Boxing Fulcrum

Dereck Chisora versus Joseph Parker breakdown

This should be a very competitive bout between two top 15 heavyweights who need a big win to cement their position near the top of the division. Dereck Chisora is a fighter who just seems to keep on going no matter how many times he loses and has a real old school mentality of fighting everyone available. Joseph Parker is a former world champion and has faced a good level of competition himself though hasn’t fought anyone of major note since a loss to Dillian Whyte in 2018.

Dereck Chisora is a come forward pressure fighter that can fight decently on the inside. I don’t know another fight that loves the overhand right like Chisora does and you can expect him to throw a lot of them in this fight. He can be out boxed at range but it’s never an easy task and you have to be prepared to keep him off you for twelve rounds. He does have power though with Parker’s chin I’d be surprised if he hurt him badly at any stage of the fight.

Joseph Parker is a strange fighter in that he has all of the physical attributes to be a relentless top five heavyweight but often seems happy just to be there. Being too passive cost him in both the Joshua and Whyte fights and when he’s had mismatched opponents in front of him recently hes struggled to get them out of there. He’s good technically and has power himself though could be much more effective if he lets his hands go a little more.

I think either Chisora will outwork Parker and win a competitive decision if a passive Parker turns up or Parker will stop Chisora late on if he lets his hands go and has learn’t something under his new trainer Andy Lee. It really all comes down to what version of Parker turns up as he is capable of stopping Chisora who was hurt by Usyk in their fight.

Katie Taylor versus Natasha Jonas breakdown

This is a great fight between two former stand out amateurs who have also looked good as pro’s. Katie Taylor is the undisputed Lightweight world champion and has built a resume which will probably get her inducted into the hall of fame when she retires. Natasha Jonas lost in an upset a few years ago but fought well and earned a draw versus Terri Harper in a fight she was expected to lose.

Natasha Jonas is good technically and clearly holds power as she knocks fighters out that aren’t on her level and also hurt Terri Harper badly in their fight. She doesn’t throw a huge amount of punches but the shots she does throw tend to have a purpose behind them and hit the target more often than not. I think her best weapon in this fight is her straight left hand which she has a lot of power in and normally throws behind a double jab. Her defence mostly consists of a fairly high guard and some footwork to get out of range of punches.

Katie Taylor is also good technically though doesn’t have the power of Jonas in my opinion. Taylor throws a lot of combinations and is very active in the ring. Her defence mostly comes from her footwork however she gets drawn into wars quite easily as she clearly just loves to fight. I think she has faster hands than Jonas and also has the better footwork in my opinion though has power and height disadvantages.

I think Katie Taylor will win due to simply being more active with her combinations in this fight. While Jonas will catch Taylor during the fight I think for the majority of the rounds she’ll get outworked and will struggle with Taylor’s hand speed.

Perhaps its time for Bob Arum to retire.

It looks like Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury isn’t going to happen next which is fairly pathetic in my opinion and isn’t a good look from an outside perspective of the sport. It was bad enough the fight wasn’t going to be in the UK but now it seems it won’t happen at all due to a loss of expected financial backing from the middle east.

Eddie Hearn seems to be trying his best to make this fight happen while Fury’s side have been nothing but negative with both Frank Warren and Bob Arum seemingly barely wanting the fight. They’ve put no effort in and it doesn’t help that Fury’s been saying he wants a tune up fight instead of Joshua.

Bob Arum signed Naoya Inoue more than a year ago and hasn’t kept him active even though he really should be one of his top priorities. He also couldn’t make the Casimero unification happen because he wanted to cut Casimero’s purse rather than invest in his fighter and actually pay for good opponents.

For Terence Crawford he’s completely failed to get him a good opponent at welterweight for over two years and this has mostly been down to him not wanting to invest in opponents even for his star fighters which is great for his pockets but not for boxing or the fans.

At Super Featherweight he hasn’t been able to make a unification to save his life even though hes had two champions at the weight for over two years and now it seems they are both going in different directions again.

It feels more often than not that hes unable to make big fights happen or expects other people to pay for them for whatever reason.

Dmitry Bivol versus Craig Richards breakdown

This is the chance of a life time for Craig Richards who is going from winning the British title straight to a world title fight versus a top world champion. Dmitry Bivol has been a world champion since 2017 and has shown amazing technical skills in his five defences of his title.

