Sunday Puncher Newsletter
February release
Alright, alright, alright! This is the February release, obviously. Part of this, the Colbert-Garcia undercard review, was already released on digital, but I did include it in the publication so it’s in here too. I mean to say, my writing is so astute and perspicacious…my insight is just worth repeating. That’s a joke, I take the write-up as-is and put it here on digital with just minor formatting edits. As I always say on these, hit us up on Patreon to get these bad boys delivered right to your door on some premium stationery (did you know that was even a thing?). All, like, two of the people who actually read it seem to enjoy it, so that’s kinda fun.
March 1st, 2022
February review
I’m here. Finally. Sorry, sorry, had lots going on over on this end and I didn’t want to just throw out blurbs without having seen the fights in question. I did include my untelevised undercard write-up for the Colbert card, which was released digitally, so you may have seen it already. If you haven’t, well, here it is. There were decent scraps, I’m surprised there wasn’t any outlet for them at all. Sheeiiitt, someone could’ve put their phone by the ring for IG Live or something. There were more fights that I wanted to include (Ray Robinson comes to mind) but I couldn’t find a way to watch them, live or replay. *cough cough* Perhaps someone reading this might be able to help arrange that with me (sp@bxng.co)? And I mean above board, ya buncha miscreants. Lots to cover this month and we (read: I) are already running late, so let’s go! ~
Saturday, February 5th (Fox PPV)
Michelob Ultra Arena; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Keith Thurman UD Mario Barrios (Welterweight)
The return of Bork Time — the heavy-bag bark sessions were in full swing and I didn’t know just how much I missed them. As Angelo mentioned on the podcast, the sport is better when Keith is active. He’s charismatic, has mic skills, and wouldn’t you know it he’s pretty entertaining in the ring too. While Thurman most certainly put on a really good display, it’s important to remember that Barrios is not quite the guy. Barrios isn’t too shabby, but Thurman is clearly a tier above so Thurman schooling him is to be expected. Given his already extensive resume, there isn’t much left for Keith except what he called for: a title shot. Spence and Ugas are lined up to unify, which leaves Crawford in need of a suitable opponent. Now that he’s a free agent, mixing it up with the PBC guys isn’t a monumental effort anymore. The top five WBO ranked guys are Vergil Ortiz, Jr. (USA), Jaron Ennis (USA), Michael McKinson (UK), Sandor Martin (Spn), and David Avanesyan (Rus). Ortiz has a fight lined up, Ennis has a fight lined up on the IBF track, Martin appears to be heading to 140, and Avanesyan has a fight lined up. That only leaves McKinson as a possible mandatory for Crawford, but the marquee event is of course Thurman vs Crawford. Thus far, Thurman has postured in the media with the ceremonial “where’s the contract” types of comments while the Crawford camp has been quiet.
Leo Santa Cruz UD Keenan Carbajal (Super Featherweight)
Santa Cruz, in typical LSC fashion, comes back from a long layoff to fight a lackluster opponent. And unfortunately for him, his kinda sorta big money fight with Gary Russell Jr has been spoiled by one Mark Magsayo. The options are still there for LSC: Magsayo for a title, Rey Vargas for an all MX fight that would kill in LA, the Russell fight is still an option despite the loss, and if LSC can cross the Delaware maybe he can get a crack at Navarrete (this is the least likely possibility of all that were mentioned, I know). All things considered, LSC appeared to be his usual self: throws a metric shit tonne of punches and usually gets tagged in the process. I suppose when the guy in front of you isn’t named Gervonta Davis, it’s easy to pull the trigger as often as he did against the unheralded Carbajal. Unfortunately for me, Arizona fighters did not have a good night. That is except for…
Jesus Ramos TKO6 Vladimir Hernandez (Super Welterweight)
There is a lot of buzz about this guy and if you didn’t see this fight, find it and watch it so you can see why. Hernandez worked his way into this fight by upsetting the severely backsliding J Rock, but all things considered J Rock would’ve probably had a worse night than Hernandez. Hernandez did have success in spots, but that seemed to be so as Ramos was running diagnostics. And before ya know it… On the ever illustrious BoxRec ratings, there isn’t much standing in Ramos’s (16) way. Fundora and Lubin (6, 7 respectively) are on a collision course, Charlo and Castano (1, 2) still have unfinished business, and Tim Tszyu is looking to crack the American market with the technically crafty yet generally unremarkable Terrell Gausha. In other words, the big names are all occupied and are probably a step too high at this point anyway. Austin Trout is still swimming around; Culcay should be ready for his next fight around the same time as Ramos; Dennis Hogan isn’t the worst shout; Michel Soro has had fights against some good names…overall, the options are open for the up & coming Ramos, who is carrying Casa Grande, Arizona on his back…I’m not sure if that pit of despair is a heavy or light burden.
