Back to back 140-pound title fights are on tap in Showtime’s Championship Boxing on Saturday. This will highlight a lean yet interesting boxing weekend. Two title vacancies will be filled including one in Connecticut that will be covered via cyberspace for $9.95.
As for the tally of current boxing titleholders by countries; the UK, Dominican Republic and South Africa have a chance to move up in the standings while the US can break away from a tie with Mexico for solo lead.
USA’s Timothy Bradley [24(11)-0(0)-0] vs. USA’s Nate Campbell [33(25)-5(2)-1]
Bradley‘s WBO Junior Welterweight (140 lbs.) title
August 1 (Saturday) - Rancho Mirage, CA
Showtime (9:00 PM ET)
This is Bradley’s first title defense of the WBO belt he took from Kendall Holt. He survived bookend knockdowns against Holt last April in what was a unification bout. Shortly after, Bradley was forced to relinquish his WBC belt because the Mexico-based sanctioning body issued an edict to choose between them and the WBO. This could have been the third title defense for the green belt since he took it from Junior Witter last year. Unfortunately, sanctioning body politics again played a role in determining a titleholder instead of the boxers themselves. For Campbell, this is his first title fight foray in the 140-lb. class after losing his unified 135-lb. belts in the weighing scale last February. Campbell surprised everyone last year when he convincingly defeated the once promising Juan Diaz and took all three of the Houston native’s lightweight belts. Prediction: Will most likely be similar to the Holt fight. Campbell will have his moments but Bradley’s conditioning will play a big role in the later part of the bout. Bradley by decision.
UK’s Junior Witter [37(22)-2(0)-2] vs. USA’s Devon Alexander [18(11)-0(0)-0]
Vacant WBC Super Lightweight (140 lbs.) title
August 1 (Saturday) - Rancho Mirage, CA
Showtime (9:00 PM ET)
In the undercard of the Bradley title defense is, ironically, for his renounced WBC belt. Alexander is the mandated challenger for Bradley when he gave up the title while Witter is the former titleholder that Bradley ousts. This is not necessarily the battle for scraps. It might even outshine the main event because of the talented yet inexperienced Alexander. Witter’s been looking ahead of this bout as he already started campaigning on an all-British unification bout against Amir Khan. I don’t think that will happen not because Khan will avoid Witter but because Alexander will thwart the Brit’s plan. This fight is a perfect turning point to prominence for Alexander. Prediction: Alexander by late stoppage.
Dominican Republic’s Delvin Rodriguez [24(14)-2(1)-2] vs. South Africa’s Isaac Hlatshwayo [28(10)-1(0)-1]
Vacant IBF Welterweight (147 lbs.) title
August 1 (Saturday) - Uncasville, CT
www.gofightlive.tv at $9.95 (8:00 PM ET)
Rodriguez and Hlatshwayo fought to a draw last November in a title eliminator for the right to fight then IBF champion Joshua Clottey. The feisty scrap had a controversial ending as the initial announcement of the decision had Hlatshwayo winning the fight. The scores were later recalculated and the verdict changed to a draw. Somebody forgot his arithmetic in Hlatshwayo’s hometown of Gauteng, South Africa. The rematch is now for the vacant title as Clottey unintentionally relinquished before his supposed unification bout against Miguel Cotto because of Cotto’s late signing of the fight contract. Rodriguez, an ESPN Friday night fights regular, is home this time as the venue is an hour away from his adopted hometown of Danbury. The crowd will be a factor but Hlatshwayo is not a stranger to hostile environment. He defeated Campbell in Nate’s own turf in Tampa three years ago but lost to Jersey native Kendall Holt a few months after in Atlantic City. This will be a toss-up and will be the tough pick of the week. Prediction: I expect Rodriguez to step up and capitalize on the home crowd advantage. Rodriguez by a close decision.
2-Week Hiatus
I was on a 2-week personal hiatus and missed my beat on the five title fights that took place. Nevertheless, here are the results of title fights the last two weeks.
