Pick of the Pops
Posted: 09 Sep 2008, 05:52
Former Contender star Sergio Mora went one better when he wrested the WBC light-middleweight title from Vernon Forrest in a huge upset in June and became the first fighter from the boxing reality TV series to win a world title (Pete Manfredo and Alfonso Gomez had previously failed).
The unbeaten Los Angeles man, who picked up a million bucks for winning Contender in 2005, shrugged off a slow start and dominated the later rounds against the established but aging Forrest to snatch a majority decision in Connecticut. Now the new champion has to do it all over again when he defends against Forrest on the Joel Casamayor-Juan Manuel Marquez show in Las Vegas this Saturday (September 13).
Forrest, "The Viper" from Atlanta, claims he was "flat" last time but clearly underestimated his opponent and clearly banked on an early win. This time we can expect him to be much sharper, mentally and physically, although you do wonder about his freshness after 16 years and three world title spells as a pro. Mora, by way of contrast, turned pro eight years ago and is 10 years the younger man at 27. Not a great puncher, "The Latin Snake" is slick and busy and looks strong at light-middleweight, after dropping down from middle. He will be determined to prove his moment of triumph was no fluke - just as Forrest will be out to make amends for what was really a shockingly bad performance (by his standards).
It could go either way, although one leans towards Mora.
Also this Saturday, California's Timothy Bradley makes the first defence of his WBC light-welterweight title in Biloxi, Mississippi, on the Nate Campbell-Joan Guzman bill. Opponent is Edner Cherry.
Bradley won the title with an upset split decision over Bradford's Junior Witter in Nottingham in May. The 25-year-old from Palm Springs came over as the mandatory challenger but was largely untested and - stocky and aggressive - looked made for the counterpunching, switch-hitting Witter. Bradley showed fast hands, though, and dropped Witter with a big right in the sixth and maintained a high tempo throughout to prove an impressive, worthy winner in his first 12-rounder, despite the split.
Witter is not an easy guy to look good against, let alone beat.
The improving, unbeaten Bradley moves on to the useful Cherry, a 26-year-old Floridian who comes off an imposing 10-round stoppage of former lightweight star Stevie Johnston and, in recent years, has lost only to current IBF light-welterweight champ Paulie Malignaggi, who takes on Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas in November.
Altogether, Cherry is 24-5-2 (12).
Won or lose, Cherry comes in as a threat but will be fighting out of his natural weight class, which is lightweight. In seven years as a pro the chunky challenger has never scaled within two pounds of light-welter (heaviest is the 9st 11¾lbs he came in for Malignaggi). It will help him that Bradley is a chunky fellow himself. Cherry is tough, willing and pours it on late in his fights. He's never been stopped.
The champion, however, is the natural light-welterweight and thus the stronger man and clearly relishes the limelight and his new-found status. He is on fightnews virtually every day. The bottom lime reads, if Bradley can beat Witter in England, he can get past Cherry in the States.
A cracking match on the Ryan Rhodes-Jamie Coyle British title bill in Sheffield on September 20 pairs Liverpool's Derry Matthews and Martin Linsday of Belfast in a 10-round eliminator for the British featherweight title held by precocious Scot Paul "Chuckles" Appleby.
The tall Matthews, former British Young Boxer of the Year, has licked good men in Salford threat Stephen Foster (floored, picked off and easily outscored over 12), top Londoner Matthew Marsh (stopped in 11) and Greenock's gritty John Simpson (busted up and outpointed over 12), although Derry was down in the first round against Simpson and reverted to plenty of rough stuff in a bloody encounter in his home city of Liverpool, which he got away with.
At 20-0 it was all looking so good for Matthews when aging Mongolian hard man Choi Tseveenpurev simply walked through him in April in Bolton, flooring him FIVE times on the way to a fifth-round stoppage, although Tseveenpurev could do that to anyone, domestically.
There was talk of the Scouser, now 21-1 (11), moving up a weight afterwards but he came back at the weight with a wide eight-round decision over Kenya's previously unbeaten John Gicharu in Liverpool in the summer, despite cuts over both eyes, and boils down again for the unbeaten Lindsay, a talented, versatile exponent who has done much of his boxing overseas and outscored tough Londoner Marc Callaghan in an eight-rounder in Italy last time out in May (Callaghan now fights talented Josh Wales on this bill). Lindsay is much less experienced than Matthews at 12-0 (4) but enjoyed a top class amateur career and has mixed in North American rings as a pro. He looks a great prospect - the new Barry McGuigan, say some - although the Irishman flopped in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where he was stopped on the outclassed rule by another Liverpudlian, Mark Moran. Barry McGuigan won Commonwealth Games gold at 17. As a pro Lindsay hasn't really been tested.
It could be close, and it could be bloody. "Dirty" Derry looked vulnerable to body shots against Tseveenpurev, and Lindsay has every shot in the book, if not bags of power. Everything considered, one fancies the big, strong, more seasoned Matthews, still a young man at 24 and actually younger than Lindsay, and probably the harder hitter of the two, to come through.
