The World This Week by Oliver Fennell Jun 19th 2007

Oliver Fennell sums up the international action of interest from the past seven days. Results with relevance to British boxing are in bold. June 12    Two name well known to British fans for opposing reasons were in action in Maribor, Slovenia. In the main event, Belgian Ismail Abdoul went through his usual survival routine before dropping a wide, unanimous decision to Rudolph Kraj of the Czech Republic for the WBC International cruiserweight title. Abdoul is not fondly remembered in Britain due to sleep-inducing 12-rounders with Enzo Maccarinelli and David Haye. On the undercard, Austria's Gotthard Hinteregger posted a four-round decision over winless Slovak Miroslav Kubik. Light-middleweight Hinteregger's British exploits are remembered much more fondly than Abdoul's, with two of his three thrilling fights with Jozsef Matolcsi taking place in the UK. The first encounter was a Fight of the Year candidate featuring five knockdowns and a come-from-behind late knockout by Matolcsi. June 14    Former two-time world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman failed to excite in his first fight back since his shock loss to Oleg Maskaev 10 months ago. Facing light-punching Taurus Sykes in Rochester, New York, Rahman came in at career-highest 261lb and was slow and lethargic in winning a 10-rounds points decision against a man who has been bombed out by Samuel Peter and Derek Bryant. Rahman, best known for his amazing knockout of Lennox Lewis in 2001, admitted his performance was poor and expressed a desire to be back in the ring in 30-40 days to help him shed the rust and the pounds. Almazbek Raiymkulov – better known as Kid Diamond – won a highly controversial decision over Miguel Angel Huerta on the Rahman-Sykes undercard. Huerta scored a knockdown in round 11 which seemed to have secured a points victory for the Mexican underdog, but two of the three judges sided against him. Diamond picked up the NABF lightweight title. The Contender alumnus Jesse Brinkley returned from his defeat to Robin Reid in March and punched out a sixth-round stoppage over Washington trialhorse Luis Lopez in Worley, Idaho. Brinkley, from Las Vegas, was “old-manned” out of his UK vs USA Contender match by Reid but was angered by the Briton's tactics. June 15    Romanian-Canadian contender Lucian Bute underlined his claims to a title shot by bettering Joe Calzaghe's result over Sakio Bika. Fighting in Montreal in an IBF super middleweight eliminator, Bute did what Calzaghe did in outpointing the Cameroon-born Aussie, but did so in considerably more comfortable fashion than the Welshman, and by wider scores. With the victory, Bute has guaranteed himself a shot at federation ruler Alejandro Berrio. On the Bute-Bika undercard, leading Canadian heavyweight Jean-Francois Bergeron improved to 27-0 with a points win over reliable trialhorse Robert Hawkins. Rumour has it Bergeron will face former WBA champion Nicolai Valuev in September. Super veteran Yory Boy Campas is one fight away from his century after beating Billy Lyell on points in his 99th contest (89 wins) in Youngstown, Ohio. Former IBF light middleweight champion Campas has fought Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas, Jose Luis Lopez, Raul Marquez, Tony Ayala Jr, Oba Carr, Larry Barnes, John Duddy and Jorge Vaca among many, many others. Michael Stewart bounced back from a shock defeat last time out to post an eight-round decision over Minnesota man Scott Ball in Harrington, Delaware. Stewart is well known on both sides of the Atlantic, having appeared in The Contender in America and having fought Ricky Hatton in Britain. He has been talked of as an opponent for Arturo Gatti. Former contender Matt Vanda's ambitions among world class look done following his upset defeat to the unknown Kenny Kost in St Paul, Minnesota. Kost picked up a majority decision over “The Predator”. Perennial heavyweight fringe operator Friday Ahunanya scored his second successive win following a winless 2004-2006. This time the Nigerian stopped trier James Walton in two rounds in Las Vegas. Frenchman Rachid Drilzane, who gave Amir Khan a good distance tussle last December, lost a points verdict in challenging national light welterweight champion Ismael El Massoudi in Clement-Ferrand. June 16    Italian-American favourite Paulie Malignaggi came good in world class at the second attempt, dethroning Lovemore Ndou, who was making the first defence of his IBF light welterweight laurels. Malignaggi was thrashed by Miguel Cotto last year but found Ndou an easier proposition, running away a virtually shut-out winner. Ndou was awarded the vacant belt in February after the IBF stripped Ricky Hatton for not obliging his mandatory status. WBO light-heavyweight Zsolt Erdei delighted his hometown fans in Budapest, Hungary, by stopping American George Blades in the 11th round. It was Erdei's eighth defence of his title. One of the WBA's three versions of the cruiserweight championship was on the line on the Erdei-Blades undercard. Germany's Firat Arslan split-decisioned Russia's Valery Brudov to pick up the interim strap and will now meet “champion proper” Virgil Hill. The veteran Hill, meanwhile, only became titleholder when the WBA upgraded then-titlist O'Neil Bell to “super champion” status. Hill must accommodate Arslan, with the winner to meet Bell's successor Jean-Marc Mormeck. Still with me? Still in Hungary, Ukraine's hard-luck light-welterweight Andreas Kotelnik notched a routine eight-round points win over hometown journeyman Laszlo Komjathi. Last time out, Kotelnik held WBA champion Souleymane M'Baye to a draw in Liverpool, and in 2005 he was considered by some to be unlucky not to unseat then-European king Junior Witter in Nottingham. Lennox Lewis' original conqueror Oliver McCall amazingly resurrected his career at the age of 42 with an upset points win over Sinan Samil Sam in Ankara. The victory was even more surprising, given that it was a home showcase for Samil Sam – Turkey's first pro boxing show for 27 years, headlines by the country's biggest star in the sport. Samil Sam's best win also came against a Brit, when he demolished Danny Williams in 2003, but he was outworked by the rock-headed and rock-fisted veteran. McCall picked up the WBC International crown and also an assurance from WBC president Jose Sulaiman he would be next in line for a world title shot once the Oleg Maskaev-Samuel Peter-Vitali Klitschko merry-go-round has resolved itself. Former WBC cruiserweight champion Juan Carlos Gomez scored his best heavyweight win for some time by outscoring Dennis Bakhtov on the McCall-Samil Sam card. It must have grated Gomez to have seen two men he has beaten (although his decision over McCall was later changed to a no-contest after failing a drugs test) competing in the main event. For what it's worth, he picked up the vacant PABA title by beating Bakhtov, although how a German-based Cuban qualifies for a Pan-Asian championship is beyond me. Bakhtov is known to British fans for his wins over Keith Long and Mathew Ellis. Herbie Hide continued his cruiserweight campaign with an easy win on the Turkey undercard. His fight is covered elsewhere on BritishBoxing.net.

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