The Past Week in Action

December 25
Izegem, Belgium: Light: Jean Pierre Bauwens (27-0-1) W PTS 8 Ahmed El Hamwi (8-4-1). Light Middle: Ayoub Nefzi (19-2-1,1ND) W PTS 8 Semjons Moroseks (17-22-1). Welter: Sasha Yengoyan (22-1-1) W TKO 3 Ahmed El Ghoulbzouri (7-3-1,1ND). On traditional Christmas Day show in Izegem Bauwens wins, but only just. The 24-year-old Belgian just scraped by “safe” opponent El Hamwi. The Belgian hope got his tactics wrong and was lucky to escape with the majority decision. Scores 78-75, 77-76 and 76-76.

Despite his No 5 rating with the EBU, Bauwens sometimes turns in sub-par performances such as a draw with Rudy Encarnacion and a majority decision over Jevgenijs Kirillovs. Hamwi is based in Luxemburg, but does most of his boxing in Belgium, with a fair degree of success. It was much the same for Tunisian-born Nefzi. Against Latvian loser Semjons he only just took a very close split decision. Scores 79-74, 77-76 and 75-77, with the middle score looking the most accurate.

Nefzi is rebuilding after losses to world rated Emanuele Della Rosa and Nikola Stevanovic, but this was nearly an unwelcome banana skin. Real scare for “La Bestia del Este” as Armenian-born Yengoyan was badly hurt and out on his feet in the first and wobbled again in the second. A body punch put El Ghoulbzouri down in the third and, although he easily beat the count, he indicated that he did not want to continue. First fight for Yengoyan since loss to Aslanbek Kozaev for EBU-EE title in September.

Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania: Super Middle: Mada Maugo (15-8,1ND) W TKO 1 Ken Oyolo (3-24-3). Super Bantam: Mbwana Matumla (21-7,1ND) W PTS 8 David Chalanga (4-1-2). Terrible matching sees “King Maugo Jr” easily stop poor Kenyan. Body punches from Maugo proved too much for Oyolo who retired at the end of the first round claiming damaged ribs.

Maugo is 6-3 in his last nine fights, with the three losses being to Francis Cheka. Kenyan Oyolo has lost his last twelve fights. Matumla returns to action. In his first fight for a year the Tanzanian shrugs of some rust to win 80-70 on all three cards. Back when he was beating guys such as Edison Torres and Simon Ramoni, Mbwana was a prospect and under contract to Don King. However, he never broke through, and faded out of the picture. First fight outside Kenya for Chalanga,

December 26

Bangkok, Thailand: Fly: Ryan Rey Ponteras (13-9-1) W TKO 5 Rusalee Samor (19-3-2). It’s getting so you can’t trust losers to lose. Filipino Ponteras was there to lose to Thai southpaw Samor, but no one told him, so he went out and battered Samor to defeat. Ponteras was on top in the first round and floored Samor in the second. The Filipino continued to dominate and Samor was only saved by the bell at the end of the fourth.

In the fifth Ponteras ended the fight sending Samor down and out with a series of powerful combinations. With only one ten round fight behind him, and a poor overall record, Ponteras looked an easy match, but hidden away in that record were a draw against world rated Fernando Lumacad and a majority decision loss to prospect Lolito Sonsona.

Amusingly Ponteras was supposed to wear the sponsors shorts in the fight, but wore his own for the first two rounds. After he knocked down Samor the sponsors suddenly decided that he looked a likely winner so they wanted him wearing their trunks. The young Filipino had to change into the sponsor’s trunks in the corner before they let the third round start. The 22-year-old wins the IBF Pan Pacific title. Despite the absence of any rated opponents, the IBF Pan Pacific title had given Samor a No 6 rating with the IBF, so a big win for Ponteras

December 27

Arusha, Tanzania: Super Middle: Francis Cheka (27-6-1) W PTS 12 Chimwemwe Chiotcha (10-2,1ND). Cheka retains IBF Continental Africa title with split decision over Malawian Chiotcha. Cheka found himself on the floor in the first round and suffered a bad cut in the second. Cheka started to get into the fight from the third, although Chiotcha was still able to score with hard counters.

