Jackson Asiku lands big name opponent!

[Autobarn]

the former commonwealth featherweight champ, jackson asiku will take on jhonny gonzalez on september 15 in vegas as some kind of mexican independence day event. asiku's IBO title might be on the line in this featherweight contest.

jackson has not been active at a great level. but this guy is an effing killer.

gonzalez was a good bantam champ, failed 3 times for super bantamweight titles, but has looked sharp and strong up at featherweight.

jacskon has been fighting in audtralia between featherweight and super feather. he looked exceptionally strong stopping gairy st clair and heriberto ruiz.

i think jackson wins this via late stoppage. i've been waiting for something like this to happen.

[Counter-puncher]

i think jackson wins this via late stoppage. i've been waiting for something like this to happen.

ditto.

[Deno1986]

I tend to side with Gonzalez in this. He has kept really active since his defeat to Nishioka and looks a lot sharper since moving up to Featherweight, I think he is at the right weight now. Asiku is a decent fighter but he has never been in with anyone close to Gonzalez' ability and power. I think Gonzalez will wear Asiku down and stop him between 8-10. Should be a good scrap though.

[bennie]

Uganda’s Jackson Asiku gets a break - or is it otherwise - when faces Mexico’s Jhonny Gonzalez in a clash of real dangermen next month in Las Vegas.
Asiku has a habit of scaring off the best featherweight opposition, as we know from his appearances here, but Gonzalez ducks no man and dropped Japan’s Toshiaki Nishioka in a thrilling WBC title encounter at super-bantamweight last year, before the flamboyant southpaw champion, who defends against Rendall Munroe in October, roared back and took him out in round three. Gonzalez moved up to featherweight where he has won five on the spin, all quickly. He floored Atlanta’s Antonio Davis four times earlier this year in Mexico to force a second-round stoppage. At 45-7 (39) his knockout record speaks for itself, particularly in the early rounds.
Asiku also whacks and looks to have the better chin but he is based in Australia where the competition is thin, and Gonzalez fights much the stiffer opposition. Yes, Asiku looked sensational in hammering both Marc Callaghan and Jamie McKeever in the first round in this country but has fought only six times since McKeever in 2006 (all wins), while Gonzalez has fought 17 times in the same period (14 wins).
This is a big ask of Asiku, whose best win is probably a nine-round stoppage of Gairy St Clair last year, previously outclassed by Amir Khan. Nevertheless, Asiku is fresh and has never been stopped and one can envisage him taking Gonzalez the full distance, and even rattling him a few times, before conceding a thrilling decision.

[Smokin Preedy]

Asiku will finish it within 6

[BigEars]

Gonzalez only failed to win a title at Super-Bantamweight twice.

This is a real tough fight for both men, Gonzalez is an exceptional fighter, extremely skilled and carries a big punch.....but he's very fragile.
Asiku on the otherhand is well rounded but not as skilled as Gonzalez and is heavy handed himself. He's much more durable and he seems to have very good stamina, but hasn't made it to the Championship rounds in a long time to prove it.

It's a pick em fight but I'm gonna edge with Jhonny, just too skilled and too quick imo. But there's every chance Jackson can score a stoppage.
Should be a great fight.

[Autobarn]

thanks for correcting me. penalosa beat him at bantam, didn't he. perhaps i made the error because it was hard to see a man of jhonny's size going back down to 118. i reckon he's at his best weight, and he looked superlative hammering antonio davis.

i still go with asiku. he'll take gonzalez's body. asiku's competition is thin, only because no one gets him the opportunities. i doubt he'll waste this one. i'm glad his IBO title has got him somewhere.

if he wins, i think it'll be even harder to get opponents. but maybe he'll start making the HBO shortlists for opponents that the top fighters have to take on. i'm going with the sturdier, and perhaps hungrier, asiku to beat a still classy gonzalez.

woe betide jhonny if he underestimates jacson!

