Boxing Odds and Ends: A Bountiful June and a Cult Fighter Returns from Prison

The month of June brought us a Big Bang in Saudi Arabia and wraps up in Arizona on the final weekend of the month when Juan Francisco Estrada collides with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in a super flyweight title fight that has the earmarks of a classic.

Mexico’s Estrada, considered a surefire future Hall of Famer after twice defeating Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, ranks higher than Rodriguez on pound-for-pound lists but is yet chalked the underdog. Ten years older than “Bam” at age 34, “El Gallo” has put a lot of mileage on his odometer since turning pro at age 18, answering the bell for 322 rounds. San Antonio’s Rodriguez has turned heads while building a 19-0 record and is favored in the 7/2 range.

This coming Friday, June 7, fight fans get to choose between cards going head-to-head in South Florida and Upstate New York.

The card in New York at the Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona, is run in conjunction with Hall of Fame Weekend at the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum, an annual event on the first weekend of June. The main event is a battle of southpaws between Puerto Rico’s Oscar Collazo and Gerardo Zapata, a Miami-based Nicaraguan making his U.S. debut. Collazo will be making the third defense of his WBA minimumweight title.

Don King’s card that same night at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, has 12 bouts listed. Some of these fights will likely be scratched, but hopefully not the featured bout between Blair Cobbs and Adrien Broner as it is an interesting match-up between two 34-year-old boxers looking to stay relevant. Cobbs will tell you in all seriousness that he is a budding superstar. Broner figured that he would make billions before he left the sport, not that it mattered as he would have squandered it all away,

The following night, Top Rank is back in New York in its customary Puerto Rican Day Parade Weekend slot. Xander Zayas, who signed with Top Rank when he was a junior in high school, is now 21 years old and ready to take his place as the next great Puerto Rican fighter, following in the footsteps of Felix Trinidad and his hero Miguel Cotto. Standing in Xander’s way is Patrick Teixeira, a 33-year-old Brazilian who is the only man to defeat reigning WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames.

Speaking of Adames, he defends his belt on Saturday, June 15, at the MGM Grand with Terrell Gausha in the opposite corner. Gervonta “Tank” Davis headlines in a WBO world lightweight title defense against Frank Martin.

June 15 will be a tripleheader for diehard fight fans with the action beginning at a soccer stadium in London where once-beaten Chris Billam-Smith defends his WBO world cruiserweight title against British countryman Richard Riakporhe. Billam-Smith won his title in his hometown of Bournemouth, turning away Lawrence Okolie in a very big upset, and will find himself the underdog again when he touches gloves with the unbeaten Riakporhe.

The action then shifts to Manati, Puerto Rico, where IBF 140-pound world title-holder Subriel Matias (20-1) meets the undefeated (24-0) Aussie Liam Paro. Matias scored all 20 of his wins by knockout while avenging his lone defeat. Paro looked very sharp while dismantling Montana Love on the undercard of Haney-Prograis in San Francisco.

Fight Fans get a breather the following weekend. As it now stands, the only noteworthy fight on the May 22 docket is a battle for the British middleweight title between Felix Cash and Tyler Denny. The venue is Resorts World in Birmingham and it is Matchroom/DAZN production.

The following Saturday, the compelling showdown in Phoenix between Estrada and Rodriguez isn’t all that there is. Top Rank is in Miami Beach that night where Teofimo Lopez defends his WBO 140-pound world title against Canada’s Steve Claggett.

This match has been ridiculed on social media and, indeed, Teofimo will be a heavy favorite. However, Claggett is certainly deserving of a title shot. At age 34, he’s in excellent form, having won nine straight, and he’s only been stopped once in 47 fights, that coming early in his career. Teofimo blows hot and cold and if he has another off-night, Claggett can make it warm for him. In an undercard match of note, Nico Ali Walsh will attempt to avenge his lone defeat in an 8-rounder with Detroit’s rugged Sona Akale.

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Avtandil Khurtsidze, Out of Prison and Back in the Ring at age 45

Seven years ago this month, Avtandil Khurtsidze was making plans to fly to England to challenge WBO world middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. The match was sealed for July 8, 2017 at London’s Copper Box Arena.

Khurtsidze never made it. On June 7, with the fight 31 days away, he was swept up in an FBI dragnet that netted 22 other alleged members of a Russian crime syndicate. They were charged with violating the RICO Act, a wide-ranging statute created to give law enforcement a more effective tool for fighting organized crime.

Khurtsidze, who came to the United States in 2014 from the Republic of Georgia in the former Soviet Union, then resided in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, a stronghold of the Russian Mafia. Among many other things, the Brighton Beach mob was accused of gaffing slot machines in Atlantic City and Pennsylvania casinos and of stealing cargo shipments from overseas, one of which contained more than a 10,000 pounds of chocolate. Khurtsidze purportedly worked as an enforcer for Razhden Shulaya, one of the ringleaders of the operation.

The boxer faced 20 years in prison, but was sentenced to 10. Released on parole last summer, he went back in the gym and this past Friday (May 31) he returned to the ring in a 6-round prelim at a club show staged by a Polish promoter in the New York borough of Queens at the Melrose Ballroom in Astoria.