Cheka dominated from the fourth and built a lead. Despite a strong finish the Malawian could not bridge the gap, losing the split decision. Scores 120-115, 118-112 and 114-116. The 30-year-old Cheka has won his last 13 fights but, Chiotcha, unbeaten in his last nine, made him work hard for this win

December 28

Georgetown, Guyana: light: Clive Atwell (9-0-1) W TKO 3 Revlon Lake (6-8-2). Super Bantam: Elton Dharry (11-5-1) W TKO 2 Ricardo Blackman (5-15). Atwell retains Guyanese title with repeat win over Lake. Atwell just punched too hard for modest Lake. A flurry of unanswered punches in the third round saw the referee stop the fight.

Dominica-based Atwell, who represented Guyana at both the 2007 and 2009 World Championships, had kayoed Lake in four rounds in a non-title fight in July. He is WBC Cabofe light welter champion and has five win by KO/TKO. Lake is 2-6 in his last eight fights.

“Coolie Bully” Dharry continued his winning run by halting Barbadian Blackman in a bad mis-match. Dharry had Blackman down in the first and when Blackman went down again in the second the fight was stopped. The 27-year-old Dharry, who splits his activity between Guyana and New York, has won his last nine fights, the last five by KO/TKO. Blackman has lost 14 of his last 15. Although Leon Moore was a joint promoter of this show along with Dharry, his proposed bout did not take place.

Turin, Italy: Cruiser: Stefano Abatangelo (15-2-1) W TKO 6 Maurizio Lovaglio (13-9). Super Middle: Roberto Cocco (11-9-1) W PTS 10 Matteo Rossi (7-2-1). Light: Massimiliano Ballisai (16-1) W TKO 2 Csaba Toth (8-17). Abatangelo wins IBF Mediterranean title with stoppage of champion Lovaglio. Over the first two rounds Lovaglio failed to make use of his advantages in height and reach and allowed “The Hammer” to get inside and take those rounds.

In the third Lovaglio finally got his jab working, but the fourth saw the beginning of the end. Abatangelo was relentless and a right uppercut followed by a series of head shots had Lovaglio reeling. Abatangelo kept up the pressure in the fifth and had Lovaglio on the floor briefly. In the sixth a right hook inside saw Lovaglio down on his knees. He made it to his feet but the fight was stopped. The 30-year-old Abatangelo, very short for a cruiserweight at 5’7”, is unbeaten in his last ten fights. Despite home advantage, Lovaglio, 30, was never really in the fight.

Cocco wins the vacant Italian title with close decision over novice Rossi. “Coconut” came in as a late sub and was having his first fight since being stopped in seven rounds by German Robert Woge in February. Cocco made the better start as a tentative Rossi missed the opportunity to force the pace against a short notice sub. Rossi was trying to work inside and had some success but Cocco was scoring well with counters. Although Cocco’s work rate dropped over the last two rounds he ran out a well deserved winner on scores of 97-93 twice and 96-94.

The 35-year-old new champion had failed to win any of his previous seven fights, registering six losses and a draw. He finally succeeded at his fourth attempt to win an Italian title. Rossi, also 35, had only faced very poor opposition.. Ballisai, also fighting in front of his home crowd, won a mismatch over Hungarian Toth. A right from Ballisai had Toth down in the first. The same punch put the poor Hungarian down in the second and the referee had seen enough. Ballisai was bouncing back from a shock fourth round kayo loss to Felix Lora in June.

Dudelange, Luxembourg: Welter: Ashley Theophane (33-5-1) W KO 1 Chaurembo Palasa (20-17-2). Light Middle: Nick Klappert (16-1) W TKO 1 Said Yazidu (26-10-1). Two farcical “title” fights saw Theophane and Klappert win vacant Universal Boxing Council world titles. Neither fight went past the first round. A left-right-left combination from Theophane put Palasa down and out.

The once world rated Theophane, 32, who only lost on a split decision to Danny Garcia in 2010, has now scored just two nothing wins since his shock loss to Darren Hamilton in May. Palasa lost to Mike Muya for the Commonwealth light title in 2003 but was going downhill even then Klappert had poor Yazidu down twice before the Tanzanian’s corner threw in the towel… Yazidu had lost only one of his last nine fights, but the opposition had been abysmal.

