Dereck Chisora vs. Matteo Modugno

Live on BoxNation topping a November 30th bill from 7pm GMT/2pm EST with Billy Joe Saunders in the co-main event with a to be determined challenger.

Chisora was originally scheduled to face Swiss-Albanian switch-hitter Arnold "The Cobra" Gjergjaj for his first defense of the European title he acquired with his emotionally charged knockout of Edmund Gerber. That fell apart over a financial dispute, which is baffling as Gjergjaj is still an eight-round boxer whose best opponent to date has been previously unbeaten Janne "The Finnish Butterbean" Katajisto and who may never see an opportunity like this again...

There were rumors that Chisora would instead see Krzysztof Zimnoch, an undefeated Pole who also has yet to graduate from eight-rounders and is the same ham-and-eggs type as Gjergjaj. Zimnoch had a successful amateur run (beating Deontay Wilder in the 2007 world championships before losing to Alexander Povernov of Germany, fresh off Povernov's rout of Bogan Dinu) but hasn't done much or looked great in the pros. He got a gift in a life and death struggle with ancient Oliver "Atomic Bull" McCall and has been chasing a domestic cash-out with Artur Szpilka. Needless to say, he showed no interest in taking on the newly rekindled fire-roaring-in-the-belly Chisora.

They finally did find someone. Matteo "Breadstick" Modugno is 14-0 with 8 knockouts in the pros and the reigning Italian heavyweight champion, while still actively competing in the World Series of Boxing for the Amateur International Boxing Association for his country's Italia Thunder squad. In season 3 - which ran from last winter into this spring - he fought competitively with Rostyslav Arkhypenko of the Ukraine Otamans to demonstrate that he belonged among that caliber of talent. Most observers, however, thought Arkhypenko had done enough to get the nod. Modugno instead advanced into the semifinals where he was knocked out by phenom Oleksandr Usyk - which doesn't count on his professional record. (ignore FightFax) Weeks later he defended his Italian title with a domination of Rosario Guglielmino - a regional prospect who is halfway decent, but a cruiser...as will be Usyk himself in his upcoming debut. Modugno has never faced a natural heavyweight quite like Chisora, with or without the headgear. Even so, he is an upgrade from both Gjergjaj and Zimnoch in my opinion.

 

I strongly favor Chisora to pop Modugno's cherry, but again, this is preferable to Chisora vs. Gjergjaj or Chisorsa vs. Zimnoch, both of which had the look of severe mismatches.

 

Ah, yes, the Sean Turner one.

Turner still has yet to make his professional debut, officially.

I think I recall seeing mention that Boxrec is listing WSB cards that occurred in the USA, but not those in other countries. Meanwhile FightFax lists them all.

In reality none should count on anyone's pro record. (and in the cases of amateurs like Turner, their 'debuts' in fact never happened and they shouldn't even have records...)


So truthfully Modugno is 13-0 (7)

 

:?

Both of them are bigger "nobodies" than Modugno.

I will guarantee you that more of the international boxing community watched him in the WSB than have ever viewed a live Zimnoch match...except possibly McCall and that's only because they were tuning in to see what McCall had left and whether he could take the padded zero of some random Pole. (the answer was yes, but he got screwed). Zimnoch isn't even big at home - maybe the 5th or 6th most popular of the Polish heavyweights. Actually more like 7th or 8th since Golota and Saleta are technically still active.

...and who the hell outside of Switzerland or Scandinavia has even heard of Gjergjaj? Or Katajisto? :nut

 

The EBU rejected Wach. He is coming off a loss.