Cruiserweight and Heavyweight thread.

Tabiti is going to win this one!

 

Tony Yoka will return in October.

 

Wasn't he trying to fight Joyce?

 

Guess not since Joyce will face Parker now.

 

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I can't help but to notice that Boxrec now has Tabiti against TBA. I guess Spong "caught Covid?"

 

Yes. I stupidly forgot that the NYSAC has a 48 hour wait period on event cancellations when this sort of stuff happens.

 

The James Evans vs. Tommy Washington fight has been cancelled.

 

The winner could then fight Vury for the title.

 

Simon Kean's September 9th opponent in support of the Makhmudov-Takam fight has been confirmed as Newfel Ouatah.

The 6' 6" French-Algerian Ouatah was most recently active last year in a Rd 4 stoppage loss at the hands of rising star Vladyslav SIrenko. He is a proficient, rangey guy - but his 18-4 (10 KO) record is not very deep. He's probably best known for making Junior Fa look more dangerous than he actually is in a 1st round KO blowout loss in which he got drilled off a break and then didn't want to know about it.

So he's probably not the guy to take advantage of Kean's less-than-great chin. Kean definitely has some power, but isn't always able to deploy it quickly so this probably has the makings of mid-rounds stoppage victory for him.

 

On a more somber note....

I came across an article this morning that longtime-journeyman Maurenzo Smith, age 44, had been shot to death last week as he dined in a Texas restaurant. I won't recount the sordid details here; there are multiple accounts of it on the internet.

Some of you probably remember Smith as Chris Arreola's first comeback opponent after he was stopped by Deontay Wilder in their 2016 fight. I didn't know much about Smith at the time, but figured he would be an easy first round TKO for Arreola. I was wrong, as Smith proved pretty game and managed to just about make it to the end of the sixth round before the stoppage came. More recently, Maurenzo (or T-Diddy, as he was known) had been frequently commuting to Colombia to fight some club fighters and had apparently built up a bit of a following there.

Smith's best performance probably came in 2013. He was chosen as the opponent for popular journeyman Vinny Maddalone's farewell fight which was to take place in Huntington, NY near his home town At the time, Maurenzo was sporting a puffed-up record built on non-serious opposition. Doubtless promoters figured that while he would seem a viable threat - but he would be quickly overwhelmed by a hard-hitting Maddalone who, after all, had experience with much better opposition. Things did not go to plan, though, as Smith fought Maddalone to a draw. Given the tendency for "home cookiing" in a farewell fight - is highly likely that Smith was robbed.

His early passing -however messy the circumstances - is sad.

 

Upcoming Cuban heavyweight prospect Lenier Pero (7-0, 4KOs) will face journeyman Joel Caude (9-6-2, 6 KOs) on the undercard of the August 20th Broner vs. Figueroa Jr. fight.

Pero has wasted no time in getting his career off the ground having already fought a well-touted, undefeated prospect (Hector Perez) last Spring. He's quickly caught our attention for not only his obvious ability, but for being a Cuban fighter whose actual age could really be the published figure! (29 years old, in Lenier's case)

His opponent - Joel Caudle - is probably best known for being punched out of the ring by Cassius Chaney a couple years ago. He was also recently stopped by upcoming prospect Sonny Conto last November, in what would have to be considered Sonny's most (only?) impressive win to-date. Those results, though, sell the journeyman Caudle a bit short, IMO. He earned a draw against Niall Kennedy a few years ago (before Niall's right shoulder came apart, making him easy pickings for Alen Babic, among others) and most recently stopped NYC-based prospect Robert Sabbagh. He's a game opponent who welcomes a phonebooth fight.

Pero should comfortably outbox Caudle, of course, but a stoppage would be impressive and risks a test of his own chin along the way.

 

There is a great tendency for 'home cooking' in every fight where one guy is in his home city, state/province, or country.

 

I didn’t hear anything official about Tyrone Spong being out of the fight, but on Sherdog someone posted that Andrew Tabiti is now taking on James ‘the Beast’ Wilson instead of Spong:

“Not sure if it has been said here, but Tabiti is no longer fighting Spong, he will be taking on James "the Beast" Wilson in a battle of beasts”

His source is Andres Cortes (a 17-0 boxer who used to be signed with Mayweather Promotions aswell, but now is with TopRank)
Andres Cortes is friends with Andrew Tabiti

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Poor fight tbh. Kean's career has gone nowhere as a pro and he and his team dont seem overly interested in stepping up the opposition.

Maybe Kean could push for the winner of Makhmudov v Takam next?