Khurtsidze was matched against an Argentine fighter who was 11-15-2 heading in and had been stopped eight times. Khurtsidze, who carried 171 ½ pounds, knocked him to the canvas twice before the match was halted after only 140 seconds of the opening round. That bumped Khurtsidze’s record to 34-2-2 (27 KOs).

Khurtsidze attracted a cult following in his first nationally televised fight in March of 2016 when he massacred highly-touted Antoine Douglas at a show in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with TSS writer Bernard Fernandez looking on. “He is squatty as a fire hydrant and his fighting style is…well, let’s just say inelegant,” wrote Fernandez in his award-winning ringside report. Standing only five-foot-four and with a menacing scowl, Khurtsidze took the fight on less than three weeks’ notice and was virtually unknown to American fight fans.

For an encore, he went over to England and scored a fifth-round stoppage of previously undefeated Tommy Langford, earning him a shot at the WBO world title, an opportunity that evaporated when the feds came calling. He was on a 10-fight winning streak and had won twenty-six of his last twenty-seven when his career was interrupted.

I never in my life thought I would ever say that I would welcome the return of a 45-year-old man to the prize ring, but I’ll make a one-time exception for this guy, a “mini-Tyson” as he came to be called. And, for certain, I wouldn’t want to run into him, or anyone that looked like him, in a dark alley.

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‘Big Bang’ KOs the Bronze Bomber in the Heavyweight Finale of a Splendid Card in Saudi Arabia

Two big heavyweight fights were the pillars of tonight’s show in Riyadh that showcased five boxers each from the stables of powerful promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn. It was after three in the morning local time when Chinese behemoth Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang brought the curtain down with a brutal fifth-round knockout of the Bronze Bomber, Deontay Wilder.

The first four rounds were humdrum. In the fifth, Wilder came out of his shell and landed some big punches. But a counter right from Zhang spun him completely around and left him wide open for another right hand. Seizing the moment, Zhang crashed home a big right on the exposed jaw of Wilder and the Alabaman went down in a heap. Had Wilder won, he would have purportedly secured a September date with Anthony Joshua in Wembley Stadium. But this was his fourth defeat in his last five bouts and, now 38 years old, it is assumed that he will retire. If so, he leaves the sport with a record of 43-4-1 with 42 KOs, and will always be remembered for his howitzer of a right hand.

Zhang, a giant by Chinese standards (six-foot-six and 282 pounds) is 41 years old but can look forward to a few more lucrative paydays. A two-time Olympian, he will bring a record of 27-2-1 (22 KOs) into his next engagement.

Co-Feature: Dubois vs Hrgovic

In his best showing since he bombed out former British amateur rival Nathan Gorman five years ago, heavyweight Daniel Dubois scored an eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic. The slugfest was stopped at the 50-second mark of Round 8 at the advice of the ringside physician with the Croatian bleeding from cuts around both eyes.

Hrgovic, who had an outstanding amateur pedigree and was undefeated (17-0, 14 KOs) heading in, landed the harder punches in the early rounds, but by the mid-point of the fight, Dubois, who improved to 21-2 (20) , was plainly the fresher man. There were no knockdowns, but Hrgovic, a 5/2 favorite, was in dire straits in round seven and one could sense that the end was near for him.

The bout was contested for the interim IBF title which Oleksandr Usyk is expected to vacate.

Bivol vs Zinad

In a stay-busy fight for Dmitry Bivol, the WBA world light heavyweight belt-holder scored a sixth-round stoppage of late sub Malik Zinad, advancing his record to 23-0 (12 KOs). Bivol had Zinad on the canvas with a right-left combination in the opening round, but Zinad, an obscure 30-year-old globetrotter from Libya by way of Malta, had a few good moments until Bivol closed the show in the sixth. A series of unanswered punches, seemingly about a dozen, had Zinad (22-1) in a bad way until the referee intervened.

Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev, for all the marbles at 175, is official for Oct. 12 where it will open a new edition of Riyadh Season.

Sheeraz vs Williams

England’s Hamzah Sheeraz, a six-foot-three middleweight of Pakistani and Indian descent, increased his international profile 100-fold with an 11^th-round stoppage of Houston’s previously undefeated Austin “Ammo” Williams. Sheeraz was buzzed in the second round, but utilized his height and reach advantage to assume control and was widely ahead on the cards at the finish.

Sheeraz knocked Williams to his knees with a chopping right hand in the waning seconds of round 10 and finished the job in the next frame, sending Williams staggering into the ropes with a fusillade of punches, forcing the stoppage. The official time was 0:45 of round 11.

It was the 14^th straight win inside the distance for Sheeraz who entered the ring a 9/4 favorite and improved his ledger to 20-0 (16 KOs). Williams declined to 16-1.

Featherweight Title Fight

The WBA world featherweight title match between Camden, New Jersey’s Raymond Ford and Liverpool’s Nick Ball produced a mild upset and a new title-holder. The relentless Ball, a five-foot-two wrecking ball, emerged victorious by dint of a split decision. All three judges had it 115-113 with two of the arbiters favoring the Liverpudlian.

