A loaded weekend for boxing fans with ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights headlining. Not too shabby to end the season with two title fights. Also, Hawaii will be hosting a world title fight since Ben Villaflor drew with Samuel Serrano more than 30 years ago.
Colombia’s Juan Urango [21(16)-2(0)-1] vs. USA’s Randall Bailey [39(35)-6(2)-0]
Urango‘s IBF Junior Welterweight (140 lbs.) title
August 28 (Friday) – Hollywood, FL
ESPN2 (10 PM ET)
This is Urango’s first defense on his second reign of this title. He won the vacant title against Herman Ngoudjo early this year by a wide unanimous decision. A side trip to the welterweight division three months ago fell short against WBC titleholder Andre Berto. His only other loss was against Ricky Hatton more than two years ago.
Bailey is the number 1 ranked IBF contender and the mandatory challenger. He knocked Francisco Figueroa out four months ago in a title eliminator. Bailey is a former WBO 140-lb. titleholder. He was undefeated, all by stoppage, and at the peak of his career a decade ago when he knocked Carlos Gonzalez out in the opening round to capture his first and only world belt. Albeit, that was back when the WBO was not a significant sanctioning body yet. It is of course arguable among hardcore fight fans if the sanctioning bodies are significant in the first place. Nevertheless, Bailey did win a belt. He lost the title to Ener Julio. He challenged three more times for a world title but was badly outclassed against Diosbelys Hurtado, DeMarcus Corley and most notable of all, Miguel Cotto.
Prediction: Urango by decision.
USA’s Tavoris Cloud [19(18)-0(0)-0] vs. UK’s Clinton Woods [42(24)-4(1)-1]
Vacant IBF Light Heavyweight (175 lbs.) title
August 28 (Friday) – Hollywood, FL
ESPN2 (10 PM ET)
This is the co-feature and the second world title bout on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights. Cloud is the mandatory challenger to Chad Dawson until Dawson relinquished his title in favor of a rematch with Glen Johnson. The way Cloud’s been cruising along against easy opponents, they are bound to meet someday. Cloud got his title shot by stopping Julio Cesar Gonzalez in an eliminator last year.
Woods is in the closing stages of a decent career. The former titleholder held the belt for three years. He lost his title to Antonio Tarver last year. He went 1-1-1 against Glen Johnson. Also, a challenger to Roy Jones’ undisputed light heavyweight title.
Prediction: Cloud by mid-fight stoppage.
USA’s Brian Viloria [25(15)-2(0)-0] vs. Mexico’s Jesus Iribe [15(9)-5(1)-5]
Viloria’s IBF Junior Flyweight (108 lbs.) title
August 29 (Saturday) - Honolulu, HI
Finally, a homecoming for the Hawaiian Punch with the title belt around his waist. As mentioned earlier, this is the first fight in 33 years that Hawaii will be hosting a world title fight. Viloria, a former highly touted U.S. Olympian, will be defending his title for the first time. A crunching right hook knocked Ulises Solis out last April at the historic Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines. That ended Solis’ three-year stranglehold of the title. This is the second title for Viloria. He won the WBC version by stopping Eric Ortiz in the first round in 2005. He lost it two fights later against Omar Nino Romero. A rematch against Romero was later declared a no contest as Romero failed a post-fight drug test. In 2007, Viloria fell short against Edgar Sosa for the vacant WBC title. Since then, the Hawaiian native is on a 6-fight winning streak.
Iribe is nothing more than just an opponent to showcase Viloria in front of his home crowd. Except for Sosa and Raul Garcia, he never fought anyone within world-class stratosphere.
Prediction: Viloria by mid-fight stoppage.
Panama’s Celestino Caballero [32(22)-2(1)-0] vs. Mexico’s Francisco Leal [14(9)-4(2)-2]
Caballero’s WBA Super Bantamweight and IBF Junior Featherweight (122 lbs.) titles
August 29 (Saturday) - Mexicali, BCN, Mexico
Just like the Viloria fight, this is a “keep busy” scrap for Caballero. This is his eighth defense of the WBA title and the second of his IBF. He captured the WBA belt by knocking out Somsak Sithchatchawal in Thailand almost three years ago. Late last year, he unified the belts by humiliating Canadian Steve Molitor in front of his home crowd. Caballero seems to be fond of invading other champion’s homes. He has been quite outspoken about fighting WBO titlist Juan Manuel Lopez in Puerto Rico, confidently looking to add the WBO belt in his mantel.
Leal’s only advantage is the home crowd who will be behind him at least up to his ring entrance. The moment the lanky Panamian start connecting his long right hooks, there’s not much to cheer for. Besides, Caballero does not mind performing in enemy turf.
Prediction: Caballero by early to mid-fight stoppage.
Argentina’s Victor Emilio Ramirez [15(12)-1(0)-0] vs. Serbia’s Marco Huck [25(20)-1(1)-0]
Ramirez’s WBO Junior Heavyweight (200 lbs.) title
August 29 (Saturday) – Halle, Germany
Ramirez is the beneficiary of David Haye’s ambition to topple the Klitschko brothers. When Haye relinquished his 200-lb. titles, Ramirez was the WBO interim titleholder. He was later promoted to the full title and soon defended against Ali Ismailov. He narrowly beat Ismailov last May in his native Argentina. Huck will be his second title challenger. Ramirez fought all his fights in Argentina except for the interim title bout in Germany against Alexander Alexeev.
Huck was born in a town in the former Yugoslavia and what is now part of Serbia. His family fled his home country for Germany during Milosevic reign of terror. Huck was a former kickboxing world champion. He switched to pro boxing five years ago through Sauerland promotions. He is known to have a volatile temper and has been in a few controversial fights. His only setback was against former IBF titleholder Steve Cunningham in December 2007. He tried a few underhanded tricks against Cunningham but the American managed to stop him in the final round. Huck’s corner threw in the towel in the middle of a Cunningham domination. If this fight is available even on live stream and you are looking for a brawl, I believe this is a must see because of Huck’s unpredictability.
Prediction: Huck by late stoppage.
Current Title Tally
|
Rank |
Country |
No. of Titles |
Title Holders |
|
1st |
USA |
11 |
|
|
2nd |
Mexico |
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) |
Philippines |
2 |
-
Donnie Nietes - WBO105
-
Manny Pacquiao - Ring140 |
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Poland |
2 |
|
|
8th (7 are tied) |
Russia |
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) |
Hungary |
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) |
South Africa |
1 |
|
|
15th (13 are tied) |
Spain |
1 |
|
List Rules: (1) Only Ring, WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO; (2) Excluded interim champs, WBA's regular champs (when there are unified/super champs), champs-in-recess, emeritus status champ, WBC's diamond title and whatever extra sanctioning fee driven title; (3) Tally titles not titleholders; (4) Considered boxer's country of birth NOT ancestry, naturalized citizenship nor adopted home country.
Dennis Carreon can be reached at denniscmc@gmail.com
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