Irish Boxing

thats a shocker for Cabellero alright. seems to be that the South African (who doesn't appear to be any great shakes) was mightly ripped off.

If boxrec is accurate, though, Caballero came in at 120. Why a man of his size would come in that far under the limit is beyond me. Maybe he is killing himself to make the weight and he over did it this time.

It's a miracle that someone who is 5"11 can make SBW anyway. I'm assuming he is not making weight properly and this big fight with Gamboa at FW is probably where he is headed.

Its a funny result and makes you wonder about a lot of things. The Caballero I watched batter (an albeit nervous) Molitor wouldn't have need to even go to the scorecards against Matheulba. Is Caballero worse than we think? If he is what does that say about Molitor? Or is Matheulba a diamond in the rough

 

whats dunnes plans now...does he fight the thai r caballero....peters does not seem 2b very clear about his intentions 4 bernard:good

 

I think Peters is like kid in a candy shop at the moment he coulnt get any big name in with Dunne for years. Now everyone is looking for him,i think Peters is just sitting back and taking everything in.He has to put together the best deal for Bernard taking in money offered obviously,difficulty of fight and profile of fight and where they can go from there.

 

i dont see why dunne wont fight munroe.big money lots of publicity and most of all a very winnable fight.sounds good to me!:good

 

look lads do u no what is concerning me...fair enough peters is carefully plotting bernards path...which is great....but what about mccloskey..haughian...murray...and the rest of his fighters...whats happening there...peters should b running more shows...get them on rte...lets c some fights:bbb:good

 

i agree one hundred per cent.haughian should get a title fight soon and murray should fight mezaache as he is no good in my opinion.:good

 

Mathebula might be decent but you can bet your house that he's not a diamond in the ruff. Caballero really isn't that good and I've said for a long time that Vasquez and Marquez would handle him easily, and Lopez(after he beat Ponce De Leon).

His size can prove a difficulty too great to surmount against some fighters(such as Molitor who's a small Super-Bantamweight), but when fighters can deal with the size disparity he struggles.
He has been beating okay opposition since winning his belt, Molitor being the only big name and although he did look great winning the title against Sithchatchawal, it seems now that the Thai was probably beaten past his prime by his war with Monshipour.

Ponce De Leon did manage to hurt him badly in their fight, and that bout was closer than some of the scorecards had it.

Skillwise he's not great, his speed is a bit poor, but his immensly long arms manage to overcome those factors somewhat, he's very very hitable if you fight on the inside with him and for me a good inside fighter is the man to beat Caballero. Molitor boxed him in his normal way, stay on the outside, then come inside and land combinations to get out of range. The only problem for Molitor was, that when he was at a range that would normally leave him very safe, he was now right on the end of Caballero's punches.

For similar reasons I'm not sure Dunne would cope too well against Caballero, and the Panamanians power which is pretty decent but not special would be too much. He's got a very good workrate aswell Caballero, just keeps throwing punches.


Gamboa would be about 6 inches smaller than Caballero, and the reach difference would be massive. However he'd punish Caballero on the inside and I feel that's a very easy fight for Gamboa. The difference in handspeed would prove a huge issue for the Panamanian.



I suppose you can't judge fully to you see the fight, but I'm guessing same old Caballero. Just that he was in against a fighter who could deal with his size, and probably fight well on the inside.

 

yeah thats the guy who beat thaxton..right...well that night he won the title ..thaxton looked shot...so im sure murray after a few more fights could b manovoeured into fighting the french man....but whats happening with mccloskey...all the big talk of a euro title fight has came 2 nought...:good

 

Politics man!

Witter and McCloskey were supposed to fight for the EBU Title, but now the WBC has stripped Bradley, Witter will get a shot at that Title against Devon Alexander. McCloskey is still in line to fight for the European Title though but dont know who he'll face now.

 

I've heard RTE have no money for shows now so that why Peters hasn't had any shows on lately other than Dunne. Remember his last show before that with Haughian and Walsh wasn't on TV. Maybe Tommy Egan can get something on TV3 again although he seems to make a lot of promises that never come off like stuff about ESPN deals.

 

What would the story be with the WBA straps if Dunne were to beat Cabellaro?

 

i dont know why people are talking about dunne fighting cabellero.cabellero would eat dunne alive.dunne should fight either molitor,:bbbthe guy from thailand or munroe IMO

 

Cabellero's people are in talks with Gamboa for a fight at Featherweight.

 

After the supposed poor performance might he be tempted into a fight with Dunne here? I'm sure he'd see that as the easier option.