Both were undefeated heading in. Ford (15-1-1) was defending the title he won with a come-from-behind, 12^th-round stoppage of Otabek Kholmatov. Against Ball, he fell behind early, but had a big seventh round, seemingly breaking Ball’s nose, and it was anyone’s fight heading into the final stanza.

Both boxers fought the final round as if they sensed that the fight was even and, although there were no knockdowns, the final round with its non-stop action was a fitting climax to an excellent fight. The second time was a charm for Ball (16-0-1) who suffered a disputed draw in his previous fight with another featherweight belt-holder, Rey Vargas.

Lid-lifter

The opening bout on the card produced another mild upset when Willy Hutchinson, a 26-year-old Scotsman, scored a 12-round unanimous decision over Craig Richards. A 34-year-old Londoner, Richards (18-4-1) had fought much stiffer competition, and he figured to come on late as Hutchinson had never fought beyond seven rounds. But the Scotsman, who improved to 18-1, repeatedly found a home for his right hand and got a second wind when it appeared that he was running out of gas. The judges had it 116-112, 117-111, and 119-109.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 285: Heavyweights Clash in Saudi Arabia and More

In this media age of flooded entertainment, heavyweight boxing seems to be front and center again.

Who doesn’t like to see gargantuan men clobber each other?

Rival British promoters Eddie Hearn (Matchroom) and Frank Warren (Queensberry) stack a fight card with their best heavyweights led by Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) meeting Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) in a main event on Saturday June 1, at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The pay-per-view card called “Five versus Five” will stream on the DAZN and ESPN platforms.

Wilder, 38, has lost three of his last four fights but who doesn’t like to see the wild swinging Alabama heavyweight do his thing. It’s like igniting the fuse of a cherry bomb and holding on to it as long as you can before it blows your fingers off.

He always has the potential to explode.

Zhang is a different cat. The large Chinese fighter has skills, can punch, and seems to take a blow just as well. But his gas tank always seems to be on empty. His last fight against Joseph Parker he was on the verge of victory but couldn’t manage that one last blow to end the fight. He eventually lost.

One thing different in this match is Wilder doesn’t win by decision. He either knocks your block off or loses.

“This is a dangerous fight for both,” said Henry Ramirez, a veteran boxing trainer from Riverside, California who worked with former heavyweight contender Chris Arreola. “Both guys have power and both can win.”

Ramirez believes the heavyweight that connects first may be the winner.

Another match pits heavyweights Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) against Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs). Both have qualities that could vault them to the top. Britian’s Dubois recently dismantled “Big Baby” Jarrell Miller and Croatia’s Hrgovic slid by Zhang when they met two years ago.

One of them could be on top.

“This is another interesting heavyweight fight,” said Ramirez. “The winner has a good chance to boost his career.”

Light heavyweights

Light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) was expected to clash with fellow Russian Artur Beterbiev, but instead you get Libya’s undefeated Malik Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs).

When Beterbiev pulled out due to injury it stymied plans to host one of the most talked-about light heavyweight fights in the last 40 years. Bivol forges on against little known Zinad who won a title eliminator against New Zealand’s Jerome Pampellone by majority decision in Sydney.

Still, Bivol remains one of the most skilled fighters in the game and is willing to risk it all for this fight card. That’s admirable.

Other Bouts

Ammo Williams (16-0, 11 KOs) returns and meets Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KOs) in a battle between undefeated middleweights. It’s an interesting battle between the very strong southpaw from Texas and the tall middleweight from Essex. It might be the best fight of the day.

A featherweight clash showcases America’s Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) defending the WBA title against England’s pit bull Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs). The last time we saw Ball, he gave Mexico’s Rey Vargas hell for 12 rounds in a split-decision loss. Expect more of the same and perhaps this time he walks away with the belt.

New Women’s Boxing Book

New York’s Malissa Smith has a new book called “The Promise of Women’s Boxing: A Momentous New Era for the Sweet Science.” A launch party is planned on Saturday June 15, 7 p.m. at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn.

A panel discussion featuring several female prizefighters will be held during the launch, including Heather Hardy, Alicia Ashley, Shelly Vincent, Ronica Jeffrey, Maureen Shea and referee Sparkle Lee participating. The moderator is filmmaker Raquel Cepeda.

Rarely are books published on women’s boxing. Smith is one of the best authors in the world of prizefighting. This book is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other methods of purchase.

If you are curious about female boxing, this book will enlighten you to its current phase with champions such as Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields and Mikaela Mayer leading the way. It’s been a wild ride for women’s boxing. Be sure to purchase and read this book.

Fights to Watch

Fri. DAZN 5 p.m. Andreas Katzourakis (12-0) vs Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (20-2).

Fri. DAZN 5 p.m. Kevin Brown (4-0) vs Idalberto Umara (12-2)

Sat. 11 a.m. DAZN, ESPN ppv 11 a.m. Deontay Wilder (43-3-1) vs Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1); Dmitry Bivol (22-0) vs Malik Zinad (22-0); Daniel Dubois (20-2) vs Filip Hrgovic (17-0); Raymond Ford (15-0-1) vs Nick Ball (19-0-1).

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