Bangkok, Thailand: Super Fly: Petch Sor Chitpattana (16-0) W PTS 10 Fernando Ocon (10-4). Sor Chitpattana, touted as the next Thai star, retained his WBC Youth Silver title with a close, unanimous decision over Filipino Ocon. This was the Thai’s toughest fight so far, as he only just edged out Ocon on scores of 96-94 twice and 98-92. The 19-year-old southpaw turned pro at 17 and has yet to be matched with any top opposition. Ocon took WBO No 2 llight fly Tommy Seran to a split decision in November.

Detroit, USA: Super Middle: Darryl Cunningham (27-4) W TKO 5 Eric Burke (6-29-3,1ND). Middle: Willie Fortune (15-0) W TKO 2 Shane Gierke (5-27-2). Heavy: Ali Mansour (10-0) W KO 1 Robert Feirick (0-2). Light: Erick DeLeon (1-0) W TKO 1 Eric Ricker (3-12). Mismatch sees southpaw Cunningham floor Burke in each of the first two rounds and then go to sleep. He finally woke up in the fifth and landed enough to convince the referee to stop the fight. Inside the distance losses to Andre Dirrell and Adam Trupish have put 38-year-old Cunningham’s statistics into context. Burke is without a win in his last 15 fights, which puts the “match” into context.

Another piece of rubbish matching sees “Fortune 500” halt inept Gierke in two. To put Fortune’s record into context (seems to be my favourite word this week) nine of his opponents have lost more fights than they have won, and three other have never won a fight. Gierke is without a win in his last 14 fights, and 21 of his losses have been by KO/TKO.

If you think things could not get worse-think again. It took Lebanese-born Canadian-based Mansour just 32 seconds to flatten Feirick. Flatten is probably the wrong word as Feirick weighed 254 ¾ lbs, so was too fat to flatten. The 33-year-old Mansour was having only his second fight after being inactive from January 2010 to last month.

Feirick is improving; he lasted only 52 seconds in his other fight.DeLeon puts Ricker down three times for stoppage. Another poor match, but notable for the debut of one of the most promising young Detroit fighter to come along in years. The 20-year-old DeLeon was National Golden Gloves champion in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and is considered a hot prospect.

December 29

Santurce, Puerto Rico: Super Feather: Gamalier Rodriguez (20-2-3) WTKO 3 Rafael Tirado (25-9-2). Bantam: Isander Beauchamp (10-0-1) W TKO Omar Soto 4 (15-9-1). Puerto Rican prospect Rodriguez has no trouble with Ecuadorian. Rodriguez was on top for the first three rounds and Tirado’s corner retired their man at the end of the third round. The 26-year-old Rodriguez is unbeaten in his last 13 fights and has 14 wins by KO/TKO. Poor match as the 39-year-old Tirado was having his first fight since September 2010.

Beauchamp, 25, gets his biggest win so far as he forces veteran Soto to retire at the end of the fourth. The 30-year-old Soto is way past his best and this was his sixth loss in a row. He had unsuccessful shots at the WBC interim straw title, the WBC light fly title and twice at the WBO interim light fly title.

December 30

Moscow, Russia: Heavy: Oleg Maskaev (37-7) W TKO 3 Owen Beck (29-12). Super Middle: Max Vlasov (25-1) W PTS 10 Geard Ajetovic (21-8-1). Middle: Sherzod Husanov (16-0-1) W KO 3 Max Chemezov (6-1). Former WBC champion Maskaev returns after three years of inactivity and halts a flabby Beck in three rounds. A slow start sees Maskaev flat-footed plodding after Beck who does nothing but clinch. Maskaev finally got through with a couple of punches and Beck went down.

It looked like a slip, but was counted as a knockdown. In the second Beck actually came to life. He had Maskaev backing up, and opened a cut over the right eye of the Russian. Maskaev took over in the third, and Beck was back to clinching mode and throwing nothing back. An uppercut, which looked to have landed no more than a glancing blow, saw Beck go down. He got up, but a genuine right put Beck down again, and although he got to his feet, the fight was halted. Now 43, Maskaev has a future, but a limited one. Nine losses in a row, eight of them by KO/TKO is all that needs to be said about the 36-year-old Jamaican Beck.

