USYK vs FURY 2

SATURDAY 21 DECEMBER 2024

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

WBC, WBA, WBO HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES

CHRIS BILLAM-SMITH VS GILBERTO “ZURDO” RAMIREZ

SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2024

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

WBO and WBA WORLD CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS

ARTUR BETERBIEV vs DMITRY BIVOL

UNDISPUTED LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 2024

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

DANIEL DUBOIS VS ANTHONY JOSHUA

SATURDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2024

WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON, ENGLAND

IBF HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

SAUL CANELO ALVAREZ VS EDGAR BERLANGA

WBC WBA WBO SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLES

SATURDAY 14th SEPTEMBER 2024

LAS VEGAS, USA.

Josh TAYLOR vs Jack CATTERALL

Non Title Light-Welterweight rematch 

Saturday 25 May 2024

Leeds, UK.

and

Lukasz ROZANSKI vs Lawrence OKOLIE

WBC Bridgerweight Title 

Friday 24 May 2024

Poland.

TYSON FURY VS OLEKSANDR USYK

SATURDAY 18 MAY 2024

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

DEVIN HANEY VS RYAN GARCIA

SATURDAY APRIL 20 2024

BARCLAYS CENTER, NEW YORK

WBC LIGHT – WELTERWEIGHT TITLE (Super Lightweight)

ANTHONY JOSHUA VS FRANCIS NGANNOU

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA,

FRIDAY 8TH MARCH 2024

HEAVYWEIGHT NON-TITLE FIGHT

DAN AZEEZ VS JOSHUA BUATSI

WEMBLEY ARENA, LONDON, UK

SATURDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2024

BRITISH, COMMONWEALTH, EUROPEAN LIGHT - HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES

ARTUR BETERBIEV vs CALLUM SMITH

OTTAWA, CANADA

SATURDAY 13 JANUARY 2024

WBC IBF WBO LIGHT - HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES

DAY OF RECKONING

RIYADH SAUDI ARABIA

SATURDAY 23 DECEMBER 2023

Fights predicted:

Joshua vs Wallin

DuBois vs Miller

Wilder vs Parker

Bivol vs Arthur

SAUL “CANELO” ALVAREZ VS JERMELL CHARLO

UNDISPUTED SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE

SATURDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

LAS VEGAS

ZHILEI ZHANG vs JOE JOYCE 2 “The Rematch”

HEAVYWEIGHT NON-TITLE FIGHT

SATURDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2023

WEMBLEY ARENA, LONDON

LIAM SMITH VS CHRIS EUBANK Jr

SATURDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER 2023

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

MIDDLEWEIGHT NON-TITLE FIGHT

OLEKSANDR USYK vs DANIEL DUBOIS

WROCLAW, POLAND

SATURDAY 26 AUGUST 2023

WBA, IBF, WBO HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES

Naya Inoue vs Stephen Fulton

WBC and WBO Super Bantamweight World Tittles

Tuesday 25th July 2023

Tokyo, Japan

TERENCE CRAWFORD vs ERROL SPENCE

UNDISPUTED WELTERWEIGHT TITLE

SATURDAY 29 JULY 2023

Las Vegas, Nevada

JOSH TAYLOR vs TEOFIMO LOPEZ

10 JUNE 2023

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK

WBO LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT TITLE

LAWRENCE OKOLIE VS CHRIS BILLAM-SMITH

SATURDAY 27 MAY 2023

THE VITALITY STADIUM, BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND

WBO CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE

DEVIN HANEY vs VASILIY LOMACHENKO

SATURDAY 20 MAY 2023

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

UNDISPUTED LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE

SAUL CANELO ALVAREZ vs JOHN RYDER

SATURDAY 6 MAY 2023

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO

UNDISPUTED SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE

GERVONTA “TANK” DAVIS vs RYAN GARCIA

SATURDAY 22 APRIL 2023

PARADISE, NEVADA

CATCHWEIGHT

136 lbs, with a 10 lbs rehydration clause.

JOE JOYCE vs ZHANG ZHILEI

SATURDAY 15 APRIL 2023

COPPERBOX ARENA, LONDON

HEAVYWEIGHT

ANTHONY JOSHUA VS JERMAINE FRANKLIN

HEAVYWEIGHT

1 APRIL 2023

GREENWICH, LONDON

ARTUR BETERBIEV vs ANTHONY YARDE

WBC, IBF, WBO LIGHT - HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES

WEMBLEY, LONDON, UK

SATURDAY 28 JANUARY 2023

LIAM SMITH vs CHRIS EUBANK Jr.

Middleweight non-title fight.

Manchester, England

21 January 2023

Terence “Bud” Crawford vs David Avanesyan

10 December 2022

Omaha, Nebraksa

WBO Welterweight Title

TYSON FURY vs DEREK CHISORA

SATURDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2022

LONDON

WBC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

DILLIAN WHYTE vs JERMAINE FRANKLIN (HEAVYWEIGHT) and JOHN RYDER vs ZACH PARKER (SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT)

SATURDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2022

LONDON, ENGLAND.

DMITRY BIVOL VS GILBERTO “ZURDO” RAMIREZ

SATURDAY 5th NOVEMBER 2022

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

WBA LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

Russian Kyrgyz Bivol is 20-0 (11 KOs)

He is Orthodox vs Zurdo’s Southpaw

Bivol has been champ for five years

Coming off a massive win over Canelo Alvarez – he’s very much a contender for world’s pound for pound best.

Mechanical upright style

Nice trick - lands and slightly turns head away to help nullify counters

Very strong, very disciplined.

Really nice footwork, sort of smoothly jerks in then glides out – like a slightly lagging youtube video – very much to his advantage.