Luis Nery SD Carlos Castro (Super Bantamweight)
Sunnuvadammit, my guy got beat. I’ve been stanning Castro for ages and he finally gets a shot to climb to the world level and gets beat cleanly. Split Decision is crap and everyone knows it. The prevailing chatter in Discord at the time was that the cards were arranged such that there is room to spin Castro’s loss as less than what it actually was after enough time passes. I know, I know, it’s BoxRec, but Nery and Castro aren’t too far apart (4, 6 respectively) with little standing in the way of the belt holders. I expect Castro is going to take on someone just below him to rebuild a bit while Nery will likely try to line up a title fight. Fulton is all wrong for Nery, while Akhmadaliev could be fun. I don’t see a Fig rematch going much differently. I personally would prefer Fulton and Akhmadaliev to do the thing for the all 4 thing, so Nery vs Angelo Leo or Daniel Roman? Can’t go wrong there. I noticed ESPN didn’t rank Castro in the top 10 at 122; I’d like to speak to the manager.
Saturday, February 5th (DAZN)
Footprint Center; Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Jesse Rodriguez UD Carlos Cuadras
WBC Super Flyweight title
I probably should have gone to this, but there was so much boxing on I didn’t want to miss anything. Funnily enough, I missed most of this anyway and had to catch it on replay. I never claimed to be bright — I’m sending you paper mail in 2022, you should know by now that I”m not. Well, well, well, is the changing of the guard starting for 115? I would say so. Cuadras gets knocked off by a new kid on the block, Ancajas as well. Gonzalez is facing quite the challenge in Martinez, who looks to continue upsetting the SuperFly applecart (more on that later). Estrada is out sick, but he’s no spring chicken and it may be time to pasture.
Saturday, February 5th (Sky Sports)
Motorpoint Arena; Cardiff, Wales, UK
Chris Eubank UD Liam Williams (Middleweight)
Eubank came out to Dr Dre, which is pretty cool imo. What wasn’t cool, however, was the little jab that sent Williams to the deck in Rd 1. I’m still shocked that, after that opening round, Eubank didn’t get the stoppage. Then down again in Rd 2, but Williams seemed a bit more composed. It generally went on just as one-sided with another KD in Rd 4, Williams valiantly coming ahead only to be tagged by Eubank. Then it’s back to the corner for a breather. Comes out aggressive and gets tagged; back to the corner. Comes in, tagged, comes in, tagged by Eubank, comes in, tagged. And this went on and on and back and forth for 12 or so rounds until the fight sort of just ended. What options are there for ol’ Eubank? Charlo and Munguia might be busy; the sturdy workhorse Derevyanchenko might be a little busy with matters at home at the moment; Carlos Adames isn’t too bad, but I think Eubank detached from the PBC stable for whatever reason. Can someone, anyone, please end the Andrade charade? Eubank, bro, do me a solid here.
Claressa Shields UD Ema Kozin (Middleweight)
I want to say right up top: equal rights, equal fights. This 10x2 stuff is lame as all hell. The Unified MMA rules on the number of rounds and their length and are the same for women and men, I don’t see why boxing is still behind in that regard. Now, to business: why this wasn’t a stop eludes me. Am I overestimating Shields? Maybe. But it didn’t seem Kozin had much going on from the early-mids and Shields imposed her will the entire time to hand Kozin a triple ten-oh. But I’ve said before (about Frank Sanchez iirc), if you can hand your opponent a goose egg, you probably could’ve stopped them if you pushed the tempo. C’est la vie; I don’t fight the fights, I’m just some dude. Future prospects for Shields are kinda bleak. Unfortunately the talent in the women’s ranks remains rather thin, star power even more so. I know there is a bit of buzz brewing for a bout with Savannah Marshall, but I haven’t seen enough of her to give an fair assessment one way or another. I will however hang my hat on the Team Shields hook now because like hell I’m going to root for a doggon Brit when there’s a red-blooded American dinosaur in the ring. As if you expected anything different.
