Clottey vacated the belt. Isaac Hlatshawyo and Rafal Jackiewicz are the highest ranked and healthy contenders and IBF set them to fight fot the championship. Delvin Rodriguez is higher in ranking than Jackiewicz but he is injured and unable to compete in the neartime. Who you think will win ? European Warrior or African Angel? :bbb
I opened the same thread but i can tell here. Jackiewicz has a big chance to take a IBF title. It will be his live chance. The fight could be in Poland because Hlatshwayo manage himselfs. I believe that Braveheart Jackiewicz will win this bout.
This is bull****. Delvin Rodriguez got robbed in the eliminator in South Africa the first time, then Hlathswayo pulls out of the rematch, and the IBF rewards him by giving him a title fight? I hope Jackiewicz wins just so we don't have to see Hlathswayo ever again. Winner will probably depend on who wins the purse bid though. They've both had a little bit of home cooking help them out along the way.
That doesn't matter. Hlathswayo is a huge draw in South Africa, and I'm sure one of the South African promoters will make a large purse bid on this one.
That's OK Jackiewicz has been on the tale end of many bad decisions.He found his stride a bit late in life(i read he wasnt always dedicated full time to Boxing).
Someone STILL want to argue with me about the strength of the welterweight class? Issac Hlatswayo vs Jackiewicz for the IBF Title.....wowza.
Good for Polish Boxing but nobody else will care of course. Adamek maybe Wlodarczyk and now maybe Jackiewicz.
The top level guys are still great, and the second tier guys (Collazo, Hlathswayo, Rodriguez, Jackiewicz, Senchenko, Nuzhnenko, etc) still really aren't any worse than the top tier guys in some of the weaker divisions like 130. With Pac and Campbell moved up, it's really no worse than lightweight, and very similar in a lot of ways.
Lightweight is completely wasted out as well, no argument there. That said there are people talking about WW as though it's the top division in boxing. It isn't.
i agree with you, by the way, about the delvin rodriguez thing. it's lame ratings manipulation and sanctioning stupidity at its worst. the fact that it was originally announced as a win for hlathswayo and then changed to a draw only added insult to the whole mess of it. that said, hlathswayo has given us some good fights over the years. his fights against nate campbell, kendall holt and cassius bayoli seemed to establish him as a competant title challenger, but not a world beater by any means. either way, i expect hlathswayo to get systematically picked apart by jackiewicz...and, i will say, i would really like to see jackiewicz v. rodriguez if that could or would be put together next.
do you know what the status with delvin's injury is? i thought the x-ray after the alvarez fight showed he hadn't broken it, despite what he said to his corner late in the fight. does anybody know what's going on?