(Updated
June 8, 2005
)
...all other dates are fictional
December 28th, 2003...
Updated performance rankings released
Updated Top 15 Title Rankings released
Updated World Rankings released
Updated Title Histories
Campos-Bruhne Rematch Set for February 12th
In the continuing saga that is the middleweight WBC title tournament, the rematch between Pedro Campos and Eberhard Bruhne has been scheduled for February 12th, 2004 in Argentina. In their first meeting, September 3rd, both fighters concluded their match with a majority draw. The winner of this bout, if there is one, will face Guillermo Carriles for the final title match. This will be part of a 6-fight card. The undercard will showcase:
Heavyweights, Thomas Griffith #30 and Deangelo "Time Bomb" Talactac #37.
Lightweights, Juan Antonio Green 9-6-4 versus Lars von Bekker 13-5-1.
Middleweights, LeRoy Hixon #74 versus Emeterio Gutierrez #69.
Light heavyweights, Robert Scottson and Anakletos Nikolaides.
Welterweights, Klaus Pappendahl versus Dakole Mukong.
AFF Announces Big Night of Fights Coming in August 2004 and Title Match-up for May
The AFF announced that Alexandros Economakis (WR#2) will square off against Colton Orr (WR#3) on May 20th for the vacant WBC welterweight title. Economakis 20-1-0(17) is the current number 1 ranked boxer by the WBC with Orr 21-0-0(20) number 2. The only loss for Alexandros (Greece) was an upset to Ocelopan Soarez in 2001 by a 4th round TKO. Orr (Canada) has had some impressive wins in his undefeated career including an 8th round knockout of current WBA champion, Benigno Yasay, in September of 2000. This should be a great match-up. Both fighters are nearly equal in hitting power, defense, and endurance. Alexandros is better inside, while Colton is better on the outside. The undercard as well as the location has not yet been announced.
The AFF also made reference to a "big night of fights" to be scheduled for early August of next year. Even though no names were announced, the AFF did report that there will be a match for the IBO heavyweight title and another for the WBA light heavyweight. There is also speculation that the WBC title tournament finale may take place on this card.
Fights of note this month...
Jerome Golard 18-0-0(13) SD David Sommerset 17-3-0(15) (Heavyweights)
Kris Wierman 21-0-0(14) KO4 Alexej Korbel 2-19-0(0) (Middleweights)
Liam Maghee 21-0-0(12) UD Balaputra Alatas 13-7-1(7) (Welterweights)
October 9th, 2003...
Benigno Yasay is the WBA Welterweight Champ
Tokyo, Japan. #1 Benigno Yasay of the Philippines became the WBA welterweight title holder last night after his impressive 7th round knockout of defensive guru and 2-1 favorite, #2 Boon-Nam Panomyaong. Both boxed well and the match seemed to be destined for a 12 round decision with no clear winner emerging. Until round seven. At 30 seconds in, Panomyaong would go down when he suffered a hard shot to the ribs for an 8 count. Combinations to the head would put him to the canvas for good two minutes later. Yasay is now 19-1-0 with 16 stoppages for and Boon-Nam is 16-3-1 with 3 KO's.
Jim Faxter #5 and Gordon McKenzie #11 met in a light heavyweight match as the co-feature for this card. Faxter started strong but McKenzie appeared to be in control for most of this one. Gordon went down in the 5th after a strong combination but rebounded with a flurry of hard shots that forced referee Lawrence Cole to stop the contest nearing the end of round six.
Ringside expert, Jim Trunzo commented right before the stoppage, "Faxter has heart and he won't go down, but that last uppercut from Gordon effectively ended this bout. Whether Cole ends it now or after the next bell sounds, it's over."
McKenzie was leading in all scorecards 48-47 through 5 rounds.
Other matches on the undercard...
#8 Luis Henriques UD#124 Kurt Enders (Middleweights)
#12 Renke Kolf KO11#34 Thoibo Xhoma (Welterweights)
Jean Marie Leguy MD Chike Aladefa (Lightweights)
Percy Eaton KO3 Martin Alvarado (Lightweights)
In other news, 4 heavyweight fighters have announced their retirements from the AFF and 2 new heavyweights will soon make their debuts.
Billy Kidwell, 0-20-0 from the United States retired October 1st.
Ken "The Ghost" Ghostford, 1-19-0 from the UK retired October 1st.
Isaac Obadewe, 5-13-1 from Nigeria retired September 24th.
Bran Baggett, 4-12-3 from Ireland retired September 23rd.
Kang-xi Geng from China and Andre Taffarel from Portugal will make their AFF debuts in December. Many have said that Geng is one of the hardest punches they have seen in recent memory but needs to polish the rest of his ring skills in a big way. The comments on Taffarel have been that he can hit hard as well but struggles defensively. Andre supposedly has a "dirty" fighter reputation and can be excessively wild at times.
September 3rd, 2003...
Guillermo Carriles Advances in the WBC Middleweight Title Tournament...
