A clash of southpaws tomorrow night in New York pairs local men Jaffa Ballogou and Daniel Judah over 12 rounds.
Ballogou, you will remember, is the African who belted our own Dean Francis in 10 rounds all the way back in 1995 in Ipswich. He moved to New York shortly afterwards and has failed to hit the big time but the 40-year-old light-heavyweight is still a useful fighter - anyone who stops Francis has to be useful.
Judah is the elder brother of brash Brooklyn southpaw Zab and probably best known for a draw he got with canny old Glen Johnson in 2003 when Johnson - not for the first time, not for the last - was clearly robbed of a win. Judah lacks the ability of Zab, and probably of Ballogou, although he is nine years younger than Ballogou and might have the energy to come on strong for the points.
In a clash of punchers on the Cunningham-Adamek bill in Newark on December 11, Ghana's Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko finally defends his IBF bantamweight title against Nicaraguan southpaw William Gonzalez. These two have been scheduled to meet FOUR times in the 15 months since Agbeko won the title. Blame the champ's shock-haired promoter (to hide the horns), Don King, who doesn't care about anyone under 17 stone.
Anyway, the New York-based Agbeko has stopped 22 of his 25 victims (one loss) and the rangy Gonzalez, 19 of his 21 (two defeats).
Bombs away.
"Dazzling" Darren Barker defends his Commonwealth middleweight title against Northern Ireland's Jason "Cool Hand" McKay at Brentwood Leisure centre on December 13.
The unbeaten Barker, 18-0 (11), outscored decent Canadian southpaw Larry Sharpe over 10 rounds in his last fight in August and is a sharp box-fighter who picked up the Commonwealth belt with a one-sided decision over previously unbeaten Aussie Ben Crampton last year and retained with a solid seven-round stoppage early this year of Coventry southpaw Steve Bendall, who went on to derail the Liverpool express that is Paul Smith. Then came the Sharpe win, on Sharpe's own turf in Alberta, Canada. It was Darren's North American debut and at 26 the Londoner looks on the cusp of big things.
McKay is a solid fighter, too, with nine wins in his last 10 appearances, a record of 20-2 (6) altogether. Only Paul Buchanan and Andy Lee have beaten the Banbridge man and McKay looked desperately unlucky to lose his unbeaten record to Geordie Buchanan on a six-round decision in November 2004 in Hereford. Plus, he found southpaw Lee, a big, much-touted fellow Irishman trained by Emanuel Steward, horribly easy to hit last year in Dublin before retiring at the end of the sixth round after going down twice.
McKay is a handful - aggressive, strong, willing and proud. The Lee defeat actually raised his stock, given all Lee's promise. "Winning isn't everything," McKay likes to quote, "but wanting to win is."
Barker, however, is the man most likely to do the winning.
American sharpshooter Kendall Holt and Colombian puncher Ricardo Torres battle it out for the third time in just over a year on December 13 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
At stake is the WBO light-welterweight title.
The two bitter rivals first clashed in Barranquilla, Colombia, in September 2007 when Holt was stopped in the 11th round - on his feet and circling the ring - after suffering a knockdown. It looked like a real case of hometown refereeing, especially as Holt was ahead on two of the scorecards, but the referee was American Genaro Rodriguez and the rematch in Las Vegas earlier this year proved just as controversial when Holt - down again - knocked Torres 'cold' with an accidental headbutt as the Colombian moved in for the kill. Holt was down twice, in fact, before the freakish, 61-second finish.
Yes, it all lasted 61 seconds.
Torres is a quick, prodigious puncher but Holt looks to have the fundamental survival skills, and the boxing skills, to trouble him every night of the week. Even those two knockdowns in the rematch saw Holt bounce up, ready to rally.
Hopefully this one will finally decide things.
The lights are dimming for chubby, brooding, 40-year-old James Toney as he squares up to Tony Thompson in a 'crossroads' clash of American heavyweights over 12 rounds in California on December 13.