What I like most is that he is deceptive.

Punches moving in then moves out quickly but punches as he moves out.

Gets extra work in.

Does much more than might appear at first glance.

Mexican Zurdo, as his name suggests, is a Southpaw.

Fast powerful, pressure fighter.

You heard of “Hooking off the jab?”

This guy uppercuts off the hook!

So he’s not afraid to try the unusual.

I like his footwork its comfortable well practiced movement from a wide slightly square on stance.

But he does get caught by right hooks – we saw that I his brawl against Yunieski Gonzalez just under a year ago.

That is because he keeps his hands low.

And he’s a headhunter – works to the head, and in my opinion neglects the body.

That makes for eye-catching fights, big power shots, but he loses the effect of draining body punches which would tire his opponent.

PREDICTION:

Bivol is the cleaner, sharper puncher.

Whilst Zurdo favours mid-range, and is busy with both hands swinging headshots, I think that Bivol’s disciplined tight guard will nullify a lot of these punches.

Zurdo will have his moments, but eye catching pressure will hit Bivol’s hands and forearms. Zurdo will noticeably tire later on.

Bivol’s fast footwork will help him land well-timed, two punch combinations, and effectively get out of the range of Zurdo’s stinging shots much too often for Zurdo’s liking.

BIVOL ON POINTS

DEVIN HANEY vs GEORGE KAMBOSOS JR II

UNDISPUTED LIGHTWEIGHT TITLES

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

15 OCTOBER 2022

DEONTAY WILDER vs ROBERT HELENIUS

HEAVYWEIGHT NON-TITLE FIGHT

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

15 OCTOBER 2022

CHRIS EUBANK JR VS CONOR BENN

8th OCTOBER 2022

O2 DOME, GREENWICH, LONDON

CATCHWEIGHT

To preview this fight, I was honoured to be joined by Liston Wingate-Denys. Liston is a personal trainer with a great fitness studio in West London, who trains people of all ages for health, strength & conditioning. Amongst them some household names...Thandie Newton calls Liston her “Go-to trainer” for when she really needs to be in shape.   

He is a longstanding member of the British Judo Team, and competes for them in international tournaments.

He brought his expert knowledge and experience to the table as we discussed the effects on both fighters of fighting at Catchweight; Eubank having to lose weight, Benn to gain it.

How can this be done safely whilst retaining a competitive edge?

We also compared the different styles of each fighter.

Join us as we discuss two men following in their fathers’ footsteps.

Liston can be reached at www.bodyhubw10.com

Email: liston@bodyhubw10.com

Instagram: @liston_wd

JOE PARKER VS JOE JOYCE

24 SEPTEMBER 2022

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

HEAVYWEIGHT

“Just keep the devil in hell,

Just keep the trains on the rail,

Just keep the stars in the sky,

And keep the money for sale.”

It’s the Joe Boxers, the battle of the nice guys.

Two gentlemen, whilst with that character trait in common, there are many contrasts.

Parker is the 30 year old veteran, 32 fights, ex world champion, standard size at

6 foot 4 and around 17 and a half stone (251 lbs).

He’s been in with top level fighters; Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, Derek Chisora, Hughie Fury, Andy Ruiz Jr.   

Joyce the 37 year old novice, just 14 fights, juggernaut size, 6 foot 6 and around 18 and a half stone (263 lbs.)

The biggest names on his record are fleeting ex world champion Bermane Stiverne, and contenders Carlos Takam and Daniel Du Bois.

But Parker has lost twice, to quality opposition in Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.

Whilst Joyce has won all of his fights, and only needed to go the distance once.

Parker has been dropped by Whyte and Chisora, Joyce has never been on the canvas.

Parker has stopped around two thirds of his opponents, Joyce has stopped all but one of them.

So we see two big punching men, with Parker having noticeably less punch resistance.  Yet more experience at high level.

Parker comes from Boxing stock. His father is named Dempsey, after Jack, and he grew up in the Mangere area of Auckland where David Tua comes from. He boxed almost as soon as he could walk.

Joyce didn’t put on the gloves until his early 20’s. He was into Athletics and Rugby Union. Though his amateur Boxing career includes world championship gold.

So far it’s perplexing.  Their strengths and weaknesses seem to cancel each other out.

So do their styles hint at the outcome?

Parker has a lot going for him.

His low handed style allows him to get his punches off very quickly.

His movement flows, a good overhand right builds on solid footwork.

But against him those same low hands mean that if Joyce can close the distance, Parker will get caught.

And a heavy handed fighter like Joyce has it in him to drop Parker.

Joyce is tall, strong, with a great chin, he can take a shot and not even flinch.

A steady thudding jab does much to work openings that he exploits with top level finishing strength.

Strength rather than power, because Joyce is slow compared to other world class fighters.

And he takes far too many jabs both to head and body, almost as if he thinks other fighters cannot really hurt him so he doesn’t mind getting hit.

PREDICTION:

The question is whether Parker’s speed and better footwork can get past Joyce’s slow but thudding jab.

Given Joyce’s punch effectiveness, and Parker’s previous visits to the canvas, I can see him taking a late tumble.

But even though the rounds will have been close, Parker will be ahead on points at that stage.

He has too much savvy, nice movement, and will get past Joyce’s jab quite often to land clean scoring shots, two punch combinations.

And Parker will climb off the canvas, to continue to outwork Joyce and win on points.

SAUL CANELO ALVAREZ VS GENNADY GGG GOLOVKIN

17 SEPTEMBER 2022

NEVADA, USA

UNDISPUTED SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

MY PREDICTION: CANELO ON POINTS.

