Cruiserweight and Heavyweight thread.

Joyce should stop him. Cash out as best they can.

 

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Gassiev back August 26 in Serbia!

No opponent named though. If it comes off it will probably be a scrub.

 

That fight is an easy sell, obviously, due to controversial Yoka win in the Olympics. Credit to Yoka for taking a big chance to rebuild his career, if the fight actually gets made.

 

Undefeated USA prospect Roney Hines (11-0-0) is scheduled to take on veteran journeyman Craig Lewis (14-5-1) in an 8 round fight on a September 3rd card in Toledo, Ohio.

The 27 year-old Hines was most recently active last May when he fought durable journeyman Luis Pascual. Hine prevailed in the fight with a 2nd round TKO victory when Pascual failed to come out for the 3rd round. Having watched the bout footage, Pascual was never seriously hurt by Hines and seemed very much in the fight up to that point. I have no idea why Pascual called it quits.

The 37 year-old Lewis was, of course, stopped brutally in the 2nd round by Zhang Zhilei when the two fought last November and Lewis had the misfortune of finding himself face-to-face with an apparently-healthy Zhang.

This seems like a good matchup for Hines. Lewis seems content to harry his opponent with his jab. He doesn't tend to be too ambitious about his offense unless he has a tiring opponent in front of him. He's got a bit more time to prepare for Hines than he had for Zhang, but his best days are probably behind him. But I wouldn't put any money on Hines being able to stop Lewis. Nothing I've seen of Hines suggests he has big power on his shots and he wasn't even throwing all that many punches at Pascual during their brief fight. I think Hines can do enough to edge the decision, but I think it will be close and re-inforce my belief that Hines hasn't got a very high ceiling.

 

An interesting Heavyweight fight has been added to the August 6th Paul vs. Rahman card that will feature two unbeaten USA prospects in a 6 round fight - Jeremiah Milton (5-0, 4KOs) and Quintin Sumpter (5-0, 3 KOs).

The 6' 4" 28 year-old Milton is probably fairly well-known among serious boxing fans and seems to be regarded as a resonably-promising prospect. He's been the camps of a few top HWs over the past year, but has struggled to stay active. He most recently won a UD decison in a 6 round fight over Carnell Giles just last month.

The 6' 0" 33 year-old Sumpter, on the other hand, is not a name that will be familiar to most boxing fans. He's a relative latecomer to the sport, but like Milton he does come from an amateur background. His accomplishments over the past year probably exceed those of his better-known opponent and include a MD win over 6' 7" fellow prospect Timothy Hatfield (a fight most thought Sumpter dominated as he repeatedly rocket the better-regarded Hatfield multiple times). I was relatively dismissive of that accomplishment at the time, but in retrospect I was probably too harsh and there's little question he's shown that he has some real power on his shots.

The edge goes to Milton here, but he'd do well not to let Sumpter get comfortable on the inside or throwing his overhand shots. This has the makings of a good fight.

 

According to boxrec Tyrone Spong's opponent will be Andrew Tabiti.

 

Huge step up, excited to see this.

 

That's a terrible move for a fighter needing to rebuild

 

Tyrone Spong is taking on Andrew Tabiti, who is 19-1 (his only loss was against Yuniel Dorticos, 10th round TKO)

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Not sure I agree.

The fighter who beat Yoka - Martin Bakole - is a great example of a fighter who was beaten (stopped by Hunter) and was able to "rebuild" the right way by gradually stepping up the level of his opponents. He was able to do that because he had a top-notch promoter behind him (Hearn in conjunction with MTK Global). And Martin was only 25 years-old when he suffered his defeat.

Tony Yoka is promoted by Kalle Sauerland. He's not a bit player but he's not on the level of a Hearn or a Warren or Arum, etc. Sauerland can't get truly big fights without entering into co-promotion deals - such as the proposed fight with Joyce.

Yoka is already 30 years-old and he had a long, distinguished amateur career before turning pro. For a guy of his age and pedigree, it's not unreasonable for him to take a chance and find out what his true level is.

 

Tabiti had been teasing a move to heavyweight. There's an article out there (still searchable via Google) indicating he wanted a quick rematch with Dorticos (obviously, that didn't happen) before moving up to Heavyweight. Like I've said before, it's pretty difficult to make a living as a cruiserweight in the Western Hemisphere right now.

It's tough for me to make a prediction for this one. Spong has been inactive for about 3 years. He barely eeked out a split-decision win over Ytalo Perea. It's true that Perea was a standout amateur, but he's a much smaller fighter who Bakole managed to obliterate in under a round. Tabiti probably won't be overpowering at this weight (he wasn't a truly big hitter as a CW) and he's new to HW, anyhow.

 

That's actually a decent fight so there is no chance whatsoever of it coming off.

 

Both fighters have seen their careers stall. So I think it probably will happen...as long as nobody tests positive for PEDs (so figure it's 50/50)

 

The fight before the fight, passing the drug test