WBSS Season 2: Inoue — Payano, Relikh — Troyanovsky.
Season 2 kicks off this weekend in Japan with two entertaining matchups that are unlikely to go the distance
Season 1 of the World Boxing Super Series had some rough patches as expected in the 8 man single elimination style tournament, but it ended beautifully. The coronation of Oleksandr Usyk as the first undisputed cruiserweight king and ultimately headed for big money fights at heavyweight, and the brutal end to the cinderella story of George Groves’s career.
Season 2 seeks to continue the series of exciting matchups with the bantamweights taking the place of the cruiserweights in this iteration. Everyone who matters is in the 8 man tournament and 3 and a half of the world titles that matter will be up for grabs.
Naoya Inoue enters as the favorite to win the tournament and just like Oleksandr Usyk in the first season, Inoue will start the tournament off in his fight against Panamanian former world champion Juan Carlos Payano. Failing to secure the fight with Nonito Donaire, who turned to be the most desired opponent in the tournament, Inoue had to settle with what looks to be the easiest matchup available, but also against the best known and most experienced of unranked participants.
Payano, 34, won a world title in 2012 against former 118 lb champion Anselmo Moreno in a hard fought battle. Payano then travelled to the US to defend his title against Rau’shee Warren. Both, the first fight and the rematch turned into close and somewhat controversial affairs with Payano winning one and losing another.
Since his loss to Warren, Payano has appeared on a few PBC shows in the US and the question is have those fights prepared him for what we believe will be the same Inoue from the lower weight classes?
Payano’s style is very simple and straightforward. He’s a pressure fighter and a swarmer. He’s done well in his career to take advantage of lesser skilled or ill prepared fighters and overwhelm them. The only problem is that he’s facing Naoya Inoue. As his record indicates, Payano doesn’t have much power and relies on other sides of his skillset. Will that be enough to keep Inoue at bay? Unlikely.
Naoya Inoue, best known for his highlight reel knockouts, will bring something Payano has not seen so far in his career. Inoue enters with the total package. He’s got power, he can counter, he can move, and he can box. Most of his opponents realize very quickly they have no chance to survive 12 rounds with him and with Inoue out to make a statement, we may see a short fight.
Eduard Troyanovsky, 38, has had a long and uninspiring professional career. Having turned pro 9 years ago he’s struggled to find a team that would help him to ascend the very top of the boxing game. He spent time in Germany crushing cans, then he did the same in Russia, however his career has stalled. After years of stagnation, he was discovered by Andrey Ryabinsky, who made Eduard a familiar part of the undercards of his shows.
An all-Russian showdown against a little known and vastly underexperienced Aik Shakhnazaryan was supposed to be a walk in the park for Troyanovsky, but instead we saw a competitive affair with Troyanovsky’s weaknesses exposed and a blueprint created in beating the knockout machine: in-and-out movement and combinations. Struggling to establish control, Troyanovsky surged to victory in the 8th round, landing a huge uppercut on Aik and taking the fight away. His power bailed him out that time, but the fight prophesied a difficult future.
Troyanovsky went on to capture some international attention and win a title before he was handed his first and only professional loss — to recent “Cinderella Man” sensation, Julius Indongo. See above.
Kiryl Relikh has had a tough road to date. Twice he saw himself in contention to grab a WBA title, but suspect scorecards derailed him. On his third attempt he was successful and with his previous losses serving to teach him how to win over the judges.
With Terence Crawford’s recent departure to welterweight, the 140 lb division is looking weak. There’s a lot of the young boys, some crafty veterans and some questionable characters. Kiryl Relikh, 28 years of age is one of the most experienced guys in the tournament, just hitting his physical prime. If he can transition the experience of his past 3 battles, he has good chances for WBSS gold. He needs to get past a devastating puncher first.
