RBRBoxing‘s Robert Contreras takes a look back at the violence that was this past weekend.
Saturday at Brooklyn, New York
Deontay Wilder KO9 Artur Szpilka
WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) is great television.
In Round 9 of his latest title defense, Wilder probed out a left hand that kissed the top of Szpilka’s (20-2, 15 KOs) head and unlatched a right hand for the most brutal knockout of his career. The Polish heavyweight, who trained out of Houston, Texas, was sprawled out on his back for several minutes before being taken to a hospital on a stretcher.
Wilder was on the ground just a round earlier. The defending champion spilled over on the canvas throwing a wild right hook. It’s hardly the first time fans have seen the Alabama native completely off balance in the ring. His sloppy TKO of Audley Harrison comes to mind. His late stoppage of Johann Duhaupas last year in September was another example of how Wilder has trouble remembering to his feet under him.
Outside of that, Wilder was losing this fight against Szpilka—the official scorecards be damned. The 26-year-old Szpilka demonstrated some fine upper body movement and was jumping into range to negate a seven-inch reach disadvantage to hit Wilder upstairs and follow up with wicket left-rights to the champion’s body.
Bad Left Hook managing editor Scott Christ also had the Polish heavyweight ahead to the tune of 77-75 before his final fall.
Tyson Fury, the real heavyweight kingpin, wanted in on the action and found his way into the ring after the big knockout to confront Wilder. The two heavyweight titlists traded barbs, intensifying anticipation of a would-be gigantic unification match.
But it’s not happening.
Former title challenger Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs), whose only loss is to Wladimir Klitschko, has been Wilder’s mandatory for nearly eight months now. The WBC, though, has inexplicably granted Wilder three voluntary defenses since then.
Povetkin is a lethal combination puncher and the best boxer above 200 pounds not named Klitschko, according to the TBRB. That’s the fight that needs to happen and one, frankly, fans shouldn’t expect Wilder to win.
He stands a chance, sure. The way he vanquished Szpilka proves he can knock out any heavyweight in the world. His entire performance, however, confirms he can be outboxed by most of them too.
Charles Martin TKO3 Vyacheslav Glazkov
Martin (23-0, 21 KOs) lifted heavyweight gold on Saturday. The enormous southpaw, though, hardy earned it.
After a tame opening two rounds, Glazkov’s knee (more like “glass knee,” amirite) completely gave out. Referee Albert Earl Brown called a halt to the bout in the third stanza. Martin tried to convince fans after the fight to Showtime’s Jim Gray that his stray punches somehow caused his opponent’s demise. But the footage refutes this.
The 29-year-old Martin was lucky to be there. The IBF belt he won was left vacant after Fury (again, the real heavyweight champ) was stripped for refusing to fight Glazkov (21-1-1, 13 KOs), who was been gift-wrapped at least three decision victories, to chase a legitimate opponent in Wilder.
The undefeated Martin has never beaten anybody of note, let alone train for 12 rounds before last weekend. And now he’s a world champion after a freak injury—maybe the least deserving in a sport chockfull of paper titlists.
Saturday at London, England
David Haye TKO1 Mark de Mori
Haye (27-2, 25 KO) had not been inside the square circle since 2012 before fighting destroying Mark de Mori (30-2-2, 26 KO), an untested mountain of a man, Saturday at the O2 Arena in London.
The homecoming was short-lived. And thankfully so because B.J. Flores was on microphone duties.
The 35-year-old Haye stalked his man, who did not land a single punch, for just over two minutes before slipping a left hand from a cornered de Mori and dropped a clubbing right hand that stunned his target. Three more punches in quick succession finished the job, giving Haye, a former lineal cruiserweight champion, a quick victory.
Saturday at Dallas, Texas
Top Rank Promotions held an event in the Lone Star State. The bill featured both the past and the future.
Matt Korobov UD8 Jose Ovando
Former middleweight title challenger Korobov (25-1, 14 KOs) returned to the ring to bludgeon Ovando (14-9-1, 11 KOs) en route to a wide eight-round unanimous decision. It was Korobov’s first fight since falling to “Irish” Andy Lee in upset fashion in December 2014.
Results: Matt Korobov wins by Unanimous Decision tonight on @UniMas Solo Boxeo. pic.twitter.com/NqLGCkdzrx
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) January 17, 2016
The 2008 Russian Olympian utilized a crouching two-fisted attack to completely neutralize his foe’s six-inch reach advantage.
By Round 6, Korobov’s buzzsaw attack forced the Mexican to repeatedly hug and grab to bide his time.
Erick De Leon KO1 Fidel Navarrete
Super prospect De Leon (12-0, 6 KOs) was every bit explosive as one can be fighting at The Bomb Factory in Dallas. At just under 2.5 minutes into the very first round, De Leon fired a right hook to the jaw of an overwhelmed Navarrete (8-2-2, 4 KOs) in a junior lightweight bout. The journeyman crashed to the canvas face-first.
De Leon, 23, resides in Detroit but trains out of Robert Garcia’s gym un Oxford, California. He has also honed his fistic craft under the late, great Emanuel Steward who once referred to him as a “superstar.”
The talented Mexican import was just a teenager.
Fight of the Year Tracker
No fights from last weekend were considered for nomination. This writer will keep you updated on all the great fights throughout the world on a weekly basis. So far this young year, there are two FOTY candidates:
Evgeny Gradovich MD10 Jesus Galicia
Miguel Flores UD10 Mario Briones
Haye Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images
Header Photo by Stephanie Trapp/Showtime