OLEKSANDR USYK VS ANTHONY JOSHUA II

20 AUGUST 2022

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA

WBA, IBF, WBO HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

The most high profile and lucrative fight of 2022.

Unbeaten Usyk, in a rematch against the man whose titles he took back in September 2021.

With a rematch, the obvious question is; what can each man do differently this time around to be better?

Especially pertinent when that rematch is within a year of the original fight, and neither man has fought since.

Well, not in a ring.

But Champion Usyk did military service six months ago in Ukraine, and it was revealed by his wife that he lost about 20 pounds in weight as a result. You cannot image the amount or quality of the food he ate during his six-week service was up to much, and his training would have been limited to bodyweight exercises.

I doubt he had much in the way of sleep either.

Training clips show that he appears heavier than last time, and he looks more defined and powerfully built. It’s said he has been swimming five hours per day.  Great for stamina, on paper. But has he over trained?  I simply cannot imagine that his time away from Boxing helped, and I think if the fight goes the distance Usyk will tire at the end.

In terms of tactics, Usyk does not need to change much.

He out boxed Joshua last time, he won the battle of the footwork, and his backhand left out of the southpaw stance repeatedly found Joshua’s head.

If he is a more powerful version of the same, we can probably expect Joshua’s right eye to close, which is almost did in September.  That would lead to a referee or corner stopping the fight on medical grounds.

So what of the challenger? 

Attempting to win a heavyweight title for the third time.

He has made a change to his camp, replacing long time trainer Robert McCracken with head trainer Robert Garcia.  Importantly most of the other trainers are still in place. That’s wise. It shows Joshua knows that in a few months, at this stage of his career, he should not attempt to re-invent the wheel; rather he has to tweak his approach.

Garcia has trained many fighters, but seldom any above middleweight.  Often, such as his brother Mikey and Fernando Vargas, they are very two handed. That’s the change I expect to see Robert try to implement.

If Josh is going to improve, what specifically does he need to do?

The first thing is to keep his right up.  Usyk’s main weapon was the backhand left, the power punch thrown from way back whilst the lead right acted more as a range finder.

The left hit often, it hit accurately, and it hit powerfully. 

Usually at Joshua’s head.  It caused Joshua’s right eye to swell.

Simply put, Josh just could not get away from it.  It lost him the fight.

Mixed with this, is better upper body movement, He was too static, presented too much of a target.

If there is any narrative to the improvements, it embodies the next two points.

He has to be lighter on his feet.  More lateral movement; give Usyk something to think about.  Usyk won the battle of the footwork; he constantly adjusted his position, giving him leverage advantage so often.

Last but not least, work rate.  Josh was outworked, outpunched, and out boxed. 

There have to be more jabs, more hooks, more uppercuts.

Give the judges more to go on.

So that’s what AJ didn’t do well.

Did he have any success to build on?

Yes. Emphatically yes.

When he double jabbed late on he was able to bring through the right to Usyk’s head.

The move works, so use it.

He countered really well, landing rights to open up cuts on Usyk’s nose and cheeks.

And the occasional lead right to the body landed effectively.

Above all, he has no option but to improve his work rate. He stood off Usyk far too much in the first three rounds.

And photos from his training camp show a very toned Josh, ready for this approach. He looks about 17 stone 8 (246 lbs), a bit heavier than last time but with less fat.

Usyk I think weighs 16 stone 2 lbs (226 lbs.), about five pounds heavier than last time. 

But it’s all guesswork – you never know when exactly during a camp a photo was taken, and lighting and camera angles can deceive.

There’s a school of thought that Joshua should just walk down Usyk from the opening bell, using his height and weight advantage to demolish him.

I just don’t think a seasoned pro would take that approach, they know far too well that Usyk’s movement can evade this.

Instead, a mix of efficient countering, and double jabs with a follow through right will yield better results. As will lead lefts to the body and even uppercuts to the body.

PREDICTION:

I have had ages to think about this. And it has been really hard to decide. Usyk definitely out boxed Joshua last time, and part of me thinks he just has Joshua’s number.  Usyk will be motivated like never before, his entire country will be backing him. But will this be just too emotion on the night, too draining? There is so much room for improvement, different ways to be better; that to me it is inconceivable that Joshua fails to grasp the pointers Robert Garcia will give him. Another loss is likely to put him two or three places back in the queue for a title challenge. I think Josh improves on last time, especially with the double jab, and wins a majority decision.   Leading to a third fight in 2023.

DEREK CHISORA

vs

KUBRAT PULEV

9 JULY 2022

O2 DOME, GREENWICH, LONDON

HEAVYWEIGHT

MY PREDICTION: CHISORA POINTS WIN.

ARTUR BETERBIEV vs JOE SMITH Jr.

18 JUNE 2022

WBC IBF WBO LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES

HULU THEATER, NEW YORK

MY PREDICTION:

BETERBIEV BY STOPPAGE ROUND 10 OR 11.

TREVOR BRYAN vs DANIEL DUBOIS

11 JUNE 2022

MIAMI

WBA REGULAR HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

My Prediction:

Dubois stoppage round 5.

Watch my analysis:

 GEORGE KAMBOSOS Jr.

VS

DEVIN HANEY

05 JUNE 2022

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, WBC, The Ring Lightweight Titles

It’s the world undisputed light title, with a caveat….Gervonta Davis who holds the WBA Regular version of the title he defended last weekend.

A division full of talent, with Lomachenko, Garcia and perhaps even Stevenson ready for future title fights.

Haney’s the Golden State Warrior who now lives in Vegas, Kambosos is the Spartan Warrior out of Sydney.  Both unbeaten.

Another huge fight in 2022.

