Sunday, August 19, 2018

Fury, Frampton win, Rosales crushes Barnes

The boxing challenge was brought to you from Belfast with three bouts of interest with world ramifications and some less than thrilling action at times.

The fight that most were interested in viewing, was Tyson Fury's second fight back from hiatus and the big question was not if Fury would win, that was a given against journeyman Francisco Pianeta, but could Fury avoid an injury that could cost him a WBC title fight against champion Deontay Wilder later this year?
Fury managed to do that in winning each round in a lopsided unanimous decision over the plodding Pianeta.
For all the appearances of the hulking frame from the 6'9 Fury, he just isn't that exciting of a fighter with a refusal to set his feet to throw power shots and it showed in this one as he never seriously hurt a fighter that has been stopped in one round by Ruslan Chagaev and in seven by vagabond Kevin Johnson.
Fury looks to me to be a fight or two away from being back in true condition, but you can't blame Fury or his promoter for pushing the chips in now to challenge Wilder.
Anything can happen in a heavyweight fight and Fury might as well get paid well for a Wilder fight that would likely double or triple, should Fury pull an upset over Wilder and move on to an Anthony Joshua battle for all the titles in the heavyweight division.

The press conferences and buildup might be the best part of a fight between two less than reticent fighters with the lip, but I could see at least the possibility of a good fight.
For all of Fury's issues, he does throw straight punches with an excellent jab and might be able to find the range against the harder punching, but technically crude Wilder, who still has many questions about the quality of his chin.
Still, this fight could be a dull one with two giant fighters standing on the outside that might be unwilling to take a chance (Especially Fury) to do much more than work off the jab.

The main event on the marquee' featured Carl Frampton in a homecoming against unheralded Australian Luke Jackson in a defense of his minor title and Frampton did what fighters in his situation should do with a ninth-round stoppage when Jackson corner literally threw in the towel midway through the round with Frampton chasing a stung Jackson across the ring.
Jackson fought well early, cutting Frampton over the right eye in round three, but gradually wore down under the pressure of Frampton before dropping to the floor in the eighth, leading to the eventual ending in the following round.
Frampton should receive a far sterner test in his next fight against IBF champion Josh Warrington in the fall.

And the real star of the weekend was Cristofer Rosales, who slammed one body blow into former Olympian Paddy Barnes ribcage at the end of round four, sending the Irishman down for the count for the end of the fight and retained his WBC flyweight title.
Rosales, who looked very similar to countryman Roman Gonzalez in his previous win over the highly regarded Daigo Higa to win his championship, was challenged by Barnes in the first two rounds but won the third before his thunderous punch that ended the fight.
Rosales will be in against tough competition again next time against mandatory challenger Andrew Selby, who decisioned Rosales last year before Rosales won the championship against Higa.


Both Ramon Malpica scored three points in the boxing challenge (one for each fight) to move our totals to 125-100 for the season.


No comments: