The World This Week by Oliver Fennell Jul 3rd 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 27    Controversial Australian Anthony Mundine successfully negotiated the first defence of his WBA super middleweight title with a near-shutout points win over unheralded Argentinian Pablo Nievas on the Gold Coast. Mundine, while only the WBA's “ordinary” champion (Mikkel Kessler is their “super” champ), would make a fine opponent for Joe Calzaghe, should negotiations with Kessler fall apart. Failed heavyweight sensation Michael Grant is trying again, despite three heavy knockout defeats. He returned from a two-year absence by beating trusty trialhorse Billy Zumbrun in five rounds in New York. Grant was considered the “next great heavyweight” until running into Lennox Lewis in 2000. On the same New York bill, super middleweight Yusef Mack bounced back from his eliminator defeat to Alejandro Berrio 13 months ago by outpointing fellow prospect Jose Juan Vasquez over 10. June 28    Former IBF cruiserweight champion Kelvin Davis suffered a broken neck in a bizarre training incident in Auckland. Now competing as a heavyweight, Davis was due to meet unbeaten New Zealander Shane Cameron and was out doing his roadwork when he was apparently scared by oncoming traffic and jumped off a bridge. Davis dropped 25ft and broke his neck, and is now recovering in an Auckland hospital. Cameron, meanwhile, stopped late replacement Jucimar Hipolito of Brazil in the first round. Ex-WBA featherweight titlist Freddie Norwood moved to 4-0 on his comeback by outscoring Panamanian journeyman Armando Cordoba over eight. Thirty-seven-year-old Norwood returned to action in June 2006, having been inactive since a September 2000 defeat to Derrick Gainer. His record stands at an impressive 42-1 (23), although he has been taking things slowly on his comeback. June 29    Ukrainian WBA bantamweight ruler Wladimir Sidorenko made the fifth defence of his belt with a seventh-round knockout of French challenger Jerome Arnould in Marseille. French light welterweight prospect Willy Blain moved to 17-0 with a routine eight-round points success against Tarik Amrouse of Algeria on the undercard. Former European welterweight boss Frederic Klose posted the same result against compatriot Frank Harroch Horta. Rejuvenated cruiserweight contender Darnell ‘Ding-A-Ling Man' Wilson continued his fine seam of form by taking the USBA strap from Emmanuel Nwodo. In his last four fights, Wilson has beaten consecutive world-ranked opponents in Daniel Judah, Dale Brown, Kelvin Davis and Nwodo. Before Judah, Wilson had gone without a win for four contests. Samoa's only world champion, Maselino Masoe, picked up a routine victory by knocking out Thai journeyman Dechaporn Suwannalert in four rounds in Brisbane. Big-punching Masoe, now 41, held the WBA middleweight belt from 2004 to 2006, but is probably finished at world level, given his age and a defeat to Randy Griffin in an eliminator last time out. Formerly British-based light welterweight Jed Syger got back in the ‘W' column Down Under following a shock defeat last time out. He dispatched novice Thai Jakklit Eausampan in the opening round, easing memories of his TKO2 defeat to Ariel Omongos in May. Syger, who turned pro in America in 2004, relocated to Britain in 2005, and then switched to Australia in March of this year, is 10-2 as a pro; 3-1 in Oz. June 30 Germany's three-time middleweight champion Felix Sturm completed the first defence of his latest reign by outpointing inexperienced Uruguayan challenger Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba in Stuttgart. It is the second time Sturm has held the WBA 11st 6lb belt, before which he reigned under the WBO brand. The WBO's number-one-ranked super middleweight Dennis Inkin repelled the undefeated challenge of Hungary's Jozsef Nagy with a fifth-round stoppage beneath Sturm-Alcoba. Inkin, 31-0 (24) is patiently biding his time awaiting champion Joe Calzaghe's next move. On this night, Inkin retained the WBC International distinction. The impossible dream continued as Evander Holyfield went 4-0 on his comeback by unanimously outpointing Lou Savarese in El Paso, Texas. Holyfield was impressive in soundly beating fellow oldie Savarese and flooring him heavily in round four and – crucially – nine. The latter knockdown shows Holyfield can remain dangerous until deep in a fight. Previously there had been question marks over the 44-year-old's stamina. Holyfield is now calling for a title shot, while 41-year-old Savarese announced his retirement. “The Real Deal” has already enjoyed a legendary career, mixing it up against the likes of Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman, Larry Holmes and our own Lennox Lewis, among others. Streaking young Russian heavyweight Alex Povetkin was supposed to get a tough night's work against Larry Donald, with some observers even predicting Donald could upset the applecart, but in the event, he wasn't even competitive. Povetkin, just 13-0, has been matched very ambitiously and has so far risen to the occasion each time. On this Moscow promotion, he won every round against a man who has beaten Evander Holyfield and pushed Nicolai Valuev extremely close. German-based ex-Brit Henry Akinwande plodded on at 41, outpointing trialhorse Andriy Oleinyk on the Povetkin-Donald undercard. Akinwande was supposed to have tried for revenge against recent conqueror Oleg Platov, who withdrew at late notice. Henry, a former British, European, Commonwealth and WBO heavyweight champion, switched nationalities to his native Nigeria a few years ago. Still in Moscow, highly-rated Vitali Tsypko came back from his creditable defeat to Jeff Lacy six months ago by registering a first-round retirement win over fellow Ukrainian Maxim Golovzinin. Tsypko is a former European champion at the weight and his reign included a split decision over Brian Magee.

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