The World This Week by Oliver Fennell Aug 21st 2007

Oliver Fennell sums up the international action of interest from the past seven days. Results with relevance to British boxing are in bold. August 15 Jailbird-turned-world champion Samson Sor Siriporn retained her WBC female light-flyweight title for the first time by outscoring Japanese challenger Anri Nakagawa in Bangkok. Sor Siriporn made history by being the first boxer to win a world title inside jail when she outpointed Ayako Miyano in Bangkok's Klong Prem Prison earlier this year, shortly before her release from a term which was reduced due to her sporting success. Middleweight Ronald Hearns, son of “The Hitman” Tommy, improved to 15-0 with a second-round knockout of journeyman Edson Aguirre in Rochester, New York. August 16 A bumper show in Panama City coincided with the annual WBA convention. Home favourites won several important matches. Anselmo Moreno booked a WBA bantamweight shot with an impressive first-round knockout of veteran Mexican Ricardo Vargas. Roinet Caballero did likewise at featherweight by outscoring Adailton de Jesus of Brazil. Tito Mendoza claimed a good scalp by outpointing former middleweight champion Keith Holmes over eight rounds at light-heavyweight. In non-Panamanian action, heavyweight Michael Moorer took out unbeaten but unproven Rich Boruff in a round. Finally, Evander Holyfield completed one of two unofficial contests for the week by going three rounds with WBA president Gilberto Mendoza in a charity exhibition. See August 18 for Holyfield's other appearance. Popular featherweight Jason Litzau rolled over former world title challenger Emanuel Lucero of Mexico in just rounds. This victory in Valley Center, California, was a career-best for Litzau. August 18 IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham repelled the challenge of fellow German-Armenian Khoren Gevor via 11th-round knockout in Berlin. Abraham rose to world prominence by beating Howard Eastman in 2005. On the undercard, former European welterweight champion and world title challenger Michael Trabant was held to a technical draw by Italian prospect Giammario Grassellini, while Mads Larsen outpointed Nader Hamdan in an eight-round battle of fringe super-middleweight contenders. Samoan heavyweight David Tua returned to the big-hitting form he is known for at the fifth attempt in his comeback. Facing Mexican champion Saul Montana, Tua detonated his patented left hook to bring about the finish inside the first round. Tua was outscored by Lennox Lewis in a world title opportunity seven years ago. On the Sandy, Utah, undercard, long-time heavyweight contender Jeremy Williams resurfaced at cruiser and outpointed Gary Gomez over eight rounds. It was Williams' first appearance in two and a half years, having been obliterated by Samuel Peter last time out. Finally, slow-burning heavyweight prospect Roman Greenberg stopped Damon Reed in nine rounds. Greenberg sometimes fights out of Britain, where Reed will be forever remembered as the loser in history's fastest world heavyweight title fight, folding in 52 seconds against Herbie Hide in 1998. Neil Sinclair launched a comeback less than two months after announcing his retirement, beating novice Latvian Sergejs Savrinovics on points over six. The encounter in Cork, Ireland, marked former British welterweight champion Sinclair's return to winning form following a disappointing KO defeat against Francis Jones in June. Former London-based Ugandan Sam Rukundo picked up his second success since relocating to Sweden, outpointing Czech hopeful Araik Sachbazjan over four lightweight rounds in Stockholm. Finally, Evander Holyfield “fought” a wrestler in a scripted match on WWE Saturday Night's Main Event in New York. The bout saw three knockdowns by Holyfield in the opening round against grappler Matt Hardy before, in typical pro wrestling style, the match went to a non-finish due to outside interference. August 19 WBA featherweight champion Chris John of Indonesia travelled to Kobe, Japan, to defend against Zaiki Takemoto. John stopped his Takemoto in nine rounds and kept his belt for the eighth time. He is now 40-0-1 and has underlined his position as the world number one.

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