Vlasov wins wide unanimous verdict over British-based Serb. A frustrating night for Vlasov as Ajetovic shows why he has gone the distance with Daniel Geale, Matthew Hatton and Dmitri Pirog. The Serb used a high, tight guard to block the Russian’s efforts and rarely came out of his shell. Vlasov used his reach to keep the fight at a distance and scored with sharp uppercuts. He was the more accurate and busier fighter, but never really found a way around Ajetovic’s guard.

Ajetovic had a big ninth where he had Vlasov shaken with hard rights. The 26-year-old Russian was also down in the round, but it was ruled a slip. Vlasov put everything into a last round assault, but Ajetovic was not to be moved. Scores 99-92 twice and100-90. Vlasov has won six in a row since losing to Isaac Chilemba in 2011. Ajetovic, a 2004 Olympian, as a Junior won a gold medal in the European championships and a silver at the World. He lost only one of his first 17 bouts, but is 5-7 in his last twelve. The losses have all been to high quality opposition.

Former top amateur Husanov, having his first fight since June 2010, showed real class after a rusty start. Russian Chemezov was forcing the fight in the first, but Husanov kept getting through with an accurate jab. In the second Husanov took complete control with Chemezov forced to fight off the ropes for almost the whole three minutes.

Husanov got through with some heavy body punches in that round and a repeat dose in the third saw Chemezov lowering his guard to check them, only to be caught by a right to the temple. The Russian tried to get up but just could not make his legs obey him. The 32-year-old Husanov, who represented Uzbekistan at the 2000 and 20004 Olympics, and was a gold medal winner at the World Military Championships, has eight wins by KO/TKO. Chemezov found the gap in class too wide.

December 31

Tokyo, Japan: Super Feather: Takashi Uchiyama (19-0-1) W TKO 8 Brian Vasquez (29-1). Super Fly: Yota Sato (26-2-1) W PTS 12 Ryo Akaho (19-1-2). Super Fly: Kohei Kono (28-7) W KO 4 Tepparith Kokietgym (21-3). Super Fly: Petchbarngborn (19-6-1) W KO 1 Tomoya Kaneshiro (19-7-2). Uchiyama retains WBA title with stoppage of Costa Rican. Uchiyama dominated from the first. He found Vasquez an easy target with his jab and had Vazquez under pressure in every round.

Vazquez, who constantly changed guard, got more into the fight and was competitive in the fifth and sixth rounds. Even then Uchiyama was getting through with fast combinations and body shots. In the seventh Vazquez was the aggressor but again the superior skills and left hooks saw Uchiyama take that round. In the eighth it was all Uchiyama as he scored time and again with hard combinations.

The referee had seen enough and stopped the fight just as the bell rang to end the round. Sixth defence for Uchiyama and win No 16 by KO/TKO. Vasquez, who held the WBA secondary title, had beaten Alan Herrera, Santos Benavides and Jorge Lacierva, but was outclassed in Tokyo. Vazquez is only 25, so he can come again. In contrast Uchiyama did not turn pro until he was almost 26.

An all-Japanese match saw Sato retain the WBC title with a unanimous decision. Sato,28, took the first four rounds as he used his height and reach advantages to score with his southpaw jab, and also frustrated the aggressive Akaho with good movement. Sato kept the momentum going in the fifth and sixth, and despite a rally by Akaho, was well in front after the eighth.

The challenger, knowing he was behind, staged furious attacks over the last four rounds but Sato’s accurate counters and good defensive work was still picking up the points. Scores 118-110, 117-112 and 117-111. Second defence for Sato who is unbeaten in 22 fights reaching back to 2005. More was expected from the previously unbeaten Akaho, but he never worked out how to get inside the longer reach of Sato, or to get through the champions tight guard.

A major upset saw unfancied Kono kayo Thai Tepparith to win the WBA title. Kono had the better of the first round as Tepparith appeared tentative. That changed in the second and third rounds as the champion scored easily with counters on the aggressive challenger. In the fourth a tremendous left hook put Tepparith down and the fight was as good as over.

The Thai got to his feet but was an open target and Kono scored two more knockdowns to end the fight. The 32-year-old Kono had failed in title shots for both the WBA and WBC titles. After losing an eight round fight to a 2-0 novice in 2011 he had dropped out of the WBA ratings, which made his win all the more remarkable.