Although, i suppose he'd get more money fighting Gamboa and he may be wanting to move up anyways if he's having weight issues.

In any case, if the Vasquez fight is a non starter i'd like to see him shut Maloney up by taking the money and beating Munroe. I'm not a Bernard nuthugger by any stretch of the imagination but i'm more than confident that he'd beat Munroe. With relative ease.

 

This content is protected

The past two months have certainly proven interesting for patrons of pugilistic Paddies. Certainly March 2009 will be a month long remembered in Irish sport. Although it didn’t start particularly well as fight fans collectively rolled their cynical eyes when reports from Stateside filtered through that “Erin Go Brawl II” had been scrapped which meant six Irish and two Irish-American fighters would be potentially denied their chance to perform in what is traditionally the busiest time of year for Irish boxers. But their patience and loyalty would be repaid in full when Bernard Dunne challenged Ricardo Cordoba for the WBA super bantamweight title in what was the first fight on these shores for a recognised world title since Wayne McCullough fought Jose Luis Bueno for the WBC bantamweight title 13 years ago.

It was with a sense of hope rather than expectation that all but the most ardent of Dunne fans travelled to the newly refurbished O2 Arena in Dublin. In the lead up to the fight they had trawled through Spanish language YouTube clips and poured over Cordoba’s BoxRec page noting that he had already defeated many fighters who are superior to anything that Dunne had ever faced. Shining like a beacon on his roster was a wide points victory over current super champion Celestino Caballero during an all Panamanian Derby in 2005. The only glimmer of hope was garnered from the fact that when Cordoba travelled abroad he didn’t seem to do so well, but that was explained away as being hometown decisions against Cordoba. Long suffering followers of the sport were almost looking to have the defense already prepared to excuse an inevitable Dunne defeated.

The majority of the crowd streamed into the arena after Ireland’s rugby victory over Wales to win their first Grand Slam in over 60 years. Hearts and expectations were further lifted following good wins for Jim Rock and Andrew Murray but it was not until Katie Taylor, Ireland’s two time woman’s amateur lightweight World Champion, took to the ring that the crowd really began to buzz. During an awesome performance, against three time Pan American champion Caroline Barry of the United States, Taylor showed technique and power that would be the even of many of her male counterparts and saw her easy to 27-3 points win. Even Andy Lee’s laboured win was glossed over once the Irish Rover rang out around the packed stadium as Dunne made his way to the ring.

After the formalities were out of the way the two boxers got down to business and Dunne surprised the crowd by trading with Cordoba. The fight see-sawed one way then the next with Cordoba edging the first rounds before Dunne floored the champion in the third which put and end to Maestrito’s early dominance. Although Cordoba looked weakened at the end of the third he appeared refreshed throughout the fourth and almost finished the fight in the fifth knocking down Dunne twice before pinning him stricken against the ropes whilst raining volleys of combinations upon the tucked up and rocking Dunne until the bell came to save the Neilstown man. Dunne gained in confidence from the sixth onwards and although it would be an injustice to say he bossed these rounds it would be fair to say that he showed levels of courage and determination that many had never seen before.

A resilient and determined Dunne brought the brutal battle to an end in the eleventh round after unleashing venomous onslaught on Corboda who at this stage was bereft of ideas and a shell of the fighter we say in the early rounds. Both men admirable gave their all in the final round but Dunne summoned energy from the pit of his stomach which saw Cordoba slump to the canvas three times before Hubert Earle called a halt to the bout.

In a result that no one could have ever predicted at the close of the fifth, Dunne’s arm was raised aloft to become Ireland Irish world title holder since Steve Collins lifted the WBO middleweight title in the mid 1990’s. This early contender for Fight of the Year had everything with the pair gallantly provided an exhilarating and grueling battle and an Irish winner – the crowd may have arrived as doubters but they left believers!

So how does this shake up the Irish P4P list?

The top four have been pretty much interchangeable for the past six months but Dunne’s performance sees him dethrone John Duddy for top spot as Duddy tumbles following a particularly disappointing first loss. Matthew Macklin’s breathtaking knockout win over Wayne Elcock put a further halt to Ulster dominance of the list. But this obstruction proved to be temporary as Martin Lindsay reinforced their superiority by blasting Paul Appleby out in six rounds and ensure the Northerners still command the majority of the slots in the top ten. The other main movers are Michael Gomez, who plummets from 11th to 19th following a humbling defeat at the hands of Ricky Burns and Galway’s John O’Donnell who makes an appearance for the first time.

Let’s hope we have a quiet May and that next months update will be a little less emotional – I don’t think my heart could take many more months like March and April!