Saturday, February 12th (DAZN)
Alexandra Palace; Muswell Hill, London, UK
John Ryder “SD” Daniel Jacobs (Super Middleweight)
First few rounds were cagey, tentative, and honestly a bit sloppy. Jacobs is missing a bit of the old flair that got him kudos for his performance against Golovkin and has been for some time. It’s not to the point he needs to retire or anything, but the old magic is gone. Close though someone may have seen it, I don’t know if I can say there was zero home-cooking on the menu that night. It’s not the most egregious instance of questionable scoring that is so pervasive in this thing of ours, Ryder was having spots; Ryder’s aggression may have been the “it” factor for some, but I suppose effectiveness of said aggression wasn’t considered determinant. From my view, it looked like Ryder wasn’t landing much of anything clean until the mid-lates when Jacobs had faded. I suppose if you were to give Ryder every close round in the beginning, you could call it a narrow win for Ryder. There are a few good fights (Plant, Benavidez, Saunders, Jesse Hart ig) out there for both of these guys, but few of them exist on the DAZN side of the aisle. Unfortunate.
Saturday, February 19th (ESPN+)
Manchester Arena; Manchester, Lancashire, UK
Kell Brook TKO6 Amir Khan (Welterweight)
Do I have any crow in my teeth? Because Brook certainly threw my words right in my face and I ain’t even mad. While the fight was lacking in choke slams and flying elbows, I wasn’t off the mark with Brook toppling the Bolton speedster. Yes, the fight was years too late, but so the F what? I’m talking more to myself because the PPV sales were phenomenal. Angelo has mentioned this before and it’s worth repeating here: fans can scream “the best fighting the best” until it’s their turn to be sheared, but compelling stories and rivalries are what get ratings. It’s not at all a coincidence that both Canelo-Golovkin fights and Canelo-Chavez Jr broke 1 million sales. Canelo and Chavez were being compared to each other since time immemorial and the meteoric rise of Golovkin alongside the already bright star, how could they not break 1m? To bring it full circle, Spence-Brook wasn’t too shabby in ratings either and that rivalry had only been brewing a short while. Despite Brook having his way in the ring, let’s not let this get to our heads. Khan was cooked before the opening bell. This may be enough to get Brook another good payday against a decent-ish opponent, but to try and leverage this into a fight against someone elite would be a mistake. With that being said, let me contradict myself entirely and say he and Thurman should mix it up. My thinking is this performance gave Brook enough credibility that fighting Thurman wouldn’t go over that badly.
Saturday, February 19th (DAZN)
Plaza Monumental; Tijuana, Baja California, México
Jaime Munguia — D’Mitrius Ballard (Middleweight)
To defer to Angelo yet again, first round stoppages typically don’t tell us anything profound about the winner. My biggest take away is that Munguia is better than I gave him credit for in the past and I am once again happy to eat crow (can I get Mango-Habañero for the wings?). On the other side of the coin, there are some concerns this fight raised: homie just about died at the weigh-in and that is not good. At all. If 160 is too much for him to cut down to, it’s time to move up. A lot of talent is at 168 and I’m sure Munguia can hang after a short adjustment period. Also, clobbering another middleweight for a stoppage tells me that the level of competition needs to be raised considerably. I doubt Munguia is being moved along delicately, but if he is it needs to stop. The dude can clearly tear it up and he has the style to make fan-friendly fights. If he went up to 168 in pursuit of Canelo, a showdown at Azteca Stadium might not be unrealistic — assuming Munguia is successful campaigning there.
