The boxing Saturday was all about Oh, Canada with a Top Rank/ESPN card from Quebec City and while the headliner earned the victory, he may have looked just vulnerable enough to give other contenders a willingness to face him in the future.
Christian Mbilli's unanimous decision win over Sergey Dereyvanchenko may not have created a new star but the victory certainly helped his rise through the division as the best of his career.
Mbilli attacked in his usual aggressive style and won the first three rounds although Dereyvanchenko scored well at times and when Dereyvanchenko took control with an excellent round four, the fight looked like it was going to be a close fight from there.
Except it wasn't.
Dereyvanchenko damaged his bicep in winning the round and it naturally limited his effectiveness, leading Mbilli to control the remainder of the fight against a game but outmanned opponent.
Mbilli won easily at 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92 (I scored 98-92 for Mbilli), and while he didn't tarnish his image in victory, he didn't dazzle either against an aging opponent who was unable to use one of his hands.
Christian Mbilli is ranked near the top of the super middleweight ratings and unless his team decides to take a safe course, I'd think Mbilli would make sense for the winner of the fall Jaime Munguia-Erik Bazinyan battle.
As for Dereyvanchenko, he's thirty-eight, faces a lengthy rehab for the injured bicep, and has taken more punishment than most fighters after a twenty-one-fight career, so it might be time for him to step away from the sport.
The co-feature saw Guido Vinaello stop Arislanbek Mahkmudov when the doctor stopped the fight at the start of the eighth round due to incredible swelling around the left eye of Mahkmudov.
Vinello won every round on my card, battering the lumbering Makhmundov throughout the bout and hurting him on several occasions.
Give Makhmudov credit for hanging around as long as he did on courage alone but he's dreadfully slow and unless you match him against a non-mover, he's going to have big problems.
Cuban super middleweight Osley Iglesias continued his maturation with a second-round knockout over Sena Agbeko.
Agbeko was recently stopped by David Morrell in two rounds but Morrell (or anyone in Agbeko's career) failed to knock him down.
That ended against Iglesias, who knocked Agbeko down late in the first round and finished him early in the second.
Iglesias is developing into a potential future star at 168 pounds.
Boxing Challenge
No comments:
Post a Comment