Much of the re fight talk is about Kambosos. He’s fighting at home, has been full of confidence in the press conferences, and is coming in off a win against the highly rated Teofimo Lopez.

Lopez had beaten the mega star Lomachenko in his previous fight, a man considered unbeatable at this weight by many.  But Lopez showed great footwork and two-handed attacks to win. Then lost against Kambosos.  So what happened?

Well we now know that Lopez was suffering from a medical condition called “Pneumomediastinum”.  He had pockets of air in his check and neck, severely restricting his breathing and stamina. 

So it leaves a he question mark over Kambosos’s win…did he simply catch Lopez at an opportune time?

What troubles me about Kambosos is nothing he does really catches the eye.  He’s a tough comepetitive fighter, decent work rate, who uses distance as his main form of defence. He’ll take some to give some.  But he falls just short of being a pressure fighter. He is not a perpetual motion machine. He can battle his way to a win, but will he?

Haney is very different.  Whereas Kambosos has a tall upright stance, Haney has this half crouch half upright style that reminds me of a 1950’s fighter, it gives him spring, aligned with a loose fluid punch technique that makes the most of opportunities.  A long reach helps.

He looks good, nice left jab – right combinations.  Measured footwork, always adjusting his feet, seeking to keep his left outside the opponent’s right.  Really catches the judges’ eyes.

So what can go wrong?

This is the element of doubt.  You can step into him and catch him. With a lead right, how Jojo Diaz fairly often did when they met in December 2021, or a fast left hook.  It’s because he keeps his hands a bit low, tucking them under his chin instead of around it.

PREDICTION:

I think Haney wins on points. Narrowly, because Kambosos will fight ugly, step in and pressure Haney, and mark him up.  But when Haney is on top, and he will be on top at times, he will score points whilst Kambosos I walking around, stalking, not throwing enough.

 GERVONTA DAVIS

VS

ROLANDO ROMERO

28 MAY 2022

BARCLAYS CENTER, BROOKLYN

WBA (REGULAR) LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE

Both undefeated.

Both stopped over 90 percent of their opponents.

Both confident.

Both beset with out of the ring legal troubles.

And one of the most entertaining (though foul mouthed) press conferences we have had in a while.

Romero brash and rude.

Predicting a first round knock out,

Davis notably relaxed, chuckling at Romero’s insults, very much carrying himself as if he has studied his opponent and knows he has the beating of him.

It is almost impossible that this fight goes the distance. 

Too much power, too much pride, too much devil.

Rolly Romero, out of Las Vegas, has that front loaded stunning power. 

He staggers his opponents, wears them down, he gets the job done.

But the knock against him is he looks “awkward.”

That was the word on Davis’s lips at the press conference.

Awkward, as in he has not mastered his craft, instead does what he knows.

Throws power shots, but does not put together many combinations.

On the plus side, he has power, and very fast evasion.

He pivots from the waist, swivels away from punches, and moves out quickly.

His defence relies on this.

Devastating left hook, he took out Avery Sparrow in round one in early 2021.

One the minus side, he carries his hands too low, and is open to left counters.

He also neglects throwing body punches.

Tank Davis, out of West Baltimore, is the more seasoned man, has fought a higher calibre of opponent.

He is though, more extreme.

By that I mean his offence is better, but his defence is suspect.

The knock is he takes too many punches, and Leo Santa Cruz hit him with numerous jabs through the guard, and with rights to the body in October 2020.

But he uses lighting fast two-punch power combinations to great effect.

He mixes it to head and body much more than Romero.

PREDICTION:

Davis mentioned “levels” in the press conference.

I think he was spot on.

His craft, his power and his speed are all superior.

I think he wins by knock out in round five.

 CRAIG RICHARDS

vs

JOSHUA BUATSI 

O2 DOME, GREENWICH, LONDON

21 MAY 2022

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT

 It’s the weight division in British Boxing which has a scintillating array of talent in depth.

Yarde, Arthur, Johnson, Smith.

And this very local derby. 

Though Buatsi was born in Ghana, both men got into Boxing at a young age at the same place, the South Norwood and Victory Club in Crystal Place, under trainer Terry Smith.

They are based around Croydon and Thornton Heath; for those of you not familiar with these areas, that is deep South London.  Where the tube doesn’t go.

Both are word class light-heavyweights, but at different stages of their career.

Richards the older man at 32, has challenged and lost for a world title, and needs this win to have a chance of another shot any time soon.

Buatsi at 29, is regarded as approaching his prime.

There is next-to-nothing to separate them physically, Buatsi one inch taller and has an inch-and-a-half reach advantage.

But they are distinct stylistically.

It’s not so much the footwork, but Buatsi has a loose manner of fighting; crisp stunning shots with three and four punch combinations. Not awesome power, but the cumulative effect is impressive having stopped 15 of 17 opponents without loss.

He throws pragmatically, thinking nothing of leading with a right or a two single jabs in quick succession, rather than a standard rapid fire double jab.  He is now trained by ex world champ Virgil Hunter, and goes to his training camp stateside to prepare.

Richards by contrast is more traditional, upright, building behind a steady jab.

He has a strong right uppercut, but can he catch Buatsi with it?

Well Buatsi does lack head movement, and at the very highest level I see that as a problem.

And he can be caught by a right, over the top of his left hand of a slightly loose guard. We saw that against Ricards Bolotniks last August.

Richards is well conditioned, solid enough fundamentals, but for me a bit too cautious.

A year ago he fought soundly against the division’s best technical world champion, Dmitry Bivol, who has just beaten Canelo Alvarez. Richards lost on points. He was often beaten to the punch, admittedly by a master of distance and timing.