Saturday, February 26th (ESPN+)
The SSE Hydro; Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Josh Taylor SD Jack Catterall
Undisputed Super Lightweight title
I’m not going to say too much on this one; I am going to suggest you check out the March 1st episode of the podcast. Angelo and Corey had a really good discussion not only on the happenings of the fight itself, but also the controversy during and after. The knowledge and nuance they gave the topic is fantastic, so go listen to it again if you already heard it. So we learned in the following days that Taylor is moving up to full Welterweight, to which I only have one prediction: he may need to consider chickity checking himself before he…you know. He’ll get a few wins on his tune-up/adjustment fights, but I don’t see him having success at the elite level of the division. Not with the likes of Boots and Vergil around, at least. He’ll hang around the Cody Crowley, Conor Benn (who, let me remind you, is a fringe top 10 contender) level, the tier below Vergil and Boots. He may even be the cream of that crop. Catterall, on the other hand, has a good position in the now open field of 140. There are decent fights to be made there, so hopefully Catterall is ready for the slog to supremacy.
Saturday, February 26th (Showtime)
The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Hector Garcia UD Chris Colbert (Super Featherweight)
I expect many parlays were busted in this fight — mine would’ve been if I was the gambling type. I had honestly never seen Hector Garcia fight before and apparently Colbert hadn’t either (says he doesn’t study film). I hope that attitude will change after having a slice of humble pie al estilo Dominicano. This fight was, to use the scientific term, an ass-whooping. Colbert was in it in the opening rounds, but once Garcia decided he wasn’t worried about what Colbert brought to the table it was over. Garcia cleaned his clocks, nearly sweeping the cards with ease. Colbert was clearly checked out by the mid-lates, with Garcia taunting for action, to Colbert’s chagrin. Colbert is left in an unfortunate situation; his bravado backfired big-time, dropping him out of the esteemed BoxRec top 10 with few options for a title shot. Ogawa is tied to DAZN, Stevenson and Valdez are tied to ESPN, and Gutierrez is going to be busy with Garcia. There are some recognizable names in the neighborhood for Colbert to come back against, but the biggest matter is if he matures from the loss. Garcia had mixed feelings on Colbert, saying “he’s a great fighter, but he needs to grow up. He’s trying to be like Mayweather, who became a legend in his own right…he’s trying to act like a superstar when he isn’t one”. As for Garcia, he made it very clear that he wants the Roger Gutierrez title fight next and would consider a rematch later.
Should Garcia capture the WBA title from Gutierrez, his chances of lining up against the winner of Stevenson-Valdez (unifying the WBC and WBO 130 titles) or unifying with Ogawa (IBF belt holder) become that much better. Regarding the Stevenson-Valdez unification fight, Garcia said “Valdez has to win by KO, Stevenson is too versatile and skilled. If it goes the distance, it’s Shakur’s fight” and also indicated great enthusiasm to fight against either of them, win or lose. I did get a funny disparity in responses to one question: If Garcia had had a full camp, could he have gotten the stoppage? Garcia, I expect trying to be modest and respectful of Colbert, said “I don’t think I could’ve stopped him, he was too quick and mobile.” although he did give himself credit for having come in on short notice due to always being prepared. On the other side of the coin, Ismael Salas held nothing back saying outright that Garcia would’ve stopped Colbert in the early rounds. Another member of Garcia’s team was standing by and jumped in, saying that if Garcia had had a full camp and Colbert was coming in on 2–3 weeks notice he would’ve been stopped in the first round.
Gary Antuanne Russell TKO10 Viktor Postol (Junior Welterweight)
I’m not sure about that stoppage. I’m sure you knew that when you saw the inclusions for the month. Put your tinfoil hats on and let Papa Leo tell you a theory: Postol was waved off in the closing moments of the fight to preserve Russell’s 100% stoppage record. Now take that shit off because it felt kinda dumb to even write it out despite it just being food for thought; Postol was clearly losing the fight, which isn’t at all to say that it wasn’t competitive. Aside from Crawford, can you name an opponent Postol lost to that didn’t look like doodoo-butter beating him? I can’t. Postol is a boss and proved it in hanging with a red-hot prospect 13 years younger than him and even having success in a few lanes. Russell saying he didn’t struggle in the post-fight interview was hilarious, but I suppose it’s a bravado thing.