The unbeaten Los Angeles man, who picked up a million bucks for winning Contender in 2005, shrugged off a slow start and dominated the later rounds against the established but aging Forrest to snatch a majority decision in Connecticut. Now the new champion has to do it all over again when he defends against Forrest on the Joel Casamayor-Juan Manuel Marquez show in Las Vegas this Saturday (September 13).
Forrest, "The Viper" from Atlanta, claims he was "flat" last time but clearly underestimated his opponent and clearly banked on an early win. This time we can expect him to be much sharper, mentally and physically, although you do wonder about his freshness after 16 years and three world title spells as a pro. Mora, by way of contrast, turned pro eight years ago and is 10 years the younger man at 27. Not a great puncher, "The Latin Snake" is slick and busy and looks strong at light-middleweight, after dropping down from middle. He will be determined to prove his moment of triumph was no fluke - just as Forrest will be out to make amends for what was really a shockingly bad performance (by his standards).
It could go either way, although one leans towards Mora.
Also this Saturday, California's Timothy Bradley makes the first defence of his WBC light-welterweight title in Biloxi, Mississippi, on the Nate Campbell-Joan Guzman bill. Opponent is Edner Cherry.
Bradley won the title with an upset split decision over Bradford's Junior Witter in Nottingham in May. The 25-year-old from Palm Springs came over as the mandatory challenger but was largely untested and - stocky and aggressive - looked made for the counterpunching, switch-hitting Witter. Bradley showed fast hands, though, and dropped Witter with a big right in the sixth and maintained a high tempo throughout to prove an impressive, worthy winner in his first 12-rounder, despite the split.
Witter is not an easy guy to look good against, let alone beat.
The improving, unbeaten Bradley moves on to the useful Cherry, a 26-year-old Floridian who comes off an imposing 10-round stoppage of former lightweight star Stevie Johnston and, in recent years, has lost only to current IBF light-welterweight champ Paulie Malignaggi, who takes on Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas in November.
Altogether, Cherry is 24-5-2 (12).
Won or lose, Cherry comes in as a threat but will be fighting out of his natural weight class, which is lightweight. In seven years as a pro the chunky challenger has never scaled within two pounds of light-welter (heaviest is the 9st 11¾lbs he came in for Malignaggi). It will help him that Bradley is a chunky fellow himself. Cherry is tough, willing and pours it on late in his fights. He's never been stopped.
The champion, however, is the natural light-welterweight and thus the stronger man and clearly relishes the limelight and his new-found status. He is on fightnews virtually every day. The bottom lime reads, if Bradley can beat Witter in England, he can get past Cherry in the States.
A cracking match on the Ryan Rhodes-Jamie Coyle British title bill in Sheffield on September 20 pairs Liverpool's Derry Matthews and Martin Linsday of Belfast in a 10-round eliminator for the British featherweight title held by precocious Scot Paul "Chuckles" Appleby.
The tall Matthews, former British Young Boxer of the Year, has licked good men in Salford threat Stephen Foster (floored, picked off and easily outscored over 12), top Londoner Matthew Marsh (stopped in 11) and Greenock's gritty John Simpson (busted up and outpointed over 12), although Derry was down in the first round against Simpson and reverted to plenty of rough stuff in a bloody encounter in his home city of Liverpool, which he got away with.
At 20-0 it was all looking so good for Matthews when aging Mongolian hard man Choi Tseveenpurev simply walked through him in April in Bolton, flooring him FIVE times on the way to a fifth-round stoppage, although Tseveenpurev could do that to anyone, domestically.
There was talk of the Scouser, now 21-1 (11), moving up a weight afterwards but he came back at the weight with a wide eight-round decision over Kenya's previously unbeaten John Gicharu in Liverpool in the summer, despite cuts over both eyes, and boils down again for the unbeaten Lindsay, a talented, versatile exponent who has done much of his boxing overseas and outscored tough Londoner Marc Callaghan in an eight-rounder in Italy last time out in May (Callaghan now fights talented Josh Wales on this bill). Lindsay is much less experienced than Matthews at 12-0 (4) but enjoyed a top class amateur career and has mixed in North American rings as a pro. He looks a great prospect - the new Barry McGuigan, say some - although the Irishman flopped in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where he was stopped on the outclassed rule by another Liverpudlian, Mark Moran. Barry McGuigan won Commonwealth Games gold at 17. As a pro Lindsay hasn't really been tested.
It could be close, and it could be bloody. "Dirty" Derry looked vulnerable to body shots against Tseveenpurev, and Lindsay has every shot in the book, if not bags of power. Everything considered, one fancies the big, strong, more seasoned Matthews, still a young man at 24 and actually younger than Lindsay, and probably the harder hitter of the two, to come through.