BoxRec

Grange Big Time Boxing is Back!

April 11 sees the return of Grange Big Time Boxing Fight Nights. And what a stellar beginning to the televised season with a 6 fight program being headed by “Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika, winner of the international
Smash-hit reality show “The Contender”.

Bika is a two-time World Title Challenger and boasts a record of 25 wins, 3 defeats and 2 draws. After an early controversial loss to our very own
Sam “King” Soliman, his remaining defeats were at the hands of World Champion, Lucien Bute and one of the greatest fighters in history, 22 times defending World Super Middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe,

In similar circumstances to Danny Green, Bika was involved in a controversial fight with the “Green Machine’s” nemesis, German, Marcus Beyer in which Beyer sustained a large cut for which the fight was stopped prematurely and called a draw.

Sakio gained enormous respect during the final battle of “The Contender 2007”.
With a viewing audience of millions and prize money of $750 000 USD up for grabs both combatants felt the canvass in the opening melee and what ensued was tough man contest beyond compare. Sakio stopped the heavily favoured American,Jaidon Codrington in the 8th round and calls from U.S. commentators resounded over the airwaves for “Fight of the year”. The exciting first round was also named “Round of the Year”.

After returning to Australia and taking a well-earned break Bika has strongly maintained that he wanted his next fight to be in his adopted homeland. Bika has knocked back big fights on American boxing channel HBO with Edison Miranda, Librado Andrade and Mikkel Kessler.

Grange Old School Boxing has granted Bika his wish and will headline him in the promotion at Cronulla Sharkies on April 11. His brazilian opponent Luzimar Gonzaga boasts a record of 18-2 with 15 kos and has told the South American press that he intends to spoil Bika’s homecoming

The two will clash for the vacant IBF Pan Pacific Super Middleweight Title over 12 rounds. Both are considered very strong punchers so this fight is one not to be missed.


The Sutherland Shire’s favourite boxing son, Ryan Waters, is the main preliminary bout as he takes on seasoned boxer Dondon Sultan in a bout over 8 rounds. A win here will boost Waters’ rating such that he will be able to contest a World Title in his very next fight. Sultan is highly ranked, well-respected and has a record of 22-11-3 with one of his victories being a first round ko of Anton Solopov.


Another local on the card is former IBF Super Featherweight World Champion Gairy St Clair. A resident of the Sutherland Shire since he first became an Australian resident, St Clair is looking to get back to the World stage and challenge for the IBF World Title currently held by Cassius Baloyi, a man he has beaten. St Clair is in action over 8 rounds.

The Grange Old School Boxing Gym has one of their younger stars on the card as well in Ben Warburton who will be contesting his very first professional title. Warburton battles Ernie Gonzales Jnr from Campbelltown for the NSW State Featherweight Title over 8 rounds. Warburton is a resident of Penrith and is undefeated in his five contests to date. These two share a fierce rivalry and this bout should be action-packed from the starting bell.

The first bout of the evening is a well matched bout between Sydneysiders Daniel Pawsey hailing from Bondi and Damien Smith from Castle Hill. They battle each other over four rounds at Super Middleweight. This is expected to be a very tight duel with the winner set to contest a state title in the near future…

All in all this is to be one of the biggest nights in boxing for the year and The Grange Old School Boxing Gym has spared no expense in bringing the show to the public.

Tickets are available from the Cronulla Leagues Club at $50 each and there are some corporate tables left. For tables phone Garrie Francisco 0425 818825

Doors open at 6.30pm and the first fight is set to commence at 7pm.

All media enquiries, media accreditation requests and boxer interview requests can be directed to Garrie Francisco at Grange Old School Boxing on (02) 4647 9941 or 0425 818825 or via email [email protected] .

Cant wait to watch on telly, if it was in Brisbane or Goldcoast i would be ringside. Looking forward to seeing Sakio' career progress.

Unfortunately Cronulla Leagues is a bit too far out of my way as well so it looks like its down to the local pub for me...

St Clair will be looking to get some confidence back I would imagine. I'm looking forward to a good night of boxing.

Bika vs Gonzaga in spot of bother

BoxRec became aware 3 days ago Gonzaga was KOd in 2nd round on March 25 in Brazil, which means auto 28-day holiday under NSW rules.
His agent is trying to convince all concerned the result is a fabrication - the fight didn't happen.
Don't think it'll work.

AntonS wrote:
His agent is trying to convince all concerned the result is a fabrication - the fight didn't happen.

Are they looking for a decent replacement...

Replacement is Gustavo Javier Kapusi, 34 years old, from Argentina. He is
18-11-3, with 7 KO wins and 4 KO losses.

Should not be a long night.

Sure 'nuff. Bika by first round KO. 8)

it was like watching a pitbull on a poodle.

one guy looked like an adonis and the other looked like he was plucked from the crowd at random.

it was a disgraceful matchup. the guy just did not want to be in there and was actually quite jovial about his poor showing. obviously just came here to see the harbour bridge.

Yes it was so obvious when Sakio and Kapusi met for instructions, Sakio looked huge in comparison and there was no way Kapusi was going to interrupt the count after Sakio put some body shots on him. Nice trip around the world though. As the song goes: "money for nothing and your chicks for free".

Fortunately, the undercard saved the night:

Ryan Waters was too strong and too willing for Dondon Sultan is a rather scrappy fight that went the distance.

Gairy St. Clair despite a slow start was too wily for a walkup Jan Paderna in an entertaining six rounder.

Featherweights Ernie Gonzales and Ben Warburton put on the fight of the night and an action packed event, which resulted Ernie stopping Ben in the last round for the NSW title. Both showed plenty of ticker and threw such big shots for little blokes.

Debutant southpaw Michael Bolling showed promise in stopping a game Christopher Fox.

Daniel Pawsey outpointed a determined Damien Smith in the opening bout.

Kapusi was introduced as Argentine Super Middleweight Champion. Seems this is another national title that has fallen on hard times. Acosta is the best super-middle in Argentina, but he is the South American champion. There are 9 Argentinians on Boxrec rated ahead of Kapusi.

Not to be negative, but 4months into the year and fox' first televised event was pretty disappointing.

The biggest positive was the debut of Michael Bolling, looks pretty talented.
I suppose it is better than nothing, but i hope fox put on some of the more interesting cards coming up.

Baloyi won his IBF Super Feather title back from Fana overnight. Baloyi and St Clair are one apiece. Any chance of a rubber match?

Bolling goes alright but I took the fight on a weeks notice. If he was going to go on with it, he should have took me out much earlier in the fight. I know its only early days in his career and he dominated the fight from start to finish, but I had no gas in the tank from midway through the first round. Will be interested to see how he goes with a better opponent in front of him. I dont think he has that much power but good luck to Michael and I hope he goes well.

good to hear from you fox,

whats your plan in the boxing ring?
at 32(i think),are you motivated to go for state/regional titles or r you wanting to up your income-not being cheeky,just curious as it stated you were an amateur champ.

who is your manager/promoter?

martin

Mate I had a lot of amateur fights and the pro sport was something I had to do before hanging up the gloves. My grandfather was our club trainer for about 50 years so boxing has been my life. I am going to have another fight but then it is time to put in with the boys as I am currently training some pretty handy boxers who arent far off the pro ranks. I will be prepared for my next battle and hopefully i can chalk up a victory. Good luck with your boxing career mate.

good luck m8,
i know what your saying


martin