I don’t expect there’s much left for Postol to do in the boxing world, having faced a who’s who at 140; the dire situation in Ukraine is understandably Postol’s only concern right now and I wish him and his loved ones nothing but the best of fortune. As for Russell, the field is starting to expand and the path to a title is opening up. Josh Taylor is moving to 147 after “bEaTiNg” Catterall, so those titles are going to be freed up. Ramirez-Pedraza should be an intriguing watch for him, Prograis is coming back, Zepeda and Barboza are probably lining up their next fights, and Teofimo Lopez is making his move into the division soon; I’m thinking Matias is probably his stiffest competition, though.
Fernando Martinez UD Jerwin Ancajas
IBF Super Flyweight Title
A big notch in the belt for the “Night of Upsets” and further demonstration of the Super Flyweight division’s changing of the guard. You’ll have to take my word for it, since chances are you don’t watch the Super Flies (*tips fedora* M’artinez). Title defense 10 for Ancajas — I guess it was 2 many…that was a binary language joke, it’s already bad enough without me explaining it. Anyway, Martinez took Ancajas to the cleaners from pillar to post. Funny little anecdote, the guy sitting next to me was texting his parents, who were watching the fights at home. Dude’s mom said “Is the guy in red [Ancajas] tired? He’s getting hit a lot.” Yes. Tired is what it is. I’ve included my scoring below, which is ironic that I scored this fight since it was as decisive as the Colbert outcome but the least…hyped?
Two of the rounds I gave to Ancajas could have gone for Martinez (7th, 8th), making the final 11–1 (or is it 11–2? Someone get Teofimo on the phone). Martinez was emotional chatting with Gray after the fight, understandably so, and is now in a commanding position at 115. Bam Rodriguez is the WBC co-champion (JF Estrada holding the other half), Chocolatito is coming back against a young upstart from Flyweight, which will be a good gauge of how much he has left. SS Rungvisai is still kicking around somewhere, to throw out another recognizable name. If he’s willing to travel, there are plenty of options in the top 10 that would make for a decent main/co-main that would bring in a decent size purse, relative to the smaller guys at least. R#, A — M; Rd 1, 09–10; Rd 2, 10–09; Rd 3, 09–10; Rd 4, 09–10; Rd 5, 09–10; Rd 6, 09–10; *Rd 7, 10–09; *Rd 8, 10–09; Rd 9, 09–10; Rd 10, 09–10; Rd 11, 09–10; Rd 12, 09–10.
Claudio Marrero MDec Viktor Slavinsky (Super Featherweight)
A heartwarming note: as Slavinsky made his way to the ring, being introduced as being Ukrainian, the crowd applauded heartily for him with shouts of fighting for his home country. The Mexican flag on his trunks certainly helped endear him to the predominately Hispanic crowd as well. Slavinsky and Marrero opened it up pretty cagey, spending most of the round feeling each other out. Marrero was pretty crafty, not slick in the usual sense like a Philly guy, but his defense was slippery and he was able to throw shots from some odd angles. Slavinsky was more textbook, which unfortunately Marrero was ready for as he was able to land through the Ukrainian’s offensive output. In the final minute of the second round, Marrero was landing cleaner and cleaner combinations.Round 3 opened up with some good exchanges, but Marrero was getting the better of it. Slavinsky was moving around trying to disengage and reset, but Marrero smelled blood. A bit of tension center-ring, Slavinsky’s reticence palpable; Marrero’s relaxed guard showing his confidence (even went hands down to bait). Not much doing to close round 3, but both guys came out firing to open the fourth. Slavinsky landed some good shots, Marrero landed some clean shots of his own. Interesting change in defensive pacing from Marrero midway through 4, his head movement wasn’t as pronounced and he was getting hit between his still relaxed guard, giving Slavinsky his greatest success of the bout thus far. A stiff jab popped Marrero’s head back, but Slavinsky didn’t have enough time to capitalize on it.