...but will have to wait on an opponent for the final and deciding match. Cintas Center in Cincinnati, OH was the site for a great fight card that featured the two semi-final matches in the WBC middleweight title tournament. When it was all said and done only one participant would move on to the title fight however. In the first of a double main event, Pedro Campos and Eberhard Bruhne fought to a majority draw. The trend for the first seven was each boxer winning every other round on the score cards with the only knockdown occurring in the 5th when Campos fell to the canvas a little over a minute in. Two out of the three judges scored the bout 113-113. Sipho Zondo from South Africa gave Campos the edge with a 114-112 mark. The WBC quickly concluded this morning that a rematch will take place, tentatively set for mid-February, 2004. This means that Guillermo Carriles, who defeated Tony Quackenbush in a 116-113 | 116-112 | 116-111 unanimous decision in the second main event, will have to stand by. Carriles has the option to sign for a bout in early 2004 if he wishes to. The result of such would have no bearing on his tournament status.
The co-feature saw John Thomas KO2 Davey Boulette in a heavyweight contest that was billed as a good even match-up for this division. Two seconds before round number two would have ended, Thomas unleashed an overhand hand right that caught Boulette squarely across the forehead. Davey went to one knee instantly. At the count of 6 Davey put the other knee down and never returned to his feet until well after the count of 10.
Other bouts on the undercard...
Hirohisa Ogura KO8 Jean-Baptiste Rouaix (Welterweights)
Diego Moreira UD Ernak Tokody (Lightweights)
Johann Van Mechelen TKO3 Barys Sukhoi (Lightweights)
August 29th, 2003...
Pablo "Gallego" Castellano becomes the AFF's First Title Holder
Amid some controversy, Pablo Castellano, now 16-3-0 with 11 knockouts, defeated Clint Stiftner with a 4th round TKO to win the IBO Lightweight title last night in Buffalo, NY.
At 1:46 of what became the final round, referee Arthur Mecante stopped the fight because of a badly bleeding gash over Stiftner's left eye. "I couldn't believe Mecante thought that small cut was bad enough to stop the fight," said Clint, who was a 2-1 favorite going into the bout. "I was definitely doing well in there tonight, my strategy was solid, and I felt I was winning. Then it was like someone just decided to hand the title to over to my opponent. Kinda like a nightmare that makes no sense." he added.
Stiftner's camp also made reference to Mercante's history of stopping fights early and quickly voiced their opinion that this was grounds for a sooner-than-later rematch.
Stiftner was leading by 1 point on all of the judge's scorecards through round number three. When told of the comments made by Stiftner's side, the new IBO champ from Argentina who speaks English fairly well simply stated, "If he, (Clint), wanted to continue fight he should not have bled so much."
"A couple things to look at here...Stiftner felt he was winning but was the only one to be knocked down (in the 3rd round), and was the only one to have blood running into one of his eyes, heavily I might add, when this fight ended." said ringside expert Mark Heinsohn who also remarked on a possible rematch, "As far as a rematch, I think Michael Reid Jr. may have something to say about that. Remember, Stiftner's only other loss was to Reid in a 3rd round knockout if I recall correctly. "
Undefeated Michael Reid is the new
IBO #1 contender and would be the likely candidate for Castellano's first defense sometime in '04.
If not given an immediate rematch, Stiftner's next bout would probably come late 2003\early 2004 if he wishes to accept one. When asked if he would be ready for a bout at the end of this year, the one they call "Volcano" replied, "I just went an entire 4 rounds and got a little scratch, of course I'll be ready to go soon. Heck I can go tomorrow."
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The co-feature for this event was a heavyweight showdown of highly ranked fighters. One time #1, Smi Semiti took his undefeated record into the ring to face Russian Zedno Stana 18-1-0(18). In about half of a minute into the first round, the tone for the rest of the fight was close to set, when Stana ripped a crippling right to Semiti that forced the Fiji Islands native to go on the defensive for the rest of the round. Zedno easily won the opening round as well as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Semiti walked into cross that put him down for a seven count in the 3rd. In the fifth, Smi was able to cause Stana to go down to a knee for a quick count and won his first round of the bout. He also did well in rounds 6 and 8, but the hard-hitting Russian was in too much control going into the 9th. An overhand right put Semiti to the canvas at 51 seconds, a perfect cross from Stana led to another knockdown at 1:29, and finally at 2:44, Smi went down for the third time by a constant punching attack from his opponent to end the contest.
Also on the undercard...
Ryan Dexter TKO7 Pribislav Jelinek (Light Heavyweights)
Max Jones KO10 Jacob Brendle (Middleweights)
Gula Louahla MD Nikiforos Terzin (Welterweights)
Luis Morante SD Roger Jennings (Lightweights)
In other news, welterweight Robert Drake (WR#1, Pp#2, WBC#1) suffered his first loss to 98th ranked Dragomir Niculescu 9-8-2(2) by a 5th round TKO in Pachuca, Mexico on the 20th.