He got caught early on by a lead left, and in round two by a jab through the middle of his guard.

That worries me.

He is one paced, applying steady pressure, but almost like he is still in the gym.

That’s a quality gym, under Peter Sims who is a very respected trainer.

But I worry there doesn’t seem to be enough devil in Richards.

PREDICTION:

Richards will land enough with the jab, but I favour Buatsi’s more fluid style, better combinations.

By the late rounds Richards will be marked up and he will struggle, but local pride will keep him upright as he makes it over the finish line.

Buatsi to win on points.

 JERMELL CHARLO

VS

BRIAN CASTANO

14 MAY 2022

CARSON, CALIFORNIA, USA 

UNIFIED WORLD LIGHT-MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE

All the belts are on the line, for this fight between Castano the Argentinian WBO Champion, and the American Charlo who holds all the other belts.

That in itself makes this fight special.

The intrigue is that it is a rematch, the first fight last July was a draw.

But most observes, myself included, thought Castano clearly won. I was amazed at how the judges scored it.

The question is, what can either man do to improve their performance so they can win this fight?

Castano is the shorter man with the shorter reach, and he was noticeably the busier of the two in the first fight.

He was able to get in close and let combinations, go, and for most of the fight he forced the action.

How does he improve?

Only really by being even busier, and taking perhaps taking a couple of rounds off for breathers.

He did what he need to do, he was in Charlo’s face at some point in most rounds, worked to the head and body, and kept his concentration at distance.

In a way he kept it simple; work hard, throw effective combinations, and keep at distance when tired to regain some energy.

If anything he can work a bit more to the body, because though I believe he hit hard enough to earn Charlo’s respect, he never looked like he would drop Charlo with head shots.

The better-known Charlo is the younger of twins by one minute, his older brother Jermall is WBC Middleweight Champion.

I thought he fought within himself last fight. He appeared far too cautious, mainly having his success with single body shots, which were not as effective as Castano’s combinations.

 We saw flashes of nice defence, a great twisting and turning evasive move in round seven, but basically far too little in the way of offence.

Then came the tenth round. For reasons unknown, everything clicked. His timing, his accuracy, his speed, his work rate.  He used his longer reach to land hard singles and double punch combinations, which brought the crowd to its feet.

He did a bit more of this in the next round, but it was too late to win the fight in the judges’ eyes.

PREDICTION:

Round ten is the clue. When Charlo was fighting to his full ability, he made Castano looked ragged, Really worried for his safety.  But only when Charlo fought like this.

I just have to think Charlo realises this, knows how much is at stake in this fight, and has to start this fight much busier than last time.

He now knows he can worry Castano, so there is nothing to stop him coming out of the blocks and establishing his authority.

Castano will fight in a similar way to the last time; he will work to the body, he will work hard.

But a busier Charlo has more power and is more eye- catching, and he surely knows it.

This should take him to a points win, typically winning by two or three rounds on the judges’ scorecards.

 DMITRY BIVOL

vs

SAUL “CANELO” ALVAREZ

7th MAY 2022

LAS VEGAS

WBA LIGHT–HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

In a long held Boxing tradition, we have a Cinco de Mayo weekend where a Mexican fighter fights for a world title. This ones stands out, because if Canelo wins, he becomes only the tenth man to win universally recognised world titles in five or more weight divisions.

His opponent is the title holder Dmitry Bivol, and the fight was criticized by Ukrainian ex Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko, because Bivol is Russian, based in St Petersburg.  But born in Kyrgyzstan, to a Moldovan father and a Korean mother. So if he was a footballer he could choose from four countries to play for, and could even switch between them if he had played a friendly for one of them but not a competitive game.

I say let him fight; he is a sportsman who needs to earn a living, not a politician.

The main talking point is how will Canelo cope with moving up in weight, against a man with a height and reach advantage?

Make no mistake, he sits very comfortably at Super Middleweight, and for a fighter who started his career at Light-Welterweight, and stands 5 foot 7 and a ½ inches, we can expect the extra weight he will carry to be a bit of a burden if the fight goes to the later rounds.

But even though Bivol at 6 foot is four and half inches taller, I think this presents no problem at all for Canelo, who recently beat 6ft 3 Callum Smith and 6 ft 1 Caleb Plant.

Canelo is a stalker with attitude, he uses his excellent footwork to cut off your angles, bobbing and weaving to present a moving target. He then has this great habit of punching at full range of his reach but maintaining power, and making sure he mixes it up to head and body.

That is not to say that Bivol has no chance. Canelo can be caught with fast jabs through the middle of guard, we saw this clearly against Caleb Plant.

Bivol is unbeaten, with very sound fundamentals. No major weaknesses. He has quite an upright European style, expected of many Russian fighters. Stick and move is his mantra, usually landing single jabs to the face then moving out of distance. He has a good habit of a tight guard, and slightly turning his head and torso as he gets into range, giving his opponent a moving target.  And in his last fight in December against Umar Salamov, we saw a nice trick, where he threw a left jab to the head but changed trajectory at the last minute and landed to the body.

But it was all too rare, and he does not mix it up anything like the way Canelo does.

As far as I can tell, it has been over five years since Bivol fought a man much shorter than himself. He coped very well, though it is hard to take much from the fight he had against Robert Berridge, an overmatched Southpaw. Canelo by contrast is Orthodox. And the only ways to beat him are to be much bigger than him, or much faster than him, or much busier than him.  Bivol is none of these.

PREDICTION:

I think Bivol starts well enough, but Canelo gets going around the fourth and really cuts off the ring. I think we will see a late stoppage around the eleventh round, with Bivol suffering from cuts and the referee stepping in.

