American Dreaming
Erislandy Lara’s (22-2-2 13 KO) fight with Jan Zaveck (35-4 19 KO) was a mismatch both on paper and in the ring. Zavek, a decent enough fighter and former champion at welterweight but not in the class of a Lara.
Zavek was unable to continue in the third after being hit by a Lara left. After the shot landed, Zaveck reached out to touch gloves with Lara and then turned to the referee as Lara landed a combination causing the referee to stop the fight. Afterwards, Zaveck stated that he was unable to continue due to muscle spasms in his shoulder that were caused by the Lara left.
It was likely a foregone conclusion. From the opening round, Lara stalked Zaveck rocking him a few minutes in. Over the next two rounds it was the brilliant tactical style of Lara, albeit with a bit more of bad intentions than we’ve seen from Lara in the past.
Lara has been vocal about getting a rematch with Canelo or fight with GGG. Standing-8 had Lara winning the Alvarez fight 8-4 so make the choice here GGG, the contrast in styles would make for an interesting matchup.
Heavyweight Snore
Former lineal heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s performance on Saturday was….. well…..uh……., unbecoming comes to mind.
Wladimir’s last loss was in April of 2004. Since then he had won twenty-two fights and nineteen of those were title defenses. It’s debatable, but you can probably count the number of quality opponents he had in said title defenses on one hand.
In most of his fights, he has been able to lean on his opponent and wear them down. In doing so, he was eventually able to set up a KO or have the challenger so worn down, a few jabs followed by some power were enough to steal rounds.
Against Fury, an opponent who was bigger, he was unable to employ such a tactic and at this point in his career it was disappointing to watch that he did not have a Plan B. And where was the right hand?
So, Fury is now the man that beat the man that beat the….., it’s not his fault, he did what he had to do. It wasn’t spectacular but decent movement and timely punches were enough against an uninterested opponent.
His title run will most likely be a short one. Don’t see him getting past WBC champ Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua.
At least he’s entertaining in a theatrical sense.
He Couldn’t Handle The Truth
Errol Spence Jr. (19-0 16 KO) knocked down Alejandro Barrera (28-3 18 KO) twice in the fifth round, the second coming after Barrera appeared to wave his glove as if to say “no mas”. Spence was spectacular as usual with combination punching, a stiff jab, and a great body attack.
The one negative that stood out in this performance was how much Barrera was able to land clean solid punches. Spence showed a great beard but as he moves towards a potential title shot, he’d be wise to shore up his defense.
Spence Jr. is a rising star and future member on the P4P lists.
Superman Krush
Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson ran into each other this weekend at the DeGale-Bute fight. They exchanged some “niceties” and spoke about a potential fight. Hopefully the networks can work together on a co-promoted fight. Stevenson was later quoted as saying that Kovalev was scared of him, doubtful. Hopefully this division gets unified.
Step It Up
From the opening bell, it was evident that Jermall Charlo’s (23-0 18 KO) speed and power were going to be too much for challenger Wilky Campfort (21-2 12 KO). Using his jab to set up his right hand, Charlo dominated Campfort as expected stopping him in the 4th.
Charlo is probably more suited for middleweight but stated he would remain at jr. middle and defend his title. No matter where he fights, he needs to step up the competition, it’s time to see him tested.
Road Warrior
James DeGale (22-1 14 KO) went to Lucian Bute’s (32-3 25 KO) backyard and made his first title defense in a close action packed fight.
Bute looked sharp in trying to reclaim the title he held from 2007-2012 with ten defenses. At thirty-five and six years senior to DeGale, he forced the champion to work all twelve rounds to keep his title.
Standing-8 