What's happened in professional boxing over the past week? What are the great battles going on? What events are worth watching this week?
Drama:
Joe Smith Jr. vs Steve Gefrad
On January 16, 2022, Beijing time, in a WBO light heavyweight boxing championship match that ended in New York, the defending champion Joe Smith Jr., who sat at home in his hometown, defeated the opponent strongly in the confrontation with the unknown challenger Steve Gefrad, who came off the bench a week ago, to win the victory.
Gefrad's world overall ranking is only 106, and the outside world predicted that there was not much suspense in this game before the game. As soon as the match began, Smith pounced on his opponent and punched continuously. In the first 6 rounds of the confrontation, Gefrad used a tight defense to barely cope, but as the battle progressed, Smith became more and more courageous, and Gefrad gradually became weak. After 6 rounds, Smith was in an absolute position on the field, Gefrad played the role of a sandbag in full, and when the 9th round began shortly after, Smith threw a combination of punches to bring down the opponent, Gefrad's team gave up resistance, Smith successfully defended the title, and after the game he called out the names of Canello Avarez and Artur Bethbiyev.
Boxing Dynamics:
According to many media reports, the current WBC middleweight champion Jimar Charlo, may be upgraded to challenge the 168-pound super midweight overlord Canelo Avarez, rumors are in contact between the two sides, Charlo hopes to compete with Avarez for $15 million, according to the Avarez team, they will update the specific news of the next battle this week.
WBO second-middleweight champion Terence Crawford formally sued former promoter Bob Arroom. According to Crawford's lawyer, Arum had racial prejudice in addition to not arranging the ideal big battle for Crawford during the period of cooperation, and Crawford demanded that Arroom pay $10 million in damages.
Negotiations for the IBF Heavyweight Champions Qualification Challenge have begun, with the organisation's No. 6 boxer Tony Joka having agreed to play against No. 3 boxer Philipp Helgović, and if the two sides go on a showdown, the winner will be forced to challenge Anthony Joshua vs Orekosander Usik twice.
WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Furie claimed that Orecosander Usik was a "steroid boxer", implying that the opponent's defeat of Anthony Joshua last September was "not normal", but the reality is that Usik has never had a similar violation, and many people accuse Furi of making this statement unfounded and extremely irresponsible.
This week's preview:
January 23, 2022 Beijing time: WBC Featherweight Champion - Gary Russell Jr. vs Mark Magusayo
Russell is known as the "featherweight Mayweather", his talent and technology are quite outstanding, but since he reached the top of the championship in 2015, due to injuries and other reasons, the competition density is very low, almost 1 game a year, and the entire 2021 did not appear on stage, boxing fans almost forgot Russell.
This is Russell's first comeback from boxing for 23 months, and his last match dates back to February 2020, so how he is in is unknown. Magsayo, who played against Russell, is no idler, from the Philippines, he has a record of 23 wins, 16 KO opponents, WBC ranked third. The 26-year-old Magsayo is better than the 33-year-old Russell, and the state is even more superior, depending on whether Russell can beat the opponent?
January 23, 2022 Beijing time: 12 rounds of super lightweight battle - Ariel Matthias vs Petros Anagnion (second game)
Matthias is a famous heavy gunner in Puerto Rico, with a professional record of 17 wins and 1 loss, 17 KO opponents, and the most interesting match so far is the death of Russian star Maxim Dadashev in 2019. Anañon, who clashed with Matthias, is also from Russia, which is also the second battle between the two sides, Matthias's only current defeat is the loss to Anañon in 2020, depending on whether he can avenge his opponent in the second battle?
January 23, 2022 Beijing time: 10 rounds of super featherweight battle - Tugstockt Nyambayar vs Vic Pasilas
As a silver medalist at the London 2012 Olympics, Nyambayar has been working hard to win the professional boxing scene in his first comeback since losing to WBA interim super featherweight champion Chris Colbert last July, with Pasilas, a left-handed man with a record of 16 wins and 1 loss, and nine KO opponents.
January 23, 2022 Beijing time: 6-legged super midweight battle - Evan Hollyfield vs Chris Rawlings
Evan Hollyfield is the son of former world heavyweight boxing champion Evand Hollyfield, with a professional record of 8 wins, 6 KO opponents, and Rawlings has a record of 5 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw, 4 KO opponents, from the past game experience, Evan Hollyfield's victory does not seem to be too much of a problem.