“Astro Boy” Tepparith, 24, had defended the title three times, with all of the fights being in Japan. His wins over Drian Francisco, Daiki Kameda, Tomonobu Shimizu and Noburo Nashiro had impressed. He was also undefeated in 19 bouts going back to 2008, and he had never lost inside the distance.

Former Kono victim Petchbarngborn took only 62 seconds to flatten Kaneshiro. The 27-year-old Thai, not a noted puncher with only eight wins by KO/TKO, was rated No 16 by the WBC. His only loss in his last 19 fights is to Kono on a close decision in September. Kaneshiro has lost 4 of his last 5 fights.

Osaka, Japan: Light Fly: Kazuto Ioka (11-0) W TKO 6 Jose A Rodriguez (28-2). Straw: Ryo Miyazaki (18-0-3) W PTS 12 Pornsawan (27-5-1). Heavy: Solomon Haumono 20-1-2) W TKO 5 Kyotaro Fujimoto (5-1-0). Ioka continues his fantastic career as he wins his second world title in only his eleventh fight. The former undefeated WBA/WBC strawweight champion was just too classy for overrated Mexican Rodriguez.

It looked as though it could be a short fight when a left hook to the body had Rodriguez down in the first. The Mexican survived but the excellent jab and vicious hooks to the body saw Ioka take rounds 2 and 3. Rodriguez had some success scoring well with a hard left hook in the fourth, but it seemed only a matter of time before Ioka found a way to end the fight. The 23-year-old Japanese fighter went to the body again in the fifth and Rodriguez began to wilt. In the sixth a two-punch combination put Rodriguez down.

The Mexican was in a bad way, and two rights, the first to the body and the second to the chin, put Rodriguez over again and the referee stopped the fight. Now seven wins by KO/TKO for Ioka who turned pro after failing to make the team for the 2008 Olympics. He won the Japanese strawweight title in his sixth fight, the WBC title in his seventh fight, unified the WBC and WBA titles in his tenth fight and then relinquished both titles.

The real WBA champion is Roman Gonzalez and the fight between Ioka and Gonzalez should be a classic. Rodriguez, 23, was having his first fight since losing the interim WBA title to Albert Rossel in April last year. His record is heavily padded with moderate opposition in his home base of Mazatlan, but he did outscore Nethra (27-1) to win the interim title in November 2011.

Miyazaki wins the vacant WBA title with split decision over Thai (Terminator) Pornsawan. Normally an aggressive fighter, Miyazaki chose to box in this fight and it paid off in the early rounds. The Japanese fighter took all of the first three rounds as Pornsawan made a slow start. The experienced Thai came into the fight from the fourth, being busier throwing light combinations. The rounds were close, but the Thai took the seventh and eighth to close the gap and the fight was in the balance after eight rounds.

Miyazaki clearly took the ninth, but the tenth was problematical as the referee deducted a point from Pornsawan for continuing to punch after a break call. The Thai also suffered a small cut over his left eyebrow from a clash of heads. After all that two judges had scored the round for Pornsawan, but the point reduction cancelled that out. Miyazaki cemented the win in the eleventh as he had Pornsawan badly hurt and almost down from a left hook. The last round was hectic but even. Scores 116-111, 116-112 and 113-114 so the point deduction was not important.

Miyazaki, 24, becomes the new WBA champion, never having previously weighed inside the weight limit for that division. That’s the WBA for you. The three draws on the record of the former undefeated OPBF and Japanese champion are all of the technical variety. Pornsawan, 34, was WBA champion for just under three months in 2011. He is now 1-5-1 in seven title fights.

The only fight in which there was no Japanese winner saw New Zealander Haumono stop Japanese novice Fujimoto in five rounds to lift the vacant OPBF title. Both fighters were slow and ponderous with “Solo” having the edge in height, reach and experience. The end came early in the fifth when Haumono nailed Fujimoto with a heavy right hook. Haumono, 37, had taken two years out of the ring but returned in 2011.

He won the vacant Australian title with a stoppage of Nigerian Frank Egobi in September. He has 18 wins by KO/TKO, but a loss for the vacant WBFoundation title in 2009 to former top amateur Justin Whitehead (Whitehead was 3-0 at the time), and a draw with prelim fighter Joey Wilson last July, show his limitations. WBC No 14 Fujimoto, 26, had outpointed Chauncy Welliver in September at a time when Welliver was rated No 15 by the WBC.