The Fight Site Boxing Preview, 18th December
(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
Even ignoring that mighty rematch between Tyron Woodley and Jake Paul, which we tragically can’t cover due to supply issues with fucks to give, boxing has another great of a slate this weekend. Let’s take a look at the Saturday fights, led off by a superb card from the UK.
Joseph Parker vs Derek Chisora II
This card, obviously, is led by the heavyweight rematch between Chisora and Parker, which ended in a slightly contentious win for Parker the first go round in May. We’re not gonna see much different technically here- Chisora, the weirdly long-running mayhem man (he looked cooked nine and a half years ago getting splattered by David Haye, and nine years later he’s still here, bothering good fighters in the division) trying to impose his physicality against the limitations of his age, versus Parker, younger, fresher, probably a more solid boxer but prone to getting a little intimidated and gunshy at spots in his fights. It’ll be back and forth, scrappy, not overly technical, with Chisora being the aggressor in terms of space but not necessarily throwing more punches because, though Parker gets shy, Chisora gets tired. It’ll be fun. Not good, necessarily, but fun. Unless Parker discovers the will to just jab and move, in which case he’ll win easily and boringly.
Also on the bill is possibly the true fight of the night, a super-middleweight clash between Carlos Gongora and Lerrone Richards. Gongora, is a 32-year-old Equadorian who came somewhat out of nowhere to defeat Ali Akhmedov a year ago, is technically defending the belt he won in that clash, but it’s an IBO belt so mostly no-one cares. But it is a solid fight between two sneakily good fighters, and an intriguing fight of almost entirely opposing styles. Gongora is a pocket boxer, very good at both landing shots and defending while in close (being very slick with a close-range slip). He’s happy doing so both moving forward and backwards - in this fight he will very much be doing the former for the most part, because Richards is very committed to boxing at range, stinging (appropriately, given his likely chosen ring outfit- he likes a bee motif) his opponent with jabs and moving, and mostly just clinching up and holding when it gets in close. Obviously, this will be decided on whether Gongora can close that distance effectively, because just grabbing won’t be enough to stop him landing shots if he does. Richard’s movement is okay, a bit prone to cornering himself for no reason, but his jab is very good, and he does have a nice line in an intercepting uppercut as an opponent moves in, and that might be the decider here, as Gongora’s defence while coming into range isn’t as good as when he’s where he wants to be. But it’s a very tight one to call, especially since both fighters are still relatively untested. One to keep an eye on.
The other notable fight we’ll see is another super-middlweight one, this one for a vacant European belt. Jack Cullen, aka the magnificently nicknamed ‘Little Lever’s Meat Cleaver’, faces off against Frenchman Kevin Lele Sadjo. Cullen’s been around on the British scene for some time now, and recently put together a nice run of success, handing prospect John Docherty his first loss and then putting the nails into Avni Yildirim’s career at the top level in an upset win. This’ll be another clash of styles, but should be a fun one, since while Cullen will be looking to defuse what looks like Lele Sadjo’s rather relentless pressure, he’ll be doing it by countering and throwing volume of his own, rather than picking at range. Lele Sadjo is fairly hittable, but he will be rolling in behind a jab, and refusing to let Cullen get any free shots off, answering apparently everything with a shot of his own. This could catch fire.
Also on the card is Zelfa Barrett, facing off against Australian Bruno Tarimo. On paper this could be a bit one-sided, but Barrett, though he seems to have worked on this, has shown tendencies to fold against strong pressure in the past, and Tarimo (at least in his fight with Paul Fleming) looks completely undeterrable, so Barrett may have to find the knockout to be sure of staying the course here. Also on the bill are Matchroom favourite Alen Babic, probably hoping to play himself into a shot at the winner of the main event, and two women’s prospects, Sandy Ryan and Rhiannon Dixon.
Gilberto Ramirez vs Yunieski Gonzalez
The two America cards are shallower, but with notable main events, and we lead off with the light-heavyweight clash between Zurdo Ramirez and Gonzalez. Both of these guys have had rather odd careers - Zurdo, at age 30, still feels somewhat unproven despite being 42 fights deep and at or about world title level since roughly 2015, whereas the 37-year-old Gonzalez also fought (to a contentious loss) against Jean Pascal in that year but has somehow never managed to force his way into a world title fight or even a 12 rounder, despite fighting multiple opponents who the full length might have been expected against. You’d expect the younger man’s smoother combinations and greater experience at this level to combine well against the jankier, somewhat open Cuban veteran, who is unlikely to punish Zurdo’s somewhat straight-lined tendencies, but Zurdo is not unhittable himself and Gonzalez hits hard, so there’ll be openings there for him.
David Morrel vs Alantez Fox
Morrell is a 23 year old Cuban who holds a version of the WBA’s super-middle world title belt, but not the real one, which is obviously held by Canelo. Boxing. His opponent Alantez Fox has been about, clearly isn’t a world level fighter, but since Morrell hasn’t really proven himself there, there might be something here. Probably not though - although Morrell does leave his chin very, very open when throwing, and leaps in without setup too often, Fox is a defensive fighter who makes too many defensive errors to expect him to really deal with Morrell’s speed, power and aggression. The Cuban has other issues for someone claiming to hold a world belt- he squares up too much, he throws too many sloppy loopy shots rather than straights- and should probably be developing at a lower level since he does have the talent to be very good in future, but Fox, despite his relative experience, isn’t likely to be the guy to test him here.
The rest of the card is worth keeping an eye on for those looking out for prospects. Richardson Hitchins is unbeaten, a fighter who’s tight defensively but can get sloppy when he goes on the attack. Malik Hawkins lost his own 0 a year ago when Subriel Matias broke him down for a doctor’s stoppage in six rounds, but Hitchins isn’t likely to do the same, so he’ll be hoping to get back on track. Hawkins is the more aggressive of the two, but he likely will struggle to pin Hitchins down, since he follows more than he ring-cuts, and it’s likely to be Hitchins moving on to the next step. Before that, we’ll see the lightweight Jose Valenzuela, an excitingly aggressive and yet defensively clever fighter- his hands are down, but his head movement is usually good (he has that young-guy problem, sometimes he forgets) and he uses slips to set up further shots, nice stuff - attempt to continue to catch attention in a good fight against Austin Dulay, whose own prospect run has been hit by losses to Chris Colbert and Diego Magdaleno but who’s a good test for someone of Valenzuela’s level and could restart some of that hype if he wins.
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