 OSCAR VALDEZ

vs

SHAKUR STEVENSON

30 APRIL 2022

MGM GRAND LAS VEGAS

WBO and WBC SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT TITLES

This is intriguing.  Both men are undefeated. Both have held a world title at Featherweight before moving up to a win a title at Super Feather. Both are fast. Both are real quality and fully convinced that they will win.

Let’s look at their strengths and weaknesses:

Valdez is fast and powerful.

He snaps out dangerous jabs to the head, and follows these with right hooks.

He also can lead with a fast right to the head.  Unusual, but effective.

Stevenson sets a tricky puzzle. He paws with his Southpaw lead right, then shoots through a single left behind it.  Difficult to defend against, and really hard to counter against.

But even so he can be countered if timed correctly. His one real weakness is slightly extending the lead foot and staying in place a fraction of a second too long, so a fast Valdez would expect to take advantage of this to occasionally counter successfully.

Very tough to separate them.

There is just a little bit to go on, just some minor clues.

Valdez is Orthodox.

Stevenson is a Southpaw. 

So how has Valdez done against Southpaws in the past?

I had to go back all the way to 2015 to find out, when he fought Ruben Tamayo at Featherweight.  Valdez largely dominated, being busier, more powerful and stronger. But there was a moment just before the end of the first round, when he moved in to throw a punch, and Tamayo retaliated with a not especially fast left-right combination. Normally you would think Valdez could move away and avoid getting hit, but his lead left foot got caught inside Tamayo’s right foot, and he could not distance himself. It caused a simultaneous trip and a knock down.

My guess is that no matter how much Valdez has learnt from this, it remains a real possibility that it could happen again. 

This is exacerbated because he slightly leans in to throw his punches, and with a minor height and reach disadvantage against Stevenson, it could make a crucial difference.

Something else worries me about Valdez.  In his last fight in September 2021 against Robson Conceicao, he was up against a very measured and diligent boxer who knew how to use distance.  Valdez responded by being defensive, very economical, and studying his opponent. Those are the right things to do if you are not sure how to win, especially during the early rounds when time is on your side. But I think Stevenson will take advantage of this and win a few points from jabs in tight rounds, where the judges have relatively few clean punches to score. 

Stevenson looked brilliant in his last fight against the veteran Jamel Herring in October, as if until then he had largely kept his powder dry throughout his career, but then decided to bring out his work rate and power for a big fight. As if he decided to show the world just how good he was.

PREDICTION:

Valdez will start well, he is the older man, and will set about his work to get ahead and stamp his authority on the fight in case he tires later on. He hits hard, and will intend that his punches wear down Stevenson.

But Valdez will be forced to concentrate on defence as Stevenson steps up his work rate after three rounds. I think a younger fresher Stevenson then takes more control from round six, though Valdez will continue to keep it competitive.

Valdez is fast, but Stevenson is super fast. In a very tight fight it is one of the few things giving him a slim edge.

Along with a slight height and reach advantage.

Stevenson will be busier, have more punch variety, and use the distance better.

This will ultimately be eye-catching for the judges who will give him the decision.

 TYSON FURY vs DILLIAN WHYTE 

WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON 

23rd April 2022 

WBC HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

A highly appealing match up, the first all-British Heavyweight title fight in almost 30 years.

Two big men who can hit and get hit, and boy do they hit.

You’d know that if you saw their last fights against Deontay Wilder and Alexander Povetkin respectively.

Title-holder Tyson is unbeaten, taller, heavier and with a longer reach, and that makes him the favourite.

I expect both to be in peak condition, Fury having had plenty of time to recover from elbow surgery that saw him perform a notch off his best versus Deontay Wilder in his last fight in October.

Though Whyte has not fought in a year, he has been working hard at his Portugal training camp and it will be a shock if he comes in overweight as he sometimes has in the past, for his many ticking over fights whilst he has waited years for his title shot.

Key things to look out for:

Height:

Six foot 9 inch Fury’s last three fights have been against another tall man in Deontay Wilder. Now he fights Whyte, who is five inches shorter.  I do not see punching down as a problem for Fury, as he easily coped with fighting six foot five Tom Schwarz, landing many hooks and jabs through the guard.

I do though see Whyte having some problems with Fury’s height and reach.

Whyte, admittedly not fully motivated, struggled against six foot seven Robert Helenius in 2017.  The taller Finn used his long reach to keep Whyte at bay, ducking below Whyte’s jabs, forcing Whyte in close.

In-fighting:

I feel this is a problem for Whyte. He will encounter a Fury who is very adept at close quarter fighting, who leans on his opponent with all his eighteen stone of weight.  Fury also seems very calm in the clutch, using his left to hold onto his opponent’s right and distracting his mind from punching.

Whyte is unusual, if you watch back his career he almost always fights at mid- range, and his effective close in work is mainly him landing sharp double left combinations, either head-body or body-head.  When he has to wrestle, he is not so good, and he was given trouble by Derek Chisora in their rematch, noticeably taking a left hook to the head and a right to the body.

And it was Povetkin who nailed Whyte with a close range left cross-cum-uppercut in their first fight in 2020. Helenius hit him with a similar hook in the first round of their fight.

Footwork:

Tyson Fury has some of the best footwork of any of the current heavyweights, probably only Usyk is better. He adds to this with textbook bobbing and weaving.  Whyte though does get caught with his feet too close together, and then needs to rapidly step back out of range.  This has been less of a feature in recent fights, especially when he has got his weight down, but I expect the Fury camp to have noted it.

Whyte’s power:

For all that I have noted Fury’s strengths, Whyte has them too. A great double jab to head and body or vice-versa, very fast overhand right, and tons of experience.

