Różański better than Izu Ugonoh but KOs him in a controversial fashion, LHW prospect gets robbed

[TempleSlave]

Łukasz Różański wins by KO 4 over Izuagbe Ugonoh in Polish Heavyweight Title fight.

In round 1 Różański's attacks looked dangerous, quick and explosive, he dominated round 2 even more, Izu barely threw any punched, he looked frustrated. in Round 3 Izu looked hopeless, he got hurt early in the round but then he landed a decent uppercut, late in the round he was down imo without a punch but he was counted, he was down again, imo after a punch but this time he wasn't counted. Różański started strong in Round 4, he is throwing 2 jabs then a combination of hooks, while Izu looks terrible, he has no body and foot movement and he barely throws any punches. Late in the round Izu got caught in the corner, and Izu knelt and then a controversial situation happened - Różański punched Izu when he was kneeling, the referee counted to 10, Różański won in round 4 in a controversial fashion, but he was better and won every round, Izu looked terrible.

It was a Polish version of Joshua vs Ruiz.

My scorecard until the KO: 30-26 Różański

As much as I like Izu for being a cool, down to earth and smart guy, he did look like a total has-been. Either he didn’t prepare properly or he thought it would be an easy one for him and he’d win by superior skill set. Turned out he was lacking any basic toughness and punch resistance. Różański roughed him up with ease. Izu looked SOFT.

[TempleSlave]

World class LHW prospect Paweł Stępień Drew with Marek Matyja in Polish International LHW Title bout. The official scorecards were a joke imo.

In the first round Matyja looked stiff while Stępień looking confident and cocky since begining. Round 2 was closer, both were working with their jab, ocasionally throwing some right hooks and overhands. Round 3 was clearly a Stępień round, he landed some clean and powerful punches and good combinations. Round 4 was close again, so was the Round 5. I think that Stępień edged all of them, but rounds 2, 4 and 5 were close, Stępień was landing better, cleaner and stronger punches. In round 6, Matyja's pressure finally was effective, he landed 2 good left hooks and he finally clearly won a round. Good counters and left-right combinations and fantastic movement, Stępień wins round 7. Matyja should use his left hand more. Round 8 was less explosive and closer, but again, imo Stępień edged it with his dominance in the last minute. Stępień clearly won Round 9, though Matyja caught him once on the ropes, in the last 10 seconds Stępień landed a powerful left hand that hurt Matyja. In Round 10, Matyja tried until the last bell, it was close, i'll give it to Matyja. It was visually closer than on the scorecards i guess but Stępień clearly won. He's talented.

Stępień isn't a typical Central/East Euro fighter, in defence he relies on his body movement, footwork and dodges rather than on the guard, he has his left hand down, he clearly has some motorical talent, he looks very natural in the ring, he's not conceptional, schematical in the ring. Matyja is a typical Euro fighter, high guard and straight punches, frontal position. He was too schematical and one-dimensional.

Official Scorecards: 96-94 Stępień, 97-93 Matyja, 95-95 Draw
My scorecard: 98-92 Stępień

Yes, Stępień definitely got robbed there but IMO he only has himself to blame, to a degree. He did show superior skills but on the other hand he fought ‘smartass’. Was trying hard to be ‘uber technical’ a kind of a ‘Polish Loma’ with all the trick and fancy footwork, whilst abandoning basics: stiff, frequent jab, punch volume, actually trying to win rounds decisively, hurt the opponent. I didn’t see any of these. And guess what, too many close rounds, no domination, not enough shots connected, no KDs = dodgy verdict.

[dagilechia]

He was landing more anyway, and stronger punches, almost all of Matyja punches were missed, i guess he landed like 15% only. Stępień landed more, landed stronger, was better in defence, better in everything, he controlled the fight, 97-93 was absolutely the least he deserved, i had 98-92, 99-91 would be more reasonable than 95-95, let alone 93-97...

[dagilechia]

Rounds were close but clearly for Stepien, it was like Usyk vs Briedis, Usyk won most of his rounds by a small margin but without a doubt.

[dagilechia]

Poland doesn't have much world class prospects yet one of them got screwed by judges in his own country, what a joke, that makes no sense, do they really think that the rematch will be profitable enough to stop his career?

[Gnome]

Izu really didn't want to know last night. He got completely bossed, he was breathing out his hole and didn't have any answers for an opponent who wanted to brawl rather than box. Unless there were extenuating circumstances, he's done.

[dagilechia]

The only way for Izu to be back in the game is to become prospects food and try to get an upset win. But i doubt he's capable of that.

