The World This Week by Oliver Fennell Dec 11th 2007

Oliver Fennell sums up the international action of interest. Results with relevance to British boxing are in bold. December 4 – Bungboraphet, Thailand Former WBC flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul scored a routine two-round stoppage of Indonesian visitor Anis Ceunfin. Sasakul lost his title back in 1998 to Manny Pacquaio in what was considered at the time to be an upset. Now 37 and a bantamweight, Sasakul has not fought for a world belt again, although his record is an impressive 64-3. December 5 – Hollywood, Florida, USA Youth beat experience as light-middleweight prospect Sechew “Iron Horse” Powell stopped veteran Terrance Cauthen in four rounds of an IBF eliminator. Powell is now eligible to meet the winner of next month's title fight between Cory Spinks and Verno Phillips. In the chief support, Juan Urango won his second contest since dropping the IBF light-welterweight belt to Ricky Hatton in January, stopping journeyman Marty Robbins in five rounds. And heavyweight hope Kevin Johnson scored a routine eight-round decision over Jermell Barnes. December 6 – The Bronx, New York, USA Veteran heavyweight contender Monte Barrett avenged July's shocking defeat to Cliff Couser by way of second-round stoppage. Couser had scored an identical TKO2 in the original meeting. This redresses the balance, but Barrett's defeat set him back a long way, and simple revenge does not in itself get him back to where he was. British fans will remember Barrett fighting Wladimir Klitschko in London seven years ago. A more familiar face in UK rings is Sergio Martinez. The Spanish-based Argentinean Richard Williams (twice) and Adrian Stone over here and is now the number one contender for the WBC light-middleweight title. He trod water on this show, stopping Russell Jordan in four rounds. December 6 – St Charles, Missouri, USA Heavyweight Travis Walker came back from his 15-second defeat to TJ Wilson two months ago, stopping KOing Ralph West in two rounds. Walker is now 26-1 and this was a confidence-building exercise after the rapid – though controversial – way he lost his undefeated record last time out. December 7 – Montreal, Canada WBA light-middleweight champion Joachim Alcine made the first defence of the belt, stopping Alfonso Mosquera of Panama in the final round. Mosquera, 19-6, was a hand-picked voluntary and Alcine has a more testing assignment on the horizon in the shape of mandatory challenger and ex-champ Roman Karmazin. On the undercard, super-middleweight prospect Jean Pascal improved to 20-0 with a unanimous decision over Brian Norman in a fight which was for all three North American belts, despite being a 10-rounder. December 7 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA The night before Mayweather-Hatton, those British fans in Vegas who missed out on tickets to the big one got a measure of consolation in this promotion, titled “The UK vs The World”, with Brits John Murray, Lee Meager, Craig McEwan, Dean Harrison and Martin Gethin were in action, and all except Meager scored victories. Lightweight Meager was held to a draw by Jose Alberto Gonzalez in an eight-rounder. Among the victors, Murray outpointed Miguel Angel Munguia over 10 rounds, also at lightweight, middleweight McEwan posted an eight-round decision over Alfredo Contreras, Harrison stopped Ramon Guevara in five light-welterweight rounds, and Gethin earned a TKO 4 over welterweight Fabian Luque. All the British opposition was from Mexico except for Guevara, who hails from the Dominican Republic. In a non-British fight, veteran ex-contender Bronco McKart was upset by Enrique Ornelas at super-middle, possibly spelling the end for McKart, who was retired after five rounds. December 7 – Biloxi, Mississippi, USA Ageing cruiserweight Ezra Sellers scored the second win of his comeback, stopping Kenny Craven in three rounds. Sellers, 39, returned this year after being out since 2004. He was supposed to fight Enzo Maccarinelli in November until the BBBC ruled him out, and rightly so, given Sellers' age and inactivity. He has yet to prove he is capable of returning to title class. In his prime, Sellers knocked out Carl Thompson and gave Johnny Nelson a hard fight. December 7 – St Quentin, France Former European featherweight champion Cyril Thomas stopped Hevinson Herrera of Colombia in the 10th round of an IBF Intercontinental title fight. Thomas lost his EBU belt to Nicky Cook in London in 2004. December 8 – Las Vegas, USA What can I say about Floyd Mayweather's defeat of Ricky Hatton which hasn't been said elsewhere? Better just point you in the direction of BBN News Editor Ian McNeilly's comprehensive fight report. Click here to read it.The chief support at the MGM Grand was of interest to British fans, as Joe Calzaghe victims Jeff Lacy and Peter Manfredo squared off in an unofficial world eliminator at super-middleweight. Unfortunately the match failed to live up to expectations, with Lacy looking flat and Manfredo looking tentative. Lacy scored a knockdown in the fourth but failed to impress otherwise, despite winning a unanimous decision. In championship action, WBO super-bantamweight titlist Daniel Ponce de Leon was similarly lethargic, trudging after challenger Eduardo Escobedo for another unanimous decision. Finally, there was a least something to cheer about in the Hatton household, albeit at a lower level. Ricky's younger light-middleweight brother Matthew punched out a whitewash decision over Frankie Santos in an eight-rounder earlier in the night. December 8 – Basel, Switzerland Hours before Mayweather-Hatton, another British hope failed in a bid for world glory on foreign soil. Birmingham middleweight Wayne Elcock was knocked out in five rounds by WBA champion Arthur Abraham of Armenia. On the same show, heavyweight stalwart Danny Williams looked to be winning his IBF Intercontinental title challenge to Oleg Platov until the Ukrainian holder bailed out with an accidentally-cut eye before the completion of four rounds, causing the fight to be ruled a no-contest. And in a battle of continental veterans, Cristian Sanavia and Danilo Haussler battled to a split draw which saw Sanavia retain his European super-middleweight crown. Haussler holds a 2005 win over Sanavia. If they don't have another rematch, Sanavia might be an attractive proposition for Carl Froch. Haussler owns two controversial victories over Glen Catley. Down the bill, Midlander Rob Norton was outpointed by Montenegrin prospect Enad Lucina. It was a setback for title-class Norton, who has struggled to get meaningful fights recently. December 8 – Le Cannet, France Yuriy Nuzhenko of Ukraine lifted the WBA interim welterweight title with a unanimous decision over French veteran Frederic Klose. With Miguel Cotto an active champion, I fail to see why the WBA felt the need to sanction an interim title fight – and with Cotto seeking much bigger fights, I can't imagine him accommodating Nuzkhenko any time soon, either. Could it be that the WBA will be happy to take double helpings of sanctioning fees for a year or two? Surely not. On the undercard, light-welterweight Gianluca Branco – linked to a new year shot at European ruler Colin Lynes – stopped reliable Laszlo Komjathi in four rounds. December 9 – Lublin, Poland Tomasz Bonin came back from his one-round thrashing at the hands of David Haye in April, outscoring journeyman Vlado Szabo over six at heavyweight. Szabo's record of a solitary win from 29 contests – and the fact Bonin couldn't stop him – tells how ridiculous it was that the Pole was ranked 11 by the WBC going in to the Haye fight. December 10 – Sydney, Australia “Ordinary” WBA super-middleweight champion Anthony Mundine retained his spurious distinction for a second time, halting Argentinean challenger Jose Alberto Clavero in four rounds. But didn't Joe Calzaghe win the WBA title from Mikkel Kessler? No, that was the organisation's “Super” title. No matter – any claim to a world title made by anyone not called Joe Calzaghe is of no consequence. Mundine's unknown and outgunned “challenger” only underlined the point – he entered this contest without a win from his previous three fights. Mundine was fighting for the first time since suffering a potentially career-threatening eye infection in the summer.

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