He has beaten a slew of top heavyweights; Joseph Parker, Derek Chisora, Oscar Rivas and a post-Covid Alexander Povetkin.

Both men can be decked:

Fury has had to get off the canvas four times in the three fights versus Deontay Wilder.  In their third fight it was wild swinging punches over his guard that put him down twice in one round. But these are not Whyte’s trademark shots.

What worries me is that Whyte can get caught seemingly from nowhere.

He has been down against Joshua in 2015 from a three rights combination to the temple, chin and uppercut, Parker in 2018 from a right, and Povetkin 2020 from a left cross-cum-uppercut.  This was significantly against the run of play, Povetkin looking almost out of it, having been down twice the round before.

Cornermen:

An intriguing sub plot, from Detroit. 

Fury has built on the defensive foundations of his uncle Peter Fury and Ben Davidson, by adding offensive power to his armoury. This has come from training with Sugarhill Steward since the initial draw with Wilder. 

Sugarhill is legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward’s nephew, and brings the tough Detroit Kronk gym outlook to the corner. Steward took Lennox Lewis to great success.

But Whyte too has a Kronk disciple, with Lennox Lewis’s ex-strategist Harold Knight joining Xavier Miller’s team before the first Povetkin fight.  Though Whyte lost that, he has looked sharp in both Povetkin fights, with a measured economical approach reaping dividends in the rematch.

PREDICTION:

I think the Helenius fight provides a blueprint for Fury.  If the tall but limited Helenius could duck under Whyte’s jabs, use his reach to keep Whyte at bay, and generally take the sting out of Whyte, then imagine what a sharper, more mobile and more skilled Fury can do.

Whyte will struggle at distance, and need to get in close to do his work. This mainly plays into Fury’s hands, where his better in-fighting skills come to the fore.

Whyte though has waited his whole career for a chance to win the title, he will give it 100%, and his snapping left can do real damage.

With both men able to be chinned, I think Whyte will floor Fury in the fourth or fifth, before Fury gets up and puts Whyte down in the middle rounds, finally stopping him in the ninth round.

 KIKO MARTINEZ VS JOSH WARRINGTON

26 MARCH 2022

LEEDS, UNITED KINGDOM

IBF FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE

Kiko Martinez is a veteran. 

36 years old, 55 fights, a former Super Bantamweight Champion and now the IBF World Featherweight Champion, a title he won in November 2021 against Kid Galahad.

He is one paced, in a good way, setting about his work like a lumberjack, chopping at trees through the day; day-in, day out.

He is a not though a massive puncher, he has stopped 30 out of 43 opponents in fights that he has won. That’s respectable.

He is up against Leeds’s own Josh Warrington, the latest in a long line of British opponents including Kid Galahad, Carl Frampton, Zelpha Barrett, Scott Quigg and Rendall Munroe.  Of these Galahad was his only win. But I make this the tenth occasion the Spaniard has fought in the UK, so even with Warrington’s passionate fans in full voice, the occasion won’t faze him.

Both men crouch low and work to the body, so a clash of heads is likely at some stage.  In Warrington’s last fight, a rematch against Mauricio Lara, this happened in round two and caused the fight to be a technical draw. Really hope that doesn’t happen again.

Warrington was visibly frustrated, having lost the title to Lara in their first fight with a lacklustre showing he put down to losing his edge during lockdown, and fighting without the usual support of his fans.

Warrington’s main attribute is his work rate, and his fast combinations catch the eye.  He is not a big puncher, only stopping seven out of 30 opponents he has beaten.

And though both men work well to the body, both take a lot of shots there too.

My feeling is it will be a close fight for most of the rounds, each fighter replying to the others’ attack.

PREDICTION:

Martinez will land late on with his big right hook, and force the referee to step in around rounds 10 or 11 to save a Josh Warrington who will be unsteady on his feet.

RESULT:

Josh Warrington won by TKO round 7.

Was very busy from the opening bell, overwhelmed a game Martinez who got dropped and caught often as a result of Warrington’s excellent timing.

 Eddie Hall vs. Hafþór Björnsson

March 19th 2022

Dubai

Heavyweight

An unusual fight this time.  Two people who have won the World’s Strongest Man Competition, who have both deadlifted over 500 kilograms, fighting each other in Dubai.

Though Eddie has only one charity fight to his name 10 years ago, and Thor has three professional fights to his, remember these are both professional athletes.

They both have shown the discipline, the diet, the training and the focus that Boxing deserves.

Eddie has built his whole life around this fight; installing state of the art training and recovery equipment in his house.

Thor has trained relentlessly.  Both have adapted their physiques for Boxing instead of Strongman.

From what I have to go on, which for Eddie is admittedly training footage,

neither man has great footwork; Eddie is too square on, Thor has his legs too close together.

Thor is very much a two armed puncher, and he has a nice left cross, but I worry that Thor’s jab is too slow and Eddie will slip and side under it.

Eddie looks to have much more fluid upper body movement, impressive for someone over 20 stone, and punches with better speed and snap.

And even though he is recovering from his third bout of Covid, I make this movement to be the crucial difference.

His stamina will be affected by Covid, but it reminds me of Mike Tyson against Trevor Berbick. Tyson was on anti-biotics, and knew he had to get the job done inside three rounds or he would be out of energy.

PREDICTION:

I guess Eddie wins by TKO inside two rounds, because he knows he has to go for broke from the opening bell.

RESULT:

Thor won 57 - 54 on all three judges’ cards. He put Eddie down at least twice, perhaps more because the stream was so bad I missed a round! Eddie did well in first two round,s put Thor down, but ran out of steam after that.

