Boxing Preview, 3/4th September
Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
This weekend of boxing isn’t stacked with superstars, but a busy slate does throw up some interesting matches, including some decent action in the UK on Saturday and a crossroads heavyweight fight on Sunday. Let’s take a look.
Liam Smith vs Hassan Mwakinyo
Light Middleweight
Liam Smith has been around a bit. Too good for British level, tending to fall a little short against the elites at world level, although he can feel hard done by that his most recent effort to build to a title was disrupted by a controversial loss to Magomed Kurbanov. His opponent here, in his latest and probably last run at the top, is Mwakinyo, who rarely boxes outside of Tanzania but notched a win over former world champion Julius Ndongo last time out and scored an upset KO over Sam Egginton the last time he came to England, back in 2018.
Smith should win here, though, unless he’s really starting to feel his age. Mwakinyo has a good jab and combines it well with forward pressure and combinations, but he has a notable tendency to loop almost all of his shots- and that is exactly the weakness that let Smith take over against Anthony Fowler with his sharper, straighter punching inside those loops. Expect some fun exchanges in which Smith has to work for his win, but he should break this opponent down in the end.
The card also features a women’s world title unification, between Natasha Jonas and Patricia Berghult at 154lbs (though both women, having history at much smaller weights, came in some way under that at just over 149 each).
Berghult is the unbeaten fighter of the pair, and 10 years younger than Jonas’ 38, but it’s fair to say that the challenges Jonas has faced so far are much higher, with a draw against Terri Harper and a close loss to Katie Taylor on her slate. Stylistically, Berghult moves well and should offer Jonas more challenge than Chris Namus, who she blew away to win this belt, but her tendency to swing wild and overbalance when she goes on the offensive should give the advantage to Jonas, who has a nice line in timing her punches in between her opponents’, and may be able to catch her leaning in.
The pick of the night might well be the British title fight at light heavyweight, where Dan Azeez defends his title against Shakan Pieters. Azeez won the belt by beating the brakes off Hosea Burton, breaking him apart with his constant pressure and his willingness to throw with his opponents. Pieters, at 6 foot 6, is huge for the division, but despite commentators’ regular insistence that he must be so, he isn’t really a guy who’ll stay long and box behind a jab. Instead, he’ll use that tool to disrupt his opponent’s movement as he pushes forward, then throw combinations in mid-range before stepping off. The fight, then, will be decided by whether he can let those shots go and slide back before Azeez gets close enough to deliver his power at the closer ranges he’s comfortable in. If he can do that, he might well be able to catch Azeez off-balance and end the fight with some timely counters, but if not he’s likely to be overwhelmed by the champion’s power and strength in close. Either way, neither man is a shrinking violet so we should get a war.
Look out also for Adam Azim, a 140lber who may be the UK’s most exciting prospect right now.
Juan Francisco Estrada vs Argi Cortez
Super Flyweight
The main event here is frankly embarrassing, a tickover fight for Estrada as he waits for the pieces to fall into place for the trilogy fight with Roman Gonzalez. That’s fine so far as it goes, but there must have been more proven opponents available than Argi Cortez, who has never fought even remotely close to world level, let alone someone who’s been on the p4p lists in his time. He’s quite a tidy boxer, boxing nicely off the back foot behind a jab followed by counter combinations, but even accounting for Estrada’s tendency to fight to an opponent’s level, and the possibility that Cortez just hasn’t got chances and is getting one now, the speed difference alone should make this one-sided.
The undercard features a couple of title fights. First, Mexican Hector Flores takes on South African Sivethani Nontshinga for a vacant IBF light-flyweight belt. Neither man is particularly proven or has fought at world level before, though we saw Flores beat up and stop Welshman Jay Harris last year. Nontshinga meanwhile won this chance with a controversial decision over Christian Araneta last March. There are a couple of things that make Flores seem the more likely winner- first, although Nontshinga was previously typically a quite aggressive fighter himself, he reacted to the power of Araneta by going completely on the back foot, and not all that well- regardless of the ultimate correctness of the decision, he was hurt a few times and dropped once. If the Mexican can bring the pressure and bodywork that he did against Harris, Nontshinga will find it hard to escape- and ring-rust might play a role, since he’s sat on the mandatory shot since then and therefore Flores has fought three times since the last time Nontshinga was in the ring.
The other title is a rematch at women’s featherweight, where Erika Cruz defends her WBA belt against Jelena Mrdjenovich, a fight being re-run after the first was stopped early due to an accidental clash of heads. Cruz had won every round to that stage and there isn’t really a lot of scope to believe that Mrdjenovich will have done much to bridge the gap in the sharpness of their punching and her very limited defence, so expect a repeat.
Andy Ruiz vs Luis Ortiz
Heavyweight
Being a rare Sunday event adds to the slightly ramshackle feeling of this meeting between two former contenders at a crossroads for very different reasons - Ortiz by dint of just being really old, Ruiz needing to get himself back on track after completely derailing himself after shocking Anthony Joshua. He’s only fought once since then, an unconvincing win over Chris Arreola over a year ago, so it’s nearly impossible to tell where he is physically and mentally - but despite scoring consecutive knockout wins since his loss to Deontay Wilder in 2019, Ortiz is himself so inactive and so far past his best years that Ruiz might not even have to be at his best to win. It’s hard to get a read, so let’s just take it as if they both showed up as well as can be expected- in which case Ruiz should win by virtue of having much, much faster hands. If he can carry a pace over 12, and especially if he can rediscover the surprisingly fluid movement he had until the Joshua victory went to his head, he should have too much here.
The co-main here is an intriguing lightweight matchup between Isaac Cruz and Eduardo Ramirez. Cruz has shown his mettle in a competitive loss to Tank Davis and then frankly a beating of Yuriorkis Gamboa (who was badly let down by the referee and his corner), whereas Ramirez doesn’t have that kind of name on his resume but has built a solid run to get here. The winner will definitely be hoping to move on to world level after this.
Cruz has proven himself a well-rounded aggressor, combining some roughhouse bullrushing with more measured pressure and decent defence when necessary, whereas Ramirez is a general all-rounder, a southpaw whose preference is probably to trade in the pocket but who can also get behind a jab, move, and draw his opponents on when he needs to. Cruz will be seeking to impose his strength and push Ramirez out of shape, but what might prove a difference is the Mexican’s ability with breaking his own rhythm, faking and feinting approaches and retreats and then moving a beat later, ready to throw. Cruz isn’t a stranger to varying his timing himself, but he does commit to rushes and if he does that biting on a Ramirez feint he could get himself in trouble.
The most notable fight on the rest of the card is a veteran throwdown between Abner Mares and Miguel Flores, also at lightweight. Both men will be hoping for another shot at world level with a win, though frankly both are probably falling away from that level now- but either way, neither one is known for backing down, so it should be worth a watch.
The rest is mostly a slate of prospects. Probably the most exciting is Jose Valenzuela, another lightweight, who had been scheduled to fight Jezreel Corralles but after visa issues scrapped that is now being thrown in with fellow prospect Edwin de los Santos. Los Santos has a loss on his record but he’s a creative and powerful puncher willing to take a risk to catch his opponent off-balance - that could get him in trouble against Valenzuela’s sharp, creative footwork and flashy combinations, but a lot of Valenzeula’s defence is predicated on reflex and being faster than his opponent, and his opponent may well be fast enough to catch him moving.
Also on the card is Joey Spencer, a flashy technical counterpuncher who uses a low lead hand and head movement to bait his opponents before delivering some smart answering shots from odd, hard-to-read angles- it’ll be hard to say how his style translates up a level with every step till he gets there, but he’s definitely one to watch.