July 14 (Tuesday) - Tokyo, Japan
Japan’s Takahiro Aoh [17(8)-2(0)-1] vs. Dominican Republic’s Elio Rojas [21(13)-1(0)-0]
Rojas dethroned Aoh and won the WBC Featherweight (126 lbs.) title via unanimous decision
July 14 (Tuesday) - Kobe, Japan
Japan’s Hozumi Hasegawa [27(11)-2(0)-0] vs. USA’s Nestor Rocha [21(7)-2(1)-0]
Hasegawa retained his WBC Bantamweight (118 lbs.) title via TKO in the 1st
July 14 (Tuesday) - Kobe, Japan
Nicaragua’s Roman Gonzalez [24(20)-0(0)-0] vs. Japan’s Katsunari Takayama [23(9)-4(1)-0]
Gonzalez retained his WBA Minimumweight (105 lbs.) title via unanimous decision
July 18 (Saturday) - Manchester, Lancashire, UK
Ukraine’s Andreas Kotelnik [31(13)-3(0)-1] vs. UK’s Amir Khan [21(15)-1(1)-0]
Khan dethroned Kotelnik and won the WBA Super Lightweight (140 lbs.) title via unanimous decision
July 25 (Saturday) - Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico
Mexico’s Giovanni Segura [21(17)-1(0)-1] vs. Philippines’ Juanito Rubillar [46(22)-13(4)-7]
Segura retained his WBA Light Flyweight (108 lbs.) title via TKO in the 6th
Elio Rojas puts Dominican Republic back in the tally since Joan Guzman relinquished his WBO junior lightweight title May last year. Japan dropped to 6th tied with two others. Amir Khan joins Carl Froch as UK moves up in the standings. Ukraine loses one title but remains in 4th.
Title Relinquished
Super flyweight unified champion Vic Darchinyan gave up his IBF belt instead of defending it against mandatory challenger Simphiwe Nongqayi of South Africa. There are talks that Nongqayi will likely meet Jorge Arce for the vacated title. Darchinyan’s team is still contemplating on who he will rebound to after failing in his bid to unseat Joseph Agbeko from his IBF bantamweight throne.
Darchinyan still has the WBA and WBC belts but is the only titleholder left for Armenia after Arthur Abraham relinquished his middleweight belt two weeks ago. Armenia plummets one spot in the tally tied with six others.
|
Rank |
Country |
No. of Titles |
Title Holders |
|
1st (2 are tied) |
Mexico |
9 |
|
|
1st (2 are tied) |
USA |
9 |
|
|
3rd |
Puerto Rico |
7 |
|
|
4th |
Ukraine |
5 |
-
Sergiy Dzinziruk - WBO154
-
Vitali Klitschko - WBC200+
-
Wladimir Klitschko - IBF200+;WBO200+;Ring200+ |
|
5th |
Panama |
4 |
|
|
6th (2 are tied) |
Argentina |
3 |
-
Sergio Gabriel Martinez - WBC154
-
Omar Andres Narvaez - WBO112
-
Victor Emilio Ramirez - WBO200 |
|
6th (2 are tied) |
Japan |
3 |
|
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Armenia |
2 |
|
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Hungary |
2 |
-
Karoly Balzsay - WBO168
-
Zsolt Erdei - WBO175 |
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Philippines |
2 |
-
Donnie Nietes - WBO105
-
Manny Pacquiao - Ring140 |
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Poland |
2 |
|
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Thailand |
2 |
|
|
8th (7 are tied) |
UK |
2 |
-
Carl Froch - WBC168
-
Amir Khan - WBA140 |
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Venezuela |
2 |
-
Jorge Linares - WBA130
-
Edwin Valero - WBC135 |
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Colombia |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Denmark |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Dominican Republic |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Germany |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Ghana |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Haiti |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Indonesia |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Italy |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Nicaragua |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Romania |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Russia |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
South Africa |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Spain |
1 |
|
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