The Square Ring

On the same night as Kitschko-Arreola, Poonsawat Krayingdaenggym would be in Dublin, Ireland for a meeting with Bernard Dunne. TRS wrote, “With 28 KO’s from his 32 wins Poonsawat has some power which Dunne seems to be allergic to as against Kiko Martinez, while an 80-1 favorite, he got KO’d in 1:26 of the opening round.” As you work your way through the column you will see that TSR was right and is now on a roll with two in row. Onward and upward. Let the party begin.

Poonsawat Wins Title

Got to like those happy ending story’s which Poonsawat’s win against Bernard Dunne (28-2) in Dublin, Ireland was. First the Thai lad had to go on the road where he had no previous success. He was fighting someone in his home town where the crowd would be hostile. Drastic measures were needed for the win. Fortunately the Juan Manual Marquez training secret of drinking his own urine was not in play as that didn’t seem to work. Instead Poonsawat went to a Buddhist monk who advised him to change his boxing name from Poonsawat Kratingaenggym to Chalerwong Udomna. The latter meaning “honor for family.”

Poonsawat (39-1) started slow as Dunne boxed well in the first two rounds with the crowd solidly behind him. In the third round whether it was the name change or a very aggressive Thai who wanted to be champion everything changed. In a very short time Poonsawat had sent Dunne to the canvas three times forcing referee Jean-Louis Legland to stop the slaughter at the 2:57 mark. Dunne would be taken to a local hospital after the fight as a precaution. He was released the next day with nothing hurt but his feelings. For Poonsawat it is a world championship which allows him to use any name he wants.

Poonsawat now joins IBF super fly champion Simplphiwe Nonggayi (16-0) as one that traveled and won a championship on the road. Nonggayi, from South Africa, won a UD over Jorge Arce (52-5-1) recently in Cancun Mexico.

Klitschko-Arreola

Vitali Klitschko (38-2) just had too much experience and boxing skills for the big hearted Cristobal Arreola (27-1) when they met in Los Angeles. As predicted in these spaces Arreola would chase but never catch Klitschko with any meaningful punches. AP Writer Tim Dahlberg opined that “Klitschko approaches boxing like a chess match. He hit’s without getting hit. That’s why he’s not able to sell tickets at least to American fans.” Dalhberg is 100% correct. Arreola’s Mexican fans packed the Staples Center cheering his every missed punch of which there were many. This match was almost a replay of Lennox Lewis against David Tua in November of 2000. Tua chasing, not catching anything but punches. That one went the full12 rounds this one ended after 10 when Arreola’s corner mercifully tossed in the towel.

Mayweather Jr. Best?

Some claim that there can be no doubt but that Floyd Mayweather jr. is the best boxers pound-for-pound currently plying the boxing trade. “No argument. Case closed,,” drive home safely. As reported by fight news. Com’s Dennis Principe at that point in the conversation Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddy Roach would say, “No so fast my friend” or word to that effect. Roach was critical of May weather’s jr. recent performance against Marquez. “The fight was there for the taking but he just couldn’t finish Marquez because he doesn‘t have the balls to finish him off,” said Roach. “He’s a great boxer and I can’t take that away from him. But he’s not exciting. He doesn’t make me jump off my seat. That’s what boxing needs.”

It has been reported that the Mayweather jr.-Marquez drew a pay-per-view crowd of 1 million at $50.00 American each. With half that amount going to the various boxers it’s probably true that Mayweather jr. earned a reported $9 million USD. He got a lot less. From his purse Mayweather jr. had to pay a reported $5.6 Million USD’s to the government in back tax’s. This is the second time that the government has come after the guy that calls himself “Money” for taxes.

Best Aussie Boxer Ever?

