 months of absence, the Pole Lukasz Rozanski (15-0, 14 KOs) returns Friday to defend his unloved WBC bridgerweight (225 lb) world title against the former cruiserweight titleholder Lawrence Okalie. This title will make us forever nostalgic for Oscar Rivas and honestly, that’s probably what we’re talking about.
The return of Batyr
Another boxer to make his debut in 2024: ex-tiger Batyr Jukembayev (22-1, 16 KOs). The latter will face the eternal Ukrainian gatekeeper Ivan Redkach, starting Wednesday, in Florida, on ProboxTV.
Spotlight on Shawi
Although geographically local, there will be international caliber fights in Mauricie this Saturday. The two main ones will pit Christian Mbilli (26-0, 22 KOs) against Mark Heffron (30-3-1, 24 KOs) and Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs) to Miljan Rovcanin (27-3, 18 KOs).
Watch for these two tigers, both affiliated with Top Rank. As far as we can trust Mike Coppinger, we may be one victory away from seeing ESPN in Quebec City again.
To be continued this Saturday, live on Punchinggrace.com from 7 p.m.