[dagilechia]

i would like to see Różański vs Dave Allen

[jamamb]

what is rozanksi boxing background, id never heard of him before this fight was announced

[dagilechia]

what is rozanksi boxing background, id never heard of him before this fight was announced

he started boxing at 17, he fought at Polish youth championship in super heavyweight final vs Krzysztof Głowacki, KG stopped him, next year he fought Głowacki again, this time at heavyweight semi-final, this time Głowacki won on points. He won Polish youth cup in 2004.

in amateur senior boxing he won the Kraków Golden Glove, He had good punching power, he was winning a lot of fights by KO.

Years ago he was training in Warsaw with Fiodor Łapin and wanted to turn to pros but he got some injury (broke his arm i think) and he couldn't sign with promoter Andrzej Wasilewski, he abandoned boxing for years.

The first time after long years when i heard about Różański again, it was like 5 years after he abandoned boxing, was when Przemysław Saleta sparred with him before the Adamek vs Saleta fight. Różański and Saleta are friends.

Saleta praised him a lot and shortly after that Różański turned pro, he signed with promoter Tomasz Babiloński and his Babilon Promotions group and trained in his hometown at Stal Rzeszów boxing team with trainer Marian Basiak, which whom he works until today, Marian Basiak is almost 80 years old, he is a trainer for +50 years, in amateurs he worked for some time with Gołota and Adamek.

[jamamb]

oh okay, so decent am background and not just some tough pub brawler who decided to give it a go

[dagilechia]

oh okay, so decent am background and not just some tough brawler who decided to give it a go

yeah he had some background but he totally abandoned boxing when he was like 24-29 years old. that is why i didn't even considered him a prospect, it's hard to call a prospect someone who is 33 years old, knocks out bums and is a big underdog vs inactive Ugonoh. but now i can imagine him defeating some top 50 fighters, he wants to fight Szpilka next, he could do the Kownacki on him.

[dagilechia]

Ugonoh, Szpilka, Browne, Molina, Washington, Dimitrenko, Stiverne, Arreola, Teper, Price, Wach, Leapai, Rudenko, Mansour, Pianeta, Gjergjaj, Ustinov, Kauffman, Dinu, he is capable of defeating all of them, beating 3-4 of them is enough to make it to the top 20 or even top 15 in current hw division

[dagilechia]

Stępień vs Matyja

https://sport.tvp.pl/43378005/knockout- ... pien-walka

Czerkaszyn vs Capper

https://sport.tvp.pl/43377668/knockout- ... pper-walka

[TempleSlave]

Ugonoh, Szpilka, Browne, Molina, Washington, Dimitrenko, Stiverne, Arreola, Teper, Price, Wach, Leapai, Rudenko, Mansour, Pianeta, Gjergjaj, Ustinov, Kauffman, Dinu, he is capable of defeating all of them, beating 3-4 of them is enough to make it to the top 20 or even top 15 in current hw division

I think you may be overrating Różański a bit. To me he seems a bit like a Polish version of Martin Rogan But hey, good luck to him.

[jamamb]

maybe polish dave allen?

[dagilechia]

maybe polish dave allen?

yeah as i said above i would like to see him vs Dave Allen

[dagilechia]

He reminds me of Lucas Browne, he's not young, he has punching power and scores spectacular ko's over weaker opposition, he will lost to first top 20 fighter he will face though

[dagilechia]

Ugonoh, Szpilka, Browne, Molina, Washington, Dimitrenko, Stiverne, Arreola, Teper, Price, Wach, Leapai, Rudenko, Mansour, Pianeta, Gjergjaj, Ustinov, Kauffman, Dinu, he is capable of defeating all of them, beating 3-4 of them is enough to make it to the top 20 or even top 15 in current hw division

I think you may be overrating Różański a bit. To me he seems a bit like a Polish version of Martin Rogan But hey, good luck to him.

i don't say that he would beat all of them - but i wouldn't write him off against any of the fighters listed above

[TheBeast]

He reminded me of a Minto/Madalone type of guy.

[dagilechia]

Izu looked terrible and clueless but to be fair for Różański, he looked much better than in his previous bouts, i didn't expected to see him that quick and explosive, i thought that he will be plodding forward throwing wide hooks.

[dagilechia]

Izu Ugonoh retires

[joshj909]

Izu Ugonoh retires

Strange move. I guess it didn't interest him anymore.

[dagilechia]

Izu Ugonoh retires

Strange move. I guess it didn't interest him anymore.

yeah he probably has a lot to do outside the ring + he ocasionally is a boxing commentator as well, he probably can find an profitable occupation with ease.