That would depend on who is doing the rankings. This time it’s a new “Shrimp on the Barbie” magazine called “The Greatest”. Jeff Fenech who had only 33 professional fights gets the top spot with Kostya Tszyu number 2. TSR hates to disagree but there is no way in Aussie that Fenech (29-3-1) can be ranked ahead of Tszyu (31-2). Tossing out the Fenech 2008 “fight” with Azuma Nelson when both were at the bottom of the hill looking up. From 1991-1996 Fenech was ordinary. In those 8 fights he was 4-3-1. He drew and lost to Azuma Nelson while getting Ko’d by Calvin Grove and Philip Holiday. The boxers he beat had a combined record of 83-35-10 which is certainly not the “crème’ de la crème” of the pugilistic world. Fenech stayed at home with only two fights outside Aussie. A draw with Nelson and a win against 10-10 Tialano Toyar. Maybe the fans number #1 but his accomplishments pail when compared to Kostya Tszyu. Tszyu was never ordinary.

Tszyu held the IFC, WBC and WBA jr. welter titles from 1995- 2005. He fought them all losing only to “Cool” Vince Philips and his final bout to Ricky Hatton. If there was a good fighter at the same weight\ during his reign Tszyu fought’em. Zab Judah, Shambbra Mitchell, Ben Tackie, Julio Ceasar Chavez, Jake “The Snake” Rodriguez and Rogher Mayweather to name a few. With the exception of Chavez all were in their prime. Tszyu was the king.

Fight Schedule

Interesting match-up on October 6th in Osaka, Japan when Thailand’s Denkaosen Kaowichit (47-1) defends his WBA Fly title for the second time against youngster Daiki Kameda (14-1). With a 13 year difference in age and a 34 fight edge in ring experience Denkaosen should be a big favorite. Each boxer has only one loss and both in title matches. Denkaosen against the then undefeated Eric Morel (31-0) in California and Daiki at the hands of 35-2 WBC fly champ Daisuke Naito. Sometimes boxers get old before the fans eyes when challenged by a younger boxer in the ring. Doubt that will happen with the experienced Denkaosen. He should prevail but it will be close because everyone knows about ‘home town judging.” Beats the heck out of “home town cooking.”

Super Middle Tournament

There is very little new in boxing but the Super middleweight tournament is a eye catcher if for no other reasons that the best 6 , called The Super 6, are facing each other. First out of the blocks on October 17^th is Carl Froch (25-0) against Andre Dirrell (18-0) at the Trent FM, Arena in Nottingham, England. This match-up will also be for the WBC super middle title so it’s a 2-fer. Two for the price of 1. Froch fighting at home gets the nod here mainly on the strength of his TKO of Jermain Taylor in the USA. Dirrell has some power with 13KO’s from his 18 wins but his competition hasn’t been much.  He’s still a work in progress.

The same night at the 02 World Arena in Berlin Arthur Abraham (30- 0) should have no trouble disposing of an over-the-hill Jermain Taylor who’s lost 3 of his last 4. Granted two of those loses came at the hands of Kelly Pavlik but still his win over an even more tired Jeff Lacy does not bode well for his chances against the super tough Abraham. Both these fights will be shown on world wide TV and worth watching with an early morning wake up call from ones significant other. .

Jeeves Time

You might have mentioned Your Lordship that as we go to press David Tua (49-3) is returning to the ring for the first time in 2 years in the hopes of rekindling his career. He faces the latest New Zealand heavyweight star Shane Cameron who is 23-1. They have combined for 62 KO’s from their 71 fights. David Haye (22-1) who ducked all the Klitschko’s takes a shot of 7 foot Nikolai Valuev (50- 1) and his WBA heavyweight tile. Here’s a fight that only a German boxing fan could like which is probably why it’s being held in Nürnberg, Germany.

“Your Lordship did you know that Vincent Van Gogh had a ballroom dancing aunt?”

“No Jeeves”, he said. “What was her name?”

“Tang Gogh”

“Jeeves hop’s and water, a tobacco stick and some good old music because Cheewit dee khrup”