LEIGH WOOD VS MICHAEL CONLAN

12 MARCH 2022 

NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND 

WBA (REGULAR) FEATHERWIGHT TITLE

Leigh Wood is defending his title in his hometown of Nottingham. Michael Conlan has travelled over from Belfast to try and take that title.

Neither man is known for their stoppages, but Wood is deceptively heavy handed. Especially to the body as we saw when he won the title from Xu Can last summer.

He is also a sharp counter puncher, and I expect a high volume of punches from him.

But his head movement is a bit static, and both men leave their hands too low.

That said, I believe Conlan has the edge here.   His upper body movement is very savvy, he bobs and weaves well, slips punches. He’s a switch hitter, which will allow him to adapt to the problems Wood gives him. And he has very good timing.

I think Conlan wins on points, the judges favouring his higher quality work and variety over Woods’ higher punch output.

I expect the title to change hands after a close fought fight. 

RESULT: Wood won by Knock Out in round 12. Knocked Conlan out of the ring. Conlan foudht well, did the better work, though Wood recovered from a first round knock down to give a ferocious work rate in the second half of the fight. I was way off with this one.

 JOSH TAYLOR vs JACK CATTERALL

SATURDAY 26th FEBRUARY 2022

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND.

UNDISPUTED WORLD LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

A momentous occasion.

Josh Taylor defending all four Light Welterweight belts.

It’s Scotland vs England, a battle of two southpaws.  Both undefeated.

Taylor’s spiky manner is a testament to him having battled schoolyard bullies, Catterall is quieter but nonetheless confident.

Taylor is not perfect.  He was too easy to hit to the body in his last fight in May 2021, when he beat Jose Ramirez pnarrowly on points to win the titles.  He took gruelling left shots to the ribs from Ramirez, who sometimes got right through the middle of Taylor’s guard.  In October 2019 he was pushed all the way by Regis Prograis’s body shots. Viktor Postol had landed a fair number to the head in March 2018.

But Taylor has positive attributes. He has an excellent habit of speedily re-establishing his long guard after snapping out single punches, then being able to parry his opponents’ counters.   He is fast, has high quality footwork, and real spite in his punches.

A short left to the chin decked Ramirez in round six, a quick uppercut put him to the canvas in round seven.

Catterall is a throwback. He has that Jack Dempsey look, wide torso that he moves like an old time fighter, opening his arms wide to keep his opponent wary at all times.  He keeps his distance, then moving in to land two punch combinations before beating a hasty retreat.

But I cannot see that he has the goods to grab the titles from Taylor.  He is too one-paced, lacks punch variety, and does not carry excessive power.

PREDICTION:

I expect Taylor to win an ugly fight on points by a clear five rounds before heading up to Welterweight to take on Spence and Crawford.

 RESULT:

Taylor won by split decision.

I scored it 116 - 109 for Catterall, and I think it is one of the most controversial decisions I have ever seen in Boxing.

Catterall was faster, more accurate, dropped Taylor, and bossed the fight.

Taylor looked weight drained. Both men had a point taken off.

 Kell Brook vs Amir Khan 

Saturday 19th February 2022

Manchester, UK.

 Welterweight (plus 2lbs)

This is a grudge match, many years in the making.

A war of the roses  between contrasting personalities.

Khan, outgoing; his personal life played out on social media, a household name, a celebrity.

Brook, an introvert, lesser-known outside of sporting circles.

With both men aged 35, it’s a fight past it’s best before date, but within it’s sell by date,

And the pre fight hype has crossed boundaries with both men questioning each others’ sexuality.

That’s a line which should never be crossed in Boxing; the legacy of Emile Griffith vs Benny Paret should count for more than newsreels.

Make no mistake, both men are effectively coming out of retirement for this.

Brook’s not fought for 15 months. Khan’s not fought for almost two and a half years.

They’ve both got wear and tear; Khan’s had major hand surgery and elbow surgery, both on his right arm.

Brook’s been stabbed twice outside of the ring, once in his leg affecting his mobility. He’s also has both eye sockets broken in successive fights against Golovkin and Spence.

So don’t be surprised if an injury plays a part in the course of the fight.

Khan’s projected confidence all week. He’s has many trainers during his career, and has spent the last three months training Stateside alongside the brilliant Terrence Crawford under Bo Mac McIntyre. But is that enough after so long out of the ring?

Brook has appeared quietly assured, using his regular gyms under the Ingle camp in Wincobank, with warm weather training in the Canary Islands.

Khan’s the faster puncher, but he tends to lean in with his punches, leaving his left out that fraction of a second too long, and get caught  by the counter punch.

Brook has spoken of how “timing beats speed”. That’s his style; careful analysis of the opponent, watching like a hawk then striking when the moment’s right.

He’s quite content to fight at a slow pace, economical of moment, picking up points as he goes along.

Khan prefer a faster tempo, his hand speed should still be impressive. We saw that in his last fight against Billy Dib in 2019.

The key for me is footwork.

Brook has slower feet, but sturdier base.

Khan’s quick feet show he is focused on reacting to his opponent, but too often he gets caught off balance and his stance is that fraction too narrow for my liking.

I think it lends itself to Brook’s advantage, and though Khan’s fast flurries will be evident, Brook should be able to time Khan and give him more than enough to think about.

Both men are a little tight at the weight, Brook more so, and I expect a significant drop off in pace in the later stages.

PREDICTION:

Khan’s style is more eye-catching, but Brook’s sounder fundamentals should see him to a very close points win.

 RESULT:

Brook wins in round six. TKO. Referee stops fight.

I picked the correct fighter but not the correct method of victory.