Other Heavyweight Happenings
And lest I forget, Oleg Maskaev successfully defended his WBA strap from Peter Okhello in Russia last weekend. Maskaev knocked Okhello down twice en route to a twelve-round unanimous decision. Often, a new heavyweight champ will take a relatively easy 'tune up and recover' fight, and, while Okhello is tough, he seems to fit that description.
The rest of the cream of the heavyweight crop is active as follows:
Wladmir Klitschko has a March 10th date on HBO, but no opponent.
Shannon Briggs is fighting Sultan Ibragminov, a fight that's tough to predict. Briggs is tough and has a chin, so he could well pummel Ibragminov, who nearly lost to the tough but unskilled Ray Austin on ESPN2 back in July.
Serguei Lyakhovich is not yet scheduled, nor is Lamon Brewster, or Hasim Rahman. I guess losing your belt kinda takes it out of you for a while.
Calvin Brock, Chris Byrd, Tye Fields, Oliver McCall (who knocked out Yanqui Diaz last weekend) and others had been slated for the Superfighter heavyweight tournament which was cancelled. None of them are scheduled for bouts as of yet.
James Toney and Samuel Peter have a rematch on Showtime in early January, and it is said that the winner will face Maskaev as a mandatory challenger.
Nikolay Valuev will be fighting a resurgent Jameel McCline, on HBO on January 1st. Most folks assume that Valuev will beat McCline, but don't forget that while McCline has lost six fights, he completely dominated Shannon Briggs a mere four years ago. It just depends on how well each fighter is conditioned, and how actively McCline pursues Valuev. I predict a Valuev victory, but this fight could be extremely exciting (of course, it could also be a dud of a hug-fest). The winner will face WBA mandatory challenger Ruslan Chagaev, who has the awful nickname "The White Tyson". Chagaev, yet another former Soviet with an extensive amateur career, won a 12-round split decision over Johnny "Louise" Ruiz in the WBA title eliminator last month in Germany.
Audley Harrison's recent KO of Danny Williams may set up a match between Harrison and Matt Skelton for a battle that no one outside of the U.K. will notice. If Harrison is serious about challenging for a belt, he'll be needing to look good.
In the Prospects section:
Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Brian Minto, Alexander Povetkin and Roman Greenberg
have nothing on the schedule as of yet.
The rest of the cream of the heavyweight crop is active as follows:
Wladmir Klitschko has a March 10th date on HBO, but no opponent.
Shannon Briggs is fighting Sultan Ibragminov, a fight that's tough to predict. Briggs is tough and has a chin, so he could well pummel Ibragminov, who nearly lost to the tough but unskilled Ray Austin on ESPN2 back in July.
Serguei Lyakhovich is not yet scheduled, nor is Lamon Brewster, or Hasim Rahman. I guess losing your belt kinda takes it out of you for a while.
Calvin Brock, Chris Byrd, Tye Fields, Oliver McCall (who knocked out Yanqui Diaz last weekend) and others had been slated for the Superfighter heavyweight tournament which was cancelled. None of them are scheduled for bouts as of yet.
James Toney and Samuel Peter have a rematch on Showtime in early January, and it is said that the winner will face Maskaev as a mandatory challenger.
Nikolay Valuev will be fighting a resurgent Jameel McCline, on HBO on January 1st. Most folks assume that Valuev will beat McCline, but don't forget that while McCline has lost six fights, he completely dominated Shannon Briggs a mere four years ago. It just depends on how well each fighter is conditioned, and how actively McCline pursues Valuev. I predict a Valuev victory, but this fight could be extremely exciting (of course, it could also be a dud of a hug-fest). The winner will face WBA mandatory challenger Ruslan Chagaev, who has the awful nickname "The White Tyson". Chagaev, yet another former Soviet with an extensive amateur career, won a 12-round split decision over Johnny "Louise" Ruiz in the WBA title eliminator last month in Germany.
Audley Harrison's recent KO of Danny Williams may set up a match between Harrison and Matt Skelton for a battle that no one outside of the U.K. will notice. If Harrison is serious about challenging for a belt, he'll be needing to look good.
In the Prospects section:
Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Brian Minto, Alexander Povetkin and Roman Greenberg
have nothing on the schedule as of yet.
posted by Paul at 9:29 AM
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