Craig Richards has shown some power at British level but nothing to suggest he can KO Dmitry Bivol and in my opinion that’s his only chance at winning as Bivol is far too good for him technically. Bivol has shown hes a world class boxer and even separated himself from other world class boxers on a technical level.

I don’t see a way for Craig Richards to win by decision so he’ll have to hope Bivol’s rusty after being out the ring for so long and jump on him early to win. Unfortunately for him I also don’t see him knocking Bivol out who has been hit by bigger punchers and not been knocked down. I predict Bivol to win by knockout in the second half of the fight due to being technically better and just levels above Richards who has never even fought at European level.

James Tennyson versus Jovanni Straffon breakdown

James Tennyson continues his rise towards the top of the lightweight division on Saturday night by fighting for the vacant IBO Lightweight world title versus an unheralded opponent from Mexico which is something British and Irish fighters have come to fear recently.

James Tennyson is a massive puncher who relentlessly comes forward throwing combinations with the sole intention of knocking his opponents out. While he is very much a puncher rather than a boxer he still has technical ability and clearly wouldn’t be able to set up his knockouts if he couldn’t box. He’s certainly hittable but hasn’t shown any weaknesses to his body or chin which he showed at lower weights so I would be led to believe his knockout losses were more to do with horrible weight cuts rather than an inherent flaw.

Jovanni Straffon isn’t very good technically at all. From watching footage he rarely jabs and doesn’t set up his punches. He regularly throws an overhand left with no set up from far out of range and gets countered because of it. In his fight with Carlos Cardenas he was getting out boxed for large periods of the fight and seemed to catch every counter that Cardenas threw on his face. He does seem to possess a good chin though it can only hold up to so much especially considering how easy he is to hit. I’m not sure how real his power is as a lot of his record is padded and hes struggled to put away some of the better fighters he has faced.

I expect Tennyson to win by knockout within six rounds because he should be able too see everything Straffon throws at him and counter it fairly easily. I also think Tennyson is quicker and if they go to war his power will work in his favor especially against a fighter like Straffon who doesn’t care about defence. While we’ve seen a lot of Mexican fighters come over to the UK recently and score upset wins I really don’t see it happening in this fight.

Japan going into lockdown threatens Olympics again

In the last few weeks Japan has had a surge of Covid cases and decided to put measure into place to try and combat the new outbreak. Them doing this brings into question whether the Tokyo Olympics are actually going to take place. As of right now they have quite strict restrictions in place and its doubtful they’d want thousands of people from all around the world flying in while Covid cases are rising in the country.

A few Japanese boxing events are already looking like they may be cancelled and this should be a worry for all the athletes wanting to compete in this year’s games. It’s especially bad for the boxer’s who chose to stay in the amateurs and chase the Olympics dream as if the Olympics is cancelled then they would have wasted a year that they could have had in the pro’s progressing. It also takes away the signing bonuses that medalists often get from promoters after the Olympics.

Hopefully the Olympics go ahead and we get all the talent at the games into the pro ranks as soon as possible.

Emanuel Navarrete stops Christopher Diaz in great fight.

Navarrete put on a good performance and defended his world title saturday night by stopping Diaz in the twelfth round of their fight. Navarrete dropped Diaz four times in total and largely dominated the fight however Diaz came forward and landed a lot of good punches and showed immense heart especially late on where he went all out to get the win which was the reason he got stopped in the end.

Jamaine Ortiz versus Joseph Adorno breakdown

This is an excellent fight between unbeaten Lightweights who can both punch and box.

I think they are fairly even however I do lean towards Ortiz who I think is the better boxer of the two.

I think Jamaine Ortiz will win a decision because hes better technically.

Edgar Berlanga versus Demond Nicholson breakdown

In my opinion this should be a fairly easy fight for Edgar Berlanga who is a huge puncher. He’s had 16 knockouts in 16 fights all in the first round while Nicholson has been dropped multiple times by lesser opponents.

I think Berlanga will win by knockout in the first or second round.

Emanuel Navarrete versus Christopher Diaz breakdown

This is a good fight between two featherweights for Navarrete’s WBO world title.

Navarrete is an unorthodox fighter who throws a lot of punches from weird angles. He has a lot of power especially for featherweight.

Christopher Diaz is a capable fighter who has good fundamentals but not a huge amount of power apart from his left hook.

Without over analyzing the fight I think Navarrete will have to much power for Diaz and his style is so weird its hard to prepare for. I also think that when people actually throw back at Diaz he doesn’t look great.