[BigEars]

Correct he moved up to Super-Bantamweight after beating Montiel and fought that tremendous war with Israel Vasquez.
He was dominating Vasquez and had Israel down twice until Vasquez turned it around and floored Jhonny just when it looked like he was about to be stopped. Vasquez then floored him again and Jhonny's corner stopped the bout as he was getting destroyed.

He went back down to Bantamweight, beat Pacheco and then fought Penalosa. he was doinating Penalosa aswell and I was getting the feeling Jhonny was about to become the first man to stop the Filipino, but then Gerry landed that body shot and it was all over.
He moved back up to 122, beat some journeyman and two fringe contenders and got the shot against Nishioka, and once again we all know what happened there. Jhonny started well and floored him, Nishioka came back into it,in a close 2nd round and then he sparked Jhonny in the 3rd. The amazing thing is Gonzalez somehow got up, but was in no position to continue.

Now at featherweight he's stopped quite a few gatekeepers and early, and that pretty much brings us up to date.
I'm a massive fan of Gonzalez, so I really hope he can pull out a victory here. But I wouldn't begrudge Asiku if he were victorious, he really is one of those 'too good for his own good' fighters.

[Autobarn]

bloody hell, i can tell you're a gonzalez fan. yeah, i've seen most of those fights at 118 and 122 but i am getting some of the facts mixed up (i.e. weights). me being a vazquez fight, i was getting very anxious for vazquez to pull the trigger on their battle which stole the show from barrera and guzman-barrios. i've only seen him fight once at 126, and i was really surprised how strong, powerful and purposeful he looked, vs antonio davis.

i think it's a good job he never went for the israel vazquez rematch. maybe he's only still in the game a) because he was blown out so suddenly by penalosa and nishioka, as opposed to taking another drawn out, painful beatdown by vazquez. and b) finding a new weight.

[palooka]

I've never seen Asiku box but have read about him in Boxing News; he can punch as hard as anyone in the world apparently. Best of luck to him; I've seen Gonzales box and he is a real handful and very tough and skilled. It should be a top class bout and deserves to be on TV (we deserve to watch it on TV)

[Autobarn]

jacskon is a block of concrete and i think gonzalez will still be vulnerable even though he's looked better as a featherweight. jacskon will have some big misses but i think he ends up grinding the mexican down.

[Sweet P]

Asiku is an absolute Machine. I watched him live last year fighting against Gairy StClair. Gary is a slick boxer who went the distance with deigo Corrales and other champions. Asiku just overpowered and Stopped StClair late. He is a real force at 126 and being in the same camp as Chris John really helps him prepare for fights like this.

[Counter-puncher]

Asiku is an absolute Machine. I watched him live last year fighting against Gairy StClair. Gary is a slick boxer who went the distance with deigo Corrales and other champions. Asiku just overpowered and Stopped StClair late. He is a real force at 126 and being in the same camp as Chris John really helps him prepare for fights like this.

aye- this was a rematch of their fight way back when, Jackson stepped in to fight Gairy when he only had about 9 pro fights to Gairy's lots, they drew first time out in an excellent 8 rounder.

[Autobarn]

it was a very close, exciting fight, the first one. could have gone either way. it was actually scored awin for st clair, not a draw. i remember having asiku slightly ahead. he was clearly a good prospect back then. shame he's ever been a ticket seller.

[Counter-puncher]

i could have sworn it was a draw, Asiku fought brilliantly against both nedal Hussein and St Clair who both had about 20 more pro fights than he did at the time.

[Autobarn]

that was another really good fight, hussein.

i think asiku could have done with taking the plunge and signing with someone like don king. obviously easier said than done. king does get guys title shots, i.e. agbeko for instance. better to fight once a year for world titles (and i'm sure, like agbeko, asiku could have delivered) titles than fight irregularly in anything ranging from 4 round bottom of the bill rubbish to IBO fringe title fights.

[Autobarn]

is gonzalez looking past this fight?

seems he's eyeing up a shot at WBC champ rojas, http://www.BS.com/?m=show&id=30350

and his manager is whining that they weren't given an elim for rojas, http://www.BS.com/?m=show&id=30387

could he be making a mistake, maybe thinking he's fighting a knockover job, and will he get a shock?