Toney struggled to outscore New York clubfighter Danny Batchelder on a split decision two fights ago and then his contest with old rival Hasim Rahman turned into a no-contest when Rahman picked up an early cut from a clash of heads and was ruled out by the doctor. Toney was winning, at least.
He will find it much tougher against Thompson, a 6ft 5ins southpaw from Washington D.C. who went 11 rounds with Wladimir Klitschko in his last outing in July in a world title crack (he was never really in it) and has some decent recent wins over Luan Krasniqi, Timor Ibragimov and Dominck Guinn.
Thompson is hardly the second coming of Nino Valdes but he is big, strong, durable and capable - and much the fresher man of the two - and his winging left-handers should be enough to force Toney into his shell, and a rather disappointing decision.
Dominican bad boy Joan Guzman takes on Panamanian puncher Ameth Diaz in a good lightweight 12-rounder in the Dominican Republic on December 20.
Guzman makes his way home following the stigma of his aborted showdown with Florida's Nate Campbell last September in America. Guzman pulled out four hours before the fight, claiming he felt unwell. The fighter known as "Lil' Tyson" certainly acted like the boorish former heavyweight champ (in fairness to Tyson he usually turned up on the night) and was three-and-a-half pounds over at the weigh-in for Campbell, a triple belt world champion, who then graciously agreed to meet him in a non-title affair, only to be let down a second time.
The unbeaten Guzman can fight - but does he want to fight? This is a man who held WBO titles at super-bantamweight and super-featherweight - there is no way in the world he should fail to make lightweight.
Anyway, enough. The 32-year-old Guzman has a chance to put it all behind him against Diaz, who can whack but doesn't hold a shot so well and was stopped in four rounds by lanky Frenchman Souleymane MBaye up at light-welterweight last year. We know all about MBaye, who is, of course, fairly uninspiring and certainly not a huge puncher.
Diaz looks like one of those fighters who wins OR loses by knockout, and the slick, iron-jawed Guzman, on home turf (if he turns up), looks likely to force an exciting stoppage.
Former IBF light-middleweight champion Roman "Made in Hell" Karmazin looks to get back on track against American veteran Bronco McKart in a 12-rounder in California later this month (December 20).
Karmazin must have been through Hell in recent months in the wake of a disastrous and wholly unexpected defeat to Alex Bunema at Madison Square Garden at the start of the year. The usually dangerous, body-punching Russian copped one on the chin from the strong African in the 10th round, and that was basically that. Karmazin had appeared a bit shaky throughout, although he was ahead on points at the stoppage.
Trained by Freddie Roach out of Los Angeles, Karmazin is now 35 and faces a tough road back. He had dropped his IBF belt to St Louis southpaw Cory Spinks on a majority decision in 2006, then took apart two decent opponents last year prior to the decent Bunema, a durable, rugged type and nothing really more. Karmazin made him look like a million dollars.
At his best Karmazin has quick hands and really digs in those body punches - his punches are sharp. He is big for a light-middleweight yet he came in surprisingly light for Bunema. You wonder if he panicked in the final days leading up to the fight? Either way, this is one of those 'must win' fights for Karmazin.
To his opponent, the tall McKart who probably has weightmaking issues of his own, although "Superman" is one of those lean types and he certainly knows his way round a boxing ring at 37 and 51-8-1 (31). McKart comes off a decent draw with Raul Marquez (originally announced as a win for Marquez) and - get this - holds a win over that man Bunema, on a split decision after 12 hard rounds way back in 2001. He beat the man who beat the man.
McKart is tough, experienced and canny, with pretty good reflexes for a man of 60 fights, a southpaw, but he lacks pop in his punches and Karmazin does not.
Unless Roman is slipping fast, one can expect him to force a hard-earned decision.
A few Xmas crackers...
Re: A few Xmas crackers...
Karmarzin v McKart and Cunningham v Adamek has my attention.