Round 5 was a lot of back and forth, tenuous commitment to throwing more than a few punches with both guys landing some clean hits here and there. Marrero’s team had him biking to start round 6, I assume under the expectation Marrero was cleanly ahead (which in my estimation at the moment watching and listening to his corner’s instructions, he was). Marrero took most of round 6 off, not really throwing much, allowing Slavsinky to edge the round at a glance. Slavinsky opened 7 aggressively, driving Marrero to the ropes and throwing what he could. Marrero kept working his defensive skills to keep Slavinsky generally missing or at least not landing anything meaningful. Towards the middle the round, Marrero started exchanging with Slavinsky, but he was still getting outworked by the Ukrainian fighter. The mixed it up more to close the round, but not too much landing clean. The final round opened up with Slavinsky still doing most of the work. If you judge more on activity, you may have had him catching up. Marrero was still less aggressive than he was to start the fight, mostly potshotting between Slavinsky’s offense. Naturally, as I write that Marrero finds a wild hair on his ass and starts chopping it up with Slavinsky to finish the fight. The scores came out 76–76, 78–74, 77–75.
Justin Cardona TKO3 Joshua Draughter (Lightweight)
Cardona and Draughter wasted no time getting after it in the first round. Cardona caught Draughter coming in with a clean right hand that caused Draughter’s glove to graze the canvas despite being relatively unbothered by the punch. Cardona was rather antsy in the pantsy, loading up on his shots to the point that he made himself slip to finish the round with a wild hook. Ruben “The Ferocious Fedora” Guerrero set him straight coming into round 2, letting Draughter take the lead to start the round. Draughter ate the most meaningful punches of the round: a few body shots in the red corner and a flurry in the second minute that seemed to buzz him. Cardona clipped Draughter behind the ear and seemed to have him buzzed again, but Draughter held on. Cardona’s jab is a damn piston, setting up an excellent combo of hooks to Draughter’s body. Those body shots set up the final punches that showed the ref enough to wave the fight off in round 3. If I had to give something on Cardona, I’d say relax; Throw with intent, but don’t over-commit.
Angel Barrientes TKO2 Brian Cannady (Super Bantamweight)
Barrientes came out too quickly for Cannady. His jab was crisp, greased lightning and he used it very effectively to set up body shots which in turn opened up clean power punches upstairs. Cannady would valiantly try to return fire, but unfortunately only wound up opening himself up to potshots from Barrientes. A big left hook to open round 2 buzzed Cannady and the follow-up from Barrientes sent Cannady down. Barrientes tried to loop around Cannady’s shell, but wasn’t able to take advantage of the rattled cage. More often than not, Cannady was being beaten to the punch but was able to weather the storm. Midway through round 3, the ref had seen enough after Barrientes was landing enough clean shots to drive Cannady to go for the double-leg takedown. My biggest piece of advice for Barrientes is to work on the backflip a little more before going for it in the ring.
Micky Scala TKO2 Jose Manuel Gomez (Super Welterweight)
Both Scala and Gomez’s fan bases came out in force, let me tell you. For the opening bout of the prelims, there was a surprising amount of fanfare; I think the only other time I’ve heard this much noise for prelim/club fighters was back when I watched “Sharky” Servin in Phoenix (ups to Iron Boy). In the first round, Scala and Gomez were trading a lot of power shots in center-ring. Micky wised up towards the end started mixing his combinations downstairs Gomez was there to bang, much to his detriment as Scala scored a KD in rd2 and had Gomez buzzed bad when the ref waved it off. Scala has pop, Scala is mobile, Scala has a good jab that he uses intelligently. My impression is that he gets tagged because 1) he’s willing to trade shots with opponents that 2) he’s not too concerned with at this time. Given Scala is from Mesa (Southeast area of the greater Phoenix metro area), you can expect me to shill for this guy full-tilt.
Saturday, February 26th (untelevised)
Dubai Marina; Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Vincent Astrolabio UD10 Guillermo Rigondeaux (Bantamweight)
Rigo was once the hipster’s choice, long before Chocolatito, if you can remember back that far. It looked like Rigo was headed for a career renaissance when he signed onto the PBC squad and prayed at the altar of Mars after a career marred with long layoffs between absolute snoozers against less than stellar opponents — the lone exception being Lomachenko (Отримати деякі!). How the mighty have fallen. Astrolabio’s overhand right was used extensively and it was very strange that Rigo, the Cuban counterpunching commando, wasn’t able to capitalize on the repetitions. Rigo showed that he still has decent reflexes and is able to move around and keep opponents guessing, but Astrolabio’s aggression and activity seemed to sway the judges. Other than getting paid I don’t see what there is left for Rigo to do in the ring. Lots of unanswered questions with Frampton, LSC, and Quigg (who was considered a decent name back then). As for Astrolabio, maybe he can sort out Casimero while he awaits his next fight. Otherwise, there isn’t much going on at Bantam. Inoue would probably end Astrolabio. Donaire would be okay I suppose, but maybe Reymart Gaballo is the better move: all Pinoy matchup to climb the ranks a bit and set up a common opponent with Donaire.
Sunday, February 27th (DAZN)
O2 Arena; Greenwich, London, UK
Lawrence Okolie UD Michal Cieslak
WBO Cruiserweight title
On the sloppy scale of 1–5, where Jacobs-Ryder is a 3, I rate this bad mammy a 4. It was difficult to watch at times. Cieslak spent the opening rounds trying to push the envelope, Okolie was trying to counter the aggression. Neither were having too much success and ended up tying up. Like, a lot. Of the entire BoxRec top 15, only Okolie and Ryad Merhy (Belgium, WBA Regular) are under age 30. Wow. Okolie had Cieslak in trouble in Rd 5, but wasn’t able to capitalize on it. He kept trying to set up a sequel for the overhand right that scored the KD, and he did land it a few more times to buzz Cieslak, but it wasn’t quite enough to do serious damage if it landed at all — Cieslak was doing well deflecting that particular shot. If all he’s got is the pawing jab to set up the right hand, I don’t see how he’s going to have success against the other top Cruisers, age notwithstanding. Have a look at Wilder’s fights with Fury to see what happens when the pawing jab setting up the right gets negated. Briedis (IBF) is even more frustrating than Cieslak and a lot more offensively capable. Dorticos isn’t the most defensively responsible, but if he were to catch Okolie’s chin clean? That’s game over, son — call Dorticos’s fists the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Okolie is no JFK (there’s a joke here involving JFK’s assassination I’m not going to make). I don’t know enough about Makabu (D.R. Congo, WBC) or Arsen Goularmirian (France, WBA Super) to speculate, but unifications are always a plus in my book.
That’s all for this month, ya nerds. If you or someone you know would like to receive this publication in Spanish, it can be arranged just let me know. I’ve also got a producer lined up for Braille if needed, but contact me at sp@bxng.co to discuss that further because that shit ain’t cheap. The irony of offering a boxing publication in Braille is not lost on me, but there are levels to blindness so don’t laugh too hard. I think I can arrange French too, but contact me for that one as well. As always, you can reach us on Twitter @Sunday_Puncher and IG @SundayPuncherBoxing. You can find other characters from the SP Cinematic Universe mostly on Twitter, but IG works too. I might include a picture of one of my pets next time because why not. But here’s the rub: Is it going to be my Malaysian Forest Scorpion or my Blue Nose Pit puppy? Costa Rican Pink Toe Tarantula or Siamese cat? It’s a game of chance, my dear reader; I hope you’re ready to play.
If you’re wondering, the Cyrillic text in the header says “Slava Ukraini” — “Glory to Ukraine”, the battle cry during their war for independence in 1917–1921. Ukraine is in serious trouble, as I’m sure you are well aware, and if there’s anything you can do to help, you cannot stand by idly. You don’t have to take direct action, i.e.: going to Ukraine, but you can go here volunteerforukraine.org and ukrainenow.org and find a way you can help without even leaving home. Those are serious organizing groups that, depending on what you’re doing, can provide financial and logistical assistance to you. There are a lot of clowns out there scamming during this crisis (for whom I have many choice words) so you will be vetted if you pursue it, just a heads up on that. I know the word ‘freedom’ has been used and abused in the last 20+ years, but this truly is a case of fighting for freedom against tyranny. I’ll leave you with the often cited, but very relevant: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.” — Martin Niemöller c. 1946.
Миру на Землі,
Лео
